Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	worthy_a	write_v	year_n	33	3	4.5739	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51303	An exposition of the seven epistles to the seven churches together with a brief discourse of idolatry, with application to the Church of Rome / by Henry More ...	More, Henry, 1614-1687.	1669 (1669)	Wing M2660; ESTC R7302	134,158	410

Churches that are writ unto What a plain and manifest account is there to him that compares the Epistles in their Propheticall sense with the Intervalls of the Church Catholick lying in that order that these Churches are ranged This is a satisfactory reason and worthy the Spirit that wrote these Epistles But whether they are ranged in this order because that a Letter-carrier going from Patmos his first journey will be to Ephesus and then to Smyrna and so in order till he come to Laodicea whether the holy Spirit of Prophecy regarded that in the dictating of his Letters though Alcazar the Jesuite be for it I cannot but suspend my judgement and that not without a smile But of this Ataxie more particularly anon 3. Fourthly If it be demanded why just Seven Churches in Asia are writ to neither more nor lesse especially that in Thyatira according to the acknowledgement of Epiphanius being then not founded but after the writing of these Epistles it is hard to give a satisfactory answer in the Literal sense For to say this Book of the Apocalypse affects the number Seven and that because it runs upon the number Seven altogether in the insuing part of the book which is Propheticall it therefore for Conformity sake chuses this number in writing to the Churches though literally understood seems but a meagre mean and trifling account a design unworthy the Holy Spirit that dictated this Book But the using this number Seven all over is rather an intimation that the Book is Propheticall all over and that these Epistles are also a Prophecy accordingly as we have explained them And taking them so the Answer is plain and obvious viz. The number Seven is here chosen out as Symbolicall it being the note of Universality whence the Pythagoreans as I above noted call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherefore Seven and no more then Seven Churches are writ unto as standing for the seven Intervalls of the Church from the beginning to the end of all Fifthly If it be demanded why these seven Churches rather then any others which in all likelihood may have the same Vertues and Vices that these are commended and taxed for The reason of this is writ in the very Notation of their Names every Name being significative of the Condition of the Church Catholick in that successive Intervall of time that this or that Church so named standeth for and in such order as they are repeated Sixthly If one require a Reason why Christ is described by holding the seven Stars in his right hand in the Epistles to the Churches of Ephesus and of Sardis why the same description in both or why in either In the Literal sense it will be hard to finde any peculiar Reason but in the Propheticall sense already declared it is obvious For the seven Stars signifie all the Pastours whether in present existence or succession And Ephesus is the beginning-state of the Church and therefore it is both very seasonable and methodicall to represent the first Founder Sustainer and Continuer thereof by this Emblem Lo I am with you to the end of the world And that this again is hinted at in the Epistle to the Church of Sardis is with evident Proportion and Analogy to the Affairs of the Church there represented For the Church of Sardis is as it were the beginning again or the emerging of the true Church or Kingdome of Christ out of the Power and Kingdome of Antichrist 4. Seventhly Why the Church of Ephesus of all other Churches should be commended for their trying false Apostles Why might not other Churches be attaqued by them and also discover them as well as the Church of Ephesus The Solution of which Probleme is easie in this Mysticall sense of the Epistles that places the Ephesine Intervall within the Apostles times but the rest on this side of them Eighthly If any one demand why it is said to the Church of Smyrna more then to any other Church Be thou faithfull unto death and I will give thee the Crown of life and again He that overcometh shall not be hurt by the second death In the Literal sense it will be very hard to finde any peculiar Reason why this might not as well be said to the Church in Pergamus where there was killing for Religion it seems by the mention of the Martyr Antipas I but there was no obtaining the Crown of life there in any peculiar sense but the Crown of life that is the Imperial Crown was given to the Sufferings of the Primitive Martyrs under the Ten Persecutions to whom also according to the opinion of the ancient Church the Promise of the first Resurrection belonged Which is here obliquely glanced at according to the mode of the Apocalyptick style that loves to hint things by Ellipses in that Promise He that overcometh shall not be hurt by the second death implying thereby that he shall be made partaker of the first Resurrection Ninthly If any one will again object more particularly against the Ataxie of the Churches that they are ranged neither according to the merit nor congeneracy of their Conditions pretending that it had been far better to have joyned the two irreprehensible Churches together Smyrna and Philadelphia against whom there is no complaint at all and then Ephesus Sardis and Laodicea against whom there is no complaint of eating things offered unto Idols and afterwards Pergamus and Thyatira in which Churches alone there is If any one I say contend that this method had been more exact truly in the Literal sense it will be hard to frame an handsome and satisfactory answer especially if he urge that God is the Authour of Method as well as the God of Order But in this Mysticall or Propheticall sense the Answer is solid and exquisite and much-what the same that was given to the like Difficulty more generally propounded before namely That the Churches of Asia are named in that order the successive Intervalls of the Church Catholick were to proceed in of which these Asiatick Churches are but the Symbols or Hieroglyphicks And therefore those two Intervalls of time which take in the Reign of the Beast and the False prophet viz. the Intervalls of the Church of Pergamus and of Thyatira must come after Ephesus and Smyrna because till the expiration of those two Intervalls Idolatry had not again re-entred the Apostatizing Church And the three following Intervalls of Sardis Philadelphia and Laodicea are the Intervalls of the true Church elapsed out of the hands of domineering Idolatry and therefore we hear no more in them of things sacrificed unto Idols nor of any Jezabel And Philadelphia which is the most holy and the most glorious Intervall of the Church that is to appear on the face of the earth is not to be named according to her Dignity but according to her Succession in time toward the latter end of the world as she is here ranged But of this more then enough because we had

