1796 RICHARD BROTHERS. Very Rare American Ed. Millennial Work - Pre-William Miller and Ellen G. White.

A very scarce gathering of four works by Millennialist preached, Richard Brothers [1757 –1824]. He was influential both in England and America and is often seen as a forerunner to slightly later 19^th century figures like William Miller and Ellen G. White. Connected with his eschatology, he was also an early believer and teacher of British Israelism and the idea of the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel.

Brothers was quite the character. He retired from the Navy in 1783, then married, then apparently returned to Navy to escape his unhappy marriage. During his second period of service, he experienced a religious awakening and seems to have believed that military service was not compatible with deeply held beliefs rooted in Christianity. So he again resigned [1789].

From there, he became more radical in his views, many based purely in direct revelation. By 1791, he began to question the oath he had been required to take for receipt of his military half-pay, and refused to continue accepting it. He consequently found himself with little income.

Brothers then divided his time between the open air and the workhouse, where he developed the idea that he had a special divine commission. Brothers claimed to hear the voice of an attending angel which proclaimed to him the fall of Babylon the Great, which he believed to be London. According to Brothers, God called him to intercede for London, and God spared the city and, at least for a time, the destruction was halted. Near this same time, Brothers received a revelation that he would be visited by a heavenly woman who would descend from the clouds and publicly bless him with financial blessing.

By February of 1792, Brothers declared himself a healer and claimed he could restore sight to the blind and drew large public crowds to receive his prayers. A few months later [1793] Brothers declared himself to be the apostle of a new religion. He began to see himself as possessing a special role in the gathering of the Jews back into Palestine, in particular, the "Jews" who were hidden amongst the population of Great Britain.

In similarity to modern British Israelists, Brothers asserted that the "hidden Israel" had no notion of its biological lineage and that part of his role would be to teach them of their true identity and lead them to the land of Canaan. Brothers proclaimed himself to be Prince of the Hebrews, literal descendant of the Biblical House of David, and the Nephew of the Almighty, who would rule over Israel until the return of Jesus Christ. Brothers declared he would achieve all this using a rod he had fashioned from a wild rosebush, with which he would perform miracles, as Moses had done.

He published all of this in what is often considered to be the first ever British Israelist Publication, [i.e. A Revealed Knowledge, as offered here].

He began to attract quite a following, but due to his rejection of organisational work, and eccentric nature, he did not develop any sort of social movement. In consequence of prophesying the death of the King and the end of the monarchy, he was arrested for treason in 1795, and imprisoned on the grounds of being criminally insane. Under influence from a friend in the government, he was moved to a private asylum where Brothers wrote a variety of prophetic pamphlets which gained him many believers. He finally predicted that on 19 November 1795 he would be revealed as Prince of the Hebrews and Ruler of the world. The date passed without any such manifestation.

Brothers spent the last 30 years of his life in an insane asylum designing the flags, uniforms, and palaces of the coming New Jerusalem.

A Revealed Knowledge of the Prophecies and Times. Book the First. Wrote Under the Direction of the Lord God, and Published by His Sacred Command: It Being the First Sign or 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 ***** Richard Brot***, Albany. Printed and Sold Charles R. and George Webster. 1796.

[with]

A Revealed Knowledge of the Prophecies and Times, Particularly of the Present Time, the Present War, and the Prophecy Now Fulfilling the Year of the World, 5913. Book the Second. Containing, with other Great and Remarkable Things, not Revealed to any other Person on Earth, the Suddent and Perpetual Fall of the Turkish, Germain, and Russian Empires. Wrote Under the Direction of the Lord God, and Published by His Sacred Command. It being a Second Sign or Warning for the Benefit of All Nations. By the Man that will be revealed to the Hebrews as their Prince and Prophet. Albany. Printed Charles R. & George Webster. 1796. 211 + catalogue.

[with]

Testimony of the Authenticity of the Prophecies of Richard Brothers and of His Mission to Recal [sic] the Jews. By Nathaniel Brassey Halhed. Albany. Charles R. & George Webster. 1796. 41pp.

[with]

A Calculation on the Commencement of the Millennium, and a Short Reply to Dr. Horne’s Pamphlet, Entitled “A Sound Argument, Dictated by Common Sense,” Together with Cursory Observations on the Age of Credulity. By Nathaniel Brassy Halhed. To which is Added, An original Letter from Mr. Brothers to Philip Stephens, Esq., with His Answers. A Paper Subjoined Pointing Out those Parts of Mr. Brothers’ Prophecies that have been Already Fulfilled. Albany. Printed by Charles R. & George Webster. Nd. c.1796. 27pp. + catalogue.

Scarce. Very much handled in original full calf binding, rubbed, with chipping to head and foot of spine; blank ffeps and rfeps absent, title of first work deteriorated at foredge; lacks nearly all of leaf 21/22 and leaf 134/135 lacking a few words at foredge. Handling and staining throughout.