The Hebrews regarded the heart as the source of wit,
understanding, love, courage, grief, and pleasure. Hence are derived
many modes of expression. “An honest and good heart,” Luke viii, 15, is
a heart studious of holiness, being prepared by the Spirit of God to
receive the word with due affections, dispositions, and resolutions. We
read of a broken heart, a clean heart, an evil heart, a liberal heart.
To “turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the
children to their fathers,” Mal. iv, 6, signifies to cause them to be
perfectly reconciled, and that they should be of the same mind. To want
heart, sometimes denotes to want understanding and prudence: “Ephraim is
like a silly dove, without heart,” Hosea vii, 11. “O fools, and slow of
heart,” Luke xxiv, 25; that is, ignorant, and without understanding.
“This people’s heart is waxed gross, lest they should understand with
their heart,” Matt. xiii, 15; their heart is become incapable of
understanding spiritual things; they resist the light, and are proof
against all impressions of truth. “The prophets prophesy out of their
own heart,” Ezekiel xiii, 2; that is, according to their own
imagination, without any warrant from God.
The heart is said to be dilated by joy, contracted by sadness, broken by
sorrow, to grow fat, and be hardened by prosperity. The heart melts
under discouragement, forsakes one under terror, is desolate in
affliction, and fluctuating in doubt. To speak to any one’s heart is to
comfort him, to say pleasing and affecting things to him. The heart
expresses also the middle part of any thing: “Tyre is in the heart of
the seas,” Ezekiel xxvii, 4; in the midst of the seas. “We will not fear
though the mountains be carried into the heart (middle) of the sea,”
Psalm xlvi, 2.
The heart of man is naturally depraved and inclined to evil, Jer. xvii,
9. A divine power is requisite for its renovation, John iii, 1–11. When
thus renewed, the effects will be seen in the temper, conversation, and
conduct at large. Hardness of heart is that state in which a sinner is
inclined to, and actually goes on in, rebellion against God.
understanding, love, courage, grief, and pleasure. Hence are derived
many modes of expression. “An honest and good heart,” Luke viii, 15, is
a heart studious of holiness, being prepared by the Spirit of God to
receive the word with due affections, dispositions, and resolutions. We
read of a broken heart, a clean heart, an evil heart, a liberal heart.
To “turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the
children to their fathers,” Mal. iv, 6, signifies to cause them to be
perfectly reconciled, and that they should be of the same mind. To want
heart, sometimes denotes to want understanding and prudence: “Ephraim is
like a silly dove, without heart,” Hosea vii, 11. “O fools, and slow of
heart,” Luke xxiv, 25; that is, ignorant, and without understanding.
“This people’s heart is waxed gross, lest they should understand with
their heart,” Matt. xiii, 15; their heart is become incapable of
understanding spiritual things; they resist the light, and are proof
against all impressions of truth. “The prophets prophesy out of their
own heart,” Ezekiel xiii, 2; that is, according to their own
imagination, without any warrant from God.
The heart is said to be dilated by joy, contracted by sadness, broken by
sorrow, to grow fat, and be hardened by prosperity. The heart melts
under discouragement, forsakes one under terror, is desolate in
affliction, and fluctuating in doubt. To speak to any one’s heart is to
comfort him, to say pleasing and affecting things to him. The heart
expresses also the middle part of any thing: “Tyre is in the heart of
the seas,” Ezekiel xxvii, 4; in the midst of the seas. “We will not fear
though the mountains be carried into the heart (middle) of the sea,”
Psalm xlvi, 2.
The heart of man is naturally depraved and inclined to evil, Jer. xvii,
9. A divine power is requisite for its renovation, John iii, 1–11. When
thus renewed, the effects will be seen in the temper, conversation, and
conduct at large. Hardness of heart is that state in which a sinner is
inclined to, and actually goes on in, rebellion against God.