The Kingdom of Matthias: A Story of Sex and Salvation in 19th Century America

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1994

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue

Part 1, Introduction

Part 1, Sections 1-3

Part 1, Sections 4-7

Part 2, Introduction

Part 2, Sections, 1-4

Part 2, Sections 5-7

Part 3, Sections 1-3

Part 3, Sections 4-6

Part 4, Sections 1-4

Part 4, Sections 5-8

Epilogue

Key Figures

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Part 1, Sections 4-7Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1: “Elijah Pierson”

Part 1, Section 4 Summary

While working as a missionary, Pierson met Sarah Stanford, a member of the perfectionist community and the oldest daughter of Reverend John Stanford, a respected chaplain. Pierson and Sarah married in May 1822, and Sarah introduced her husband to the inner circles of New York’s evangelical society. Soon after, he left Brick Presbyterian Church and joined Sarah at the South Baptist Church. The more Pierson succeeded financially, the more thoroughly he rejected his Morristown upbringing because “[early] marriage, a large family, and the assumption of fatherly pretensions would have doomed him to failure” (20), the authors contend.

The couple moved to a larger house on William Street as Pierson’s mercantile business continued to prosper. At night, he continued his evangelical work with Sarah; both shared missionary zeal and worked hard for social change. Johnson and Wilentz state: “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).

In 1825, Sarah started going to prayer meetings led by Frances Folger, an ultra-evangelical committed to Retrenchment, which advocated the avoidance of luxury clothing, food, and furniture. To non-believers, the prayer group was known as the Holy Club. Members claimed to speak directly to God and to have visions and prophetic dreams. Sarah believed in Retrenchment and convinced Pierson to follow her lead. By 1828, after three years in the Holy Club, Pierson claimed that he was in direct communication with the Holy Ghost. His behavior changed so dramatically that many believed he was losing his mind.

In 1829, Pierson and Sarah moved again, this time to Bowery Hill. They joined a fast-growing perfectionist community, which under Pierson’s leadership morphed into the Retrenchment Society. Members dressed very plainly, sold their expensive furniture, fasted often, and severely limited their food intake. Sometimes, Pierson fasted for days at a time. He finally left the South Baptist Church in 1830 and started his own independent church in Bowery Hill. The community became cult-like in its Christian fervor; community members met as often as fourteen times a day and fasted regularly. Pierson’s sermons were full of the prophecies he believed God was revealing to him.

Part 1, Section 5 Summary

Pierson's power and influence continued to grow. His business prospered, and his reputation in business and evangelical circles established his reputation in the larger community. The Retrenchment Society opened a school for poor children and organized a Jewish Mission. A sister church was also established: the First Free Presbyterian Church of New York. In addition, Pierson and Sarah started a mission to help prostitutes find God in Five Points, a notorious New York slum. The couple also established the Female Asylum Society and took in young prostitutes off the streets and made a reformed prostitute, Mrs. Bolton, the matron. Another woman also joined the fold: Isabella Van Wagenen, better known as Sojourner Truth. A former slave and now a servant in the Pierson household, Sojourner Truth claimed to have been speaking to God since childhood.

Part 1, Section 6 Summary

In mid-June 1830, Sarah became gravely ill. She was diagnosed with consumption, which was exacerbated by long work hours and fasting. Around this time, Pierson said he could hear the voice of God very clearly, naming him as the “Prophet Elijah of Tishbe.” According to this voice, Pierson’s God-given mission was to prepare the world for the Second Coming. Sarah died on June 29, 1830. Pierson was devastated and at her funeral, he claimed an ability to raise her from the dead. Later, Pierson stated that a servant gave him a message from Sarah in which she asked Pierson to continue the Lord's work. In response to this message, he quit his job and devoted himself full-time to ministerial work, believing that if he did as God asked, Sarah would return to him. Over the next couple of months, Pierson claimed that God and Jesus appeared to him. They told him to keep spreading the Gospel and promised to send his wife back. Pierson kept records of these conversations in a journal.

Part 1, Section 7 Summary

Pierson's business associates abandoned him as his behavior became more extreme. By the end of 1830, most people believed that he had completely lost his mind, and even his own father-in-law refused to speak to him. Undeterred, Pierson remained focused on his new role as the Prophet Elijah; he stopped his missionary work and started preaching full-time to his shrinking band of dedicated followers. Pierson’s marriage to Sarah reflected a loving, pious domesticity that many middle-class evangelicals shared and “[l]ike other evangelical wives, Sarah became her husband’s guide in matters of the spirit” (27). Pierson lost this guidance when Sarah died.

