BF 1815 ■*"" THE TRUTH ABOUT JOANNA SOUTHCOTT (PROPHETESS) TOGETHER WITH A CHALLENGE TO THE BISHOPS to support her writings if they be true, to "banish" them if they be false. BY MRS. RACHEL J. FOX A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND AUTHOR OF THE MYSTERY OF JOANNA SOUTHCOTT AND REVELATION ON REVELATION "Despise not prophesvings" "Blessed is he that readeth . . . the words of this prophecy" (the Revelation of things "which must shortly come to pass.") "When he ascended . . . and gave gifts unto men . . . he gave some, apostles, and some prop hets." "And God hath set some in the Church, first apostles, secondarily prophets." "To one is given by the Spirit . . . prophecy." "Greater is he that prophcskth than he that speaketh with tongues." "He that prophzsieth speak - eth unto men to edification and exhortation and comfort (and) edifieth the Church." "Your daughters shall prophesy. " "Covet to prophesy. " "The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy." "Think not that I am come to destroy the (office of) Prophets." "I have read Revelation on Revelation with great fascination and interest. I pray for it a wide circulation among the clergy and ministers of all denominations. Apart from any reference which the book makes to Joanna Southcott, the new light which it throws on some of the prop- hecies should prove of immense value to all seekers after Truth." — The Rev. Humphrey Davies. Grimsby. Printed by kind permission of the Author b Carpenter's Book Store San Diego, California, IT. S. A. 1p\ £ s* 1 ifio THE TRUTH ABOUT JOANNA SOUTHCOTT THE Truth about Joanna Southcott is that there is not, and never has been, a man or woman in the world who is her equal in brains, courage, perseverance, unselfish- ness, honesty, purity, loyalty to her country and devotion to her God. That is the truth that will prevail over the con- temptible articles in Encyclopedias, from which newspaper writers still continue to get their information. For their enlightenment we will remark that Editors of En- cyclopedias are hastening to have totally new articles written about her, that at the National Portrait Gallery the word Im- postor has been removed from her picture and that her true designation of Prophetess has been substituted. Men on news- papers are comparatively excusable for following the encyclo- paedic lead, but what are we to say of the Bishops and many of the clergy of our day, who, for years, have had her magnif- icent writings sent to them, and are content to allow a devoted Communicant of their church, to remain under a stigma which they positively know to be false — the stigma that she, who risked her means of livelihood, lest she should miss a word that God gave to her for the salvation of this country in its coming trials, sold seals which were supposed to be passports into heaven? There has never been a greater falsehood in- vented since the Lord Christ was called "a deceiver !" Great is the Truth, and it shall prevail over newspaper men and over Bishops too. The writer is a literary critic who, moreover, has been engaged mostly in theological criticism and knows that to build upon the theology of to-day is to build upon the sand. One man will get a D.D. for a thesis upon a crucial theological doctrine looked at in one way and another may, as easily, get a B.D. on a thesis which takes precisely the opposite view. Take twenty clergymen and hardly two of them will agree on any important point. There is no adhesion, no continuity any- where. Three years aigo the writer commenced the study of the sixty-five volumes which Joanna received in the presence of two witnesses from the "still small voice," and found herein the Truth. The writer had studied nearly every phase of the- ology, had tested the mechanism of the Church in every detail, had known something was wanting and found it in these vol- v :■,■:■'.■ lisfc@r MR 21 \m THE TRUTH ABOUT JOANNA SOUTHCOTT. 3 umes which are being- reprinted at the Clock House Press, Ash- ford, Middlesex, England ; also, San Diego, California, U. S. A., and prepare us for the fulfillment of the Promise to destroy evil. The Gospel and the fulfillment of the Gospel, are two different things. Briefly, Joanna, born in 1750, was of a good Devon family, which had had reverses. Like St. Paul who was a tent maker, St. Peter who was a fisherman, and the Christ who was a carpen- ter, she committed the crime of earning her own living, uphol- stery being her particular calling. She had previously been even in domestic service, which is an honorable and useful pro- fession. She was never a Methodist, but was called upon by God to try the Methodists with her wonderful Message and found thern "worse than the Church people." She would have been called a good churchwoman in our day, fasting in Lent, attending the Communion frequently, and her