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n Some are born mad, some achieve madness and somenhave madness thrust upon ‘em, if I might paraphrase Malvolio, and there arennone quite so mad as those inspired by divine madness. One such was JoannanSouthcott, born to peasant parents at Devon in April 1750. Her early life wasnunremarkable – she was a domestic servant until, in 1790, she took work at annupholsterer’s shop in Essex.
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| Joanna Southcott in later life |
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nHer employer was a Methodist and attracted othernsimilar believers to his premises, by whom Joanna was impressed, converting fromnthe Church of England to Methodism. The ministers encouraged her ‘seriousnturn of mind’ and she began to assume an authoritarian deportment entirelynunsuited to her position as a shopkeeper. She was introduced to a MrnSaunderson, who claimed to have the gift of prophecy and pretty soon afterwardsnJoanna also began to experience prophetic dreams. One day, whilst sweeping outnthe shop, she discovered a seal bearing the initials J.S., which, she claimed,nas these were both her initials and those of Jesus Christ, was undoubtedly anmiracle that had been revealed to her in a dream. She declared that,
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n“…hernLord had visited her, who promised to enter into an everlasting covenant withnher, and told her that a vision would be shown to her in the night,”n
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n and inn1792, she left behind the humble shopwork and devoted herself entirely tonspreading her divine message.
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| Quilt made by Joanna Southcott |
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nShe announced that she was the ‘Woman Clothed innthe Sun‘ described in the Book of Revelations (Ch. 12), adding suchnfurther titles as ‘The Lamb’s Wife’ and the ‘Bride’. She wrotendown her prophecies, but her virtual illiteracy made this difficult so she soonnresorted to dictating her visions, prophecies and dreams.
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| Example of Southcott’s Handwriting |
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nIn addition, shenbegan to make and sell her Passports to Paradise, signed and sealed by her in rednwax, which guaranteed entry into Heaven for the bargain price of between twelvenshillings to one guinea.
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| Passport to Paradise signed by Southcott |
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nShe moved to London at the request of the printer,nWilliam Sharp, who kept her at his own expense, and began working on then144,000 sealed Passports necessary for The Elect mentioned in the Book ofnRevelations 14.1
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n “And I looked, and, lo, a Lambnstood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand,nhaving his Father’s name written in their foreheads.”n
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| Inside a Passport to Paradise |
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nHer numerousnpamphlets brought her many followers and her fame grew, and as it did, so didnher ambition. She began writing letters to assorted bishops, warning them ofnthe inherent dangers to humanity if they ignored her, which, to their credit,nthey did. Further letters followed, growing ever more strident and selective innthe use of biblical quotations and the bishops, denying her the oxygen ofnpublicity, continued their silence.
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| Pamphlet by Joanna Southcott 1808 |
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nSo Joanna changed tack, and announced tonthe world that Jesus Christ had spoken directly to her and had given her anseries of important communications that had been sealed in a special woodennbox, only to be opened when the country was in direst circumstances, and in thenpresence of 24 bishops who had spent several days previous studying the worksnand writings of Joanna Southcott.
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| Joanna Southcott’s Box |
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nThis box still exists, hidden in a secretnlocation, in the possession of the Panacea Society, and from time to time therenare campaigns to have it opened. One such occurred during the Crimean War, andnanother during the First World War, and the psychic researcher Harry Pricenclaimed to have opened it in 1927, finding only various bits of paper, an oldnlottery ticket and a broken horse pistol, but the Panacea Society claim thatnthis was not the real box, but merely a decoy. The Church of England distancesnitself from Joanna Southcott’s Box, on the grounds that its participation willnonly arouse unnecessary interest and publicity.
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| Joanna Southcott – The Strange Effects of Faith |
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nJoanna continued to pour outnher prophecies and revelations in a torrent of books and her congregation grewnto number over 100,000 followers. Her next great surprise concerned Shiloh, thenMessiah mentioned in Genesis 49:10,
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n“The sceptre shall not departnfrom Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and untonhim shall the gathering of the people be.”n
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nJoanna Southcott, she announced,nwould bear this Shiloh herself, as the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and despitenher being sixty-four years of age. Joanna received many gifts for Shiloh,nincluding a £40 Bible and a £200 decorated cot.
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| Shiloh’s £200 Cot |
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nSeveral medical men attested tonher pregnancy, and others denied it, and the date of October 19thn1814 was put forward as that of the expected arrival. The date came and went, andnJoanna next declared that the birth would happen on December 25th 1814.nShe took to her bed and waited. And waited. Christmas Day came and went.
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| Charles Williams – Joanna Conceiving – 11814 |
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nThennext day, surrounded by friends and supporters, she died but the story was putnout that she had fallen into a trance. She lay in the bed for four days untilnthe smell convinced even the most fervent of her followers that this was nontrance. Doctors examined her and declared the roundness of her belly was nonpregnancy but the result of
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n‘… bile, and flatulency, from indulgence andnwant of exercise.’n
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| Southcott and her £40 Bible |
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nShe was buried, secretly, at St John’s Wood, but a tombstonenand a memorial plaque was raised in her memory there.
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| Announcement of the Death of Joanna Southcott |
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nThere were variousnrumours spread amongst the Southcottians (as her disciples are known),nincluding one that said she had died in order to go to heaven where she couldngive birth to Shiloh, who was a spiritual child and not a mortal one, and thatnshe would return to earth at a later date. In 1817, a procession marchednthrough Temple Bar, chanting,
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n“Wo ! wo ! to the inhabitants of the earth,nbecause of the coming of Shiloh!”n
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nas their leader blew a brass trumpet,nuntil the crowd pelted them with mud, a fight broke out and several people werenarrested. People continued to follow her throughout the nineteenth century andninto the twentieth, when there was a slight revival of Southcottianism in then1920s.
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| Joanna Southcott Tracts offered for sale |
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nFrom my researches, I have found that there are still two people livingntoday who claim to be followers of her teachings. Just to give you a flavour ofnher style, here is a little piece taken entirely at random, taken from one ofnher books also chosen at random.
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n“Yet Satan’s weapons will be strong, with ragenand fury; to fight in men, till, like Sodom and Gomorrah, they will bendestroyed, and swept away with the besom of destruction. But, from the days ofnNoah, there is a long warning, to awaken those who are not so strongly fillednwith the devil against my coming to bring in my kingdom of righteousness andnpeace. Thy faith is given to thee as a gift of God, which the world can neitherngive thee, nor take it from thee: and they will find that the sound of thynMaster’s feet is behind thee.”n
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nLetter of Prophecy, published in the Morning Herald, Novn19 1813.
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| Philip Pullen – Index – 1815 |
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nAn Index of the Divine and Spiritual Writings ofnJoanna Southcott, by Philip Pullen, published in 1815, lists sixty-fivenbooks by or about her. Some of these are over 700 pages in length – she was, shall we say, prolific if nothing else. So much so, that I’ll return tonher tomorrow.
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