With Hands to Work and Hearts to God
The Legacy of Mother Ann Lee
By Kelli Bunner, 2005
They have attracted the attention of philosophers like
John Stuart Mill and Friedrich Engels. They have captured the
literary imagination of authors such as Herman Melville, Nathaniel
Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Leo Tolstoy, just to name a few.1
Their handiwork and crafts contribute richly to Americana, and continue
to be sought after for their quality and simple charm. Churches
of many denominations, and even secular institutions have adopted their
hymns as their own. They are the Shakers, members of the United Society of Believer's in Christ's Second Appearing. Never more than 6,000 strong,2 this tiny group has had an influence way out of proportion to their numbers.
The Shakers are a practical people, living in communal
dwellings that they build themselves, sharing labor, responsibility,
and property. It is out of mere practicality that they invented
the flat broom, the clothespin, the circular saw, and a host of other
products which were welcomed by people all across America. They
have become so well known for their furniture, oval boxes, and folk
art, that their status as a religious group is sometimes
forgotten. Sister Mildred Barker, the former leader of the
Sabbathday Lake Shakers, has said, "I almost expect to be remembered as
a chair or a table."3 Ann Lee, the founder of the Society, taught her followers, "put your hands to work and your hearts to God."4 The
handiwork of this people is well known. But what of their
heart? Who are these industrious people? What has inspired
them to continue steadfastly in their stringent way of life?
The Birth of Ann Lee
The story begins on the 29th of
February 1736, when Ann Lee was born to a poor blacksmith in
Manchester, England. Her father could provide her no formal
education - Ann never learned to read or write. Instead, she went
to work in a textile mill at a young age. Even at this early
stage, she was markedly religious, had a heightened concern for
morality, and experienced visions and dreams. It is said that she
was not interested in playing like other children, but was serious and
given to deep thought.5
Ann Lee's Early Influences
As Ann matured, she became disenchanted with the Anglican Church in
which she was baptized. She seems to have been deeply troubled by
the human state of sin, and did not feel that the Church was offering
an effective way of salvation. It is possible that she absorbed
the Calvinist doctrine of the total depravity of humans from the Huguenots who had established a notable presence in her area. During the 1750's she came under the influence of George Whitefield, who visited the Manchester area often in those years.6
Whitefield, an itinerant evangelist who sparked a religious revival in
America, stressed the importance of a new birth experience for
Christians as a necessity for salvation. This teaching would be
central to Ann's own conversion experience a few years later.
In about 1758, when Ann was 22 years old, she joined a
small religious group led by Jane and James Wardley. The Wardleys
were former Quakers who had believed themselves to
have received a vision, leading them to form their sect which they
believed to be the one true religion. They retained some of their
Quaker background, teaching pacifism and rejecting ordained clergy and formal sacraments in favor of a spirit-led faith. Outsiders would call the members of the Wardley group "the Shaking Quakers" because they would tremble when taken by the spirit.7
The Wardley society was just one of several highly
emotional millenarian groups that sprung up in England around this
time. The rise of such groups is mostly attributable to the
immigration of some radical French Calvinists, called the French Prophets,
who had fled from France after Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes,
thereby bringing an end to the policy of tolerance that had been
extended to French Protestants. The French Prophets taught that
the millennium was imminent. They were noted
for their ecstatic experiences during worship, including twitching of
the limbs, prophecies, and claims of various supernatural signs.
They attracted a following in Manchester, but when one of their
prophecies failed, many members left to form separate but similar
groups.8 The Wardley society was one of these
groups. They exhorted their followers to repent, for the Kingdom
of God was at hand.
Ann Lee's Struggles with Marital Intimacy and Sin
Ann Lee never felt comfortable
with the idea of marital intimacy. Nevertheless, in 1762, most
likely persuaded by concerned family members, she was married to
Abraham Stanley, a blacksmith. The couple had four children, all
of whom died in infancy. Ann viewed this tragedy as a
chastisement from God for engaging in sexual relations against her
better judgment. She was filled with guilt and shame.9
Ann began to walk the floors at night, refusing to go to sleep for fear she may wake up in hell.10
She speaks of "laboring" against sin and for the salvation and power of
God. "I labored a-nights in the work of God. Sometimes I
labored all night, continually crying to God for my own
redemption...and when I felt weary and in need of rest, I labored for
the power of God, and the refreshing operations thereof would release
me, so that I felt able to go to my work again." For some time,
she felt deep sorrow over her condition of sin, with only occasional
releases from her mental anguish. Ann was not satisfied with
deliverance from her individual sins, but continued to labor against
her very nature of sin. "In my travel and tribulation my
sufferings were so great, that my flesh consumed upon my bones, bloody
sweat pressed through the pores of my skin, and I became as helpless as
an infant."11
During this crucial time, Ann became much more involved
with the Wardleys. They nurtured her spiritually and physically
during her time of crisis, and she confessed her sins to them.
