The Life And Martyrdom Of John Hooper

The Sower 1880:

“Of whom the world was not worthy.” This epitaph the Apostle Paul penned to the memory of those illustrious heroes of Old Testament history—heroes who walked in the fear of God, and fought stoutly for His honour and glory, by obeying the commands of their Almighty Creator rather than submit to the dictates of puny man. This same epitaph, we are assured, may be safely and as appropriately inscribed to the memory of such men as John Hooper, who, at a period much nearer our own time, stoutly vindicated God’s honour and glory, by proclaiming the Gospel of His grace in a day when power and influence were arrayed on the side of its enemies. Hooper and his martyred comrades may be justly ranked among the foremost of England’s worthies, both because of the glorious work in which they were engaged! and the courage and wisdom they displayed in its accomplishment. Our martyred ancestors fought and won a battle that overturned England’s greatest and most dangerous foe, by placing in power England’s most trusty and most valuable friend. Bible Christianity, which has received the historic designation of “Protestantism,” is that friend; and any one who has only a general knowledge of our national history is thoroughly aware that our country has invariably prospered under Protestant rule, but, on the contrary, its prosperity has as surely waned and declined under Papal domination. “Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”

In the reign of Henry VIII there was a student and graduate at the University of Oxford whose abilities and talents, as manifested in the rapid advance he made in the study of the sciences, were attracting considerable attention. That student was John Hooper. During the prosecution of these studies God was pleased to arrest him, and bring him as a humble and docile scholar to the feet of Christ, there to learn and delight in the wonders of redeeming love. Not contented with the fashionable learning of the day, which could no more satisfy the cravings of Hooper’s soul than empty cisterns could quench the desires of a thirsty man, he now devoted the major part of his time to the study and meditation of the Holy Scriptures. As Hooper, by God’s grace, progressed in spiritual knowledge and understanding, it was no easy matter for him to conceal his opinions from his follow-students, whose friendship soon gave place to open opposition when they learnt the nature of the principles he was desirous to communicate to them. He was at length compelled to quit the university. Leaving the banks of the Isis, Hooper found a home under the roof of Sir Thomas Arundel in the rapacity of steward. His master was very fond of Hooper personally, but he also possessed a keen dislike to his religious views. Thinking that the Bishop of Winchester might be able to prove to his servant the absurdity and untenableness of his opinions, Sir Thomas Arundel dispatched Hooper with a letter to that prelate, asking him to confer with the bearer, in order to restore him to the unity of the Church. The bishop received Hooper very graciously, but Gardiner found he was unable to cause him to abandon his principles, so he commended his wit and learning and sent him home.

A short time after this discussion had taken place under the Bishop of Winchester’s roof, intelligence came to the ears of Hooper which caused him to leave the country. A friend having lent him a horse, Hooper left the house of Sir Thomas Arundel and rode to the sea-side, where he embarked for France. His stay on the Continent was but brief, for he soon returned home, to be kindly entertained by Mr. Sentlow. The news of Hooper’s return quickly spread, and spies were ordered to search out his hiding-place. Again he fled from the land of his birth, and this time he went to Germany and Switzerland, where he found, particularly in the towns of Basle and Zurich, God-fearing and spiritually-minded men like himself. It was at Zurich that Hooper made the acquaintance of Bullinger, the Swiss Reformer, and also of the lady whom he afterwards married.

On the accession of Edward to the English throne, Hooper deemed it his duty to return to his native country, and there to forward the cause of Christ and His Gospel. Bullinger and his friends felt Hooper’s departure very keenly, and the Swiss Reformer, at their last earthly interview, thus addressed him: “Mr. Hooper, although we are sorry to part with your company for your own cause, yet much greater cause have we to rejoice, both for your sake and especially for the cause of Christ’s true religion, that you shall now return out of long banishment to your native country, where you may not only enjoy your own private liberty, but also that the cause and state of Christ’s Church by you may fare the better, as we doubt not but it will. Another cause why we rejoice with you and for you is this—that you shall remove not only out of exile into liberty, but leave here a barren, sour, and unpleasant country, rude and savage, and shall go into a land flowing with milk and honey, replenished with all fertility. But, with this our rejoicing, one fear and care we have lest you, being absent and so far distant from us, or else coming to such abundance and felicity, in your new welfare and plenty of all things, and in your flourishing honours, where you shall come peradventure to be a bishop, and where you shall find so many new friends, you will forget us, your old acquaintances and well-wishers. If, however, you shall forget and shake us off, yet this persuade yourself, that we will not forget our old friend; and, if you will please not to forget us, then I pray you let us hear from you.”

