APPENDIX.

THE LIGHT OF THE WESTERN CHURCHES;

OR, THE LIFE OF MR. THOMAS HOOKER,

THE RENOWNED PASTOR OF HARTFORD CHURCH, AND PILLAR OF CONNECTICUT COLONY,

IN NEW-ENGLAND.

ESSAYED BY COTTON MATHER.

Quod si digna Tua minus est mea Pagina Laude,

At voluisse sat est.*

TO THE CHURCHES IN THE COLONY OF CONNECTICUT: ALTHOUGH the providence of Heaven, whereby the bounds of people are set, hath carried you so far westward, that some have pleasantly said, "the last conflict with antichrist must be in your colony;" yet, I believe, you do not reckon your selves removed beyond the reach of temptation and corruption. "Tis a great work that you have done, for our Lord Jesus Christ, in forming a colony of evangelical churches for him, where Satan alone had reigned without controul in all former ages; but your incomparable HOOKER, who was one of the greatest in the foundation of that work, was in his day well aware that Satan would make all the haste he could, unhappily to get all buried in the degeneracies of ignorance, worldliness, and profanity. To advise you of your dangers, and uphold the life of religion among you, I presume humbly to lay before you the life of that excellent man, who, for learning, wisdom, and religion, was a pattern well worthy of perpetual consideration. Having served my own province with the history of no less than four famous Johns, all fetched from one church, I was, for certain special causes, unwilling to have it complained, as once it was of the disciples, "Thomas was not with them:" wherefore I was willing to make this appendix unto that history, confessing that through want of information I have underdone in this, more than in any part of the composure; yet so done, that I hope the good hand of the Lord, whom I have designed therein to glorifie, will make what is done to be neither unac ceptable nor unprofitable unto his people. COTTON MATHER.

Φωστης των Ἐκκλησιῶν ἐσπηριων.† THE LIFE OF MR. THOMAS HOOKER.

§ 1. When Toxaris met with his countryman Anacharsis in Athens, he gave him this invitation, "Come along with me, and I will shew thee at once all the wonders of Greece:" whereupon he shewed him Solon, as the person in whom there centered all the glories of that city or country. I shall now invite my reader to behold at once the "wonders" of New-Eng land, and it is in one Thomas Hooker that he shall behold them: even in

• Worthy of thee my praise may never be:

I would it were!-let that suffice for me.

The lamp of the Western Churches.

that Hooker, whom a worthy writer would needs call "Saint Hooker," for the same reason, (he said) and with the same freedom that Latimer would speak of Saint Bilney, in his commemorations. 'Tis that Hooker, of whom I may venture to say, that the famous Romanist, who wrote a book, De Tribus Thomis; or, Of Three Thomas's-meaning Thomas the Apostle, Thomas Becket, and Sir Thomas More-did not a thousandth part so well sort his Thomas's, as a New-Englander might, if he should write a book, De Duobus Thomis: or Of Two Thomas's; and with Thomas the Apostle, joyn our celebrious Thomas Hooker: my one Thomas, even our apostolical Hooker, would in just balances weigh down two of Stapelton's rebellious Archbishops or bigoted Lord Chancellors. 'Tis he whom I may call, as Theodoret called Irenæus, "The light of the western churches."

§ 2. This our Hooker was born at Marfield, in Leicestershire, about the year 1586, of parents that were neither unable nor unwilling to bestow upon him a liberal education; whereto the early and lively sparkles of wit observed in him did very much encourage them. His natural temper was cheerful and courteous; but it was accompanied with such a sensible grandeur of mind, as caused his friends, without the help of astrology, to prognosticate that he was born to be considerable. The influence which he had upon the reformation of some growing abuses, when he was one of the proctors in the university, was a thing that more eminently signalized him, when his more publick appearance in the world was coming on: which was attended with an advancement unto a fellowship in Emanuel Colledge, in Cambridge; the students whereof were originally designed for the study of divinity.

