1 10 2 https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/0896058287933accd34f5a40a3cfd57e.pdf?Expires=1780531200&Signature=v-jdwC7Af3cqiFlGnyxrHCWg6VqckzhrD2LI5-Malmsg8NTv5OBXbV9rYfO0ZLoLEb%7EFp1vChe12SKmw1vFeB2ewBbGRRiUO5Vkj62GRNsC1-%7ER4wHBiO2mUxzqhtzBB1wRqd9KwuxBcwlK3o-hADATK5X55sE%7E9HDhVl4jUUnfhLxEf5Hjjv5mGkPgHjeu6zbZGpF7-d%7EkkiyF9lfiGWUbQaibAg0VaRKraB8POMBUaO46J%7EHLTODsrAZLBXOM7hmmg4nflCHkJvB6ZarYaLdiZi607ZcJinFGaxIKJMrgGT%7Ewc-X%7EDhGp%7Em6a10Dbkyde0Tx3pN7jkY0otNKBALg__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM e27d5044ef0d30128e2cfe692f26f99a PDF Text Text BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF ANN LEE, A MANCHESTER PROPHETESS AND FOUNDRESS OF THE AMERICAN SECT OF THE SHAKERS. BY WILLIAM E. A. AXON, M.R.S.L., F.S.S. MIEMBRO CORRESPONSAL DE LA SOCIEDAD DE CTENCIAS ldsiCAS Y b’ATDRALES DE CARACAS. LIVERPOOL : T. BRAKELL, PRINTER, COOK STREET. �r i �BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF ANN LEE, A MANCHESTER PROPHETESS AND FOUNDRESS OF THE AMERICAN SECT OF THE SHAKERS. By William E. A. Axon, M.R.S.L., F.S.S. Miembro Corresponsal de la Sociedad de Ciencias fisicas y naturales de Caracas. (Read 10th December, 1874.) The Shakers, whose communistic villages are amongst the curiosities of America, owe their origin to a Manchester woman. Prophets are proverbially unhonoured in their own country. The smoky air of Manchester stifled the religious genius of Ann Lee ; the boundless freedom of the New World was needed for its luxuriant growth. On the 29th of February, 1736, the family of John Lee, a blacksmith, living in Toad Lane (a name since eupbemized into Todd Street), was increased by the advent of a little stranger, to whom the name of Ann was given. * From the fact that she was privately “christened” when six years old, we may perhaps infer that some serious illness threatened her young life. According to Shaker biography, * Mr. John Owen has kindly given me the following extracts from the Register of Baptisms at the Cathedral:—1734, April 16, Nancy, d. of John Lees; 1735, Jan. 11, Peter, son of John Lee ; 1737, June 12, Betty, d. of John Lee; 1737, Aug. 21, Joseph, s. to John Lees ; 1738, April 16, Thomas, s. to John Lees; 1741, May 10, Katherine, d. to John Leigh; 1741, June, Joseph, s. of John Lees, blacksmith ; 1742, April 4, William, s. of John Lees ; 1742, June 1, Anne, d. of John Lee, was privately baptized ; 1742, Feb. 13, Mary, d. of John Lees, taylor; 1743, Sept. 29, Sara, d. of John and Sarah Lee; 1743, Oct. 9, William, s. of John Lees, blacksmith; 1746, May 4, Alice, d. of John Lees ; 1749, March 26, George, s. of John Lees, blacksmith. Like the family records of more aristocratic houses, it is difficult to sort out the different branches of the Lees, but the prophetess and her brother are clearly distinguishable. �4 Anns parents were hardworking, Godfearing folk, who brought up their five sons and three daughters in the best way they could as far as their light allowed them. Another statement would make it appear that the family were better connected than might have been supposed from their poor estate. One of her uncles is said by Brown to have been a sheriff of London and an aiderman of “Algate Ward.” The same writer states, inaccurately, that General Charles Lee was also her father’s brother. l.he schoolmaster was not abroad, and children were packed off into the fields or the workroom instead of being sent to master the mysteries of the “three B’s.” So Ann, we are told, was first employed in a cotton factory, then became a cutter of hatter’s fur, and afterwards a cook in the Manchester Infirmary, “where she was distinguished for her neatness, faithfulness, prudence, and good economy." Her ways were not those of other children, she lacked their keen joyfulness, she was “serious and thoughtful,” inclined to religious meditations, and ‘ often favoured with heavenly visions.” In 1758 she became a member of a sect called Shakers, who were “ under the ministration of Jane and James Wardley, formerly of the Quaker order, ’ but who had left that body about 1747. The Manchester Shakers appear to have been a remnant of the “French Prophets,” who came into England about 1706. Charles Owen, in a work printed in 1712, alludes to the secret meetings of some “ prophets ” in Manchester, and to some providential check which they received. In their fits of religious enthusiasm, when the Spirit entered into them, they were seized with violent tremblings, and their contortions gained them the nickname of Shakers. Wardley was a tailor, who removed from Bolton to Cannon Street, where he lived with John Townley a well-to-do bricklayer. Jane Wardley, in the Shaker belief, was “ evidently the spirit of John the �5 “ Baptist, or Elias, operating in the female line, to repare “ the way for the second appearing of Christ, in the order of “ the female.” The testimony of this woman and her followers, according to what they saw by vision and revelation from God was—“ that the second appearing of Christ was at hand, “ and that the Church was rising in her full and transcendant “ glory, which would effect the final downfall of antichrist.” Another of the Shakers was John Kattis, who was considered by them to be a good scholar. He did not long retain his * faith. Four years after joining this society, which numbered about thirty people, Ann Lee was married. The entry in the Cathedral registry is “ 1762, Jan. 5, Abraham Standerin, “blacksmith, and Ann Lees, married.” James Shepherd and Thomas Hulme, signed as witnesses, but both bride and bridegroom affixed their marks, being unable to write. There is a pencil note in a copy of one of Robert Owen's publications in the Manchester Free Library, which states that she lived in Church Street, where Phillips’ warehouse now stands. The press mark of this tract is 17316 (63E. 12’7). The Shaker books, however, state, that after the marriage the young couple lived in the house of the bride’s father in Toad Lane, during the time they remained in England. The Shaker biography gives the husband's name as Stanley, and states that four children were born unto them, who all died in infancy. To one of these the following entry from the Cathedral Burial Registry no doubt refers: “ 1766, Oct. 7, “ Elizabeth, daughter of Abraham Standley.” At the birth of her last child, forceps had to be used, and after the delivery, she lay for several hours apparently dead.f Her husband, it is said, was a drunkard, and treated her unkindly. In 1766 the Shaker society was joined by John Hocknell, Brown, p. 312. tlbid., p. 312. �6 brother of Mrs. Townley, in whose house Jane Wardley lived. Hocknell was a substantial farmer near Meretown in Cheshire, and being zealous for the new faith, he gathered some of the poorer members into his own house, and there supported them. His wife, Hannah, not relishing this large accession of prophets, complained to her kindred (the Dickins family), and her three brothers sought the assistance of a magistrate, and “had John put into prison at Middlewich, four miles from his own house.” He escaped from tribulation without any danger, and was rewarded by the conversion of his wife, who “ became a member of society and continued through all “ the increase of the work, till she departed this life, in “America, sound in the faith of the Gospel, A.D. 1797.”* They used frequently to meet “ at John Partington’s in “ Mayor-town [Meretown], as they passed and repassed from “ Manchester to John Hocknell’s.” The small band of believers were looking for the Second Advent, and there seems to have been an impression amongst them that the Messiah would appear in the form of a woman. It had been said of old that the Lord would shake not the earth only, but also heaven. “ The effects of Christ’s first “ appearing,” says the Shaker Testimony, “ were far from “ fulfilling those promises in their full extent, for in reality “ that heaven which was to be shaken, had not yet been built, “ neither did the appearing of Christ in the form of a man “fulfil the desire of all nations. But a second appearing was “ to be manifested in woman, which completed the desire of “ all nations, by the revelation of the Mother Spirit in Christ, “ an emanation from the eternal Mother.” Creed these people do not appear to have had, simply a strong conviction that the great day of the Lord was at hand, and that he would reveal himself in the flesh and lead his people to that peace which he had promised them of old. ♦ Testimony, p. 616. �7 Amongst this band of simple enthusiasts, the ignorant blacksmith’s daughter began to exert a powerful influence. She is described as being of medium height and well-propor­ tioned. Her fair complexion was lit up by blue eyes, and set off by brown chesnut hair, whilst her mild countenance wore an aspect habitually grave. Altogether a solemn-looking, lowly-born, “ fair saint.” Wifely and motherly cares did not fill up the measure of her life, and the loss of her children may have intensified the morbid enthusiasm to which at all ages she would seem to have been subjected. She was a “ seeker after salvation,” and, passing through a period of mental struggles, doubts, and perplexities, she “ was born “into the spiritual kingdom.” This new stage of her intel­ lectual history was marked by the evolution of the doctrine, that complete celibacy was the true order of the world and essential to individual salvation. She considered it her duty to cry down the “ fleshly lusts which war against the soul,” and, according to the Shaker book, was imprisoned in con­ sequence. Although the increase of the population was considered a matter of importance, it is scarcely likely that the constables of Manchester would put the mother of four children into jail for preaching celibacy, and accordingly we find it stated further on that the charge against them was that of sabbath-breaking. There can be no doubt that the dancing, shouting, shaking, “ speaking with new tongues,” and all the other wild evidences of religious fervour exhibited by Ann and her fellow-believers, would be exceedingly distasteful to her neighbours and lead to occasional displays of brutal intolerance. It may not unnaturally be asked why, if Ann Lee was the woman chosen to proclaim the gospel of celibacy, she should herself have entered into the bonds of matrimony. She became a Shaker in 1758, and a wife in 1762. Clearly she was then unconscious of her great mission. This is confessed, �for we are told that, although “ from her childhood she had “ great light and conviction of the sinfulness and depravity “ of human nature,” yet, “not having attained that knowledge “ of God, which she early desired .... she, being “ prevailed upon by the earnest solicitations of her relations “ and acquaintances, yielded reluctantly, was married, and “ had four children, all of whom died in infancy.” The cause of her marriage, it will be seen, was that which has deluged the world with mediocre poetry—the solicitation of her friends. The date of her first imprisonment is said to have been the year 1770, and, whilst “in bonds,” her soul was glad­ * dened by seeing “Jesus Christ in open vision, who revealed “ to her the most astonishing views of Divine manifestations “ of truth, in which she had a perfect and clear view of the “ mystery and iniquity, the root and foundation of all human “ depravity, and of the very act of transgression committed “ by Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden.” From this time her followers gave her the name of “ Mother Ann,” and looked upon her as the female complement of the risen Christ; or, to quote the exact words of Shakers—“from the light and “ power of God, which attended her ministry, and the certain “ power of salvation transmitted to those who received her “ testimony, she was received and acknowledged as the first “ Mother, or spiritual Parent in the line of the female, and “ the second Heir in the covenant of life, according to the “ present display of the gospel.”t If the Shakers endured much cruelty from zealous Sabba­ tarians, it must be admittted that they were not eager to avoid giving offence. Thus the Manchester Mercury of July 20th, * Brown says, that in 1771 she became head of the Society, who joined with her in a “testimony against the lust of the flesh;” she was taken from a meeting and placed in a dungeon, next day sent to Bedlam, but after some weeks discharged.—(p. 312.) + Testimony, p. 620. �9 1773, tells us :—“ Saturday last ended the Quarter Sessions, “ when John Townley, John Jackson, Betty Lees, and Ann “ Lees (Shakers), for going into Christ Church, in Manchester, “ and there wilfully and contemptuously, in the time of Divine “ service, disturbing the congregation then assembled at “ morning prayers in the said church, were severally fined “ £20 each.” Very probably non-payment of this fine would be the cause of one of Mother Ann’s imprisonments. On one occasion, according to Elder Evans and other Shaker writers, “ she was dragged out of the meeting by a mob, and “ cast into a prison in Manchester. They put her in a cell “ so small that she could not straighten herself, and with the “ design of starving her to death, kept her there fourteen “ days without food ; nor was the door opened during all that “ time. She had nothing to eat or drink, except some wine “ and milk mixed, put into the bowl of a tobacco-pipe, and “ conveyed to her, by inserting the stem through the keyhole, “ once every twenty-four hours. This was done by James “ Whittaker, when a boy, whom Mother Ann brought up.” This is a marvellous narrative, and our Shaker friends must excuse our incredulity. It was never either law or custom to starve people to death for Sabbath-breaking. The nearest parallel we can find is that of the Puritan who— “ Hanged his cat on the Monday, For killing a mouse upon Sunday.” Again, a cell with a keyhole looking into the street, is not a likely arrangement. In point of fact, in “ The Dungeons,” which served as a jail, before the erection of the New Bailey, the prisoners were not on the ground-floor at all, but a story higher, and it was a common thing for their friends to pass food through the window gratings to the caged birds inside. This arrangement is shown in the engraving which appears in Proctor’s Memorials of Manchester Streets, p. 13. It is �10 copied from a drawing by Thomas Barritt, and represents the House of Goirection as it was about 1776. The approximate date of Mother Ann’s first imprisonment is given as 1770. This semi-miracle is as an example of the law of development in theological matters. It is not always