retain as a husband, he left her, taking some of the children to his
sister in Argyle, forty miles from Albany. At Argyle he entered the
church and interrupted the minister, declaring the congregation in
darkness, and warning them to repentance. He was, of course, taken out
of the church, and as he was advertised in the Albany papers, he was
sent back to his family. His beard had now obtained a respectable
length, and thus he attracted attention, and easily obtained an
audience in the streets. For this he was sometimes arrested, once by
mistake for Adam Paine, who collected the crowd, and then left Matthias
with it on the approach of the officers. He repeatedly urged his wife
to accompany him on a mission to convert the world, declaring that food
could be obtained from the roots of the forest, if not administered
otherwise. At this time he assumed the name of Matthias, called
himself a Jew, and set out on a mission, taking a western course, and
visiting a brother at Rochester, a skillful mechanic, since dead.
Leaving his brother, he proceeded on his mission over the Northern
States, occasionally returning to Albany.


After visiting Washington, and passing through Pennsylvania, he came to
New York. His appearance at that time was mean, but grotesque, and his
sentiments were but little known.


On May the 5th, 1832, he first called on Mr. Pierson, in Fourth street,
in his absence. Isabella was alone in the house, in which she had
lived since the previous autumn. On opening the door, she, for the
first time, beheld Matthias, and her early impression of seeing Jesus
in the flesh rushed to her mind. She heard his inquiry, and invited
him into the parlor; and being naturally curious, and much excited, and