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mind, and darkened thy understanding, perfectly like the weather, of the ending and the beginning of the year, placed by men's wisdom in one likeness. And know I told thee that this would be the state of men, till I began to work in their hearts; and then the truth of my words would break out, like the sparkling lustre of the sun. For they will see, in the ensuing year, the truth of the sign, which I told thee in the year that is past; and therefore I shewed thee that sparkling lustre in the sun, when the year ended, by my stile, as I had told thee before. Now, let the worldly-wise men answer, how there came to be so great a difference in the sunshine and the weather, of the ending and the beginning of the year, of the new stile placed by the wisdom of men, and the old stile that I told thee I should go to, for days and for years; and that ended and began, perfectly as I told thee I should work round, to bring the sparkling sun to light, like the noon-day sun before them.

"Here let men discern in what manner I spoke of the sign; and to shew thee that that sign should be fulfilled, I shewed thee the brightness of the sun in the end. Here let men of wisdom answer, how this should come to pass, for thee to bring out such a likeness to men, to compare the darkness of the weather to the darkness of their understanding, as the year is placed by them; and to bring the light like the light of my word, from the sign of the ending of the year as placed by ME. Do men simply suppose, that if thou hadst set a sign from thyself, or from a wrong spirit, which is not of God, that I should work a way round to shew thee that that sign should be fulfilled, by the sign I had set in the heavens, of the setting and rising sun, when it came to my appointed time? This no man of learning who believes that my eye is every where present, that nothing can be

concealed from my knowledge, who believes in the Scriptures and the fulfilment thereof, can come forward simply to say, that this happened by chance, to strengthen thy hand to go on, the way I shall direct thee, the ensuing year; because I tell thee, if men are silent, I shall not keep silence; and what I command thou must obey; and there fore I shall direct thee, how to go on to break silence in men, that the day-light might now ap

pear.

For now I shall come back to the sign which I have told thee is of Pomeroy; for I have answered thee already concerning his saying thou wast born for his ruin; then that blame must be laid on ME; for he cannot lay it on thee; because it must be to the spirit which visits thee; and this I shall demand of him to clear; for all his words must be sent to him, if thou hearest nothing from him before the time I have mentioned. And, as he said thou hadst set his house on fire, or inquired why thou didst not; this charge he laid on thee; but this I shall demand of him to clear thee from, and bring the charge on ME; for I now tell thee, I shall either set his heart on fire, with love to burn within, seeing my mercies to forgive the past, and to shew him I have blessings in store for him, if my commands are now obeyed by him. So that I shall do what he inquired of thee, why thou didst not do it; for if his heart will not burn with love, then I will make it burn with anger, till he shall confess that he hath set his own house on fire, by giving way to Satan's temptations, whom he said thou wast led by. So that all his words and all his sayings, which he cast on thee, I shall now compel him to cast on ME; and then let him bring forward his arguments, which way he will prove his assertions to be true. But thou sayest within, that his answer will be from the persecution he suffered of men;

for this was his pleading at the first; and this may be his pleading at the last. To this pleading at first I gave up, and confined thy understanding, as not to enter into a contention with him, to know why he gave out thy writings to go out in the world by his judgment, one year; and then come to condemn his judgment the next, without shewing any proof, only that he could not bear the persecution. Then now I shall call him to my Gospel; and let him see what persecution I bore, in love to him and all mankind.

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"Thus let him trace my Gospel through, and view ME in the garden of Gethsemane, before I suffered the agonies of death for man. Then I will say unto him as I did to my disciples, could 'ye not watch one hour with ME? could ye bear no reproach for me? no persecution for my sake, that bore persecution to the death of the cross, for your sakes? Look to my disciples, and see what persecution they bore, at a time when I told them that my kingdom was not of this world; but that they must go through to drink of the cup which I had drank; that they would be put to death for my sake. I set no joys before them, but the glories of heaven; yet see what they went through to gain that crown. But now I have set before men the joys of fighting to overcome both spiritually and temporally; because I have told thee, the time is at hand, of my coming according to my Gospel, to destroy my enemies, and enjoy my friends, in this world and that which is to come. So that my promises now are double to what I said to my disciples; then now I ask thee where is the man, who professes to be a believer in ME and my Gospel, and cannot bear any persecution for my sake? Then, I tell thee, he is not worthy of ME. Know what I said to Pilate-if my kingdom had been of this world, then my servants would have fought; but now my kingdom is not from

hence; yet I said that for this cause was I born, and for this cause came I into the world. And now come to my disciples.-They fought to establish my Gospel; and they continued to fight, till they had overcome, to have my Gospel established; though not universally throughout the world; yet it was established to stand for the end, to shew mankind that there is a time, that the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of the living God. And this I have warned thee is now at hand, that I shall establish, and bring in the REDEMPTION OF MAN; then where is my servant, where is my follower, or where is my disciple, that will not now fight with the SWORD of the SPIRIT, to prove that my kingdom is nigh at hand? But who can fight with this SWORD, that hath no enemy to fight against him? Without persecution my Gospel cannot be fulfilled. Will a king go to war when he hath no enemy to war against him? In thy heart thou answerest, no; . without he unjustly kindles a war against a nation; then he compels them to fight in their own defence. Now perfectly so stands my Gospel. It is the enemy who hath unjustly kindled the war, against the visitation of my Spirit, against my warning that my kingdom is at hand; then now I ask thee where are my friends, or my followers, where are my servants, or my faithful soldiers, who will not now take up the SPIRITUAL SWORD, to fight against my enemies? Because this is the war unjustly kindled against my love and mercies to man; and thus I knew the end would be; therefore he is no warrior, nor servant of mine, who cannot bear reproach for my sake

"Therefore, I tell thee this of Pomeroy, if he keep silence till I order thee to send again; thy inquiry must be at last, as I ordered thee at first, when thou judgedst thou shouldest see him no more -will he resign that thou shalt look for another, who

can bear to draw the SPIRITUAL SWORD for ME, and to maintain the SPIRITUAL FIGHT? There fore, I tell thee, he must resign to give up the calling I have called him to; or he must draw the SWORD; as I told my disciples, he must bear the CROSS, if he will wear the CROWN.

"This is my answer to thy saying, it was for the persecution of men, which he met with in receiving thy writings, that he said thou wast born for his ruin; but now I tell thee, in like manner he might say the same of ME; because it was I the Lord that invited him, and promised blessings, if he obeyed his call; but threatened judgments in the end, if he refused, when called again. And now discern, from the letter I ordered thee to send, that his calling at last was like the first, that I had a great work for him to do; and if he obeyeth, he will find my promises true. But know he stands two ways, as I told thee from the first to the last; but one way or other, whether won by love, or feared by judgments, thou wilt find that he will acknowledge his belief in thy visitation to be from the Lord of lords and King of kings, before this year hath an end. For all his follies I shall lay before him, and shew him plainly, it was not thee that had any thing to do with disgracing his character; because thou hadst no knowledge of him, but through my visitation, to direct thee to him. So that it is the Spirit which he hath blamed, it is the Spirit which he hath condemned, and spoken so harshly against at first, when he fell back, and wrote so warmly against thee in his letters. And therefore, I tell thee, it is impossible for him to shun his call, without proving what spirit it is, which he hath so harshly condemned; for he hath a power put in his hands, which no man hath had but himself; and therefore he cannot act according to thy judgment, to go on and treat the whole with a silent contempt, till awful judgments have

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