(4) ( )n the part of man, the process of salvation begins in the heart by the faith awakened by the testimony of revelation ; which, as giving a new direction to the inner life, belongs entirely to the sphere of the heart, and is de-
scribed as a fastening (according to the original mean- ing of "ptXtl), a strengthening ("j^irNn, Psa. xxvii, 14 ; xxxi, 24), a supporting of the heart (comp. partic- ularly Psa. cxii, 7) on the ground which is God him- self, the 32b ^rJ. (Psa. Lxxiii, 26). The N. T. says in the same manner : KapSicj. iziaTivtrai (Rom. x, 9, 10), ■Kiarivtiv i? oXjjc '"'/C Kapciaq; faith is a fii) diuKpi- veaSrai iv KapSi^ (INIark xxi, 23). God purifies the heart by faith in Christ (Acts xv, 9), for by the sprink- ling of the blood of atonement the heart is rid of the bad conscience (Heb. x, 22; compare 1 John iii, 19-21), and the love of God is shed in it by the Holy Ghost (Rom. V, 5). The same spirit also seals in the heart the assiu-ance of being a child of God (2 Cor. i, 22) ; the heart becomes the abode of Christ (Eph. iii, 16), is pre- served in Christ (Col. iii, 15; Phil, iv, 7), and strength- ened in sanctification (1 Thes. iii, 13, etc.).
When, on the contrarj', mar. rejects the testimony of revelation, the heart becomes hardened, turns to stone (ndpn, Psa. xcvi, 8 ; Prov. xxviii, 14 ; ySiit., 2 Chron. xx-xvi, 13; p;^, Exod. iv, 21 ; 133, 1 Sam.' vi, G), for which we find it also said that the heart is shut (Isa. xliv, 18), made fat (Isa. vi, 10 ; compare Psa. cxix, 70). In the N. Test, we find vrupwatg Kapciag (Mark iii, 5 ; Eph. iv, 18) ; (Tic\r]poKapSia (Matt, xix, 8, etc.). The most imiwrtant passage in this respect is Isa. vi, 10, where we find it particularly stated how the unsuscepti- ble heart renders one unable to see the work of God, to hear his Word, and how this inability' reacts on the heait, and renders its state incurable.
3. Finally, the question of the position the heart, as centre of the spiritual hfe of the soul, holds in regard to the heart, considered as the centre of the organic (phys- ical) life, cannot be fully treated except in a thorough in- vestigation of the relations between the bodj- and soul in general. We will only remark here that the Scriptures not only draw a parallel betu\i n the Iiody and the soul, by virtue of which the bodily .•l(■tillll^ arc considered as sj'mbols of the spiritual, but alsn establish the position that the soid, which is the bearer of the personality, is the same which directs also the life and actions; and thus the bodily organs, in their higher functions, become its adjimcts. Now, in view of the well-known fact that emotions and sufferings affect the physical economy— for example, that the pulsations of the heart are affected bj' them — no one will consider it a mere figure of speech when the Psalmist says, "My heart was hot within me" (Psa. xxxix, 3), or Jeremiah speaks of " a burning fire shut up in his bones" (Jer. xx, 9 ; comp. iv. 19 ; xxiii, 9). But there is one point worthy of special attention in P>iblical anthropology, namely, the specific relation the Bible establishes between certain parts of the bodily or- ganism and particular actions (see what Delitzsch, Bib- lical Psychology, § 12, 13, deduces from the Biblical sig- nification of the D"'3:ri'^, the livei; the kidneys), and then the part attributed to the heart in knowledge and will, considered aside from the head and brain. It is well known that all antiquity agreed with the Biblical views in these respects. In regard to Homer's doctrine, see Niigelsbach's Homer. Thcolofjie, p. 332 sq. We may also on this point recall the expressions cordatvs, recordari, vecors, excors, etc. (see especially Cicero, Tusc. i, 9, 18, and Plato, Phwd. c. 45, and the commentators on these Iiassages). As Delitzsch correctly observes, tlie spiritu- al signification of the heart cannot be traced back to it from the mere fact of its being the central organ of the circulation. The manner in which that writer has made use of the phenomena of somnambulism to explain this is deser\-ing of due notice, yet physiology has thus far been unable to throw any light on the subject.— Oehler, in Herzog, Peal-Enq/llop. vi, 15 sq.
4. The heart expresses the middle of anything : "Tyre is in the heart," in the midst, "of the sea" (Ezek. xxvii, 4). " We will not fear, though the mountains be car- ried into the heart of the sea" (Psa. xlvi, 2). "As Jo- nah was three days and three nights in the whale's
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belly, so shall the Son of man be three clays and three iiigiits in the heart of the earth" (Rlatt. xii, 40). J\Io- ses, spealiing to the Israelites, says, "And the mountain burnt with tire, unto the heart of heaven ;" the tiame rose as high as the clouds (Calmet, s. v.).
To "say in one's heart" is a Hebrew expression for thiithimi (I'sa. x, 6; xiv, 1). See Soul.
5. Of special religious importance are the following practical uses of the word :