and this promise he kept during his life, which ended 1602, the Archbishop surviving him but one year, each ending his days in perfect charity with the other.

[It is true, the Archbishop treated Cartwright with such a civility J. S. as gained much upon him, and made him declare unto his patron, the Earl of Leicester, how much the Archbishop's humane carriage had endeared him to him; and withal shewed his desire that he might have liberty sometimes to have access to him; professing that he would seek to persuade all with whom he had concern and converse, to keep up a union with the church of England. This, I say, is certain; but it is not so certain, that the Archbishop gave Cartwright a licence to preach. It appears that in the year 1585 he refused to grant it him, however solicited by Leicester's own letter to do it; and notwithstanding Cartwright's promises, he required more space of time to be satisfied of his conformity. For the elucidation whereof, and some farther light into this matter, let both these letters be read and considered; the former of the Earl to the Archbishop; the latter of the Archbishop to the Earl.

cr

"My good Lord,

the Archbi

"I most heartily thank you for your favourable and courteous The Earl of usage of Mr. Cartwright, who hath so exceeding kindly taken it al- Leicester to so, as, I assure your Grace, he cannot speak enough of it. I trust it shop conshall do a great deal of good. And he protesteth and professeth to cerning Mr. Cartwright. me, to take no other course, but to the drawing of all men to the unity of the church: and that your Grace hath so dealt with him, as no man shall so command him and dispose of him as you shall: and doth mean to let this opinion publicly be known, even in the pulpit (if your Grace so permit him), what he himself will, and would all others should do, for obedience to the laws established. And if any little scruple be, it is not great, and easy to be reformed by your Grace; whom I do most heartily entreat to continue your favour and countenance towards him, with such access sometimes as your leisure may permit. For I perceive he doth much desire and crave it, &c. Thus, my good Lord, praying to God to bless his church, and to make his servants constant and faithful, I bid your Grace farewell.

"Your Grace's very assured friend,

At the Court, this 14th of July.

"ROB. LEICESTER."

To which letter the Archbishop returned this answer.

"My singular good Lord,

"Mr. Cartwright shall be welcome to me at all times, and using The Archhimself quietly, as becomes him, and as I hope he will, he shall find bishop to me willing to do him any good: but to grant unto him as yet my

the Earl.

The con

troversy

licence to preach, without longer trial, I cannot; especially seeing he protesteth himself to be of the same mind he was at the writing of his book, for the matter thereof, though not for the manner; myself also, I thank God, not altered in any point by me set down to the contrary; and knowing many things [in his book] to be very dangerous. Wherefore, notwithstanding, I am content and ready to be at peace with him, so long as he liveth peaceably; yet doth my conscience and duty forbid me to give unto him any farther public approbation, until I be better persuaded of his conformity. And so being bold to use my accustomed plainness with your good Lordship, I commit you to the tuition of Almighty God; this 17th of July, 1585."]

And now after this long digression, made for the information of my reader concerning what follows, I bring him back to venerable Mr. Hooker, where we left him in the Temple, and where we shall find him as deeply engaged in a controversy with Walter Travers, a friend and favourite of Mr. Cartwright's, as Dr. Whitgift had ever been with Mr. Cartwright himself, and of which I shall proceed to give this following account.

And first this; that though the pens of Mr. Cartwright and Dr. Whitgift were now at rest, and had been a great while, yet there was sprung up a new generation of restless men, that by company and clamours became possessed of a faith which they ought to have kept to themselves, but could not: men that were become positive in asserting that a papist cannot be saved: insomuch, that about this time, at the execution of the Queen of Scots, the Bishop that preached her funeral sermon (which was Dr. Howland, then bishop of Peterborough), was reviled for not being positive for her damnation. And besides this boldness of their becoming gods, so far as to set limits to his mercies; there was not only Martin Mar-Prelate, but other venomous books daily printed and dispersed : books that were so absurd and scurrilous, that the graver divines disdained them an answer. And yet these were grown into high esteem with the common people, till Tom Nash appeared against them all, who was a man of sharp wit, and the master of a scoffing, satirical, merry pen, which he employed to discover the absurdities of those blind, malicious, senseless pamphlets, and sermons as senseless as they. Nash's answers being like his books, which bore these titles, "An Almond for a Parrot;" "A Fig for my Godson;""Come crack me this Nut," and the like; so that his merry wit made such a discovery of their absurdities, as (which is strange) he put a greater stop to these malicious pamphlets, than a much wiser man had been able.

And now the reader is to take notice, that at the death of Father Alvey, who was master of the Temple,this Walter Travers was lec

Hooker and

turer there for the evening sermons, which he preached with great between approbation, especially of the younger gentlemen of that society; Travers. and for the most part approved of by Mr. Hooker himself, in the midst of their oppositions. For he continued lecturer a part of his time: Mr. Travers being indeed a man of competent learning, of winning behaviour, of a blameless life. But he had taken orders by the presbyters in Antwerp, and if in any thing he was transported, it was in an extreme desire to set up that government in this nation: for the promoting of which be had a correspondence with Theodore Beza at Geneva, and others in Scotland; and was one of the chiefest assistants to Mr. Cartwright in this design.

Mr. Travers had also a particular hope to set up this government in the Temple, and to that end used his endeavours to be master of it; and his being disappointed by Mr. Hooker's admittance, proved some occasion of his opposition of Mr Hooker's sermons publicly in the pulpit. Many of which were concerning the doctrine, discipline, and ceremonies of this church: and Mr. Hooker again publicly justified his doctrine against the other's exceptions. Insomuch, that as St. Paul withstood St. Peter to his face, so did they. For as one hath pleasantly expressed it, "The forenoon sermons speak Canterbury, and the afternoon's Geneva."

