River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1881-06-02
MOTHER SYMPTOMS PROPHECY
EXPOSED.
BY REV. ARTHUR T. prERsoS, D. D.
New York Observer.

War will follow with the work
In the land of the Pagan and the Turk,
And State and State, in tsrce strife,
viii seek each Others life:
But when the North shall divide the South.
An Eagle shall build in the Lions mouth.
Carriages without horses shall GO
And accidents fll the world with woe;
Primrose Hill in London shall be,
And in its center a bishop see;
Around the world thoughts shall fly
In the twinkling Of an eye.
Waters shall yet more wonders do
Now strange, yet shall be true;
The world upside down shall be,
And gold found Mt the root of tree.
Through hills man shall ride,
And no horse or ass by his side.
Under water men shall walk,
Shall ride. shall creep, shall talk;
In the air men shall be seen,
In white in black, in green.
Iron in the water shall float
As easy as "A wooden boat;
Gold shall be found mid stone
In n land that's now not known;
Fire and water shall wonders do;
England shall at last admit jew;
The jew that was held in scOrn
Shall of a Christian be borne and born,
BE led to dance bloody dance
Before her people shall be free;
Three tyrant rulers shall she see;
Three times the people rule alone;
Three times the peoples hope is gone;
Three rulers in succession see,
Each spring from a different dynasty.
Then shall the worsor fight be done,
England ard France shall be as one.
All Englands sons that plough the land
Shall be seen book in hand
Learning snail so ebh and flow
The poor shall most wisdom know.
The world to an end shall come
In eighteen hundred and eighty-one.
These rhymes would not oe entitled
to the space they occupy in these col
umns, were it not that, by imposing on
the credulity of the public, they have
tended to bring into discredit the gen
uine prophecies of Holy Scripture, and
that the start ing announcement in the
last couplet has somewhat disturbed the
peace of timid souls.
Having frequently, in pressing upon
skeptical minds the argument from
prophecy as establishing the Divine ORR
gin of the Bible, been met by the state
ment that "here is an uninspired proph-
ecy of undoubted antiquity which, how
ever rude its shape, contains several re
markable predictions" have for sever
al years been trying to unearth what
impressed me as hugh imposture; and
having succeeded, give the result to
the public.
The lirst clue to the forgery was found
in the discovery that at least three sepa-
rate and different versions had been put
before the people. The changes Jr vari-
atoms were slight and slu; so adroitly
and skilfully made as to call but little
attention, yet accommodating the form
of the prophecy" to the fact of cu1rent
history. Having compared the first
forp1 that appeared in print nearly
twenty years since with the subsequent
versions, marked these evidences of
unmistakable meddling with the orr
ginal couplets
England shall at last admit the jew
was changed, if remember rightly,
only in one syllable. The first form
was, think
England shall al last permit the Jew,
The jew that was held in scorn,
To his own land to be BORN.
In this form, instead of prophecy of
the position of Dsraeli in the councils
of the nation, it becomes only hint of
the restoration of the Jews to their own
land.
Some of the limitations, had they
been centuries old, might have been
only crude references to Scripture.
The floating iron might have been sug-
gested by III. Kings 6: 5, &, and the
couplet about learning by Daniel II:
4.
But, happily. Prof. Piazzi Smith, Sgd
ney Hall, and others, have been on
search for the author of the imposture,
and have now successfully placed the
responsibility for the hoax where it
belongs.
Sydney Hall, having seen it stated
that the original of this prophecy, with
others of Mother Symptoms, was first
published in printed form in 144S,
and that the book now in the library
of the British Museum, instituted n
thorough search. OF course he knew in
advance that no such printed volumns
could be there, as the Mazarine Bible
of 1450-1455 is The earliest printed book
known. But those who invented this
falsehood when it was exposed, adroitly
covered it with the statement that the
"printed book" is only manuscript"
Rut the manuscript cannot be found
In the year 1641 book of Mother Ship
tons Rhymes was published, but il
contains not one Of those unticipdtions Of
crystal palace, steam engine, balloon,
railway, etc, which have given this
prophecy its undeserved fame and
have so startled the credulous,
Not few editors have helped to give
this hoax it's hold upon the public mind
by careless endorsement. The editor
of the Christian Globe rashly asserted
that of the antiquity of this rhythmical
prophecy there can be no doubt" and
that it has been found in old books of
type and design as ancient as those
of Caxton Wyclifiev' Not only readers,
but even editors, are sometimes af-
fiicted with disease known as "guH-
biiitu."
The facts are these: In 1862, Charles
ton Of Mother Symptoms prophecies,
anu mere, jOf Utf ttFSt NHtt, were gwen
these rhymes containing the pretended
prediction of things which had already
happened. This book started con
troversy about the reality of Mother
Shipton and the genuinessofher saying,
which was continued from time to time
in ''Notes and Queries" In Series ~,
Vol TX, the editors announced that
Mr.. Hindley acknowledges himself The
author Of these prophetic rhymes!
And so again cometh the end of an
other imposture, which deserves to rank
with the forgeries of The Chatterton, the
trick of the Gambler WITCH" or the
Moon Hoax II is one Of the amaz-
ing proofs of the perversity Of human
nature that for two thousand years man
kind have vainly sought to faint in
spired prophecy with the suspicion of
impostute, and yet there are hundreds
of these same skeptics who will with
out struggling or strainibg, swallow a
forgery pure and simple without stop
ping to salt it with the inquiry as to its
claims upon faith. Truly, nothing il
more marvellous than the credulity Of
fncredulitg?
An appalling disaster is reported from
the vicinity of Deadwood, ID. r. BY
the caving of the roof of the Golden
Terra mine at that rlace about Z