one has a chance of assisting at the birth of a myth. At another time she was rescued from the raging multitude by a “ nobleman,” who, living at some distance, “ was re­ markably wrought upon in his mind” to go to a certain place, which he did, riding “ as if it had been to save his own “ life.” According to Elder Evans, the mob once took her before four clergymen and charged her with blasphemy, but she spoke before them “for four hours of the wonderful “ works of God,” and “ they testified that she had spoken “in seventy-two different tongues.” Without wishing to disparage the linguistic powers of the English clergy of a hundred years ago, it may be remarked that an average of eighteen languages is rather too liberal an allowance for four people. The mob, we are further told, took Ann and three of hei followers into a valley outside the town, with the intention of stoning them to death ; they threw the stones, but did not succeed in hitting the “fair saint,” and fell to quarrelling amongst themselves, so she escaped. According to Dr. Dwight she claimed the title of Ann the Word. He adds, that she was confined in a madhouse. The Shaker biography represents her as having been a cook at the Manchester Infirmary, and as this was at that time also a Lunatic Hospital, both statements may be correct. “ For “ two years previous to their leaving England, persecution “entirely ceased,” says Elder Evans. We have seen that they were in trouble in July, 1773, and “on the 19th of May, “ 1774, Mother Ann, Abraham Stanley (her husband), “ William Lee, James Whittaker, John Hocknell, Richard “ Hocknell, James Shepherd [perhaps the witness of the �11 “marriage], Mary Partington, and Nancy Lee, embarked for “ America.” The captain was annoyed at their queer religious exercises and threatened to throw some of them overboard, but a storm springing up, the Shakers assured the seamen that they would not be wrecked although the ship had sprung a leak. They landed at New York, August 6th, 1774. The departure of the young prophetess led to the collapse of the Shakers in Manchester. James and Jane Wardley left the house of their benefactor Townley, and soon found a resting place in the almshouse, where they died ; and the other members of the society “ who remained in England, “ being without lead, or protection, generally lost their power, “ and fell into the common course and practice of the world.”* The object of this Shaker emigration is by no means clear. They did not at once form themselves into a colony, but divided in search of employment. Abraham Stanley not being a convert to the celibate creed, soon “married” another woman. It is grievous to learn that Abraham never was accounted entirely orthodox. His was a very difficult part to play. The husband of a celibate prophetess would need more discretion than one could expect from a blacksmith who could not write his own name. He must have had some faith in her, or would scarcely have crossed the water along with her other disciples. He appears to have maintained an outward conformity to the new faith, and the final cause of his backsliding was a severe sickness, which he suffered in 1775. Through this illness, we are told, Mother Ann nursed him with every possible care. Whilst convalescent, and before strong enough to return to work, he began to frequent public houses, and there made shipwreck of his faith, in the manner already indicated.f Shortly after Mother Ann removed to Albany, and thence Testimony, p. 621. t Ibid., p. 624. �12 to the place then called Neuskenna, but now known as * Watervliet. Here the scattered believers united, and a “ religious revival ” having commenced at Lebanon, N.Y., in 1780, the Shakers increased in number, but were greatly persecuted on account of their testimony against war and oath-taking. A number of them, including Mother Ann, were arrested at Albany. They would not take the oath, because “ the Spirit of Christ, which they had within them, “ both disposed and enabled them to keep every just law, “ without any external obligation.”f Their imprisonment was not of a very harsh nature, for their disciples were allowed access to them, and also permitted to minister “freely “ to their necessities.” Through the prison gratings the captive prophets sometimes preached to listening crowds. The problem of disposing of their prisoners seems to have puzzled those who had placed them in jail. Mother Ann and Mary Partington were separated from the rest, and con­ veyed to the prison at Poughkeepsie. It is said, by Shaker writers, that the intention was to place her on board a vessel which was loading with supplies for the British army, then at New York. This is to say at least very improbable.^ At last the treatment of these strange people was reported to the governor, George Clinton, and as there seemed to be no probability that the strong argument of a prison bouse would overcome their repugnance to bearing arms and taking oaths, he ordered the release of all those who were in bonds at Albany. Upon their release, about the 20th of December, they represented to him the case of Mother Ann, whose freedom took place about the end of the year. Their general opposition was mistaken for a special aversion to the war of the revolution, and their refusal to take oaths was construed * This spot they are said to have selected by the advice of some Quakers in New York, to whom they applied for counsel.—Brown, p. 315. + Testimony, p. 625. j Ibid., p. 626. �13 into a feeling in favour of the British arms; so that the alleged motive for their imprisonment at Albany was that of high treason in communicating with the British lines. There was no evidence in support of this charge, and hence her release by Governor Clinton. * Twenty years after this event the Governor visited the settlement at New Lebanon, and expressed to the believers there his satisfaction at having released their spiritual Mother from durance vile.f In 1781, Mother Ann and the elders went forth upon a missionary tour, visiting the believers wherever they were known, and preaching their peculiar doctrines wherever an opportunity occurred. They gained a number of converts at Harvard, Massachusetts, amongst the “ Shadrach Irelands,” so named from Shadrach Ireland, their leader. These re­ nounced their wives; but as soon as they became perfectly free from sin, they might “ marry spiritual wives, from whom “ were to proceed holy children, which were to constitute the “ New Jerusalem or Millenium.” He had put away his own and taken a spiritual wife. He said he should not die ; or if he did, he would rise again on the third day. He did die, but he did not rise again on the third day. “In these journeys,” says the Shaker Testimony, “ they were much persecuted and “ abused by the wicked opposers of the truth,” being some­ times whipped out of the towns. What the world thought of this mission will be seen from the statements made to Dr. Dwight:—“In this excursion, “ she is said to have collected from her followers all their “ plate, ear-rings, and other ornaments which were formed of “ silver, gold, or gems.” Dr. Dwight further says : “ This “ woman has laboured under very serious imputations. In a “book, published by Mr. Rathbone, he mentions that he “ found her, and one of these elders in very suspicious Drake’s American Biog., Art. Lee. f Testimony, p. 626. �14 “ circumstances. She professed that she was inspired ; that “ she carried on a continual intercourse with the invisible “ world, and talked familiarly with angels. She predicted in “the boldest terms, that the world would be destroyed at a “given time: if I remember right, the year 1783. During “ the interval between the prophecy and its expected fulfilment, “ she directed them to cease from their common occupations. “ The direction was implicitly obeyed. As the earth, however, “ presented no appearance of dissolution, and the skies no “ signs of a conflagration, it was discovered that the prophecy “ had been miscalculated; and her followers were ordered “ again to their employments. From that period they have “ been eminently industrious.” Thomas Brown, who had been a member of their society, accuses Ann Lee of being peevish, and repeatedly getting intoxicated; and brings the latter charge also against her brother William. He says, that before 1793, “the men and “ women, on a variety of occasions, danced naked and that twice, at least, Mother Ann, hei’ brother, and James Whittaker, indulged in a free fight. It would be unfair to accept all the scandal which Brown chronicles. After repeated denials, however, he obtained an acknowledgment that naked dancing had been formerly practised. * Flagellation was practised by the Shaker converts. A man whose daughter had thus been scourged, prosecuted the elder who had inflicted the punish­ ment. Her sister was summoned as a witness. “ She went “ to Whittaker, and asked him what she should say.” He answered—“ Speak the truth, and spare the truth ; and take “ care not to bring the gospel into disrepute.” Accordingly she testified that her sister was not naked. She was justified in giving this testimony, because her sister had a fillet on her hair. * pp. 44, 173, 289. �15 . Soon after the return from their journeyings in the eastern states, the little community lost one of its lights. We have seen that Mother Ann’s husband refused to bear the Shaker cross, but her brother, William Lee, was a firm believer in his sister’s mission. We are told that he was a gay young man, who had been an “ officer ” in the Oxford Blues. He carried to the grave the scars of wounds received in defending her, and in some respects resembled her, especially in having “ visions.” Like many other of the Lancashire artizans he had a good voice, which would be of service amongst those who “ praise the Lord with dance and song.” He died July 21st, 1784, aged forty-four years. Brown thus describes him (p. 323)—Elder William Lee seldom travelled to gain prose­ lytes, being severe in his temper and harsh in his manners ; his preaching was not fraught with that mildness and urbanity, which is necessary to draw the attention and win the affection of the hearers, and render a man beloved. It once happened, as he was speaking to a public congregation, one of the spectators, a young man, behaved with levity and disrespect; upon this, Lee took him by the throat and shook him, saying, “ when I was in England, I was sergeant in the king’s life“ guard, and could then use my fists; but now, since I have “ received the gospel, T must patiently bear all abuse, and “ suffer my shins to be kicked by every little boy ; but I will “ have you know that the power of God will defend our “ cause.” Her followers had proclaimed Mother Ann immortal, but to her also came the grim king. She died at Watervliet, on the 8th day of Sept., 1 784, aged forty-eight years and six months. Whatever we may think of her peculiar religious theories, she certainly seems to have inculcated industry and benevolence by shrewd maxims, which were, however, little more than platitudes. Her piety, as shewn in the Shaker book, seems to have been eminently practical. “ To a sister �16 “ she said, ‘ Be faithful to keep the Gospel; be neat and “ industrious; keep your family's clothes clean and decent,” &c. Further, “ Little children are innocent, and they should “ never be brought out of it. If brought up in simplicity “ they would receive good as easy as evil. Never speak to “ them in a passion ; it will put devils into them. . . Do “ all your work as though you had a thousand years to live, “ and as though you were going to die to-morrow.” On the death of Mother Ann the leadership devolved upon James Whittaker, who “was freely acknowledged by the “ whole society as their elder.” Whittaker was born at Oldham, Feb. 28th, 1751, and is thought to have been a relative of Ann Lee, as his own mother bore the same name. His parents were members of the Shaker society under Jane and James Wardley, and he was brought up under the care of Mother Ann, and was the one who is said to have succoured her when in prison, in the manner already described. Father James, as he was styled, died at the early age of thirty-seven. In 1786, Ann Lee, the niece of the foundress, abandoned the celibate order to marry Richard Hocknell, probably a son of John Hocknell, one of the original emigrant band. Partington also left the society, but was helped by it in his declining years, notwithstanding this backsliding. Mother Ann prophesied that James Whittaker would suc­ ceed her in the ministry, but this seems hardly to have been the case. Father James no doubt influenced the society, but it was an American convert, Joseph Meacham, who became its leader, and organized it on that basis of community of labour and property which now forms its most distinguishing feature. “ His gift of Divine revelation was deeper than that “ of any other person, excepting Mother Ann.” It was he who introduced the greater part of the “ spiritualist ” portion of the Shaker creed and doctrine. Meacham was succeeded by a female, Lucy Wright, but we need not farther follow the �17 history of the sect. Its interest for us centres in its English origin. In the New England travels of the celebrated Dr. Dwight, he gives an account of a visit, made in 1799, to the Shaker colony at New Lebanon :—“ It consists,” he says, “ of a “ small number of houses, moderately well-built, and kept, “ both within and without doors, in a manner very creditable “ to the occupants. Everything about them was clean and “ tidy. Their church, a plain, but neat building, had a “ courtyard belonging to it, which was a remarkably ‘ smooth “‘shaven green.’ Two paths led to it from a neighbouring “ house, both paved with marble slabs. By these, I was “ informed, the men enter one end of the church, and the “ women the other.” Their claims to miraculous powers he justly ridicules. They told him that they had restored the broken limb of a youth who then lived at Enfield, but, on enquiry, he found that the use of the limb was lost and the patient’s health ruined. The Shaker Testimony contains several cases in which believers had received “ a gift of healing.”