CHAPTER VII.

Works of Mr. Hooker-reasons for a particular account of them. Titles of his principal works. Surreptitious man-, ner of first publication. Christ his great theme. Theol ogy. Treatment of the experiences of the soul. Instructions to those in an unregenerate state. Instructions to the regenerate ;-on christian duties-christian privileges-christian trials-christian encouragements. DisViews of the christian

crimination in characters. ministry.

THE present and a following chapter will be devoted to a particular account of the writings of Mr. Hooker; for the following reasons. They are, in some points, peculiar in their character, as respects many of the subjects of which they treat, and the manner in which those subjects. are treated; and as compared with the writings of his time. They will assist in understanding the true ground of the reputation, which both Puritan and civil history report of his character as a public religious instructor. They are very little known among us, with the exception of one small tractate, none of them having been republished in this country; and of those published in England, none have been printed since 1658, and of course have not been brought VOL. VI. 15

into fair contact with the christian mind of New England. With the exception of the single small work to which allusion has been made, Mr. Hooker's works are now very rarely to be found. They are in detached parts, scattered and very carefully shut up, as venerable curiosities, in a very few libraries; to be seen and examined, of course, by those only whose interest in Puritan history and character prompts them to some pains-taking, to find and search into them.

So far as this Series of Lives of the Chief Fathers of New England is designed for the perusal of ministers, it is deemed proper to give a particular account of the writings of Mr. Hooker, in this volume; inasmuch as,-with the exception of his work on Church Polity,his published writings obviously contain the substance of many of his sermons; and as such, they show to the minister of the present time, how a Puritan, of more than two hundred years since, was accustomed to preach. They somewhat help to explain the secret of the wonderful power of his preaching, and that of some of his cotemporaries in New England, respecting which Puritan historians have so unitedly testified.

The rank assigned to Mr. Hooker's writings,

also, by different historians, who have given general statements of their character, is such as to justify particularity in an account of them. As examples of opinions respecting them, President Stiles, in his Literary Diary, remarks, "Mr. Bulkley [supposed to be Peter Bulkley] was a masterly reasoner in theology. I consider him and President Chauncey, Mr. Hooker, Mr. Norton and Mr. Davenport, as the greatest divines among the first ministers of New England; and equal to the first characters in theology in all Christendom and in all ages.' "Mr. Hooker's books," says a cotemporary wri

ter,

"are in great request among the faithful people of Christ." Mr. Hugh Peters, in his "Dying Father's Last Legacy to his Daughter," written in 1660, thus indicates with what order of religious writings he classed those of Mr. Hooker: "Above all things, know that nothing can do you any good without union with Christ the head; which can never be till your understanding be enlightened with the want of Christ and his worth. Read Shepard's Sincere Convert, Daniel Rogers' Practical Catechism, and T. Hooker, to this end, with such other helps as

*Mass. Hist. Col., XX. 260.

† Holmes' Hist. Camb., p. 40.

you may get." Again, "Do but mind in your reading what a sober, plain, unaffected, holy strain is in Dod, Sibbs, Preston, Hooker, Burroughs, &c." And again he speaks of "the love and labors of Mr. Thomas Hooker," by which he had been benefited.*

The author of "Wonder-working Providence of Zion's Saviour, in New England," who has thrown into quaint, but truthful form, his own estimate of the writings of this Father, has these lines, among others, apostrophizing him. †

"Thy golden tongue and pen Christ caused to be
The blazing of his golden truths profound.
Thou sorry worme, it's Christ wrought this in thee,
What Christ has wrought must needs be very sound.
Then looke on Hooker's workes, they follow him
To grave; this worthy resteth there a while;
Die shall he not that hath Christ's warrior been;

Much less Christ's truth, cleer'd by his people's toile. Thou angel bright, by Christ for light now made, Throughout the world as seasoning salt to be, Although in dust thy body mouldering fade;

Thy Head's in heaven, and hath a crown for thee."

A statement of the titles of Mr. Hooker's published writings will prepare the way for the general purpose of the present chapter. As

*Hanb., III. 573.

† Mass. Hist. Col., XIII. 137.

prepared, from the best records to which the writer has found access, they stand as follows: 1. The Soul's Ingrafting into Christ, published in London, 1637.

2. The Soul's Implantation; a Treatise, containing The Broken Heart; The Preparation of the Heart; The Soul's Ingraffing into Christ; Spiritual Love and Joy. Lond. 1637.

3. The Soul's Preparation for Christ. Lond. 1638.

4. The Unbeliever's Preparing for Christ, part I. Lond. 1638.

5. The Unbeliever's Preparing for Christ, part II. Lond. 1638.

6. The Soul's Exaltation; embracing Union with Christ; Benefits of Union with Christ; and Justification. Lond. 1638.

7. Ten Particular Rules, to be practiced every day, by Converted Christians. Lond. 1641. 8. The Soul's Vocation, or Effectual Calling to Christ. Lond. 1638.

9. The Faithful Covenanter; a sermon preached at Dedham, in Essex. Lond. 1644.

10. Survey of the Summe of Church Discipline. Lond. 1648.

11. The Saint's Dignitie and Dutie. Lond. 1651; containing The Gift of Gifts, or why Christ gave himself; The Blessed Inhabitant,