Chapter XIV: Part 14

[66] Of one of the collections of hymns published at Ephrata, Fahnestock says that four hundred and forty-one were written by Beissel, seventy-three by the brethren in the cloister, one hundred by the single sisters, and one hundred and twelve by the out-door members. Endress speaks in unfavorable terms of the literary merits of some of the Ephrata hymns.

[67] “Materials towards a History of the American Baptists.” 1770.

[68] Dr. Fahnestock resided for a while in the latter part of his life in the sister-house, at Ephrata. Here Mr. Rupp, the historian, visited him. Rev. Mr. Shrigley, librarian of the Pennsylvania Historical Society, who visited Ephrata, has spoken to me of Fahnestock’s venerable appearance.

[69] In after-years they seem to have been much troubled by litigation. Dr. Fahnestock says that they considered contention with arms, and at law, unchristian; but that they unfortunately had to defend themselves often in courts of justice. To set an example of forbearance and Christian meekness, they suffered themselves for a long time to be plundered, until forbearance was no longer a virtue. He says (Hazard’s Register, 1835) that the society is just escaping from heavy embarrassments which they incurred in defending themselves from the aggressions of their neighbors. The British officer, whose statement was published as early as 1789, speaks of Peter Miller as often engaged in litigation.

In a recent work (Belcher’s History of Religious Denominations, 1854), the Seventh-Day Baptists at Ephrata are said to possess about one hundred and forty acres.

[70] Morgan Edwards, in speaking of the recluses at Ephrata, says that they took the vow of celibacy. But, as so many of our German Baptists are opposed to oaths, I presume that they did not. “Teach, by example, that a promise is truly an oath,” says a late Pennsylvania paper.

[71] Somewhat altered from the original.

[72] A writer in the Chronicle speaks of being at one of the count’s conferences, where there were Mennonites, Separatists, and Baptists. But when he came home, he told the _vorsteher_ that he regarded the count’s conference as a snare to bring simple awakened souls again into infant-baptism and church-going. Then they held a council, and resolved to have a yearly conference of their own.

The above expression—infant-baptism and church-going—sounds so much like the account of the Baptist or Anabaptist persecutions narrated in the Martyr-book, that we might almost conclude that the Dunkers had a direct connection with the Anabaptists, instead of originating among the Pietists. But it will be remembered that the Ephrata Dunkers had printed an edition of the great Martyr-book, and it is most probable that some of them were familiar with it. Still, there may have been among the Pietists some who were or had been Baptists.

[73] Near the close of this sketch mention is made of “Hoeckers a Creveld.” Perhaps Ludwig belonged to the same family.

[74] Paxton township is now in Dauphin County. The Paxton church was three miles east of Harrisburg.

[75] The Ephrata Chronicle says that, as the enemy approached (the Indians came within thirteen miles of Ephrata), many persons sought refuge in the cloister, with those who were themselves in need of protection. As reports of murders reached Ephrata day after day, the celibates (_Einsamen_) became despondent, and even the leader turned pale,—a thing that had never been witnessed before. When danger was so imminent, the fathers proposed to take the sisters away on wagons to a safer place. It was then that Beissel received by night a divine revelation to the effect that no Einsamer should perish by the hands of the Indians.

Accordingly they remained at their station, and it really turned out as Beissel had predicted. The people who took refuge in the monastery probably stayed at Ephrata, not with a view of finding protection behind the wooden walls of the cloister, but for the sake of shelter and support. The statement that the government sent a company of soldiers for the protection of Ephrata seems to be verified by the mention in the Chronicle of _Rothröcke_ or Redcoats.

[76] The Mennonites and Quakers were peaceably disposed towards the Indians, but the Presbyterians from the north of Ireland, who had settled at Paxton, felt a deadly animosity against them, and, as Day says, against the peaceful Moravians and Quakers, who wished to protect the Indians, at the expense, as the Paxton men thought, of the lives of the settlers. The Paxton rangers were commanded by the Presbyterian minister, the Rev. Colonel Elder, who seems to have opposed the massacre of the Indians at Lancaster by the “Paxton boys.” Day says that no historian ought to excuse or justify the murders at Lancaster and Conestoga, and adds that they must ever remain dark and bloody spots in our provincial history.

[77] See Carey’s “American Museum.”

[78] An insignificant hill overlooking the meadow where the brother- and sister-houses now stand.

[79] A remarkable statement.

[80] Compare this inflated language with Miller’s letter, as quoted.