Hooper, in thanking his friends for their hospitality and affection, told them that they should certainly hear from him, as neither the nature of his own country, nor the pleasure of its advantages, nor the formation of new friendships, should ever cause him to forget his benefactors during his exile. “But,” he added, taking Bullinger by the hand, “the last news of all I may not be able to write, for there where I shall take most pains, there shall you hear of me to be burned to ashes: and that shall be news which I shall not be able to write unto you, but you shall hear of me from other hands.”

Having thus bidden adieu to his friends on the Continent, Hooper set sail for England; and, coming to London, his voice was soon heard, inveighing against evil in its various forms and shapes, and establishing the Gospel as revealing the one only way of salvation for the guilty sinner. Consistent with his profession as a Christian was his every-day life. Hooper appears to have been one of the most upright and conscientious of the English Reformers; he was a man who was actuated by pure and disinterested motives of the highest order. Talking was not a prominent feature in Hooper’s character, but he was a man of sound judgment. He was no glutton, but very abstemious in his diet; yet he always took especial care that the daily wants of his poorer neighbours should be supplied from his table. Hooper was also a very diligent preacher; and, in this position, he greatly distinguished himself for his earnestness and fidelity, so that he was requested to deliver a sermon before the royal court; and, very soon afterwards, the king gave expression to his estimate of the preacher by appointing him Bishop of Gloucester. After the lapse of two years he also received, in conjunction with Gloucester, the bishopric of Worcester. During the time Hooper held this important position he was engaged in a very lengthy controversy with the Archbishop of Canterbury and his episcopal colleagues about the wearing of certain vestments that were liable to excite superstitious feelings in the minds of ignorant worshippers. Hooper unhesitatingly protested against the wearing of these Popish garments, and he wrote to the king, desiring His Majesty either to deprive him of his bishopric or permit him to dispense with the objectionable garb. To Hooper’s latter request the young monarch willingly acceded; and he according wrote a letter to the archbishop, requesting the omission of those ceremonies and vestments that were so decidedly obnoxious to the bishop. But this letter, although supported by one to the same effect from the Earl of Warwick, availed not, for the bishops were determined that Hooper should either conform or resign. At length this unhappy dispute was brought to an end by the Bishop of Worcester reluctantly consenting to wear, on certain occasions, those vestments against which he had so earnestly battled. Very soon, however, these differences of opinion were forgotten amid the rage of persecution; and those who had been opponents in this vestment controversy were afterwards sincere friends and affectionate brethren for the truth’s sake.

After the conclusion of this controversy, Hooper entered upon his diocesan work with that diligence that should characterize one who comes as an ambassador of Christ’s Gospel. Hooper, we may safely say, was a model bishop—a pattern which his successors would have done well to emulate. So ably and so faithfully did this worthy prelate discharge his episcopal functions, that we can trace in his career those delineations of character that the Apostle Paul marked out as the becoming and appropriate features of a bishop. He was “blameless,” for his enemies, ever on the watch, were not able to accuse him of any evil deeds, except that, like Daniel, he offended them by obeying the law of his God. “The husband of one wife, vigilant, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous.” Hooper, we believe, was one of the most earnest and straightforward of the English Reformers; and his courage and firmness for the truth were not exceeded by any of his contemporaries. He may not have possessed the fervid eloquence of “honest Hugh Latimer,” and his scholarly attainments may not have been so conspicuous as those of Nicholas Ridley; but none of the Marian martyrs surpassed Hooper in his unwavering firmness for the truth and his unmitigated zeal for its propagation. From one end of his diocese to the other Hooper preached the Word; and, no matter how despicable the hamlet, how unassuming the building, nor how poor the audience, he availed himself of every opportunity to disseminate the grand, majestic truths of the Gospel far and wide. Hospitality to the poor was also an admirable feature in this bishop’s character. Every day it was his custom, as Foxe, the martyrologist, tells us, to entertain a large number of the poor people of the city of Gloucester in the hall of the episcopal palace, and he always saw that their wants were attended to before he sat down to dine. At home Hooper’s private life was strictly consistent with his public profession. Neither gambling nor swearing—so prevalent even in episcopal residences in those days—were permitted under his roof: neither courtly rioting nor pompous shows were tolerated during his episcopate. Hooper was also a wise father, whose anxiety for his children was manifested in his personal superintendence of their training and education. In short, a bishop of this stamp England has seldom seen; and to expatiate fully on the many worthy deeds of this eminent martyr would be tantamount to writing his biography, which is not our purpose. Enough has been written to give a general idea of the character of John Hooper as a bishop, his words and deeds both proving him to have been a God-fearing, spiritually-minded man.

