makes the Sick mans Bed easie by giving rest to his Soul made his very Languishment comfortable and yet all this time he was solicitous in his Study and said often to Dr. Saravia who saw him daily and was the chief Comfort of his Life That he did not beg a Long life of God for any other reason but to live to finish his three remaining Books of POLITY and then Lord let thy Servant depart in peace which was his usual Expression And God heard his Prayers though he denied the Church the Benefit of them as completed by himself and 't is thought he hastened his own Death by hastening to give Life to his Books But this is certain that the nearer he was to his Death the more he grew in Humility in holy Thoughts and Resolutions About a moneth before his death this Good man that never knew or at least never consider'd the pleasures of the Palate became first to lose his Appetite then to have an aversness to all Food insomuch that he seem'd to live some intermitted weeks by the smell of Meat onely and yet still studied and writ And now his Guardian Angel seem'd to foretell him that the day of his Dissolution drew near for which his vigorous Soul appear'd to thirst In this time of his Sickness and not many days before his Death his House was robb'd of which he having notice his Question was Are my Books and written Papers safe and being answered that they were his Reply was then it matters not for no other loss can trouble me About one day before his death Dr. Saravia who knew the very Secrets of his Soul for they were supposed to be Confessors to each other came to him and after a Conference of the Benefit the Necessity and Safety of the Churches Absolution it was resolved the Doctor should give him both that and the Sacrament the day following To which end the Doctor came and after a short Retirement and Privacy they return'd to the Company and then the Doctor gave him and some Friends with him the blessed Sacrament of the Body and Bloud of our Jesus Which being performed the Doctor thought he saw a reverend Gaity and Joy in his Face but it lasted not long for his bodily Infirmities did return suddenly and became more visible insomuch that the Doctor apprehended Death ready to seize him yet after some amendment left him at night with a promise to return early the day following which he did and then found him better in appearance deep in Contemplation and not inclinable to Discourse which gave the Doctor occasion to require his present Thoughts to which he replied that he was meditating the Number and Nature of Angels and their blessed Obedience and Order without which Peace could not be in Heaven and oh that it might be so on Earth After which words he said I have lived to see this World is made up of Perturbations and I have been long preparing to leave it and gathering Comfort for the dreadful hour of making my Account with God which I now apprehend to be near and though I have by his Grace lov'd him in my Youth and fear'd him in mine Age and labour'd to have a Conscience void of offence to him and to all men yet if thou O Lord be extreme to mark what I have done amiss who can abide it and therefore where I have failed Lord shew mercy to me and since I owe thee a Death Lord let it not be terrible and then take thine own time I submit to it Let not mine O Lord but let thy Will be done with which Expression he fell into a dangerous Slumber dangerous as to his Recovery yet recover he did but it was to speak onely these few words Good Doctor God hath heard my daily Petitions for I am at peace with all men and he is at peace with me and from that blessed assurance I feel that inward joy which this World can neither give nor take from me More he would have spoken but his Spirits failed him and after a short Conflict betwixt Nature and Death a quiet Sigh put a period to his last breath and so he fell asleep And here I draw his Curtain till with the most blessed Martyrs and Confessours this most Learned most Humble Holy Man shall also awake to receive an Eternal Tranquillity and with it a greater Degree of Glory than common Christians shall be made Partakers of till which blessed time Let Glory be to God on high let Peace be upon Earth and Good-will to Mankind Amen Amen This following Epitaph was long since presented to the world in memory of Mr. Hooker by Sir William Cooper who also built him a fair Monument in Borne Church and acknowledges him to have been his Spiritual Father Though nothing can be spoke worthy his Fame Or the Remembrance of that precious Name Iudicious Hooker though this cost be spent On him that hath a Lasting Monument In his own Books yet ought we to express If not his Worth yet our Respectfulness Church Ceremonies he maintain'd then why Without all Ceremony should he dye Was it because his Life and Death should be Both equal paterns of Humility Or that perhaps this only glorious one Was above all to ask why had he none Yet he that lay so long Obscurely low Doth now preferr'd to greater Honors go Ambitious men learn hence to be more wise Humility is the true way to rise And God in me this lesson did Inspire To bid this Humble man Friend sit up higher AN APPENDIX To the LIFE of Mr. Richard Hooker ANd now having by a long and Laborious search satisfied my self and I hope my Reader by imparting to him the true relation of Mr. Hookers Life I am desirous also to acquaint him with some Observations that relate to it and which