§ 3. With what ability and fidelity he acquitted himself in his fellowship, it was a thing sensible unto the whole university. And it was while he was in this employment that the more effectual grace of God gave him the experience of a true regeneration. It pleased the spirit of God very powerfully to break into the soul of this person with such a sense of his being exposed unto the just wrath of Heaven, as filled him with most unusual degrees of horror and anguish, which broke not only his rest, but his heart also, and caused him to cry out, "While I suffer thy terrors, O Lord, I am distracted!" While he long had a soul harassed with such distresses, he had a singular help in the prudent and piteous carriage of Mr. Ash, who was the Sizer that then waited upon him; and attended him with such discreet and proper compassions, as made him afterwards to respect him highly all his days. He afterwards gave this account of himself, "That in the time of his agonies, he could reason himself to the rule, and conclude that there was no way but submission to God, and lying at the foot of his mercy in Christ Jesus, and waiting humbly there, till he should please to perswade the soul of his favour: nevertheless, when he came to apply this rule unto himself in his own condition, his reasoning would fail him, he was able to do nothing." Having been a considerable while thus

troubled with such impressions for the "spirit of bondage," as were to fit him for the great services and enjoyments which God intended him, at length he received the "spirit of adoption," with well-grounded perswasions of his interest in the new covenant. It became his manner, at his lying down for sleep in the evening, to single out some certain promise of God, which he would repeat and ponder, and keep his heart close unto it, until he found that satisfaction of soul wherewith he could say, "I will lay me down in peace, and sleep; for thou, O Lord, makest me dwell in assurance." And he would afterwards counsel others to take the same course; telling them, "That the promise was the boat which was to carry a perishing sinner over unto the Lord Jesus Christ.

§ 4. Mr. Hooker being now well got through the storm of soul, which had helped him unto a most experimental acquaintance with the truths of the gospel, and the way of employing and applying those truths, he was willing to serve the Church of God in the ministry, whereto he was devoted. At his first leaving of the university, he sojourned in the house of Mr. Drake, a gentleman of great note, not far from London; whose worthy consort being visited with such distresses of soul as Mr. Hooker himself had passed through, it proved an unspeakable advantage unto both of them that he had that opportunity of being serviceable; for indeed he now had no superiour, and scarce any equal, for the skill of treating a troubled soul. When he left Mr. Drake's family, he did more publickly and frequently preach about London; and in a little time he grew famous for his ministerial abilities, but especially for his notable faculty at the wise and fit management of wounded spirits. However, he was not ambitious to exercise his ministry among the great ones of the world, from whom the most of preferment might be expected; but in this, imitating the example and character of our blessed Saviour, of whom 'tis noted that, according to the prophesie of Isaiah, by him, "The poor had the gospel preached unto them;" he chose to be where great numbers of the poor might receive the gospel from him.

§ 5. About this time it was that Mr. Hooker grew into a most intimate acquaintance with Mr. Rogers of Dedham; who so highly valued him for his multifarious abilities, that he used and gained many endeavours to get him settled at Colchester; whereto Mr. Hooker did very much incline, because of its being so near to Dedham, where he might enjoy the labours and lectures of Mr. Rogers, whom he would sometimes call, "The prince of all the preachers in England." But the providence of God gave an obstruction to that settlement; and, indeed, it was an observation which Mr. Hooker would sometimes afterwards use unto his friends, "That the providence of God often diverted him from employment in such places as he himself desired, and still directed him to such places as he had no thoughts of." Accordingly, Chelmsford in Essex, a town of great concourse, wanting one to "break the bread of life" unto them, and hearing

the fame of Mr. Hooker's powerful ministry, addressed him to become their lecturer; and he accepted their offer about the year 1626, becoming not only their lecturer, but also on the Lord's days an assistant unto one Mr. Mitchel, the incumbent of the place, who, though he were a smaller, yet being a godly person, gladly encouraged Mr. Hooker, and lived with him in a most comfortable amity.

§ 6. Here his lecture was exceedingly frequented, and proportionably succeeded; and the light of his ministry shone through the whole county of Essex. There was a rare mixture of pleasure and profit in his preaching; and his hearers felt those penetrating impressions of his ministry upon their souls which caused them to reverence him, as "a teacher sent from God." He had a most excellent faculty at the applications of his doctrine; and he would therein so touch the consciences of his auditors, that a judicious person would say of him, "He was the best at an use that ever he heard." Hereby there was a great reformation wrought, not only in the town, but in the adjacent country, from all parts whereof they came to "hear the wisdom of the Lord Jesus Christ," in his gospel, by this worthy man dispensed: and some of great quality among the rest, would often resort from far to his assembly; particularly the truly noble Earl of Warwick, whose countenance of good ministers procured more prayers to God for him than most noble-men in England.

