USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Shirley > History of the town of Shirley, Massachusetts, from its early settlement to A.D. 1882 > Part 19
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Mr. Whitney had a large family* and always labored for a small salary ; yet by care and economy he secured for his children a good education, and at the time of his death was in possession of an estate of considerable value. The permanency of the relation between pastor and people, in his time, greatly facilitated the means of a comfortable livelihood to those who entered the sacred calling. When once settled in a town they supposed that they had found a home ; and immediately proceeded to purchase real estate, to erect buildings, if these were needed, and to supply themselves with the permanent temporal comforts of life.
*See Genealogical Register, Part III of this History.
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The changes that have become the order of later times are no less prejudicial to the spiritual interests of the people than to the temporal interests of ministers. Of late years it is almost impossible for a congregation to become acquainted with their religious teacher before some dis- affected individuals will advocate his removal; and to preserve the peace, if not the very existence of a society, it becomes necessary for him to be at the labor and expense of finding a new place and making new acquaintances. The prosperity of our parishes and the usefulness of our ministers require a return to the paths of our fathers, in regard to the permanency of their relations as people and pastor. This may be effected by the mutual exercise of the virtues of long-suffering and forbearance ; and when it shall be done Zion will again prosper, and religion will adorn her subjects with the beautiful garments of salvation.
Mr. Whitney held a respectable standing with the ministers in the vicinity of his labors. He was a class- mate and particular friend of Rev. Zabdiel Adams of Lunenburg, and preached his funeral sermon. He as- sisted at the ordination of several young men in his neigh- borhood and elsewhere, and during his entire life, although he assented to some important articles of the ancient stand- ards, was noted for the liberality of his feelings and intercourse with people of a different faith. He seemed rooted and grounded in the noble principles of Arminian Congregationalism, and felt that on these principles the church militant could be most securely established.
He gave the right-hand of fellowship to Dr. Chaplin of Groton, at his ordination, and to Rev. Mr. Bullard of Pepperell, at his ordination; and he made the prayer of consecration, at the ordination of Rev. Dr. Thayer of Lancaster. The following is a list of his printed works : -1788, a charge at the ordination of Mr. Whipple, in Alexandria ; 1800, sermon at the funeral of Rev. Zab- dial Adams of Lunenburg; 1801, a charge at the or- dination of Mr. Smily, at Springfield, Vt., and a sermon at the ordination of his son, at Hingham.
CHURCH FAMILY, "SHAKERS"-SHIRLEY, MASS., LOOKING NORTH.
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The Sunday following the interment of Mr. Whitney, Rev. Mr. Bullard of Pepperell preached in Shirley, from Zech. 1, 5 :- "Your fathers, where are they ? and the prophets, do they live forever?"
With the death of Mr. Whitney the civil and ecclesi- astical concerns of the town were separated, and the in- stitutions of religion have since been entirely supported by the voluntary contributions of individuals.
CHAPTER IV.
Shaker Society-Brief Sketch of the Origin, Progress and Faith of the Shakers in general-History of the Community in Shirley.
The ecclesiastical unity of the town was preserved down to the year 1781, when the first religious secession was effected through the agency of Ann Lee, the distin- guished preacher of Shakerism and founder of the sect commonly called Shakers. At this early date religious dissension-which has since been so much deplored in every section of this Commonwealth-began in Shirley, and has been carried to such extent that a self-sustaining religious body can scarcely be found in the town.
The new order was commenced with two families, who lived in the extreme south part of the town, and though an imposing establishment has grown out of this small beginning, it has never received large accessions from the immediate vicinity. It has now existed for a cen- tury, always sustaining a respectable position both in the number and character of its supporters.
As, however, it belongs to a communion that has not been sufficiently numerous to be well known, and yet suffi- ciently conspicuous to be "everywhere spoken against,"- the reader's attention is respectfully invited to a brief
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sketch of the origin, past history, and present standing of that peculiar people who have been variously denominated, United Friends, Shakers, and Shaking Quakers; but who denominate themselves "The United Society of Be- lievers."
