Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	cast_v	divide_v	satan_n	2,466	5	9.6262	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

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

detect the Forgery in such a case the silence of Adversaries seems more demonstrative than the Testimony of Friends Especially considering they had not only the advantages of time and place but also provocations to have done it if they could for such was the Confidence and noble Magnanimity of those that first avouched it as that though they were stript of all Succour and Support from other men and exposed to Contempt and Scorn Curses and Execrations Persecutions and Afflictions Stripes and Imprisonments in short to all manner of hardships and Death it self in giving this Testimony yet were they not moved with fear or diverted from it but they did constantly avouch it and often appeal to the Consciences of their implacable Enemies concerning the Truth of it Thus St. Peter as it were in the name of all the Apostles tells the men of Israel That Jesus of Nazareth was a man approved of God among them by Miracles Wonders and Signs which God did by him in the midst of them as saith he you your selves also know The Jews therefore could not and Arnobius tells the Gentiles that they dare not attempt to convince it of Falshood the reason I suppose was because as Origen tells Celsus it was not possible to deny that the Miracles reported of Christ and his Apostles were done In this case wherein the Christians had all imaginable motives to be silent and their Enemies to speak yet that none of them either Jews or Gentiles should be able to contradict their Testimony how strange is it how clearly and plainly doth it speak the truth of their Testimony and vindicate them from all shadow of Suspicion they had a design to cheat the World into belief of Lies how evidently doth it shew the triumphant force of Truth and Energy of Conviction that Christ and his Apostles wrought Miracles Which Energy of Conviction discovered it self by Concessions as well as by forced Silence for so apparently true was the Churches Tradition in this particular as that some of his Enemies have added their suffrages to hers that Christ and his Apostles wrought Miracles The Jews it seems do openly confess it in their Jerusalem-Talmud and their Midras Cohele where they tell us that the Grandson of R. Jehosua the Son of Levi having swallowed Poyson was recovered from danger of death thereby through the Invocation of the Name of Jesus but the Father understanding by what means his son was cured was so maliciously ungrateful as to say it had been better for him to have died than to be so cured whereupon his ingratitude was presently avenged by the Death of his Son To this Story they add another the sum whereof is that R. Elazar the Son of Duma being bit with a Serpent was healed by St. James Among the Gentiles the very bitterest of the Christians Adversaries did acknowledge as much for Celsus protested himself to believe the Stories of Christs miraculous Cures o● the Sick and raising the Dead and feeding the Multitudes with a few Loaves and the Fragments that remained all these things and whatever else the Disciples reported as he thought to amplifie the greatness of his Miracles he professeth to believe were true and grants we may believe they were done It seems also that Iulian did acknowledge the Lame and the Blind were healed and those that were possessed with Devils received help in Bethsaida and Bethanie and to enrage others against Christ and his followers Porphyrius undertook to tell them the reason why the City was so long afflicted with sickness and that in his judgement was because neither Aesculapius nor any other of the gods could have access unto it for saith he since the time that Iesus was worshipped no man can get any publick help from the gods And from that Gallimalfry of non-sense and errors viz. the Alcoran we may gather this Truth that Messias Iesus the Son of Mary gave sight to the Blind healed the Leprous raised the Dead and taught the Living and that the Apostles did the same in his absence If then Reason or Tradition the testimony of Friends or the Writings of Enemies will satisfie we have one would think enough of all sorts and that when some were vomiting Lyes and belching Blasphemies against Christ his Person and his Doctrine yet even then they confess that He and his Apostles did those things which we take to be Mir●cles Obj. But here perhaps it will be said that we are mistaken it was of old objected they were not real and true Miracles but lying Wonders Delusions of Satan and Effects of Magick thus the Scribes and Pharisees among the Jews and thus also many among the Gentiles and this was thought so apparent as that Celsus himself although he had formerly written many books against Magick was yet in a sort constrained to retract his Opinion and confess that it had a Being in the things that were done by Christ and his Followers for having granted the Truth of the Report that such and such Wonders were indeed done by them he immediately subjoyns a comparison between them and the sleights of Juglers who promise greater matters and more wonderful yet are they but such as they learned from the Aegyptians and for a few Farthings will shew in the midst of Markets boasting that by their Arts they can cast out Devils heal Diseases recall the Souls of the Dead prepare Tables sumptuously furnish'd with all manner of Dainties and raise Ghosts that seem to move though in truth they are void of all motion Ans And so is this odious comparison of all Truth and Probability for what communion hath Substance with Shadows What agreement have substantial Changes with bare Appearances Could Celsus have proved that the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles were meerly Phaenomena of Fancy as he calls these impostures of Juglers which he basely compares therewith he had said something to the Purpose but he had not the imp●dence to affirm that nor so little wit as to attempt the Proo●●f it this therefore as Origen justly tells him is not the part of a Disputant but of the unlearned Vulgar an effect of Passion unworthy of a Philosopher whom it becomes not impertinently to rail at but candidly to examine a matter that lyes b●fore him which if Celsus had done impartially he would without doubt have found that swe●t Wa●●r and bitter might be sent forth from the same Fountain as well as the Miracles of Christ and the Delusions of Inchanters from the same Cause viz. the Devils Malice For so evident it is to the Reason of all men as that it was almost a Proverb among the Greeks and Romans as well as Jews that every Kingdom divided against it self is brought to Desolation and every City or House divided against it self shall not stand and manifest it is that if Satan cast out Satan he is divided against himself how then shall his Kingdom stand 'T is true