When he first set up his lecture, there was more profaneness than devotion in the town; and the multitude of inns and shops in the town produced one particular disorder, of people's filling the streets with unsuitable behaviour, after the publick services of the Lord's day were over. But by the power of his ministry in publick, and by the prudence of his carriage in private, he quickly cleared the streets of this disorder, and the Sabbath came to be very visibly sanctified among the people.

§ 7. The joy of the people in this light was "but for a season." The conscientious non-conformity of Mr. Hooker to some rites of the church of England, then vigorously pressed, especially upon such able and useful ministers as were most likely to be laid aside by their scrupling of those rites, made it necessary for him to lay down his ministry in Chelmsford, when he had been about four years there employed in it. Hereupon, at the request of several eminent persons, he kept a school in his own hired house, having one Mr. John Eliot for his usher, at little Baddow, not far from Chelmsford; where he managed his charge with such discretion, with such authority, and such efficacy, that, able to do more with a word or a look than most other men could have done by a severer discipline, he did very great service to the church of God, in the education of such as afterwards proved themselves not a little serviceable. I have in my hands a manuscript, written by the hands of our blessed Eliot, wherein he gives a very great account of the little academy then maintained in the house of Mr. Hooker; and, among other things, he says:

"To this place I was called, through the infinite riches of God's mercy in Christ Jesus to my poor soul: for here the Lord said unto my dead soul, live; and through the grace of Christ, I do live, and I shall live for ever! When I came to this blessed family I then saw, and never before, the power of godliness in its lively vigour and efficacy."

§ 8. While he continued thus in the heart of Essex, and in the hearts of the people there, he signalized his usefulness in many other instances. The godly ministers round about the country would have recourse unto him, to be directed and resolved in their difficult cases; and it was by his means that those godly ministers held their monthly meetings, for fasting and prayer, and profitable conferences. 'Twas the effect of his consultations, also, that such godly ministers came to be here and there settled in several parts of the country; and many others came to be better established in some great points of Christianity, by being in his neighbourhood and acquaintance. He was indeed a general blessing to the church of God! But that which hindred his taking his degree of Batchellor in Divinity, must also, it seems, hinder his being a preacher of Divinity; namely, his being a non-conformist unto some things, whereof true divinity could not approve. And indeed that which made the silencing of Mr. Hooker more unac countable, was, that no less than seven-and-forty conformable ministers of the neighbouring towns, understanding that the Bishop of London pretended Mr. Hooker's ministry to be injurious or offensive to them, subscribed a petition to the Bishop for his continuance in the ministry at Chelmsford; in which petition, though he was of a perswasion so different from them, yet they testifie, in so many words, "That they esteem and know the said Mr. Thomas Hooker to be for doctrine, orthodox; for life and conversation, honest; for disposition, peaceable, and in no wise turbu lent or factious." And yet all would not avail: Bonus vir Hookerus, sed ideo malus, quia Puritanus.*

§ 9. The ground-work of his knowledge and study of the arts, was in the tables of Mr. Alexander Richardson, whom he closely followed, admir ing him for a man of transcendent ability, and a most exalted piety; and would say of him, "That he was a master of so much understanding, that, like the great army of Gideon, he was too many to be employed in doing what was to be done for the church of God." This most eminent Richardson leaving the university, lived a private life in Essex, whither many students in Cambridge resorted unto him, to be illuminated in the abstruser parts of learning; and from him it was that the incomparable Doctor Ames imbibed those principles, both in philosophy and in divinity, which afterwards not only gave clearer methods and measures to all the liberal arts, but also fed the whole church of God with the choicest marrow. Nevertheless, this excellent man, as he lived, so he died in a most retired obscurity; but so far as a metempsychosis was attainable, the

• Hooker is a good man, but, in being a Puritan, is a bad man.