The Communistic Societies of the United States by Charles Nordhoff
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Charles Nordhoff >> The Communistic Societies of the United States
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At Niskeyuna, Ann Lee and her companions busied themselves in clearing
land and providing for their subsistence. They lived in the woods, and
Ann was their leader and preacher. She foretold to them that the time
was near when they should see a large accession to their numbers; but
they had so long to wait that their hearts sometimes failed them. They
settled at Watervliet in September, 1775, and it was not until 1780
that, by a curious chance, their doctrines were at last brought to the
knowledge of persons inclined to receive them.
In the spring of that year there occurred at New Lebanon a religious
revival, chiefly among the Baptists, who had a church in that
neighborhood. Some of the subjects of this revival wandered off, seeking
light and comfort from strangers, and found the settlement of which Ann
Lee was the chief. Her doctrines, which inculcated rigid self-denial
and repression of the passions, were at once embraced by them; they
brought others to hear Ann Lee's statements, and thus a beginning was at
last made.
New Lebanon, where the new converts lived, lies upon the border of
Massachusetts and Connecticut; and into these states, particularly the
first, the new doctrine spread. Ann Lee, now called by her people Mother
Ann, or more often Mother, traveled from place to place, preaching and
advising; in Massachusetts she appears to have remained two years. It is
asserted, too, that she performed miracles at various places, healing
the sick by laying on of hands, and revealing to others their wickedness
and concealed sins. For instance:
"Mary Southwick, of Hancock [in Massachusetts, where there was a colony
of Ann Lee's followers], testifies: That about the beginning of August,
1783 (being then in the twenty-first year of her age), she was healed of
a cancer in her mouth, which had been growing two years, and which for
about three weeks had been eating, attended with great pain and a
continual running, and which occasioned great weakness and loss of
appetite.
"That she went one afternoon to see Calvin Harlowe, to get some
assistance; that Mother being at the house, Calvin asked her to look at
it. That she accordingly came to her, and put her finger into her mouth
upon the cancer; at which instant the pain left her, and she was
restored to health, and was never afflicted with it afterward.
"Taken from the mouth of the said Mary Southwick, the 23d day of April,
1808. In presence of Jennet Davis, Rebecca Clarke, Daniel Cogswell,
Daniel Goodrich, and Seth Y. Wells. (Signed) MARY SOUTHWICK."
The volume from which this formal statement is extracted contains a
number of similar affidavits, which show that miraculous powers of
healing diseases are claimed to have been exercised during Ann Lee's
life, not only by her, but by her chief followers, Elder William Lee her
brother, John Hocknell, Joseph Markham, and others. [Footnote:
"Testimony of Christ's Second Appearing," etc. Published by the United
Society of Shakers. Albany, 1856. [The first edition was printed in
1808.]]
It does not appear that Ann Lee made any attempts to settle her
followers in colonies or communities, or that she interrupted the family
life, except that she insisted on celibacy. But she seems to have
gathered her followers in congregations, because she from the first
required, as a sign of true repentance and a condition of admission,
that "oral confession of all the sins of the past life, to God, in the
presence of an elder brother," which is still one of the most rigorous
rules of the order.
She is reported to have said: "When I confessed my sins, I labored to
remember the time when and the place where I committed them. And when I
had confessed them [to Jane and James Wardley, in Manchester], I cried
to God to know if my confession was accepted; and by crying to God
continually I traveled out of my loss." [Footnote: "Shakers'
Compendium."]
Also she said: "The first step of obedience that any of you can take is
to confess your sins to God before his witnesses." "To those who came to
confess to her she said: 'If you confess your sins, you must confess
them to God; we are but his witnesses.' To such as asked her
forgiveness, she used to say: 'I can freely forgive you, and I pray God
to forgive you. It is God that forgives you; I am but your
fellow-servant.'" [Footnote: "Summary View," etc.]
Ann Lee died at Watervliet, N. Y., on the 8th of September, 1784, in the
forty-ninth year of her age.
