by admin » Sun Jan 31, 2021 9:19 am
Some of the Prophecies which mean MYSELF, and which I am commanded to insert.
The Prophet Isaiah, Chap. iv.
1. And in that day, seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel; only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.
The man alluded to by the prophet is myself, and the time of the world is just now come. Remember that the seventh chapter of Daniel, and the sixth of the Revelation, are now fulfilling; remember, likewise, the second chapter and 24th verse of Haggai; by all of which, thrones are to fall, nation to be turned against nation, army against army, and man against man, until the earth is wasted of her people. By this great destruction of the human race, millions, millions of women will go to the grave, widows, unmarried and barren.
The war is now, compared to what it will be in••re—as four or five houses on fire, is to a ••ge city set in flames by them; which all the 〈◊〉 and invention of the world, which all the force of power and political foresight cannot quench. It is from the great scarcity of mankind, which the war will occasion, that the prophet represents so many women as taking hold of one conspicuous and particular man.
2. In that day the branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be excellent and comely for them which are escaped of Israel.
3. And it shall come to pass, that he which is left in Zion, and he that remains in Jerusalem, shall be called Holy; even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem.
4. When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and has purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst of it, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning.
This verse alludes to the Jews after their restoration, and to Jerusalem in the latter time of the world, when rebuilt and inhabited; the Jews will then acknowledge Christ for their Messiah, and through the sanctification of his blessed Spirit they will be cleansed from sin.
5. And the Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for upon all the glory (meaning the people) shall be a defence.
6. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat, and 〈◊〉 place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.
This is a figurative representation of the peace and safety of the Jews under the protection of God after their restoration to Jerusalem in 179•.
Apocrypha.—II. Esdras, Chap. xi.
36. Then I heard a voice which said to me, look before thee, and consider the thing that thou seest.
37. And I beheld, and lo, as it were, a roaring lion chased out of the wood; and I saw that he sent out a man's voice to the eagle, and said,
This roaring lion, as it were, chased out of the wood, means myself: who am now forc•• out of concealment by divine command to rebuke the eagle; not her only, but the other princes likewise, if they will not believe what I write, and try to save themselves from the judgment of God, by sparing the effusion of human blood. This must necessarily be done to fulfil the prophecy (for it is a true one) which is fully accomplished on my part by an explanation of the seventh chapter of Daniel, and declared aloud to the world by the publication of it in this book.
Peace being requested from God, and a suspension of his judgments offered through m••s earnestly request all the princes of Europe to forsake war, that they may enjoy the substantial blessings of long life, and everlasting happiness.
38. Hear thou, I will talk with thee, and the highest shall say to thee;
39. Art thou not it that remainest of the four beasts, whom I made to reign in my world, that the end of their times might come through them? (Instead of the word them, it should be, as it was in the original, Thee.)
40. And the fourth came, and overcame all the beasts, that were past; and had power over the world with great fearfulness, and over the whole compass of the earth with much wicked oppression: and so long time dwelt he upon the earth with deceit.
41. For the earth hast thou not judged with truth.
42. For thou hast afflicted the meek, thou hast hurt the peaceable, thou hast loved liars, and destroyed the dwellings of them that brought forth fruit, and hast cast down the walls of such as did thee no harm.
43. Therefore thy wrongful dealing is come up to the Highest, and thy pride to the Mighty.
44. The Highest also has looked upon the proud times, and behold, they are ended, and their abominations are fulfilled.
45. And therefore appear no more, thou eagle; nor thy horrible wings, nor thy wicked feathers, nor thy malicious heads, nor thy hurtful claw•, nor all thy vain body:
46. That all the earth may be refreshed, and may return, being delivered from thy violence; and that she may hope for the judgment and mercy of him that made her.
Chap. xii. 10.
And he said to me, This is 〈◊〉 interpretation of the vision.
11. The eagle, who thou saw come up from the sea, is the kingdom that was seen in the vision of thy brother Daniel.
12. But it was expounded to him, therefore now I declare it to thee.
I have inserted these verses not only as a demonstration of their truth, but likewise to 〈◊〉 the intimacy between the visions of Esdras and them of Daniel.
