pi!'- t-> ^-^ »¦*- A ¦>¦? ^ ••• ^*J J, f ij?5'«. /'^'•fefr/it-,:;; YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY h^yU ff^y. THE LITERATURE OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. THE LITEEATURE OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND INDICATED IN SELECTIONS FROM THE WRITINGS OF EMINENT DIYINES: WITH MEMOIRS OF THEIR LIVES, AND HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF THE TIMES IN WHICH THEY LIVED. BY THE Rev. RICHARD CATTERMOLB, B.D. "1 II', BY THE RECEPTION OF TRUTH IN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH, WE BECAME WHAT WE ARE; ONLY BY THE RETENTION OF IT IN THE SAME SPIRIT, CAN WE REMAIN WHAT WE ARE. THE FRIEND. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOLUME THE FIRST. LONDON: JOHN W. PARKER, WEST STRAND. M.DCCC.XLIV. c x^^f^ 1 THE RIGHT llOiXOURABLE THE EARL OF RIPON, PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF CONTROL FOR THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA, &c. &c. &c. PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LITERATURl.; WHO AS A STATESMA.Y APPRECIATES THE VITAL BENEFITS TO THE N.VnON, AS A SCHOLAR ADMIRES THE INCOMPARARLE LEARNING, AND AS A CHRISTIAN REGARDS WITH VENERATION THE PRIMITIVE PIETY, OF THE ©iiurcfi of lEnglantr; THESE RECORDS OF SOME AMONG HER DISTINGUISHED CLERGY, AND EXAMPLES OF HER EARLIER LITERATURE, ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED BY HIS FAITHFUL SERVANT, RICHARD CATTERMOLE. PREFACE. Among the most satisfactory proofs that the vitality and self-regenerative power of our national character still survive, is the fact, that for some years past a dis position has been manifested to return to the study of those imperishable works of our early divines, which were largely instrumental in the hands of Providence towards its formation, and still, our great poets not excepted, present the best literary evidence of its seri ousness, depth, and vigour. The object proposed in the following pages is, at once to stimulate and to guide this reviving interest in and just appreciation of the writings of the most eminent theologians of the Church of England. With this view, after pointing out as in a map the histo rical circumstances and positions of the several great men who are brought forward, the author has endea voured to exhibit in biographical narratives their per sonal claims to regard, and to give in selections from their works some evidence of their title as authors to the studious consideration of posterity. Such being the design of these volumes, it would be impertinent to anticipate the reader's judgment by attempting here to delineate the general character of the leading divines of the Anglican Church. But, as viii PREFACE. the majority of those writers of whom an account is given belong to the seventeenth century, a period con sidered by many to be one of ignorance and blind intolerance : it may, nevertheless, be proper to premise an observation or two with reference to this opinion as bearing on the present case. The student of history and of human nature ought to keep in mind, as a cautionary truth which proficiency in his pursuits will not fail to confirm, that to every period belong its peculiar vices and errors ; and that no man, at all events no class of men, can be wholly exempt in any period from the characteristic defects of the time. Admirable as were the preeminent churchmen of that century, they are not to be held up as faultless. They must have been more than human, had there not clung to them, in such an age, some share of ignorance and mistake. That their views of physical and even of psy chological science, were in several particulars erroneous, no one will deny : as for example, in retaining, as many did to the close of the century, the Ptolemaic system of astronomy ; in their allusions to chemistry and geology, sciences then almost unknown ; in their imperfect notions of the English Constitution ; in their reluctant abandon ment of belief in witchcraft, &c. As, however, neither ages nor individuals can be justly obnoxious to contempt for not knowing what it was not permitted them, in the order of Providence, to know ; so it might be fairly contended, that these defects were for the most part innocuous — some of them, with reference to existing circumstances, even beneficial. That remarkable century was a period of clearing-up — a twilight of transition, in which ancient errors were, on the one side, beheld receding by degrees into the gloom of the past ; while PREFACE. ix on the other, Truth was seen to shine forth, if not more distinctly, yet assuredly not with less grandeur and impressiveness, from the contrast. The mistakes of powerful minds so situated were often wholesome and manly mistakes ; such as left uninjured — nay, such as cherished beneath their shade, humility, veneration, faith, and pious earnestness. It is then admitted, that the brightest intellects of the seventeenth century had their imperfections. But, did no clouds, though perhaps from other quarters of the intellectual horizon, impair likewise the splendour of the eighteenth ? In examining the records of this latter age, do we find no barrenness in its philosophy, no presumption in its judgments, no rationalism in its religious speculations? Or, rather, can we not easily discover ignorance more offensive, if less gross ; super stitions more grovelling, if less cruel? We, at least, who are too far removed to be liable to injury from the errors of the remoter period, may be allowed to look with greater indulgence on them, than on those of more recent times. Surrounded with numerous and powerful correctives, in the advanced state of science, and the increasing refinements of taste, we are in no danger of imbibing either the mistakes, or the coarseness, of the seventeenth century from what alone survives of that great age, unmodified, its immortal Literature. Well for us, were we equally free from the evil influences of the last ! In carrying into execution, however imperfectly, the plan of his work, the author has regarded himself as engaged in an office somewhat between that of a mere indicator — a finger to point the way, and that of a critical guide; at the same time endeavouring, by the X PREFACE. union of these characters, also to unite among his readers, both the young (whether designed for the sacred profession, or not) and those intelligent persons of more advanced years who have not hitherto been led to enrich their minds from the great original depositaries of Theological learning existing in our Literature. Avoiding the impertinence of declama tory eulogium, he has endeavoured, by means of facts which of themselves sufficiently testify to the character of the Churchmen and Church Literature OF England, to draw the reader into a delightful region of intellectual and moral exercise. The men, he has exhibited, as far as his space allowed, in their lives and mental habits : the works, by placing iu the reader's hand portions rather characteristic than trans cending the general quality of the respective authors, and of sufficient extent to be at once fair tests of the writers' powers, and valuable moreover for their own sake. To affect the strict duties of editorship with regard to these selections, seemed scarcely to be required in such a work. Far from being brought forward with a notion of superseding the originals, the purpose of these outlines and excerpta is, by a reverential and aflFec- tionate, but it is hoped not overweening or undiscern ing estimate of their general merits, to encourage the growing taste for the original and complete works. To deprecate the identification of the office here assumed with the labours of an editor, is the more necessary, inasmuch as from some few of the selections, (e. g. from Andrewes on Ceremonies, from Hammond's