Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heart_n	apostle_n	preach_v	word_n	3,267	5	4.6936	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44932	The spirit of prophecy a treatise to prove, by the wayes formerly in use among the Jews, in the tryal of pretenders to a prophetic spirit, that Christ and his Apostles were prophets : together with the divine authority of christian religion and the Holy Scriptures, the insufficiency of human reason, and the reasonableness of the christian faith, hope, and practice, deduced therefrom, and asserted against Mr. Hobbs, and the Treatise of Hvmane Reason / by W.H.	Hughes, William, b. 1624 or 5.	1679 (1679)	Wing H3346; ESTC R19799	183,906	298

the Walls being broken down and the Temple set on Fire some cast themselves on the Swords of the Romans others destroyed each other others murdered themselves and others leaped into the Flames accounting it not an overthrow but a kind of Victory Health a●d Happiness that they perished together with the Temple But whatever they thought of it our Saviour foretold it should be great Tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the World till that time and such it seems it was for Josephus thought verily that the Calamities of the Jews did for exceed all those of former Ages Nor was he without Reason to think so For there were according to his Computation no less than an eleven hundred thousand that died by Pestilence and Famine Fire and Sword during the Siege Thus were Jerusalem's Children layed on the Ground within her and it was but a few days that she her self stood after for ninety seven thousand being reserved for Captives the enraged Souldiers had no more to kill nor any thing else to do whereupon Titus commanded them to pluck up the very Foundations of the City and the Temple and accordingly they layed them so even with the Ground as that Travellers could scarce have Faith enough to believe the City was ever inhabited or the Temple ever standing for the Foundations of it Turnus Rufus tore up with a Plough-share Thus punctual was Providence in fulfilling our Saviours Predictions concerning the Destruction of the Jews Who being thus rejected the next thing in the oeconomy of the Gospel was the calling of the Gentiles this also was foretold by Christ if not likewise by his Apostles But to me it seems unreasonable to expect Records of such Predictions by them because both the History of their Acts and also their Epistles were all written to Persons so little concerned in it and on occasions so remote from it if not also at times after it as that they had scarce any at all to make mention of it yet we therein read St. Peter had a Vision on purpose to teach him that he should not call any man common or unclean i. e. that he should make no difference between Jews and Gentiles but that he should converse with and preach freely to the one as well as to the other and therefore should make no scruple of going to Cornelius at Coesarea St. Paul also in one Vision was sent to the Gentiles in another he was called to help the Macedonians hereby they assuredly gathered that the Lord had called them to preach to the Gentiles and if so then surely they had some certain foreknowledge of good success in so doing and that the rest of them had so too is manifest by their undertaking to do it Had they not had this assurance it would be hard to imagine that men so Wise and Rich as they were in all Vertues both intellectual and moral should also be so strong i. e. so careless of their own easie and unmindful of their worldly Concerns so resolute and courageous in pursuit of a Project so dangerous and grievous to Flesh and Blood in the Prosecution and withal so unlikely in the Eye of humane Reason to take ●ffect as theirs was it is therefore most rational to conclude they had some assured foreknowledge of good Success in their Labour and this certain Foreknowledge however discovered whether by Prediction or otherwise was a sure sign of a prophetick Spirit because it is above the Power of Art or Ability of any Creature to impart it to another and Predictions themselves are no otherwise proofs of the Spirit of Prophecy than as they make evidence of such Foreknowledge if then the Apostles were indued with this the matter was not much whether or no they were Authors of those especially in the thing now under Consideration because Christ had foretold it before them and sent to fulfill it and this he did so plainly in his Parables viz. that of the King which made a marriage for his Son and that of the Housholder that planted a Vine-yard c. as that the chief Priests and Pharisees perceived he spake of them and were much offended because they found they were not in his esteem as they were in their own viz. such Favourites of Heaven as still to keep the keys of God's Kingdom which as he plainly told them should be taken from them and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruits of it i. e. the Gospel and Priviledg of being the only Church and People of God should be taken from the Jews and given to the Gentiles who would be perswaded not only to believe but also to receive it and in their Practice to pursue the end and design of it viz. all Vertue and Holiness of living and this bl●ssed Efficacy of the Gospel he illustrates by the Similitudes of Mustard-seed and Leaven whereof the one though the least of all Seeds yet grows to so great a bigness as that the Birds