That great professors thou would'st surely find.
It was my wisdom for to shew mankind:
In their true colours ye can not judge man.
So now look deep and then discern my plan;
Because I tell thee it was for this day
I directed thee in such crooked way,
As by thy wisdom thou could'st ne'er find out :
By thy temptations thou didst often doubt
Whether 'twas I that did direct thy hand
To go the way thy trial so did stand;
And so my wisdom it did keep thee there;
Thou didst often doubt the answers to thy prayers,
Whether that they came from the Lord or no,
By all the sorrows thou didst undergo;
Because religion thou found'st there a farce,
When in the end the day-light there did burst,
To shew the secrets of the heart of man.
I tell thee plain, it is for to discern
That men in judging cannot judge aright:
In great professors there is great deceit.
"This in my Gospel I did say before,
And I directed thee to prove it clear.
So by the shadows every one may see
What great deceit there in professors he,
That of their goodness they so much do boast,
And so their ragged garments will be lost.
For now I tell thee, if I judge your land,
Among professors thousands now do stand
To sicken ME, as thou grew'st sick of all.
So of religion let them not boast at all;
For like thy heart they'll surely find ME here-
Return to sinners, they my heart will share;
Because, I tell thee, thousands will repent,
And see their folly how their minds were bent
In Satan's fetters they'll say they were bound;
But they'll rejoice to her a different sound,
That from his fetters I shall set them free,
And bring to man a glorious harvest day.
In triumph, now above or here below,
Returning sinners shall my favour know;
Because in sinners now they've shewn their love,
Which of their masters they do most approve;
As God and Mammon they cannot agree-
One of the two is put their choice to be.
"So now the sinners have begun their choice, To chuse the Lord with an united voice.
But this thou say'st it is not done by all;
Because the rage of hell in some doth fall,
Heated with fury for to hear my name-
The harden'd sinners they do much blaspheme.
To such I answer, they are not the men
Whom I call sinners; you do not discern-
I've said, in many Satan forms a part;
Then there you'll find the harden'd stubborn heart,
That will in no wise bow unto my name;
Because that Satan doth their hearts inflame.
"But now of sinners I shall come to men:
'Tis the sins of nature which are in them.
Remember David always lov'd his Lord;
But natural sins that brought on him the sword,
So natural sins, I tell thee, in mankind,
Of different passions you in sinners find;
And yet these sins they surely may forsake;
For in the heart of man there's room to work,
And so in man there's surely room to draw
A heart to love, where mercy I do shew;
And when my goodness I do prove it clear,
The hearts of sinners I shall change them here;
Because their hearts I'll draw them so by love,
The vice of nature I've a way to move,
And sins in nature I do pity here;
Because the fall of man, I do see clear,
Hath brought him weak; and tainted by the fall
Some vice or other I do see in all;
Because, I tell thee, there's no man that's free,
Till nature's chang'd and they do live in ME;
Because some spot of sin there is in men,
And by temptations Satan leads them on
Strong in the vices they're inclin❜d unto.
The different sinners I shall now go through:
The sins of nature they are plac'd in men,
In different passions after their own form,
And yet, I tell thee, 'tis the form of men
That will repent the sins that they have done.
"But where the sinner's heart is form'd of hell,
Envy and malice in man do swell;
And so he's heated on against his God;
In Satan's nature such a man is shew'd;
And in his likeness he doth still go on.
Such harden'd sinners never will return;
Because their vices they came all from hell:
Look to the murderers, and ye may tell
Who harden'd them in sin to do the first,
And harden'd still when on the gallows plac'd.
These are not crimes that did from nature come;
No, no; by Satan they are harden'd on;
And with their master, you may now contend
As well to turn him, as to turn such men ;
Because to him they give their heart and mind,
And so they're harden'd to the end, you find;
Then can they love my kingdom for to hear?
Shall I destroy what they do love so dear,
In every harden'd sin for to go on?
No; there the servant like the master's come;
And there the sinner never will repent;
Because his heart and mind are fully bent
For to go on, as he is harden'd there,
Till with his master he his grief will share;
And in the end his sweetness he will know,
What he delights in, he will feel the blow
For to be bitter, he'll find in the end,
And prove that Satan never was his friend.
So here I've shewn thee of the sins from hell,
Where in that likeness sinners' hearts do swell;
I tell thee plain, such men will never turn;
And thou hast seen the end, thou know'st, of one,
Whom Satan tempted there was not a God;
Then could he love or ever fear his rod ?