writings are en- tirely those of one who considered the Church of England her spiritual home. In 1792, at the age of forty-two, she first heard the Voice of^ the Lord, which came to her precisely as it came to Moses, Miriam, Deborah, Huldah, Elijah, David, Isaiah or Amos (who, by the way, was a herdman). Leaving her work to look after itself, she faithfully recorded every word she heard without addition thereto or subtraction therefrom. Com- ing events, revealed to her by the Spirit, were sealed and placed in the hands of various clergymen and came true to the mo- ment. (Particulars of all these facts are in the Writings; some two hundred prophecies were fulfilled) . For twenty-two years did this faithful woman obey the directing Voice and Hand of the Lord God, losing her living and her good name in His ser- vice, for, naturally, she brought upon herself the scorn of cler- gy and laity, was derided, burnt in effigy, lampooned and suf- fered the torture which any well-disposed woman would suf- fer under such conditions. But did she give in? No, you Englishmen who applaud pluck, she did not, and her sixty-five volumes are a monument to what Faith, of which Work was the outcome, can accomplish. Well, what was it all about you may say? It was to provide a shadow whereby when the sub- stance came, as she said it would, we might have some sort of an idea how to go on The Napoleonic war in her day was the shadow, we are now enjoying the substance, and, men and wo- men of England, the writer would inform you that, as every prophecy of Joanna's in regard to this war has come true so far, you have a pretty big thing in front of you and that the outlook, unless the Bishops open her sealed Prophecies and therein learn how we are going to escape disaster, is something prodigious! For this, be it known, is the last eighty-three 4 THE TRUTH ABOUT JOANNA SOUTHCOTT. years under the dominion of Evil, and the dethronization of Satan from his present position, as "prince of this world/' will be accompanied by phenomena which no one could stand who is not thoroughly acquainted with what is transpiring and is protected by knowledge and by faith. Joanna wrote for our benefit and, at least, it were better to search her writings and see what she can do to help us, than to wallow in cheap sneers about a thing of which all one knows is culled from an Ency- clopaedic article about to be re-written! A brief resume of the teaching which God gave her is as follows : — That Satan (who was the covering cherub described in Eze- kiel xxviii, 14) originated evil in his heart by his jealousy of the Son of God. By means of his powers and his lies he caused rebellion in Heaven and secured to his side a third part of the angels, who, when Michael and his hosts conquered them, fell with him to earth. How long he and his were on earth we are not told. God had declared to Satan He would create "from the dust" a better race than the fallen angels. Close on six thous- and years ago Adam — then in the perfect form of male and fe- male in one person, — appeared. Aware that Satan would tempt Man as he had tempted angels, God took from Adam his weak- er part, woman, because it was better that Satan should tempt one who, if she fell, would fall ignorantly and innocently. De- claring Woman should be Man's Helpmate, God placed them under a law, to break which was punishable. "In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Satan supposed this al- luded }td 'physical death and rejoiced in the thought that he would so easily get rid of man from the earth. He proceeded (with the express purpose of causing her to die) to tempt Eve, whom it is noteworthy Adam had left unprotected. Eve fell ignorantly through deception, she did not know that evil ex- isted, she did not sin. When all w T as discovered Adam threw the blame on God and on Woman, Eve threw it on Satan. Man did not die physically, far from this Adam lived nearly one thousand years, and it now transpires that the death God spoke of was death to the intimate and familiar knowledge of Him which they had enjoyed. It is from this death as well as from physical death we are about to be delivered. 1 The 15th verse of Genesis iii is our CHARTER of REDEMPTION, note it carefully. 2 Adam had blamed God and Woman, Eve had laid the blame on the right head. Very well, Christ would take the blame man cast on God and on Woman, and would shield the woman who has never blamed Him. This He did by com- 1 "They shall all know Me from the least of them unto the greatest of them." 2 "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head and thou shall bruise his heel." — Genesis Hi, 15. (Isa. 44,5.) THE TRUTH ABOUT JOANNA SOUTHCOTT. 