now I have ordered thee to warn the Bishops and the Clergy in May; and now in May the Fast is; and out of their own mouths will I condemn them all, if they are neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm; for the Letters were written to warn the Clergy before the Fast came; therefore I ordered one to be hastily sent to the Bishop, and to have the Letters hastily printed. So if they are now lukewarm, they are condemned from the very Scriptures they have placed. If they say they have wisdom and want nothing, then I tell them they are blind and naked. I have counselled them to buy of me true gold; that they may be clothed, that the shame of their nakedness may not appear; and to anoint their eyes with eye-salve that they may see; for as many as I love I rebuke; and this Nation I have rebuked, as there are many in it whom I love; but let them not think the French are sinners above all men, because they have done these things. I tell them nay, but unless they repent they shall all likewise perish. Now let them mark the lesson in Isaiah, the 38th chapter,-In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death, and a Sign was given him from the Lord. Now let the learned answer what the Sign was for? Could I not have restored him without giving him a Sign, and do the thing I had promised him? Could he not take my word without a bond? Yet I gave a Sign to Hezekiah. And now I have given Signs unto the Nation : If they turn unto ME, as Hezekiah did, my threatenings shall go backwards; and I will save this Nation, that is condemned to die by judgments; but if they will not lay it to heart, as Hezekiah did, they shall fall by the Signs of the convulsions placed in the Child. So here is the Sign set before them; and the Signs of the Gospel are now come, from the many false Christs that have appeared. Two false Christs have written to thee; therefore I ordered thee to keep their letters, to prove that false Christs were come; and two others have told thee they

were the Christs, and wanted thee to trust to them for Redemption. Yet they confess they never were visited by the Spirit of Prophecy, or had any power given them of working of Miracles. So the Sign of false Christs hath appeared unto thee, as well as the Signs of Tumults and War. But I should act like men, to come to one part of the chapter and not go through the whole. For I tell thee, that chapter is like thy writings.-The shadow fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem, and what followed after to my disciples; but the end was not then; for men have stopped where I shall begin-When ye see Jerusalem compassed with armies, know the desolation is nigh; and that desolation followed Jerusalem. But can man say the end followed then-to see ME come in a cloud with great PowER and GLORY? I tell thee no-But now the time is at hand, that all these things shall be fulfilled-and man's Redemption draws nigh: For the Kingdom of GoD is nigh at hand. But the fulfillment of the chapter is as much neglected by man, as they have proposed not reading it through; for I tell thee, men stop where they ought to begin. Now I shall come to the 20th verse of the other Lesson-Believe in the Lord your God, so shall you be established; believe his Prophets so shall ye prosper. See the xxxviith Psalm the 9th verse to the 16th-Those that wait upon the Lord shall inherit the earth; and the xlixth Psalm at the 4th verse-I will incline mine ear to Parables. Now I tell thee, the very Chapters and Psalms, which they have chosen, allude to the last days. The Sign given to Hezekiah of the Sun's going backward, is a Sign how all shall go backward, when those that wait upon the Lord shall inherit the earth. For those Signs were given for the end. And now I shall speak from Parables :

The xxxviiith of Isaiah. † 2 Chron. xxth chapter.

I have compared all thy Writings to Parables; and from the Bible are Parables; and I shall now come to Parables here, from the Epistle-I have sent my angel unto thee

To warn the Churches here-
When the Creation first was laid,
My witness must appear,

What on the Serpent there was cast,

I say, the every blame.

And now 's the time it so must burst

Not hot nor cold you came:

What Blasphemy was judg'd by ye?

Then, how will you appear?

Out of my mouth I'll spue you all;

My honour I see here

You don't regard that you have err'd,
But say she does blaspheme

Against My Name; then now I'll shame
The learned sons of men;

Because your love I now will prove.
Not hot nor cold to be.

For soon the cause, I know, you'd prove,
If you had love for ME:

So if you 've not I'll tell your lot,

For I shall spue you all,

If sickly is your love to ME,

To let my honour fall.

If you do say that blasphemy

Is in this Woman here,

And never try to stop her hand,
To make it to appear;

Because to you, I'll prove it true,
The words I shall allude.