* It is not necessary to detail these cases. They are not of great importance, and if we consider the curative powers of the imagination when under the influence of superstitious excite­ ment, it will be possible to account for at least some of them without accusing the elders of the church of intentional deception. On being present at one of their meetings for worship, Dr. Dwight was told that both words and tune were inspired. The tune was Nancy Dawson; and the sounds “ which they “ made, and which they called language could not be words, “ because they were not articulated. One of the women “ replied, ‘ How dost thee know but that we speak the * See pp. 414-426. �18 “ ‘Hotmatot language ? The language of the Hotmatots is “ * said to be made up of such words.’” He challenged them to speak in Greek, Latin, or French, but they prudently kept silent. Brown speaks thus on this topic—“ Respecting such as “ speak in an unknown tongue, they have strong faith “ in this gift; and think a person greatly favoured who “ has the gift of tongues ; and at certain times, when the “ mind is overloaded with a fiery, strong zeal, it must have “ vent some way or other; their faith, or belief at the time “ being in this gift, and a will strikes the mind according to “ their faith; and then such break out in a fiery, energetick “ manner, and speak they know not what, as I have done “ several times. Part of what I spake at one time, was— “ ‘ Liero devo jirankemango, ad fileabano, durem subramo, “ ‘ deviranto diacerimango, jaffa vah pe cu evanegalio ; de vom “ ‘ grom seb crinom, as vare cremo domo.’ When a person “ runs on in this manner of speaking for any length of time, “ I now thought it probable that he would strike into different “ languages, and give some words in each their right pro“ nounciation : as I have heard some men of learning, who “ have been present, say, a few words were Hebrew, three or “ four of Greek, and a few Latin.”* From 1785 until the close of the century, Shakerism exerted very little propagandist influence; but in 1801 came the Kentucky Revival, by which the infant church was consider­ ably enlarged. Since then its progress has steadily, if slowly, increased, and at the present time is an object of great curiosity to outsiders. The census of the United States supplies some meagre details respecting the Church organization of the Shakers. In 1850 there were eleven churches, capable of accommodating * p. 297. �19 5,150 persons, and owning $39,500 of property. In 1860 there were twelve churches, which would hold 5,200 persons; the property of the church was $41,000. In 1870 there were eighteen distinct Shaker organizations, possessing eighteen church edifices, capable of seating 8,850 persons ; the wealth of the church was $86,900. These Shaker communities are found in Connecticut, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, and Ohio. The most important of the Shaker villages is that at New Lebanon. A few passages, condensed from the account of a visit to this place, which appeared in the Graphic of May 7th, 1870, may be permitted :— It is a great mistake to suppose that, like Romish monks and nuns, they shut themselves completely out of the world, and are unwilling that “ publicans and sinners ” should penetrate to their retreats and observe their manner of life. No people, as we can personally testify, are more hospitable, or welcome ou tsiders with greater apparent pleasure. They will readily show you over their establishments ; they will freely explain to you their rules and regulations, taking care to point out the reasons for them ; and they will even admit you to their meetings and religious ceremonies. Of course the man of the world is inclined to ridicule the grotesque postures and movements which he sees in their chapels; but there is something so quaint, simple, and sincere in their devotions, that even if a sense of their propriety did not check the smile or sneer, a sense of respect for their earnestness would. At Mount Lebanon there are three separate societies within sight of each other : these are called the “ North Family,” “ Church Family,” and “ Second “ Family.” The word “ family ” betrays the chief social characteristic of the sect. Fancy a hundred men and women living together, enjoying all things, from the acres of the mutual estate, to the hats, thimbles, and books, in common; no one person owning a tittle of property himself, for his own particular use and enjoyment; each labouring for all the others, and for the common weal; working and taking pleasure in common, confessing to each other, worshipping together! Neither do the Shakers marry, nor are they given in marriage. They live a strictly celibate life. We are told of husbands and wives who have been converted to Shakerism, who have lived for years in close �20 married communion, and who, having entered the fold of “ Believers,” eparate their bond, live apart each in the quarter of his or her sex, and, seeing each other every day, can only meet and converse as all the other brethren and sisters do. Shakers are fully aware of their lowly commencement. The first in America who received the testimony of the “ Gospel were satisfied that it was the truth of God against all sin, and that in faithful obedience thereunto, they should “ find that salvation and deliverance from the power of sin for which they sincerely panted. And being made partakers “ of the glorious liberty of the sons of God, it was a matter “ of no importance with them from whence the means of their “ deliverance came, whether from a stable in Bethlehem or “ from Toad Lane in Manchester.”* From this humble origin has sprung one of the most interesting and peculiar of the phenomena of the New World. By their works ye shall know them.” The testimony of travellers is very strongly in favour of the Shakers. They are known as an honest and industrious people throughout the States. With an entire absence of those compelling forces which ensure a modicum of work and order in the outside world, the “ Believers ” have greatly surpassed in peace and industry those of the outside world. “ Order, “ temperance, frugality, worship—these,” says Mr. Hepworth Dixon, “are the Shaker things which strike upon your senses “ first; the peace and innocence of Eden, when contrasted “with the wrack and riot of New York.” They are capital agriculturalists, and have a reputation for thoroughness in all their industrial occupations. Every man has a trade ; every man and woman works with his hands for the good of the community. The doctrine of celibacy has already been mentioned. Elder Frederick, according to Mr. Dixon’s report, says that * Testimony, p. 609. �21 “ they do not hold that a celibate life is right in every place “ and in every society at all times; and they consider that “ for male and female priesthood, such as they hold them“ selves to be, as respects the world, this temptation is to “ be put away.”* This is scarcely historically orthodox, or why should Ann Lee have raised her voice against the sexual law in the streets of Manchester ? The Shakers, like the Quakers, have toned down. To-day they seek no converts, but wait for the Spirit of God to bring people into their fold. They are not the fiery missioners of a century ago. They look now for increase to those cycles of religious enthusiasm which sweep over some portions of English and American society from time to time, and are known as revivals. Their communistic views have also been named. Proba­ tioners are allowed to retain their private possessions, but the Covenanters have all things in common. As might have been expected from their history, they firmly believe in the possibility of intercourse with the world of spirits. For them there is no death. The departed surround them in every action of life. They are living in resurrection order, the seen and the unseen in daily communion. Ann Lee is not dead, she has merely withdrawn behind a veil, and her followers can speak with her as when she inhabited a tabernacle of flesh. There is a charm about these mysterious people, offspring though they are of ignorance, credulity, and enthusiasm. They have impressed many minds by their passionless existence, their abstinence and industry, and by their claims of being able to pierce that darkness which hides us from the loved and lost. These feelings have been well expressed in some lines which appeared in the Knickerbocker years ago, and were suggested * New America, p. 302. �22 to their writer, Charlotte Cushman, by a visit to the settlement near Albany :— Mysterious worshippers ! . 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 for ever— Your early homes ? Your ancient creed, once faith’s sustaining lever, The love who erst prayed with you—now may never ? Has not ambition’s pean 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 youi’ 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 passed 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 passions sleep ; And your pale brows Bear not the tracery of emotion deep— Ye seem too cold and passionless to weep ! �23 APPENDIX A. SHAKER BIBLIOGRAPHY. The following works, with others, have been examined in the prepara­ tion of this notice :— An Account of the people called Shakers : their Faith, Doctrines, and Practise exemplified in the life, conversations, and experience of the author, during the time he belonged to the society, to which is affixed a history of their rise and progress to the present day. By Thomas Brown, of Cornwall, Orange County, State of New York. ‘ ‘ Prove all things, hold fast to that which is good.”—Apostle Paul. “ An historian should not dare to tell a falsehood or leave a truth un­ told.”—Cicero. Troy : Printed by Parker and Bliss. Sold at the Troy Book Store ; by Websters and Skinners,'Albany; and S. Wood, New York, 1812. 12mo. New America. By William Hepworth Dixon. Pp. xii, 448. 8vo. Eighth edition. Lond. 1869. Travels in New England and New York. By Timothy Dwight, S.T.D., LL.D., late President of Yale College. In four volumes. New Haven, 1822. 8vo. (See vol. iii, pp. 149—169.) Tests of Divine Inspiration; or the Rudimental Principles by which True and False Revelation in all Eras of the World can be unerringly fHse.rirmnA.fefl “ The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”—Rev. xix, 10. By F. W. Evans. New Labanon: published by the United Society called Shakers. 1853. 8vo. Pp. 127. [Note.—Offered to the public as an explanation of the great enigma, and paradox of the age—spiritual manifestations; and also as a solution of what has often, and not inappropriately, been designated the “ great prob“lem of the age,”—a social organization that shall secure not merely “ the greatest good to the greatest number,” but also “ the greatest good “ to the whole number of its members.”] Third Edition. Shakers’ Compendium of the Origin, History, Principles, Rules and Regulations, Government and Doctrines of the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing : with Biographies of Ann Lee, William Lee, Jas. Whittaker, J. Hocknell, J. Meacham, and Lucy Wright. By F. W. Evans. “ 0 my soul, swallow down understanding, and devour wisdom; for thou hast only time to live.”—Esdras. New Lebanon, N. Y.: Auchamnaueh Brothers. 1859. 12mo. " ° Autobiography of a Shaker, and Revelation of the Apocalypse, with an Appendix. “ The Spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God.” Inquirers and Booksellers may apply to, or address, F. W. Evans, Mt. Lebanon Col. Co., N. Y. June, 1869. 8vo. Pp. 162. Religious Communism. A Lecture by F. W. Evans (Shakers) of Mount Lebanon, Columbia Co., New York, U.S.A., delivered in St. George’s Hall, London, Sunday Evening, August 6th, 1871; with Introductory Remarks by the Chairman of the Meeting, Mr. Hepworth Dixon. Also some Account of the Extent of the Shaker Communities, and a Narrative of the Visit of Elder Evans to England. An Abstract of a Lecture by the Rev. J. M. Peebles, and his testimony in regard to the Shakers. London. 8vo. Pp. 32. �24 The Kentucky Revival, or a Short History of the late extraordinary outpouring of the Spirit of God, in the Western States of America. With a brief account of the entrance and progress of what the world call Shakerisnr, among the subjects of the late Revival in Ohio and Kentucky. By Richard McNemar. * * Cincinnati, printed : Albany, re-printed by E. and E. Hosford. 1808. 12mo. Pp. 119. Report of the Examination of the Shakers of Canterbury and Enfield before the New-Hampshire Legislature, at the November Session, 1848 ; including the Testimony at length ; several extracts from Shaker publications ; the Bill which passed the House of Representatives ; the Proceedings in the Pillow case; together with the Letter of James W. Spinney. From Notes taken at the Examination. Concord, N. H.: printed by Ervin B. Tripp . . . Main Street. 1849. 8vo. Pp. 100. [Note.—-This book contains some revelations as to the harsh discipline of the children adopted by the Shakers. A boy said to have been beaten to death ; women laid upon their backs on the floor in the public meetings, and others would walk over them. (P. 17.) One witness said, “I have “ never seen so much contention and quarrelling, and hard feeling, in an “ equal number of the world’s people as I have seen there.” (P. 18.) The following was one of their popular hymn-songs :— Of all my relations that ever I see My own fleshy kindred are fartherest from me How ugly they look ; how distant they feel; To hate them—despise them—increases my zeal. How ugly they look, &c.] Testimony of Christ’s Second Appearing, exemplified by the principles and practice of the true Church of Christ. History of the progressive work of God, extending from the Creation of Man to the “ Harvest,” comprising the four great dispensations now consummating in the Millennial Church. Published by the United Society called Shakers. Fourth Edition. Albany, 1856. 8vo. Pp. xxiv, 632. A Return of Departed Spirits of the highest characters of distinction, as well as the indiscriminate of all nations, into the bodies of the “ Shakers,” or “ United Society of Believers in the Second Advent of the Messiah.” By an Associate of said Society. “ Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth, both “ when we wake and when we sleep.” Philadelphia : published by J. R. Colon, 203|, Chestnut Street. 1843. 8vo. Entered for copyright by L. G. Thomas. [Note.—The return of departed spirits is spoken of in 1843 as being “ more recently ” introduced than the gifts of prophecy. “Disembodied “ spirits began to take possession of the bodies of the brethren and sisters ; “ and thus, by using them as instruments, made themselves known by “ speaking through the individuals whom they had got into ; after which “they were welcomed to Zion to hear the true Gospel of Christ.” Amongst those visitants are named Geo. Washington, William Penn (much admired by the believers, who style him “ Father Penn”), Napoleon, Girard, Mahomet, Pope Pius (which ?