The Communistic Societies of the United States Part 24

"For some time I could not understand one word that was sounded forth; but the first that I did understand were as follows: 'Hark! Hark!

hearken, oh thou child of mortality, unto the word that is and shall be sounded aloud in thine ears, again and again, even until it is obeyed.

"'And lo, I say a time, and a time, and a half-time shall not pa.s.s by before my voice shall be heard, and my word sounded forth to the nations abroad. But in the Zion of my likeness and true righteousness shall it be received first, and from thence shall it go forth; for thus and thus hath the G.o.d of heaven and earth declared and purposed that it should be.

"'Then why will you, O why will you, yet fear to obey? What would you that your G.o.d would do in your presence, that you might fear his power rather than that of mortal man?'

"From this moment I was not sensible where I was; and after a little time of silence the body of light, or pillar of fire, dispersed, and I saw a mighty angel coming from the east, and I heard these words:

"'Woe, woe, and many woes shall be upon the mortal that shall see and will not stop to behold.'"

And so on, for a good many pages.

The second work is called _"The Divine Book of Holy and Eternal Wisdom, revealing the Word of G.o.d, out of whose mouth goeth a sharp Sword._ Written by Paulina Bates, at Watervliet, N. Y., United States of America; arranged and prepared for the Press at New Lebanon, N. Y.

Published by the United Society called Shakers. Printed at Canterbury, N.H., 1849." This book contains 718 pages; and pretends also to be a series of revelations by angels and deceased persons of note. In the Preface by the editors its origin is thus described:

"During a number of years past many remarkable displays of divine power and heavenly gifts have been manifested among the children of Zion in all the branches of the United Society of Believers in the second appearing of Christ. Much increasing light has been revealed on many subjects which have heretofore remained as mysteries; and many prophetic revelations have been brought forth, from time to time, through messengers chosen and inspired by heavenly power and wisdom.

"Among these it has pleased G.o.d to select a female of the United Society at Wisdom's Valley (Watervliet), and indue her with the heavenly light of revelation as an instrument of divine Wisdom, to write by divine inspiration those solemn warnings, prophetic revelations, and heavenly instructions which will be found extensively diffused through the sacred pages of this book.

"These were written in a series of communications at various times during the year 1841, '42, '43, and '44, with few exceptions, which will be seen by their several dates. But the inspired writer had no knowledge that they were designed by the Divine Spirit to be published to the world until a large portion of the work was written; therefore, whenever she was called upon by the angel of G.o.d, she wrote whatever the angel dictated at the time, without any reference to the connective order and regular arrangement of a book; for she was not directed so to do, for reasons which were afterwards revealed to her and other witnesses then unknown to her.

"Hence it was made known to be the design of the Divine Spirit that these communications should be transmitted to the Holy Mount (New Lebanon), there to be prepared for publication by agents appointed for that purpose, in union with the leading authority of the Church.

Accordingly they were conveyed to New Lebanon, and the subscribers were appointed as editors, to examine and arrange them in regular and convenient order for the press, and divine instructions were given for that purpose.

"Having therefore faithfully examined the ma.n.u.scripts containing these communications, we have compiled them into one book, in two general divisions or volumes, agreeably to the instructions given. We have also, for convenient arrangement, divided the whole into seven parts, according to the relative connection which appeared in the different subjects. And for the convenience of the reader we have divided each part into chapters, prefixing an appropriate t.i.tle to each.

"Some pa.s.sages and annotations have been added by _The Angel of Prophetic Light,_ who by inspiration has frequently a.s.sisted in the preparation and arrangement of the work, for the purpose of ill.u.s.trating and confirming some of the original subjects by further explanations. A few notes have also been added by the editors for the information of the reader. These are all distinguished in their proper places from the original matter.

"But although it was found necessary to transcribe the whole, in order to prepare it properly and intelligibly for the press, yet we have used great care to preserve the sense of the original in its purity; and we can testify that the substance and spirit of the work have been conscientiously preserved in full throughout the whole.

"This work is called 'Holy Wisdom's Book,' because Holy and Eternal Wisdom is the Mother, or Bearing Spirit, of all the works of G.o.d; and because it was especially revealed through the line of the female, being WISDOM'S _Likeness; and she lays special claim to this work_, and places her seal upon it.

