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The Shakers
Mother Ann Lee
[1736-1784 AD]
Short Summary of Doctrines
Major historical detailed document
of Shakers
Short
summary of Shaker Doctrines:
- God is Dual. Shakers believe in One God not three
male beings in one, but Father and Mother.
- Equality of s¥x. Woman appears in her rightful place,
at once the equal of man in creation and office at the
hand of God. Ann Lee's followers, 1900 years after Jesus
uttered the words, "Neither do I condemn thee, go and
sin no more;" and sent Mary to tell the Good News of a
risen Lord and living Savior, alone of all humanity, have
taught the doctrines that have placed woman side by side
with man, his equal in power, in office, in influence
and in judgment.
- God the Father-Mother. Fatherhood and motherhood exist
in the complete human being. One is correlative of the
other. Self-existent, infinite Perfection of Being, Father
and Mother. The very name God, Almighty, in its original
Hebrew form El Shaddai, reveals the infinite quality.
El, God, its first meaning, Strength: Shaddi, the plural
whose singular, Shad, signifies a Breast and is feminine.
Our natural father and mother, with their united strength
and wisdom, truth and love are types of that Perfect Parentage,
our Father and Mother which are in Heaven.
- Resurrection. Mother Ann taught that there is no resurrection
of the body. "I am the resurrection and the life," said
Jesus Christ. The life of Christ is in itself, by its
very nature, a resurrection out of, above, the natural,
carnal life. The Christian resurrection is a resurrection
of the soul from death in sin to a life of righteousness,
as judged by the Christian standard, not the revivification
of the dead physical body.
- Regeneration. "By following in the footsteps of Jesus
and in obedience to his precepts, man may be fully saved
from sin in this life and ultimately redeemed from sin
and all temptations to evil. The true Christian salvation
is from the commission of sin, not merely from the consequences
of committed sin. The blood (life) that Jesus gave for
man's salvation was his life of consecration and obedience
to God's will, an example and winning incentive to follow
him. The death Jesus died to aid humanity in the work
of salvation was his death to a sinful nature, by which
he overcame the world within, thus becoming the great
Mediator for our race. 'In that he (Jesus) died, he died
unto sin once.' No vicarious atonement. The true cross
is not of wood but a life of self-denial, a crucifixion
of the lower nature. Every soul must work out its own
salvation by practising the self-denials of Jesus, aided
by baptisms of the Holy Spirit of Christ, an influx of
the saving power of the Divine Creator; salvation is not
otherwise found."
- Atonement. As a new, practical and living sense is found
in the terms resurrection, regeneration, so do the followers
of Mother Ann Lee learn from her a new rendering of this
old theologic term, which is at-one-ment. By the life
of the resurrection, by following in the steps of Jesus,
living out his principles, man works out his salvation
and comes to be at one with God.
- The Judgment. "The day of judgment for any soul commences
when brought to the Christ tribunal, whether in this or
the spirit world. This judgment is initiated by the voluntary
confession of all the confessant's sins to God, in the
presence of a Christ witness, who likewise has confessed
all sin." The end of the world shall come to every soul
who is born of the Spirit into the Kingdom of Heaven and
by growth and patient effort will eventually attain unto
the Kingdom of God.
- The Soul's Eternal Progression. Against the favorite
doctrines of her time Election, Reprobation, Hell Torment
for the persons of those decreed by the fiat of Eternal
justice to a lake of fire and brimstone, Ann Lee taught
the mercy and love of the Eternal Father-Mother. The souls
of all men have endless existence. Every soul is subject
for the spiritual resurrection to eternal life, by obedience
to Christian principles; thus, and thus only, may it inherit
eternal soul life. The soul's probation is not limited
to this world, but extends to the world of spirits, the
future state. Thus only can the justice and mercy of God
be manifest to souls who are not privileged to hear the
testimony of Christ in this life.
- Christ of the Ages. To Ann Lee came by revelation of
the Spirit and through her was imparted to her followers
the teaching that Christ (not Jesus) is the manifestation
of Deity, "Immanuel, God with us." Many times and in
different races has the Christ Spirit rested upon, entered
into and manifested itself through human beings, special
witnesses. The most complete and all- embracing endowment
of the manifesting Spirit of God rested upon Jesus of
Nazareth. Jesus was a Jew, born of human parents. Struggling
with a nature like our own, "tempted in all points like
as we are," he conquered by self-control and daily cross-bearing,
as we must conquer our natures, "learning obedience by
the things that he suffered."
- Christ Revealed in Woman. Jesus Christ not only foretold
the falling away, the coming of antichrist, he also foretold
a reappearing, a coming again to gather and save. In his
last interviews with his disciples he uttered some mysterious
words, over which theological quibbling has spent itself
in vain. Not to the wise nor prudent of this world came
the word of revelation, but to the child in simple trust
with heart of faith. The apocalypse of mystery that descended
from cloud to sea at Patmos opened its meanings, when
to the child spirit of Ann Lee came the call of God. We
have watched her follow that call. We have seen her wrestlings
and conflicts as flesh strove with spirit, as the cross,
heavy and death bringing, was taken bravely up. We have
watched her. as she subdued and slew the weakness and
sin of her lower nature. We have heard her cries and moans
of agony as the weight of a world's woe pressed upon her
heart. We have watched her in prison, every nerve throbbing
with the torture of that forsaken, narrow cell, where
for fourteen days she was nourished by God's gift, sustained
by His power. We have seen her in the prison cell in Manchester,
baptized with the Christ Spirit. From that time she never
faltered in her calm assurance of knowledge that to her
had been given the revelation of the Maternal Spirit of
God. Ann Lee always acknowledged Jesus Christ as her Lord
and Savior, the Head of the Church; but, when the two
anointed leaders, before whom she had confessed her sins
and whom she had obeyed as her spiritual guides, recognized
in her a superior endowment of Divine Maternity, and with
the rest of the little circle acknowledged her as now
their Spiritual Mother, she did not refuse the recognition.
S H A K E R S
C O M P E N D I U M
OF THE
ORIGIN, HISTORY, PRINCIPLES, RULES AND REGULATIONS,
GOVERNMENT, AND DOCTRINES
OF THE
UNITED SOCIETY OF BELIEVERS IN CHRIST'S
SECOND APPEARING
WITH BIOGRAPHIES OF
ANN LEE
WILLIAM LEE, JAS. WHITTAKER,
J. HOCKNELL, J. MEACHAM,
AND LUCY WRIGHT
BY F. W. EVANS.
"O my soul, swallow down understanding,
and devour wisdom;
for thous hast onoly time to live." Esdras
Originally Published: 1859
TO THE READER.
In respectful response to the often-expressed desire of
the public, to have the information respecting Shakers
and Shakerism, that is now spread through some
five or six volumes, concentrated in a Compendium, this
work has been prepared by the author and compiler, in union
with and aided by, his Gospel friends.
It being, as stated in all previous publications by the
Society, the settled faith of the Church, from the beginning,
that its foundation was Divine REVELATION;
and that the records of past Dispensations, and their revelations,
can be understood and interpreted aright only by
means of a present living revelation; we therefore
feel ourselves untrammeled by the letter of yesterday,
and write and express our views in accordance with the increasing
light of to-day, as we hope and trust,
subject to the dictates of "the Comforter," or "Spirit of
Truth," dwelling and abiding in the Church, which
is gradually, but surely and safely, leading it into the
knowledge of "all truth." For "in Christ are hid,"
as we fully believe, "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
Committee of Revision.
