TO THE OFT-REPEATED QUESTION,
what wouin BECOM OF THE WORLD IT ALI
SHOULD BECOME SHAKERS!"
STEREOTYPED EDITION:
Orders supplied by John Whiteley,
SEIIRLEY WILLAGE, MLASS.
B O S T O N :
PRESS OF RAND, AVERY, & CO.
1874.
- º





ANSWER
To A LETTER FROM AN INQUIRER.
W–E —.
DEAR FRIEND,-Your letter of inquiry and
suggestions, for the impróvement of our religious
community, came duly. It, being addressed to the
Society at large, fell into the writer's hands, who
respectfully returns you an answer. . . .
Looking into the spirit of your epistle, not-
withstanding the remoteness of its views from our
own, we see the unmistakable marks of candor,
which always command our respect; and we hope
we shall succeed in giving you both a sincere and
friendly reply. * * e
You begin where most others do who contro-
vert our principles, arguing the awful conse-
quences of living continent lives if wniversally
adopted. We hesitate not to acknowledge, that,
in such a case, the consequences you depict would
2 6. ANswer. To A LETTER
certainly ensue; but we fail to see that the bring-
ing to an end of this wicked world would be “a
great wrong.” ( .
Most nominal Christians believe it will come to
an end in a much less merciful way. You further
observe: “No one can conscientiously advocate
any thing which he or she would not wish every
one else to advocate and practise.” This senti-
ment doubtless appears from your standpoint as
an incontrovertible truth; but from our point of
view there is no truth in it. The great Architect
has divers grades of workmen, all necessary in
their places, in order to carry on the work, and
complete the building. [2
Let not those whose business it is to work in
the mud, and make brick, imagine that theirs is &
the all-important business, and strive to pull down
the bricklayer, the plasterer, the painter, and
those qualified to give the finishing touches of
taste and ornament, into the mud and drudgery
of brick-making. Nor let these brick-makers
imagine that they can do the work of all the
other classes of workmen, and make the bricks
too. Let every one of each class work on in his
FROM AN INQUIRER. 3
own calling, till the Master shall call him to
another grade of duty, and not foolishly “wish
every one else to advocate and practise his
trade.” My friend, we are Christians,—bel ievers
in and followers of Jesus the Christ. He clearly
recognized this distinction in the condition of
- meg. On a certain occasion his disciples said to
him, “If the case of the man be so with a wife,
it is not good to marry.” But he said to them,
“All men cannot receive this saying, save they to
whom it is given,” - - - “there be eunuchs who
have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of
heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let
him receive it’’ (Matt. xix. 10). Again he says,
“Many shall be called, but few chosen. Strait
is the gate, and narrow is the way, that leads to
life, and few there be that find it. Jesus both
advocated and lived the life that we practise; and
as he evidently did not believe that many in his
day were qualified or “able" to live the same
life, but considered such ability as a peculiar gift
of God, it is not probable that so wise and good a
man “desired” that which he knew to be impos-
... sible; and so it is with us. We leave this matter
4 J ANSWER TO A LETTER
in the hands of the Great Master-builder, knowing
that none can come to us except the Father draw
him; and that all, in their several stations, are
“safe in the hand of one disposing power.” In
what I have further to write, I shall be more gen-
eral in my remarks, without noticing other passages
in your communication. Most of those whº, ob-
ject to our faith and practice bring forward, as
you have done, the formidable charge, that we
abstain from multiplying the human species.
They argue that abstinence from marriage and
procreation is a violation of the laws of Nature,
and therefore “a great wrong.” This argument
and conclusion are based on the fact of the exist-
ence of the two sexes, and that Nature has fur-
nished them with reproductive powers. If we
appeal to the laws of Nature, we must ascertain, as w
far as we can, the operations of Nature in her
varied productions, which we see around us. It is
undoubtedly a law of Nature, that the use of the
reproductive powers, under normal conditions,
will produce offspring; but that Nature has no
law requiring that those powers should absolutely
be used, is most obvious. If it is a law of Nature
FROM AN INQUIRER. 5
that reproductive powers, in every individual
being and thing possessing them, must be used for
reproduction, then Nature. violates her own laws.