Moreover, when God was communicating by revelation at night a knowledge of this prophecy to me he said, (in plain words, as one man would speak to another; for it is in that manner all knowledge of what I write is first revealed to me.) "I passed by this part with Daniel." It was mentioned as a confirmed certainty to me, that the prophecy of Esdras was given from a true vision.
31. And the lion, whom thou saw rising up out of the wood, and roaring, and speaking to the eagle; and rebuking her for her unrighteousness; with all the words which thou hast heard:
32. This is the anointed (meaning myself, as prince of Israel) which the Highest hast kept for them, and for their wickedness to the end: he shall reprove them, and shall upbraid them with their cruelty.
33. For he shall set them before him alive in judgment, and shall rebuke them and correct them.
34. For the rest of my people shall he deliver with mercy, those which have been preserved upon my borders, and he shall make them joyful until the coming of the day of judgment, of which I have spoken to thee from the beginning.
Chap. xiii. 25.
This is the meaning of the vision; whereas thou saw a man coming up from the midst of the sea.
26. The same is he whom the Highest has kept a great season, which, by his own self, (meaning his own person,) shall deliver his people; (meaning his people the jews) and he shall order them that are left behind.
I am the man alluded to in this chapter; coming from the sea, in the twenty-fifth verse, is to signify that I should, as the person meant, live on the ocean. I have; having been in the English navy: but am now rising from it, to fulfil this prophecy, that of Isaiah, Haggai, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Malachi, and part of the Revelation to St. John likewise. For I was necessarily engaged with the sword, to fulfil the recorded judgment on the monarch I am to represent; and professionally a seaman, to fulfil the visions from God in his prophecy.
27. And whereas thou saw, that out of his mouth there came, as a blast of wind, and fire, and storm:
28. And that he had neither sword nor any instrument of war; but that the rushing in of him destroyed the whole multitude that came to subdue him. This is the interpretation.
29. Behold, the days come when the Most High will begin to deliver them that are on the earth.
30. And he (this means Christ, but the next verse myself. For I am now his prophet and messenger: the branch of his family alluded to, and the designed signet of peace for all nations; the prince ordained to govern visibly for him in his city, and on his throne; therefore, he being God, Lord, and King, shews me to Esdras, as he did to St. John, spiritually representing, and spiritually called under the name of his son, because universal dominion, as his empowered visible representative, immediately under himself, next to himself, will be given to me) shall come, to the astonishment of them that dwell on the earth.
31. And one shall undertake to fight against another, and one city against another; one place against another, one people against another, one realm against another.
32. And the time shall be when these things •all come to pass, and the signs shall happen which I shewed thee before, and then shall my son be declared, whom thou saw as a man ascending.
33. And when all the people hear his voice, every man shall, in his own land, leave the battle they have one against another.
34 And an innumerable multitude shall be gathered together, as thou saw them, willing to come, and to overcome him by fighting.
35. But he shall stand upon the top of mount Sion.
36. And Sion shall come, and shall be shewed to all men, being prepared and builded, like as thou saw the hill graven without hands.
37. And this, my son, shall rebuke the wicked inventions of those nations, which, for their wicked life, are fallen into the tempest;
38. And shall lay before them their evil thoughts, and the torments wherewith they shall begin to be tormented, which are like to a flame: and he shall destroy them without labour, by the law which is like to fire.
I recommend it to every person that reads this book, to take the Bible, and read from the beginning of the thirteenth chapter to the thirteenth verse, as it means myself: and likewise of the sixteenth chapter, from the eighteenth verse to the thirty-sixth, as it corroborates the prophecy of Isaiah, Daniel, and Haggai, relative to the immediate, and just now approaching, time of the world.
Of the Revelation, Chap. v.
The book means the prophecies intended to be concealed until this time of the world, which is the time they relate to: its seals, their spirit••• lock or fastening.
Observe, the revelation was given to St. John a long time after the death of Christ, not to commemorate those things which were before, which were fulfilled, and which were known before the time of writing it; but to record those things which are to be in future and which are to be fulfilled; according to the words of God, declared in the fourth chapter, and first verse, which are "Come up hither, and I will shew thee the things which must be hereafter." They were shewn to him in heaven, under such wonderful, such incomprehensible similitudes, in visions, as to seal their meaning a perfect secret, until the time of the world alluded to came, when the designed spirutual person (for no man can be a prophet o• Christ, now under Christianity, and speaking through the Holy Ghost, his spirit, without bearing some similarity to himself in meekness and compassion; witness the apostles) would be revealed, to open the spiritual seals, and make knowe the secret prophecies under them in the book.
