LIVES OF JOHN DONNE, HENRY WOTTON, RICH'D HOOKER, GEORGE HERBERT, &c,
VOLUME TWO
by
IZAAK WALTON
This issue of "Walton's Lives" is based upon John Major's edition
of 1825, which was printed from a copy of the edition of 1675,
"corrected by Walton's own pen," Major's "illustrative notes" have
been preserved, with some modifications by later hands. Mr. AUSTIN
DOBSON has read the text, added the marginalia, and contributed the
supplementary notes.
I.G.
August 9,
Walton's birthday,
1898.
CONTENTS
The Life of Mr. Richard Hooker
The Life of Mr. George Herbert, Prebendary of Salisbury Cathedral
The Life of Dr. Robert Sanderson, Late Lord Bishop of Lincoln
THE LIFE OF MR. RICHARD HOOKER:
THE AUTHOR OF THOSE LEARNED BOOKS OF THE LAWS OF ECCLESIASTICAL
POLITY.
"Judicious Hooker, though the cost be spent
On him, that hath a lasting monument
In his own books; yet ought we to express
If not the worth, yet our respectfulness."
SIR WIL. COWPER
INTRODUCTION
[Sidenote: Introduction]
I have been persuaded, by a friend whom I reverence, and ought
to obey, to write the Life of RICHARD HOOKER, the happy Author
of Five--if not more--of the eight learned books of "The Laws of
Ecclesiastical Polity." And though I have undertaken it, yet it hath
been with some unwillingness: because I foresee that it must prove to
me, and especially at this time of my age, a work of much labour to
enquire, consider, research, and determine what is needful to be known
concerning him. For I knew him not in his life, and must therefore not
only look back to his death,--now sixty-four years past,--but almost
fifty years beyond, that, even to his childhood and youth; and gather
thence such observations and prognostics as may at least adorn, if not
prove necessary for the completing of what I have undertaken.
[Sidenote: Reasons for this Life]
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 his censures,
till I have made known unto him some reasons, which I myself would now
gladly 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 past the seventy 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,[1] 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 the
following discourse, as also George Cranmer, their brother, of whose
useful abilities my Reader may have a more authentic testimony than my
pen can purchase for him, by that of our learned Camden and others.
[Sidenote: Hooker's friends]
This William Cranmer and his two fore-named 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
Bishop's-Bourne near Canterbury; in which City their good father then
lived. They had, I say, a part of their education with him as myself,
since that time, a happy cohabitation with them; and having some
years before read part of Mr. Hooker's 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 persons, his nature,
the management of his time, his wife, his family, and the fortune
of him and his. Which enquiry hath given me much advantage in the
knowledge of what is now under my consideration, and intended for the
satisfaction of my Reader.
[Sidenote: Conclusion]
I had also a friendship with the Reverend Dr. Usher,[2] the late
learned Archbishop of Armagh; and with Dr. Morton, the late learned
and charitable Bishop of Durham; as also the learned John Hales,
of Eton 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
my Introduction.
[Footnote 1: A native of Suffolk, one of the Clerks of Corpus Christi
College, Oxford, and Greek Reader. He entered Orders, became a noted
Preacher, Chaplain to James I., and a great admirer of Richard Hooker
and the famous Dr. John Reynolds, the latter of whom he succeeded
as Master of his College. About four years after Hooker's death, he
published the Five Books of Ecclesiastical Polity, with a Preface; and
dying on April 3rd, 1614, was buried at Oxford.]
[Footnote 2: The illustrious Primate of Ireland, born in Dublin, Jan.
4th, 1580. He was the first Student of Trinity College, in 1593,
and in 1610 he was made Bishop of Meath, whence he was translated to
Armagh, in 1625. In the Irish Rebellion, he lost every thing but his
library, which he conveyed to England, where he died in retirement,
March 21st, 1655-56.]
THE LIFE
OF
MR. RICHARD HOOKER.
[Sidenote: Birth and parentage]
It is not to be doubted, but that Richard Hooker was born at
Heavy-tree, near, or within the precincts, or in the City of Exeter;
a City which 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 Jewel, 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 God's 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 only that are of a more
high and honourable birth.
