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prove what I have heard, only that his servants said he had brought more guilt upon their conscience, concerning farmer Southcott, than all the sins they ever committed in their lives; and not only in the stock but various other ways; every invention that could be to ruin my father was practised, till my father was brought into great distress, greater than he had any fortitude to bear; for the agonies of his mind were so great, that when he went to bed, meditating upon his sorrows, he would be in such agitation that I have been obliged to set by him hours of a night, reasoning and talking to him, wiping off the perspiration from his face. In this manner he continued, calling to me night after night to give him something, fearing he should be choaked; he said his sorrows were greater than he could bear; and I have seen the sweat running down his face, in a cold winter's night, like a man in the harvest day, that I have stood hours wiping, his face. He said all the sorrows and disappointments in life, that he had gone through, now crowded upon his mind; and the loss of his property that he was heir to, now came upon him with a double weight. He lamented for my sister, and for all his children. The scene is too affecting for me to repeat, what I saw in my father, for three months; but I am ordered to bring it forward. When I intreated him not to grieve at the loss of his estates and property, and said, suppose he had never been entitled to any thing; he said, then he should be as other poor men were, nothing to reflect about; but now old age and poverty were come upon him, and he could not forget what he was entitled to. But though I saw all that sorrow with my father, and took so much pains with him, and worked early and late to save the expenses of Workmen : for the Lord gave me great courage

and great strength, and great presence of mind, how to act for my father's good; yet in all this, I can safely say, that I rejoiced in my own afflictions: I thought it was good to be afflicted, that my heart might not be carried away by the world; and I trusted in the Lord, that he would protect my father; and bless my endeavours, that he would be able to withstand the malice of his enemies, till his term was out in the farm as the last year was the bearing year for cyder, and the breaking for crops would be without any expenses. But this my father despaired of seeing; however, I was promised that the Lord would protect us through; and so he did; and by my faith my father rose from his despair.

As to my own sorrows I did not mind, as I' reflected upon my early days, how soon I delighted in vanity and dress, more than I saw in others, and was often reproved by my mother; who would speak with a feeling heart, "Joanna, my dear child

"Wilt thou then thy bright mornings waste,

To trim and make thee fine ?

"Twill be but bitterness at last,

If Christ be none of thine.

How frail is beauty, in how short a time
"Twill fade like roses which are past their prime;
So wrinkled age the fairest face will plough,
And cast deep furrows in the smoothest brow.
Where's now the lovely tempting face, alas?
Yourselves will blush to view it in a glass,
Unless adorn'd with beauty in the mind;

And then an interest in thy Saviour find."

In this manner my mother used often to reprove me; but I must say, to my shame, it had only a momentary effect; so deeply was my heart fixed upon the vanity of dress, that I did not care how hard I worked, early and late, so long as I could earn money to get clothes to appear smart in. My father used warmly to re

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prove me, and say he was ashamed to see me,
for a farmer's daughter to dress as I did; but all
had no effect upon me; my heart was so set
upon it, till sorrow broke it off. And when now
I reflect back upon my youthful days, I see how
flattery hurts the mind; for when I think on my
childish days, my heart was
set upon serious
meditations, and I felt great comfort and pleasure
in learning hymns and repeating them to myself;
but when I came to the age of fifteen or sixteen,
and began to be flattered by the world, I found
vanity arise, and I became vain; but this vanity
was of a short duration; for every thing I fixed
my heart upon I was disappointed in, which
made me turn all my thoughts, like my aunt
Sarah, whom I have already mentioned; and as
I have said of sorrow, it was good for me; so I
say of my enemies, it is good for me that my
heart has been sorely wounded by the malicious
lies and inventions of men, or I might not have
been so earnest in my petitions and prayers to
the Lord to take the cause into his own hand,
to put my enemies to shame and confusion: and
therefore I shall conclude with saying--

"The very thorns that make the traveller bleed
Are but remembrance to amend our speed,
Lest too much ease our future joys disband
And we stop short, short of the promis'd land."

