*

thorough revision. The collating of any ten of the following pages with the corresponding matter in any other modern edition, will shew of what kind and to what extent Restorations have been made; for without in the least degree impeaching the qualifications and fidelity of preceding Editors, yet their occasional alterations, together with the casualties occurring at the Press, required restorations both minute and frequent. Such, indeed, must have been the obstacles in the way of those who did not have recourse to original editions, that they were, successively, more and more constrained to employ conjectural emendation, and therefore "scribunt non quod inveniunt, sed quod intelligunt," they write, as Jerome says of transcribers, not what they find, but what they understand,† or think they understand; and often has a remote part of the context suffered from the designed or inadvertent dropping or changing of even a letter.

Was it justifiable to make Hooker appear to invariably express himself with the grammatical precision and other refinements of modern English? Dr. Johnson has selected about a thousand quotations from this single author, and incorporated in his Dictionary a great number of the words with their now uncouth, inelegant, and obsolete prefixes: but Hooker is since become so changed, that a student would search in vain for the majority of Johnson's examples. He is, however, here permitted to express himself in his own way; "his own practice" being "unmolested:" hence his inversions and other seeming irregularities may be judged of by every reader ;§ who has, also, the opportunity of interpreting for himself what may

:

advocates."-Ibid. p. 247. "This eminent work may justly be reckoned to mark an æra in our literature. For if passages of much good sense and even of a vigorous eloquence are scattered in several earlier writers in prose, yet none of these, except, perhaps, Latimer and Ascham, and Sir Philip Sidney in his Arcadia, can be said to have acquired enough reputation to be generally known even by name, much less are read in the present day and it is indeed not a little remarkable that England, until near the end of the sixteenth century, had given few proofs in literature of that intellectual power which was about to develop itself with such unmatchable energy in Shakspeare and Bacon. We cannot indeed place HOOKER (but whom dare we to place?) by the side of these master-spirits; yet he has abundant claims to be counted among the luminaries of English literature. He not only opened the mine, but explored the depths of our native eloquence. So stately and graceful is the march of his periods, so various the fall of his musical cadences upon the ear, so rich in images, so condensed in sentences, so grave and noble his diction, so little is there of vulgarity in his racy idiom, of pendantry in his learned phrase, that I know not whether any later writer has more admirably displayed the capacities of our language, or produced passages more worthy of comparison with the splendid monuments of antiquity."-The Constitutional History of England. By H. HALLAM. 1827. 4to. Vol. I. chap. iv. p. 230.

* Among these may be reckoned the almost innumerable instances of incorrect positions of the reference marks to the Notes generally; and particularly of the Notes or references themselves belonging to the lateral margins.

+ Epist. xxviii. ad Lucin.

Preface to Johnson's folio edit. of his Dictionary.

§ Dr. Campbell (in his Philosophy of Rhetoric, 1776. 8vo. Book II. chap. ii. p. 358) says, The authority of Hooker or of Raleigh, however great their merit and their fame be, will not now be admitted in support of a term or expression, not to be found in any good writer of a later date." True, but this is a different matter from that of obliterating

appear obscure or ambiguous. Many of the additional Notes also give increased interest to the Narrative, and will excite some surprise in persons who fancy they thoroughly understand this Author; wondering how they have hitherto been able to put a consistent or even an intelligible meaning on various sentences and paragraphs: for to many of them the meaning must have been only conventional! Other Notes are such as are intended to shew, that striking, profound, and effective, as Hooker is on many points relating to the Commonweal, he is not invulnerable on Church matters. Such are the principal advantages belonging to the present Edition.