5 ing in the Fourth Thousand Year or Fourth Day and permit- ting Satan to bruise His Heel — (it was Satan who entered into Judas and into the chief Priests). To this alone did Christ allude when He said, "It is finished." That piece of His per- sonal work was done, viz. : — the bruising of His Heel, but the rest had to come — the bruising of the deceiver's head. It is the talk about the "Finished work of Christ" that has confused us. His work will not be finished till He has come with ven- geance in His heart and has cast Satan and his hosts from off our earth. Here again Satan was foiled, for, in the text you will see that the last is put first and the first last. Foiled in having tempted only the ignorant, innocent half of Man, foiled in thinking "thou shalt surely die" meant physical death, foiled in thinking when Christ was crucified, as it was placed last "it was finished," what a Fool is Satan! So great a Fool that we are not permitted to call each other Fools ! To proceed — Christ returned to Heaven as Two Thousand Years, two more "Days," had to roll by of the Six Thousand Years or Six "Days" (a week) promised to Satan on earth. Each thousand years is a day to God (2nd Epistle St. Peter, iii, 8), and His week is six days or six thousand years. The Sabbath, "the seventh Day," the Seventh Thousand, is coming and will be a Day of Rest for God and Man, a thousand years of perfect life, for us who sur- vive the various trials of Sword, Plague and Famine here on this earth. All who will not accept this Visitation will be re- moved to the spirit-world as, manifestly, only those who wish for Christ's kingdom will enjoy it. Remember, we are go- ing to live like Adam for one thousand years (see Revelation xx, 4) only no longer fallen, but redeemed, renewed, rejuvena- ted, made new creatures with bodies like the Lord's Resurrec- tion Body (He rose again and remained on earth for forty days to show us this fact). Some may say, "oh, but you mentioned that eighty-three years had to pass yet to make up the six thousand, — we shall not live to see it." Ah, but "the days" are going to be "shortened," any time in the day is the day and the Lord Gor*. is going to shorten this last day (the sixth thousand) of Satan's reign, but He will give back to him exactly what He takes off it after the one thousand years of Rest are over, as God will be just, even to Satan (see Revelation xx, 7). Relief may come any time now, thank God! To understand how we shall be changed and restored, it is necessary to realize that Satan and his hosts are a malificent influence working on the mind and brain of man and beast, as soon as this influence is removed "We shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twink- ling of an eye." A splendid prospect is in front of us! We do not know what true life is yet, but we shall know 6 THE TRUTH ABOUT JOANNA SOUTHCOTT. soon. Think of some day in your life, when perhaps, you felt buoyantly well, it was lovely weather, you had plenty of money, beautiful food and suitable clothes, and your powers and tal- ents were in perfectly good working order, the only regret be- ing that you knew it all had to come to an end ! That is only a shadow of what we have in front of us, and our joys and de- lights will never end. The clergy have told us so many times that "We shall not all sleep," that they, of all people, should re- joice to find their prophecy is coming true, yet they of all peo- ple will not believe it ! In their view all the joys named in the Bible must happen "up in Heaven," whereas all will happen here on earth, They teach us to ask for God's Kingdom to come daily, and in Advent they do a little in the way of remind- ing us of the Second Coming on earth of the Lord Christ, but they seem to think no arrangements have to be made in regard to such a prodigious event, either by God or by them. It is a good thing someone was raised up who had sense enough to be able to receive all this and to be able to give us an idea how sin and death will be destroyed. That someone was Joanna South- cott. A religion which demands of us absolute trust in a Be- ing, to whom we give up our will, must be founded upon a pre- mise that this Being never has made and cannot, by any pos- sibility ever make a mistake. A moment's thought and any- one will see that the Person whose kingdom is desirable and whose will is to be final must be a Person who had, has now and will ever have all Wisdom. The Church so far has been content that Adam should have blamed God for giving him the Woman and has been content that Woman whom God said was made to be a Helpmate proved to be exactly the reverse. These two things must be made right before anything more can be done for Man. Jesus Christ has died for the blame cast on God,— that is done — finished — but Man has yet to accept the Atone- ment in this light, viz. : — as necessary owing to Man's dread- ful blundering. And he has also yet to accept Woman's help in order that she shall be his Helpmate. As we said before, God cannot make a mistake. A helpmate she was to be and a helpmate she will be, and Man will never receive a knowledge of the plan of the coming Redemption from any but a Woman's hand Joanna was raised up in order that God could teach a Woman to plead the second part (put first) of our Charter of Redemption — the Promise made to the Woman that Satan's head should be bruised. Given to a Woman, because she laid the blame, not on God, but on Satan, it must be pleaded by a Woman. Man must learn from Woman to plead that Promise also. Redemption and Salvation are terms in Theology which have not, so far, been understood to have different meanings. THE TRUTH ABOUT JOANNA SOUTHCOTT. 