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Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, Vol. 1 (Books I–IV)

Richard Hooker 1888
Hooker's foundational work establishes ecclesiastical polity through philosophical and theological argument, defending Anglican church order and governance structures.

The Works of that Learned and Judicious Divine Mr. Richard Hooker, with an Account of His Life and Death by Izaak Walton; arranged by the Rev. John Keble; 7th edition revised by R.W. Church and F. Paget (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1888), 3 vols., vol. 1. Digital text from the Online Library of Liberty (Liberty Fund), PDF, PLL v6.0, generated September 2011.

From the text

The opening of the work as printed, in the spelling of this edition.

visit the OLL web site. This title is also part of the Portable Library of Liberty DVD which contains over 1,000 books and quotes about liberty and power, and is available free of charge upon request. The cuneiform inscription that appears in the logo and serves as a design element in all Liberty Fund books and web sites is the earliest-known written appearance of the word “freedom” (amagi), or “liberty.” It is taken from a clay document written about 2300 B.C. in the Sumerian city-state of Lagash, in present day Iraq. To find out more about Liberty Fund, Inc., or the Online Library of Liberty Project, please contact the Director at oll@libertyfund.org . LIBERTY FUND, INC. 8335 Allison Pointe Trail, Suite 300 Indianapolis, Indiana 46250-1684 Edition Used: The Works of that Learned and Judicious Divine Mr. Richard Hooker with an Account of His Life and Death by Isaac Walton. Arranged by the Rev. John Keble MA. 7th edition revised by the Very Rev. R.W. Church and the Rev. F. Paget (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1888). 3 vols. Vol. 1. Author: Richard Hooker Editor: John Keble Introduction: Izaak Walton About This Title: Volume 1 of the writings of Richard Hooker, including the editor’s introduction and the first 4 Books of his best known work Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity (1594-97).

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Table Of Contents Note to the Sixth Edition. Note to the Seventh Edition. Additions and Corrections to the Seventh Edition. Editor’s Preface. Appendix to Preface.—no. II. Collation of the First Edition of G. Cranmer’s Letter On the New Church Discipline With Walton’s Edition, 1675. See In This Edition, Vol. II. P. 598—609. Editor’s Preface, Appendix 2. Appendix to Preface.—no. III. Editor’s Preface, Appendix 3. Memoranda For an Answer to the “ Christian Letter, ” Omitted In the Notes to This Edition 1 . To the Right Hon. and Right Rev. Father In God, George 1 , Lord Bishop of Winchester, Dean of His Majesty’s Chapel Royal, and Prelate of the Most Noble Order of the Garter. Preface to the First Edition of the Life of Hooker, Published In 1665. The Life of Mr. Richard Hooker. Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, Eight Books. To the Reader 1 . A Preface to Them That Seek (as They Term It) the Reformation of Laws 1 , and Orders Ecclesiastical, In the Church of England. The First Book. Concerning Laws and Their Several Kinds In General. The Second Book.

o Them That Seek (as They Term It) the Reformation of Laws 1 , and Orders Ecclesiastical, In the Church of England. The First Book. Concerning Laws and Their Several Kinds In General. The Second Book. Concerning Their First Position Who Urge Reformation In the Church of England: Namely, That Scripture Is the Only Rule of All Things Which In This Life May Be Done By Men. The Third Book. Concerning Their Second Assertion, That In Scripture There Must Be of Necessity Contained a Form of Church Polity, the Laws Whereof May In Nowise Be Altered. The Fourth Book. Concerning Their Third Assertion, That Our Form of Church Polity Is Corrupted With Popish Orders, Rites, and Ceremonies, Banished Out of Certain Reformed Churches, Whose Example Therein We Ought to Have Followed. London HENRY FROWDE Oxford University Press Warehouse Amen Corner, E.C. “All things written in this booke I humbly and meekly submit to the censure of the grave and reverend Prelates within this land, to the judgment of learned men, and the sober consideration of all others.

l things written in this booke I humbly and meekly submit to the censure of the grave and reverend Prelates within this land, to the judgment of learned men, and the sober consideration of all others. Wherein I may happely erre as others before me have done, but an heretike by the help of Almighty God I will never be. ” Hooker, MS. Note on the title leaf of the “Christian Letter.”

[Back to Table of Contents] NOTE TO THE SIXTH EDITION. Inthis Edition the General Index has been somewhat altered and enlarged. A separate Index of all Texts of Holy Scripture quoted in Hooker’s Works, and a Glossary of Words strange either in themselves or in Hooker’s use of them, have been added. In the preparation of the Glossary valuable help has been most kindly given by F. J. Furnivall, Esq., one of the Honorary Secretaries of the Philological Society. November 1862.

[Back to Table of Contents] NOTE TO THE SEVENTH EDITION. This Edition is a reprint of Mr. Keble’s Edition, with some slight corrections and additions. The Text has been again revised by comparison with the various original Editions, whether published in Hooker’s lifetime, or after his death. A few oversights in Mr. Keble’s careful collation of these Texts have been corrected. Further, the printer’s copy from which Book V. was printed, with Whitgift’s signature and corrections in Hooker’s handwriting, procured for the Bodleian by Mr. Coxe, has been collated by Dr. Paget, Professor of Pastoral Theology, with the first edition. An account of this MS. will be found prefixed to Book V. Mr. Keble’s orthography and punctuation have been preserved, except in a few older forms, which are more than mere matters of spelling, and in the forms of Old Testament names, which Hooker, like most writers of the time, took from the Septuagint or Vulgate. The Glossary, added to in the Sixth Edition by Mr.

mere matters of spelling, and in the forms of Old Testament names, which Hooker, like most writers of the time, took from the Septuagint or Vulgate. The Glossary, added to in the Sixth Edition by Mr. Furnivall, has been further enlarged; and an Index is given of the writers cited by Hooker, showing the range and character of his reading. Some additions to the Notes have been furnished by the Rev. Edward Marshall, late Fellow of C. C. C., Oxford, and Vicar of Sandford St. Martin. They are marked M. or E. M. R. W. CHURCH. 1887.

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