"An _Appendix_ is added, containing the testimonies of various divine and heavenly witnesses to the sacred truth and reality of the declarations and revelations contained in the work. The most of these were given before the inspired writers who received them had any earthly knowledge concerning the book or its contents. A _testimony_ is also affixed to the work by the elders of the family in which the inspired writer resides, bearing witness to the honesty and uprightness of her character, and her faithfulness in the work of G.o.d."

The main object of the book is to warn sinners of all kinds from the "wrath to come." Especial woes, by the way, are denounced against slaveholders and slave traders: "Whether they be clothed in tenements of clay, or whether they be stripped of their earthly tabernacles, the same hand of Justice shall meet them whithersoever they flee." It must be remembered to the honor of the Shakers that they have always and every where consistently opposed human slavery.

The "Divine Book of Holy Wisdom" contains the "testimonies" of the "first man, Adam," of the "first woman, Eve," of Noah and all the patriarchs, and of a great many other ancient worthies; but, alas! what they have to say is not new, and of no interest to the unregenerate reader.

These two volumes are not now, as formerly, held in honor by the Shakers. One of their elders declared to me that I ought never to have seen them, and that their best use was to burn them. But I found them on the table of the visitors' room in one or two of the Western societies, and I suppose they are still believed in by some of the people.

At this day most (but not all) of the Shaker people are sincere believers in what is commonly called Spiritualism. At a Shaker funeral I have heard what purported to be a message from the spirit whose body was lying in the coffin in the adjoining hall. In one of the societies it is believed that a magnificent spiritual city, densely inhabited, and filled with palaces and fine residences, lies upon their domain, and at but a little distance from the terrestrial buildings of the Church family; and frequent communications come from this spirit city to their neighbors. "When I was a little girl, I desired very much to have a hymn sent through me to the family from the spirit-land; and after waiting and wis.h.i.+ng for a long time, one day when I was little expecting it, as I was walking about, a hymn came to me thus, to my inexpressible delight"--so said a Shaker eldress to me in all seriousness. "We have frequently been visited by a tribe of Indians (spirits of Indians), who used to live in this country, and whose spirits still come back here occasionally," said another Shaker sister to me.

On the other hand, when I asked one of the elders how far he believed that their hymns are inspired, he asked me whether it did not happen that I wrote with greater facility at one time than at another; and when I replied in the affirmative, he said, "In that case I should say you were inspired when your words come readily, and to that degree I suppose our hymn-writers are inspired. They have thought about the subject, and the words at last come to them."

I think I have before said that the Shakers do not attempt to suppress discussion of the relations of the s.e.xes; they do not pretend that their celibate life is without hards.h.i.+ps or difficulties; but they boldly a.s.sert that they have chosen the better life, and defend their position with not a little skill against all attacks. A good many years ago Miss Charlotte Cushman, after a visit to Watervliet, wrote the following lines, which were published in the _Knickerbocker Magazine_:

"Mysterious wors.h.i.+pers!

Are you indeed the things you seem to be, Of earth--yet of its iron influence free--From all that stirs Our being's pulse, and gives to fleeting life What well the Hun has termed 'the rapture of the strife.'

"Are the gay visions gone, Those day-dreams of the mind, by fate there flung, And the fair hopes to which the soul once clung, And battled on; Have ye outlived them? All that must have sprung, And quicken'd into life, when ye were young?

"Does memory never roam To ties that, grown with years, ye idly sever, To the old haunts that ye have left forever--Your early homes?

Your ancient creed, once faith's sustaining lever, The loved who erst prayed with you--now may never?

"Has not ambition's paean Some power within your hearts to wake anew To deeds of higher emprise--worthier you, Ye monkish men, Than may be reaped from fields? Do ye not rue The drone-like course of life ye now pursue?

"The camp--the council--all That woos the soldier to the field of fame-- That gives the sage his meed--the bard his name And coronal-- Bidding a people's voice their praise proclaim; Can ye forego the strife, nor own your shame?

"Have ye forgot your youth, When expectation soared on pinions high, And hope shone out on boyhood's cloudless sky, Seeming all truth-- When all looked fair to fancy's ardent eye, And pleasure wore an air of sorcery?

