And England's dye is cast; And seek to hear the words from ME- The grapes have made all nations drunk; The children now appear To end as Noah's sons began; To run with blood, much like the flood, "Tis kindling fast, the fames will burst- Encompass'd round with such a sound And now at home doth England groan ; Could you discern how I do warn, FROM JOANNA SOUTHCOTT LONDON: Printed by W. MARCHANT, Greville-Street; and sold by E. J. FIELD, No. 139, near Bloomsbury Court, High Holborn; W. TOZER, Lambeth Road, St. George's Fields; also by W. SYMONDS, Gandy Lane; and the Miss EVESt. Sidwell's, Exeter; S. HIRST, Leeds; J. MIDDLETON, York; and JAMES LIGHT, Coventry-Street, Stourbridge, Worcestershire. LEIGHS, ACCOUNT OF THE TRIALS ON BILLS OF EXCHANGE, WHEREIN THE DECEIT OF MR. JOHN KING AND HIS CONFEDERATES, UNDER THE PRETENCE OF LENDING MONEY, IS EXPOSED, AND THEIR ARTS BROUGHT TO LIGHT. A July 8th, 1807. S my name hath been brought forward in the court of King's Bench, and published in the newspapers, for having interfered concerning the abominable practices carried on under a pretence of lending money by the advertisements; and so many malicious and false reports have been circulated in the papers, concerning Messrs. Sharp and Wilson; and many misrepresentations have been made concerning me, I shall now answer for myself, and prove there was cause enough for divine interference to stop the torrent of this evil. In the Courier, May 14th, 1807, it is said that the Attorney General, council for the plaintiff, stated that he could not conjecture what defence was to be set up to the action; he however imagined that some opposition was to be made, as he held in his hand a letter from Mr. Wilson to the plaintiff, in which he said that he had been nformed by Joanna PRINTED BY S. ROUSSEAU, WOOD STREET, SPA FIELDS. Southcott, who was visited by the Almighty God, · that he had a good defence to the suit. To this I answer that from the laws of God he had a good defence; because the Scriptures command us not to strengthen the hands of evil doers, but to be a terror to evil. doers: for he that upholdeth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, is an abomination to the Lord. And when I have laid the truth before the public, I shall prove that they must be strengthening the hands of evil doers, if they had consented to pay bills they had never received one penny value for. Then it would be strengthening their hands to go on and cheat others the same: and though the law is not open to this kind of swindling, because men, out of a false idea of their honour on the one hand, and fearing the expences of the law on the other, have sooner submitted to their own ruin, or loss, than to bring it forward to shew the iniquity that is practised under this cloke of advertising to lend money; and therefore they have been encouraged to go on, till this divine interference commanded the whole to be brought to light, which I shall explain in this book, and lay before the public; and then they will see that there was cause enough to resist this evil, and stop the torrent. Were I to look to the laws of men, I find that, if a man buys stolen goods, knowing them to be stolen, he is liable to be punished for not bringing the thief to justice; and if a man gives a bill to a servant to pay a debt for him, or to purchase any thing, if the servant apply it to his own use, he is liable to be punished for a breach of trust. So, by the laws of God and man, the defence was just. And to prove that the Spirit which visits me is just, I shall here introduce the first letter I sent to. Mr. King, wherein the Scriptures are brought forward, to prove how the Lord interfered, by the mouth of his prophets, concerning these unjust deeds. |