Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	aaron_n	call_v	run_v	34	3	6.2159	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A94794	A legacy for saints; being several experiences of the dealings of God with Anna Trapnel, in, and after her conversion, (written some years since with her own hand) and new coming to the sight of some friends, they have judged them worthy of publike view; together with some letters of a latter date, sent to the congregation with whom she walks in the fellowship of the Gospel, and to some other friends.	Trapnel, Anna.; Proud, John, fl. 1654.; Ingold, Caleb.	1654 (1654)	Wing T2032; Thomason E806_1; ESTC R207169	57,632	72

praised and was gone I was troubled that he did not more question me and bring arguments against me for trial I know true gold is made more manifest by the touchstone and it is more purified in the Furnace and appears from dross But to tell you of the second coming of this Embassador of Christ now I beheld the Spirit of God moving in him to speak in a soul-searching manner though he told me I might be deluded and also telling me that many had been deluded and he therefore Exhorted me to have a care that I believed upon good grounds and told me I might make use of the means and partake of the creatures and to look up to God to give me sleep many Exhortations and Examinations he used to me which I much rejoyced in for my faith was the more confirmed and while I was upon the Tryal God came in with a mighty strength telling me that I was not deluded but he would raise me without means by his mighty power as he did Lazarus out of the grave at my first sickening I did use the means I took things but they did me no good I was the more tortured and felt my self the worse because God came not in the means it took no Effect God had a further work to shew to his people And the Lord bid me tell these things in Gath and publish them in Ashkelon fear not saith God to tell it to the greatest Monarch of the world if thou beest called to it For I thy God am with thee And I saith the Lord will strengthen thee in all difficulties that thou shalt meet withall But now I shall tell you Saints how God presented himself to me in many similitudes which I never heard mentioned before by any they were brought immediately from God and Scripture presented that I never took notice of before and God sweetly interpreted them to my spirit God first filled me with contemplation about the Trinity which was sweeter then the hony and the honycomb to my spiritual pallat it came in such a Majesty to me that I am not able to set it forth it swallowed up my spirits But in desiring to declare it to the Saints this similitude of a Tree was set before me God the root his Son Christ the Tree the Spirit the Sap and as the Root and Tree and Sap are but one in a natural sence for the Sap and Tree looked on in the Root there is but one substance which lies hid till such time as it puts forth it self in a Tree and then the Tree appears but it is covered with a Bark or Rinde and the Sap is discovered running from the Root through the Tree into the Branches which Sap is not so discovered as when the bark is peeled off the Tree yet then it cannot be discerned in the nature of it So the Father Son and Spirit are one in that glorious essential incomprehensible Being making themselves forth in thee 3 Joh. 5.7 God lies hid in the Root man is not capable to know what he is no more then man is capable to know what sweetness is in the Root of a Tree while it lies hid till it appear in the Tree and Sap so when this one God appears in the Tree the Lord Jesus then his sweetness begins to break forth and is made forth more by the Sap the Spirit But I desired the Lord to shew me this similitude by Scripture in which he opened the Trinity by way of Root Tree and Sap God is said to be love and he that dwelleth in God dwelleth in love So that from this God appeared as the Root of mans happiness being infolded in the first person in Trinity from Eternity by this Root which the Scripture calls love the first glorious person in Trinity appearing in the second person the Tree But how is he called a Tree in Scripture It was presently presented before me that he was that Tree spoken of in Paradise that Tree of life Gen. 2. But how may the spirit be called sap from Scripture Thus it is called a holy anoynting it is compared to Oyle To the Oyntment Psal 133.2 which was upon Arons head and ran down upon his beard and so to the skirts of his garment And from the word Oyl or Oyntment so the third glorious person in Trinity is likened unto sap and thus it appeared to me that as the sap runs from the Root through the Tree into the branches so the Spirit the holy Oyle runs from out of the Root which is the Father through the Tree which is the Son into the Branches For so the Saints are called in Scripture Branches of the Vine Christ Jesus and as the Sap drops into the branches and twigs of a Tree which causes them to live and appear green and the efficacy of this Sap produces fruit it is very Vertual it descends of its vertue into the leavs which else would wither as for instance in the fall of the leaf when the Sap returns into the Root the leaves wither and fail And as there is a Vertual