Читать книгу Sketches of Imposture, Deception, and Credulity онлайн

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Mr. Howe was not the only one of her disciples whose sturdy belief was not to be shaken by the most discouraging symptoms. Colonel Harwood, a zealous believer, intreated Mr. Reece not to retract his opinion as to her pregnancy, though the latter now saw the folly and absurdity of it; and when the colonel approached the bed on which she was about to expire, and she said to him, “What does the Lord mean by this? I am certainly dying;” he replied, smiling, “No, no, you will not die, or if you should, you will return again.”

Even when she was really dead, the same blind confidence remained. Mrs. Townley, with whom she had lived, said cheerfully, “she would return to life, for it had been foretold twenty years before.” Mr. Sharpe also asserted that the soul of Joanna would return, it having gone to heaven to legitimate the child which would be born. Though symptoms of decomposition arose, Mr. Sharpe still persisted in keeping the body hot, according to the directions which she had given on her deathbed, in the hope of a revival. Mr. Reece having remarked that, if the ceremony of her marriage continued two days longer, the tenement would not be habitable on her return, “the greater will be the miracle,” said Mr. Sharpe. Consent at last was given to inspect the body, and all the disciples stood round smoking tobacco; their disappointment was excessive at finding nothing to warrant the long-cherished opinion, but their faith remained immovable. More than twenty years have elapsed since her death, yet many persons are still infatuated enough to avow themselves believers in her supernatural mission.