THE ABODE OF LOVE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 442, 1 December 1908, Page 4

THE ABODE OF LOVE.

A recent cablegram stated that the Right Rev Dr Reunion, Bishop of Bath and Wells, has commenced proceedings,- under the Clergy Discipline Act, against Pigott, head of the Agapemonites, the “religious” sect whose headquarters are at the “ Abode of Love,” Spaxtou, and whose doings have occasioned much scandal.

Three years ago a son, who was baptised “Glory,” was born to Ruth Preece and Pigott at the Abode of Love, Spaxton, near Bridgewater, Somerset. Following the baptism there was a choral service, and mother and child received lowly homage and glory from 200 members of the sect. In September last a second child, which has been named “ Power,” was born to the same couple. Pigott’s lawful wife meekly attended with the parents of the child at the formalities before the Registrar of Births, which was conducted in the drawing room of the “ Abode of Love,” Preece is now 27 years of age, and is the daughter of gentlefolk at Clapton, the London centre of the persuasion. Before her infatuation with the Agapemonites, she was a member ot the Wesleyan Church. Preece is styled the spiritual bride ot Pigott, and for Ibis relationship it is claimed that she has been divinely chosen. The first child, that is named “Glory,” was declared by the secretary of the sect to be an earnest of the total redemption of man. “As to Pigott, who is stated to be a university man, and has been by turns cattledealer, seaman, coffee planter, soldier, who is a brilliant reconteur, and a first-rate boxer, he to-day lives in an atmosphere of effeminacy almost Eastern in its luxury,” writes a correspondent of the Daily Chronicle. “ The reputation he has earned has kept him practically a prisoner in ‘ The Abode of Love.’ To-day he is a pale, dark and still good looking young man, with dark piercing eyes. He has scattered his bounty far and wide, for nearly five miles around the ‘Abode’ the country folks are his partisans. Theoretically, the ‘ Abode ’ is a refuge from the cares and troubles of the world outside. It lies midst a smiling land of shady woods and green fields. Among the ‘faithful’ are beautiful women, who may sometimes be seen in converse along the shady paths that skirt the ‘ Abode.’ ‘ For the most part,’ as one of them has said, ‘ the men and women live together in spiritual comradeship. There is neither marrying nor giving in marriage. The keynote of life is present perfectability, immortality, and expectancy of the immediate coming of the Messiah.’ The Priuceites, as they are sometimes called from the Rev Henry James Prince, who founded the sect in 1845, have the reputation of being inoffensive people, generous to their employees, careful of the poor, tolerant of such mischief that had been wrought on their abode by unscrupulous unbelievers. Mr Prince instructed his disciples that Judgment had arrived, . that the lime of prayer and supplication was over, that self-humiliation and self-denial had lost their virtue, and that nothing else remained but the necessity for pure enjoyment. Pigot (at one time a member of the Established Church) announced his succession to -Prince on September 7th, 1902.”