could not properly fall to be spoken till after his Death of which my Reader may expect a brief and true account in the following Appendix And first it is not to be doubted but that he died in the forty-seventh if not in the forty-sixt year of his Age which I mention because many have believed him to be more aged but I have so examined it as to be confident I mistake not and for the year of his death Mr. Cambden who in his Annals of Queen Elizabeth 1599. mentions him with a high commendation of his Life and Learning declares him to die in the year 1599. and yet in that Inscription of his Monument set up at the charge of Sir William Cooper in Borne Church where Mr. Hooker was buried his Death is said to be in Anno 1603. but doubtless both mistaken for I have it attested under the hand of William Somner the Archbishops Register for the Province of Canterbury that Richard Hookers Will bears date October the 26. in Anno 1600. and that it was prov'd the third of December following And that at his Death he left four Daughters Alice Cicily Iane and Margaret
undertaken it yet it hath been with some unwillingness foreseeing that it must prove to me and especially at this time of my Age a work of much labour to enquire consider re-search and determine what is needful to be known concerning him For I knew him not in his Life and must therefore not onely look back to his Death now 64 years past but almost 50 years beyond that even to his Childhood and Youth and gather thence such Observations and Prognosticks as may at least adorn if not prove necessary for the completing of what I have undertaken This trouble I foresee and foresee also that it is impossible to escape Censures against which I will not hope my well-meaning and diligence can protect me for I consider the Age in which I live and shall therefore but intreat of my Reader a Suspension of them till I have made known unto him some Reasons which I my self would now fain believe do make me in some measure fit for this Undertaking and if these Reasons shall not acquit me from all Censures they may at least abate of their severity and this is all I can probably hope for My Reasons follow About forty years past for I am now in the seventieth of my Age I began a happy affinity with William Cranmer now with God grand Nephew unto the great Archbishop of that name a Family of noted prudence and resolution with him and two of his Sisters I had an entire and free friendship one of them was the Wife of Dr. Spencer a Bosom friend and sometime Com-pupil with Mr. Hooker in Corpus-Christi College in Oxford and after President of the same I name them here for that I shall have occasion to mention them in this following Discourse as also George Cranmer their Brother of whose useful Abilities my Reader may have a more Authentick Testimony than my Pen can purchase for him by that of our learned Cambden This William Cranmer and his two forenamed Sisters had some affinity and a most familiar friendship with Mr. Hooker and had had some part of their Education with him in his house when he was Parson of Bishops-Borne near Canterbury in which City their good Father then lived They had I say a great part of their Education with him as my self since that time a happy Cohabitation with them and having some years before read part of Mr. Hookers Works with great liking and satisfaction my affection to them made me a diligent Inquisitor into many things that concerned him as namely of his Person his Nature the Management of his Time his Wife his Family and the Fortune of him and his Which hath given me much advantage in the knowledge of what is now under my consideration and intended for the satisfaction of my Reader I had also a frienship with the Reverend Dr. Usher the late learned Archbishop of Armagh and with Dr. Morton the late learned and charitable Bishop of Durham as also with the learned John Hales of Eaton College and with them also who loved the very Name of Mr. Hooker I have had many discourses concerning him and from them and many others that have now put off Mortality I might have had more Informations if I could then have admitted a thought of any fitness for what by persuasion I have now undertaken But though that full harvest be irrecoverably lost yet my Memory hath preserved some gleanings and my Diligence made such additions to them as I hope will prove useful to the completing of what I intend In the discovery of which I shall be faithful and with this assurance put a period to Introduction THE LIFE IT is not to be doubted but that Richard Hooker was born within the Precincts or in the City of Exeter a City that may justly boast that it was the Birth-place of him and Sir Thomas Bodley as indeed the County may in which it stands that it hath furnished this Nation with Bishop Iewell Sir Francis Drake Sir Walter Raleigh and many others memorable for their Valour and Learning He was born about the year of our Redemption 1553 and of Parents that were not so remarkable for their Extraction or Riches as for their Virtue and Industry and Gods blessing upon both by which they were enabled to educate their Children in some degree of Learning of which our Richard Hooker may appear to be one fair testimony and that Nature is not so partial as always to give the great blessings of Wisdom and Learning and with them the greater blessings of Virtue and Government to those onely that are of a more high