Union of the Root Tree and Sap and Branches and Fruit and Leaves so there is a glorious Union and Congruity that the Saints have in the holy Trinity their life is in the Root and it appears in the Tree and manifested by the Sap to the Branches the Elect appear dead till the Spirit which is the sap quickneth them and no fruit is brought forth though they may have a profession yet it is but as dead leaves which falls and crumbles to dust So that from the spirit slows sweet waters it produces sound fruit it makes also professors green and lively and as when the bark is pilled of the Tree the Sap is more discerned so when the humanity of Christ is taken from the Saints view then the spirit was more discerned Therefore says Christ it is expedient that I go away that so you may have a fuller sight of the Spirit He that believes as the Scripture hath said Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living waters this spake he of the spirit which those should receive that believed that was not yet given because Christ was not yet glorified this Scripture appeared very glorious to me and I set the efficacy of it on my spirits and God told me that the time was not yet far off ere he would pour out his Spirit upon his Children and take away that skin of formality that hath lain so long upon their sights and that drowsiness or sleepiness of spirit that hath seized upon them and baptize them with the holy Spirit which should break forth as fire among them so that they shall be filled with the Song of the Lamb and they shall behold their King of Salem which is King of peace riding on his white horse of Triumph Conquering and to Conquer The Saints shall overcome by the Lamb by the word of his testimony Thus mightily God came into my spirits which was

moved me to come I told them as to this I would not tell them for that I knew they were not capable of such things And one of these Justices that questioned me his name is Mr. Launce one of Holland Simpsons Church people a very unlovely walker little sign of membership in him yet he would undertake discourse concerning the Spirits impulses But as some of their own said this discourse gravelled them and soon made them give over they had no more to say but run into confusion only some uttered a few envious deriding expressions calling me dreamer I said so Joseph was called And then one Major Selly calls two women that said they would take their Oaths I should say I knew the Justices were with me that day beforementioned the which was false and when they were called one fell in a swound and the other run away But I told him that there might be false witnesses brought against me and so had Christ and the Apostles therefore that was no wonder to be dealt so with they commanded one to be indited and the Jayler was bid take him for but looking chearfully being one of my friends they said he laughed at them I then asked them whether they lay upon the Catch and would make a man an offender for nothing thus I have as brief as I could given you a Relation omitting many several passages for another opportunity and what I apprehended most observable I have now Related that you may take notice of the horns running at my brest which as touching me much hath been fulfilled My two sureties one standing on the one side of me and the other on the other side when the horn run at me they or the Lord through them said I will be thy safety an arm and a hand clasping me round Observe this I pray in the Book Captain Langdons Salutes presented to you and your wife My Salutes and dear respects to you and to my dear sister your wife and Salutes to my brother and sister Powel and to Captain Harrison your brother and to Betty and to my Stripling I beg your praises for me and Prayer without ceasing She will not herein be wanting for you who is greatly obliged to serve you Anna Trapnel From Capt. Langdons at Tregasow near Trurow the fourteenth of the second Moneth 1654. From the Prison to the Prison at Windsor Castle the sixth of the third Moneth 1654. DEar brothers with your wives Salutes presented it s no small joy to me the hearing your Faith Confidence Courage and Stedfast unshaken frame of Spirit which you abide in the which I hope will continue to the end and that it may mount prayer is without ceasing in your behalf and Faith is very strong and bold to affirm for that Zeal you have held out that it is not Jehu like but Jesus like bearing his stamp on it which no sufferings nor hard harsh dealings can shake neither can any insinuating flattering smooth fine words change and alter a well grounded faith and resolution for the great sure and abiding Protector it s not great proffers of fat Benefices amounting to an hundred by the year that shall beguile you of a reward that is far more then thousands or ten thousands a year But ● word of this is caution enough to you whom I am confident hath overcome the evil one as to that and many other respects I hope Yet these being trying times Cedars have need to be put in mind that the root beareth them and not they the root and it s well that it is so For were it not for the Root establishing and building up work would be soon decayed especially in troublesome times he or she that standeth have need to look