In these sermons there was a little of bitterness, but each party brought all the reasons he was able to prove his adversary's opinions erroneous. And thus it continued for a time, till the oppositions became so high, and the consequences so dangerous, especially in that place, that the prudent Archbishop put a stop to Mr. Travers's preaching, by a positive prohibition; [and that chiefly because of his foreign ordination.] Against which Mr. Travers appealed, and petitioned her Majestyand her privy council to have it recalled, where he met with many assisting powerful friends; but they were not able to prevail with or against the Archbishop, whom the Queen had entrusted with all church power; and he had received so fair a testimony of Mr. Hooker's principles, and of his learning and moderation, that he withstood all solicitations. But the denying this petition of Mr. Travers was unpleasant to divers of his party, and the reasonableness of it became at last to be so magnified by them and many others, as never to be answered: so that, intending the Bishop's and Mr. Hooker's disgrace, they procured it to be privately printed and scattered abroad; and then Mr. Hooker was forced to appear as publicly, and print an answer to it, which he did, and dedicated it to the Archbishop; and it proved so full an answer, to have in it so much of clear reason, and writ with so much meekness and majesty of style, that the Bishop began to wonder at the man, to rejoice that he had appeared in his cause, and disdained not earnestly to beg his friendship; even a

familiar friendship with a man of so much quiet learning and humility.

To enumerate the many particular points in which Mr. Hooker and Mr. Travers dissented (all or most of which I have seen written), would prove at least tedious: and therefore I shall impose upon my reader no more than two, which shall immediately follow, and by which he may judge of the rest.

Mr. Travers excepted against Mr. Hooker, for that in one of his sermons he declared," that the assurance of that we believe by the word of God is not to us so certain as what which we perceive by sense." And Mr. Hooker confesseth he said so, and endeavours to justify it by the reasons following.

"First, I taught, that the things which God promises in his word are surer than that we touch, handle, or see: but are we so sure and certain of them? if we be, why doth God so often prove his promises to us as he doth, by arguments drawn from our sensible experience? For we must be surer of the proof than of the things proved; otherwise it is no proof. For example, how is it that many men looking on the moon at the same time, every one knoweth it to be the moon as certainly as the other doth? But many believing one and the same promise, have not all the same fulness of persuasion. For how falleth it out, that men being assured of any thing by sense can be no surer of it than they are; when as the strongest in faith that liveth upon the earth has always need to labour, strive, and pray that his assurance concerning heavenly and spiritual things may grow, increase, and be augmented?"

The sermon that gave him the cause of this his justification, makes the case more plain, by declaring," that there is, besides this certainty of evidence, a certainty of adherence." In which, having most excellently demonstrated what the certainty of adherence is, he makes this comfortable use of it: "Comfortable (he says) as to weak believers, who suppose themselves to be faithless, not to believe, when notwithstanding they have their adherence; the Holy Spirit hath his private operations, and worketh secretly in them, and effectually too, though they want the inward testimony of it."

Tell this to a man that hath a mind too much dejected by a sad sense of his sin; to one that by a too severe judging of himself, concludes that he wants faith, because he wants the comfortable assurance of it; and his answer will be, "Do not persuade me, against my knowledge, against what I find and feel in myself: I do not, I know I do not, believe." Mr. Hooker's own words follow: "Well then, to favour such men a little in their weakness, let that be granted which they do imagine; be it, that they adhere not to God's promises, but are faithless, and without belief: but are they not grieved for their unbelief? They confess they are. Do they not wish it might, and

also strive that it may be, otherwise? We know they do. Whence cometh this, but from a secret love and liking that they have of those things believed? For no man can love those things which in his own opinion are not; and if they think those things to be which they shew they love when they desire to believe them; then must it be, that, by desiring to believe, they prove themselves true believers for without faith no man thinketh that things believed are : which argument all the subtleties of infernal powers will never be able to dissolve." This is an abridgment of part of the reasons he gives for his justification of this his opinion, for which he was excepted against by Mr. Travers.

Mr. Hooker was also accused by Mr. Travers, for that he in one of his sermons had declared, "that he doubted not but that God was merciful to save many of our forefathers living heretofore in popish superstition, forasmuch as they sinned ignorantly:" and Mr. Hooker in his answer professeth it to be his judgment, and declares his reasons for this charitable opinion to be as followeth.

66

But first (because Travers's argument against this charitable opinion of Hooker was, that they could not be saved because they sought to be justified by the merit of their works, and so overthrow the foundation of faith) he states the question about justification and works, and how the foundation of faith is overthrown; and then he proceeds to discover that way which natural men and some others have mistaken to be the way by which they hope to attain true and everlasting happiness: and having discovered the mistaken, he proceeds to direct to that true way, by which, and no other, everlasting life and blessedness are attainable. And these two ways he demonstrates thus (they be his own words that follow); That, the way of nature; this, the way of grace: the end of that way, salvation merited, presupposing the righteousness of men's works : their righteousness, a natural ability to do them; that ability, the goodness of God which created them in such perfection. But the end of this way, salvation bestowed upon man as a gift: presupposing not their righteousness, but the forgiveness of their unrighteousness, justification: their justification not their natural ability to do good, but their hearty sorrow for not doing, and unfeigned belief in him, for whose sake not doers are accepted, which is their vocation: their vocation, the election of God, taking them out of the number of lost children; their election, a Mediator in whom to be elect this mediation inexplicable mercy; this mercy supposing their misery for whom he vouchsafed to die, and make himself a Mediator."

And he also declareth, there is no meritorious cause for our justification but Christ; no effectual, but his mercy; and says also, we deny the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we abuse, disannul,

II.