Parcenesis, and perhaps elsewhere, in one or two places,) the selector has taken the liberty to strike out a few quotations PREFACE. xi calculated to weary the modern reader ; but, as he believes, without lessening the weight of the arguments, or injuring the characteristic features of the style. Neither the original nor the selected paragraphs are brought forward with any express reference to those con troversies, the passage of which across our ecclesiastical atmosphere is now so grievously disturbing its equi librium. Nevertheless, it will not escape the reflective reader's observation, that the pages before him supply not a few powerful lessons applicable to all who engage in those turbulent disputes. He will find the learning and wisdom, the genius and the piety of our most erudite and judicious theologians, uniformly directing their steps in the free but direct middle path of the Reformed Church of England. He will find them equally shun ning either extreme ; yielding neither to patristical dogmatism, nor to ultra-protestant suspicion ; neither fascinated by the meretricious charms of popery, nor driven, by abhorrence of its mere name, beyond the verge of genuine catholicity. In the calm and impartial, the mild but orthodox tone ofthe selections, he will be supplied with a clue through the labyrinth of perplexing opinions, all alike vaunted by their adherents; and with numerous examples both of steadfastness in defence of the truth, and of patient forbearance equally towards its adversaries and its false friends. ERRATA. Volume I. Page 39, line 38, for " 1625," read " l(il2." . — 48, heading, for " Historical Sketch," read "Dr. Field." — 175, line 23, .for "did not survive the civil war," read "did not survive to the civil war." ~ 291, insert ai ihe top of the page, the title, " Selections from Bishop Hall's Occasional Meditations." — 320, line 8 from bottom, for "to refund," read "to make an offer of refunding." CONTENTS THE FIRST VOLUME. FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE TIME OF HOOKER. A.D. 1535—1572. PA I PAGE HISTORICAL SKETCH Bishop Jewel's Challenge 2 Archbishop Whitgift's Address to Queen Elizabeth 13 HOOKER. A.D. 1580—1600 15 The Happiness of Mankind in God and the Law of God 25 Benefits of a Written Revelation 31 God's Laws may be mutable 33 CLOSE OF ELIZABETH'S REIGN— REIGN OF JAMES THE FIRST. A.D. 1600—1612. HLSTORICAL SKETCH 38 Dr. FIELD. A.D. I6OO— I6l6 4.4 Preface to " A View of the Controversies in Religion, which in these last times have caused the lamentable Divisions of the Christian World." 49 Ofthe Freedom ofthe Will .58 BISHOP ANDREWES. A.D. 1616— 1626 70 A learned Discourse of Ceremonies retained and used in Chris tian ('hurches 75 xiv CONTENTS. PERIOD OF JAMES THE FIRST. A.D. 1603—1625. PAGB HISTORICAL SKETCH 91 BISHOP MORTON. A.D. 160O— 1659 97 Bishop Morton's Profession of Faith 106 On the Conjunction of the Church and Commonwealth 109 Dr. DONNE. A.D. 160O— 1631 118 Sermon on "St. Paul at Malta." 127 Db. JACKSON. A.D. 1600— 1640 146 The Sacred Origin and right Use of Poetry, with the manner of its corruption by later Poets 153 Loving God, the way truly to know him 160 JOSEPH MEDE A.D. 16OO— 1638 168 The Reverence of God's House 178 PERIOD OF CHARLES THE FIRST. A.D. 1625—1649. HISTORICAL SKETCH I87 BISHOP DAVENANT. A.D. 16OO— 1641 I93 Mr. Hoard's Statement respecting "The Absolute Decree," with Bishop Davenant's Answer jgg Concerning the Abuse of the doctrme of Election and Reproba- tio'i 206 ARCHBISHOP LAUD. A.D. 1625—1644 218 Laud's Sermon on the Scaffold 223 Sum of Proofs, that Scripture is the Word of Gtod 228 CONTENTS. ^^ PAGK ARCHBISHOP USSHER. A.D. 16OO— 1656 234 Instructions to those newly admitted to Holy Orders 266 The Satisfaction of Christ on the Cross 264 Materials and Principle of Unity in the Catholic Church 268 BISHOP HALL. A.D. 160O— 1656 278 From his Occasional Meditations 291 ANTHONY FARINDON. A.D. 1630—1658 320 On Prejudice in Religion 321 JOHN PLAIFERE. A.D. 1652 334 Doctrine of Predestination 336 CHILLINGWORTH. A.D. 1630—1644 343 Scripture a surer Guide than the Church 355 The Apostolical Institution of Episcopacy demonstrated 360 JOHN HALES. A.D. 1612— 1656 365 Of Dealing with Erring Brethren 37] JOHN SMITH. A.D. 1644— 1652 389 The true Method of attaining to Divine Knowledge 396 Dr. HAMMOND. A.D. 1625— 1660 405 The Authority of Learning and Learned Men in Matters of Religion 418 A Partenesis, or seasonable Exhortatory to all true Sons of the Church of England 426 THOMAS FULLER. A.Q. l640— 166I 439 Character of the Good Bishop, exemplified in the Lives of St. Augustine and Bishop Ridley 447 The Life of St. Augustine 452 The Life of Bishop Ridley 454 xvi CONTENTS. PAGK BISHOP WALTON. A.D. 1640— 166I 460 The original Texts of Scripture free from gross Corruptions, but not from Variations 465 Dh. POCOCKE. A.D. 1 630— 1656 475 Commentaiy on Malachi iv. 5 482 HISTORICAL SKETCH: FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE TIME OF HOOKER. A.D. 1535—1572. The same providential effort, by which, early in the six teenth century, the Church of England was enabled to regain her long-lost freedom, likewise opened before her learned ministers the path to high achievements in Literature. That any of them should be found, at such a time, to enter on this path with the requisite ardour, and pursue it to its close, was not to be expected. It is the business of a reforming age to prepare the ground, and diffuse the elements of thought and research ; but the hands employed in this work are seldom the same which reap the harvest. Erasmus, the great literary name of that period, though no one more clearly saw or more distinctly pointed out the necessity of the Reformation, yet shrank, when it arrived, from its fierce struggles and popular clamour, as of wholly " dissonant mood " from the tastes and habits of his own life. On the other hand, the re forming clergy were too intimately involved in its progress, to find leisure for employing their pens in any department of composition, except the most necessary and urgent branches of religious controversy. Tyndale ranks among the pure and racy writers of English, and the business-like style of Cran mer appears sufficiently correct and expressive, if we regard the purposes for which he wrote ; but neither of these excellent men, nor even the venerable Latimer, their more popular fel low-martyr, can be cited as possessing any very high claim to literary distinction. With Elizabeth's reign commenced a more settled and favourable state of things. A generation of churchmen conse quently now arose, who, while in possession of a greater fund of general learning than their predecessors, had carried their researches farther into the particular subject of ecclesiastical antiquity. Parker, Elizabeth's first archbishop of Canterbury, vol.. I. 1 2 HISTORICAL SKETCH. [A.D. was a ripe scholar, a liberal and enlightened patron. Besides his undertakings of a more exclusively controversial character, we are indebted to this prelate for that valuable revision of our English Scriptures, the Bishops'' Bible, of 1568; for editions of some of the early English chroniclers ; and for the compilation of the work De Antiquitate Britannicce Ecclesice, containing the lives of the occupants of his see, from its foundation. His contemporary, Jewel, bishop of Salisbury, with equal learning united a more flowing style and richer eloquence. Jewel was, indeed, the most accom plished scholar who had yet appeared in the Reformed Church of England. But the uncertain state of opinion still continued to claim the labours of such men, as chiefly due to the depart ment of polemics. The most considerable of his productions scarcely admitted the exercise of any higher quality than controversial skill. He undertook to demonstrate, and did in fact, substantially