to come upon thee: yet I know that thou hast often condemned thyself for taking my ways and my wisdom in question, and for taking my power in question; but of this grieve no more; because it was my permission, that thou shouldest speak the first; and then to convince thee that there was a God in power, thou hast felt my power in various ways. For in thy likeness the NATION stand at present: they have taken in question the manner of my visitation, that it cannot be to thee, as thou hast reported to the world; and they have taken in question my power, that. I shall not go on according to my threatenings, however stubborn or hardened men go on, through unbelief, or however greatly mockery may abound, to say, where are the threatenings, or where are the judgments because they are not speedily executed. Yet, I tell thee, like thy thoughts, being stumbled at my decrees, because thou didst not know the truth, thou tookest my Bible in question, and my power in question; and perfectly so stand your nation at large. But now judge for thyself how soon thou wast convinced of thy error as to his death; and how soon, to convince thee of thy errors in taking my power and my decrees in question, thou feltest the power of my Spirit, more than ever thou feltest it in thy life; and perfectly so I tell thee of the nation: however my wisdom be taken in question, in my visitation to a woman, however my Bible be taken in question by mankind, or however great my power be taken in question, that men judge I cannot fulfil my word; yet, as the sudden surprises came to thee, one after the other, to know and feel that there was a God in power; perfectly so this nation, and all the surrounding nations, will feel and know, either in love or anger. To thee it was with cords of love, to convince thee of thy folly, and thy weakness;

45

and so in cords of love shall I draw many; and they shall feel the power of my Spirit; and they may look forward with joy, longing to see the day of my power; while, on the other hand, those who mock and despise my power, will feel it in anger. But now I know thy pondering thoughts: though thou didst not despise my power, yet thou tookest it in question, in thy thoughts, whether it was so great as recorded in Scripture. This reasoning in thee I permitted; because I knew how greatly thou wast stumbled at my ways and my decrees, concerning Pomeroy and here was room for thee to stumble, while thou judgedst in that manner I had taken him by death, and not prolonged his life, to make the things more plain before him, that I might be clear in judging, and just in condemning. If he goeth on hardened, when the things are made clear and plain before him; and if he loves the praise of men more than the praise of God, and trusts more to the honour of man than to the honour that cometh down from above, and will not suffer any reproach for my sake; then thou sayest in thy heart my sentence must be just in condemning him. I shall, therefore, try the

and in the end thou wilt see my justice, my wisdom, and my goodness, which thou in folly tookest in question, whether there was a God in mercy and knowledge, as is recorded in the Scriptures: and now thou shalt find the Scriptures true and from knowledge thou shalt judge aright, when every truth is brought before thee, and the day-light bursts unto thee. But know, when thou drewest thy judgment, it was in the dark, without any knowledge of the truth; and perfectly like thee is the state of mankind: they judge in the dark, as thou judgedst, without a knowledge of the truth; therefore my ways and my decrees are taken in question by the sons of

men.

"This answer which I have given to thee is for all men; for what I say unto one I say unto all; and therefore thy pondering thoughts must go in print, to shew how wrongly thou hast judged of my ways and my decrees, for want of a knowledge of the truth. For now thou seest that it was never my design to deal with the man, as thou simply didst suppose; therefore I shall try him, and make the things clear before him. And so I tell thee of all mankind: I shall set the daylight before them, that they may walk in the light, if they do not refuse the light; but if they refuse to come to the light, and love darkness rather than light, then through darkness they will fall. Perfectly like the shadow, which began the year, if men have wisdom to discern the types and shadows placed in thy book, and weigh the whole together; what was spoken in the papers, which I ordered thee to publish; what I have explained from the signs of the weather; and what I have answered from all thy pondering thoughts,— if men of wisdom could see the whole, and draw a right judgment from it; then they would know that it was the Lord's doing; and see the daylight break before them, so that they need not stumble nor fall. But, for want of knowledge, thou wilt find many go on in as great a darkness, through the year to the ending, as they did in the beginning; while others will see the perfect day break in upon them, as thou sawest the new year break in to thee with every sparkling lustre. And perfectly so I shall bring out my Bible to men: from the Prophets and my Gospel, I shall make it clear to mankind, to prove that it is my visitation to thee. And therefore they will find the ensuing year such a year, as I told thee before, as was never seen in ENGLAND since it was a nation, TO HAVE THE TRUE MEANING OF THE SCRIPTURES TO BE BROUGHT FORWARD AND PROVED TO MEN.

But thou sayest in thy heart-the

S 13

47

SCRIPTURES are brought forward and explained and believed by thousands, from the visitation of my SPIRIT to thee. To thy thoughts I shall answer: a belief is one thing, proving the truth is another thing; they have seen the truth of my words in the Prophecies, which have hastened on; but that thou art the woMAN I have mentioned in the Revelation, that was placed as a SIGN for men, to know when the END was come or nigh at hand-this is believed by the believers; but now I ask thee, when it was proved? They can only speak by belief; but they cannot prove either of the chapters is yet fulfilled; and therefore, it is by proving the truth thereof that will begin to awaken the JEWS: DEISTS and ATHEISTS Will also be convinced thereby; and the hearts of the ARIANS will begin to shake; for I shall make my Gospel plain before them; and the ROMAN CATHOLICS, who have good hearts, will see their errors in trusting to man for their pardon, and will turn unto ME the living Lord. These changes will begin to take place the ensuing year; and so they will increase, till I shall make this a happy land, to fulfil the words of the Prophet, where I directed thy hand to Isaiah, xliii. and xliv. Let them look to verses 9, 10, as men pretend to say, that visitations like thine have often appeared and come to nothing; let them bring forth, in any age of the world, that ever a woMAN appeared in thy likeness, in the Spirit of Prophecy, to be fulfilled as I have fulfilled my words to thee, and to be placed to the scriptures, as a sign foretold, that shall arise in the end when the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of the living God. This likeness never appeared in the world before, for I now tell them, they cannot bring forward any, likeness to compare with thine. And, from the truth, ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord; and my servants whom I have chosen shall confirm my words. For these are the people I

have formed for myself: they shall shrew forth my praises; for I shall go on to prove the truth of the Scriptures I have compared thee to. Therefore I shewed thee from the Revelations, what was the meaning of the WOMAN being clothed with the SUN, that the SUN of RIGHTEOUSNESS should arise with healing in his wings, to heal the fall of the

WOMAN.

I shall conclude with what I am answered will be the language of the Rev. Mr. Pomeroy's heart, when all is laid before him.

"If I must stand the judge for all,
"I must judge from on high

"The warning came; I've seen it long;
"The truths stand every where.
"I know with her I did contend,
"That SPAIN did not appear
"As she had said; but I'm misled;
"I see her words are true:
"And other things I now can bring
"Them strong before my view.
"So all together if I weigh,

"I must her judges free;

"Their judgment clear doth now appear,
"They all have judged like me,

"Then at the first, till men did burst

"To foil my judgment there;

"But now I see it, at the last,

My judgment it was clear."

The contents of this Book taken from Joanna

Southcott's mouth by me,

Witness, JANE TOWNLEY.

Jan. 25, 1814.

LONDON:

ANN UNDErwood.

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