The joy Pierson experienced as a result of his love for Sarah initially propelled Pierson into a life of missionary work, perfectionist reform, and, ultimately, Retrenchment. He found purpose and spiritual comfort in the evangelical work he and Sarah shared. Sarah’s influence as well as his missionary work led Pierson to doubt “the entire formula about fatherhood and God he had taken with him from Morristown” (21). Sarah’s death unhinged Pierson, and soon he experienced delusions of speaking directly to God. In this state of mind, Pierson was motivated to join Matthias’ cult.

Part 1, Sections 4-7 Analysis

Sections 4 to 7 of Part 1 describe Pierson’s marriage to his wife Sarah and his transformation into a radical religious leader during his marriage and after the death of his wife.

Pierson’s transformation to radical religious leader started in earnest with his volunteer work at the Female Missionary Society. He was particularly drawn to evangelical missionary work because he believed it offers much more to believers than the strict, hierarchical ways of Calvinism; in a relatively short time, he and Sarah became radical religious leaders. They both searched for perfection, constantly joining new congregations together. The authors further develop the theme of sex and marriage by demonstrating Pierson and Sarah’s shared passion and pursuit of a spiritually perfect state. Sarah’s zeal matches Pierson’s, suggesting that she has as much right to the pursuit of a relationship with God as he has.

Ironically, the Second Great Awakening and the rise of revivalist Christian sects contributed at this time in American history to the rise of cults. Church doctrine and creeds that protected congregants against false teachings and false prophets by fanatical cult leaders were largely abandoned by these new religious sects. Many believers were fooled by cult leaders, whose charismatic personalities and unrealistic promises of hope and salvation compelled the willing to join. The descriptions of these cults and their leaders foreshadows Pierson’s decision to join the Kingdom of Matthew.

According to the authors, cult leaders took specific steps to ensure their rise to power, demonstrating the tension between rationalism and religious faith, a significant theme of the book. First, cult leaders inspired loyalty among their followers through missionary work inspired by belief in a Christian God; demonstrations of religious faith were key to the development of loyalty, and engagement in missionary work easily persuaded sincere followers that their leaders were also sincere. Secondly, cult leaders guided their followers to a transition point where the individual church and its leader became more important than loyalty to the broader religion of which the church is a part. Those who were reluctant to reassign their loyalty left the cult, while the others abandoned broader notions of theology and pledged devotion to the cult and its leader.

At this point, religious thought overtook rational thought, and cults were able to gather momentum. Next, cult leaders exaggerated their church’s accomplishments, promising all sorts of benefits to loyal followers. Cult leaders emphasized the importance of defending each other and their mission in order to build group loyalty; as evidenced by the behavior of followers, the effects of this emotional manipulation incapacitated the followers’ powers of reason as they committed to their new faith. The third and final stage entailed the transformation of group loyalty towards the church to individual loyalty towards the cult leader. Self-promotion, boasting, mentoring, and convincing followers that their destinies were linked to the cult leader ensured that the followers felt that they and their leaders were chosen by God.

Pierson’s break from reality after the death of his wife Sarah exemplifies the impact of this loss on his state of mind. The author’s exploration of Pierson’s suffering demonstrates the importance of another theme of this book: the impact of tragedy on mental health. Pierson grew less stable at the time of Sarah’s death; he began to refer to himself as the Prophet Elijah. After her death, Pierson’s poor mental health informed his involvement in his missionary work and his religious faith. For example, Pierson exercised his faith by attempting to raise Sarah from the dead, which discredited him in the eyes of many: “[In] the year after Elijah’s attempt to raise Sarah [from the dead], his former evangelical friends abandoned him one by one” (43). Many people in Pierson’s congregation lost faith in him and many left his ministry.

Throughout their marriage, Sarah influenced Pierson and encouraged him towards extremism; after she died, he remained committed to this path. Ultimately, Pierson’s evangelical passion to help others was characterized by an ultra-spiritual lifestyle that alienated most of the people around him. Several factors worked together to make Pierson susceptible to the power of Robert Matthews: his Calvinist upbringing in Morristown, his tendency to be influenced by others, and the incalculable grief that overtook him when Sarah died.