demonstrate, against a distinguished Romish champion, that popery is of modern invention — the first distinct traces of the peculiar doctrines and usages of Rome ascending no higher than the sixth century ; while, of the greater part of them the origin dates from epochs far more recent, in what — in this respect, justly — we denominate " the dark ages." The celebrated Apology, from its form and object, was less unfavourable to the genial exercise of literary power, and is consequently among the most perfect produc tions of that age : but it was written in the I.jatin language^ and has not, perhaps, been adequately translated. Some passages in this great writer's Commentary on the Epistles to the Thessalonians, may be pointed out as fine examples of theological style ; but a more eloquent specimen appears in the peroration of his famous Challenge Sermon, preached at St. Paul's Cross in the year 1560. JEWEL S CHALLENGE. Here the matter itself that I have now in hand, putteth me in remembrance of certain things that I uttered unto you, to the same purpose, at my last being in this place. I remember I laid out then, here before you, a number of things that are now in controversy, whereunto our adversaries will not yield. And I said, perhaps boldly, as it might then seem to some men, but I myself, and the learned of our adversaries themselves do well know, sincerely and truly, That 1560.] BISHOP JEWEL'S CHALLENGE. 3 none of them, that this day stand against us, are able, or shall ever be able to prove against us, any one of all those po'ints, either by the Scriptures, or by example of the primitive church, or by the old doctors, or by the ancient general councils. Since that time it hath been reported in places, that I speak then more than I was able to justify and make good. Howbeit, these reports were only made in corners, and therefore ought the less to trouble me. But if my sayings had been so weak, and might so easily have been reproved, I marvel that the parties never yet came to the light, to take the advantage. For my promise was, and that openly, here before you all, that if any man were able to prove the contrary, I would yield and subscribe to him ; and he should depart with the victory. Loath I am to trouble you with rehearsal of such things as I have spoken afore ; and yet because the case so requireth, I shall desire you that have already heard me, to bear the more with me in this behalf. Better it were to trouble your ears with twice hearing of one thing than to betray the truth of God. The words that I then spake, as near as I can call them to mind, were these : If any learned man of all our adversaries, or if all the learned men that be alive, be able to bring any one sufficient sen tence out of any old catholic doctor or father, or out of any old general council, or out of the holy scriptures of God, or any one ex ample of the primitive church, whereby it may be clearly and plainly proved that there was any private mass in the whole world at that time, for the space of six hundred years after Christ ; or that there was then any communion ministered unto the people under one kind, or that the people had their common prayers then in a strange tongue, that they understood not; or that the bishop of Rome was then called an universal bishop, or the head of the universal Church ; or that the people was then taught to believe that Christ's body is really, substantially, corporally, carnally, or naturally, in the sacra ment, or that his body is, or may be, in a thousand places, or more, at one time ; or that the priest did then hold up the sacrament over his head; or that the people did then fall dovra and worship it with godly honour; or that the sacrament was then, or now ought to be, hanged up under a canopy; or that in the sacrament after the words of consecration there remaineth only the accidents and shews without the substance of bread and wine ; or that the priest then divided the sacrament in three parts, and afterward received himself all alone ; or that whosoever had said the sacrament is a figure, a pledge, a token, or a remembrance of Christ's body, had therefore been judged for an heretic ; or that it was lawful then to have thirty, twenty, fifteen, ten, or five masses said in one church, 1—2 4 HISTORICAL SKETCH. [A.D. in one day ; or that images were then set up in the churches, to the intent the people might worship them; or that the lay people was then forbidden to read the word of God in their own tongue :— if any man alive were able to prove any of these articles, by any one clear or plain clause or sentence, either of the scriptures, or of the old doctors, or of any old general council, or by any ex ample of the primitive church; I promised then that I would give over and subscribe unto him. These words are the very like, I remember, I spake here openly before you all. And these be the things that some men say, I have spoken and cannot justify. But I for my part will not only not call in any thing that I then said, (being well assured of the truth therein) but also will lay more matter to the same; that if they that seek occasion, have any thing to the contrary, they may have the larger scope to reply against me. Wherefore, besides all that I have said already, I will say further, and yet nothing so much as might be said. If any one of all our adversaries be able clearly and plainly to prove, by such authority of the scriptures, the old doctors, and councils, as I said before, that it was then lawful for the priest to pronounce the words of consecration closely and in silence to himself ; or that the priest had then authority to offer up Christ unto his Father; or to communicate and receive the sacrament for another, as they do ; or to apply the virtue of Christ's death, and passion, to any man by the mean of the mass; or that it was then thought a sound doctrine, to teach the people, that the mass, ex opere operate, that is, even for that it is said and done, is able to remove any part of our sin ; or that then any Christian man called the sacrament his Lord and God ; or that the people was then taught to believe that the body of Christ remaineth in the sacrament as long as the accidents of the bread remain there without corruption ; or that a mouse, or any other beast, or worm, may eat the body of Christ (for so some of our adversaries have said and taught) ; or, that when Christ said. Hoc est corpus meum, this word, hoc pointeth not the bread, but individuum vagum, as some of them say; or that the accidents, or forms, or shows, of bread and wine, be the sacraments of Christ's body and blood, and not rather the very bread and wine itself; or that the sacrament is a sign or token of the body of Christ that lieth hidden underneath it; or that ignorance is the mother and cause of true devotion and obe dience ; — ^these be the highest mysteries, and greatest keys of their religion, and without them their doctrine can never be maintained and stand upright; — if any one of all our adversaries be able to avouch any one of all these articles, by any such sufficient authority of scrip- 1560.] BISHOP JEWEL'S CHALLENGE. 