Here I shall make an inquiry of men, whether they say that this is all brought round by the devil, or whether they will say " I yield! I yield! I can hold out no more; Could Satan bring it round this way; You all will find I have a God, And every armour's nigh, That will confound in every sound His armour I'll put on ; And then he'll shake the earthly ground; I mean the hearts of men. When they appear to see it clear, Confounded all will be, Who did pretend to baffle here We cannot answer thee One word of a thousand: it is the Lord's doing, and marvellous in our eyes." Here I have shewn how stood ou conditions, and how he acted both ways. I am likewise ordered to bring forward what was said of others, whom I was ordered to write unto, in 1796, how the conditions were placed for them; I accordingly wrote to *****; but it was not told me whether he would hear or not; but that it stood on conditions. Strange Effects of Faith, page 85. "Now like the Psalm I shall begin, So with thy letter now begin, That thou must send to The souls of many he shall win, My words before him they must come, For now my time is fully up, If England now does sleep. Out of their dream they must awake, My rod and sceptre both I'll shake, If men do not obey. Great is my promise if they do, But threatenings are severe; And they shall find my words are true Before I've ended here. So with thy letter now begin; For I shall all men try; And if they to the purpose come, Shock'd with surprise he'll surely be, As you this day begin; Another time I shall explain The meaning of the thing." The Sunday after I had sent the letter, the reverend gentleman's text was from Hebrews, iii. 7. Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, to-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, &c." When I came home, being full of doubts, I was answered "O, thou of little faith, why dost thou doubt, The sermon he preached was upon the Holy Ghost, which I could by no means understand it was beyond my comprehension; but I though the manner he spoke was like people's saying, was all finished, when Christ died;" but yet, as did not fully understand his meaning, I said would neither justify nor condemn. And here was answered, that he must be the judge of his sermon, and I must be the judge of my own writings; for his sermon was too high for me; and my writings were too high for him; as he gave no answer to my letter, and said he did not understand it. "Now I shall answer thee. No man, without a strength of faith, believing thy visitation to be from the Lord, could be a clear judge of thy writings. Discern these two lines Then by their faith preserved they shall be; But what straight line were they in at that time? Know I said thou must go in bye-paths first, to unhang the gates, to go over the stiles, and then to come into the gap to make up the breach, as Moses did before. Then how could all be in a straight line then? But now I have ordered thee to bring all in a straight line, and to go into the gap, and make up the breach for ye must know that there is a breach to make up now; and the gap is broken down for the sheep to go out. Here let men of wisdom land back their thoughts to what was then aud discern how things stand now; as I have ordered thee to bring it together in a straight line. Then they may understand at what time my great promises or great threatenings will take place, at a time I told thee to make up the breach; but what breach then hadst thou got to make up, when thou judgedst thou hadst a Moses to depend upon, or one like him, that would act faithfully and true? Know I told thee of ***** he would be shocked with surprise; but what shock could it be to him to receive thy letter, which he did not understand? But know, when I ordered thee to write to the Bishop, in 1799, then he was shocked with surprise, and returned thy letter with anger and indignation. Know what ******* told **** that his master trembled with passion, and said, "Now she hath written to the Bishop! carry back her letter directly to ******** and forbid her writing to me any more?" "Now come to the other: what answer I gave thee in 1797, **** to s sermon. The text was from 2 Corinthians, viii. 9."For ye know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich." In the course of his sermon he said, if we did not believe in Christ, because we could not find out all mysteries, we should be like a man, who sought for an anchor in the dark, and so make shipwreck of faith and a good conscience; or like a philosopher, who threw away his cup, cup, because he was outdone by a boy, who made a cup with the hollow of his hand to drink out of. In his sermon he said, that nothing could strike us more forcibly than our own consciences, when our Saviour said, "I was hungry, and ye gave me no meat; thirsty, ye gave me no drink: as much as ye did it not to the least of my disciples, ye did it not unto me." I thought he was acting like the philosopher; and out of his own mouth I could condemn him. When I came home, it was answered me in the following manner. |