"But now unto the sinners I shall turn:
Where Satan blinds them they may surely mourn,
When I their eyes do open for to see
There is a GOD, and my reward shall be
To every one that loves and fears my name;
I've shewn what sins I will forgive in men,
And shewn what sinners that will now repent,
And how my heart, like thine, shall now relent
Against the judgments I have pass'd on men,
If they awake, as thy friends have begun ;
For then the sinners I shall surely free,
And from thy heart let them the likeness see;
And for their sins thou know'st how thou didst pray,
That I would take their load of guilt away.
For though they sinn'd they shew'd their love to ME;
That I'd shew mercy was the prayer of thee,
And so I told thee, mercy they should find;
For deep the mysteries now that lie behind.
"But here I'll try if thou canst judge aright: Thou answerest, no; 'tis buried from thy sight; Because thou judgest some ne'er can enter heaven; Whose sins were great, can they now be forgiven,
To dwell with saints and angels there above?
Are these the mercies great that they will prove?
"But to thy thoughts I now shall answer here:
The stars in glory you may now see clear
Are like the stars that you do see below;
Some near the earth, and little brightness shew;
Yet in the firmament you see they're plac'd;
Then from the heaven of heavens judge all the rest.
The heaven of heavens will make your bliss complete;
But different heavens, I say, are at my feet;
In different mansions there will many come:
Where I shew mercy Satan hath no room,
I say, to enter and destroy them there-
That man who's freed from hell doth mercy share.
"So here I've answer'd now the thoughts of thee, The way in mercy I may sinners free,
Whom thou didst judge could never enter heaven:
I've shewn the way that they may be forgiven,
For to find mercy and not enter hell,
Where the infernal rage of Satan swells.
So this I've answer'd, and I'll say no more:
I've shewn mankind the way they all do err,
To think professors do my favour gain.-
Know what I told thee by the sun and rain,
That all their prayers I surely should turn back;
For like the ministers they all did act,
And like them wound and grieve the heart of thee,,
Refus'd to hear the warning given by ME.
And so alike I did their prayers refuse;
Because, I tell thee, like the stubborn Jews,
Who thought by their goodness they should heaven gain,
And by their prayers they should it all obtain ;
But this I told them it would never do,
To pray against my word, and man be true;
And so to their God they all would give the lie.
Then sure in men the strongest, power must be,
If they by prayer can overcome the Lord,
For to go back and not fulfil his word
To them who do his words and laws obey;
Against my honour men do falsely pray;
Against my wisdom, as I've laid my plan;
They judge their prayers the whole shall overcome;
And as a God I shall to man submit.
So these self-righteous think to finish it,
To spread my Gospel; but they do not know
The way it stands to waken now the Jews,
And how it stands to waken all mankind.
For by their wisdom they can never find,
And by their prayers I ask what they have done?
Look through thy writings; have they alter'd one
That stood of threatenings in your land t'appear?
Thou know'st, for blessings I said in three
I'd shew in harvests if my friends did come;
And now I ask if I did alter one?
I told the sorrows that in the land appear'd ;
A heavy burden men would bring it here;
And now I ask if they did this prevent?
Throughout your land, you've heard the discontent,
The load and burden which are in your land;
And this thou know'st is still complain'd by man.
But will they say, this burden they've remov'd?
They boast of blessings; now come to
I said the harvest did with believers stand;
"If they increas'd I'd shew it in the land;
And so you see believers do increase.
If I send blessings, let no man to jest,
To say I sent them quite against my word,
And so their prayers did quite prevent the rod.
But now I answer, they'll not find it so ;
Judge from thy feelings, and my mind they'll know,
The way my heart will now be drawn to men,
To undertake their cause and pity them.
"So here I'll leave, men's wisdom for to try; But they must judge from what they've seen in thee, And then I tell thee I shall further go;
For deeper mysteries they'll hereafter know.
And now the deeper mysteries I'll reveal,
And nothing from thee will I e'er conceal,
That's for your good, for thee of man to know:
And from thy writings thou hast search'd them through
What is already open'd to thy view;
And there thou'st find how all is now foretold.
But deeper mysteries I shall soon unfold;
For in the books that now are sealed up,
They'll find foretold how every thing will drop,
Before it comes unto the bolted door,
And then I said I'd surely tell them more.
For deeper mysteries lie still behind,
Which I shall surely open to mankind,
When that obedience doth in them begin;
Because, I say, that way they all must win,
For what at first was lost by Adam's fall.
Look deep to Abraham, and behold the call;
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