indeed we are not ignorant of his Devices among which perhaps it was sometimes one at the Word of Inchanters to recede a while as an Army may feign a slight thereby to get a greater advantage of the Enemy but to weaken his Kingdom much more to destroy it is undoubtedly none of Satan's contrivance is he such a Fool as to cast himself out of Possession no surely the common Sentiments of all men concerning him abhorr it well then those Miracles the scope and tendency whereof is to disposess him and destroy his Works cannot be the Products of his Power No Inchanter or Jugler by any thing that he doth as Origen well observes ever calls his Spectatours to the Correction of their manners nor do such Sights ever instruct those that are indued with the fear of God nor doth any Jugler ever so much as attempt ●o perswade beholders so to live as those whom God will judge Inchanters do none of these things because they neither can nor will have any thing to do with the amendment of mens lives for they themselves are full of the foulest Vices and guilty of the most detestable Wickedness Their Sights and Shews served for no other Purpose but to raise Wonder and Admiration to beget astonishment and amaze the Multitudes but the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles were not done with vain Ostentation to display their own Power or Cunning but that hard hearted men and incredulous might know that what they avouched was not false and from the Goodness of the Works might learn more throughly to conjeciure what the true God is So that they by their Miracles did not only confirm their Doctrine the Scope and Design whereof is to extirpate Vice and Implant the choicest Vertue of all sor●s but also they thereby gave the highest instances thereof by declaring the Power and Goodnessof the divine Nature Their healing the Sick of all Diseases their making the Lame to walk the Blind to see the Dea● to hear and the Dumb to speak together with their cleansing of Lepers and feeding the Hungry raising the Dead and casting out Devils what incomparable Mercies in God and Kindnesses in them were they to the afflicted as well as Wonders to all how evidently did they demonstrate Gods Goodness and their Charity as well as their Mission from God and their Zeal for him and what can be more directly opposite to Satan or destructive to his Kingdom than such Miracles they chased away evil Spirits and imposed silence on their Prophets they made Soothsayers unconsulted and frustrated the Actions of arrogant Magicians not by the horror of the name of Jesus but by the licence of its greater Power So that Christ and his Apostles by their Miracles did in a manner wage open War with Satan and declare themselves his utter Enemies How than could the Power whereby they did them since they used it against him be derived from him Satan we know is subtle and his subtilty directs the Establishment of his Kingdom not it's Eversion think ye then that he would enable men to destroy it to release his Captives and set free his Vassals to turn him out of Possession and so to beat him with his own Weapons this is impossible impossible therefore it is that the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles should be his Delusions what then were they but real and true Miracles Works that God did by them above the Power of Nature ordained in the Creation Hereof also we are yet f●rther assured by the continuance of Miracles in the Church for several Ages after the Death of Christ and all his Apostles And of this we are assured by very credible Testimony of the Ancient Fathers who herein cannot be suspected of Falshood or Forgery because if so it might easily as they gave it and would certainly have been detected by their Adversaries to whom for the most part they alledged it Thus Iustin Martyr told Trypho the Iew that the Devils do fear and tremble at the name of our Redeemer For to this very day saith he being adjured by the Name of Iesus Christ crucified under Pontius Pilate Governour of Judaea they obey that thence also it may be manifest to all that the Father hath given him such Power as that Devils are subject to his Name and the oeconomy of his Passion Wherefore also by his Name saith Irenaeus those that are truly his Disciples receiving Grace from him confer benefits on other men according to the Gift which each one hath received from him For some do assuredly and truly cast out Devils that they who are cleansed from Evil Spirits may believe and be in the Church as they are most frequently Others have the knowledge of future Contingences Visions and the Word of Prophecy Others by the Impos●tion of hands cure the Sick and make them sound Yea also in this Age the Dead have risen and continued with us many years and what shall I say more I cannot reckon the benefits which the Church throughout all the World receiving from God doth every day confer on the Gentiles in the name of Christ Iesus crucified under Pontius Pilate and this she doth neither seducing any man nor taking his Money from him but as she hath received freely from God so freely she gives Neither doth she any thing by Invocation of Angels nor by Inchantments or any kind of wicked Curiosity but purely and sincerely and manifestly directing her Prayers to the Lord who hath made all things and exalted the name of our Lord Iesus Christ in great Power for the profit of men and not for their seduction Not long after him Tertullian sent a bold and daring Challenge to the Governours of the Roman Empire wherein to prove that their Gods were Devils he offers them to make an Experiment in this manner Let there saith he he a man brought before your Tribunals of whom it is evident that he is possessed with a Devil that Spirit being commanded by any Christian to speak shall there of a truth confess himself to be a Devil as well as elsewhere falsely to be a god Let there also be another produced of whom it is thought that he is under the force of Divine Asslations namely one of those who attending the Altars suck in Divinity from the smell or of those who are cured by the belching of the Priests or of those that foretell by the difficulty of their breathing Yea the caelestial Virgin her self that promiser of rain Aesculapius that Demonstrator of Medicines or otherwise the Dispenser of Scordium Denatium and Asclepiadoton to the dying unless they confess themselves Devils not daring to lye unto a Christian there shed you the blood of that shameless Christian Than this Work what more manifest than this Proof what more faithful the sincerity of Truth is conspicuous its vertue assists it there will be no colour for suspicion that it was done by Magick or any the like Fallacy Like unto