[Sidenote: "His complexion"]
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 an humble gravity suitable to the aged. And it
is observed,--so far as enquiry 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 remembered?
why this was granted, and that denied?" This being mixed with a
remarkable modesty, and a sweet serene quietness of nature, and with
them a quick apprehension of many perplexed 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 be a little wonder. For in that, children were less pregnant, less
confident and more malleable, than in this wiser, but not better, age.
[Sidenote: Early training]
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
hopeful and happy an employment.
This was not unwelcome 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
conscientious principles of loving and fearing God, of an early 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
hypocrisy, and appear to man what we are to God, because first or last
the crafty man is catched in his own snare. These seeds of piety were
so seasonably planted, and so continually watered with the daily dew
of God's blessed Spirit, that his infant virtues grew into such holy
habits, as did make him grow daily into more and more favour both with
God and man; which, with the great learning that he did after attain
to, hath made Richard Hooker honoured in this, and will continue him
to be so to succeeding generations.
[Sidenote: John Hooker]
This good School-master, whose name I am not able to recover,--and
am sorry, for that I would have given him a better memorial in this
humble monument, dedicated to the memory of his scholar,--was very
solicitous with John Hooker, then Chamberlain of Exeter, and uncle to
our Richard, to take his Nephew into his care, and to maintain him for
one year in the University, and in the mean time to use his endeavours
to procure an admission for him into some College, though it were but
in a mean degree; still urging and assuring him, that his charge would
not continue long; for the lad's learning and manners were both so
remarkable, that they must of necessity be taken notice of; and that
doubtless God would provide him some second patron, that would free
him and his Parents from their future care and charge.
[Sidenote: Bishop Jewel]
These reasons, with the affectionate rhetoric of his good Master, and
God's blessing upon both, procured from his Uncle a faithful promise,
that he would take him into his care and charge before the expiration
of the year following, which was performed by him, and with the
assistance of the learned Mr. John Jewel;[1] of whom this may be
noted, that he left, or was about the first of Queen Mary's reign
expelled out of Corpus Christi College in Oxford,--of which he was a
Fellow,--for adhering to the truth of those principles of Religion to
which he had assented and given testimony in the days of her brother
and predecessor, Edward the Sixth; and this John Jewel, having within
a short time after, a just cause to fear a more heavy punishment than
expulsion, was forced, by forsaking this, to seek safety in another
nation; and, with that safety, the enjoyment of that doctrine and
worship for which he suffered.
But the cloud of that persecution and fear ending with the life of
Queen Mary, the affairs of the Church and State did then look more
clear and comfortable; so that he, and with him many others of the
same judgment, made a happy return into England about the first of
Queen Elizabeth; in which year this John Jewel was sent a Commissioner
or Visitor, of the Churches of the Western parts of this kingdom, and
especially of those in Devonshire, in which County he was born; and
then and there he contracted a friendship with John Hooker, the Uncle
of our Richard.
[Sidenote: At Oxford]
About the second or third year of her reign, this John Jewel was
made Bishop of Salisbury; and there being always observed in him a
willingness to do good, and to oblige his friends, and now a power
added to his willingness; this John Hooker gave him a visit in
Salisbury, and besought him for charity's sake to look favourably upon
a poor nephew of his, whom Nature had fitted for a scholar; but the
estate of his parents was so narrow, that they were unable to give him
the advantage of learning; and that the Bishop would therefore become
his patron, and prevent him from being a tradesman, for he was a boy
of remarkable hopes. And though the Bishop knew men do not usually
look with an indifferent eye upon their own children and relations,
yet he assented so far to John Hooker, that he appointed the boy and
his School-master should attend him, about Easter next following, at
that place: which was done accordingly; and then, after some questions
and observations of the boy's learning, and gravity, and behaviour,
the Bishop gave his School-master a reward, and took order for an
annual pension for the boy's parents; promising also to take him into
his care for a future preferment, which he performed: for about the
fifteenth year of his age, which was anno 1567, he was by the Bishop
appointed to remove to Oxford, and there to attend Dr. Cole,[2]
then President of Corpus Christi College. Which he did; and Dr. Cole
had--according to a promise made to the Bishop--provided for him both
a Tutor--which was said to be the learned Dr. John Reynolds,[3]--and a
Clerk's place in that College: which place, though it were not a
full maintenance, yet, with the contribution of his Uncle, and
the continued pension of his patron, the good Bishop, gave him a
comfortable subsistence. And in this condition he continued until the
eighteenth year of his age, still increasing in learning and prudence,
and so much in humility and piety, that he seemed to be filled with
the Holy Ghost; and even like St. John Baptist, to be sanctified from
his mother's womb, who did often bless the day in which she bare him.