to their Foundation Not in respect of what is already but sure there is a darker Cloud and a rougher Sea at hand and greater will be the Billows yet A blustering tribulation time must be expected before we see our haven But all that love Christ in sincerity will not shrink whatever pinchings they meet with Knowing that their Redemption will sufficiently requite and recrute them My Lord for whose sake I am in mans Prison is very free and supplieth all my wants and continually he feasts my soul his goings forth are prepared as the morning and he is to me as the former and latter rain and he leaveth me not without sap one moment sure I shall bless the Lord the good hand of the Lord for leading me down to Cornwel while I live I shall praise for the special favours I have seen and I shall magnifie free grace for the double inlargements that hath been enjoyed in Prison it s a place of melody joy unspeakable and full of glory in believing I never found so much of Divine presence without interruption as since my Lodge in Plimouth Fort Oh friends it s a very high honor to suffer for well-doing for then neither God nor Conscience will condemn and then what can hinder boldness with God and for him The Clergy hath stirred up the Magistrate and they commanded the Souldiery which soon acted a Fox being a Kinsman to the chief Ruler cries out come see my Zeal for thy Government though I medled not with him nor his government but my work since I came into the West hath been a holding out what I saw and heard from Scripture touching the New Covenant as concerning sinners and poor tempted souls and the Reign of King Jesus his Laws and Ministry and this was held out in that extraordinary di●pensation that you saw and heard of which hath been very little absent from me since I saw you which is to the wonder of my own particular and of many others that my health strength and natural life is preserved under so much fillings and actings but how beholding am I and all the Family of God with me are engaged with me to Christ Jesus who is all in all and sure it s for Sions sake that I cannot hold my peace And may not I speak in my Chamber and sing on my Bed and pray on my Knees doth the Lord forwarn me doth Scripture forbid me or will the General Assembly of the first born reprove me or the particular Church I walk with will they be offended or will you my Father be angry or you my brother be dispeased I beseech you then let me know it for I would not offend Jew nor Gentile but especially the Church of Christ but indeed as for the stumbling Jew the foolish Greek the blind Gentile the erring Priest against these there must come out the wisdom of God and the power of God though it be counted foolishness non-sense witchcraft and a white Devil as such are the terms of devout Women Learned Clergy Self-seeking Rulers in these parts hearing their subtile Fox at Pendenis Castle to aid and assist with his Squadron of Souldiers and the fiercest grim looked ones must be the Conveyers to Prison that so the Clergy

least trespass my heart was smitten and though my godly mother did not see me offend that she might reprove me which she was ready to do being tender of the honour of her beloved Saviour even for the least secret sin that the world calls a trifle though I thought it nothing yet still the all-seeing eye watched my ways and he called to me though I knew him not yet he kept me● and his banner over me was love and though my nature was as corrupt as any a child of wrath as well as others and forward to do evill and backward to that which is good yet still I was under the awaking of Jehovah Further when I was about 14. years of age I began to be very eager and forward to hear and pray though in a very formall manner Thus I went on some years and then I rose to a higher pitch to a more sp●ritu●l condition as I thought and I followed after that Ministry that was most pressed after by the strictest Professors and I ●an with great violence having a great zeal though not according to knowledge and I appeared a very high grown Christian in the thoughts of many I had great parts in prayer great inlargements and in discou●sing and repeating of Sermons I was very forward and did it with great delight and affection and much trembling of spirit was upon me but I was in all this very legall and yet more legall providence ordered that I should hear Mr. Peters speak from those words in the 26. of Isaiah the 20. verse Come my people enter thou into thy chambers and shut thy doors about thee hide thy self as it were for a little moment until the indignation be overpast From these words he opened the marriage Covenant that is between God and his Spouse from that word Come he shewed the sweet compellation of God to his Covenanted people then I was convinced of the excellency of that condition to be in Covenant and to know it upon good grounds which I was very ignorant of and though I thought my self in a very good condition before yet now it seized upon my spirit that surely I was not in the Covenant and if I were I should know it and I still cryed out oh what shall I do to know it without the knowledge of God to be my God I am undone my spirit is filled with horror and the terrors of the Law exceedingly oppressed me