also of God. The principle, too, seemed to many persons to be the same as that contended for by the earlier Reformers, who maintained against the corruptions of doctrine in the Romish Church, that the Bible alone could be the authority for matters of faith, because being beyond our sight we could only know them by a revelation from God.

When Hooker began to preach at the Temple, there was at the same time a Mr. Walter Travers, a friend of Cartwright, who was Evening Lecturer at the Temple Church. He was a true-hearted, earnest man, with whom Hooker had much sympathy; but they differed so much in regard to the ceremonies and order of government in the Church that their sermons were often in direct contradiction to one another. This, of course, produced division in the congregation, which consisted chiefly of the Benchers of the Inn and the students, and the disputes in the pulpit were carried on continually in the hall of the Inn. At length the Archbishop, wishing to put a stop to this, prohibited Mr. Travers from preaching at the Temple; and an appeal was made by Mr. Travers and his friends to the Privy Council, but the queen upheld the Archbishop, so that the appeal was dismissed. Hooker was then accused by Mr. Travers and his supporters of saying things in his sermons which they thought were contrary to Scripture; and also that he prayed before and not after his sermons, kneeled when he prayed, and at the Communion, with other matters so unimportant, that Hooker said that "but to name them I should have thought a greater fault than to commit them." Hooker defended himself against these accusations in a reply "full of so much quiet learning and humility," that it at once gained him the friendship of the Archbishop. Through all Hooker's writings he never in the heat of argument loses his respect and love for any honest truth-loving opponent; and so strong was his belief in the goodness and earnestness

of Mr. Travers and those who thought with him, that he with careful study examined his own opinions again, in order to satisfy himself that he was right in holding them. It was during this thoughtful reconsideration of his own views about Church government that the idea of his great work, "Ecclesiastical Polity," first occurred to him. He did not wish to attack any who differed from him, but he thought he might satisfy conscientious, faithful men, by the same reasoning which he had found sufficient for himself, that they could, with a clear conscience, accept the system of the English Church.

In order to carry out this design with that completeness which Hooker desired, it was necessary that he should have more time and less interruptions; he therefore gave up the office of Master of the Temple, and took a small living at Boscombe, a little Wiltshire village near Salisbury. He lived here for four years, giving his best thought and careful work to his book; and at the end of that time four out of the eight books, into which he proposed to divide his work, were finished, and these were published in 1594.

In 1595 Queen Elizabeth, who had a great esteem for Hooker, gave him the living of Bishopsbourne, a village about three miles from Canterbury. Here Hooker was often visited by persons who had read his books on Ecclesiastical Polity; and he also found a friend, like-minded with himself, with whom he formed a warm and intimate friendship. This was Dr. Saravia, a Prebend of Canterbury. Of their friendship Izaak Walton says:-"In this year 1595, and in this place of Bourne, these two excellent persons began a holy friendship, increasing daily to so high and mutual affections that their two wills seemed to be but one and the same; and their designs both for the glory of God and peace of the Church, still assisting and improving each other's virtues and the desired comforts of a peaceable piety." Hooker's two old pupils, Edwin Sandys and George Cranmer, still main

tained their steadfast love for their master; they came to see him, and were ready to render him every service in their power.

At Bishopsbourne, Hooker worked hard at his great book, but all his thoughts were not absorbed in this: he gave himself also to the work of his parish. He was diligent in preaching and catechising his people, always ready to visit those who were sick or in distress, most anxious to prevent quarrels among them, "urging his parishioners and neighbours to bear with each other's infirmities, to think no evil, but to live in love, because, as St. John says, 'He that lives in love, lives in God, for God is love."" He liked to keep up the old custom of the whole parish, rich and poor, young and old, going in procession round the boundaries of the parish on a certain day every year, because it brought them all together in friendly relation; and at these times he always entered heartily into the spirit of the village festival, and had some merry, loving words for every one, especially for the boys and young people, to whom the occasion was a holiday full of fun. Like Chaucer's poor parson,

"Christes lore and his Apostles twelve

He taught, but first he followed it himselve;"

for his biographer says: "He seemed in this place to teach God's precepts, as Enoch did, by walking with God in all holiness and humility, making each day a step towards a blessed eternity."

About five years after Hooker came to Bishopsbourne, in 1600, he took a severe cold in going from London to Gravesend by water. This brought on an illness, from which he never recovered; he was able, however, to work on at his book for some time, and he often said to Dr. Saravia, who came every day to see him, "that he did not beg a long life of God for any other reason but to live to finish his three remaining books of 'Ecclesiastical Polity,' and then

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'Lord, let Thy servant depart in peace.' And so he worked on, struggling with increasing weakness, until he had finished the last book; then his work was over, and he laid down his pen, leaving to others the task of revising and arranging what he had written, but dying like a soldier on the battle-field. Just before his death he said to Dr. Saravia, "Good doctor, God hath heard my daily petitions, for I am at peace with all men, and He is at peace with me; and from that blessed assurance I feel that inward joy which this world can neither give nor take from me; my conscience beareth me this witness, and this witness makes the thoughts of death joyful. I could wish to do the Church more service; but I cannot hope it, for my days are passed as a shadow that returns not."

It is only possible to give a slight sketch of the plan of Hooker's great work in defence of the English Church. The object of it was, as we have seen, not to attack those who were separating themselves from the Church, but to show them, if possible, how they might with a clear conscience remain in communion with it.

Hooker saw that he and his opponents were one in heart; and in the preface to his work he declares his belief that the Puritans were quite as honest as the Churchmen in holding firmly to what seemed to them to be the truth. He knew that what made the Puritans ready to do and to bear anything, in order that they might worship God and order their churches according to a different form, was their firm persuasion that their form was most agreeable to the Word of God, and that the Bible alone was the sole authority for the polity of the Church. Hooker saw that a tender regard for the laws of God made them shrink from adopting any custom or rules not mentioned in the New Testament; he therefore took for the subject of his first book "Laws in General," and in this book he shows that all laws have their source in God and are of Him; that the

laws of nature are God's laws as much as are the directions revealed to us in the Bible; and so also are those laws planned by man's reason, for the reason of man is the creation and gift of God. It is important to notice how Hooker thus recognises the laws of nature and of reason as of God, for in this lay the strength of his argument. He then goes on to show that laws are nothing in themselves, excepting so long as they answer their true design, and this he declares to be to enable a man to do his duty without hindrance, and fulfil the will of God. For this reason it is necessary for the good to band together and make laws, so that the bad should be kept in check; though in so doing the good have to give up some of their freedom, and place themselves under rule. In making laws they must use their own sense and reason, and they may, at any time, change or alter these if need occur; or take back the authority given to the rulers. Hooker thus makes the laws by which men are governed to spring from man's reason, used for the highest purpose, and he places the source of authority in the governed, to whom rulers are responsible. It is important to notice this, as we shall find this idea of civil law and rule brought forward again in England.

The title of Hooker's second book was "Of the use of Divine Law contained in Scripture, whether that be the only Law which ought to serve for our Direction in all things without exception." Hooker distinguishes between what he calls eternal laws, such as those relating to our duty to God and to man, which is always and in all places the same; and laws relating to customs and forms, which are not suitable for all times and all places. Thus the Jewish laws of ceremonies, though given by God, were changed afterwards. He says: "Laws that were made for men or societies, or churches, in regard of their being such, as they do not always continue, but may, perhaps, be clean otherwise a while after, so may require to be otherwise ordered