and honourable Birth His Complexion if we may guess by him at the age of Forty was Sanguine with a mixture of Choler and yet his Motion was slow even in his Youth and so was his Speech never expressing an Earnestness in either of them but a Gravity suitable to the Aged And 't is observed so far as Inquiry is able to look back at this distance of Time that at his being a School-boy he was an early Questionist quietly inquisitive Why this was and that was not to be remembred Why this was granted and that denied This being mixt with a remarkable Modesty and a sweet serene Quietness of Nature and with them a quick Apprehension of many perplext parts of Learning imposed then upon him as a Scholar made his Master and others to believe him to have an inward blessed Divine Light and therefore to consider him to a little wonder For in that Children were less pregnant less consident and more malleable than in this wiser but not better Age. This Meekness and conjuncture of Knowledge with Modesty in his Conversation being observed by his Schoolmaster caused him to persuade his Parents who intended him for an Apprentice to continue him at School till he could find out some means by persuading his rich Uncle or some other charitable person to ease them of a part of their care and charge assuring them that their Son was so enriched with the blessings of Nature and Grace that God seemed to single him out as a special Instrument of his Glory And the Good man told them also that he would double his diligence in instructing him and would neither expect nor receive any other Reward than the content of so happy an imployment This was not unwelcom news and especially to his Mother to whom he was a dutiful and dear Child and all Parties were so pleased with this proposal that it was resolved so it should be And in the mean time his Parents and Master laid a foundation for his future happiness by instilling into his Soul the seeds of piety those consciencious principles of Loving and fearing God of A belief that he knows the very secrets of our Souls That he punisheth our vices and rewards our innocence That we should be free from hypocrisie and appear to Man what we are to God because first or last the crafty man is catcht in his own snare These
that he gave to each of them a hundred pound that he left Ioue 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 Mony for him and more frugal than his Mistress in keeping 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 Bachelar in Divinity and Rector of St. Nicholas in Harble down near Canterbury who died about 16. years past and had a Son Ezekiel now living 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 moneths 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 died in the moneth of September 1623. For his other two Daughters I can learn little certainty but have heard they both died before they were Marriageable and for his Wife she was so unlike Iepthaes 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 doe 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 finisht 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 moneth 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 moneths 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 days 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 Doctor Iohn Spencer mentioned in the life of Mr. Hooker who was of Mr. Hookers College 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 Doctor 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 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 I. S. at the end of the said Espistle which was meant for this Iohn 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 die 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 I. S. And next the Reader may note that this Epistle of Doctor 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 indeavoured to be compleated out of Mr. Hookers rough draughts as is exprest by the said Doctor Spencer since whose death it is now 50. years And I do profess by the Faith of a Christian that Doctor Spencers wife who was my Aunt and Sister to George Cranmer of whom I have spoken told me forty years since in these
Imprimatur Ex AEd. Lamb. Oct. 29. 1664. Geo. Stradling S.T.P. Rev in Christo Pat. D. Gilb. Archiep. Cant. Ã Sac. Do. Mr RICHARD HOOKER Author of those Learned Bookes of Eoclesiasticoll pollitie W. DolleF THE LIFE OF Mr. RICH. HOOKER The Author of those Learned Books of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity Prov. 2.15 The tongue of the wise useth knowledge rightly LONDON Printed by I. G. for Rich. Marriott and are to be sold at his Shop under the Kings-head Tavern over against the Inner Temple gate in Fleetstreet 1665. To the Right Honourable AND Right Reverend Father in God GEORGE Lord Bishop of Winchester Dean of His Majesty's Chapel Royal and Prelate of the most Noble Order of the Garter MY LORD THere present you with a Relation of the Life of that Humble man to whom at the mention of his Name Princes and the most Learned of this Nation have paid a Reverence It was written by me under your Roof for which and more weighty Reasons you might if it were worthy justly claim a Title to it But indeed my Lord though this be a well-meant Sacrifice to the Memory of that Venerable man yet I have so little Confidence in my Performance that I beg your Pardon for Supscribing your Name to it and desire all that know your Lordship to receive it not as a Dedication by which you receive any Access of Honour but rather as a more humble and a more publick Acknowledgment of your long-continued and your now daily Favours to Your most Affectionate and most Humble Servant Nov. 28. 