The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-12-26
of Present Prophets Recall Career
 of Joanna SOuthcOtt

| truth that the final end and of the kingdoms of this world and the full establish ment of the Kingdom of God will be accomplished by the end of A. D. 1914."
 This was the prediction AnSde a quarter of a century ago by Rev. Charles T. Russell; the leader of the sect formally known as International Bible Students, but popularly as ''Millenia1 Dawners
 The end of 1914 is now at hand, and, while the numerous disciples of Russell are confidently awaiting the ushering in of the great day. the vast multitude of unregenerate humanity are standing pat'' and going about their customary duties. .ees
 The prediction of Rev. Russell who has given publicity to his views in the press of nearly all nations, and of a host of other present-day pro phets who see in the European con- Migration the beginning of the end of the world, are reminiscent of the career of Joanna Southcott, an Eng fish religious enthusiast and prophet ess who had a host of followers in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
 This Sunday will mark the. cen tenary of the death of Joanna South colt, as she passed away, to the con sternation and disnay of her ardent followers on Dec. 27, 1874. Just as modern prophets see in the present war a forewarning of the Day of Judgment, so Joanna Southcott per- ceived in the NapoIeonic conflicts the promise of a speedy end of the world. She was not without that quality called magnetism, and she convinced thousands of English people that she possessed mysterious and 'supernat- ura1 powers of divination.
 Joanna Southcott was born about H1750, of a poor and obscure family, L. <7 obscure until she was about forty years old. It was then that she be- gan to preach her strange doctrines, declaring that she was the woman mentioned in the twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation.
 She asserted that Jesus was destin- ed to return to the earth and that she was divinely appointed to become his mother. The American and French revolutions and the subsequent Ma poIeonic wars helped to convince many that she was a true prophecies, for from the first days of her 't1nis- sion" she proclaimed that the birth of the Messiah would follow long period of terrible and bloody war fare, such as the world had never witnessed before.
 Although practically without edu- cation, Joanna Southcott had learned to read and write, and she turned out vast quantities of 's1iterature'i in eIab- oration of her views. Most of her sinspired'' revelations were unintel- ligtble, but that made them all the more convincing to her deIuded ad- herents. Joanna, for all her fervent belief that the world was soon to come to an end, did not overlook the possibilities of profit, and for years she obtained an excellent income from the sale of mystic seals'' which were to insure salvation to those who <51 H<,4 counting
 Although Joanna did not obtain that wide publicity for her notions which is possible today, the delusions she fostered spread all over England and even overseas, and whenever she appeared in public she was hailed with the reverence befitting one who was to become the mother of a god.
 The last year of Joanna's life was the period of her greatest glory. Early in 1914, when the prophecies was about sixty-foI1r years old, she assumed the appearance of a, woman about to become a mother!
 A brief armed peace had followed the long series of Napoleonic wars. This was certainly the time of times for the ushering in of esthe Kingdom of God'' Those who had scoffed at Joanna's pretensions now became her devoted followers eager to buy the magic seals which would assure them of an terna1 home in the real of the saved. Several physicians were con yinced that Joanna,s hopes of moth erhood were about to. be realized.
 While the great majority of Joan mas disciples were ignorant and un- lettered folk, there were a few edu- cated people among them. Three clergyInen were among those who were of this s'arny of the Lord" One Anglican clergyman was so earnest in hi f0 Tca T4Y Q c hi 17of he publicly declared he would resign his living if the Messiah was not born to 'fthe holy Joanna" at the ex- pected time.
 In London and it's immediate vicinity alone the prophecies had more than a hundred thousand con- verts. All over England people made preparations to don their celestial garments.
 In December of 1914 Joanna was taken seriously i'll. She gradually grew worse, and became delirious, but in her lucid moments the deluded woman expressed na1sgivings, but as- serted that if she had been guilty of deception, she herself had been the victim of some evil spirit @
 On the twenty-seventh of Decern- Der, 1914, Joanna Southcott died.5 Her followers at first refused to be-. Heve that she was really dead and in sisted on keeping her body until it was in a stage of active decomposi-i ton. s
 A post-morten examination of the body proved that disease was respon- sible for the appearance which had resulted in so widely spreading the delusion.
 Even after Joanna southcott had been laid in her grave, many of the m ost devoted of her followers retain ed their faith. They declared that she would soon rise again, with the infant Messiah in her arms, and that her appearance would usher in the period of the worlds regeneration. Thousands of Joanna's male follow CTS took @ solemn oath that they would not shave their faces or cut their hair until Joanna's resurrection. As late as half a century ago there were left in England two or three with boards roaoLal7