Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	call_v	prophet_n	word_n	1,753	5	4.0699	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61606	A sermon preached November V, 1673, at St. Margarets Westminst by Edward Stillingfleet ...	Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699.	1674 (1674)	Wing S5645; ESTC R7707	26,239	53

who were foretold by the Prophets that should come for the redemption of his People for many shall come in my Name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many Not as though they pretended to be sent by Christ but that they would assume to themselves the Dignity and Authority of the true Messias and of this sort there were many that arose among the Jews such as Theudas Jonathas Barchochebas and many others But besides these there were false Prophets some of which did openly oppose Christianity such as that Bar-Jesus mentioned in the Acts but there were others who pretended to own Christianity and to prophesie in the Name of Christ whom S. Peter calls false Teachers and whom S. Paul describes by the same character that our Saviour here doth But I know that after my departing shall grievous Wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw disciples after them whom he elsewhere sets forth by their Sheeps clothing when he saith that by good words and fair speeches they deceive the hearts of the simple whom he calls false Apostles deceitful workers transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ which carryed so fair a shew and appearance among the people that S. Paul was very full of jealousie and apprehension concerning them lest they should by degrees draw away his Disciples from the simplicity of the Gospel of Christ. For I am jealous over you saith he with godly jealousie but I fear lest by any means as the Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. It may seem strange that after the Apostles had with so much care and diligence planted the Gospel of Christ in several Churches they should express so much fear as they did and especially S. Paul of their being so soon corrupted by these false Teachers as he doth not only of the Corinthians but of the Galatians too I marvel saith he that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ. And O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth and of the Ephesians That we henceforth be no more Children tossed to and fro and carryed about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lye in wait to deceive and of the Colossians Beware lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ. And Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels and of the Hebrews Be not carried about with diverse and strange doctrines But we shall see this great Caution delivered here first by our Saviour and afterwards by his Apostles was no more than necessary if we consider under what pretences they came and what Arts and Methods these false Teachers used to delude and seduce the people 1. They pretended to the same infallible Spirit which the Apostles had And this may be the reason why our Saviour doth not here call them false Teachers but false Prophets For Prophecy in its proper notion doth not relate to future events but to divine Inspiration So S. Chrysostom saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Prophet saith he is the same with Gods interpreter so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used in Greek Authors as in the Author of the Book de Mundo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendered by Apuleius effari caeteris and Festus saith that the Latines called those Prophets which were oraculorum interpretes and so the Hebrew words are taken in the same sense without any relation to foretelling things to come So Moses is said to be a God to Pharaoh and Aaron thy Brother shall be thy Prophet i. e. thy interpreter Abraham is called a Prophet and the Patriarchs are all called Prophets in regard that Divine Revelations were more common before the written Law but the reason why the name of Prophecy came to be restrained to the prediction of things to come was because future events lying most out of the reach of mens knowledge the fore-telling of these was looked upon as the greatest evidence of divine inspiration But in the New Testament prophesying is often taken for the gift of interpreting the hard places of the Old Testament as Themistius calls one that interpreted the hard places in Aristotle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thence Prophesying is reckoned among the spiritual gifts and so these false Prophets were not men who pretended to fore-tell future events but to the assistance of an infallible Spirit in giving the sense of Scripture and by this pretence they transformed themselves into the Apostles of Christ giving out that they enjoyed equal priviledges with them whereby three things may be observed which deserve our consideration 1. That nothing is more easie than for false Teachers to pretend to an infallible Spirit such whom our Saviour and his Apostles did warn men especially against pretended to be Prophets and Apostles and to know the mind of Christ better than they who truly had the assistance of the Holy Ghost Some think the bare pretence to Infallibility ought in such a divided state of the Christian world to be entertained as the best expedient to end Controversies and that Church which doth alone challenge it ought on that account to be submitted to as though the most confident pretenders were to be soonest believed so they will be do what we can by the weakest sort of mankind but by none who have and use their judgements If bare pretences were sufficient Simon Magus did bid the fairest to be Head of the Church for he pretended to be Gods Vicar upon earth or the divine Power sent down from Heaven which none of the Apostles pretended to Why then did not the Christian Church submit to Montanus his Paraclete when no other Christians pretended to such an immediate inspiration as he did And certainly Prisca and Maximilla were better Oracles than a Crucifix was to a late Pope If there be any thing beyond a bare pretence to an infallible Spirit we desire to see better arguments for it than the false Apostles could produce for theirs if there be nothing but a bare pretence we must leave the Pope and Quakers to dispute it out 2. That the pretence to Divine Inspiration is very dangerous to the Christian Church For we see what mischief it did in the Apostolical times when there was a true infallible Spirit in the Apostles of Christ to discover and confute it yet notwithstanding all the care and diligence of the Apostles many were seduced by it For those who have the least ground do commonly use the greatest confidence and denounce Hell