62 BIOGRAPHY OF
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itchum, and Young. They were eminently qualifiedfor their mission. Their appearance was prepossessing-—their dress was plain and neat—they were grave andunassuming at first m their manners—very intelligentand ready in the Scriptures, and of great boldness intheir faith. "They informed us that they had heard of us in theHast, and greatly rejoiced in the work of God amongstus—that as far as we had gone we were right; but wehad not gone far enough into the work—that they weresent by their brethren to teach the way of God moreperfectly, by obedience to which we should be led intoperfect holiness. They seemed to understand all thesprings and avenues of the human heart. ‘They deliv-ered their testimony, and labored to confirm it by theScriptures—promised the greatest blessings to the obe-dient, but certain damnation to the disobedient. Theyurged the people to confess their sins to them, especi-ally the sin of matrimony, and to forsake them all im-mediately—husbands must forsake their wives, andwives their husbands. This was the burden of theirtestimony. ‘They said they could perform miracles, andrelated. many as done among them. But we nevercould persuade them to try to work miracles among us. Many such things they preached, the consequence ofwhich was similar to that of Simon Magus. Many saidthey were the great power of God. Many confessedtheir sins to them, and forsook the marriage state ;among whom were three of our preachers, MatthewA ouston, Richard M’Nemar, and John Dunlavy. Sevy-eral more of our preachers, and pupils, alarmed, fledfrom us, and joined the different sects around us. ‘Thesects triumphed at our distress, and watched for our fall,as Jonah watched the fall of Nineveh under the shadowof his gourd. But a worm at the root of Jonah’s gourdkilled it, and deprived him of its shade, and broughton him great distress. So the worm of Shakerism wasbusy at the root of all the sects, and brought on themgreat distress; for multitudes of them, both preachers ealBARTON W. STONE. . @ and common people, also joined the Shakers. Our re-proach was rolled away. - Never did I exert myself more than at this time, tosave the people from this vortex of ruin. I yielded tono discouragement, but labored night and day, far andnear, among the churches where the Shakers went. Bythis means their influence was happily checked in manyplaces. I labored so hard and constantly that a profusespitting of blood ensued. Our broken ranks were oncemore rallied under the standard of heaven, and weresoon led on once more to victory. In answer to con-stant prayer, the Lord visited us and comforted us afterthis severe trial. The cause again revived, and formerscenes were renewed. | The Shakers now became our bitter enemies, andunited with the sects in their opposition tous. ‘Theydenied the literal resurrection of the body from thegrave: they said the resurrection of the body meant theresurrection of Christ’s body, meaning the church.They, the elders, had constant communication and con-versation with angels and all the departed saints.They looked for no other or better heaven than that onearth. Their worship, if worthy of the name, consist-ed in voluntary dancing together. They lived together,and had all things common, entirely under the direction:and control of the elders. They flourished greatly forsome years, and built several superb villages; but af-terwards began to dwindle till they became nearly ex- ‘tinct. John. Dunlavy, who had left us, and joinedthem, was a man of a penetrating mind, wrote and pub-lished much for them, and was one of their elders inhigh repute by them. He died in Indiana, raving indesperation for his folly in forsaking the truth for an oldwoman’s fables. Richard M’Nemar was, before hisdeath, excluded by the Shakers from their society, in amiserable, penniless condition, as I was informed bygood authority. The reason of his exclusion I neverheard particularly; but from what was heard, it appearsthat he had become convinced of his error. The ~6a * BIOGRAPHY OF © Shakers had a revelation giventhem to remove him fromtheir village, and take him to Lebanon, in Ohio, andto set him down in the streets, and leave him there inhis old age, without friends or money. Soon after hedied. Matthew Houston is yet alive, and continuesamong them. |Their doctrine was, that the Christ appeared first in a male, and through life was preparing the way of sal-vation, which he could not accomplish till his secondappearance in a woman, Anne Lees, who was now theChrist, and had full power to save. They had newrevelations, superior to the Scriptures, which they calledthe old record, which were true, but superseded bythe new. When they preached to the world, they usedthe old record, and preached a pure gospel, as a bait tocatch the unwary; but in the close of their discoursethey artfully introduced their testimony. In this waythey captivated hundreds, and ensnared them in ruin.Their coming was at a most mauspicious time. Someof us were verging on fanaticism ; some were so dis-gusted at the spirit of opposition against us, and theevils of division, that they were almost led to doubtthe truth of religion in toto ; and some were earnestlybreathing after perfection in holiness, of which attain-ment they were almost despairing, by reason of remain- |ing depravity. ‘The Shakers well knew how to accom- |modate each of these classes, and decoy them into thetrap set forthem. They misrepresented our views, andthe truth; and they had not that sacred regard to truth- _ telling which becomes honest Christians. I speak ad-visedly. * Note—see page 61.—The Shaker difficulty here alluded to by fatherStone, is represented as occuring before the question of baptism agitatedthe Churches. This is a chronological mistake, as doubtless the Shakerscame, before the question of baptism was stirred. Father Purviance’s ac-count of this matter is accordant with the true chronology of the facts.This, to be sure is a small matter, comparatively. . IR.
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