F.W. EVANS
CALVIN GREEN
GILES AVERY
August, 1858
- PART I. Mosaic Sabbaths,
Higher and Lower Law
- PART II. Probation, and
Heavens and Hells
- PART III. God dualFather
and Mother
- PART IV. Judgment-day, and
Confession of Sins
- PART V. The Bible
Biographies of the Six Founders of the Shaker Society
INTRODUCTION.
The United Society of Believers
in Christ's Second Appearing, at this day, stand before
the public in a very different attitude from what they have
ever done at the time of issuing any of their previous publications.
Many of the most obnoxious features
of the Society such as drew down upon it the opposition
and secret or open persecution, particularly of religious
professors are now becoming the popular views of the times,
at least of all the progressive minds of the age.
Again. The ignorant or willful
misconceptions of what were the actual doctrines, principles,
and faith of the Society, are being corrected; and the false
judgings of certain discrepancies existing between the profession
and practice of the people, are almost entirely removed
from the public mind.
It is no longer believed that Ann
Lee was a "witch" , because she was known to possess supernatural
powers; or that the Shakers think her to be something more
than human equal to Christ; or that they worship her,
etc., etc.
It is now generally known, that
we do not condemn the marriage institution, in its own
order, and when governed by it true laws;
but simply hold that it is not a Christian
institution.
The wonderful and almost incredible
openings of light and truth pertaining to this and the external
spiritual world, and which address themselves almost exclusively
to the external man, by sensuous facts and physical demonstrations,
and which, in former times and other ages, were suppressed
and condemned, as the effect of unlawful communings with
the powers of darkness, are now being received with joy
and gladness by thousands of person, as proof of a telegraphic
communication established between the two worlds; and no
more to be disputed or doubted than is the existence of
that marvelous submarine telegraphic cable that
connects the Eastern and Western continents.
In all these advances of the human
mind in knowledge relating to the mundane and supermundane
planes, we find cause for hope and encouragement that the
time is drawing nigh when the interior and truly spiritual
powers of the souls of our fellow-creatures will be awakened
as from a long night of slumber, and when human hearts
will be touched with the fire of conviction for sin, from
the altar of religious truth, quickening them into
that affection for each other that shall burn up selfishness,
and draw them, as with strong cords of love, into communities
of brotherhood and sisterhood, not only under a Christian
profession, but also into a Christian practice
a CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
All truth, being primarily
of Divine origin, is fit food for human souls when " rightly
divided" and properly used. The observation of natural facts
and phenomena on the earth plane, and the orderly arrangement
of such facts, together with the scientific deduction of
general principles therefrom, which can be applied to the
use and benefit of mankind, are, in their place and order,
right and good.
With such knowledge we have no
war; for "we can do nothing against the truth, but for the
truth." All truth, when unadulterated with human
pride and self, is a unit. And true earthly
knowledge, talents, and capacities bear the same relation
to the Divine revelation of spiritual good and truth that
the vessels which the widow borrowed bore to her cruse of
oil. There was no limit to the flow of the precious oil,
except the number and size of the vessels that contained
it.
It is man's duty in this world
to cultivate his natural powers and capacities, solely with
reference to the rendering himself the better recipient
of the truths of the higher spheres, and of the elements
of eternal existence. The Divine revelations of former Dispensations
were limited and molded by the knowledge of this natural
world of the mediums and people of those times.
"Moses was learned in all the wisdom
of the Egyptians;" and their ideas of geology and astronomy
governed, in a measure, his account of creation, though
written by inspiration; as was also that of the lengthening
of the day when the " sun stood still upon the mount Gibeon,
and the moon in the valley of Ajalon."
Let us all, then, be diligent to
add "to our faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to
knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to
patience godliness, which is profitable unto all
things, of the life that now is, and of that which is to
come;" and thus we shall abound in that true love to God
which results in loving our neighbor as we love ourselves.
SHAKERS AND SHAKERISM.
ORIGIN OF THE SOCIETY.
1. SHAKERISM is
claimed, by its advocates, to be the ultimate, or second
Christian church the Millennium.
2. The inquiry naturally arises,
What elements produced the Shaker Societies? To meet this,
reference must be had to historical facts bearing upon the
subject. But let the following proposition be first considered:
namely, that at a given part, point, and time of every cycle
of human affairs, in all ages, nations, and tribes, there
have invariably arisen an order and people analogous (in
some measure) to the American Shakers. No matter
what the name by which history designates them; they are
easily recognized by certain distinguishing marks.
3. China, Persia, India had their
ascetics; Rome, her sibyls and vestals; Egypt, her Therapeutics;
and Judea, the self-denying Essenes, among whom it is thought
Jesus received his education and early training. Speaking
of these, Philo says: "In many parts of the earth, such
a people exist; for it is fitting that both Greek and Barbarian
share in the absolute good." Pliny the Elder says: "The
Essenes were a sort of people who lived without women and
money."
4. As the lowest types of humanity
are those who seek happiness the most exclusively in the
indulgence of the baser and animal propensities, so the
saints of all times have moved the farthest in the opposite
direction. Abstinence from s¥xual intercourse, from
private property, from war, oaths, and the honors of the
world, have ever been the chief characteristics of ascetics,
in all ages.
5. The principles and maxims of
Jesus, as explained and confirmed by his own teaching and
practice, and measurably by that of his first twelve converts
and most intimate friends, the Apostles, seem to give countenance
to the idea, that some great and important truths underlie
all these (often) abnormal operations of mind that, from
age to age, were struggling for expression and embodiment
in human action.
6. The whole of human history is
comprised within four large cycles, three of which are already
past, and the fourth has commenced. Within these exist an
almost infinity of smaller cycles, as was well and beautifully
illustrated to the prophet Ezekiel, in a vision of a number
of wheels revolving within wheels.
7. Every cycle of human history,
whether on a low or high plane, or small or large scale,
has its point of highest development: first, of the physical;
devoted to the supply of the mere animal or bodily wants:
second, of the moral; which subserves a negative
protective influence to the physical: third, of the intellectual
powers; by which tools and machinery are created (constituting
man a tool-making animal), which facilitate and increase
the means of physical subsistence, and greatly enhance the
enjoyment of the moral faculties, on the one hand; and,
on the other, they prepare the soul for the opening of its
spiritual capacities; by which means an intelligent union
and connection is formed and sustained between the visible
and invisible earths, or worlds, and their respective inhabitants.
8. All these, combined, form the
basis of the final unfoldment of the last and highest property
and faculty of the soul, viz. the religious. Consequently
the quality and abstract truthfulness of the purest form
of religion evolved in any given cycle, was determined by
the time of day in the great year of progress,
and the number and plane of the cycle. But, whether higher
or lower, it was, in its degree, the witness of the Church
of the future a lively type of Shakerism, the
ultimate Christian, or Millennial, Church, for
the redemption of our race.
