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 errours 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 it self Anno 1597. and dedicated to his Patron for till then he chose none the Archbishop These Books were read with an admiration of their excellency in This and their just fame spread it self into foraign Nations And I have been told more than forty years past that either Cardinal Allen or learned Doctor Stapleton both English men and in Italy about the time when Hookers four Books were first printed meeting with this general fame of them were desirous to read an Authour that both the Reformed 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 eighth that though he had lately said he never met with an English Book whose Writer deserved the name of 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 Authour 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 onely testimony and commendations given to his Books for at the first coming of king James into this Kingdom he inquired of the Archbishop Whitgift 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 Sorrow to which the King 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 received such satisfaction Indeed my Lord I have received more satisfaction in reading a leaf or paragragh 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 grave comprehensive clear 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 the King 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 Judicious or Reverend or Venerable Mr. Hooker Nor did his Son our late King Charles the First ever mention him but with the same reverence enjoining 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 wish't 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 Dr. Earl late 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 dyed none have liv'd whom God hath blest with more innocent Wisdom more sanctified Learning or a moâ—e piousâ— peaceable primitive temper so that this excellent person seems to be only like himself and our veerbale Rich. Hooker and 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 Island 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-denial was much in Fasting frequent in Meditation and Prayers enjoying those blessed returns which only men of strict lives feel and know and of which men of loose and godless lives cannot be made sensible for spiritual things are spiritually discern'd At his entrance into this place his friendship was much sought for by Dr. Hadrian Saravia then or about that time made 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 Sacriledge and in England had a just occasion to declare his judgment concerning both unto his Brethren Ministers of the Low Countreys 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
usually printed before Mr. Hookers five Books but omitted I know not why in the last impression of the eight printed together in Anno 1662. in which the Publishers seem to impose the three doubtful as the undoubted Books of Mr. Hooker with these two Letters J. S. at the end of the said Epistle which was meant for this John spencer in which Epistle the Reader may find these words which may give some Authority to what I have here written And though Mr. Hooker hastened his own death by hastening to give life to his Books yet he held out with his eyes to behold these Benjamins these sons of his right hand though to him they prov'd Benonies sons of pain and sorrow But some evil disposed minds whether of malice or covetousness or wicked blind zeal it is uncertain as soon as they were born and their father dead smother'd them and by conveying the perfect Copies left unto us nothing but the old imperfect mangled draughts dismembred into pieces no favour no grace not the shadow of themselves remaining in them had the father lived to behold them thus defaced he might rightly have named them Benonies the sons of sorrow but being the learned will not suffer them to dye and be buried it is intended the world shall see them as they are the learned will find in them some shadows and resemblances of their fathers face God grant that as they were with their Brethren dedicated to the Church for messengers of peace so in the strength of that little breath of life that remaineth in them they may prosper in their work and by satisfying the doubts of such as are willing to learn they may help to give an end to the calamities of these our Civil Wars J. S. And next the Reader may note that this Epistle of Dr. Spencers was writ and first printed within four years after the death of Mr. Hooker in which time all diligent search had been made for the perfect Copies and then granted not recoverable and therefore endeavoured to be compleated out of Mr. Hookers rough draughts as is exprest by the said Dr. Spencer since whose death it is now 50 Years And I do profess by the faith of a Christian that Dr. Spencers Wife who was my Aunt and Sister to George Cranmer of whom I have spoken told me forty Years since in these or in words to this purpose That her Husband had made up or finish't 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 or unto Dr. King then Bishop of London and that she did as he injoin'd her I do conceive that from Dr. 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 Dr. 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 judgement suit with their fancies or give authority to their corrupt designs and for proof of a part of this take these following Testimonies Dr. Barnard sometime Chaplain to Dr. 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 amount 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 alwayes from Superiors to whom the administration of justice belongeth which administration must have necessarily a fountain that deriveth it to all others and receiveth not from any because otherwise the course of justice should go infinitely in a Circle every Superior having his Superior without end which cannot be therefore a Well-spring it followeth there is a Supreme head of Justice 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 judge If private men offend there is the Magistrate over them which judgeth 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 sayes the Doctor it breaks off abruptly And I have these words also attested under the hand of Mr. Fabian Philips a man of Note for his useful Books I will make Oath if I shall be required that Dr. 