—he had come piping hot from hell, but said it was not a material fire) and several other popes; all of them acknowledged the committal of much crime in their public and private relations, but having repented of it, they had been gathered amongst the faithful. Saint Patrick, Samson,, the passengers of the lost steam-ship “ President,” “ whose fate has hitherto been unknown,” arrived at Watervliet early in March, 1843, and many others, including a crowd of “ indiscriminate charac­ ters of different nations.”] �A. Revelation of the Extraordinary Visitation of Departed Sisters of distin­ guished men and women of all nations, and their manifestation through living bodies of the Shakers. By a guest of the “ Community” near Watervliet, N.Y. Philadelphia : published by L. G. Thomas, No. 27, Sansom Street. 1869. 8vo. [Note.—In this we have a narrative of the spirit of a deceased sister stand­ ing beside its own body, and discoursing through a living sister.] The Youth’s Guide in Zion, and Holy Mother’s Promises. Given by inspi­ ration at New Lebanon, N.Y., January 5th, 1842. [Note.—From the above title it will be seen that Ann Lee was an after-death authoress. In this occurs the following poem (?):— God is with me, and I’m with God, And ever was and e’er will be ; We have all power to use the rod, To rend the earth and spill the sea. AU heaven is at our command ; We speak thereto, it doth obey; And what is earth beneath our hand ? It is but one light ball of clay.' Now think of this, ye helpless worms I Ye little specks of mortal clay ! Since at our word all heaven turns, Dare ye presume to disobey ? Dare ye presume to scoff at God ? And mock and scorn his holy power ? Beware, I say, lest with his rod He smite your souls in that same hour, O little children, could you know The call of mercy unto you, You’d sacrifice all things below, And cast off nature clear from you. The world with its alluring charms Of pleasure, false and vain delight, Its riches, husbands, wives, and farms, Would be disgusting in your sight.] A Brief Sketch of the Religious Society of People called Shakers. Communi­ cated to Mr. [Robert] Owen, by Mr. W. S. Warder of Philadelphia, one of the Society of Friends. London. 1818. 8vo. Pp. 16. �26 APPENDIX B. THE SHAKERS OF THE NEW FOREST. The resemblance between the “ Christian Communists ” of the New Forest and the American Shakers is too striking to be passed over. The public were startled, in 1874, to learn that a band of enthusiasts were endeavouring to work out the problem of communistic association. It is a curious circumstance that the most successful attempts to realise the socialist formula, “ from each one according to his capacities, to “ each one according to his needs,” have been inspired and moulded by religious sentiment. Of this the New Forest settlement is another example. The first notice of it appears to have been given by a contributor to the Manchester Guardian, (August 21st, 1874,) who spent three days with them, and speaks in high terms of their industry and earnestness. They were then living on thirty-one acres of land, bought for them by one of their members, into possession of which they entered early in 1873. The fourteen original settlers had increased to one hundred and thirty men, women, and children. They lived apparently upon the produce of the farm, and the goodwill offerings of disciples still in the world. The men had not adopted any peculiar costume, but the women wore “ a plain bodice, short skirt, and “ trowsers.” The usual feminine ornaments—earrings and so forth—were discarded. Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, were amongst them regulated by Obedience. The foundress of the little society was Mrs. M. A. Girling, who was at once prophetess and ruler. The “ Mother” assigned to each brother or sister his task. “ Here are no ‘ agitations’ “ and no ‘ isms here is no money, no buying, no selling; here are no “ poor, no rich, none indolent, none overtasked. There is no sickness, “ and the brethren believe there will be no death if they ‘ live the life “‘of faith until the Lord shall come.’” There is much virtue in an “if.” At the end of the year the “Shakers” were turned out of this Paradise. The property appears to have been mortgaged, and as, according to one statement, the family had paid neithei' principal nor interest, and exhibited a supreme disdain for the remonstrances of the law, they were evicted under circumstances of extraordinary hardship. Their goods were removed into the fields and road. Their own account �27 is that they had paid the greater part of the principal and the interest regularly until the previous half-year, when, owing to an illegal seizure they had refused to make payment. Whatever may be the technics’ rights of the case, the Shakers did not avail themselves of the remedies which the law prescribes. No resistance was offered to the eviction, and the band of enthusiasts, which included about fifty children, were turned out into the rain and snow. The young ones were sheltered in the neighbouring cottages, but the adults passed the night in the road singing psalms. Whilst their goods and chattels were being tumbled out the Shakers were in the highest state of religious enthusiasm, dancing wildly, clapping their hands, and shouting. An attempt was made to have Mrs. Girling removed to a lunatic asylum, but this was unsuccessful. The Shakers were for some time sheltered in a barn belonging to the Hon. Auberon Herbert. He felt bound, however, to make public statements which appear to have been well founded, that, in the ecstasies, men and women danced naked. This was said by a renagade Shaker to have occurred repeatedly. They left the shelter of Mr. Herbert’s barn in February, 1875. From this date they may be styled the Tent Community, having erected a large tent in which to dwell. To this a second one was added. Miss Wood, the original purchaser of the Lodge in the New Forest, was removed to a private lunatic asylum. Her forcible seizure again roused the excitement of the public, and led to a question in the House of Commons. Ultimately she appears to have been released, but to have remained in charge of her relatives. In Juue they attempted to retake possession of the Lodge, but were promptly turned out of the groundt as trespassers. They are still living, after their fashion, in the tents at Hordle. Some offers of land have been made to them, but having set their hearts upon the hopeless project of regaining the Lodge, these have been refused. The Shakers of the New Forest regard the New Testament as an absolute guide for life. They take, in their literal form, the denunciations of riches there to be found, and consider that the true disciples of this day, like those of the Apostolic age, have all things in common. To this they add a profession of celibacy and a belief in the speedy advent of the Messiah. Mother Girling claimed that it had been revealed to her that she should never die, but behold the second coming. In all these points their creed and that of the followers of Ann Lee are identical. So in the adoption of children and in the title of “ Mother” given to their spiritual cliieftainess. The same charges of indecent dancing have �been brought against each sect, and whatever may be thought about graver scandals this appears to have a basis of truth. ft does not appear, however, that Mrs. Girling claims to be anything more than a messenger sent to announce the advent of the Millennium, whilst the American Shakers regard their foundress as in some sort and degree a female Christ. The name “ Shaker ” has, in each case, been applied to and not selected by the members of the sect, and has arisen from the dancing which forms part of their religious exercises. When the “ gift “ of the spirit” is upon them they sometimes shake and tremble, and at others jump and whirl about in a manner so strange and furious as almost to beggar belief. This is an expression of religious emotion common to the enthusiasts of every creed and every clime. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Pamphlet Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Biographical notice on Ann Lee, a Manchester prophetess and foundress of the American sect of the Shakers Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Axon, William E. A. (William Edward Armytage) [1846-1913.] Description An account of the resource Place of publication: Liverpool Collation: 28 p. ; 22 cm. Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Ann Lee is memorialised in Judy Chicago's art installation 'The Dinner Party'. She was also known as Mother Ann. Includes bibliographical references. Appendix A; Shaker Bibliography. B: The Shakers of the New Forest. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available T. Brakell Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1876 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5327 Subject The topic of the resource Shakers Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Biographical notice on Ann Lee, a Manchester prophetess and foundress of the American sect of the Shakers), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Ann Lee Conway Tracts prophet Second Coming Shakers United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing (the Shakers) https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/0de90536e8d7b38ae5c4184a2858d1a4.pdf?Expires=1780531200&Signature=I4HfaHNEoo98IlK%7E3RPe4Q5FvbdYYeb8b4wQGsPotbpjsFFcAeOwVCCcbvDv4XNkqcX29M8AFtbQaqNLalp8moEgKiicPgsPtB1JEhoP5kjb-9gXYoniPOxwGMM%7E5%7EBmV-%7ETdmxjUj-1TreXkOK9a7XGoXJxBht8YTLSrgR5D8bt3bjhZ3NAejlzPv2U5BoZVte3yc4CsIQyRTPOq2ds14E%7EcgGMpUSNdq9D0yg0GWnxQxpD1CWC0a1f7DbTH7Sk0p5XVEeVaf-EQBL4H1bnmIJbDU7pzzA7FpBVS09QJ5v5I0bKyduH1kCUejP2COy2490LCEtclQ8QfdUIf8MxKA__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 5d970a11854b4ac01c773316cd6a4789 PDF Text Text national secular society THE DANCERS, SHAKERS, AND JUMPERS. PART I. BY SALADIN. [reprinted from “the secular review.”] London: W. STEWART & Co., 41, FARRINGDON St., E.C. ��3& & I THE DANCERS, SHAKERS, AND JUMPERS. ’ If “ God made man,” he must have made him for his amusement; and surely much amusement he must have got out of the featherless biped. No six-year old child sailing his boat—a cocoa-not shell with a paper sail­ can derive therefrom more real fun than Jehovah must surely derive from the antics of the little two-pronged nothings he has placed in this region of the universe. To man alone Deity has given unlimited potentialities in the way of being absurd, and an intense capacity for being unhappy. Deity has a curious knack of making joyous nobodies and melancholy sages. ’Arry the yokel’s cup overflows with delight because he is graciously per­ mitted to eat bread and cheese and swing on a gate; while Thomas Carlyle, James Thomson, and William Maccall have cups that overflow with bitterness and misery because they have bad hepatic arrangements and will not take Cockle’s pills. This sort of thing is a very curious farce, and I often fancy the Father, Son, and Ghost open their three mouths which are one, and hold their six sides which are two, and laugh at the earth till all heaven rings. If God had made man sane, he would not have got half the fun out of him he has got. True, the fun which Deity must have had over man’s mad crusading and inquisiting and covenanting and flagellating, and so forth, has been no joke to man himself; but that is, of course, a small matter, so that God be glorified. But I do not suppose that Sarah has got a better laugh since the day she laughed at the angel who brought her the gestation message on the plains of Mamre than she has, �4 THE DANCERS, SHAKERS, AND JUMPERS. from time to time, got at earth’s poor little two-footed Jacks-in-the-box dancing for Godsake. Ever since man dropped his tail, and how long before that I know not, he has had a tendency to dance for the love of God. On the plains of ancient Phoenicia and Carthage there were mad dances to please the heaven overhead; and the ancient Greeks and Romans, in their religious rites, danced to the glory of Mars and Cybele; and heaven looked down and hell looked up at earth and her little pigmies indulging in saltatory gambols and sexual riot. Poor amusement for a God! and yet good enough for a God that could originate such a daft and miserable ninny as man. And the best of the joke is, this daft ninny has always been under the infatuated impression that nothing in existence is so important as he is, that Gods have ever been devising plans and kicking worlds round for him—yea, that God himself came down here and had nails hammered into him to prove his great interest in mankind. If God would come down, or the Devil come up, and make man sane, it would be much more to the purpose. “ Redeem ” him, indeed ! Surely the Gods have better work on hand, and know their own business best. As a proof that they do not think him worth redeeming, they, up to the date of our going to press, never have redeemed him. They get more amusement out of him as he is. If he would only learn his own place, consequence, and importance in the universe, it would take the conceit out of him. He and his vaunted “immortal soul” are only a link in the chain of cosmos, and all the links are alike strong—the man driving in the carriage and pair and the fly crawling upon the pane. Gods will come down to get crucified for him of the carriage when they think it worth while to come down and get crucified for him of the pane. The flies that lit upon the gore of Caesar, as he lay dying at the base of Pompey’s pillar, are now where the dead are who fell in the battle of Marathon. Their record is alike in the archives of the universe, and they are both of alike importance in the purposes of Cosmos and Fate. In the long day of Eternity the last barrowful of litter wheeled out from the cavalry stables, and the last batch of heroes, gashed and �THE DANCERS, SHAKERS, AND JUMPERS. 5 gory, buried in the desert sands of the Soudan, will be alike remembered. But back to our dancing. As far as Christianity was concerned it had much pleasure in tracing back its Terpsichorean piety to King David, who danced a jig naked before the Lord and the ladies,* and insulted his wife because she ventured to reprove him for his holy levity. The cripple that had lain at the Beautiful Gate of the temple came next to David as a great exemplar of pious hornpipes. It is on record that he performed the triple function of “walking and leaping and praising God.”t Indeed, some went so far as to assert that Christ himself was rather partial to a good sanctified Highland fling, and quoted triumphantly the words attributed to him by the writer o? the third Gospel: “Rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy.”