Chap. vi.
The four first seals are opened, and the covering of secrecy is removed; the judgments which are to punish the world for transgression, by raising nation against nation, and man against man, are gone forth, spiritually under the similitudes expressed in this chapter, to the eighth verse, and are begun to be fulfilled: the concealed meaning of the prophecies, which have been carefully preserved so for me until the present time, are now declared; the spiritual seals are opened the contents of the spiritual book, which they shut, is known, and a revealed knowledge of it published in this visible book, for the good of all mankind.
The Lord God commands me to acknowledge the kindness of a poor woman, that brought me a three-penny loaf each week, every Monday morning, when I was in prison Her name is Isabella Wake. The prison is Newgate.
A man that died the day before, of a bad fever, and from neglect, for the want of proper nourishment, as I was told, made a vacancy in a room, with fourteen poor men, little air, and much crouded, for me to come into his place.
The small, very small pennyworth of bread, with water only, except one day in the week, when there are a few ounces of beef, for twenty-four hours, is barely sufficient to keep life and body together. The prison is very close; there is not room enough to promote health, by the necessary exercise of walking: there are no coals allowed for fire, nor candles for light. There is no bed to lie on, nor blanket to cover one; The poor are entirely destitute here.
When the condition of prisons, and the treatment of prisoners, is required for public information, it is from the poor man, whose health is injured by confinement, who has to draw his little air through a small iron-barred window, who has but a small pennyworth of bread allowed for the whole day to live on, that a true account is to be received; but certainly not from the officers, keepers, and contractors, who live in plenty, whose emoluments swell in proportion as the prisons grow crouded.
Therefore be no longer astonished that London, in one part of the Revelation is called under the name of the great city, for she is the greatest city in Europe, and the richest in the world; in another part she is called Sodom; and in a third, she is, as well as Rome, spiritually called Babylon the Great.
No man, who has any knowledge of God, can justly say, that London is without guilt, and her people are without sin; when her streets are full of vice, and her prisons are full of oppression.
St. Matthew, Chap. xxv.
37. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave the drink?
38. When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39. Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came to thee?
40. And the King will answer, and say to them, Verily I say to you, in as much as ye have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it to me.
ISABELLA WAKE, this is the recorded testimony of your everlasting life, which I am commanded to give in this book now, and to repeat at my revelation.
Moreover, I will provide for you; and although I am now poor, without house or servant, I shall soon have abundance, and be at the head of the greatest nation on earth: In my palace you shall always have an apartment, and at my table you shall always have a seat.
I am commanded to acknowledge likewise the acts of friendship I received from captain Hanchett, of Abingdon-street, which the Lord God considers as shewn directly to himself; therefore his blessing is on you; and by his promise in the Gospel, your reward is great. Moreover I am commanded to inform you, as well for the benefit of your children hereafter, as yourself immediately, that although you name is Hanchett, there is John Pitt Earl of Chatham, Sir Gilbert Elliot, and Charles Grey: you, as well as them, the whole, as well as myself, are of the Hebrews; branches of my own family, and are descended from David king of Israel.
All this has been told me by revelation, from the Lord God, in visions of the night.
There are many of my family, which have heard of me, and with which the Spirit of God has given me favour, that do not want either inclination or ability to demonstrate their friendship; but they are deterred, from a fear of offending government, and from a fear of incurring the imputation of guilt, by being generous.
The pre-ordained and designed signet of peace for all nations, cannot do any thing that will ultimately tend to injure any prince, government, or individual: if they view his words in a contrary light, it is because they calculate the future by the past; they know the things which were last month, but have no knowledge of those things which are to be the next. For all he does by writing, is to preserve the weak alive, and save the strong from falling down.
The weapons of his writing are not weak and carnal, but mighty and spiritual: when he is ordered to re-pronounce the judgments of God, and withdraw his eye from pity, the great power of his words will be felt to destroy, before their effects are seen to admonish; then, fleets, armies, princes, governments, and nations, must implore the God of heaven for mercy, and receive it likewise, or they will, all that remain from the sword, be cut off by the sudden and irresistible falling of fire.
