Richard Brothers
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RICHARD BROTHERS “NARRATIVE HISTORY” AMOUNTS TO FABULATION, THE REAL STUFF BEING MERE CHRONOLOGY “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Richard Brothers HDT WHAT? INDEX RICHARD BROTHERS RICHARD BROTHERS 1757 December 25, Sunday: Richard Brothers was born at Placentia on the coast of Canada, son of an English naval soldier who was garrisoned there. He would spend the early years of his life fishing with his father, but at the age of 14 would ship as midshipman on a 64-gun vessel of war, HMS Ocean. He would transfer from this ship to HMS Union and then, in 1781, to HMS St. Alban’s. NOBODY COULD GUESS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT Richard Brothers “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX RICHARD BROTHERS RICHARD BROTHERS 1781 Midshipman Richard Brothers transferred from HMS Union to HMS St. Alban’s. LIFE IS LIVED FORWARD BUT UNDERSTOOD BACKWARD? — NO, THAT’S GIVING TOO MUCH TO THE HISTORIAN’S STORIES. LIFE ISN’T TO BE UNDERSTOOD EITHER FORWARD OR BACKWARD. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Richard Brothers HDT WHAT? INDEX RICHARD BROTHERS RICHARD BROTHERS 1783 January 3, Friday: On HMS St. Alban’s, Midshipman Richard Brothers was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant with Seniority. July 28, Monday: During a temporary lull in warfare, Lieutenant with Seniority Richard Brothers was honorably semi- discharged from the British Navy at half pay. During his military service, Brothers had acquired a distaste for the very usual prayers to God that his side be granted victory at war, and for the mandatory oaths of sacred allegiance to earthly potentates. THE FUTURE IS MOST READILY PREDICTED IN RETROSPECT “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Richard Brothers HDT WHAT? INDEX RICHARD BROTHERS RICHARD BROTHERS 1787 After touring the continent as befitted a man of his position, retired naval officer Richard Brothers settled in a rented set of London rooms. There, reading the BIBLE, he decided that one message to be uncovered in the Sermon on the Mount was that no one should ever swear fidelity to any earthly institution — which was a reasonable enough conclusion at which to arrive. He also, however, began to hallucinate: “Satan walking leisurely into London, in face had a smile, but under it his looks were sly, crafty, and deceitful. On the right side of his forehead were seven dark spots, and he was dressed in white and scarlet robes.” After a couple of years of this he would come to the conclusion that he must be a descendant of King David, by way of James the Righteous, younger brother of Jesus, and that therefore he was the nephew of God, and a Hebrew of the Ten Lost Tribes, a member of the race chosen of God. He was ordained to lead these Hebrews of the Ten Lost Tribes to command the others races of humankind. MILLENNIALISM THE FUTURE CAN BE EASILY PREDICTED IN RETROSPECT “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Richard Brothers HDT WHAT? INDEX RICHARD BROTHERS RICHARD BROTHERS 1789 Committed to a workhouse when he was unable to pay the rent on his set of London rooms, retired naval officer Richard Brothers occupied himself in a series of writings, THE REVEALED KNOWLEDGE OF THE PROPHECIES AND TIMES, that would go through a number of printings both in Europe and in America. An ardent supporter of the French revolution, he anticipated that all the monarchies of all the nations would likewise fall before the beginning of 1900. He wrote with regularity to the King of England. He mentioned that although God had wanted to do away with the British royal family, they had been spared from God’s wrath as a personal favor to him, Richard Brothers. King George III was not particularly amused by such public pronouncements. MILLENNIALISM Selections from this writing are at http://olivercowdery.com/texts/brot1797.htm DO I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION? GOOD. Richard Brothers “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX RICHARD BROTHERS RICHARD BROTHERS 1791 There were a series of unusually severe thunderstorms in the skies above London, and semi-retired naval officer Richard Brothers came to suspect that God was about to destroy that city for its wickedness. He fled to the countryside and prayed to God for mercy upon the community, and when God did not in fact destroy London, concluded that it had been spared due to his intercessory petition. MILLENNIALISM LONDON “The nice thing about apocalyptic panics is that all you need for a feel-good moment is the earth not coming to an end.” — Gail Collins, March 15, 2013. WHAT I’M WRITING IS TRUE BUT NEVER MIND YOU CAN ALWAYS LIE TO YOURSELF Richard Brothers “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX RICHARD BROTHERS RICHARD BROTHERS 1792 According to the Shakers