| Even the Book of Job§ was dragged in to favour the light fantastic toe ; for therein is there not tall talk about the morning stars chanting a rondel and all the sons of God jumping out of their skins? And, again, assuming that a person cannot shout, but he must jump also, the dancers for Godsake had recourse to a passage in the Book of Ezra.*11 Several other passages in Holy Writ were relied upon to defend the propriety of a good holy jump. On through the centuries, more or less, went the jumping for Godsake, till, in the thirteenth century, it got somewhat serious. A number of children took to it as a pious recreation, which they seemed to prefer to the salutary but profane leap-the-frog and skipping-rope. Religious manias were no respecters of persons ; they seized old and young, the dotard with one foot in the grave and the child with one foot in the cradle. An army of child crusaders, as I have shown in another paper|| set out for Palestine, and a child army of Reli­ gious Dancers are said to have danced all the way to Armstadt from Erfurdt in Prussian Saxony. Arrived at Erfurdt, the dancers fell down exhausted, many of them died, and many who survived retained till the end of * 2 Samuel vi. 16, 20. + Acts iii. 8. J Luke vi. 23. § Job xxxviii. 7. 5T Ezra iii. 11. || See Saladin’s pamphlet, “The Crusaders.” �6 THE DANCERS, SHAKERS, AND JUMPERS. their days traces of the fearful exertions they had put forth when acting under the influence of a religious mania which had filled them with wild zeal and bereft them of reason. Less than half a century after a number of the unco guid, under a direct out-pouring of the Holy Spirit, took to footing divine jigs on a bridge at Utrecht. The Holy Spirit, however, did not care to sustain the bridge, under the weight of his prancing devotees, so it broke down under their pressure, and many of them were drowned—to them it was graciously permitted to dance into glory through the waters of the Rhine. But it was not till the year 1374 that Europe fairly looked up to her God, adored him and kilted her coaties and danced like daft. It can hardly be said of the holy fanatics, as of the witches in Alloway Kirk, that— “ They cuist their duddies to the wark, And linket at it in their sark although, according to the Second Book of Kings, his majesty Davie the First of Israel had “ linket ” before the Lord without his “sark,” and, peradventure, even without his garters. Following in his wake, Germany in particular began to indulge in high jinks for Godsake, and we stop not to inquire whether the Christian Teutons danced minus their shirt and garters ; for we are creditably informed that they danced till they lost their reason, and shirt and garters count as nothing to a fanatic doing a schottische for the Lord till he tumbles down in exhaus­ tion and foams at the mouth in delirium. The principal scene of the dancing for Godsake was Aix-la-Chapelle and its vicinity ; and from far and near the saints came there for their pious jig. Round and round, hand in hand, in great circles, with the hymns of pietists and the fury of devils, whirled the Lord’s anointed. At least, the Lord never said they were not his anointed, and he allowed them to whirl till not infrequently they whirled their very life out and left their corpses among the feet of their still desperately-dancing companions in godliness. It was a case of turn your partner, ladies’ chain, cross over, half-right and left, gallop, and set to partners in the kingdom of heaven. �THE DANCERS, SHAKERS, AND JUMPERS. 7 Of all the buffoons that ever existed subjectively or objectively to the human imagination, humanity’s god is the most grotesque. The religions of the past will be the best pantomimes for the children of the future. The pantomime at Drury Lane shall yet be dancers of 1374 at Aix-la-Chapelle. But Covent Garden will beat it hollow with poor old Jehovah flying about like a gate on a windy day, between the prayers of Gordon on the one hand and those of the Mahdi on the other. The grand transformation scene will be 10,000 devout Mussulmans who had fallen by bayonet and Gatling disporting them­ selves among the houris of Paradise, while 10,000 Christians who had fallen by spear and Remington rifle will be ushered into heaven with wings and nightshirts, and the gods in the gallery will cry : “ I say, Bill, let us give three b----- , b----- cheers for them there bloomin’ coves who died for the ladies, and a b----- groan for them blokes who died for the wings !” God, or x, or vov/jlcvov, or whatever you like to call him, her, or it, enjoyed the religious dancing immensely, if we are to judge from the fact that he, she, or it, never tried to stop it. The votary of saintly strathspeys and holy hornpipes was wont to fall down rigid and yelling with the cramp, with some particular muscle sticking up as large as your fist and as hard as a brick. The approved way of assisting your yelling neighbour was to give his rigid muscle a heavy kick or stamp with your foot. It must have been extremely interesting to take an aim at the hard lump on your neighbour’s calf, and give it a hearty kick, just as a means of grace ! We have it on the authority of Milton that they praise deity “ who only stand and waitbut how effectively they must have served him who rattled their boot-toes off their brother’s shins ! To waltz with Araminta Jones or some other interest­ ing sylph for your partner, although frivolous, is well enough in its way ; but to dance with Jehovah-Jireth for a partner, as the dancers at Aix-la-Chapelle did in 1374, was quite another matter. In the celestial redowa it was absolutely essential that, by phrenzy, you should shut yourself up from the world and feel that you were dancing with God. Through all time, if ever you wanted �8 THE DANCERS, SHAKERS, AND JUMPERS. to have much to do with God, it was necessary to be more or less demented; but to actually have the honour of dancing with God it was necessary to lose your reason. You had to become unconscious of whether you were dancing upon the street or upon the clouds. Many imagined themselves floundering in a sea of blood, in which the only way to escape drowning was by mad jigs and tremendous hornpipes. Others, with their feet batter­ ing the ground, and their eyes turned up in phrenzy, beheld the heavens opened, and the whole fauna of the divine menagerie capering round the Great White Throne, upon which sat Jehovah, the Wombwell or George Sanger of the exceptional wild beasts mentioned in the Apocalypse. Others beheld Mary of Bethlehem seated upon a divine sofa, with the child Jesus upon her knee, but without seeing anything anachronistic in a child nearly 1400 years old, or recognising that there was anything suspicious about girls who bear babies to ghosts. On, rapidly, from Aix-la-Chapelle as a centre, spread the dancing madness through Holland, Belgium, Austria, and Italy. The magistrates of Liege, in the interests of the dancers, issued an edict to the effect that only broad­ toed shoes were to be made, and that sharp-pointed shoes were to be utterly abolished. Peradventure the sharp­ toed shoes were voted a nuisance by the brother whose shins were kicked in the manner to which we have alluded ; and peradventure some direct revelation from Omnipotence concerned itself with the affairs of snip. The God who in Mosaic times concerned himself so much with fringes, and skirts, and candle-sticks was likely skilled enough in bootmaking to appreciate the difference between broad toes and narrow ones. Several towns found it necessary to interdict the manufacture of red-coloured garments, the sight of which was considered inflammatory of the phrenzy of the dancers, from which we make the interesting inference that these pious dancers were somehow allied to mad bulls, to whom, as is well known, a red rag is particularly odious. And yet the dancers for Godsake were not so mad after all. At least one little touch of sanity remained— they hated the Beetles, and tried to squash them, just as the Secular Review does now. Wherever the Dancers �THE DANCERS, SHAKERS, AND JUMPERS. 9 went the Beetles fled before them like chaff before the wind. At the sound of the pious music and holy yells every Beetle got upon his hind legs, and, without waiting to say his ave or his credo, ran for his life. And this was because the clergy had, seeing their craft in danger, ventured to allege that the Dancers were possessed of the Devil. The Dancers of the celestial strathspeys were, naturally enough, incensed that these celestial strathspeys should be mistaken for infernal hornpipes. The Beetles, however, persisted, and got hold of some of the maddest of the Dancers, that they in their case might exorcise the evil spirit. The jumpers for the Lord were surrounded by a ring drawn with chalk, and there were book and candle, and salt and rowan, and the pater nosier repeated backwards \ but the Devil, if he were there, cared for none of these things, and the Dancers leapt over the chalk line and knocked the Beetles heels overhead for their attempts to upset the jigs of the Lord and his anointed one. And so matters went on merrily ; and let us hope that, from looking down upon the earth, heaven was both amused and instructed. But the full fury of the dancing mania was reserved for Cologne and Metz. Never wilder zeal was manifested in the days of the Crusaders or the Flagellants. The young and the old of both sexes, and of all ranks, were seized with the epidemic convulsions and danced pro­ miscuously in the streets, putting forth preternatural exertions till fagged and flagging nature could bear the stress no longer, and the dancer sank down exhausted, and sometimes never rose again. Pimps and panders, and black-legs and black-guards, and murderers and prostitutes, finding that the Dancers were popular, joined them, feigned the convulsions, practised the leaps into the air, and danced with the best, till at length the whole concern developed into a huge orgie of lust and devilry, which the civil government of the Rhenish cities had to suppress with the sword. The curious fact in regard to the Dancers is that, although by their dancing they glorified God, yet they considered the irresistible impulse to dance a serious affliction. They looked round for the source from which the affliction sprang, and, as was usual with �IO THE DANCERS, SHAKERS, AND JUMPERS. Christians, they determined that the Jews had a handin the matter. Indeed, they went so far as to insinuate that the Jews had instilled an insidious poison into the food and into the wells of Europe, and had thereby succeeded in driving hundreds of thousands of Christians mad. To the honour of his Holiness the Pope, be it said that here he interposed and proclaimed the innocence of the house of Israel from the charge brought against them. But the papal interposition could not stay the butchering knife of religious and racial hate, and in many places the Jews were massacred, but particularly in Mayence and its vicinity. Incidentally I may mention that while the dancing was going on in its greatest fury the fearful text, “ Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live,” was powerfully insisted upon, and under its sanction vast numbers of aged and helpless women were burnt to death. The religious fanatic murdered the Jews, and danced his maniac break-down in the glare of the fire, whose hiss and roar mingled with the shriek of agony of women perishing at the stake. So much for the benign influence of the heavenly father’s Holy Word in securing the peace, happiness, and welfare among his children upon earth. So much for the amusement the host of heaven must have got out of the farcical follies of the poor puppets that butchered and burned and danced for the love of God. And heaven’s amusement at earth’s follies is not by any means over. From the human aspect, these celestial amusements must ever be dashed and mingled with tragedy and pain. But with the non- or super-human it may be different. Stab­ bing Jews, burning women, and dancing maniacal break­ downs may in the past have been a source of much satisfaction to the God who “made all things for his own glory.” But man has simply changed the manner, not the matter, of his insanity. God is now “glorified” by seeing hundreds die of destitution, and tens of thousands taking to prostitution to escape destitution, while in the world there is enough and to spare for all. We are told in the Psalms that “he that in heaven sits shall laugh,” and we predicate that he will burst into the thunderous roar of a divine guffaw when he sees the Mahdi and his flamens pitting themselves in a praying match against �THE DANCERS, SHAKERS. AND JUMPERS. II Canterbury and York and Little Bethel, while, in the debateable ground between, the bayonets of the Staf­ fordshire regiment rasp against the spears of the Baggara Arab. And Canterbury’s prayers to the value of ^15,000, and York’s prayers to the value of /io,ooo, are impotent against a dusky savage clothed in a hand­ kerchief round his loins. Gordon lies dead in the dust of Khartoum, Earle is shot, Stewart expires in fever and agony, and Burnaby gasps out his life in the rift of the broken square. O England of the nineteenth, laugh not at Germany of the fourteenth century. You dance not, it is true ; but you are quite as ludicrously interesting to any intel­ ligence that is sane. Will mankind in the future never evolve to a level in which they will turn back the pages of history till this hour, and laugh at the record of your Black Army at home and your Red Army abroad—at the old State comedy of the Black-Beetle praying for the Red Herring ? Gradually the fury of the outbreak of 1374 died away. But, about forty years later, the mania again burst out with fever heat, its centre this time not being Aix-la-Chapelle, but Strasbourg. There was one strongly-marked point of difference between this and the preceding outbreak. As we have seen, the Dancers of 1374 were fiercely hostile to the clergy and the officers of the Church. Not so the Strasbourg Dancers. Instead of the monks having to run for their lives, they established themselves in the local religious buildings, and said masses for the Dancers. The saltationists themselves were grateful for the masses, and were seized with what was a source of profit to the Church—a faith in the efficacy of shrine cures. The patron-saints of the Dancers were St. John the Baptist and St. Vitus. St. John was connected with