"Now I shall answer thee why I ordered thee to bring the history of thy father's family in a straight line together. The first I shall

bring back to the fall, where the two were slain, by the arts of Satan's working. In a spiritual sense they died, as I had pronounced them dead for this was the pride and rage of hell. Then the ages went on, like thy father's family, not to possess the inheritance I had designed for them; but now see in what manner thy father's land stands. Ye know not whether it

can be regained or not, without diligently searching the wills, and knowing whether the heirship was ever cut off or not. For thou knowest, lands have been got of as long standing as thy father's; and therefore thou canst not tell that thy father's dream may not be yet fulfilled. So let the words appear.

I sealed up my writings the old Christmas day at midnight, 1795. Soon after that my father came to see me. He did not know what I had done, but said he was in hopes he should have his lands, which he was heir to in Hertfordshire, about thirty miles from London; as he said, at midnight, old Christmas day, he thought he was quite awake, when a voice called him aloud, "Southcott! Southcott! thy name must spread far and wide: there is a lady in Hertfordshire, who hath great possessions for thee, and wants thy family to possess it." And so sure was my father that he should get it, that he went to Mr. Putt and asked him if he could direct him how to proceed; but Mr. Putt took no notice of it, only laughed about it to me, and said how old and foolish my father was grown.

"Now leave his wisdom, till thou seest the end:
But all shall find I am thy every friend.

And with thy father's history now go on ;
For back to Paradise thou now must come.

Because thou knowest how I have plac'd it there;
With the beginning I shall this compare;
Because the death to both came in one day,
And so the ruin it came on that way.
For Satan's pride did like the other's swell,

To blast their peace and death, thou knowest well,
Was then pronounc'd against them in the fall,
And like the children, now I tell you all,

Men left the whole and ne'er sought out the land;
And so in sorrow every one doth stand.
See how the Jew are scatter'd to this day;
Despise my Gospel; never seek this way
For to find out if they shall stand an heir.
Just like thy father's house do all appear;

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Therefore I've so compar'd him with the land;
For like thy father's house all things do stand:
And like thy father's sorrows men go through;
They've lost their rights and that I well do know
And so in sorrow men are compass'd round;
Just like thy father is your nation found:
One load upon another fast do come,
Till his cold sweats may be in every one,
If that your nation do not now awake;
But if they do, their cause I'll undertake ;
Their cause, like thee, I'll surely take in hand.
Remember how thou didst by thy father stand,
To sooth his sorrows, and remove his pain;
Thou gavest him comfort, though his sweats remain'd,
Which thou by tenderness didst wipe away,
And all thy labour is well known to me;
Because one quarter part thou hast not penn'd,
Thy care, thy thought, nor how the thing did end;
To keep thy father till his term was up,

And so thou knowest thy father did not drop,
The way his fears alarm'd him at the first.
But now another way I mean to burst:
The land was lost for all, but promis'd there
That in the end I should it all prepare;
Because the title I would ne'er cut off;
I've made the promise; now I've said enough;
And so the promise I did bid thee claim,
Then all your heirship lands I sure shall gain,
And make the nations down before you fall.
For like thy father I'll my sufferings call:
I was the HEIR that had the right at first,
But could not gain it when the Jews did burst;
Nor was it come to my appointed time;
No to the woman I shall all resign;
Because to her the promise there was made.
But know, thy father, how his grief was laid;
Revenge and malice did in Drew appear;
His disappointment he could never bear;
And so I say with all the rage of hell,
He sought revenge, because his rage did swell
Against thy father at that very time.
But now of him I bid thee call to mind,
His love to thee at first it did appear;
But thou soon left him; she fell in the snare.
So both together I shall now compare;
Because at first thou surely miss'd that man;
But see the way his malice did come on-
Because a virtuous mind in her was plac'd,
But here's the mystery of the fallen race: