preached in the beginning of every year Brief determinations of Theological Questions in the Schools very many and written with his own hand Fuller and more exact determinations of questions at the Commencement of the same number with his Latin Sermons a Book against Stapleton De originali peccato written fair and prepared for the Press The loss of these we may impute to his Immature Death For by a winter Journey to London and immoderate watching he contracted a Disease whereof he died peaceably breathing out his Spirit sweetly as an infant and saying He desired to live no longer unless for Gods Honour and the Churches service He was honourably buried in his Colledge having been Regius Professor An. 16. Head of St. Johns An. 9. Decemb. 1595. AEt 47. IV. Dr. Andrew Willet From Dr. Peter Smith 1. THere is no way more expedite of instruction to good life as Polybius wisely observeth than by the knowledge of things past and of the noble acts of famous Worthies their Histories are our Documents and their honours our incitements whereas Fame contemned brings contempt of Virtue We are not easily moved with Precepts Examples are more powerful Wherefore I have adventured briefly to sum up a few remarkable passages of the Life and Death of the Laborious and Learned Dr. Willet whose worth in the full Latitude cannot easily be expressed and my guide herein shall be either certain knowledge or most credible relation 2. It was ever esteemed no mean blessing to be well descended and though thy Fathers goodness shall avail thee little if thou beest not good yet it availeth much to make thee good Such a good Father had this worthy man by name Mr. Thomas Willet a grave Divine who in his younger time was Sub-Almoner unto that Reverend Prelate Dr. Cox Eleemosynary and Schoolmaster unto Edward VI. our Englands young Josiah of most blessed memory After whose death Dr. Cox being in Exile during the Reign of Queen Mary this Mr. Willet was not only deprived of his Service but enforced for his Conscience to forsake his first Promotion in the Church of Windsor and to betake himself to the House of a truly noble Gentleman who was a faithful Obadiah and hid him in those days of persecution But when Dr. Cox by Queen Elizabeth was advanced to the Bishoprick of Ely his antient Chaplain then repairs unto him is lovingly embraced and preferred to a Prebend in his Church And afterward when a Messenger told the good Bishop the Parson of Barley in Hartfordshire was dead the Bishop replied He is not dead And when the party avowed he was dead the Bishop again replies I tell you the Parson of Barley is not dead for there he sits pointing at Mr. Willet who was then sitting at the Table 3. The Rectory being thus added to his other means did now enable him to do works of Charity and as he had freely received so he freely gave He remembred that he had been the Dispenser of a Princes Alms and still retained a magnificent mind that way His Wife was as nobly minded and as free In her elder years when her Children were disposed of in the world her manner was to call her poor Neighbours in and feeding them to say Now again have I my Children about me Thus they laid up blessings for their seed were preserved upon an unexpected accident befalling a Proctor of their Colledge undertook his Office at the Commencement and being as Thucydides saith of Themistocles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very dexterous and ready to perform any thing well upon the sudden his Orations were such as gained the approbation and applause if not the admiration of all his Auditors both their own and strangers who knew the straits of time wherein he was confined 7. After he had spent 13 years in that University his Father now grown old resigned his Prebend in the Church of Ely which by the Favour of Queen Elizabeth sede vacante was conferr'd upon him Hereupon he left his Fellowship and betook himself to the Society of a Wife of the Kindred of old Doctor Goad Provost of Kings Colledge In this estate God bless'd him with a numerous Issue 8. His manner was to arise early in the morning and to get half way on his Journey before others could get out he came down at the hour of Prayer taking his Family with him to Church after he was preferred to the Rectory of Barley upon the death of his Father there Service was publickly read either by himself or his Curate to the great comfort of his Parishioners before they went out to their daily Labours Prayers being ended he returns unto his task again until near dinner time then he would recreate himself a while either playing upon a little Organ or sporting with his young Children and sometimes he would use cleaving of Wood for exercise of his Body At his Table he was always pleasant to his Company telling some pretty Apothegme or Facete Tale and seasoning it with some profitable Application After dinner his custom was to refresh himself a little sometime sitting in Discourse sometime walking abroad and now and then taking some view of his Husbandry after which straightway to his better employments again till supper time so that commonly without extraordinary avocations he spent no less than eight hours a day in his Study 9. By which long continued course he had read the Fathers Councils Ecclesiastical Histories c. and published Books to the number of 33 besides nine more unprinted He hath much variety of matter in his larger sixfold Commentaries where he hath collected and judicially disposed those things which you have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 scatteringly in many several Books and saving the Readers cost and pains hath molded up together the choicest flour of Commentaries old and new that appear upon those parts of the Scripture but his Synopsis Papismi carrieth away the prize before all other Writings wherewith Dr. Willet hath adorned our Church being now the fifth time and that by special Commendation from his Royal Majesty published Justly is he numbred by Bishop Hall sometime his Collegue in the Service of Prince Henry among those Worthies of the Church of England to whom he gives this Elogy Stupor mundi clerus Britannicus 10. Amidst all his pains of Writing and his other Studies he never omitted his usual exercise of Preaching In his younger time he read the Lecture for three years together in the Cathedral Church of Ely for one year in St. Pauls in both with singular Approbation of a most frequent Auditory Sometimes he preached in Cambridge both Ad Clerum and Ad Populum discovering himself to be the only man Quem rus non infuscavit whom the Country had not stained and therefore at his last Degree was chosen to answer in the Divinity Act. 11. This being over he returns to his people again daily teaching them and instructing them in a plain Familiar way applying himself to their capacity and
Manners and Learning of other Nations that they might thereby become the more serviceable unto their own made to put off their Gowns and leave Mr. Hooker to his Colledge and private Studies 10. Thus he continued his Studies in all quietness for the space of three or more years about which time he entred into Sacred Orders and was made Deacon and Priest and not long after in obedience to the Colledge Statutes being to Preach at St. Pauls Cross London to London he came to the Shunamites house a house so called for that beside the Stipend paid the Preacher there is provision made for his Lodging and Diet two days before and one day after his Sermon but to this house Mr. Hooker came so wet so weary and weather-beaten that hardly with much diligent attendance was he enabled to perform the office of the day which was in or about the year 1581. 11. An. 1584. Decemb. 9. he was presented by John Cheney Esquire to a Country Parsonage which was Draiton-Beauchamp in Buckinghamshire not far from Alesbury and in the Diocess of Lincoln where he continued about a year in which time his two Pupils Edwin Sandys and George Cranmer were returned from Travel and took a Journey to see their Tutor where they found him with a Book in his hand it was the Odes of Horace being then tending his small allotment of Sheep in a common field which he told his Pupils he was forced to do for that his Servant was gone home to dine and assist his Wife to do some necessary houshold business When his Servant returned and released him his two Pupils attended him to his house where their best entertainment was his Company and having stayed till next morning which was time enough to discover and pity their Tutors condition and having given him as much present comfort as they were able they return to London Then Edwin Sandys acquaints his Father of his Tutors sad case and solicits for his removal to some Benefice that might give him a more comfortable subsistence 12. Not long after Mr. Alvie Master of the Temple died a man of strict Life of great Learning and of so venerable behaviour as to gain such a degree of Love and Reverence from all men that he was generally known by the name of Father Alvie into whose place Bishop Sandys commended Hooker with such effectual earnestness and so many testimonies of his worth that he was sent for to London and there the place was proposed to him by the Bishop as a greater freedom from cares and the advantage of a better Society a more liberal Pension than his Country Parsonage did afford him and at last notwithstanding his averseness he was perswaded to accept of the Bishops proposal being by Patent for life made Master of the Temple March An. 1585. 13. Mr. Walter Travers was Lecturer at the Temple for the Evening Sermons a man of competent Learning of a winning Behaviour and a blameless Life but ordained by the Presbytery in Antwerp He had hope to set up the Geneva Government in the Temple and to that end used his endeavours to be Master of it and his being disappointed by Mr. Hookers admittance proved some occasion of opposition betwixt them in their Sermons Many of which were concerning the Doctrine Discipline and Ceremonies of this Church insomuch that as one hath pleasantly express'd it The Forenoon Sermon spake Canterbury and the Afternoon Geneva 14. The oppositions became so visible and the Consequences so dangerous especially in that place that the prudent Archbishop put a stop to Mr. Travers his Preaching by a positive Prohibition Mr. Travers appeals and Petitions her Majesty and the Privy Council to have it recalled but in vain For the Queen had entrusted the Archbishop with all Church Power Hereupon the party intending the Archbishop's and Mr. Hooker's disgrace privately printed the Petition and scattered it abroad Now is Mr. Hooker forced to appear publickly and print an Answer to it which he did and it proved a full Answer writ with such clear Reason and so much Meekness and Majesty of Style that the Bishop began to wonder at the man to rejoyce that he had appeared in his cause and disdained not earnestly to beg his friendship even a familiar friendship with a man of so much quiet Learning and Humility 15. The Foundation of his eight Books of Ecclesiastical Politie was laid in the Temple but he found it no fit place to finish what he had there designed and therefore solicited the Archbishop for a remove saying When I lost the freedom of my Cell which was my Colledge 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 Justification of our Laws of Church Government and I shall never be able to finish it but where I may study and pray for Gods Blessings upon my Endeavours 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 judge me worthy such a favour let me beg it that I may perfect what I have begun 16. About this time the Rectory of Boscum in the Diocess of Sarum and six miles from that City became void to which Mr. Hooker was presented in the vacancy of that Bishoprick by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 1591. And in the same year July 17. was he made a minor Prebend of Salisbury the Corps to it being Neather Havin about ten miles from that City which Prebend being of no great value was intended chiefly to make him capable of a better preserment in that Church In this Boscum he continued till he had finished four of his eight proposed Books and these were publish'd with that large and affectionate Preface An. 1594. 17. The Parsonage of Bishops-Borne in Kent three miles from Canterbury is that Archbishops Gift In the latter end of the year 1594. Dr. 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 Hooker whom she loved well to this good living of Borne July 7.1595 In which Living he continued till his death without any addition of dignity or profit His fifth Book of Eccl. Politie was Printed first by it self being larger than his first four and dedicated to his Patron Archbishop Whitgift An. 1597. 18. These Books were read with an admiration of their excellency in this and their just same spread it self into Forein Nations Dr. Stapleton having read the first four boasted to Pope Clement VIII That a poor obscure English Priest had writ four such Books of Laws and Church Politie and in a style that express'd so grave and such humble Majesty with
last sequestred himself from every exercise of Piety used in the Family and though he must be present at Grace for fear of losing his Dinner would not so much as uncover his head Which being observed by the Doctor Grace being ended he snatch'd his Hat from his head and thrust him out saying He shall not lodge or eat or drink with me that will not give God thanks with me 18. It happened about the end of Michaelmas Term An. 1621. some occasions having called him up to London in the midst of his way homeward his Horse stumbling both Horse and Rider fell to the ground in which fall his right Leg was broken being lifted up and set upon his Horse again he rode on a little to a Town called Hodsdon where he turned into an Inn and sent for a Bone-setter by whom after his Leg was set he was directed to keep his Bed ten days unto which direction he willingly submitted resolving to make that place his Study for the time and I had almost said his Pulpit too c. Thus he continued all the ten days when December 4. after the singing of Psal. 146. having occasion for some ease to stir himself a little he suddenly fetch'd a deep groan and fell into a Trance His Wife presently cryed out for help and presently some came in and upon means used he began to rouse himself a little and to look about and then uttered these his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 last words wherein he breathed out his soul Let me alone I shall be well Lord Jesu Next day his Body was conveyed by Coach to his Town of Barley and on the third day there honourably interred After the Funeral was over I remember well how the several Lecturers of Royston in their Courses for a long time after making some worthy Commemoration of their friend departed bewailed the loss of him and besprinkled his Ashes with their Tears before the People Vixit annos 59. III. Dr. Daniel Featley From Mr. John Featley 1. HIS right name was Fairclough and by that name he was ordained as his Letters of Orders witnessed All the antient Deeds of the Family ran in the name of Fairclough and his elder Brother so wrote his name but evenin his days by the mistakes of people the word varied from Fairclough to Faircley then to Fateley and at length to Featley which name he first owned in print of all our Family He was extracted originally out of Lancashire where many of the same House do to this day retain the Primitive name and give the same Coat of Arms with us The name at first rose from that Fair cliff where his Ancestors long since were seated for in the Dialect of that Country a Cliff was antiently written Clough 2. The Family of the Faircloughs in former times growing numerous their Estate lessened by increase of their Issue for the Land was given by parcels to their Children and among those many slips from the first root some were transplanted into other Countries The good old Father of Dr. Featley was one whom providence removed and placed in Oxfordshire Daniel his second Son was born at Oatmoor and being a studious and ingenious Child he profited at School beyond expectation insomuch as when he was but twelve years old he gained no small credit and applause by the Latin and Greek Verses which he frequently wittily and elegantly composed 3. His Father entertaining an employment in Oxford gained an opportunity to prefer his forward Son to be also gratified Dr. Featley with a Fellowship or Brothers place in the Savoy whereof he was then Master After this the Archbishop gave him the Rectory of Alhallows Broadstreet but by reason of the thickness of London Air and the many inconveniences which he daily met with his Grace yielded to an exchange of Broad-street for Acton six miles from London and in a pleasant