dancing through the dancing of the daughter of Herodias costing him his head, which at her request was cut off and laid upon a plate; but how St. Vitus came to be connected with dancing has never been satisfactorily accounted for. St. Vitus was a young Sicilian who suffered martyrdom by decapitation, under Diocletian in 303. His church and that of the Baptist were the two �12 THE DANCERS, SHAKERS, AND JUMPERS. churches in the greatest vogue among the Dancers, and in each of them many miraculous cures were said to have been effected. In consequence, a certain malady which is unfortunately too well known goes under the name of “ St. Vitus’ Dance.” How far an exceptional prevalence of this affliction (chorea Sancti Viti) was at the root of the Dancing Mania is a legitimate subject for historical and pathological investigation. It is well known that fear or terror is conducive to this disease, and ever-recurring war, plague, and pestilence, and the preternatural awe superinduced by religion, may have predisposed the then ■inhabitants of Europe to this frightful malady. Worms in the alimentary canal have also been set down as a source of St. Vitus’ Dance, and the unwholesome food then partaken of would be sufficient to account for the presence of intestinal worms. The disease is also accelerated by the repulsion or drying up of cutaneous eruptions, and the festering and unhealthy state of the skin of mediaeval Europe is notorious. These few facts enumerated, added to an intense religious fanaticism and fear, may in themselves be sufficient to account for the phenomenon of the Dancing Mania. “ Dancing for Godsake is over long ago, and why do you bother with it ?” queries the historical sciolist. I reply : “ Dancing for Godsake is not over long ago ; we have still among us on this terrene ball the Shakers and the Jumpers, lineal descendants of the Dancers’ spas­ modical fanaticism.” Devotion is not a matter of the head; so let it go to the other somatic extremity, and be a matter of the heels. It might be amusing to behold a mutilated Jumper worship the Eord with two wooden legs; but I have been in Spurgeon’s Tabernacle and seen the Lord worshipped with more than a thousand wooden heads, and that, to me, is quite as amusing. It matters very little to the blockhead—and I should say it matters still less to the blockhead’s god—whether the blockhead worship with the upper end of him that is covered with felt or the lower end of him which is covered with ben leather. Moreover, worship from either end or both is good enough for any god I have yet heard of. Instead of drawling and praying with my felt end, I should prefer dancing with my ben leather end, espe­ �THE DANCERS, SHAKERS, AND JUMPERS. 13 cially if my partner in the waltzing worship were Miss Araminta Jones. Readers of ecclesiastical history are, of course, ac­ quainted with the Camisars, or French prophets, a sect that originated at Dauphine in r688. No previous dancers were ever madder than they. They might have danced their jig much longer, but that they heard the voice of divine inspiration bid them take up arms against the State. The voice of inspiration got them on the ice, but did not trouble to get them off it: they came into collision with the king's troops, and were overpowered and mercilessly put to the sword. The mere handful that escaped sought refuge in this country, which they reached in 1706. They found England could produce fools not inferior to those of France, and they made converts, the principal of whom was a gentleman of the name of Lacy, Sir Richard Bulkely, and Dr. Emms. This Dr. Emms was an unfortunate proselyte. He died December 22nd, 1707, and, alas for the Camisars, they had staked their reputation as a sect that the learned Doctor would come to life and walk out of his grave on May 25th in the same year. During the time between December and May, with the faithful and with the sceptic alike, the ex­ pectancy and excitement were intense. On May 25th guards were placed at the grave to see that Dr. Emms got through his resurrection properly. Loudly the faithful invoked Dr. Emms to get up; but Dr. Emms would do no such thing ; and, strange to say, he has not got up even till the present hour. This refusal on the part of Dr. Emms to leave his grave got the sect pretty well jibed out of existence. ' And if, on a certain occasion, a guard as wide-awake had been set to watch a certain grave in Jerusalem, a certain party, who, of course, got up, would have refused to rise, and this Christian super­ stition, which has cost humanity rivers of tears and oceans of human blood, would, at its very inception, have been wiped off the face of the earth. The Camisars had received their death-blow ; but, as they ascended, their mantle fell upon a section of the Quakers, and Shakerism was the result—a kind of thing produced by tying Dr. Emms and William Penn together by the coat-tails. The founders of the Shakers were �14 THE DANCERS, SHAKERS, AND JUMPERS. James Wardley, a tailor, and Jane, his wife. It was at Bolton, in 1747, that Wardley recognised that his awful mission included not only the making of men’s pantaloons, but the saving of their souls. Flashing through between the goose and the scissors were portent, miracle, vision, and revelation, and he left alone the stitching of waistcoats and basted himself on to the Lord and him crucified. But an ordinary orthodox Lord, sitting at the right hand of a thing with no right hand, or left one either, was too stale for this mighty one, who threw down the needle of the snip and took up the sword of the spirit. True, this Son was sitting at the dexter fist of this Father of the same age as himself; but, according to tailor Wardley and his wife Jane, Jesus was sitting in heaven quite uneasily, just as a person does who sits down accidentally upon an ant-hill. In fact, according to Wardley, Jesus was busily preparing to take a fly down to earth, even as a cock takes a fly down from his perch in the morning. In other words, Wardley proclaimed the immediate Second Coming of Christ and the advent of the Millennium. The sword of the spirit, in the puissant hand of this tailor, clove asunder the joints and marrow of a good many. They hailed him of the lap-board as a special prophet of God, and stood with their hand shading their eyes, looking up into the clouds for the advent of Jesus. But Jesus had something better to do than to come fluttering down heels over head from heaven to please Wardley and his idiots. The carpenter of Nazareth refused to oblige the tailor of Bolton. But, if Jesus would not come, he must just leave it alone. Wardley and his followers were not to be dismayed by a trifle of that kind, and they went on with their Shakerism. “ Sometimes,” we are told, “ after assembling together and sitting a while in silent meditation, they were taken with a mighty trembling, under which they would express the indignation of God against all sin. At other times they were affected, under the power of God, with a mighty shaking; and they were occasionally exercised in singing, shouting, or walking the floor under the influence of spiritual signs, swiftly passing and re­ passing each other, like clouds agitated by a mighty �THE DANCERS, SHAKERS, AND JUMPERS. 15 wind.” Their enemies called them Shakers in derision ; but they did not object to the epithet, and accepted of it as an appropriate one. The rather awkward delay of the Lord in his Second Coming, and, in place of the Millennium, the fact that men were cutting each other’s throats as usual, did not tend to augment the influence of Shakerism. But, in 1770, although the Lord did not come, the Lady did, in the shape of Anne Lee, of Manchester. This glorious Anne, the morning-star of the Shakers, was the daughter of John Lee, a blacksmith, and the wife of Abraham Stanley, another blacksmith. She at once leapt into the position of the recognised leader of the sect. To her were applied the titles of the “Elect Lady” and the “ Mother of the Electand, whether she was actually the Mother of the Elect or not, it was gravely whispered that she was the mother of one or two that she had no business to be the mother to. But far be it from me to dim the auriole on the resplendent brow of a she-saint. To those who had the presumption to address her as Anne Lee she drew herself up to her most holy height, and remarked, by way of correction : “ I am Anne the Word.” Some persons there were who hinted that “ I am Anne the Harlot” would have been a good deal nearer the mark; but, of course, it is very wrong for carnally-minded people to take note of the peccadilloes of saints. “ Anne the Word,” she-blacksmith and Aoyos, was in constant communication with the kingdom of heaven and the other kingdom; and, like the apostles on the day of Pentecost, she spake with tongues. She was a good deal addicted to gin, and it was, possibly, when under the influence of this spirit that her gift of tongues was most miraculous. I myself vouch that I have seen gin, and whiskey too, for that part of it, inspire a number of old women with a remarkable gift of tongues—one that would have put the Pentecostal babblement com­ pletely in the shade. But, tongues or not tongues, “ Anne the Word ” first got into prison for blasphemy, and next into a madhouse as a lunatic ; and thus to the holiness of saintship she was enabled to add the glory of martyrdom. It has �16 THE DANCERS, SHAKERS, AND JUMPERS. often occurred to me that a lunatic asylum, rather than a cross, would have been the fitting haven for a certain predecessor of “Anne the Word;” but I will allow Pontius Pilate and the rest of them to know their own business. She who was “ the first spiritual parent in the line of the Covenant” died in 1784 and went to Jesus, having waited in vain for Jesus to come to her flopping down through the clouds, with the voice of the arch­ angel and a holy tin whistle. So much for Shakerism and the kind of persons that are capable of founding a new religion. Price Twopence. Every Thursday. THE SECULAR REVIEW: A JOURNAL OF AGNOSTICISM. EDITED BY SALADIN. Order of your Newsagent, or send direct to the Publishers—W. Stewart & Co., 41, Farringdon Street, London, E.C. RECENT PAMPHLETS. A Reply to Cardinal Manning, by Saladin ... ... o 1 The Crusades, by Saladin ... ... ... o 1 The Covenanters, by Saladin ... ... ... 01 Christian Persecution, by Saladin ... ... ... O I The Flagellants, by Saladin ... ... ... o 1 The Iconoclasts, by Saladin ... ... ... o I The Inquisition, Part I., by Saladin ... ... 01 The Inquisition, Part II., by Saladin ... ... 01 The Dancers, Shakers, and Jumpers, Part I., by Saladin o 1 The Dancers, Shakers, and Jumpers, Part II., by Saladin o 1 The Persecution of the Jews, Part I., by Saladin ... 01 The Persecution of the Jews, Part II., by Saladin ... o I London: W. Stewart & Co., 41, Farringdon Street, E.C. � https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/514f7dab74de315947325bc189294b29.pdf?Expires=1780531200&Signature=Y21iweLAAnaBzsQTgdrjEgWyx8VJFajOUCh9bBP3rHIGpwGbOcllDSdJXnafid73ZAarzlR5AqD%7EPRKCvzbqvu4Z7gQu0UFaFRNPiJvdsy6ukIHOhsHCYVDnhL4EVP%7ErdkF8G5EWQi337K2Dj7ftzTRdErliCzr%7ERUIVARnSVQrPY4vBPBnirl3HBktNI2oOrwwg86wNbKhU4xWVMhR8R4T47NDFbMnfXEQtbKAu%7EwRj2wIj4pgJZh4CsaEZ0GPZ5tOCyj00CtzWbA7scbqm03wKn03FAWu%7E08OA6pZzPvEJZAMVmiFT1-9l76TfzCvytAB1G9IJAPB2QpqsE3OZyg__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 0741b415dc9d3bcb40b2a2d802f2b39d PDF Text Text NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY THE DANCERS, SHAKERS, AND JUMPERS. PART II, BY SALADIN. [reprinted from “the secular review.”] London : W. STEWART & Co., 41, FARRINGDON St., E.C. �1 �S?2- THE DANCERS, SHAKERS, AND JUMPERS. PART II. The best jumping for Godsake that modern times has produced has been found among the mountains of Wales. The Welsh Calvinistic Methodists, about the year 1760, became so elated anent their prospects of being taken into Abraham’s bosom, or Sarah’s, that they adopted the practice of “jumping, accompanied by loud exclamations of praise, during the solemnisation of public worship.” From their adoption of this practice, the Welsh Methodists earned and bore the soubriquet of Jumpers. He who jumped highest and screeched most frantically was, of course, he upon whom the “ holy spirit ” had been most liberally poured. What a saintly Taffy he must have been who could utter a roof-rending yell and leap over the head of his Beetle, cracking his heels together in the air as he did so 1 Welsh Jumperism was jumping on its last legs when a sudden and unexpected accession to the power and lon­ gevity of Jumperism appeared in the person of Mary Ann Girling. This saint and hierarch belongs to the same class and has shared the same educational advantages as did her predecessor, “Ann the Word.” It is now about a quarter of a century since Mary Ann ran away from her lawful husband, Girling, and committed sanctified bigamy with the person who had his feet wiped with Mary Magdalene’s hair. Mary Ann does not now know where her lawful husband is ; she does not even know whether he is dead or alive. One of her sons by this husband, a devout yokel of about �4 THE DANCERS, SHAKERS, AND JUMPERS. thirty, still hangs on by the holy petticoats of his mamma ; and how many sons and daughter^ she has borne to her second husband, the Lord, I know not; for the Girlingite Jumpers are a queer community, who have all things in common. Numbers of the younger saints are sceptics as to who was their mamma, and are absolute agnostics as to who was their daddy; but I have my doubts as to whether Mary Ann Girling’s second husband, J. Christ, formerly of Bethlehem, is daddy to any of them. Mary Ann Girling is believed by herself and her followers to be the bride of Christ; and it is further believed that she will never die, but that Christ will come down from heaven for her with considerable fuss and take her up to live with him on his seat at his father’s right hand. How the father will get along with his astonishing daughter-in-law I will not presume to conjecture. If Christ really does mean to come and take Girling’s runaway wife home to his celestial lodgings, I should venture to suggest that he lose no time in doing so. It is a shame to keep the affianced bride of a personage so illustrious living under the wet and flapping canvas of a tent in the New Forest, while in his father’s house there are so many mansions. I have thirteen of the letters of Lady Christ before me on the table as I write, all written with her own heavenly hand and spelt with her own heavenly spelling; and the burden of them all is that she is “ The Lamb’s Wife,” and that she is mortally hard up for a five-pound note. I do not think it is right of the Lamb—he must be an obdurate old tup—to keep his wife in such a state of illiteracy and indigence. A specimen of the thirteen letters I will quote before I have done with this subject, and I will not presume to alter a single orthographical mannerism in the epistles of a lady so distinguished as “ the Lamb’s Wife,” but give them “just as they are without one plea.” One reason why I should urge upon “the Lamb ” that he pull the briars out of his wool, polish up his incipient horns, flourish his tail, and frisk down to Tiptoe, Hordle, for his bride, is that brides, at her time of life, do not improve in appearance. For all marital �THE DANCERS, SHAKERS, AND JUMPERS. 