Part 27 (1/2)
RESTORATION,
FAITH,
Obedience to
_Christ,_
COMMUNISM,
IMMORTALITY.
The community system, which they thus hold to have been divinely commanded, they extend beyond property--to persons; and thus they justify their extraordinary social system, in which there is no marriage; or, as they put it, ”complex marriage takes the place of simple.” They surround this singular and, so far as I know, unprecedented combination of polygamy and polyandry with certain religious and social restraints; but affirm that there is ”no intrinsic difference between property in persons and property in things; and that the same spirit which abolished exclusiveness in regard to money would abolish, if circ.u.mstances allowed full scope to it, exclusiveness in regard to women and children.”
[Footnote: ”History of American Socialisms,” by J. H. Noyes, p. 625.]
It is an extraordinary evidence of the capacity of mankind for various and extreme religious beliefs, that many men have brought their wives and young daughters into the Oneida Community.
They have no preaching; do not use Baptism nor the Lord's Supper; do not observe Sunday, because they hold that with them every day is a Sabbath; do not pray aloud; and Avoid with considerable care all set forms. They read the Bible and quote it much.
They believe that the exercise of sufficient faith in prayer to G.o.d is capable of restoring the sick to health; and a.s.sert that there have been in their experience and among their members.h.i.+p a number of such cures.
In a ”Free-Church Tract,” dated ”Oneida Reserve, 1850,” there is an account of such a cure of Mrs. M. A. Hall, ill of consumption, and given up by her physicians. In this case J. H. Noyes and Mrs. Cragin were those whose ”power of faith” was supposed to have acted; and Mrs. Hall herself wrote, two years later: ”From a helpless, bed-ridden state, in which I was unable to move, or even to be moved without excruciating pain, I was _instantly_ raised to a consciousness of perfect health.
I was constrained to declare again and again that I was perfectly well.
My eyes, which before could not bear the light, were opened to the blaze of day and became strong. My appet.i.te was restored, and all pain removed.” This is said to have taken place in June, 1847. The following case is reported in the _Circular_ for February 9th of the present year (1874), and the description of the injury, which immediately follows, is given by Dr. Cragin--a member of the Oneida Community--whom I understand to be a regularly educated physician. The sufferer was a woman, Mrs. M. Her hand was pa.s.sed between the rubber rollers of a wringing-machine. The machine was new, and the rollers were screwed down so that it brought a very heavy pressure on her hand, evidently crowding the bones all out of place and stretching the ligaments, besides seriously injuring the nerves of her hand and arm. When she came here from Wallingford Community, several weeks after the accident, not only the nerves of her hand were essentially paralyzed, but the trunk nerve of her arm was paralyzed and caused her a great deal of suffering. It was as helpless as though completely paralyzed: she had not sufficient control over her hand to bend her fingers.
”That was her condition up to the time of the cure. I could not see from the time she came here to the time of the cure that there was any change for the better. I told her the first time I examined her hand that, according to the ordinary course of such things, she must not expect to get the use of it under twelve months, if she did then. At the same time I told her I would not limit the power of G.o.d.
”Her general health improved, but her hand caused her the acutest suffering. It would awaken her in the night, and oblige her to get up and spend hours in rubbing it and trying to allay the pain. If any one has had a jumping toothache, he can imagine something what her suffering was, only the pain extended over the whole hand and arm, instead of being confined to one small place like a tooth. I have known of strong men who had the nervous system of an arm similarly affected, who begged that their arms might be taken off, and have indeed suffered amputation rather than endure the pain.
”For some time before her cure there had been considerable talk in the family about faith-cures, and persons had talked with her on the subject, and encouraged her to expect to have such a cure as Harriet Hall did. Finally Mr. Noyes's interest was aroused, and he invoked a committee for her--not so much to criticize as to comfort her, and bring to bear on her the concentrated attention and faith of the family. She was stimulated by this criticism to cheerfulness and hope, and to put herself into the social current, keeping around as much as she could where there was the most life and faith. A private criticism soon after penetrated her spirit, and separated her from a brooding influence of evil that she had come under in a heart affair.
”Still she suffered with her hand as much as ever, up to the time of her sudden cure. A few evenings after this private criticism we had a very interesting meeting, and she was present in the gallery. The subject was the power of prayer, and there was a good deal of faith experience related, and she appeared the next morning shaking hands with every body she met. Now you see her was.h.i.+ng dishes and making beds.
”_Mrs. A._--The morning she was cured I was at work in the hall, when she came running toward me, saying, 'I'm cured! I'm cured!' Then she shook hands with me, using the hand that had been so bad, and giving a hearty pressure with it.
”_Dr. C._--To show that the case is not one of imagination, I will say that the day before the cure she could not have it _touched_ without suffering pain. She had not been dressed for a week, but that morning she bathed and dressed herself and made her bed, and then went to Joppa.
”_Mr. N._--She came down to Joppa with her hands all free, and went out on the ice; I don't know that she caught any fish, but she attended the 'tip-ups.'
”_Mrs. C._--She said to me that she had attended to dieting and all the prescriptions that were given her, and got no help from them; and she had made up her mind that if there was any thing done for her, the community must take hold and do it.
”_W. A. H._--Let us be united about this case; and if it be imagination, let us have more of it; and if it be the power of faith, let us have more faith.
”_C. W. U._--Was Mrs. M. conscious of any precise moment when the pain left her in the night?
”_Mrs. M._ [the person who was cured].--After the meeting in which we talked about faith-cures, I went to my room and prayed to G.o.d to take the pain out of my hand, and told him if he did I would glorify him with it. The pain left me, and I could stretch out my arm farther than I had been able to since it was hurt. I went to bed, and slept until four o'clock without waking; then I awoke and found I was not in pain, and that I could stretch out my arm and move my fingers. Then I thought--'I am well.' I got up, took a bath, and dressed myself. After this my arm ached some, but I said, 'I am well; I am made every whit whole.' I kept saying that to myself, and the pain left me entirely. My arm has begun to ache nearly every day since then, but I insist that I am well, and the pain ceases. That arm is not yet as strong as the other, but is improving daily.
”_Mrs. C._--I have had considerable of that kind of experience during the last few years. For two years I raised blood a good deal, and thought a great many times that I was going to die--could not get that idea out of my mind. Mrs. M. talked with me about it, and told me I must not give up to my imaginations. I was put into business two years ago, and some days my head swam so that I could hardly go about, but I did what was given me to do; and finally I came to a point in my experience where I said, 'I don't care if I do raise blood; I am not going to be frightened by it; I had as soon raise blood as do any thing else.' When I got there my trouble left me.”
I have copied this account at some length, because it speaks in detail of a quite recent occurrence, and shows, in a characteristic way, their manner of dealing with disease.