Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	faith_n	truth_n	word_n	7,274	5	4.1793	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65443	A vindication of Anne Wentworth tending to the better preparing of all people for her larger testimony, which is making ready for publick view. Published according to the will of God, and direction of charity. By Anne Wentworth. To which is annexed a letter written by an eminent Christian, concerning the said Anne Wentworth, and directed to the several congregations of the Anabaptists, and their respective pastors. As also a song of tryumph by the said Anne Wentworth, a daughter of Sion, newly delivered from the captivity of Babylon, &c.	Wentworth, Anne.	1677 (1677)	Wing W1356; ESTC R219445	15,970	25

flood of scorn contempt bitter railing false accusations scandalous papers and lying Pamphlets upon them by whom they have been poured out against me The Lord frustreth the tokens of the Liars and maketh Diviners mad he turneth wise men backwards and maketh their knowledge foolish but he confirmeth the word of his servant and performeth the Counsel of his Messengers Isa 44. And now in this Faith and assurance I do shut up this my Vindication and preparitory Testimony Declaring unto all people whom it may concern That it is the Lord has mooved me and his Spirit which has stirred me up My heavenly Bridegroom is come and has given me courage with an humble boldness and holy confidence to speak the truth in all faithfulness and to fear no man but God alone in whose strength I stand to encounter with all discouragements from my own understanding will affections former thoughts and principles within and with all opposition from difficulties dangers temptations of friends and conspiracies of enemies without I am sensible any of these things would be too strong for me a worm of no might or strength but I have renounced my self and laid down my own wisdom and will in this work and am given up to all the will of God herein standing upon my watch and having in his power put on the whole Armor of God the Shield of Faith the Brestplate of Righteousness with my Loyns girt about with truth and my feet shod with the Preparation of the Gospel of peace having taken the Helmet of Salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God Praying alwaies with all prayer and suplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all Saints In this spiritual warfare and combate I am called to wrestle not only against flesh and blood but against Principalities and Powers against the Rulers of the darkness of this world and against spiritual wickedness in high places and must have no respect of persons because of advantage but be faithful to God and his Word sparing neither Friend nor Brother in matter of Truth nor calling good evil or evil good nor puting light for darkness or darkness for light but obeying God and not Man loving him above all keeping his Commandments and pleasing him although the whole world should be displeased Man has made my Cup very bitter and my Cross very heavy for obeying God but my God has sweetned my Cup and caused it to overflow with draughts of Love my God has made my Yoak easie and my But then light because he bears me and them he draws me and binds me with Cords to the Altar his left hand is under my Head his right Hand doth Embrace me and his Banner over me as Love I must not I will not be affraid to make my boast of my God by whose Almighty Power I have been hitherto helped and upheld or else I had perished in my afflictions When the compassion and bowels of man were shut up the tender mercies of God were opened When it was come to Mordecay's pinch Israel's distress Paul's streight God appeared My extremity was his opportunity he beheld my affliction the sorrows and Agonies of my Soul my groans my prayers my cries my appeals ascended up for a memorial before him and were had in remembrance with him And he will arise and that right speedily he will make haste and not tarry but send relief from Heaven and save me and all the poor of his Flock who heat the voice of their own Shepheard and follow him but a stranger they will not follow He will smite the Rocky heart he will convince the Consciences of men he will bring down all them that glory in appearance in face and not in heart he will make a speedy decision he will turn the stream and flood of scorn and contempt cast upon me and his poor despised ones in me he will arise to our joy and they shall be ashamed that have hated us without a cause and cast us out for his Name 's sake saying Let the Lord be glorified I have committed my way unto the Lord who judgeth righteously who will not suffer the guilty always to go undiscovered and unpunished He will take the Cup of trembling out of my hands and put it into the hands of them who have afflicted me who have said unto my Soul Bow down that we may go over and he will make their own Tongues to fall upon themselves and will measure out unto them again the measure they have meeted The Lord has said it and he will perform it The Lord will plead my cause and the cause of all his meek ones but his anger is kindled against all Formality Hypocrisie Idolatry and Prophaneness He knows the secrets of all hearts we are all open and naked in his sight there is no dissembling in his sight no mocking before him no outward Form no empty Opinion can shelter from his wrath Upon the 13. of the Twelfth Month 1673. The Lord wonderfully discovered to me the unprofitableness of the best outward forms of Religion without the Power and what a great deal of blindness injustice false accusations barbarous usage bitter and cruel zeal with all manner of wickedness has at this day taken Sanctuary in the exactest Forms according to the Letter which are without the Spirit yea in enmity against it It was the time four eminent Professors of the people called Baptists did in a most rough and severe manner come to deal with me to accuse me falsly and blindly and bitterly to rebuke me although I was then in a very weak and dangerous condition of body And I mention it here because it is a time in remembrance with the Lord and God was in that very season pleased to open mine eyes to show me where Babylon was what Spirit she was built upon and how the Lord would begin to strike at her and throw her down and then it was he called me out from her that I might escape the anger I then saw was kindled against her And however they are now justifying themselves and their proceedings against me and have condemned the Innocent yet an appeal has been made to God and accepted by him and he will search out this matter and make a true and manifest judgment of it for there is nothing hid from him and this matter is now become a publick figure Yes I am satisfied God will speedily arise and decide this controversie and he has shown me when I have been thinking his Chariot wheels move slowly that then his motion has been swiftest And that whatever seems to hinder and work against me does indeed help on and work things to a more full and perfect end And although I should be surrounded and beset on every side and left alone in the midst of all discouragements from within and without yet can I believingly call to all that fear the Lord to come and behold the

