The book of wonders

"Exactly like your thoughts of *******, when you see the similarity in your letter and the similarity of his death—how it was said he took off his gown while he was in the reading desk. Here the similarity struck so deep into your mind that it made you doubt the truth of what you had heard; because you judged that, in mockery, a thing like this might be done, mirroring your letter. And this is the perfect state of mankind, who are filled with unbelief. They judge that you have discerned from the scriptures that the redemption of man must take place; and therefore, in mockery, they judge that you have warned mankind. They think you have seen from the book of Revelations that a great wonder is to appear before the end comes—of salvation, the strength of the kingdom of God, and the power of His Christ. Men judge that you have seen this, and therefore, in mockery to mankind, to mock both God and man, they judge that you have positioned yourself to be the Woman the Woman: the "Woman clothed with the sun" from Revelation 12, to make the Revelations appear true. For you are judged and condemned by men, who believe it is in mockery that you have done these things, simply because you have discerned from the scriptures how to frame them. Just as they have judged since the Fall the Fall: the original sin of Adam and Eve in Eden, they believe you observed the promise made to the woman at the Fall; and therefore, in mockery of God and man, you have brought forward the scriptures to say that the promise made to the woman at the beginning must be claimed by the woman at the end. And as it is written that hostility should be stirred up between Satan and the Woman, they judge your disputes were pretended—those that appeared to mankind—because you have discerned from the scriptures how to stage them. In the exact same way you judged men might mock you because of your letter, men have judged that you have been mocking them using the scriptures.

I will tell you more another day:
But mark the words I now do say:
When ********'s death is clear to you,
Your great folly they all will see,
In the very way you judged at first,
Based on how your own letter was phrased,
Thinking fools and knaves might act that way;
You have judged the world as they judge you.
So unjust judgment does appear:
It is truth that must make all mysteries clear.
Therefore, I demanded the truth,
That ******** should face the trial;
Though in person he did not appear:
For the witnesses were provided,
And yet you faced no trial yourself,
Until it all appeared in print
To be examined then by man.
They brought no knowledge to your view
Of any witness they did bear,
And thus mankind does not discern
The way I brought your trial on,
To have the witnesses so agree.
You stood the trial, just like him,
And he, like you, stood just the same;
Though to it he did never come:
And in it you did not appear.
So compare both of them together,
The way the trial now does stand,
Between the Woman and the Man."

From the above communication, I was convinced of my folly in judging that it was done out of mockery; and I was answered that the judgment of my friends was right—it could not be done in mockery. Just as ****** would not have suffered such a report to go out in his name without sharply reproving the person and immediately contradicting it in another paper—no more than he would have allowed his name to be forged without contradicting it—so, ****** shall find,