Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	good_a	jesus_n	lord_n	7,172	5	3.5622	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A82142	A declaration of the English army now in scotland. [sic] To the people of Scotland, especially those among them, that know and fear the Lord; we the officers and souldiers of the English army do send greeting.	England and Wales. Army.	1659 (1659)	Wing D665; Thomason E979_9; ESTC R207704	7,243	9

it was not only lawful but our duty to keep our Arms in our hands till the ends beforementioned should be accomplished and to that purpose the Army whereof we are a part did refuse to disband did march up to London to propose to the Parliament a way of Establishment that might be more for the carrying on of the ends of Religion and Liberty though therein we were not at that time successful yet most wonderfully and graciously preserved by the Lord and extraordinarily convinced after much seeking the Face of God that our failing was in endeavouring to set up the King upon any terms he being a man of so much bloud that the Lord would have no peace with him nor any that should go about to establish him Whereupon after his own hard heart had hindred him from yielding to any overtures that were made to him by the Parliament through whom all the Armies Proposals were to be tendered and a second War more dangerous than the former contri●ed by him and his Son now with you toget●er with those in Scotland th●t hated us of the Army of England under the name of S●ct●●ies being by the u●sp●●kable goodness and mighty power of God waded through and a second testimony given from Heaven to justifie the proceeding of his poor servants against that bloudy Antichristian brood though with the loss of many precious Saints we were then powerfully convinced that the Lords purpose was to deal with the late King as a man of bloud And being perswaded in our consciences That he and his Monarchy was one of the ten horns of the Beast spoken of Rev. 17.12 13 14 15. And being witnesses to so much of the innocent bloud of the Saints that he had shed in supporting the Beast and considering the loud cries of the souls of the Saints under the Altar we were extraordinarily carried forth to desire Justice upon the King that man of bloud And to that purpose petitioned our Superiour Officers and the Parliament to bring him to Justice which accordingly by an high hand of Providence was brought to pass which Act we are confident the Lord will own in preserving the Commonwealth of England against all Kingdoms and Nations that shall adventure to meddle with them upon that account When God executes his judgements upon Malefactors let none go about to resist When he brings forth those his enemies that will not suffer Jesus Christ to be King in the midst of his Saints and breaks them in pieces like a Potters vessel let not Scotland nor any other Nation say What dost thou We fear they have been too busie already the Lord that sees the secrets of all hearts knows the compliance of Scotland with the late Kings Issue now with you was in order to disturb the Peace of England for being Gods Executioners upon a bloody Tyrant and a supporter of the Throne of the Beast But blessed be the Lord the crafty are taken in their own snare England sits in peace whilest Scotland receives into their chief City their new King at the very hour wherein an Army had marched 300 miles is facing them at the very gates We wish our Brethren of Scotland especially those that truly fear the Lord would consider these things and not flight the providences of God so much as they do When Scotland chose new gods and would have a King out of a Family that God bad rejected then was war in the gates And though we do not think providences alone a sufficient rule for Gods People to walk by yet we do know that the Lord sp●●ks to his people by his Providence as well as by his Word and he is angry with his people that do not take notice thereof and promiseth blessing to those that do Psal 107. and the latter end And here give us leave not in a boasting spirit but in meekness and fear to tell you That we are perswaded we are poor unworthy instruments in Gods hand to break hi● Enemies and preserve his people You have acknow●edged us in your own Papers to be a Rod of Iron to dash in piec●● the M●lignan●● but withal say VVe must now be broken in pi●●●● because we now set our selves against the Lot of Gods inhe●●●●nce Le● us here speak for our selves yea the Lord speak for us w●● k●ows our hear●● a●d all our wayes we value the Churches of J●su● Christ who ●re the Lot of Gods inheritance ten thousand tim●● ab●ve our own li●e● yea we do bless the Lord we are not only a Rod of ●ron to d●sh the common enemies in pieces but also a hedge though very unwor●hy about Christs Vineyard and if we know ou● own h●arts where ever the Lor of Gods inheritance shall appear to be found in Scotland we shall think it our duty to the utmost hazard of our lives to preserve the same But if there be any that have taken counsel together against the Lord and against his anoynted whom the Lord hath decreed to set upon his holy hill of Sion we are perswaded the Lord hath brought us hither as instruments through which he will speak to them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure VVe desire it may be known to you our Brethren of Scotland that we are not Souldiers of Fortune we are not meerly th● servants of men we have not onely proclaimed Jesus Christ the King of Saints to be our King by Profession but desire to submit to him upon his own terms and to admit him to the exercise of his Royal Authority in our hearts and to follow him whithersoever 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 as 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 refiners 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 publikely 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 bloud 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 Superiour Officers leading us into Scotland and must needs give you this return 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 themselves from being destroyed in their Religion and Liberties which they have been at so much cost both of Bloud 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 reverently 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 further 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 VVe have not been the exact Performers though not the wilful breakers thereof Our consciences also bear us record VVe 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 Kingdome of Jesus Christ and throwing down and trampling upon the Seat of the Beast VVhy 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 VVhore and to burn her flesh with fire The Lord is our witnesse whom we fear we come not to oppresse you or shed your blood we have cryed to the Lord again and again to prevent it we have sent you our Declarations of Love to the People of God in Scotland which some amongst you though they pretended to Answer yet do most injuriously and unchristianly keep from their sight nay most falsly mis-representing 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 States-men 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 superiour Officers in whom we see so much of the sweet Spirit of Jesus Christ into your hands whose mouths 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 slandered by the pens and tongues of many of your Kirk-men 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 slanders 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 accuse our good conversation in Christ And thus have we 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 Councils or the poorest Cottages who though you now be scattered the Lord will in his due time bring you together and bind 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 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 Kigdom 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