This woman asserts she's the Saviour's elect, (†) And his bride in the trappings of prophetess deck'd;

ing she had been praised (and perchance canonized) for her devotion; now failing, she must be pardoned and pitied for her dis

traction.

As the following instances of individuals disseminating novel doctrines are not generally known, I shall subjoin them for the amusement and information of the reader.

66

Quirinus Kuhlman, a native of Breslau, who broached his extravagant opinions in the seventeenth century, is but little known. At the age of eighteen he thought himself inspired by a divine afflatus," which formed itself always around his head like a globe of light. His genius was by no means inconsiderable: he wrote "Prodromus Quinquennii mirabilis," and prepared for the press "Le clef de l'Eternite et du Tems." In order to establish his doctrines, he roamed through Britain, Italy, and the East: he made few proselytes, but still wandered unmolested. In 1689, however, his good fortune forsook him, for having disseminated some heterodox dogmas in Russia, the priests of that country made him expiate his heresies at the stake.

That her mission below is God's will to reveal,

And the passport for thousands on high-her own Seal;

Gonzales Baudara, a cobler of Lisbon, in 1540, had nearly ended his days at the stake, under a sentence of the Inquisition, for uttering absurd predictions. By a singular revolution in human affairs it so happened, that a century afterwards, when the House of Braganza rose to the throne of Portugal, some of this cobler's fanatic effusions were judged to have pointed out clearly the events which had then so recently happened; and thus the memory of a man, who had with difficulty escaped the flames as an impostor, was after death honoured as an inspired prophet.

(t) None of the rhapsodies of this modern enthusiast have ever surpassed the tale narrated in the following effusion, which is literally translated from a Latin breviary; printed by command of Pope Pius V. at Antwerp, in 1677.

"The holy brother, Philip Nerio, deeply affected by zeal to"wards the Supreme Being, lived in a perpetual languor; and "his heart burnt with such ardor, that when it could not be con

While her coming betokens Milennium arriv'd,
When Nick will of Freedom by her be depriv'd.

"tained within its proper bounds, the Creator most wonderfully enlarged its sphere of action, by breaking and raising up two "of his ribs. Sometimes, when performing his holy duties, or fervently praying, he was visibly lifted from the ground, and 66 appeared to shine with a wondrous brightness. The poor and "the needy he relieved with universal charity: he was even

thought worthy of bestowing alms on an angel, who conde"scended to receive them in the figure of an indigent person; "and once, when carrying provisions to the poor, he had "stumbled into a pitfall, he was delivered safe from danger by "the interposition of that heavenly being. Humble in his nature,

he ever avoided honours, and with constancy refused the first "ecclesiastic dignities, which were unsolicitedly pressed upon "him."

The rhapsodical nonsense of this woman being communicated to her disciples through the medium of pictorial representations, the ensuing statements will tend to show the different light in which the puritans were led to regard all subjects of this

nature.

The following votes are extracted from the Journals of the House of Commons, bearing date July 23, 1645.

Time, was lying Brothers with her well agreed,
Till thinking his folly as good as her creed,
He affirm'd all prediction from her did not flow,
For that he rank'd the Prophet in chief here below;
Which made our Johanna, in wonderful dudgeon,
Declare that friend Brothers was but a curmudgeon:
When, lo! they both split as the poles wide asunder,
So liar will never to liar knock under.

Of late, though our prophetess formerly said,
That she to the Saviour of Mankind was wed,
And with him incessantly holds converse sweet,
Yet the Lord is resolv'd she shall taste carnal treat,

Ordered, that all such pictures and statutes there (York House), as are without any superstition, shall be forthwith sold, for the benefit of Ireland and the North.

Ordered, that all such pictures there, as have the representation of the Second Person in the Trinity upon them, shall be forthwith burnt.

Ordered, that all such pictures there, as have the representation of the Virgin Mary upon them, shall be forthwith burut.

And though past threescore is resolv'd on a wed

ding,

That with sinful man she may now get a bed-in.
But straight to dismiss all this scene of sly funning,
This picture repellant of blasphemous cunning,
May truth on the minds of deluded soon break,
And banish such clouds of illusion opake;
For with pain I must add, not to vulgar alone
This furor belongs, since some learned are prone
To foster these cheats, which are govern'd by spell
"Of Satan himself-and are false as his Hell.

'Here close we a topic to Science abhorrent,

Subduing poor bigots like o'erwhelming torrent.

Ah! wou'd that the Press on such scribes now cou'd

close,

And doom irreligion for aye to repose;

For no class of writers that sin can suborn,

Is worse than those fiends who can laugh Truth to

scorn;