bad
consequence, as the kindness of Mrs. Churchman's curing him of his
late distemper and cold; for that was so gratefully apprehended by
Mr. Hooker, that he thought himself bound in conscience to believe all
that she said: so that the good man came to be persuaded by her, "that
he was a man of a tender constitution; and that it was best for him to
have a wife, that might prove a nurse to him; such a one as might both
prolong his life, and make it more comfortable; and such a one she
could and would provide for him, if he thought fit to marry." And he,
not considering that "the children of this world are wiser in their
generation than the children of light;" but, like a true Nathaniel,
fearing no guile, because he meant none, did give her such a power
as Eleazar was trusted with,--you may read it in the book of
Genesis,--when he was sent to choose a wife for Isaac; for even so he
trusted her to choose for him, promising upon a fair summons to return
to London, and accept of her choice; and he did so in that, or about
the year following. Now, the wife provided for him was her daughter
Joan, who brought him neither beauty nor portion: and for her
conditions, they were too like that wife's, which is by Solomon
compared to a dripping house: so that the good man had no reason to
"rejoice in the wife of his youth;" but too just cause to say with the
holy Prophet, "Wo is me, that I am constrained to have my habitation
in the tents of Kedar!"

This choice of Mr. Hooker's--if it were his choice--may be wondered
at: but let us consider that the Prophet Ezekiel says, "There is a
wheel within a wheel;" a secret sacred wheel of Providence,--most
visible in marriages,--guided by his hand, that "allows not the race
to the swift," nor "bread to the wise," nor good wives to good men:
and He that can bring good out of evil--for mortals are blind to this
reason--only knows why this blessing was denied to patient Job, to
meek Moses, and to our as meek and patient Mr. Hooker. But so it was;
and let the Reader cease to wonder, for affliction is a divine diet;
which though it be not pleasing to mankind, yet Almighty God hath
often, very often, imposed it as good, though bitter physic to those
children whose souls are dearest to him.

[Sidenote: At Drayton-Beauchamp]

And by this marriage the good man was drawn from the tranquillity of
his College; from that garden of piety, of pleasure, of peace, and a
sweet conversation, into the thorny