and I will give you the Crown of Life That is to say Stand out till the consummation of the Ten Persecutions wherewith ye will be tried and ye shall have the Crown of Life I will crown you with the Imperial Crown which shall prove a Crown of Life unto you Christianity shall become at length the Religion of the Empire which will save you for the future from the deadly Persecutions of the red Dragon You shall be no longer subject to the Cruelty of Roman Paganism for the profession of your Religion This therefore will be a Crown of Life unto you This is according to that Apoc. 21. 4. And there shall be no more death that is there shall be no more Persecution and killing for Conscience sake Which was the sad case of this Smyrnian Church under the Pagan Cruelty in an eminent manner Wherefore when they had wone their Freedome it was a Crown of Life to them by the Law of Contraries That this is the genuine sense will farther appear from what follows 6. He that hath an ear to hear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches This being an usual Epiphonema to Parables plainly intimates that what hitherto has been said is a parabolicall Prophecy And the nature of a Prophecy is to foretell such things as are to be transacted here on earth And therefore where the Promise is not Divine or concerning the state after this life the Epiphonema follows as is very conspicuous in the Promise to the Church of Thyatira which is the first example of the Epiphonema coming last of all which is a sign that the whole Epistle there is Propheticall Verse 26. And he that overcometh and keepeth my words unto the end to him will I give power over the Nations c. Which therefore concerns the stage of this Earth And therefore this Promise here of the Crown of Life before the Epiphonema I would interpret of a Reward in this life on this earth according as I have expounded the passage But now that which follows this Epiphonema is a Promise of another sort viz. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death for it is the securing of a blessed Immortality after this life and seems farther to correspond with that passage in the Apocalypse Ch. 20. v. 6. Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first Resurrection on such the second death hath no power Wherefore though not according to the inference of rigid Syllogism yet according to those nice and delicate hints in Propheticall Intimations I would conclude that the promise of their Portion in the first Resurrection is here proposed to those afflicted Smyrnians which was the proper Portion of Martyrs and Confessours according to the opinion of the Primitive Church as Mr. Mede has learnedly and judiciously observed Which granted does hugely corroborate this Application of the Epistle to the Church in Smyrna to this Intervall which contains the times of all the Sufferings in a manner of the primitive Martyrs The promise of a blessed Immortality had been very proper and accommodate to this Smyrnian state of the Church that were so frequently to lose their lives for profession of the Gospel but for it to be intimated to them that these shall have their portion in the first Resurrection which is proper to Martyrs as appears by the place above quoted is so characteristicall of this Intervall wherein all the primitive Martyrs suffered viz. in those Ten Persecutions that it does marvellously confirm the truth of the Exposition of this present Epistle in this Mysticall way we have gone And thus much of the Church in Smyrna that is in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the bitternesse of Oppression and Affliction as the Allusion to that Syriack word imports We proceed to the Church in Pergamus CHAP. V. The Interpretation of the Epistle to the Church in Pergamus 1. AND to the Angel of the Church in Pergamus write The Intervall of this Church is from the year of Christ 324 when Constantine utterly defeated the Army of Licinius not above thirty thousand of one hundred and thirty thousand escaping and so with his own Victories made the Church also triumphant out of her long and unsupportable Miseries raising her aloft from her sad Oppressions and Persecutions From this year I say to the year 1242 when the Pope's Legate Amelin made an end of the Albigensian War with Trancavel Bastard of the Earl of Beziers let this be the Intervall of the Church in Pergamus 2. Of the beginning of this Intervall there can be no doubt And for the termination of it there are these two Considerations to countenance it The first in that the latter of those numbers in the last of Daniel viz. the number 1335 does point to the beginning of the Affairs of the Waldenses and Albigenses who are both one Sect and from one Authour Waldo of Lyons an holy and good man whose Preaching and his own and his Followers Sufferings were about the term of that Number whose Epoche is the Prophanation of the Temple by Antiochus Epiphanes So considerable a passage of Providence is the appearing of the Waldenses in those times betwixt the year of Christ 1160 and 1170. For they were condemned for Hereticks by Pope Alexander in the Laterane Council in the year 1162 upon which you may be sure Persecutions would immediately follow And Mr. Mede with great judgement will have this latter Number in Daniel to point at these Times Nor does that expression of Daniel at all weaken his Opinion in that he saith Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days because it is said in the Apocalypse also Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord that is that die for the cause of our Lord Jesus And of the Church of Smyrna it is said I know thy tribulation and poverty but thou art rich The judgement of the Spirit of God and the judgement of carnal men are quite opposite in these things What they call Poverty the Spirit calls Riches what they Misery the Spirit Blessednesse Wherefore the Affairs of the Waldenses or Albigenses is a notable distinct and conspicuous joint of time even according to the judgement of the Spirit of Prophecy But then in the second place I terminate the Intervall of this Church in Pergamus not in the beginning but the conclusion of these Waldensian or Albigensian Affairs because they being all in a manner one and so plainly concluded in the year I have mentioned their Sufferings may the more punctually answer to the Sufferings of that one Martyr Antipas who is here said to be slain in Pergamus But the Concinnity of these things we shall better understand after we have descanted upon the name Pergamus 3. That by Pergamus is intimated a state of Exaltation or Sublimity I intimated before Sublimia omnia dicta Asiaticis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 notat Hesychius Suidas