HOOKER, THOMAS
(7 July 1586, Marfield, England-7 July 1647, Hartford, CT. Education: B.A., Emmanuel College, Cambridge University, 1614, M.A. Emmanuel College, 1618. Career: Rector, Esher, 1620-26; lecturer, Church of St. Mary, Chelmst'ord, England, 1626-30; minister, Delft, Holland, 1630-32; minister, Newtown (later Cambridge), MA, 1633-36; minister, Hartford, CT, 1636-47.
The Puritans, who were not above appreciating a playful pun, said that the Griffin, which sailed into Boston Harbor in 1633, brought "Cotton for their clothing, Hooker for their fishing, and Stone for their building." The pun works well as a metaphor for John Cotton·, Thomas Hooker, and Samuel Stone who were as important to the religion of early New England as a clothier, fisherman, and mason were to the economy. Hooker was one of the great preachers of his time, as well as an apologist for Congregational polity and the leader of early Connecticut.
Hooker was famed for his ability to describe the inner workings of the soul.
As pastor in Chelmsford, England, he preached eloquently about grace, the human heart, and God--and came to the attention of Archbishop Laud, who determined that he should be silenced. Rather than face persecution, Hooker escaped to Holland and then to Massachusetts. He settled among many of his former English parishioners in Newtown, soon to be Cambridge. After only three years in Newtown, however, Hooker decided to leave Massachusetts and lead a group of pioneers along Indian trails deep into the wilderness to the Connecticut River, where they founded Hartford.
Scholars disagree about the reasons for Hooker's migration. Some suggest that theological differences caused the move; others emphasize political issues or Hooker's desire to be leader of his own colony. The migrants themselves claimed that they needed more land. Whatever the reasons for the separation, Hooker remained close to Massachusetts for the rest of his life. In 1637 he returned to sit in judgment on Anne Hutchinson·. He favored a New England confederation, which was eventually created. And he acted in unison with the Boston clergy in opposing English Presbyterianism and in working on the Cambridge Platform.
In Connecticut Hooker helped draft the colony's Fundamental Orders. Although the government was in many respects similar to that of Massachusetts Bay, Hooker was one of the most outspoken colonists on the issue of the people's role in government. "The foundation of all authority," he said, "is laid in the free consent of the people." His Survey and Summe of Church Discipline-the second version of a manuscript that went to the bottom of the sea when the ship carrying it to England was lost-is a classic defense of Congregational polity. Hooker moderated the early meetings leading to the Cambridge Platform, but he died in an epidemic in 1647, the year before the platform was completed.
His putative words on his deathbed provide a pithy summary of Congregational piety at that time. A friend remarked, "Sir, you are going to receive the reward of all your labors." Hooker replied, "Brother, I am going to receive mercy." In effect, Hooker accepted the friends assurance of salvation, but credited his good fortune to grace rather than works.
Bibliography
A: The Soules Preparation for Christ (London, 1632); The Soules Humiliation-(London, 1637); Four Godly and Learned Treatises (London, 1638); A Survey and Summe of Church Discipline (London, 1648); The Saints Dignitie and Dutie (London, 1651); The Application. of Redemption, 2 vols. (London, 1656-57).
B: AAP I, 30-37; DAB 9, 199-200; DARB, 213-15; NCAB 6, 279-80; SH 5, 361; Cotton Mather, Piscator Evangelicus; or, The Life of Mr Thomas Hooker (Boston, 1695); George L. Walker, Thomas Hooker: Preacher, Founder, Democrat (New York, 1891); Frank Shuffelton, Thomas Hooker, 1586-1647 (Princeton, 1977); Perry Miller, 'Thomas Hooker and the Democracy of Early Connecticut," The New England Quarterly, 4 (1931), 663-712; Sydney E. Ahlstrom, "Thomas Hooker-Puritanism and Democratic Citizenship: A Preliminary Inquiry into Some Relationships of Religion and American Civic Responsibility," Church History, 32 (1963), 415-31; Keith L. Sprunger, 'The Dutch Career of Thomas Hooker," New England Quarterly, 46 (1973), 17-44.
The Puritans, who were not above appreciating a playful pun, said that the Griffin, which sailed into Boston Harbor in 1633, brought "Cotton for their clothing, Hooker for their fishing, and Stone for their building." The pun works well as a metaphor for John Cotton·, Thomas Hooker, and Samuel Stone who were as important to the religion of early New England as a clothier, fisherman, and mason were to the economy. Hooker was one of the great preachers of his time, as well as an apologist for Congregational polity and the leader of early Connecticut.
Hooker was famed for his ability to describe the inner workings of the soul.
As pastor in Chelmsford, England, he preached eloquently about grace, the human heart, and God--and came to the attention of Archbishop Laud, who determined that he should be silenced. Rather than face persecution, Hooker escaped to Holland and then to Massachusetts. He settled among many of his former English parishioners in Newtown, soon to be Cambridge. After only three years in Newtown, however, Hooker decided to leave Massachusetts and lead a group of pioneers along Indian trails deep into the wilderness to the Connecticut River, where they founded Hartford.
Scholars disagree about the reasons for Hooker's migration. Some suggest that theological differences caused the move; others emphasize political issues or Hooker's desire to be leader of his own colony. The migrants themselves claimed that they needed more land. Whatever the reasons for the separation, Hooker remained close to Massachusetts for the rest of his life. In 1637 he returned to sit in judgment on Anne Hutchinson·. He favored a New England confederation, which was eventually created. And he acted in unison with the Boston clergy in opposing English Presbyterianism and in working on the Cambridge Platform.
In Connecticut Hooker helped draft the colony's Fundamental Orders. Although the government was in many respects similar to that of Massachusetts Bay, Hooker was one of the most outspoken colonists on the issue of the people's role in government. "The foundation of all authority," he said, "is laid in the free consent of the people." His Survey and Summe of Church Discipline-the second version of a manuscript that went to the bottom of the sea when the ship carrying it to England was lost-is a classic defense of Congregational polity. Hooker moderated the early meetings leading to the Cambridge Platform, but he died in an epidemic in 1647, the year before the platform was completed.
His putative words on his deathbed provide a pithy summary of Congregational piety at that time. A friend remarked, "Sir, you are going to receive the reward of all your labors." Hooker replied, "Brother, I am going to receive mercy." In effect, Hooker accepted the friends assurance of salvation, but credited his good fortune to grace rather than works.
Bibliography
A: The Soules Preparation for Christ (London, 1632); The Soules Humiliation-(London, 1637); Four Godly and Learned Treatises (London, 1638); A Survey and Summe of Church Discipline (London, 1648); The Saints Dignitie and Dutie (London, 1651); The Application. of Redemption, 2 vols. (London, 1656-57).
B: AAP I, 30-37; DAB 9, 199-200; DARB, 213-15; NCAB 6, 279-80; SH 5, 361; Cotton Mather, Piscator Evangelicus; or, The Life of Mr Thomas Hooker (Boston, 1695); George L. Walker, Thomas Hooker: Preacher, Founder, Democrat (New York, 1891); Frank Shuffelton, Thomas Hooker, 1586-1647 (Princeton, 1977); Perry Miller, 'Thomas Hooker and the Democracy of Early Connecticut," The New England Quarterly, 4 (1931), 663-712; Sydney E. Ahlstrom, "Thomas Hooker-Puritanism and Democratic Citizenship: A Preliminary Inquiry into Some Relationships of Religion and American Civic Responsibility," Church History, 32 (1963), 415-31; Keith L. Sprunger, 'The Dutch Career of Thomas Hooker," New England Quarterly, 46 (1973), 17-44.