S H A 



S H A 



After Mother and the elders were releafed fromprifon, they 

 again colk-fted together at Watcr-Vliet, where they were 

 vifited by great numbers from dillant parts of the ftate of 

 New York, Ma(T?,chufett3, Connefticut, New Hampfhire, 

 and the diilritt of Maine, who received faith ; and through 

 the power and gifts of God, which were abundantly -mani- 

 fefted for the dellruclion of iin, and the falvation of fouls, 

 many v/ere filled with joy unfpeakable and full of glory, and 

 increafed in their undcrftanding of the way and work of God. 



Ann Lee died on the eighth day of the ninth month 

 1784. • From the year 1780 to 1787 the credit of this feft 

 revived in America, and the number of its adherents confi- 

 derably increafed. 



The creed of the Shakers is very obfcurely and myftically 

 exprefled. They feem to be believers neither of the Trinity 

 Bor of the Satisfaftion. They deny alfo the imputation of 

 Adam's fin to his pofterity, as well as the eternity of future 

 pmiifhment. The tenets on which they moll dwell are 

 thofe of human depravity, and of the miraculous effufion 

 of the Holy Ghoft ! Their leading praAical tenet is the 

 abolition of marriage, or indeed the total feparatkn of the 

 fexes. This circumltance of courfe attracts great attention, 

 and they pride themfelves on their fuperior purity. l*he 

 eflence of their argument is, that the refurreS'ion fpoken 

 of in the New Tellament means nothing more than conver- 

 fion ; our Saviour declares that in the refumaion they neither 

 marry nor are given in marriage, therefore, on converfion or 

 the refurreilion of the individual, marriage ceafes ! ! ! To 

 fpeak more plainly, the Jlngk mull continue ^yTfif/?, and the 

 married mull feparate. Every paflage in the gofpel and in 

 the epiftles is interpreted according to this ftrange and unna- 

 tural hypothefis. 



The fyftem of the Shakers is thus pretty plainly defcribed. 

 " In the fulnefs of time, according to the unchangeable 

 purpofe of God, t!iat fame Spirit and Word of power, 

 which created man at the beginning — which fpake by all the 

 prophets — which' dwelt in the man Jefus — which was given 

 to the apoillcs and true witnciles as the Holy Spirit and 

 Word of promife, which groaned in them waiting for the 

 day of redemption — and which was fpoken of in the lan- 

 guage of prophecy as a woman travailing with child, and 

 pained to be delivered, was revealed in a woman. 



" And that woman, in whom was manifetted that Spirit 

 and Word of power, who was anointed and chofen of 

 Godj to reveal the myftery of iniquity, to Hand as the firit in 

 her order, to accompli(h the purpofe of God, in the reftora- 

 tion of that which was lolt by the tranfgreffion of the firft 

 woman, and to finidi the work of man's final redemption, 

 was ^nn Lee. 



" As a chofen veflel, appointed by divine Wifdom, file, 

 by her faithful obedience to that fame anointing, became the 

 temple of tlie Holy Gholl, and the fecond heir with Jefus, 

 her lord and head, in the covenant and promife of eternal 

 life. And by her fufl'erings and travail for a loft world, and 

 her union and fubjeciion to Chriif Jefus, her lord and head, 

 file became xhefrjl bom of manyfifters, and the true mother 

 cf all living in the new creation. 



" Thus the perfedion of the revelation of God in this 

 latter day, excels, particularly, in that which refpefts the 

 moft glorious part in the creation of man, namely, the 

 woman. And herein is the moft condefcendina; goodncfs 

 and mercy of God difplayed, not oiily in redeeming that 

 moft amiable part of the creation from the curfe, and all the 

 forrows of the fall, but alfo in condefcending to the loweft 

 eftate of the lofs of mankind. 



" So that by the firll and fecond appearing of Chrift, 

 the foundation of God is laid and completed, for tlie full 



reftoration of both the man and the woman in Chrift, ac 

 cording to the order of the new covenant, which God hath 

 eftablilhed in them for his *wn glory, and the mutual good 

 and happinefs of each other. 



" And in this covenant, both male and female, as brethren 

 and fillers in the family ot Chrift, jointly united by the bond 

 of love, find each their correlpondent relation to the firit 

 caufe of their exiftence, through the joint parentage of their 

 redemption. 



" Then the man vvho was called Jefus, and the woman 

 who was called Ann, are verily the two firft foundation 

 pillars of the church of Chrift — the two anointed ones — 

 the two firft heirs of promile, between whom the covenan' 

 of eternal life is eftablifned — the firft father and mother o 

 all the children of regeneration — the two firft vifibU 

 parents in the work of redemption — and the invifible joint 

 parentage in the new creation, for the increafe of that feed 

 through which all the families of the earth (hall be blefted." 



The Shakers record feveral cafes which they pretend to bc 

 miraculous, but it is needlefs to enlarge on a fyftem that is 

 wholly founded in delufion. 



SHAKERTOWN, in Geography, ztovin of Kentucky, 

 in Mercer county, containing 298 inhabitants. 



SHAKES, in Ship-Building, a name given to the cracks 

 or rents in a plank, &c. occafioned b)' the fun or weather. 



SHAKING, a difeafe in (heep, confifting of a weaknefs 

 in their hind quarters, fo that they cannot rife up when they 

 are down. There has not hitlierto been found anv remedy 

 for this difeafe. It is probably of the nature of palfy, and 

 to be removed by ftrong nervous ftimulant remedies. 



SHAKLES, on board 5'^/. See Shackles. 



SHAKRA, in Geography, a town of Arabia, in the pro- 

 vince of Nedsjed ; 120 milei N.E. of Faid. 



SHAKSPEARE, William, in Biography, an Englifli 

 dramatic poet, isjuflly efteemed the molt eminent and moft 

 interefting author of the ancient or modern world. His 

 writings have progreflively rifen in popular eftimation in pro- 

 portion as they have been ftudied and analyfed. Some of 

 his dramas are continually aCted on the London and pro- 

 vincial ftages ; many critics and commentators, both Englilh 

 and foreign, have employed their pens, and exerted.their fa- 

 culties, in differtations on the merits and defects of his pro- 

 ductions. From tlie moft trying and fsltidious ordeal of in- 

 veftigation he has rifen in glory and greatnefs ; and may, at 

 the prcfent time, be juftly pronounced pre-eminent and un- 

 rivalled as a dramatic poet. 



To Englifhmen his writings are fingularly eflimable ; for 

 they have confen-ed on the country a literary immortality, 

 which nothing lefs than the diflolution of " the great globe 

 itfelf" can annihilate. Nor is he exclufively endeared and 

 valuable to the man of letters ; but airdaffes of artifts, and 

 even many artizans, have derived both fame and emolument 

 through the medium of his works. It has been often re- 

 marked, that the prophet is never honoured in his own 

 country, or appreciated by iiis contemporaries. Although 

 this maxim is now merely confidered as figurative, and the 

 age of, and confidence in, prophecy is pall, yet it may b*; 

 fully and ftriftly applied to the meritorious author. After 

 deceafe, his whole merits are gradually unfolded ; his talents 

 and genius command admiration, and each reader and com- 

 mentator feem eager to difcover new beauties, and to point 

 outbidden excellencies. Am.ong the literary "worthies" 

 of the world, from the days of Homer to Milton, no one has 

 attained equal celebrity with Shakfpeare. He now fhines as 

 the fun of the intcllettual hemifphere, and every other poet 

 feems to derive a reflected light from him, or moves in a lefs 

 circumfcribed orbit. Like divine nature, which was at once 



his 



