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yet in this trying hour, alone and by herself, ran the hazard of being accursed for my sake, sooner than submit to lose my honour as a God: she said in her heart, she would sooner judge there was no God, than judge there was a faithless God: she judged ME all good, and all good she shall find ME. Thou sayest, Satan, I am all that was bad, and so thou shalt find ME: I will not contend with thee for my Honour, but for JUSTICE, that now demands thy guilty crimes to fall on thy head! Look back on thy words, and tremble, as a murderer when he looks on the person he hath murdered, and sees the judge appear to condemn him; for now I tell thee, every threatening thou hast breathed out against this Handmaid of mine, shall now fall back upon thy own head. Dost thou say God is a liar? Then now I will be the God of truth: thy head shall now be bruised, and thy curse above every living creature; thy footing here on earth shall be taken from thee; and as thou didst cause a pain in her bowels, to cause her to lie senseless on the floor, so shall the pain in thy bowels be; on thy belly thou shalt go, and fall headlong down to thy fine palace; there set up thy golden orbs in hell; and build thy palace with thy gold; and I will draw forth a glorious Earth with the Dust. So now thou shalt not fear a liar, but fear the God of truth, who made man in my own likeness; and in My own likeness he was betrayed and crucified; and as thou didst set the angels in heaven at variance, so thou settest men on earth at variance; and now the earth is in the same confused state the heavens were in; some on my side, and some on thine, through unbelief. As the angels, that fell, did not judge I should cast them out of heaven, that joined thee Satan, so thou temptest men to believe I never shall cast thee from the earth, nor ever bring in a heaven here for man; but now I tell thee and all mankind, this Earth shall be renewed to a Paradise and a place of rest for men that trust in ME. So now, Satan, this is thy doom, as thou thoughtest to rob me

of the creation at once, so will I rob thee of all at once; and as thou sowest discord amongst mankind, so will I sow discord amongst thee and those thou hast betrayed; for thy destruction now is sure. Thou sayest, thou goest to the woman with murder in thy heart; and now her blood is on thy head; thou sayest, I ought not to cast them out of Eden, knowing what a wretch betrayed them; then now I will show mercy to man that trusteth to ME for mercy; I will show pity to man that looketh to ME for pity. As I knew what a wretch betrayed them, so now, Satan, thy reign is short, and thou hast but a little space before thou shalt find ME the God of truth; and I will send my angel to chain thee down for a thousand years, and set a seal on thee, as I have begun to set the seal on my people; for as thou sayest thou despisest my mercy, my mercy thou shalt never find. Thou hast spoken what was in thy heart, and let men bear witness against thee: thou sayest thou art betrayed by a woMAN; then know, a WOMAN was betrayed by thee; for now I tell thee, Satan, I will bring on thy head every threatening thou breathedst out against my Handmaid. Thou sayest, thou hast showed thyself a complete devil-thou hast done a thing that will never be forgiven in this world, nor in that which is to come: thy violence in assaulting so faithful a servant. And as she stood out in such faith and courage, it shall for ever rest as a blessing on all women that believe in her; for as Eve's disobedi ence rested on the one hand, so shall her obedience rest on the other, from generation to generation, until time is on more. So say not that she only is blessed; for all are blessed that believe in her; for they that believe in her must believe in ME; for it is my word, not her words; it is my SPIRIT, not her spirit, whom ve believe in-and whom men persecute also ; for they have opened all my wounds afresh, and put ME again to an open shame.-Now answer for thyself to the public, the manner of thy life and faith, and ther. I will answer thee again."