come to condemn themselves in the Person and case of another The Spirit and the letter are no where contrary but thou mayst think them so and by not duly attending upon the Spirit in the letter mayst unnaturally set the letter to oppose the Spirit from whence it comes to which it testifies and whither it tends I beg of you all that read these lines for your own sakes that you will remember still how the Jewes did of old vilifie reproach condemn and execute our Saviour and justified themselves herein by the letter of the Law of God with the breach of which Law they were continually charging him throughout his whole life yet was it exactly according to their own Law and in those very cases about which they were so much offended at him Nor has it fared otherwise with the whole seed of Christ and all the spiritual manifestations of him in all ages The best of Men and Principles have still been challeng'd for their Non-conformity to the letter and outward rule although they have been most agreeable thereunto As the Apostle speaks not without Law to God but under the Law to Christ And I do further declare that the things I have published and written and which are such an offence to my Husband and indeed the cause of all the Persecutions I have suffered from others were written sorely against my own natural mind and will That I often beg'd of God I might rather die then do it That I was commanded of God to record them That my own natural temper was so greatly averse to it that for eleven months together I withstood the Lord till by an Angel from Heaven he threatned to kill me and took away my sleep from me And then the terrors of the Lord forced me to obey the command And indeed the writings that man was so displeased with were in themselves very warrantable if I had not had any such command of God for I only wrote the way he lead me in a wilderness of affliction for 18 years to do me good and declared my experiences my great and wonderful deliverances my many answers of Prayers in difficult cases from time to time but most true it is I did not speak of these things nor set Pen to paper for several reasons till the Lord commanded and by his word and Spirit constrained me so to do at 18 years end after I was consumed with grief sorrow oppression of heart and long travail in the wilderness and brought even to the gates of Death and when past the Cure of all men was raised up by the immediate and mighty hand of God And being thus healed I was commanded to write and give glory to him who had so miraculously raised me up from the grave And I do further declare the things I have written are true and no lye and that what is so distasteful in them to man are such things as I could not leave out without prejudice to the Truth and disobedience to God And what ever censures I now undergo from mans day and judgment for this plain dealing in matters which concern so near a Relation in the flesh I am well assured my faithfulness to God herein will be owned in the day of his impartial and righteous judgment And yet I must declare it would have been much more agreeable to my Spirit to have concealed the miscarriages of my Husband then to have exposed them if I had not been under a command herein not to be disputed and it was not without great resistings that I was at length made obedient having tasted of that love which both covers and teaches us to cover a multitude of sinnes And yet I am fully perswaded that my duty to God in this matter will be found not only most reasonable and necessary on my part but exceeding beautiful in its season and to have been mannaged in some measure of the Spirit of that God who is still Love and in whom there is no fury however he marches against goes through the Bryars and Thorns and burns them together when they are set against him in Battle And whereas my Enemies have represented me as one distracted and beside my self in answer to such wicked proceedings against not only me but the truth I do for the Truths sake further say First That I judge my Enemies who have raised this false report of me to be themselves most highly concerned that this their Report should be found a Lie for as much as if it were otherwise the cause and occasion of my distraction might justly be laid at their own doors for as the Preacher says Eccles 7. Oppression makes a Wise man Mad. Secondly And yet I also judge it is the mistaken and rotten Interest of my Adversaries not only to report but to believe me a person beside my self for if I be sound in a right mind how Mad must they be discovered to have been in their blind rage and fury against me and my Testimony Thirdly I do with great chearfulness receive the reproach of this report and all the humiliation that goes along with it as a further measure of my conformity to my Saviour and fellowship with him in his Sufferings For thus has he throughout all ages been blasphemed in his Prophets his Messengers and in himself Thus when Elisha sent a young Prophet with instructions to anoint Jehu his Fellow-servants askt him Wherefore came this Mad fellow to thee 2 King 9. Thus we read in Mark 3. That the Kindred of our Lord went out to lay hold on him for they said he is beside himself And again in Joh. 10. Many of the Jews said he has a Devil and is mad Fourthly I do with great pleasure acknowledg that in this great work in which I am set for a sign and a wonder I have no wit no wisdom no understanding no will of my own And if this be to be mad I confess my self to be beside my self to God whose Love constrains me and whose Spirit has in this matter after an irresistable but sweetest manner Captivated my proper understanding will and affections to his Divine wisdom and will And Lastly I am well assured that it will speedily very speedily be known that I am not mad as my Enemies have reported but have spoken forth the words of truth and soberness I have not run before I was sent but the word of the Lord is Come unto me and his Spirit is upon me And he will perform every Iota and title of his own word to overthrow Babylon with such an overturning as never was nor never will be again The beginnings of this overturning will within a few days be seen upon her more refined parts and the severity of the wrath shall afterwards come upon her Walls Although man is so confident I am deceived and has loaden me and my Testimony with all manner of reproach yet the God whom I serve and obey and who has spoken by me will speedily turn the

