Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A26818
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An expostulatory appeal to the professors of Christianity joyned in community with Samuel Ansley
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Bathurst, Elizabeth, d. 1691.; Bathurst, Anne.
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1680
(1680)
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Wing B1135A; ESTC R17439
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4,462
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8
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private Commission from some one or more of you for the former knowledge that he had of our blameless deportment amongst you I dare believe he would not have used us so Uncharitably without receiving Reproof from you Why indeed should he since none of you can justly say that we gave any Interruption to you ye are all my witnesses I waited in silence whilst there was a Voice heard amongst you taking that opportunity to open my Mouth unto you when your Teacher was perusing such Petitions as used to divert him from so suddain a falling on to Prayers amongst you But however though that time was not so long as ordinary but Prayers begun before I could so much as name my Message to you upon request made me to be silent during Prayer time and a promise of being heard afterwards I tarried till your Worship was ended then began my Mouth to open unto you but no sooner had I charged you with being out of the right way but you made good that charge immediately by shewing that persecuting Spirit which infallibly marks out and deciphers the false Church who hath ever violently handled and hardlâ— used the Members of the true And so it became my lot at that time to bear a measure of Sufferings from you but the Lord upheld me by the right Hand of his Power so that I feared not the wrath of the Adversary though one more especially shewed himself mightily inraged against me Oh! where was your patient Mind that you could not hear what I had to say unto you and have tryed what Spirit I had been of that so if in Error by sound Argument you might have convinced me Oh! where was your Christian Moderation that ought to be shewed towards all whereby you should have manifested the Lord to be at hand Oh! where was your Lamb-like Meekness by which you would have instructed such as should have opposed you had you been in the Truth But whilst you profess the Name of Christ who is Truth it self you are found in the Spirit of Antichrist otherwise you would not have so roughly treatted the Guiltless nay if we had been guilty we ought to have had a more fair Tryal and Examination before you ere such hasty Execution should have proceeded from you This therefore briefly is written in the Spirit of Love and sent to you that all sober Inquirers may have a true Accompt of the Occasion of our coming amongst you that day And let none be offended that I take not in their Teacher with them so as to appeal to him as well as them for the Lord knoweth 't is not in any Enmity I bear towards him but as I formerly have had an high Esteem of him so I still do retain a kind and friendly Respect for him but having privately address'd my self unto him whereby to render the Reason of my turning from him in answer to which he himself knows I received not so much as one word to give me any Satisfaction but had a hasty Put-by from him which may very well excuse me in not making a second Application unto him However my Soul desires the real Welfare of all men and have written this neither in Envy nor Ostentation but in answer to the Requirings of the Lord before whom my Heart is broken at this time and now in much godly Compassion have I a Remembrance of such as have sincere Desires amongst you and I doubt not but that the Lord in tender Mercy and for his own Seed's sake that cryeth to him for Deliverance in and amongst you will in due time reach forth his powerful saving Arm unto such of you whereby you shall be gathered into a place of Safety before his Over-slowing Scourge be made to pass over you Let this therefore be a Provocation unto you speedily to turn into the secret of your own Souls to the Appearance of his Son Christ Jesus who there speaks from Heaven unto you reproving you for your Sin and Iniquity and exciting of you to Holiness and Purity who by his Heavenly Light in your Consciences if you give up to be led and guided by it will bring such of you as are now even as Lost Sheep of the House of Israel home to the Fold of Rest Which is the hearty Desire and earnest Breathing of her who is known to many of you by the Name of ELIZABETH BATHURST And now having invited you to turn unto the Lord both by Word and Writing I am clear concerning you at this time UNto you People unto whom this Message is sent a few words doth lie with weight upon my Spirit to put you in remembrance of dayes past and that you may call to mind the Promises you did make to the Lord when your Hearts were tendered before him because of the Judgments that then seem'd to awaken you but so soon as the Hand of the Lord turned back and with-held from smiting Oh! who then amongst you were faithful to those Promises so that may I not say that neither the Mercies nor Judgments of the Lord have so awakened you as to turn to him by Unfeigned Repentance for whose sake the Lord hath put in my Heart to mind you for the sake of your immortal Souls that you may be awakened to a speedy turning to the Lord that you may not provoke the Lord to with-hold his Spirit from striving with you Written in Obedience to the Lord by your Friend ANNE BATHURST THE END