But a very short time elapsed after the accession of Queen Mary to the throne before Hooper received a summons to repair to London and appear before the royal court. A two-fold reason was assigned for this step. Firstly, he was to answer to the charge of usurpation preferred against him by Dr. Heath, who was deprived of the bishopric of Worcester on Hooper’s elevation to that see: and, secondly, Bonner demanded his presence on account of some accusations Hooper had made against him before the deceased monarch. On the receipt of this mandate, many of the bishop’s friends urged him to flee from the country—a proposal which Hooper firmly resisted. “Once did I flee and take me to my feet,” replied the worthy prelate to the solicitations of his friends, “but now, because I am called to this place and vocation, I am thoroughly persuaded to remain, and to live and die with my sheep.” On Hooper’s arrival in the metropolis, he was commanded to appear before the queen and Privy Council, who received him very ungraciously; Gardiner, the Lord Chancellor, more especially distinguishing himself by falsely accusing and bitterly sneering at this heroic witness for the truth. Hooper, however, unmoved by the taunts and malice of his foes, acquitted himself boldly, and answered his judges in a very decided and noble manner, without any mixture of angry recrimination. He was formally deprived of his bishoprics on his second appearance before the Council, when he was treated with more disrespect and opprobrium than on the previous occasion. The next movement on the part of his opponents was to send Hooper to prison, where he was incarcerated for nearly eighteen months, and during that period he was subjected to very cruel treatment, and had also to endure intense sufferings, on account of the unhealthy position of the dungeon in which he was immured. The following is Hooper’s version of this imprisonment:—

“The first of September, 1553, I was committed unto the Fleet from Richmond, to have the liberty of the prison; and within six days after I paid five pounds sterling to the warden for fees for my liberty, who, immediately upon payment thereof, complained unto the Bishop of Winchester, upon which I was committed to close prison a quarter of a year in the tower- chamber of the Fleet, and used extremely ill. By the means of a good gentlewoman, I had liberty to come down to dinner and supper, but was not suffered to speak with any of my friends; but, as soon as dinner and supper were done, to repair to my chamber again. Notwithstanding, whilst I came down thus to dinner and supper, the warden and his wife picked quarrels with me, and complained untruly of me to their great friend the Bishop of Winchester. After a quarter of a year, Babington, the warden, and his wife fell out with me respecting the wicked Mass; and thereupon the warden resorted to the Bishop of Winchester, and obtained leave to put me into the wards, where I have continued a long time, having nothing appointed to me for my bed but a little pad of straw and a rotten covering, with a tick and a few feathers therein, the chamber being vile and stinking, until, by God’s means, good people sent me bedding to lie on. On one side of the prison is the sink and filth of the house, and on the other the town ditch, so that the stench of the house hath infected me with sundry diseases. During this time I have been sick, and the doors, bars, hasps, and chains being all closed upon me, I have mourned, called, and cried for help; but the warden, when he hath known me many times ready to die, and when the poor men of the wards have called to help me, hath commanded the doors to be kept fast, and charged that none of his men should come at me, saying, ‘Let him alone; it were a good riddance of him;’ and he did this October 18th, 1553, as many can witness.”

