"The Kingdom of Matthias" by Johnson and Wilentz examines the remarkable stories of two nineteenth century New Yorkers who are dramatically transformed by the Market Revolution and the Second Great Awakening. The authors masterfully weave Elijah Pierson and Robert Matthews through the wider tapestry of these major economic and social movements with great dramatic effect. In other words, this work reads more like a novel than a work of history; many historians do not write as gracefully or engagingly as Johnson and Wilentz.
Let’s start with Pierson who leaves the patriarchal, tradition-bound world of Morristown, New Jersey to seek his fortune in New York. While only 50 miles or so separate these two places, Pierson was entering an alien world when he crossed the Hudson River. What exactly was so socially jarring for Pierson in the big city? Why does his experience in New York lead him to reject the world he had grown up in, as Johnson and Wilentz assert: “By the standards that Elijah Pierson would later adopt, the immutable inequality of this tight-knit patriarchy was a perfect model of injustice” (17). Or more directly, in what ways did the Market Revolution and Second Great Awakening converge in Pierson’s story and transform him into a wealthy reformer who actively criticized the world in which he was raised. Finally, what do you make of Pierson’s growing religious fervor in chapter one? Is this simply the natural path of a devout Christian towards deeper connection with the divine, or did he become, as the authors contend, the “obviously deranged Elijah Pierson” (44).
Now, if you agree with the authors regarding Pierson’s mental instability following the death of his wife, what do you make of Robert Matthews? He too is swept up by the Market Revolution. But his success as a shopkeeper is brief, unlike Pierson who navigates this new economic world towards great personal wealth. Why does Matthews fail while Pierson succeeds? On the religious side of things, why does Matthews aggressively reject the tenets of the Second Great Awakening, a movement that Pierson embraced? Finally, does Matthews’s story in chapter two suggest the state of derangement that the authors apply to Pierson? Johnson and Wilentz write on page 66: “Hearing all this, Margaret began to believe that her husband, quite apart from his physical ailments, was periodically insane.” Does his behavior support Margaret’s suspicions?
For your post, respond to one of the issues I’ve raised and work off the related questions I’ve posed. You may also include direct responses to some of your classmates’ postings if and when appropriate. Be sure to include specific references to the text (quotes) in defense of your assertions. And finally, please read the “Kingdom of Matthias Blog Instructions” for guidelines before you compose. These instructions can be found under the “News” section on our Edline class page. I look forward to reading your blogs and be sure to post by midnight on Saturday, November 14.
Elijah Pierson, having grown up in a town where everyone went to church, and there was a very clear social hierarchy, was in awe as he witnessed the brutal homeless population of New York, and the local churches which he referred to as, “mere social clubs for the rich” (19). His biggest problem with New York was that he “struggled to stake out social and emotional ground between the thoughtless rich and the vicious poor” (19), as he could do so easily back in Morristown. From Brick Presbyterian Church, to the many mission trips he led alongside his wife Sarah from his independent church in Bowery Hill, Elijah Pierson is making a name for himself in the religious community of New York. Moving to New York gave Pierson options other than inheriting a farm in Morristown. He was able to create his own future, consisting of a wife, steady job, and a passion for Christianity instead of following in the steps of his father, grandfather, and great grandfather. Johnson and Wilentz show this when they wrote, “The marriage of Elijah and Sarah Pierson was not based on inherited property, large families, or patriarchal assumptions. It was a spiritualized union between partners” (27). The longer Pierson succeeds financially due to the Market Revolution and Second Great Awakening, the more he rejects his previous beliefs of the life he could have lived in Morristown. “Early marriage, a large family, and the assumption of fatherly pretensions would have doomed him to failure” (20).
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ReplyDeleteI agree with Patrick’s analysis of Elijah Pierson and agree that he serves as a merger of the 2nd Great Awakening and the Market Revolution. Pierson was raised on a farm in Morristown and carried those small town Christian values to the big city of Manhattan. Pierson learned early in his life that g-d put humans on the planet to have a specific place in society and to “not question this visible, worldly order” (15). His eyes were opened up to real world struggles between the “thoughtless rich and the vicious poor” and in an attempt to convert the poor to believers he joined missionary societies (19). Pierson while working with the Female Missionary society began “question[ing] the entire formula” of religion that he had been raised with at Morristown (21). Pierson’s questioning of religion is an important characteristic of the Great Awakening and this is further elucidated by the 1st Great Awakening in which the colonists started questioning the basic tenets of government and an unemotional form of Puritanism. Pierson again questioned his Morristown values when he shifted from his family’s Presbyterian Church to his wife’s Evangelical Church. After the death of his wife Sarah, Pierson turned to religion to resurrect his wife. This prophetical conversation transformed him into a prophet and increased his religious fervor. At the same time he was questioning religious beliefs, Pierson was conforming into a stereotypical Pearl Street businessman. He embodied the spirit of the Market Revolution and took advantage of the growing network for westward trade. Also unlike previous generations of merchants, Pierson’s prior experiences and class did not matter in the making of him into a successful businessman. The only thing his Pearl Street partner cared about was that he worked hard and that they were earning money. Pierson embodied both the spirit of the 2nd Great Awakening and the Market Revolution.
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Zach M
Elijah Pierson was born into a patriarchal, Calvinist society in Morristown, New Jersey. Patriarchal society and links between social classes by kinship networks were the norm in this God-fearing town. It’s ironic that Pierson would later become part of the bustling Middle-Colony society that was tied “not to an inherited farm set within a network of kin but to individual ambition, risk-taking, and the accumulation of money” (20). The constant influence of drunken men, churches that seemed more like “social clubs for the rich”, and the thoughtless rich and the vicious poor led Pierson to turn to his religion for sustenance. He joined Reverend Spring’s Presbyterian Church where he was exposed to the evangelical movement and a religious life that questioned the entire “formula” for religion that he had learned as a boy in New Jersey. Pierson’s voluntary aid in the Female Missionary Society exposed him to the faults of the patriarchal society that he had grown up with. These radical women were out to help the poor and the women and children that had been left to a life of poverty because of their drunken and abusive father figures. Elijah experienced, first hand, this “moral void” that proved to be a result of the “absent, ignorant, and cruel fathers” (22) that had degraded women and children with their power. This opened the eyes of Elijah and he also became a huge believer in the evangelical womanhood movement as opposed to the patriarchal way that he grew up believing were flawless. He became a leader in the perfectionist community where social boundaries and power dissolved before the love and selflessness of a perfect Christian God.
ReplyDeleteIt was the Market Revolution that led Pierson to New York in the first place. He was one of thousands of country boys in the early nineteenth century that sought a fortune in the Middle Colonies. His success as a businessman exposed him to a different breed of people that were driven by money. The Second Great Awakening of evangelical values pushed Elijah from his Calvinistic background and into the Victorian, Romantic Movement. The conversion of religion and sect affiliation was a common occurrence in this area so I wouldn’t call that deranged; however, his persistent effort to revive his wife from the dead was a little outlandish. Not surprisingly, Pierson does become deranged after the death of his beloved Sarah, mainly because of the spiritual and everyday guidance she provided him with.