[Sidenote: "A dangerous sickness"]
About this time of his age, he fell into a dangerous sickness, which
lasted two months; all which time his Mother, having notice of it, did
in her hourly prayers as earnestly beg his life of God, as Monica the
mother of St. Augustine did, that he might become a true Christian;
and their prayers were both so heard as to be granted. Which Mr.
Hooker would often mention with much joy, and as often pray that "he
might never live to occasion any sorrow to so good a mother; of whom
he would often say, he loved her so dearly, that he would endeavour to
be good, even as much for her's as for his own sake."
[Sidenote: The Bishop's horse]
As soon as he was perfectly recovered from this sickness, he took a
journey from Oxford to Exeter, to satisfy and see his good Mother,
being accompanied with a countryman and companion of his own College,
and both on foot; which was then either more in fashion, or want of
money, or their humility made it so: but on foot they went, and took
Salisbury in their way, purposely to see the good Bishop, who made
Mr. Hooker and his companion dine with him at his own table: which Mr.
Hooker boasted of with much joy and gratitude when he saw his mother
and friends: and at the Bishop's parting with him, the Bishop gave
him good counsel, and his benediction, but forgot to give him money;
which, when the Bishop had considered, he sent a servant in all haste
to call Richard back to him: and at Richard's return, the Bishop said
to him, "Richard, I sent for you back to lend you a horse, which
hath carried me many a mile, and, I thank God, with much ease;" and
presently delivered into his hand a walking-staff, with which he
professed he had travelled through many parts of Germany. And he said,
"Richard, I do not give, but lend you my horse: be sure you be honest,
and bring my horse back to me at your return this way to Oxford. And
I do now give you ten groats, to bear your charges to Exeter; and here
is ten groats more, which I charge you to deliver to your Mother
and tell her I send her a Bishop's benediction with it, and beg the
continuance of her prayers for me. And if you bring my horse back
to me, I will give you ten groats more, to carry you on foot to the
College: and so God bless you, good Richard."
[Sidenote: Jewel's death]
And this, you may believe, was performed by both parties. But, alas!
the next news that followed Mr. Hooker to Oxford was, that his learned
and charitable patron had changed this for a better life. Which happy
change may be believed, for that as he lived, so he died, in devout
meditation and prayer: and in both so zealously, 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 months, and not longer; for about that
time this following accident did befall Mr. Hooker.
[Sidenote: Bishop Sandys]
[Sidenote: Hooker's pupil]
Edwin Sandys[4]--sometime 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 some years, Bishop
Jewel 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 Jewel, which was in September, 1571. A little before
which time the two Bishops meeting, Jewel had an occasion to begin 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 not much younger than Mr. Hooker then was: 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 months, or not much longer, after this resolution.
[Sidenote: Hooker's behaviour]
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; by the help
of which, an excellent tutor, and his unintermitted studies, he had
made the subtilty of all the arts easy 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 restless industry
added to both, he did not only know more of causes and effects; 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 Mr. Hooker's 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 and resignation of his will to the wisdom of his Creator,
bore the burthen of the day with patience; never heard to utter an
uncomely word: and by this, and a grave behaviour, 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 blemished with scoffing, or the utterance of any conceit
that bordered upon, or might beget a thought of looseness in his
hearers. Thus mild, 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.
[Sidenote: Scholar of his College]
In this nineteenth year of his age, he was, December 24, 1573,
admitted to be one of the twenty Scholars of the Foundation; being
elected and so admitted as born in Devon or Hantshire; out of which
Counties a certain number are to be elected in vacancies by the
Founder's Statutes. And now as he was much encouraged, so 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 Cardinal Poole,[5] but more that it
had Bishop Jewel, Dr. John Reynolds, and Dr. Thomas Jackson,[6] of
that foundation. The first famous for his learned Apology for the
Church of England, and his Defence of it against Harding.[7] The
second, for the learned and wise manage of a public dispute with John
Hart,[8] of the Romish persuasion, about the Head and Faith of the
Church, and after printed by consent of both parties. 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 Dr. Jackson more note-worthy for his learning, than
for his strict and pious life, testified by his abundant love, and
meekness, and charity to all men.