1664. IZAAK WALTON The Copy of a Letter writ to Mr. Walton by Dr. King Lord Bishop of Chichester THough a Familiarity of almost Forty years continuance and the constant experience of your Love even in the worst times be sufficient to indear our Friendship yet I must confess my Affection much improved not onely by Evidences of private Respect to many that know and love you but by your new Demonstration of a Publick Spirit testified in a diligent true and useful Collection of so many Material Passages as you have now afforded me in the Life of Venerable Mr. Hooker Of which since desired by such a Friend as your self I shall not deny to give the Testimony of what I know concerning him and his learned Books but shall first here take a fair occasion to tell you that you have been happy in chusing to write the Lives of three such Persons as Posterity hath just cause to honour which they will do the more for the true Relation of them by your happy Pen of all which I shall give you my unfeigned Censure I shall begin with my most dear and incomparable Friend Dr. Donne late Dean of S. Pauls Church who not onely trusted me as his Executor but three days before his death delivered into my hands those excellent Sermons of his now made publick professing before Dr. Winniff Dr. Montford and I think your self then present at his bed-side that it was by my restless importunity that he had prepared them for the Press together with which as his best Legacy he gave me all his Sermon-Notes and his other Papers containing an Extract of near Fifteen hundred Authors How these were got out of my hands you who were the Messenger for them and how lost both to me and your self is not now seasonable to complain but since they did miscarry I am glad that the general Demonstration of his Worth was so fairly preserv'd and represented to the World by your Pen in the History of his Life indeed so well that beside others the best Critick of our later time Mr. Iohn Hales of Eaton College affirm'd to me He had not seen a Life written with more advantage to the Subject or more reputation to the Writer than that of Dr. Donnes After the performance of this task for Dr. Donne you undertook the like office for our Freind Sir Henry Wotton betwixt which two there was a Friendship begun in Oxford continued in their various Travels and more confirm'd in the religious Friendship of Age and doubtless this excellent Person had writ the Life of Dr. Donne if Death had not prevented him by which means his and your Pre-collections for that Work fell to the happy Menage of your Pen a Work which your would have declin'd if imperious Persuasions had not been stronger than you modest Resolutions against it And I am thus far glad that the first Life was so impos'd upon you because it gave an unavoidable Cause of Writing the second if not 't is too probable we had wanted both which had been a prejudice to all Lovers of Honour and ingenious Learning And let me not leave my Friend Sir Henry without this Testimony added to yours That he was a Man of as Florid a Wit and Elegant a Pen as any former or ours which in that kind is a most excellent Age hath ever produced And now having made this voluntary Observation of our two deceased Friends I proceed to satisfie your desire concerning what I know and believe of the ever-memorable Mr. Hooker who was Schismaticorum Malleus so great a Champion for the Church of Englands Rights against the Factious Torrent of Separatists that then ran high against Church-Discipline and in his unanswerable Books continues to be so against the unquiet Disciples of their Schism which now under other Names still carry on their Design and who as the proper Heirs of their Irrational Zele would again rake into the scarce-closed Wounds of a newly bleeding State and Church And first though I dare not say that I knew Mr. Hooker yet as our Ecclesiastical History reports to the honour of Ignatius that he lived in the time of S. Iohn and had seen him in his Childhood so I also joy that in my Minority I have often seen Mr. Hooker with my Father from whom and others at that time I have heard most of the material passages which you relate in the History of his Life and from my Father received such a Character of his Learning Humility and other Virtues that like Jewels of unvaluable price they still cast such a lustre as Envy or the Rust of Time shall never darken From my Father I have also heard all the Circumstances of the Plot to defame him and how Sir Edwin Sandys out-witted his Accusers and gained their Confession and could give an account of each particular of that Plot but that I judge it fitter to be forgotten and rot in the same Grave with the Malicious Authors I may not omit to declare that my Fathers Knowledge of Mr. Hooker was occasioned by the Learned Dr. Iohn Spencer who after the Death of Mr. Hooker was so careful to preserve his unvaluable Sixth Seventh and Eighth Books of ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY and his other Writings that he procured Henry Iacksow then of Corpus-Christi College to transcribe for him all Mr. Hookers remaining written Papers many of which were imperfect for his Study had been
had changed this for a better Life Which may be believed for that as he lived so he died in devout meditation and prayer and in both so zelously that it became a religious question Whether his last Ejaculations or his Soul did first enter into Heaven And now Mr. Hooker became a Man of Sorrow and Fear of Sorrow for the loss of so dear and comfortable a Patron and of Fear for his future Subsistence But Dr. Cole raised his spirits from this dejection by bidding him go cheerfully to his Studies and assuring him he should neither want Food nor Raiment which was the utmost of his hopes for he would become his Patron And so he was for about nine moneths and not longer for about that time this following accident did befall Mr. Hooker Edwin Sandys then Bishop of London and after Archbishop of York had also been in the days of Queen Mary forced by forsaking this to seek safety in another Nation where for many years Bishop Iewell and he were Companions at Bed and Board in Germany and where in this their Exile they did often eat the bread of sorrow and by that means they there began such a friendship as lasted till the death of Bishop Iewell which was 1571. A little before which time the two Bishops meeting Iewell began a story of his Richard Hooker and in it gave such a Character of his Learning and Manners that though Bishop Sandys was educated in Cambridge where he had obliged and had many Friends yet his resolution was that his Son Edwin should be sent to Corpus-Christi College in Oxford and by all means be Pupil to Mr. Hooker though his Son Edwin was then almost of the same Age for the Bishop said I will have a Tutor for my Son that shall teach him Learning by Instruction and Virtue by Example and my greatest care shall be of the last and God willing this Richard Hooker shall be the Man into whose hands I will commit my Edwin And the Bishop did so about twelve moneths after this resolution And doubtless as to these two a better choice could not be made for Mr. Hooker was now in the nineteenth year of his age had spent five in the University and had by a constant unwearied diligence attained unto a perfection in all the learned Languages and by the help of them an excellent Tutor and an unintermitted Study had made the subtilty of all the Arts easie and familiar to him and useful for the discovery of such Learning as lay hid from common Searchers so that by these added to his great Reason and his Industry added to both He did not onely know more but what he knew he knew better than other men And with this Knowledge he had a most blessed and clear Method of Demonstrating what he knew to the great advantage of all his Pupils which in time were many but especially to his two first his dear Edwin Sandys and his as dear George Cranmer of which there will be a fair Testimony in the ensuing Relation This for his Learning And for his Behaviour amongst other Testimonies this still remains of him That in four years he was but twice absent from the Chapel prayers and that his Behaviour there was such as shewed an awful reverence of that God which he then worshipped and prayed to giving all outward testimonies that his Affections were set on heavenly things This was his Behaviour towards God and for that to Man it is observable that he was never known to be angry or passionate or extreme in any of his Desires never heard to repine or dispute with Providence but by a quiet gentle submission bore the burthen of the day with patience never heard to utter an uncomly word and by this and a grave Bahaviour which is a Divine Charm he begot an early Reverence unto his Person even from those that at other times and in other companies took a liberty to cast off that strictness of Behaviour and Discourse that is required in a Collegiate Life And when he took any liberty to be pleasant his Wit was never blemisht with Scoffing or the utterance of any Conceit that border'd upon or might beget a thought of Loosness in his hearers Thus innocent and exemplary was his Behaviour in his College and thus this Good man continued till his death still increasing in Learning in Patience and Piety In this nineteenth year of his age he was chosen December 24. 1573 to be one of the twenty Scholars of the Foundation being elected and admitted as born in Devon-shire out of which Country a certain number are to be elected in Vacancies by the Founders Statutes And now he was much encouraged for now he was perfectly incorporated into this beloved College which was then noted for an eminent Library strict Students and remarkable Scholars And indeed it may glory that it had Bishop Iewel Doctor Iohn Reynolds and Doctor Tho. Iackson of that Foundation The First famous by his Learned Apologie for the Church of England and his Defence of it against Harding The Second for the learned and wise Menage of a publique Dispute with Iohn Hart about the Head and Faith of the Church and now printed And the Third for his most excellent Exposition of the Creed and other Treatises All such as have given greatest satisfaction to men of the greatest Learning Nor was this man more Note-worthy for his Learning than for his strict and pious Life testified by his abundant love and charity to all men And in the year 1576. Febr. 23. his Grace was given him for Inceptor of Arts Doctor Herbert Westphaling a man of note for Learning being then Vice-chancellour The Act following he was compleated Master