Well so far I am definitely inclined to side with Margret on the subject of Robert Matthew’s insanity. I am led to believe it stemmed from his absolute failure in both the market economy and religious revival. Unlike Elijah Pierson who “walked nervously through the streets (Of Manhattan), past prostitutes and drunkards. Robert Matthews, the precocious journeyman carpenter, viewed the same scenes with the righteous fervor of a devout Anti-Burgher, which quickly got him into trouble” (58). Unlike Pierson who kept quiet, Robert would pester his workmates about their sinful habits. The workmates would convince the boss to fire him which made it very difficult for Robert to keep a job. He quickly gained the nickname “Jumping Jesus” in a city where people wanted nothing to do with religion. His failure attributed to his pestering, but also to an instance where he beat a woman, probably out of frustration for no apparent reason. After many other misfortunes such as a business expansion gone wrong, and a financial panic in Manhattan, Matthews was left without friends, and without money. This massive failure, I believe, was the stimulus for his insanity. He began hopping back in forth from religion to religion, contradicting himself and his previous acclaimed beliefs. These swift, radical changed in beliefs and moods led Margret to believe Robert had become insane. She even claimed that after finding no place in other men’s churches, he began inventing his own religions. He denied the Second Great Awakening because it had denied him first.
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DeleteI think that as Pierson was living in Morristown, it was in a way his own little utopia or perfect world where he was able to relate and understand easily. It was nowhere near what New York would present to him. As zach said, he was taught not to question but rather to blindly obey the rules as evidenced by “not to an inherited farm set within a network of kin but to individual ambition, risk-taking, and the accumulation of money” (20). This perfectly shows the dramatic transformation Elijah went through in his relocation to New York. His questioning of religion is key to his development. This also symbolizes the ideals of the Great Awakening. Questioning religion, and government and the ability to think for yourself is the entire concept behind the current second great awakening. The difference to me between Matthews and Pierson is composure. Pierson is not a fan of drunks or prostitutes at all, and neither is Matthews. However, Pierson does not let himself be torn up and annoyed by the behavior of extreme others. Matthews, on the other hand, lets it get to him and gets wrapped up in conflicts that are not his own. This is a dangerous path, and is without a doubt the cause of how he "was periodically insane" (66). Insanity and failure are eternally intertwined as in Matthew's case act as a snowball effect. Emily says that he denied the Second Great Awakening because it denied him first,and I agree because Robert was unable to open up and go with the current of the movement. Unfortunately for him, Robert Matthews is no salmon, and is unable to swim upstream.
ReplyDeleteInsanity or could it be demonic possession? I like your idea about Prophet Matthias not being a salmon.
DeleteDid you know that Robert Matthews jumped off a steamboat into the Hudson river in his attempt to walk on water?
In addition a fellow disciple jumped with him resulting in him drowning!
For a lot more interesting information on Robert Matthews (Prophet Matthias) you are personally invited to view the web pages “Clash of the Prophets.”
Link @ http://www.prophetmatthiasjosephsmithsojourneroftruth.com/
The password is s1
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ReplyDeleteThroughout the first chapter, Elijah Pierson’s religious fervor evolves radically. Originally as a child Elijah is faced with the responsibility of living up to the conservative values of the already established church form. This was compounded by the fact that his family was linked to prominent religious positions in Morristown. Johnson and Wilentz explained Elijah’s father was a “Member of a thick and busy network of kin” (16). The radically new life that Elijah takes on in the city changes not only his economic status, but his spiritual beliefs as well. His newfound success in the city was self-made; therefore a new confidence within begins to give him a new direction, asserting his beliefs as the truly righteous way of living spiritually. In an effort to continue his spiritual worship he joined Spring’s Brick Presbyterian Church where he was exposed to “an emerging network of evangelical lay missionary societies”(20). Although these churches preached the same ideologies that Elijah learned as a boy in Morristown, the distancing from these strict ideas was started by Spring, a man “loosened from the presumptions of … Calvinist determinism”(24). Through interactions in these societies, Pierson eventually marries the extremely pious Sarah Stanford. Together they held an extremely strong union that transcended the usual priorities within most marriages. Johnson and Wilentz describe it as: “ a spiritualized union between partners…it thrived on prayer and feminine influence.” The inseparable connection to her led Pierson to prayer meetings with the extremist Frances Folger. As a snowball effect occurred, Pierson began going on stronger missions and praying more intensely, eventually fasting as part of his holy regimen. Such unhealthy practices led to the death of his wife, Sarah. After her death, Pierson began a downward spiral where his involvement in spiritual matters was indiscernible from mental insanity. This is best exemplified by his attempt at reviving Sarah from the dead. In an attempt to bring his wife back to life, he embarrassed himself and discredited much of his legitimacy as a spiritual man. ”Over the year after Elijah’s attempt to raise Sarah, his old evangelical friends abandoned him one by one”(43). Ultimately his religious fervor starts as a continuation his childhood religion, expands to a passion for helping others, but ultimately results in an ultra spiritual lifestyle that alienated most of the people he knew.
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I agree with Jared and Zach in what they are saying about how Elijah served as a unification of both the 2nd Great Awakening and the Market Revolution. Coming from a small community where he was raised with strong Christian values and concealed from troubles of the real world, New York was a very unusual place from what he’d grown up with. “But the lessons of country churches and patriarchs only carried so far in helping young men fashion Christian lives in New York” (19) This is a perfect example of how the small New England town differs from the thriving city of New York. Elijah is transforming from the boy he was in Morristown into a young man with both economic and religious growth and transformations. He has started to make his own money, therefore the impact of the society of which he is living is also beginning to alter the “values” he had before, “one of the leading congregations for Yankee newcomers.” (20). this is showing the switch Elijah makes when he is in New York. I agree with Jared when he discusses the difference between Matthews and Pierson. They both have agreeing ideas, but the way that Pierson portrays himself is more of a mature way because he can ignore the actions. Matthews on the other hand cannot and gets himself into ugly situations because of it. Also, I agree with Rohit when he is describing the religious path Pierson takes. He is so troubled when his wife dies that his realization of “ordinary” escapes him. Although, Pierson does represent the unification between the 2nd Great Awakening and the Market Revolution in a very spiritual way.