5 tures, doctors, or councils, as I have required, as I said before, so say I now again, I am content to yield unto him, and to subscribe. But I am well assured, that they shall never be able truly to allege one sentence. And because I know it, therefore I speak it, lest ye haply should be deceived. All this notwithstanding ye have heard men in times past allege unto you councils, doctors, antiquities, successions, and long con tinuance of time, to the contrary. And an easy matter it was to do, specially before them that lack either leisure, or judgment, to ex amine their proofs. On a time Mithridates, the king of Pontus, laid siege to Cizicum, a town joined in friendship to the city of Rome, which thing the Romans hearing, sent out a gentleman of theirs, named Lucullus, to raise the siege. After that LucuUus was within the sight of the town, and shewed himself with his company upon the side of an hill, thence to give courage to the citizens within, that were besieged, Mithridates, to cast them into despair, and to cause them the rather to yield to him, made it to be noised, and bare them in hand, that all that new company of soldiers was his, sent for purposely by him, against the city. All that notwithstand ing, the citizens within kept the walls, and yielded not. Lucullus came on, raised the siege, vanquished Mithridates, and slew his men. Even so, good people, is there now a siege laid to your walls ; an army of doctors and councils shew themselves upon the hill, the adversary that would have you yield, beareth you in hand that they are their soldiers and stand on their side. But keep your hold : the doctors and old Catholic fathers in the points that I have spoken of are yours ; ye shall see the siege raised, ye shall see your adver saries discomfited, and put to flight. The Pelagians were able to allege St. Augustine, as for themselves ; yet when the matter came to proof, he was against them. Helvidius was able to allege Ter tullian, as making for himself; but in trial he was against him. Eutyches alleged Julius Romanus for himself; yet indeed was Julius most against him. The same Eutyches alleged for himself Athanasius and Cyprian ; but in conclusion they stood both against him. Nes- torius alleged the council of Nice, yet was the same council found against him. Even so they that have advanced themselves of doc tors and councils, and continuance of time in any of these points, when they shall be called to trial to shew their proofs, they shall open their hands and find nothing. I speak not this of arrogancy, (thou, Lord, knowest it best, that knowest all things) : but forasmuch as it is God's cause and the truth of God, I should do God injury if I should conceal it. But to return again to our matter. in thc time of Peter and James, neither was there any man that ever heard the name of Masses, (for Missa was never named until four 6 HISTORICAL SKETCH. [A.D. hundred years after Christ, — and yet then was it no private mass nei ther, but a communion), nor yet were the pieces and parts of the mass, as we in our time have seen them, set together. And what mass could that be, that as yet had neither its own name nor its parts? But foras much as they afGrm so constantly that St. James said mass at Jerusalem, and whatsoever it were that he said, will needs have it called by the name of a mass; let us compare their mass and St. James's mass both together. St. James said his mass in the common tongue, as the people might understand him : they say their mass in a strange Latin tongue, that the people should not know what they mean. St. James spake out the words of consecration distinctly and plainly : they, in their mass, suppress the same words and keep them close. St. James in his mass ministered the communion unto the people: they in their mass receive themselves all alone. St. James in his mass ministered the sacrament unto the people under both kinds : they in their mass ministered the sacrament unto the people in one kind only. St. James in his mass preached and set forth the death of Christ : they in their mass have only a number of dumb gestures and ceremonies, which they themselves understand not, and make no manner of mention of Christ's death. St. James's mass was full of knowledge : their mass is full of ignorance. St. James's mass was full of consolation : their mass is full of superstition. When St. James said mass, the people resorted to receive the sacrament : when they say mass, the people ¦ resorteth to look upon only, and to behold the sacrament. And to conclude, St. James in his mass had Christ's institution : they in their mass have well near nothing else but man's invention. Such difference ye may see between Saint James's mass and theirs. 0 that St. Paul were now alive and saw the behaviour and order of the priest at their mass ! Think ye that he would take it and account it for the Lord's Supper? When he had espied but one fault in the holy Communion amongst the Corinthians, straightway he rebuked them, and called them back to Christ's institution: "This," saith he, "I received of the Lord, and the same I gave over unto you." But if he saw the disorder that we have seen, would he not be moved as much against us now as he was sometime against the Co rinthians? Would he not pull us back to the institution of Christ as he did them ? Would he not say unto us. Did I ever teach you to minister the holy Communion in a strange language ? Did I ever teach you to receive the communion privately to yourselves alone, and so to disdain and to despise your brethren? Did I ever teach you to minister the communion to. the people in one kind ? Did I ever teach you to say mass, or to receive the sacrament, for the people ? Did I ever teach you the idle follies of your canon ? Did I ever teach you to offer up the Son of God unto the Father? Did I ever 1560.] BISHOP JEWEL'S CHALLENGE. 7 teach you any other propitiatory sacrifice for sin, than that of Christ once offered upon the cross ? Did I ever teach you to minister the Lord's Supper wherein the people should nothing else but look upon and behold your doings, without any kind of knowledge or comfort ? Did I ever teach you to lift the sacrament over your head ? Did I ever teach the people to fall dovm thereunto, and to worship they know not what ? Be these the things that I delivered you ? Be these the things that I received of the Lord ? This would St. Paul say unto us, if he were now alive. Thus would he reprove us, and call us to the standard and original of the first appointing of the holy sacrament. Our own inventions and fantasies, wherewith we had filled the mass, were so many and so gross, that they quite covered and shadowed the death of Christ, and the holy mysteries of our salvation. There fore we could not truly say, These things Paul delivered unto us, or, these things Paul received of the Lord. Wherefore, forasmuch as we see there have been great and evi dent abuses and errors in the mass, so plain and so manifest, that no man that hath reason, and will consider them, can deny it, let us follow the council of St. Paul: let us return to the ordinance of Christ, unto the tme standard that cannot fail us. As it is not in the power of man to appoint sacraments, so is it not in the power of man to alter or change Sacraments. God will not be worshipped after our fantasies, and therefore so oftentimes he chargeth us in the scriptures, Non facietis quod bonum videtur in oculis vestris — ' Ye shall not do that thing that seemeth good to you in your own sight : Ye shall not turn neither to the left hand nor to the right ; but what thing so ever I bid you do, that only shaU ye do. Your thoughts be not my thoughts, neither be your ways my ways, for as far as heaven is from the earth, or the east from the west, so far off be your thoughts from my thoughts, and your ways from my ways, saith the Lord.' It is a dangerous thing for a mortal man to control or find fault with the wisdom of the immortal God. Tertullian, an old father of the Church, sheweth us the wilftdness of man's heart, after it hath once enterprized to presume a little against God's truth and ordinance : Prmter scripturas faciunt, ut post audacius contra scripturas faciant : First, saith he, they attempt somewhat beside the scriptures, to the intent, that afterward they may gather courage and boldness to do contrary to the scriptures. At the end they proceed as far as the Scribes and Pharisees, that for maintenance of their own traditions despised and brake the commandments of God. For