Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heart_n	harden_v	lord_n	pharaoh_n	7,022	5	11.1206	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77007	Salvation in a mystery: or A prospective glasse for Englands case. As it was laid forth in a sermon preached at Margarets in Westminster, before the Honourable House of Commons, at their monthly fast, March 27. 1644. / By John Bond, B.LL. late lecturer in the city of Exceter, now preacher at the Savoy in London. A member of the Assembly of Divines. Published by order of the Commons House.	Bond, John, 1612-1676.; England and Wales. Parliament.	1644 (1644)	Wing B3574; Thomason E43_2; ESTC R1754	41,396	73

saved his life and perchance his Kingdom but therfore the Lord will suffer him to be baited on with a kind of vicissitude of losses and victories that all this might harden his heart and the hearts of all his Magicians desperately to plunge themselves into the bottome of the sea where they might be slain and buried at once This very ground for the enemies greater destruction is hinted in this same Prophe●ie of Esay chap. 44. ver 25. Saith hee Hee fru●trateth the tokens of the lyars and maketh diviners mad he turneth wisemen backward and maketh their knowledge foolish Marke hee carrieth his worke so mysteriously that hee might frustrate the tokens of the lyars that is of those that were so confident upon some poore petty successes and victories which they had obtained against the people of God that therupon they durst to divine and promise unto their party a totall finall speedy conquest Now when God shall turne all about again in a time in a way where they looked not for it doubtlesse such a strange surprisall wil put them into the condition of the men of Ai when they were encompassed by Ioshua's Stratagem Iosh 8.20 They had no power to flee this way or that way vers 22. They were in the midst of Israel some on this side and some on that side and they smote them so that they let none of them remaine or escape And all this was done by a Stratagem for before in vers 15. Ioshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them of Ai and fied by the way of the wildernesse Thus you see it is a necessary and rationall truth that the Lord doth thus carry-on his great salvations viz. for his owne greater glory for his peoples greater benefit and for his enemies greater confusion Therefore it is not out of want either of power or wisdome but out of a transcendency of both that he doth order his deliverances in such a manner So much may demonstrate the Thesis or generall part But Secondly if you demand a particular reason for the Hypothesis viz. Why salvations from Babylon are also carried in a mystery I answer that there is a speciall ground for this branch also And it is this in short Our Babylon I meane the westerne was raysed in a mystery and therefore it is good reason that it should be throwne downe in the same manner In the 2 Thess 2.6 You shall find that Babylon is built up in a mystery The mystery of iniquity doth already worke That noble Frenchman throughout his Mystery of Iniquity Mornaei Mysterium Iniquitatis gives us a sufficient commentary upon this text by discovering the parts of that mystery shewing the Pedegree of Antichrist and how he hath gathered his stoln feathers together of which when every bird shall take his owne he shall be left naked and bare Also in Revel 17.4.5.6 You shall see that Babylon was raised in a mystery And the woman was arayed in purple and scarlet colour and decked with gold and precious stones having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthinesse of her fornication This woman is Rome the western Babylon And upon her forehead was a name written in Capitall Letters Mystery Babylon the great the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth Called Mystery because she was raysed in a mystery that is she got up to her height insensibly cunningly her way in getting up was like the way of an Eagle in the ayre or like the way of a serpent upon a stone winding and scruing it selfe onwards by degrees untraceably or as the way of a ship in the sea which goeth on swiftly when she seemes to stand still Thus Babylon was raysed and built in a mystery and therefore it is but just and proportionable that she should be cast downe and ruined in a mystery Nay we have an hint yea a prophetique command that this proportion shall be observed in the ruine and destruction of this Babylon in Revel 18.6 Reward her even as she rewarded you and double unto her double according to her workes And verse 7. How much she hath glorified her selfe and lived deliciously so much sorrow and torment give her that is let her be cast downe by the same steps by which she climb'd up both for manner and measure Thus you see grounds for the generall and also for the particular Application why Gods great salvations of his people and especially from Babylon are shall be must be so mysteriously carried on The Application is the great errant in which I am sent at this time 1 Vse 1. Enquirie Are the Lords great salvations of his people especially from Babylon carried-on in a mystery Then my first dose or portion shall be meerly preparatory Let us make English of this text by enquiring and searching whether or no the present great worke of salvation and reformation that is in your hands for 't is a worke of salvation be carryed-on in a mystery What is it a plain worke of common providence in which ordinary causes do bring forth their wonted effects and issues without any remarkeable variation or rather is it not an extraordinary elaborate shadowed Master-piece altogether made up of Stratagems Paradoxes and Wonders If thus then comfort your selves you may conclude it will be a great salvation yea as I shall shew a salvation from Babylon So then the whole businesse of this preparatory use will be to enquire and imforme our selves distinctly and critically in this great question when is a salvation carryed-on in a mystery or how may I know such a worke I answer as Psal 111.2 the works of the Lord are great yet they may be sought out of all them that have pleasure therein I shall endeavour for our direction and incouragement in these troublous times to give some speciall evidences of an hiding Saviour that is of a great Babylonish mysterious redemption 1. First when the work is carryed on SPIRITUALLY This I shall call supra Naturam above nature 2. When CASUALLY which is preter naturam besides nature 3. When CONTRARILY and CONTRADICTORILY contra naturam even against nature First when a work is carryed on Supra naturam SPIRITUALLY that is 1 Spiritually more by spirituall than by fleshly meanes Thus we reade of the Jewish redemption from Babylon Zecha 4.6 Then he that is the Angel speake and said This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel saying Not by might or armes nor by power but by my SPIRIT saith the Lord of Hosts Who art thou vers 7. O great mountaine It was a mountaine of rubbish that lay there as some conceive being the ruines of the former Temple as Nehem. 4. verse 2. and 10. This mountaine must be removed ere the ground could be levelled for a foundation But how shall this be done Not by might nor by power but he shall bring forth the corner stone thereof with shoutings crying Grace grace unto it