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 Governours being accomptable to the People this I will make Oath that that good man attested to me Fabian Philips 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 Dr. Sanderson the said learned Bishop whose Writings are so highly and justly valued gave a strict 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 James put upon the Books writ by Mr. Hooker as also that our late King Charles the Martyr for the Church valued them the second of all Books testified by his commending them to the reading of his Son Charles that now is our gracious King and you may suppose that this Charles 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 replied They were not allowed to be Mr. Hookers Books but however he would allow them to be Mr. Hookers
Reader may be pleased to know that his Father was masculinely and lineally descended from a very antient Family in Wales where many of his name now live that deserve and have great reputation in that Countrey By his Mother he was descended of the Family of the famous and learned Sir Tho. Moor sometime Lord Chancellour of England as also from that worthy and laborious Judge Rastall who left Posterity the vast Statutes of the Law of this Nation most exactly abridged He had his first breeding in his Fathers house where a private Tutor had the care of him until the ninth year of his age and in his tenth year was sent to the University of Oxford having at that time a good command both of the French and Latine Tongue This and some other of his remarkable Abilities made one give this censure of him That this age had brought forth another Picus Mirandula of whom Story sayes That he was rather born than made wise by study There he remained in Hart-Hall having for the advancement of his studies Tutors of several Sciences to attend and instruct him till time made him capable and his learning expressed in publick exercises declared him worthy to receive his first degree in the Schools which he forbore by advice from his friends who being for their Religion of the Romish perswasion were conscionably averse to some parts of the Oath that is always tendered at those times and not to be refused by those that expect the titulary honour of their studies About the fourteenth year of his age he was transplanted from Oxford to Cambridge where that he might receive nourishment from both Soils he staid till his seventeenth year all which time he was a most laborious Student often changing his studies but endeavouring to take no degree for the reasons formerly mentioned About the seventeenth year of his age he was removed to London and then admitted into Lincolns-Inne with an intent to study the Law where he gave great testimonies of his Wit his Learning and of his Improvement in that profession which never served him for other use than an Ornament and Self-satisfaction His Father died before his admission into this Society and being a Merchant left him his portion in money it was 3000 l. His Mother and those to whose care he was committed were watchful to improve his knowledge and to that end appointed him Tutors in the Mathematicks and all the Liberal Sciences to attend him But with these Arts they were advised to instil particular Principles of the Romish Church of which those Tutors profest though secretly themselves to be members They had almost obliged him to their faith having for their advantage besides many opportunities the example of his dear and pious Parents which was a most powerful perswasion and did work much upon him as he professeth in his Preface to his Pseudo-Martyr a Book of which the Reader shall have some account in what follows He was now entered into the eighteenth year of his age and at that time had betrothed himself to no Religion that might give him any other denomination than a Christian. And Reason and Piety had both perswaded him that there could be no such sin as Schis me if an adherence to some visible Church were not necessary He did therefore at his entrance into the nineteenth year of his age though his youth and strength then promised him a long life yet being unresolved in his Religion he thought it necessary to rectifie all scruples that concerned that and therefore waving the Law and betrothing himself to no Art or Profession that might justly denominate him he begun to survey the Body of Divinity as it was then controverted betwixt the Reformed and the Roman Church And as Gods blessed Spirit did then awaken him to the search and in that industry did never forsake him they be his own words so he calls the same holy Spirit to witness this Protestationâ— that in that disquisition and search he proceeded with humility and diffidence in himself and by that which he took to be the safest way namely frequent Prayers and an indifferent affection to both parties and indeed truth had too much light about her to be hid from so sharp an Inquirer and he had too much ingenuity not to acknowledge he had found her Being to undertake this search he believed the Cardinal Bellarmine to be the best defender of the Roman cause and therefore betook himself to the examination of his Reasons The Cause was weighty and wilful delays had been inexcusable both towards God and his own Conscience he therefore proceeded in this search with all moderate haste and before the twentieth year of his age did shew the then Dean of Gloucester whose name my memory hath now lost all the Cardinals works marked with many weighty observations under his own hand which works were bequeathed by him at his death as a Legacy to a most dear Friend The year following he resolved to travel and the Earl of Essex going first the Cales and after the Island voyages he took the advantage of those opportunities waited upon his Lordship and