or in words to this purpose that her Husband had made up or finisht Mr. Hookers last three Books and that upon her Husbands Death-bed or in his last sickness he gave them into her hand with a charge they should not be seen by any man but be by her delivered into the hands of the then Archbishop of Canterbury which was Dr. Abbot and that she did as he injoyn'd her I do conceive that from Doctor Spencers and no other Copy there have been divers Transcripts and were to be found in several places as namely Sir Thomas Bodlies Library in that of Doctor Andrews late Bishop of Winton in the late Lord Conwayes in the Archbishop of Canterburies and in the Bishop of Armaghs and in many others and most of these pretended to be the Authors own hand but much disagreeing being indeed altered and diminisht as men have thought fittest to make Mr. Hookers Judgment suit with their Fancies or give authority to their corrupt designs and for proof of a part of this take these following testimonies Doctor Barnard sometime Chaplain to Doctor Usher late Lord Archbishop of Armagh hath declar'd in a late Book called Clavi Trebales Printed by Richard Hodgkinson Anno 1661. that in his search and examination of the said Bishops Manuscripts he found the three written Books which were supposed the 6.7 and 8. of Mr. Hookers Books of Ecclesiastical Polity and that in the said three Books now printed as Mr. Hookers there are so many omissions that they amouut to many paragraphs and which cause many incoherencies the Omissions are by him set down at large in the said Printed Book to which I refer the Reader for the whole but think fit in this place to insert this following short part of them First as there could be in Natural Bodies no Motion of any thing unless there were some first which moved all things and continued Unmoveable even so in Politick Societies there must be some unpunishable or else no man shall suffer punishment for sith punishments proceed always from Superiors to whom the administration of Iustice belongeth which administration must have necessarily a Fountain that deriveth it to all others and receiveth not from any because otherwise the course of Iustice should go infinitely in a Circle every Superiour having his Superiour without end which cannot be therefore a well-spring it followeth there is a Supreme head of Iustice whereunto all are subject but it self in subjection to none Which kind of Preheminency if some ought to have in a Kingdom who but the King shall have it Kings therefore or no man can have lawful power to Iudge If Private men offend there is the Magistrate over them which Iudgeth if Magistrates they have their Prince if Princes there is Heaven a Tribunal before which they shall appear on Earth they are not accomptable to any Here says the Doctor it breaks off abruptly And I have these words also attested under the hand of Mr. Fabian Phillips a man of note for his useful Books I will make Oath if I shall be required that Doctor Sanderson the late Bishop of Lincoln did a little before his Death affirm to me he had seen a Manuscript affirmed to him to be the hand-writing of Mr. Richard Hooker in which there was no mention made of the King or Supreme Governors being accomptable to the People this I will make Oath that that good man attested to me Fabian Phillips So that there appears to be both Omissions and Additions in the said last three printed Books and this may probably be one Reason why Doctor Sanderson the said Learned Bishop whose writings are so highly and justly valued gave a strickt charge near the time of his Death or in his last Will that nothing of his that was not already Printed should be Printed after his Death It is well known how high a value our Learned King Iames put upon the Books writ by Mr. Hooker as also that our late King Charls the Martyr for the Church valued them the second of all Books testified by his commending them to the reading of his Son Charls that now is our gratious King and you may suppose that this Charls the First was not a stranger to the pretended three Books because in a discourse with the Lord Say when the said Lord required the King to grant the truth of his argument because it was the Judgement of Mr. Hooker quoting him in one of the three written Books the King replyed they were not allowed to be Mr. Hookers Books but however he would allow them to be Mr. Hookers and consent to what his Lordship proposed to prove out of those doubtful Books if he would but consent to the Iudgement of Mr. Hooker in the other five that were the undoubted Books of Mr. Hooker In this relation concerning these three doubtful Books of Mr. Hookers my purpose was to enquire then set down what I observ'd and know which I have done not as an ingaged Person but indifferently and now leave my Reader to give Sentence for their Legitimation as to himself but so as to leave others the same Liberty of believing or disbelieving them to be Mr. Hookers and t is observable that as Mr. Hooker advis'd with Doctor Spencer in the design and manage of these Books so also and chiefly with his dear Pupils George Cranmer whose Sister was the wife of Doctor Spencer of which this following Letter may be a Testimony and doth also give authority to some things mentioned both in this Appendix and in the Life of Mr. Hooker and is therefore added GEORGE CRANMERS Letter unto MR. Richard Hooker February 1598. WHat Posterity is likely to judge of these matters concerning Church-Discipline we may the better conjecture if we call to mind what our own age within few years upon better Experience hath already judged concerning the same It may be remembred that at first the greatest part of the Learned in the Land were either eagerly affected or favourably inclined that way The Books then written for the most part favoured of the Disciplinary Stile it sounded every where in Pulpits and in common phrase of mens speech the contrary part began to fear they had taken a wrong course many which impugned the Discipline yet so impugned it not as not being the better form of Government but as not being so convenient for our State in regard of dangerous Innovations thereby like to grow one man alone there was to speak of whom let no suspition of Flattery deprive of his deserved Commendation who in the defiance of the one part and courage of the other stood in the gap and gave others respite to prepare themselves to the defence which by the sudden eagerness and violence of their Adversaries had otherwise been prevented wherein God hath made good unto him his own Impress Vincit qui patitur for what contumelious indignities he hath at their hands sustained the world is witness and what reward of Honour above his