The Prophet Malachi, Chap. iv.
5. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
6. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to their children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
The Elijah, mentioned in this chapter, and the messenger, mentioned in the first verse of the third chapter, mean two distinct persons. The one was the immediate messenger of Christ, when he came for the salvation of mankind; the other, his recorded prophet, to pronounce his judgments, and warn the world, before he comes to destroy it.
This is that great prophet, alluded to in the chapter, under the name of Elijah, and not St. John the Baptist: he will possess the Spirit of God equal to Elijah, and have the power of his fire in the same manner. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers; that is, he will suppress war and violence, which sets the old against the young and the young against the old. He will command peace, and by the great power given him from heaven, enforce an obedience wherever he comes.
The appointment of this prophet, being to invite first, and compel after, all nations to come into the kingdom of peace, as a necessary preparation to meet Christ, when he comes to visit and judge the world: St. John the Baptist, for being appointed to prepare for Christ, preaching the same kingdom of peace, and promising, by baptism, mercy to all that would believe, is the real and very reason, that Christ, in the seventeenth chapter of St. Matthew, calls him Elias.
At a former time, when I was entreating God to spare London, I mentioned no man by his title: but when I was writing an account of it for public information, he said to me, "unless you write their titles, they themselves wont know who you mean." It will appear strange, because I am not acquainted with any of the distinguished persons alluded to; but I knew every one by some particular act that caught my approbation, and made me remember them then. It seemed as if God had done this on purpose, for he has often said to me since, in visions and revelations at night, You must be a wall of defence and safety to many a great man;—yes, even to some that despise you now. At that time, after mentioning the name of William Pitt, I passed by that of his brother; immediately after, the Lord God reminded me of it, and, in a voice of great softness and good nature, said, There is John Pitt, won't you mention him? You don't know who he is I forgave.
In the year of 1790 the Spirit of God begun first, (although I always had a presentiment of being sometime or other very great) to enlighten my understanding, and teach me to distinguish right from wrong. At that time I was an officer in the navy, and considering that voluntary swearing, which I was obliged to comply with, every six months as a qualification to receive my pay, was unnecessary, unjust, and wicked, I requested to be indulged with permission to receive it without; stating at the same time, the concealed and unheeded cruelty of the oath, with my own reasons for objecting to the form: when I was told, in answer to my request, that there was an order of council to take the oath, and that it was not in the power of the admiralty to dispense with it.
Soon after this I made another request, supporting my objections to voluntary swearing, with observing, That if the order of council enforced an oath in any manner or under any form whatever, and that the man it was directed to operate on, swore that he was not forced, but that the oath he took was a voluntary act—the result of his own free will—would it not in the sight of God in heaven, and every man of discernment under him on earth, amount to a false oath?
These reasons with these objections, and the letter I received from the admiralty, stating their insufficient power to dispense with the usual form of swearing, I published at that time in the newspaper called the Public Advertiser.
During the time of my writing officially to the admiralty, I had occasion to write also to the president, whom I knew to be a member of the council; with the business of swearing which led me to make an application, I remarked to him; that as men, whether few in number, or the encreased multitude of a senate were not infallible, they must consequently be subject to error. To corroborate more forcibly this assertion, and likewise to impress a conviction of its justice, I mentioned among other things a decision of the privy counsel relative to a native of Glasgow, who had his ship seized in the West Indies for an undesigned infringement of the Navigation act.
After a legal investigation in that country, it was clearly proved and openly acknowledged, that although the apparent defect in the register might authorize the seizure, it could not justify a condemnation; because the commander, like an honest man, shewed it at the Custom-house, and received the approbation of the principal officer.
An appeal was lodged against this acquittal by the seizing officer in the West Indies, and brought before the privy council in England!—the ship was condemned.
To constitute a high court of equity, its members, to pronounce their judgment agreeable to that very name their existence as a court is derived from, must be governed more by the intention than the presumptive proof. But to constitute a court of law, its judges must be directed by the express letter of the act of parliament under which they officiate.