At length, after this long term of imprisonment, Hooper was brought before the Bishops of London, Durham, Winchester, Chichester, and Llandaff, who were appointed as Her Majesty’s Commissioners to examine his case. The celibacy of priests was the question that occupied the attention of the court in the earlier stage of its proceedings. Hooper stoutly affirmed that it was lawful, according to the Word of God, for priests to marry; but his judges, ridiculing their prisoner’s arguments, as persistently denied it. “Marriage is honourable in all “is the plain declaration of infallible Truth; but the Church of Rome has dared to despise and ignore the Word of God by compelling her priests to a celibate life, and thereby, as a consequence of this doctrine, the world has been deluged with gross immoralities and social disorders.

Leaving this question, Hooper was next attacked upon the real presence. Tonstal, Bishop of Durham, asked him whether he believed in the corporeal presence of Christ in the Sacrament. Hooper’s answer may be anticipated. Standing firm to his convictions, he boldly replied that there was no such thing, neither 

did he believe it. The worthy prisoner was then proceeding to read out of a book in support of his answer, when his opponents raised such a clamour and hubbub in the court that he was com- pelled t@ desist. The Bishop of Winchester then asked him on what authority he denied the corporeal presence. Hooper bee1an replying to this query by quotations from the Scriptures, when he was rudely stopped by his judges, who had again createcl another disturbance in order to silence his utterances. After some hours had been spent in this manner the court broke up, and Hooper was again conducted to prison.

On the 22nd of January, 1555, Hooper again appeared before a number of bishops, when he was exhorted to abandon his principles and return to the Church of Rome. On this occasion, Gardiner treated his prisoner rather more courteously, and he endeavoured, by the art of gentle persuasion, to induce Hooper to forsake the standard of the cross and return to the bondage of priestism. The intrepid martyr, however, was immovable. He boldly told Gardiner that the Church of Rome was not the Church of Christ, as the Pope taught doctrines totally opposed to the doctrines of Christ. Finding that it was utterly useless to further argue the matter, Hooper was again ordered back to prison.

But a few days, however, was he allowed to rest; for, on the 28th of January, Hooper again appeared before the Bishop of Winchester and the other commissioners. On the same day Rogers was also examined by these episcopal judges; but both of them firmly held their ground, and yielded not to the solicitations of their opponents. Hooper, attended by one of the City sheriffs, was the first to leave the court. Looking back, he saw Rogers following, to whom he said,” Corne, brother Rogers, must we two take this matter first in hand, and begin to fry these faggots i ” “Yes, sir,” replied Rogers, “by God’s grace.” “Doubt not,” said Hooper, “but God will give strength.” So tliese two champions for the truth, passing through a large concourse of sympathetic people, were conducted to the Compter in Southwark, with orders to appear again the following day. Accordingly, at the appointed hour, Hooper and Rogers were”again brought before Her Majesty’s Commissioners for the last time. The question put to them was, ” Will you recant 1″ and the plain, decided answer was, “No !” This being their decision, they were again taken to the Cornpter and confined in separate chambers, so that they should not be ablt.l to comfort and edify one another. w·hen darkness began to steal over the City, and the bustle of the day gave place to the stillness of the night, Hooper was led through the City to Newgate. This removal seems to have been done in the night to prevent the people from knowing the intentions of Hooper’s enemies; but the news got wind, and large numbers of the worthy man’s friends and admirers cheered and encouraged him on his way. At New-gate, he was imprisoned for six days, during which time he was kept in very close confinement, nobody, except the keepers, being permitted to see him. Admittance, however, was given to some priests and friars, who had been sent by the Lord Chancellor to harass and worry Hooper, if possible, into a recantation of his opinions. In fact, Hooper’s enemies seem to have concentrated all their energies and combined all their efforts, in order to move him from his steadfastness in the truth; but all their machinations signally failed, and the dauntless martyr kept faithful, even unto death. Bonner, Bishop of London, was also one of Hooper’s visitors. This prelate came to degrade the worthy martyr, and thereby cast him out of the Church, prior to his departure for Gloucester.

