A Letter, which I sent to the Rev. Mr. Pomeroy, July 11th, 1796. Rev. Sir, I will now give you the meaning of the mystery I told you of, in as small a compass as possible. You may think me simple in my manner; but the wisdom of God is foolishness with man; and the wisdom of man is foolishness with God: for as high as the heavens are from the earth, so are God's ways above man's ways, and his thoughts above man's thoughts; therefore we must become fools for Christ, if we will win souls to Christ, as counted fools, but making many wise in our foolishness, is the wisdom of God made manifest. You may remember that I told you, my Father's House was a Type of the Nation; and in what manner I was sent to it. As I told you the particulars I need not enlarge, but come to the purpose. The Lord will cut short his work in righteousness, and make bare his arm on his holy mountain; he will come as a refining fire, and as a fuller's soap; he will go on conquering and to conquer, till he hath put all his enemies under his feet: every proud heart must become humble, and every lofty look become low; for the lion and the lamb must lie down together and till this is accomplished there will be wars and fighting among us. We are threatened with the sword, plague, and famine, that those who have shewed no mercy may have judgments without mercy: mercy is God's darling attribute, but judgments are his strange work: and strange are all his works here; for his wisdom is hid in the great deep, and his paths are past man's finding out. Be not faithless, but believe; for the heavens are gathering blackness; the thunder bolt of God's word is threatened us: the harvest of the Lord is now approaching, and it is time for the ploughers to overtake the reapers, lest we say with the Jews of old, "The day is come, the harvest is ended, and we are not saved." The Spirit and the Bride say, come: let he that heareth say, come; for the end of all things is at hand. Let not men be mockers, lest their bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord God a consumption, even a determination upon the whole earth. Think not this Letter my inditing; for it is not. The Lord grant that you may be a Moses in the gap, to make up the breach for the Children of Israel. I trust you will be a wrestling Jacob, till you become a prevailing Israel, to turn away the fierce anger of the Lord; for it is already kindled; for the cries of the poor have reached to heaven, and vengeance is threatened for the cruelty of man. All souls are mine, saith the Lord; and all souls alike will fear, till judgment is turned into victory. We are threatened with a fatal harvest: may the Lord in his mercies prevent these judgments! There is no time to be idle: may we not perish through unbelief! I have stronger grounds to build on for my faith, and fear, than ever I told any man the Lord is a God hearing and answering prayer. The Lord grant you may awake, as one out of sleep. "Awake, my Shepherd, saith the Lord, lest I kindle a fire in my anger, and a wrath in my fury that shall burn to the nethermost hell." But if ye awake, O Zion, and put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem; then shall your light break forth as the morning, and your righteousness appear as the noon-day sun; and God, even our God, will give us his blessing. These are the promises; these are the threatenings. I am clear of the blood of all men. There is nothing covered, but shall be made manifest; there is nothing hid, but will be made known for what hath been done in the secret chamber will be revealed on the house top. The night is far spent, the day is at hand, it is time to awake and be doing. I remain, with the greatest respect, JOANNA SOUTHCOTT. When the above letter was copied off, the following answer was given me, which I added as a postscript to the letter: "If by the wise men I am mocked now, And trembling now expect the coming stroke, Rev. Sir, if you wish to know on what foundation I build, to write in this manner, I will conceal nothing from you. I have written as I was commanded, and trust to your goodness to weigh it deeply; for the Lord will be inquired of by the House of Israel. The following Letter was sent to the Rev. Mr Pomeroy, February, 1797. REV. SIR, You said you could not believe that it was consistent with the wisdom of an all-wise God to foretel me the death of the Reverend Lord Bishop. In this you make good the Bible-" the wisdom of God is foolishness with men :" but I must come to the purpose. Will you trust a person whose honour or fidelity you had never tried? Would you entrust any one with a thousand pounds, that you had never tried with as many pence? He that is faithless in that which is least, will never be faithful in that which is most; but he that is faithful in that which is least, will be faithful in that which is most. Would it be consistent with the wisdom of God, to tell us wondrous things that were to come, when there was no appearance of them, and think we should give credit to them, before we had experienced the truth of his words in lesser matters? No: therefore it might well be said that the wisdom of man is foolishness with God. True it is: for the wisdom of man could never prevail upon me, in ninety-two, to leave my work, and go to my sister, and write that what was revealed to me was coming upon the whole earth, had I not experienced before the truth of the Spirit in little things, and greater things, that would take me many sheets of paper to repeat, the undeniable truths I was foretold by the Spirit, before ever I was told of prophecies, or a word of the kind reached my ears. One trifling thing I shall mention: I was told what was in the hearts and thoughts of men concerning me, and told the man I should go to, and he would own the truth. I did, and the man, to his astonishment, owned it was true. He is now in the city. But he said it was the devil told me of it; and the same he saith by my prophecies; yet he owns he believes me to be a good woman. How inconsistent with reason to believe a good woman can always be conversing with the devil and perfect in obedience to all his commands! Well might it be said in my writings "I say, the heavens may sure smile here, to see the heads of men!" Do you believe that Abrahan's faith would lead him to believe he should have a son in his old age, and after that to offer him up by the command of the Lord, if he had never experienced the truth of the Lord in many things which were never penned ? Would the Jews believe that they should be preserved in the flames, if they never proved the truth of the Lord before, in things which were never left on record? We know not in what manner the Lord strengthens the faith of believers: faith is the gift of God, and not of man. Now I will come to another of your observations. You marvelled how I heard these things; and why it was spoken in verse; as you said, the prophets of old prophesied in plain words. I will answer. The reason assigned to me is, that the Bible was made by the Spirit of Inspiration, and it will be explained, as to the mysteries it contains, by the Spirit of Revelation, therefore is the last book called by that name. In the first chapter you mention is the truth now fulfilling, and deeply explained in my writings. You will find the time draws near of the fulfilment; but as you fear to trust me, I cannot trust you with the meaning of all the mysteries explained. In the Revelations, it is said, "I am Alpha and Omega, the first and he last;" then now consider what God made man at first: perfect in holiness, perfect in happiness; and, to do it at the last, he his about to accomplish it. Now, Reverend Sir, I shall come to some more of your own words. You said that the Gospel of Christ was plain to be understood; can you explain all the meaning of our dear Redeemer's words? He said he came not to destroy the Law of God or the Prophets, but to fulfil them: "this generation shall not pass away till all is fulfilled." It is 1797 years agone, and all is not yet fulfilled. He said "None is before nor after another; none is greater or less than another: but he that is greatest amongst you let him be your minister; he that is chief amongst you shall be the servant to you all "— I remain, with the greatest respect, JOANNA SOUTHCOTT. |