She became very determined never to make the same mistakes twice, and
kept a vigil of her own thoughts and actions. Ann practiced a
mortification of the body during this time, taking only meager amounts
of food and drink, believing that by not gratifying her carnal nature,
she could concentrate on matters of the soul.12
Finally Ann's labor paid off and she overcame the sins
of the flesh. "I love the day when I first received the gospel,"
said Ann. "I call it my birthday." Indeed, when Ann finally
felt delivered from sin, she describes her experience as being like a
newborn infant.13
Persecution
Ann and other members of the Wardley society were
frequently arrested for "breaking the Sabbath." Most likely,
their crime was entering into churches on Sundays and reproving all who
had gathered, including the clergy. In addition, these Shaking
Quakers would have very noisy worship meetings, which would disturb and
offend the neighbors. The local hostility against them served to
strengthen the group's feeling of community however. And the more
Ann was persecuted, the more she became esteemed in the eyes of the
believers.14
The defining moment for Shakerism occurred during one of
Ann's incarcerations in 1770. Therein, she had a vision of
Christ, in which she was given to understand that the cause of all
man's sufferings and evil ways was sexual lust. It had been the
downfall of Adam and Eve, and it continued to wreak havoc for all of
humankind. The sin of sexual lust was the cause of war, disease,
slavery, famine, poverty, the inequality of the sexes, and human
depravity. Only perfect celibacy accompanied by confession and sincere repentance could redeem us from the mire of our sins. Christ commissioned Ann to spread this gospel of celibacy.
Ann described her experience in typical mystic language: "It is
not I that speak, it is Christ who dwells in me." She described
her relationship to Christ as a marriage, even describing him as her
"husband" and "lover." "I feel the blood of Christ running
through my soul and body! I feel him present with me, as sensibly
as I feel my hands together." She began to speak with a new
authority, and was accepted as the leader of the Shakers, who began to
call her "Mother Ann."15 In Shaker
theology, Christ is viewed as a spirit separate from Jesus who
descended upon him in the form of a dove at his baptism. In a
similar fashion, it is said that Christ descended upon Ann when she was
fully cleansed of her sins.16
Ann Lee Sets Out for America
In response to several visions of a thriving
millennial church in America, and in order to escape persecution,
Mother Ann and eight of her followers set sail for America in
1774. Shaker legend tells of miraculous events on the journey
over, and on the arrival to New York. Nevertheless, the
establishment of Shakerism in America was slow in getting
started. The members had to split up to find work. Ann got
a job as a washerwoman, and her husband left her for another woman not
long after their arrival in the New World.17
The Shakers did manage to buy a piece of land in the
wilderness, about eight miles northwest of Albany, an area then called
Niskeyuna. (It later became known as Watervliet). There,
the believers shared labor and possessions out of mere necessity.
They struggled to survive, and in the fall of 1779, some began to lose
heart. But according to Shaker legend, Mother reassured her
followers that the masses would come before a year had passed, and that
they should make the necessary provisions to feed and house these
newcomers. And in 1780, they did come.18
A revival had broken out the year before in New Lebanon, New York and some nearby towns, led by the New Light Baptists.
These enthusiastic men and women had experienced visions and strange
experiences which they interpreted to mean that Christ was on his
way. But when he did not come, they fell into despair.19
It was not long before the disillusioned New Lights began to hear
rumors of the peculiar group called Shakers living in Niskeyuna.
Several went to check them out, and it took little coaxing for them to
embrace Mother Ann's message, confess their sins, and take up the cross
against the flesh. Ann taught that the Pentecostal "gifts of the
spirit" that they experienced were gifts to the pure, and that they
were a sign that the millennium had been ushered in.20
Much of the worship of the believers was similar to the
worship of the French Prophets and the Wardley society. It was a
spirit-directed worship, where members would speak in tongues,
prophesy, shout, tremble, and manifest the spirit in unique ways.
Ann herself was sometimes taken aback by various "gifts" that members
would display. She had never seen anything like it before, and
labored to try to understand it. But she insisted that "it is of
God, and it is not for me to condemn it."21 Dance
was and is one of the most important elements of Shaker worship.