Every vegetable seed has organs of reproduction;
and every bird or other animal that devours such
seed, though actuated by Nature's laws to do
so, must, according to those objectors, violate
Nature's laws by preventing those reproductive
organs from being put to the only use they are, in
their esteem, designed for. Every man, woman,
or child that eats bread, and every animal that
devours vegetables or seeds of any kind, would
violate Nature's laws, as every kernel of grain
thus consumed has the organs of reproduction.
The fact is plain: Nature has no law requiring the
reproductive organs to be used merely because
they exist. The sacrifice of these organs to a
higher use and nobler purpose is Nature's general
law. Their use for reproduction is incidental and
exceptional. Nature evidently designed vastly
the greater portion of vegetable seeds for the sup-
port of animal life, and thus to pass into a higher
grade of being, at the expense and destruction of
their use for reproduction; only reserving a small
proportion for reproductive purposes. e
6 ANSWER TO A LETTER
When the farmer raises 1,000 bushels of corn,
does he feel that Nature's laws require him to plant
every grain of it, because it has the organs of re-
production ? This would, indeed, be a breach of
Nature's laws, as she evidently designed the great-
er portion for the support of animal life. Nature
produces more seeds annually than there is room
on the globe for reproduction, and more animals
than the earth could furnish with subsistence, if
all of them should use their generative powers
with effect, to the extent of their ability; which
they should do, if the laws of Nature require it.
Hence millions of insects and small animals are
every day devoured by birds and other larger ani-
mals, and are thereby prevented from producing
offspring; and all this is done in conformity
to Nature's laws, and not in violation of them.
Millions of animals, having generative powers, are
every year emasculated, slaughtered, and otherwise
prevented by man from using those powers.
These animals, being used by him for food, consti-
tute at least a portion of his more refined organ-
ism, and thus subserve a higher purpose in the
great scale of Nature. But we would ask, if the
FROM AN INQUIRER. 7
law of Nature is violated by man in each case of
this kind? If so, why do not those sticklers for
Nature's laws raise their voices against those enor-
mous violations as well as against those of the
Shakers, so few in comparison. Nature's laws are
like the laws of God: “He that offends in one
point is guilty of all; ” and while men violate
what they call the laws of Nature to such an enor-
mous extent themselves, we are led to doubt their
sincerity when they express so much horror be-
cause others, as they allege, break them. Do the
fishes violate the laws of Nature, when the large
ones devour the smaller 2 Do the myriads of sea-
fowls, which devour whole shoals of young fish,
violate Nature ? Who taught them to do this?
Would not the ocean itself fail of room and sub-
sistence for them, if this were not the case ? The
naturalist, Leuwenhoek, counted over a million of
eggs in a single codfish. It cannot be the design
of Nature that each of these should produce a fish,
each of which should, in its turn, produce a mil-
lion more; and so on, without subserving any high-
er purpose. In Nature's economy, there exists as
stern necessity, that far the greater portion of
8 ANSWER TO A LETTER
them should serve for the subsistence of superior
grades of animal life, as well as for the continu-
ance of their own species; which would inevita-
bly perish for want of subsistence, were it not for
this great conservative law to check their increase.