9. Whenever, in a cycle, the culminating
point of Spiritualism has been reached, then the religious
element has moved thereupon, and finally ultimated itself
in a Church, which was emphatically the Church of God of
that cycle and period.
10. The flood of Noah was merely
the greatest spiritual-physical manifestation of the cycle
of that day. The building of the ark was the organization
of the religious constructive elements that moved upon the
spiritual. In the next great cycle the spiritual elements
had, in Egypt, progressed and ripened up in the days of
Moses. The ten plagues were ten spiritual-physical manifestations;
and Moses came off conqueror, in his contests with the Egyptian
magicians (spiritual media), because he was vitalized by
the religious or controlling element of that order.
11. Under its influence, Moses
organized the whole nation of the Hebrews into a highly
spiritualized religious body, or Church; the most perfect
that had ever been established upon earth, for the simple
yet significant reason, that he had been previously fully
developed in all the preceding preparatory degrees of the
cycle. He "was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,
and was mighty in word and deed," having been educated under
the auspices of the royal family.
12. The third great cycle
culminated in Spiritualism, in the days of Jesus.
That such is the fact, is abundantly proved by the testimony
of profane as well as sacred history. Dr. Lightfoot observes:
"Judea was so infested with spirits at that time, that thousands
of persons were obsessed by them; many of whom Jesus and
his disciples released." Josephus, an eye-witness, relates
that sights, sounds, and voices were seen and heard by the
whole city of Jerusalem. And, according to the Scriptural
records, dumb animals were sometimes taken possession
of by spirits.
13. Spiritual-physical manifestations
attended the whole life of John and Jesus, from their conception
to their death. The religious elements of that
cycle were concentrated in Jesus, as an individual.
At the day of Pentecost, the same elements concentred, and
were organized in the most spiritually endowed body of people,
or Church, that any cycle had ever been capable of producing.
14. Jesus and his Apostles continually
referred to the next, or fourth and last,
great cycle as the time for "the restitution of all
things, which God had spoken by the mouth of all his
prophets [in all nations and cycles] since the world began."
It was at the spiritual acme of this cycle, that the Christ
(whom John saw as a dove appear to Jesus) would come again,
to some other individual. This second coming, the Shakers
claim, must of necessity have been to a woman,
because the race is female as well as male.
15. We will endeavor so show, in
its right place, from proper historical data, that the rise
of the Shaker Church, or order, has been agreeable
to the premises above laid down; as has also the formation
of all the Shaker communities.
16. Dr. Adam Clarke says: "Every
dispensation of God must begin in some one individual,
and at some particular time and place." That is correct.
A true Church could have originated only by a new revelation
from God to some one person; and then by that person
reducing the truths and requirements thereof to practice.
17. Shaker Societies always originate
in the spiritual part of the cycle. There is, first,
a general agitation of the spiritual elements;
out of that arises a movement of the religious elements
in man. This leads to the formation of one or more Shaker
Societies, according to the order of the cycle that is revolving.
Therefore the Shakers now confidently expect the time has
nearly arrived for a further extension of their order.
18. The natural and spiritual worlds
are now coming into a state of rapport with each other;
and the spiritual faculties in man, which have for a long
time been in a state of dormancy, are being aroused and
developed very extensively; and soon the religious nature
of man will be quickened, and religious revivals will commence
on a grander and more effective scale than have ever been
witnessed; for they will rest upon the basis of, and spread
over the ground prepared by, Spiritualism.
19. In the beginning of the eighteenth
century, Spiritualism broke out on the continent of Europe,
and was followed by most remarkable religious revivals;
out of which arose the "French prophets." These were wrought
upon in a very extraordinary manner; not only in their minds,
but also in their physical systems. They had visions and
trances, and were subject to violent agitations of body.
Men and women, and even little children, were so exercised,
as that spectators were struck with great wonder and astonishment.
Their powerful admonitions and prophetic warnings were heard
and received with reverence and awe.
20. They testified that the end
of all things drew nigh; and admonished the people to repent,
and amend their lives. They gave warning of the near approach
of the kingdom of heaven, the "acceptable year of the Lord;"
and , in many prophetic messages, declared to the world,
that those numerous Scripture prophecies concerning the
new heaven and the new earth, the kingdom of the Messiah,
the Marriage of the Lamb, the first resurrection, and the
New Jerusalem descending from above, were near at hand,
and would shortly be accomplished.
21. They also testified, with great
power and energy of spirit, against those false systems
of religion, and that antichristian dominion, which had
borne such extensive sway among mankind; and predicted their
certain downfall and destruction. They declared that, when
all these false systems, of human invention, and all the
deceitful and abominable works of man, should be pulled
down and destroyed, there would be but one Lord, one faith,
one heart, and one voice among mankind; and that these things
would be wrought by a spiritual influence proceeding
from living witnesses, who, by the inspiration of the Spirit,
should be sent forth as laborers into the harvest field.
22. They continued their prophetic
warnings (under much persecution) for several years, over
the greater part of Europe. And, in the year 1706, the revival
extended to England, where it spread far and wide.
23. About the year 1747, some members
of the Society of Quakers, who had become subjects of the
revival, formed themselves into a society, of which Jane
and James Wardley were the lead. Of this little society
Ann Lee and her parents were members. They were all devoutly
sincere in the cause of God. James was gifted in public
speaking.
24. This infant society practiced
no forms, and adopted no creeds, as rules of faith or worship;
but gave themselves up to be led and guided entirely by
the operations of the Spirit of God. Their meetings were
powerful and animated, and were attended with remarkable
signs and operations, and with the spirit of prophecy and
Divine revelation.
25. They boldly testified that
the second appearing of Christ was at hand; and that the
Church would rise in its full and transcendent glory, and
effect the final downfall of antichrist. They affirmed
that the work of the great day of God was then commencing,
and would increase, until every promise of God should be
fulfilled.
26. Sometimes, after sitting awhile
in silent meditation, they were seized with a mighty trembling,
under which they would often express the indignation of
God against all sin. At other times, they were exercised
with singing, shouting, and leaping for joy, at the near
prospect of salvation. They were often exercised with great
agitation of body and limbs, shaking, running, and walking
the floor, with a variety of other operations and signs,
swiftly passing and repassing each other, like clouds agitated
with a mighty wind. These exercises, so strange in the eyes
of the beholders, brought upon them the appellation of Shakers,
which has been their most common name of distinction ever
since.
27. They were exposed to much opposition
and persecution. Their houses were often beset by mobs,
their windows broken, and their persons were shamefully
abused. But they bore these things with great patience,
and fearlessly continued their assemblies and their testimony.
Their meetings, which began in Bolton, near Manchester,
were afterward held alternately in Bolton and Manchester;
and occasionally at Chester, Mayortown, and some other places
in the vicinity of Manchester.
28. They continued to increase
in light and power, with occasional additions to their number,
till about the year 1770, when, by a special manifestation
of Divine light, the present testimony of salvation and
eternal life was fully revealed to Ann Lee, and by her to
the Society, by whom she, from that time, was acknowledged
as Mother in Christ, and by them was called Mother
Ann.
