PREFACE. THE preparation of this volume of the Series has been delayed, beyond the expectations of the author and of the Committee of Publication. This delay has arisen from the pressure of other duties, and from the difficulty of collecting materials. The latter has been of no ordinary magnitude. In the almost total absence of original papers of any kind, from Mr. Hooker's pen, the author has been compelled to rely principally upon matter, relative to him, which was incidental in Puritan and New England history, and scattered through many volumes in various libraries, and upon many thousands of pages. The reader will find in this volume, therefore, little of autobiography. The history of Mr. Hooker's life in Connecticut, especially, has been found merged in the civil and religious history of the State. The scantiness of original materials has been rendered a matter for special regret, from the belief that there have been in existence rich materials for a far more full biography, had they been carefully preserved. At the taking down of the old parsonage house of the First Congregational Church in Hartford, about thirty years since, a large quantity of ancient papers was found, supposed to be those of Rev. Thomas Hooker; and by persons employed in the work, and who were either ignorant or thoughtless of their value, they were thrown into Connecticut river. If any thing would justify a State enactment, making the careless or wanton destruction of ancient manuscript papers felony, and punishable as such, the occurrence of such cases as this,-which are frequent,-would seem to do so. If, like many good and great men, Thomas Hooker was accustomed to record, in a journal form or otherwise, interesting incidents in his own life, his religious exercises, and results of his experience and observation as a Christian citizen and a minister, such records have been hopelessly put beyond the reach of any biographer. With its many imperfections, from whatever cause, the present volume is commended to the lovers of the Puritan character and principles, in hope that it will be found not altogether without value, as a small contribution to the stock of Christian biography. May, 1849. E. W. H. |