moral character of our ancestors, must not own that such a specimen refutes their prejudices? Several other sermons of Mr. Hooke's appear to have been published, some of them at least while he was here in New England. Another work of his, printed in his old age, was entitled "The privileges of the saints on earth, beyond those in heaven"-a title which, though the book should be lost, deserves to be kept in remembrance. What sort of a man must he have been, who in his old age, disappointed, afflicted, persecuted, could write a book to show the privileges of the saints on earth beyond those in heaven-the privilege of laboring for the Redeemer, and the privilege of bearing the cross, and enduring reproach and sorrow for him. Methinks prejudice itself will own, that such a man must have had something of the same spirit with that apostle who said, "I am in a strait betwixt two, for to me to live is Christ, but to die is gain." It may be stated here, that Mr. Hooke's home lot in this town, on which he lived, was at the southwest corner of College and Chapel streets, and was of the same extent with the other original town lots. That lot, with the house and accommodations upon it, he gave to this Church, on the express condition that it should never be alienated, "that it might be a standing maintenance either towards a teaching officer, schoolmaster, or the benefit of the poor in fellowship." The lot, however, was alienated in 1721, by a perpetual lease, to the trustees of what is now Yale College, for the sum of forty three pounds. This may have been legally right, but by the lease, the intention of the donor was as really defeated as it could have been by a direct sale. In a letter to the Church, confirming his gift and defining the terms of the donation, written after fifteen years' absence from them, he says: "Brethren, I daily have you in remembrance before the Lord, as retaining my old brotherly affection towards you, desiring the return of your prayers and brotherly love for him in whose heart you have a great interest. The Father of mercy be with you all, dwell in the midst of you, fill you with all joy and peace in believing, and bring you to his everlasting kingdom in glory through Jesus Christ, in whom I rest." This good man died on the 21st of March, 1678, aged seventy seven, and was buried in the cemetery of Bunhill fields, in London, which is a sort of Westminster Abbey of the Puritans and Dissenters. From the facts which have been now exhibited, it may be seen what sort of men the fathers of New England had for ministers, and what zeal the fathers manifested, to have the work of the sanctuary well attended to. It was truly said by one of them, in his quaint way, that it was "as unnatural for a right New England man to live without an able ministry, as for a smith to work his iron without fire." Their ministers were all educated men; educated at the universities of England in all the learning and science of that age, and especially in every thing pertaining to the science of theology. None of them counted himself properly acquainted with the Scriptures, till he could read them familiarly in their original languages. It was no uncommon thing for the ministers of that age, in their daily family devotions, to read not only the New Testament from the Greek, but the Old Testament from its native Hebrew. The fathers of New England did not think so meanly of themselves as to calculate on being instructed by an uninstructed ministry. Their ministers were such men as they considered to be called of God, men of approved faith, purity and piety, men whom they could trust and honor. The more I see of the piety of the fathers, and especially of the piety of their ministers-the more I analize their characters, and separating their piety from the quaintness in which it was sometimes attired, and from that peculiar zeal about forms and institutions which resulted from their circumstances, see how they realized continually the grand and simple objects of Christian faith, and thus continually walked with God-the more am I constrained to honor them, and the more do I find myself instructed, reproved, stimulated by their example. The fathers of these churches dreaded above all outward curses the curse of a worldly, unholy ministry. Their ministers were expected to do the work of the sanctuary well. They did not suppose that a little unstudied declamation, or a little prosy traditional metaphysics, uttered from one Lord's day to another, "thought echoing to thought, and sermon to sermon," in perpetual monotony, was enough to feed the flock of God. They did not imagine that men whose spirits were continually jaded and exhausted by excess of labor, were the most likely to build up and adorn God's living temple. They intended that their ministers should not only be well qualified before entering the ministry, but should also, while in the ministry, have no excuse in the burthensomeness of their duties for not maintaining by various and continued study, that elastic vigor of mind which is always essential to successful effort. Their