ment, to assure thee they were not from the devil; and when I told thee of the sign of the other ministers, that if they kept silence; then it should go out by his judgment alone; and this he did not refuse to pass. So that he fulfilled the first, according to my Disciples, who went out to preach my Gospel, and yet many were stumbled in the end, and went back; and so I have told thee he began to be stumbled, when he saw the communication in a different light to what he saw it at first; and therefore I told thee that I bore with the man, I pitied the man, knowing what alarmed his fears. But now. as he hath refused to judge for himself, or to give an answer to the request I ordered thee to send, let him not pity Hows for taking so long a journey to search out the truth, and prove the spirit, whether it be of God or not, by revealing to thee the secrets of his heart, and how his jealousy was alarmed, fearing the threatenings that stood in that letter were against him, if he refused to become the Bridegroom. Because this I have told thee was the reason that his anger was kindled, from the letter which I have now ordered thee to put in print, for other men to draw their judgment from; as he refused to give an answer to any inquiry made of him. But his repentance and seeing his error in the end is a prophecy put in the hands of the Bishops, which I have told thee will be fulfilled before this year hath an end. So that he can give no answer to this, for the present; because he knoweth not what a day may bring forth. Peter boasted that he would sooner die with ME, than deny ME, but know how soon he swore by an oath, "I know not the man;" Paul was going to Damascus, to have my friends and followers put to death, but know how soon a change came upon him; and therefore ye cannot tell of things to come, what change may be worked in the heart of a man in a day and hour they little think of. For, as the eyes of the blind by nature were opened by my power and my working; so, in like manner, those that are spiritually blind may have the eyes of their understanding opened to see the daylight, when it breaketh in upon them; and therefore ye can draw no judgment of what is to come, concerning the sign that is placed of his repentance. But from what I have told thee caused his anger, if he can come boldly forward and say, that such a thought never entered his heart, neither had he ever seen the letter in that light, to make him dread seeing thy name stand with his; if he can say from his own conscience, that all is false, which thou hast been answered concerning his thoughts; then let him say that thy writings are from the devil, as he said it was the devil that ordered thee to put his name in print; but if he cannot deny what I have said concerning the language of his heart and thoughts the way and manner he judged the letter in the end; if he cannot deny the truth of my words, let him no longer say that thy writings are from the devil. For now the end is come, for ME to try and prove the man; and this is the truth I require of him to answer, from his own conscience, whether his fears were not alarmed, in the manner I have told thee? And if he answers to this question, it is all I now require of him; for as thy writings are out in the world, there are others as well as him, to come forward in the priestly office, and to bear record of what they have seen and known. "But as to the threatenings concerning the marriage; so far from my threatening any man for rejecting thy hand in wedlock, I now tell thee the greatest threatening and the greatest danger 'is to any man that wishes to take thy hand with, C out his heart being united with it, without seeing the calling clear, and believing the visitation to be from on high; and without saying that he regards the woman who hath run through such dangers and hazards, and such persecution as thou hast went through, to follow on to know the Lord, and to be a clear judge in whom thou hast believed, that thou canst see thy calling clear, from the manner all was spoken, and the way I have worked round to fulfil it; therefore let no man say that I threatened judgments to him, or to any man, for rejecting thy hand in wedlock. But now I tell thee where the threatenings stand; as this was a prophecy put in the hands of a minister, for such a time as this, that, like the mock bishops and mock marriages, so in that likeness it must now take place with thee; and as this is granted by your laws concerning them, so it must now be granted concerning thee, before the CHILD is born; but after that to be realized. "Here I have shewn thee plainly in what manner the prophecy stands, and how the threatenings stand to him, if he refuses to answer the truth. But if he answers concerning the prophecy, that what I have said is true; then no man can blame him, neither do I; but if what I have said is false; then now I have put it in his power to convince thy friends that thou art led by a wrong spirit. As he saith that he pitieth them; then now let him shew his pity and his love to God and man, that no wrong spirit may come forward in the name of the Lord; and therefore I told thee I should never give him up, till it came to the awful trial in the end: and here the trial stands awful to him, if he stands to the determination he told Hows of, to give no answer, whether it be right or wrong. Because here is an answer required, which the world cannot judge from, as they could of the events put in his hands, which were national prophecies, which proved them selves; but this is a prophecy from his own heart and thoughts, which no man can judge of but himself, to answer whether it be true or false. But thou sayest in thy heart, if it be false, he must contradict, to prove the truth of his words, that he said thy writings were from the devil; but, if he be silent, when this power is put into his hands, then he must own that he cannot contradict it. "So let him not say that he pities thy friends for being led astray, when I have put it in his power to prove it, if it be so; and, let him not say that he will answer to truth wherever he sees it, if he now refuses to answer to the truth of what I have said concerning him. For here I have made the prophecy plain before all men; and how the truth may be tried and proved, that the counsels of the heart are made manifest and brought to light, by the knowledge and wisdom. of God, who searcheth the heart and trieth the reins of the children of men, and who inspired men with wisdom and understanding, which they theirselves did not discern, and wisdom which the world admire, but cannot explain and if you inquire of them the meaning of the words so much admired by men, they will tell thee that they do not believe it. For now I shall come to the "MESSIAH," written by Pope, which is so universally admired; but if men believed what they profess to admiré in his "Messiah," they must believe in my visitation to thee, both from the Prophecies and the Son that I have told thee shall be born this year, to fulfil my Gospel and the Prophets. Now come to one of his remarks, and then let the verse follow." "Imitations. "A Virgin shall conceive-All crime shall cease, &c. Now the Virgin returns, now the kingdom "of Saturn returns, now a new progeny is sent "down from high heaven. By means of thee, "whatever relics of our crimes remain shall be "wiped away, and free the world from perpetual "fears. He shall govern the earth in peace, with "the virtues of his father." MESSIAH. A sacred Eclogue, in immitation of Virgil's Pollia, Ye Nymphs of SOLYMA! begin the song: 2 Rapt into future times, the bard begun : |