65 From Some Account of the Fore Part of the Life of Elizabeth Ashbridge
65 From Some Account of the Fore Part of the Life of Elizabeth Ashbridge
Elizabeth Ashbridge
My life being attended with many uncommon occurrences, some of which, I through disobedience brought upon myself, and others I believe were for my good, I have thought proper to make some remarks on the dealings of Divine Goodness with me, having often had cause, with David, to say, “it is good for me that. I have been afflicted.” And most earnestly I desire, that whosoever reads the following lines, may take warning, and shunt the evils that I have, through the deceitfulness of Satan, been drawn into.
I was born at Middlewieh, in Cheshire, in the year 1713, of honest parents; my father’s name was Thomas Sampson, he was a surgeon, my mother’s name was Mary; my father was a man that bore a good character, but not so strictly religious as my mother, who was a pattern of virtue to me. I was the only child of my father, but not of my mother, she being a widow, when I my father married her, and had two children. Soon after my birth, my father took to the sea, and followed his profession, in many long voyages, till I was twelve years old, about which time he settled at home; so that my education lay mostly on my mother, in which she discharged her duty, by endeavoring to instill into me the principles of virtue during my tender age, for which I have since had cause to be thankful to the Lord, that he blessed me with such a parent, whose good advice and counsel to me have been as “bread cast upon the water.” In short, she was a good example to all about her, and beloved by most that knew her, though not of the same religious persuasion I am now of.
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As I grew up, I took notice that there were several different religious societies, wherefore I often went alone and wept, desiring that I might be directed to the right. Thus my young years were attended with these and such like tender desires; though I was sometimes guilty of faults incident to children, but I always found something in me that made me sorry for what I did amiss. Until I arrived at the age of fourteen years, I was as innocent as most children, about which time my sorrows began, and have continued for the most part of my life, through giving way to a foolish passion, in setting my affections on a young man, who became a suitor to me, without my parents’ consent; till I suffered myself (I may say with sorrow of heart) to be carried off in the night; and before my parents found me I was married, although as soon as they missed me all possible search was made after me, but all in vain, until too late to recover me.
This precipitate act plunged me into a vast scene of sorrow. I was soon smitten with remorse for thus leaving my parents, whose right it was to have disposed of me to their content, or at least their approbation ought to have been consulted in the affair, and I was chastised for my disobedience.—Divine Providence let me see my error, and in five months I was stripped of the darling of