Unless they make thee to comply By thy consent, and Me deny.But in thy heart I well do know, Thou say'st no arts can ever doIf they like satan should appear, To send the greatest offers here: As he would've made thee Queen of hell; And man on earth the same should swell, To say they'd make the Queen the same, They'd find in thee an equal scorn. ——— They with their Gold may perish here, And all their threatenings thou'lt not fear→→ For My command thou wilt obey Nor Earth, nor Hell should alter thee; Before thou had'st seen the perfect end, To no one living thou wilt bend; But My command thou wilt obeyThen hear the words I now do sayI've brought the woman to your view, 'Tis for your good you all shall know: If by her words you now do stand, Then Paradise you may command.For now the serpent is in man, With all the rage of hell he's come, To see if he can me betray By any arts brought round this way.I gave him leave to work his will And try his power and his skill With all the art, he can invent, To work in man is My consent:Thy every virtues for to try, To see if thou wilt e'er comply To new proposals made by man:Then I will own like Eve thou'st done. But if like Eve thou'lt not appear, With all their threatening malice here: But to her first words thou wilt stand, And say it is the LORD'S command ; The way the trial now is plac'd: And then the good Fruit they shall taste. But one step further must not go; . For there the woman found her woeAnd there your woes, I say would come, If now one step is giv'n up to man, From any way the trial's plac'd; For then the Evil it would burst,

9

And every woe must come on man,
For then I say, you're all undone.
But if you stand unto MY word
You'll find ME as a Powerful GOD,
To bring REDEMPTION unto man,
And find My Kingdoms nigh at Hand-
Because mankind I well do know,
When they are convinced they wrong did go,
To seek by arts for to betray,

I know in mourning then they'll lay :
And all themselves they'll highly blame,
And then the Serpent I shall shame-
And tell him for to act like men,
Weep and repent of what he 'th done:
For he shall grieve mankind no more,
I'll rid him of this earthly shore;
And claim the kingdoms all my own,
And men as Earthly Gods shall come-
And Paradise on Earth shall see.
-So here's the mystery of the Fall:
For the first words I tell you all,
Must in the woman now appear;
With My Command, must all stop there
And then the Serpent must be cast,
And he in hell with rage may burst:
Because I know he've had his time,
And now he'll find I will HAVE MINE.
For so the ending shall appear,
And know I always told thee here,
When I redeem'd you from the Fall
You must come back to Adam's call-
For the Creation 't must appear
When I do come the whole to clear.-
And can it be another way?
I ask, My Honor, how't must lay,
To say at first I laid a Plan,
To be a Helpmate then for man;
As I pronounc'd it for his good.--
Can man so vainly judge their God,
Should let the devil ME betray,
And turn ME back another way?
And tell ME I should not go through,
The Plan I'd laid would never do?
But now, to do it, I AM come;—
And Satan may consult with man,

B

To turn it back another way-
They both together may agree
If they an art can now invent
Thy heart in sunder for to rend;
And make thee disobey My will;
Then I'll give up to Satan's skill,
That he hath work'd to act in man,
If they thy heart can now o'ercome→
Then men shall say there is a God;
But not in Power as 'tis said;
Nor yet in Wisdom so DIVINE,
If they can make the heart of thine,
To yield to them another way,
Than I have laid the Plan for thee."

Now, my dear Miss Townley, must not we be worse than Mad-men and Fools deserving punishment worse than the devil, if we draw back to dishonor GOD, after His unbounded love and goodness to man?

(Signed)**

JOANNA SOUTHCOTT.

11

HERE follow copies, and part of copies, of Letters and Communications of JOANNA SOUTHCOTT, which she sent to Miss Townley; and which Miss Townley has, according to the dates, transmitted to the Rev. T. P. Foley, of Oldswinford, Worcestershire.

REV. SIR,

Wednesday, June 13, 1804. 3 days before
Joanna dropped her pen

I went, this morning, to our dear Joanna, for directions for Mr. Sharp, concerning the Book in which the Letters are placed wrong: but no words can express the feelings of my heart, to see her, as though she was surrounded by the devil and all his hellish hosts, in such agonies as if he was tearing her very soul and body. The horror and misery of her was far beyond what pen can express, or heart conceive, that was not an eye-witness to it. It has been a day indeed; a day of everlasting remembrance to me, that never can be forgotten. I shall give you the words, penned from her mouth during this scene of distress; though I was hardly able to pen them at the time, and scarcely able to write them now: but it is her wish to have them to-morrow. Here followeth the words. (Signed)

JANE TOWNLEY,
ANN UNDERWOOD.

Dear Miss Townley,

June 13, 1804.

THERE is no pen can paint, nor heart conceive, the horror and misery I have felt, ever since the book, that is now printing in London, has come to my view; when I saw it was placed wrong, it went as a dagger to my heart: and though I was answered, the Lord had permitted it for wise ends, and you took all the blame to yourself, yet the thoughts of Mr. Sharp's letter struck as a dagger through my heart and soul; as I remembered hearing it read, he had altered the title-page, which I then understood was only the outside leaf, that I did not approve of myself; but when the book was brought, that I saw he had altered the whole, self-reflection cut me to the soul; and, till the Lord is pleased to take this burden from me, my life is miserable. All the heavenly joy I felt before, is now vanished into horror and misery greater than I can bear. I do not believe there is a more wretched being, this side the grave, at present: for I am fallen from the height of happiness to the depth of misery. Instead of heavenly Joys too great for me to bear, my heart and soul wanting to be enlarged to bear them; I now feel sorrow, horror, inisery and woe, no pen can paint, no heart can conceive, and, no tongue can express, what I now feel; my life I cannot bear. What will be my fatal end? All the sufferings that I have had from 1792 to this day, are nothing to the sufferings I now feel; for I am now upon the wrack of misery, wishing for death, but cannot die, and in this state am afraid to die, fearing I should meet an angry God, that I have innocently offended,