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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	church_n	day_n	lord_n	3,160	5	4.2209	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77900	The life and death of Sir Matthew Hale, Knt. late Lord Chief Justice of England. Containing many pious and moral rules for humane conversation. : Also, many remarkable sayings and worthy actions of the said lord chief justice. : And many other things worth the readers perusal. / Written originally by Dr. Gilbert Burnet, now Bishop of Salisbury.	Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715.	1700 (1700)	Wing B5829A; ESTC R175615	23,651	17

The LIFE and DEATH of Sir Matthew Hale Knt. Late Lord Chief Justice of England Containing many Pious and Moral Rules for humane Conversation Also many Remarkable Sayings and Worthy Actions of the said Lord Chief Justice And many other Things worth the Readers perusal Written Originally by Dr. Gilbert Burnet now Bishop of Salisbury London Printed and Sold by J. Bradford at the Bible in Fetter-Lane The Life and Death of Sir Matthew Hale Knight late Lord Chief Justice of England MATTHEW HALE was Born at Alderly in Gloucestershire the first of November 1609. His Grandfather was Robert Hale an Eminent Clothier in Wotton-under-edge in that County where he and his Ancesters had lived for many Descents and they had given several parcels of Land for the use of the Poor which were enjoyed by them to this day Thus he was descended rather from a good than a Noble Family and yet what was wanting in the insignificant Titles of High Birth and Noble Blood was more than made up in the true worth of his Ancestors But he was soon deprived of the Happiness of his Fathers Care and Instruction for as he lost his Mother before he was three years old so his Father died before he was five so early was he cast on the Providence of God But that unhappiness was in a great measure made up to him For after some opposition made by Mr. Thomas Poyntz his Uncle by his Mother he was committed to the care of Anthony Kingscot of Kingscot Esquire who was his next Kinsman after his Uncles by his Mother Great care was taken of his Education and his Guardian intended to breed him to be a Divine and being inclined to the way of those then called Puritans put him to some Schools that were Taught by those of that party and in the 17th year of his Age sent him to Magdalen-Hall in Oxford where Obadiah Sedgwick was his Tutor He was an extraordinary Proficient at School and for some time at Oxford But the Stage-Players coming thither he was so much corrupted by seeing many Plays that he almost wholly forsook his Studies By this he not only lost much time but found that his Head came to be thereby filled with such vain Images of things that they were at best Improfitable if not hurtful to him and being afterwards sensible of the Mischief of this he resolved upon his coming to London where he knew the opportunities of such Sights would be more frequent and Inviting never to see a Play again to which ho constantly adhered He was now so taken up with Martial matters that instead of going on in his design of being a Scholar or a Divine he resolved to be a Soldier and his Tutor Sedwick going into the Low-Countries Chaplain to the Renowned Lord Vere and he resolved to go along with him and to trail a Pike in the Prince of Orange's Army but a happy stop was put to this Resolution which might have proved so fatal to himself and have deprived the Age of the great Example he gave and the useful Services he afterwards did his Country He was engaged in a Suite of Law with Sir William Whitmore who laid claim to some part of his Estate and his Guardian being a Man of a retired temper and not made for Business he was forced to leave the University after he had been three Years in it and go to London to sollicite his own Business Being recommended to Serjeant Glanvill for his Counsellor and he observing in him a clear apprehension of things and a solid Judgment and a great fitness for the study of the Law took pains upon him to perswade him to forsake his thoughts of being a Soldier and to apply himself to the study of the Law and this had so good an effect on him that on the 8th of November 1629. when he was past the 20th Year of his Age he was admitted into Lincolns-Inn and being then deeply sensible how much time he had lost and that Idle and Vain things had over-run and almost corrupted his mind he resolved to Redeem the time he had lost and followed his Studies with a diligence that could scarce be believed if the signal effects of it did not gain it Credit He studied for many years at the rate of 16 Hours a day he threw aside all fine Clothes and betook himself to a plain fashion which he continued to use in many points to his dying day Yet he did not at first break off from keeping too much Company with some vain People till a sad Accident drove him from it for he with some other young Students being invited to be merry out of Town one of the Company called for so much Wine that notwithstanding all that Mr. Hale could do to prevent it he went on in his Excess till he fell down as dead before them so that all that were present were not a little affrighted at it who did what they could to bring him to himself again This did particularly affect Mr. Hale who thereupon went into another Room and shutting the Door fell on his Knees and prayed earnestly to God both for his Friend that he might be restored to Life again and that himself might be forgiven for giving such Countenance to so much Excess and he vowed to God that he would never again keep Company in that manner nor drink a Health while he lived His Friend recovered and he most Religiously observed his Vow till his Dying day And though he was afterwards prest to drink Healths particularly the Kings which was set up by too many as a distinguishing mark of Loyalty and drew many into great Excess after his Majesties happy Restoration but he would never dispense with his Vow though he was sometimes roughly treated for this which some hot and indiscreet Men called Obstinacy This wrought an entire change on him now he forsook all vain Company and divided himself between the Duties of Religion and the Studies of his Profession in the former he was so regular that for 36 Years time he never once failed going to Church on the Lord's day this observation he made when an Ague first interrupted that constant Course and he reflected on it as an Acknowledgement of God's great Goodness to him in so long a Continuance of his health He took a strict account of his time of which the Reader will best judge by the Scheme he drew for a Diary which I shall insert Copied from the Original but I am not certain when he made it it is set down in the same Simplicity in which he writ it for his own private use Morning I. To lift up the heart to God in thankfulness for renewing my Life II. To renew my Covenant with God in Christ 1. By renewing Acts of Faith receiving Christ and rejoyoing in the height of that Relation 2. Resolution of being one of his People doing him Allegiance III. Adoration and Prayer IV. Setting a Watch over my own Infirmities and Passions over the