ReplyDeleteIn The Kingdom of Matthias, Elijah Pierson undergoes a dramatic transformation in religious and social understanding. Growing up, Elijah was taught that “God had placed men and women into families and social ranks, then governed their destinies” so Elijah therefore was convinced that “even perfect outward adherence to God’s rules would not assure him a place in heaven” (15). This social hierarchy, in addition to their strict ideals of patriarchal dominance, put Pierson in a position of awe and confusion as a child. Once he moved to New York and obtained a successful job as a merchant businessman, we see how the Market Revolution and the Second Great Awakening affected him. To become successful he willingly saved his money, opened a mercantile firm, worked hard and “reached an enviable place… in New York” (18). This then exposed him to the socially religious realities of the city, where rich men adorned themselves and ignored the church, and the poor were associated with broken homes with many children, alcoholism, and prostitution. This clash of affluence and perverse disorder showed Elijah that life did not come easy, it required consistency and risk-taking—the idea of a large family and patriarchal order from his childhood would not be his key to success. Just as Emily mentioned, it would provide him with new insight, and a deep understanding of the faults displayed in the Morristown society. From this experience, Pierson realizes that religion, but not the one of his youth, would be important for him to be involved in. He joined the Female Missionary Society and Brick Presbyterian Church that, “questioned the entire formula about fatherhood and God…from Morristown” (21). He embraced the ideals of equality, Christian love, and charity in the form of religious guidance and became very influential in the church and their missions. Evidently, Pierson was able to branch off from his younger experiences and live a charitable and accomplished life until the time of his wife’s demise, when he begins to spiral into insanity. On the other hand, Matthews fails to have the same initial achievement that Pierson had. Although he apparently had a great deal of skill and intelligence, the death of his parents seemed to haunt him throughout his life, causing him difficulties with social and economic pursuits. As a result of this, combined with his strict Anti- Burgher beliefs, Matthews preached to and condemned his co-workers during the workday for their ungodly behavior, often resulting in his loss of his job. Later he owned a store but went bankrupt, and then two of his sons died; both of these events were the catalysts to his “periodic insanity” that was to come. He switched religions/sects numerous times, followed different leaders such as “Noah, the self proclaimed Judge of Israel,” and was at one point convinced that, “he, too was descended from the Israelites” (66). This religious absurdity convinced Matthews that people’s strength in faith and God’s will were the source of all good and bad things, therefore justifying his actions when he beat his wife. We can see through this that Pierson thrives in life, by embracing both the Market Revolution and the Second Great Awakening in a positive, relaxed, and respectable way, whereas Matthews’s fails to do so due to his depressed childhood and his aggressive religious actions. Then again, in the end of their stories, we see that even as one man succeeds in some ways, and the other fails, both men’s obsession with religious fervor result in their personality downfalls.
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Interesting overview, however the devil is in the details and within the book and web site entitled CLASH OF THE PROPHETS you can if so desired find out more of this very interesting story. Their is also a blog section and lots of other items which you may wish to look at.
DeleteYou are personally invited to view the web pages “Clash of the Prophets.”
Link @ http://www.prophetmatthiasjosephsmithsojourneroftruth.com/
The password is s1
Multiple social aspects in the big city, when compared to Morristown, were very different and surprising for Elijah Pierson. In fact, there were multiple opposites with the society of his new residency contrasted with the town he was brought up in. The patriarchal world in which he was brought up was the exact opposite of the world he would enter. As he would learn, females were equal and more influential than the men, “Like other evangelical wives, Sarah became her husband’s guide in matters of the spirit.” (27) As Jared and many of my fellow colleagues have said, Elijah is caught up in the Second Great Awakening and is vulnerable to new concepts and ideas in his new world, since he is lost and alone in the beginning of his new life, unable to apply his previously learned morals. I respectfully disagree, however, with Jared’s statement which says “Pierson does not let himself be torn up and annoyed by the behavior of extreme others.” Analyzing this statement directly, I would agree with it, however, when I see what happens later to Pierson when his wife Sarah dies, I reconsider. I agree with the authors when they say Pierson becomes deranged. When she dies he is so convinced that if he continues to pray then “The Lord shall raise [her] up!” (39) So Pierson ultimately let the extreme behaviors of these people influence him, and he ends up becoming one of the most passionate and devout of them all. But since he let them influence him so greatly, he becomes torn up and “obviously deranged” when Sarah dies to the point that he believes she will rise from the dead because it says so in the Epistle of James: “Is there any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church: and let them pray…with oil in the name of the Lord…the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up.” (38)
ReplyDelete-Dean
In my opinion Pierson's story is the stereotypical tale of a young person who moves away from home, does not know how to handle his new surroundings, and ends up involved in cultic/heretical behavior. I want to make this very clear now: I do not believe Elijah Pierson was ever a true Christian. Pierson, after the death of his wife, left any semblance of orthodox Christianity. 1 John 2:19 states "They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us." Biblically speaking, Pierson could never have been a true Christian. That being said, Pierson’s story is not surprising. He had grown up all his life in a nice, sheltered town, and then, while still somewhat immature (20), he moved to a completely unfamiliar place in order to take advantage of economic opportunities. Because of the market revolution, Pierson left a place of familiarity, and entered a world he did not understand. The market revolution is what brought Elijah Pierson into contact with the second great awakening. Often when people don’t know how to react to their surroundings, they turn to things that make sense to them. Often this ends up being religion. As pages 19 and 20 make clear, all the societal rules he had grown up with suddenly did not apply in his new situation, so "like many others in his situation, Elijah looked to his religion for sustenance. (20)” The religion he turned to ended up being different from his childhood religion, and it set him on a path. This path was not one of a Christian becoming more devout, or of simple insanity, but rather one of a lost soul accidentally falling into ancient heresy. Elijah's situation is remarkably similar to the ancient heresies of Corinth and Colossae. The problems in Corinth involved the uncontrolled use of spiritual gifts. This heresy is clearly demonstrated in the holy club on page thirty. The heresy of Colossae was asceticism, and sabbatarianism. False apostles infiltrated the church, and demanded that its members observe many religious regulations, including the Sabbath and self-denial. Ultimately Pierson became one of the false apostles and claimed apostolic authority. (46-47)
ReplyDeleteBecause of his unorthodox beliefs, Pierson's behavior clearly does not exhibit the natural progression of Christian devotion to God. I also believe that while his wife's death was a highly influential point in his life, it is not entirely to blame for his strange beliefs and practices. The seeds of his destruction were planted long before he married Sarah. Personally, I could predict the outcome of the chapter the moment I read he became involved in the perfectionist movement. Ultimately, I believe Pierson was simply a young man who, because of the market revolution, suddenly found himself in a place he did not fully understand, and ended up turning to the more heterodox wing of the second great awakening to find meaning. He was not deranged or insane, nor was he a Christian. If anything Elijah Pierson's life exhibits the natural progression of heresy in one’s life.
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DeleteGrowing up in the small close-knit, Christian community of Morristown, Elijah Pierson developed a prejudiced, determined view of the world. Patriarchal society was, ubiquitous, and Elijah was, “not to question this visible, worldly order. He had only to apprehend his station within it an then follow the rules of that station.” (pg 15) In his youth, this implied a fear god, and would later on lead him to govern his family in such a way. Presbyterian principles influenced the community’s beliefs as well as their actions. Elijah was well aware at a young age that, “if he misbehaved, or if the local fathers allowed him to misbehave, God would do terrible things to Morristown.” (pg 15) This sense of responsibility, and communal obligation is what shocks Elijah so much when he initially arrives in New York. He observed the rich and the poor, and the vast, expanding rift between them and, “struggled to stake out social and emotional ground between the two.” (pg 19) The rich felt no moral obligation to the ill-fated poor in their community. Here, God was not feared, but rather a, “warm-hearted gentleman just like them [the rich men].” (pg 19) Pierson quickly affiliates himself with organizations, and church groups that do give back to the community, and through this process, marries his wife, who later became his guide in all matters of the spirit. Although he eventually rejects the inequality and social hierarchy of the world he grew up in, Elijah Pierson, “attributed his success to the moral code he had learned on his father’s farm.” (pg 19) Unfortunately, Mathews, unlike Pierson, fails while trying to navigate through the new economic world to personal wealth. I agree completely with Jared that Elijah’s conservative religious presence, sat in stark contrast to Robert Mathew’s overpowering opinions. Composure was unquestionably the main distinction between the two spiritual men, and while they both disapproved of the sinners around them, such as prostitutes and drunkards, Pierson remained collected, while Mathews lashed out. As Jared put it, Robert cannot swim against the influential stream of the second great awakening, while Pierson uses the current of the stream to gain more influence, allowing himself to succeed in the second great awakening and the market revolution.
