the Spirit of God? Men are now writing in different books, as well as your's, their discernment of the Gospel, that our Saviour's words are fulfilling; and this every man may see, that reads the Gospel, and discerns the times; but none of these writers foretold these events were hastening on in 1792, that have since, and are now taking place. This they did not foretel by their wisdom, as I foretold by the Spirit of Prophecy; neither hath any writer discerned in what manner our redemption must take place. You have quoted the destruction of Satan in the 8th page of your book, "The Important Period;" but you have not explained, from any Scripture, why his kingdom is to be destroyed; or why his power is to be destroyed; so you have left your readers in as great a mystery as before; yet, I confess your observation to be just, that after Satan's power is destroyed, according to Revelation xx, then will come the Kingdom of our Lord and his Christ. This every one that reads the Bible must know; but the mystery, in what manner, and for what reason, and on what conditions, our redemption will take place, and Satan's power be destroyed, never could be known by man, without the revelation of the Spirit of God, who is a God of order, and not of confusion, and sets bounds for all things: and on conditions man stood in the creation; and as the Lord fixed conditions for man, so are conditions set for the powers of darkness, by the Sealed Number. But this wasa mystery never known, nor understood by man; and it is the God of truth that must lead us into all truths.

Here I must leave you to draw your own judgment, from the Scriptures, and what I have said. But an impostor I am none; but know in whom I have believed, and stand a judge for myself by the visitation of the Spirit, and of the truth that hath followed my writings, from 1792 to this day, and my conduct in applying to ministers, and appealing to the public at large, put it out of the power of any

man to prove me an impostor. You are at liberty to make what use you please of this letter, as I can come forward with a clear conscience, and respectable witnesses, to prove my upright dealings between God and man.-From JOANNA SOUTHCOTT,

Now I shall leave the readers to judge from this letter, whether they can see any artful evasions from what I have published to the world. I only explained the sense and meaning of what had been revealed to me, in as clear a manner as I could; therefore I evaded nothing that had been said in my writings; but instead of wishing to come to a clearer explanation in a way and manner that became a Christian, he sent me back the following insolent answer :MADAM, March 16th, 1806.

I received your long, laborious, and complimentary letter, but could wish it was more to the purpose. However you may stigmatize Mr. Fisher with wild ideas, or a spirit of enthusiasm, I would to God you had not partaken of the same spirit, and that you were divested of those artful evasions, those dissimulations, and those false glosses, that proceed from the enemy of souls; who goeth about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

My request to you again is, not for a vindication of your authority at present, or any animadversions on the various opinions of men on prophecy, but for a positive answer from you, whether you assume to yourself the appellation of the Bride, the Lamb's Wife, Rev. xxi. 9, xxii. 17, and the Woman clothed with the Sun, Rev. xii? If you do or do not assert, that you are appointed by God to seal his chosen people in the latter ages of the world? and also, if the letter you sent me was dictated by the Spirit of God in an audible voice to you, which Mr. Abbott as well as Mr. Fisher informs me is the manner you receive your communications from God?

An investigator of the Truth,
LEWIS MAYER.

No. 9, Coleman-street,

Bunhill-row.

This ignorant and insolent letter provoked me to anger: I say ignorant, for if he had understood my letter to him, he must have discerned I answered the questions he asked in his first letter; and he must have discerned my letter was written from myself, explaining the meaning of my visitation; but not a cominunication from the Lord; and to hear a man boasting to the world that he, from his own knowledge, could explain the Scriptures, and from his knowledge, prove the time was at hand, that what was revealed to me in 1792 would now be fulfilled, and at the same time deny the visitation to me as being from the Lord, that foretold the events; this provoked me to anger, and I sent him the fol lowing letter, as I plainly saw the pride of his heart, that he savoured not of the things of God, but of men, March 19th, 1806.

SIR,

YOU say you received a complimentary letter from me, and in return you have sent an answer, just like yourself, full of insolence and ignorance, judging me another such as yourself, to impose on the public, as you have done, by putting out hand-bills and a title, to take in the simple and unwary with these words "The lon wished-for Revolution shewn to be at hand," without any explanation to the meaning of the words, what is wished, or what revolution you mean. Trace back the records of history, and see what bath been done in ages past, concerning the revolutions and great power that hath been given; look to the successors of Charles the Great*, and others recorded in history the same; so if you have no other grounds but what you have pointed out, you never can dispel the clouds of error; but if you allow the fulfilment of the prophecies that stand in the records of the Bible are now at hand to be fulfilled, then you allow my visitation to be from the Lord; for this I

Or Charlemagne, who established the empire of the Franks; and in the revival of which, about a 1000 years afterwards, Buona¡ate so greatly exults.

was warned of in 1792, with all the other events that have since taken place; and many more that are to take place, which you yourself have published to the world you believe will now take place. So out of your own mouth do I condemn you, for acting, according to the old saying, malicious people will hang themselves to plague their neighbours; and so you condemn your own writings, because you would condemn my prophecies, and shew yourself in the gall of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity; to be malicious against the Spirit of God, you would deny your own writings; for though you say all these things are at hand, to fulfil the prophecies of the Bible, but you cannot tell which way they will be fulfilled, to make the Scriptures true; and now you have shewn a malicious spirit, to think the Lord, by his wisdom, should reveal a way to fulfil the whole, that you yourself could not find out. Here is the spiritual pride and envy that is arisen in your breast; you would sooner condemn your own wisdom than allow the Lord to be wiser than yourself, to go one step beyond you in knowledge, wisdom, or understanding. Now see the false gloss you are putting over your own writings, by a malicious spirit, to deny mine; for if you have drawn a right judgment of the times that these days are at hand, that you have mentioned; I answer, before they sprang forth, I told of them; so I have put no false gloss, with artful evasions, or any dissimulation, in my writings; they are gone out, for the public to judge for themselves; and there men may judge from what I have said in public; but if you deny my visitation being from the Lord, you must artfully evade your own words, and say you do not believe the fulfilment of the prophecies of the Bible is at hand; neither can you dispel the clouds of error, by any truth that is in yourself, by the manner of your letter to me. You ask me, what I am? I answer, with St. Paul, by the grace of

God, I am what I am; and to men of sense I can answer for myself in every thing I have published to the world; but can you answer to men of sense that you have explained to the world the meaning and the sense of the long-wished-for revolution? This is a mystery you cannot explain; neither have you attempted it, in the pamphlet where that title stands, but put a false gloss over the whole, in bringing forward a title, and not explaining a word of its meaning. So by your book you have discovered your ignorance; and by your letter to me you have completed it. Had you understood my letter, you must be lost in spiritual pride, malice, and envy' of the devil, to send me back such an insolent answer: and now I advise you to call reason to your assistance, and see if you can justify yourself in what you are doing, before you sit down and write such letters again. But as you had the confidence to demand an answer from me, without a civil enquiry what I made of Revelation xxi, xxii. 17—and the Woman clothed with the Sun. Rev. xii. These things I have published to the world, as they are explained to me, which every one may see. And now my demand is of you, to give me an explanation of them from your wisdom, or send me no more impertinent letters, for I shall not answer them. From JOANNA SOUTHCOTT.

There was reason to expect that the above letter from me to Mr. Mayer, would have terminated our correspondence; but I received another from him, dated March 22, 1806; and, as he has advanced opinions and made charges therein, against the truth of my writings, and against the uprightness of my dealings with the world, I shall here insert his words, following him, as he proceeds, with such observations and answers, as, I trust, will enable the reader to form a right judgment between him and me, and also as to which appears most agreeable to the Scriptures, my visitation or his conduct.