7 Salvation alludes to salvation of the soul, and up to now this has certainly been the point to work to, but a change is coming and Redemption is about to be experienced as well. Redemp- tion alludes to the change of body which those who accept and act upon these teachings will experience at the casting of Sa- tan from earth to hell. Tins is the briefest possible introduction to the study of God's New Revelation promised in 1 Peter i, 13, but thinking people will see, even in these points, that there is a Plan at the back of all the mysteries which is more satisfactory than any- thing yet preached. A spiritual warfare between God and Sa- tan, in which Man is unavoidably involved, has been in process all through the ages and is rapidly approaching its termination. Satan, on his side, has fought hard to retain his footing here and has engineered the Churches in ways which will surprise no one as much as themselves. His last stroke has been to per- suade the world that he does not exist through Christian Sci- ence and other cults, and throughout he has taught men to rely on side issues in order to keep them too engaged over non-essen- tials to think about the second coming, which will result in his removal to a less pleasant sphere. He is of course particularly and especially the enemy of 1 Joanna Southcott, whom he thought he had got rid of in 1814, when, as she died without a trace of disease (the medical certificate is extant to prove this), she may be said to have been murdered by him as Jesus Christ was. It was she who drew from him, during her seven days' Dispute with the Powers of Darkness, 2 the statement that he would stand or fall by Election, as a Member of Parlia- ment — "most votes to carry the day," as he declared that men love sinful pleasure better than goodness. God took him at his word and Joanna was ordered to start a list of signatures against his continued reign and in favour of the promised kingdom of Christ. In a short time Joanna had a large num- ber of signatures and, obviously, Satan had none ! Then the Law, which the Isles had waited for, was enacted. 3 Until a law was made against Satan, he knew he could not be brought to justice, "for where no law is there is no transgression." — (Ro- mans iv, 15). The law made was this — that if Satan tempted or persecuted one who had signed the Petition, his kingdom should fall. This is the law which is dearer unto many of us than thousands of gold or silver, for by means of it this Arch- fiend, this Deceiver, this Liar and Murderer will be brought to justice, as it is needless to say, that he, like the short-sight- 1 "I will put enmity between thee and the woman." 2 The dispute of the Woman with the Powers of Darkness and The Answer of the Lord. 3 Isaiah xlii, 4. THE TRUTH ABOUT JOANNA SOUTHCOTT. ed fool he is, could think of no better diplomacy than to try to distress Joanna and her followers, hoping to destroy also the archives which record this great stroke of Divine strategy. Satan thought to get rid of Adam and Eve and their possible posterity by drawing down upon them physical death, of Jesus Christ by the same scheme, of Joanna in the same way. Certain- ly, after her death, owing to her Spiritual Child (Rev. xii) being "caught up" to God and to his (the Child's) throne in Heaven and out of reach of "the Dragon," its non-appearance in bodily tangible form placed Joanna's followers in a trying dilemma, which, however, gradually gave way to an under- standing of that remarkable chapter in the Revelation which was entirely satisfactory. The Child was "caught up," until of age to come as Shiloh to claim the kingdom. Having a spir- itual body like the Lord's Resurrection body, it could be felt before birth and could disappear and leave no trace. To a be- liever in the spiritual world about us, and to a believer in the Virgin Birth of Christ in the Flesh, the matter presents no dif- ficulties. A little child once asked, when hearing many ob- jections to possible miraculous developments in this epoch, "Mother, is God dead ?" Truly the Church seems to have rais- ed a question as to His active existence, or to have shut a door