of the Air may lodge in the Branches of it and the other though little also in Quantity yet is apt to diffuse it self and give a tincture to all the meal about it So it seems the Gospel being sowen by the Apostles preaching should so exceedingly grow and prosper among the Gentiles as that they should fly unto it and lodge their Souls under it and then by its secret invisible influence upon them it should change and affect their Hearts and Actions that flow from them Which certainly fell out accordingly for such were the Apostles Pains and Travails Industry and Success in Preaching as that their sound went out into all the Earth and their Words to the end of the World which Words of St. Paul were perhaps literally true of the Apostles only in reference to the Jews yet without any very great Hyperbole are also applicable to the Gentiles for whosoever will take the pains to follow the Apostles whithersoever they went will find they travailed almost all the known World over insomuch that there was scarce any Region on earth but by them was shewed the way to Heaven and that they were so successful as to convert almost all Nations is methinks manifest by those appeals the ancient Fathers made to the Enemies of Christ and his Kingdom Irenaeus affirms that in his time which surely was in the early Dayes of the Gospel for St. Hierom writes he was the Disciple of Polycarp and 't is thought that Polycarp was the Disciple of St. John the Apostle the Church was dispersed all the World over and as the Sun the Creature of God is one and the same in all the World so also the Preaching of one and the same Truth every where shines and enlightens them that are willing to come to the Knowledge of it And Origen tells Celsus the Gospel of Christ is preached in every Nation under Heaven to the Greeks and to the Barbarians to the Wise and to the

Argument into this form and the strength of it will be evident Those whom God employes to prophesie are Fellow servants But you and your brethren the Apostles as well as I God employes to prophesie therefore we are Fellow-servants St. John could make a doubt of nothing in this Argument but the Assumption whether he and the rest of the Apostles were sent to prophesie Yes sayes the Angel that you are for the Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy Hereby to me it seems apparent that the Testimony of Jesus here signifies that which the Apostles gave unto him and would you know why this is called the Testimony of Jesus not of the Apostle● concerning him then observe that this Testimony of Jesus may be considered two wayes viz. Strictly or Largely if abstractly or strictly in it self then it is little or nothing else but the Record they gave of Christ or the Doctrine they taught concerning him and this is said to be the Testimony of Jesus because he is the principal thing it treats of but if it be considered largely it comprehends not only the Doctrine of the Apostles concerning Christ but also the Strength Power and Authority whereby they taught it Thus considered it is the Testimony of Jesus not only because they gave it to him but also because they received it from him For he gave them not only Command to bear this witness of him i. e. to go into all the World and to preach the Gospel to every creature but also Strength and Power so to do for he first opened their Vnderstandings that they should understand the Scriptures and afterwards he e●dued them with Power from on high by sending the Promise of the Father i. e. the Spirit upon them to lead them into all Truth and enable them to speak it to all Nations whatsoever and this was done so eff●ctually as that men of every Nation under Heaven heard them speak in their own Language and this surely in it self considered was no small matter of Testimony to our Jesus The Apostles we know were ignorant and unlearned men that understood but little of Scripture less of Foreign Languages yet hereby on a sudden they were enabled exquisitely to understand the one and to speak the other of all sorts and doth it not surpass the Power of Nature to make so stupendious a change as this was What Creatures can make Men Wise Holy and Learned in an instant It is a work of Wonder that falls within the compass of little less than Omnipotent Power and Wisdom Surely therefore the Author of it was God and if so then Jesus to whom the Apostles were thereby enabled to give Testimony was at least a Man approved of him On that account therefore their Doctrine or rather their Preaching or Promulgation of the Gospel by it may well be called the Testimony of Jesus And this Testimony of Jesus my Text tells us is the Spirit of Prophecy The truth and Essence of Prophecy saith Maimonides is nothing else but an Influence from God by the Mediation of the active Intellect operating first upon the Rational afterwards on the Imaginable Faculty This Definition is thought somewhat too scanty and obscure to express the nature of Prophecy in its full Latitude it is therefore conceived that by a little alteration of its Definition by another Rabbi we may have a more adequate and clear conception of its nature viz. that it is an Influence from God upon the Rational Faculty either by the Mediation of the Fancy or otherwise and by this Influence whether by the Ministry of an Angel or otherwise a man attains to such knowledge as by his Natural Abilities would be unattainable In these Definitions of Prophecy we