thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power; in the beauty of holiness, from the womb of the morning, thou hast the dew of thy youth; the Lord hath sworn and will not repent; the Lord is not a man to lie, nor the son of man to be wavering." "Now call thy trial to thy remembrance, that thou hadst with Wills, in Exeter; and know what I answered thee then concerning the son, when they brought false witnesses against thee, and thou toldest them boldly in the court, that if one true word would save their souls they had not spoken it in their evidence; and know how tremblingly Wills stood when thou lookedst him in the face, and asked if he judged there was a God. Remember the words thou spakest to thy counsellor : "These witnesses are all falsely foresworn: I wish you would send for Mr. Wills's son; he will not swear as falsely as these have done." Then thy counsellor asked the other counsellor why he had not brought the son? Know Fanshaw's answer: he brought as many as he thought proper. Then remember Roberts's answer to him: "You brought as many, sir, as "did not care what they swore to, where is "Mr. Wills's conscience gone now? his conscience "is gone out of doors; he don't look after perju"ring those that are out of his own house; but "he wont perjure his own son. Then what is "his religion, I wish to know?" was Roberts's pleading then in court.. In this manner thy counsellor pleaded for thee, while Fanshaw pleaded against thee, but he could not help being confounded, and said, "For God's sake, sir, "don't say a word about religion." Roberts answered immediately, "I will: you mocked "her just now about her religion, and called her "an enthusiast; you mocked her religion, and now I will mock his; for I can prove, from 66 85 "the evidences that have been given, that what "she hath said to me is true, for they have con"tradicted each other; and they have so pre"varicated in their evidence, that it is plain they "have not spoken a true word. But now bring "the son, for she informs me he will not swear "as false as they; but if Mr. Wills will bring his son, and he will swear as these have sworn, "then I will give up my cause." "Now call to thy remembrance, the opposite counsellor finding Wills would not bring his son to swear as the others had; know how he leaned his arm on the table, threw down his head, and put his hand before his face, while thy counsellor with courage and boldness fixed his eye upon the jury, and boldly completed his pleading for thee; and though the recorder wished to be favourable on Wills's side, because he pleaded that Wills was an opulent man, and thou being only a servant, he might be provoked to anger to strike thee, and so he gave it in to the jury; though he saw nothing but perjury, yet he wanted Wills to gain the day. But know thy trembling and thy fears, in what manner thou lookedst at the jury; in what manner thou spakedst to thy counsellor; how every liberty was granted thee in court, which is not common an:ongst mankind; but thou wast permitted to contradict his witnesses; thou wast permitted to reprove him; thou wast permitted to stand by the side of thy counsellor, and tell him the truth for him to plead; thou wast permitted to tell him to call forward the son; and do every thing to clear thyself: all this permission was granted thee, which thou knowest afterwards how much it was remarked, and how they told thee they never heard of such an instance in their lives; they wondered that the recorder or counsellors had not stopped them. Remember how Roberts seemed to pity thee, when he saw thee in tears by his side: know his words" do not distress yourself so; you will hurt yourself." Know, one of the counsellors spoke to Roberts, hearing the manner the recorder gave it in to the jury, "I fear, sir, she will lose her trial now." But his answer was, No, sir; I don't think so," and immediately the jury returned their verdict, to cast Wills and free thee, for they were all of one mind, that thou stoodest an injured woman. 66 "Now call to thy remembrance what answer I gave thee, concerning the Trial with Wills; and his refusing to bring his son to clear him, self: know I said, If the father would the victim come, What will not now your heavenly Father do, ; And say thou'rt injur'd-now, my friends stand still The counsellors there did but feel at the time. 87 "To think such wisdom in a woman's head "For now I shall go back to David: and know, when he had committed adultery with Uriah's wife, he wished to conceal it, by sending for Uriah to go home to his wife; but when he found that no persuasions could prevail upon Uriah, he then added one sin upon another. To save the wife, he had the husband put in the front of the battle; for in his heart he had the murder. This is the way Satan works men on, to add one sin to another; and the way they go to sin theirselves out of trouble, is the way they bring the load heavier upon them; for know what I said of David-the sword should never depart from his house; because in his heart, he had the murder of Uriah in view. And now I tell thee this of Pomeroy; had I not in mercy guarded him, to keep him from falling into the sin of telling wilful lies, by the witnesses that he knew thou hadst got, the different hand-writings that were sent to him in letters; so that his way was hedged up with thorns, that he could not come forward to say that thou didst never put the writings in his hands, had it not been done by my wisdom, when Satan got the advantage of him, and he was surrounded by men and devils; hadst thou been able to write a fair hand, and thou hadst carried all to him thyself, I do not tell thee Satan might not have had the advantage of him; while the fury of Satan worked upon his mind, he might boldly have denied every truth, and have been a spiritual murderer to thee, as David was the temporal one. And therefore man hath nothing to boast." The words spoken to me this morning, October 8th, were that I should not go any further with others, but come to my Father's Family. "But drop the lances from thy hand; Here I am ordered to bring forward some account of what my forefathers were, as there was a great mixture in the family; but as all happened before my time, I can only repeat what my father and mother told me. My great grandfather's name was William Southcott. He lived upon his own estate in |