was an eye-witness of those happy and unhappy employments But he returned not back into England till he had staid some years first in Italy and then in Spain where he made many useful observations of those Countreys their Laws and manner of Government and returned perfect in their Languages The time that he spent in Spain was at his first going into Italy designed for travelling the Holy Land and for viewing Jerusalem and the Sepulchre of our Saviour But at his being in the furthest parts of Italy the disappointment of Company or of a safe Convoy or the uncertainty of returns for Money into those remote parts denied him that happiness which he did often occasionally mention with a deploration Not long after his return into England that exemplary Pattern of Gravity and Wisdom the Lord Elsemore then Keeper of the Great Seal and Lord Chancellour of England taking notice of his Learning Languages and other Abilities and much affecting his Person and Condition took him to be his chief Secretary supposing and intending it to be an Introduction to some more weighty Employment in the State for which his Lordship did often protest he thought him very fit Nor did his Lordship in this time of Master Donne's attendance upon him account him to be so much his Servant as to forget he was his friend and to testifie it did always use him with much courtesie appointing him a place at his own Table to which he esteemed his Company and Discourse a great Ornament He continued that employment for the space of five years being daily useful and not mercenary to his Friends During which time he I dare not say unhappily fell into such a liking as with her approbation increased into a love with a young Gentlewoman that lived in that Family who was Niece to the Lady Elsemore and daughter to
Winchester who then was the Kings Almoner About this time there grew many disputes that concerned the Oath of Supremacy and Allegiance in which the King had appeared and engaged himself by his publick writings now extant and his Majesty discoursing with Mr. Donne concerning many of the reasons which are usually urged against the taking of those Oaths apprehended such a validity and clearness in his stating the Questions and his Answers to them that his Majesty commanded him to bestow some time in drawing the Arguments into a method and then write his Answers to them and having done that not to send but be his own messenger and bring them to him To this he presently applyed himself and within six weeks brought them to him under his own hand-writing as they be now printed the Book bearing the name of Pseudo-martyr When the King had read and considered that Book he perswaded Mr. Donne to enter into the Ministry to which at that time he was and appeared very unwilling apprehending it such was his mistaking modesty to be too weighty for his Abilities and though his Majesty had promised him a favour and many persons of worth mediated with his Majesty for some secular employment for him to which his Education had apted him and particularly the Earl of Somerset when in his height of favour who being then at Thâ—obalds with the King where one of the Clerks of the Council died that night and the Earl having sent for Mr. Donne to come to him immediately said Mr. Donne To testifie the reality of my Affection and my purpose to preferre you Stay in this Garden till I go up to the King and bring you worâ— that you are Clark of the Council doubt not my doing this for I know the King loves you and will not deny me But the King gave a positive denyal to all requests and having a discerning spirit replyed I know Mr. Donne is â— learned man has the abilities of a learned Divine and will prove a powerful Preacher and my desire is to prefer him that way After that time as he professeth The King descended to a perswasion almost to a solicitation of him to enter into sacred Orders which though hâ— then denyed not yet he deferred it for almost three years All which time he applyed himself to an incessant study of Textual Divinity and to the attainment of a greater perfection in the learned Languages Greek and Hebrew In the first and most blessed times of Christianity when the Clergy were look'd upon with reverence and deserved it when they overcame their opposers by high examples of Vertue by a blessed Patience and long Suffering those onely were then judged worthy the Ministry whose quiet and meek spirits did make them look upon that sacred calling with an humble adoration and fear to undertake it which indeed requires such great degrees of humility and labour and care that none but such were then thought worthy of that celestial dignity And such onely were then sought out and solicited to undertake it This I have mentioned because forwardness and inconsideation could not in Mr. Donne as in many others be an argument of insufficiency or unfitness for he had considered long and had many strifes within himself concerning the strictness of life and competency of learning required in such as enter into sacred Orders and doubtless considering his own demerits did humbly ask God with St. Paul Lord who is sufficient for these things and with meek Moses Lord who am I And sure if he had consulted with flesh and blood he had not put his hand to that holy lough But God who is able to prevail wrestled with him as the Angel did with Jacob and marked him mark'd him for his own mark'd him with a blessing a blessing of obedience to the motions of his blessed Spirit And then as he had formerly asked God with Moses Who am I So now being inspired with an apprehension of Gods particular mercy to him in the Kings and others solicitations of him he came to aâ—â—â— King Davids thankful question Lord who am I thaâ— thou art so mindful of me So mindful oâ— me as to lead me for more then forty years through this wilderness of the many temptations and various turnings of a dangerous life so merciful to me as to move the learnedâ—st of Kings to descend to move me to serve at thy Alter so merciful to me as at last to move my lâ—â—a to imbrace this holy motion thy motions will and