Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A82143
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A declaration of the English army now in Scotland, touching the justness & necessity of their present proceedings in that nation. Imprimatur Joh: Rushworth.
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England and Wales. Army.
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1650
(1650)
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Wing D666; Thomason E609_10; ESTC R205957
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10,147
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16
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own terms and to admit him to the exercise of his Royal Authority in our hearts and to follow him whether soever he goeth he having of his own good will entred into a Covenant of Grace with his poor Saints and be assured it is he that leadeth us into Scotland he hath done in England and Ireland And therefore we do in the spirit of brotherly love and of the fear of the Lord beseech you to look about you for our Lord Jesus is coming amongst you as a refining fire and as Fullers sope and blessed are those in whom the least dram of sincerity shall be found We have a Paper directed to us from the people of Scotland it having been publiquely made known to us at the head of our Regiments wherein we are first desired to consider the lawfulness of our marching into Scotland We bless God we did that before we came and are abundantly satisfied that we are brought hither by the Lord nay many of us lying under temptations of flesh and blood and going about to frame excuses to take us from this march found that to have staid behinde had been to have turned our backs upon Jesus Christ and to have deprived our selves of much sweet communion with God that now through his goodness we do enjoy We have also considered the Arguments by which you go about to weaken the grounds of the Parliaments and our Superior Officers leading us into Scotland and must needs give you this reâ—â—â—n That we are still abundantly established in this belief that what the Parliament of England hath done in sending us into Scotland hath been of absolute necessity to preserve them selves from being destroyed in their Religion and Liberties which they have been at so much cost both of blood and treasure to purchase and preserve and therefore by the way we must needs tell you that we cannot endure to hear them called A Pretended Parliament which we desire you to take notice of That if you write to us again you would speak more reverendly of the Authority of our Nation or else we shall easily think you will upon every occasion be ready to invade England that you may set up an Authority which you may call lawful And let us as in the presence of the Lord farther assure you That we have already examined our consciences as before the Lord and have a clear assurance in our hearts That he will countenance us in this Action and that we do not break any Covenant which we have Sworn before God Angels and Men but could be contented should we not thereby Idolize the Covenant to march to any Engagement with you if called thereunto by the Lord with the Covenant on the Tops of our Pikes and let the Lord Judge who hath observed the Ends of the Covenant best you or we Yet we do acknowledge We have not been the exact Performers though not the wilful Breakers thereof Our consciences also bear us record We do above any thing in the world desire the Union of the two Nations and it is our prayer daily That those that fear the Lord in England and Scotland may become one in the hand of the Lord and joyn together in the advancement of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and throwing down and trampling upon the Seat of the Beast Why should not Scotland as well as England rejoyce to see the Horns of the Beast cut off that we may joyn together to hate the Whore and to burn her flesh with sire The Lord is our witness whom we fear we come not to oppress you or shed your blood we have cryed to the Lord again and again to prevent it we have sent our Declarations of love to the People of God in Scotland which some amongst you though they pretend to answer yet do most injuriously and unchristianly keep from their sight nay most falsly misrepresenting us as a people come with intentions to destroy the poor Inhabitants and that we are left of our God to be destroyed but we have made our prayer to the Lord and made known before him their sayings who hath told the people of Scotland That God hath forsaken us and therefore bid them persecute and take us for now the Sectaries day is come c. But the Lord is still with us he is our Refuge and a present help in trouble ready to be found we do believe the cry of the oppressed in Scotland will be heard and wo be to those that are the cause thereof Our Quarrel is still against Malignants the Root whereof is now through the evil policy of some Statesmen become the Head of Scotland We dare not quarrel with those whose hearts are upright with Jesus Christ and faithful and loving to England but with those who are most treacherous and false to both and therefore we dare not any of us though tempted thereto by your Papers be so carnally wise as to desert the Cause and Work of Jesus Christ in which we have hitherto been so long and so miraculously carried on Do you think we are men so weakly principled as to be perswaded without the least strength of Argument to desert the Interest of our own Nation and expose thousands of the precious Saints of Jesus Christ to be trampled upon as the dirt in the streets when the Lord is about to put on their beautiful garments and to make them a praise in the earth Or can we think you betray our superior Officers in whom we see so much of the sweet Spirit of Jesus Christ into your hands whose mouthes are opened wide to devour them we pray you not to wait for such a thing The Lord hath brought us hither by his Providence and upon him we shall with confidence depend till we see a glorious issue which we humbly and heartily desire may be without the effusion of any more blood and if it be the will of God both speedy and comfortable to you and us that we may return with joy into England and leave Scotland rejoycing that an English Army hath been amongst them which possibly may be the sooner effected were you and we suffered to confer and open our hearts one to another we do believe much of the bitterness of spirit would be allayed in our Brethren of Scotland did they know how exceedingly we are slandred by the pens and tongues of many of your Kirkmen concerning our Religion and Faith towards God which though we may not vainly boast of yet according to the Apostles direction we are ready to give an answer to the meanest Christian in Scotland that shall ask a reason of the faith and hope that is in us with meekness and fear And indeed we account our best way of contending with those Slanderers is to pray the Lord to make our hearts sound in his Statutes that we be not ashamed that so we sanctifying the Lord God in our hearts and having a good conscience they that speak evil of us as of evil doers may be ashamed whilest they falsly our good conversation in Christ And thus we have in the naked plainness of our souls opened our hearts unto you our dear Brethren that fear the Lord in Scotland where-ever you be found whether in the highest Councels or the poorest Cottages who though you now lie scattered the Lord will in his due time bring you together and binde you up as his Jewels and make you one with those that fear the Lord amongst us which the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and in him our God and our Father also bring to pass in his due time and in the mean time make both you and us wise to understand the things that concern the exalting of Christs Kingdom That in all our undertakings we may be subservient to the affairs of Jesus Christ and above all things take heed how we stir up any of the powers or strength of this world to destroy one another The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace be with you Amen From the Leaguer at Muscleborough August 1.1650 FINIS