On the same night after Hooper had submitted to this mock degradation, his last journey commenced. The news that he was to suffer at Gloucester caused the heroic bishop much joy; and he praised and thanked the Almighty for sending him to die amongst the people over whom he had been pastor. At length, after two or three days, Gloucester is sighted. As the procession nears the city gates, hundred of persons come forth to greet their esteemed bishop, whose ministry had been so profitable to them, and whose life had been such an example for them to emulate. Hooper, too, is delighted to see the city in which he had proclaimed the majestic and everlasting truths of the Gospel with no uncertain sound. To this city his voice had often rung out the “glad tidings” to guilty, undone sinners; here his earnest and powerful preaching had often been made a blessing to his hearers; here he had many times grappled with the legions of error and superstition; here he had bestowed a considerable portion of his substance to relieve the wants of others; and here, too, he must die. On being delivered into the custody of the sheriffs of Gloucester, he was visited by those officials, in company with the mayor and aldermen of the city. They treated Hooper in a very cordial manner, and heartily saluted him; whereupon the noble hero thus addressed them:—

“I give most hearty thanks to you, and to the rest of your brethren, that you have vouchsafed to take me, a prisoner and a condemned man, by the hand; whereby, to my rejoicing, it is very apparent that your old love and friendship towards me is not altogether extinguished; and I trust also, that all the things I have taught you in times past are not utterly forgotten, when I was your bishop and pastor; for which most true and sincere doctrine, because I will not now account it falsehood and heresy, as many other men do, I am sent hither, you know, by the queen’s commands, to die, and am come where I taught it to confirm it with my blood. And now, master sheriffs, I understand by these good men, and my good friends, at whose hands I have found as much favour and gentleness on the road hither as a prisoner could reasonably require, for which I most heartily thank them, that I am committed to your custody, as unto those that must see me brought tomorrow to the place of execution. My request to you shall be only that there may be a quick fire, shortly to make an end; and, in the meantime, I will be as obedient to you as yourselves could wish. If you think I do amiss in anything, hold up your finger and I have done; for I am not come hither as one forced or compelled to die, for it is well known I might have had my life with worldly gain; but as one willing to offer and give my life for the truth, rather than consent to the wicked religion of the Bishop of Rome, received and set forth by the magistrates in England, to God’s high displeasure and dishonour; and I trust, by God’s grace, tomorrow to die a faithful subject to God, and a true, obedient subject to the queen.”

The scene at the stake was of a very solemn and impressive character. Hooper, accompanied by a strong body-guard, was led to the place of execution through a long line of sympathetic onlookers, who unmistakably showed their appreciation and esteem for the martyr’s cause. Surrounded by a multitude of seven thousand persons, the martyr prepared himself for the stake. Seeing the large concourse of spectators, Hooper spake the following words to those about him: 

“Alas! why are these people assembled and come together? Peradventure they think to hear something of me now, as they have in times past; but, alas! speech is prohibited me. Notwithstanding, the cause of my death is well known to them. When I was appointed here to be their pastor, I preached unto them true and sincere doctrine, and that out of the Word of God; and, because I will not now account the same to be heresy and untruth, this kind of death is prepared for me.” When all was ready for the execution, the queen’s pardon was offered to Hooper if he would only recant. At the sight of it he exclaimed, “If you love my soul, away with it!” The fire was then ignited, and, after a very cruel and lingering death, Hooper had gone to be “for ever with the Lord.” Thus finished the career of one of the most noble of England’s “noble army of martyrs;” and we conclude our sketch of his life with a short poem on his martyrdom, composed by Conrade Gesner—

“Hooper, unvanquished by Rome’s cruelties, 

Confessing Christ in his last moments, dies: 

Whilst flames his body rack, his soul doth fly, 

Inflamed with faith, to immortality!

His constancy on earth has raised his name,

And gave him entrance at the gates of fame,

Which neither storms, nor the cold north wind’s blast, 

Nor all-devouring time shall ever waste:

For he whom God protects shall sure attain

That happiness which worldlings seek in vain. 

Example take by him, you who profess

Christ’s holy doctrines; ne’er the world earess

In hopes of riches; or, if fortune frown

With inauspicious looks, be not cast down;

For man ne’er saw, nor can his heart conceive,

What God bestows on them that righteous live.”