For example, two men go into a forest; while the one is fetching a blow to cut down a tree, the axe flies from the handle and kills the other: Here is a presumptive proof of murder, and the law very justly brings the survivor to trial. But equity, viewing this circumstance in a proper light, declares the innocence, and acquits accordingly.
Another, and more relevant to the seizure. A man buys a stamp, to legalise a bond for the better security of trading with his money, or in plainer language, lending it on interest; to be certain that this stamp is warrantably just, according to the prescribed forms of law, he shews it at the stamp-office, where it is acknowledged to be good and safe: after this, in consequence of some defect, it is declared illegal, and the holder subjected to a penalty.
I believe every man on earth, that has the common faculty of distinguishing white from black, will agree with me in saying, that it would be repugnant to equity to fine the holder for a defe•• that he had no knowledge of as such, and for what was authorized by the very office of government that always issued the stamps.
The law supposes criminality from the appearance; but equity measures it from the design. The one is external and visible, provided many years before it may be wanted: the one is internal and spiritual, always alive in the heart of every judge that possesses prudence, learning, and penetration.
When I was writing of these things to the Earl of Chatham, on my knees I made a solemn vow to the Almighty God, declaring that if he would be pleased to enable me, I would most surely procure an indemnification for the poor man that lost his ship. Since that time the Lord God has told me, by revelation at night, That he would most truly enable me: for if I liked, I should be President of the Council, and Chancellor of the Exchequer: I should have any thing that I required. Immediately after this, I heard another voice from heaven, say, The Lord have mercy on them, if they had not you for their friend and counsellor; for England is the Spiritual Egypt mentioned in the eleventh chapter of the Revelation to St. John.
After making the numerous representations I have mentioned, the Earl of Chatham, with great propriety, acknowledged their justice so far as to erase the word Voluntary from the prescribed form of swearing: but I was then reminded of the words of Christ in the 5th chapter, 34th verse of St. Matthew, and strictly commanded to obey them. Soon after this, I requested from the admiralty, and often repeated it, a dispensing order that I might receive my pay without an oath; but they would not grant it.
If the Earl of Chatham had shewn me the small favour I asked for, and certainly it would have been but a very small one to him, he should be held up to the world, as my friend, to be admired and regarded; he should wear such a durable coronet as would make him the envy of princes; it should be a coronet that no human power would ever be able to remove.
As the admiralty would not give me that reasonable indulgence I requested, as they would not shew me that kindness which, as men living by the navy, they might have done with ease, and without prejudice to their dignity; I wanted for a bit of bread to eat: I was besides treated so ill, as to be dragged to a work house without any legal authority, against every remonstrance I could make, and against every threat I could make use of to call them to a strict account for the injustice. The admiralty knew all this; they might have prevented it, by ordering what was due to me to be paid; but they would neither prevent the evil, nor enable me to be liberated: they would not order the payment of what was due, until open falsehood was made use of to say I was out of my senses. It seemed as if they were under some private apprehension, though pleased with my distress, of being charged one day or other in the eyes of their country with unfeeling cruelty, and wanted some kind of colourable evidence to justify the proceeding.
Hear, therefore, all nations, and be warned by it, what the Lord God has told me by revelation, and now commands me to write, that the injuries I received, because done for obeying his word in the blessed, Gospel, the remembrance of them should never be blotted out from the throne of heaven. Moreover, he said, likewise, that he would shake the English admiralty as a man would violently bread in a basket, until he loosed the foundations of the earth, and shook the place in pieces.
If I am out of my senses, in the opinion of the admiralty, for refusing, first to take an idle oath, secondly, a false one, and thirdly, to take any: Christ, the Saviour of the world, and him that Isaiah the prophet calls Wonderful Counsellor, who prohibits by his Gospel in the strongest terms all kind of swearing, must, by the same rule of knowledge for giving such a command, be out of his.
As the Quakers never swear, and their objections to it are sanctioned by a just indulgence of law; they, the king and parliament, for giving the indulgence, must, for the same reason as I am, be out of theirs.
Christ having been abused at Jerusalem, reproached with having a devil, being mad, and out of his senses, makes it the less astonishing for me, that am his servant, to be reviled in the same manner: For which the Lord God commands me to remind all men, from the testimony of his blessed Gospel, that the sin is blasphemy against his Holy Spirit, and that the punishment is everlasting fire.