Works and by their Transcription they fell into the hands of others and have been thereby preserved from being lost as too many of his other matchless wrirings were and from these I have gathered my observations in this Discourse of his Life After the publication of his answer to the Petition of Mr. Trevers Mr. Hooker grew dayly into repute with the most learned and wise of the Nation but it had a contrary effect in every many of the Temple that were zealous for Mr. Trevers and for his Church Discipline insomuch that though Mr. Trevers left the place yet the seeds of Discontent could not be rooted out of that Society by the great Reason and as great Meekness of this humble man for though the chief Benchers gave him much Reverence and Incouragement yet he there met with many neglects and oppositions by those of Mr. Trevers Judgement insomuch that it turned to his extreme grief and that he might unbeguile and win them he designed to write a deliberate sober Treatise of the Churches power to make Canons for the use of Ceremonies and by Law to impose an obedience to them as upon her Children and this he proposed to do in eight Books of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity intending therein to shew such Arguments as should force an assent from all men if Reason delivered in sweet Language and voyd of any provocation were able to doe it And that he might prevent all prejudice he wrote a large Preface or Epistle to the Dissenting Brethren wherein there were such Bowels of Love and such a Commixture of that Love with Reason as was never exceeded but in Holy Writ and particularly by that of St. Paul to his dear Brother and fellow Labourer Philemon than which none ever was more like this Epistle of Mr. Hookers so that his dear friend and companion in his Studies might after his death justly say What admirable height of Learning and depth of Iudgment dwelt in the lowly mind of this truly humble man great in all wise mens eyes except his own with what gravity and Majesty of speech his Tongue and Pen uttered Heavenly Mysteries whose eyes in the Humility of his Heart were always cast down to the ground how all things that proceeded from him were breathed as from the Spirit of Love as if he like the Bird of the Holy Ghost the Dove had wanted gall let those that knew him not in his Person judge by these living Images of his soul his Writings The foundation of these Books were laid in the Temple but he sound it no fit place to finish what he had there designed and therefore solicited the Arch Bishop for a remove saying When I lost the freedom of my Cell which was my College yet I found some degree of it in my quiet Country Parsonage but I am weary of the noise and oppositions of this place And indeed God and Nature did not intend me for Contentions but for Study and quietness I have begun a work in which I intend the Iustification of our Laws of Church-Government and I shall never be able to finish it but where I may Study and pray for Gods blessing upon my indeavours and keep my self in Peace and Privacy and behold Gods blessing spring out of my Mother Earth and eat my own bread without oppositions and therefore if your Grace can Iudge me worthy such a favour let me beg it that I may perfect what I have begun About this time the Parsonage or Rectory of Boscum in the Diocess of Sarum and six miles from that City became void The Bishop of Sarum is Patron of it but in the vacancy of that Sea which was three years betwixt the death of Bishop Peirce and Bishop Caldwells admission into it the disposal of that and all Benefices belonging to that Sea during this said vacancy came to be disposed of by the Archbishop of Canterbury and he presented Richard Hooker to it in the year 1591. And Richard Hooker was also in this said year Instituted Iuly 17. to be a minor Prebend of Salisbury the Corps to it being nether-Havin about ten miles from that City which Prebend was of no great value but intended chiefly to make him capable of a better preferment in that Church In this Boscum he continued till he had finished four of his eight proposed Books of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity and these were enter'd into the register Book in Stationers Hall the 9. of March 1592. but not publisht till the year 1594. and then with the before mentioned large and affectionate Preface to them that seek as they termit the Reformation of the laws and orders Ecclesiastical in the Church of England of which Books I shall yet say nothing more but that he continued his laborious diligence to finish the remaining four during his life of all which more properly hereafter but at Boscum he finisht and publisht but only the first four He left Boscum in the year 1595. by a surrender of it into the hands of Bishop Caldwell and he presented Benjamin Russel who was Instituted into it 23. of Iune in the same year The Parsonage of Bishops Borne in Kent three miles from Canterbury is in that Archbishops gift but in the latter end of the year 1594. Doctor William Redman the Rector of it was made Bishop of Norwich by which means the power of presenting to it was pro ea vice in the Queen and she presented Richard Hooker whom she loved well to this good living of Borne the 7. of Iuly 1595. in which Living he continued till his Death without any addition of Dignity or Profit And now having brought our Richard Hooker from his Birth-place Place to this where he found a Grave I shall only give some account of his Books and of his behaviour in this Parsonage of Borne and then give a rest both to my self and my Reader His first four Books and large Epistle have been declared to be printed at his being at Boscum Anno 1594. Next I am to tell that at the end of these four Books there is printed this Advertisement to the Reader I have for some causes thought it at this time more fit to let go these first four Books by themselves than to stay both them and the rest till the whole might together be published Such generalities of the cause in question as are here handled it will be perhaps not amiss to consider apart by way of Introduction unto the Books that are to follow concerning particulars in the mean time the Reader is requested to mend the Printers errors as noted underneath And I am next to declare that his fifth Book which is larger than his first four was first also printed by itself Anno 1597. and dedicated to his Patron the Archbishop These Books were read with an admiration of their excellency in This and their just fame spread it self into forain Nations And I have been told more than fourty years past that Cardinal