[81] The different modes of spelling what appears to be the same name will not surprise those who are familiar with our Pennsylvania German names.

[82] It may be observed how nearly this description of the chapel agrees with that given by the British officer of the one he visited here some eighty-five years ago.

[83] Fahnestock says that, like some dilapidated castles, Ephrata yet contains many habitable and comfortable apartments. The brother- and sister-houses, etc., form but a small part of the modern village of Ephrata. He wrote some time ago.

[84] See article “Francis Daniel Pastorius,” by Dr. Seidensticker, in the _Penn Monthly_, January and February, 1872.

[85] The name Hacker, still heard at Ephrata, is doubtless the same as the above.

[86] _Schneeberger_, or people of Snow Hill?

[87] Mr. Endress tells us that with many of the single brethren and sisters at Ephrata, the mystical idea of the union with Christ was evidently used to gratify one of the strongest natural affections of the human heart. “The Redeemer was their bridegroom or bride.... He was the little infant they carried under their hearts, the dear little lamb they dandled on their laps.”

He adds that this at least was found much more among the single than among those whose affections were consecrated in a conjugal life. “The powers of human nature would evince their authority.” “According to Sangmeister, some sank under the unceasing struggle.” See Hazard’s Register, 1830.

[88] Upon this subject of the New Testament as a creed, etc., all or nearly all our German Baptist sects seem to unite.

[89] This article now appears nearly as it was published in the second edition of this work, issued several years ago.

[90] The general use of the lot was abrogated in 1817. Although marriage by lot is no longer obligatory, yet a Moravian gentleman has told me that this manner of decision is still resorted to,—and frequently in Europe. Bishops are usually appointed by lot.

[91] The _lease system_, so called, was abolished in 1844. The Moravian communities abroad, especially upon the continent of Europe, are close communities, no one being allowed to buy of their lands who is not a member of the Moravian Church. They retain more plainness of dress in Saxony and Prussia, and even in Great Britain, than prevails in America. There the women all wear caps in religious services.

[92] The heavy expense entailed by enterprises so great does not fall entirely upon the Church. The Mission Report of 1872, in speaking of Australia, mentions that the missionaries are cheered by the sympathy and aid of Christians of different denominations; and adds that the mission has sustained a loss in the death of the Rev. Mr. Mackie, of the Presbyterian Church, in Melbourne. The _Moravian Manual_ also speaks of missions that are self-supporting, and of missionaries who labor, like Paul, for their own support.

[93] Its use is taught it seems even to barbarians, for the Mission Report, in speaking of an Esquimaux church, says, “The corner-stone was solemnly laid, when the native trombone players discoursed sweet music.”

[94] In the following from the litany, I observed an inconvenience:

_Preacher._—“By thy glorious resurrection and ascension,
By thy sitting at the right hand of God.”
_Congregation._—“Bless and comfort us, gracious Lord and God.”

[95] The frequent repetition of the word love-feast has caused it to be often shortened in conversation, it being pronounced by some as if written _luff-east_.

[96] To the Rev. W. C. Reichel, author of several historical works, I am indebted for a correction in the article “The Dunker Love-feast.”

[97] Tombstones are placed on the newly-made graves, old tombstones are cleaned, etc. These stones are “breast-stones,” not of large size, and lie flat upon the graves,—in the Moravian manner.

[98] I am quite at a loss to know why the colored eggs, purple, red, and yellow, in use among the Moravians (as among other Germans), should here have been called rabbits’ eggs, and the idea been held out that the eggs were of different colors because different rabbits brought them.

(This note was published in the second edition. Other remarks on the subject of the Easter rabbit and eggs will be found in the Appendix.)

[99] A lady in Bethlehem told me that she had expected a man to help her put down carpet, who had failed to appear. About nine the next morning she met him upon the street somewhat intoxicated and friendly and communicative. “Oh, Mrs. ⸺,” said he, “I couldn’t come yesterday. It was my _bursday_.” Whence we may infer that the celebration of birthdays has spread in the community.

[100] The bell upon Nazareth Hall is still rung at a quarter before twelve, daily.

[101] The brethren’s house was thus given up in 1812, some time before the date above assigned.

[102] An enthusiastic friend says, “It is a well-known and abundantly substantiated fact that fewer unhappy marriages were known among the Moravians than among the same number of people in any other denomination of Christians while the lot was in practice.” If so, let us burn our romances.

