“These cranks pound and slap and otherwise punish their members.”

Buried deep in the annals of American theological history in the ass-stomping branch of Christianity described in the following article from the January 12, 1893 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle:

“Kalamazoo, Mich.–The noisy Carterites still continue their disturbance at Coloma, and the forbearance of the community has been sadly taxed. Recently Carter promulgated an order from on high to the effect that a tenth of all the property of the members must be paid into his hands for the Lord. It is also said that Carter threatened to kill his wife if she did not obey him. One of the members is reported to have willed his property to Carter in trust for the Lord. He is an old man, and was knocked down and dragged around in order to see whether he could stand the Holy Grace test. These cranks pound and slap and otherwise punish their members, while making the nights and Sundays hideous with their yells and howls for mercy. The thumpings they give each other are for the purpose knocking out the devils, they claim. Not long ago one of the members died, it is said, from the effects of the pounding he received when he joined the Chosen Seven. Carter was given a coat of tar and feathers some weeks since and the citizens threatened not only to repeat the dose but to run his followers out of town.”