healthful situation 6. To pretermit his many Disputes with Fisher and other Jesuits his Cygnea Cantio his handmaid to Devotion and many more passages of his former life and to hasten to his last times in the year 1642. the soft and wanton Peace of our Nation was soon turned into rough and bloody Wars Jusque datum sceleri at which time some Parliament Souldiers having first spoiled Acton Church and the Doctors House pursued him to Lambeth where he then resided and on the Lords Day Feb. 19. five of them rushed into the Church where he was then to preach even in the time of Divine Service with Pistols and drawn Swords to murther him But missing the Doctor who had been advertised of the danger in their fury they mortally wounded one of the Parish and shot another dead breathing out malice against this Reverend Person and threatning to chop him as small as Herbs to the Pot for suffering the Common-Prayer which in high contempt they called Porrage to be read in his Church 7. In Lambeth Church he so scourged the Times according to his Custom that in July 1643. three Mechanick Brownists there present exhibited against him no less than Seven Articles to the Committee of plundred Ministers The Articles are extant in a Book intituled The gentle Lash together with the Doctors Answer He began his Answer with this heavy complaint Hoc uno die plus vixi quam oportuit But he comforted himself with the example of Christ the Prince of our Salvation who was consecrated through Afflictions And with that Apology of St. Cyprian Nec mihi ignominiosum est pati à meis quod passus est Christus nec illis gloriosum facere quod fecit Judas In brief the Articles were so false scandalous and indigested that the Doctor was acquitted and the Compiler of them dismiss'd with sufficient disgrace 8. When the Solemn League and Covenant hatched in Scotland was sent to the Assembly of Divines in England for their concurrence and proposed in the Synod our Doctor being one of the Members in a grave and learned Speech and with solid and judicious Arguments so strongly opposed it that those who wanted Learning to Answer him wanted not malice to ruine him The Reader may peruse a Book intituled Sacra Nemesis or The Levit's Scourge and there find not only this Speech printed at large but others of great concernment as also his sixteen Reasons for Episcopal Government and many other things well worthy of his notice 9. About the middle of September 1643. one of the Sectaries made Application to the Doctor under pretence of friendship and privately informed him as from the Lord Primate of Armagh at Oxford from whence he pretended he was newly come That the King was very much offended at his complying with the Assembly c. This pretended Messenger seemed to be grieved for the Doctor and advised him to write a Letter back to his Grace and acquaint him with some passages of the Assembly with his desire of his Majesties leave to continue his attendance there Something of a Letter was written
upon a general charge imputing to the Church of England the great crime of Schism and by this they thought they might with most probability deceive unwary and unskilful Readers for they saw the Schism and they saw we had left them and because they consider'd not the Causes they resolved to out-face us in the Charge The Bishop now having an Argument fit to employ his great abilities undertakes the question and in a full Discourse proves the Church of Rome not only to be guilty of the Schism by making it necessary to depart from them but they did actuate the Schism and themselves made the first separations in the great point of the Pope's Supremacy which was the palladium for which they principally contended He made it appear that the Popes of Rome were Usurpers of the Rights of Kings and Bishops that they brought in new Doctrines in every Age that they impos'd their own devices upon Christendom as Articles of Faith that they prevaricated the Doctrines of the Apostles that the Church of England only return'd to her Primitive purity that she joyn'd with Christ and his Apostles that she agreed in all the sentiments of the Primitive Church 18. The old Bishop of Chalcedon known to many of us replyed to this excellent Book but was soon answer'd by a Rejoynder made by the Lord Bishop of Derry in which he so pressed the former Arguments refuted the Cavils brought in so many imimpregnable Authorities and probations and added so many moments and weights to his Discourse that the pleasures of reading the Book would be the greatest if the profit to the Church of God were not greater Whenever men will desire to be satisfied in those great questions the Bishop of Derry's Book shall be their Oracle 19. I will not insist upon his other excellent Writings but it is known every where with what Piety and acumen he wrote against the Manichaean Doctrine of fatal necessity which a late witty man had pretended to adorn with a new Vizor but this excellent person washed off the ceruss and the meretricious paintings rarely well asserted the Oeconomy of the Divine Providence and having once more triumph'd over his Adversary betook himself to the more agreeable attendance upon Sacred Offices and having usefully and wisely discoursed of the Sacred Rite of Confirmation impos'd hands upon the most illustrious Princes the Dukes of York and Glocester and the Princess Royal and ministred to them the promise of the Holy Spirit and ministerially established them in the Religion and Service of the Holy Jesus 20. And one thing more I shall remark that at his leaving those parts upon the Kings Return some of the