John Ward (prophet)
John Ward (25 December 1781 – 12 March 1837), known as Zion Ward, was an
Early life and career
Ward was born at the Cove of Cork (now
In 1803, Ward was paid off from the Navy at
Preacher
Just after the death of prophetess Joanna Southcott in 1814, Ward came across her Fifth Book of Wonders.[2] Its universalism captivated him, and he began to preach it. This led to him rejoining the Methodists, who made him a local preacher, but soon dismissed him for his heretical views. The Southcottians would not receive him either.[1]
Convinced by the example of Joanna Southcott that prophecy was "a living gift", Ward looked for another prophet to guide him, falling in with Mary Boon of
Prophet
In 1827, Ward gave up shoemaking to proclaim his divine call; his wife and family were convinced that he was mad, and he was reported to the
In 1829, with the help of a follower, Charles William Twort (d. 1878, aged 93), he began to print
Imprisonment and final years
In 1832, Ward and Twort came into conflict with the authorities at
Freed on 3 February 1834, Ward travelled to Bristol and preached to a congregation there. At the end of 1835 he had a paralytic stroke. On October 1836, he settled in Leeds. He died at 91 Park Lane, Leeds, on 12 March 1837.[1]
Personality and influences
Though said to be of "gentle disposition" and "modest demeanour", Ward was a persuasive speaker, and in conversation and writing, was able to argue with some authority and even humour. His attempts at verse are uncouth, but often effective. His main influence was Joanna Southcott and her school, but he was also familiar with the ideas of George Fox (1624–1691) and Lodowicke Muggleton (1609–1698); however, most of his teaching came from his own considerations on the Bible. He regarded biblical scripture as allegorical, and elaborated a key for eliciting its hidden meanings. His theology is a spiritual pantheism, which allows immortality only to the regenerate.[1]
Printed works
Ward's printed works include over thirty pieces, among which are:
- Vision of Judgment (1829, 2 parts)
- Living Oracle (1830)
- Book of Letters (1831)
- Discourses at the Rotunda (1831)
- Review of Trial and Sentence (1832)
- Creed (1832)
- Spiritual Alphabet (1833)
- Origin of Evil (1837)
- New Light on the Bible (1873)
In 1874, a "jubilee" edition of his works was planned, with the title Writings of Zion Ward, or Shiloh, the Spiritual Man, but only three parts were actually published (Birmingham, 1874–5). However, some additional tracts were printed separately, e.g. Good and Evil made One (1877).
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Ward, John (1781-1837)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
- ^ Joanna Southcott. Life and works: A collection of pamphlets, Volume 7 (1813).
- ^ a b c Zemka 1997, pp. 1ff..
Bibliography
- Zion Ward's answer to Mr. Howitt's History of priestcraft (1863).
- Ward, John & Holinsworth, C. Zions̓ Works: New Light on the Bible, from the Coming of Shiloh, the Spirit of Truth, 1828-1837 (J. Macqueen, 1900):
- Balleine, G. R. Past finding out: the tragic story of Joanna Southcott and her successors (S. P. C. K., 1956).
- Harrison, J.F.C. (1979). The Second Coming: Popular Millenarianism, 1780-1850. Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 152ff. ISBN 978-1-136-29876-9.
- Zemka, Sue (1997). "Introduction". Victorian testaments: The Bible, christology, and literary authority in early-nineteenth-century British culture. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-2848-5.
Further reading
- Austin, A. (2004). Only Connect: The China Inland Mission and Transatlantic Evangelicalism. North American Foreign Missions, 1810–1914, 281-313. * Shenk, W.R. (2004). North American Foreign Missions, 1810-1914: Theology, Theory, and Policy. Studies in the history of Christian missions. William B. Eerdmans Pub. ISBN 978-0-8028-2485-1.
- Bloom, Clive (2013). "Knocking on Heaven's Door". Victoria's Madmen. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK. pp. 68–85. ISBN 978-1-349-33932-7.
- Clark, A. (1988). The sexual crisis and popular religion in London, 1770-1820. International Labor and Working-Class History, (34), 56-69.
- Gregory, J. R. (2013). James 'Shepherd' Smith (1801–1857) and the 'Spiritualists': Attitudes to mysticism and physical puritanism in The Shepherd and The Family Herald. WORK.
- Gribben, Crawford (2011). "The Expansion of Evangelical Millennialism, 1789–1880". Evangelical Millennialism in the Trans-Atlantic World, 1500–2000. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK. pp. 71–91. ISBN 978-1-349-28383-5.
- Latham, Jackie E. (1995). The Arlington Court Picture. Blake/An Illustrated Quarterly, 29(1), 24. http://bq.blakearchive.org/pdfs/29.1.latham.pdf
- Latham, Jackie E. (1999). "The political and the personal: the radicalism of Sophia Chichester and Georgiana Fletcher Welch". Women's History Review. 8 (3). Informa UK Limited: 469–487. PMID 22619793.
- Lockley, Philip J. (2009). Millenarian religion and radical politics in Britain 1815-1835: a study of Southcottians after Southcott (Doctoral dissertation, Oxford University, UK). https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:c787538b-fddd-42bb-9eec-7bc8ab542685
- Lockley, Philip (2013). Visionary Religion and Radicalism in Early Industrial England: From Southcott to Socialism. Oxford Theological Monographs. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-966387-3.
- Lockley, Philip (2013). "Who Was 'The Deluded Follower of Joanna Southcott'? Millenarianism in Early Nineteenth-Century England". The Journal of Ecclesiastical History. 64 (1). Cambridge University Press (CUP): 70–95. S2CID 146393599.
- McCalman, Iain (1986). "Anti‐slavery and ultra‐radicalism in early nineteenth‐century England: The case of Robert Wedderburn". Slavery & Abolition. 7 (2). Informa UK Limited: 99–117. ISSN 0144-039X.
- Reagles, David G. (12 June 2014). "Visionary religion and radicalism in early industrial England. From Southcott to Socialism. By Philip Lockley. (Oxford Theological Monographs.) Pp. xxi + 284 incl. 4 figs. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. £65. 978 0 19 966387 3". The Journal of Ecclesiastical History. 65 (3). Cambridge University Press (CUP): 704–705. S2CID 163469473.
- Saville, J. (1971). JE Smith and the Owenite Movement, 1833-1834. Robert Owen, Prophet of the Poor: Essays in Honour of the Two Hundredth Anniversary of His Birth, 115ff. * Pollard, S.; Owen, R.; Salt, J. (1971). Robert Owen, Prophet of the Poor: Essays in Honour of the Two Hundredth Anniversary of His Birth. Bucknell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8387-7952-1.
- Stevenson, W. (1995). David Simpson on Paolozzi’s Newton. Blake/An Illustrated Quarterly, 29(1), 24-25. http://bq.blakearchive.org/pdfs/29.1.stevenson.pdf
- Stunt, T. C. F. (1 May 2014). "Visionary Religion and Radicalism in Early Industrial England: From Southcott to Socialism, by Philip Lockley". The English Historical Review. 129 (538). Oxford University Press (OUP): 739–740. ISSN 0013-8266.
- Thorp, M. R. (1981). Book review: The Second Coming: Popular Millenarianism 1780-1850 by J. F. C. HARRISON. Brigham Young University Studies, 21(4), 534-536. Retrieved February 12, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/43043876
- Wilson, Brian C. (2013). "Visionary Religion and Radicalism in Early Industrial England: From Southcott to Socialism". Nova Religio. 17 (4). University of California Press: 130–131. ISSN 1092-6690.