Like most other sects of Christians, the Shakers claim close spiritual affinity with the apostles and primi- tive believers. They affirm that their mode of life is more in accordance with the teachings and practice of the early disciples than is that of any other branch of the visible church. With the primitive converts they repudiate war, slavery, and every social vice ; they abstain from immoral companions and associations, and "have all things in common." They do not invariably declare that the apos- tles directly taught or practised celibacy-the fundamental of their faith and practice-but they believe that the New Testament lays the foundation of an order of things that must eventually establish this custom, and make it binding on all who shall claim spiritual alliance with Christ, and be of the first resurrection .*
They reject, as unworthy, the great body of Chris- tians that lived after the Roman Empire was converted from idolatry, because that change connected the church with civil and political affairs, with which, they contend, it has no legitimate affinity. They unite all the great bodies of the protestant Reformation with the papists, as members of the kingdom of antichrist, because they have all perverted the true object of Christian profession, and have made religion subordinate to temporal purposes and hopes.
They believe that the elements of the doctrines they advocate appeared in the "ascetics of China, Persia and India," in "the sibyls and vestals of Rome," and in "the self-denying Essenes of India." They affirm that these elements appear more clearly in those ancient Christian sects that bore the heretical names of Marcionites, Mani- cheans, Bogomilians, and Catharists; and still more
*See Appendix U.
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clearly in those of a later date, styled Picards, Wal- denses, Albigenses, Anabaptists and Novatians-particu- larly because these heretics, unlike the predominating sects, considered Jesus Christ as a pattern of piety and virtue, and not the founder of a temporal hierarchy.
They entertain a still stronger feeling of regard for the early Methodists, and especially for the Quaker sect, established by George Fox, because the latter repudiate oaths, war, litigation, and various other customs for which no warrant can be found in the New Testament.
The Shakers do not claim identity of faith with any of the above-named sects of "persecuted heretics," but regard them as witnesses whom God has raised up, from age to age, to bear testimony against sin and the reign of antichrist; a testimony that has been made perfect in their faith. They date their own origin back no farther than the middle of the eighteenth century, when their new light shone upon the world through the following singular circumstances.
In the year 1688 a sect arose in France called "Prophets," because they believed themselves inspired by the Holy Ghost. They soon became very numerous, and by their extravagant conduct excited much attention and exposed themselves to much persecution. In their worship they trembled, staggered, and fell down and lay as though dead. They recovered, twitching, shaking, and crying to God for mercy for themselves and for all mankind. When they were quieted in their bodily agitations, they began to prophesy. The burden of their predictions was, "Amend your lives; repent ye; the end of all things draws nigh !" The hills resounded with their loud cries for mercy and imprecations against the priests, the church, the pope, and against the antichristian dominion, with prophecies of the approaching fall of popery. Much that they said was heard with reverence and awe.
In the year 1706 three or four of these prophets went over to London, and carried with them their prophetic spirit. This mission of the prophets was the forerunner of Shakerism. It was attended with much excitement for
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a time, without leaving any permanent convictions. At length the attention of two persons was arrested,-James Wordley and Jane, his wife, who had belonged to the sect of Quakers, and who resided in the town of Bolton. Other kindred spirits gathered around them, and they had social meetings and religious worship, somewhat in the style of their forerunners, "the Prophets," without the adoption of any systematic creed, or mode or time of worship.
They expressed the firm belief that they should soon receive new light from some source, and that from a small beginning God would raise up to himself a cloud of wit- nesses, through whom light would beam on a world sunken in iniquity and guilt. A people actuated by such a faith, and ever surrounded by opponents ready to scoff and persecute, must suffer much anxiety and trouble of spirit. They, however, maintained their faith and its accompanying burdens, for many years ; occasionally aug- menting their little communion with converts from the world. About the year 1770 their long expected help came, in the person of one of their own converts.