have nothing at present to observe but that wherein they both do agree namely the general Nature of it which they make to consist in Influence from God Prophecy is not an Ignis fatuus of a disturbed Fancy but an Impression of Divine Light thence perhaps it was that in old time the Prophets were called Seers not because or at least not so Properly because of their Fore-sight of things Future as of their Visions those Images or Appearances of things as Visible which by Divine Influence were represented on the stage of their Fancy to the sight of their Understandings And afterwards the Prophets were called Men of God because God was pleased immediately to reveal himself unto them and so the word rendred Prophet denotes one that receives what he saith from God It seems then that all Prophecy truly so called hath its descent from Above it is not of any Private interpretation or rather of a mans own starting or suggestion for it comes not by the Will of Man but Holy Men of God did thereby speak as they were moved by the Holy Ghost We Christians therefore believe the Holy Ghost spake by the Prophets and that Prophecy is a Gift of the Spirit For which cause no doubt it was that Justin Martyr intitles him the Spirit of Prophecy But when we consider that the Spirit of Prophecy as in my Text is affirmed of the Testimony of Jesus it seems most probable that it therein signifies not his Person but his Gift not his Essence or Subsistence but an Effect produced by him which is here called by his Name Thus the Spirit of a sound Mind the Spirit of Wisdom and Meckness the Spirit of Knowledge the Spirit of Grace and the Spirit of Prayer signifie Effects Works or Gifts which the Spirit of God produceth in the Souls of Men. So here in my Text the Spirit of Prophecy by an ordinary Metonymy of the Cause for the Effect is put for the Gift or Ability to prophesie which the Holy Ghost wrought in some of Gods Ministers This Gift the Angel had when he spake to St. John and so saith he had St. John too and the rest of the Apostles in their Testimony of Jesus i. e. in the Record they gave of Christ or in the promulgation of the Doctrine they taught concerning him from whence it apparently follows that the Angel here speaking and they were Fellow-servants But it is not this their Association with Angels which I now intend to discourse of but the Reason and Cause of it viz. their Gift of Prophecy It is we see here avouched by an Angel that the Apostles in the Promulgation of the Gospel were indued with the Gift of Prophecy or in short that they were Prophets and if they in their Testimony of Jesus were Prophets much more was He himself by whose Spirit they gave it to him a Prophet all then that remains for me to do will be to prove that Christ and his Apostles were Prophets Hereof methinks none can doubt but those that are slow of heart to believe the Holy Scriptures for therein we first find it fore-told to the Jews that God would raise them up a Prophet from among their Brethren like unto

were Partakers and these 't is confessed were sometimes those useful Ornaments of Arts and Sciences but more frequently if not alwayes those of Intelligence and Prudence somewhat above the ordinary rate of others the Spirit of Prophecy seldom or never rested on any but those whose minds were very capable of first principles and able to guide their actions with Judgment and Discretion Now that Christ and his Apostles were so is a thing whereof it seems needless to make proof because among all the Enemies of Christianity I can find none that ever had the Impudence to say that its Founders were Fools but rather they acknowledg it is such a cunningly devised Fable or so subtil a Contrivance as that they are forced to confess the Authors of it were men of excellent Intellectuals Even Atheists themselves by saying that our Religion is an humane Invention allowed of and defended by Princes to keep men in Subjection do declare plainly that its Authors or first Founders who in all appearance were Christ and his Apostles were men of no shallow apprehension but rather of deep judgment and profound Ratiocination The whole Christian World must be thought to consist of these Fools if those that have given these Laws to it were not wise Yet evident it is whoever saith so deserves to be reckoned one of that number or worse However it see●s the first Opponents of Christ and his Apostl●s although they were extreamly malicious yet were not so far transported with the madness of Pride as to say any such thing of them but contrariwise they admired and marvelled at them insomuch that not only the People were astonished at the Doctrine of Christ and his country-men at his Wisdom but also the very Doctors themselves at his Understandings and Answers when he was but twelve year old and afterwards being come to Maturity never man spake like this man Insomuch that the wicked Hearts of many among them prompted them to think he had a Devil but others said and gave a good reason for it too that his were not the words of one that had a devil if we lay both togeth●r we may from thence gather that his discourse was extraordinary so far above the pitch of the hearers as that it gave Evidence of transcendent Wisdom in the Speaker Which also in some measure discovered it self in his Apostles for the Elders of Israel marvelled and Sergius Paulus a prudent man was astonished at what they heard from them and wise men we know use