[Sidenote: Inceptor of Arts]
[Sidenote: Sir Henry Savile]
And in the year 1576, February 23, Mr. Hooker's Grace was given him
for Inceptor of Arts; Dr. Herbert Westphaling,[9] a man of note for
learning, being then Vice-Chancellor: and the Act following he was
completed Master, which was anno 1577, his patron, Dr. Cole, being
Vice-Chancellor that year, and his dear friend, Henry Savile[10]
of Merton College, being then one of the Proctors. 'Twas that Henry
Savile that was after Sir Henry Savile, Warden of Merton College, and
Provost of Eton; he which founded in Oxford two famous Lectures; and
endowed them with liberal maintenance.
It was that Sir Henry Savile that translated and enlightened the
History of Cornelius Tacitus, with a most excellent Comment; and
enriched the world by his laborious and chargeable collecting the
scattered pieces of St. Chrysostom, and the publication of them in
one entire body in Greek; in which language he was a most judicious
critic. It was this Sir Henry Savile that had the happiness to be a
contemporary and familiar friend to Mr. Hooker; and let posterity know
it.
And in this year of 1577, he was so happy as to be admitted Fellow of
the College; happy also in being the contemporary and friend of that
Dr. John 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.
[Sidenote: Sandys and Cranmer]
Nor was Mr. Hooker more happy in his contemporaries of his time and
College, than in the pupilage and friendship of his Edwin Sandys and
George Cranmer; of whom my Reader may note, that this Edwin Sandys was
after Sir Edwin Sandys, and as famous for his "Speculum Europae,"
as his brother George for making posterity beholden to his pen by a
learned relation and comment on his dangerous and remarkable Travels;
and for his harmonious translation of the Psalms of David, the Book of
Job, and other poetical parts of Holy Writ, into most high and elegant
verse. And for Cranmer, his other pupil, I shall refer my Reader
to the printed testimonies of our learned Mr. Camden, of Fynes
Moryson[11] and others.
"This Cranmer," says Mr. Camden in his Annals of Queen
Elizabeth,--"whose Christian name was George, was a gentleman of
singular hopes, the eldest son of Thomas Cranmer, son of Edmund
Cranmer, the Archbishop's brother: he spent much of his youth in
Corpus Christi College in Oxford, where he continued Master of Arts
for some time before he removed, and then betook himself to travel,
accompanying that worthy gentleman Sir Edwin Sandys into France,
Germany, and Italy, for the space of three years; and after their
happy return, he betook himself to an employment under Secretary
Davison, a Privy Councillor of note, who, for an unhappy undertaking,
became clouded and pitied: after whose fall, he went in place of
Secretary with Sir Henry Killegrew in his Embassage into France: and
after his death he was sought after by the most noble Lord Mountjoy,
with whom he went into Ireland, where he remained, until in a battle
against the rebels near Carlingford, an unfortunate wound put an end
both to his life, and the great hopes that were conceived of him, he
being then but in the thirty-sixth year of his age."
[Sidenote: "A sacred friendship"]
Betwixt Mr. Hooker and these his two Pupils, there was a sacred
friendship; a friendship made up of religious principles, which
increased daily by a similitude of inclinations to the same
recreations and studies; a friendship elemented in youth, and in an
university, free from self-ends, which the friendships of age usually
are not. And in this sweet, this blessed, this spiritual amity, they
went on for many years: and as the holy Prophet saith, "so they took
sweet counsel together, and walked in the house of God as friends."
By which means they improved this friendship to such a degree of holy
amity, as bordered upon heaven: a friendship so sacred, that when it
ended in this world, it began in that next, where it shall have no
end.