The time is approaching, when the unrestrained
generation of the human species will over-populate
the earth. A modern writer informs us that our
earth contains thirty-two billions of acres; that
the present population is one billion and one hun-
dred thousand; and that this population doubles
every sixty years, despite of wars and all other
calamities. At this rate, in less than 300 years
there will be only one acre each for every human
being, and in 500 years there would be about nine
human beings for every acre I
Malthus, the great political economist, in his
work on Population, says, “Population, when un-
checked, would be doubled in every generation,
or rather, that it increases in a geometrical ratio,
while food can be made to increase, at furthest,
only in arithmetical ratio. At this rate of increase,
in 500 years population would be more than a
million times its present numbers; but, in the most
FROM AN INQUIRER. 9
favorable circumstances, the produce of a country
could hardly be, uniformly and permanently, in-
creased to twenty times its amount every five
hundred years; which, however, would be only
arithmetical progression, as compared with the ge-
ometrical increase of inhabitants. From these
two different rates of increase, it results, that pow-
erful checks on population must be constantly in
action.” -
Thus, we see, there must somewhere exist a
conservative principle in Nature, to meet this
exigency. And what should that be but the
disuse of the reproductive organs, and the assump-
tion of a higher sphere, or spiritual life, – the life
of Christ? Malthus admits, that “abstinence
from marriage * must constitute one of those
“ powerful checks; ” but what is mere abstinence
from marriage, without the religious element 2
There is no principle in human nature but this
powerful enough to cope with man's lust, and
restrain him from something worse than mere
marriage. But the moment the life of continence
is assumed from a religious motive, – when a man
makes himself a eunuch in the inner life, “for the
10 ANSWER TO A LETTER
kingdom of heaven's sake,” then all Christendom is
in distress for fear the world will come to an end.
That there is an element of continence in the
human soul, which will yet be more fully devel-
oped, is most evident. It has manifested itself,
more or less, from the beginning of the race. It
cropped out in the community of Essenes among
the Jews, and, indeed, the Nazarites before them,
the Theraputae of Egypt, and the monastics of all
Europe and America during the whole Christian
era. It may be traced among the Brahmins and
ascetics of the East, and has flourished for
unknown ages among the followers of the Grand
Lama in Thibet. The support of the vestal vir-
gins in the Roman temples as priestesses, shows the
innate veneration of the human soul for the
continent and virgin character, as connected with
religion. This order of virgin priestesses was
kept up for at least a thousand years in succes-
sion.
We believe that the time for the more perfect
development and organization of this great conser-
vative principle is come, and that it will operate.
and be gradually extended, in order that it may
FROM AN INQUIRER. 11
be fully and practically investigated, clearly under-
stood, and firmly established for future and more
general adoption, as it becomes more necessary.
Hear what A. J. Davis says: “When mankind
shall have become spiritually larger and finer in
body, they will have fewer and fewer children.
Down in the lower stratum of society, behold how
populous ! Take the early races: they propagate
rapidly 2 Earth's mothers have been broken
down by their exceedingly numerous progeny.
Rise higher in the scale, and the married have
fewer children and less frequently. Rise still
higher in the mental scale, and you can easily
believe the time will come that reproduction will
cease / There will then be fathers and mothers
with their descendants, and the progeny will
become as angels, neither marrying nor giving in
marriage ; having risen above the mission of repro-
duction. The cerebellum, I repeat, will one of
these days cease to have any furniture with refer-
ence to reproduction. The finest and most poetic
and spiritual minds gather nearly all their propa-
gating power and essences into the front brain and
top faculties. Only friends to truth dare to speak
the whole truth on this subject.”
12 ANSWER To A LETTER
It requires but little reflection to discover, that
as mankind reform and comply with the sanitary
laws of life and health, as well as those of procre-
ation, the population of the earth will increase
with an increasing ratio. A large majority may
then be reserved from the work of reproduction,
in accordance with the general laws of Nature in
every other department of mundane life, and may
pass into the higher or inner life, at the expense
and sacrifice of the generative principle.
What can we understand from the teaching of
Jesus, – “Cut off the right hand, pluck out the right
eye, and thus let some of the members perish,” —
if it does not at least imply that the use of some
of the members or faculties should be dispensed
with for the salvation and spiritual elevation of
the human soul? A late writer, referring to the
above scripture, says, “The Master seems to
approve those who should mutilate themselves for
the sake of the kingdom of God.” By “mutilate ’’
he undoubtedly means emasculate ; and this is true,
though not literally so. The same is more plainly
taught in approving those who “make themselves
eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake.”
FROM AN INQUIRER. 13
What can show a more apparent violation of
Nature's laws than this strong figurative teaching
of Jesus 2 . But think you that he taught their
violation ? Nature teaches the musk-rat to gnaw
off its own tail, when caught in a trap, to save its
life. Jesus and Nature teach men to act on a
similar principle ; but these acts are not violations
of Nature, for they accord with her highest man-
dates. The power to live a holy inner and outer
life of strict continence will yet come to be
understood as one of Nature's sublimest operations,
designed to subserve the ultimate ends of man's
subsistence on the earth, as well as his resurrection
and onward progress in the spiritual life.
