THE FAMILIARITY OF GOD WITH MAN. 197 fore he hath slain them in the wilderness. And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, the Lord is long-suffering, and of great mercy-And the Lord said, I have pardoned, according to thy word; but as truely as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the GLORY of the LORD. Now if you go through all the books of Moses, you will find the Lord talked with Moses, as man with man. And in the book of Joshua, how the Lord visited Joshua. Chap. i. 1— The Lord spake unto Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the landwhich I gave them. In chap. x. 12-Then spake Joshua to the Lord, in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou moon in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until they had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Now if you go through the Bible, you will find that the Lord visited his people, to warn them, to direct them, to protect them, and to reprove them, throughout the Old Testament; there he appeared visibly throughout, either by HIMSELF, or his angels; making men prophets, as they had no knowledge of any inspiration of the HOLY GHOST, before our SAVIOUR came upon the earth. Now our SAVIOUR's command is, to teach us to look for the HOLY SPIRIT of GOD, which is a SPIRIT within: for know what our Saviour saith-the wind bloweth where it listeth, ye hear the sound thereof, but ye cannot tell whence it come, or whither it goeth; so is every one that his born of the Spirit. Now the HOLY GHOST, which is called the COMFORTER, is to come in SPIRIT, and in POWER; but it is not said he is to come in person, like the visitation of the LORD to the people of old; for we do not read that the angels of the Lord were with the Apostles,

after our SAVIOUR's Death, as they were with the people of old; or that the LORD appeared to them after HIS ASCENSION TO GLORY, as he appeared throughout to Moses in the Wilderness. The

Apostles were taught to look for the visitation of the LORD from his SPIRIT; therefore St. Paul saith, quench not the Spirit, despise not Prophecies. The New Testament as much affirmeth, that the Spirit of the Lord shall be given to prophesy, and to know the MIND and WILL of God, by the POWER of his SPIRIT, by the influence of his SPIRIT, and by the visitation of his SPIRIT, as ever the people of old were taught by the visitation of the LORD, by his sending his angels visibly to the prophets; but our Saviour taught us, that the POWER of his SPIRIT would be invisible. So he that denieth the one denieth the other; and how can men pretend to believe, that the Lord would condescend to shew such wondrous visitation to Moses, so many times as he came upon the Tabernacle in Fire, that the chil dren of Israel were afraid, and desired that Moses would speak to HIM; for if the Lord spoke to them, they should die? Then how can men be so ignorant, to think they can be fit for the Coming of Christ, and his Kingdom, before their hearts be prepared for his Coming, as the Lord prepared the heart of Moses to be able to bear HIS PRESENCE? The more I read the Bible, the more I am convinced that the visitation of the Lord must first come in the Spirit, to warn of his Coming, before HE cometh in MIGHT, MAJESTY, and GLORY, to act consistert with all the ways of Gop, throughout the BIBLE. How did the Lord try Pharoah, before he destroyed him! But some will say, the LORD himself hardened Pharoah's heart. I grant it. I grant it. Now, before we pass judgment on these things, we must look at the beginning, lest we charge God foolishly. Consider what Pharoah did in the first place; by arts he tried to kill all the male children of the Hebrews, by con