[Sidenote: Hooker's studies]
And, though this world cannot give any degree of pleasure equal to
such a friendship; yet obedience to parents, and a desire to know the
affairs, manners, laws, and learning of other nations, that they might
thereby become the more serviceable unto their own, made them put off
their gowns, and leave the College and Mr. Hooker to his studies,
in which he was daily more assiduous, still enriching his quiet
and capacious soul with the precious learning of the Philosophers,
Casuists, and Schoolmen; and with them the foundation and reason of
all Laws, both Sacred and Civil; and indeed with such other learning
as lay most remote from the track of common studies. And, as he was
diligent in these, so he seemed restless in searching the scope and
intention of God's Spirit revealed to mankind in the Sacred Scripture:
for the understanding of which, he seemed to be assisted by the same
Spirit with which they were written; He that regardeth truth in the
inward parts, making him to understand wisdom secretly. And the good
man would often say, that "God abhors confusion as contrary to his
nature;" and as often say, "That the Scripture was not writ to beget
disputations and pride, and opposition to government; but charity and
humility, moderation, obedience to authority, and peace to mankind;"
of which virtues, he would as often say, "no man did ever repent
himself on his death-bed." And that this was really his judgment, did
appear in his future writings, and in all the actions of his life. Nor
was this excellent man a stranger to the more light and airy parts
of learning, as Music and Poetry; all which he had digested and made
useful; and of all which the Reader will have a fair testimony in what
will follow.
[Sidenote: Hebrew Lecturer]
In the year 1579, the Chancellor of the University was given to
understand, that the public Hebrew Lecture was not read according to
the Statutes; nor could be, by reason of a distemper, that had then
seized the brain of Mr. Kingsmill, who was to read it; so that it lay
long unread, to the great detriment of those that were studious of
that language. Therefore the Chancellor writ to his Vice-Chancellor,
and the University, that he had heard such commendations of the
excellent knowledge of Mr. Richard Hooker in that tongue, that he
desired he might be procured to read it: and he did, and continued to
do so till he left Oxford.
Within three months after his undertaking this Lecture,--namely in
October 1579,--he was, with Dr. Reynolds and others, expelled his
College; and this Letter, transcribed from Dr. Reynolds his own hand,
may give some account of it.
[Sidenote: Expulsion from College]
To SIR FRANCIS KNOLLES.
"I am sorry, Right Honourable, that I am enforced to make unto
you such a suit, which I cannot move; but I must complain of the
unrighteous dealing of one of our College, who hath taken upon him,
against all law and reason, to expel out of our house both me and Mr.
Hooker, and three other of our fellows, for doing that which by oath
we were bound to do. Our matter must be heard before the Bishop
of Winchester, with whom I do not doubt but we shall find equity.
Howbeit, forasmuch as some of our adversaries have said that the
Bishop is already forestalled, and will not give us such audience as
we look for; therefore I am humbly to beseech your Honour, that you
will desire the Bishop, by your letters, to let us have justice;
though it be with rigour, so it be justice: our cause is so good, that
I am sure we shall prevail by it. Thus much I am bold to request of
your honour for Corpus Christi College sake, or rather for Christ's
sake; whom I beseech to bless you with daily increase of his manifold
gifts, and the blessed graces of his Holy Spirit.
"Your Honour's in Christ to command,
"JOHN REYNOLDS.
"LONDON, _October_ 9, 1579."
[Sidenote: At Paul's Cross]
This expulsion was by Dr. John Barfoote, then Vice-President of the
College, and Chaplain to Ambrose Earl of Warwick. I cannot learn the
pretended cause; but that they were restored the same month is most
certain.[12] I return to Mr. Hooker in his College, where he continued
his studies with all quietness, for the space of three years; about
which time he entered into Sacred Orders, being then made Deacon and
Priest, and, not long after, was appointed to preach at St. Paul's
Cross.[13]
[Sidenote: His sermon]
In order to which Sermon, to London he came, and immediately to the
Shunamite's House; which is a House so called, for that, besides
the stipend paid the Preacher, there is provision made also for his
lodging and diet for two days before, and one day after his Sermon.