do imbrace And I now say with the blessed Virgin Be it with thy servant as seemeth best in thy sight and so blessed Jesus I â—â— take the cup of Salvation and will call upoâ— thy Name and will preach thy Gospel Such strifes as these St. Austine had wheâ— St. Ambrose indeavoured his conversion to Christianity with which he confesseth he acquaiâ—â—ted his friend Alipius Our learned Author a man sit to write after no mean Copy dâ— the like And declaring his intentions to â—â— dear friend Dr. King then Bishop of London man famous in his generation and no strangth to Mr. Donnes abilities For he had been Chaplain to the Lord Chancellor at the tiâ—â— of Mr. Donnes being his Lordships Secretaryâ— That Reverend man did receive the news wiâ—â— much gladness and after some expressions â—â— joy and a perswasion to be constant in his pious purpose he proceeded with all convenient speed to ordain him both Deacon and Priest Now the English Church had gain'd a second St. Austine for I think none was so like him before his Conversion none so like St. Ambrose after it and if his youth had the infirmities of the one his age had the excellencies of the other the learning and holiness of both And now all his studies which had been occasionally diffused were all concentred in Divinity Now he had a new calling new thoughts and a new imployment for his wit and eloquence Now all his earthly affections were changed into divine love and all the faculties of his own soul were ingaged in the Conversion of others In preaching the glad tidings of Remission to repenting Sinners and peace to each troubled soul. To these he app'yed himself with all care and diligence and now such a change was wrought in him that he could say with David Oh how amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord God of Hosts Now he declared openly that when he required a temporal God gave him a spiritual blessing And that he was now gladder to be a door-keeper in the house of God then he could be to injoy the noblest of all temporal imployments Presently after he entred into his holy profession the King sent for him and made him his Chaplain in ordinary and promised to take a particular care for his preferment And though his long familiarity with Scholars and persons of greatest quality was such as might have given some men boldness enough to have preached to any eminent Auditory yet his modesty in this
all her Church-cares by his wise Menage of them he gave her faithful and prudent Counsels in all the Extremities and Dangers of her Temporal Affairs which were many he lived to be the Chief Comfort of her Life in her Declining age to be then most frequently with her and her Assistant at her private Devotions to be the greatest Comfort of her Soul upon her Death-bed to be present at the Expiration of her last Breath and to behold the closing of those Eyes that had long looked upon him with Reverence and Affection And let this also be added that he was the Chief Mourner at her sad Funeral nor let this be forgotten that within a few hours after her death he was the happy Proclaimer that King James her peaceful Successour was Heir to the Crown Let me beg of my Reader to allow me to say a little and but a little more of this good Bishop and I shall then presently lead him back to Mr. Hooker and because I would hasten I will mention but one part of the Bishops Charity and Humility but this of both He built a large Almes-house near to his own Palace at Croyden in Surry and endowed it with Maintenance for a Master and twenty eight poor Men and Women which he visited so often that he knew their Names and Dispositions and was so truly humble that he called them Brothers and Sisters and whensoever the Queen descended to that lowlines to dine with him at his Palace in Lambeth which was very often he would usually the next day shew the like lowliness to his poor Brothers and Sisters at Croydon and dine with them at his Hospital at which time you may believe there was Joy at the Table And at this place he built also a fair Free-School with a good Accommodation and Maintenance for the Master and Scholars Which gave just occasion for Boyse Sisi then Embassadour for the French King and Resident here at the Bishops death to say The Bishop had published many learned Books but a Free-school to train up Youth and an Hospital to lodge and maintain aged and poor People were the best Evidences of Christian Learning that a Bishop could leave to Posterity This good Bishop lived to see King James settled in Peace and then fell sick at his Palace in Lambeth of which when the King had notice he went to visit him and found him in his Bed in a declining condition and very weak and after some short discourse betwixt them the King at his departure assured him He had a great Affection for him and a very high value for his Prudence and Vertues and would indeavour to beg his life of God To which the good Bishop replied Pro Ecclesia Dei Pro Ecclesia Dei which were the last words he ever spake therein testifying that as in his Life so at his Death his chiefest care was of Gods Church This John Whitgift was made Archbishop in the year 1583. In which busie place he continued twenty years and some moneths and in which time you may believe he had many Tryals of his Courage and Patience but his Motto was Vincit qui patitur And he made it good Many of his many Trials were occasioned by the then powerful Earl of Leicester who did still but secretly raise and cherish a Faction of Non-conformists to oppose him especially one Thomas Cartwright a man of noted Learning sometime Contemporary with the Bishop in Cambridge and of the same Colledge of which the Bishop had been Master in which place there began some Emulations the particulars I forbear and at last open and high Oppositions betwixt them and in which you may believe Mr. Cartwright was most faulty if his Expulsion out of the University can incline you to it And in this discontent after the Earls death which was 1588 Mr. Cartwright appeared a chief Cherisher of a Party that were for the Geneva Church-government and to effect