and I ran from Minister to Minister from Sermon to Sermon but I could find no rest I could not be contented to hear once or twice in the week but I must hear from the first day to the last and thought that not enough neither and if I had not shed some tears in a Sermon I then went home full of horror concluding my self to be that stony ground Christ spake of in the parable of the sower I apprehended Divine displeasure against me leaving me in a feared condition giving me over to blindness of mind and hardness of heart for ever and when I have been hindred from hearing a Sermon which I desired to hear I have concluded that I might have received Christ in that Sermon which being shut out from I was shut out from Christ that being the time that Christ should have been tendred to me the which I mist and so should be without Christ for ever Such bondage I was under that had I neglected a duty or an opportunity of hearing though a lawfull occasion hindred and I could not be said to neglect yet it sorely seized upon me that I had And I was damn'd one set a part for destruction and I was strongly tempted to destroy my self which had not divine power prevented I had been a murderer of my own life and of their lives that I loved most intirely I have been waked in the night by the devill for this very purpose and directed where to have the knife and what knife I should take these assaults followed me not seldom but very often which made my poor soul and body exceedingly to tremble I was exceedingly hurried to duty to Ordinances so that I could not sleep in my bed was carried one while to draw forth a good condition from marks and signs and if they were not in view then my joy and comfort was gone and my spirit was full of horror love to the godly I thought had been an infallible sign to witness my good condition and my thoughts much dwelt upon those words I Joh 3.14 We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren Now then I came to examine my love and to compare it to that love which was among the Saints spoken of in Scripture which was not a first evidence neither This prop I was quite taken off from I was now as a cripple when his crutches are taken from him he falls so my spirit was laid flat on the ground and I was convinced that it was the Spirit alone that witnesseth to the creature its good condition and all witnesses were nothing if the Spirit did not witness I was as if I had never heard of a Spirit though I had profest much some years before but because I went about to establish a righteousness of my own as it were by the works of the Law therefore I was left in the dark concerning the righteousness of the Lord Jesus which I thought I had not denyed and if any that were Gospel enlightned Saints had said to me you rest in your good works and expect to be saved some other way then alone by Jesus Christ I looked upon them as doing me great wrong and speaking very false I thought and I would say so to them I am not so ignorant to look upon my works as any thing but I was made to acknowledge afterward that I had let up my own works in the room of Christ and the Lord stript me at last of all gifts and inlargements in duty and I was striken dumb or else fast asleep when I have set my self to pray and it was indeed self that the Lord struck dumb though I then beheld it not but was sore wounded being perswaded that I was for ever shut out from the presence of God which weight I could hardly bear it was so burdensom that I still cryed out what shall I do and all my prayer that was left me was this Give me Christ or else I die Now nothing but a Christ would serve my turn before it I could have had tears or any relentings for sin or inlargements in duty I was well enough but the onely wise God knew it was best for me to be deprived of these which I so much builded upon and made idols of I was as much troubled as Micah was when Israel carried away his God I am perswaded that bare Professors are the greatest Papists in the world spirituall idolatry is the worst and my experience teacheth me that one may be a great worshipper

terrors and perplexities and sore plunges I could make a large rehearsall I could tell you much of the sad apprehensions I had of my eternall condition which I have but as it were given you a little hint of my condition in the time of my bonds but my desire now is rather to tell you of my freedom unto which I hasten though I know that these mourning experiences may be of great use to the sorrowfull and troubled spirit that lyeth languishing for want of the light of assurance which God doth see good for a time to conceal from his beloveds that he hath loved with an eternall love which in time be draweth with loving kindness Therfore let not any poor soul despair there is free grace enough an ocean to swallow up not my sins onely but many more a fountain open for all manner of sins be they never so great poor souls you cannot out-sin mercy your sins are finite but grace is infinite do not think that any sin can shut thee out of divine love if it could it would have shut me out for certain I am that no heart could be more desperatly wicked then mine no ones sins could be of a more scarlet dye then mine strong unbelief continually departing from the