This remarkable person was Ann Lee, who had joined them with her parents, in 1758, and who, after a probation of twelve years, became their principal teacher and leader.
She had been previously married to one Abraham Stanley, who had joined the new communion with his wife ; but they now ignored the relations of husband and wife, and maintained that the time had come when the true witnesses could have no other family connections than those of brothers and sisters; that they could no longer "marry nor be given in marriage." By her talents and influence she greatly increased the number of believers, and was received and reverenced as the Mother, or spiritual parent in the line of the female, and the second heir in the covenant of life according to the present dis- play of the gospel. Hence she has ever been called by the believers Mother Ann.
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Her success could not remain long unobserved and unopposed by the people among whom her lot was cast, and she soon fell into the hands of mobocrats whose tender mercies were cruelty. When assembled with her friends on a certain day, in her father's house, for worship, the believers were beset by a tumultuous mob, at the head of which was the warden. The door was broken open, Ann Lee was seized and cast into prison. "The next morning she was taken from her dungeon and confined in Bedlam, or the mad-house, for several weeks, without any suste- nance except what was conveyed to her by putting the stem of a pipe through the key-hole of the prison door and pouring milk and other liquid substances into the bowl ;- this was done by one of the Believers .*
In the course of a few years such proved the harm- less character of the new sect that persecution was sus- pended, and the Believers were allowed to worship God without molestation ; still, like the Puritans in Holland, they wished for a larger field of operation, and to breathe the pure air of a legalized toleration. Accordingly, in 1774, "Mother Ann received a revelation directing her to repair to America ; also that the second Christian Church would be established in America ; that the Colonies would gain their independence; and that liberty of conscience would be secured to all people, whereby they would be able to worship God without hindrance."
Accordingly she, with eight of her followers, made preparations for their voyage, and embarked at Liverpool, May 19th, 1774, and arrived at New York on the 6th of the following August.
After two years of suffering, from sickness and poverty, the little colony was established in the woods of Watervliet, near Niskeyuna, about seven miles northwest from Albany, upon land which they had purchased for a permanent home.
The country was then involved in the war of the Revolution, but such was their retirement from the active
*See Appendix V.
32
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concerns of the world that they were enabled to enjoy their faith in peace, and by frugality and industry work their way to the reception and enjoyment of the temporal comforts of life.
As one of their number hath recorded, "Here they waited with patience God's appointed time for the opening of the testimony of that everlasting gospel for which they had already suffered so much, and which, above all other things, was nearest to their hearts. Here they occupied themselves in improving their new settlement and pro- viding for their comfortable subsistence; and here they held their solemn meetings and offered up their devotions to God full three years and a half, until the way was pre- pared for the commencement of their testimony to the world in the spring of the year 1780."
About this time there was a religious awakening at New Lebanon, a town situated some thirty miles from the settlement of Ann Lee, and some of the subjects of this revival visited the little family at Watervliet, and became interested in the Shaker doctrines and worship. Others followed in the same course, and the result was that many of the subjects of the recent revival became converts to the new faith.
After this Ann Lee, with her elders and friends, led a sort of missionary life, travelling in different states, and establishing societies of her faith wherever they could interest a sufficient number to give their testimony against "the root of human depravity," and unite their interests with the people of God. Among other places, the "Believers" held forth in Hancock, Tyringham, Harvard and Shirley in Massachusetts, and in Enfield in Connecti- cut, in all of which places proofs of their fidelity remain to this day,-if the establishment of flourishing societies can be regarded as a proof of fidelity.
Two years and three months were passed in this mis- sionary tour, when they returned to their beloved home at Watervliet, from which the "Mother" went out no more. She, however, received great numbers of inquirers during
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the following year, from different parts of the country where her testimony had been preached, whose minds she instructed and whose faith she established. But her own end approached. She died Sept. 8th, 1784, aged forty- eight years and six months. Her ministry was fourteen years. She was buried at Watervliet, and a humble stone, bearing the initials of her name, marks the spot where her remains lie interred. Her followers entertain no super- stitious regard for the place of her burial, believing that their departed friend is not there, but that she has arisen.