of the United States, this year was to be the end of the world (Abanes, Richard. END- TIME VISIONS. NY: Four Walls Eight Windows, 1998, page 338). In England, the Lord visited Joanna Southcott to “warn her of what was coming upon the whole earth.” She began to set these heavenly testimonies down in writing, many in verse, have each writing certified and witnessed, and put these documents into a Great Box maintained by one of her friends. None of these sealed packets of prophetic verse were to be unsealed prior to 1801. Although the predictions and fulminations of Richard Brothers were attracting followers, this wasn’t creating much of a sustaining cash flow for his use. On account of his debts, he was sent to Newgate Prison. From this point he would preach against imprisonment for debt. His disciples would come to include a lawyer, John Finlayson, an army captain, Hanclett, and a member of the House of Commons, Nathaniel Halhed. At some HDT WHAT? INDEX RICHARD BROTHERS RICHARD BROTHERS point he would begin to sponsor a philosemitic concept that we now discover in the poetry of William Blake, that England was the New Israel, the lost tribe that was to be prominent just prior to Doomsday. Many Englishmen he discovered to be “hidden Jews,” including the current Prime Minister, William Pitt.1 He announced that it was time for all these hidden Jews to assemble together in Palestine (which in that period was under a Turkish mandate) under his leadership as Prince of the Hebrews, to prepare for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. MILLENNIALISM 1. Eventually Richard Brothers would decide that he had been mistaken about Prime Minister William Pitt — that the man actually was not a hidden Jew and therefore was unworthy of support. HDT WHAT? INDEX RICHARD BROTHERS RICHARD BROTHERS 1795 May: The official birthday celebration for George III was scheduled for June 4th. Richard Brothers had prophesied in A REVEALED KNOWLEDGE OF THE PROPHECIES AND TIMES: WROTE UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE LORD GOD ... IT BEING THE FIRST SIGN OF WARNING FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL NATIONS, CONTAINING, WITH OTHER GREAT AND REMARKABLE THINGS NOT REVEALED TO ANY OTHER PERSON ON EARTH, THE RESTORATION OF THE HEBREWS TO JERUSALEM, BY THE YEAR 1798, UNDER THEIR REVEALED PRINCE AND PROPHET RICHARD BROTHERS. (Printed for Robert Campbell) that on that auspicious occasion London would be destroyed and that, in order to save England, the monarch would need to hand over to him the royal crown. He, Richard Brothers, would ascend the throne, place the crown of England atop his head, assemble the “hidden Jews” of England, and lead them to Palestine. He had designed a flag which this group was to use. In Palestine, the crown of England atop his head, he would rule as Christ’s Vicar. The monarch did not wait for the event to take place or not take place on June 4th, but instead accused Brothers of treason. The King’s Privy Council condemned Richards for teaching seditious nonsense such as that God desired for England to refrain from military action against the new French Republic. He was deprived of his Lieutenancy at half salary, and committed as a lunatic to Canonbury Tower. The unfortunate prophet would HDT WHAT? INDEX RICHARD BROTHERS RICHARD BROTHERS remain in such asylum until the death of William Pitt in 1806. MILLENNIALISM June 4, Thursday: This day was the official birthday celebration for the King of England. Richard Brothers had prophesied that on this day London would be destroyed and that, in order to save England, George III would hand over his royal crown to him, Richard Brothers. Unfortunately, Brothers was by this point just another lunatic in Canonbury Tower. He would remain in asylum until the death of William Pitt in 1806. MILLENNIALISM CHANGE IS ETERNITY, STASIS A FIGMENT Richard Brothers “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX RICHARD BROTHERS RICHARD BROTHERS November 19, Thursday: A retired English sailor, Richard Brothers, who had announced himself to be “God’s Almighty Nephew,” a lineal descendant of King David through James the Righteous, younger brother of Jesus Christ, had announced also that the millennium would begin between 1793 and this year. It was his destiny, he had decided, to lead the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, and God had informed him that he was also to become King of England.... The King had not been amused, and Brothers had been packed off to an insane asylum. While campaigning for this man’s release, Nathaniel Brassey Halhed, a Member of the House of Commons for Lymington, Hants, had proclaimed in over-the-top speeches before the Parliament of England distributed to the general public as “Testimony of the authenticity of the prophecies of Richard Brothers: and of his mission to recall the Jews” (Printed for R.