This book, "Orders for the Church of Christ's Second Appearing" was established by the Ministry and Elders of the Church in Mount Lebanon, New York in 1887 and adopted by the Shaker community at Watervliet, Ohio in 1888. It includes rules of conduct for social interaction between members of the community as well as instructions for worship. The book is approximately 47 pages long and measures 4.7" x 7.12" (11.94 x 18.08 cm).

The history of the Shakers in Ohio begins in 1805 with the arrival of three Shaker missionaries from Mt. Lebanon, New York at Turtle Creek in Warren County. The Presbyterian community at Turtle Creek, led by their pastor Richard McNemar, adopted Shakerism within a few days and changed the name of the settlement to Union Village. Twenty-two miles to the northeast, in Van Buren Township in Montgomery County, a sister Presbyterian congregation existed called Beulah. In 1806, two of the Mt. Lebanon missionaries, Benjamin Youngs and Issachar Bates, were invited to preach at Beulah. As a result, most of the congregation became Shakers. In 1813 the community, occupying 800 acres of farmland, was formally renamed Watervliet Village in honor of the first Shaker home in the New World in Watervliet, New York. The settlement consisted approximately 100 individuals at its peak and about 55 when it disbanded in 1900. Other Shaker communities in Ohio included Union Village in Warren County and North Union in present-day Shaker Heights.