29. Mother Ann said: "I saw in
vision the Lord Jesus in his kingdom and glory. He revealed
to me the depth of man's loss, what it was, and the way
of redemption therefrom. Then I was able to bear an open
testimony against the sin that is the root of all evil;
and I felt the power of God flow into my soul like a fountain
of living water. From that day I have been able to take
up a full cross against all the doleful works of the flesh."
30. About the year 1774, Mother
Ann received a revelation, directing her to repair to America;
also that the second Christian Church would be established
in America; that the Colonies would gain their independence;
and that liberty of conscience would be secured to all people,
whereby they would be able to worship God without hindrance
or molestation.
31. This revelation was communicated
to the Society, and was confirmed by numerous signs, visions,
and extraordinary manifestations, to many of the members;
and permission was given for all those of the Society who
were able, and who felt any special impressions on their
own minds so to do, to accompany her.
32. Those who became the companions
of Mother Ann, in her voyage to America, were: Abraham Stanley
(her husband), Wm. Lee (her brother), James Whittaker, John
Hocknell, Richard Hocknell (son of John), James Shepherd,
Mary Partington, and Nancy Lee (a niece of Mother Ann).
Having settled their affairs and made arrangements for the
voyage, they embarked at Liverpool, and set sail on the
19th of May, 1774, and debarked on the 6th of August following,
at New York.
33. Arrived in America, they settled
in the woods, seven miles from Albany, where is now located
the village of Watervliet. Here, surrounded by Dutch settlers,
they resided three years and a half, waiting for the fulfillment
of Mother Ann's prophecy the gathering of persons to
the Gospel of Christ's second appearing, of which she
was the Messenger.
RISE, PROGRESS, AND PRESENT STATE
OF THE SOCIETY.
1. Community of goods has
never been so successfully accomplished as by the Shakers.
We propose, therefore, first to take a view of them from
that stand-point.
2. Shakerism as a system
is more varied in its elements, and complex* and
expansive in its character, than is any other purely religious
system within our knowledge, and of course its adherents
esteem it as the most perfect and comprehensive; urging
as a reason, that it takes possession and entire
cognizance of the whole man; and instead of attending
solely to his spiritual necessities
for only one day in seven, IT cares for and supplies
all his temporal as well as spiritual wants
seven days in the week.[*COMPLEX in the sense
of a large "assemblage" of ideas, or "collection" of elements
of truth, "twisted" or "wove" together into a unitary
system.-Webster]
3. The physical (not the mere
animal) and moral, and the intellectual and affectional
nature and faculties, together with the spiritual
as the ruling and governing element, are all to be
fully developed and pre-eminently satisfied by the ultimate
operation of this system, according to the faith
and confident expectation of its votaries.
4. In 1779, a very singular and
strange revival of religion occurred in the town of New
Lebanon, N.Y., and the surrounding country. The people
were powerfully and wonderfully exercised in body and
soul. Professors of religion who had been the most exemplary
and strict in the observance of every means of grace,
began to doubt the foundation upon which they had built
their hopes of salvation.
5. Some had visions and prophecies
that the day of judgment and redemption was at hand, and
that the second coming of Christ was nigh - even at the
door. In their meetings were heard loud cries for the
kingdom to come, and a powerful testimony against all
sin; and the various exercises and gifts of the Spirit
gave convincing evidence of its being a genuine work of
God.
6. Some, under a deep conviction
of their sins, cried for mercy; others felt unspeakably
happy in the joyful visions and revelations of the glory
of the latter day, and of the commencement of the kingdom
of Christ upon earth, which was to put an end to wars
and fightings, and all manner of violence, restore peace
on earth, make an end of sin, bring in everlasting righteousness,
and gather the saints into one harmonious communion.
7. The work was powerful and
swift, but of short duration. In a few months their visions
and prophecies ceased, the extraordinary power of their
testimony seemed to be at an end, and none of those things
of which they had testified appeared. In this situation
they were filled with deep distress and anxiety of mind,
but still retained their confidence in the near approach
of Christ's kingdom, and continued their assemblies with
earnest prayer and exhortations, encouraging one another
to maintain their faith and hope, to wait with patience,
and to "pray and not faint."
8. This was the state of the
people in the spring of 1780, when some of them visited
Mother Ann and her little family, and were soon convinced
that they were in the very work for which themselves
had been so earnestly praying, and for which they had
been looking and waiting with such ardent expectations.
9. Attracted by the reports of
these, others were induced to visit them; and the fame
of these strange people, who lived in this obscure corner
of the wilderness, extended far and wide. Many from New
Lebanon and the country round resorted to them; and when
they heard the new and living testimony, and saw the various
and extraordinary operations of the Divine power among
them, they were fully confirmed in the belief that Christ
had in very deed appeared again on earth, and many of
them (of various denominations) embraced the faith of
the Society.
10. Such were some of the preliminary
spiritual and religious operations that preceded the organization
of the Shaker Society at New Lebanon, and are a fair specimen
of the manner in which all the succeeding societies originated
and have been founded.
11. About the beginning of the
present century, another extraordinary revival of religion,
known as the "Kentucky Revival" commenced in
the Western States. This work was also very swift and
powerful, and gave such evident proofs of supernatural
power, that it excited the attention of all classes of
person, and for a season bore down all opposition. The
very astonishing outward operations that attended that
work are widely published, and have been subjects of close
and serious investigation.
12. Besides the wonderful operations
of spiritual power upon their bodies, the subjects of
this work were greatly exercised in dreams, visions, revelations,
and spirit of prophecy. In these gifts of the Spirit they
saw and testified that great day of God was at hand, that
Christ was about to set up his kingdom on earth, and that
this very work would terminate in the full manifestation
of the latter day of glory.
13. This spiritual manifestation
extended through several of the Western States, and continued,
with increasing light and power, for about four years.
During the latter part of the year 1804, many of its subjects
were powerfully impressed with a belief that another summer
would not pass away without realizing a full display of
that great salvation from all sin for which they had been
so long and earnestly praying.
14. The Believers in the Eastern
States received repeated intelligence of this work through
the public papers; and, well remembering the prophecy
of Mother Ann, that the next opening of the Gospel would
be in the West, they began to look for its speedy fulfillment.
This prophecy had often been spoken of while that country
was the theater of Indian wars, and it appeared that its
fulfillment was near at hand. Accordingly, the next year,
the Church at New Lebanon sent three missionaries to them.
15. Without any previous acquaintance
in that country, or any correspondence with any of its
inhabitants, these messengers, on the first of January,
1805, set out on a pedestrian journey of more than a thousand
miles. They arrived in Kentucky about the first of March.
They then went to a number of places where the spirit
of the revival had prevailed, and conversed with many
who had been the subjects thereof; and having, with some
freedom, declared the object of their mission, they passed
over into the State of Ohio. After visiting and conversing
with some of the subjects of the revival in Springfield,
they proceeded on to Turtle Creek, near Lebanon, in the
county of Warren, whither they arrived on the 22nd of
March.
16. They were spiritually led
to the house of Malcham Worley, a man of respectable character,
handsome fortune, liberal education, and who had been
a leading character in the revival. Here they felt free
to declare their mission, and to open their testimony
in full, which Malcham received with great joy, and declared
to them that it was the very work that, by the spirit
of prophecy, he had been taught to look for.
