The Communistic Societies of the United States: From Personal Visit and ObservationNordhoff, Charles
History
The Communistic Societies of the United States: From Personal Visit and Observation
Nordhoff, Charles
Collective settlements -- United States
concurred in it, only they regarded the inspiration of simple and
unsophisticated spirits as a stepping-stone to a higher revelation, by
virtue of removing pride, vanity, and self-will, those great barriers
against the accession of holy infusions."
* * * * *
"In the fall of that season this revival redoubled its energy. The gifts
were similar to those of the spring previous, but less charity was shown
to the hypocrite and vile pretender. It was announced that Jehovah-Power
and Wisdom--the dual God, would visit the inhabitants of Zion, and
bestow a blessing upon each individual as their works should merit. A
time was given for us to prepare for his coming. Every building, every
apartment, every lane, field, orchard, and pasture, must be cleansed of
all rubbish and needless encumbrance; so that even a Shaker village, so
notorious for neatness, wore an aspect fifty per cent more tidy than
usual. To sweep our buildings, regulate our stores, pick up and draw to
a circular wood-saw old bits of boards, stakes, and poles that were fit
for naught but fuel, and collect into piles to be burned upon the spot
all such as were unfit for that, was the order of the day. Even the
sisters debouched by scores to help improve the appearance of the farm
and lake shores, on which were quantities of drift-wood. Thus was passed
a fortnight of pleasant autumnal weather. As the evenings approached, we
set fire to the piles of old wood, which burned, the flames shooting
upward, in a serene evening, like the innumerable bonfires which
announce the ingress of a regal visitant to monarchical countries.
Viewed from the plain below, in the gray, dim twilight of a soft and
serene atmosphere, when all nature was wrapped in the unique and
beautiful solemnity of an unusually prorogued autumn, these fires,
emerging in the blue distance from the vast amphitheatre of hills, were
picturesque in the highest degree. How neat! How fascinating! And how
much like our conceptions of heaven the whole vale appeared! And then to
regard this work of cleansing and beautifying the domains of Mount Zion
as that preparatory to the visitation of the Most High, is something
which speaks to the heart and says: 'Dost thou appear as beautiful, as
clean, and as comely in the sight of God as do these elements of an
unthinking world? Is thine heart also prepared to be searched with the
candles of him from whom no unclean thing is hidden?'
"The following words were said to have been brought by an angel from
Jehovah, and accompanied by a most beautiful tune of two airs:
"'I shall march through Mount Zion,
With my angelic band;
I shall pass through the city
With my fan in my hand;
And around thee, O Jerusalem,
My armies will encamp,
While I search my Holy Temple
With my bright burning lamp.'"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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