A Relly Bad Paper

The Kingdom of Matthias tells the story of a very unusual religious cult that was started in New York City in the eighteen twenty's. Underprivileged men who were obligated by economic need took to this faith. Countless felt the need to join the cult because of the culture of New York City.

The head of this religious cult was a man by the name of Robert Matthews an emigrant who grew up in upstate New York. He had been a member of the orthodox Scots Presbyterian Church where the main belief was that humans were naturally corrupt. This ideal became a main emphasis of Matthews' cult. Matthews was an apprentice to a carpenter then left for Manhattan at the age of twenty. Here he began to build up a criminal record and was charged for several counts of being a domestic violence. To get away from his recent convictions, Matthews returned to upstate New York where he became married and lead a very discreet existence. He was making money from an economic boom that followed the War of 1812. A sudden loss in moneys forced him to go back to Manhattan and start over again as a carpenter. Family ailment and joblessness struck Matthews while in Manhattan. Matthews then began to become a religious extremist and he had an obligation to match the Old Testament Jews, all the way down to the nutritional laws and the male-controlled costume.

Then Matthews begins to fashion prophecies which he claimed "there would be no market, no money, no buying or selling, no wage system with its insidious domination of one father over another, no economic depression of any kind." As well as stating that "everything that has the smell of women, will be destroyed and only real men will be saved all mock men will be damned." By the eighteen thirty's he involved a massive assembly of followers and gave himself the new name Matthias. Matthias then wandered with a group of frantic followers around the New York area from New York City to Albany. Many other spiritually confused men and needy women joined his groups along the way. Matthias often saw himself as a defender of the ancient truth. From the ideas and beliefs of Matthias you can see that Matthias is struggling against the changes that are endangering what little steadiness he has known in his life. Matthias has grown up in a world were men had complete control over everything in life a life were real men were viewed as hard working farmers who got their hands dirty and came home

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