Hooker, Richard

Hooker, Richard One of the most eminent divines in the history of the Church of England, was born in or near Exeter about 1553, according to Walton, or about Easter, 1554, according to Wood. His early education was received at the expense of his uncle, John Hooker, chamberlain of Exeter, and he was afterwards introduced by the same relative to the notice of bishop Jewel, who procured him in 1567 a clerkship in Corpus Christi College, Oxford. In December 1573, he became a student in that college, and a fellow and Master of Arts in 1577. In 1579 he was appointed lecturer on Hebrew in the university, and in October of the same year he was expelled his college, with Dr. John Reynolds and three other fellows, but he was restored the same month. About two years after he took orders, and was appointed to preach at Paul's Cross. Having married the following year, he lost his fellowship, but he was presented to the living of Drayton-Beauchamp, in Bucks, by John Cherry, Esq., in 1584. Through the influence of the archbishop of York, he was appointed Master of the Temple in 1585. Here he became engaged in a controversy on Church discipline and some points of doctrine with Walter Travers, afternoon lecturer at the Temple, who had been ordained by the Presbytery at Antwerp, and held most of the opinions of the divines of Geneva. Travers, being silenced by archbishop Whitgift, appealed to the Privy Council, but without success. His petition to the council was published, and answered by Hooker. Travers had many adherents in the Temple, and it was their opposition, according to Izaak Walton, which induced Hooker to commence his work on the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity. Finding that he had not leisure at the Temple to complete that work, he applied to Whitgift for removal to a more quiet station, and was accordingly presented to the living of Boscombe in Wiltshire in 1591. On the 17th of July in the same year he was made a prebendary of Salisbury. At Boscombe he finished four books of the Ecclesiastical Polity, which were published in 1594. On the 7th of July 1595, he was presented by the queen to the living of Bishopsbourne in Kent, which he held till his death, on the 2nd of November 1600. "Hooker's manner was grave even in childhood; the mildness of his temper was proved by his moderation in controversy; and his piety and learning procured him the general esteem of his contemporaries. His great work is his defense of the constitution and discipline of the Church of England, in eight books, under the title of The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity. This work obtained during the author's lifetime the praise of a pope (Clement VIII) and a king (James I), and has ever since been looked upon as one of the chief bulwarks of the Church of England and of ecclesiastical establishments in general. As a work of solid learning, profound reasoning, and breadth and sustained dignity of style, it is indeed beyond praise; but the common objection is a just one, that Hooker's reasoning is too frequently that of an advocate. The publication of the first four books has been mentioned above; the fifth was published in 1597. He completed the last three books, but they were not published till several years after his death. The account which Walton gives of the mutilation of the last three books is very improbable, and little doubt can be entertained of their authenticity, though they are certainly imperfect, and probably not in the condition in which he left them" (English Cyclopedia). Hooker was charged with Romanizing tendencies, but the charge had no better foundation than his prelatical theory of the Church. For a series of shrewd and genial notes and criticisms on Hooker, see Coleridge, Consplete Works, N.Y. edition, 5, 28 sq. Of the Ecclesiastical Polity many separate editions have appeared. His Works, with Life, edited by Dr. Gauden, were published in London, 1662 (fol.); again in 1666 (fol.), with life by Izaak Walton. The latest editions are Hanbury's, with life of Cartwright, and Notes, from the dissenting point of view (London, 1830, 3 vols. 8vo); Keble's (London 1836, 4 vols. 8vo, and 1841, 3 vols. 8vo; without the Introduction and notes, 2 vols. 8vo). See Hook. Eccl. Biography, 6, 126 sq.; Orme, Life of Baxter, 1. 22; Stanley, Life of Amold, 2. 64; Hallam, Literature of Europe, 2, 98; Allibone, Dictionary of Authors, 1, 880; Grant, Ch. Hist. 1, 443; Baxter, Ch. Hist. of Engl. p. 489, 537 sq., 543; Neal, Hist. of the Puritans, 1, 206; Bennett, Hist. of the Dissenters, p. 226; Skeats, Hist. of the Free Churches of English. p. 29 sq.; Cunningham, Ch. Principles. p. 321, 391 sq.; Shedd, Hist. of Doctrines (see Index); Hagenbach, Hist. of Doctr. (see Index, vol. 2); Lecky, Hist. of Rationalism, 2, 79, 199 sq.; Bickersteth, Stud. Assist. p. 245; Tulloch, English Puritanism and its Leaders, p. 24 sq.; Calamy, Hist. Account of my Life, 1, 235 sq.; 2, 236; Journ. Sac. Lit. 27, 467, Theolog. Magazine, vol. 2.