in His face. Having concluded the Revelation to St. John the Divine, the Church has practically said that He must speak no more to man by revelations or prophecies, nor must He show His "signs" to an unbelieving world. We admit that He show- ed His disfavour with man for having allowed himself to be- come the instrument in Satan's hands of slaying His only Son, by a cessation of Revelation and of Miracles or signs, but that was fortunately a temporary withdrawal and the world will now have to receive the fresh series of evidences of His Divine power to raise up a Spiritual Child as He raised up the Man Christ Jesus. The Churches will refuse to listen, but fortu- nately God is greater than the Churches and has already be- gun to "call out" from all the Churches a following which, though it is a "little flock," is great in Faith. The members of this flock who acknowledge Him alone as the Shepherd and the Bishop of their souls, understand, in some degree, His mag- nificent Plan, and obey the few very simple requirements in regard to the carrying of that Plan into effect, for there must be co-operation on the part of Man. The chief feature of this co-operation is the signing of the great Petition to Christ to "come quickly" according to His Promise, to bruise the head of the Deceiver of the Woman. Those who do so have a paper which they also sign and keep in their possession, this paper being called their "Seal." In virtue of having signed the Roll THE TRUTH ABOUT JOANNA SOUTHCOTT. and of having in their possession this signed paper, they are "sealed to the Day of Redemption." This simple act of obe- dience carries with it the same protection in the coming troubles that the Israelites received during the judgments which fell upon Egypt. To sign the Petition is to sign Satan's death warrant. The cross in the forehead which is the mark of what the Beast did to Christ, must now be covered by the Seal in the forehead (Revelation ix, 4). The Angels have re- ceived orders not to "hurt the earth" until the exact number is reached of those who are daily being added to the Church (to the Ecclesia, the "called out" from all churches) otherwise of those who have sufficient Faith to be sealed and to allow of their receiving the great joy of a Redeemed Body, which can remain on this earth to live and reign with Christ for a thous- and years. During this period Man will be healed, restored and "taught of God" as promised, and "after that the judgment," when, released from Satanic influences, he will be found to be "good." Here again we see how God who makes no mistakes will justify what He said of Man when He created him. What more can God do for us ? Hitherto it has been supposed that the Coming of Christ will be a sudden and catastrophic appear- ance in the air, followed immediately by a terrifying Assize or Judgment Day, and it is no wonder that children have feared the very name of "the Last Day" and that grown-up people have not been exactly keen on it. When the "Last Day" is understood to be the last day of Satan's rule — the very last thousand years of his six thousand years' reign, it is a totally different affair, and the writer can assure any who read this little sketch that those of us, including the young people, who accept and sign the Petition, are on the tip-toe of pleased ex- pectation and are like children who have been promised a treat — almost consumed with anxiety for "the Last Day" to come! A word on the War. — It is the final attempt made by Satan to secure the kingdoms of this world. He entered Napoleon (the i'irst Beast) one hundred years ago, as he saw what was corning, when "the Angels rejoiced at Joanna's birth," and has entered the Kaiser (the second Beast), in the hope that Eng- land, which is the New Jerusalem, may be overrun by hordes of men who place ambition and militarism above every other thing, and will thus crush God's great purpose for her. The Bishops have in in their hands, now at any moment, to change the scenes in England completely by sending for and investiga- ting THE BOX of SEALED PROPHECIES, which will deal with this war and will tell the Church and people exactly what 10 THE TRUTH ABOUT JOANNA SOUTHCOTT. to do in view of the coming phenomena. It is imperative that the Bishops and clergy, together with their flocks, shall "be- come as little children," having all to learn, as man's wisdom has now to give place to that of the Supreme Being. The Box of Sealed Prophecies is in the possession of a churchman. It was originally in the care of the Foley family, ancestors of the present Bishop of London, two of whom were clergymen thor- oughly steeped in Joanna's teachings. Some writings she was ordered to publish, some to place in the Box or Ark of the Tes- tament, i which is strongly corded and nailed with copper nails and may only be delivered up to