THE BIBLE MADE A MIS-MAŽE.

39

Then sure the Fall, I tell you all,

Did much like his appear:
And by the Woman Men did fall,

As Solomon did there.
So all went on, I tell you plain,

Till things grew worse and worse ;
As in the Temple you did see

How every thing was plac'd;
In grandeur there did all appear,

But see how all fell down!
This way the Fall I mean to clear,

If men can judge the sound;
For I'll go on from man to man,

Till Esther ali must see:
She freed lier People in the Land,

That was condemn'd to die.
Then now see clear the shadow here

If Woman caus'd the Fall;
By Solomon the first did come,

And Esther freed them all.
The thing is plain, I say to men,

Though it may to them appear
Just like the mis-maze * thou hast made,

The paths no man can clear ;
The way to go thou well dost know,

To tread thy paths all round:
And yet I see the eye of thee

A straight path may be found
In every way, as it doth lay,

Unto the middle come:
All paths are straight before thy sight,

As thou dost here discern;
Though puzzling see the thing may be,

Which way will all go through,
To bring it straight before your sight,

And now the whole you view.
Now I'll go on from what thou'st dane,

A trifling shadow here,
Yet to the purpose I shall come,

And prove my Bible here.
As many ways, I now do say, "

As they work'd this to night,
So many ways, I now do say,

Men try to bring all straight;
But there's not one, to thee 'tis known

That they did bring straight here;
The crooked paths to them were shewn,

Which they thought they must clear; So they went round in every sound,

But all brought crooked through,
Just so the learned men are found,

And bring all to thy view:
Just so to men I now shall come-
My Bible I've plac'd there;

• This is explained further on.

And crooked paths they all bring in,

No straight path man can clear.
For all have done, as those began

Came crooked every way.
It was to shew the Type of Man,

That I workd so in thee,
To place it here to make it clear,

That crooked men do go;
Therefore their hands I did prepare,

That they should work it so: - But as to thee it was by ME,

That I thy hand work'd straight.
The mystery round must so be found,

To bring all things to light:
You must bring round in every sound,

I say, my Bible here;
And then the straight path shall be found,

That I the whole shall clear.
The ways are two before thy view,

Which way to make it come;
The crooked paths before thy view

Were first work'd by thy hand;
Then all was straight before thy sight,

And so 'tis straight for all,
If men go through, as thou didst do,

And prove it from the Fall,
That crooked round have all been found :

I tell thee, to this day; And as my handmaids here were found, i

Men's wisdom works this way,
To bring all in as they began,

The paths were crooked there;
I said a straight path sure was seen,

And thou didst prove it clear:
But they did not behold the spot,

The way it straight must come ;
Just so, I say to thee, this day

My Bible's work'd by man;
For crooked here they all appear,

And yet they judge 'tis straight
The way they work my Bible here;

But now before thy sight,
There was not one that by his hand

Did bring a straight path there;
Upless 'twas thee, they both did see,

Then how can they appear
To say 'twas straight before their sight,

The way they work'd it round?
And perfect so, they all shall know,

My shepherds all are found:
They work the same, as these began,

Till I did work in thee.
To have the straight path to appear,

The winding paths first see :

CONCERNING THE MIS-MAZE... 41
For to go round in every sound,

Then come to a straight line;
I tell thee, here 't must so appear,

My Bible men must find.
Another day, to thee I say,

I'll place the Type once more :
And then my handmaids I will try,

If they can straight appear.

· Here ends Tvednesday night, Sept. 26. This taken from Joanna Southcott's mouth.

JANE TOWNLEY.

DEAR SIR, Saturday, September 29, 1804.

My last letter must have appeared very puzzling, as I had not time to explain the Mis-maze. Since Joanna was ordered to drop her pen, she saith the words that are given her throw so great a light upon her mind, that while we were writing the lines that she spoke, she began to ruminate and ponder deeply in her own heart, which made her often forget the words that were spoken to her ; for when she wrote her ownself, she had then no time to ponder, as she was engaged in writing. So that of late, to prevent any pondering with the words of the Lord, she has amused her thoughts in taking scraps of paper and doubling them to cut them in holes like dizinonds. This she often did when in bed; and finding by this amusenient her thoughts were so employed in what she was doing, she never lost a worn that the LORD said to her. But since she has been up, she has often amused herself in bending these scraps of paper to make them stand upon the table; and, as she had seen a Mis-maze at Lord Rolle's, she now sits day after day, when the Spirit of the Lord breaks in upon her, amusing herself with making of Mis-mazes with the paper on the table; and then she has no thought of her own, only amusing her

self with what she was doing; and as soon as we had written one line, she distinctly had another line given her, as fast as we could write them. In this manner she was amusing herself, when we were writing about SOLOMON. She had placed a large pincushion in the middle and made a mis-maze all round it, and then the words were spoken to her of what she had done. So Underwood and I were ordered to take a pencil, and work round all her scraps of paper, some of them the length of the line I have drawn *, some still longer, and some shorter, placed round like hedges in a mis-maze ; and we were to try to work round them, so as to bring them into a straight line in the middle; but thinking we were to bring every one to the middle, by so doing we brought them all crooked, which were twenty-four in number. Then Joanna took the pencil and worked round the outward ones first, and when she came to the bottom, she brought them up in a straight line to the middle, and the same at the top; and so she worked the table round, and brought them into four straight lines, that we brought into twenty-four crooked ones. Now I have told you the sense, you will understand the meaning of what was written of the Alis-maze. We were all ordered to draw our judgment, what was meant by the four straight paths. Townley's judgment:- The word of the Lord the light of the Gospel-the Salvation--and the Redemption of Man. Underwood's :--The word of the Lord to Joanna--the light of the Gospel given through hermen's wisdom to be thrown aside and give themselves up wholly to be taught of the Lord. While we were drawing our judgments Joanna said, she would not think herself wiser than us, if she drew. her judgment clearer; because a light broke in upon her, and told, that it was the Promise made of the Woman in the Creation-the Promise that 14.5

• A line of about six iuches in length.

CONCERNING THÉ MIS-MAZE. made to the Woman at the Fall-Christ's death to clear the one—and his Second Coming to claim and fulfil the other.

« Now Joanna thee I'll answer:

Though the first I will not blame;
Yet 'tis Ť, that am thy Master,

Work'd thy judgment, none can shame.
Because at first it so was plac'd,

And so I'll work all round;
The others' judgments I'll not cast,

Because my words are found
To make all true before their view,

The straight path to appear.
The judgment that was drawn by you

Shews how the wise do err;
And yet I say the words of thev,

Trongh varicd in the sound,
• They had a judgment I do huow,

That inust mankind confound.
The lines were here I now shall clear,

Thou drew'st theni straight at first,
And in the end 'twas my intend

Thy judgment right should burst;
For it was I who dwell on high

Did assist thee in the thought.
Thy thoughts were right before men's sight;

For so must all be wrote.
I tell you plain, ve sons of men,

My Bible you work $0,
That all is straight before your sight;

And then the end you'll know,
I shall bring in, as thou'st begun,

I tell thee, froin the Fall;
No other way, to men I say,

You can my Bible call,
To make it straight before your sight

No: crooked men go on;
The winding way there's none doth see

How in the end 't must come,
Till I've work'd round in every sound

My Bible to appear;
For every leaf men must work round,

As I have work'd them here;
And then my WORD that's on record

Will make my Gospel true:
The different judgments all did draw

Be laid before your view."