The Works of that Learned and Judicious Divine.. In Eight Books, Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, Compleated out of his own Manuscripts.. To which are added, Several other Treatises by the same Author.. & the Life of the Author, by Isaac Walton
London: Printed for John Walthoe, et al. 1723. Full Leather. Folio. Very Good. Item #33816
Pp. 2 p.l., lxxxviii, 518, [4] leaves. Engraved frontis portrait and engraved title. Printed title in red and black. Contemporary full calf binding, recently rebacked with raised bands and gilt-lettered label. Covers moderately worn, corners repaired, rear endpaper renewed. Faint marginal dampstain to top edge of leaves throughout, otherwise a clean, unpressed copy internally, in a sound, well-preserved binding. The 1723 edition of Hooker's Works, edited by John Strype [1643-1737], is generally regarded as the "best", the most accurate and reliable of the 18th century folio editions, according to John Keble, the editor of the modern standard edition (1836). Of the eight books of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, only five appeared in Hooker's lifetime, the first four in 1594, and the fifth in 1597. The sixth and eighth books were published posthumously in 1648, and the seventh finally in 1662. The authenticity of the last three books, compiled from Hooker's manuscript notes, has long been disputed. What is not in dispute is the enormous influence of his work on subsequent religious and philosophical thought. His efforts to defend the Elizabethan Settlement of 1559 led him to elaborate a theory of "natural law" as the expression of God's supreme reason and the foundation of all ecclesiastical and civil polity. He thus justified the laws and structures of the English Church, including royal supremacy, against both the Puritan insistence on the absoluteness of Scripture, and the Roman Catholic appeal to the immutability of tradition. Hooker's political theories had implications far beyond church polity. In explaining the origin of civil government essentially by "common consent", he anticipated the theory of social contract developed by later thinkers, such as Locke and Rousseau.
Price (CAD): $950.00