LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. S8 



one it was, for a chaplain to meet with, of 

 making himself also a very useful friend, and, 

 in some sense, a patron likewise, to worthy 

 clergymen ; which, no doubt, was the founda- 

 tion of the universal acquaintance he had among 

 the divines of that age, and of the unusual re- 

 spect he received from them. A full and just 

 account of this matter has been already given 

 to the world by Mr. Nelson, in his Life of Dr. 

 Bull, who was one of the worthy clergymen 

 promoted by the Lord Chancellor, at the in- 

 stance of Archdeacon Sharp ; and, therefore, it 

 will be sufficient to recite the passage from him, 

 P. 278, 279, where he mentions Dr. Bull's pro- 

 motion to a prebend in Gloucester : 



*' Among the many very commendable qua- 

 lities of this great man, (the Lord Chancellor 

 Finch) his zeal for the welfare of the Church 

 of England was not the least conspicuous ; 

 which particularly shewed itself in the care 

 he took in disposing of those ecclesiastical 

 preferments which were in the gift of the 

 seals. He judged rightly, in looking upon 

 that privilege as a trust for the good of the 

 Church of God, of which he was to give strict 

 account ; and, therefore, being sensible that 

 the several duties of his great post, as first 

 Minister of State, as Lord Chancellor, and 

 as Speaker of the House Of Lords, would not 