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**

"Audi alteram partem" is an adage that will be applicable to human affairs so long as diversity of opinion or collision of interest shall require impartial scrutiny and enlightened decision. In the spirit of this adage, the Editor examined the ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY, "the standard of appeal for all advocates of the English Establishment." Being by birth and education a Nonconformist, the Book of whose Church containing his "standard of appeal" is the BIBLE,‡ he entertains the natural predilections of early life; yet he has long and earnestly sought whatever knowledge might justify him in continuing to indulge them, and which might not only correct his errors, but confirm his judgment. Such a procedure is plainly a duty which every human being owes to God and to society: but though it is a fundamental principle of Protestantism, it has not been consistently acted upon by all who have borne the name of Protestant. characteristic features of our Author's composition, which best associate his reader's mind with the theu standard of literary perfection, and do not cheat by illusions of properties and usages with which the age was unacquainted.

"I have indeed myself heard him styled, The Father of the Whigs.' - Bishop HOADLY. Works. 1773. Fo. Vol. ii. p. 253. "Nothing perhaps is more striking to a reader of the Ecclesiastical Polity, than the constant and almost excessive predilection of Hooker for those liberal principles of Civil Government, which are sometimes so just and always so attractive. Upon these subjects, his theory absolutely coincides with that of Locke. The origin of Government, both in right and fact, he explicitly derives from a primary contract."-HALLAM's Constitutional Hist. of Eng. 1827. 4to. Vol. I. ch. iv. p. 235. "Who knoweth not that the greatest Prelatists were the masters of the Principles that the War (against Charles I.) was raised on; Bilson, Jewel, &c. and HOOKER quite beyond them all?"-R. BAXTER's Apology for the Nonconformists' Ministry. 1681. 4to. p. 145. Such are the peculiarities of the human mind, and such are the positions in which men of extraordinary talent are occasionally placed, that scarcely any fact is more deserving of notice, and from the contemplation of which more charitable sentiments may be deduced, than that of Hooker having been in Politics what we understand by the term a Whig, but in Church affairs a Tory; and that of Baxter having been in Politics a Tory, and in Church affairs a Whig! But, in the matter of Politics, Baxter at the era of the Revolution of 1688, found himself in error, whereas Hooker's political principles were triumphant, and have been ably supported by Locke and Hoadly.

+ Memoir of Hooker in The Christian Guardian, and Church of England Mag. June, 1828, p. 208.

"Since the Reformation, which has established the Bible as the standard of religious truth, and allowed every one to be its interpreter, Dissent has uniformly been connected with religious freedom."-The present State of the Established Church, &c. By the Rev. J. L'OSTE, LL.B. Rector of Hayneford. 1812. 8vo. p. 16.

They who are acquainted with the history of Bancroft's time, and with his actual proceedings, will be disposed to question the accordance of the following sentiments, found in the writings of no less notorious. a character than that "fiery"* Archbishop: "The rule of the Apostle being well understood, is very notable, where he saith, Try all things, and keep that which is good (1 Thess. v. 21). Many things have fair shews: but try them, and like the apples of Sodom, they shall fall into dust. In gold, the chiefest metal, there is great sophistication. He that will be easily led is soon deceived. To hold a thing for good before a man have tried it (by such a touchstone as is meet for his calling) I hold it great folly. The credit which Popery grew unto, did partly proceed of such rashness. Men were content, having a good opinion of their Priests, to be led by them, as it were a bear by the nose, and, without any trial, to accept in good part whatsoever they gave them. And as the People were thus carried away by their own persuasion of their Priests, so were the poor Priests themselves (many of them no doubt) misled through the honourable regard which they had of their Superiors."†

If the Editor's reading has naturally been more general on the side to which he still adheres than on the contrary side, it has, notwithstanding, been sufficient on both sides to enable him to remark, that the arguments on the disputed points seem usually better given by Nonconformist writers than by those among Conformists. This proceeds from the latter introducing alleged authorities and precedents on which they expatiate, but which the former entirely disclaim; because Nonconformists have never met with any more recent Charter of Christianity than that which the New Testament contains. Thus they rid the subjects of encumbrances occasioned by the misrepresentations, perversions, and corruptions of those channels through which interpretations and dogmata relating to our common Faith have been transmitted to the present time. In the days of our first Protestant Fathers "nothing was thought to be sufficiently confirmed by Scripture testimonies, without additional vouchers from the ancient worthies of the Church and accordingly Tertullian, Chrysostom, Austin, and Jerome, regularly took their places on the same bench

Referred to Archd. Blackburne's "Confessional" by Lawson in his Life and Times of Abp. Laud. 1829. 8vo. Vol. I. p. 140. But before the Archdeacon's time, Bishop Kennet had styled Bancroft " a sturdy piece," who "proceeded with rigour, severity, and wrath, against the Puritans." Kennet's Hist. of Eng. 1706. fo. Vol. II. p. 665.