redress therein, there is no better way than to follow St. Paul's council here, and to have recourse to God's holy word. 0 that our adversaries, and all they that stand in defence of the mass this day. 8 HISTORICAL SKETCH. [A.D. would content themselves to be judged by this rule ! O that in all the controversies that lie between us and them, they would remit the judgment unto God's word! so should we soon agree and join together: so should we deliver nothing unto the people but that we have received at God's hand. And if there be any here that have had, or yet have, any good opinion of the mass, I beseech you for God's sake, even as ye tender your own salvation, suffer not yourselves wilfiiUy to be led away ; run not blindly to your own confusion ; think with yourselves, it was not, for nought that so many of your brethren rather suffered themselves to die, and to abide all manner of extremity and cruelty, than they would be partakers of that thing that you reckon to be holy. Let their deatli, let their ashes, let their blood, that was so abundantly shed before your eyes, somewhat prevail with you, and move you. Be not ruled by your wilful affections : ye have a good zeal and mind towards God ; have it according unto the knowledge of God. The Jews had a zeal of God, and yet they crucified the Son of God. Search the scrip tures ; there shall ye find everlasting life. There shall ye leam to judge yourselves, and your own doings, that ye be not judged of the Lord. If ever it happen to you to be present again at the mass, think but thus with yourselves : What make I here, what profit have I of my doings ? I hear nothing ; I understand nothing ; I am taught nothing ; I receive nothing. Christ bad me take ; I take nothing : Christ bad me eat ; I eat nothing : Christ bad me drink ; I drink no thing: Is this the institution of Christ? Is this the Lord's Supper? Is this the right use of the holy mysteries? Is this it that Paul de livered unto me ? Is this it that Paul received of the Lord ? Let us say but this unto ourselves ; and, no doubt, God of his mercy will open our hearts ; we shall see our errors, and content ourselves to be ordered by the wisdom of God : to do that God will have us to do ; to believe that God will have us to believe ; to worship that God will have us worship. So shall we have comfort of the holy mysteries ; so shall we receive the fruits of Christ's death ; so shall we be partakers of Christ's body and blood ; so shall Christ truly dwell in us, and we in him ; so shall all errors be taken from us ; so shall we join all together in God's truth ; so shall we all be able with one heart and one spirit, to know and to glorify the only, the true, and living God, and his only begotten Son Jesus Christ. Amen. But now arose a fresh antagonist and another form of controversy. Having successfully justified, against Romanism, the rejection of its peculiarities, as the incrustations of time, the growth of accident, or the contrivances of an interested 1560.] CONTINENTAL REFORMERS. 9 priesthood ; a no less arduous labour devolved upon the learn ed Anglican clergy, in the defence of the structure which remained, against those ultra reformers, who would not be satisfied with its fair proportions, as long as any par ticle existed, but especially any marked by peculiar come liness, that had in former periods been stained by the con tact, or even by the neighbourhood, of popish corruption. The origin is not obscure of that schism in the national Church, in consequence of which, a considerable division of our fellow countrymen (including, it is readily admitted, many pious christians, and most exemplary citizens,) under the successive general denominations of Puritans, Nonconform ists, and Dissenters, have held themselves aloof, in religious respects, from the main body of the people. Ere the Reform ation was half complete, its progress was rudely interrupted by the death of Edward, and the accession of his unrelenting sister. Of those who had taken a prominent share in the purifying and renovation of the Church, as far as the blessed work had yet advanced, many were called upon to consum mate their labours at the stake ; others evaded the search of persecution in secret hiding-places of their native country ; the remainder sought a refuge in foreign lands. Germany and Switzerland, the countries which received into their bosom these victims of persecution, had embraced the principles of the Reformation, even earlier than England, but under less favourable auspices. Deserted by the hierarchy, the laity and inferior clergy fought the battle of intellectual freedom with courage and perseverance, but without discipline; and, even where most successful, won no more than a maimed victory. While they secured the free use of the Bible, the first object of their generous efforts, they were generally obliged to relinquish the catholic frame and constitution of the Church. Long intimacy with those pious foreigners, re sentment towards their common persecutors, and the necessary disuse, at least in part, of their own apostolical observances, combined to win over by degrees most of the exiles to the opinions and customs of their hospitable entertainers. They too would have a frame-work of ecclesiastical polity, for every particle of which they could allege scriptural authority. Sampson, dean of Christ Church ; Humphrey, president of Magdalen College, Oxford ; Foxe, the learned martyrologist ; Grindal, bishop of London, subsequently the mild and liberal 10 HISTORICAL SKETCH. [A. D. successor of Parker; even Jewel himself, with numerous others, had returned home at the death of Mary, deeply tinc tured with these views. They found Elizabeth, seconded by Parker already seated in the primacy, determined to follow out the design of Edward and Cranmer, by completing the Reformation upon the model of the pure ages of catholic antiquity. Up to this time, the objections of the exiles were chiefly directed against the surplice, the square cap, and other clerical vestments, desecrated, in their esteem, by having been used in popish times. Several of these divines, among whom Jewel and Grindal may be named as chief, after some hesitation were content to submit their private scruples to the general good, and adopted the habits. Some others, as "Father Foxe," though unconvinced, retained their opinions in silence. Others again, at the head of whom appeared Sampson and Humphrey, zealously persevering in the course they had adopted, surrounded it with popularity by their eloquence; and, presently, stood forth the leaders of a party, inflexible in proportion to their growing influence and power, whose genuine descendants, after a struggle of eighty years, over threw the ancient church and monarchy of England. Dislike of the canonical habits had, perhaps, from the first, though in some cases unconsciously, been fortified by other and more substantial motives to nonconformity. And some such were, before long, avowed. Concessions that might have satisfied the original objectors, would plainly have been regard ed with contempt by those who soon succeeded. Various parts of the ritual were successively found to present insurmountable objects of offence ; until it became obvious, that Puritanism was to be appeased by nothing less than a total departure from the religious polity and customs which the nation had received down from primitive times, and had cherished as,^ in spirit, apostolical. The energy of a vigorous government was roused. Elizabeth resolved to enforce conformity: many pulpits were silenced by this unhappy quarrel, ~ at a time when the people were perishing for want of the bread of life ; many of the most zealous in the scanty number of tolerably efficient clergymen were suspended, or wholly deprived of their livings ; till at length, severe, though unavailing laws were enacted to arrest, if possible, the progress of a separation, (for such it had now become,) which menaced the existence of the Church. 