[103] This perhaps occurred during Zinzendorf’s banishment from Saxony. See note at close of this article.

[104] This building, Ephrata, was once a “nursery,” where as many as fifty-six young children were placed at one time. Some were removed from their mothers at as early an age as eighteen months, and placed under the common charge. See Transactions of Moravian Historical Society, 1857-58.

[105] A friend adds: “These Christmas dialogues are still to be heard in Moravian towns, in their parochial schools.”

[106] The tendency to pronounce _s_ like _sh_ will be observed.

[107] A friend says, “Schmaus” is a vulgar term,—use “Fest.”

[108] The corpse is sent to the corpse-house by some families, to this day.

[109] Another person says, that if a man had no proposal to make, he left it to the authorities to suggest a woman; but the authorities never forced a woman upon him against his will.

[110] A lady whom I met at Nazareth spoke of the visits that she used to make in the widow-house, when they went at one, had vesper of coffee and sugar-cake at two, and left at five.

[111] Upon this passage, a friend makes the following remark: “Not regular occupants, but Moravian missionaries or strangers who might arrive in large bodies; twenty, I think, would be a large number.”

[112] _Ayfrahtaw_ I heard this word pronounced.

[113] There were two log houses, says a friend.

[114] They not only receive tuition here, but board and clothing, and a similar privilege is extended to the sons of preachers.

[115] During the period of the anti-slavery agitation, preceding the war, the Moravians as a body did not take an anti-slavery stand. Their members were allowed to hold slaves, like those of almost all the other sects in this country. Their European brethren did not agree with them on this subject.

[116] A recent writer tells us that the upper, middle, and lower parts of Montgomery County, the lower end of Berks, and the south corner of Lehigh contain the only settlement of Schwenkfelders in the wide world. He adds that it is no misnomer to call these people the Pennsylvania German Quakers. It will be seen, however, that they are more ancient than George Fox.

[117] _Phlox subulata._

[118] This feminine termination has not disappeared from the dialect. Mr. Rauch speaks of “de olt Lawbucksy,” which is rendered, old Mrs. Lawbucks.

[119] The decline in the severity of the cap seems to have reached its lowest point among the Moravians, where but few women in this country wear caps in church. See “Bethlehem and the Moravians.”

[120] At Flourtown, or Chestnut Hill, the English language is used, and there is no instruction in German.

[121] See article “Ephrata.”

[122] It appears that there was also extemporaneous prayer during the exercises.

[123] Why is not Schwenkfeld spoken of by the title _von Ossing_? We read of Ulrich von Hütten, German scholar and reformer.

[124] In using the name Schwenkfeld, I have abbreviated it a little, giving it as it is in the New American Cyclopædia, which calls him, however, Von Schwenkfeld. The Cyclopædia, in speaking of his writings, some ninety treatises, says that they are regarded as one of the most valuable sources of the history of the Reformation.

[125] A copy of this volume has been deposited for reference in the library of the German Society, Philadelphia.

[126] That portion of Silesia which was the home of the Schwenkfelders lies east of Saxony, the home of Count Zinzendorf. It, or the greater part of it, was conquered by Frederick the Great, and added to Prussia.

[127] The clergy, _die Gelehrten_.

[128] _Erläuterung._—Schwenkfeld appears to have abstained from the sacraments for a great part of his life,—from the outward forms, at least, if we may add the expression.

[129] The three folios before spoken of in this article were published within ten years after his death, and it seems possible that the place of printing was omitted on account of the opposition to his works.

[130] In the New American Cyclopædia Schwenkfeld is said to have differed from Luther and others upon the deification of the body Christ. In the latter part of this essay this point is spoken of again.

[131] Ulm, a town in Würtemberg, on the left bank of the Danube. It was long an imperial free city.

[132] This title was probably not in former times their chosen name. In a little inartistic aria, near the close of the _Erläuterung_, they are twice called _die Stillen_, or the quiet ones. Looking in a German dictionary for this word, I find “_die Stillen_” is rendered Quakers. In the same aria they are called _die Friedlichen_, or the peaceful ones. One of Schwenkfeld’s volumes, a collection, states that they were gathered and put in order by _the fellow-confessors and lovers of the glories and truth of Jesus Christ_.