A Survey of the Pretended Holy Discipline, &c. 1593. edit. 1663. 4to. p. 47. "The great bane of our Church is prejudice: many believe without evidence, and decide without inquiry.”—Memoir of the Rev. Legh Richmond, A. M. Rector of Turvey. 1828. 8vo. p. 565.

"As a man runneth to the fountain when the channels are defiled, so must we repair to the practice of the first Church, which is the fountain of all piety."-CYPRIAN cont. Stephan. cited in a Scholasticall Discourse against symbolizing with Antichrist in Ceremonies. 1607. fo. p. 99.

of judgment with Paul, Peter, James, and John. In process of time some particular persons began to see into this mistake. In our own country, the learned CARTWRIGHT, in his dispute with Archbishop Whitgift, about the year 1573, took the courage to appeal from the authority of the Fathers, and to prescribe them narrower limits in the province of determining religious controversies..... The terms in which Cartwright had characterised these venerable Doctors, were collected together in a book of Bancroft's,* and set off with tragical exclamations, as if they had been little less than so much blasphemy."+

How HOOKER conducted his portion of the controversy between the Puritans and their "opposites" will henceforth be better understood than the extreme illiberality and the tyranny of their times allowed. "There is oppression as well as resistance, provocation as well as resentment, abuse of power as well as opposition to it."§ “Principles are of slower growth than passions."|| That the Puritans were not the weak-minded, wicked, and illiterate men it is often ignorantly or maliciously insinuated they were, is abundantly proved by their writings, and even by the testimony of contemporaries; one of whom, already noticed, says, "It is true that divers persons, who have been, and yet are, very mighty pillars in the Geneva Platform, are in sundry respects of some good desert." A Clergyman, recently deceased, distinguished for his eminent fidelity and sound judgment, and whose memory will be revered for his great industry and success in maintaining the most important doctrines of the Reformation, the author too of a candid and useful Commentary on the Bible, had the honesty and intrepidity to avow, that " The tree of Liberty, sober and legitimate Liberty, Civil and Religious, under the shadow of which, we in the Establishment, as well as others, repose in peace, and the fruit of which we gather, was planted by the PURITANS, and watered, if not by their blood,** at least by their tears. Yet it is the modern fashion to feed delightfully on the fruit, and then revile, if not curse, those that planted and watered the tree."††

The inadvertence or neglect of HoOKER's patrons and admirers, and

A Survey, &c. ut sup. And see Strype's Life of Whitgift, Book I. chap. ix. p. 51. † Archdeacon Blackburne. Confessional, 1770. 8vo. chap. i. pp. 22, 23.

Eccl. Pol. Vol. I. p. 144.

§ Archd. Paley. Defence of the "Considerations on Subscription to Articles of Faith." Works. edit. 1823. 18mo. Vol. III. p. 317. "I do not deny, that there might be some points which bore hard on the Puritans, and which ought to have been modified, and rendered less severe; but where is the Government that is immaculate, or where the Church that is faultless in its administration?"-LAWSON's Life, &c. of Abp. Laud, ut sup. p. 141.

I W. S. Landor. Imaginary Conversations of Literary Men and Statesmen. 1826. Edit. 2. Vol. I. Conv. xii. p. 320.

Bancroft. p. 296, sup.

