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any parish church in London or within seven miles thereof, and he was, therefore, forced to abstain from ministerial labour, but the congregation, as a mark of their regard, voluntarily contributed more than 400/, as a means of subsistence for him. In 1647 he published a folio volume of sermons, and to these two others were added by his executors. He died in London in 1658, and appears from the legacies bequeathed to his children to have been then in a state of comparative prosperity. Passages from his discourses will be found at pages 118, (The Lord's Supper,) 273, (Charity,) and 315, (The Duty of Comforting one another.)

SIR MATTHEW HALE.

This upright judge, whose name is synonymous with integrity, was the son of a barrister of Lincoln's Inn, whose tenderness of conscience induced him to relinquish the practice of his profession, and retire to an estate he possessed in Gloucestershire, where Matthew was born in 1609. The father died when his son was only five years of age, and the youthful orphan, who had previously been deprived of his mother, was placed under the care of the vicar of Wootton-under-Edge, and afterwards admitted of Magdalen Hall, Oxford. Here he fell into many levities, but being involved in a suit relative to a part of his estate, was induced to turn his attention to the study of the law, and entered Lincoln's Inn in 1629. Sometime before the civil war Hale had achieved considerable eminence at the bar, and by his integrity and knowledge of his profession was acceptable to both of the great parties in the State. He was one of the judges under Cromwell, and his decisions were always given with an unswerving regard to justice. At

the Restoration he was constituted Chief Baron of the Exchequer, and knighted, being further advanced in 1671 to the dignity of Lord Chief Justice, which office he resigned in 1675-6 in consequence of ill health, and in less than a year following he died. Sir Matthew was the author of numerous treatises not only on legal but also on moral and religious subjects. His celebrated testimony to the benefits derived from a well-spent Sabbath is given at page 193, (The Sabbath.)

BISHOP HALL.

This eminent prelate was a younger branch in a family of twelve children. His father held an office under the Earl of Huntingdon, for whom he exercised jurisdiction over Ashby-de-la-Zouch, the chief seat of the earldom; and at Bristow Park, within the parish of Ashby, the future bishop was born in 1574. His parents had always designed him for the ministry, but on account of their large family were inclined to accept an offer of private tuition; however, at the earnest solicitation of his elder son, who generously offered to sacrifice part of his inheritance, the father consented to the young scholar being sent to Cambridge, where he entered Emmanuel College in 1589. His studies here, however, were not devoid of difficulties, for in 1591, as his expenses began to be felt in so large a family, he was recalled to fill the office of schoolmaster at Ashby; but the liberality of an uncle by marriage, who defrayed half the cost of his residence at Cambridge until he attained the degree of M.A., enabled him to resume his studies.. His scholarship having expired, and the statutes of the college permitting only one person of a county to become fellow, the Earl of Huntingdon prevailed on a Mr. Gilby

to resign, and Hall was chosen in his place. He was afterwards made a royal chaplain, and sent, with other divines, to the Synod of Dort, but obliged to return after a brief period through ill health. He was at this time Dean of Worcester, and after refusing the Bishopric of Gloucester in 1624, was appointed to the see of Exeter three years later, and translated to Norwich in 1641. Little more than two years after this event he was committed to the Tower, for protesting, with the Archbishop of York and eleven other prelates, against the validity of such laws. as should be enacted during their compulsory absence from Parliament; and after being impeached for high treason, though not brought to trial, was ultimately released on giving bail. Hall thereupon retired to his diocese, where he continued in the exercise of his sacred calling till April, 1643, when he was sequestered, and his property seized. He then removed to the village of Higham, near Norwich, where he discharged unmolested the duties of a faithful pastor, and exercised such hospitality and charity as his scanty means permitted. He died in 1656, in his eightysecond year. Chalmers remarks of him: "As a moralist he has been entitled the Christian Seneca. His knowledge of the world, depth of thought, and elegance of expression place him nearer our own times than many of his contemporaries; while he adorned his age by learning, piety, and the uniform exercise of all the Christian graces." Selections from his writings are given at pages 37, (The Rich and Precious Jewel,) 67, (Prayer,) 149, (Christ Mystical,) 165, (The Sabbath,) 342, (Thanksgiving,) and 343, (Rules of Good Advice for our Christian and Civil Carriage.)

RICHARD HOOKER.

This great man, whose name was never mentioned by James I. but with the epithet of learned, or judicious, or reverend, or venerable, was born in 1553, at Heavitree, near Exeter. At the solicitation of his schoolmaster, who discerned the talents of his pupil, Hooker's parents continued him at school beyond the time originally designed; and by the exertions of the same kind teacher, an uncle was induced, in conjunction with Jewell, Bishop of Salisbury, to provide for his studies at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he was entered in his fifteenth year. After taking the usual degrees, and being elected to a fellowship of his college, he was designated to holy orders. He shortly afterwards married, but this union was not a happy one, and the placid temper of the scholar was ofttimes sorely tried. His first preferment was at Drayton Beauchamp, Buckinghamshire, which he quitted in 1585, being chosen to the Mastership of the Temple, in London. At this period discussions on the principles of Church government were rife, and Hooker became involved in a serious controversy with Travers, Temple lecturer for the evening services. Hooker, being of a mild temper, petitioned the Archbishop for a removal "To some quiet parsonage, where he might see God's blessings spring out of his mother earth, and eat his bread in peace and privacy." These discussions led him to conceive the idea of his immortal work "The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity," which was designed to be "A deliberate, sober treatise of the Church's power to make canons for the use of ceremonies, and by law to impose an obedience to them, as upon her children." Nearly the whole of the first four books were

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written in London, amid the excitement of controversy and the interruption of constant preaching. In 1591 he retired to the rectory of Boscomb, near Salisbury, and in 1597 received the living of Bishop's Bourne, near Canterbury, where his life was brought to a peaceful close in 1600. The first four books of the Ecclesiastical Polity were published in 1594, while their author was at Boscomb, and the fifth in 1597. Many conjectures have been hazarded with respect to the remaining three books. That Hooker left them in a complete state is generally believed, but they were missing almost immediately after his death, and grave suspicions have been excited that they were surreptitiously removed from his study. Keble, in his edition of Hooker, enters into the question at great length. Several rough draughts, however, were preserved, and from these the unpublished portions were ultimately compiled, the sixth and eighth books being given to the world in 1648, and the seventh in 1662. Mr. Willmott declares Hooker to have been the greatest man of the Elizabethan reign. "He built up our didactic prose, as Shakespeare created our drama. In him is seen a massiveness of intellect that awes the reader by its bulk; he is not altogether deficient in the playful foliage of imagery, but the shadow is thrown by the trunk, not by the branches." Some extracts will be found at pages 30, (Rich and Precious Jewel,) 63, (Prayer,) 106, (The Lord's Supper,) 255, (Faith,) 266, (Repentance,) 285, (Spiritual Life,) 288, (Sanctifying Grace,) 290, (Justifying and Sanctifying Righteousness,) 294, (Touching Prayer for Deliverance from Sudden Death,) 297, (Affected Atheism,) and 299, (Mockers.)

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