Aiunt enim dixisse Servatorem: "Veni ad dissolvendum opera
feminae": feminae quidem, cupiditatis; opera autem, genera-
tionem et interitum [Verily, they say that the Savior said: " I
have come to destroy the works of woman"; of woman and
indeed of desire; moreover those works are generation and
annihilation].

-- Gnostic text, Gospel of the Egyptians

Per mulierem culpa successit,
per virginem salus evenit.
[Through woman sin came in; by means of a virgin
deliverance followed].

-- Episcopius to Siricius

Andrew Jackson Davis ( 1826-1910), the popularizer of spiri-
tualism, claimed that the accomplishments and significance
of Ann Lee had been "revolutionary." As an inspired woman,
she had led mankind "to perceive the plenitude of woman's nature, and
the equality of her destiny." ¹ Davis's evaluation has been widely accepted
by investigators who have equated the separate sexual orders and strict
dualistic division of Shaker society with equality of the sexes. ² Certainly
Lee was concerned with the plight of women in the marriage relation,
and especially with the very real risks of pregnancy and parturition; but
was the system she founded, or the direction it took under the guidance
of her successors, one that accorded respect and an equal status to the

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