Imprimatur Ex AEd. Lamb. Oct. 29. 1664. Geo. Stradling S.T.P. Rev in Christo Pat. D. Gilb. Archiep. Cant. Ã Sac. Do. Mr RICHARD HOOKER Author of those Learned Bookes of Eoclesiasticoll pollitie W. DolleF THE LIFE OF Mr. RICH. HOOKER The Author of those Learned Books of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity Prov. 2.15 The tongue of the wise useth knowledge rightly LONDON Printed by I. G. for Rich. Marriott and are to be sold at his Shop under the Kings-head Tavern over against the Inner Temple gate in Fleetstreet 1665. To the Right Honourable AND Right Reverend Father in God GEORGE Lord Bishop of Winchester Dean of His Majesty's Chapel Royal and Prelate of the most Noble Order of the Garter MY LORD THere present you with a Relation of the Life of that Humble man to whom at the mention of his Name Princes and the most Learned of this Nation have paid a Reverence It was written by me under your Roof for which and more weighty Reasons you might if it were worthy justly claim a Title to it But indeed my Lord though this be a well-meant Sacrifice to the Memory of that Venerable man yet I have so little Confidence in my Performance that I beg your Pardon for Supscribing your Name to it and desire all that know your Lordship to receive it not as a Dedication by which you receive any Access of Honour but rather as a more humble and a more publick Acknowledgment of your long-continued and your now daily Favours to Your most Affectionate and most Humble Servant Nov. 28. 1664. IZAAK WALTON The Copy of a Letter writ to Mr. Walton by Dr. King Lord Bishop of Chichester THough a Familiarity of almost Forty years continuance and the constant experience of your Love even in the worst times be sufficient to indear our Friendship yet I must confess my Affection much improved not onely by Evidences of private Respect to many that know and love you but by your new Demonstration of a Publick Spirit testified in a diligent true and useful Collection of so many Material Passages as you have now afforded me in the Life of Venerable Mr. Hooker Of which since desired by such a Friend as your self I shall not deny to give the Testimony of what I know concerning him and his learned Books but shall first here take a fair occasion to tell you that you have been happy in chusing to write the Lives of three such Persons as Posterity hath just cause to honour which they will do the more for the true Relation of them by your happy Pen of all which I shall give you my unfeigned Censure I shall begin with my most dear and incomparable Friend Dr. Donne late Dean of S. Pauls Church who not onely trusted me as his Executor but three days before his death delivered into my hands those excellent Sermons of his now made publick professing before Dr. Winniff Dr. Montford and I think your self then present at his bed-side that it was by my restless importunity that he had prepared them for the Press together with which as his best Legacy he gave me all his Sermon-Notes and his other Papers containing an Extract of near Fifteen hundred Authors How these were got out of my hands you who were the Messenger for them and how lost both to me and your self is not now seasonable to complain but since they did miscarry I am glad that the general Demonstration of his Worth was so fairly preserv'd and represented to the World by your Pen in the History of his Life indeed so well that beside others the best Critick of our later time Mr. Iohn Hales of Eaton College affirm'd to me He had not seen a Life written with more advantage to the Subject or more reputation to the Writer than that of Dr. Donnes After the performance of this task for Dr. Donne you undertook the like office for our Freind Sir Henry Wotton betwixt which two there was a Friendship begun in Oxford continued in their various Travels and more confirm'd in the religious Friendship of Age and doubtless this excellent Person had writ the Life of Dr. Donne if Death had not prevented him by which means his and your Pre-collections for that Work fell to the happy Menage of your Pen a Work which your would have declin'd if imperious Persuasions had not been stronger than you modest Resolutions against it And I am thus far glad that the first Life was so impos'd upon you because it gave an unavoidable Cause of Writing the second if not 't is too probable we had wanted both which had been a prejudice to all Lovers of Honour and ingenious Learning And let me not leave my Friend Sir Henry without this Testimony added to yours That he was a Man of as Florid a Wit and Elegant a Pen as any former or ours which in that kind is a most excellent Age hath ever produced And now having made this voluntary Observation of our two deceased Friends I proceed to satisfie your desire concerning what I know and believe of the ever-memorable Mr. Hooker who was Schismaticorum Malleus so great a Champion for the Church of Englands Rights against the Factious Torrent of Separatists that then ran high against Church-Discipline and in his unanswerable Books continues to be so against the unquiet Disciples of their Schism which now under other Names still carry on their Design and who as the proper Heirs of their Irrational Zele would again rake into the scarce-closed Wounds of a newly bleeding State and Church And first though I dare not say that I knew Mr. Hooker yet as our Ecclesiastical History reports to the honour of Ignatius that he lived in the time of S. Iohn and had seen him in his Childhood so I also joy that in my Minority I have often seen Mr. Hooker with my Father from whom and others at that time I have heard most of the material passages which you relate in the History of his Life and from my Father received such a Character of his Learning Humility and other Virtues that like Jewels of unvaluable price they still cast such a lustre as Envy or the Rust of Time shall never darken From my Father I have also heard all the Circumstances of the Plot to defame him and how Sir Edwin Sandys out-witted his Accusers and gained their Confession and could give an account of each particular of that Plot but that I judge it fitter to be forgotten and rot in the same Grave with the Malicious Authors I may not omit to declare that my Fathers Knowledge of Mr. Hooker was occasioned by the Learned Dr. Iohn Spencer who after the Death of Mr. Hooker was so careful to preserve his unvaluable Sixth Seventh and Eighth Books of ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY and his other Writings that he procured Henry Iacksow then of Corpus-Christi College to transcribe for him all Mr. Hookers remaining written Papers many of which were imperfect for his Study had been