ReplyDeleteElijah Pierson goes through immense changes throughout his life due to the second great awakening and the market revolution. He grew up near the town of Morristown on a farm where he learned that “God had placed men and women into families and social ranks, then governed their destinies…”(15) at a very young age and believed these ideas were unblemished. He tried to carry the values he was taught and learned in Morristown until he realized it would not work out that way when he underwent a huge transition and moved into the big city of New York City. It was a completely different environment because there was a lot more variety of people. This made Elijah open his eyes, because back home people were the same and did not have moral problems like people in New York had. The market revolution came into his life early when he realized he was probably not going to inherent the farm; therefore, he moved to the big city where he worked, at first, as an apprentice clerk. The only real value he kept that helped him was living simple and the moral code his father taught him. He learned that “Early marriage, a large family, and the assumption of fatherly pretensions would have doomed him to failure” (20). The second great awakening also played an important role in Elijah’s change because when Elijah joined the Spring’s Brick Presbyterian Church and the Female Missionary Society there, he realized “the immunitable inequality of this tight-knit patriarchy was a perfect model of injustice”(17), and how it was different at home and as Jared said, “made him question his belief and think for his own”. He realized his patriarchal beginning was wrong and flawed and this was something completely new to him because at home everyone was born and raised the same way. This exemplifies how Elijah Pierson changed throughout his life because of the second great awakening and the market revolution.
ReplyDeleteWhen Elijah Pierson left his little town of Morristown for New York City to look for his big break in life, he went there totally unprepared for the different lifestyle that pervaded the big city. There he saw no close knit community where help for the poor and sick was available, all he saw was a rich class who thought of God as a “warm-hearted gentlemen like themselves” (19), and a class of poor that had evolved from “absent, ignorant and cruel fathers” (22) that in the patriarchal system allowed them to “degrade poor women and children and left a moral void.” (22) behind. The poor people of New York City were “a mass of unclean desperation that clearly needed more than firewood and positions in the gallows.” (19)
ReplyDeleteAs Elijah’s lonely life as a successful businessman on Pearl Street continued to not meet his wants for a decent family and society, “Elijah turned to his religion for sustenance.” (20) So when at his church, the Female Missionary Society for the Poor of New York and Its Vicinity was “looking for a male elder for its mission church to the back slum on Bancker Street, Elijah volunteered.” (21) As a missionary to the poor of New York, he “tied their work to their emerging notions of domestic life-notions that pointed away from traditional patriarchy and towards…the spiritualized, mother-centered interiors of the Victorian era.” (22) Elijah and his missionary friends realized through their work that it was possible to achieve grace through reform and penitence, and so “experiencing their own transcendence of sin, they envisioned a world without selfishness, a world governed by the perfect Christian love.” (24) To the missionaries and Elijah, it seemed that God was telling them that “the corrupt human nature that supposedly justified worldly power was really an authoritarian mirage.” (24) The power of men as superior to women and children “was not only needless, but harmful, for it interposed human force between individuals and God’s tender mercies.” (24)
Thus the Market Revolution left Pierson lonely to go to his church for familial support that he lacked in his social/business life that left him to get swept up in the Second Great Awakening. When he got active in his church’s missionary programs he got caught up by all the misery and sadness that he saw in New York. Miseries caused by the abuse of men onto women and children that drove them to sin. This realization led him to renounce that churchly supported social hierarchy that he previously had been running to for support in his life. When Elijah Pierson left the social standard of normality, he didn’t stop at a reasonable distance; his strange ideas were most likely brought on and exacerbated by his fasting and lengthy prayer. He eventually went crazy trying to raise his wife from the dead and having visions and having illusions of conversations with God.
When Elijah Pierson left his little town of Morristown for New York City to look for his big break in life, he went there totally unprepared for the different lifestyle that pervaded the big city. There he saw no close knit community where help for the poor and sick was available, all he saw was a rich class who thought of God as a “warm-hearted gentlemen like themselves” (19), and a class of poor that had evolved from “absent, ignorant and cruel fathers” (22) that in the patriarchal system allowed them to “degrade poor women and children and left a moral void.” (22) behind. The poor people of New York City were “a mass of unclean desperation that clearly needed more than firewood and positions in the gallows.” (19)
ReplyDeleteAs Elijah’s lonely life as a successful businessman on Pearl Street continued to not meet his wants for a decent family and society, “Elijah turned to his religion for sustenance.” (20) So when at his church, the Female Missionary Society for the Poor of New York and Its Vicinity was “looking for a male elder for its mission church to the back slum on Bancker Street, Elijah volunteered.” (21) As a missionary to the poor of New York, he “tied their work to their emerging notions of domestic life-notions that pointed away from traditional patriarchy and towards…the spiritualized, mother-centered interiors of the Victorian era.” (22) Elijah and his missionary friends realized through their work that it was possible to achieve grace through reform and penitence, and so “experiencing their own transcendence of sin, they envisioned a world without selfishness, a world governed by the perfect Christian love.” (24) To the missionaries and Elijah, it seemed that God was telling them that “the corrupt human nature that supposedly justified worldly power was really an authoritarian mirage.” (24) The power of men as superior to women and children “was not only needless, but harmful, for it interposed human force between individuals and God’s tender mercies.” (24)
Thus the Market Revolution left Pierson lonely to go to his church for familial support that he lacked in his social/business life that left him to get swept up in the Second Great Awakening. When he got active in his church’s missionary programs he got caught up by all the misery and sadness that he saw in New York. Miseries caused by the abuse of men onto women and children that drove them to sin. This realization led him to renounce that churchly supported social hierarchy that he previously had been running to for support in his life. When Elijah Pierson left the social standard of normality, he didn’t stop at a reasonable distance; his strange ideas were most likely brought on and exacerbated by his fasting and lengthy prayer. He eventually went crazy trying to raise his wife from the dead and having visions and having illusions of conversations with God.
When Elijah Pierson left his little town of Morristown for New York City to look for his big break in life, he went there totally unprepared for the different lifestyle that pervaded the big city. There he saw no close knit community where help for the poor and sick was available, all he saw was a rich class who thought of God as a “warm-hearted gentlemen like themselves” (19), and a class of poor that had evolved from “absent, ignorant and cruel fathers” (22) that in the patriarchal system allowed them to “degrade poor women and children and left a moral void.” (22) behind. The poor people of New York City were “a mass of unclean desperation that clearly needed more than firewood and positions in the gallows.” (19)
ReplyDeleteAs Elijah’s lonely life as a successful businessman on Pearl Street continued to not meet his wants for a decent family and society, “Elijah turned to his religion for sustenance.” (20) So when at his church, the Female Missionary Society for the Poor of New York and Its Vicinity was “looking for a male elder for its mission church to the back slum on Bancker Street, Elijah volunteered.” (21) As a missionary to the poor of New York, he “tied their work to their emerging notions of domestic life-notions that pointed away from traditional patriarchy and towards…the spiritualized, mother-centered interiors of the Victorian era.” (22) Elijah and his missionary friends realized through their work that it was possible to achieve grace through reform and penitence, and so “experiencing their own transcendence of sin, they envisioned a world without selfishness, a world governed by the perfect Christian love.” (24) To the missionaries and Elijah, it seemed that God was telling them that “the corrupt human nature that supposedly justified worldly power was really an authoritarian mirage.” (24) The power of men as superior to women and children “was not only needless, but harmful, for it interposed human force between individuals and God’s tender mercies.” (24)
Thus the Market Revolution left Pierson lonely to go to his church for familial support that he lacked in his social/business life that left him to get swept up in the Second Great Awakening. When he got active in his church’s missionary programs he got caught up by all the misery and sadness that he saw in New York. Miseries caused by the abuse of men onto women and children that drove them to sin. This realization led him to renounce that churchly supported social hierarchy that he previously had been running to for support in his life. When Elijah Pierson left the social standard of normality, he didn’t stop at a reasonable distance; his strange ideas were most likely brought on and exacerbated by his fasting and lengthy prayer. He eventually went crazy trying to raise his wife from the dead and having visions and having illusions of conversations with God.