Very different accounts have been published, by friends and enemies, of the character of this remarkable woman. To say nothing about any superhuman properties with which her friends have invested her, they have inva- riably testified to her kind and conciliatory behavior, her chaste and abstemious life, her fortitude under suffering, her forbearing and forgiving spirit, and her peaceful and happy death. On the other hand, her enemies have charged her with an overbearing temper, a quarrelsome disposition, with a character as fretful as fanatical, and with habits of lewdness and adultery. There is but little doubt that her friends have marked her virtues with a partial eye; and, there is as little doubt that her enemies have made her the object of base scandal; for this has been the fate of all innovators upon time-worn creeds and customs, from the Savior down to the humblest of modern reformers.
Be it as it may, she must have been possessed of both genius and tact to have interested such large bodies of followers, to have established them in regular associations, and perpetuated among them a faith which abjures some of the oldest and most dearly cherished customs, and which, out of their order, is everywhere spoken against.
Until the year 1787, three years after the death of Ann Lee, thé Shakers had not been gathered into regu- larly organized communities-with the exception of the small company that immigrated from England, and those who had joined them at Watervliet. And even here they
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had not established that thorough organization that has since been adopted. The process by which this was effected, will be best understood if given in the language of one of their own authors. He says :
"The way having been gradually prepared for the attainment of this important object, particularly by the ministrations of Father James [Whitaker], it now began to take place under the ministration of Father Joseph [Meacham] and Mother Lucy [Wright] .*
"The first step was to gather the believers into a body, where they could enjoy all things in common, both of a spiritual and of a temporal kind, and in which their tem- poral interests could be united and be consecrated to religious purposes. This proceeding, being dictated by divine wisdom, was a matter of free choice to every indi- vidual ; for no one was compelled to give up his interest contrary to his own faith and inward feelings. But all who had kept pace with the work of God in its increase thus far, and had been able to settle their temporal con- cerns, were prepared for it, and esteemed it a privilege to be admitted into that united body and to be numbered with the most faithful. But the permanent establishment of order was necessarily a progressive work and could not be suddenly accomplished.
"The gathering of the society began at New Lebanon, in the month of September, 1787, and continued to pro- gress as fast as circumstances and the nature of the work would admit. Elders and deacons were appointed to lead and direct in matters of spiritual and temporal concerns ; suitable buildings were erected for the accommodation of the members ; and order and regularity were established by degrees in the society ; so that in the year 1792 the church was considered as established in the principles of her present order and spirit of government.
"Those who were thus gathered into a united body were denominated The Church; being a collective body
*See Appendix W.
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of Christians separate from the world, and enjoying in their united capacity one common interest. In this situa- tion they were enabled to gain a greater victory over the nature of selfishness, and thus to subdue more effectually the evil propensities of a carnal nature. By this means they found a greater degree of mortification and death to the nature of sin, and experienced a gradual growth in love and union, peace and harmony, and all those heavenly graces which adorn the man of God and render him perfect in every great word and work.
"But there were many whose circumstances did not, at that time, admit of so complete a separation from the world, being under more or less embarrassments or en- tanglements with those without. These were progres- sively gathered into families, in a separate capacity, having a subordinate privilege ; but at the same time they were at full liberty to follow the example of the church, to walk in their steps, and to maintain the like united interest in that capacity, as fast as their situation and circumstances would admit. Many of these, having unbelieving children and heirs or being otherwise entangled in their temporal circumstances, could not, consistently with the principles of justice to those without, immediately devote and conse- crate their interest in the manner the church had done."*
This organization, which, as has been said, was com- menced at New Lebanon, became the order of all the societies in the denomination. The number of societies, as reported in 1859, was eighteen; and the number of members something over four thousand. The societies are located in the following named places :
NEW LEBANON, New York ; this is the oldest, largest and most influential of all the Shaker societies ; it contains about 600 members, and owns about 6,000 acres of land.
