"At one of the Sunday meetings, when the several families were met for worship, one of the brothers declared himself possessed of the spirit of George Washington; and made a speech informing us that Napoleon and all his Generals were present at our meeting, together with many of his own officers, who fought with him in the Revolution. These, as well as many more distinguished personages, were all Shakers in the other world, and had been sent to give information relative to the revival now going on. In a few minutes each of the persons present at the meeting, fell to representing some one of the great personages alluded to.
"This revival commenced when I first went there; and during the four months I remained, much of the members' time was spent in such performances. It appeared to me, that whenever any of the brethren or sisters wanted to have some fun, they got possessed of spirits, and would go to cutting up capers; all of which were tolerated even during the hours of labor, because whatever they chose to do, was attributed to the spirits. When they became affected they were conveyed to the Elder's room; and sometimes he would have six or seven of them at once. The sisters who gave vent to their frolicsome feelings, were of course attended to by the Eldress. I might occupy great space if I were to go into the details of these spiritual performances; but there was so much similarity in them, that I must ask the reader to let the above suffice."
We have omitted many paragraphs of this narrative, relating to matters generally known through Shaker publications and others, and many personal details; our principal object being to give a view of some of the Shaker manifestations which seem to have been the first stage of Modern Spiritualism.
The reader will notice that the date of these manifestations—the winter of 1842-3—coïncides with the focal period of the Fourier excitement (which, as we have seen, lapsed into Swedenborgianism, as that did into Spiritualism); also that, on the larger scale, the seven years of manifestations and closed doors designated by Evans, from 1837 to 1844, coïncide with the epoch of Transcendentalism. In the times of the Dial there was a noticeable liking for Shakerism among the Transcendentalists; and some of their leaders have lately shown signs of preferring Shakerism to Fourierism. We mention these coïncidences only as affording glimpses of connections and mysterious affinities, that we do not pretend to understand. Only we see that both forms of Socialism favored by the Transcendentalists—Shakerism and Fourierism—have contributed their whole volume to swell the flood of Spiritualism.
CHAPTER XLVI.
THE ONEIDA COMMUNITY.[ToC]
Last of all, we must venture a sketch of the Association in the bosom of which, this history has been written and printed.