5 purposes, the Lamb’s Mary Ann is already a tough morsel, and a few years more at Tiptoe, Hordle, is likely to make her tougher still. Even so, Lord Jesus ; come quickly. The nearest railway station is Lymington. If you have your angelic wings, you may use them ; if not, being a Lamb, you can come by cattle-truck for next to nothing. The Girlingite Jumpers jumped with more or less . success at Walworth and elsewhere before they finally settled down at Hordle, in the New Forest. Their welcome to Hordle by the inhabitants thereof was not by any means cordial, and it is doubtful if they would have been able to have settled down at all but for the protection afforded to them by one or two liberal-minded gentlemen of the neighbourhood, most conspicuous among whom was the Hon. Auberon Herbert, brother of the Earl of Carnarvon, and whose residence of Arnwood is in the vicinity of Lymington and Hordle. It must not be for a moment understood that Auberon Herbert had a particle of sympathy with the doctrines of Mrs. Girling and her following of ignorant enthu­ siasts; but it seemed to him unjust that, in a land teeming with unspeakable absurdities in the Black-Beetle line, the youngest and least-befriended of these absurdities should not have fair play. The following, which I reproduce from a small printed pamphlet, is the manifesto of the Girlingite Jumpers, and from it the reader will be able to discern the outlines of the creed which still holds together a number of devotees and puts in its claim among the thousands of religious sects which have each their band of adherents in the world of to-day :— The Close of the Dispensation. The Last Message to the Church and the World. Children, hear your Mother’s call— There was a time in the history o the world when God, the Great Spirit, took a woman’s body and formed out of her flesh and blood a male child. He grew up to manhood, and God, the great Father-and-Mother Spirit, dwelt in Him on earth. From His childhood he was acknowledged to be the Son of God, and He was also the son of woman ; so that he was both male and female, but �6 THE DANCERS, SHAKERS, AND JUMPERS. only the male form was seen. Yet he was God-father and God­ mother, or, in other words, Lord God. When He grew up to man’s estate He declared Himself to be the Father, plainly telling He was the Lord God dwelling among them. But they only saw Him as a man, with a few exceptions, and they were afraid to tell who he was for fear of the people ; for when He told them who He was they sought to destroy Him, because He said He was God ; which at last was accomplished, and they crucified that body which was made of a woman ; they could not crucify the Spirit, that not being a substance. After they had crucified His body God the Spirit raised it up again and glorified it by Himself, so it looked more beautiful than before. Then He revealed Himself to some who had seen Him crucified, and they recognised Him and knew that it was the same body which had been crucified, now glorified, and in His glorification see him both male and female, or, as declared, both Lord and God in one; but yet, only the shape of man was seen. After he had so clearly revealed himself unto many he took that same body up to heaven with him, exactly as it had been crucified and afterwards raised up by the Spirit. From the time he took that body into heaven until now he has only revealed himself to the people by his own spiritual presence and his power, as he had done before he took upon himself a body of flesh and blood ; or, at least, there have been but a few who have ever seen him. His body remained in heaven from the time he ascended until about twenty-three years ago, when the fulness of his time had come for the same Jesus, the God-father and the God-mother (which had remained both in one until then) to give out of himself the mother part of that which was once a body of flesh and blood and had been crucified. When he gave out of himself the God-mother life it was celestial, and was then called the Bride, the great city of light coming out of heaven from God ; and it was God come out from the Lord God. It was the celestial God-mother, Life, the female part, or the love life, that which once was woman life. This life was brilliantly adorned as a bride for her husband ; yet it had no form or substance, being only the celestial life, the God love, the female part. The male part retained his celestial and terrestrial body complete, even after he gave out of himself the life as a bride, but his celestial and terrestrial body were one. The celestial had changed the terrestrial into celestial before he gave out of himself the God­ mother life. Now, when the God love came as a bride she must have a terres­ trial body of flesh and blood, in woman’s form, so that she might be complete as God-mother in shape, as the male part was complete as God-father. It pleased the Lord God, called Jesus, the Father supreme, to take the body of the woman called by name Mary Ann Girling to be the terrestrial habitation for the celestial God-mother love life to dwell in, the same life that Jesus gave out of himself, and to make the terrestrial body of the woman the perfect form of his �7 THE DANCERS, SHAKERS, AND JUMPERS. bride. Her body contains the celestial life which came out of God from heaven. * * * * * Now, may I ask the whole human family, as my children, if they have any pleasure in my suffering for them any longer ? This may reach the whole world, and as each one lays it before God in prayer He will bear witness to it by giving each the divine evidence of its truth, even in their true and holy relationship with him, even he, the God-father and God-mother, known by name as Jesus First and Last (Mary Ann Girling). Tiptoe, Hordle, Near Lymington, Hants, 1883. Mary Ann Girling claims that she writes to the dictation of the Holy Spirit. If that be true, the Holy Ghost does not possess much of the literary faculty, and is not likely to distinguish himself as an author. Albeit, in the foregoing, somebody has helped the Ghost very con­ siderably with his spelling, as will be observed on com­ paring the manifesto with an autograph letter which will follow. What deep cavern in Tophet will awrait him who had the presumption to correct the spelling of Omni­ science ? And now I have to deal with the lady who signs herself “Jesus First and Last, Mary Ann Girling.” The vision­ ary phase of mental aberration which has originated all formulated religions is not extinct; and I make bold to say that no better type of the founder of a religious sect could be found in the whole range of history than the seer of visions and dreamer of dreams who writes her puerile rhapsodies from Tiptoe, Hordle, which, if Mrs. Girling had only lived a few centuries earlier, instead of being a hamlet that nobody has ever heard of, would have been one of history’s hierarchical centres, like Jerusalem, Mecca, or Benares. The handwriting of Mrs. Girling (we have thirteen of her autograph letters before us) is exactly of the order of that of the Cat-and-Ladleites who, when I first began to lay my hand upon the helm of this journalistic Argosy, were wont to write to me to give me gratuitous instruc­ tions as to how to edit, and who used to emphasise their advice by the minatory clause that they would cease to subscribe if I did not follow their directions. In short, the handwriting of Mrs. Girling, the female part of �8 THE DANCERS, SHAKERS, AND JUMPERS. Jehovah Nissi, is the handwriting of Sarah the maid­ servant ; and, as all the world knows, the handwriting of Sarah the maid-servant is that of a drunken spider who has tumbled into the ink and staggered across the foolscap, leaving his awful cryptographs behind him. If Mrs. Girling be really “ the female part of God,” as she asserts—and with quite as much warranty as the carpenter of Nazareth asserted that he was the son of God—-bad handwriting may possibly run in the whole family of Father, Son, Ghost, and Girling. For I have observed that handwriting frequently does run in families, all the members of the family of Muggeridge, for instance, writing well, and all the family of Higgins writing execrably. The spelling of the female part of God is most accursed. But, as I subjoin a specimen, I will allow her orthography to speak for itself. Some may ask why I give such raving rubbish at all. Let me assure such that there is much wisdom in giving it. Tame and turgid though it be, inane and insane though it appear, the epistolary correspondence of Female-part-of-God-Girling is of deep significance to the psychological student, and to him who is prepared to follow up the stream of Devo­ tion till he find its inevitable source between the moun­ tain peaks of Ignorance and Insanity. I am well aware that I may be branded as sacrilegious and irreverent when I state, as a mere psychological fact quite remote from prejudice or bias, that Jesus Christ himself belonged to precisely the same mental and moral type as does Mrs. Girling. He shared with her the same generous hullucinations, the same kind of irascible amia­ bility, and the same kind of crass ignorance which rushes forward to dogmatise and assert where knowledge pauses to speculate and wonder. It is a far cry chronologically, but certainly not ethnologically, between the seamless garment of Jesus and the homely drugget of Girling— between the haddock-fishers of Galilee and the rustics of Tiptoe, Hordle; yet they are linked together by an un­ broken chain of moral sympathy, an inexorable destiny. Distance lends enchantment to the view, and Judea sounds more sacred than Hampshire ; but which of them is the more sacred, if we could take away alike the halo �THE DANCERS, SHAKERS, AND JUMPERS. 9 of legend and romance from the tangled vines of the one and the turnip-fields of the other? I have never seen anything to lead me to infer that Jesus was not as ignorant as Girling; and, if I could get hold of his real letters (not his forged letter to Abgarus), assuming that he could write at all, I question whether he would be found to spell one whit better than Girling does. He lived in an age of Ignorance; she lives in an age of comparative Intelligence. The flash of his fanatical enthusiasm set fire to the dry tinder of surrounding credu­ lity ; the blaze of her religious phrenzy fails to ignite the damp brushwood of environing scepticism. Each has to suffer according to the form and fashion of the time in which they live—Girling is neglected; Christwas crucified. Say you : “ But Jesus was of a higher type of intelli­ gence than Girling.” I ask you to produce your evidence to support your allegation. Christ, as we know him, is only what his biographers make] of him. In the first three gospels he is simply a well-meaning but uneducated preaching mechanic; in the Fourth Gospel he developes into a mystical Logos, a metaphysical shadow flung upon the curtain of Neo-Platonism. Let the tiara of royalty, the sceptre of empire, and the wealth and erudition take Girling by the hand as they ultimately took Jesus, and her voice will yet shake the welkin and her petticoat over­ shadow the world. The original Jesus of the first three Gospels has long been lost sight of. Like the victim in ancient story, out of compliment, his warriors have flung their shields upon him till they have crushed him to death. Scholarship has heaped her mountain of dry bones upon the poor Galilean, who was no scholar ; and preachers and commentators in thousands have woven their esoterics and their subtleties round the name and over the few recorded sayings of the simple-minded son of Mary. Make it the interest of some Constantine and some St. Augustine to do for Girling what they did for Jesus, and see what Girlingism would be under the purple of empire and the cowl of monasticism. If it were the interests of even a single scholar, of the type of our own Julian, to write learned notes and commentaries on these illiterate effusions of Girling, and some bene­ volent admirer were found who would build a Beetle �IO 'THE DANCERS, SHAKERS, AND JUMPERS. house and salary a Beetle, heaven only knows how or when Girlingism would end. For some other learned pundit would write to controvert Julian, and another would write to reconcile the doctrines held respectively by Julian and his opponent, and others in dozens, especially if it paid as Christianity did, would rush into the polemical conflict with all the thousand side-lights and cross-fires of controversy. Meanwhile a few martyrs for the isms insisted upon by certain of the leading dispu­ tants would perish at the stake, and a hundred Secular Reviews toiling for a hundred years would not rid the world of Girlingism. Poor Jesus would simply open wide his dark lustrous eyes and let fall his jaw in dumbfoundered astonishment at the subtlety and learning of Augustine and Tertullian alone, never to speak of the thousands of philosophers and divines who have explained that which needed no explanation till it required ten thousand explanations to explain the explanation. This is the way religious systems are built up. Jesus would do for the centre of one, so would Girling; and, if properly manipulated, a good broom-stick would do nearly as well as either. Here is a letter, verbatim et literatim, from the Holy Ghost through his amanuensis, Mary Ann :— tiptoe Hordle near Lymington Hants. Son beloved of the Lord As you so kindly ofered to send the Lord £$. o. o the Lord direct me to ask you if you have forgot to send it tohim as God your Holy farther always expect when any thing is Promised to him that his beloved children meen what they say Or have you changed your mind and think as many do that it zj better to use {Gods) silver and Gold to build Temples of stone and Bricks and morter that can never returne the gratitude to