1572.] " ADMONITION TO PARLIAMENT." 11 To describe the measures pursued by the government towards this conscientious but mistaken party, is, however, not the purpose of the present sketch ; but rather to notice, in a brief and cursory manner, the steps adopted, at the suggestion of reason and charitable persuasion, to bring them over to a more complying temper. The first great literary champion of nonconformity was Thomas Cartwright. This learned and eloquent person was a fellow of Trinity College, and Margaret professor of divinity, , at Cambridge. By his violent advocacy of the Discipline, as the Puritan system began now to be called, and by a resolute defence of every irregularity which his party had adopted, he raised such a flame in his college and university, that, through the exertions of Whitgift, then master of Trinity, he was deprived of his preferments, and forced to retire to the con tinent. By this time the cause of religious, had found an ally in that of civil, liberty ; and Puritanism had strenuous supporters, not only in the House of Commons, in which a lively perception of the secular benefits to flow from the Reformation was already apparent, but even in the privy council, where the earl of Leicester courted popular esteem, by proclaiming himself its patron. To consolidate this "union of the Puritans and patriots in the legislature," was the design of a pamphlet, put forth in 1572, under the title of An Admonition to Parliament. This production de nounces, in what even our own times would consider language of intolerable rudeness and audacity, the existing ecclesiastical government ; and loudly demands the substi tution, in its place, of " a platform" of synodical discipline. An answer by Whitgift, prepared under the eye of Arch bishop Parker, appeared towards the close of the year. Cartwright, emboldened by the success of his principles, now returned. He replied to Whitgift ; who rejoined, in a De fence of the Answer to the Admonition; which, as it comprises the Admonition itself, Whitgift's reply, Cartwright's answer to him, and, finally, his rejoinder, presents a complete view of this famous controversy. The partizans on each side claimed the victory for their champion; but, on which part soever the advantage of the argument lay, the result was, to crown the popularity of Cartwright ; to confirm his followers in their presumption ; and to drive him once more into vo luntary exile ; on returning from which, after the lapse of 12 HISTORICAL SKETCH. [A.D, several years, he was arrested and detained for a season in custody. In the mean time, Whitgift, now advanced in years, had resigned the weapons of controversy to other hands, — to Ban croft, to Bilson, to Cosins — and had been called to serve the Church in a higher capacity, as Grindal's successor at Canterbury. He proved an able and upright primate ; and, though inflexible in maintaining the rights of the Church, and promoting conformity, he was not wanting in allowance to the scruples of conscientious dissenters. His conduct, when in authority, towards his old antagonist Cartwright, was such as to soften that stern foe to prelacy ; and their contrasted asperities of opinion being subdued by the sobering influence of age and preferment, (for Cartwright had been pensioned by Leicester, and promoted to the mastership of an hospital at Warwick,) they passed their declining years in mutual friendly intercourse. In a notice, however slight, of the acts and character of Whitgift, it would be unjust to pass by in silence his generous exertions, in which he had not the government only, but the queen in person, against him, to restrain the farther alienation of the lands and revenues of the Church. This abuse, by which no one profited, except a few unprincipled courtiers, after being carried to an infamous length in the reign of Henry VIIL, impressed one of the darkest blots which dis figure the rule of his illustrious protestant daughter. A remonstrance on this point, addressed to the queen bv Whitgift, may here be introduced, as not the least worthy remaining evidence of the archbishop's zeal and abilities, and one which should not in fairness be overlooked by those writers who delight in citing this prelate for nothing else but the unworthy adulation in which, when enfeebled in mind and body, he permitted his joy to run over, on discovering, in the conference at Hampton Court, the extent of King James's theological acquirements, and his favourable disposition to wards the Church. Leicester was among those nobles who had largely profited by the spoliation of the bishoprics. On this, and perhaps on some other accounts, an unfriendly feeling existed between him and Whitgift, which once dis played itself in an open collision, in the queen's presence. Both quitted the apartment in displeasure; but the prelate, desiring to justify his warmth to his royal mistress, suddenly 1572.] ARCHBISHOP WHITGIFT. 13 returned, and, finding her majesty alone, addressed her in language to the following purport : — " I beseech your Majesty," he said, " to hear me with patience, and to believe that yours and the Church's safety are dearer to me than my life, but my conscience dearer than both. And therefore give me leave to do my duty, and tell you, that princes are deputed nursing-fathers of the Church, and owe it a protection ; and therefore God forbid that you should be so much as passive in her ruin, when you may prevent it ; or that I should behold it without horror and de testation, or should forbear to tell your Majesty of the sin and danger, of sacrilege. And, though you and myself are bom in an age of frailties, when the primitive piety and care of the Church's lands and immunities are much decayed ; yet, madam, let me beg that you will but first consider, and then you will believe there are such sins as profaneness and sacrilege : and that if there were not, they could not have names in Holy Writ; and particularly in the New Testament. And I beseech you to consider, that though our Saviour said, ' He judged no man ;' and to testify it, would not judge nor divide the inheritance betwixt the two brethren, nor would judge the woman taken in adultery ; yet in this point of the Church's rights he was so zealous, that he made himself both the accuser, and the judge, and the executioner too, to punish these sins. Witness, in that he him self made the whip to drive the profaners out of the Temple, over threw the tables of the money-changers, and drove them out of it. And consider, that it was St. Paul that said to those Christians of his time that were offended with idolatry, ' Thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?' supposing, I think, sacrilege to be the greater sin. This may occasion your Majesty to consider, that there is such a sin as sacrilege ; and to incline you to prevent the curse that will follow it. I beseech you also to consider, that Con stantine, the first christian emperor, and Helena his mother, that king Edgar, and Edward the Confessor, and indeed many others of your predecessors, and many private christians, have also given to God and to his Church much land, and many immunities, which they might have given to those of their own families, and did not, but gave them as an absolute right and sacrifice to God. And with these immu nities and lands, they have entailed a curse upon the alienators of them ; God prevent your majesty from being liable to that curse ! "And to make you, that are trusted with their preservation, the better to understand the danger of it, I beseech you, forget not that besides these curses, the Church's land and power have been also en deavoured to be preserved, as