I tend to believe that both Mathias and Pierson suffer mental instability. This may be due to my skepticism towards the idea of "talking to God", but both individuals show signs of ill mental health. Mathias has a history of violent outburst, lashing out at a woman in response to the verbal abuse suffered after three years working among men who scorn his religious zeal (59). After various economic failures, he throws himself back into religion. In spite of being a prominent member of the Calvinist community in Coila, Mathias begins to latch on to new religious movements in a fairly haphazard fashion. First, it's Methodists. The next, a cultish derivative of Judaism. He jumps from idea to idea, each one failing him a new way. Between this, he engages in domestic abuse. He experiences a "revelation," that God believes in not shaving. He runs off with his sons. These are not the actions of a sane man. Pierson also exhibits the qualities of a troubled man. After becoming wrapped up in a mode of devotion involving intensive fasting and work, his wife is run so ragged that she falls to tuberculosis and dies. This begins Pierson on a path of depression and insanity. He attempts to raise his wife from the dead. Both men are not quite right. What I wonder is whether religion led them to this mental anguish, or simply became the manifestation of their problems. Both are brought up in deeply religious settings, run into poverty and atheism for the first time with surprise, and end up in rather extreme religious movements. I tend to think that the intensive fasting and other facets of extremist denominations could only be seen as positive by one not thinking clearly.
ReplyDeleteThe main part of this disturbing true story occurs after the death of Sarah. You may want to find out more by reading the Clash of the Prophets. You are personally invited to view the web pages “Clash of the Prophets.”
DeleteLink @ http://www.prophetmatthiasjosephsmithsojourneroftruth.com/
The password is s1
As many others have said before me Elijah Pierson acts as connection between the Second Great awakening and the market revolution. Having grown up in Morristown, Pierson was already bred to follow in the footsteps of his family and become a committed member of the Presbyterian Church. “At the center of the family’s map stood the Piersons’ spiritual bulwark, Morristown’s first Presbyterian church…” (15) Much like most families of the period the Piersons were connected through their spirituality, “his father…a lifelong church member, an elected church trustee, and a descendant of one of the church’s founders…” (16). When Elijah left for New York City he had all the intention to keep his Presbyterian values including a patriarchal household. However, upon arrival, Elijah realized that he would have to sacrifice these values in order to become a successful business man, “Country patriarchy and Calvinist determinism provided even fewer hints about how to translate mercantile success into marriage and domestic life…his father took a seventeen-year-old bride when he was himself twenty-two, and raised seven children on the family homestead. But in New York City such arrangements made no sense.” (20) Pierson still followed a moral code but he had his eye on commercial success. “Pierson and his fellow Pearl Street merchants were a new breed of businessman,” (18) this “new breed of businessmen” would soon prove to be the leaders of the market revolution. Throughout his business career, Elijah “looked to his religion for sustenance” (20) but he soon became “immersed in the new evangelicalism” (21) that gained hordes of followers due to the Second Great Awakening. Elijah developed a Christian love and with his wife began to help the community. Soon this Christian love turned into an obsessive craze resulting in Elijah and his wife Sarah participating in fasting and moving to a perfectionist community on Bowery Hill. After his wife’s death Elijah started developing even faster into what some may call a “religious fanatic”. He started to make unbelievable claims starting with the resurrection of his wife and how Jesus named him a prophet. Elijah had been swept up into the mob mentality of the Second Great Awakening. The irony here is that even though he surrendered to the “mob” he was eventually left alienated by giving into their ideas. Elijah may have continued with his good deeds to the community but that but that did not give him a pass for his deranged behavior.
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ReplyDeleteIn general, Pierson was entering an entirely new world, when he arrived in New York. The big city is not like his hometown where Pierson experienced and observed the lives of common folk; who attended Church regularly and generally lived simple, middle-class lives. In New York, there was a clear social distinction as Pierson noticed poor from rich. Johnson and Wilentz write, “There were untold thousands of them, and they occupied their own neighborhoods and lived beyond the reach of Christian influence and paternal benevolence,” (19). Pierson noticed, also, how churches in New York, “…were mere social clubs for the rich,” (19). When referring to Pierson’s rejection of his early life’s morals and beliefs, I agree with Scotty that people react differently in situations they are not familiar with. It’s quite apparent in most situations that at the first sign of an opportunity for relief, when under stress, one will take advantage of it. I think that the Market Revolution and Second Great Awakening both serve as those opportunities of relief to be released from the stress of being an outsider and naïve of his new surroundings. As they converge in Pierson’s story, these two movements make him both economically confident as well as spiritually, as Rohit previously stated. His economic rise is evident by the following quote, “He was, as any of his Pearl Street colleagues could have testified, one of New York’s rising young men,” (20). Pierson’s religious fervor is purely from the “adrenaline rush” of his new life, I believe. Though an honest Christian to begin, after his wife dies, he is driven nearly insane, or “obviously deranged,” as he attempts to resurrect his wife with constant prayer. To advocate for Dean, I also disagree with Jared’s statement: “Pierson does not let himself be torn up and annoyed by the behavior of extreme others.” The previous lines do not support his claim.
ReplyDeleteWhen Elijah Pierson left Morristown, New Jersey for a job as an apprentice clerk in New York City, he encountered things he would have never seen in rural New Jersey. He found that the classes of people who inhabited New York were almost naive in a sense. The business men on Pearl Street cared, “nothing for the old rural pieties,” (19). For example, some of these men, “even kept mistresses,” (19). Those who did make time to go to Church attended,” elegant episcopalian and Dutch Reform establishments....that were mere social clubs for the rich,” (19). Also, the poor were like nothing Pierson had ever seen. Pierson described them as, “brutal men with whiskey bottles, children who ran loose and seemed to have no homes, gaudily dressed girls who strolled the sidewalks and smiled at gentlemen who passed them by,” (19). Here we see that because Elijah was clearly shocked by all of these differences between these two societies, which made him a part of a minority in New York. So in order to find sustenance, he looked to religion (20). So after joining The Female Missionary Society for the Poor of New York and Its Vicinity,which was a part of Reverend Gardiner Spring’s Brick Presbyterian Church, he found a new evangelicalism that, “questioned the entire formula about fatherhood and God he had taken with him from Morristown,” (21). Which is what Pierson had been searching for all along.
