462 Note 



and his wife. In May, 1861, having been " moved by 

 the Spirit " to form an association for living together, 

 they settled at Fuller's, at the south end of Pleasant 

 Street in Athol. In August, 1864, they removed to 

 their present farm in Petersham. Brother Rowland 

 held the position of head of the body till killed by a 

 runaway horse, not quite two years ago. His people 

 considered him a prophet, and say the Lord spoke by 

 him, and that he led them as Moses led the people of 

 Israel. 



Their religious belief in many respects resembles that 

 of the Adventists, but differs in the vital point, that the 

 reign of Christ, under the expected new dispensation, is 

 to be spiritual, and not personal, as the Adventists hold. 

 They construe the saying of John the Revelator, "I 

 was in the Spirit on the Lord's day," to refer to a pe- 

 riod of time to begin with the 7000th year of the world, 

 which is near at hand. The judgment day they believe 

 has already begun, and in a short time, at the opening 

 of the new dispensation, the holy dead are to be raised. 

 When a man who has only received " common " salva- 

 tion dies, he has no consciousness till the resurrection ; 

 but some, who are " specially " saved, will not die. 

 Miracles will be performed commonly. When the new 

 dispensation begins they are to be of the 144,000 

 spoken of by John, and are to judge the nations. 

 They do not believe in a hypothetical heaven some- 

 where in space ; the earth is not to be destroyed but 

 changed ; and finally the devil is to be bound for a 

 thousand years. They entirely denounce Spiritualism, 