This house was then kept by John Churchman, sometime a Draper of good
note in Watling-street, upon whom poverty had at last come like an
armed man, and brought him into a necessitous condition; which, though
it be a punishment, is not always an argument of God's disfavour; for
he was a virtuous man. I shall not yet give the like testimony of his
wife, but leave the Reader to judge by what follows. But to this house
Mr. Hooker came so wet, so weary, and weather-beaten, that he was
never known to express more passion, than against a friend that
dissuaded him from footing it to London, and for finding him no easier
an horse,--supposing the horse trotted when he did not;--and at this
time also, such a faintness and fear possessed him, that he would not
be persuaded two days' rest and quietness, or any other means could be
used to make him able to preach his Sunday's Sermon; but a warm bed,
and rest, and drink proper for a cold, given him by Mrs. Churchman,
and her diligent attendance added unto it, enabled him to perform the
office of the day, which was in or about the year 1581.
And in this first public appearance to the world, he was not so happy
as to be free from exceptions against a point of doctrine delivered
in his Sermon; which was, "That in God there were two wills; an
antecedent and a consequent will: his first will, That all mankind
should be saved; but his second will was, That those only should be
saved, that did live answerable to that degree of grace which he had
offered or afforded them." This seemed to cross a late opinion of Mr.
Calvin's, and then taken for granted by many that had not a capacity
to examine it, as it had been by him before, and hath been since by
Master Henry Mason, Dr. Jackson, Dr. Hammond, and others of great
learning, who believe that a contrary opinion intrenches upon the
honour and justice of our merciful God. How he justified this, I will
not undertake to declare; but it was not excepted against--as Mr.
Hooker declares in his rational Answer to Mr. Travers--by John
Elmer[14], then Bishop of London, at this time one of his auditors,
and at last one of his advocates too, when Mr. Hooker was accused for
it.
[Sidenote: Wanted a nurse!]
[Sidenote: His marriage]
But the justifying of this doctrine did not prove of so bad
consequence, as the kindness of Mrs. Churchman's curing him of his
late distemper and cold; for that was so gratefully apprehended by
Mr. Hooker, that he thought himself bound in conscience to believe all
that she said: so that the good man came to be persuaded by her, "that
he was a man of a tender constitution; and that it was best for him to
have a wife, that might prove a nurse to him; such a one as might both
prolong his life, and make it more comfortable; and such a one she
could and would provide for him, if he thought fit to marry." And he,
not considering that "the children of this world are wiser in their
generation than the children of light;" but, like a true Nathaniel,
fearing no guile, because he meant none, did give her such a power
as Eleazar was trusted with,--you may read it in the book of
Genesis,--when he was sent to choose a wife for Isaac; for even so he
trusted her to choose for him, promising upon a fair summons to return
to London, and accept of her choice; and he did so in that, or about
the year following. Now, the wife provided for him was her daughter
Joan, who brought him neither beauty nor portion: and for her
conditions, they were too like that wife's, which is by Solomon
compared to a dripping house: so that the good man had no reason to
"rejoice in the wife of his youth;" but too just cause to say with the
holy Prophet, "Wo is me, that I am constrained to have my habitation
in the tents of Kedar!"
This choice of Mr. Hooker's--if it were his choice--may be wondered
at: but let us consider that the Prophet Ezekiel says, "There is a
wheel within a wheel;" a secret sacred wheel of Providence,--most
visible in marriages,--guided by his hand, that "allows not the race
to the swift," nor "bread to the wise," nor good wives to good men:
and He that can bring good out of evil--for mortals are blind to this
reason--only knows why this blessing was denied to patient Job, to
meek Moses, and to our as meek and patient Mr. Hooker. But so it was;
and let the Reader cease to wonder, for affliction is a divine diet;
which though it be not pleasing to mankind, yet Almighty God hath
often, very often, imposed it as good, though bitter physic to those
children whose souls are dearest to him.
[Sidenote: At Drayton-Beauchamp]
And by this marriage the good man was drawn from the tranquillity of
his College; from that garden of piety, of pleasure, of peace, and a
sweet conversation, into the thorny wilderness of a busy world; into
those corroding cares that attend a married Priest, and a country
Parsonage; which was Drayton-Beauchamp in Buckinghamshire, not
far from Aylesbury, and in the Diocese of Lincoln; to which he
was presented by John Cheney, Esq.--then Patron of it--the 9th of
December, 1584, where he behaved himself so as to give no occasion of
evil, but as St. Paul adviseth a minister of God--"in much patience,
in afflictions, in anguishes, in necessities, in poverty and no doubt
in long-suffering;" yet troubling no man with his discontents and
wants.
