before, and not after, his sermons; that in his prayers, he named Bishops; that he kneeled, both when he prayed, and when he received the Sacrament; and (says Mr. Hooker in his defence) other exceptions so like these, as but to name, I should have thought a greater fault than to commit them."

And it is not unworthy the noting, that in the manage of so great a controversy, a sharper reproof than this, and one like it, did never fall from the happy pen of this humble man. That like it was

upon a like occasion of exceptions, to which his answer was, "Your next argument consists of railing and of reasons; to your railing I say nothing; to your reasons I say what follows." And I am glad of this fair occasion to testify the dove-like temper of this meek, this matchless man. And doubtless, if Almighty God had blest the dissenters from the ceremonies and discipline of this Church, with a like measure of wisdom and humility, instead of their pertinacious zeal, then obedience and truth had kissed each other; then peace and piety had flourished in our nation, and this Church and State had been blessed like Jerusalem, that is at unity with itself: but this can never be expected, till God shall bless the common people of this nation with a belief, "That Schism is a sin, and they not fit to judge what is Schism;" and bless them also with a belief, "That there may be offences taken which are not given;" and, "That laws are not made for private men to dispute but to obey."

And this also may be worthy of noting, that these exceptions of Mr. Travers against Mr. Hooker proved to be felix error, for they were the cause of his transcribing those few of his sermons, which we now see printed with his books; and of his Answer to Mr. Travers' Supplication; and of his most learned and useful discourse of Justification, of Faith, and Works; and by their transcription they

fell into such hands as have preserved them from being lost, as too many of his other matchless writings were; and from these I have gathered many observations in this discourse of his life.

After the publication of his Answer to the Petition of Mr. Travers, Mr. Hooker grew daily into great repute with the most learned and wise of the nation; but it had a contrary effect in very many of the Temple, that were zealous for Mr. Travers, and for his Church discipline; insomuch, that though Mr. Travers left the place, yet the seeds of discontent could not be rooted out of that society, by the great reason, and as great meekness, of this humble man for though the chief Benchers gave him much reverence and encouragement, yet he there met with many neglects and oppositions by those of Mr. Travers's judgment; 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 Church's 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 show such arguments as should force an assent from all men, if reason, delivered in sweet language, and void of any provocation, were able to do it: and that he might prevent all prejudice, he wrote before it a large preface or epistle to the Dissenting Brethren, wherein there were such bowels of love, and such a commixture of that love with reason, as was never exceeded but in Holy Writ; and particularly by that of St. Paul to his dear brother and fellow-labourer Philemon: than which none ever was more like this epistle of Mr. Hooker's. So that his dear friend. and companion in his studies, Dr. Spencer, might, after his death, justly say, "What admirable height of learning, and depth of judgment, dwelt in the

lowly mind of this truly humble man; great in all wise men's 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 was laid in the Temple; but he found it no fit place to finish what he had there designed; he therefore earnestly solicited the Archbishop for a remove from that place; to whom he spake to this purpose: "My Lord, 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. My Lord, my particular contests with Mr. Travers here have proved the more unpleasant to me, because I believe him to be a good man; and that belief hath occasioned me to examine mine own conscience concerning his opinions; and, to satisfy that, I have consulted the Scripture, and other laws, both human and divine, whether the conscience of him, and others of his judgment, ought to be so far complied with, as to alter our frame of Church government, our manner of God's worship, our praising and praying to him, and our established ceremonies, as often as his and other tender consciences shall require us. And in this examination, I have not only satisfied myself, but have begun a treatise, in which I intend a justification of the laws of our ecclesiastical polity; in which design God and his holy angels shall at the last

great day bear me that witness which my conscience now does, that my meaning is not to provoke any, but rather to satisfy all tender consciences: and I shall never be able to do this, but where I may study, and pray for God's blessing upon my endeavours, and keep myself in peace and privacy, and behold God's blessing spring out of my motherearth, and eat my own bread without oppositions; and therefore, if your Grace can judge me worthy of 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 diocese of Sarum, and six miles from that city, became void. The Bishop of Sarum is patron of it; but in the vacancy of that see, (which was three years betwixt the translation of Bishop Pierce to the see of York, and Bishop Caldwell's admission into it,) the disposal of that, and all benefices belonging to that see, during this said vacancy, came to be disposed of by the Archbishop of Canterbury; and he presented Richard Hooker to it in the year 1591. And Richard Hooker was also in the said year instituted, (July 17,) to be a Minor Prebend of Salisbury, the Corps to it being NetherHaven, about ten miles from that city; which prebend was of no great value, but intended chiefly to make him capable of a better preferment in that Church. In this Boscum he continued till he had finished four of his eight proposed books of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, and these were entered into the register-book in Stationers' Hall, the 9th of March, 1592, but not published till the year 1594, and then were with the before-mentioned large and affectionate preface, which he directs to them that seek (as they term it) the reformation of the laws and orders ecclesiastical in the Church of England; of which books I shall yet say nothing more, but that he continued his laborious diligence

to finish the remaining four during his life; (of all which more properly hereafter;) but at Boscum he finished and published but only the first four, being then in the 39th year of his age.

He left Boscum in the year 1595, by a surrender of it into the hands of Bishop Caldwell; and he presented Benjamin Russell, who was instituted into it the 23rd of June in the same year.

The parsonage of Bishop's Borne, in Kent, three miles from Canterbury, is in that Archbishop's gift: but in the latter end of the year 1594, Dr. William Redman, the rector of it, was made Bishop of Norwich; by which means the power of presenting to it was pro ea vice in the Queen; and she presented Richard Hooker, whom she loved well, to this good living of Borne, the seventh of July, 1595; in which living he continued till his death, without any addition of dignity or profit.

And now, having brought our Richard Hooker from his birth-place, to this where he found a grave, I shall only give some account of his books, and of his behaviour in this parsonage of Borne, and then give a rest both to myself and my reader.

His first four books and large epistles 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 was, when he first printed them, 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 Printer's errors, as noted underneath.'

And I am next to declare that his fifth book