148 LON 
of immediateinfpiration. A herd, however, was ready to 
devour this garbage as the bread of life. Credulity and 
Vanity are foul feeders. 
The clergy in her own neighbourhood were invited by 
her, by private letters, to examine her claims, but they 
treated her invitations with contempt; the bifliop alfo did 
not choofe to interfere;—of what avail, indeed, would it 
have been to have examined her, when they had no power 
to filence her blafphemies! She found believers at a dif- 
tance. Seven men came from different parts of the coun¬ 
try to examine—that is—to believe in her ; thefe were her 
ieven ftars ; and when at another time feven more arrived 
upon the fame wife errand, (he obferved, in allufion to one 
of thofe vulgar fayings from .which all her allufions are 
drawn, that her feven ftars were come to fourteen. Among 
thefe early believers were three clergymen, one of them a 
man of fafhion, fortune, and noble family. It is not un¬ 
likely that the woman at firft fufpe&ed the ftate of her 
own intellects : her letters appear to indicate this; they 
exp refs an humble fubmiflion to wifer judgments than her 
own ; and, could fhe have breathed the firft thoughts of 
delufion into the ear of fome pious confeflor, it is more 
than probable that fhe would have foon acknowledged her 
error at his feet, and the phrenfy which has now infected 
thoufands would have been cut off on its firft appearance. 
But, when (lie found that perfons into whofe fociety no¬ 
thing elfe could have elevated her, liftened to her with 
.reverence, believed all her ravings, and fupplied her with 
means and money to fpread them abroad, it is not to be 
wondered at if flit went on more boldly ;—the gainfulnefs 
of the trade foon filencing all doubts of the truth of her 
in fpi ration. 
Some of her foremoft adherents were veterans in credu¬ 
lity ; they had been initiated in the myfteries of animal 
magnetifm, had received fpiritual circumcifion from Bro¬ 
thers, and were thus doubly qualified for the part they 
were to act in this new drama of delufion. To accom¬ 
modate them, Joanna confirmed the authenticity of this 
laft fanatic’s miflion, and acknowledged him as King of 
the Hebrews,—hut fhe dropt his whole mythology. Her 
.lierefy in its main part is not new. The opinion that re¬ 
demption extended to men only, and not to women, had 
"been held by a Norman in the lixteenth century, as well 
ss by the fair Englifh heretic already mentioned. This 
man, in a book called Virgo Veneta, maintained that a 
female Redeemer was neceflary for the daughters of Eve, 
.and announced an old woman of Venice of his acquaint¬ 
ance as the Saviour of her fex. Bordonius, a century 
ago, broached even a worfe lierefy. In a work upon mi¬ 
racles, printed at Parma, he taught that women did not 
participate in the atonement, becaufe they were of a dif¬ 
ferent fpecies from man, and were incapable of eternal 
life. Joanna and her followers are too ignorant to be ac¬ 
quainted with thefe her prototypes in blafphemy ; and the 
whole merit of originality in her lyflem mult be allowed 
lier, as indeed file has exceeded her forerunners in the au¬ 
dacity of her pretenfions. She boldly afi’erts that fhe is the 
Woman in the Revelations, who has the moon under her 
feet, and on her head a crown of twelve ftars ; the twelve 
■ftars being her twelve apoftles, who with the fecond dozen 
of believers make up her four-and-twenty elders. In her 
■vifitation it was told her, that the angels rejoiced at her 
birth, becaufe file was born to deliver both men and angels 
from the infults of the devil. Let it be lawful for me to 
■repeat thefe blafphemies, holding them up to merited ab¬ 
horrence. The fcheme of redemption, fhe fays, is com¬ 
pleted in her, and without her would be imperfed ; by 
woman came the fall of man, by woman mult come his 
redemption ; woman plucked the evil fruit, and woman 
mull pluck the good fruit; if the tree of knowledge was 
violated by Eve, the tree of life is referved for Joanna. 
