In a small town north of Toronto there stands a beautiful and unusual church, well known locally as the Sharon Temple. It is the last remaining evidence of a nineteenth-century Quaker sect, the Children of Peace, one of the few exmaples of a millennarian movement in Canada. Albert Schrauwers explores the history of this intriguing group, which rebuilt Solomon's Temple and prophesied the coming of a Jewish Messiah who would abolish British colonial rule.
Schrauwers discusses the social, political, economic, and theological context in which the Children of Peace were established and, for a time, flourished. He identifies three main periods in the development of the sect: their initial break with the Quakers during the War of 1812; their reorganization following completion of the temple in 1832; and their final reorganization following the Rebellion of 1837.
Using assessment rolls and a careful analysis of relations of production, he shows how material factors influences the political process by which the sect decided what was sacred and what was not. Ultimately he provides a detailed portrait of a remarkable group of people and the times in which they lived.