Thus, my friend, while you look upon our prin-
ciples and practice as “a great wrong,” tending to
depopulate the earth, we consider them as sub-
serving the best interests and ultimate existence
of the race. A volume might be written to illus-
trate this: I can but give hints. Mankind are yet
ignorant of Nature's laws. They do not compre-
hend her system of checks and balances, her grand
scheme of supply and demand and compensation,
in her vast domain; and therefore, with a blind
2
14 ANSWER TO A LETTER
fatuity common with our race, are found quibbling
and opposing Nature's own plans, while they think
they are contending for and supporting them. I
find this suggestion well supported by a modern
publication, from which I here take an extract:
“By what authority does short-sighted man assume
to determine what God’s laws permit and what
they deny ? Ry what warrant does he take upon
himself to assert that to him all these laws are
known 2 The term of his life but a day, the cir-
cumference of his ken but a spot, whence derives
he his commission, groping about in his little span
of the present, arrogantly to proclaim what is, and
what is not, to be in the illimitable future? Does
not history in every page pronounce a condemna-
tion of the impiety? Does not experience rise up
daily, and testify against such presumption ? Not
thus is it that those speak and reason whom deep
research has taught how little they know. It oc-
curs to the humble wisdom of such men that laws
of Nature may eacist with which they are wholly
wn acquainted ; nay, some, perhaps, which may
never, since man was first here to observe them,
have been brought into operation at all ” (R. D.
FROM AN INQUIRER. 15
Owen, “Foot—Falls,” p. 63). Again, the same
author observes: “If a phenomenon actually pre-
sent itself which we are tempted to regard as a
violation of Nature's law, it is more likely, ten
thousand to one, that a similar phenomenon has
already shown itself more or less frequently in the
past, than that it present itself now for the first
time in the history of our race” (Ibid., p. 82).
Nature's great law is PROGRESS, carrying up and
*- sublimating each lower grade of being to subserve
the grade above. Nature's law of reproduction is
only a sub-law, subservient to the grand law of
progress. Those portions of seeds which are re-
served for reproduction can rise to no higher use
than merely to propagate and die! This is an in-
flexible law of Nature. They yield and transmit
their lives to their offspring, and enter into no
higher organizations or grades of being. “That
which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die”
(1 Cor. xv. 36). On the other hand, the vastly
greater portion which yield up their organs of re-
production enter into nobler uses and higher grades
of life, forming blood, muscle, bone, nerve, brain,
and thus subserving, if not actually constituting,
16 ANSWER TO A LETTER.
the sublime mentality of the human intellect. By
analogy of reason, and in accordance with Scrip-
ture, the same is true with regard to man. While
the sexes continue to become “one flesh,” and
thus propagate their species, they must remain in
a state of death, as to the enjoyment of the higher
or spiritual life. “To be carnally-minded is
death.” While men continue to follow the “first
Adam,”—the multiplier, — they cannot enjoy the
spiritual life. “In Adam all die.” Death, as to
the things and life of the spiritual sphere, is
stamped upon all who are in the generative sphere
of the first Adam. “If ye live after the fles?, ye
shall die.” Such are, and must remain, “dead in
trespasses and in sins.” But “in Christ” (who
never entered into the work of generation) “all
are made alive.” That is, all who are in Christ—
in his life and spirit—are made alive. This is
called a new life, because it is distinct from, and
superior to, the old life in Adam, which is death
in comparison. It is called “a new and living
way,” because it is a new way of living, and because
it is a more recent development of life, and is de-
rived from a new and more sublime source,—from

FROM AN INQUIRER. 17
the inspiration of the Divine Spirit, instead of the
impulses of a mere animal nature. Those who live
this life are called “New Creatures,” because they
have forsaken the old seminal life of the first
Adam, and entered into the life of Christ, the
IłęW IOla,Il.