**"Irrigatus plagis homo."-PLAUT. Epid. Act. I. sc. 2. 1. 18.

tt Letters on Conformity. Let. I. Works of the Rev. THO. SCOTT, Rector of AstonSandford. 1824. Vol. IX. p. 532.

the difficulties arising from the scarcity and consequent expense of the means of illustration occasioned by the lapse of two centuries, have not till now been seriously attempted to be remedied. For one professing to be a Congregationalist, or Independent, to have performed what ought to have been done by others, may excite astonishment in all who know Hooker's treatment of the rising or emerging and growing varieties of Christian Sects in his day. With similar general charges and bruta fulmina the Editor is accustomed, notwithstanding some splendid exceptions, to find all those still assailed who maintain the right of private judgment and resist undue aggrandizement in the Church of Christ. "The charge of Schism comes with an ill grace from a religious community, which, if Separation be Schism, set us the example in their own conduct, and, by seceding from the Church of Rome, taught us the lawfulness of dissenting from the Church of England."†

Before he commenced reading the "Ecclesiastical Polity," the Editor was prepared to find the Author transcendently talented: he

* "No sooner was the Liturgy fully abolished (Aug. 1646), than a dispute arose between the Presbyterians and the Independents, the latter of whom dissented from the newly established (Presbyterian) Church, and were called therefore, in their controversy with the former, The Dissenting Brethren. The Liturgy, which is a system both of doctrine and discipline, having been exchanged for the Directory, which relates more to the latter, the Independents, who would suffer no controul, either in the one, or in the other, applied the same terms to the Directory, which the Presbyterians had applied to the Liturgy. The new Churchmen in vain attempted to resist the new Dissenters, by refusing that Toleration, which men of every religion may justly claim."-An Inquiry into the consequences of Neglecting to give the Prayer-Book with the Bible. By H. MARSH, D.D. (Bp. of Peterborough), 1812. Edit. 2. 8vo. p. 38. "The claims of the Independents have been mostly advocated by men who did not belong to their party. In an article of the seventy-first number of the Edinburgh Review, p. 229, it is said, "In this very able volume (Orme's Memoirs of Dr. Owen), it is clearly proved, that the Independents were the first teachers of Religious Liberty." The History of the British Empire, from the accession of Charles I. to the Restoration, by Geo. Brodie, Esq. contains, in Vol. III. p. 517, this important passage on the subject; "The grand principle by which the Independents overpassed all other Sects, was universal Toleration to all denominations of Christians, whose religion was not conceived to be hostile to the power of the State; a principle to which they were faithful in the height of power, as well as under persecution. In this, for which they were bitterly reviled by the Presbyterians, they set an example to Christendom; for, though a secret Toleration, to a certain extent, or rather a connivance at certain Sects, had been allowed in the United Provinces, it was on far less liberal principles, and denounced by the Clergy, as most sinful in the Magistracy." These testimonies we consider not less honourable to the writers who bear them, than to the body respecting which they are borne; and combined with those of Hume, Smith, Laing, and others, are sufficient to set the historical question, in regard to the origin of Toleration, for ever at rest."-The London Christian Instructor, or Congregational Mag. Oct. 1822. p. 536. See testimonies also by the Rev. J. GRANT (Hist. of the Eng. Church and Sects, 1811. 8vo. Vol. II. p. 435), and HENRY BROUGHAM, Esq. M. P. on the Motion for inquiry respecting Smith the Missionary; in a luminous Discourse on the Principles and Tendencies of Congregational Nonconformity, by the Rev. Joseph Fletcher, A. M. being one of the "Discourses at the Settlement of the Rev. W. Orme, at Camberwell." 1825. 8vo. pp. 16, 17.

+ Rev. J. A. JAMES. Christian Fellowship. 1823. 12mo. edit. 2. chap. ix. p. 239. "Yourselves are a president to us of like practice, in separating not in but out of the ✓ Church of Rome: as you have dealt with the mother so do we with the daughter; because like mother like daughter, according to the proverb, Ezek. xvi. 44."-CounterPoyson. By HENRY AINSWORTH. 1589. 4to. Edit. 1608. p. 8.