Hooper

Hooper (HOPER, or HOUPER), John, an English, bishop, and one of the martyrs of the Reformation, was born in Somersetshire about 1495. He was educated at Merton College, Oxford. Having embraced the doctrines of the Reformation, he was obliged to leave the university, and finally the country in 1540. He went to Switzerland, passing most of his time at Zurich. On the accession of Edward VI (1547) he returned to England, and acquired great reputation in London as a preacher. In 1550 he was made bishop of Gloucester, but his repugnance to wearing the vestments of that office caused considerable delay in his consecration. After entering on his duties, he labored with great zeal for the cause of the Reformation. In 1552 he was appointed bishop of Worcester in commendam. In the early part of the reign of Mary (1553), he was arrested and condemned to be burned at the stake for his Protestant zeal. He firmly refused all offers of pardon which required the abandonment of his principles, and though, on account of the wood with which he was burned being green, he suffered the severest torments for nearly an hour, he manifested unshaken fortitude. He died. Feb. 9,1555. Hooper was the author of a number of sermons and controversial treatises. Among his best works are A Declaration of Christ and his Office (1547, 8vo) — Lesson of the Incarnation of Christ (1549, 8vo) — Twelve Lectures on the Creed (1581, 8vo). Several letters of Hooper are preserved in the archives of Zurich. We have recent reprints, by the Parker Society, of The Early Writings of Bishop Hooper, edited by the Rev. S. Carr (Cambridge, 1843, 8vo); and of his Later Writings, with Letters, etc., edited by the Rev. C. Nevinson (Cambridge, 1852, 8vo). A sketch of his life and writings is given in the British Reformers, vol. 4 (London Tract Society). See Wood, Athenae Oxonienses, vol. 1; Fox,. Book of Martyrs; Middleton, Evangel. Biogr.; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Géneralé, 25, 123; Burnet, Hist. of English. Reformation, vols. 2 and 3; Hook, Eccl. Biography, 6, 148; Tulloch (John), English. Puritanism and its Leaders (1861, 12mo), p. 8 sq.; Baxter, Ch. Hist. of English. p. 408,. 446; Skeats, Hist. of the Free Churches, p. 8 sq.; Middleton, Reformers, 3, 242; Hardwick, Reform. p. 215 sq. 409, 425 sq.; Wesley, Works, 2, 292; 5, 368; 6, 67,197; Collier, Ecclesiastes Hist. 5, 376 sq.; Fuller, Ch. Hist. 4, bk.. 7, p. 66; Brit. and For. Rev. Oct. 1868, p. 881; Soames,. Hist. of the Reform. 3, 558 sq.; Neal, Hist. of the Puritans, 1, 51 sq.; Bennett, Hist. of Dissenters, p. 133; Punchard (George), Hist. of Congregationalism (N. Y. 1865, 2 vols. 12mo), 2, 194 sq., 297.