2. The new revelation teaches the doctrines of the soul's immortality and its resurrection, which they be- lieve to be the quickening of the germ of a new and spiritual life, denying a bodily resurrection. Those who marry and indulge in the earthly procreative relation they term "the cliildren of this woild." Thev do not condemn them, but believe them>-tl\es called t h id
spiritual and holy lives, free from lust and carnal indul- gence, and therefore refrain from marriage. Thus, like the Egyptian hermits in the 3d century, they place holiness in a life of celibacy. They hold that Christ revealed to Jesus the doctrines of non-resistance and non-participation in any earthly government.
o. The second appearing of Christ the Shakers be- lieve to have taken place through mother Ann Lee in 1770, who, by strictly obeying the light in her, became righteous even as Jesus was righteous. The necessity for this appearing of Christ in the female form resulted from the dual nature of Christ and of deity. This sec- ond appearing of Christ is the true resurrection state, and a physical resurrection is to be repudiated as re- pugnant to science, reason, and Scripture.
4. The Shakers assign to each revelation or cycle its heavens and hells. The first revelation was to the an- tediluvians, and its heaven and hell were for the good and bad among them ; the wicked of that cycle being "the spirits in prison" (1 Pet. iii, 19). To the second hell, Gehenna, they consign the Jews and heathen who died before the coming of Jesus; the second heaven be- ing Paradise, which was promised to the thief on the cross. The third dispensation is that of the Church of the first appearing of Christ, and to its heaven Paul was caught up. The fourth heaven is now forming; in it Jesus and mother Ann reside, and to it all will go who have resisted temptation until all their evil pro- pensities and lusts are destroyed. It is the heaven of heavens, and to it will be gathered all who accept the doctrines of the Shakers here, and all in the lower hells and heavens who shall yet accept them.
5. They hold to oral confession of sin as necessary to receive power to overcome it. They also believe in the power of some of their members to heal diseases by praj'er and dietetics. They believe themselves to be under the immediate guidance of the Holy Spirit, and maintain that it is unlawful to take oaths, to use compliments, or to play at games of chance.
6. The Shakers are spiritualists iu a practical sense. They hold Swedenborg to be the angel of spiritualism mentioned in Rev. xviii, and regard the spiritualistic movement as a preparation of the people to receive their doctrines. For a study of their peculiar views we refer the reader to A Selection of Hymns, etc. ( Water- ^ liet. () , 1S3S) , Millennial Hi/mns (Canterbury, N. H. 1^17) 1 ijliiii leaismthe benioi Order of Shakers
Shaker Worship— the Dauce.
SHAKERS
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SHALEM
A Holij, Sacred, and Divine Roll and Booh, etc. (1843) ; The Divine Book of Holy and Eternal Wisdom (Canter- bury, N. H., 1849).
III. Worship. — In their mode of worship they are remarkable for their habit of dancing to express the joy they liave in the Lord. They enter their house of worship and kneel in silent prayer, then rise and form in regular columns, the men on one side and the women on the other. Several men and women then commence a tune, while every other person dances, keeping time admirably for at least half an hour. The hymns or "spiritual songs" which they sing are be- lieved b}' the Shakers to be brought to them, almost without exception, from the "spirit-land;" also the airs to which these songs are sung. \Mien dancing is over, the seats are placed and an exhortation begins, then, rising, they sing a hymn, another exhortation follows, and the meeting concludes. They neither practice baptism nor observe the Lord's supper, holding that these ceased with the apostolic age. They bold gen- eral fasts, and have no order of persons regularly edu- cated for the ministrj%
IV. Temporalities. — The Shakers have a ministry composed of two brethren and two sisters, who have the oversight of from one to four societies; also each family in every society has four elders, two brethren and two sisters, who have charge of the family. There are three classes of members: (1.) Novitiates: those who accept the doctrines of the society, but do not enter into temporal connection with it, reinaining with their own families and controlling their own property. (2.) -lun- iors : those who become members of the community and unite in labor and worship, but who have not sur- rendered their property to the society, or, if so, only conditionally, and with the privilege of receiving it back, though without interest. (3.) Seniors . those who, after a satisfactory probation, enter into a contract to consecrate themselves, their services, and their prop- erly to the societ)', never to be reclaimed by them or their legal heirs. Before joining the society the candi- date must pay all debts, discharge all bonds and trusts, renounce all contracts, and, in short, separate honoral)ly from the world. The Shakers are rejiublican in their ideas of government, never vote nor accept office from the government. They are orderlj', temperate, and fru- gal, cultivating the soil with great success, and also en- gaging in other branches of trade. They have pub- lished since 1870 the Shaker and Shakeress, a monthly, edited by F. W. Evans and Antoinette Doolittle (Mount Lebanon, N. Y.). See Iiurder, JJist. of Religions ; Gard-