it he ran himself into many dangers both of Liberty and Life appearing at the last to justifie himself and his Party in many Remonstrances which he caused to be printed and to which the Bishop made a first Answer and Cartwright replyed upon him and then the Bishop having rejoyned to his first Reply Mr. Cartwright either was or was perswaded to be satisfied for he wrote no more but leftâ— the Reader to be judge which had maintained their Cause with most Charity and Reason After some silence Mr. Cartwright received from the Bishop many personal Favours and retired himself to a more private Living which was at Warwick where he was made Master of an Hospital and lived quietly and grew rich and where the Bishop gave him a Licence to Preach upon promises not to meddle with Controversies but incline his Hearers to Piety and Moderation and this Promise he kept during his Life which ended 1602 the Bishop surviving him but some few moneths each ending his daies in perfect Charity with the other And now after this long Digression made for the Information of my Reader concerning what follows I bring him back to venerable Mr. Hooker where we left him in the Temple and where we shall find him as deeply engaged in a Controversie with Walter Trevers a Friend and Favorite of Mr. Cartwrights as the Bishop had ever been with Mr. Cartwright himself and of which I shall proceed to give this following account And first this That though the Pens of Mr. Cartwright and the Bishop were now at rest yet there was sprung up a new Generation of restless men that by Company and Clamours became possest of a Faith which they ought to have kept to themselves but could not men that were become positive in asserting That a Papest cannot be saved insomuch that about this time at the Execution of the Queen of Scots the Bishop that preached her Funeral Sermon which was Doctor Howland then Bishop of Peterborough was reviled for not being positive for her Damnation And beside this Boldness of their becoming Gods so far as to set limits to his Mercies there was not onely one Martin Mar-prelate but other venemous Books daily printed and dispersed Books that were so absurd and scurrilous that the graver Divines disdained them an Answer And yet these were grown into high esteem with the Common people till Tom Nash appeared against them all who was a man of a sharp wit and the Master of a scoffing Satyrical merry Pen which he imployed to discover the Absurdities of those blind malitious sensless Pamphlets and Sermons as sensless as they Nash his Answer being like his Books which bore these Titles An Almond for a Parrot A Fig for my God-son Come crack me this Nut and the like so that his merry Wit made such a discovery of their Absurdities as which is strange he put a greater stop to these malicious Pamphlets than a much wiser man had been able And now the Reader is to take notice That at the Death of Father Alvie who was
worthy of noting That these Exceptions of Mr. Travers against Mr. Hooker were the cause of his Transcribing several of his Sermons which we now see printed with his Books of his Answer to Mr. Travers his Supplication and of his most learned and useful discourse of Justification of Faith and 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 writings were and from these I have gathered many observations in this Discourse of his Life After the publication of his Answer to the Petiton of Mr. Travers Mr. Hooker grew dayly into greater repute with the most learned and wise of the Nation but it had a contrary effect in very many of the Temple that were zealous for Mr. Travers and for his Church Discipline insomuch that though Mr. Travers 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 Master Travers Judgment in so much 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 void of any provocation were able to do it And that he might prevent all prejudice he wrote before it 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 Doctor Spenser might after his death justly say What admirable height of Learning and depth of Judgment 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 alwayes 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 was laid in the Temple but he found it no fit place to finish what he had there designed and therefore solicited the Arch-Bishop for a remove to whom he spake to this purpose My Lord 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 My Lord My particular contests with Mr. Travers here have proved the more unpleasant to me because I believe him a good man and that belief hath occasioned me to examine mine own Conscience concerning his opinions and to satisfie that I have consulted the Scripture and other laws both humane and divine whether the Conscience of him and others of his judgment ought to be so farr complyed with as to alter our frame of Church Government our manner of Gods worship our praising and praying to him and our established Ceremonies as often as their tender Consciences shall require us and in this examination I have not onely satisfyed my self but have begun a treatise 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 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 Judge me worthy such a favonr 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 See which was three years betwixt the Translation of Bishop Peirce to the See of York and Bishop Caldwells admission into it the disposal of that and all Benefices belonging to that See 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 the said year Instituted July 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 entered into the register Book in Stationers Hall the 9. of March 1592. but not published till the year 1594. and then with the before-mentioned large and affectionate Preface which he directs to them that seek as they term it 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 onely the first four being then in the 39 th year of his Age. 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 the 23. of June in the same year The Parsonage of Bishops Borne in Kent three miles from Canterbury is in that Arch-Bishops 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 July 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 to this where he found a Grave I shall onely give some account of his Books and of his behaviour in this Parsonage of Borne and then give a
