HE hath not spoken by me, I must be the greatest impostor that ever came into the world. But I trust to your goodness not to judge me so harshly, nor condemn me unheard; for that is more cruel than the Jews. Paul was permitted to speak for himself before he was condemned; and shall I say in a Christian land, I am condemned for the blackest crimes unheard? I shall be happy to answer for myself, if you will permit me to wait on your honour. Please to send an answer by the bearer. I am, Rev. Sir,

With the greatest respect,
Your humble Servant,

JOANNA SOUTHCOTT.

March 12, 1800.

The following words were spoken to me, in answer to the ministers mocking my writings:

"If they go on as they've begun,

The nations all may weep;

Out of my mouth the word is gone,
And I shall it fulfil.

Unless the priests they do awake,

Your nation I shall chill

With sore distress, to wound your breast,

When harvest doth appear,

By sun or rain to hurt your grain,

And bring a famine near,

By scarcity you all will see;
But if they do awake,

And now repent, like Nineveh,

Their cause I'll undertake."

I must beg my readers to observe this was in March 12th, 1800, after I had sent the letters of the Harvests of 1799 and 1800 to the Rev. Archdeacon Moore and the Rev. Mr. Pomeroy; and though the truth followed in the year 1799, yet they did not believe it would in 1800, so continued mocking till the harvest came on; and I must beg to call to the remembrance of the public, how many hundred thousands of bushels were had from abroad

that year to save us from a famine. All the farmers in Devonshire said there was not corn enough to last till Lady-Day, if we had not a supply from abroad. So I must leave the readers to judge for themselves; and now I shall come to a copy of a letter I sent to the Rev. Mr. Tucker, Heavitree, in answer to his saying that a former letter of mine was composed and written by methodist parsons. To the Rev Mr. TUCKER, Heavitree.

REV. SIR,

I must beg the liberty to answer for myself, as I heard you have said, that my letters, which I sent to you, were from a parcel of methodist parsons, composed by them to impose on the church ministers, and teach them how to preach the Gospel. If this is your belief of my letters, I must take the liberty to answer you as our Saviour did his Disciples " Ye Fools and slow of heart this to believe." Ought not such woman to be put to silence, and all her accomplices to shame and confusion, if the methodists and I had agreed together to put the Bible in such a manner as no one ever heard or thought of before; to explain the mysteries of the Bible, as I have written to you and other ministers, and said I wrote them from the Inspiration of God, as it was explained to me from on high, being visited from the Lord? Now if this is done by the heads of men, as you say, we must be full of mischief, children of the devil, perverting all true righteousness, mocking of God, and deceiving of man; and I may add, deceiving and being deceived, bringing on ourselves swift destruction; and our crimes are enough to bring down the vengeance of God on our land, as there are no Pauls full of the Holy Ghost to put us to silence. But now to come to the purpose" Judge not, that ye may not be judged; condemn not, that ye may not be condemned." As high as the heavens are from the

earth, so high are my writings from the thoughts, knowledge, and understandings of the methodists, and as far as the East is from the West, so far are my writings from your thoughts, if you judge them from any cunningly-devised fable of men. I now speak boldly and affirm, if my writings do not come from God, there never was any person wrote by the Spirit of the Lord since earth's foundation was placed. The same Spirit that first inspired men to write the Bible, hath inspired me in these last days to fulfil it, beyond the reach of human learning. The letter which I sent you on the 12th chap. of the Revelation, was explained to me from the thoughts and private conversation of the Rev. Chancellor Nutcombe and the Rev. Archdeacon Moore; for I was told by the same Spirit I wrote by, what they had said concerning the letter I sent to them, and they had judged the Man-child to be Christ; but could not tell how to make it clear of the Woman travailing in heaven to be delivered. This, I was told, was their private conversation together, though I never heard any one say it. But I may say as Elijah said to Gehazi, when he went after Naaman : "went not my spirit with thine?" The truth of this you may easily find out from them; as I do not think they will deny the truth, if it be so. But I believe it from the Spirit I wrote by; which is invisible. I was surprised to hear in what manner Mrs. C spoke of me. Doth she think I am another such as herself? I can assure her, I feared sin from a child, and I cannot mock God, nor trifle with eternity; neither am I jesting with the ministers of the Lord. The letter I sent to the Rev. Archdeacon Moore last spring foretold the harvest perfectly as it came; and it was written within the " letter, that the first would be mockers, and such harvest should follow. I was ordered to put it in

my own hand-writing, to prevent his reading it before the time was expired. You may marvel how a woman that professed to say she is called of God to write such deep prophecies, and have the mysteries of the Bible explained to her, should write such a hand as no one can read. But this must be to fulfil the Bible. Every vision John saw in heaven must take place upon earth; and here is the sealed book that no one can read. For what is sealed in heaven, is sealed on earth; what is loosed in heaven, must be loosed on earth. I write to you, sir, as a friend, to judge for yourself. If unbelief do still abound, the next harvest will be worse than the last; and your repentance may come too late. I am ready to answer for myself in all I have said and done. I have written no cunningly-devised fable to any man, but written to make known unto all men the SECOND COMING OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST; and am, with the greatest respect, Your most humble Servant,

JOANNA SOUTHCOTT

Now I must beg my readers to observe, this letter was written the 2d of March, in the year 1800; and the harvest that followed was worse, as foretold, than the former of 1799.

A Communication given to Joanna, Jan. 30, 1797, in answer to people's saying, the fall of man came only from eating of an Apple.

The Answer of the SPIRIT.

"From trifling things I did begin;
The Apple was the first :
Then was it not a trifling thing

That man was surely cast?

'Tis not the Apple I regard,

But disobedience there;

That brought on man my just reward,
Which he with shame did bear.
Now as he did not ME forsake,
But owned his sentence just,
I gave MY WORD, upon record,
To save him at the last.

For here is love I then did prove,
And well I knew his fall;
Therefore My Spirit high did move,
To die and ransom all,
That will obey what I did say;
My Yoke is easy here :
If Men will now rely on ME,
Then every bond I'll clear.
As Satan held мE to my word;
My word I did fulfil';

Now let men be as wise as he,
Then Satan's heart I'll chill.
I was the author of men's faith,
Their finisher will be:

So Abel's blood for vengeance cried,
Yet mine shall set them free.

I am not man, it shall be known;
I know what Cain did feel;
When Satan gave the fatal blow,
I was near his heel.

His brother's keeper he was not,
And that I well did know;
The words of Cain were not forgot -
The mysteries I shall shew.

As men do say it is from thee,

Can't thou these things explain? Thou answerest no: then let it go To thy weak foolish brain.

If men do say it is by thee,

The heavens sure must smile:

To see the simple sons of men
Stand silent all the while.

To hear a woman's head's so deep,
To puzzle mortals here;

The Shepherd cannot keep his sheep
If he be murder'd here;

And murder'd here he sure must be,
His life and senses gone;
If ye believe such simple sheep,
Hath all these wonders done;
At such a time to write my mind,
Was e'er such thing before?