rifled or worse used by Mr. Charke and another of Principles too like his but as these Papers were endeavoured to be completed by his dear Friend Dr. Spencer who bequeathed them as a precious Legacy to my Father then Bishop of London after whose Death they rested in my hand till Dr. Abbot then Archbishop of Canterbury commanded them out of my Custody authorizing Dr. Iohn Barkeham to require and bring them to him to Lambeth at which time I have heard they were put into the Bishops Library and that they remained there till the Martyrdom of Archbishop Laud and were then by the Brethren of that Faction given with the Library to Hugh Peters as a Reward for his remarkable Service in those sad times of the Churches Confusion and though they could hardly fall into a fouler hand yet there wanted not other Endeavours to corrupt and make them speak that Language for which the Faction then fought which was To subject the Soveraign Power to the People I need not strive to vindicate Mr. Hooker in this particular his known Loyalty to his Prince whilest he lived the Sorrow expressed by K. Iames at his Death the Value our late Soveraign of ever-blessed Memory put upon his Works and now the singular Character of his Worth by you given in the passages of his Life especially in your Appendix to it do sufficiently clear him from that Imputation and I am glad you mention how much value Robert Stapleton Pope Clement the VIII and other Eminent Men of the Romish Persuasion have put upon his Books having been told the same in my Youth by Persons of worth that have travelled Italy Lastly I must again congratulate this Undertaking of yours as now more proper to you than any other person by reason of your long Knowledge and Alliance to the worthy Family of the Cranmers my old Friends also who have been Men of noted Wisdom especially Mr. George Cranmer whose Prudence added to that of Sir Edwin Sandys proved very useful in the Completing of Mr. Hookers matchless Books one of their Letters I herewith send you to make use of if you think sit And let me say further you merit much from many of Mr. Hookers best Friends then living namely from the ever renowned Archbishop Whitgift of whose incomparable Worth with the Character of the Times you have given us a more short and significant Account that I have received from any other Pen. You have done much for Sir Henry Savile his Contemporary and familiar Friend amongst the surviving Monuments of whose Learning give me leave to tell you so two are omitted his Edition of Euclid but especially his Translation of King Iames his Apology for the Oath of Allegeance into elegant Latine which flying in that dress as far as Rome was by the Pope and Conclave sent to Salamanca unto Franciscus Suarez then residing there as President of that College with a Command to Answer it When he had perfected the Work which he calls Defensio Fidei Catholica it was transmitted to Rome for a view of the Inquisitors who according to their custom blotted out what they pleas'd and as Mr. Hooker hath been used since his Death added whatsoever might advance the Popes Supremacy or carry on their own Interest commonly coupling Deponere Occidere the Deposing and Killing of Princes which cruel and unchristian Language Mr. Iohn Saltkell his Amanuensis when he wrote at Salamanca but since a Convert living long in my Fathers house often professed the good Old man whose Piety and Charity Mr. Saltkell magnified much not onely disavowed but detested Not to trouble you further your Reader if according to your desire my Approbation of your Work carries any weight will find many just Reasons to thank you for it and for this Circumstance here mentioned not known to many may happily apprehend one to thank him who is Chichester Nov. 13 1664. Sir Your ever-faithful and affectionate old Friend Henry Chichester To the Reader I Think it necessary to inform my Reader that Dr. Gauden the late Bishop of Worcester hath also lately wrote and publisht the Life of Mr. Hooker and though this be not writ by design to oppose the Life of Mr. Hooker written by him yet I am put upon a necessity to say That in it there be many Material Mistakes and more Omissions I do conceive some of his Mistakes did proceed from a Belief in Mr. Thomas Fuller who had too hastily published what he hath since most ingenuously retracted And for the Bishops Omissions I suppose his more weighty Business and Want of Time made him pass over many things without that due Examination which my better Leisure my Diligence and my accidental Advantages have made known unto me And now for my self I can say I hope or rather know there are no Material Mistakes in what I here present to him that shall become my Reader Little things that I have received by Tradition to which there may be too much and too little Faith given I will not at this distance of Time undertake to justifie for though I have used great Diligence and compared Relations and Circumstances and probable Results and Expressions yet I shall not impose my Belief upon my Reader I shall rather leave him at liberty But if there shall appear any Material Omission I desire every Lover of Truth and the Memory of Mr. Hooker that it may be made known unto me And to incline him to it I here promise to acknowledge and rectifie any such Mistake in a second Impression which the Printer says he hopes for and by this means my weak but faithful Endeavours may become a better Monument and in some degree more worthy the Memory of this Venerable Man I confess that when I consider the great Learning and Virtue of Mr. Hooker and what Satisfaction and Advantages many Eminent Scholars and Admirers of him have had by his Labours I do not a little wonder that in Sixty years no man did undertake to tell Posterity of the Excellencies of his Life and Learning and the Accidents of both and sometimes wonder more at my self that I have been persuaded to it and indeed I do not easily pronounce my own Pardon nor expect that my Reader shall unless my Introduction shall prove my Apology Errata Page 6. line 10. read to my introduction p. 58. l. 22. r. vented p. 106. l. 16. r. of so great a Controvertie p. 108. r. many p. 111. l. 3. adde Dr. Spencer p. 113. r. Salisbury p. 117. l. 10. r. by it self p. 137. l. 6. r. facetious p. 167. l. 11. after Dr. Abbot adde or the Bishop of London p. 171. l. 2. r. Fabian ibid. l. 5. r. Fabian THE LIFE OF Mr. Richard Hooker The Introduction I Have been persuaded by a Friend that I ought to obey to write The Life of RICHARD HOOKER the happy Author of five if not more of the eight learned Books of The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity And though I have