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 Judicious 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 be dye Was it because his Life and Death should be Both equal patterns 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 Honours 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. RICH. 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 dyed in the Forty-seventh if not in the Forty-sixth 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 dye 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 Octob. 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 Jane and Margaret that he gave to each of them an hundred pound that he left Jone his Wife his sole Executrix and that by his Inventory his Estate a great part of it being in Books came to 1092 l. 9 s. 2 d. which was much more than he thought himself worth and which was not got by his care much less by the good huswifery of his Wife but saved by his trusty servant Thomas Lane that was wiser than his Master in getting money for him and more frugal than his Mistress in keeping of it of which Will I shall say no more but that his dear friend Thomas the father of George Cranmer of whom I have spoken and shall have occasion to say more was one of the witnesses to it One of his elder Daughters was married to one Chalinor sometime a School-master in Chichester and both dead long since Margaret his youngest Daughter was married unto Ezekiel Chark Batchelor in Divinity and Rector of St. Nicholas in Harble down near Canterbury who dyed about 16 years past and had a son Ezekiel now living and in Sacred Orders being at this time Rector of Waldron in Sussex she left also a Daughter with both whom I have spoken not many months past and find her to be a Widow in a condition that wants not but far from abounding and these two attested unto me that Richard Hooker their Grandfather had a Sister by name Elizabeth Harvey that liv'd to the Age of 121 Years and dyed in the month of September 1663. For his other two Daughters I can learn little certainty but have heard they both dyed before they were marriageable and for his Wife she was so unlike Jeptha's Daughter that she staid not a comely time to bewail her Widdow-hood nor liv'd long enough to repent her second Marriage for which doubtless she would have found cause if there had been but four months betwixt Mr. Hookers and her death But she is dead and let her other infirmities be buried with her Thus much briefly for his Age the Year of his Death his Estate his Wife and his Children I am next to speak of his Books concerning which I shall have a necessity of being longer or shall neither do right to my self or my Reader which is chiefly intended in this Appendix I have declared in his Life that he proposed eight Books and that his first four were printed Anno 1594. and his fifth Book first printed and alone Anno 1597. and that he liv'd to finish the remaining three of the proposed eight but whether we have the last three as finish't by himself is a just and material Question concerning which I do declare that I have been told almost 40 Years past by one that very well knew Mr. Hooker and the affairs of his Family that about a month after the death of Mr. Hooker Bishop Whitgift then Archbishop of Canterbury sent one of his Chaplains to enquire of Mrs. Hooker for the three remaining Books of Polity writ by her Husband of which she would not or could not give any account and that about three months after the Bishop procured her to be sent for to London and then by his procurement she was to be examined by some of Her Majesties Council concerning the disposal of those Books but by way of preparation for the next dayes examination the Bishop invited her to Lambeth and after some friendly questions she confessed to him That one Mr. Charke and another Minister that dwelt near Canterbury came to her and desired that they might go into her Husbands Study and look upon some of his Writings and that there they two burnt and tore many of them assuring her that they were Writings not fit to be seen and that she knew nothing more concerning them Her lodging was then in King-street in Westminster where she was found next morning dead in her Bed and her new Husband suspected and questioned for it but declared innocent of her death And I declare also that Dr. John Spencer mentioned in the life of Mr. Hooker who was of Mr. Hookers Colledge and of his time there and betwixt whom there was so friendly a friendship that they continually advised together in all their Studies and particularly in what concern'd these Books of Polity This Dr. Spencer the three perfect Books being lost had delivered into his hands I think by Bishop Whitgift the imperfect Books or first rough draughts of them to be made as perfect as they might be by him who both knew Mr. Hookers hand writing and was best acquainted with his intentions And a fair Testimony of this may appear by an Epistle first and
