109 ever continue, till we come out of ourselves, and come to the scripture rule, to cast away every weight, and the sin that most easily besets us. And my besetting sin was a resenting spirit; as my mother used to tell me I had a proud heart to be humbled, and a hard heart to be softened, on account of my resenting spirit, which I never could conquer by nature, as my feelings were tender and quick. But since the visitation of the Lord to me, I have observed his directions have been given to make me act contrary to my own will, and to conquer that besetting sin in me, by the ways the Lord hath directed me; which have been contrary to what I could do by nature, and contrary to any wisdom of my own. Therefore I see the wisdom of the words spoken to me, that we must come more out of ourselves, and live wholly dependent upon the Lord; if we wish for everlasting happiness, we must trust his wisdom, and not our own. I have been often stumbled in the Lord's directions to me, in ordering me to write to the ministers, as they did not regard the letters when sent to them: it appeared contrary to my wisdom; but now I see my own want of judg ment, and the wisdom of the Lord in all his directions, so that I can say with Dr. Watts "God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform; He plants his footsteps in the sea, Deep in unfathomable mines He treasures up his bright designs, Blind unbelief is sure to err, And scan his work in vain; God is his own interpreter, And he will make it plain." The following Texts of Scripture I am ordered to bring forward, which stand for the end. Isaiah xxxi. 4.-"For thus hath the Lord spoken unto me, like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voices, nor abase himself for the noise of them: so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof." Chapter xxx. 26.-" Moreover, the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be seven-fold, as the light of seven days in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound." Chapter xxxiii. 10, 22.-" Now will I arise, saith the Lord: now will I be exalted, now will I lift up myself. For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king, he will save us." Chapter xxxiv. 16.-" Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read: not one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them." Chapter xxxv.-To be marked throughout. Chapter xxxviii. 7, 8.-" This shall be a sign unto thee from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that he hath spoken: Behold I will bring again the shadow of the degrees which is gone down in the sun-dial of Ahaz ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down." Chapter lxii. 10, 11. "Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the ends of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy Salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him." 111 Chapter Ix. I, 2. “Arise, shine, for thy light is come, an the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people but the Lord shall shine upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee." Chapter lvi. 1, 2. "Thus saith the Lord, keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. But blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it." Chapter lii. 8. "Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice, with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion." Chapter xlix. 1—5. "Listen, O isles, unto me, and hearken ye people from far, The Lord hath called me from the womb, and from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft, in his quiver hath he hid me. And said unto me, thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought and in vain, yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God. And now saith the Lord, who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength." Chapter xl. 4, 5. "Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and a see it together: for the mouth of the Lord Chapter xi. 12. it. A set up an en sign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. Micah v. 3, 4. "Therefore will he give them up until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. And he stand and feed in the strength of the Lord." "I shall answer thee from these Texts of Scripture, which I have ordered thee to place together, that they may understand what was my office, when I became flesh and dwelt with men, to take man's nature upon me, and to die for the transgression of the fall, that I might destroy the works of the devil. But all these offices, which I have mentioned here, that men say allude to Christ, I tell thee in Spirit they do ; but, I must gain instruments, to work in, and to work by, as I have gained an instrument in thee. Do men simply suppose I shall come down from heaven, as a man, to fulfil these types that are here mentioned? I tell thee, no: it is in man that the sign must be set. And let them see how the Jews are given up till all these signs appear together. But, now is the time that the Jews will be awakened, and the nations will begin to be awakened, till my name shall be great to the ends of the earth; because men will say, it is the Lord's doing, and marvellous in their eyes. For however I work in instruments, to make them commanders, as a king makes his subjects to fight his battle for him; yet know, if the commanders and soldiers gain the day, whom the king sends out to fight for him, then the victory is got for the king; because they have fought under his banner; and perfectly so I tell thee of mine. Men have seen their bibles as the believers have seen thy writings, without understanding what they read. Let them observe this chapter "Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off. I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathens, such as they have not heard." Let them look back to the destruction of Jerusalem, and then see if I called the Jews these heathens that are here spoken of, in the end. No: I said I came to my own, and my own received me not. + "And now come to Isaiah xi. 1. " And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and the branch shall grow out of his roots. Let men see what is to follow, when these shadows appear to bring all to the substance. But how would mankind know that the end was at hand, if I had not placed these landmarks for men to walk by, that when ye see they are all brought round together, that it is I the Lord working in the Spirit by instruments to fulfil them? But now I ask thee concerning thyself: suppose men should judge thy writings to be all brought round by thy wisdom, by thy knowledge, and by thy invention; what honour would it be to thee? In thy In thy heart thou an swerest, none: because thou hast said, it was in the name of the Lord. Then know if they do not give unto the Lord that honour and glory due unto his name, then they rob me of my. honour, and rob thee of thy simplicity and innocence; for thou knowest, without me thou canst do nothing; neither dost thou know any thing. And therefore, let no one marvel that I was silent when the believers expected I should constantly have given thee communications concerning Buonaparte, and how the wars would go on. Therefore I left thee to thyself for so long a time, that they may see there was no knowledge in thee, and I left thee till I saw that thou didst begin to H |