The Kingdom of Matthias lists groups of people upon whom Matthias promised to cast down judgment. Why did these groups garner his wrath?
In the text, Matthias develops a judgmental persona. He lists the kind of people that he would cast judgment. The list includes those that say that Jews crucified Jesus, those who say the first day of the week is Sabbath, those who say that immersion with clothes on is baptism, those who say sprinkling is baptism. Further, those who drink wine in bowls, those who eat Passover in the lower room, women who do not keep at home, those who preach to women without their husbands, merchant tailors that hire women or 4s. per week, merchandisers especially those who buy and sell land, men who wear spectacles, those who offend john the Baptist, clergymen, doctors, and lawyers.
The foregoing groups garnered Matthias wrath because of various reasons. Succinctly, he would punish those that he considers the enemies of the Jews, the meek Christians and their wives. Matthias is not satisfied with the Christian concept of marriage. He considers Christianity as incorporating teachings that destroy the truth (Johnson 95). Accordingly, his preaching incorporates anti-woman hatred. Accordingly, he perceives those people he lists as deserving judgment to be evil. As such, he sets out to rid the society of the evil deeds. Further, he sees the episcopal and Dutch reform institutions as social clubs that harbor the rich, while the poor embrace male dominance and do not practice Christianity.
Matthias enthusiasm towards achieving a high moral code is apparent in the chapter one of The Kingdom of Matthias book. According to Matthias, an idealistic society is one that has male domination and that has no free will, a society that has absolute obedience to prophesy (96). Matthias believes that he would achieve an ideal society in the absence of those who are in the list because he considers them as persons engulfed with materialistic desires and a source of moral distortion. As such, the people attracted Matthias wrath because he considered them as a hindrance to his beliefs based on traditional patriarchal society.
Work Cited
Johnson, Paul and Sean Wilentz. The Kingdom of Matthias: A Story of Sex and Salvation in 19th-
Century America (Second Edition.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