not to admire and marvel at the Rhapsodies of Fools if therefore the People or yet their Rulers were wise it must be concluded that Christ and his Apostles were such because in despite of Malice they were forced to admire them for so being But in this point the confessions of our modern Scoffers have given me a Supersedeas from the trouble of saying any more for though they will sometimes shoot their bolts at some Parts of our Religion divided from the rest yet they dare not say but that the Whole is so consistent with it self and subservient to the End whereunto they say it is designed as that th●y presume to disgrace it only with slie Insinuations that it savours more of Subtilty and Guile than of Honesty of Craft and Cunning than of the thing called Conscience Were this as great a Truth as it is a Slaunder yet this might we learn from it namely that the Author of our Faith and Founders of our Religion were very intelligent Persons men so far from Defects in their Understandings as that they had very large Intellectuals and comprehensive Capacities can Naturals befool the World and make it dance after their Pipe no surely it must therefore be concluded that Christ and his Apostles were men of Parts and Prudence of Profound Judgment and deep Intentions And in that Respect they were such as the preceeding Rule of the Rabbins style Wise But this sort of Wisdom not being peculiar to Prophets was not I suppose so much inquired after in the Trial of those that pretended to the gift of Prophecy as that that was supernatural namely that Knowledg which without Revelation was utterly unattainable and that in respect either of the Matter Manner or Measure of it That Knowledg ledg or Wisdom which in one or other of these respects was supernatural was I think principally enquired after in the Trial of Pretenders to Prophecy the Reason of this my Conjecture is not only because the Nature of the thing requires that it should be so but because the contumelious carriage of the Jews towards our blessed Saviour seems to intimate that it was so for when they had blind-folded him they stroke him on the face and asked him saying Prophesie who is it that smote thee It seems far more probable to me that this their usage of Christ should referr to a Custom of their own rather than to a sport called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amongst the Grecian Children or Blind-mans-buff among our own if this sport were of use among the Jews also yet I do not think their Malice was then so gamesome and childish it seems a more solemn jeer allusive to some Custom or Enquiry that wont to be made in the Trial of Prophets and if so it were then is it most probable that in this affair the Jews required evidence of some supernatural Knowledg in him that pretended to the Spirit of Prophecy and such Knowledg as this we have already observed the old Prophets had in respect either of the Matter Manner or Measure of their Knowledg and that Christ and his Apostles had so as well as they is the thing which we are now to demonstrate Fore-knowledge of future Contingencies the Jews very justly held to be Supernatural in respect of the Matter of it That Christ and his Apostles were endued therewith will hereafter appear by the account we are to give of their Predictions at present therefore I shall wave that and observe that they as well as the Prophets before them had a sort of knowledge which was truly Supernatural in respect of the Manner of it i. e. those things which of their own nature were such as might have been known by the power of mens Natural Faculties were sometimes made known to them by immediate Revelation as appears not only by Jesus his knowledge of Nathaneel and of all other men but also by the Discovery which the Apostles made of Ananias and Sapphira's sacriledge Neither in the Nature of the thing known nor yet in the Measure of their Knowledg does there seem any thing extraordinary yet not being informed concerning it 't is evident the manner of their Knowledg or the means whereby they attained to it were Supernatural they received it by Inspiration or Revelation of the Spirit and that 's the reason why St. Peter told Ananias that he had not lied unto Men but to the Holy Ghost i. e. to God himself But of

follow his Example With what vigorous r●solutions may it inspirit us With what magnaninmity and fortitude notwithstanding all oppositions m●y it animate and embolden us to wressle not with ●l●sh and blood only but with Principaliti●s and Powers with the Rulers of the darkness of this World and spiritual wi●kedness in high pla●●s Since the Captain of our Salvation all alone and that when he was at the lowest both in single Duels and when their f●rces were united against him hath foiled and beaten both his and our enemies and is now made perfect in glory and power over them whom shall we fear of whom n●ed we be afraid in the way of our duty When we consider that He who upholdeth all things by the Word of his Power by which also they are made to bow unto and ob y him doth hims●lf sympathize with us in all our pr●ssures and troubles afflictions and temptations to the end that he might be able i. e. affectionately disposed to succour and therein to help us how exceedingly almost infinitely doth it pr●ponderate and out-weigh all the discouragements that we can possibly find or fansie either from the imbecillity of humane Nature or the power of Temptation or