Alen or learned Doctor Stapleton both English men and in Italy when Mr. Hookers four Books were first printed meeting with this general fame of them were desirous to read an Author that both the Rerformed and the Learned of their own Church did so much magnifie and therefore caused them to be sent for and after reading them boasted to the Pope which then was Clement the eight that though he had lately said he never met with an English Book whose Writer deserved the name of an Author yet there now appear'd a wonder to them and it would be so to his Holiness if it were in Latin for a poor obscure English Priest had writ four such Books of Laws and Church Polity and in a Style that exprest so Grave and such Humble Majesty with clear demonstration of Reason that in all their readings they had not met with any that exceeded him and this begot in the Pope an earnest desire that Doctor Stapleton should bring the said four Books and looking on the English read a part of them to him in Latin which Doctor Stapleton did to the end of the first Book at the conclusion of which the Pope spake to this purpose there is no Learning that this man hath not searcht into nothing too hard for his understanding This man indeed deserves the name of an Author his books will get reverence by Age for there is in them such seeds of Eternity that if the rest be like this they shall last till the last Fire shall consume all Learning Nor was this high the only testimony and commendations given to his Books for at the first coming of King Iames into this Kingdom he inquired of the Archbishop Whitegift for his friend Mr. Hooker that writ the Books of Church Polity to which the answer was that he dyed a year before Queen Elizabeth who received the sad news of his Death with very much Sorow to which the King replyed and I receive it with no less that I shall want the desired happinesse of seeing and discoursing with that man from whose Books I have received such satisfaction Indeed my Lord I have received more satisfaction in reading a Leaf or Paragraph in Mr. Hooker though it were but about the fashion of Churches or Church Musick or the like but especially of the Sacraments than I have had in the reading particular large Treatises written but of one of those subjects by others though very Learned men and I observe there is in Mr. Hooker no affected Language but a comprehensive deer manifestation of Reason and that back't with the Authority of the Scripture the Fathers and Schoolmen and with all Law both Sacred and Civil And though many others write well yet in the next age they will be forgotten but doubtless there is in every page of Mr. Hookers Book the picture of a Divine Soul such Pictures of Truth and Reason and drawn in so sacred colours that they shall never fade but give an immortal memory to the Author And it is so truly true that he thought what he spake that as the most Learned of the Nation have and still do mention Mr. Hooker with reverence so he also did never mention him but with the Epithite of Learned or Iudicious or Reverend or Venerable Mr. Hooker Nor did his Son our late King Charles the first ever mention him but with the same reverence enjoyning his Son our now gracious King to be studious in Mr. Hookers Books And our learned Antiquary Mr. Cambden mentioning the Death the modesty and other vertues of Mr. Hooker and magnifying his Books wisht that for the honour of this and benefit of other Nations they were turn'd into the Universal Language Which work though undertaken by many yet they have been weary and forsaken it but the Reader may now expect it having been long since begun and lately finisht by the happy pen of Doctor Earl now Lord Bishop of Salisbury of whom I may justly say and let it not offend him because it is such a truth as ought not to be conceal'd from Posterity or those that now live and yet know him not that since Mr. Hooker died none have liv'd whom God hath blest with more innocent Wisdom more sanctified Learning or a more pious peaceable primitive Temper so that this excellent person seems to be only like himself our venerable R. Hooker only fit to make the learned of all Nations happy in knowing what hath been too long confin'd to the language of our little I stand There might be many more and just occasions taken to speak of his Books which none ever did or can commend too much but I decline them and hasten to an account of his Christian behaviour and Death at Borne in which place he continued his customary rules of Mortification and Self-denyal was much in Fasting frequent in Meditation and Prayers injoying those blessed Returns which only men of strict lives feel and know and to which men of loose and Godless lives are Strangers At his entrance into this place his Friendship was much sought for by Doctor Hadrian Saravia then one of the Prebends of Canterbury a German by birth and sometimes a Pastor both in Flanders and Holland where he had studied and well considered the controverted points concerning Episcopacy and Sacrilege and in England had a just occasion to declare his Judgement concerning both unto his Brethren Ministers of the Low Countrys which was excepted against by Theodor Beza and others against whose exceptions he rejoyned and thereby became the happy Author of many Learned Tracts writ in Latin especially of three one of the Degrees of Ministers and of the Bishops Superiority above the Presbytery a second against Sacrilege and a third of Christian Obedience to Princes the last being occasioned by Gretzerus the Jesuit And it is observable that when Beza gave his reasons to the Chancellor of Scotland for the abrogation of Episcopacy in that Nation partly by Letters and more fully in a Treatise of a three-fold Episcopacy which he calls Divine Humane and Satanical this Doctor Saravia had by the help of Bishop Whitgift made such an early discovery of their intentions that he had almost as soon answered that Treatise as it became Publique and therein discovered how Beza's opinion did contradict that of Calvins and their adherents leaving them to interfere with themselves in point of Episcopacy but these Tracts it will not concern me to say more than that they were most of them dedicated to his and the Church of Englands watchful Patron Iohn Whitgift the Archbishop and printed about the year in which Mr. Hooker also appeared first to the world in the Publication of his first four Books of Ecclesiastical Polity This Friendship being sought for by this Learned Doctor you may believe was not denied by M. Hooker who was fortune so like him as to be ingaged against Mr. Trevers Mr. Cartwright and others in a controversie too like Doctor Saravia's So that