1670. Sam Woodforde The LIFE OF Mr. GEORGE HERBERT THE Introduction IN a late retreat from the business of this World and those many little cares with which I have too often incumbred my self I fell into a Contemplation of some of those Historical passages that are recorded in Sacred Story and more particularly of what had past betwixt our Blessed Saviour and that wonder of Women and Sinners and Mourners Saint Mary Magdalen I call her Saint because I did not then nor do now consider her as when she was possest with seven Devils not as when her wanton Eyes and dissheveld Hair were designed and manag'd to charm and insnare amorous Beholders But I did then and do now consider her as after she had exprest a visible and sacred sorrow for her sensualities as after those Eyes had wept such a flood of penitential tears as did wash and that hair had wip't and she most passionately kist the feet of hers and our blessed Jesus And I do now consider that because she lov'd much not only much was forgiven her but that beside that blessed blessing of having her sins pardoned she also had from him a testimony that her alablaster box of precious oyntment poured on his head and feet and that Spikenard and those Spices that were by her dedicated to embalm and preserve his sacred body from putrefaction should so far preserve her own memory that these demonstrations of her sanctified love and of her officious and generous gratitude should be recorded and mentioned wheresoever his Gospel should be read intending thereby that as his so her name should also live to succeeding generations even till time shall be no more Upon occasion of which fair example I did lately look back and not without some content at least to my self that I have endeavour'd to deserve the love and preserve the memory of my two deceased friends Dr. Donne and Sir Henry Wotton by declaring the various employments and accidents of their Lives And though Mr. George Herbert whose Life I now intend to write were to me a stranger as to his person yet since he was and was worthy to be their friend and very many of his have been mine I judge it may not be unacceptable to thoseâ— that knew any of them in their lives or do now know their Writings to see this Conjunction of them after their deaths without which many things that concern'd them and some things that concern'd the Age in which they livâ—d would be less perfect and lost to posterity For these Reasons I have undertaken it and if I have prevented any abler person I beg pardon of him and my Reader The Life GEorge Herbert was born the Third day of April in the Year of our Redemption 1593. The place of his Birth was near to the Town of Montgomery and in that Castle that did then bear the name of that Town and County that Castle was then a place of state and strength and had been successively happy in the Family of the Herberts who had long possest it and with it a plentiful Estate and hearts as liberal to their poor Neighbours A Family that hath been blest with men of remarkable wisdom and with a willingness to serve their Countrey and indeed to do good to all Mankind for which they were eminent But alas this Family did in the late Rebellion suffer extremely in their Estates and the Heirs of that Castle saw it laid level with that earth that was too good to bury those Wretches that were the cause of it The Father of our George was Richard Herbert the Son of Edward Herbert Knight the Son of Richard Herbert Knight the Son of the famous Sir Richard Herbert of Colebrook in the County of Monmouth Banneret who was the youngest Brother of that memorable William Herbert Earl of Pembroke that liv'd in the Reign of our King Edward the fourth His Mother was Magdalen Newport the youngest Daughter of Sir Richard and Sister to Sir Francis Newport of High Arkall in the County of Salop Knight and Grand-father of Francis Lord Newport now Comptroller of His Majesties Houshold A Family that for their Loyalty have suffered much in their Estates and seen the ruine of that excellent Structure where their Ancestors have long liv'd and been memorable for their Hospitality This Mother of George Herbert of whose person and wisdom and vertue I intend to give a true account in a seasonable place was the happy Mother of seven Sons and three Daughters which she would often say was Jobs number and as often bless God that they were neither defective in their shapes or in their reason and often reprove them that did not praise God for so great a blessing I shall give the Reader a short accompt of their names and not say much of their Fortunes Edward the eldest was first made Knight of the Bath at that glorious time of our late Prince Henries being install'd Knight of the Garter and after many years useful travel and the attainment of many Languages he was by King James sent Ambassador Resident to the then French King Lewis the Thirteenth There he continued about two Years but he could not subject himself to a compliance with the humors of the Duke de Luines who was then the great and powerful Favourite at Court so that upon a complaint to our King he was call'd back into England in some displeasure but at his return he gave such an honourable account of his employment and so justified his Comportment to the Duke and all the Court that he was suddenly sent back upon the same Embassie from which he return'd in the beginning of the Reign of our good King Charles the first who made him first Baron of Castle-Island and not long after of Cherberie in the County of Salop He was a man of great learning and reason as appears by his printed Book de veritate and by his History of the Reign of King Henry the Eight and by several other Tracts The second and third Brothers were Richard and William who ventur'd their lives to purchase Honour in the Wars of the Low Countries and dyed Officers in that employment Charles was the fourth and dyed Fellow of New-Colledge in Oxford Henry was the sixth who became a menial servant to the Crown in the dayes of King James and hath continued to be so for fifty years during all which time he hath been Master of the Revels a place that requires a diligent wisdome with which God hath blest him The seventh Son was Thomas who being made Captain of a Ship in that Fleet with which Sir Robert Mansell was sent against Algiers â—id there shew a fortunate and true English valor Of the three Sisters I need not say more then that they were all married to persons of worth and plentiful fortunes and liv'd to be examples of vertue and to do good in their generations I now come to give my intended account of George who was the fifth of
