Kingdom of Matthias

¶ … Kingdom of Matthias. There are three references used for this paper.

From the Quakers to the Great Awakening to Nat Turner, we have examined numerous variations of where a belief in the 'inner light' or the 'priesthood of all believers' could lead. It is important to examine the cult of Matthias to understand why he was popular, the factors which could have led to his revelations, the social and religious climates and the needs of his followers. It is also important to explore whether the cult was due to the transhistorical appeal or if it offers deeper lessons about early American religious experiences.

Matthias

Robert Matthews was "a carpenter from upstate New York who, after a lifetime of finding God everywhere and economic success nowhere, rode his half-starved horse into Manhattan in 1832, proclaiming his own divinity. He presented himself as not a Christian at all, but as Matthias, the culmination of a line of virile Jewish prophets leading up through Adam, Moses and Jesus to his penultimate incarnation as the thirteenth apostle. In the 1,800 years sine the apostolic times, Matthias declared, God's 'male governing spirit' had been wandering the earth, staying his hand until the vast Christian heresy was ripe for its end (Brown)." Matthias told the people of the time that he had now taken human form and was there to collect his chosen followers.

A Zealous Preacher

Matthias was well-known in 1829 not only for preaching in the streets, but also "loud discussions and pavement exhortations, but he did not make set sermons. However, at the beginning of 1830, he was only considered zealous (afroamhistory.about.com/library)." During this same year, he was reading his bible and preparing to shave, suddenly "exclaimed, 'I have found it! I have found a text which proves that no man who shaves his beard can be a true Christian', and shortly afterwards, without shaving, he went to the Mission House to deliver an address which he had promised, and in this address is proclaimed his new character, pronounced vengeance on the land, and that the law of God was the only rule of government, and that he was commanded to take possession of the world in the name of the King of kings (afroamhistory.about.com/library)."

Social and Religious Climate

As the country changed, the people began to experience a number of challenges to authority, allowing "newborn religions to have a genealogical foundation for their chosen ness (Brown)." Claiming to be directly related to Jacob by way of Ephraim, Joseph Smith convinced those who followed him that "their own conversion to Mormonism effected a literal genetic transmutation. 'The effect of the Holy Ghost upon a gentile' he said, 'is to purge out the old blood, and make him actually the seed of Abraham' (Brown)."

Creating A New Cult

The new cult was accepted since over the course of history, the "very welter of our religious identities has made up much of the challenge that new religious movements set out to address. Whether they come as broad revivals or as fresh cults, new groups distinguish themselves not only for the sake of their peculiar visions, but also in order to cure confusion with the clearest of all possible answers. The unintended result is that new holy communities only swell the spiritual jumble by throwing in one more model of exclusion (Brown)."

Since Americans were more likely to search for something, instead of seeing what was already there in front of them, Matthias's charismatic personality quickly convinced wealthy New Yorkers to not only follow his cult, but provide financial backing as well.

Matthias "took over a small church previously devoted to just the sort of Christian practices he detested, and then began appearing downtown in a special carriage, fantastically dressed, preaching to crowds while brandishing a sword, an iron ruler and the chain with which he would bind Satan once and for all (Brown)." Matthias preached that the world which the gentiles lived in was about to burn, and afterward the "Hebrew spirits in his male followers would awaken into a renewed terrestrial paradise, where under his governance they would live like country squires and oversee their wives and children with the authority of Abraham (Brown)."

A Change in Religion

Although Matthias was not what many would consider the epitome of a crusader, Americans then and now gladly entertained the "radical Protestant notion that all history since the apostolic days has been an error now to be cast aside. A sublime disregard for the past goes along with exorbitant visions of what might be accomplished in the present (Brown)."

There were a number of pioneers in religion during the time that Matthias lived. These religions -- "Shakers, Mormons, Oneida perfectionists, Adventists, Disciples of Christ -- considered themselves chosen to 'restore' an order of life aboriginally intended by God. For them, the beginning of holiness meant the end of merely human history, their millenarian and apocalyptic fevers expressed the feeling that they were stepping out of time and onto the brink of something both infinite and concrete (Brown)." Many of these religions invented their own pasts, which allowed them to radically change how they looked at "sex, childrearing, work and worship (Brown)." These changes were not made with the intention of creating something new, but instead trying to rediscover what they thought was right.

End of a Kingdom

The beginning of the Kingdom's end started when Matthias was seduced by Ann Folger, however, it could have been a mutual seduction. "Obedience fueled Matthias's ecstasies, and Ann, the submissive disciple, eagerly complied in every way. However, the patriarchal order inspired by the Spirit of Truth proved highly unstable (Johnson)." At this same time, feeling that he was overlooked by the Spirit, Elijah the Tishbite also was interested in Ann although she was married to Benjamin Folger. In 1834, Elijah became ill and died after eating blackberries and Matthias "warned his disciples that a similar fate awaited all of his enemies (Johnson)," leading those outside the faith to suspect murder.