The JEWS they didnot so appear :

In fiery zeal they stood;

But worse than they you Gentiles be,

To judge she doth blaspheme,

And never come the truth to see,

In honour to MY NAME.

Then blind you be, I now tell

Yea, miserable and poor;

ye,

Because your hearts are gone from мE

You judge your earthly store

Enrich you all; but now I call,

Your nakedness I see;

How, void of grace, you now must fall,

That have no love for ME;

Then e e salve here must now appear

To open all your eyes;

Or else the ditch the blind

For I shall now chastize

may fear,

This very LAND, where now I'm come

In SPIRIT to appear,

For to give eye salve now to men,
And bring my Gospel here-
For where you end I shall begin,
My Gospel to go through-

MY KINGDOM now is nigh at hand,
And all shall find it true.

So now take care. I warn you here,
That ye may boldly stand;
When in the clouds I do appear
For to redeem the Lands

From misery-mankind will see
I shall the lands redeem.

And that you may lift

up your head
My warnings plain are seen;
They do appear, I tell you here,
As shadows at the first;

Because the visions do appear
That in the end will burst.

So i'll go on where man did name'
If you believe your God

You must discern what there is penn'd,

My Gospel must be know'd,

That so must come, I tell thee plain,

Then judge my prophets true,

And then the victory you shall gain;
For as I then did do

I'll do again, ye sons of men,
If you like him appear;
JEHOSHAPHAT is in my view,
Though man had ended here t
Not to go through as he did do,
But you must go through all—
Or like the Gospel chosen by you,
I tell you this will fall.

You must repent and now relent
That you stood out so long;

Or else, I say to thee this day,

Your ruin now will come;

Because 'tis you my angels warn'd,

I say by my Command.

Then how, Oh! ENGLAND will you stand

For to protect your land,

If I appear to spue you here,

As lukewarm friends to ME?

Yourselves with it you must compare;

For now I this tell thee:

That with the FRENCH you can't compare

For hot and cold they be:

Hot in the zeal of their pursuits;

And love to ME quite cold.

Then this to ENGLAND sure must be

The mysteries I'll unfold,

See the Prayer read on the Fast Day, p. 11.

+ Only part of the chapter was commanded to be read.

That this epistle doth allude,
And own the truth plac'd Lere.
For if MY KINGDOM is at hand,
I see they do not care:

And if MY NAME thou dost blaspheme,
To ruin all my land,

There is not love enough in man
For GOD and MAN to stand,
In LOVE appear to see all clear,
Their lukewarm hearts I see:
And if their hearts are frozen here,
Their ruin it will be.

For like the wind it now shall come
They'll find my fury to go on-
If now they mock ME by their Fast
They'll find my anger for to burst.
They own my judgments do appear,
And for their sins I've snitten here
Their gracious Sovereign Lord the King†!!!
They own'd my judgments in the thing;
Then let them know when it did begin,
That I at first did afflict their King,
And see my judgments to roll on.
From their own words I now am come
To answer back, in every line;
As they allow the judgments mine.
And this I told thee of before,
That in this manner should appear,
If men my anger did provoke-

I told thee there I'd bring the stroke;

And now they've own'd the stroke is come!!
From their own mouths I'll now condemn,

I

say, MY shepherds every where

If they deny my judgments here,

When they have warn'd them in the Fast,

From their own words I now shall burst;
Because I said the stroke was there
When first the news it did appear;

And said the papers thou must seal ‡.
But now my mind I shall reveal:

Since men have own'd MY WORDS are true,
I'll bring all mysteries to thy view:

I meant to have them own it first,

And then the truth I meant should burst,
How I from shadows did begin,

And brought my judgments in the Spring;
In the same month they did appear

That in thy Book was printed there:

On Thursday afternoon the wind was very high and roared like thunder, when our friend was writing the Communication in answer to the Prayers for the Fast.

† See p. 5, in the Prayer for ourSovereign, and in p. 25 of t'ais book. Joanna was ordered to seal up some newspapers, and all the papers to be laid by.