Remonstrant Ministers of the Low-Countries coming to take their leaves of his great man and desiring that by his means the Church of England would be kind to them He had reason to grant it because they were learned men and in many things of a most excellett Belief yet he reproved them and gave them caution against it that they approached too near and gave too much countenance to the great and dangerous errours of the Socinians 21. He thus having serv'd God and the King abroad God was pleas'd to return to the King and to us all as in the days of old and we sung the Song of David In convertendo captivitatem Sion When King David and all his Servants returned to Jerusalem this great person having trod in the Wine-press was called to drink of the Wine and as an honorary Reward of his great Services and Abilities was chosen Primate of this National Church He had this Remark in all his Government that as he was a great hater of Sacriledge so he professed himself a publick enemy to non-residence and religiously against it allowing it in no case but of necessity or the greater good of the Church 22. There are great things spoken of his Predecessor St. Patrick that he founded 700 Churches and Religious Covents that he ordained 5000 Priests and with his own hands Consecrated 350 Bishops How true the story is I know not but we are all witnesses that the late Primate whose memory we now Celebrate did by an extraordinary contingency of Providence in one day consecrate two Archbishops and ten Bishops and did benefit to almost all the Churches in Ireland and was greatly instrumental to the endowments of the whole Clergy and in the greatest abilities and incompararable industry was inferiour to none of his most glorious Antecessors 23. The Character which was given of that Learned Primate Richard of Armagh by Trithemius does exactly fit this our Father Vir in divinis c. He was learned in the Scriptures skilled in secular Philosophy and not unknowing in the Civil and Canon Laws in which studies I wish the Clergy were with some carefulness and diligence still more conversant He was of an excellent Spirit a Scholar in his Discourses an early and industrious Preacher to the People And as if there were a more particular sympathy between their souls our Primate had so great a veneration to his Memory that he purposed if he had lived to have restor'd his Monument in Dundalk which time or impiety or unthankfulness had either omitted or destroyed So great a lover he was of all true and inherent worth that he loved it in the very memory of the Dead and to have such great examples transmitted to the intuition and imitation of Posterity 24. At his coming to the Primacy he knew he should at first espy little besides the ruines of Discipline a Harvest of Thorns and Heresies prevailing in the hearts of the people the Churches possessed by Wolves and Intruders mens hearts greatly estranged from true Religion and therefore he set himself to weed the Fields of the Church He treated the Adversaries sometimes sweetly sometimes he confuted them learnedly sometimes he rebuked them sharply He visited his Charges diligently and in his own person not only by proxies and instrumental deputations he design'd nothing that we know of but the Redintegration of Religion the Honour of God and the King the restoring of collapsed Discipline and the renovation of the Faith and the Service of God in the Churches and still he was indefatigable and even in the last Scene of his life not willing that God should take him unemployed 25. The last of January God sent him a brisk alarm of Death whereupon he made his Will in which beside the prudence and presence of Spirit manifested in making a just and wise settlement of his Estate and provisions for his descendants at midnight and in the trouble of his sickness and circumstances of addressing death he kept still a special sentiment and made confession of Gods admirable mercies and gave thanks that God had permitted him to live to see the blessed Restauration of his Majesty and the Church of England confessed his Faith to be the same as ever gave praises to God that he was born and bred up in this Religion and prayed
to God and hoped he should die in the Communion of this Church which he declared to be the most pure and Apostolical Church in the whole world He prayed to God to pardon his frailties and infirmities relyed upon the Mercies of God and the Merits of Jesus Christ and with a singular sweetness resign'd up his soul into the hands of his Redeemer 26. But God who is the great Choragus and Master of the Scenes of Life and Death was not pleas'd to draw the Curtains There was an Epilogue to his life yet to be acted and spoken He returned to Actions of Life and went on in the methods of the same procedure as before was desirous still to establish the Affairs of the Church complain'd of some disorders which he purposed to redress girt himself to the work but though his Spirit was willing yet his Flesh was weak and he was heavy unto death and look'd for the last warning which seiz'd on him in the midst of business and though it was sudden yet it could not be unexpected or unprovided by surprize and therefore could be no other than that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Augustus used to wish unto himself a civil and well natur'd death without the amazement of troublesome circumstances His passive fortitude had been abundantly tryed before and therefore there was the less need of it now his active Graces had been abundantly demonstrated by the great and good things he did and therefore his last Scene was not