[Sidenote: Res augusta domi]
And in this condition he continued about a year; in which time his two
pupils, Edwin Sandys and George Cranmer, took a journey to see their
tutor; where they found him with a book in his hand,--it was the Odes
of Horace,--he being then like humble and innocent Abel, tending his
small allotment of sheep in a common field; which he told his pupils
he was forced to do then, for that his servant was gone home to dine,
and assist his wife to do some necessary household business. But when
his servant returned and released him, then his two pupils attended
him unto his house, where their best entertainment was his quiet
company, which was presently denied them: for Richard was called to
rock the cradle; and the rest of their welcome was so like this, that
they staid but till next morning, which was time enough to discover
and pity their tutor's condition; and they having in that time
rejoiced in the remembrance, and then paraphrased on many of the
innocent recreations of their younger days, and other like diversions,
and thereby given him as much present comfort as they were able, they
were forced to leave him to the company of his wife Joan, and seek
themselves a quieter lodging for next night. But at their parting from
him, Mr. Cranmer said, "Good tutor, I am sorry your lot is fallen in
no better ground, as to your parsonage; and more sorry that your
wife proves not a more comfortable companion, after you have wearied
yourself in your restless studies." To whom the good man replied, "My
dear George, if Saints have usually a double share in the miseries
of this life, I, that am none, ought not to repine at what my wise
Creator hath appointed for me: but labour--as indeed I do daily--to
submit mine to his will, and possess my soul in patience and peace."
[Sidenote: Master of the Temple]
At their return to London, Edwin Sandys acquaints his father, who was
then Archbishop of York, with his Tutor's sad condition, and solicits
for his removal to some benefice that might give him a more quiet and
a more comfortable subsistence; which his father did most willingly
grant him when it should next fall into his power. And not long after
this time, which was in the year 1585, Mr. Alvey,--Master of the
Temple,--died, who was a man of a strict life, of great learning, and
of so venerable behaviour, as to gain so high a degree of love and
reverence from all men, that he was generally known by the name of
Father Alvey. And at the Temple-reading, next after the death of this
Father Alvey, he, the said Archbishop of York being then at dinner
with the Judges, the Reader, and the Benchers of that Society, met
with a general condolement for the death of Father Alvey, and with a
high commendation of his saint-like life, and of his great merit both
towards God and man; and as they bewailed his death, so they wished
for a like pattern of virtue and learning to succeed him. And here
came in a fair occasion for the Bishop to commend Mr. Hooker to Father
Alvey's place, which he did with so effectual an earnestness, and that
seconded with so many other testimonies of his worth, that Mr.
Hooker was sent for from Drayton-Beauchamp to London, and there the
Mastership of the Temple proposed unto him by the Bishop, as a greater
freedom from his country cares, the advantages of a better society,
and a more liberal pension than his country parsonage did afford him.
But these reasons were not powerful enough to incline him to a willing
acceptance of it: his wish was rather to gain a better country living,
where he might see God's blessings spring out of the earth, and be
free from noise,--so he expressed the desire of his heart,--and eat
that bread which he might more properly call his own, in privacy
and quietness. But, notwithstanding this averseness, he was at last
persuaded to accept of the Bishop's proposal; and was by Patent for
life, made Master of the Temple the 17th of March, 1585, he being then
in the 34th year of his age. [This you may find in the Temple Records.
William Ermstead was master of the Temple at the Dissolution of the
Priory, and died 2 Eliz. (1559). Richard Alvey, Bat. Divinity, Pat.
13 Febr. 2 Eliz. _Magister, sive Custos Domûs et Ecchsiæ Novi Templi_,
died 27 Eliz. (1585). Richard Hooker succeeded that year by Patent, in
terminis, as Alvey had it, and he left it 33 Eliz. (1591). That year
Dr. Balgey succeeded Richard Hooker.]
And here I shall make a stop; and, that the Reader may the better
judge of what follows, give him a character of the times and temper of
the people of this nation, when Mr. Hooker had his admission into this
place; a place which he accepted, rather than desired: and yet here he
promised himself a virtuous quietness, that blessed tranquillity which
he always prayed and laboured for, that so he might in peace bring
forth the fruits of peace, and glorify God by uninterrupted prayers
and praises. For this he always thirsted and prayed: but Almighty
God did not grant it; for his admission into this place was the very
beginning of those oppositions and anxieties, which till then this
good man was a stranger to; and of which the Reader may guess by what
follows.