In the "Summary View of the Millennial Church," as well as in some other
works published by the Shakers, there are recorded details of her life
and conversation, from which one gets the idea that she was a woman of
practical sense, sincerely pious, and humble-minded. She was "rather
below the common stature of woman, thickset but straight, and otherwise
well-proportioned and regular in form and feature. Her complexion was
light and fair, and her eyes were blue, but keen and penetrating; her
countenance mild and expressive, but grave and solemn. Her manners were
plain, simple, and easy. She possessed a certain dignity of appearance
that inspired confidence and commanded respect. By many of the world who
saw her without prejudice she was called beautiful; and to her faithful
children she appeared to possess a degree of dignified beauty and
heavenly love which they had never before discovered among mortals."
[Footnote: "Summary View."] She never learned to read or write. Aside
from her strictly religious teachings, she appears to have inculcated
upon her followers the practical virtues of honesty, industry,
frugality, charity, and temperance. "Put your hands to work and give
your hearts to God." "You ought never to speak to your children in a
passion; for if you do, you will put devils into them." "Do all your
work as though you had a thousand years to live; and as you would if you
knew you must die to-morrow." "You can never enter the kingdom of God
with hardness against any one, for God is love, and if you love God you
will love one another." "Be diligent with your hands, for godliness does
not lead to idleness." "You ought not to cross your children
unnecessarily, for it makes them ill-natured." To a woman: "You ought to
dress yourself in modest apparel, such as becomes the people of God, and
teach your family to do likewise. You ought to be industrious and
prudent, and not live a sumptuous and gluttonous life, but labor for a
meek and quiet spirit, and see that your family is kept decent and
regular in all their goings forth, that others may see your example of
faith and good works, and acknowledge the work of God in your family."
To some farmers who had gathered at Ashfield, in Massachusetts, in the
winter, to listen to her instructions: "It is now spring of the year,
and you have all had the privilege of being taught the way of God; and
now you may all go home and be faithful with your hands. Every faithful
man will go forth and put up his fences in season, and will plow his
ground in season, and put his crops into the ground in season; and such
a man may with confidence look for a blessing."
These are some of the sayings reported of her. They are not remarkable,
except as showing that with her religious enthusiasm she united
practical sense, which gave her doubtless a power over the people with
whom she came in contact, mostly plain farmers and laborers.
[Illustration: THE FIRST SHAKER CHURCH, AT MOUNT LEBANON, NOW A
SEED-HOUSE.]
Mother Ann was succeeded in her rule over the society, or "Church," as
they preferred to call it, by Elder James Whittaker, one of those who
had come over with her. He was called Father James; and under his
ministry was built, in 1785, "the first house for public worship ever
built by the society." He died at Enfield in July, 1787, less than three
years after Mother Ann; and was succeeded by Joseph Meacham, an
American, a native of Connecticut, in early life a Baptist preacher; and
with him was associated Lucy Wright, as "the first leading character in
the female line," as the "Summary" quaintly expresses it. She was a
native of Pittsfield, in Massachusetts. Joseph Meacham died in 1796, at
the age of fifty-four, and it seems that Lucy Wright then succeeded to
the entire administration and "lead of the society." She died in 1821,
at the age of sixty-one. "During her administration the several
societies in the states of Ohio and Kentucky were established, and large
accessions were made to the Eastern societies." [Footnote: "Shakers'
Compendium."] While Joseph Meacham was elder, and in the period between
1787 and 1792, eleven societies were formed, of which two were in New
York, four in Massachusetts, two in New Hampshire, two in Maine, and one
in Connecticut.
Meantime, in the first year of this century broke out in Kentucky a
remarkable religious excitement, lasting several years, and attended
with extraordinary and in some cases horrible physical demonstrations.
