Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-08-03

| NE strange TACT hetllS W NC
| quite unnoted By the chroni-
II clers of spiritual and reli-
gious development in the
United States 1t is that for
~ the first time in the worlds
history woman stands as the
founder of religious sects and cults
From the beginning this was true.
Anne Hutchinson came TO New England
with her husband in 1884 and on ship
board developed new woman" theolog-
ical ideas that disturbed the notions Of
her fellow passengers. In Boston she
was admitted TO the church Of Wheel
right and Cotton and at once began her
spiritual labors. These she confined at
first to her own sex, assembling the wo-
men OF the church and eXhortlng them
that the Holy Spirit dwelt In every pious
believer and shone with an inner light
which was sacred guide for all the
path OF life when regulated by the con
scious judgments Of the mind" She
preached so eloquently and persuasiyely
that she attracted both Cotton and
Wheelwright and even Sir Harry Vane
by her dIsoourses To these Anne
Hutchnson's teachings appeared as the
purest. highest spirituality, But there
were others outside of Boston who did
not regard the Holy Spirit as a sufii-
Client guide to man, but considered hui
man laws-stif ones at that-also nee
essaly to keep him in the middle OF the
road, so they objected strenuously to
the new teachings. The more enthusi-
astic and eloquent Anne became the |
greater cry her opponents made til !
there were earthquakes In the spiritual |
atmosphere of Boston town. At length |
the opponents got the upper hand, and,
while they could not shut off Anne |
Hutchinson's speech. they could drive |
her off where they would not hear II, |
which was the next best thing. They |
banished her from Massachusetts, and |
she and great band Of followers Join |
ed Roger Williams colony in Rhode Is
land where none should be accounted |
a delinquent for doctrine" Then by
and by the Boston church that had ban.
ished her on second thought perhaps,
concluding that the Holy Spirit might, /
after all, be trusted as a guide OF con-
duct sent a deputation officially TO
Rhode Island to bring her back. They
missed her working faith and fiery elo-
quence. but she would not return. Anne
Hutchinson was mastered by Indians
In 1913. There is no church which she
founded, but the doctrines she was BAN
ished for preaching are, In modified
form, the life itself of the live Christian
churches today, She, being dead, yet
speaketh
Next was that other Ann, Mother Ann
Lee founder of the sect of our gentle
friends, the Shakers. one Of her first
was her own husband, which
speaks volumes for her as a proselytlzer.
Well for Ann Lee that she hourished a
hundred and fortyyears later than Anne
Hutchinson, or she would not only have
been banished, but probably martyred
for her faith. As II was she was Inn
prlsoned In New York for awhile, not
because of her religious faith directly,
but because her religious faith would
not permit her to take the oath Of alle-
1idHit " tdiAHiN kbNtliliutllSt us, lOf
Instance, the state Of New York, even
though in those days a woman had a
vote no more than now.
Governor George Clinton, however,
soon released Ann and her elders, and
hen they went up and down the land,
converting men and women
o their doctrines and founding quaint
md quiet Shaker colonies where every
body must work for his living, aternat-
ng hours OF labor with dancing and
singing to praise God for letting him
i've and gain the rich experiences Of
Mortal life TO 1T him for heaven. one
# the phenomena Of the age was the
,reat and rapid spread Of the Shakers. $
Today the sect is declining. The ex- /
client repute Of Shaker brooms and s
shaker apple butter bids fair to outlast n
he colonies themselves. yet today with
II the worlds sin and suffering. Mother r.
Ann Lees doctrines, in modified form I.
gain. have a deeper hold on the Q
bought OF intelligent persons in the I
at large than they ever ala c
efore, and those who read the under n