ReplyDeleteLike Emily said, the Market Revolution was the reason that Elijah made the 50 mile journey from his home in rural New Jersey to urban New York. Due to the fact that he was most likely not going to inherit his father’s farm, like many other young boys in the 19th century, “hoping to earn their fortunes in the nation’s fastest growing seaport,”(18). Pierson was able to succeed alongside his business partner John Steinbrenner in their venture of a mercantile firm on Pearl Street. What’s actually funny is that Pierson succeeded by means of the values he had been instilled with as a child. “Many of pearl Street’s leading merchants, like Elijah Pierson, were themselves migrants from New England and from rural Yankee colonies elsewhere. Newly successful and set in their small-town habits, they were a self-consciously middle class Yankee enclave within the Manhattan business community,” (18). However, after her moved to New York from Morristown, Pierson found that unlike before his, “fortunes were now tied not to an inherited farm set within a network of kin but to an individual ambition, risk-taking, and the accumulation,” (20). Though Pierson kept away from most of this, sealing himself off from many people. This left him in a minority of newly arrived migrants from New England and as a result, most of these turned to religion. Pierson first became a full member of the Brick Presbyterian Church, Pierson began to move away from the Calvinist idealisms he had known and moved towards ideals taught by “Yankee revival preachers,” (7) like Charles Finney. These people, “abandoned gloomy Calvinist determinism of their parents’ generation,” (7). Thus the Second Great Awakening was a process in which Pierson was able to practice the beliefs he truly understood rather than the Calvinistic ideals he was forced to practice and questioned in Morristown as a child.
I have to agree with the authors in their analysis of Pierson by the end of chapter one. Pierson sat alongside Sarah on her bedside as she was “delirious with fever,” (38). A while after the funeral, Jesus spoke directly to Elijah: “If though wilt preach my Gospel, thou shalt have thy wife,” (41). He truly believed this with all his heart and with that, he began to further his religious fervor and drove others away. They, “abandoned him one by one,” (43). At first his beliefs were a way for him to find his way in a big city as a minority, but as Dean said, he allowed for his old evangelical friends to influence him to a point where he actually drove them away. Thus leaving him in a state of isolation.
wc: 686 Ray
Elijah Pierson had done well in evolving from a farm boy in Morristown to a merchant on Pearl Street, crediting his success to following his father’s moral code. However, the lessons he had learned in the country did not necessarily translate to how to live in the city. Elijah and his fellow coworkers were a “decided minority” in New York City (19). He did not fall into the category of a rich man who “drank wine and courted women who wore jewelry and silks,” or a man living among the “vicious poor.” Elijah didn’t fit into either category, and had to find a place for himself. He also didn’t have much of a clue as to how to transfer his success in his work to success in his personal life. “Elijah’s fortunes were now tied not to an inherited farm (like he might’ve had in Morristown) set within a network of kin but to individual ambition, risk-taking, and the accumulation of money” (20). I think that Elijah simply experienced a sort of culture shock when he moved from the country to the city, and the customs and traditions he practiced in Morristown simply weren’t the same in New York City. In short, “Elijah’s rise from farm boy to merchant had gone well. His passage from youth to manhood was deferred and confused” (20).
ReplyDeleteAs for the last question relating to Elijah’s life as a devout Christian, I think he went a little insane after Sarah died. He seemed to be completely shaken up. Sarah introduced him to New York evangelicalism, something that he embraced and practiced with her for the rest of his life (while Sarah was still alive, at least). To me, it seems like that they were extremely close in the spiritual aspect. “The marriage of Elijah and Sarah Pierson was not based on inherited property, large families, or patriarchal assumptions. I was a spiritualized union between partners: it began in a shared vocation in Christian missions, and it thrived on prayer and feminine influence. Like other evangelical wives, Sarah became her husband’s guide in matters of the spirit” (27). Sarah was obviously very dear to him spiritually, and when she was gone – he just didn’t know how to cope, and started obsessively preaching and praying with the expectation that God would give Sarah back, to the point that “his old evangelical friends abandoned him one by one” (43). He was just completely consumed by the loss of Sarah, his partner in life and in spirit, that he was never really quite the same again.
The story of Elijah Pierson is a story of forced metamorphosis. Young Pierson grew up in a god fearing community, where the social order was forced, and your position in life was set by your birth. Johnson and Wilentz bring this to bear early on in the first chapter, “Elijah was not to question this visible worldly order. He only had to apprehend his station in it and then follow the rules of that station.”(15) This is the most limiting paradigm that young Elijah has, for his entire childhood he has been taught to except his station in life and not to question it. This causes problems though, when Pierson decides like many other young men his age, to move to New York City. Pierson is part of a large group of “Pearl Street” merchants who “Attributed his success to the moral code he has learned on his father’s farm.”(19) Theses people have only know New Light Divinity, and once in New York City become a group stuck in the middle between, the extremely rich, and the ungodly poor. This new class of people have no clear guidelines to follow, there in the moral and religious deep end of their faith, and their having trouble swimming. “Country patriarchy and Calvinist determination provided even fewer hints about how to translate mercantile success into marriage and domestic life”.(19) As life for Pierson moved on, he looked to religion for answers and that led him to his fateful metamorphosis. At the Brick church, and its evangelical ministries he found his wife, his god, and the new order of “Perfectionists” Christians. This new breed of religion, tossed out the old social order, embraced a women’s role, and had a profound impact on Pierson. His wife Sarah took an extremely controlling role in his spiritual and personal life, “ Like other evangelical wifes, Sarah became her husbands guide in the matters of the spirit… After her death Elijah would ask Jesus for guidance in areas that suggested that Sarah had mothered in the smallest details of his life.”(27) It was Sarah who started Pierson’s journey toward the extreme, and it is evident that Pierson was not capable of stopping the train of events. So Elijah did not become insane like the authors suggest, but instead was unknowingly led down the path to the extreme by his wife. Once he was in, he never had a thought of changing his coarse, this new sect of Christianity provided him a place in the world, the only thing he was ever taught to want.
ReplyDeletePierson's departure from his Presbyterian church is Morristown to the city of Manhattan, New York left him in a foreign world where his old social and religious beliefs have left him as a failure. The gap between the rich and poor, luxury and destitution left him and his fellow migrants alone and unsure. While he "probably attributed his success to the moral code he had learned on his father's farm," the new atmosphere was best described as "an enterprise for which their fathers' examples provided incomplete lessons at best" (19). This forced Pierson to seek a new world which he alone discovered, which naturally seemed to contradict his past, and thus was also good. In his fight for his own survival in the cruel new world in which he lived, he adapted to new principles and the turn towards "individual ambition". Finally, Pierson's "religious fervor" developed not from a deeper connection, but because of his desperation. He became absorbed in his new duty with the Female Missionary Society. He had joined the Brick Presbyterian church, as a way to turn to "religion for sustenance" (20). And when he joined the Female Missionary Society, who adamantly and forcefully approached people and dragged followers along with them, he developed his relationship with Sarah, whose father was a minister. Together, they extended their Christian hands to people who suffered from "poverty and disorder resulting from neither original sin nor God's design but... bad moral choices" (21). When Sarah passed, he sought her revival in his life because, with the Evangelical movement of the Second Great Awakening, he had allowed her to preach his life for him and became dependent on her direction, as shown on page 27. He then became more devout and "obviously deranged" (44). His connection to God was so strong because Sarah with her Folger friends initially led him into the intense worship and conversions and then she abandoned him nothing but that way of life.