so laborious but God call'd him away something after the manner of Moses which the Jews express by osculum oris Dei the kiss of Gods mouth that is a death indeed foresignified but gentle and serene and without temptation 27. To sum up all he was a wise Prelate a learned Doctor a just Man a true Friend a great Benefactor to others a thankful Beneficiary where he was obliged himself He was a faithful Servant to his Masters a loyal Subject to the King a zealous Assertor of his Religion against Popery on the one side and Fanaticism on the other The practice of his Religion was not so much in form and exteriour Ministeries though he was a great observer of all the publick Rites and Ministeries of the Church as it was in doing good for others He had the sate of the Apostle St. Paul he passed through evil report and good report as a deceiver and yet true He was a man of great business and great resort he divided his life into Labour and his Book he took care of his Churches when he was alive and even after his death having left 500 l. for the repair of his Cathedral of Armagh and St. Peters Church in Drogheda He was an excellent Scholar and rarely well accomplished first instructed to great excellency by natural parts and then consummated by study and experience Melancthon was us'd to say that himself was a Logician Pomeranus a Grammarian Justus Jonas an Orator but that Luther was all these It was greatly true of him that the single perfections which make many men eminent were united in this Primate and made him illustrious It will be hard to find his equal in all things for in him were visible the great lines of Hookers Judiciousness of Jewels Learning and of the Acuteness of Bishop Andrews He wrote many things fit to be read and did very many things worthy to be written which if we wisely imitate we may hope to meet him in the Resurrection of the Just. Ob. 1663. X. Dr. Jeremy Taylor L d Bishop of Down From Dr. George Rust. 1. HE was born at Cambridge and brought up in the Free-School there and was ripe for the University afore Custom would allow of his admittance but by that time he was thirteen years old he was entred into Caius Colledge and as soon as he was Graduate he was chosen Fellow 2. He was a Man long afore he was of Age and knew little more of the state of Childhood than its Innocency and pleasantness From the University by that time he was Master of Arts he removed to London and became publick Lecturer in the Church of St. Pauls where he preached to the admiration and astonishment of his Auditory and by his florid and youthful Beauty and sweet and pleasant Air and sublime and rais'd Discourses he made his Hearers take him for some young Angel newly descended from the visions of Glory 3. The Fame of this new Star that out-shone all the rest of the Firmament quickly came to the notice of the great Archbishop of Canterbury who would needs have him Preach before him which he performed not less to his wonder than satisfaction His Discourse was beyond exception and beyond imitation Yet the wise Prelate thought him too young But the great youth humbly beg'd his Grace to pardon that fault and promis'd if he liv'd he would mend it 4. However the grand Patron of Learning and ingenuity thought it for the advantage of the world that such mighty parts should be afforded better opportunities of study and improvement than a course of constant Preaching would allow of And to that purpose he plac'd him in the Colledge of All-Souls in Oxford where love and admiration still waited upon him which so long as there is any spark of Ingenuity in the breasts of men must needs be the inseparable attendants of so extraordinary a worth and sweetness 5. He had not been long here afore my Lord of Canterbury bestowed upon him the Rectory of Upingham in Rutland-shire and soon after preferr'd him to be Chaplain to King Charles the Martyr of Blessed and immortal Memory Thus were Preferments heaped upon him but still less than his deserts and that not through the fault of his great Masters but because the amplest Honours and Rewards were poor and inconsiderable compar'd with the greatness of his worth and merit 6. This great man had no sooner launch'd out into the world but a fearful tempest arose and a barbarous and unnatural War disturb'd a long and uninterrupted Peace and Tranquillity and brought all things into disorder and confusion But his Religion taught him to be Loyal and engaged him on his Princes side whose cause and quarrel he always owned and maintain'd with a great courage and constancy till at last he and his little Fortune were shipwrack'd in that great Hurricane that over-turn'd both Church and State This fatal storm cast him ashore in a private corner of the world and a tender Providence shrouded him under her wings and the Prophet was fed in the Wilderness and his great worthiness procur'd him friends that supply'd him with bread and necessaries 7. In this solitude he began to write those excellent Discourses which are enough of themselves to furnish a Library and will be famous to all succeeding Generations for their greatness of Wit and profoundness of Judgment and richness of Fansie and clearness of Expression and copiousness of Invention and general usefulness to all the purposes of a
