PODCAST · arts

Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, Book 2

by Richard Hooker

Hooker resolved to investigate the position of the English Church, and to attempt to answer the question What is the basis upon which Church laws and Church government rest? And his magnum opus ‘The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity’ was the result.The Puritan system with which Richard Hooker found himself face to face, and which he so resolutely and courageously set himself the task of discrediting, speaking broadly, was based on the assumption that, in all matters affecting religious worship, discipline, and government, an unchangeable rule is laid down in Holy Scripture, and in Holy Scripture alone.It was held (by the Puritans) that no law could be of permanent obligation which was not expressed in Holy Scripture, and that no law which was contained in any part of Holy Scripture could fail to be of permanent obligation.In opposition to the Puritan contention Hooker urged that, in order to discover what the Divine order is, we must have recourse not only to the written word of God, but a