The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1886-07-09
FALSE PROPHETS.
A Profession Very Popular In the
Last Century.


The last century was prolific of false
prophets. Jane Wardlaw, the wife OF
tailor at Bolton lie Moors, Lancashire,
started the deluslon that Christ's sec.
ond advent was at hand, and that He
would appear in the form of woman.
Shortly afterward Ann Lee, wife of
blacksmith, living in Toad lane, Man.
chester, adopted the views of Jane
Wardlaw, but went far beyond them,
and became known as the mother of
the sect who now began to be called
Shakers, because they made a strange
kind of dancing one element of wor-
ship. Ann Lee (whose husbands name
was Stanley had been Quaker, but
her new doctrine had no connection
with her previous convictions. She
professed to see visions, and in 1770
she declared that the Lord Jesus
and had become one with her,
so that whatever she said or did
was His saying OF doing. Her claim
was to be the bride of the Lamb, as
seen by st. John, but her pretentions
met with little acceptance in England,
and she was inspired to seek a new
home in America. To New York she
went ir 1894, accompanied by seven
disciples and by her husband, who soon
separated from her, for now arose
new tenet the necessity of celibacy
Il MI M ifcal 20
the citizens of New York, Ann Lee
went out into the wilderness of Ms
kenna and founded the settlement of
Water Vliet, which still exists. She
made herself very obnoxious to the
American government, was arrested as
British spy, and thrown into prison.
Persecution increased her notoriety,
and she became known as the female
Christ" She died in 1888, but her fol-
lowers protested that she was not dead,
only withdrawn from sight
Joanna Southcott was born in Devon
shire about 1850, She spent her young
days as domestic servant. but in mid
die life took TO uttering phrophecies
couched in coarse and uncouth prose
or verse. She found followers in Ex-
eter, but soon went up to London.
where she obtained a wider field for the
exercise of her talents. She drew her
inspiration, like others of her kind, from
TIE Apocalypse, and made a consider
able lncome by the sale of seals, which
were warranted TO insure the salvation
of those who purchased them. In the
year 1914, being then over 90 years of
age, she gave out that she was the
divinely-appointed mother of the Shiloh,
and that his birth on the ensuing 14th
of October would be the second COM
ing of Christ. Her adherents then
numbered about 100000, and they
provided a magnificent cradle fol
| the expected infant. A crowd as
sembled at the predicted midnight,
and only dispersed when they
were Informed that Mrs. Southcote
had fallen into trance. On the 9th
of December following she died. Her
followers refused to believe that she
was dead, and would not allow her to
be buried: but when decomposition be-
gan to set in they consented to a post
mortem examination, which revealed
/ dropsy as the cause of her death.
1 Robert Matthews, in America, in the
beginning of this century, took up the
| profession of prophet, and entered OH
an extraordinary career of imposture,
1 fraud and crime. He was arraigned
| for murder, but only convicted for as
saulting his daughter with whip.
Of his latter days we have no account.
nor are his blasphemous and nefarious
doings worth recording further. Qui-
GER.