him. for they cannot ether see or hear or feel and yet thousands are expended upon them dayly while the true and liveing Temples of God are left to suffer the want of the common nesessaries of human Life I writ this in Obedence to the true and holy spirit of god the great farther of you all trusting the love of Honesty of hart towards him whom you look for so goyfully will lead you to answer it. for I love him to dearly to see him dishonerd by any meens that can be Prevented and thinking it forgitfulness on your part in the Multitude of thoughts and Business Yours most respectfully Mary An Girling �THE DANCERS, SHAKERS, AND JUMPERS. II The Lord formerly had Mary, and “ the other Mary,” and ever so many other Maries, one of whom was orna­ mented in the inside with seven devils, and now he has got “Ann the Word” and Mary An Girling. This last “ An,” who is too frugal to waste two ris on her name, is wonderfully useful to the Lord in looking after his petty cash, as will be seen from the above epistle. It is apparently no joke to owe the Lord ^5 when he commits the collecting of it into the hands of An of Tiptoe, Hordle. There are thirteen fearfully-written and terriblyspelt letters before me, and they are all about gentle Jesus and this irrepressible ^5. The “ Holy farther ” must be in rather low water when he is permitting his female part, An, to kick up such a fuss about the sum of ^5. Perhaps he is hard up for some new pen-feathers for his left wing, or a good kid glove for his right hand at which his son sits in such glory, with a halo or hoop round his head. I hope my Secular friend, to whose courtesy I am indebted for the sight of the letters, sent on the money. It grieves me to think of a penniless and destitute God trudging about “ the sweet fields of Eden ” with dilapidated boots, and his stockings not neighbours, and advising his female part, An, to say, in the deep pathos of indigent sim­ plicity : “ The Lord direct me to ask you if you have forgot to send it to him.” The Omniscient does not know whether the debtor has forgotten to pay, and wants to know. Application is made to An to illumine the ignorance of Omniscience. An does not say how she is going to remit the money to her poor destitute deity. Is there any ready way of sending a crossed cheque from Tiptoe, Hordle, to Heaven ? Possibly An herself may spend it in “ this poor perishing world,” and, somehow or other, account for it to the “ Holy farther ” when she goes aloft and joins the “souls of just men made perfect” and the sanctified beasts of the Apocalypse. “ He who giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord,” so possibly what is gin for An may be gelt for Jehovah ; and no man knoweth what glory awaits you in heaven if here on earth you have given the poor a shilling to get drunk with. I have paid in poor rates many a pound I could ill spare, and �12 THE DANCERS, SHAKERS, AND JUMPERS. have thereby lent to the Lord. He will have a tidy account to settle with me some day; but I understand from the parson that the Lord has also some entries against me, which it may be a trifle difficult for me to square up, and which may occasion some dispute as to the climate of my everlasting lodgings. Meantime the painfully-impressive words, “ The Lord direct me to ask you if you have forgot to send it to him,” thrills the tenderest chord of my sympathy. I must sell some back numbers of the Secular Review, and send the proceeds at once to An of Tiptoe, Hordle, with an urgent request that it may be immediately forwarded to the kingdom of heaven. Is impecunious and destitute Deity wandering about in the New Jerusalem with ragged pants, that hardly cover his hurdies, that he advises so urgently the collection of ^5 by his glorious Mary An of Tiptoe, Hordle ? One of these days he may present himself at the door of the Lambeth Workhouse, and, when asked who he is, may reply: “ I was your God till yesterday ; but I am insolvent and ruined. I had outstanding debts to the amount of ^5, and I entrusted the collection of the same to my friend, Mary An, and she cannot get a stiver.” We shall never thoroughly realise the significance ot allowing things to come to such a pass till, some morning, the earth stands stock-still, God no longer being in heaven to keep it birling round with unremitting kicks from his great toe. The following account of his visit to Mrs. Girling has been communicated to me by my friend Virtus :— “ As you are dealing with religious dancing manias in your ‘ At Random ’ notes, I may as well give you a short account of what I saw and heard at the Shaker’s camp at Hordle, near Lymington, in the New Forest, some seven or eight years ago. “ I may first mention that, although of late not much has been heard of Mother Girling and her followers, yet some few years back they were occasionally brought prominently into public notice by their reverses and other circumstances. The wolves, profiting by. a State-paid system of absurdities and superstitions, not really less �THE DANCERS, SHAKERS, AND JUMPERS. IJ contemptible, being jealous of the attractions offered by these poor Shakers, did all they could to remove the rivals by taking petty legal proceedings against them. “ It was while on an autumn visit with friends at Brockenhurst that my host there kindly proposed that his son should drive me over to the Shakers’ camp on a Sunday morning—a distance of six miles. Nearing the place, we passed little parties, chiefly women, who were also on their way to the Hordle camp for morning worship, with whom my young friend and jarvey wag cracked some very queer jokes, which were evidently appreciated, and no less readily than rudely parried. All this was, of course, without my approval. “ Our journey was completed in about half an hour, and I found within an enclosure adjoining the high road a few slight erections, conspicuous among which was the chapel. This was a wooden structure, but well propor­ tioned and well constructed, and capable perhaps of seating about 150 persons. At the further end was a gallery or platform, reached by two little flights of stairs. This was already well filled by about forty men, women, and children, members of the camp, all looking clean and decently dressed. Sitting together, with a very small harmonium in their midst, were some fresh-coloured and rather good-looking young women and several mensingers, the latter being of ages from about thirty to forty-five. I was particularly struck with the apparently intelligent expression of some of these men’s faces. I had been told that a gentleman of the Isle of Wight—a person of means—had recently joined the community, leaving his wife and children behind him. The gallery, then, was devoted to the members of the camp, the body of the room to outside members and other worshippers. Moveable seats, with railed backs, were placed upon the floor, with a middle passage-way, and with space enough in front of the stage for dancing, etc. We had not long taken our places with the congregation of simple country people assembled when proceedings commenced. The general form of the service was much the same as that usually followed at other conventicles. The singing— very rude and primitive—was still far superior to similar performances that I have many times heard at Methodist �14 THE DANCERS, SHAKERS, AND JUMPERS. and other country Bethels—less split-throat and excru­ ciating. The first hymn over, one of the men came to the front and addressed a prayer to the Deity, presumed to be present, in a most familiar fashion and in execrable English. “ But now another hymn, and Mother Girling steps forward and gives out a text. During a rigmarole, ex­ tending over three quarters of an hour, not the slightest reference is made to the text. The whole thing is a miserable effort to string together doggerel rhymes. If the nonsense could be said to mean anything at all, it amounted to this : ‘ We only are God’s people; yield to my warnings and be saved, doubt and go to hell.’ To say that I never heard anything so stupidly absurd, rambling, and nonsensical would perhaps be saying too much, remembering what I have heard during my time from country Methodist locals. But, after about ten minutes of this, the prophetess descended into the space below, being carefully assisted by the man who had prayed. She now appeared to be in a mesmerised state, with her eyes closed. She groped her way slowly up the narrow passage, turned into the opening in which my friends and I sat, and stood for a considerable time, with her petticoats so close to my knees to be anything but agreeable. She had evidently ‘ spotted ’ us, and hoped to make some impression, probably having a thought of our pockets. But Mrs. Girling had found her way back to the platform, rhyming all the while, when one of the girls appeared to have fallen into a kind of swoon, setting up a most unearthly and unmusical howl as she attempted to sing. Now, Mrs. Girling interprets the gutteral and inarticulate sounds of the girl. This is interrupted by another of the girls descending the stairs and commencing to dance. A little old woman—an outsider—springs forward, and, hugging the girl, joins in the dance. This produces a most ridiculous and laugh­ able effect j but it is not long continued before one of the men descends and enters upon an extravagantly vigorous performance. In an open letter to Mr. S. Morley, M.P., which appeared in the Secular Review of December 20th last, I have alluded to this dance as a hornpipe; but it was really a simple hob-nail dance, consisting of one �THE DANCERS, SHAKERS, AND JUMPERS. 15 figure only, a bang of the left foot followed by a double­ stroke with the right-heel and flat-foot. During this rough and noisy feat a sympathetic rustic near me said: ‘I’ve a know’den peep et op ber dree quarters of a hower.’ This performance and the orthodox singing and prayer brought up the close. The dancing did not surprise me so much, as I understood in my early days the diversion was more or less commonly practised by the Ranters in my native county of Somersetshire. Having to drive over six miles of very rough road to our dinner, I was unable to seek any conversation either with Mother Girling or any of her followers, which I much regretted. She is a tall, spare woman, well up in years, but looking (she was at that time) much younger at a distance, having plenty of black hair, and this worn over the neck at the back, and confined by neither bonnet nor cap. How the camp is maintained I am unable to say; but I presume that they are principally supported by soft people, and, possibly, to an extent that we should think scarcely credible; for what craze does not find adherents ? Of the private and domestic rela­ tions of the persons forming the camp I, of course, cannot speak, except that they are said to disavow any distinction of sex. There is neither male nor female in Jesus Christ. I ought to mention that during the summer months the village and camp are enlivened by parties coming from far and near in waggonettes and vehicles of almost every kind, and that during this more cheering season the doings at the services are of a more vigorous character.” And so goes round the whirligig of the world. If Virtus had lived some eighteen centuries ago, and had visited Christ at Capernaum instead of Girling at Hordle, and had furnished a descriptive account like the fore­ going, his would have been the guerdon of immortal renown; the auriole of the saint would have blazed round his head; canonised, if not, indeed, apotheosised, millions of tongues would have invoked his name for his intercessory help in their appeals to God; cathedrals would be dedicated to his glory, and myriads of candles would light up the splendour upon the thousand altars consecrated to St. Minson of Tooting. �16 THE DANCERS, SHAKERS, AND JUMPERS. But far otherwise is the fate of our single-hearted friend and his descriptive record. He went out into the wilder­ ness to see a reed shaken with the wind. He saw “Jesus First and Last, Mary Ann Girling;” but the day of Jesuses is over : the old ones are dying, and the new ones meet with neglect and derision. And the record of Virtus simply reads like an account of a visit to a crazy woman, instead of sounding like the rattle of sacred thunder which should herald the epiphany of God. Saints forfend that religion proper should ever die; but it will flourish all the more majestically and sublimely when theology and sacerdotalism are no more; when, in all civilised lands, the religious dogmas and religious cere­ monials of the past can be learnt only from volumes of anti­ quarian lore, and by peering under the glass cases in historical museums. Some antiquary may yet, in daring metaphor, describe the religious section of his museum as the umbilical cord of the world in utero. Price Twopence. Every Thursday. THE SECULAR REVIEW: A JOURNAL OF AGNOSTICISM. EDITED BY SALADIN. Order of your Newsagent, or send direct to the Publishers—W. Stewart & Co., 41, Farringdon Street, London, E.C. RECENT PAMPHLETS. A Reply to Cardinal Manning, by Saladin ... ... 01 The Crusades, by Saladin ... ... ... 01 The Covenanters, by Saladin ... ... ... 01 Christian Persecution^ by Saladin ... ... ... 01 The Flagellants, by Saladin ... ... ... 01 The Iconoclasts, by Saladin ... ... ... 01 The Inquisition, Part I., by Saladin ... ... o I The Inquisition, Part II., by Saladin ... ... o 1 The Dancers, Shakers, and Jumpers, Part I., by Saladin o 1 The Dancers, Shakers, and Jumpers, Part II., by Saladin o 1 The Persecution of the Jews, Part I., by Saladin ... o I The Persecution of the Jews, Part IL, by Saladin ... o I London : W. Stewart & Co., 41, Farringdon Street, E.C. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Pamphlet Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The dancers, shakers, and jumpers, by Saladin Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ross, William Stewart [1844-1906] Description An account of the resource Place of publication: London Collation: 2 v. ; 17 cm. Notes: Reprinted from the Secular Review. "By Saladin"[title page], the pseudonym of William Stewart Ross. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available W. Stewart & Co. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource [n.d.] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context N581 N582 Subject The topic of the resource Religious practice Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (The dancers, shakers, and jumpers, by Saladin), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Dance Dance-Religious Aspects NSS Shakers