The book of wonders

would I allow you to forge my name and have things go out in my name as prophecies given from the Lord, without contradicting your assertions by proving everything you had placed in ******'s hands was false; for not one of the events would have happened according to your predictions. Had you invented the name of the Bishop to place the report of his death in ********'s hands, telling him it was a sign the Lord had given you to know your visitation was from Him; if your visitation had not been from ME, that sign would not have been fulfilled. For I would have contradicted it by prolonging the Bishop’s life, so that it would not have taken place at that time, even if I had intended to take him that year. And it was exactly the same for the following year: if your prophecies had been inventions from your own thoughts about what would happen in Italy or England, and you had put them in his hands in the name of the Lord, I would have worked another way so that your inventions would not come true as prophecies. Had it been done in mockery, I would have soon confounded the whole thing; and therefore, the judgment of all your friends was right to think that such a thing could not be done in mockery without being contradicted to prove it was false. Then, if man would fight for his own honor when mockery is done in his name, I ask mankind what they think of ME—that I should allow all your writings to go out in my name and not work a way to prove to mankind there was no truth in what you said? Therefore, no more than he would allow the one, would I allow the other. And as your friends judged regarding man, so have they judged regarding the Lord—that these truths could not be in your writings, placed in the name of the Lord, if the Lord had not spoken through you.

After this, my mind was perfectly composed and my heart set at rest, being answered:
"You must love man more than your God, and have a greater desire for his honor than mine, if you grieve for carrying on the dispute when he began it, and for clearing your honor when he tried to rob you of it. For you would disgrace both God and man if you had submitted to his request through the advice of his faithless friends; for then you would rob ME of my wisdom in ordering you to put the events in his hands."

After this reproof was given to me, I saw my own error and was ordered to examine deeply the judgment of my friends concerning the pages I had pointed out to them.

One friend said his judgment was, "That ******** would certainly bring me to trial; now that his death has occurred, he is quite thwarted; and he looks upon it as a mystery all through, beyond his comprehension. But the more he thinks of it, the more he is lost; yet he expects the Lord will clear it up, and then something great and grand will appear."

Another said, "It is all dark and mysterious to him. From what was said of *******, he judged he must come forward at the trial, but trusted the Lord would make His own words clear to His people: He will make crooked paths straight and lead the blind by a way they do not know, until at last He shall lead His faithful into the joys of His Kingdom."

Another friend was so stumbled by my letter and the pages pointed out that he said, "his mind had been considerably harassed and perplexed, even with doubts about the visitation. He could not describe his feelings; he could not make the communications and