ReplyDeleteWhen Elijah Pierson moved to the big city of Manhattan, New York from the deeply Calvinistic town of Morristown, he experienced a gradual change in social and religious beliefs. In Morristown, Elijah had lived along rather firm Puritan ideals, engendering a relatively safe haven. Though “the boy could not mistake the local hierarchy of wealth” within the town (that was evident in the “pew setting” at church: Richer in front, poorer in back), his town was, in the perspective of its inhabitants, “a workable formula for decency and order in this world” because of the communal desire to help your neighbor (16 and 17, respectively). For example, Elijah’s father, Benjamin, helped his destitute brother in law, Usual Crane, obtain a job at the community church (17).
ReplyDeleteWhen Pierson officially moved, he tried to live by his Morristown rules while making use of the Market Revolution. He ultimately became an urban merchant, as he intended, which led him an initial lifestyle of social isolation. On page 20, for example, the book described him as a successful merchant who “steered clear of the girls on the streets.” Despite his evident “successful” transition from town to city, a religious intervention changed Pierson forever.
In 1819, he joined Brick Presbyterian Church and joined a mission: the Female Missionary Society. Within this work, Pierson learned of “deformed patriarchy” in poor classes (22). Back in Morristown, Elijah had been raised firmly on patriarchal principles, however, in Manhattan he learned that women should take charge of spiritual and moral growth within the household. Women were viewed as more loving and less corrupt. This made Elijah criticize his previous home. In addition, his helping with the poor placed him in a position that despised “pew rents,” and other such proceedings that demonstrated social inequality (46).
All of these feelings were furthered strengthened after his wedding to Sarah Stanford (26). The two companions continued more ardent missionary work, including opening an asylum for prostitutes that could still be “redeemed,” known as the Female Asylum Society (36). This aspect clearly goes against Pierson’s previous Calvinistic teachings from Morristown which advocated (though not as strictly) predestination. The fact that people could be “redeemed,” or freed from sin, would have been considered insane back in his original hom. Prostitute redemption? Unthinkable. The Second Great Awakening was clearly opening Elijah’s eyes to a society that was striving for perfection.
After Sarah’s passing, I think it is fair to say Elijah became “deranged.” This is most evident when viewing pages 38 – 43. In these pages, Elijah attempts to raise Sarah, his deceased wife, from the dead several times. “Elijah preached and prayed for an hour” at her funeral but she never rose (40). It is clear that after his wife’s passing, Pierson is not the same man, as he begins to lose support due to his crazy, passionate desire to follow God’s will in order to bring Sarah back. Eventually, during his countless encounters with Christ with no tangible results, his church congregation was reduced to a small number at which point Robert Matthews received the spiritual baton.
When Elijah Pierson moved to the big city of Manhattan, New York from the deeply Calvinistic town of Morristown, he experienced a gradual change in social and religious beliefs. In Morristown, Elijah had lived along rather firm Puritan ideals, engendering a relatively safe haven. Though “the boy could not mistake the local hierarchy of wealth” within the town (that was evident in the “pew setting” at church: Richer in front, poorer in back), his town was, in the perspective of its inhabitants, “a workable formula for decency and order in this world” because of the communal desire to help your neighbor (16 and 17, respectively). For example, Elijah’s father, Benjamin, helped his destitute brother in law, Usual Crane, obtain a job at the community church (17).
ReplyDeleteWhen Pierson officially moved, he tried to live by his Morristown rules while making use of the Market Revolution. He ultimately became an urban merchant, as he intended, which led him an initial lifestyle of social isolation. On page 20, for example, the book described him as a successful merchant who “steered clear of the girls on the streets.” Despite his evident “successful” transition from town to city, a religious intervention changed Pierson forever.
In 1819, he joined Brick Presbyterian Church and joined a mission: the Female Missionary Society. Within this work, Pierson learned of “deformed patriarchy” in poor classes (22). Back in Morristown, Elijah had been raised firmly on patriarchal principles, however, in Manhattan he learned that women should take charge of spiritual and moral growth within the household. Women were viewed as more loving and less corrupt. This made Elijah criticize his previous home. In addition, his helping with the poor placed him in a position that despised “pew rents,” and other such proceedings that demonstrated social inequality (46).
All of these feelings were furthered strengthened after his wedding to Sarah Stanford (26). The two companions continued more ardent missionary work, including opening an asylum for prostitutes that could still be “redeemed,” known as the Female Asylum Society (36). This aspect clearly goes against Pierson’s previous Calvinistic teachings from Morristown which advocated (though not as strictly) predestination. The fact that people could be “redeemed,” or freed from sin, would have been considered insane back in his original hom. Prostitute redemption? Unthinkable. The Second Great Awakening was clearly opening Elijah’s eyes to a society that was striving for perfection.
When Elijah Pierson moved to the big city of Manhattan, New York from the deeply Calvinistic town of Morristown, he experienced a gradual change in social and religious beliefs. In Morristown, Elijah had lived along rather firm Puritan ideals, engendering a relatively safe haven. Though “the boy could not mistake the local hierarchy of wealth” within the town (that was evident in the “pew setting” at church: Richer in front, poorer in back), his town was, in the perspective of its inhabitants, “a workable formula for decency and order in this world” because of the communal desire to help your neighbor (16 and 17, respectively). For example, Elijah’s father, Benjamin, helped his destitute brother in law, Usual Crane, obtain a job at the community church (17).
ReplyDeleteWhen Pierson officially moved, he tried to live by his Morristown rules while making use of the Market Revolution. He ultimately became an urban merchant, as he intended, which led him an initial lifestyle of social isolation. On page 20, for example, the book described him as a successful merchant who “steered clear of the girls on the streets.” Despite his evident “successful” transition from town to city, a religious intervention changed Pierson forever.
In 1819, he joined Brick Presbyterian Church and joined a mission: the Female Missionary Society. Within this work, Pierson learned of “deformed patriarchy” in poor classes (22). Back in Morristown, Elijah had been raised firmly on patriarchal principles, however, in Manhattan he learned that women should take charge of spiritual and moral growth within the household. Women were viewed as more loving and less corrupt. This made Elijah criticize his previous home. In addition, his helping with the poor placed him in a position that despised “pew rents,” and other such proceedings that demonstrated social inequality (46).
All of these feelings were furthered strengthened after his wedding to Sarah Stanford (26). The two companions continued more ardent missionary work, including opening an asylum for prostitutes that could still be “redeemed,” known as the Female Asylum Society (36). This aspect clearly goes against Pierson’s previous Calvinistic teachings from Morristown which advocated (though not as strictly) predestination. The fact that people could be “redeemed,” or freed from sin, would have been considered insane back in his original hom. Prostitute redemption? Unthinkable. The Second Great Awakening was clearly opening Elijah’s eyes to a society that was striving for perfection.
