A44344:389
A comment upon Christ's last prayer in the seventeenth of John wherein is opened…
A comment upon Christ's last prayer in the seventeenth of John wherein is opened the union believers have with God and Christ, and the glorious privileges thereof ... / by that faithful and known servant of Christ, Mr. Thomas Hooker ... ; printed from the authors own papers written with his own hand, and attested to be such in an epistle by Thomas Goodwin and Philip Nigh.A comment upon Christ's last prayer in the seventeenth of John wherein is opened the union beleevers have with God and Christ, and the glorious priviledges thereof ... / by that faithful and known servant of Christ, Mr. Thomas Hooker ... ; printed from the authors own papers written with his own hand, and attested to be such in an epistle by Thomas Goodwin and Philip Nye.
London: printed by Peter Cole, 1656
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Its possible for a heavy thing by a strong hand, to be held from descending downward: but leave it to it self, thou shalt easily see, whether it be its place, or suitable to its inclination, it moves immediately downwards. Your Sea-horses and Crocodiles go sometimes ashore for their prey: but because they retire and take up their abode in the Waters, we therefore know, they are Sea, not Land-creatures. So its possible, to seek a prey, i.e. For thine own ease or praise, thou mayst put to the performances of holy duties: or happily, either company, place, persons, the laws, or ordinances ⟨p. 71⟩hold thee by strong hand, and-force thee to a show of zealous profession. But when these poises are plucked away: mark what thy Soul before desired inwardly, what it now will into of it self: If to the world, and the vanities thereof, thou art a worldly man to this day. Hence it is, that many in these places drop away, and fall hand-pat to the world, after a long profession of a heavenly life. These earthly, heavy Souls would have been at their centre long before, but there were some impediments in their way, that stopped their proceeding: Whereas, if the heart be heavenly, it rests not before it come thither. Psal. 42. Oh when shall I appear before the living God? many say, who will show us any good? but Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance. And the Apostle concludes it. Coloss. 3.1. If ye be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, ye ought to do so, and ye will do so. The Apostle Issues both the parts, with the grounds of them. 1 Cor. 15. 48. The first Adam is from the Earth, earthly: the second Adam is the Lord from Heaven: As we have born the image of the earthly, so shall we bear the image of the Heavenly. Yea our Saviour concludes it, They are not of this world, as I am not of the world. As he by the power of his God-Head, took our Nature to himself, by the power of the fame God-Head, he takes our Souls to himself, carries them to himself, acts them upon himself, keeps them with himself.
Its possible for a heavy thing by a strong hand, to be held from descending downward: but leave it to it self, thou shalt easily see, whether it be its place, or suitable to its inclination, it moves immediately downwards. Your Sea-horses and Crocodils go somtimes ashore for their prey: but because they retire and take up their abode in the Waters, we therefore know, they are Sea, not Land-creatures. So its possible, to seek a prey, i.e. For thine own ease or praise, thou mayst put to the performances of holy duties: or happily, either company, place, persons, the lawes, or ordinances