17. This man had very frequently
testified, by the Spirit, that the work of the latter
day which would usher in the kingdom of Christ in that
county would commence at that place, which was situated
between the two Miama rivers, near Turtle Creek; and there
the work did commence, and he and his family were the
first to embrace it. From thence it spread, and was cordially
received by many of the subjects of the revival in that
vicinity, and in a short time it had an extensive circulation
through that part of the State, and soon afterward it
extended into Kentucky and Indiana, and was joyfully received
by many.
18. The testimony mostly prevailed
in the States of Ohio and Kentucky, where societies are
now established. Many persons from other States, having
received the testimony, have become members.
19. In the State of Ohio
there are four societies - one at Union
Village, about four miles west from Lebanon, and about
30 miles north-by-east from Cincinnati, Warren County.
This is the oldest and largest society in the Western
States, and contains about 500 members. The second
Society is a Watervliet, on Beaver Creek, about 22
miles north from Union Village, and six southeast from
Dayton, in Montgomery County, and contains about 100 members.
20. The third Society
is a Whitewater, 22 miles northwest from Cincinnati, Hamilton
County, and contains about 200 members. The fourth
Society is a North Union, about eight miles northeast
from Cleveland, and contains about 200 members.
21. In the State of Kentucky
there are two societies one at Pleasant
Hill, about seven miles easterly from Harrodsburg, and
21 miles southwest from Lexington, Mercer County, which
contains between four and five hundred members. The other
is at South Union, Jasper Springs, about 15 miles northeast
from Russellville, Logan County, and contains between
three and four hundred members.
22. There are 18 Shaker Societies,
all holding property in common. Yet this does
not represent the actual number of their community organizations,
from the fact, not generally known, that each society
is constituted of several distinct families, or communities,
which are self-supporting, and possess within themselves
perfect organizations in both temporal and spiritual matters,
regularly officered, comprising elders, deacons, care-takers,
etc., of both the male and female order,
agreeably to the unique custom of this singular people,
who, although regarded by the world as almost misogynists
(woman-haters), have been the first to disentrall woman
from the condition of vassalage to which all other religious
systems (more or less) consign her, and to secure to her
those just and equal rights with man that, by her similarity
to him in organization and faculties, both God and nature
would seem to demand, inasmuch as the sisterhood is officered
and governed throughout by members of their own s¥x.
23. The Society of New Lebanon
possesses eight of these families, or communities.
24. The Shaker Societies have
not yet extended beyond the boundaries of the "Model Republic;"
which is accounted for by the Shakers themselves thus:
They say their religion can not exist and flourish except
under such governments as secure freedom of person, freedom
of speech and of the press, liberty of conscience, and
perfect separation between church and state.
25. In the public mind an unusual
amount of interest attaches to these organizations, from
the consideration that among the tens of thousands, in
both Europe and America, who (theoretically) as fully
endorse the principle of community of goods,
and approve the abnegation of the private, selfish property
principle, as do the "American Shakers" themselves; yet
hitherto no attempts to found and perpetuate a community
of interest and of goods, and to reconstruct society upon
this basis, have proved really successful, except when
made under the auspices of, and in accordance with, the
peculiar religious requirements of all the combined elements
of Shakerism.
26. "The full tide of their successful
experiments" has already extended itself over seventy
years, without a single failure; while the followers of
Own and Fourier have established communities only to awaken
hopes that were doomed to be frustrated by their early
dissolution; and if any yet remain, they give marked indications
of the winding up of their affairs at no distant period
in the future.
27. The oldest and largest Shaker
Society is at New Lebanon, two miles and a half
from Lebanon Springs, and 25 miles southeast of Albany,
Columbia County, N.Y. It contains about 600 members.
28. There is also a society at
each of the following places, namely: Watervliet,
about seven miles northwest of Albany, N.Y. Members, over
300. Groveland, Livingston County, N.Y., about
four miles south of Mount Morris. About 150 members. Hancock,
three miles from New Lebanon, and five from Pittsfield,
Berkshire County, Mass. Members, between two and three
hundred. Tyringham, 16 miles from Hancock, same
county and State. Members, about 100. Enfield,
Hartford County, Conn. Members, about 200. Harvard,
Worcester County, Mass. Members, about 200. Shirley,
Middles¥x County, Mass. Members, about 100. Canterbury,
Merrimack County, N.H. (near Concord). Members, about
300. Alfred, York County, Maine. Members, about
150. New Gloucester, Cumberland County, Maine.
Members, about 100.
29. These societies were all
formed within a period of five years - from 1787 to 1792
- and no others were formed until 1805.
30. At the commencement of the
year 1780, the whole number of Shakers was only about
ten or twelve persons, all of whom came from England.
In the spring of that year the American converts began
to gather to them, and a gradual accession to their numbers
continued until about the year 1785. In 1787, under the
supervision of Joseph Meacham (formerly a Baptist preacher),
the people collected together at New Lebanon, and were
organized into a community, or church, which is the pattern
and center of union to all the societies, or branches,
connected therewith.
31. At that time many of the
people were poor in this world's goods, and in debt, and
some of them lived in log-houses on the side of the mountain,
where now the village of New Lebanon is located.
32. The different communities,
or families, in each society number from 30 to
150 members, of both s¥xes, who generally occupy one
large unitary dwelling-house, in which the brethren and
sisters live together in a spiritual order and social
relation, which is the most perfectly represented by a
house or family where the parents have numerous sons and
daughters.
33. The fact that, in all civilized
countries, families are not expected to form
any other than a brotherly and sisterly union, and which
may never, however indirectly, tend toward an incestuous
conjugal relation, does not prevent their enjoyment
of social, friendly intercourse, and a daily interchange
of kind offices with each other, there being other
planes besides the procreative for the action
of the affectional nature in males and females, even in
the order of natural generation.
34. The Shakers testify
that they, as a people, find more pleasure and enjoyment
real good arising from the celibate spiritual
union of the s¥xes, and more of an absence
of the afflictions and annoyances real evil
arising from the generative union of the s¥xes,
than, as they believe, is ever experienced in the order
of the world.
35. The apartments of the brethren
and sisters are usually at the opposite sides or ends
of the house, which is divided by spacious halls. From
two to six live in a room. They all eat at the same time,
in a large dining-room, at different tables.
36. Each dwelling-house contains
a large meeting room, sufficiently spacious to accommodate
all the members of the family, in which they assemble
several times a week for worship; and twice or thrice
a week they have union meetings in their private rooms,
where from four to eight or ten brethren and sisters spend
an hour, sitting together in social conversation, singing,
etc.
37. There are also large buildings,
containing numerous workshops, connected with each family;
one for brethren, the other for sisters. In these, various
branches of manufacture are carried on, consisting of
necessary articles for home consumption and for sale.
They have all the mechanical trades necessary to meet
the wants of a family. Hitherto, horticulture has
been the leading business in many of the societies, but
they are now turning their attention considerably to agriculture.
38. The Society at New Lebanon
owns about 6,000 acres of land, a large proportion of
which is devoted to fuel, timber, and sheep, it being
very mountainous and rocky. The largest part is in the
State of Massachusetts. The proportion of land is about
ten acres to each individual. other societies do not vary
much from the same ration.