[133] As in the principality of Lower Silesia Lutheran preachers had been installed in nearly all the offices, many of the common people who had accepted Schwenkfeld’s teachings stood back in stillness, not being able conscientiously to agree with these teachers. This was very offensive to the parsons, and they soon made use of their high dignity against tender consciences to force such persons to their means of grace,—to make them come to the baptismal font, to the pulpit, and the altar.—_Schwenkfeld’s Erläuterung_, chap. iv. The Schwenkfelders express the opinion that the action of the Lutheran clergy, in calling attention to them, frequently caused their persecution by the Catholic authorities.

[134] Digging trenches for military defence, and working the galleys or great boats of the Mediterranean.

[135] They do not seem to have been very profitable as soldiers. One man can lead a horse to water, but several cannot make him drink.

[136] _Herrschaft._ The narrative is condensed from the _Erläuterung_, or Explanation.

[137] Mention is made of the time when the destroyer came upon the destroyer because his measure was full,—namely, the Thirty Years’ War, and the banishment of the Lutherans from the imperial dominions.

[138] See _Erläuterung_, or Explanation. The passage is slightly abridged.

[139] Hence we may infer that the Schwenkfelders forbade marriages with those not of their own persuasion. During the period of their troubles it seems that marriage by the church was at times refused them, no doubt from their refusing the sacrament. Maimed funeral rites were also among the persecutions of which they complained. In speaking thus of their decline, they may, however, overestimate their numbers in former times.

The following characteristic sketch may be introduced here nearly in the words of the original: The two pastors in Harpersdorf having been called to a new church, there came as pastor Herr John Samuel Neander (the pastor Neander who died in July 1759). He was by nature a very fiery man, so that he hardly knew how to govern his passions; by birth a Brandenburger, from Frankfort on the Oder. When he was installed, the Herr Superintendent in Liegnitz brought before him that he was a stranger, and therefore he might not know how it was in Harpersdorf, that there was a people there, who had already lived there about two hundred years, called Schwenkfelders. Therefore he would give him good advice, that he should leave these people in peace; preceding pastors had tried it enough, and had accomplished nothing by force. But if he thought he could not endure these people, he should say so, and another would be put into the place.

But Herr Neander promised everything good, and did not keep to it. For soon after entering upon his office he gave out that he had sworn to bury none of the Schwenkfelders as before practised, and this he began to carry out. See _Erläuterung_, chap. v.

[140] The aria already alluded to says,—

“Throw their dead away, like foul corruption,
The cow-path is too good; don’t tread upon the grass;
The father shall not follow the body of his child,
Nor the wife accompany her husband to the house of death.”

The word that I have translated cattle-path, etc., is _viehweg_. A note upon this verse of the aria says, “1722. Three hundred persons lie upon the cow-paths at Harpersdorf and Langendorff.” If so many were buried during the time of the Catholic mission, these people must have been numerous.

[141] Zinzendorf’s estate of Berthelsdorf was, it seems, near the town of Gorlitz.

[142] By agriculture? rather than in the town of Gorlitz.

[143] See “Bethlehem and the Moravians.”

[144] The word translated gingerbread is _Pfeffer-kuchen_, or pepper-cakes. Pepper-nuts are now made in Lancaster County,—a delicate cake, as I have seen them, somewhat resembling jumbles. If plainer they would be like the New England cookies. Cooky comes from the German _kuchen_?

In Allentown, a young gentleman tells me that the people of Lehigh County, all through, eat Schwenkfelder-cake. “Our mothers made them for us. They are a kind of vesper-cake, or rusk baked in a loaf.” In Allentown the name is sometimes pronounced Schwinkfelder.

[145] No one should confound these emigrants from the Palatinate with the Palatines for whom William Penn desires the friendship of the Indians. See “Swiss Exiles,” in this volume. The numerous refugees from the Palatinate probably came from different motives; some for religious freedom, and some to earn their bread. Many German emigrants were redemptionists,—_i.e._, they sold their time to pay for their voyage. Of this class, we learn, was an ancestor of the late John Covode.

[146] Mr. Weiser tells us, in speaking of the Schwenkfelders, that on a late occasion, having heard that the tombs of their ancestors, near Liegnitz and Gorlitz, were fast being desecrated, and the earth, with their very dust, carried away for road-making purposes, their Pennsylvania posterity collected a handsome sum and forwarded it to the authorities, with a view of purchasing the grounds, and having them set apart and enclosed as the burying-ground of the Silesian Schwenkfelders. It is not believed, however, he adds, that their moneys were appropriated to the laudable end which they had in view.

