Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1890-10-14
THE VERY LATEST.
Something Brand New in the
Church Line.
FEW IN NUMB sR, STRONG IN FAITH

The Whole Sect Comprises Only Five
Persons, One "a Child, but the Priestess
Is One Worth Having in Gala Theo-
logical Hash with Exceedingly Robust
Business Capacities Made by
the Fair Founder.
CHICAGO, Oct IA Among the arrivals
at the Sherman house yesterday was
family holding very peculiar religious be-
liefs, of which they are the sole apostles
and followers. The entire church consists
of Mr.. and Mrs. Chynowith, Mr.. and Mrs.
f. A Hayes and the little daughter of
the latter. Mrs. Chynowith is the high
priestess of the new faith. She does not
claim TO be Christ, because she teaches
that no such person ever existed. but she
does claim that for thirty seven years she
has been as perfect as he is supposed to
have been. and that during that time she
has had all the miraculous powers attrib-
uted to him. Unlike the high priestess of
theosophy Mrs. Chynowith is neither
fascinating nor brilliantly intellectual.
The rest of the family are very meek but
very devout believers in her high calling.
Points of the New Creed.
The new religion is combination of
spiritualism, theosophy, Christianity. and
the faith cure While denying that they
have anything to do with spiritualism,
Mrs. Chynowith claims that she has the
power of being visited by her dead friends
and relatives. While she looks with scorn
upon theosophy and reincarnstion, she
claims that she has had no beginning and
will have no end. While denying Chris
tianity, and even claiming that the Son
of God WAS never upon earth, Mrs Chy
nowith nevertheless bases her somewhat
startling doctrines upon the Bible. From
what could be gathered from her some
what incoherent explanation, the new
faith teaches that Christ is only a type of
what every human being may become
an absolutely perfect and all-pOwerful
one, such as Mrs. Chynowith.
Mighty Handy to Have Around
The individual man Christ never eN-
listed, but whenever people reach a certain
state he lives in them. The few human
beings who have reached this advanced
stage are known by the possession of the
powers spoken of in st. Mark-the power
of healing by the mere laying on of hands,
the power of handling deadly reptiles, of
taking poiSons with impunity, and divers
other out of-the-way performances. Mrs.
! Chynowith not only possesses all these,
| but she also has the divine power of bear
| ing anorher's burdens, though she is quite
| literal i'll her Interpretation of this.
Takes Poison for Her Friends.
For instance, the entire family yester-
day bore witness to the fact that just be-
hi "a.
flew into the little girls eye, and, becom-
ing very painful, Mrs Chynowith placed
her hand upon the little ones eye where
upon the cinder was instantly trans ferred
to her own. Mrs Chynowith is quite adj
licted TO the use of large quantities of ar
senic, but she only takes il for the benefit
Df her friends. 1t was stated by her hus-
band that on one occasion a physician had
ordered that poison in small doses for
patient, but that the latter was afraid of
it, but feared the displeasure of the doc
| tor if he found the arsenic unused. Mrs.
| Chynowith kindly came to the rescue and
swallowed the whole amount, thus avoid
| Ing the anger of the doctor
Had Chat with u Ghost.
Mrs Chynowith finds that her powers
| sometimes save her much exertion, a. it
! j. scarcely necessary FIR her to visit the
| dying. Three years ago. she said,
! friend was about to die, and the relatives
| to console her last moments said that
they would send her farewell words
| II Mrs. Chynowith. The reply WAS
! that that would not be necessary
| as she would be with that lady before any
| letter could reach her. And sure enough,
So says Mrs. Chynowith, on her way to
/ her future home the young lady did stop
! il her spirit to have last chat Such
| visits as these are everyday occurrences
| with Mrs. Chynowith.
! Not Doing Missionary Work.
| They have made no effort to extend
| their belief but on their return to their
home at San Jose, Cal, they propose
erecting temple in which it may be
Taught by the prlestess. The latter says,
| however that the world must come to
her temple to be taught The
| Christ part of her has never
moved her to travel and teach
| and she never lifts hand or moves foot
unless she is guided by that part of her,
| which, by the way. acts, she says, upon
| her heart and not through her brain. The
| family is quite wealthy one, owning
| numerous mines in Michigan which en-
! plOy hundreds of laborer-, and from
which they are now returning.