For the Shakers, the dance represents the "one spirit by which the
people of God are led." It symbolizes the unity of the group, a
release of the soul, and self-expression.22
Persectution in America and the Spread of the Religion
Unfortunately, the Shakers did
not leave persecution behind when they left England. They came to
America at that crucial time in American history when the British were
most suspect, during the Revolutionary War. The Shaker insistence
on pacifism certainly did not help to lessen the patriots'
suspicions. Ann and other members of her society were asked to
take an oath of allegiance to America. They were unable to take
such an oath, however, because swearing was against their religion, so
all were imprisoned. If the authorities were trying to crush the
movement, their strategy failed. Many people saw the hypocrisy of
arresting a group for religious commitments while fighting for
religious and political freedom from Britain. So the persecution
only served to increase the Shakers' numbers.23
From 1781 to 1783, Mother Ann and the elders of the
group went on a missionary journey throughout New England. They
met with opposition in every town. Mobs would attack them,
sometimes leaving them for dead.24 But in spite of the
terrible oppression, they did gain converts. For the believers,
Mother Ann emanated an inner light that they could not deny.
Several converts give testimony of their experiences upon meeting
Ann. She would enter the room singing with a "heavenly voice,"
gently place her hand on the seeker's arm, and tell them of things
about themselves that "no one could have known." Sometimes, she
healed with the gift of her touch. Ann apparently had a way of
discerning what each seeker needed to urge them on their spiritual
path. One may require sternness, another, tenderness.
Almost every testimony describes Ann's singing, and the prominence she
gave to song would continue up to the present day among Shakers.25
Ann died in 1784, but her death certainly did not
signify the end of the movement. Nineteen Shaker communities were
established in eight states during the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries.26 The Shaker theology was appealing to many people in different times. The idea of a utopian society where
all were equal was refreshing when the "world's people" were enslaving
their fellow man. Women were intrigued by this society that
allowed women to be both spiritual and temporal leaders. And in
an era when a few people were getting rich at the expense of the
majority, a society where all possessions were shared must have
attracted widespread attention.
The life of the Shaker is not easy by the world's
standards, however. Today, only a handful of people has been
willing to make the commitment. There is only one Shaker
community today, that of Sabbathday Lake, Maine. Although the
Shakers there receive an average of 100 inquiries every year of people
interested in joining, when the inquirers learn of the sacrifice that
Shaker life entails, very few are ever heard from again. Over the
past 25 years, the Sabbathday Lake Shakers have had twenty Novices,
most of whom have left after only a three-month stay. According
to the late Sister Mildred, "they want everything but the cross."27
It is important not to view the small number of Shakers
today as a sign of failure. In fact, in might be said that the
Shakers now have more success than ever before. They are no
longer ridiculed, but admired. The "world's people" are now
beginning to recognize the value of feminine spirituality, and look to
the Shakers as inspiration for their work ethic, their life of daily
devotion, and their commitment to the spiritual things of life as
opposed to the material. These are among the "simple gifts" that the Shakers have to offer to the world.
1Flo Morse, The Shakers and the World's People (Hanover: University Press of New England, 1987), xvii.
2Edward R. Horgan, The Shaker Holy Land: A Community Portrait (Harvard: The Harvard Common Press, 1982), 2.
3Stephen J. Stein, The Shaker Experience in America: A History of the United Society of Believers (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992), xiii.
4Morse, The Shakers and the World's People, xvi.
5Frederick W. Evans, Ann Lee: The Founder of the Shakers (Mount Lebanon: Shakers, 1859), 122.
6Priscilla J. Brewer, "The Shakers of Mother Ann Lee." America's Communal Utopias, edited by Pitzer, Donald E. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997), 38.
7Edward Deming Andrews, The People Called Shakers: A Search for the Perfect Society (New York: Oxford University Press, 1953), 5.
8Stein, The Shaker Experience, 5.
9 Brewer, "The Shakers of Mother Ann Lee," 39.
10Jean M. Humez, Mother's First-Born Daughters: Early Shaker Writings on Women and Religion (Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1993), 29.
11Evans, Ann Lee, 124.
12Andrews, People Called Shakers, 8.
13Humez, Mother's First-Born Daughters, 29.
14Stein, The Shaker Experience, 5.
15Brewer, "The Shakers of Mother Ann Lee," 40.
16Evans, Ann Lee, 62.
17Diane Sasson, The Shaker Spiritual Narrative (Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1983), 6.
18Sasson, The Shaker Spiritual Narrative, 7.
19Andrews, People Called Shakers, 19.
20Diane Sasson, "1 the Shakers: the Adaptation of Prophecy." When Prophets Die: The Postcharismatic Fate of New Religious Movements, edited by Miller, Timothy (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991), 16,17.
21Humez, Mother's First-Born Daughters, 58.
22Sasson, The Shaker Spiritual Narrative, 74.
23Evans, Ann Lee, 141.
24Stein, The Shaker Experience, 23.
25Humez, Mother's First-Born Daughters, 44-59.
26Morse, The Shakers, xv.
27The Sabbathday Lake Shakers to Kelli Bunner, March 21, 2005.
External Links
http://www.passtheword.org/SHAKER-MANUSCRIPTS/
http://www.shakervillageky.org/
http://www.shaker.lib.me.us/
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