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Now I shall begin to answer for myself thus publicly to the unbelief of ignorant people. Some say my writings are from myself,of a spirit possessed of a devil; others judge it really from the devil, coming in every character, both good and bad. So they judge the devil has come to me like an actor on the stage, who changes his clothes, and acts many different characters; and sometimes the man comes in the character of a woman, and the woman in the character of a man; so one person acts many different characters; and just so the ignorant and unlearned have judged the devil comes to me. O simple and unwise! here is the truth of my writings and the Bible together; for it is written by the prophet," that in the latter days darkness will cover the earth and gross darkness the eyes of the people." For the book of God is like a book that is sealed, that neither the learned nor the unlearned could read; for the Lord saith by the prophet, "In the latter days I shall do marvellous things amongst them; for the wisdom of the wise men shall perish, and the understanding of the prudent man shall be hid; the bows of the mighty men shall be broken.” So ye have all drawn out your bows against me in vain; for all your bows will be broken, and all your spears will be snapped asunder; for ye have no knowledge of God or his ways; for ye have judged God is like the dumb image made in my likeness, that could neither see nor hear; perfectly so you judge the LORD; and ye have judged me another such as yourselves, that can mock God, and trifle with eternity. Such is your judgnient of me. But now I shall answer for myself: The fear of the Lord was placed in me from a child, and I was fearfully made: my heart was tender within me, and my conscience also. I not only feared sin, but hated it, and found no pleasure in any thing, but in the service of the Lord; my character will bear the strictest scrutiny; and so bright did it appear in my early age, that many that I lived with said, I had not my fellow or like

amongst women; as my temper was mild and heavenly; my principles honest and upright in all things. Such was my character in my earlier days; but I found myself as a sheep amongst wolves; I was surrounded with people that were artful, deceitful, proud and malicious, with every headstrong and ungoverned passion, more like lions than like christians; and I was hated for being of a different spirit; as their characters were bad, and mine good; so I was hated when I never gave offence; and finding myself surrounded with such people, who made their own lives unhappy, and all around them; I began to determine to shake off the world, and to live to God, and to God only; and to have my conversation in heaven, and all my hopes of happiness to be centred in the Lord; wishing, with Job, I could go down to the cold chambers of the grave, where the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary be at rest. I saw no happiness in this world nor any did I expect; for I have been weary of the world for more than twenty years; nay, I may say, forty years long have I been grieved with a crooked and perverse generation; for when I was a child I was weary of the tempers and dispositions of sinful people; my discernment was deep in my earliest age; and now let any candid reader judge, if a heart and mind like mine would run themselves into the grossest sins, to dwell with devils and wicked spirits in another world, when I was sick of their vices in this. It was a hell to me to be confined with wicked people here; then how wretched and miserable must I feel my case to be confined with nothing but wicked people hereafter! The Lord is my judge and is witness against you; the Lord is my law-giver of whom shall I be afraid! So singular hath my life been in this world, and so many remarkable things have happened in it, that it was nineteen years ago I was ordered to write my life, for it should go in print, and thousands should be convinced by it; I then wrote it, but I had no thought that the spirit of

prophecy would ever be given me; and I was strongly persuaded by my friends not to put it in print then, as they could not see that many thousands could be convinced by it. I gave up to their persuasions, not being strongly pressed by the Spirit to put it in print at that time, after I had written it; but when the visitation of the Lord came so powerfully to me, in 1792, I began to think of my former writings, and was at war with myself, whether this last might not be like the first, to write, but not to print; so my jealousy made me spend my time in tears and prayers, that the Lord would not permit a wrong spirit to deceive. I will not say I had no doubts arise in my mind, as every thing I was told appeared very unlikely to come to pass; yet the manner of my visitation sometimes made my faith as strong as the mountains; at other times jealousy alarmed my breast, fearing the devil might come as an angel of light to deceive me; as I am not unacquainted with the devices of Satan; for he hath as much power to speak to the hearing of the ear, as he hath to have an influence over the heart. So my faith was mixed with fear, which made me to be in fervent prayer to the Lord that he would not suffer me to be deceived by a wrong spirit; repeated signs of truth were set before me, to assure me my calling was of God; but many of my writings were hard to be understood, and full as hard to be believed: but the severe threatenings pronounced against me, if I drew back through unbelief, made me persevere, as I was injuring none but myself, if my writings were not of God; but if they were of God, I knew they were for the good of all who believed in them; and the strictest of justice I found in the Spirit that directed me. I was ordered to seal up my writings in 1792; but not to keep them in my possession; and my writings after, I was ordered to seal up every year, and to have witnesses to sign them; and 1 was ordered to send letters to ministers, of

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