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
Pious and Wisest of this Nation left the like days should return again to them or their present Posterity And the apprehension of these Dangers begot a hearty desire of a Settlement in the Church and State believing there was no other probable way left to make them fit quietly under their own Vines and Fig-trees and enjoy the desired fruit of their Labours But Time and Peace and Plenty begot Self-ends and these begot Animosities Envy Opposition and Unthankfulness for those very blessings for which they lately thirsted being then the utmost of their Desires and even beyond their Hopes This was the temper of the Times in the beginning of her Reign and thus it continued too long For those very people that had enjoyed the desires of their hearts in a Reformation from Rome became at last so like the Grave as never to be satisfied but were still thirsting for more and more neglecting to pay that Obedience and perform those Vows which they made in their days of Adversities and Fear so that in short time there appeared three several Interests each of them fearless and restless in the prosecution of their Designs they may for distinction be called The active Romanists The restless Non-conformists of which there were many sorts and The passive peaceable Protestant The Counsels of the first considered and resolved on in Rome the second in Scotland in Geneva and in diver selected secret dangerous Conventicles both there and within the bosom of our own Nation the third pleaded and defended their Cause by Establisht Laws both Ecclesiastical and Civil and if they were active it was to prevent the other two from destroying what was by those known Laws happily establisht to them and their Posterity I shall forbear to mention the many and dangerous Plots of the Romanists against the Church and State because what is principally intended in this Digression is an account of the Opinions and Activity of the Non-conformists against whose judgment and practice Mr. Hooker became at last but most unwillingly to be ingaged in a Book-war a war which he maintained not as against an Enemy but with the spirit of Meekness and Reason In which number of Non-conformists though some might be sincere and well-meaning men yet of this Party there were many that were possest with an high degree of Spiritual wickedness I mean with an innate radical Pride and Malice I mean not those lesser sins that are more visible and more properly carnal as Gluttony Drunkenness and the like from which good Lord deliver us but sins of an higher nature more unlike to the nature of God which is Love and Mercy and Peace and more like the Devil who cannot be drunk and yet is a Devil those wickednesses of Malice and Revenge and Opposition and a Complacence in working and beholding Confusion which are more properly his work and greater sins though many will not believe it Men whom a furious Zele and Prejudice had blinded and made incapable of hearing Reason or adhering to the ways of Peace Men whom Pride and a Self-conceit had made to overvalue their own Wisdom and become pertinacious and dispute against those Laws which they ought to obey Men that labour'd and joyed to speak evil of Government and then to be the Authors of Confusion whom Company and Conversation and Custom had blinded and made insensible that these were Errours and at last became so hardened that they died without repenting these spiritual wickednesses And in these times which tended thus to Confusion there were also many others that pretended a Tenderness of Conscience refusing to take an Oath before a lawful Magistrate and yet in their secret Conventicles did covenant and swear to each other to be faithful in using their best endeavours to set up the Presbyterian Discipline To which end there were many that wandered up and down and were active in sowing Discontents and Sedition by venemous and secret Murmurings and a Dispersion of scurrilous Pamphlets and Libels against the Church and State but especially against the Bishops by which means together with indiscreet Sermons the Common people became so Phanatick as to believe the Bishops to be Antichrist and the onely Obstructers of Gods Discipline and then given over to such a desperate delusion as to find out a Text in the Revelation of S. Iohn that Antichrist was to be overcome by the sword So that those very men that began with tender and meek Petitions proceeded to Admonitions then to Satyrical Remonstrances and at last having numbered who was not and who was for their Cause they got a supposed Certainty of so great a Party that they durst threaten first the Bishops then the Queen and Parliament to all which they were secretly encouraged by the Earl of Leicester then in great favour with her and the reputed Cherisher and Patron general of these pretenders to Tenderness of Conscience his Design being by their means to bring such an odium upon the Bishops as to procure an Alienation of their Lands and a large proportion of them for himself which Avaritious desire had so blinded his Reason that his ambitious and greedy Hopes had almost put him into present possession of Lambeth-house And to these Undertakings the Non-conformists of this Nation were much encouraged and heightened by a Correspondence and Confederacy with that Brotherhood in Scotland so that here they became so bold that one told the Queen openly in a Sermon She was like an untamed Heyfer that would not be ruled by Gods people but obstructed his Discipline And in Scotland they were more confident for there they declared her an Atheist and grew to such an height as not to be accountable for any thing spoken against her nor for Treason against their own King if spoken in the Pulpit shewing at last such a disobedience to him that his Mother being in England and then in distress and in prison and in danger of Death the Church denied the King their prayers for her and at another time when he had appointed a Day of Feasting the Church declared for a general Fast in opposition to his Authority To this height they were grown in both Nations and by these means there was distill'd into the minds of the Common people such other venemous and turbulent Principles as were inconsistent with the safety of the Church and State and these vented ' so daringly that beside the loss of Life and Limbs they were forced to use such other Severities as will not admit of an Excuse if it had not been to prevent Confusion and the consequence of it which without such prevention would have been Ruine and Misery to this numerous Nation These Errours and Animosities were so remarkable that they begot wonder in an ingenious Italian who being about this time come newly into this Nation writ pleasantly to a Friend in his own Countrey That the Common people of England were wiser than the wisest of his wiser Nation for here the very
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