Eve was a bone from Adam ; fhe is a bone from Chrift, the 
fecond ajdam. She is the bride, the protnifed feed who 
is to bruife the ferpent’s head ; fire it is who claims the 
jyotnile qiade at the creation, that wiaman Ihould be the 
D O N. 
helpmate of roan ; arid by her the Creator fulfils that prs- 
mife, and acquits himfelf of the charge of having given 
to man the woman in vain. The evening-ffar was placed 
in the firmament to be her type. While (lie arrogates fo 
much to herfelf, fhe is proportionately liberal to her fol¬ 
lowers ; they have been appointed to the four-and-twenty 
elderlhips : and to one of them, when he died, a higher 
character was more blafphemoufly attributed; fhe aflured 
his relations that he was gone to plead the promifes be¬ 
fore the Lord ; that to him was to be given the key of the 
bottomlefs pit, and that the time was at hand when he 
fliould be feen defeending in the air,—for they knew not 
the meaning of our Saviour’s words when he faid, “ Ye 
(hall fee the Son of Man coming in the clouds, in power 
and great glory.” 
The immediate obje£t of her call is to deftroy the de¬ 
vil : of this the devil was aware ; and, that it might not 
be faid he had had foul play, a regular difpute of feven 
days was agreed on between him and Joanna, in which 
(he was to be alone, and he to bring with him as many of 
the Powers of Darknefs as he pleafed : but he was not to 
appear vifibly ; for, as he did not choofe to make his ap¬ 
pearance on a former occafion when fome of her elders 
went to give him the meeting, but had difappointed them, 
he was not to be permitted to manifeft himfelf bodily now. 
The conditions were, that, if (lie held out with argument 
againft him forfeven days, the woman fliould be freed and 
he fall; but, if lhe yielded, Satan’s kingdom was to Hand, 
and a fecond fall of the human race would be the confe- 
quence. Accordingly, flie went alone into a folitary 
houfe for this conference. Joanna was her own fecretary 
upon this occafion, and the procefs-verbal of the confer¬ 
ence has been printed, as literally taken down ; for fhe 
was ordered to fet down all his blafphemies, and fliow to 
the world what the language of hell is. It is by no means 
a polite language ;—indeed the proficiency which Satan, 
difplays in the vulgar tongue is furprifing. 
Of all Joanna’s books this is the moft curious. Satan 
brought a friend with him, and they made up a (lory for 
themfelves which has fome ingenuity. “It is written,” 
faiefthey, “ Be {till, and know that I am God this ftill' 
worfhip did not fuit Satan ; he was a lively cheerful fpirit, 
full of mirth and gaiety, which the Lord could not bear, 
and therefore caft him out of heaven. This, according to 
Apollyon’s account of heaven, could have been no great 
evil. “Thou knoweft,” he fays, “it is written of God, 
he is a confirming fire, and who can dwell in everlafting 
burnings ? Our backs are not brafs, nor our finews iron, 
to dwell with God in heaven.” The heaven therefore 
which men miftakenly defire, is in its nature the very hell 
of which they are fo much afraid ; and it is fufficienS 
proof of the truth of all this, that the devil invites them 
to make themfelves happy and lead a gay life, agreeably 
to his own cheerful difpofition ; whereas religion enjoins 
felf-denial, penitence, and all things which are contrary 
to our natural inclinations. Satan accounted to Joanna 
for her infpiration by this folution: an evil fpirit had 
loved her from her youth up; he found there was no other 
accefs to her heart than by means of religion ; and, being 
himfelf able to forefee future events, imparted this know¬ 
ledge to her in the charafterof a good fpirit. This fpirit, 
he laid, was one udiich file had been well acquainted with ; 
it was that of one Mr. Follart, who had told her, if fhe 
would not have him for a hufband, he fliould die for her 
fake; and he died accordingly. But this deception had 
now been carried fo far, that Satan was angry, and threat¬ 
ened, unlefs file broke herfealsand deliroyed her writings, 
he would tear her in pieces. 
The conference terminated like moft theological dif- 
putes. Both parties grew warm. Apollyon interfered, 
and endeavoured to accommodate matters, but without 
efFe*f, and Joanna talked Satan out of all patience. She 
gave him, as he truly complained, ten words for one, and 
allowed him no time to fpeak. All men, he faid, were 
tired of her tongue already 3 snd now file bad tired the 
1 devil. 