39. It is now some ten years
since the eighteen societies discontinued the use of swine
as food. Alcoholic preparations are not drank or used,
except under medical advisement. With the Shakers the
objects of dress are modesty, health, and comfort; and
unless one or other of these objects can be promoted,
they never change their fashion.
40. Entire s¥xual purity,
temperance in food and in all other things, plainness
and simplicity of dress, neatness, industry, peace, charity
to the poor, and a prudent, saving economy in all temporal
things, are among the virtues inculcated and practiced
by the various fraternities of the Shakers, wherever located;
all of which greatly tend to promote the physical health
and material prosperity of these united societies, and
to insure the good-will of their fellow-creatures, and
the blessing of Divine Providence upon all their labors.
QUALIFICATIONS FOR MEMBERSHIP,
AND RULES AND REGULATIONS.
1. A CONVERT to
the faith of Shakerism, who wishes to become
a Covenant member, is required to pay all his just debts,
to discharge all legal obligations upon him, and, if possible,
to make restitution for all the wrongs committed against
any of his fellow-creatures. A full dedication and consecration
of person and property is granted only as a special privilege
to such as have been the most faithful to comply with
the terms of probation. Nor is any property required as
a requisite for admission.
2. No flattery, or any undue
influence, is ever used to draw parties into a oneness
of temporal interest, as this can be permanently satisfactory
only when it is a voluntary act understandingly performed.
Hence the most plain and explicit statements are always
laid before the inquirer, so that the whole ground may
be fully comprehended by the candidate for admission;
for no act of service is considered by this people to
be acceptable to God, except it flows from the free, voluntary
emotions of the heart. And let the reader bear in mind
that all Shaker communities are essentially
religious institutions.
3. No believing husband or wife
is allowed to separate from an unbelieving wife or husband,
except legally, or by mutual agreement. Nor can any person
who has abandoned his or her partner, without just and
lawful cause, be received into communion with the Society;
and in the case of separation between husband and wife,
the latter must have a just and righteous share of all
property in their possession. Nor are parents allowed
to divide their property unequally among their children,
whether they be in or out of the Society.
4. The Society is not responsible
for debts contracted by persons previous to their becoming
members; and it is expressly contrary to the established
principles of the Society for any of its officers, agents,
or Covenant members to contract debts, either on behalf
of the Society or of themselves individually. All the
consecrated property of the Society is held in trust by
trustees belonging to each community.
5. As industry, temperance, and
frugality are cardinal virtues, all (without exception,
if able) are employed in manual labor.
6. The government of the Society
is adapted to the several orders of which it is composed;
and, not being founded upon force and fraud, as a late
Austrian minister of state, Metternich, is reported to
have declared all human governments to be, it addresses
itself to man's moral and affectional nature. All power
and authority under it grow out of the mutual faith, love,
and confidence of all its members. It is these that give
effective force and power to the principles, laws, rules,
and regulations of the Society; and no person who becomes
permanently dissatisfied is ever desired to remain in
the Society.
7. The societies are divided
into different orders, or classes, commonly called
families.
8. The first, or novitiate class,
are those who receive faith and come into a degree of
relation with the Society, but choose to live in their
own families and manage their own temporal concerns. Any
such who choose may live in that manner, and be owned
as brethren and sisters in the Gospel, so long as they
live up to its requirements.
9. Parents are required to be
kind and dutiful to each other; to shun every appearance
of evil; to provide for their family; to bring up their
children in a godly manner; and to use, improve, and dispose
of their property wisely; but may manage their own affairs
according to their own discretion. They may continue thus
as long as it comports with their faith, circumstances,
and spiritual improvement.
10. They are, however, required
to bear in mind the necessity and importance of a spiritual
increase, without which they will be ever exposed to fall
back into the spirit and course of the world; for they
can no longer hold their connection with the Society than
they continue to conform to its faith and principles.
Such persons are admitted to all the privileges of religious
worship and spiritual communion in the novitiate order,
and receive instruction and counsel, according to their
needs, whenever they feel it necessary to apply for it;
and are not debarred from any privilege of which their
choice, local situation, and circumstances will admit.
11. Members of this class are
not controlled by the Society, with regard to either their
property, families, or children, but can act as freely
in all these respects as do the members of any other religious
society, and yet enjoy all their spiritual privileges,
and retain their union with the Society, provided they
do not violate the faith and the moral and religious principles
of the institution.
12. No children are ever taken
under the immediate charge of the Society, except by the
request or free consent of those who have the lawful right
and control of them, together with the child's own consent.
Children thus received are treated with great care and
tenderness. The government exercised over them is mild,
gentle, and beneficent, which usually excites in them
feelings of affection towards one another, and confidence
and respect towards their care-takers and teachers, which
generally produces a willing obedience in whatever is
required of them. The practical exercise of mildness and
gentleness of manners is early and sedulously cultivated.
13. Children are early led into
the knowledge of the sacred Scriptures, instructed in
their history, and practically taught the divine precepts
contained in them, particularly those of Jesus Christ
and his Apostles. They are brought up to some manual occupation
suited to their capacities, by which to be enabled to
obtain a livelihood, whether they remain with the Society
or not.
14. Of Shaker schools, we simply
give an extract from the "Report of the Select Committee
of the Legislative Assembly of the State of New York,
April 2d, 1849:" "On examining the schools at
Watervliet (a fair specimen of those in the other societies),
a model worthy the imitation of the best society was presented.
A full and excellent library of the most approved books
was found, and a thorough education for the business man
is there imparted, by teachers who are competent for the
task. The scholars, both male and female, seemed highly
pleased with their situation, and were in the apparent
enjoyment of all the pleasures of youthful life."
15 The Second, or Junior
Class, is composed of persons who, not having the
charge of families, and being under no embarrassments
to hinder them from uniting in community order, choose
to enjoy, the benefits of that situation. These enter
into a contract to devote their services freely to support
the interest of the family of which they may be members,
so long as they shall continue in that order, at the same
time stipulating to claim no pecuniary compensation for
their services. Every member of such family is benefited
by the united interest and labors of the whole family,
so long as they continue to support the order thereof,
and is amply provided for in health, sickness, and old
age.
16. Members of this class have
the privilege, at their option, of freely giving the improvements
of any part, or all, of their property, to be used for
the mutual benefit of the family to which they belong.
The property itself may be resumed at any time, according
to the contract, but no interest can be claimed for the
use thereof; nor can any member of the family be employed
therein for wages of any kind.
17. Members of this class may
retain the lawful ownership of all their own property
as long as they think proper; and at any time, after having
gained sufficient experience to be able to act deliberately
and understandingly, they may, if they choose, dedicate
and devote a part or the whole, and consecrate it forever
to the support of the institution. This however, is a
matter of free choice.
18. The third, or Senior
Class, is composed of such persons as have had sufficient
time and opportunity practically to prove the faith and
manner of life of the Society, and who are prepared to
enter freely, fully, and voluntarily into a united and
consecrated interest. These covenant and agree to devote
themselves and services, with all they possess, to the
service of God, and the support of the Gospel, forever,
solemnly promising never to bring debt or damage, claim
or demand, against the Society, or against any member
thereof, for any property or service they may thus have
devoted to the uses and purposes of the institution. This
class constitutes what is denominated Church Order.
