The Communistic Societies of the United States Part 10

"But in a careless, idle frame, I gazed about on what was made: And idle hands will gather shame, And wand'ring eyes confuse the head: I dropp'd my hoe and pruning-knife, To view the beauties of my wife.

"An idle beast of highest rank Came creeping up just at that time, And show'd to Eve a curious prank, Affirming that it was no crime:-- 'Ye shall not die as G.o.d hath said-- 'Tis all a sham, be not afraid.'

"All this was pleasant to the eye, And Eve affirm'd the fruit was good; So I gave up to gratify The meanest pa.s.sion in my blood.

O horrid guilt! I was afraid: I was condemn'd, yea I was dead.

"Here ends the life of the first man, Your father and his spotless bride; G.o.d will be true, his word must stand-- The day I sinn'd that day I died: This was my sin, this was my fall!-- This your condition, one and all.

"_Ch_. How can these fearful things agree With what we read in sacred writ-- That sons and daughters sprung from thee, Endu'd with wisdom, power, and wit; And all the nations fondly claim Their first existence in thy name?

"_Ad_. Had you the wisdom of that beast That took my heads.h.i.+p by deceit, I could unfold enough at least To prove your lineage all a cheat.

Your pedigree you do not know, The SECOND ADAM told you so.

"When I with guile was overcome, And fell a victim to the beast, My station first he did a.s.sume, Then on the spoil did richly feast.

Soon as the life had left my soul, He took possession of the whole.

"He plunder'd all my mental pow'rs, My visage, stature, speech, and gait; And, in a word, in a few hours, He was first Adam placed in state: He took my wife, he took my name; All but his nature was the same.

"Now see him hide, and skulk about, Just like a beast, and even worse, Till G.o.d in anger drove him out, And doom'd him to an endless curse.

O hear the whole creation groan!

The Man of Sin has took the throne!

"Now in my name this beast can plead, How G.o.d commanded him at first To multiply his wretched seed, Through the base medium of his l.u.s.t.

O horrid cheat! O subtle plan!

A h.e.l.lish beast a.s.sumes the man!

"This is your father in my name: Your pedigree ye now may know: He early from perdition came, And to perdition he must go.

And all his race with him shall share Eternal darkness and despair."

[Footnote: It is curious that the Jewish Talmud (according to Eisenmenger) has a somewhat similar theory--namely, that Eve cohabited with devils for a period of one hundred and thirty years; and that Cain was not the child of Adam, but of one of these devils.]

The same theory of the fall is stated in another hymn:

"We read, when G.o.d created man, He made him able then to stand United to his Lord's command That he might be protected; But when, through Eve, he was deceiv'd, And to his wife in l.u.s.t had cleav'd, And of forbidden fruit receiv'd, He found himself rejected.

"And thus, we see, death did begin, When Adam first fell into sin, And judgment on himself did bring, Which he could not dissemble: Old Adam then began to plead, And tell the cause as you may read; But from his sin he was not freed, Then he did fear and tremble.

"Compell'd from Eden now to go, Bound in his sins, with shame and woe, And there to feed on things below-- His former situation: For he was taken from the earth, And blest with a superior birth, But, dead in sin, he's driven forth From his blest habitation.

"Now his lost state continues still, In all who do their fleshly will, And of their l.u.s.t do take their fill, And say they are commanded: Thus they go forth and multiply, And so they plead to justify Their basest crimes, and so they try To ruin souls more candid."

The "way of regeneration" is opened in another hymn in the same collection:

"_Victory over the Man of Sin_.

"Souls that hunger for salvation, And have put their sins away, Now may find a just relation, If they cheerfully obey; They may find the new creation, And may boldly enter in By the door of free salvation, And subdue the Man of Sin.

"Thus made free from that relation, Which the serpent did begin, Trav'ling in regeneration, Having pow'r to cease from sin; Dead unto a carnal nature, From that tyrant ever free, Singing praise to our Creator, For this blessed jubilee.

"Sav'd from pa.s.sions, too inferior To command the human soul; Led by motives most superior, Faith a.s.sumes entire control: Joined in the new creation, Living souls in union run, Till they find a just relation To the First-born two in one.

"But this prize cannot be gained.

Neither is salvation found, Till the Man of Sin is chained, And the old deceiver bound.

All mankind he has deceived, And still binds them one and all, Save a few who have believed, And obey'd the Gospel call.

"By a life of self-denial, True obedience and the cross, We may pa.s.s the fiery trial, Which does separate the dross.

If we bear our crosses boldly, Watch and ev'ry evil shun, We shall find a body holy, And the tempter overcome.

"By a pois'nous fleshly nature, This dark world has long been led; There can be no pa.s.sion greater-- This must be the serpent's head: On our coast he would be cruising, If by truth he were not bound: But his head has had a bruising, And he's got a deadly wound.

"And his wounds cannot be healed, Light and truth do now forbid, Since the Gospel has revealed Where his filthy head was hid: With a fig-leaf it was cover'd, Till we brought his deeds to light; By his works he is discover'd, And his head is plain in sight."

It should be said that Ann Lee had married previously to these manifestations, her husband being Abraham Stanley, like her father, a blacksmith. By him she had four children, all of whom died in infancy.

It is related that she showed from girlhood a decided repugnance to the married state, and married only on the long-continued and urgent persuasion of her friends; and after 1770 she seems to have returned to her parents.

She and her followers were frequently abused and persecuted; and in 1773 "she was by a direct revelation instructed to repair to America;" and it is quaintly added that "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." [Footnote: "Shakers' Compendium."]

She had announced, says the same authority, 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 wors.h.i.+p G.o.d without hinderance or molestation." Accordingly Ann Lee embarked at Liverpool in May, 1774, eight persons accompanying her, six men and two women, among them her husband and a brother and niece. They landed in New York in August; and, after some difficulties and hards.h.i.+ps on account of poverty, finally settled in what appears to have been then a wilderness, "the woods of Watervliet, near Niskeyuna, about seven miles northwest of Albany." In the mean time Ann Lee had supported herself by was.h.i.+ng and ironing in New York, and her husband had misconducted himself so grossly toward her that they finally separated, he going off with another woman.

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 pa.s.sions, 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 Ma.s.sachusetts 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 Ma.s.sachusetts she appears to have remained two years. It is a.s.serted, 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 Hanc.o.c.k [in Ma.s.sachusetts, 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 appet.i.te.

"That she went one afternoon to see Calvin Harlowe, to get some a.s.sistance; 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 G.o.d, 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 G.o.d to know if my confession was accepted; and by crying to G.o.d 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 G.o.d before his witnesses." "To those who came to confess to her she said: 'If you confess your sins, you must confess them to G.o.d; we are but his witnesses.' To such as asked her forgiveness, she used to say: 'I can freely forgive you, and I pray G.o.d to forgive you. It is G.o.d 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 G.o.d." "You ought never to speak to your children in a pa.s.sion; 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 G.o.d with hardness against any one, for G.o.d is love, and if you love G.o.d you will love one another." "Be diligent with your hands, for G.o.dliness 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 G.o.d, 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 G.o.d in your family."

To some farmers who had gathered at Ashfield, in Ma.s.sachusetts, 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 G.o.d; 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.