This narrative might apply to those Silesians who were buried upon the cow-paths (Mr. Weiser says, taken to the carrion pit or bone commons), but does it apply to them after they had taken refuge at Gorlitz?

[147] It has been estimated that ninety-five in one hundred of the Schwenkfelders are farmers.

[148] In the Rules and Ordinances of the Schwenkfelder community may be found this passage: “Yet a Christian places no holiness in wearing the oldest fashioned clothes; he also takes care not quickly to ape all new fashions, much less does he make it his business to bring up new ones.”

[149] Mr. Weiser speaks as if the singing was in the dialect. The following is a copy of some lines which were sung at their meeting-house when I attended, from which the student of German may observe the quality of the language, and the theologian may notice, as it seems to me, two or three of their peculiar doctrines:

“Jehovah, Vater, Sohn, und Geist!
O Segens Bronn, der ewig fleuszt!
Durchfleusz Herz, Sinn, und Wandel wohl;
Mach uns dein’s Lob’s und Segens voll!”

Jehovah, Father, Son, and Spirit! Oh, spring of blessing, forever flowing! Flow through heart, thought, and life; make us full of thy praise and blessing!

[150] Wheat bread is now used. At a Schwenkfelder house I ate apple-butter, sweet, because made from sweet apples, and seasoned with fennel, of which the taste resembles anise.

[151] It may be observed that I have used Mr. Weiser’s language.

[152] Before public schools were established the Schwenkfelders had a fund for the education of their poorer members.

[153] “Which these ordered back into our fund, to supply the wants of the poor, when we should arrive at Philadelphia.”

[154] It is probable that baptism will be introduced, but only optionally.

[155] Mr. Weiser tells us that a mother whose adult daughter entered the Reformed Church, by baptism, earnestly protested against the performing of the sacrament over her, on the ground that “prayers were had for their child in the meeting-house.”

[156] All Quakers do not teach the inferiority of the written word. Mr. Weiser says, “In general terms it may be said that Caspar Schwenkfeld has been the George Fox of Silesia, or the veritable George Fox, perhaps somewhat educated and sublimated.”

Although some of the doctrines taught by George Fox seem to have been given before him by Schwenkfeld, yet were these not previously taught among the Anabaptists, and possibly among the Waldenses?

It has been said that the better classes of Anabaptists claimed a descent from the Waldenses, the Wickliffites, and the Hussites, who had struggled for a church separated from the world and distinguished by the holiness of its members.

[157] A note says, “No one can deny that at last all books must perish, but the word of the Lord endureth forever.”

[158] On his death-bed Schwenkfeld declared that he believed that all in the Old and New Testament was profitable for salvation to the elect; that he was certain that his own writings, if read impartially, and after prayer, agreed with Holy Scripture, but he must acknowledge to the praise of God that they proceeded more from gracious revelation.

[159] See the _Erläuterung_, or Explanation, chap. x. These passages in general are greatly abbreviated, or are picked out, I may say.

[160] _Erläuterung_, chap. xi.

[161] The passage alluded to is doubtless this: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”

[162] The thoughtful reader may perhaps find something in this answer to contrast with these passages from the decrees of the late Ecumenical Council at Rome:

“If any one shall say that human sciences ought to be pursued in such a spirit of freedom that any one may be allowed to hold as true their assertions, even when opposed to revealed doctrine, and that such assertions may not be condemned by the church, let him be _anathema_. If any one shall say that at any time it may come to pass, in the progress of science, that the doctrines set forth by the church must be taken in another sense than that in which the church has ever received and yet receives them, let him be _anathema_.” Quoted from a report of a dogmatic decree on Catholic faith, confirmed 1870.

[163] Ausführliche Geschichte Kaspar v. Schwenkfelds, etc.

[164] Kadelbach tells us of George Mattern, a teacher in Silesia, who inclined to the opinions of Schwenkfeld, and who migrated to Holland, and afterward to England, where he joined the Quakers. He wrote a letter with this expression: “Dear father, thou must not be surprised that I thee and thou thee. _Dich. dutze._”

[165] This letter is dated 1875. It was late in 1873 that I heard of baptism as having been administered among them.

[166] I believe the paper is discontinued, 1882.

[167] I received permission to use the name of Mr. Mahony, the manufacturer. His brother wrote “The Bells of Shandon.” The other names used are substitutes.

[168] Lewis’s Topographical Dictionary, County Cork.

[169] One was erected a few years ago at Manchester, and I was told there that the Queen and Prince of Wales had not visited the town since.