OCR Text |
Show TWO QUEER BELIEFS I m FAITH OF THE HOLY ROLLERS AND KNEE DENOER8. H Seels Have Their Headquarters In jS Western New York, and Each TM Year Succeed In Add. H Ing New Converts. jfl The lateat curious sects to lake root W In western New York are the holy WMm rollers and the knee benders The holy BS rollers were organised about alt years 'taH ago on Iho shores of Canandalgua jjH lake, and the story of the rise of thla tfln strange religious sect Is absurdly out UH ot place in the twi tiileth century Hell H la the thief tenet nf the holy rollers 'H belief a hell of sputteilnit brimstone asl and Hames that "email) torture hut 91 never consume To this hell Is dee H lined every one who does ttttt accept H the faith The erved omlmuMes doc H trine which were regarded na e M sentlal to happiness 100 years ago M ll Is a creed that converts by fenr. H nnd the writer has won a ntimter ol Hp young women In various stages of hya HE lerhi al the conclusion or a holy rollei revival meeting Thn loaders or the faith nre Mra Mary Mclntyre, Miss llmiirn Chase I'rof N I. Kastman and lllder Jamea WiNMlsworth, ol Syracuse, N Y lie generation la effected In several waya tho course ol treatment Including prayer, bnlhlng, robing and baptism b) Immersion When theso remedies prove futile In cleansing the mini ol tho sinner Iho mnltcnt Is obliged to lierform what tho believer call thu ' hoi) roll ' The unregenemto Ilea on the Hour nt one end ol Iho building nnd tolls over nnd over llko a log until everyone presint la sallsned that tho devil haa been rolled out Home times the ceremony lasts u quarter ol an hour, but If Iho convert has been an unusually lough customer he may l compelled lo roll for an hour o? flvo houra a moat heroic method o' securing aulvnllon As the subject lolls by the kneeling nudlence every imraon has the prlv liege lo nsk such questions aa each seea fit, and thu convert must make satisfactory answer Iwfore he Is al lowed to rlso The sins ot a llfetlmo must bo confessed In detail and tho 4 Innermost secrets of the soul mads public Perhaps the strongest feature of this Ireiuy Is tho establishment of the strangest of all sects, the adherents ot which call themselves knnn bend ers Tho knee benders are a small j community nnd live along tho eastern j shore of 8( neca lake Thla aect orlg Inated about flvo years ago At that ' Hmo a Swedish farmer named Hor son, a man of some education, began ' to act In a atrango manner He claimed that ho had visions, and refused re-fused to assist In work on the farm, and passed most or his lime on a a. knoll near tho lako lie remained on jjft had coniiiunilcd.lilii'i Xg rrmMnj!ivisseTaHMBinHI rest ol his llro In llmtiincoirifortafile sasisae n;sj. lioslllou Shortly after receiving Ibis 1 Interesting but Inconvenient rorela Hon, he began to preach, hla theme being on socialistic lines flradually 1. Ids relative became Imbued with the sincerity of hla preachings and oa ' pouaed tho straugo religion Tho en tiro family soon began to live on their ,( knees Tho enthusiasts now number about J about 200 Tho knee benders deny jf tho oxlslenco of punishment In thn 1 noit world, declaring that hell will n como on iarth In Iho shape of aomn il sorrow to tho wrongdoer Prayer nro Qj not roado to tho Supremo Doing, but IT to nature, which Is hold accountable f for nil changia In the ulomonta and accldonta caused by fire, wind and wnlcr Communism Is the primary , prlnclplo of thla queer roltglon, the a farms of tho enthusiasts are worked I In common They hold knoo bending 1 services five lime a day on tho knoll 7 where Hurson was 'Inspired," and In Iho worship their faces aro turned al i waya toward tho aun llach week n revival meeting la held, nnd ridiculous ridi-culous as the thing Is, tho knee bend irs keep adding converts Such a story us this belongs to 100 yeara ago, but, aa an Illustration of religious frrniy dominating tho human mind, , It Is nn Interesting iwythologlcal study (i' or tho present day 1 |