of this Kingdom but what hath been done here hath been meerly in reference to Defence of the Land if we should be Invaded from England Therefore it concerns you in your consciences as before the Lord to weigh well whether God will countenance you in such a thing and whether it be not a fearful breach of Covenant in you after England hath Sworn before God and Angels and Men to preserve the Union and Peace between the Kingdoms to come without cause to Invade this Land and make War upon us and oppress us and shed our Blood we will assure you That all who know God in Scotland cry to Heaven against such Oppression and you have cause to be afraid That because of the same God will arise to execute Judgement upon it Your quarrel now is not against Malignants but against those who in the Integrity of their Spirits have been following Jesus Christ and his Cause and studying to walk answerable to the Gospel and who helped England in the day of her distress and have suffered much on her behalf chusing rather to endure all the afflictions that the Malice of Malignants could devise then to break with England or set one foot in that Land in an hostile way Those among you shall be wise who shall take Warning to proceed no farther in an evil way lest God who is the Judge of all things look upon such Injustice and Ingratitude and Breach of Covenant and require it To the People of Scotland especially those among them that know and fear the Lord from whom yesterday we received a Paper directed To the Under-Officers and Soldiers of the English Army We the Officers and Soldiers of the English Army do send Greeting AT the beginning of the great and wonderful workings of God in these two Nations of England and Scotland We the Under-Officers and Soldiers of the English Army now in Scotland were most of us if not all men of private Callings and not all interested in Matters of Publique and State Affairs but yet very many of us in whom the Lord had begun to reveal himself in the Face of Jesus Christ were sensible of the Antichristian Tyranny that was exercised by the late King and His Prelates over the Consciences Bodies and Estates of the True Spiritual Church of Jesus Christ namely Those that were born again and united to him by his Spirit who were then by that Antichristian crew termed Puritans Sectaries Schismaticks c. And for not conforming to all the Canons and Ordinances of their National Church were frequently imprisoned banished and otherwise grievously molested at the pleasure of those that then ruled amongst us Under these sad sufferings of the people of God our souls mourned and understanding by the manifold gracious promises in the Word of God That a time of Deliverance was to be expected to the Church of Christ and destruction and ruine to Babylon Our hearts together with all the truly godly in England were exceedingly stirred up to pray to the Lord even day and night That he would arise to destroy Antichrist and to save his People Whilest this Spirit of Prayer was poured forth upon Gods people in England attempts are made upon Scotland to bring them to a conformity in Religious worship by endeavoring to impose upon them a Popish Service Book which was through the great goodness of God by his people in Scotland reserted which made the wrath of the late King and His Prelates wax so hot against them so as Scotland had no other way to preserve it self but by coming into England with an Army which the godly in England did not then count an Invasion to destroy England no more then they do this our present march for the ruine of Scotland but rejoyced to see some appearing against that Antichristian power that had persecuted the Saints and were assured That the Lord was come forth to answer the many Prayers and Tears that were then poured and pouring forth for that purpose and therefore so far as we have any opportunity farthered the designs of that Army some of us hazarding our lives by spreading their Book intituled The Scots Intentions and pleading for the Justness of their Proceedings Let us remember how the Lord was pleased graciously to answer the prayers of his people at that time in their Deliverance from the Army raised by the late King and his Prelates for the destruction of all the people of God in England and Scotland insomuch That soon after Scotland sits in Peace enjoying their former Liberties without being imposed upon by the Antichristian Prelacy in England and England obtains a Parliament to whom they have opportunity to complain of their grievances and through the great goodness of God so constituted that grievances are heard and overtures made to the late King for their redress which was so irksome to His Oppressing Tyrannical and Bloody spirit that he again betook him self to overthrow the Parliament by force and to that end entertains the Officers of the Army that had gone forth against our Brethren of Scotland and withdrawing himself from his Parliament an appearance of a Civil War begins which bring made known to us the Inferior Officers and Soldiers of this Army then in our Private Callings we found our hearts extraordinarily stirred up by the Lord to assist the Parliament against the King being abundantly satisfied in our Judgments and Consciences That we were called forth by the Lord to be Instrumental to bring about that which was our continual prayer to God viz. The destruction of Antichrist and the Deliverance of his Church and people And upon this simple account we engaged not knowing the deep policies of worldly Statesmen and have ever since hazarded our lives in the high places of the field where we have seen the wonders of the Lord against all the opposers of this work of Jesus Christ whom we have all along seen going with us and making our way plain before us And having these things singly in our eye namely The destruction of Antichrist the advancement of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ the Deliverance and Reformation of his Church in the Establishment of his Ordinances amongst them in purity according to his Word and the just civil Liberties of Englishmen We did many of us rejoyce at the Covenant because we found in it a strain towards these ends although some being more enlightned did apprehend it to be so mixt with worldly interest That they justly feared the interest of Jesus Christ would be onely pretended to and the interests of this world yea of Antichrist himself carried under a vizard as we have since had abundant experience of which hath made us we confess not to idolize the Covenant as we fear too many do though we trust it will appear before God Angels and Men That we shall ever pursue its true and lawful ends according to the plain and candid meaning thereof though we do not upon every occasion urge the Covenant