plan was to place, in every congregation, two preachers, well qualified, who, dividing between them the work of the ministry, should hold up each other's hands, and stimulate each other to constant personal and mutual improvement. To the enlarged views with which they acted, we of this generation are greatly indebted. The pulpit has not yet lost in New England, that eminence of intellectual and moral power which it gained when New England was planted. The original plan of an associate ministry in every church, has indeed been given up; but the benefits of that plan are still secured in a great measure, by the multiplication and communion of churches. Ministers still assist each other's labors, bear each other's burthens, guide each other's studies, and aid and stimulate each other's progress. If this is a benefit; if it has always been an honor and a blessing to the people of Connecticut, that from the beginning they have ever had "a scholar to their minister in every town or village;' * for this we are indebted to our ancestors. Let us give to posterity no occasion to reproach us with having impaired, in this respect, their just inheritance. * Narrative of the King's Commissioners, in 1666, Hutch. III, 413. DISCOURSE V. JOHN DAVENPORT IN ENGLAND, IN HOLLAND, AND IN THE NEW ENGLAND SYNOD OF 1637. JOHN V, 35.-He was a burning and a shining light. I HAVE reserved to this occasion the work of giving some account of the life and character of the Rev. John Davenport, the first pastor of this Church, and one of the two chief men in the company that founded the colony of New Haven. He was born in the ancient city of Coventry, in the year 1597. Of his father we know only that he was at one time mayor of the city in which he resided, and that he was descended from a highly respectable family of that name in the county of Chester. Of his mother it is recorded that she was a pious woman, and that "having lived just long enough to devote him, as Hannah did her Samuel, to the service of the sanctuary, left him under the more immediate care of heaven, to fit him for that service." That mother's dying prayer received an early answer. Before the son had attained to fourteen years of age, "the grace of God had sanctified. him with good principles ;" and he had already entered upon that conscientious and devout manner of living by which he was ever afterwards distinguished.* At the age of fourteen, he was admitted into one of the colleges of the university of Oxford,† where he pursued his studies not more than five years. A volume of his manuscript notes and sketches of sermons, bearing the date of 1615, appears to indicate in some places, that sometime in * Magnalia, III, 52. Wood says that he was sent in 1613 to Merton College, and was transferred two years afterwards to Magdalen Hall. Mather, who was more likely to know, having Davenport's papers before him, says he was admitted into Brazen-nose College, when "he had seen two sevens of years in this evil world," which fixes the date in 1611. Preserved in the Library of Yale College. At the course of that year, he was officiating as domestic chaplain at Hilton castle, not far from the city of Durham. the age of nineteen, he entered upon public life as a preacher in the great metropolis. He was at first an assistant to another minister; but afterwards he was vicar of St. Stephen's Church in Coleman street. He was soon distinguished and honored, not only for his accomplishments as a minister, but by his courageous devotedness to his people in a time of pestilence, when others either retreated from their posts or declined the dangerous duty of visiting the sick and afflicted. He had left the university without taking the degree of Master of Arts; but in 1625* he returned to Oxford for a time, and having gone through the necessary exercises, he received that degree and the degree of Bachelor in Divinity together. He was by no means one of those whose studies are finished when they leave the walls of the university. He was not the less a hard student for being a laborious city preacher. "His custom was to sit up very late at his lucubrations;" but though "he found no sensible damage himself" from the practice, "his counsel was, that other students would not follow his example." His sermons were more elaborate, and written out more fully, than was generally customary among the preachers of that day; yet his sermons were not his only studies, "but the effects of his industry were seen by all men in his approving himself, on all occasions, an universal scholar."+ One of the members of his congregation in Coleman street, was Theophilus Eaton, with whom, though about six years older than himself, he had been intimate in childhood, the father of Eaton being then one of the ministers of Coventry. It had been the hope of Eaton's friends to see him in the ministry; but the providence that controls all things had other designs concerning him; and therefore the pious ambition of his friends was defeated. Being permitted to follow his own preferences, he became a merchant; and * Wood. t Mather. |