Hooker, Asahel, a Congregational minister, was bom in Bethlehem, Conn., Aug. 29, 1762. He gradua- ted at Yale College in 1789, and was installed pastor at Goshen in September, 1791. This charge he resigned on account of ill healtli Jmie 12, 1810. After preaching in various pulpits, he became pastor of Chelsea parish, Norwich, Conn., Jan. 16, 1812, -where he remained until
his death, April 19, 1813. Mr. Hooker published sev- eral occasional sermons, and a number of articles in the Conneeiicut Evangelical Magazine. — Sprague, .4 nnals, ii, 316.
Hooker, Herman, D.D., a Protestant Episcopal clergyman, was born v.t Poidtney,Vt., in 1804; gradua- ted at IMiddkbury College in 1825, and later at the Princeton Tlicological Seminary, and was licensed as a Presbyterian, with great promise both as a scholar and speaker. He finally joined the Protestant Episcopal Church, but the partial loss of his sight and of his voice soon compelled his retirement from the ministry ; and he became a bookseller at Phlladclpliia, continuing, how- ever, at the same time, his theological studies. lie died at Philadelphia, Pa., Sept. 2(1, iMio. His prhicijial works are. The Portion of the Soul (I'hilad. is:',."). ;!2nio, and re- published in England): — /'o/""''"- fnli'l'li/// (Philadel. 1836, 12mo) :— Family Book if /hm/lnn ( l.s:i(i, 8vo) :— The Uses of Adversity and ///,■ J'rdrisimis of Cuiisohtlion (Philad. 1846, 18mo) :— 7y/<«//v//^' ^md Mn'ri,,,.'^ (I'hilad. 1847, IQmo):— The Chrisiiun Llf; a Fight of Faith (Philad. 1848, 18mo). He also published a large number of English and American works. " Dr. Hooker was a vigorous and close thinker, a clear writer, a devout and conscientious Christian, full of true and consistent char- ity. He made the Nashotah Seminary a residuary legatee, which bequest probably amounted to about $10,000." See Church Rev. Jan, 1866; ^Vllibone, Diet, of Authors,!, 9:18.
Hooker, Richard, one of the most eminent di- vines in the history of the Chm-ch of England, was born in or near Exeter about 1553, according to Walton, or about Easter, 1554, according to AVood. His early edu- cation was received at the expense of his uncle, John Hooker, chamberlain of Exeter, and he was afterwards introduced by the same relative to the notice of bishop Jewel, who procured him in 1567 a clerkship in Corpus Christi College, Oxford, In December, 1573, he became a student in that college, and a fellow and master of arts in 1577. In 1579 he was appointed lecturer on Hebrew in the university, and in October of the same year he was expelled his college, with Dr. John Keynolds and three other feUows, but he was restored the same month. About two years after he took orders, and was appointed to preach at Paul's Cross. Having married the follow- ing year, he lost his fellowship, but he was presented to the living of Drayton-Beauchamp, in Bucks, by John Cherry, Esq., in 1584. Through the influence of the archbishop of York, he was appointed Master of the Temple in 1585. Here he became engaged in a contro- versy on Church discipline and some points of doctrine with Walter Travers, afternoon lecturer at the Temple, who had been ordained by the Presbyter}^ at Antwerp, and held most of the opinions of the divines of Geneva. Travers, being silenced by archbishop Whitgift, appealed to the privy council, but without success. His petition to the council was published, and answered by Hooker, Travers had many adherents in the Temple, and it was their opposition, according to Izaak Walton, which in- duced Hooker to commence his Avork on the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity. Finding that he had not leisure at the Temple to complete that work, he applied to Whitgift for removal to a more quiet station, and was accordingly presented to the living of Boscombe in Wilt- shire in 1591. On the 17th of July in the same year he was made a prebendary of Salisbury. At Boscombe he finished four books of the Ecclesiastical Polity, which were published in 1594. On the 7th of July, 1595, he was presented by the queen to the living of Bishops- bourne in Kent.which he held till his death, on the 2d of November, 1600. " Hooker's manner was grave even in childhood ; the mildness of his temper was proved by his moderation in controversy ; and his piety and learn- ing procured him the general esteem of his contempora- ries. His great work'is his defence of the constitution and discipline of the Chiurch of England, m eight books,
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under the title of The Laws of Ecclesiastical rolity. This work obtained during the author's hfetime the praise of a pope (Clement VIII) and a king (James I), and has ever since been looked upon as one of the chief bulwarks of the Church of England and of ecclesi- astical establishments in general. As a work of solid learning, profound reasoning, and breadth and sustained dignity of style, it is indeed beyond praise ; but the com- mon objection is a just one, that Hooker's reasoning is too frequently that of an advocate. The publication of the first four books has been mentioned above; the fifth ■was published in 1597. He completed the last three books, but they were not published till several years af- ter his death. The account which Walton gives of the mutilation of the last three books is very improbable, and little doubt can be entertained of their authenticity, though thej' are certainly imperfect, and probably not in the condition in which he left them" {Enrjlish Cyclo- pcedia). Hooker was charged with Komanizing ten- dencies, but the charge had no better foundation than his prelatical theory of the Church. For a series of shrewd and genial notes and criticisms on Hooker, see Coleridge, Complete Works, N. Y. edition, v, 28 sq. Of the Ecclesiastical Polity many separate editions have appeared. His Works, udth Life, edited by Dr. Gauden, ■were published in London, 1GG2 (fol.) ; again in 1GG6 (foL), with life by Izaak Walton. The latest editions are Hanbury's, with life of Cartwright, and Notes, from the dissenting point of view (London, 1830, 3 vols. 8vo) ; Keble's (Lond. 183G, 4 vols. 8vo, and 1841, 3 vols. 8vo ; •without the Introduction and notes, 2 vols. 8vo). See Hook, Eccles. Biography, XI, 12G sq. ; Orme, Life of Bax- ter, i, 22 ; Stanley, Life of A mold, ii, G-i ; Hallam, Liter- ature of Europe, ii, 98 ; Allibone, Dictionary of A uthors, i, 880 ; Grant, Ch. Hist, i, 443 ; Baxter, Ck. Hist. ofEnql. p. 489, 637 sq., 543; Neal, Hist, of the Puritans, i, 206; Bennett, His'., of the Dissenters, p. 226; Skeats, Hist, of the Free Churches of Engl. p. 29 sq. ; Cunningham, Ch. Principles, p. 321, 391 sq. ; Shedd, Hist, of Doctrines (see Index); Hagenbach, Hist, of Doctr. (see Index, vol. ii) ; Lecky, Hist, of Rationalism, ii, 79, 199 sq.; Bickersteth, 8tud. A ssist. p. 245 ; Tulloch, English Puritanism and its Leaders, p. 24 sq. ; Calamy, Hist. Account of my LAfe, i, 235 sq. ; ii, 236 ; Journ. Sac. Lit. xxvii, 467 ; Theolog. Jllagazine, vol. ii.