But whether you believe this or not, the consequence is to yourself. I believe it, and the whole world will be made to believe it, I am afraid, to their sorrow; and, perhaps, the pride displayed in your letter, so enslaves your understanding, that you can neither believe it, nor the true sense of Bible. Here are the words of the Lord to your blasphemy against him, and your abuse to Joanna:

your

"Now let the words of Samuel be sent to Pomeroy, in my NAME, the LIVING GOD, and thus shalt thou say unto him, The anger of the Lord is kindled against you, because you have disgraced the LIVING GOD, and mocked and despised all his words; therefore, they that honour ME, I will honour; and they that despise ME, shall be lightly esteemed; for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry; for you have rejected the words of the Lord, to give unto him the honour due unto his Name; therefore I have rejected to give honour to him; and he shall know it is I the Lord have spoken by thee. And now I will speak to him, in his own words. He said the Lord had no work to do, but he could find instruments to work by; now I have found instruments to work by, for thee to carry on my work; and as he saith, that work is blasphemy, a farrago of nonsense from the devil, let him find instruments to work by to clear himself and come against thee. I have chosen for myself twenty-four, to be judges for thee; and let him choose twenty-four to come against thee; then if they can prove it to be a farrago of nonsense and the works of the devil, thou shalt publickly ask his pardon in every paper, and the books that are against him shall be totally destroyed. So let him see I shall do him justice;

and now with justice let him act. He is at liberty to gain ministers, and appeal to the bishops to gain them for him, or he is at liberty to gain other men, but he cannot have one of those ministers that the printed letters were sent to, who returned them back; but of all others he may chuse for himself twentythree to come with him; for I do not desire him to come alone, so many men against one; but let there be an equal number. But as he hath disgraced ME the LIVING GOD, and betrayed the trust I told thee to put in him, and who burnt the truth that was in his hands, he must appear to answer for himself in November. If he can be ready by the middle of November, thee and thy friends shall be ready also to meet him in London, to have the cause fairly tried for SEVEN DAYS. Then if he and his friends can join together to prove it a farrago of nonsense coming from the Devil, thou and thy friends shall fall before him; then let him say, he hath put a stop to the works of the devil; but if he finds it like the days of Pentecost, and they are all convinced the Calling is of God, then let him say, "blessed be the rod of the Lord! for how fatal must my end have been, if I had gone on in persecution against the Lord, and doing despite unto his Spirit! I know I could never appear before him; for if I tremble to meet a woman I have injured, how shall I tremble to meet a GoD whom I have mocked and despised, and set at nought all his councils, counting the words of the Lord unholy things?" For he must know if thy calling be of God, it is he that is committing the blasphemy that cannot be forgiven without sincere repentance; therefore he must appear to answer for himself, lest I destroy him and his house; neither shall he put it off to a future day; for in November, this very year, shall every thing be tried and proved; so let these

words be sent unto him in print with the other letters; and he must send a satisfactory answer immediately to Sharp."

These are the words of the Lord to Joanna Southcott, given this day, Thursday, 11th of October, 1804, taken from her mouth by me,

Witness,

JANE TOWN LEY.

ANN UNDERWOOD

Now, sir, after sending you these awful words, no person can, from reading them, say, they are from any other authority than the pure SPIRIT OF WISDOM. In this proposal there is nothing but justice and equity: when the truth appears, the impostor is no more. And I should not presume to add a word from myself, but my character stands condemned by you, as well as all Joanna's friends, for having encouraged blasphemy and lies, unless you suppose us to be madmen or fools, and you have the exclusive possession of a sound mind. You desire me to prove the sincerity of my profession in signing myself your sincere friend, and well-wisher; which I have now faithfully done, not only in my endeavours to prevent you any further from degrading yourself, but begging of you to accept the gracious invitation, by coming forth with your friends to meet Joanna's friends. If you refuse, you stand condemned, as you condemn us by your letter, in casting on us the reproach of supporting Joanna in lies, and encouraging her to be an impostor. You say your own name is both respectable and sacred; I have a name also, which I will not disgrace; I have a character to lose, which I am not to be cheated out of by any arts that you may contrive by vain boasting words. That deceit and imposition may be exposed, your letter and others now are before the public, because you refuse the usual correspond

ence; and the sincere conduct of Joanna's friends will appear to the public, in consequence of your refusal; who are all condemed without trial. You have brought your respectable and sacred character into that situation from which you shall not retreat; for you declare, under your own hand, and here are your very words, "I shall be ready at all times, and in all places, to bear my testimony to what appears to me to be true." Now, sir, instead of your letter being burnt, you have produced the opportunity of seeing yourself in print, that we may all come to the standard of truth. I shall for the present say no more, as the rest of Joanna's friends, who perfectly understand the value of character, better than yourself, will vindicate their injured honour, and they will not be trifled with to pass over your conduct with impunity. I now expect your answer to this just proposal, and you will well consider, if you act in opposition to divine authority, your family has more claim to your compassion and tenderness, than your pride. These, sir, are the concluding words of your sincere friend, and well-wisher, WILLIAM SHARP.

P. S. I particularly desire you to attend to the former part of this letter, as far as the name of Joanna's two faithful friends, for they are the words of the Lord to you. Your answer must be

sent to me.

To the Rev. Mr. Pomeroy, Bodmin, Cornwall. REV. SIR, London, Oct. 17, 1804. Your letters, dated the 1st and 4th instant, sent to the Rev. Stanhope Bruce, and to Mr. Sharp,

in consequence of their extraordinary contents were submitted to our consideration; therefore it is presumed that you will not be greatly surprised at receiving this address upon the subject; and as we are plain men, aspiring to no other pretensions than a zeal for honesty and truth, we trust that the simplicity and openness with which our animadversions may be made will have some effect with you.

It appears to us that the general tenor of your two letters is, in the first place, to avoid what might have the semblance of a candid answer to the appeal made by those gentlemen to you, as well as to withhold every information; then to make your letters serve as vehicles of abuse against Joanna Southcott; and ultimately to obtain the applause of the world, by charging her friends with wilful dishonesty, and with folly, in supporting her cause.

From the style in which you have written, we feel no kind of disappointment, by seeing that you designedly avoid to disclose truths that must be well known to you; but that you should have recourse to a quibbling evasion, in order to put on the appearance of candor and openness, we conceive to be very unsuitable to your sacred character. We need not point out to you what is alluded to; but to the public, who cannot be supposed to be acquainted with your conduct to Joanna, we shall explain wherein you amused yourself in trying to find the depth of our folly. Knowing that Joanna had evidence of your saying in 1802, that you had burnt her papers, you now come to assure us, that you have no letters, or writings whatsoever of, or belonging to, that deluded, ungrateful woman. She herself," you also say, "knew this near two years since; so that to charge you with having any of her papers now, is