WebSadhu

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 sex.

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, Middlesex 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 sexes, 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 sexes, and more of an absence of the afflictions and annoyances — real evil — arising from the generative union of the sexes, 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 sexual 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.