WATERVLIET, near Albany, New York; has 300 members.
GROVELAND, Livingston county, New York; has 150 members.
*" Millennial Church," page 59.
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HISTORY OF SHIRLEY. .
HANCOCK, Berkshire county, Massachusetts ; has up- wards of 200 members.
TYRINGHAM, Berkshire county, Massachusetts ; has 100 members.
HARVARD, Worcester county, Massachusetts ; has 200 members.
SHIRLEY, Middlesex county, Massachusetts ; has 100 members.
ENFIELD, Hartford county, Connecticut; has 200 members.
CANTERBURY, Merrimac county, New Hampshire ; has 300 members.
ENFIELD, Grafton county, New Hampshire ; has 300 members.
ALFRED, York county, Maine; has 150 members.
NEW GLOUCESTER, Cumberland county, Maine ; has 100 members.
These societies were all formed within a period of five years-from 1787 to 1792. No other societies were organized until 1805, when the faith had traveled unto what was then called the "Far West," and was recognized by communities established in the following places :
UNION VILLAGE, Ohio; contains nearly 600 mem- bers.
WATERVLIET, Ohio; contains 100 members.
WHITE WATER, Ohio; contains 100 members.
NORTH UNION, Ohio ; contains 200 members.
PLEASANT HILL, Kentucky; contains over 400 members.
SOUTH UNION, JASPER SPRINGS, Kentucky ; has over 300 members.
The common name applied to this communion of believers is not of their own choosing, and has never received their formal approval. It was given them by their enemies, on account of their agitation of body and limbs when engaged in worship. They have, however, never repudiated the name which the world has thus arbi- trarily imposed upon them, but respond to it with all good nature and affability.
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The government of the Shakers appears to be a religious commonwealth, but does not recognize the elective franchise. The chief leaders of the communion reside at New Lebanon,-a male and a female minister, the successors of Joseph Meacham and Lucy Wright,- the first of this order of officers, who hold their position for life or during good behavior, who appoint their suc- cessors, and who have a general leadership of the whole body of Believers. Of Joseph and Lucy-who were appointed by "Mother Ann" herself, and whose mantle descends upon all their successors - a distinguished Shaker writer hath said : "They were raised up, prepared and appointed, by the gift and power of God, each in their own order, to take the first lead and spiritual concern in the order and government of the Church; and they were mutually acknowledged by all, as our beloved parents, standing in the visible order and relation of the first Father and Mother of our redemption, who are the invisible first pillars upon which the spiritual house of God is built."*
The eighteen societies of the Shakers are grouped ' into districts or bishoprics, each of which contains one, two or more societies, according to local convenience. These districts are severally governed by four resident ministers-two males and two females-and one of the males is bishop, or chief minister. These officers are appointed by the presiding bishop residing at New Leb- anon, with the consent and approval of the districts over which they are called to preside.
The societies which compose these districts are divided into one, two or more families, over whom elders are placed as spiritual fathers, and deacons who have the charge of the temporal concerns. These under officers are appointed by the bishop, or chief minister of the dis- trict, with the approval of the brethren. "Yet each sex continues in its own appropriate sphere of action in all respects, there being a proper subordination, deference
*See "Christ's Second Appearing," page 502.
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and respect of the female to the male, in his order, and of the male to the female, in her order, so that in any of these communities the zealous advocates of "woman's rights" may here find a practical realization of their ideal."*
The Shakers have organized and regularly conducted schools in all their societies, "so that the children now gathered in are regularly taught in the various branches of common-school education ; and where traits of genius appear, they have opportunities of instruction accordingly ; and thus all receive instruction proportioned to their genius, talents and capacities for usefulness."+
The Shakers have studied much, and successfully, to preserve health and promote comfort. Wherever their communities have been located they have supplied them- selves with buildings that have furnished large, commo- dious and well-ventilated apartments for cooking and working, eating and sleeping. They have also made similar wise provision for their domestic animals.
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