In the autumn of 1834, New York City was awash with rumors of a strange
religious cult operating nearby, centered around a mysterious,
self-styled prophet named Matthias. It was said that Matthias the
Prophet was stealing money from one of his followers; then came reports
of lascivious sexual relations, based on odd teachings of matched
spirits, apostolic priesthoods, and the inferiority of women. At its
climax, the rumors transformed into legal charges, as the Prophet was
arrested for the murder of a once highly regarded Christian gentleman
who had fallen under his sway. By the time the story played out, it
became one of the nation's first penny-press sensations, casting a
peculiar but revealing light on the sexual and spiritual tensions of the
day.
In The Kingdom of Matthias, the distinguished historians Paul Johnson
and Sean Wilentz brilliantly recapture this forgotten story, imbuing
their richly researched account with the dramatic force of a novel. In
this book, the strange tale of Matthias the Prophet provides a
fascinating window into the turbulent movements of the religious revival
known as the Second Great Awakening--movements which swept up great
numbers of evangelical Americans and gave rise to new sects like the
Mormons.
Into this teeming environment walked a down-and-out carpenter named
Robert Matthews, who announced himself as Matthias, prophet of the God
of the Jews. His hypnotic spell drew in a cast of unforgettable
characters--the meekly devout businessman Elijah Pierson, who once tried
to raise his late wife from the dead; the young attractive Christian
couple, Benjamin Folger and his wife, Ann (who seduced the woman-hating
Prophet); and the shrewd ex-slave Isabella Van Wagenen, regarded by some
as "the most wicked of the wicked."
None was more colorful than the Prophet himself, a bearded, thundering
tyrant who gathered his followers into an absolutist household, using
their money to buy an elaborate, eccentric wardrobe, and reordering
their marital relations. By the time the tensions within the kingdom
exploded into a clash with the law, Matthias had become a national
scandal.
In the hands of Johnson and Wilentz, the strange tale of the Prophet and
his kingdom comes vividly to life, recalling scenes from recent
experiences at Jonestown and Waco. They also reveal much about a
formative period in American history, showing the connections among
rapid economic change, sex and race relations, politics, popular
culture, and the rich varieties of American religious experience.