Camp-meetings were held in different counties, to which people flocked
by thousands; and here men and women, and even small children, fell down
in convulsions, foamed at the mouth and uttered loud cries. "At first
they were taken with an inward throbbing of the heart; then with weeping
and trembling; from that to crying out in apparent agony of soul;
falling down and swooning away, until every appearance of animal life
was suspended, and the person appeared to be in a trance." "They lie as
though they were dead for some time, without pulse or breath, some
longer, some shorter time. Some rise with joy and triumph, others crying
for mercy." "To these encampments the people flocked by hundreds and
thousands--on foot, on horseback, and in wagons and other carriages." At
Cabin Creek, in May, 1801, a "great number fell on the third night; and
to prevent their being trodden under foot by the multitude, they were
collected together and laid out in order in two squares of the
meetinghouse; which, like so many dead corpses, covered a considerable
part of the floor." At Concord, in Bourbon County, in June, 1801, "no
sex or color, class or description, were exempted from the pervading
influence of the Spirit; even from the age of eight months to sixty
years." In August, at Cane Ridge, in Bourbon County, "about twenty
thousand people" were gathered; and "about three thousand" suffered from
what was called "the falling exercise." These brief extracts are from
the account of an eye-witness, and one who believed these manifestations
to be of divine origin. The accuracy of McNemar's descriptions is beyond
question. His account is confirmed by other writers of the time.
[Footnote: "The Kentucky Revival, or a Short History of the late
extraordinary Outpouring of the Spirit of God in the Western States of
America," etc. By Richard McNemar. Turtle Hill, Ohio, 1807.]
Hearing of these extraordinary events, the Shakers at New Lebanon sent
out three of their number--John Meacham, Benjamin S. Youngs, and
Issachar Bates--to "open the testimony of salvation to the people,
provided they were in a situation to receive it." They set out on
New-Year's day, 1805, and traveled on foot about a thousand miles,
through what was then a sparsely settled country, much of it a
wilderness. They made some converts in Ohio and Kentucky, and were,
fortunately for themselves, violently opposed and in some cases attacked
by bigoted or knavish persons; and with this impetus they were able to
found at first five societies, two in Ohio, two in Kentucky, and one in
Indiana. The Indiana society later removed to Ohio; and two more
societies were afterward formed in Ohio, and one more in New York.
All these societies were founded before the year 1830; and no new ones
have come into existence since then.
Following the doctrines put forth by Ann Lee, and elaborated by her
successors, they hold:
I. That God is a dual person, male and female; that Adam was a dual
person, being created in God's image; and that "the distinction of sex
is eternal, inheres in the soul itself; and that no angels or spirits
exist who are not male and female."
II. That Christ is a Spirit, and one of the highest, who appeared first
in the person of Jesus, representing the male, and later in the person
of Ann Lee, representing the female element in God.
III. That the religious history of mankind is divided into four cycles,
which are represented also in the spirit world, each having its
appropriate heaven and hell. The first cycle included the
antediluvians--Noah and the faithful going to the first heaven, and the
wicked of that age to the first hell. The second cycle included the Jews
up to the appearance of Jesus; and the second heaven is called Paradise.
The third cycle included all who lived until the appearance of Ann Lee;
Paul being "caught up into the third heaven." The heaven of the fourth
and last dispensation "is now in process of formation," and is to
supersede in time all previous heavens. Jesus, they say, after his
death, descended into the first hell to preach to the souls there
confined; and on his way passed through the second heaven, or Paradise,
where he met the thief crucified with him.
IV. They hold themselves to be the "Church of the Last Dispensation,"
the true Church of this age; and they believe that the day of
judgment, or "beginning of Christ's kingdom on earth," dates from the
establishment of their Church, and will be completed by its development.
V. They hold that the Pentecostal Church was established on right
principles; that the Christian churches rapidly and fatally fell away
from it; and that the Shakers have returned to this original and perfect
doctrine and practice. They say: "The five most prominent practical
principles of the Pentecost Church were, first, common property; second,
a life of celibacy; third, non-resistance; fourth, a separate and
distinct government; and, fifth, power over physical disease." To all
these but the last they have attained; and the last they confidently
look for, and even now urge that disease is an offense to God, and that
it is in the power of men to be healthful, if they will.
VI. They reject the doctrine of the Trinity, of the bodily resurrection,
and of an atonement for sins. They do not worship either Jesus or Ann Lee,
holding both to be simply elders in the Church, to be respected and loved.
VII. They are Spiritualists. "We are thoroughly convinced of spirit
communication and interpositions, spirit guidance and obsession. Our
spiritualism has permitted us to converse, face to face, with individuals
once mortals, some of whom we well knew, and with others born before the
flood." [Footnote: "Plain Talks upon Practical Religion; being Candid
Answers," etc. By Geo. Albert Lomas (Novitiate Elder at Watervliet).
