Kingdom of Matthias tells a story of a religious cult in the 19th century that echoed the changes in society within America. The life experiences of Elijah Pierson and Matthias the Prophet revealed the social and cultural movements that were ringing throughout America. These changes would later be labeled as the Market Revolution and Second Great Awakening. Kingdom of Matthias starts out with the experiences of Elijah Pierson. Elijah grew up in a small town that was settled by his great-great-great grandfather. Over many years, the farmland was passed down through his family. This created a small settlement of distant relatives. The town focused on each other and taking care of the town. However, there were social hierarchies within. The …show more content…
The streets were plagued with, as Kingdom of Matthias states, “brutal men with whiskey bottles, children who ran loose and seemed to have no homes, gaudily dressed girls who strolled the sidewalks and smiled at gentlemen who passed them by.” However, there were also very wealthy businessmen within New York who indulged in the finer things such as wine, elegant women, and ability to buy wants instead of just needs. This shows the how economic and social factors go hand and hand. The poor were looked down upon in both Elijah’s small town and New York because of their lower wealth. Also, while in the big city, the social customs Elijah was use to drastically changed for him. He was brought up around the customs of marrying young and raising a big family on a family farm. In New York, this was not the case. In New York, he was on his own. He had no ties to a family name in the big city and therefore, he had to work in business to earn money and start a way of life unknown to him. Later, Elijah volunteered to be a male elder for the Female Missionary Society for the Poor of New York for their mission to the black slum on Bancker Street. Here all the men and women had strayed from the Christian way of life. The poor did not need just handouts, they needed moral instruction and support of godly friends. The religious teachers were no longer the head of the household laying down the law but now the mothers …show more content…
He was a member of the orthodox Scots Presbyterian church where the main belief was that human was damned from the start. When Matthews later became Matthias the Prophet, this would be his main focus within the cult. When times became tough, Matthews relied heavily on the Lord as religion played an important part in many peoples life in the 19th century. This would turn him mad and inspired him to create his own religion. He would later recruit many businessmen like Elijah Pierson to be followers of his “Kingdom.” Many joined because of the spiritual revival and creation of many different religious beliefs being spread over America during the mid-19th century. He later changed his name to Matthias the Prophet. He spread the belief that, as Kingdom of Matthias, states “no market no money, no buying or selling, no wage system with its insidious domination of one father over another, no economic oppression of any kind.” This showed how religion and economic and social customs went hand and hand during this time. It also states that "everything that has the smell of women will be destroyed and only real men will be saved; all mock men will be damned." This showed how social customs were changing within America due to beliefs being spread and people enforcing them. Followers strictly followed Matthias until sexual scandals and murder accusations were made and investigation started on the