far as human reason and the law of this nation have been able to preserve them, by an immediate and 14 HISTORICAL SKETCH. [A.D. most sacred obligation on the consciences of the princes of this realm. For they that consult Magna Charta shall find, that as all your pre decessors were, at their coronation, so you also were sworn before all the nobility and bishops then present, and in the presence of God, and in his stead to him that anointed you, ' to maintain the church- lands, and the rights belonging to it ; ' and this you yourself have tes tified openly at the holy altar, by laying your hands on the Bible then lying upon it. And not only Magna Charta, but many modem statutes have denounced a curse upon those that break Magna Charta. And now what account can be given for the breach of this oath at the last great day, either by your majesty or by me, if it be wilfully or but negligently violated, I know not. " And therefore, good madam, let not this lord's exceptions against the failings of some few clergymen prevail with you to punish posterity for the errors of the present age : let particular men suffer for their particular errors, but let God and his Church have their right. And though I pretend not to prophesy, yet I beg posterity to take notice of what is already become visible in many families, that church-land, added to an ancient inheritance, hath proved like a moth fretting a garment, and secretly consumed both; or like the eagle that stole a coal from the altar, and thereby set her nest on fire, which con sumed both her young eagles, and herself that stole it. And, though I shall forbear to speak reproachfully of your majesty's father, yet I beg you to take notice, that a part of the Church's rights, added to the vast treasure left him by his father, hath been conceived to bring an unavoidable consumption upon both, notwithstanding all his dili gence to preserve them. " And consider that after the violation of those laws, to which he had sworn in Magna Charta, God did so far deny him his restrain ing grace, that he fell into greater sins than I am willing to men tion. Madam, religion is the foundation and cement of human societies ; and when they that serve at God's altar shall be exposed to poverty, then religion itself will be exposed to scorn, and be come contemptible ; as you may already observe in too many poor vicarages in this nation. And therefore, as you are by a late act or acts of Parliament entrusted with a great power to preserve or waste the Church's lands; yet dispose of them for Jesus' sake as the donors intended: let neither falsehood nor flattery beguile you to do otherwise ; and put a stop, I beseech you, to the approaching ruin of God's Church, as you expect comfort at the last great day; for kings must be judged. Pardon this affectionate plainness, my most dear sovereign, and let me beg to be still continued in your favour, and the Lord still continue you in his." 1580.] HOOKER. A.D. 1580—1600. The state of England, in regard to the all-absorbing topic of religion, continued nearly such as we have seen,— the advocates of the presbyterian Platform pressing on, in obstinate confidence of ultimate success; the queen's govern ment being able to maintain the integrity of the Church, amidst the wreck of its peace, only by severities which no one more lamented than the members of the government themselves; when a champion made his appearance in the field, trained to use, with unexampled ease and effect, the arms of reason and erudition. Richard Hookeb is among those numerous ornaments of the Anglican Church, who have owed little of their fame to ancestry, and little of their advancement to patrimonial aid.' It was to their mutual honour, that, in the year 1 567, Hooker, being then about fifteen years of age, was placed by Jewel, at the bishop's own cost, in Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he had himself been educated. Here, under an excellent tutor, Dr. John Reynolds, those promising qualities, moral as well as intellectual, which had obtained for the youth that honourable patronage, found scope for developement. Four years afterwards. Jewel died ; but not before he had opened a path for the preferment of Hooker. At his recom mendation, Sandys, archbishop of York, sent his eldest son, afterwards Sir Edwin Sandys, to Oxford, to be placed with Hooker, although nearly his equal in age, as his pupil. Hooker's second pupil was George Cranmer, grand nephew ,of the archbishop. Thus surrounded by congenial associations and connections, commanding the warm attachment of his pupils and contemporaries, and about this time admitted a scholar on the foundation of his college, "which was then noted for an eminent library, strict students, and remarkable scholars," he enjoyed the perfection of a college life. In 1577 he took his mastei;'s degree, was made a fellow in the 16 HOOKER. [A. D. same year, and soon after entered into lioly orders. Among his other attainments, his proficiency in oriental learning was sufficient to enable him to officiate as deputy professor of Hebrew. An important incident of Hooker's life, in which his woi-ldly wisdom was not displayed to advantage, abruptly sever ed him from this genial soil; he contracted an unfortunate marriage, and was compelled in consequence to exchange the agreeable society and fair prospects he enjoyed at Oxford, for the poverty and dullness of a mean country parsonage, and the companionship of a wife whose incapacity to appreciate his singular merits was by no means compensated by undiscri minating reverence. The well-remembered picture of this great man's matrimonial infelicity, which his biographer, Walton, has drawn, becomes not unpleasing when viewed as the pro vidential means of his introduction to that worthier, though not less troubled sphere, in which germinated the idea of the first great theological work, of a highly literary character, in our language. Sandys and Cranmer, his pupils at Oxford, coming, when he had been some months in his retirement, to pay him an unexpected visit, were so struck by the contrast of the rude discomforts apparent in his present position with those qualities which they revered in their tutor, that an urgent application to the archbishop for some better preferment for him, was the immediate consequence. It happened, that about this time, the mastership of the Temple became void, by the death of Richard Alvey: to this situation, therefore. Archbishop Sandys earnestly re commended the incumbent of Drayton. Hooker, who instinct ively felt that his strength was adapted rather to meditative than active life, would have modestly declined the oppor tunity of advancement; yet he allowed his reluctance to be overcome ; and in March 1585, the thirty-fourth year of his age, received his appointment to the vacant office. His dread of the disquietudes incident in those turbulent times to a prominent situation in the Church, was instantly realized. He found at the Temple, in the occupation of his pulpit as afternoon lecturer, one Walter Travers. Travers was of Trinity College, Cambridge, where he formed the acquaintance and imbibed the principles of Cartwright. A residence at Geneva thoroughly confirmed him in his adoption of those principles ; and in his very way home, he received the indelible stamp of hostility to the constitution of the 1586.] HOOKER. 