Darrow School - Shaker Post Yearbook (New Lebanon, NY)

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1936 The Peg Board man. Should that not be the case with those who are in the kingdom of heaven, -of whose increase 81 government, to order 81 establish it in justice 81 judgment, there should be no end? The little stone cut out of the mountain, without hands-by revelation--grew, 81 became a great mountain, 8z filled the earth. You are exactly adapted to the present condition of the people of Russia. At one time, the God of Israel told Moses that he would not lead the people of Israel hereafterg but that he would appoint an angel in his place, as leader. Israel, instead of increasing with the increase of God, has retrograded. I will send you an 'Open Letter' that I wrote to Judge Thayer, who re- leased a man that had been arrested under the ruling of the Postmaster- General Wanamaker, that your book was immoral, 81 that it was unlawful to sell it. The letter to the judge had an extensive circulation. I will also send you my Autobiography. What is your age? Do not work too much for your age 81 strength: where the mind is as fully employed as is yours, the muscles are easily overdone. Why cannot you come to Mt. Lebanon, 81 see what God hath wrought? It would do you good. A poor, illiterate, uneducated factory-woman has confounded the wisdom of all men-reformers, legislators, 81 scholars, who have come to nothing, as promoters of human happiness. Their systems have ended, in Christendom, as you now see it, 81 as Booth 81 his companion who inspired him, saw it. The end has come! 81 Tolstoy 81 Shakerism remain, as the last hope of mankind. Love to you F. W. Evans Mt. Lebanon, Col. Co., N. Y., U.S.A. Russia. Toula. Yasnaya. Polyana Fcbr. 3f15 1891. Dear Friend and Brother, Thank you for your kind letter, it gave me great joy to know that you approve of my ideas on christianity. I was very much satisfied with your views upon the different expressions of religious sentiments, suiting the age of those to whom they are directed. I received the tracts you sent me and read them not only with interest but with profit, and cannot criticize them because I agree with everything that is said in them. There is only one question, that I should wish to ask you. You are, as I know, nonresistants. How do you manage to keep communial but nevertheless-property? Do you acknow- lege the possibility for a christian to defend property from usurpators? I ask this question because I think that the principle of non-resistance is the chief trait of true Christianity and the greatest difliculty in our times is to be true to it. How do you manage to do so in your community? I received your tracts, but you say in your letter that you have sent me books, do you mean that you have sent me books and tracts, or do you call the tracts books? I received more than a year the Oregon paper Worlds Advance Thought. I have several times seen your articles in it. I am very thankful to the editor for sending this paper, in every No. of it I get spritual nourishment and if it were not for some spiritistic tendency, which is foreign to me, I would absolute- ly agree with all its religious views. I like this paper very much. With sincere respect and love, Yours truly, Leo Tolstoy. 73

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1936 The Peg Board Mt. Lebanon, March 61 Q1 Leo Tolstoi Dear friend and brother, Your welcomeletter of the 3, ult. duly received. There is much union of sentiment between us, and more union of spirit. You are ministered unto by a Christ Spirit, as Jesus was. It is not for yourself alone, but has reference to thousands of other souls who are ripe for the harvest sickle. The end of the world is coming upon them. Russia is a mighty Empire. It has produced large crops of spiritual men and women, in the past, under the first appearing of Christ, in the male order. They knew God as a heavenly father, but not as a Heavenly Mother. They had a male priesthood Order. They were a John the Baptist people, looking, waiting, praying, for the coming of our Lord. They were sincere and self sacrificing, but knew not how to pray, being blinded by theological ignorance and consequent error. The Mennonites8z Moravians and what a noble people! ! And many other, bearing different names, but all actuated by the same Christ Spirit, down to the Quakers, as Friends. Who came nigh unto the Kingdom of Heaven. These were the Two Witnesses -Male and Female-who prophesied, prayed, and practised Christian virtues, in part. Their persecutions were not in part, but in whole. .And those who brought them to the Holy Inquisition, or killed them by thousands, under the Duke of Alva, or by a Saint Bartholemew massacre, thought they were doing God good service. All the great European nations are Christian. War is a permanent institution among them. They are exhausting their national resources either fighting, or in Peace, preparing to fight. Do they not all pray to the same God to help them kill each other? Could the Devil do any worse by them? You ask, How do you manage to keep Communial, but nevertheless- property. Do you acknowledge the possibility for a Christian to defend property from usurpers? These are important questions. Jesus said, Be ye perfect, even as your father in Heaven is perfect. That is the end of our Christian travail. But is it the beginning? Did Jesus come to it, while yet in the body? Jesus was not yet perfected. This is said of him after his death. If we scrutinize closely the history of Jesus, from birth to death, do we not see growth, from where he was to where he would be? He saw the travail of his soul and was satisfied. Suppose we should have a list of the sins that he con- fessed to John, before he was baptised, and previous to the Christ Spirit descending upon him? And then suppose we make another list of the various transgressions and violations of the abstract principles of Christianity as you and I now see them? What would be the result? Should we not conclude that he was our elder brother, was touched with a feeling of our infirmities, be- cause he had the same nature, and by it was tempted in all respects like those whom the Christ Spirit came to redeem. He was simply the firstborn of many brethren just as Ann Lee was the first born of many sisters. The Mennonites, Moravians, and Quakers, were non resistents, as were most of the true Witnesses. Not until the seperation of Church and State, by the horns - Infidel powers-that grew out of the Beast, in the Am. Revolution, could communial property be held by non resistents. That is the New Earth, and has it becomes more perfect in its righteousness, the New Heavens will be nearer perfect in all of the Christian virtues. It will travail from Faith to Faith, through seven Cycles, unto the perfect day. The light shining brighter and brighter until the light of one day shall be as the light of seven days. We hold and defend our Communial property under the 75