twenty-four Bishops (the twenty-four Elders of the Book of Revelation) of the Church of England, from which church the glory will burst in conse- quence of the loyal support which Joanna received from three of the clergy of her time. There is only one Box and it cannot be investigated in any other way than is here described. As it will be sent for "in a time of great National danger," doubt- less we have yet many problems to face, but all should at once combine in bringing pressure to bear upon the Bishops to in- duce them to rise to their terrible responsibility. From a hu- man standpoint it may be said that our fate as a nation is in the Bishop's hands. (It is better to obey than to sacrifice. — 1 Samuel 15.22.) Miss Alice Seymour, of Devon, was called upon to publish the Life of Joanna Southcott in two volumes in 1907, unwit- tingly fulfilling the prophecy that this would be done "by the hand of a woman." Her labours have been unremitting ana daily she receives letters of enquiry and names to place upon the great Roll. Many are giving their lives and substance to this great work, and before long the greatest controversy in the world will be floated. In view of this, a printing press has been started at Ashford, in Middlesex, as it is prophesied that we shall hardly be able to keep pace with the demand for the Books. The world will rapidly be divided into two Churches, The Church of Philadelphia and The Church of Laodicea. The first will keep the "Word" of His "Patience," the word which Christ sowed in this woman's fine brain and responsive soul for twenty-two years ; like the good Husbandman, He has had long patience for its results. Buried like a corn of wheat it had to die for one hundred years before it brought forth fruit. The second (the church of Laodicea) will be composed of those who say "I am rich, I have need of nothing." "We know all we want to know from the early Fathers, from our own Di- vinity schools. Christ's 'Finished Work,' or 'Adult Baptism,' or 'Sacramental Teaching,' or 'Full Catholic Doctrine,' or 'Ad- 1 Ark or chest, from the Latin area — a chest. THE TRUTH ABOUT JOANNA SOUTHCOTT. 11 vanced Ritual/ or some mode of Church management suffice us, it is not we who are wretched and naked and miserable, nor do we want 'gold tried in the fire/ the priceless gold of the New Revelation, the story of how Paradise will be regained." Two Churches, of which one, patient, steady, certain, strong, will alone realize the outpouring of the Spirit (as the early Apostles did in shadow) and will be as "a strong people set in battle array, shall march every one on his ways and shall not break their ranks" (Joel ii). This will be the Church of the Living God, the one Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church, for it is the Church to which the apostles' eyes were ever bent, that Church which asks for and will realize relief from Satan's power, the Church which owns no Bishop and no Lord but Christ, Who alone can accomplish the feat, totally impossible to man, of reconciling all differences bringing all sects under His rule, binding Evil and giving us new bodies. We will tabulate the chief features which mark this new de- velopment : — 1. There is no need for anyone to leave the church or chapel to which they belong. 2. To sign the Petition binds one to nothing but to a belief in the imminent coming to earth of Christ or Shiloh. (Gen. 49.10.) Naturally all who hold this belief pu- rify themselves as He is pure. 3. There is nothing to pay except for literature. The Ex- presses can be obtained at any public Library. The Two Witnesses are 3d. per month, 4. Those who sign the Petition must : — (a) Guard their Seal carefully. (b) Possess and pay for the book Sound an Alarm, Is., 6d. (c) Possess the book A Caution to the Sealed, 6d. They should also : — (d) Endeavor to read daily some of the literature. (e) Pray that the Promise made to the Woman may be fulfilled. 5. Information as to signing the Petition (or the Sealing) and in regard to literature can be obtained from Miss Seymour, Crapstone, Yelverton, S. Devon, also P. G. Smith, Carpenter's Book Store, San Diego, Calif., U. S. A. The Truth about Joanna Southcott is that she endured tor- tures from men and devils, in order that we of this generation shall possess a Word from God, without which, in the last day of Satan's power, we must inevitably sink in despair. That we should go on being born only to die is not the Divine plan 12 THE TRUTH ABOUT JOANNA SOUTHCOTT. for us. God's world of Spirits completed, He will now make Man spiritual — that is the possessor of an immortal body here on this earth, for thus alone can He destroy death. Manifest- ly if Death is to be destroyed persons must leave off dying. Joanna Southcott lived and laboured to teach us how all this will be brought about. We are given to understand