N04231:66
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.
Quest. But how comes this Desire after Christ?
I answer: There are no more but two Affections in the Soul to absent Good, God infinitely wise having so framed it; and these two are Hope and Desire. The Understanding says, such a Thing is profitable & comfortable if I had it; then Hope is sent out to wait for that Goodness; and if it comes not, then Desire is sent out to meet that Goodness: Hope stands and waits for it; but Desire wanders up and down seeking and enquiring after a LORD JESUS, and goes from Coast to Coast, from East to West; O that I could, O that I might, and when shall I? And how may I come to the Speech of a Lord Christ? As it was with the Spouse in the Canticles; when her Beloved was gone, she wandered up and down seeking him, and enquiring of the Watchmen if they did not see him whom her Soul loved; so wanders from this Thing to that, from this Place to that Place, and never ceaseth to seek and see if she can gain Notice of Christ. It goes to Prayer, to see if that will entreat a Christ; it goes to the Word, to see if that will reveal a Christ: It goes to Conference, to see if it can hear of Christ there: Then it comes to the Congregation, and to the Sacrament, to see if it can hear of any News of a Lord Christ, and of Mercy.
The Soul thus continues wandering and seeking, till at last the Lord Christ comes into the Soul, when the Soul hath thus hungered and longed for him. At length the Lord Christ is pleased to show himself in view: Behold, the King cometh: so the Soul says, Behold the Lamb of God, that takes away thy Sins. O thou poor broken-hearted Sinner, here is thy Saviour; he is come down from Heaven to speak Peace to thy Soul in the Pardon of thy Sins. Thou that hungerest for a Christ, here he is to satisfy thee: Thou that thirsteth after Christ, here he is to refresh thee. Thou that hast long sought him, he saith, Here I am, and all my Merits are thine.