that the fittest time to discover those errors to which health and prosperity had blinded them and having by pious Reasons and Prayers moulded them into holy Resolutions for the time to come he would incline them to Confession and bewailing their sins with purpose to forsake them and then to receive the Communion both as a strengthning of those holy Resolutions as a seal betwixt God and them of his Mercies to their Souls in case that present sickness did put a period to their lives And as he was thus watchful charitable to the sick so he was as diligent to prevent Law-sutes still urging his Parishioners Neighbours to bear with each others infirmities and live in love because as S. John says he that lives in Love lives in God for God is Love And to maintain this holy fire of Love constantly burning on the Altar of a pure heart his advice was to watch and pray and alwayes keep themselves fit to receive the Communion then to receive it often for it was both a Confirming and a Strengthning of their Graces this was his advice and at his entrance or departure out of any House he would usually speak to the whole Family and bless them insomuch that as he seem'd in his youth to be taught of God so he seem'd in this place to teach his Precepts as Enoch did by walking with him in all Holiness and Humility making each day a step towards a blessed Eternity And though in this weak and declining Age of the World such examples are become barren and almost incredible yet let his Memory be blest with this true Recordation because he that praises Richard Hooker praises God who hath given such gifts to men and let this humble and affectionate relation of him become such a pattern as may invite posterity to imitate his vertues This was his constant behaviour at Borne thus did he tread in the footsteps of Primitive Piety and yet as our blessed Iesus was not free from false accusations no more was this Disciple of his this most humble most innocent holy man his was a slander parallel to that of chaste Susannaes by the wicked Elders and which this age calls Trepaning the particulars need not a repetion and that it was false needs no other Testimony than the publick punishment of his Accusers and their open Confession of his Innocency 't was said that the accusation was contrived by a dissenting Brother one that indur'd not Church Ceremonies hating him for his Books sake which he was not able to answer and his Name hath been told me but I have not so much confidence in the relation as to make my Pen fix a scandal on him to posterity I shall rather leave it doubtful till the great day of Revelation But this is certain that he lay under the great charge and the Anketiety of this Accusation and kept it secret to himself for many moneths and being a helplesse man had layn longer under this heavy burthen but that the Protector of the innocent gave such an accidental occasion as forced him to make it known to his two dear Friends Edwin Sandys and George Cranmer who were so sensible of their Tutors sufferings that they gave themselves no rest till by their disquisitions and diligence they had found out the Fraud brought him the welcom news hat his Accusers did confess they had wrong'd him and begg'd his pardon to which the good mans reply was to this purpose the Lord forgive them and the Lord bless you for this comfortable news Now I have a just occasion to say with Solomon Friends are born for the days of adversity and such you have prov'd to me and to my God I say as did the mother of St. Iohn Baptist thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the day wherein he looked upon me to take away my reproach among men And oh my God neither my Life nor my Reputation are safe in mine own keeping but in thine who didst take care of me when I yet hanged upon my Mothers brest blessed are they that put their trust in thee O Lord for when false witnesses were risen up against me when shame was ready to cover my face when I was bowed down with an horrible Dread and went mourning all the day long when my nights were restless and my Sleeps broken with a fear worse than Death when my Soul thirsted for a deliverance as the Heart panteth after the rivers of waters then thou Lord didst hear my Complaints pitty my condition and become my deliverer and as long as I live I will hold up my hands in this manner and magnifie thy mercies who didst not give me over as a prey to mine enemies Oh blessed are they that put their trust in thee and no prosperity shall make me forget to perform those vows that I have made to thee in the days of my affliction for with such sacrifices thou O God art well pleased and I will pay them Thus did the Joy and Gratitude of this Good mans heart break forth and 't is observable that as the invitation to this Slander was his Meek behaviour and Dove-like simplicity for which he was remarkable so his Christian Charity ought to be imitated For though the Spirit of Revenge is so pleasing to Mankind that it is never conquered but by a Supernatural Grace being indeed so deeply rooted in Humane Nature that to prevent the Excesses of it for men would not know Moderation Almighty God allows not any Degree of it to any man but says Vengeance is mine And though this be said by God himself yet this Revenge is so pleasing that Man is hardly persuaded to submit the menage of it to the Time and Justice and Wisdom of his Creator but would hasten to be his own Executioner of it And yet nevertheless if any man ever did wholly decline and leave this pleasing Passion to the Time and Measure of God alone it was this Richard Hooker of whom I write for when his Slanderers were to suffer he laboured to procure their Pardon and when that was denied him his Reply was That however he would fast and pray that God would give them repentance and patience to undergo their punishment And his Prayers were so far returned into his own bosom that the first was granted if we may believe a penitent Behavior and an open Confession And 't is observable that after this time he would often say to Dr. Saravia Oh with what quietness did I enjoy my Soul after I was free from the fears of my Slander and how much more after a Conflict and Victory over my Desires of Revenge In the Year 1600 and of his Age 46 he fell into a long and sharp Sickness occasioned by a Cold taken in his Passage betwixt London and Gravesend from the Malignity of which he was never recovered for till his death he was not free from thoughtful Days and restless Nights but a submission to his Will that
