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had not shewn and proved to them there was not corn in the land; and the gentlemen subscribing so much money to buy corn from abroad. But these two harvests are well known, so I need not enlarge. As soon as the harvest was over in 1800, the poor began to complain what martyrs they had been, and sold all they could part with to go through the dearth of 1799; but now they said there was another year come, in which they should be starved to death; and many, I was told, dropped down dead in the streets for want. This wounded me to the heart; and I thought with myself, why should the Lord afflict the innocent with the guilty? Why should a whole nation suffer, because of the unbelief of a few clergy, that did not feel the distresses of the harvest? And I was earnest in prayer, that the Lord would look down in mercy upon the poor; but I was answered: Thou knowest not what man is. It is not for their unbelief only, but the unbelief of the whole nation; and were thy writings abroad in the world, thou wouldest find the same unbelief in the poor thou hast in the rich; and the same unbelief in mankind thou hast found in them. Therefore I sent thee to shepherds after their own hearts. But then I was answered, the Lord would look in pity upon the poor; and set the signs for blessings, and not for judgments. There should be three years of good harvests; and if the ministers I had written to would not come forward to search out the truth, the Lord had other ministers that would come forward; and for their sakes the harvests should come; which is printed in my first book, p. 18, where the harvests are mentioned. But if unbelief abounded in the three years the Lord set the signs for blessings, he would begin in the fourth year of the century, to set the signs for judgments; and judgments should follow, till the nations were convinced of the visitatation of the LORD, and longing for CHRIST'S

signs

Jor

Judgm 1804

PEACEABLE KINGDOM-AND THEN PEACE AND PLENTY WILL FLOW IN OUR LAND.

After I had published to the world in the beginning of 1801, in the May following I received a letter from the Rev. Stanhope Bruce, I then was answered,now are coming the ministers, whom the Lord hath chosen :" which alludes to the dream of the feathered fowls, in my third book, which came from the press the 19th of May; and his letter came the 22d. It then was answered, as I dreamt the birds were changed, so were the men changed from the ministers I had been writing to; and as the birds were unknown, so were the men unknown; as they were shewn me as feathered fowls, so I should know them by their pens, that came from feathered fowls; and the men that would write to me, were the men the Lord had chosen to search out my writings, and to be my judges. I then was told how strong their faith would be:

They will not fear to tell them here
The calling is from Heaven;
And they'll be bold to challenge here,
If ere the chailenge's given.

This, and much more was said of the men that they would write, and of the strength of their faith that would follow; when I had received a letter from no one but the Rev. Stanhope Bruce, which was on the 22d of May; and this communication was unknown to them: I only read it to Mrs. Taylor and a few of my Exeter friends. Now let the serious readers weigh all these things together, and see if they can judge, I have built my faith on a sandy foundation. I may say unto them that pity my being out of my head, as our Saviour said to the people of Jerusalem: Daughters of Jerusalem weep for yourselves, and not for me."

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And here I shall give you the answer was given to me, to the ponderings of my heart, of religion proving my ruin; as many great professors of religion and preachers of the Gos

pel had said all my writings might be true, and yet come from the Devil, as an angel of light. I then pondered in my own heart, how I had made it the study of my life, from my youth up to this day, to walk in the fear of the Lord: if there was a possibility of my being deceived, religion would prove my ruin; as I thought I must be the innocent cause of deceiving many worthy and good people; for they believed the Spirit to be of God, as well as myself; and if I was deceived, they must also: which I thought would bring me with a broken heart to the grave. To these ponderings of my heart I was answered:

"Thou comest far short to be able to love my creatures more than ME; but men have taken in question the knowledge of their GoD, the truth of their Bibles, and judged themselves more upright than their God; for, as thou sayest in thy heart, thou couldest not bear thy feelings, if thou art the innocent cause of deceiving thy friends and yet thou art jealous of the Lord's deceiving thee; then thou must believe there is a better spirit, heart, and mind in thyself, than there is in thy Creator: but thou answerest, that is not thy judgment; it is men's denying the truth of the Bible that makes thee jealous; and I now answer, it is men's jealousy of the truth of their Bibles, that makes them all jealous; for if men judged their Bibles TRUE, they would be jealous for themselves, and not for thee: that meaneth, they would be jealous, fearing they were deceiving themselves, and their religion prove their ruin, because they build their religion on the teaching of men, and not on the teaching of MY SPIRIT. For pow I tell thee, they cover with a covering, but not of MY SPIRIT; and their fear towards ME is by the teaching of men. Now let all men grow as jealous for themselves as thou hast been for thyself; and judge for themselves, whether they would deal more faithfully with their friends than I the LORD will deal

with mine; for if they, being in evil, know how to give good gifts to their children, how much more, shall I the LORD OF HEAVEN AND EARTH, give good gifts to them that ask. But thou sayest in thy heart, that many profess to be friends to ME, that are persecuting MY SPIRIT in thee, under a mistaken notion. To this, I answer, let thy jealousy be their jealousy, lest religion proves their ruin; and let this jealousy alarm the shepherds. "Am I deceiving my flock by a wrong judgment? Hath an "evil spirit the power over me to lead my judgment

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astray? If so, how fatal must my end be, when I "reflect how many thousands I have led into errors by "mocking the Coming of the LORD JESUS CHRIST, "setting at nought all HIS threatenings and warnings, turning the Bible upside down; deceiving the

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people that support me."-The day shall come upon them unawares.-So now let this jealousy arise in all their hearts, lest their religion proves their ruin; for it was I that worked that jealousy in thy heart, to warn the nation at large thereby. now let men grow jealous for themselves, lest their self-confidence proves their ruin, as the self-confi dence of the Jews proved theirs.

For now to all I loud shall call :
And from thy heart appear,
This jealousy must be in all,
And all begin to fear,

On what foundation they have built
To make their tower so strong,
Lest in the end they all shall sink,
When boisterous storms come on.
Upon the sand if now they stand,
Their standing sure must fali,
When I do visit every land,
And come to conquer all.
Then great you'll see the fall will be,
As I did warn before;

And now let all men answer me,

My Gospel must appear.

And know, the fall I told you all,

It would be great to man;

When by that sermon I prove the call,

And shew the end must come;

Our Saviour's Sermon upon the Mount. 7th chap. Matr.

So

A mote was in their brother's eye,

I said that they would see,
But not their beam for to espy;
Such hypocrites would be.
Now I see clear they do appear,
And hypocrites become;
My Gospel they profess to hear,
And build their faith thereon;
But on the sand their faith must stand,
That do my Gospel hear,

But never mark my strict command,

And how I should

appear.

So now let all men silent stand,

For I shall answer here:

Religion will your ruin be,
If you do not discern

The way the words were spoke by me,
How I again should come*.
That in the clouds I should appear,
With all the heavenly train;
As I ascended from their sight,
1 should return to men.
If in like manner now I come,
The likeness all must see:

I first arose to visit them

That had believed in me;
And then in glory did ascend,
And sent my angels near,

To warn my brethren and my friends,
The way I should appear;
And in like manner come again,

Then now the likeness see:
I first must come to visit men,
As I have said to thee;
And every likeness to appear,
The woman saw me firft;

And now the end to all draws near:

The woman so doth burst,

To prove I'm coine again to man,

In Spirit to appear;

So if my Bible you do discern,

You see all mysteries clear.

Then let your pondering thoughts go deep,

As she hath now begun;

And then I say like her you'd weep,
Like my disciples come:

Strange things are by the woman told,

That I do now appear,

My Bible all for to unfold,

Your

ur eyes are holden here:

"We cannot see the mystery,

"And yet our hearts do burn;

"The Scriptures plain we now may see,

"How he again must come."

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*Acts i. Luke xxii.

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