that it is the simple and familiar manner of the Lord's communica- tions to this faithful and obedient servant of His, to which the Bishops take exception. There is no need to offer apologies to the truly wise men of our day who are versed in the Scriptures in this connection ; it is quite understandable that as we are frankly told that the "wisdom of the wise men shall perish"and as we know that the Lord always has chosen the "poor of this world, rich in faith," as His instruments, that, manifestly, the learned or highly placed will not be chosen to bring in the com- ing kingdom. This is so evident that it should strengthen be- lief in a Visitation to a simple person rather than prevent it. We may mention, however, that when Joanna ;grew tired of writing prose on the deep doctrinal matters of the Bible, which the Lord Himself explains to the complete satisfaction of all who read His Explanations of the Bible He frequently dropped into a kind of poetry, which highly of- fends the taste of the Bishops and many learned Divines. Be- ing utilitarian to a degree, the Lord God spoke to Joanna in language to which she was accustomed and which she could best transmit, and this little difficulty forms a test of Faith, which is quickly compensated in the dawning light which al- ways accompanies faith in this Visitation. The Lord's simplic- ity will be found to be able to save souls which the theology of the "schools" has well nigh lost. Those who seek Light care nothing at all what is the make or shape of the lamp which conveys it, and, while some are cavilling at the language of this Visitation, the Lord who gave it, will have "passed by" and will have entered in with His more simple followers to the Mar- riage. It. is worthy of notice that after this "the door was shut" and that those who knocked at the door later, turned out to be people with whom the Bridegroom was not acquain- ted. The following points which this Visitation arranges for, are as yet untouched by the Church :— 1. The manner of the Second Coming. 2. The explanation of Revelation xii. 3. The Sealing of the people before the "hurting of the earth." 4. The reign of Christ with His saints upon earth for the coming thousand years — the seventh thousand since THE TRUTH ABOUT JOANNA SOUTHCOTT. 13 Adam — the Sabbath for God and Man, otherwise called 2000 A. D. or 7000 A. M. 5. The Binding* of Satan. 6. The cessation of Death expressed in the words "we shall not all sleep." 7. The complete redemption of the Flesh in a specified time which is "to be shortened." 8. The change which is to come to men and women, walk- ing about on the earth, expressed by the words "this mortal must put on immortality," which intimates, to the thinker, that people walking about, will become immune to death and will not sleep or die, but will be ''changed." Now all these things have to be arranged for and must be arranged for quickly, as Satan's rule will not run out its re- maining eighty odd years. We therefore challenge the Bishops to produce their ar- rangements in regard to all these matters. If they have a plan which they consider is a better plan than that revealed by Joanna, let them produce it. We are willing on our part to investigate it and carefully to weigh it with that revealed to Joanna,reserving to ourselves the right to choose which of the two seems the more practical and the more likely to assist us in becoming protected against the pending horrors which will overwhelm an unbelieving world. A new Sacrament — the sealing — a New Name — in fact "all things new" are promised us in the coming Dispensation of the Holy Ghost on this earth, and we have every right to demand of the Church to which we are attached that its rulers shall make arrangements whereby those who wish to be sealed to the Day of Redemption and to be protected against the coming judg- ments and plagues, can enjoy these privileges. Learned men such as Bishops cannot suppose that Christ's victory will be won "up in Heaven" where no victory is needed, or that the Book of the Revelation described happenings in Heaven !. What does Heaven want with "redemption" and "renovating" and "restitution of all things?" Do they not understand that Heav- en is coming on earth and must come before the six thousand years are out ? If they do not, the sooner they begin to try to leam this fact, the better, and the sooner they produce their arrangements for the reception of the Chief Shepherd, the less likely are they to find that they themselves are only hirelings and not Shepherds at all. One more challenge to the Bishops. While we await their plan the Lord's plan is going out among their flocks, and their flocks are feeding upon it! We append a dilemma which no 14 THE TRUTH ABOUT JOANNA SOUTHCOTT. Bishop in the world can get out of. The Revelation of Joanna is either of God or it is not