19. To enter fully into this
order is considered a matter of the utmost importance
to the parties concerned, and therefore required the most
mature and deliberate consideration; for, after having
made such a dedication, according to the laws of justice
and equity, there can be no ground for retraction; nor
can any one, by those laws, recover anything thus dedicated.
Of this all are fully apprised before they enter into
the order. Yet should any afterwards withdraw from the
Society, the trustees have discretionary power to give
them what may be thought reasonable. No person who withdraws
peaceably is ever sent away empty.
20. During a period of seventy
years, since the permanent establishment of the Society
at New Lebanon and Watervliet, there has never been a
legal claim entered by any person for the recovery of
property brought into the Society.
21. The members of this order
are all entitled to equal benefits and privileges, and
no difference is ever made on account of the property
any individual may have contributed.
22. The following extract from
a charge to a jury, delivered by the Hon. John Breathitt,
of Kentucky, shows the light in which the "Covenant" of
the Senior Order has been viewed in a court of justice:
"And is it matter of objection against any man that
his motives are so pure and disinterested that he desires
to be released from earthly thralldom, that he may fix
all his thoughts and affections on his God? After they
have signed the Covenant, they are relieved from earthly
care. I repeat it: That individual who is prepared to
sign the Church Covenant stands in an enviable situation.
His situation, indeed, is an enviable one, who, devoted
to his God, is prepared to say of his property, Here it
is, little or much, take it, and leave me unmolested to
commune with by God. Indeed, I dedicate myself to what?
not to a fanatical tenet! O no! to a subject far beyond
to the worship of Almighty God, the great Creator and
Governor of the universe. Under the influence of his love
I give my all: only let me worship according to my faith
and in a manner I believe to be acceptable to my God.
I say again: The world can not produce a parallel to the
situation which such a man exhibits - resigned to the
will of Heaven, free from all the feelings of earthly
desire, and quietly pursuing the even tenor of his way."
23. We believe the history of
the world does not furnish a single instance of any other
religious institution having stood 70 years without a
visible declension of its principles and order, and in
the general purity and integrity of its members.
24. An institution with a united
interest in all things has been a desideratum of
the world for many ages; and although attempts to establish
such have been made in various ages and countries, apparently
under favorable circumstances and well adapted plans,
yet they have as often failed; while the central society
of this community has stood upon the ground of a united
and consecrated interest, and maintained the institution
of equal rights and privileges in all things, both spiritual
and temporal, for more than 70 years, without the least
appearance of failure in either the parent Society, or
any of its branches.
25. Well-defined fixed principles,
that are perfectly understood and cordially received by
all the members, constitute the foundation of
the Shaker government.
26. Growth is secured and progress
effected by a continual influx of light and love from
the Fountain God by means of Divine revelation
through spirits. The rulers are but the executive of the
principles above referred to, and of the laws deduced
therefrom. Their means, and the object, of government
consist in bringing the principles so approved to bear
upon the consciences and affections of the ruled. To this
end the male and female elements are equally balanced
in the leaders. The former has reference to,
and operates more specifically upon, the rational
faculty in human nature; the latter, to the affectional.
27. The Ministry, who are the
central executive of the whole order, consists of two
brethren and two sisters, and every regularly organized
community or family in a society has two elder brethren
and two elder sisters, who have the charge of
the spiritual affairs; also, two deacons and
two deaconesses, who have the care of the temporalities.
All other positions of care and trust are filled after
the same dual order. Yet each s¥x continues
in its own appropriate sphere of action in all respects,
there being a proper subordination, deference, and respect
of the female to the male, in his order, and
of the male to the female in her order; so that
in any of these communities the zealous advocates of "Women's
Rights" may here find a practical realization of their
ideal.
28. To the mind of the simple,
unsophisticated Shaker it seems marvelously inconsistent
for any human government to be administered for the sole
benefit of its own officers and their particular friends
and favorites; or that more than one half the citizens
should be disfranchised because they happen to be females,
and compelled by the sword to obey laws they never sanctioned,
and ofttimes in which they have no faith, and to submit
to taxation where there has been no previous representation;
while still millions of other fellow-citizens are treated
as property, because they chance to possess a
darker-colored skin than their cruel brethren. And again,
that the members (brethren and sisters) of the
same religious body or church should be divided into rich
and poor in the things of this temporary world, but
who are vainly expecting that, in the world to come, they
shall be willing to have eternal things in common!
29. And when this same unjust
and unequal administration is confirmed and carried out
in the most popular religious organizations of Christendom,
the Shakers think the climax of absurdity, tyranny, and
oppression well-nigh attained.
CHARACTERISTICS AND DOCTRINES
OF JESUS CHRIST.
1. CHRIST was "the Author and Finisher
of the faith" of Christianity; and in Jesus Christ was the
first Christian Church, which was perfect and prolific spiritually
just so far as Adam was perfect and prolific naturally,
before Eve was brought forth.
2. Christ (dual) is a supermundane
being, and was the Agent of the new revelation
to Jesus, the truths of which were, first, the
immortality of the soul, which Moses never taught; and,
second, the resurrection of the soul - t hese being
two distinct things; the former, the continuous existence
of the soul after mere physical death; the latter, the quickening
of the germ of a new and spiritual life in the soul, consequent
upon, and succeeding to, the death of the first Adamic o
r generative life, which can only be effected by the faith
and the cross of the second Adam - Christ.
3. As all the future powers and
faculties of the natural man are germinal in the infant,
so the life and faculties of the future spiritual man are
germinal in the soul of the natural or "old" man; and these
are never quickened, except by the same power that destroys
the life of the "old man" - the desire of generation.
"I wound, and I heal; I kill, and I make alive." These are
the two lives that Jesus alluded to when he said, "Whosoever
will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever
will lose his life for my sake shall find it, and
keep it unto life eternal."
4. The prophet Isaiah, speaking
of Jesus, says "His life was cut off from the earth;
and who shall declare his generation?" Meaning
that his earthly life, which supports the work
of generation, was "cut off," as must be also the earthly
life of every true Christian. And Jesus himself said: "Therefore
doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life.
No man taketh it from me; but I lay it down of myself."
5. The beginning of Christianity
was the end of generation - of the world - in Jesus. "Ye
are they [said the Apostle] upon whom the ends of the world
have come" already. Thus the same Spirit that creates
souls "anew in Christ Jesus," causes them to "forsake and
to hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and
sisters, houses and land, and their own [generative] life
also." This hitherto paradoxical and hard saying of Jesus,
the Shakers simplify upon the above premises, affirming
that all these characters can be hated without the least
enmity against any human soul.
6. It is the generative life in
man and woman that induces them to assume the character
of husband and wife; the same life impels them
to become father and mother; and hence result the children,
who are brothers and sisters, all of whom require,
desire, and (if they can) acquire houses and land,
to support the earth-relation thus formed. All these can
be forsaken and hated without hating the persons of the
original man and woman, or of the children.
7. It is the earthly, fleshly,
relation that must be hated by all who would become
followers of Jesus - Christians-"children of the
resurrection," of whom Jesus said, " They neither marry
nor are given in marriage, but are as angels of God in heaven."