As we have had frequent occasion to speak of
Nature and her laws, and may yet make further
use of those terms, it may be well to remark here,
that no truly enlightened mind supposes Nature to
be an intelligence distinct from God. This term,
when used in the aggregate or abstract, means the
inherent qualities which all things possess, as im-
planted by the Creator. Each distinct species of
these beings and things is governed by the in-
herent laws of its creation. The sun having the
quality or internal essence causing it to emit light
and heat, shows this to be Nature's law in regard
to it. The earth and sun both possessing the
laws of gravitation and attraction, develop other
laws, – those of the earth's diurnal motion on its
own axis, and its orbital motion around, the sun.
And although these laws are eternal, their dis-
covery by man was never made till comparatively
modern times.
18 ANSWER To A LETTER
The law of gravitation belongs to and governs
inert matter; but this law is overruled, and gives
place to the “higher law'” of vital force in vegeta-
ble and animal life. By this law of vital force,
we see the law of gravitation suspended. Thous-
ands of tons of inert matter are daily made to
move upward, and ascend to the tops of the
tallest trees, of which our immense forests are at
once monuments and proofs. This is the law of
vegetable life, as is evident from the fact, that, the
moment vitality ceases, the ascent of inert parti-
cles ceases: the tree decays and falls back under
the primitive law of inert matter. . The same is
true of animal life: the blood courses in the veins
and arteries, upward with the same facility as
downward; and the law of gravitation finds itself
suspended, and its power annulled. And, besides
this power of animal life to suspend gravitation,
it has still higher vital forces, such as locomo-
tion, sensation, and instinct, carrying it up still
higher in the scale of being, and fitting it for
nobler ends and uses than the vegetable. Hence,
in the great scale of Nature's laws, the vegetable
life and reproductive seed-germs are given up to
FROM AN INQUIRER. 19
sustain the higher animal life. What judgment
should we now form of some would-be philoso-
pher, who should rail out against all vegetable
vitality, declaring that it was violating Nature's
law of gravitation, and would, if suffered to
proceed, destroy terra firma or inertia itself, and
so bring the world to an end | The same amusing
scene might be acted over by our sapient philoso-
pher, when he should see all animated nature
devouring vegetables and seeds, violating Na-
ture's laws, and, still worse, animals devouring
the subjects of their own animal kingdom A
kingdom divided against itself cannot stand,-
must come to an end! Fear not l The infinitely
wise Author of Nature holds the balance. All
this is done in conformity to Nature's great law
of PROGRESS; and this apparent “discord is har-
mony not understood.” The same holds good
with the laws of Nature when applied to man.
In order to know these laws, we must study
man's nature and his history, especially what has
been revealed of him from a higher and wiser
SOULTCC.
Man is presented to us in scripture and in fact
20 ANSWER To A LETTER
as a depraved intellectual animal, and a generator
of his species as such. The laws of generation,
with the result of all they can do for or make of
him, are summed up in his history of four thou-
sand years, from Adam down to the coming of
Christ. From this we discover that it is an in-
flexible law of Nature, that man, in the procrea-
tion of his species, transmits to his offspring his
own depraved nature, with even more certainty
than that of the human form. Another law of
nature is, that man, while in the generative order,
must act upon the selfish principle. If he multi-
plies, he must divide; and an endless series of
division and isolated interests must exist. Hence,
joint interest and generation cannot co-exist; and,
as Dr. Dwight says, “A separation of interest is
a separation of affections.” In the annals of our
race, men have made some attempts to nullify
this law of Nature, but never have succeeded.
Nature has asserted her rights, and her law has
prevailed. Some six hundred years before our
era, the great, and we may say good philosopher,
Pythagoras, tried to make the community principle
coalesce with the work of generation. He got
FROM AN INQUIRER. 21
together some six hundred men, with their wives
and children, at Crotona, to live in community,
determined to reform and improve the race, both
physically and morally. He taught that it is
wrong done to offspring when parents indulge in
licentiousness; rigidly adopted the one-wife sys-
tem, and the intercourse was greatly restricted.
Strict fidelity to the husband and to the wife was
required, and intercourse, except for offspring,
considered shameful and strictly forbidden.