It is from visions and revelations, and through the Holy Ghost, that I write this book for the benefit of all men: therefore, to say it is false, that I am mad, am an imposter, have a devil, or am out of my senses, constitutes the dangerous sin of blasphemy.
St. Matthew, Chap. xii.
31. Wherefore I say to you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven to men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
32. And whosoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaks against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.
St. Matthew, Chap. v.
22. But I say to you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
To insult any person, whether high or low, rich or poor, of whatever sect or denomination, that preaches or writes through the Holy Ghost, which is indeed the true Spirit of God, by saying that he is foolish, mad, or possessed with a devil, constitutes the dangerous sin of blasphemy in men at this day, as well as it did formerly in the Pharisees, when they reviled Christ.
As the good spirit may, by diligent attention, be easily known from the evil, and the true prophet from the false, remember that no man, speaking or writing under the direction of the Spirit of God, can revile another, encourage acts of injustice, or disturb society, by promoting violence in any manner whatsoever.
From the Spirit of God slows all the good things which are necessary to increase the life of man, and unite all nations under the Gospel bond of Christianity and friendship; they consist of love, peace, civility, and kindness; by a strict attention to observe the good spirit that encourages these things, may be easily discerned from the evil one that opposes them.
St. Paul to the Ephesians, Chap. iv.
29. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearers.
30. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are all sealed to the day of redemption.
31. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice.
32. And be ye kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you.
The Lord Jesus Christ, the better to prevent the commission of sin, and the fall of man, for there is no Saviour but him, begins with strictly prohibiting the lesser but poisonous names of flattery and falsehood, that they should not, by a frequency of use, corrupt the mind, and encrease to the more dangerous ones of blasphemy and rebellion.
First of Thessalonians, Chap. v.
19. Quench not the Spirit.
20. Despise not prophesyings,
21. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
22. Abstain from all appearance of evil.
23. And the very God of Peace sanctify you wholly: and I pray God that your whole spirit, and soul, and body, may be preserved blameless to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Corinthians, Chap. ii.
12. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things which are freely given to us of God.
13. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches: comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14. But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15. But he that is spiritual judges all things; yet he himself is judged of no man.
Collosians, Chap. ii.
8. Beware, least any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
No man ought to advance the writings or opinion of another to assist his own, when what he says is proved to be in opposition to the words of Christ; neither ought he to go back to the law, which was for the Jews alone, in their own country, to look for a precedent, to favour his delusive method of reasoning, when the thing he wants to justify is quite contrary to the blessed Gospel of peace and salvation.
The following are the words of St. Paul, in the fourteenth chapter to the Corinthians, which I am commanded to insert, as justly applicable to many at this time; when some, possessing all spiritual knowledge, as they thought, exalted themselves against him, and doubted the spiritual truth of what he said.
Verse 37. If any man thinks himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things I write to you are the commands of the Lord.
38. But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant. That is, if any man is not spiritual to discern the works of the Spirit of God, let him conceal his ignorance; let him not speak against them, because he has not the spirit to discern, faith to believe, or knowledge to comprehend their truth.
Galatians, Chap. i.
6. I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ to another Gospel;
7. Which is not another; but there is some that trouble you, and would pervert the Gospel of Christ.
8. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other Gospel to you than that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed.
9. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other Gospel to you tha• that ye have received, let him be accursed.
Second of Thessalonians, Chap. i.
6. Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you;
7. And to you, who are troubled, rest with 〈◊〉•hen the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from •en, with his mighty angels.
8. In flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9. Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.
It is time to awaken all nations from their sleep of delusive security, by informing them, that the time alluded to by St. Paul, in his Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, is come; and that there is a great falling away from an obedience to the blessed gospel. And likewise to inform them that Satan has been revealed; the age of the world is great, and the time is come for it; he is now allowed more power, because sin is increased, to influence and deceive man than at any time ever before. I am the prophet to whom the minister of sin was revealed; he is a spirit, and no man can see him in the open day-light, unless sanctified by the power of the Holy Ghost, and his eye-sight strengthened for the purpose.
It is for this reason that I am the appointed witness for God, and his last recorded prophet, to warn all nations, and desire them to obey the the blessed Gospel of salvation.