[Sidenote: Character of the times]
[Sidenote: Hopes under Elizabeth]
In this character of the times, I shall by the Reader's favour, and
for his information, look so far back as to the beginning of the reign
of Queen Elizabeth; a time, in which the many under pretended titles
to the Crown, the frequent treasons, the doubts of her successor, the
late Civil War, and the sharp persecution for Religion that raged to
the effusion of so much blood in the reign of Queen Mary, were fresh
in the memory of all men; and begot fears in the most pious and wisest
of this nation, lest 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 sit 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 very utmost
of their desires, and even beyond their hopes.
[Sidenote: Three parties]
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 the Church of 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 Protestants. The counsels of the
first considered and resolved on in Rome; the second both in Scotland,
in Geneva, and in divers selected, secret, dangerous Conventicles,
both there, and within the bosom of our own nation: the third pleaded
and defended their cause by established 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 established to them
and their posterity.
I shall forbear to mention the very 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 engaged in a
book-war; a war which he maintained not as against an enemy, but with
the spirit of meekness and reason.
[Sidenote: The Non-conformists]
In which number of Non-conformists, though some might be sincere,
well-meaning men, whose indiscreet zeal might be so like charity, as
thereby to cover a multitude of their errors; yet of this party
there were many that were possessed with a high degree of spiritual
wickedness; I mean with an innate restless pride and malice; I do
not mean the visible carnal sins of gluttony and drunkenness, and
the like,--from which, good Lord, deliver us!--but sins of a higher
nature, because they are more unlike God, who is the God of love, and
mercy, and order, and peace: and more like the Devil, who is not
a glutton, nor can be drunk, and yet is a Devil: but I mean those
spiritual wickednesses of malice and revenge, and an opposition to
government: men that joyed to be the authors of misery, which is
properly his work that is the enemy and disturber of mankind; and
thereby greater sinners than the glutton or drunkard, though some will
not believe it. And of this party there were also many, whom prejudice
and a furious zeal had so blinded, as to make them neither to hear
reason, nor adhere to the ways of peace: men that were the very dregs
and pest of mankind; men whom pride and self-conceit had made to
over-value their own pitiful crooked wisdom so much as not to be
ashamed to hold foolish and unmannerly disputes against those men whom
they ought to reverence, and those laws which they ought to obey; men
that laboured and joyed first to find out the faults, and then speak
evil of Government, and to be the authors of confusion; men whom
company, and conversation, and custom had at last so blinded, and made
so insensible that these were sins, that like those that perished
in the gainsaying of Korah, so these died without repenting of these
spiritual wickednesses; of which the practices of Coppinger and
Hacket[15] in their lives, and the death of them and their adherents,
are, God knows, too sad examples, and ought to be cautions to those
men that are inclined to the like spiritual wickednesses.
[Sidenote: Growth of sedition]
And in these times, which tended thus to confusion, there were
also many of these scruple-mongers, that pretended a tenderness of
conscience, refusing to take an oath before a lawful Magistrate: and
yet these very men in their secret Conventicles did covenant and
swear to each other, to be assiduous and faithful in using their best
endeavours to set up the Presbyterian doctrine and discipline; and
both in such a manner as they themselves had not yet agreed on; but
up that government must. To which end there were many that wandered
up and down and were active in sowing discontents and seditions,
by venomous 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 venomous and
indiscreet sermons, the common people became so fanatic, as to believe
the Bishops to be Antichrist, and the only obstructers of God's
discipline! and at last some of them were given over to so bloody a
zeal, and such other desperate delusions, as to find out a text in
the Revelation of St. John, 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 satirical remonstrances:
and at last--having, like Absalom, 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, and then the Queen and
Parliament, to all which they were secretly encouraged by the Earl
of Leicester, then in great favour with her Majesty, 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 avaricious desire had at
last so blinded his reason, that his ambitious and greedy hopes seemed
to put him into a present possession of Lambeth-House.
[Sidenote: Scottish Non-conformists]