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sulting with the midwives; but when private arts would not do, then he made a public decree, that every male child of the Hebrews should be destroyed. Here he put his bloody practices into execution; and the LORD preserved Moses for his destruction. Now, as that Pharoah died, so you might say, it was not for his destruction, but for the destruction of the Pharoah that came after him; but we read that he was the same as the Pharoah before him, and the groanings of the children of Israel grew greater and greater. So the sin of one rested upon the head of the other, to work wickedness, and act with cruelty. Then why should we marvel at the Lord's hardening his heart, that he might shew his visible signs and judgments in the land of Egypt, to punish the king and the people, for their cruelty to the children of Israel, and to prove to them, that there was a GOD in POWER, whom the children of Israel were called to worship; and whom they theirselves ought to worship? Now remember what Pharoah said to Moses, Exodus v. 2-Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. Now we see from this, that Pharoah had no idea of a GOD in POWER, to punish his iniquities; neither had the Egyptians; for they beligved none were in greater power than their own wise men, the soothsayers and magicians, who had power to work by enchantments. Therefore the LORD wisely hardened Pharoah's heart, to shew them the difference between the Power of Gop and the Power of Men that worked by the Power of the Devil; therefore the Lord hardened on his heart, to let him know who he was, and to convince the Egyptians of the folly of the wise men, that they trusted in. But how could this be done, if Pharoah's heart had not been hardened, to contend with the Lord, to make him know and feel his POWER, that it might appear visibly here upon earth? Now men do allow that there is a punish

ment for sin after death, which they also allow to be just; but where is the man that goes to see this punishment? For it is of no use to the living; neither does it turn any from their sins! But when the Lord begins to shew his punishment and judgments here upon EARTH, then they turn many from the evil of their ways; and they stand to posterity to shew the POWER of GOD, and his judgment. Therefore the things that I once marvelled at, why the Lord should harden Pharoah's heart, I now see DIVINE and INFINITE WISDOM in it; for if the LORD had not visibly punished Pharoah in this world, no man would have thought of his punishment afterwards; therefore, if we look back to the original crimes of Egypt, and their cruelty to the children of Israel, it was wisdom, justice, and goodness in GoD, to shew his public judgments to the world; and that crimes like theirs should not go unpunished; but had not the Lord raised them up to shew them, the world could never have known them. Now, when we trace the wondrous works of God throughout the Bible, they stand upon record, to shew the punishment due to sin in this world, which never would have been of use to man, if all had been punished in the world to come; and if no visible judgments had appeared here, their punishment after death would be of no use to the living. Now if we look to Turkey, we see the wretched cruelty that is committed there; yet till the Lord begins, by visible judgments, to shew his wondrous works and power, the Turks will have no more knowledge of God than Pharoah had; for the death of one bloody monarch raised up another just as bad. Therefore, the LORD must shew his VISIBLE POWER in this world, that it might be made known in the earth, that there is a GoD, to reward the righteous, and punish the wicked; therefore I'see the WISDOM OF GOD in all his dealings.

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THE ANSWER OF THE LORD.

"Now, Joanna, I shall answer the pondering of thy heart, that thou art afraid to mention; but as thou canst not conceal thy thoughts from ME, thou shalt not conceal them from the world; for I knew every thought of thy heart, as thou wast reading through thy Bible, that if it was not from what I had revealed to thee before, to try Satan's reign here upon earth, that I might be clear to men and angels, of my first casting him out of Heaven, and at last to chain him to utter darkness by himself, thou shouldest have marvelled why I created Man at all, as all knowledge was in ME, that men would sin, and sin would bring upon them sorrow. These have been the ponderings of thy heart; and that the revelation, which has been given to thee, is the very thing that clears the JUSTICE of GOD in ALL THINGS; for without Satan's suffering, who is the origin of evil, thou couldest not see in thy heart why Men should be created to suffer; but thou sayest thou art afraid, that thy thoughts have been sinful, taking in question the WISDOM of the MOST HIGH. Now I shall answer thee the ponderings of thy heart are just; for it was I that caused them to work within thee. It was never MY JUSTICE, nor ever MY DECREE to. create MEN to suffer, and free the author that tempts them to evil; yet Men are endowed with sense, and with reason; and as thou sayest they had my visitation from age to age, to warn them, to teach them, to direct them, and to punish them, visibly in this world, that men might know there was a punishment due to sin; therefore if men were determined. to be rebellious, they ought to suffer for their rebellion; and if men will give themselves up to hearts of cruelty, they ought to suffer for their cruelty; and this in thy own heart thou sayest is just. And now I shall come to the CREATION of MAN: What I said before he fell-it was not good for the MAN to ›

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