makes the Sick mans Bed easie by giving rest to his Soul made his very Languishment comfortable and yet all this time he was solicitous in his Study and said often to Dr. Saravia who saw him daily and was the chief Comfort of his Life That he did not beg a Long life of God for any other reason but to live to finish his three remaining Books of POLITY and then Lord let thy Servant depart in peace which was his usual Expression And God heard his Prayers though he denied the Church the Benefit of them as completed by himself and 't is thought he hastened his own Death by hastening to give Life to his Books But this is certain that the nearer he was to his Death the more he grew in Humility in holy Thoughts and Resolutions About a moneth before his death this Good man that never knew or at least never consider'd the pleasures of the Palate became first to lose his Appetite then to have an aversness to all Food insomuch that he seem'd to live some intermitted weeks by the smell of Meat onely and yet still studied and writ And now his Guardian Angel seem'd to foretell him that the day of his Dissolution drew near for which his vigorous Soul appear'd to thirst In this time of his Sickness and not many days before his Death his House was robb'd of which he having notice his Question was Are my Books and written Papers safe and being answered that they were his Reply was then it matters not for no other loss can trouble me About one day before his death Dr. Saravia who knew the very Secrets of his Soul for they were supposed to be Confessors to each other came to him and after a Conference of the Benefit the Necessity and Safety of the Churches Absolution it was resolved the Doctor should give him both that and the Sacrament the day following To which end the Doctor came and after a short Retirement and Privacy they return'd to the Company and then the Doctor gave him and some Friends with him the blessed Sacrament of the Body and Bloud of our Jesus Which being performed the Doctor thought he saw a reverend Gaity and Joy in his Face but it lasted not long for his bodily Infirmities did return suddenly and became more visible insomuch that the Doctor apprehended Death ready to seize him yet after some amendment left him at night with a promise to return early the day following which he did and then found him better in appearance deep in Contemplation and not inclinable to Discourse which gave the Doctor occasion to require his present Thoughts to which he replied that he was meditating the Number and Nature of Angels and their blessed Obedience and Order without which Peace could not be in Heaven and oh that it might be so on Earth After which words he said I have lived to see this World is made up of Perturbations and I have been long preparing to leave it and gathering Comfort for the dreadful hour of making my Account with God which I now apprehend to be near and though I have by his Grace lov'd him in my Youth and fear'd him in mine Age and labour'd to have a Conscience void of offence to him and to all men yet if thou O Lord be extreme to mark what I have done amiss who can abide it and therefore where I have failed Lord shew mercy to me and since I owe thee a Death Lord let it not be terrible and then take thine own time I submit to it Let not mine O Lord but let thy Will be done with which Expression he fell into a dangerous Slumber dangerous as to his Recovery yet recover he did but it was to speak onely these few words Good Doctor God hath heard my daily Petitions for I am at peace with all men and he is at peace with me and from that blessed assurance I feel that inward joy which this World can neither give nor take from me More he would have spoken but his Spirits failed him and after a short Conflict betwixt Nature and Death a quiet Sigh put a period to his last breath and so he fell asleep And here I draw his Curtain till with the most blessed Martyrs and Confessours this most Learned most Humble Holy Man shall also awake to receive an Eternal Tranquillity and with it a greater Degree of Glory than common Christians shall be made Partakers of till which blessed time Let Glory be to God on high let Peace be upon Earth and Good-will to Mankind Amen Amen This following Epitaph was long since presented to the world in memory of Mr. Hooker by Sir William Cooper who also built him a fair Monument in Borne Church and acknowledges him to have been his Spiritual Father Though nothing can be spoke worthy his Fame Or the Remembrance of that precious Name Iudicious Hooker though this cost be spent On him that hath a Lasting Monument In his own Books yet ought we to express If not his Worth yet our Respectfulness Church Ceremonies he maintain'd then why Without all Ceremony should he dye Was it because his Life and Death should be Both equal paterns of Humility Or that perhaps this only glorious one Was above all to ask why had he none Yet he that lay so long Obscurely low Doth now preferr'd to greater Honors go Ambitious men learn hence to be more wise Humility is the true way to rise And God in me this lesson did Inspire To bid this Humble man Friend sit up higher AN APPENDIX To the LIFE of Mr. Richard Hooker ANd now having by a long and Laborious search satisfied my self and I hope my Reader by imparting to him the true relation of Mr. Hookers Life I am desirous also to acquaint him with some Observations that relate to it and which could not properly fall to be spoken till after his Death of which my Reader may expect a brief and true account in the following Appendix And first it is not to be doubted but that he died in the forty-seventh if not in the forty-sixt year of his Age which I mention because many have believed him to be more aged but I have so examined it as to be confident I mistake not and for the year of his death Mr. Cambden who in his Annals of Queen Elizabeth 1599. mentions him with a high commendation of his Life and Learning declares him to die in the year 1599. and yet in that Inscription of his Monument set up at the charge of Sir William Cooper in Borne Church where Mr. Hooker was buried his Death is said to be in Anno 1603. but doubtless both mistaken for I have it attested under the hand of William Somner the Archbishops Register for the Province of Canterbury that Richard Hookers Will bears date October the 26. in Anno 1600. and that it was prov'd the third of December following And that at his Death he left four Daughters Alice Cicily Iane and Margaret