Doubtless the good old philosopher expected to
produce a generation of pure and undepraved
offspring. But alas ! the inflexible law of Nature
prevailed; and “that which was born of the flesh
was flesh.” We never hear any thing more of
that attempted pure generation, nor of the com-
munity, after the death of its projector. Robert
Owen, Fourier, and divers others, have made the
same attempt in our own times, and signally
failed. e
When Jesus the Christ came, he promulgated,
not the work of generation, but of REGENERA-
TION, -the anastasis, or resurrection to a new
and spiritual life.
22 e ANSWER TO A LETTER
This new and immortal life was brought to light
by his gospel, and the laws of Nature with regard
to this regenerative work were clearly laid down
and defined. The children or subjects of this
resurrection “neither marry [present tense] nor
are given in marriage; but are as the angels.”
They can have nothing to do with the generation.
“They are not of the world, even as I [Jesus] am .
not of the world,” and therefore can no more
generate the subjects of the world than citizens
of the United States can propagate British sub-
jects. . & t ... •
But we must not suppose that these newly
revealed laws of Nature were then first enacted
and arbitrarily imposed. Like her other great laws,
they are eternal. The circumstances and conse-
quences of their revealment may have been, and
doubtless were, much modified by man’s de-
pravity; but if all men had been and remained
like Noah, who was “perfect in his generations,”
or procreations, they would have been merely
good animal men, who could not receive the things
of the spirit without first forsaking the things of
the flesh, and entering into the spiritual sphere.
FROM AN INQUIRER. & 23
This transition from the generation to the regen-
eration, by them “to whom it is given,” could and
would have taken place without violence if man
had not become depraved. The clash and conflict
arise from the opposition of human depravity to
Nature’s “higher law.” Hence the introduction
of this law by Jesus the Christ and his apostles
wears the appearance of war, opposition, and con-
flict. . **
A late writer says, “Jesus decidedly taught
celibacy. The Master seemed to approve those
who should mutilate themselves for the kingdom
of God (See Matt. ix. 12). If thy hand or
foot offend thee, cut them off, etc. The cessation
of generation was the sign of the kingdom of God.
. . . All things were thought useless which served
only to continue the world. Property was for-
bidden. He preached war boldly against Nature,
2
a total rupture with kin.” We excuse this author
for saying that Jesus preached war against Nature.
He, like the rest of men who are experimentally
unacquainted with Christ and the nature of his
kingdom, was ignorant of Nature's higher law of
spiritual and angelic life, which Jesus revealed
24 ANSWER TO A LETTER,
and promulgated. The teaching of Jesus must
appear like war on Nature to those who do not
understand the things of the Spirit. What else
can they make of the saying, “Think not that I
have come to send peace, but a sword,” — to break
up all kindred ties, so that a man's foes shall be
they of his own household? It was the design
of Jesus to introduce the “kingdom of God” on
earth, which, in its nature, is distinct from the
kingdoms of the world, having its own peculiar
qualities, properties, constitutions, and laws.
Hence, conformity to these is as much a con-
formity to Nature's higher law as conformity to
the laws of generation is to a lower law of Nature.
As, then, the nature and constitution of this king-
dom of God are such that it cannot admit of gen-
eration, the ceasing from generation by the
subjects of this kingdom is no violation of Na-
ture’s laws, but a direct fulfilment of them. The
attempt to amalgamate the two institutions, gen-
eration and regeneration, would, if successful,
violate Nature's laws; but it never can succeed.
It must be observed, that the above-mentioned
hostilities and conflicts are all on the part of the
FROM AN INQUIRER. 25
generative order, — the opposition of the kingdoms
of the world to the kingdom of God. Jesus
coerced no man: he simply proclaimed the unal-
terable laws of God’s kingdom, and left it to the
free choice of men to enter into it or not. “If
any man will be my disciple, let him,”—“Whoso-
ever will, let him,” is the language of the Spirit.
The hatred was all on the side of the world.
