Editor’s Note: taken from the remaining pages of A HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE REVELATION OF VINE by L. James Richardson, published 1804, archived 1805
Josiah Jefferson was an honest and humble man who did not extend himself beyond his station. His life was one of solitude by choice, as he was given to introspection and melancholy. Nevertheless, Josiah fulfilled his obligations to his community and God with steadfastness. Josiah tilled fields and slaughtered cattle and would smoke beef for Church picnics.
One day, while sitting by the river and contemplating the good fortune the community of Vine had received by being granted from God such a fertile and peaceful patch of land, the Angel of The Lord appeared to him. Now the Angel of The Lord appeared as a screaming blue heron with an enlarged beak and vicious eyes, but Josiah remained unafraid. And thus the Angel of The Lord spoke:
This shall be a New Promised Land for A New World! Just as the Lord our God led the Israelites out of Egypt, so too has the Lord our God led the people of Vine out of the colonies! This is a land of miracles! This valley, this river, this lake, these fields shall be the foundation upon which a civilization is built in God’s image. Live humbly and serve your God! For the End Times are coming when The Lord God decides they are coming!
With a flurry of flapping wings, the heron soared into the trees. After this, no heron was seen in Vine for more than a century.
Josiah understood the revelation: that the Lord God had consecrated Vine for His chosen people in the Americas. Josiah walked back to the town center to spread the good news that God had given the townspeople a home, and the message was received by the people, who that day became the people of Vine. The people understood their place in the New World, and understood they had been given dominion over consecrated land. Thus they set about making use of it.