The Worlds Great Sermons, Volume 2

The World's Great Sermons, Vol.
2 (of 10) - Hooker to South

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Edited by Grenville Kleiser
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Title: The World's Great Sermons, Vol. 2 (of 10)
Editor: Grenville Kleiser
Release Date: March 18, 2004 [eBook #11627]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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WORLD'S GREAT SERMONS, VOL. 2 (OF 10)***
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THE WORLD'S GREAT SERMONS, VOLUME II (of 10)
HOOKER TO SOUTH
COMPILED BY GRENVILLE KLEISER Formerly of Yale Divinity
School Faculty; Author of "How to Speak in Public," Etc.
With Assistance from Many of the Foremost Living Preachers and
Other Theologians
INTRODUCTION BY LEWIS O. BRASTOW, D.D. Professor
Emeritus of Practical Theology in Yale University
IN TEN VOLUMES

HOOKER
THE ACTIVITY OF FAITH; OR, ABRAHAM'S IMITATORS
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Thomas Hooker, graduate and fellow of Cambridge, England, and
practically founder of Connecticut, was born in 1586. He was dedicated
to the ministry, and began his activities in 1620 by taking a small parish
in Surrey. He did not, however, attract much notice for his powerful
advocacy of reformed doctrine, until 1629, when he was cited to appear
before Laud, the Bishop of London, whose threats induced him to leave
England for Holland, whence he sailed with John Cotton, in 1633, for
New England, and settled in Newtown, now Cambridge, Mass.
Chiefly in consequence of disagreements between his own and Cotton's
congregation he, with a large following, migrated in 1636 to the
Connecticut Valley, where the little band made their center at Hartford.
Hooker was the inspirer if not the author of the Fundamental Laws and
was of wide political as well as religious influence in organizing "The
United Colonies of New England" in 1643--the first effort after federal
government made on this continent. He was an active preacher and
prolific writer up to his death in 1647.

HOOKER
1586-1647
THE ACTIVITY OF FAITH; OR, ABRAHAM'S IMITATORS
_And the father of circumcision to them who are not of circumcision
only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham,
which he had, being yet uncircumcized_.--Romans iv., 12.
I proceed now to show who those are, that may, and do indeed, receive
benefit as Abraham did. The text saith, "They that walk in the steps of
that faith of Abraham:" that man that not only enjoyeth the privileges of
the Church, but yieldeth the obedience of faith, according to the Word
of God revealed, and walketh in obedience, that man alone shall be
blest with faithful Abraham.
Two points may be here raised, but I shall hardly handle them both;
therefore I will pass over the first only with a touch, and that lieth
closely couched in the text.

That faith causeth fruitfulness in the hearts and lives of those in whom
it is.
Mark what I say: a faithful man is a fruitful man; faith enableth a man
to be doing. Ask the question, by what power was it whereby Abraham
was enabled to yield obedience to the Lord? The text answereth you,
"They that walk in the footsteps" not of Abraham, but "in the footsteps
of the faith of Abraham." A man would have thought the text should
have run thus: They that walk in the footsteps of Abraham. That is true,
too, but the apostle had another end; therefore he saith, "They that walk
in the footsteps of the faith of Abraham," implying that it was the grace
of faith that God bestowed on Abraham, that quickened and enabled
him to perform every duty that God required of him, and called him to
the performance of. So that I say, the question being, whence came it
that Abraham was so fruitful a Christian, what enabled him to do and to
suffer what he did? surely it was faith that was the cause that produced
such effects, that helped him to perform such actions. The point then
you see is evident, faith it is that causeth fruit.
Hence it is, that of almost all the actions that a Christian hath to do,
faith is still said to be the worker. If a man pray as he should, it is "the
prayer of faith." If a man obey as he should, it is the obedience of faith.
If a man war in the Church militant, it is "the fight of faith." If a man
live as a Christian and holy man, he "liveth by