“The world hateth me, because I testify of it that
its works are evil.” It was not, however, his
person, but his testimony, which they hated; and
their hatred sprang from their depravity. It is
true that Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven
suffereth [permitteth] violence; ” but this was not
to be committed on outsiders, nor on any one by
another, but by each one on his own depraved
habits and lusts, – on his whole “old man,” whom
he is to “put off, - crucify J with his deceitful
lusts.” The disciple of Jesus is to “deny [re-
nounce] himself,” not others. ſº
- It was said of J esus, that he knew what was in
man. He understood human nature, — knew that
man possessed a twofold life, animal and spiritual;
the spiritual life being so dormant as to resemble
3
26 ANswer. To A LETTER
a state of death, man, as to that life, was pro-
nounced dead. Thus said J esus, The hour is
coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of man, and they that hear shall
live. Nature had ultimately designed man to as-
sume that new life, and Jesus said the time had
then come. This assumption, as has been stated
above, was a moral and spiritual resurrection;
and this was the great work which Jesus was com-
missioned to introduce among men; and he clearly
laid down and defined the nature and laws of this
new life. He plainly pointed out the distinction
between the new and the old,—the children of
this world, and the children of this newly-intro-
duced kingdom of God. “The children of this
world marry; but the children of the resurrection
do not marry, but are as the angels,” having en-
tered into the life of Christ, which is equal to that
of any angel. This indicates that it is just as con-
trary to Nature for these children of God to prop-
agate their species by natural generation, as for
the angels to do so. The subjects of this new
kingdom are represented by Jesus as having made
themselves eunuchs for the purpose of attaining to ſº
FROM AN INQUIRER. 27
it; and this clearly teaches, that it is as contrary
to Nature for the subjects of this kingdom to prop-
agate offspring by natural generation, as for him
who is literally a eunuch to do it. This amounts
to an impossibility; and it really is impossible for
the subjects of this spiritual kingdom to propagate
natural offspring : for, the very moment they con-
sent in their hearts to the act, they die This is
the way the man of Eden died, -lost his spiritual
life, –the very day he committed the act. This
is Nature's law, and is as irreversible as the laws
of the Medes and Persians. Their spiritual life
becomes extinct; it is a “second death.” The
law of depravity in their members has warred
against the law of the life-giving Spirit in their
minds, and brought them “into captivity to the
law of sin and death.” The soul that sinneth
dies. He who would add a new member to the
kingdom of God by generation, after being “made
alive in the spirit,” is like the naturalist who
seeks to discover the life-principle by an incision
into the heart of a living man : the act designed
to find life extinguishes it, and he but commits
murder. Those who “begin in the spirit, and end
28 ANSWER To A LETTER
in the flesh,” murder their own souls long before
their work of generation can be accomplished.
And when accomplished, instead of producing a
“holy offspring,” it will be found to have been,
like David of old, “conceived in sin and shapen
in iniquity.” [2
The primeval pair of our present race, pure
from the hands of the Creator, tried to generate
a holy offspring, but produced a murderer, and
lost paradise l *
They became dead to the life and things of the
spirit. Noah was “perfect in his generations; ” yet
his offspring all became idolaters in a generation
or two after the flood. Jesus is said to have been
begotten by a Holy Ghost, and Pope Pio Nino de-
creed by his bull, that Mary, the mother of Jesus,
was immaculate ; and yet he possessed all the de-
pravity common to human nature, and was tempted
in all points like the rest Q ( *
The life of the “children of the resurrection,”
or “children of God,” is an inspired life; and
this inspiration of the Spirit of God raises them
above the elements which govern the carnal man
in his generative life. Without this inspired life
FROM AN INQUIRER. 29
they can no more be elevated and supported above
the elements of generation, than inert matter can
counteract the law of gravitation. When the
primitive Christians, on the day of Pentecost, were
thus divinely inspired, how suddenly was the strong
band of avarice or acquisitiveness rent asunder,
and all property disclaimed, and devoted to the
common good. Thus, also, the strong ties of hus-
band and wife, and all the other fleshly relation-
ships growing out of them, fell asunder, severed
by a stronger attraction of the higher and holier
relationships of the Spirit, —sons and daughters
of God, —brethren and sisters in Christ, without
partiality or respect of persons. &
Dear friend, we have, perhaps, already wearied • ‘
your patience'; and, though what we have written
may not convince you of the correctness and truth
of our position, it must, we think, satisfy you that
we can never comply with your proposition with
regard to the work of propagation, especially your
and its prescribed order.