which was Anno 1577. his Patron Doctor Cole being Vice-chancellour that year and his dear friend Henry Savill of Merton College being then one of the Proctors 'T was that Henry Savill that was after Sir Hen Savill Warden of Merton College and Provost of Eaton He which founded in Oxford two famous Lectures and endowed them with liberal maintenance 'T was that Sir Henry Savill that translated and enlightned the Annals of Cornelius Tacitus with a most excellent Comment and enriched the world by his laborious and chargeable collecting the scatter'd pieces of S. Chrysostome and the publication of them in one entire Body in Greek in which Language he was a most judicious Critick 'T was this Sir Hen Savill that had the happinesse to be a Contemporary and familiar friend to Mr. Hooker and let Posterity know it And in this year of 1577. he was chosen Fellow of the College Happy also in being the Contemporary and Friend of Dr. Iohn Reynolds of whom I have lately spoken and of Dr. Spencer both which were after and successively made Presidents of Corpus-Christi College men of great Learning and Merit and famous in their Generations Nor was Mr. Hooker more happy in his Contemporaries of his Time and College than in the Pupillage and
Power with which she trusted him for he was a Pious man and naturally of Noble and Grateful Principles he eased her of all her Church-cares by his wife 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 Iames 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 House at Croydon in Surrey 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 lowliness 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 Iames settled in peace and then fell sick at Lambeth of which the King having notice went to visit him and found him in his Bed in a declining condition and very weak and after some short discourse the King assured him He had a great Affection for him and high value for his Prudence and Virtues and would beg his Life of God To which he replied Pro Ecclesiâ Dei Pro Ecclesiâ 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 Iohn Whitgift was made Archbishop in the year 1583. In which busy 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 College 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 replied upon him and then the Bishop having rejoyned to his Reply Mr. Cartwright either was or was persuaded to be satisfied for he wrote no more but left 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 Warwich where he lived quietly and grew rich and where the Bishop gave him a Licence to Preach upon promise 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 one year each ending his days 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 Papist 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 Dr. Dove 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 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 senssess as they Nash his Answers being like his Books which bore these Titles An Almond for 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 malitious 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 Master of the Temple
Works and by their Transcription they fell into the hands of others and have been thereby preserved from being lost as too many of his other matchless wrirings were and from these I have gathered my observations in this Discourse of his Life After the publication of his answer to the Petition of Mr. Trevers Mr. Hooker grew dayly into repute with the most learned and wise of the Nation but it had a contrary effect in every many of the Temple that were zealous for Mr. Trevers and for his Church Discipline insomuch that though Mr. Trevers left the place yet the seeds of Discontent could not be rooted out of that Society by the great Reason and as great Meekness of this humble man for though the chief Benchers gave him much Reverence and Incouragement yet he there met with many neglects and oppositions by those of Mr. Trevers Judgement insomuch that it turned to his extreme grief and that he might unbeguile and win them he designed to write a deliberate sober Treatise of the Churches power to make Canons for the use of Ceremonies and by Law to impose an obedience to them as upon her Children and this he proposed to do in eight Books of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity intending therein to shew such Arguments as should force an assent from all men if Reason delivered in sweet Language and voyd of any provocation were able to doe it And that he might prevent all prejudice he wrote a large Preface or Epistle to the Dissenting Brethren wherein there were such Bowels of Love and such a Commixture of that Love with Reason as was never exceeded but in Holy Writ and particularly by that of St. Paul to his dear Brother and fellow Labourer Philemon than which none ever was more like this Epistle of Mr. Hookers so that his dear friend and companion in his Studies might after his death justly say What admirable height of Learning and depth of Iudgment dwelt in the lowly mind of this truly humble man great in all wise mens eyes except his own with what gravity and Majesty of speech his Tongue and Pen uttered Heavenly Mysteries whose eyes in the Humility of his Heart were always cast down to the ground how all things that proceeded from him were breathed as from the Spirit of Love as if he like the Bird of the Holy Ghost the Dove had wanted gall let