ReplyDeleteAfter Sarah’s passing, I think it is fair to say Elijah became “deranged.” This is most evident when viewing pages 38 – 43. In these pages, Elijah attempts to raise Sarah, his deceased wife, from the dead several times. “Elijah preached and prayed for an hour” at her funeral but she never rose (40). It is clear that after his wife’s passing, Pierson is not the same man, as he begins to lose support due to his crazy, passionate desire to follow God’s will in order to bring Sarah back. Eventually, during his countless encounters with Christ with no tangible results, his church congregation was reduced to a small number at which point Robert Matthews received the spiritual baton.
I have to disagree with Manny one little issue. Calvinism, and predestination in particular, does not in any way state that prostitutes can't be redeemed, or that humans can't be freed from sin. Calvinism, like any other orthodox protestant faith, states that humans can't fully stop sinning until the second comming and resurection of the saints. Calvinism absolutely states that humans can be redeemed from the guilt of sin. Ask any believing Calvinst, and they will tell you they are perfectly righteous before God because all their sin (past, present, and future) was imputed to Jesus, and Jesus's righteousness was imputed to them. the idea that makes Calvinism distinct is the doctrine that God chooses, because humans are unable due to sin, who will be redeemed. The idea of a prostitute being redeemed would not be, and never will be considered insane in a Calvinist community. From a Calvinist point of view, a prostitute being redeemed is no more unlikely than Manny himself being redeemed. the most fundemental idea behind calvinistic predestination is that God does not consider a person's merits when predestining them. Just wanted to make that small correction.
ReplyDeleteBy: Apurv Suman
ReplyDeleteElijah Pierson’s story and his dramatic turnaround from Calvinist to Evangelical is a result of one primary factor: Sarah Stanford. “The life of Elijah Pierson is a love story” (14) epitomizes that the relationship between Elijah and Sarah was the foundation to Elijah Pierson’s life in Chapter 1. Of course Elijah’s initial career began with his volunteering with the Female Missionary Society for the Poor of New York and Its Vicinity; however, this “fateful step” (21) did not account for the acceleration of Elijah Pierson’s life. It was Elijah’s courting of Sarah that would ultimately provide the force in his life. As a result of his marriage to Sarah, Elijah “[was] introduced… into the inner circles of New York evangelicalism” (26). Through this marriage Elijah ultimately “became a leading New York evangelical” (26). Sarah of course was also symbolic of the new virtues present in the evangelical women, and, as a result, Elijah’s love for her became symbolic of his love for the revivalist movement.
Elijah and Sarah became a fearsome duo as they sought to raise the community around them. Sarah became the spark that pushed Elijah further and further into evangelical practices. She was “her husband’s guide in matters of the spirit” (27). Elijah’s fierce love for her drove him further and further into evangelical practices. Eventually this drive imitated insanity as Elijah eventually lost Sarah due to death from exhaustion and malnutrition. Once again however, Sarah remained the impetus in Elijah’s life as Elijah became obsessed with resurrecting his lost love. Obviously unable to resurrect his wife despite his obsession and continuous efforts, Elijah’s “old evangelical friends abandoned him one by one” (43). Elijah simply continued to live on in hope of having Sarah back. He eventually even believed that Jesus was telling him to “ignore the scoffers and lukewarm Christians [in order to] have Sarah, resurrected in the flesh, united with him” (46). Elijah’s love for Sarah ultimately was the defining factor in his life. (An interesting note to make as well is that love rather than diplomacy was more common during this period in the USA, so Elijah’s love also fits that trend of society at the time).
An interesting final point to make is that one reason Matthews does not embrace evangelical revivalism while Elijah does is because Matthews does not have the strong love compelling him to follow in the belief of his wife (he in fact eventually detests his wife and her inability to fully subordinate to his will).
You will find additional information on Elijah Pierson inside; You are personally invited to view the web pages “Clash of the Prophets.”
DeleteLink @ http://www.prophetmatthiasjosephsmithsojourneroftruth.com/
The password is s1
You will find additional information on Sojournertruth, Robert Matthews (Prophets Matthias) and Elijah Pierson inside; You are personally invited to view the web pages “Clash of the Prophets.” http://www.clashoftheprophets.com/indexmain.html.
DeleteI have to agree with mostly everyone else that Elijah Pierson enters a whole new world out side of his socially enclosed town of Morristown, New Jersey. Elijah was raised in a society where it was expected that everyone went to Sabbath on Sunday and where it displayed a prominent social hierarchy, especially involving the church and its members. For example, “Elijah saw richer families that rented the more expensive pews near the pulpit. Behind Elijah sat families that paid less than his” (16). Elijah wants to get out of this sort of rut of society and to not inherit the family farm and go on with the same job and class as his father and his fathers father so that is when he decides to unknowingly leave his town without making a scene. When Pierson goes to New York he still sees a similar scenario of statuses due to how wealthy a person may be, but the difference between his hometown of Morristown and New York was that he could become wealthy by hard work and persistence, which he does and it did not matter what his class was. When in New York he starts to question his own hometowns beliefs and ways of the church and society and learns that “Early marriage, a large family, and the assumption of fatherly pretensions would have doomed him to failure” (20). Elijah meets a woman named Sarah that influences his life majorly and it is a marriage of “spiritualized union between partners” (27) not just an arranged marriage. After being so involved with Sarah he yet again begins to question and wonder about his own home town’s Presbyterian Church after being introduced to Sarah’s Evangelical Church which opens a new spiritual path for him. He realizes that it is okay to make your own destiny and it is your choice to be a sinner or live above the sin.
ReplyDeleteBloggers may find this interesting.
ReplyDeleteInformation from this web page has prompted me to contact you personally as you appear to have a genuine interest in Sojournertruth.
For almost two hundred years the full true story of Sojournertruth has not been told.
It has been suppressed and hidden away within the pages of history.
The rich and powerful have told their side of her story, leaving Sojournertruth standing alone declaring her understanding of freedom and justice.
She has amplified her life in her chosen spirit name of Sojournertruth.
Throughout the world Christians, Afro Americans, men and women have all rejoiced in her triumphs. Isabella Baumfree, or Isabella Van Wageners, as she would later call herself, was searching for a good God fearing life.
She wanted to embrace the Christian life style, along with helping those who crossed her path.
While in New York working for the respectable, successful retired business man Mr Elijah Pierson she came face to face with the Prophet Matthias.
The meeting between Isabella (Sojournertruth) and the self-proclaimed Prophet Matthias was the first contact of what could be considered the refiner’s fire years for Sojournertruth.
During her time with Prophet Matthias, she experienced immorality, deception, demonic possession, false accusations, and financial ruin!
She was in many ways spiritually, emotionally, and financially raped time and time again as she struggled to find Christianity within the Zion that Prophet Matthias was attempting to establish!
Reflecting upon her time in New York City Sojournertruth reasoned and then concluded ‘that everything she had undertaken in the city of New York had finally proved a failure; and where her hopes had been raised the highest, there she felt the failure had been the greatest, and the disappointment most severe.’
The dramatic experiences of Sojournertruth while in New York were undoubtedly a major turning point in her life.
After reflection upon the activities within New York Isabella Van Wageners (Sojournertruth) concluded ‘that she had been taking part in a great drama, which was, in itself, but one great system of robbery and wrong.’
So what did happen in New York to create such a vivid impression on her?
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How were Robert Matthews and Elijah pierson impacted by the Market Revolution, and Second Great Awakening? How did Robert Matthews use the religous fervor of the time to his advantage? Where are some quotes out of the book that show Matthews insincerity?
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