dist parsons, and these three parsons declared
themselves satisfied that the mission of Joanna was a divine one. It is
needless to add that in England, no matter how absurd the nature of a
so-called divine mission, it is safe and certain to attract believers;
and by the year 1803 the doctrines of Joanna Southcott were eagerly
swallowed by numerous simpletons in various parts of the country.

Thus fortified, Joanna issued a manifesto, in which she stated her
calling and pretensions: we set it out in all the original baldness of
its composition:--

"I, Joanna Southcott, am clearly convinced that my calling is of God,
and my writings are indited by His Spirit, as it is impossible for any
spirit but an all-wise God, that is wondrous in working, wondrous in
wisdom, wondrous in power, wondrous in truth, could have brought round
such mysteries, so full of truth, as is in my writings; so I am clear in
whom I have believed, that all my writings came from the spirit of the
most high God."

Joanna was clear in whom she believed, and her followers were equally
"clear" in their belief in Joanna. This incoherent nonsense was signed
in the presence of fifty-eight simpletons, all of whom expressed their
confidence in the inspired mission of their precious prophetess.

Her disciples rapidly increased, and she visited in her apostolic
character, Bristol, Leeds, Stockport, and other large centres, obtaining
numerous converts everywhere. Among them was the celebrated engraver,
William Sharp; and to the last this man, who out of his calling was the
veriest simpleton living, and who had swallowed successively the
doctrines of Richard Brothers, Wright, Bryan, and Joanna, believed in
the divine mission of this unincarcerated lunatic.

Although Joanna did not (like Joseph Smith) discover a book, she
discovered a seal, which one of her disciples is said to have picked up
in a dust-heap at Clerkenwell. With this miraculously acquired talisman
the spirit ordered her to "seal up the people," and as "the people" were
limited to one hundred and forty-four thousand, and each of the elect
had to pay a sum varying at different times from a guinea to twelve
shillings, or even lower, for the privilege of being "sealed up," the
scheme promised at first to turn out a comfortably profitable one. Into
the details of the "sealing" it is unnecessary for us to enter. Suffice
it to say that the numbers of the "sealed," up to 1808, when for some
unexplained r