those that knew him not in his Person judge by these living Images of his soul his Writings The foundation of these Books were laid in the Temple but he sound it no fit place to finish what he had there designed and therefore solicited the Arch Bishop for a remove saying When I lost the freedom of my Cell which was my College yet I found some degree of it in my quiet Country Parsonage but I am weary of the noise and oppositions of this place And indeed God and Nature did not intend me for Contentions but for Study and quietness I have begun a work in which I intend the Iustification of our Laws of Church-Government and I shall never be able to finish it but where I may Study and pray for Gods blessing upon my indeavours and keep my self in Peace and Privacy and behold Gods blessing spring out of my Mother Earth and eat my own bread without oppositions and therefore if your Grace can Iudge me worthy such a favour let me beg it that I may perfect what I have begun About this time the Parsonage or Rectory of Boscum in the Diocess of Sarum and six miles from that City became void The Bishop of Sarum is Patron of it but in the vacancy of that Sea which was three years betwixt the death of Bishop Peirce and Bishop Caldwells admission into it the disposal of that and all Benefices belonging to that Sea during this said vacancy came to be disposed of by the Archbishop of Canterbury and he presented Richard Hooker to it in the year 1591. And Richard Hooker was also in this said year Instituted Iuly 17. to be a minor Prebend of Salisbury the Corps to it being nether-Havin about ten miles from that City which Prebend was of no great value but intended chiefly to make him capable of a better preferment in that Church In this Boscum he continued till he had finished four of his eight proposed Books of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity and these were enter'd into the register Book in Stationers Hall the 9. of March 1592. but not publisht till the year 1594. and then with the before mentioned large and affectionate Preface to them that seek as they termit the Reformation of the laws and orders Ecclesiastical in the Church of England of which Books I shall yet say nothing more but that he continued his laborious diligence to finish the remaining four during his life of all which more properly hereafter but at Boscum he finisht and publisht but only the first four He left Boscum in the year 1595. by a surrender of it into the hands of Bishop Caldwell and he presented Benjamin Russel who was Instituted into it 23. of Iune in the same year The Parsonage of Bishops Borne in Kent three miles from Canterbury is in that Archbishops gift but in the latter end of the year 1594. Doctor William Redman the Rector of it was made Bishop of Norwich by which means the power of presenting to it was pro ea vice in the Queen and she presented Richard Hooker whom she loved well to this good living of Borne the 7. of Iuly 1595. in which Living he continued till his Death without any addition of Dignity or Profit And now having brought our Richard Hooker from his Birth-place Place to this where he found a Grave I shall only give some account of his Books and of his behaviour in this Parsonage of Borne and then give a rest both to my self and my Reader His first four Books and large Epistle have been declared to be printed at his being at Boscum Anno 1594. Next I am to tell that at the end of these four Books there is printed this Advertisement to the Reader I have for some causes thought it at this time more fit to let go these first four Books by themselves than to stay both them and the rest till the whole might together be published Such generalities of the cause in question as are here handled it will be perhaps not amiss to consider apart by way of Introduction unto the Books that are to follow concerning particulars in the mean time the Reader is requested to mend the Printers errors as noted underneath And I am next to declare that his fifth Book which is larger than his first four was first also printed by itself Anno 1597. and dedicated to his Patron the Archbishop These Books were read with an admiration of their excellency in This and their just fame spread it self into forain Nations And I have been told more than fourty years past that Cardinal
that the fittest time to discover those errors to which health and prosperity had blinded them and having by pious Reasons and Prayers moulded them into holy Resolutions for the time to come he would incline them to Confession and bewailing their sins with purpose to forsake them and then to receive the Communion both as a strengthning of those holy Resolutions as a seal betwixt God and them of his Mercies to their Souls in case that present sickness did put a period to their lives And as he was thus watchful charitable to the sick so he was as diligent to prevent Law-sutes still urging his Parishioners Neighbours to bear with each others infirmities and live in love because as S. John says he that lives in Love lives in God for God is Love And to maintain this holy fire of Love constantly burning on the Altar of a pure heart his advice was to watch and pray and alwayes keep themselves fit to receive the Communion then to receive it often for it was both a Confirming and a Strengthning of their Graces this was his advice and at his entrance or departure out of any House he would usually speak