THE ANSWER OF THE LORD.

"Now I tell thee, this chapter alludes to niy coming in the Spirit, when I come to call my sheep and they shall know my voice; but what other Shepherd did I say, as man, they should depend upon when I compared them to hirelings? and he is a hireling, that denieth the visitation of my Spirit. Now come to the chapter he told thee of in Ezekiel: chapter xiii. 7, 8-Have ye not seen a vain vision, have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, the Lord saith it; albeit, I have not spoken? Now let them mark verse 3-Thus saith the Lord God: woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! Now from the chapter he mentions to thee, as beng brought against thee, is entirely against himself; for he set himself up as a prophet, following his own spirit and having seen nothing. Then let it be known unto all men, the word of the Lord came unto the prophet Ezekiel, to prophesy against these prophets that prophesied out of their own hearts and out of their own hearts have all the priests prophesied that prophesy against thee; and they are seducing my people with lies, saying, peace, and there is no peace: they are building up walls, and daubing them with untempered mortar. Now let them see that chapter deep, what destruction these prophets must bring upon mankind, that prophesy out of their own hearts, who are like the foxes in the desert; and like the foxes they are destroying my sheep, crying peace: but I ask them what peace? Now let them mark verse 22-Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not turn from his wicked way. Now I shall answer thee from this chapter: Let the prophets fear and tremble, that prophesy out of their own hearts, and have seen

EFFECTS OF TRUSTING TO FALSE PROPHETS. 321

nothing, to deceive my people with their lightness and their lies. Now see how much this is in the hearts of the ministers. I have threatened with judgments, and judgments have come; I have threatened with scarcity and dearth, and the land hath felt it; I have threatened to punish with the war and the sword, and it is still over your land. Yet seeing all these things before them, they are prophesying peace to my people, telling them 'tis a vain vision, and a lying divination, all they have seen and heard; for they are telling the people, from their own hearts, they are the prophets to whom you are to trust: but how fatal will be their end, when they see all the judgments pronounced in that chapter fall upon their own heads, for prophesying out of their own hearts? This was the destruction of the Jews; they prophesied out of their own hearts against the true prophets that I had sent unto them, and so they deceived the people by promising them peace, that nothing should a pen to them, when I had threatened to destroy them. Now as I have told thee, in all ages of the world men have been alike, and that likeness will continue, as long as Satan's power reigns; and perfectly as the false prophets are mentioned in that chapter, that they were then, perfectly so they are now; but I now tell thee, their end will be more fatal; be. cause they have my Bible to see what unbelief brought upon man, and how much it is mentioned of the false prophets, prophesying against the true ones. Therefore this last resumption will be more fatal to man than all the former; for where is the man can now come before thee, and say thou hast prophesied lies in my Name? Have not all things been foretold, from 1792 to this day, that have already taken place? And now mark how many men thou hast heard affirm they were called of God to preach the Gospel, whose sinful, lives have made thee tremble: as thou hast often said, to do Ss

the Devil's drudgery in Christ's livery and now I tell thee, your land is full of these preachers. Therefore he pointed to thee the very chapter that sheweth his likeness, and the likeness of others. Know, the true prophet was but one, the false prophets were many; and many false prophets are gone out in your land, saying, the Lord sent them to preach the Gospel, when I have never sent them nor commanded them; but out of their own hearts are they gone, and building up walls, daubing them with untempered mortar, that is not tempered with my true word, nor with the Gospel; for know it is written, the good Shepherd must appear, before the redemption of man takes place, or the fulfilment of the Bible is accomplished; but how is the good Shepherd to appear? or how is the Lord to be revealed? or how is the wicked one to be revealed? Will they say, by those prophets or priests that are gone out into the world, and saying, Lo, here is Christ revealed to me; I am sent out to preach the Gospel, by the sword of his Spirit; and another crying out the same, I am sent out by HIS SPIRIT to preach the Gospel a different way? For this is known unto thee and to all men, it has been affirmed by the different preachers, that thou hast heard preaching one against the other, and yet both say they are called of God; then what untempered mortar is their preaching my word, to say they are called of ME to preach my word when they cannot join together?

So now see all, the wall must fall
That's so built up by man:
Untemper'd mortar is their call,
The prophets false are gone;
Throughout your land they now do stand,
Affirm they are sent by ME;

But from their doctrine thou dost know

They no ways can agree;

Then surely here they must appear

False prophets in your land;

Untemper'd mortar, all see clear,
Together cannot stand.

FALL OF FALSE PROPHETS AND MOCKERS. 323

They mock the warning of the Lord,
They wrest my every word,
And what is left upon record

Hath ne'er to them occurr'd,
That they are come the prophets wrong,
To say they are sent by ME;
Untemper'd mortar doth go on,
As they do disagree.

So now see clear my Bible here
The way that it doth stand;
Untemper'd mortar doth appear,
False prophets they are come,
To tell mankind that they are sent
To preach the word for ME,
And on their words you must depend
If saved you will be;

To trust to man is all their plan;
But how will they appear,

When the good Shepherd he doth come

And ask them when and where

That I did call, as things do fall
So different from my word?
To say that they are prophets all,
That way they mock their Lord;
Yet they contend that 'tis from men
You every thing must know;
They mock the judgments I have sent,
But can they stop the blow?

I tell thee, No; it is not so;

They have not stopt the past,
And fast they'll see the scourge to go,
They'll never stop the last,

But bring it on, proud ignorant men
That say, they know the Lord!

And with their Maker do contend,

As I before have said.

So now comes on that chapter strong-
Let men the chapter see,

Then they must know the prophets wing
The priests so must be;

And down they'll fall, I tell thee, all
When it goes through the land:
The overflowing scourge is near,
I ask them how they'll stand?
When all begin to tumble down
Their mortar will not do:

The sheep they murder with their sound;
Like foxes, all shall know,

They do appear to mock men here,

To say, they are call'd by heaven;

Then all these things they'd known before,
And warning would have given.—

But I'll end here and say no more;
The chapter let them see.

Another chapter must appear,
That he did name of thee,

he says,

Or of himself; his pride did swell
Like Satan's at the first;

But down, I tell him, he will fall
And on the floor be cast."

See Ezekiel xii. 28. (quoted by Garrett)-Thus saith the Lord; there shall none of my words be prolonged any more. Now mark his words: But "This wretch and all her fraternity pretend to have power to fix a time, and then to prolong it at their pleasure! poor devil's fun! they might have escaped many sneers, if they had only fixed the time of the fulfilment of their prophecies a hundred years to come."

"Now I shall answer his words. Had the art and deceit been in thee, to pretend thyself a prophet when thou wast none, thy art and deceit would have been like his, to have fixed to a time that no one could tell whether it was true or false, to mock thee till thou wast no more. This is the art of Satan, and this is the art of a man that is lifted up by him; but let all men know, it was never, the art of thee, thou dealest faithfully with God and man: for I told thee all was at hand, and that all was at hand thou toldest the public. So if it had not come on the devil could have had no fun with thee, if he had come in my name to prophesy; for Satan does not know with what I mean to visit the nations, nor what I intend to do upon the earth. So had thy visitation been from the devil, to cast thee up high by his prophecies, he would soon have brought thee down to the floor again, as the fall of Garrett will be. And know what I told thee by the man's prayer, that mocked Carpenter's praying to the Lord, as he called ME the devil, so Garrett hath mocked the Spirit that leads thee and called ME the devil ; but every soul that mocks thee shall know thy Prophecies come from the God of Truth; whether they live to see the fulfilment or not, Satan will be ready to tell them, after he hath cast them up on проп