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shall only prove as burning coals of fire upon your heads, to sink your souls from my presence; and a far heavier stroke of my judgments, shall come upon you, than upon those who have never been blessed with such a privilege of my notice, within the walls of my Zion.

91. It is not numbers that compose my Zion; but the purity of that life which souls live; and by the interestedness of their spirits, to build up the cause to which they are called, by spending and being spent, agreeable to that example which was invariably set by the three first witnesses, who bore this gospel across the rolling deep, to fair Columbia's shore, and who, by my Almighty hand, were protected so to do.

92. And by my power, shall other faithful souls safely re-cross the foaming deep, to plant this gospel in distant lands, to feed the hungry souls who cry to Me for [the] bread [of life.]

CHAPTER XVII.

THE OFFICE OF THE THREE FIRST CHOSEN WITNESSES SEPARATELY DECLARED, AND FURTHER ILLUSTRATIONS OF THOSE WHO ARE THEIR TRUE FOLLOWERS, SAITH THE SPIRIT OF GOD.

1. God, able to manifest himself as he 10. It is God who forgiveth sins. Who are wills, at any period.

3. Passages of scripture required to be 11. quoted.

5., Of the testimony of the three witnesses.

6. Of the confession of sins.

7. Of rising into life.

12.

13.

prepared as witnesses for souls, &c. Duty of witnesses.

Not required to hear the confession of
capital crimes, until the sentence of
the civil law is passed.

Confessions to be considered sacred.
Of the representation of the spirit, by
Mother Ann Lee.

8. Of purchasing liberty to sin. Of hired 15. forgiveness. 9. Of making trade of sacred service. 16. Of what was manifested in Mother.

Sec. 1. But a few passages, saith the Lord, were ever mentioned in the Sacred Volume, respecting the three witnesses. But I am a

God of yesterday, to-day, and forever; and to all such as truly walk uprightly before Me, doing my will and pleasure, regardless of all personal, partial or selfish views, I am as able to manifest myself in one dispensation, as in another.

2. And I now bear witness, (declaring my words to the ends of the earth,) to the office and calling of the three first witnesses, in Christ's second coming.

3. And where the witnesses are mentioned in Sacred Writ, I require [some of ]the passages to be here inserted.

Matthew, xviii. 16. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.

Isaiah, xliii. 10. Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD.

Chap. xliv. 8. Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.

Sec. 4. These three witnesses, in this latter day of my goodness, testified before all, both publicly and privately, that there was no true God but Me, and that there was no way of God opened or revealed to man, by which he could find salvation, or an entrance into his holy kingdom, while living in sinful works of whatever

name or nature.

5. And they did furthermore bear witness, that the spirit of Christ, the Son of God, had, in truth, made his appearance the second time, without sin unto salvation; and that none could be cleansed and purified, and enter into the work of regeneration, while living after, or taking any part in, the works of natural generation.

6. And they did furthermore testify and bear witness, by that power which I gave them, that all souls must confess their sins, in the presence of God's witnesses, one by one, just as they had committed them, or never find true happiness; and then labor for godly sorrow and true repentance, by leaving them off, and by taking up a cross against their evil natures which led them into sin.

7. By so doing, they would find the favor and mercy of God, and their souls would begin to rise in the resurrection of Christ; and my holy blessings would begin to distill upon them, as dews from Heaven.

8. They never taught souls, that they could, for money, purchase

liberty from priests and clergy, to indulge in sinful abominations, gratifying their own propensities; and then again, for money, they could hire their sins forgiven, such as they had not bought a privilege to commit.

9. Awful consternation must seize on every heart, when they see these things in their true light! Is not this making trade and traffic, to all the extent of man's ability, of that power and service which he pretends to hold sacred? Surely, the truth recorded on my eternal record, declareth the affirmative.