living God as full of heart hypocrisie as I could hold Oh let sinners admire free grace with me that hath freed me from as stony as seared benummed sensless a condition as any could or can be in hearing or reading or Saints speaking to me was as to one deaf I still concluded my condition to be like theirs the Scripture speaks of that were given up by the Lord to blindness of mind and hardness of heart I thought confidently God had given me to know that I should perish for ever but Gods thoughts at length appeared higher then mine as the Heavens are higher then the Earth and when my Spirit had thus been upon the rack for a season and tossed up and down with the waves of a continual accusing troubled conscience And none spake any word that did in the least measure revive me till that voice sounded that I could not contradict but I did withstand it and repulse it as long as I could and when it spake as a stil small voice I rejected it a week before I felt heard and saw that glorious light and power sounded into my spirit which caused an eccho or answer from my spirit in believing the testimony of the Spirit but that small voice made such a report in my soul which made me to listen it was such a speaking that I had not heard before therefore it was very strange to me the word I had was this Christ is thine and thou art his and no word was spoken to my spirit for six or seven days but this it followed me where ever I went sometimes as I have been going along the streets I have looked behind me thinking I had heard some locall voice a voice without me but sure it was because I was unacquainted with the voice of the Spirit speaking in or to the soul I oft-times turned back when I have been going along the streets to see who it was that spake taking that for visible which was invisible I did not know that I had read such a word in the Scripture that the Spirit spake to me but before my heart was brought over to believing the same power that raised Christ from the grave appeared in destroying that strong unbelief that made me depart from the living God and as in the fulness of time Almighty power brought Christ into the world and into the grave it raised Christ also out of the grave this same power was a hand by Divine appointment leading me through varieties of inward bitter desolations untill it brought me not onely to the gates but into a heaven of sweet consolation Now I shall by the assistance of the Spirit tell the time when my heart was brought to believe the pardon of my sins past present and to come by an act of grave through the blood of the Lord Jesus which I clearly saw by the light of the Spirit bearing witness to my Spirit that Christ was mine and I was his The time the year 1642. the day the first of the first moneth called January it being the first day of the week commonly called the Sabbath day which was indeed a Lords day to my soul While Mr. John Simpson was preaching from that Scripture in the 8 of the Romans the words are these Now if any man have not the spirit of Christ be is none of his Many Sermons he preached from this Scripture and he had shewed that the Spirit might be in that soul that was very dark and much confused in its apprehensions of Christ as he proved from John 14.5 6 7. Thomas faith unto Christ Lord we know not wh●ther thou goest and how should we know the way Christ in the 4. verse told them they knew whither he went and the way they knew and he tells them that they had known the Father and seen him and yet they said they knew not so that the Disciples of Christ had sometimes a confused knowledge of the Father and yet they had both seen and known so that from thence was proved that many poor souls might have the Spirit as was instanced in many particulars that the Spirit might be in the soul though it could not make it out through that exceeding hurry the soul lay in being still in a confusion its darkness being not dispelled by the glorious manifestation of the light of the spirit sealing it up to the day of Redemption My Spirit was under much trembling for fear it should still be said that I had none of the Spirit which often was a terrible sound within me which I still dreaded and my spirit cryed out to the Lord when this Sermon before mentioned upon that 8. of the Romans was almost ended I said Lord I have the Spirit in this confused manner as I found a witness within me that I had the Spirit in those particulars that were declared but my spirit strongly run out to the Lord for a clear manifestation of his love in Christ and suddenly my soul was filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory in believing the spirit witnessing in that word Christ is thy wel-beloved and thou art his my soul was now full of joy as it could hold now I saw all my sins laid upon Jesus Christ and when he was sacrificed all my sins were sacrificed with him oh what triumphing and songs of Hallelujah were in my spirit I knew not where I was nor how to get out of the place where I sat I apprehended nothing but a clothing of glory over my whole man I never beheld Saints as I did then I saw their faces like the face of Angels Oh what Angelicall creatures did they appear before me full of shining brightness oh what a heart inflamed now was mine filled