The answer of the Lord to the powers of darkness

That act, according to My Gospel here,
As I commanded Peter to appear:
And as I bid you copy after Me.
But now, you shepherds, you see your folly;
You have not acted according to My law.
I ask you, where did I show your likeness?
If anyone ever appealed to Me,
Did I refuse to hear what they had to say?
Or did I once turn them away empty-handed,
Before I granted them their full request,
When they came to Me and asked any favor?
Weigh My Gospel well, and study My Bible deeply;
You will see, you shepherds, you are like your sheep,
Oppressed together under the Egyptian burden,
And, through temptations, all forsake their God:
For all the grace is taken away from you,
And nothing but stubble lies before you;
And you have broken down all My altar!
You refused My servant—tremble at the sound! * Joanna was refused the Sacrament by a clergyman at Exeter because she remained faithful to her visitation Southcott’s term for her divine revelations.

And so you are under the Egyptian burden.
And now let Pharaoh tremble at his rod.
Since he has now so boldly tempted man,
That neither sheep nor shepherds can stand against his arts:
For here, like Jezebel, he stole the seal,
And now, another mystery I will reveal:
It was Satan’s arts that worked on Pomeroy’s mind, Joseph Pomeroy, a clergyman in Exeter initially involved with Joanna’s writings.
To seal the letter that bound Bruce’s death.
As by that letter, Bruce’s faith drew back, † A letter was sent by a minister of Exeter to the late Mr. Basil Bruce, which was one of the various causes of his sacrificing his faith in the divine authority of Joanna's writings. That letter, along with the united efforts of persons who call themselves "Friends to Mr. Brothers"—one of whom, in particular, destroyed his own character as a gentleman and, without considering his duty as a Christian, went so far as to tell the afflicted widow that her husband's death was a judgment from God on account of his belief in these writings. (This person, who is a man of significant property, has, however, honored himself by his ready, unshaken friendship to Mr. Brothers Richard Brothers, a contemporary self-proclaimed prophet.) Others also were instigated by all the arts of Satan to do the same; for they conveyed lies to Mr. Brothers himself to cause him to attack her by letters and other means, so that he might be destroyed. They have not even stopped there; for they have exercised every means for Satan to possess the whole vineyard, and their success has been too fatal. Mr. Brothers has also been much injured by such "friends"; and were these hellish arts to succeed, his life would end in a madhouse.—But, GOD is just.

And also then, to make him feel the rack;
Because his death must appear in that way,
He could not be fit for My kingdom here.

And so Satan soon gained his vineyard,
And sons of Belial Wicked or worthless men maintained the same.
And so I tell you, he robbed everyone there;
Through unbelief he possesses the whole. * See the note at the bottom of the preceding page, for it alludes to the whole of this account.

And now, like Jezebel, his fall shall come!
As he has tried to gain every vineyard,
And is now taking every grace from men;
So that all are under the Egyptian yoke:
And now, like Pharaoh, he shall feel the stroke.
These evil spirits shall come out of man,
And, like the swine, be choked in the sand:
For now, I have NOT come before My time;
And the Tempter shall surely find that out,
Because he has so betrayed My shepherds
To be silent dogs, as I have said before;
Like hirelings who do not care for the sheep;
They saw the wolf and so they fled from it:
Because the wolf appeared to them all
With every art, as he has spoken here:
And so he has betrayed all My shepherds;
I have only three upon whom I have laid restraint, Likely referring to the three clergymen—Stanhope Bruce, Thomas Webster, and Thomas Foley—who supported her.
That is, to keep them from the Tempter’s power;
And they shall see the glorious hour with Me;
Because I knew their spirits beforehand;
They had salt within them, and so they show it now.
But now, I shall begin here with Satan:
I have seen the burdens of the sons of men
In every age; I have seen what is past;
And now My fury shall burst upon him.
For I allowed him to appear as a king:
And now let men and devils fear his reign.
Because I will now show his reign in kings,
And I shall bring his ruin just like theirs.
And I shall appear from the thirty-first page,
And I shall now come to men of sense,
And ask them: have I not tested his reign?
He has poured out his fury on the sons of men.
And now let them see the thirty-first page,
How he has condemned My just decrees
In allowing My SON to suffer for man’s sake!
But how could I so undertake their cause,
Had I not come and been a JUDGE below
Of all the sufferings they underwent?