10. But as different from this, as light is from darkness, did these three chosen, true and faithful witnesses, declare the order of confessing sins. They testified that none had power to forgive sins but God, [and Jesus Christ, manifested through that medium which he established;] and that every soul must stand in a true state of justification, by honestly confessing their own sins, in the presence of God's witnesses, before they were, in any way, commissioned to stand as witnesses for other souls;

11. And that it was the duty of all those who stood as witnesses for the confessions of other souls, to pray earnestly to Me their God, that I would hear the honest souls, and bless them with strength and power, to withstand the temptations of evil in future.

12. And furthermore, did my three witnesses testify, saith the Lord, that no one was called as a witness, to hear the confession of sins, now, in Christ's second coming, from such souls as had committed capital crimes, for which the civil laws of man must deal with them.

13. None were to hear any such confessions, until after the civil authority had passed judgment upon them; and at all times, witnesses were to consider confessions made in the fear of God, of the most sacred, solemn and delicate nature; and rather than be compelled to divulge that which a soul had honestly confessed to them, in my holy fear, they had better sacrifice their lives.

14. For none had any right to hear such confessions, as laid them open to the civil powers of man to make enquiries, and demand answers, by reason of the liability of the person who had confessed to them.

I. John, v. 6. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.

9. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is

greater for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.

John, iii. 5. Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Sec. 15. It may truly be said of the Daughter of Zion, (That is, MOTHER ANN LEE,) that she represented the spirit; for in her, the spirit of Christ appeared, with a full and complete salvation, for such as were willing to sacrifice all to obtain it.

16. In her was displayed my sacred and saving power, to search the hearts, and penetrate into the souls of such as came before her, to much the greatest extent of any human being ever before sent forth, save the Lord Jesus Christ, whom I sent on earth, saith the Lord, to begin the foundation of this kingdom, which is now completed, through and by the Daughter; and upon which the building is now arising, forever more to stand; against which, the powers of earth and hell shall never more prevail.

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1. The second witness, whose name is recorded on my eternal record, FATHER WILLIAM LEE, was truly "A man of sorrow, and acquainted with grief;" who bore and suffered in tribulation, for the increase of the gospel on earth, to the laying down of his natural life; which truly represents the blood, for he ended his days under sufferings, for the good of souls, as a bleeding martyr.

2. Often did I suffer, saith the Lord, to fall upon him, while upon earth, a state of sufferings for souls in eternity, who were in their sins, and could not be released in any other way, only through the medium of that gospel which was now revealed, through the Mother, to mortals on earth.

3. And the state of those that were bound in their sins on earth, was often suffered to fall upon him, that through his cries and intercessions, under the severest of sufferings, the way might be opened for them to be loosed from the bands of death, by which they were holden, and enter into the gospel field.

4. And upon this same witness, did I, the God of Heaven, bestow that power of spirit against which no wicked opposers could stand, when in my wisdom, he was suffered to exercise it.

5. Be it known to all people, saith the Lord, that no souls can ever be again redeemed unto Me, only through sufferings and deep tribulation of spirit. They have fallen so far below the moral order of nature, and from that state of innocency in which I first created them, that they must, before they can again be redeemed unto Me, pass through the fiery furnace of the gospel, by confessing every known sin.

6. And [having done this, they must] travel in godly sorrow and true repentance for the same, until they have conquered that nature, and their souls are washed from the stains thereof, and have again become pure and innocent as when I first created them, saith the Lord.

7. And this second witness, not only suffered to the cleansing of his own soul; but he suffered for thousands of other souls, both in time and in eternity, that the door of this one sin-destroying, soul-saving gospel, might be opened unto them.

8. Be ye not deceived, O ye inhabitants of earth! No soul can ever come to Me, or enter my peaceable kingdom of rest, or find the acceptance of my Holy Spirit, in peace and in purity, either in time or in the eternal world, till they have honestly confessed their sins, one by one, to such of my witnesses as are appointed for that sacred duty.

9. After which they must labor, and travel in tribulation of soul, until they are redeemed from that nature which caused them to sin; and this is a journey that the soul has to perform, before it can enter into that joy and felicity which is promised the truly right

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