together and repeat to them the Heads of the Sermons with some Additions of his own which he fitted for their Capacities and Circumstances and that being done he had a Custom of shutting himself up for two or three Hours which he either spent in his secret Devotions or on such profitable Meditations as did then occur to his thoughts While the Judge was thus imploying his time the Lord Chief Justice Keyling dying he was on the 18th of May 1671. promoted to be Lord Chief Justice of England He had made the Pleas of the Crown one of the Chief Studies and by much search and long Observation had composed that Great Work concerning them formerly mentioned He that holds the high Office of Justiciary in that Court being the Chief Trustee and Assertor of the Liberties of his Country all People applauded this Choice and thought their Liberties could not be better deposited than in the hands of one that as he understood them well so he had all the Justice and Courage that so sacred a Trust required One thing was much observed and commended in him that when there was great Inequality in the Ability and Learning in the Councellors that were to Plead one against another He thought it became him as the Judge to supply that so he would enforce what the weaker Council managed but indifferently and not suffer the more Learned to carry the Business by the Advantage they had over the others in their quickness and skill in Law and readiness in Pleading till all things were cleared in which the Merits and Strength of the ill defended Cause lay He was not satisfied barely to give his Judgment in Causes but did especially in all Intricate ones give such an Account of the Reasons that prevailed with him that the Council did not only acquiesce in his Authority but were so convinced by his Reasons that I have heard many profess that he brought them often to change their Opinions so that his giving of judgment was really a learned Lecture upon that point of Law and which was yet more the Parties themselves though Interest does too commonly corrupt the Judgment were generally satisfied with the Justice of his decisions even when they were made against them His Impartial Justice and great Diligence drew the Chief Practice after him into whatsoever Court he came Since though the Courts of Common Pleas the Exchequer and the Kings-Bench are appointed for the Tryal of Causes of different Natures yet it is easie to bring most Causes into any of them as the Council of Attornies please so as he had drawn the Business much after him both into the Common-Pleas and the Exchequer it now followed him into the Kings-Bench and many Causes that were depending in the Exchequer and not determined were let fall there and brought again before him in the Court to which he was now removed And here did he spend the rest of his publick Life and Imployment But about four Years and a half after this Advancement he who had hitherto enjoyed a firm and vigorous Health to which his great Temperance and the Equality of his Mind did not a little conduce was on a sudden brought very low by on Inflamation in his Midriff which in two days time broke the Constitution of his Health to such a degree that he never recovered it He became so Asthmatical that with great difficulty he could fetch his Breath that determined in a Dropsie of which he afterwards Died. He understood Physick so well that considering his Age he concluded his Distemper must carry him off in a little time and therefore he resolved to have some of the last Mouths of his Life reserved to himself that being freed of all Worldly Cares he might be preparing for his Change He was also much disabled in his Body that he could hardly tho' supported by his Servants walk through Westminster-Hall or endure the Toil of Business he had been a long time wearied with the distractions that his Imployment had brought on him and his Profession was become ungrateful to him he loved to apply himself wholly to better Purposes as will appear by a Paper that he writ on this subject which I shall here Insert First If I consider the Business of my Profession whether as an Advocate or as a Judge it is true I do acknowledge by the Institution of Almighty God and the Dispensation of his Providence I am bound to Industry and Fidelity in it And as it is an act of Obedience unto his Will it carries with it some things of Religious Duty and I may and do take Comfort in it and expect a Reward of my Obedience to him and the good that I do to Mankind therein from the bounty and beneficence and providence of Almighty God and it is true also that without such Employments civil Societies cannot be supported and great Good redounds to Mankind from them and in these respects the Conscience of my own Industry Fidelity and Integrity in them is a great Comfort and Satisfaction to me But yet this I must say concerning these Employments confidered simply in themselves that they are very full of Cares Anxieties and Perturbations Secondly That though they are beneficial to others yet they are of the least Benefit to him that is employed in them Thirdly That they do necessarily involve the party whose Office it is in great Dangers Difficulties and Calumnies Fourthly That they only serve for the Meridian of this Life which is short and uncertain Fifthly That though it be my Duty faithfully to serve in them while I am called to them and till I am duly called from them yet they are great Consumers of that little Time we have here which as it seems to me might be better spent in a pious contemplative Life and a due provision for Eternity I do not know a better temporal Employment than Martha had in testifying her Love and Duty to our Saviour by making provision for hm yet our Lord tells her That though she was troubled about many things there was only one thing necessary and Mary had chosen the better part By this the Reader will see that he continued in his Station upon no other Consideration but that being set in it by the Providence of God he judged he could not abandon that Post which was assigned him without perferring his own private Inclination to the Choice God had made for him but now that same Providence having by this great Distemper disengaged him from the Obligation of holding a Place which he was no longer able to discharge he resolved to resign it At last having wearied himself and all his Friends with his importunate Desires and growing sensibly weaker in Body he did upon the 21st day of February 28 Car. 2. Anno Dom. 167.56 go before a Master of the Chancery with a little Parchment-Deed drawn by Himself and Written all with his own Hand and there sealed and delivered it and acknowledged it to be Enrolled and