undertaken it yet it hath been with some unwillingness foreseeing that it must prove to me and especially at this time of my Age a work of much labour to enquire consider re-search and determine what is needful to be known concerning him For I knew him not in his Life and must therefore not onely look back to his Death now 64 years past but almost 50 years beyond that even to his Childhood and Youth and gather thence such Observations and Prognosticks as may at least adorn if not prove necessary for the completing of what I have undertaken This trouble I foresee and foresee also that it is impossible to escape Censures against which I will not hope my well-meaning and diligence can protect me for I consider the Age in which I live and shall therefore but intreat of my Reader a Suspension of them till I have made known unto him some Reasons which I my self would now fain believe do make me in some measure fit for this Undertaking and if these Reasons shall not acquit me from all Censures they may at least abate of their severity and this is all I can probably hope for My Reasons follow About forty years past for I am now in the seventieth of my Age I began a happy affinity with William Cranmer now with God grand Nephew unto the great Archbishop of that name a Family of noted prudence and resolution with him and two of his Sisters I had an entire and free friendship one of them was the Wife of Dr. Spencer a Bosom friend and sometime Com-pupil with Mr. Hooker in Corpus-Christi College in Oxford and after President of the same I name them here for that I shall have occasion to mention them in this following Discourse as also George Cranmer their Brother of whose useful Abilities my Reader may have a more Authentick Testimony than my Pen can purchase for him by that of our learned Cambden This William Cranmer and his two forenamed Sisters had some affinity and a most familiar friendship with Mr. Hooker and had had some part of their Education with him in his house when he was Parson of Bishops-Borne near Canterbury in which City their good Father then lived They had I say a great part of their Education with him as my self since that time a happy Cohabitation with them and having some years before read part of Mr. Hookers Works with great liking and satisfaction my affection to them made me a diligent Inquisitor into many things that concerned him as namely of his Person his Nature the Management of his Time his Wife his Family and the Fortune of him and his Which hath given me much advantage in the knowledge of what is now under my consideration and intended for the satisfaction of my Reader I had also a frienship with the Reverend Dr. Usher the late learned Archbishop of Armagh and with Dr. Morton the late learned and charitable Bishop of Durham as also with the learned John Hales of Eaton College and with them also who loved the very Name of Mr. Hooker I have had many discourses concerning him and from them and many others that have now put off Mortality I might have had more Informations if I could then have admitted a thought of any fitness for what by persuasion I have now undertaken But though that full harvest be irrecoverably lost yet my Memory hath preserved some gleanings and my Diligence made such additions to them as I hope will prove useful to the completing of what I intend In the discovery of which I shall be faithful and with this assurance put a period to Introduction THE LIFE IT is not to be doubted but that Richard Hooker was born within the Precincts or in the City of Exeter a City that may justly boast that it was the Birth-place of him and Sir Thomas Bodley as indeed the County may in which it stands that it hath furnished this Nation with Bishop Iewell Sir Francis Drake Sir Walter Raleigh and many others memorable for their Valour and Learning He was born about the year of our Redemption 1553 and of Parents that were not so remarkable for their Extraction or Riches as for their Virtue and Industry and Gods blessing upon both by which they were enabled to educate their Children in some degree of Learning of which our Richard Hooker may appear to be one fair testimony and that Nature is not so partial as always to give the great blessings of Wisdom and Learning and with them the greater blessings of Virtue and Government to those onely that are of a more high and honourable Birth His Complexion if we may guess by him at the age of Forty was Sanguine with a mixture of Choler and yet his Motion was slow even in his Youth and so was his Speech never expressing an Earnestness in either of them but a Gravity suitable to the Aged And 't is observed so far as Inquiry is able to look back at this distance of Time that at his being a School-boy he was an early Questionist quietly inquisitive Why this was and that was not to be remembred Why this was granted and that denied This being mixt with a remarkable Modesty and a sweet serene Quietness of Nature and with them a quick Apprehension of many perplext parts of Learning imposed then upon him as a Scholar made his Master and others to believe him to have an inward blessed Divine Light and therefore to consider him to a little wonder For in that Children were less pregnant less consident and more malleable than in this wiser but not better Age. This Meekness and conjuncture of Knowledge with Modesty in his Conversation being observed by his Schoolmaster caused him to persuade his Parents who intended him for an Apprentice to continue him at School till he could find out some means by persuading his rich Uncle or some other charitable person to ease them of a part of their care and charge assuring them that their Son was so enriched with the blessings of Nature and Grace that God seemed to single him out as a special Instrument of his Glory And the Good man told them also that he would double his diligence in instructing him and would neither expect nor receive any other Reward than the content of so happy an imployment This was not unwelcom news and especially to his Mother to whom he was a dutiful and dear Child and all Parties were so pleased with this proposal that it was resolved so it should be And in the mean time his Parents and Master laid a foundation for his future happiness by instilling into his Soul the seeds of piety those consciencious principles of Loving and fearing God of A belief that he knows the very secrets of our Souls That he punisheth our vices and rewards our innocence That we should be free from hypocrisie and appear to Man what we are to God because first or last the crafty man is catcht in his own snare These