You cannot fail to see that we are wholly disqual-
“howse of generation,
ified to generate either a pure or depraved offspring,
after the flesh. If we enter into the work of cre-
30 ANSWER To A LETTER
ation, or propagation, it must be in the realm of
Mind, moulding and forming men's hearts, lives,
and affections, in conformity with the character
of Christ. “If any man be in conformity to
Christ he is a new creature.” And consequently ſº
there is a new creation. º
We, however, heartily agree with your views of
the unbounded abuse of the generative order, and
its evil consequences on the race; and also your
idea of the licentious consequences of the filthy
custom, which so universally prevails, of husbands
and wives constantly lodging together. The
ancients did not so. We read of Abraham's tent
and Sarah's tent; of Jacob's tent and Rachel and
Leah’s tents. And when the wives wanted off-
spring, they were wont to invite, and sometimes
hire, their chaste husbands to visit them. (See
Gen. xxx. 15, 16.)
We think you ought to let your light shine on
this subject. Cry aloud, and spare not. It is not
our work to improve the generation. You that
work at the business must do that. We want good
bricks,—the very best that can be had, and sin-
cerely wish you all success in improving them.
FROM AN INQUIRER. 31
We are not brick-makers, though we consider
those that are, just as necessary in their place, if
they do their work right. * Cº.
We are Master-builders, called to build in the
temple of our God, and go no more out for-
© WCI’s º *
Thy sincere friend,
R. W. PELELAM.
66
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ELDERS.
Elder F. W. EVANS
“ G. A. LOMAS. . . . . . . . . . . . .
“ C. G. REED . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
“ SIMON MABEE. . . . . . . . . . . .
“ H. S. KELLOGG. . . . . . . . . . .
“ A. J. BATTLES
“ W.M. LEONARD
** JOHN WHITELEY
“ BENRY CUMMINGS. . . . . . . . Enfield, N.H. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . )
“ B. H. SMITH . . . . . . . . . . . . . | Shaker Village, N.H. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
“ J. B. VANCE. . . . . . . . . . . . . |Alfred, Me. .........................
“ NEHEMIAH TRULL. . . . . . . . ſ
** J. S. PRESCOTT
“ ISAAC BEALS
© e º 'º C = Q & Q O Q
e e º e O © Q O C &
& C G º G & © C Q Q @ 9.
“ JACOB KULP . . . . . . . . . . . . .
“ JOHN R. COOPER. . . . . . . . .
“ E. SHERMAN . . . . . . . . . .
“ STEPHºº BALL. . . . . . . . . .
2- - ..º.º. a = a- are. A
FOST-OFFICE ADDRESS,
A—A-º-º:
| Mt. Lebanon, Columbia Co., N.Y. . . . .
| Shakers, Albany Co., N.Y. . . . . . . . . . .
Sonyea, Livingston Co., N.Y. . . . . . . . .
West Pittsfield, Mass.
Thompsonville, Conn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
| South Lee, Mass. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Ayer, Mass. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
i Shirley Village, Mass. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
G. C. C & G tº e C tº 6 tº e º e e
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Cleveland (Shakers), O... . . . . . . . . . . . . |
| Lebanon (Shakers), O. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
| Pleasant Hill, Ky......... . . . . . . . . . . .
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Dayton (Shakers), O.................
ELDRESSES.
Eldress Antoinette Doolittle.
Harriet M. Bullard.
Abigail Crosman.
Betsey Sneydon.
Anna Ervin.
Pſarriet Storer.
Nancy Fairbanks.
Lucretia Godfrey.
Hannah Taylor.
Harriet March.
Eliza, Smith.
Hannah Davis.
Prudence Sawyer.
Susannah Farnham.
IBetsy Spalding.
Sarah Small.
Betsy G. Gass.
Adaline Wills.
u-º