shall confound them in the end, as he would confound the author that forged the lies in his name, if he could find out the man; how would he ap, pear? but I do not tell thee whether he will discover the man, or not; but he will be confounded to know he is foiled in what he hath done; and so shall I confound the world at large, and shame thy accusers as I told thee before. Here the type stands deep to shew mankind what they are doing. And now I shall come to the other letter, that is forged in the name of thy enemy; and this, I shall place another way, as men say it is from an enemy that all thy writings proceed, and so they are forging his name one way, as they are forging mine the other. But no more than man can prove the letter was sent by the enemy thou judged it must come from by the name that was sent to thee, no more can man prove thy visitation come from the enemy of all mankind, which is the devil, though with confidence they have affirmed it, as with confidence the letter was sent to thee. But no more than they can prove what was said in the letter against thee in the name of an enemy, no more can man prove all the knowledge that hath been revealed to thee could come from your adversary the devil. Therefore these two letters shew the perfect likeness of mankind, what wrong judgments, and false assertions, they are making of my visitation to thee, and it is known to thee, and to all, whoever sent the letter, no man can prove it true, because, it is malice kindled from the devil, full of lies like himself. And in this manner he is working in the hearts of men to fill them up with lies that the truth may not be believed; because, the truth of my words is daily fulfilling before them. All hearts are open to my view and Satan's working I. well knew; therefore I told thee before, how strong he would work in the hearts of sinners; and what mockery believers had first to go through. And now thou seest it is rising high; here, let all men discern the TRUTH of MY WORDS, how they are plainly proved. And where is there an upright man, or a just man, that will so greatly dishonour MY NAME, as to say these lies, and forging men's names could ever come from my spirit? all must know it came from the devil to forge the lies at first, and then to forge "an author that was innocent of the crime. Here these letters stand two ways; and two ways do men go on, and both alike, they will find are wrong. The one, to say thy visitation come from. an enemy; the other, to say I am become thy enemy. Here, let men discern in what likeness the letters are both placed, and how they are proved to be false, and so in the end they will find all is false that thy enemies have said of thee; and the guilt will turn back on their own heads. So here is a LOOKING GLASS for all men to discern, and clearly to see, from whence thy enemies spring, and where the malice do all proceed; so do not grieve at what is done to have thy name slandered with lies, for their lies will turn back on their own heads to their own shame and their own confusion. That the readers may understand the sense of the above communication, I shall give an expla nation of the two letters alluded to. After I had demanded of Mr. Trewman the author of the paragraph put in his paper concerning me, I received a letter in the name of Wm, Searle, of Exeter, saying he was the author of the paragraph, and was ready to prove the truth of it. But when an enquiry was made to him, he affirmed he knew nothing of the paragraph that was put in the paper; neither did he ever write to me in his life: and who ever had wrote it they had forged his name; but as this man had formerly been an ene my, and against my visitation, for which reason I suppose they wrote the letter in his name, which he hath denied. The other was a letter sent to the Rev. Mr. Foley, in the name of J. Linter a believer, to support the false assertions which was put in Trewman's paper concerning selling the seals, blaming Mr. Foley for believing in my visitation, and saying "the seals are notoriously sold at Kener, Kenton, and Exon, at 2s. 6d. each, as regularly as you eat your food: and I have wrote several for her at my house, at threepence per piece, and she has received the profits for them." ciz. 2s. 3d. From your respectful, &c. (Signed) John Linter. Direct to John Linter, Kenton, Devon. The Rev. T. P. Foley's answer to the above. Sir, Old Swimford, May 17, 1809. The next time you take up your pen to address me, I hope you will make TRUTH the standard; and not fill your letter with such folly and wicked lies, as you have done in the one I have received. I am, &c. &c. Thomas P. Foley. For Mr. Linter, Kenton, Devon. Mr. Linter's answer to the Rev. T. P. Foley. Powderham, May 21, 1809. Rev. Sir, The receipt of your letter astonishes me greatly; I never before this had the honour of addressing you; nor could I have had the least suspicion of the result of what I am therein accused, but being (as I hope and trust in the Almighty who knows all hearts a true sealed brother and consequently thereby a believer in Mrs. Southcott's divine mission, have and are continually hearing of you, though I much regret that I had not the opportunity of being personally acquainted with you when in Devonshire) the letter you have received in my name I should much wish to sce, hoping thereby some time or other to be able to trace out its 'infamous author, no other than one of Satan's strong agents could have been guilty of so infamous a deed. I very much wish to hear from you again, &c. &c. I am, Rev. Sir, with true respect, Your most obedient and humble screant, J. Linter. P.S. I have left Kenton, there could be no mistake as there is not another that bears my resem blance of the name in this country. These letters I was ordered to bring forward, to shew the infamous conduct of my enemies; and what false assertions they have made in another man's name. I have no doubt but the writer of this letter knew that Mr. Linter was a believer, and by forging his name to the letter, saying, he had wrote the seals, and that I sold them, was in their opinion a confirmation to what they had put in the newspaper, without considering Mr. Foley knew better. He well knew no one could be writing seals for me in Devonshire, as I am not there either to sign or seal them, and without that being done there can be no seals; and he likewise knew, I never paid any one for writing the seals, neither did I ever sell one in my life, and the sealing hath been stopped ever since Sep tember 2, 1808. And therefore, Mr. Foley knew the whole to be false. So they could not impose upon him that way, and therefore, it was, that he returned such an answer to the letter. But whoever wrote that letter, has proved himself as regular in loving to make lies, as he is in eating his food, or else such false inventions could not have entered his head; for not one word of truth was there in it. So then let him consider the sentence passed on them that loveth to make lies. But all this proves the truth of my writings, that my enemies must be worked on by the devil by the false assertions they are making. And now I shall come to the observation of another man, who answered Mr. Foley in the Birmingham paper, and at the conclusion made the following inquiry of him. Sir, Do pray tell us when we may look for this blessed consummation of sin and misery. Joanna is old, and hitherto we have found none of the happy effects of her divine mission. On the contrary, we unbelievers think there has been more wickedness and wretchedness, that is to say, more corruption, injustice, and libertinism, on the one hand, and more oppression, bloodshed, and desolation, on the other, since "the angels rejoiced at the birth of Joanna Southcott," than there was before that important era. May 4, 1809. I am, To his words I was answered, mouth will I condemn him, for he hath freely owned the sins of all nations hath abounded more than before, since the time of thy birth. And know in my visitation to thee at first, I told thee the sins of the nations had provoked me to anger, that my visitation would be from nation to nation |