The National Register.
London, England, 1814-08-28 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER..

A`?G• 28.

faketcb

91:

MR. W. TO7ER, M. J. S.

COUPLED WITH 1115

RECENT STATFMENTS RPRPECTING SOUTHCOTTISM.

'Tls a (lark-lantern of the Spirit.
Whieli note mew by, but those that bear it!
A ligl.t, that fall.' (Town from on high.
For Ppiritual trades to cozeti by. BUTLER.

Desperation itself will beget assurance. It is the know.
ledge of this princ;nle of action that can alone solve many
of the pr(•blem% which occiir in life. Joanna Southcott's
friend-, therefore, instead of %inking under the difficulties
ill which their cause appears likets to be involved, seem to
assume flew fails, and maitvain their late pretensions with
redoubled conficleire. We have nothing to do but stand
according to her advocates, and see the accomplish-
ment of the wonners that are speedily to take place. Mil-
letsinm has, indeed, just onmenced.
Mr. T,tzetr. her chief priest, at length denies that he post-.
poued 'he ac, oft' hement of Joanna ; asserting, on the con-
tta• v, th,IN t.he is .actually in the ninth month of her preg-
mw% ; ansl that she has been visited by nine medical gen-
tlt•tnen. who at! concurted in admitting it impossible for her
t. lay het ome so in the natural course of things. con&
den. ti this, Mr Tozer further said. on Sunday last, that
if whatever he had advanced respecting her, and !he great
elm igws
.iteo at hand, did not tike place by the twenty-fifth
of 1) c, sober next, 1814, he would consent to proclaim to
mankind that he had been deluded ! " The time," added
Al r. Tozer, "is short ; and, ere long, it will he sharp."
Belief h" no longer asked for, therefore, but only that per-
anus would have patience to wait the wonders that were ap-
proaching. The power had Begun to work this year, and
would next year go forth.

Joanna, he contended, was about to produce the Person so
long foretold by ithe proobet Malachi, she having for twenty
years been warning the nation of the Seconsl Advent. It was
.
not true, however, that Government had interfered, as some
newspapers said ; though the Prince Regent had been writ-
ten to, together with the two Archbishops, and many. noble
Lords, to whith letters no- attention was paid. Investigation
was, indeed, Most courted on their own part, the candle not
being designed to be hid under a bushel ; yet that investi-
gation was not conceded to their solicitations. But the
Kingdom of.llleaven,wa4 nigh Palaces and ministers having
thus reje ted it, it would now be revealed to the poor, who,
rich in faith, were about to enjoy its promises.
What then is Joanna Southcott to bring forth ?—lsrael is
shortly to be restored; and, if Mr. Tozer be correct in this,
it is nothing less than the tong-promised Ileir of David's
Throne whom the prophetess has thus been privileged to
conceive. Hence, says Mr. Tozer, he will be a
.Sin to the
Jews, who have hitherto waited for him, and oho will he
collected and conducted by this forthcomitw. Prince to their
ancient land, to whose throne all people will then flock.

h 53

Millennium of course is accomplished. This most blisF.-
ful state of thing, so remotely looked to,'is by Mr. 11,izer &
scribed as actually'Cotne, and even at our doors. lial,our, he
savß,'Avill he superseded. War, with Ml its concommittant
train of woes:is immediately to be haniibed from the earth;

and the earth' itself will regain the condition in which it
flourished before the fall of man. Charity will dilate all

bosoms. He that bath two coats, therefore, will spoutane_.
ously clothe hied that hash none. Animosity will find no
place ; and nothing will be heatd hut ascriptions of glory to
God in the highest, and breathinvof peace and good-will to
mankind! Now, does any man ask what indicates this peat
change in the state of the woild ?—Joanna's pregnancy.
'Mr. Tozer hints, moreover, that the Birth of this King of
the Jews will he attended with such circumstances as shall.
attest the errand on which he is come, Bud confound- those
who previously had presumed to discredit his claims. -W011.•
ders ate to accompany his entry into our world, at once to
preparft and substantiate his high destiny. We are not in-
formed of the precise nature of these signs ;. but some few
weeks may now be expected to disclose them to us.
Persuaded of such things, 11r. Tozer declares that, for
Zion's sake, he will not hold his peace, and for Jerusalem's
sake he will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go
forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that
but ne:h.'

This redoubtable priest of the snuthcottian church, WIL-
L' A M .TOZER, M. J. S. was log ambitious to signali.te him-
self in the sectarian way and hurried up from Exeter, with
this view, about ten years since. Having heard of his coun-

trywoman's prophecies, be, on his arrival in town, paid his
respects to the preacher of the House of God, whom Joanna
was .then intimate with, and by whom her doctrines were at
first espoused. Here he tried every possible means to ingra-
tiate himself with Mr. Carpenter, ()tiding to proclaim that
preacher as Elias, and wondering he could not discover hii
title clear," respecting his name and apimintment, in the
concluding verses of the last chapter of Malachi, both which
he seethed zealous to set forth !
• Fin4ing that he could not compass his end, exactly as he
expected, Mr. Tozer next solicited 411 hitroductiuu to Joanna,

which Was granted. There had at this time arisen sonic dif-
ference of opinion betwixt the prophetess and the preacher of
the House of God. Tozer did not neglect to profit by this
circumstance, during his interviews with her; and, havin4
been introduced to her in December 1804, he contrived to
erect and open the new Chapel, in Duke Street, St. George's
Field, some tune in the Spring of ISOS. His trade, that
of lath-render, was serviceahle ta him in the building line,
as it qunlified him f,ar proceecting, with dispatch and cheap-
ness, directly to his end. Tozer owus his having no pie-
sentiment of the numbers who congre;:lte to hear 14im, or
he would have erecte4 a larger place of worship..
The devotees of the prophetes:i now deserted the [louse of
God, against whose preacher her 3 Dat1;(1113S were denounced,
and Duke Street became their favoGred ',lace. Tozer soon
made a property of the new concern. Hip eccentricity
attracted to bitn followers, and PirronterY has se,
the 4

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soon
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'cured
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