of God. If of God it is true, if not of God, it is false. If true, let them accept it and give it to their starving sheep, if false, let them destroy it for-as- much as they are sworn to banish and drive away all false doc- trine. The Lord has declared that the glory of this Visitation shall come forth from the altar of the Church of England and that the silence of the Bishops gives consent to its dissemina- tion. They have, or can obtain, the books, let them adjudi- cate thereon, in fact we demand that they shall do so, in view of the promise made at their consecration to be "ready, with all faithful diligence, to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrine contrary to God's Word/' (See Conse- cration of Bishops). Men cannot make solemn vows in the sight of a whole congregation and call upon the Lord to be their Helper in carrying them out, merely to repudiate all re- sponsibility with what they would term a dignified Silence, but what some of us call dereliction of duty. Yet another challenge to the Bishops : We are told that the Church is built on the foundation of Apostles and Prophets, that Christ received these gifts after His ascension, for men, i. e. for men's benefit. To ask "Where are the Apostles and Prophets ?" is a fair question, in days when we are sadly in need of some sort of help. Manifestly Bishops cannot be Apos- tles, else they would be able to heal the sick and to raise the dead as the Apostles did, 1 besides an Apostle is "sent" by God, he is not appointed by a Prime Minister. In regard to Prophets, we do not even pretend to have any, in fact, "to pro- phesy" in these days would be considered a sign of approaching nervous breakdown. If this be denied, then we can only resort to a kind of Habeas Corpus, and ask the Bishops "to produce the body" of a Prophet or the dicta of a Prophet, for thus alone can they prove that the Church has this gift, given for the benefit of men, who are beginning to want it. "My Lords, 'produce 7 your prophet and we will 'produce' ours, who is more- over a woman, fulfilling the words of the Lord to Joel, 'your daughters shall prophesy,' and let the controversy spoken of in Isaiah begin ! If you have not a Prophet to produce and if you are not Apostles, then the Church of which you are visible heads has no foundations, for the gifts were given after the Ascension." Here is a challenge which must be replied to, else silence gives consent to the impeachment. As the biggest controversy that the world has ever known will be on the sub- 1 "Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you ... in wonders and mighty deeds." — 2 Corinthians xii, 12. Who say they are apostles and are not."— Revelation ii, 2. THE TRUTH ABOUT JOANNA SOUTHCOTT. 15 jects of which this pamphlet treats, we may as well start. Va- rious people on watch-towers have seen the dawn and are anx- ious that the Bishops should come out of their crypts and see it too . They will not respond to loving" persuasion . Will they raise the gauntlet which is now thrown into their midst ? In conclusion we would remind the Bishops that the Lord has been "against the Shepherds" in times past and that there is no particular reason to suppose that, if the Bishops will neither receive His Word if it be true nor reject a supposed Word if it be false, He will not be "against the Shepherds" in our own day. Bishops should read carefully Ezekiel xxxiv. Those who do not wish the judgments named in Deuterono- my xxviii, 15, et seq. and some of the awful experiences of the Fall of Jerusalem to come into effect in England, and, more- over, desire that Sin and Death shall be destroyed, should ac- quaint themselves with Joanna's Visitation, become "protec- ted" and join in persuading the Bishops to obey the Command of the Lord God. St. Matthew's Day, 1917. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, ,0 022 171 722 3 "Watch the Spirit, whether it be true or not; watch the Scriptures; weigh the whole together; draw the link; lengthen the Chain; see if one link wilt join with another, — compare the whole together — see, if it adds link to link, chain to chain, like the dawning of morning, higher and higher, brighter and brighter, to the perfect day; or like a flower in the bud, opening more and more until the full blown flower appears. In this manner ye must weigh the works of God, like the Husbandman's seed, first thrown into the Earth, and buried down without any appearance of the seed, till you see the blade appear. Then cometh the stalk, next the ear, then the blossom, then the grain is fit for harvest; just so you must mark the rising of all things which come from God." — /'/' Book of Visions, Pages 54, 55, i k % SOUTHCOTT PUBLICATIONS- A Warning to the World 50c. Sound an alarm in My Holy Mountain . . . 35c. 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