Selected quad for the lemma: state_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
state_n	bishop_n	sir_n	william_n	1,383	5	9.1663	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61711	Sermons and discourses upon several occasions by G. Stradling ... ; together with an account of the author.	Stradling, George, 1621-1688.; Harrington, James, 1664-1693.	1692 (1692)	Wing S5783; ESTC R39104	236,831	593

Gentleman now of late well known to the World who had married his Neice interpos'd so violently in his behalf that even his Merits and known Loyalty cou'd not procure his Expulsion This kindness of his Relations who were engaged on the other side was so well resented by him that afterwards in the Reign of K. James II. he was extremely pleas'd when upon the Alteration of Affairs in England he had an opportunity offer'd to him of requiting the Obligation to one of the Parties and indeed almost of paying the Debt in kind And here you must excuse a very short Digression if I acquaint you that this was not the single Instance of his Life wherein herdiscover'd his fix'd Principle That no difference of judgment or opinion ought to hinder the mutual Offices of Friendship Charity and Benevolence much less the Exercise of the most indispensable Duty in the World that of Gratitude For 't is well known to many now living that in the time of the most exalted Loyalty when men's outward Profession of Fidelity was not so much the Test of their Zeal as the Earnest of their Preferment he ingag'd so far for his Friend not in espousing his Tenet which perhaps was erroneous but in procuring his safety that he upon that Account lost a Bishoprick which had been often promis'd to him and which seem'd in reality to have been otherwise design'd for him But to return to our Authour's Life After the Restoration of K. Charles II. he had so great a Reliance on his Friend Dr. Sheldon Archbishop of Canterbury that though he was unanimously nam'd if not actually chosen Principal of Jesus College in Oxford he declin'd the offer of that creditable Post out of a Prospect I believe of greater Advantage by his Stay at London His Preferments at last were the Deanry of Chichester and the Precentorship of that Church a Prebend of Westminster a Rectory a Sine-Cure with another additional Dignity It is easie to be perceiv'd therefore that he never made himself liable to the Censures of those that blame Pluralities but it ought further to be known for the prevention of other objections that he was not willing to have accepted two Dignities seemingly incompatible in one Church if he had not obtain'd a Promise from K. Ch. II. of annexing the Precentorship perpetually to the Deanry of Chichester The small Revenues that belong to the Deanry of that ancient Cathedral recommended this Design to his Care and the meeting of the two separate Interests in one Person was the most probable Method of accomplishing it The Advances made in this Affair the Licence under the Privy Seal the Consent of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Opinion of very Eminent Council therein are now in my hands And tho' indeed the Design was always pursued with Earnestness and Vigour by our Authour yet so it hapned that through others negligence it not only as Church-work usually proceded slowly but by reason of some Difficulties arising between a warm Bishop of that See and Dr. Stradling then Dean thereof was then wholly discontinued and is now rather to be desir'd than expected I am well assur'd That during his Life the Rights of that Church were well defended the Revenues of it improv'd And the Fabrick beautified and repair'd and this is the rather probable because when his great Adversary had brought up to Court a Charge against him it fix'd no other Crime upon him in that Station than his too great Negligence and Remissness in promoting the Interest of the Crown in the Choice of Parliament men for Chichester The good Prelate Dr. Carleton a man possibly of no ill Principles but much heat was angry that men that agreed with him in opinion were not likewise of the same Frame and Temper and equally violent in executing their Designs The Pulse of our Authour it seems did not beat so high nor did his Blood circulate so quick nor was he by the bent of his Nature so much fitted for a popular and tumultuary Canvass and therefore the want of Passions was by the zealous Bishop easily misinterpreted Lukewarmness and the Observance of Decency in his Applications to the Electors seem'd to inferr an indifference in the Choice I shall not be much concern'd to refute this Accusation because after our Authour 's ingenuous and manly answer to it a great Minister of State was pleas'd to assure him in a Letter that His Majesty was satisfied that he was both able and willing to promote the King's Service with as much Zeal as his Accuser and with much more Sincerity Discretion and Success In the Year MDCLXVI he was married to Margaret Daughter of Sir William Salter in the Chappel of Richking House in Buckingham-shire the Seat of her Father He behav'd himself always to his Wife who brought him a very large Fortune not onely with Kindness but with all imaginable Indulgence and was happy as in the Enjoyment of her for XV. Years so in his numerous Issue by her some of which are yet living but I shall not enlarge on this Head as thinking the World not much concern'd in the particular and exact Knowledge of the small Occurrences of a private Family What I have farther to add is That our Authour after a long Disease at last died at Westminster on the XVIII Day of April in the Year MDCLXXXVIII and in the Year of his Age LXVII and was buried in the Abby there much desired and lamented by many but especially by those few that had the happiness of his near and intimate Conversation Having thus given you the Memoirs of Dr. Stradling's Life his Birth Fortune Manners and Death I shall proceed to draw from thence and from the other Accidents of his Life which would hardly bear a distinct Relation apart the true and full Idea and Character of our Authour He was a Man then of a free sweet and condescending Temper and withall of a deep and piercing Wit so that his Conversation not only procur'd him the Love but rais'd the Admiration of his Acquaintance He was not open to many Visitants but had the unusual happiness of being respected by Men of a different Humour Party and Temper from each other and who hardly agreed in any one thing but the Esteem of him And indeed as he was a Man of strict Morals and yet of an easie and agreeable Disposition he gain'd a respect of the more rigid and moroso part of Mankind and gave in the mean-while a liberty of access to those that allow'd themselves a greater latitude in Conversation His Learning was by no means superficial and yet his general Correspondence with Gentlemen of all sorts had made it easie to him and to his Company and though it was not always in sight yet was it ever ready not so much to amuse Ignorance as to refute Impertinence It will appear by the use he made of Foreign Authours in his Works that he travell'd not with the same Design as young