Sonnet to usher them to your happy hand Micham July â—â— 1607 Your unworthiest Servant unless your accepting him have mended him Jo. Donne To the Lady Magdalen Herbert of St. Mary Magdalen HEr of your name whose fair inheritance Bethina was and jointure Magdalo An active faith so highly did advance That she once knew more than the Church did know The Resurrection so much good there is Deliver'd of her that some Fathers be Loth to believe one Woman could do this But think these Magdalens were two or three Increase their number Lady and their fame To their Devotion add your Innocence Take so much of th' example as of the name The latter half and in some recompence That they did harbour Christ himself a Guest Harbour these Hymns to his dear name addrest J. D. These Hymns are now lost to us but doubtless they were such as they two now sing in Heaven There might be more demonstrations of the Friendship and the many sacred Indearments betwixt these two excellent persons for I have many of their Letters in my hand and much more might be said of her great prudence and piety but my design was not to write hers but the life of her Son and therefore I shall only tell my Reader that about that very day twenty years that this Letter was dated and sent her I saw and heard this Mr. John Donne who was then Dean of St. Pauls weep and preach her Funeral Sermon in the Parish-Church of Chelsey near London where she now rests in her quiet Grave and where we must now leave her and return to her Son George whom we left in his Study in Cambridge And in Cambridge we may find our George Herberts behaviour to be such that we may conclude he consecrated the first fruits of his early age to vertue and a serious study of learning And that he did so this following Letter and Sonnet which were in the first year of his going to Cambridge sent his dear Mother for a New-years gift may appear to be some testimony But I fear the heat of my late Ague hath dryed up those springs by which Scholars say the Muses use to take up their habitations However I need not their help to reprove the vanity of those many Love-poems that are daily writ and consecrated to Venus nor to bewail that so few are writ that look towards God and Heaven For my own part my meaning dear Mother is in these Sonnets to declare my resolution to be that my poor Abilities in Poetry shall be all and ever consecrated to Gods glory And MY God where is that ancient heat towards thee Wherewith whole showls of Martyrs once did burn Besides their other flames Doth Poetry Wear Venus Livery only serve her turn Why are not Sonnets made of thee and layes Upon thine Altar burnt Cannot thy love He ghten a spirit to sound out thy praise As well as any she Cannot thy Dove Out-strip their Cupid easily in flight Or since thy wayes are deep and still the same Will not a verserun smooth that bears thy name Why doth that fire which by thy power and might Each breast does feel no braver fuel choose Than that which one day Worms may chance refuse Sure Lord there is enough in thee to dry Oceans of Ink for as the Deluge did Cover the Earth so doth thy Majesty Each Cloud distills thy praise and doth forbid Poets to turn it to another use Roses and Lillies speak thee and to make A pair of Cheeks of them is thy abuse Why should I Womens eyes for Chrystal take Such poor invention burns in their low mind Whose fire is wild and doth not upward go To praise and on thee Lord some Ink bestow Open the bones and you shall nothing find In the best face but filth when Lord in thee The beauty lies in the discovery G. H. This was his resolution at the sending this Letter to his dear Mother about which time he was in the Seventeenth year of his Age and as he grew older so he grew in learning and more and more in favour both with God and man insomuch that in this morning of that short day of his life he seem'd to be mark'd out for vertue and to become the care of Heaven for God still kept his soul in so holy a frame that he may and ought to be a pattern of vertue to all posterity and especially to his Brethren of the Clergy of which the Reader may expect a more exact account in what will follow I need not declare that he was a strict Student because that he was so there will be many testimonies in the future part of his life I shall therefore only tell that he was made Minor Fellow in the year 1609. Batchelor of Art in the year 1611. Major Fellow of the Colledge March 15. 1615. And that in that year he was also made Master of Arts he being then in the 22 d year of his Age during all which time all or the greatest diversion from his Study was the practice of Musick in which he became a great Master and of which he would say That it did relieve his drooping spirits compose his distracted thoughts and raised his weary Soul so far above Earth that it gave him an earnest of the joyes of Heaven before he possest them And it may be noted that from his first entrance into the Colledge the generous Dr. Nevil was a cherisher of his Studies and such a lover of his person his behaviour and the excellent endowments of his mind that he took him often into his own company by which he confirm'd his native gentileness and if during this time he exprest any Error it was that he kept himself too much retir'd and at too great a distance with all his inferiours and his cloaths seem'd to prove that he put too great a value on his parts and parentage This may be some account of his disposition and of the employment of his time till he was Master of Arts which was Anno 1615. and in the year 1619. he was chosen Orator for the University His two precedent Orators were Sir Robert Nanton and Sir Francis Nethersoll The first was not long after made Secretary of State and Sir Francis not long after his being Orator was made Secretary to the Lady Elizabeth Queen of Bohemia In this place of Orator our George Herbert continued eight years and manag'd it with as becoming and grave a gaity as any had ever before or since his time For He had acquir'd great Learning and was blest with a high fancy a civil and sharp wit and with a natural elegance both in his behaviour his tongue and his pen. Of all which there might be very many particular evidences but I will limit my self to the mention of but three And the first notable occasion of shewing his fitness for this employment of Orator was manifested in a Letter to King James who had sent the University his Book