1873.] They assert that the spirits at first labored among them; but
that in later times they have labored among the spirits; and that in
the lower heavens there have been formed numerous Shaker churches.
Moreover, "it should be distinctly understood that special inspired gifts
have not ceased, but still continue among this people." It follows from
what is stated above, that they believe in a "probationary state in the
world of spirits."
VIII. They hold that he only is a true servant of God who lives a
perfectly stainless and sinless life; and they add that to this perfection
of life all their members ought to attain.
IX. Finally, they hold that their Church, the Inner or Gospel Order, as
they call it, is supported by and has for its complement the world, or,
as they say, the Outer Order. They do not regard marriage and property as
crimes or disorders, but as the emblems of a lower order of society. And
they hold that the world in general, or the Outer Order, will have the
opportunity of purification in the next world as well as here.
In the practical application of this system of religious faith, they
inculcate a celibate life; "honesty and integrity in all words and
dealings;" "humanity and kindness to friend and foe;" diligence in
business; prudence, temperance, economy, frugality, "but not parsimony;"
"to keep clear of debt;" "suitable education of children;" a "united
interest in all things," which means community of goods; suitable
employment for all; and a provision for all in sickness, infirmity,
and old age.
III.--THE ORDER OF LIFE AMONG THE SHAKERS.
A Shaker Society consists of two classes or orders: the Novitiate and
the Church Order. There is a general similarity in the life of these
two; but to the Novitiate families are sent all applicants for admission
to the community or Church, and here they are trained; and the elders of
these families also receive inquiring strangers, and stand in somewhat
nearer relations with the outer world than the Church families.
To the Church family or commune belong those who have determined to
seclude themselves more entirely from contact with the outer world; and
who aspire to live the highest spiritual life. Except so far as
necessary business obliges deacons and care-takers to deal with the
world, the members of the Church Order aim to live apart; and they do
not receive or entertain strangers or applicants for membership, but
confine their intercourse to members of other societies.
Formerly there was a considerable membership living in the world,
maintaining the family relation so far as to educate children and
transact business, but conforming to the Shaker rule of celibacy. This
was allowed because of the difficulty of disposing of property, closing
up business affairs, and perhaps on account of the unwillingness of
husband or wife to follow the other partner into the Shaker family.
There are still such members, but they are fewer in number than
formerly. The Novitiate elders and elderesses keep some oversight, by
correspondence and by personal visits, over such outside members.
The Shaker family, or commune, usually consists of from thirty to eighty
or ninety persons, men and women, with such children as may have been
apprenticed to the society. These live together in one large house,
divided as regards its upper stories into rooms capable of accommodating
from four to eight persons. Each room contains as many simple cot-beds
as it has occupants, the necessary washing utensils, a small
looking-glass, a stove for the winter, a table for writing, and a
considerable number of chairs, which, when not in use, are suspended
from pegs along the wall. A wide hall separates the dormitories of the
men from those of the women. Strips of home-made carpet, usually of very
quiet colors, are laid upon the floors, but never tacked down.
On the first floor are the kitchen, pantry, store-rooms, and the common
dining-hall; and in a Novitiate family there is also a small separate
room, where strangers--visitors--eat, apart from the family.
Ranged around the family house or dwelling are buildings for the various
pursuits of the society: the sisters' shop, where tailoring,
basket-making, and other female industries are carried on; the brothers'
shop, where broom-making, carpentry, and other men's pursuits are
followed; the laundry, the stables, the fruit-house, wood-house, and
often machine shops, saw-mills, etc.
If you are permitted to examine these shops and the dwelling of the
family, you will notice that the most scrupulous cleanliness is every
where practiced; if there is a stove in the room, a small broom and
dust-pan hang near it, and a wood-box stands by it; scrapers and mats at
the door invite you to make clean your shoes; and if the roads are muddy
or snowy, a broom hung up outside the outer door mutely requests you to
brush off all the mud or snow. The strips of carpet are easily lifted,
and the floor beneath is as clean as though it were a table to be eaten
from. The walls are bare of pictures; not only because all ornament is
wrong, but because frames are places where dust will lodge. The bedstead
is a cot, covered with the bedclothing, and easily moved away to allow
of dusting and sweeping. Mats meet you at the outer door and at every
inner door. The floors of the halls and dining-room are polished until
they shine.