17 Anglican church, in accepting ordination from the hands of Cartwright and the other members of the presbytery of the English congregation at Antwerp. There he remained some time, in the capacity of Cartwright's assistant, and returned to England, preceded by a reputation among his party which procured his introduction as domestic chaplain and tutor into the family of Lord Burghley. Travers's attainments were indeed considerable, and he was able to set them off to the best advantage, in his writings by a facile pen, and in the pulpit by ready eloquence and a captivating manner. His was the second great name on the file of eminent Puritans the first, indeed, in literary celebrity ; the Book of Discipline, the consistorian liturgy, from which the Directory established in the following century by the long parliament was extracted, and which he had published several years previously, being a monument of scholarship creditable to that party. The interest of Burghley procured for him the lectureship of the Temple, where his discourses produced so strong an impression, espe cially on the younger members of the congregation, that, upon the death of Alvey, great efforts were made to gratify his desire to secure the mastership for himself. Thus every thing was prepared for the annoyance of the new master. Supported by the prejudices of a majority of his congregation, Travers resisted Hooker's authority, and systematically impugned his doctrines : " the forenoon ser mon spoke Canterbury, and the afternoon Geneva." To maintain a contest of this kind was no less offensive to Hooker's nice sense of respect for the true uses of the pulpit, than unsuited to his temper and physical qualifications. He was as much inferior to his opponent in the resources of popular eloquence, as he was undoubtedly that able person's superior in learning, dignity of style, and blended manliness and grace of diction. His voice was neither powerful nor melodious : action, even of the eye, was wanting to his oratory. With the exception, however, of his habit of fixing this organ on one object, to prevent the embarrassment to which his modesty exposed him, Hooker's style of preaching, though differing from ideal models, and avoiding the vehemence of foreign as well as dissmting pulpits, would appear, from the description left of it by Walton, to have been sufficiently consistent with the sober character of our church and nation. "His discourses," says that affectionate biographer, "were VOL. I. 2 18 HOOKER. [A.D. neither long nor earnest [vehement], but uttered with a grave zeal and an humble voice ; insomuch that he seemed to study as he spake : the design of his sermons was to shew reasons for what he spake ; and with these reasons such a kind of rhetoric, as did rather convince and persuade than frighten men into piety." This state of dissension had continued in the Temple about a year, when Archbishop Whitgift found it neces sary to put an end to the scandal by silencing the lecturer. Travers immediately appealed to the privy council, (where his cause had many friends,) in a Supplication, which clearly shews the intemperance of his proceedings, and his contempt for existing ordinances. Copies of this paper being exten sively circulated, called forth, in self-defence, Hooker, — the most friendly, but weightiest of opponents. His Answer to the Supplication, addressed to Whitgift, is among the most eloquent and instructive productions to which contro versy has given birth ; in temper, style, and views, fore shadowing the Ecclesiastical Polity. The chief errors (marks of a " sour leaven," as he called them) which Travers charged Hooker with preaching, related to predestination, the assurance of faith, and the possibility of salvation to Romanists. On the first point, what gave offence to the lecturer and his partizans appears to have been no more than a very moderate relaxation of the iron bonds of Calvinistic fatalism. But he seems to have been greatly shocked by an expression which fell from Hooker in a private conference relative to this doctrine. Travers had demanded the mas ter's authorities for his opinion. To which Hooker, willing to shorten the dispute, and perhaps, with some little appear ance of wonder at so easy a demand being gravely urged, replied that "his best authority was reason;" meaning, as he explained himself, not his individual understanding, but "Divine reason — reason proper to that science whereby the truths of God are known." With regard to the second alleged error. That the assurance of sense is greater than that of faith; he answered, that what he had taught was, that the things of faith, as laid open in scripture are indeed surer than the evi dence of the senses, but not so vividly beheld — not perceived hy us to be so clear. Else, he asked, why doth God so often prove his promises to us by arguments drawn from our sensible experience ? For we must be surer of the proof than of the 1590.] HOOKER. 19 thing proved ; otherwise it is no proof. In the charitible opinions advanced by him under the third head, many par ticulars were comprised. But the substance of his defence is in the position that the Romanists admit, with us, that the sole meritorious cause of salvation is the merits of Christ; the only difference being as to the mode of applying those merits. " Surely," (exclaims Hooker) I must confess, that if it be an error to think that God may be merciful to save men even when they err, my greatest comfort is my error : were it not for the love I bear to this error, I would never wish to speak or to live." The following conclusion of the answer, conceived in the same spirit, who might not rejoice to have written ? " I take no joy in striving, — I have not been trained up in it. Sith there can come nothing of contention but the mutual waste of the parties contending, till a common enemy dance in the ashes of them both, I do wish heartily that the grave advice which Con stantine gave for reuniting of his clergy, so many times upon so small occasions in so lamentable sort divided, or rather the strict command ment of Christ unto his, that they should not be divided at all, may at the length, if it be his blessed will, prevail so far, at the least in this corner of the christian world, to the burying and quite forgetting of strife, together with the causes which have either bred it or brought it up ; that things of small moment never disjoin them, whom one God, one Lord, one Faith, one Spirit, one Baptism, bands of so great force, have linked ; that a respective eye towards things wherewith we should not be disquieted make us not, as through infirmities the very patri archs themselves sometimes were, full gorged, unable to speak peace ably to their own brother ; finally that no strife may ever be heard of again, but this, who shall hate strife most, also shall pursue peace and unity with swiftest paces." The archbishop, as moderator, delivered his judgment on the controverted points with impartiality, but with charac teristic caution. He, nevertheless, adhered to his original determination respecting the prohibition of Travers, being supported in it by the queen ; and the contest closed with the removal of the lecturer to the provostship of the new University of Dublin, and a more general appreciation, among the templars, of the merits of their distinguished master. That the great monument of sound learning with which Hooker enriched the literature of England in its herculean youth, took its beginning from the reflections and inquiries to which these painful but instructive disputes gave rise, ap- 2 — 2 20 HOOKER. [A. D. pears evident from the following beautiful letter, in which he solicits Whitgift, now his patron, for a removal from the Temple to a more quiet residence. " 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 parson age ; 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. Tra vers here have proved the more unpleasant to me, because I believe him to be a good man ; and that belief has occasioned me to ex amine 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 others' tender consciences shall require us. And in this examination I have not only satisfied myself, but have begun a treatise in which I in tend 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 bles.