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and how much he complained of the loss of his honour; which I told thee I should repair, if he came forward as a man of honour, to acknowledge every truth. Thus they must compare the communications with his letters, and then they will see on what conditions things stood.

"Now come to the beginning: when he first fell back, in 1802, what ways he acted! what arts he used thinking to gain his honour amongst men by destroying the truths put in his hands; and the very way he went to gain his honour, at the first, was the way he lost it; and so they must discern, at the last, had he come forward by my commands, either by writing to acknowledge all that had been put in his hands, that he had received them, that all was true, as thou hadst enumerated, but said he was sorry, through unbelief, that he had been prevailed upon to destroy them; yet he would acknowledge he had received them. Had he done this, as I demanded of him, either by letter or appearing; then I should have freed his honour, according to my promises, and cast the blame on his faithless friends, who did not discern, that in a cause like this, where any one came forward in the name of the Lord and to prophesy in his name; that the testimony of Jesus coming is by the Spirit of Prophecy, that is now given to warn that the end is at hand; and to prove the truth of the mission the prophecies of events were ordered to be put in the hands of the ministers. And now I ask mankind, how a minister, that is an upright man, standing between God and his people, can justify himself before God and man, if he refuses to take the letters, that he may find out the truth, whether the woman be visited by the Lord, who is the God of truth, or whether she be visited by the devil, who is the father of

lies ? Here let men discern deeply in what manner the command was given; and then let them look to my Gospel, and know what is written'Believe not every spirit; but try the spirits, whether they are of God or not:' and know I said, that the Spirit of Truth should come to guide you into all truths. Now where are the preachers of my Gospel, who profess to believe in my Gospel and the fulfilment thereof, and do not discern that these commandments stand on record? And this is the duty of every minister, to act as ******* acted at first; for if thou hadst been visited by the devil, he would have had it in his power to stop thy hand in the beginning; because the events would not have taken place, that thou wast ordered to put in his hands, if they had not come from the God of knowledge and truth, who had power to fulfil his words: And therefore, by his wisdom and his prudence, he would have soon found out if there was deceit; and that way he would have stopped thy hand. And this was the duty that every minister ought to have acted in; because I warned them of false prophets, and of true ones; or how could the Spirit of Truth come to guide you into all truths, and teach you things to come, without prophecies being given? But how are these things to be sought out, if the ministers, like careless shepherds, will give themselves no trouble to search out the truth, and try the fruit? Then how is my Gospel obeyed by them? They can no more answer to my Gospel, that they act according to my commands, that they are faithful shepherds, and teachers of the flock, who refuse to search out the truth, when it is put in their power to do it—such can no more answer to the scriptures, in the end, than ******* could answer for himself, when the truth was demanded

of him, to justify himself in keeping it back. Therefore he could not appear to come forward and cast the blame on thee, but if he appeared to clear his honour, it must be to own the truth, and blame himself for listening to the wrong advice of men; and then, from the bible, I should have cleared his honour amongst mankind, to prove he had acted as a faithful shepherd that cared for his sheep, and as a faithful shepherd between God and man. If he had come forward with the truth, to clear himself, he would have found my promises true; but this I did not tell thee he would do; for know I told thee how much he feared to appear, knowing he could not clear himself of what he had done, without acknowledging every truth, which he thought would condemn him, and justify thy writings, that he had advertized came from the devil. But know

my promise, that stands on record: he that confesseth his sins shall find mercy, if he forsake them to turn from the evil of his ways. Here I have shewn thee how I should have cleared his honour, had he come and repented; but they must discern, from his letters, how he contended of the loss of his honour, which I told thee he would never regain, without appearing to clear the truth; and they must discern deeply how much he wished to have all concealed and given up concerning him, that he might not be brought forward in thy writings; then they may understand my answer to his request that I would never give him up, but all the truth must be brought to light and published concerning him.

"This was my strict command; then they must discern what I said concerning the trial being brought round to judge of him, if he refused to come himself; then let them see how the trial was brought round by the witnesses con

; then how I ordered all to go

cerning in print. So that, according to the words I spoke of him, saying, I would never give up the man, they will find are all fulfilled; for I did not give up to any request, that he made. And it was to try the wisdom of men, how they would compare the things together, that I ordered them to try their judgment, and draw their judgment from the communications; which no man could draw a clear judgment from, without going back to the beginning, to discern the letter I ordered thee to send; then to compare it with his answer, how much he intreated for all to be given up concerning him, that none of the truths might be made known, or published; then they must know that my answer was, never to give up to his request; but to have every truth tried and proved.

Here I have shewn them the way that they must judge of the pages that I ordered thee to point out to them, that it was in answer to his letters, which I ordered thee to put in print; and here they may clearly judge the whole. But if his letters had been kept back, and not put in print, all would have stumbled, as ******* began; for they would not have understood the meaning of the words, saying I would not give him up; neither should the believers give him up, to the request that he made, which is the meaning of the words. Therefore the letters, that wounded thee to the heart, to see them in print when he was no more, I now tell thee will ease the hearts of many; because they cannot see clearly the meaning of the one without the other; and perfectly so my Bible stands-without clearing the ending from the beginning; comparing my Gospel with the Prophets; and the Redemption with the Fall; without weighing the whole together, men can draw no more judgment from

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the scriptures, to understand them; and discern the fulfilment; than they could draw their judgment clear from what thou hadst pointed out to them; because thou didst never mention that the answers were given to his letters. And now thou must point out to them, from his calling at first, where he stood without conditions to be the man as I told thee that thy writings should go out by; and by him it was done; and where he stands without conditions, that they may discern what is spoken on conditions, that no man can draw a clear judgment of, till they have seen the

end."

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After this letter was sent, I took my book, and was reading the first letter I was ordered to send *** in 1804, when I came to these words, “***** believes my Visitation to be from the Lord; and in obedience to his command, he waited upon you. Now if you blame ***** for doing that, I must beg you will throw off your gown." On reading these lines, it struck so forcibly upon my mind that he had not; neither was he dead; and therefore thought to myself it was a thing done in mockery, by some one who had seen the book, and had placed his death in that manner, that he took off his gown, and did not go into his pulpit; and though I reasoned with myself every way of the inconsistency of my thoughts, that he would not suffer any one to do such a thing; and that they dared not do it without his permission; yet I could not get the impression off my mind. I told my thoughts to more than forty of my friends. They reasoned with me how unlikely it was for any such thing to be done; or that he was not dead; for it would have been contradicted in the papers; even if he had been seized with a fit and recovered, it would have been put

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