N04231:174
The poor doubting Christian drawn to Christ. Wherein the main hindrances, which keep men…
The poor doubting Christian drawn to Christ. Wherein the main hindrances, which keep men from coming to Christ, are discovered. : With special helps to recover God's favour. / By Thomas Hooker. ; With an abstract of the author's life. ; [Four lines from Isaiah]
Boston: printed by Green for D. Henchman, 1743
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
2. The second Rule is; Labour to bring thy Heart to this, That all the Things in the World without the Promise, are nothing: And that if thou hadst all that the Earth can afford, and not the Promise, thou hast gotten but the Wind, or that which will rather be a Curse to thee than a Blessing: For, Faith is the Substance of Things hoped for, Heb. 11.1. It gives a Kind of Being and Subsistence to all. So that there is no Subsistence in Honour or Riches, if they subsist not by Faith; and without Faith they are Clogs and Snares to us, no Helpers: Except Faith give them their Denomination, and a Blessing therewith, they are poor and empty Things. Our Prayers, if they want Faith in the Promise, are Prayers ⟨p. 89⟩of no Substance; Words, and nothing else. On the other Side, the most broken and chattering Prayers of a poor Soul, when a poor Creature can scarce utter five Words with any Sense; yet these (how weak soever) mingled▪ with Faith, are a very powerful Prayer. So all your Hearing, and my Preaching hangs upon Faith; otherwise they are but lost Labour, wanting that which gives a Kind of Being to whatsoever I speak, or you hear. This for the second Rule.
2. The second Rule is; Labour to bring thy Heart to this, That all the Things in the World without the Promise, are nothing: And that if thou had'st all that the Earth can afford, and not the Promise, thou hast gotten but the Wind, or that which will rather be a Curse to thee than a Blessing: For, Faith is the Substance of Things hoped for, Heb. 11.1. It gives a Kind of Being and Subsistence to all. So that there is no Subsistence in Honour or Riches, if they subsist not by Faith; and without Faith they are Cloggs and Snares to us, no Helpers: Except Faith give them their Denomination, and a Blessing therewith, they are poor and empty Things. Our Prayers, if they want Faith in the Promise, are Prayers ⟨p. 89⟩of no Substance; Words, and nothing else. On the other Side, the most broken and chattering Prayers of a poor Soul, when a poor Creature can scarce utter five Words with any Sense; yet these (how weak soever) mingled with Faith, are a very powerful Prayer. So all your Hearing, and my Preaching hangs upon Faith; otherwise they are but lost Labour, wanting that which gives a Kind of Being to whatsoever I speak, or you hear. This for the second Rule.