wonders of the Lord for my deliverance I cry'd unto him when there was none to help me and in a deep sense of my own unworthyness and nothingness my Soul was humbled and laid low at his foot and my heart was lifted up to him and he raised me from the Grave and took fast hold of me at that very time when heso wonderfully healed me which was the 3d of the 11 month 1670. Then was the full communion between Christ and my Soul the Love knot the comly bands of Marriage then did he espouse me unto himself for ever and enable me to follow him and give up my self as a thank-offering unto him no more to be my own but the Lords subjecting my self to all his will as a chast Virgin holy in lip and life pure and undefiled in heart Then did the Lord my God say unto me I even I am he that comforteth thee who art thou that thou shouldest be affraid of a man that shall die and of the Son of Man which shall be made as Grass And again he said he was come to Judge the Fatherless and the opressed that the Man of the earth may no more oppress And many more pretious Promises did the Lord make to me when he first called me to write what man has been so offended with and his word was and is my support and he has comforted me therewith assuring me as soon as I had done his will I should receive the promises And he afterwards revealed to me what I did not then know that my oppressions and deliverance had a Publick Ministry and meaning wrapt up in them that it must be seven years before I could perfect that writing and the Lord would bring forth his end in all this and give an open Testimony to the world that he had chosen and called me to write to glorifie him And now I have done his will my deliverer is come to make good his word and set me free from the oppresion of Man and to bear witness against him that has wounded and oppressed me for 18 years and more severely is his anger kindled against them who have so deeply wounded me since the time of my healing and who have made me an Heathen and a Publican for no other cause but obeying the word of the Lord and following him And as near as New-Years day is before that day the Lord will begin to cast a cloud of his anger upon all them that have done me so great wrong and persecuted me without a cause and stroak after stroak will follow until all Hypocrisie be discovered and formality thrown down and whole Babylon sinck like a stone never to rise up any more and let not the minds of any be lifted up to scorn me because I have said God will begin to appear in my behalf within so short a time for my God has a many times over made that Season of the year eminently signal to me in the dispensations of his grace and providence towards me Then was I enter'd into my aflictions then was I in an extraordinary manner healed and chosen and call'd to write what has occasion'd so many persecutions to me from formal and literal professors and now it will be compleatly 7 years since my healing and the Lord has made known the end of all his dispensations to me and has revealed to me that I shall now receive the promises having done his will and be made partaker of his blessing for he will fulfil his word to bind up the Broaken hearted and proclaim liberty to the Captive and open the Prison doors and I shall no more be under the oppression of man and he has also revealed to me what wrath shall fall upon the same spirit throughout the Nation which every where oppresses the true seed as I have been oppressed by it and the deliverance which is drawing nigh through terrible things in righteousness to all his poor and meek ones A more full accompt of which things and how the Lord has lead me into this ministry and witness I am with all convenient speed preparing for the Press and had before this been made publick had not my Enemies hindred by seizing and destroying my writings And in the mean time I beg of all Persons to whom this paper shall come that they will for their own sakes lay a side all prejudice and try me my Spirit and Testimony according to the word of God and wait patiently upon the Lord to know his mind in this thing and in love to themselves take heed how they rashly reproach and condemn me and my witness least they should in so doing run against that Hiding of power the Prophet Habakuk mentions chap 3. 4. and that they be watchful over themselves that they be not found dispising Prophecy and quenching the Spirit because of the contemptibleness of the messenger alwaies remembring that God will destroy the Wisdome of the Wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent that be chooses the foolish the weak the base and dispised things of the World yea and things which are not to bring to naught things that are In a word let all Persons so far take the Alarm as to look well to their own Souls where they stand Whither they are founded upon that Rock against which the Gates of Hell shall not prevail whither they are interested in that Covenant of Grace which is ordered in all things and sure and which is all our Salvation in a day of desolation Whether they be in the number of those that are Eating and Drinking with the Drunken and beating their Fellow Servants or of the Family of the true Noah who shall be taken into the Ark and preserved in the day of that Flood of the Divine vengence which is ready to overflow the inhabitants of the Earth What I have here published is according to the word of truth which must be fulfiled in its time It is but a very little while and this matter will be cleared made manifest and determined In the mean while I declare to all the world I am at rest in the will of my God who has not left me without his witness presence and seal in this work and who ever thou art that canst not yet see a Divine Charactar either upon me or it my advice to thee is that thou perplex not thy selfe concerning me but wait patiently upon God and quietly expect the discovery which the day will make herein To the Congregations of the Anabaptists and their respective Pastors THese verses contain the summons complaint and appeal of a despised and oppressed Christian once a member of one of your Churches now by your unjust and unchristian abuse of her made a spectacle to God Angels and Men yea a gazeing stock to this great City and a by-word to the common Rabble Beloved have you so learned Christ Doth the Gospel teach you to defame you neighbour in Coffee-Houses Ale Houses will not that word