clear demonstration of reason that in all his reading he had not met with any that exceeded him And the Pope having heard the Doctor interpret to him a part in Latin said There is no Learning this man hath not search'd into nothing too hard for his understanding this man indeed deserves the name of an Author 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 Books 19. King James also at his first coming into this Kingdom enquiring of the Archbishop Whitgift for his friend Mr. Hooker and being answered that he died a year before Queen Elizabeth who received the sad news of his death with very much sorrow replyed And I receive it with no less that I shall want the desired happiness of seeing and discoursing with that man from whose Books I have had so much satisfaction Adding Though many other write well yet in the next Age they will be forgotten but doubtless there is in every page of Hooker's 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 Nor did that learned King use to mention him without the title of Learned or Judicious Hooker nor his Son our late King Charles the First without the same reverence enjoyning his Son our present Sovereign to be studious in Mr. Hookers Books What the Learned Cambden where he noteth the death of Hooker and Commends his Modesty and other Virtues wished That for the honour of this and benefit of other Nations those Books were turned into the Universal Language is now accomplish'd by the happy Pen of Dr. John Earl Lord Bishop of Salisbury a man like unto Hooker for his innocent Wisdom sanctified Learning and Pious Peaceable Primitive Temper 20. Mr. Hooker's Parsonage of Borne being near the common Road that leads from Canterbury to Dover many mov'd by the Fame of his Learning and Holiness turn'd out of their way and others Scholars especially came purposely to see the man A man in poor Cloaths his Loyns usually girt in a course Gown or Canonical Coat of a mean Stature and Stooping and yet more lowly in the thoughts of his Soul so mild and humble that his poor Parish-Clerk and he did never talk but with both their Hats on or both off at the same time short-sighted his Body worn out not with Age but Study and Mortification his Face full of Heat-Pimples begot by his unactive and Sedentary Life Here he gave a Holy Valediction to all the pleasures and allurements of Earth possessing his Soul in a Virtuous Quietness in Constant Study Devout Prayers and heavenly Meditations 21. His use was to Preach once every Sunday and hear his Curate to Catechise after the second Lesson in the Evening Prayer his Sermons were neither long nor earnest but uttered with a Grave Zeal and an Humble Voice his eyes always fix'd on one place to prevent his imagination from wandring insomuch that he seem'd to study as he spake The design of his Sermons as indeed of all his Discourses was to shew reasons of what he spake and with these Reasons such a kind of Rhetorick as did rather convince and perswade than frighten men into Piety studying not so much for matter which he never wanted as for apt illustrations to inform and teach his unlearned hearers by familiar Examples and then make them better by convincing Applications 22. He never failed the Sunday before every Ember-week to give notice of it to his Parishioners perswading them both to Fast and then to double their Devotions for a Learned and Pious Clergy but especially the last saying often That the Life of a Pious Clergy-man was Visible Rhetorick and so convincing the most Godless men though they would not deny themselves the enjoyment of their present Lusts did yet secretly with themselves like those of the strictest Lives He did usually every Ember-week take from the Parish-Clerk the Key of the Church-Door and lock himself up there many hours and the like most Fridays and other days of Fasting 23. He would by no means omit the customary time of Procession perswading all both Rich and Poor if they desired the preservation of Love and their Parish-Rights and Liberties to accompany him in his perambulation and most did so In which he would usually express more pleasant discourse than at other times and drop some good Sentences and Observations to be remembred by the Young people still enclining all his Parishioners to mutual Love and Kindness 24. He would often Visit the Sick unsent for supposing 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 of their Sins with purpose to forsake them and then to receive the Communion both as a strengthening of those Holy Resolutions and 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 25. He was diligent to prevent Law-Suits still urging his Neighbours to bear with each others infirmities and live in love Because 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 always keep themselves fit to receive the Communion and then to receive it often for it was both a confirming and increasing 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 And though in this declining Age such examples are almost incredible yet let his memory be blest with this true Recordation Because he that praises Mr. Hooker praises God who hath given such gifts unto men And let this invite posterity to imitate his Virtues 26. In the year 1600. and of his age 46. he fell into a sickness occasion'd by a cold taken in his passage betwixt London and Gravesend 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 Prebend of Canterbury with whom he entred into a sacred Friendship at his coming to Borne 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 Politie and then Lord let thy Servant depart in Peace said he And God heard his Prayers although he denied the Church the benefit of them as Completed by himself and 't is thought he hastned his own death