to the whole Family and bless them insomuch that as he seem'd in his youth to be taught of God so he seem'd in this place to teach his Precepts as Enoch did by walking with him in all Holiness and Humility making each day a step towards a blessed Eternity And though in this weak and declining Age of the World such examples are become barren and almost incredible yet let his Memory be blest with this true Recordation because he that praises Richard Hooker praises God who hath given such gifts to men and let this humble and affectionate relation of him become such a pattern as may invite posterity to imitate his vertues This was his constant behaviour at Borne thus did he tread in the footsteps of Primitive Piety and yet as our blessed Iesus was not free from false accusations no more was this Disciple of his this most humble most innocent holy man his was a slander parallel to that of chaste Susannaes by the wicked Elders and which this age calls Trepaning the particulars need not a repetion and that it was false needs no other Testimony than the publick punishment of his Accusers and their open Confession of his Innocency 't was said that the accusation was contrived by a dissenting Brother one that indur'd not Church Ceremonies hating him for his Books sake which he was not able to answer and his Name hath been told me but I have not so much confidence in the relation as to make my Pen fix a scandal on him to posterity I shall rather leave it doubtful till the great day of Revelation But this is certain that he lay under the great charge and the Anketiety of this Accusation and kept it secret to himself for many moneths and being a helplesse man had layn longer under this heavy burthen but that the Protector of the innocent gave such an accidental occasion as forced him to make it known to his two dear Friends Edwin Sandys and George Cranmer who were so sensible of their Tutors sufferings that they gave themselves no rest till by their disquisitions and diligence they had found out the Fraud brought him the welcom news hat his Accusers did confess they had wrong'd him and begg'd his pardon to which the good mans reply was to this purpose the Lord forgive them and the Lord bless you for this comfortable news Now I have a just occasion to say with Solomon Friends are born for the days of adversity and such you have prov'd to me and to my God I say as did the mother of St. Iohn Baptist thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the day wherein he looked upon me to take away my reproach among men And oh my God neither my Life nor my Reputation are safe in mine own keeping but in thine who didst take care of me when I yet hanged upon my Mothers brest blessed are they that put their trust in thee O Lord for when false witnesses were risen up against me when shame was ready to cover my face when I was bowed down with an horrible Dread and went mourning all the day long when my nights were restless and my Sleeps broken with a fear worse than Death when my Soul thirsted for a deliverance as the Heart panteth after the rivers of waters then thou Lord didst hear my Complaints pitty my condition and become my deliverer and as long as I live I will hold up my hands in this manner and magnifie thy mercies who didst not give me over as a prey to mine enemies Oh blessed are they that put their trust in thee and no prosperity shall make me forget to perform those vows that I have made to thee in the days of my affliction for with such sacrifices thou O God art well pleased and I will pay them Thus did the Joy and Gratitude of this Good mans heart break forth and 't is observable that as the invitation to this Slander was his Meek behaviour and Dove-like simplicity for which he was remarkable so his Christian Charity ought to be imitated For though the Spirit of Revenge is so pleasing to Mankind that it is never conquered but by a Supernatural Grace being indeed so deeply rooted in Humane Nature that to prevent the Excesses of it for men would not know Moderation Almighty God allows not any Degree of it to any man but says Vengeance is mine And though this be said by God himself yet this Revenge is so pleasing that Man is hardly persuaded to submit the menage of it to the Time and Justice and Wisdom of his Creator but would hasten to be his own Executioner of it And yet nevertheless if any man ever did wholly decline and leave this pleasing Passion to the Time and Measure of God alone it was this Richard Hooker of whom I write for when his Slanderers were to suffer he laboured to procure their Pardon and when that was denied him his Reply was That however he would fast and pray that God would give them repentance and patience to undergo their punishment And his Prayers were so far returned into his own bosom that the first was granted if we may believe a penitent Behavior and an open Confession And 't is observable that after this time he would often say to Dr. Saravia Oh with what quietness did I enjoy my Soul after I was free from the fears of my Slander and how much more after a Conflict and Victory over my Desires of Revenge In the Year 1600 and of his Age 46 he fell into a long and sharp Sickness occasioned by a Cold taken in his Passage betwixt London and Gravesend from the Malignity of which he was never recovered for till his death he was not free from thoughtful Days and restless Nights but a submission to his Will that