The meeting between the prophet Matthias and Joseph Smith ends with Smith banishing Matthias from Kirtland, Ohio and the two men swearing that the other is possessed from Satan. Smith clearly thought Matthias was deranged saying that "his mind was evidently filled with darkness (5)" and fully recognizes Matthias as a murderer on page six in Kingdom of Matthias. The two men shared the bond of being poor, ignorant men who had fallen on hard times during the Market Revolution. They were the product of a theological movement that relied less on learned ministers and more on ordinary people who had intense religious experiences. “Based on more than two centuries of Anglo-American occultism and millenarian speculation, the seers of the new republic set the pattern for subsequent prophetic movements down to the present day” is a quote from page six that explains the impact on both men and their followers had on American history. Another sect of religious fanatics of this period were the Finneyites who rejected the Calvinist approach of determinism and predestination. They believed that “individuals can overcome inherited human selfishness and be saved through repentance and prayer (7).” Although they advocated mobility along the religious hierarchy, Finneyites sought to maintain two spheres of society, one industrial and one domestic. The industrial and monetary aspect was to be dominated by men, while women were allowed to take care of child-rearing and domestic activities related to the domestic aspect. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Elijah Pierson was shaped by his disapproval of the class system established in his home in Morristown, New Jersey. As a young man he was shocked by the allocation of seats in the church, while the elites got better seats. “By the standards that Elijah Pierson would later adopt, the immutable inequality of this close-knit patriarchy was a perfect model of injustice (17)” is evidence of how the intolerance displayed in Morristown influenced Pierson. This mindset drove him to want to spread God's words to every caste of people imaginable, choosing to open stores in Five Points and Bowery Hill. He was able to succeed as a clerk on Wall Street in New York City, where he established his connections with the Brick Presbyterian Church in Spring. Through this church Pierson meets Sarah Stanford and they marry shortly thereafter, and practice downsizing which was "the ultra-evangelical movement to avoid luxury in diet, clothing, and home furnishings." The ironic thing is that the fasts that were de-escalation practices are almost certainly what led to Sarah's death and Elijah's madness. He also remained a virgin until the age of 35, which prevented him from growing up like a normal person and he must have been socially awkward and unable to maintain his sanity after Sarah's death. Pierson's story can be called a love story because he was a man who fell into a dark spell after the death of his only lover, Sarah Stanford. Robert Matthews, the man who would become the prophet Matthias, was born and raised in a Scottish settlement in the Hudson Valley. It was here that Matthias witnessed fire and broom sermons and people seeing visions of Jesus (56). It would have been normal for Matthews to view the visions with serious conviction and act accordingly. As a young boy growing up in this area he lost both parents and was considered nervous while growing up (57). This could be attributed to his sudden need to earn money.