[Illustration: SHAKER WOMEN AT WORK.]
Moreover all the walls, in hall and rooms, are lined with rows of wooden
pegs, on which spare chairs, hats, cloaks, bonnets, and shawls are hung;
and you presently perceive that neatness, order, and absolute
cleanliness rule every where.
The government or administration of the Shaker societies is partly
spiritual and partly temporal. "The visible Head of the Church of Christ
on earth is vested in a Ministry, consisting of male and female, not
less than three, and generally four in number, two of each sex. The
first in the Ministry stands as the leading elder of the society. Those
who compose the Ministry are selected from the Church, and appointed by
the last preceding head or leading character; and their authority is
confirmed and established by the spontaneous union of the whole body.
Those of the United Society who are selected and called to the important
work of the Ministry, to lead and direct the Church of Christ, must be
blameless characters, faithful, honest, and upright, clothed with the
spirit of meekness and humility, gifted with wisdom and understanding,
and of great experience in the things of God. As faithful embassadors of
Christ, they are invested with wisdom and authority, by the revelation
of God, to guide, teach, and direct his Church on earth in its spiritual
travel, and to counsel and advise in other matters of importance,
whether spiritual or temporal.
"To the Ministry appertains, therefore, the power to appoint ministers,
elders, and deacons, and with the elders to assign offices of care and
trust to such brethren and sisters as they shall judge to be best
qualified for the several offices to which they may be assigned. Such
appointments, being communicated to the members of the Church concerned,
and having received the mutual approbation of the Church, or the family
concerned, are thereby confirmed and established until altered or
repealed by the same authority." [Footnote: "Summary View," etc.]
"Although the society at New Lebanon is the centre of union to all the
other societies, yet the more immediate duties of the Ministry in this
place extend only to the two societies of New Lebanon and Watervliet.
[Groveland has since been added to this circle.] Other societies are
under the direction of a ministry appointed to preside over them; and in
most instances two or more societies constitute a bishopric, being
united under the superintendence of the same ministry."
Each society has ministers, in the Novitiate family, to instruct and
train neophytes, and to go out into the world to preach when it may be
desirable. Each family has two elders, male and female, to teach,
exhort, and lead the family in spiritual concerns. It has also deacons
and deaconesses, who provide for the support and convenience of the
family, and regulate the various branches of industry in which the
members are employed, and transact business with those without. Under
the deacons are "care-takers," who are the foremen and forewomen in the
different pursuits.
It will be seen that this is a complete and judicious system of
administration. It has worked well for a long time. A notable feature of
the system is that the members do not appoint their rulers, nor are they
consulted openly or directly about such appointments. The Ministry are
self-perpetuating; and they select and appoint all subordinates, being
morally, but it seems not otherwise, responsible to the members.
Finally, "all the members are equally holden, according to their several
abilities, to maintain one united interest, and therefore all labor
_with their hands_, in some useful occupation, for the mutual
comfort and benefit of themselves and each other, and for the general
good of the society or family to which they belong. Ministers, elders,
and deacons, all without exception, are industriously employed in some
_manual_ occupation, except in the time taken up in the necessary
duties of their respective callings." So carefully is this rule observed
that even the supreme heads of the Shaker Church--the four who constitute
the Ministry at Mount Lebanon, Daniel Boler, Giles B. Avery, Ann Taylor,
and Polly Reed--labor at basket-making in the intervals of their travels
and ministrations, and have a separate little "shop" for this purpose
near the church. They live in a house built against the church, and eat
in a separate room in the family of the first order; and, I believe,
generally keep themselves somewhat apart from the people.
The property of each society, no matter of how many families it is
composed, is for convenience held in the name of the trustees, who are
usually members of the Church family, or first order; but each family or
commune keeps its own accounts and transacts its business separately.
The Shaker family rises at half-past four in the summer, and five
o'clock in the winter; breakfasts at six or half-past six; dines at
twelve; sups at six; and by nine or half-past all are in bed and the
lights are out.
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