8. All who "marry and are given
in marriage," or who support that order, the Shakers term
"the children of this world;" thus, on this ground, throwing
heathens, Turks, Catholics, Protestants, infidels, etc.
, all into one general class, or company. They quote Jesus:
"Think not that I am come to bring peace on earth [to
the earthly procreative relation]; for I am come to set
a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against
her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law,
and to make a man's foes those of his own household."
9. Yet the Shakers do not condemn
marriage as an institution of "the world," to whom only
it belongs; but they say that the procreative powers should
be used by them exclusively for offspring, and that all
beyond that, however perfectly it may be covered by the
mantle of human law, they call "the unfruitful
works of darkness."
10. "He that looks upon a woman
to lust after her, has [in the sight of God] committed adultery
with her" none the less because she is his legal wife. God
looks at the impelling motive , not the human
legality, of the action. "Blessed are [not
the legal, but] the pure in heart, for they shall
see God."
11. Those who will "crucify" the
old man, with all his affections and lusts,
shall see a greater manifestation of God than it is possible
for a generative man to behold; to prove which, the Shakers
adduce scientific no less than scriptural reasons.
"The natural man discerneth not the things of the
Spirit; neither can he know them," any more than fishes
can see and know the things pertaining to land animals,
or than the chrysalis can be cognizant of the fields and
flowers of the future butterfly.
12. Second. Another practical
principle, in which Christ instructed Jesus, was Brotherhood
- to love his neighbor as himself, and not to appropriate
to his own selfish use, to the exclusion of those on the
same plane, either of the life-elements - earth, air, fire
or water. Foxes had holes in the ground, and birds nests
in the trees, but Jesus had no place or home to call his
own.
13. And except a man forsook all
that he had, he could not be a disciple of Jesus. Hence
the rich young man went sorrowful away, rather than sell
and distribute his great possessions, and thus become a
poor man, in order to join Jesus and his company. This also
explains why a cable could go through the eye of a needle
easier than a rich man could enter into the kingdom
of heaven, which was formed within, or among his disciples.
14. Five dollars of private, selfish
property would exclude a man from the communion of
a company who, as did Jesus and his Apostles, possessed
their property in common, as effectually as would
five millions; for the law of the Gospel is, "Except a man
forsake all that he hath, he can not enter into the kingdom
of heaven." In addition to that, he must also follow the
example of Jesus in "taking up the cross", and living a
virgin life.
15. The third principle
exemplified in the life of Jesus, and which came from the
same source as the preceding ones, is, "Resist not evil"
non-resistance. "If any man smite thee on thy
right cheek, turn to him the other also. Love your enemies.
Do good to them that hate you. Bless them that curse you."
"He that taketh the sword shall perish by the sword." "The
Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save
them." So that, according to Shaker doctrines, there can
be no such thing as a Christian warrior. With them
the time has come to beat the sword into a plowshare, and
the spear into a pruning hook, and they will not practice
or learn war any more.
16. Fourth. Jesus took
no part in earthly governments. When he was offered all
the kingdoms of the world for his possession, he utterly
refused them, and thus crucified his ambition. He also taught
his disciples that, although "the princes of the Gentiles
exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise
authority upon them, it shall not be so among you; for whosoever
will be great and chief among you, let him be your minister
- servant - least of all."
17. Fifth. Christ saved
Jesus from sin; and "his name was called Jesus,
because he should save his people from their
sins." Hence the Shakers claim a present salvation
from sin as essential to the Christian character. They
say that the Law of Moses (in respect to salvation was "weak
through the flesh" (generation), which it allowed at the
same time that it condemned all who practiced it.
18. For it enjoined that "the man
who shall lay with a woman . . . . was unclean;" that they
were "both unclean", sinful: and "the bed whereon
they lay was unclean," or defiled; and they were separated
from the camp of Israel therefor. Nor could they be again
admitted until they had been re-baptized (washed all over)
with water.
19. Jesus escaped this only by
living "separate from sin and sinners;" that is, by living
a virgin life. If he had married, and lived in
generation, he must have been subject to the Law as above
stated, and paid the penalty; for he "came not to destroy
the Law, but to fulfill" the righteousness thereof.
20. John the Baptist told the soldiers
to "do violence to no man." And the Jewish Apostle said,
" Marriage is honorable in all, if the bed be undefiled."
The sin was not in being a soldier, but in doing violence;
nor was the sin in the fact of marriage, but in the act
of generation; for persons may have been married before
being called to be Christians, as was the case with Peter
and others.
21. The penal law was added because
of transgression; the typical law, of baptism,
circumcision, etc., to foreshadow things to come. The latter
was abolished by the substance virgin life; and
the former, by "ceasing to do evil, and learning to do well."
There could be no sin-offering where there was no sin; no
type, when the antetype had come; and no tithes, where there
was no individual property, but "all things common."
CHARACTER OF THE PRIMITIVE
CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
1. Jesus Christ foretold two things
of great importance. One was, that the Christian
Church, which he originated, would not continue, but would
be utterly destroyed. He said that himself and his disciples
were "the light of the world;" and he counseled souls to
walk in the light while they had it, because "the night
cometh wherein no man can work." That is, there would come
a time when "iniquity would abound, and the love of many
would wax cold," and there would be no true Church on the
earth. The same was confirmed by his Apostles, who said
there would be "falling away," and that "that man of sin
would be revealed," in place of a revelation of
Christ.
2. The other was, that
another appearing on earth of the same Christ (or second
Adam and Eve) as had been manifested to him (Jesus) would
take place, to establish a second and more perfect Christian
Church, precisely according to the Pattern of the Christian
Church in himself; for then Christ would come,
not in one individual only, but "in the clouds
of [the fourth] heaven, with power and great glory;" that
is, in numbers of persons, or "clouds of witnesses,"
in and among whom Christ would make his "second appearing
without sin unto salvation". "Behold the Lord cometh in
ten thousand of his saints."
3. For the Shaker idea is, that
in Jesus alone were all the characteristics of a perfect
Christian; that the Apostles stood upon a lower plane,
and were children of God by "adoption" only, not
really. This point is conclusively proved from the
conjoint testimony of themselves and Jesus.
4. Jesus said he had "many things
to say unto them that they were not able to bear," and exclaimed
of them, "O ye of little faith!" These expressions, with
the mistaken conceptions the Apostles had formed of the
nature of his kingdom and of the resurrection, demonstrate
that they only "knew in part, prophesied in part, and saw
as through a glass darkly" and imperfectly.
5. The Apostles were "only a kind
of first-fruits;" not the kingdom itself. But they
had the spirit of promise and of hope, that in the second
appearing, when Christ should be manifested in the order
of Mother, through a female, as he had
been in the order of Father, through Jesus,
they should sit down with Jesus on his throne rise to
the same plane.
6. This was the condition and expectation
of the Apostolic Church, whose members were all Hebrews.
For, as Maria Childs remarks, "Christianity was somewhat
exclusive and national in its character, being preached
only by Jesus, and addressed only to Hebrews."
7. The Church professed to live
a virgin life; and those in it who "waxed wanton against
Christ," and married, had "damnation, because they
had cast off their first faith" of celibacy |