want of provision so as that the water should never have bin scant or bitter yea that they should never have met with an enemy these and all other hardships the Lord could have prevented But he did purposely suffer these intricate abstruse difficulties to fall in for the proving of his people for so it followes in the 16. verse of the same chapter He fed thee with Manna in the wildernesse which thy fathers knew not that he might humble thee and that he might PROVE thee Not but that he knew their hearts but because they knew not their owne hearts much lesse did others know their spirits Alas how few of us did know our owne hearts whilst we lived in peace and prosperity in our countries and callings untill the Lord by the intricatenesse of these carriages and by the mazes of his proceedings did pumpe-up and draw forth our inward parts Thus humbling proving improved and engaging were the Lords foure grand designes upon Israel And upon the same grounds did he lead Abraham Isaac Jacob and Joseph at their first calling in a strange country by extraordinary providence to prove and improve their graces yea and to diet them and breath them as it were for greater mercies and services And I am perswaded that by that time God hath brought together both ends of this mysterious salvation that he is now working every serious christian amongst us shall be able to say that he could not have beene without any one of all those obstructions and afflictions that we have met withall Nay I am perswaded that we shall all freely conclude at last that if we had not lost all we had bin undone if we had not beene plundred we had beene beggerd if all these mysterious abstruse difficulties had not fallen in we never had seene halfe so much of God of our selves of grace or sin reformation as I hope we shall now discerne But I hasten A third ground 3 For the enemies greater confusion why God delights thus to carry on his great salvations and especially his Babylonish redemption is for the enemies greater confusion either of their faces or persons First for the greater confusion of their faces when God having put them in hope of winning the day Of their Faces shall out-reach and out-do them at last when the Lord shall so befoole them that in the conclusion they shall see themselves wiped out of all their hopes this will be abundantly for their greater shame and confusion of face When an oraculous Achitophel shall find his counsell over-reached by a plaine Hushai that is the next way to make him become his own hangman When an insolent Haman shal see himselfe degraded by a modest godly female Esther it is the way to make him fall downe upon the bed and almost to wish himselfe dispatched upon his owne Gibbet When a Sisera a triumphant Sisera shall be nailed to the ground by the hand of a Jael When a Pharaoh and an Herod shall be beaten and eaten with lice so that they shall be faine to stand shrugging and picking like a begger in a bush Oh what confusion of face must this needs be not only upon the persons themselves that do so miscarry but upon all their Tribe and adherents What grosse confusion of face guesse we with our selves was there to Sanballat Tobiah Geshem and the rest when after all their secret fraud and open force after all their letters and machinations to hinder the building of the Temple yet the worke was perfected at last You shall reade in Nehemiah Chap. 6. vers 15. that the wall was finished in the 25. day of the month Elul in fifty and two dayes so that all their paines charge and diligence came short both their toyle and oyle was lost Therupon in the 16. verse saith the Text It came to passe that when all our enemies heard thereof and all the Heathen that were about us saw these things they were much cast downe in their owne eyes that is they knew not which way to looke nor where to bestow their faces but stood like so many theeves taken in the very act casting their eies towards the ground O doe but guesse with your selves doe but guesse with your selves Honourable and beloved when God shall bring about this present mysterious work of his salvation and put a glorious issue unto it for this worke must have a glorious issue I say it again in short when at the end of these troubles the worldly and wicked Politicians shall find themselves out-witted the Potentates over-powred and the wealthy men out-pursed and that all this shall be done by those whom they accounted meer foolishnesse weaknesse and poverty then then doe but guesse with your selves how will the most active industrious and impudent enemies be able to lift up their fereheads How will they look upon one another Surely just like a kennell of hungry Curs that all the day have been hotly pursuing their prey or game and at night have mist and lost it in a wood I cannot but think with my selfe that it will be worth all the paines and cost that an active man shall lay out in this work but to see that Babel that confusion of tongues and faces that will befall the enemies at last A shadow of this confusion of face and language you find prophesied in Revel 18. vers 15 16 17. The Merchants which were made rich by her shall stand afarre off weeping and wailing and saying Alas alas that great City that was clothed in fine linnen and purple and scarlet and decked with gold and precious stones and pearles for in one houre so great riches is come to nought And vers 19. They that is the Kings of the earth the Merchants the Ship-masters and saylers cast dust on their heads and cryed weeping and wailing saying Alas alas that great City wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costlinesse for in one houre she is made desolate Thus God doth it for the greater confusion of the faces of his enemies Or secondly if they want so much modesty as to be capable of confusion of face Of their persons yet these hidden carriages shall work for the greater confusion of their persons they shal be the more utterly confounded by these mysteries If the men of the old world will be so impudently wicked as not to blush at Noahs preaching building they shal wade knee-deep in the floud to begge admission into the Arke but not obtaine it If the King of Egypt and all his Gipsies will be so shamelesse as to dodge ten times with the Lord they shall at last cry and fly against the returning seas and all in vaine Exod. 14.26 So that all the Meanders and intricate carriages of the work until then did but ripen them for greater personall confusion Had Pharaoh come in upon the first summons the first miracle or upon the second or third the man might have