whatever other topicks there are from whence men think to draw excuses for their disobedience how do they all vanish and evaporate into Air before this one consideration viz. That He who now governs the World and shall h●reafter judge it is touched with a feeling of our infirmities and is able to succour them that are tempted What incouragement can we desire or indeed can he give us greater than this to continue his faithful Souldi●rs and S●rvants unto our Lifes end Let us then hear the conclusion of the whole matter which is this That seeing our Bl●ssed Lord Jesus in Redeeming us hath so e●fectually rescued us out of the hand of the Devil and s● brought us into the Liberty of Gods Service as that the Prince of the power of the Air who rules in the Children of disobedience cannot now approach to hurt us without his permission and our own unworthy defection from him He hath thereby obtained such an indisputable Right of Dominion over us as that his Commands do most evidently lay the obligation of most just Authority upon us And forasmuch as Christ in the dayes of his flesh made such an All-sufficient Atonement to his Father and now lives to make such Intercession for us as have and do procure to us the most inestimable Benefits and Favours that in this life can be conferred on us the most ample and the highest satisfaction that our Reason can expect to find in our Religion together with the greatest Encouragement that our Souls can have to obey it we must of necessity by the rules of Gratitude i. e. by the Laws of our own Nature be most highly obliged so to do For that a man which receiveth Benefit from another of meer Grace endeavour that he which giveth it have no reasonable cause to repe●t him of his good will the Leviathan it self grants to be a Law of Nature Although this be true yet is it but an ill-favoured definition of Gratitude for it deforms the face of that fair Vertue as if it looked directly only on it self and asquint upon its Benefactour and had no design but only to avoid an impend●nt evil viz. his repentance of his good will but there is more in it than so for it belongs to the nature of it for a benefit received from any one presently in heart and good Will largely to requite the Donor and afterwards seasonably to do it in word and deed according to the affection of the Giver ●nd the ability of the Receiver And to this we are obliged by the very Law of our Nature and consequently this we are bound to do unto God for the Benefits of our Redemption by our Blessed Lord Jesus But alas they are so free and transcendently great as that they infinitely exceed all requital and justifie astonishment at the goodness of the Donor What then shall we render unto the Lord for them it is evident we cannot be sufficiently thankful yet the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his Name and that of our lives in keeping his Command●●nts it is manifest we may render unto him Could we do more more we should be obliged to do the very Law of our own Nature would tell us that both the greatness of the Benefits and the affection of the Giver would deserve it at our hands How just therefore and reasonable is it for us to do what we can i. e. out of a Principle of Love and Gratitude and not of fear only to keep his Commandments and what ever it costs us to wal● in the same to our Lives end Which God of his Mercy grant all men Grace to do through the same Jesus Christ our Lord To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be Glory and Honour Power and Dominion Praise and Thanksgiving World without End Amen FINIS Books Printed for William Crook at the Green-Dragon without Temple-Barre 1679. 1. THE Compleat Vineyard or a most excellent way for the planting of Vines in England and to make Win● of their Grapes according to the French and German way by W. Hughes price 2 s. 2. A Description of Candia with an Account of the Siege and Surrender of it into the hands of the Turks octa price 1 s. 3. The Deaf and Dumb man's Discourse being a discourse of such as are born Deaf and Dumb shewing how they may express the sentiments of their minds together with an account of the Rationality of Beasts Particularly of the Reason of the Elephant price 1 s. 4. An Answer to Mr. Fergusons doctrine about Christ's Justification and Sanctification together with an account of the extent of Christ's Death by J. Knowles octa pr. 1 s. 6 d. 5. Sir Henry Blunt's Voyage in the Levant in Twelves price 1 s. 6. The Compleat Measurer or a new and exact way of Mensuration by Tho. Hammond octavo price 1 s. 7. Mr. Hobbes's Rosetum Geometricum five propositiones aliquot frustra antehac tentatae cum censura brevi Doctrinae Wallisianae Authore T. Hobbes Quarto 8. The Carpenters Rule made easie or The Art of Measuring of Superficies and Solids c. 3 d. Edition To which is added Gaugeing by J. Darling 9. The Flower-Garden inlarged Shewing how to order and increase all manner of Flowers whether by Layers Slips Off sets Cuttings S●eds c. Also how to draw a Horizontal Dial in a Garden With a Treatise of all Roots Plants Trees Shrubs Fruits Herbs in the Kings Plantations Twelves 10. The Elegant Poems of Dr. Richard Corbet Dean of Christ-Church in Oxford after Bishop of Norwich Twelves 11. Brownlows Reports Compleat in two Parts Quarto 12. The Court of Curiosity wherein by the Lot the most intricate Questions are resolved and Nocturnal Dreams and Visions explained according to the