by hastning 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 27. In this time of his Sickness and not many days before his death his house was rob'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 28. About one day or two 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 of the Churches Absolution it was resolved that the Doctor should give him both that and the Sacrament the day following Which being performed he returned early the next morning and found Mr. Hooker deep in Contemplation and not inclinable to discourse which gave the Doctor occasion to require his present thoughts to which he replyed That he was meditating of 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 And a little afterward Lord shew Mercy to me and let not death be terrible and then take thine own time I submit to it let thy will be done And after a little slumber Good Doctor said he 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 Then after a short conflict betwixt Nature and Death a quiet sigh put a period to his last breath and he fell asleep 29. He died in the 46. or 47. year of his Age Mr. Cambden who hath the year 1599. and the Author of that Inscription on his Monument at Borne who hath 1603. are both mistaken For it is attested under the hand of Mr. Somner Canterbury-Register that Hooker's Will bears date Octob. 26. 1600. and that it was prov'd Decemb. 3. following He left four Daughters and to each of them 100. l. his Wife Jone his sole Executrix and by his Inventory his Estate a great part of it being in Books came to 1092 l. 9 s. 2 d. His youngest Daughter Margaret was Married unto Ezekiel Clark a Minister neer Cant. who left a Son Ezekiel at this time Rector of Waldron in Sussex 30. Dr. Henry King Bishop of Chichester in a Letter to Mr. Walton My Father's knowledge of Mr. Hooker was occasion'd by the Learned Dr. John Spencer who after the Death of Mr. Hooker was so careful to preserve his three last Books of Ecclesiastical Politie and other Writings that he procur'd Henry Juckson then of C. C. Colledge 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. Clark and another of Principles too like his 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 Doctor Abbot then Archbishop of Canterbury Commanded them out of my Custody They remained as I have heard in the Bishops Library till the Martyrdom of Archbishop Laud and were then by the Brethren of that Faction given with the Library to Hugh Peters and although they could hardly fall into a fouler hand yet there wanted not other endeavours to corrupt them and make them speak that Language for which the Faction then fought which was to subject the Sovereign power to the people Thus for Bishop King 31. Soon after Mr. Hooker's death Archbishop Whitgift sent for Mrs. Hooker to Lambeth and examined her concerning those three last Books to whom she confessed That Mr. Clark and another Minister near Canterbury came to her and desired that they might go into her Husbands Study and III. Dr. Will. Whitaker From the Latin Life before his Works 1. NAzianzen saith Let a Minister teach by his Conversation also or not teach at all Herein shewing his Zeal rather than his Judgment for Christ would have the Doctrine even of the impure Pharisees sitting in Moses Chair to be heard and his Apostle rejoyceth that Christ is preached howsoever though out of Envy and Contention Nevertheless it is true the Doctrine is more accepted when it is delivered by a Clean hand and when the Will of God is declared to us by one that does it The more worthy is the holy and learned Whitaker to be set forth whose great care was Vertere verba in opera as St. Jerom speaks to be an example of what he taught and who deserved a better Pen an Homer to describe this Achilles than mine yet shall I endeavour to recompence the want of Oratory by my diligence and Fidelity in the Narration 2. He was born in Lancashire at Holme in the Parish of Burnbey a mountainous place in such an Air as is fittest to cherish a purer Wit his Parents both of good Families and noble Alliance Having passed his Childhood under their Tuition and learned the first Rudiments of Grammar under his Master Hartgrave to whom afterward he was a good Benefactor at 13 years of age his Uncle Dr. Nowell the famous Dean of Pauls for his better Education sent for his Nephew into his house and kept him in Pauls-School till he was fit for the University 3. At the age of 18. the good Dean sent him to Cambridge and placed him in Trinity-Colledge under the care of Mr West where for his proficiency in Manners and Learning he was chosen first Scholar then Fellow of the House and performed both his private and publick Exercises with such commendation that in due time he was honoured with his Degrees in the Arts and having with much applause attained them gave not himself to ease as many do but followed his Studies with greater vehemence 4. His first-fruits he gratefully paid to his Reverend Uncle in the Translation of his Elegant Latin Catechism into as Elegant Greek And further to shew his Affection to the Church of England he rendred the Liturgy or Divine Service into pure Latin Lastly he adventured upon a greater work and excellently translated into the Latin Tongue that learned Defence of Bishop Jewell against Harding wherein 27 Theses are maintained out of the Monuments of Fathers and Councils within the first 600 years after Christ A work of great use to the Church and promising that the Translator would in time be Author of the like 5. After he had performed a solemn exercise at the Commencement being upon a dissention between the Proctors chosen to be Father of the Artists whose office is to praise encourage and exhort the proceeders and to handle some Questions in Philosophy and had thereby filled the University with admiration of his Learning and