"You, too! What early blight Has withered your fond hopes, that ye thus stand, A group of sisters, 'mong this monkish band? Ye creatures bright!

Has sorrow scored your brows with demon hand, Or o'er your hopes pa.s.sed treachery's burning brand?

"Ye would have graced right well The bridal scene, the banquet, or the bowers Where mirth and revelry usurp the hours--Where, like a spell, Beauty is sovereign--where man owns its powers, And woman's tread is o'er a path of flowers.

"Yet seem ye not as those Within whose bosoms memories vigils keep: Beneath your drooping lids no pa.s.sions sleep; And your pale brows Bear not the tracery of emotion deep-- Ye seem too cold and pa.s.sionless to weep!"

A "Shaker Girl," in one of the Kentucky societies, published soon afterward the following "Answer to Charlotte Cushman," which is certainly not without spirit:

"We are, indeed, the things we seem to be, Of earth, and from its iron influence free: For we are they, or halt, or lame, or dumb, 'On whom the ends of this vain world are come.'

"We have outlived those day-dreams of the mind-- Those flattering phantoms which so many bind; All man-made creeds (your 'faith's sustaining lever') We have forsaken, and have left forever!

"To plainly tell the truth, we do not rue The sober, G.o.dly course that we pursue; But 'tis not we who live the dronish lives, But those who have their husbands or their wives!

But if by drones you mean they're lazy men, Then, Charlotte Cushman, take it back again; For one, with half an eye, or half a mind, Can there see industry and wealth combined.

"If camps and councils--soldiers' 'fields of fame'-- Or yet a people's praise or people's blame, Is all that gives the sage or bard his name, We can 'forego the strife, nor own our shame'

What great temptations you hold up to view For men of sense or reason to pursue!

The praise of mortals!--what can it avail, When all their boasted language has to fail?

And 'sorrow hath not scored with demon hand,'

Nor 'o'er our hopes pa.s.s'd treachery's burning brand;'

But where the sorrows and the treachery are, I think may easily be made appear.

In 'bridal scenes,' in 'banquets and in bowers!'

'Mid revelry and variegated flowers, Is where your mother Eve first felt their powers.

The 'bridal scenes,' you say, 'we'd grace right well!'

'Lang syne' there our first parents blindly fell!-- The bridal scene! Is this your end and aim?

And can you this pursue, 'nor own your shame?'

If so--weak, pithy, superficial thing-- Drink, silent drink the sick hymeneal spring.

'The bridal scene! the banquet or the bowers, Or woman's [bed of thorns, or] path of flowers,'

Can't all persuade our souls to turn aside To live in filthy l.u.s.t or cruel pride.

Alas! your path of flowers will disappear; E'en now a thousand thorns are pointed near; Ah! here you find 'base treachery's burning brand,'

And sorrows score the heart, nor spare the hand; But here 'Beauty's sovereign'--so say you-- A thing that in one hour may lose its hue-- It lies upon the surface of the skin-- Aye, Beauty's self was never worth a pin; But still it suits the superficial mind-- The slight observer of the human kind; The airy, fleety, vain, and hollow thing, That only feeds on wily flattering.

'Man owns its powers?' And what will not man own To gain his end--to captivate--dethrone?

The truth is this, whatever he may feign, You'll find your greatest loss his greatest gain; For like the bee, he will improve the hour, And all day long he'll hunt from flower to flower, And when he sips the sweetness all away, For aught he cares, the flowers may all decay.

But here, each other's virtues we partake, Where men and women all their ills forsake: True virtue spreads her bright angelic wing, While saints and seraphs praise the Almighty King.

And when the matter's rightly understood, You'll find we labor for each other's good; This, Charlotte Cushman, truly is our aim-- Can you forego this strife, 'nor own your shame?'

Now if you would receive a modest hint, You'd surely keep your name at least from print, Nor have it hoisted, handled round and round, And echoed o'er the earth from mound to mound, As the great advocate of ------ (Oh, the name!).

Now can you think of this, 'nor own your shame?'

But, Charlotte, learn to take a deeper view Of what your neighbors say or neighbors do; And when some flattering knaves around you tread, Just think of what a SHAKER GIRL has said."