Narrative of facts, characterizing the supernatural manifestations, in members of Mr. Irving's congregation, and other individuals, in England and Scotland and formerly in the writer himself / [Robert Baxter].

  • Baxter, Robert
Date:
1833
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Narrative of facts, characterizing the supernatural manifestations, in members of Mr. Irving's congregation, and other individuals, in England and Scotland and formerly in the writer himself / [Robert Baxter]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    seemed to rest upon me all the evening. The things I was made to utter, flashed in upon my mind without plan or arrangement: all was the work of the mo- ment, and I was as the passive instrument of the power which used me. In the beginning of my utterances that evening, some observations were in the power addressed by me to the pastor, in a commanding tone; and the manner and course of utterance manifested in me was so far differing from those which had been manifested in the members of his own flock, that he was much startled, and in the first part of the evening doubting whether it was of God or of the enemy. One circum- stance, as he afterwards mentioned to me, particularly tried him. Iwas made to bid those present ask in- struction upon any subject on which they sought to be taught of God; and, to several questions which were asked, answers were given by me in the power. One in particular was so answered, with such reference to the circumstances of the case of which, in myself, I was wholly ignorant, as to convince the person who asked it that the spirit speaking in me knew those circumstances, and alluded to them in the answer. The fact, however, of bidding them to ask and of an- swering questions troubled the pastor, because two children in Gloucestershire, who had been made to speak in wonderful power, and who afterwards were found to speak by a false spirit, were accustomed to bid to questioning and to give answers in the power ; and none of the speakers in the pastor's flock ever did so. He came up to me and said, ‘“ Faith is very hard.” I was immediately made to address him, and reason with him in the power, until he was fully con- vinced the spirit was of God, and gave thanks for the manifestation of it. I have been since much struck with the incon- sistency (whenever any doubt is entertained whether a spirit speaking or working in any one is of God) of consulting with the spirit, or seeking explanation from the person who has the spirit. So doing, we at once put ourselves under the power of the spirit,