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THE LIBRARIES
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
Chronicon Ephratense;
A HISTORY OF THE COMMUNITY
OF
SEVENTH DAY BAPTISTS
AT
Ephrata, Lancaster County, Penn'a,
BY "LAMECH AND AGRIPPA." ...
TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL GERMAN
BY J. MAX HARK, D. D. . 9
LANCASTER, PA. PUBLISHED BY S. H. ZAHM & Co. 1889.
Copyright, 1889, By S. H. ZAHM & CO., Lancaster, Pa.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
No. 335
938.5. L18
INTELLIGENCER PRINT.
LANCASTER, PA.
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
In offering to the public the following translation of the Chroni- con Ephratense, a few words of explanation seem called for.
Of the original, probably not more than twenty copies are known to be in existence; and these, with possibly a few excep- tions, are in the hands of collectors and antiquarians. To them its chief value lies not only in the great rarity of the work, but also in the fact that it is one of the most interesting specimens of book-making in Pennsylvania to be found anywhere, the paper, printing, and binding all being of strictly native production, the handiwork of the Solitary Brethren of the Community at Ephrata whose history it so quaintly and naively narrates.
It is believed, however, that the work has also a larger interest, and an intrinsic value of its own, as an exceedingly frank and ingenuous contribution to our knowledge of the peculiar and wholly unique social and religious condition, and entire spiritual life, of a very considerable part of the early settlers of Central and Southern Pennsylvania. The otherwise incomprehensibly hetero- geneous social and religious life of that populous, prosperous, and important part of the State of which Berks, Lancaster, Lebanon, York, and Dauphin counties are the representatives ; the strange variety of dialect, dress, social habits, religious beliefs, and sec- tarian organizations, to be met with in those counties to-day ; are all readily accounted for as soon as we become acquainted with the history of the people and their surroundings, to which the Chronicon introduces us. Nor does the picture given us of the intense moral earnestness, the power of self-denying endur- ance, the hard-working industry and ascetic simplicity of life, the blindly stubborn pertinacity of these original " Pennsylvania Germans," leave us in much doubt as to where their successors of the present received their habits of strict economy and frugality, untiring toil, shrewd thriftiness, and patient, all- conquering perseverance, by which they have succeeded in making "the wilderness" and "desert" of a hundred years ago to enjoy to-day the proud distinction of being "the garden spot of the State." To the historian and social economist,
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TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
therefore, as well as to the antiquarian, this hitherto all but inac- cessible "Chronicle of Ephrata" has more than a passing interest and no inconsiderable worth, even while it appeals still more personally and directly to the thousands of general readers throughout the State and country, whose family names show them to be related by more or less direct ties of kinship to those stern old Brethren and Sisters of a by-gone age.
Who "Lamech and Agrippa," the authors of the Chronicle, really were, is utterly unknown. From their narrative itself we learn that "Lamech " was a member of the "domestic house- hold," that is, a married Brother. The same is undoubtedly true . also of "Agrippa," for the name does not occur in the list of "Solitary Brethren," or unmarried men, given in the volume. As to the real identity of the two, it is a secret that has been well kept. Tradition gives no hint or clue for our enlightenment. The future is not likely ever to reveal it.
The few foot-notes which the translator has taken the liberty of adding, are invariably distinguished from those of the authors by being enclosed in brackets. The full names of persons referred to in the text by their initials only, have for their authority the pen and ink annotations on the margins of one of the earliest copies of the Chronicon, now in the possession of Messrs. S. H. Zahm & Co. They appear to have been made by one who was contemporary and personally acquainted with most of the people and events referred to in the volume, and are unquestionably en- tirely reliable.
When we speak of "one of the earliest copies," collectors will understand that we refer to the fact that there were evidently three issues of the Chronicon : the earliest one had a blank space left on the title-page for the seal of the Community ; the next had the seal, printed on a separate piece of paper, pasted over this blank space ; and the third had it printed in its proper place directly on the title-page. A fac simile of the original of this curious old seal is given on the second title-page of the present volume.
The original narrative is written in a German so peculiar as almost to deserve to be called a distinct dialect. It has, of course, been impossible to reproduce in English all the involved sentences, ungrammatical constructions, local idioms, mystical expressions, and ecclesiastical words and phrases, peculiar to the Ephrata Com- munity, and conveying a meaning to them often quite foreign to that which ordinary correct usage gives them. The translator has, however, attempted-he fears with but very partial success-
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TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
to render them into a correspondingly quaint, antiquated and un- natural style and language, to make his version as curiously un- English as the original is un-German, so far as this might be without becoming wholly unintelligible. He has been at special pains to reproduce the literal meaning of the original with scrupu- lous fidelity ; if he has also to any appreciable degree preserved its peculiar "flavor," he will be content, even though for this he had to sacrifice every trace of literary elegance and grace.
LANCASTER, PA., AUGUST, 1889.
J. M. H.
CONTENTS.
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE, Page iii CONTENTS, .Page vi
AUTHORS' PREFACE, Page xii
CHAPTER I.
CONCERNING THE AWAKENING AMONG THE PIETISTS, BAPTISTS, AND INSPIRED ; THE SUPERINTENDENT'S BIRTH, HIS BRINGING-UP, CON- VERSION, ETC., Page I
CHAPTER II.
THE SUPERINTENDENT IS BANISHED FROM THE PALATINATE, AND COMES TO THE INSPIRATIONISTS, . Page 7
CHAPTER III.
THE SUPERINTENDENT TRAVELS IN PENNSYLVANIA, AND LIVES THERE
IN SOLITUDE, Page 13
CHAPTER IV.
THE SUPERINTENDENT IS BAPTIZED IN THE APOSTOLIC MANNER; AND SOON AFTER FOLLOWS THE SEPARATION FROM THE BAPTISTS IN GER- MANTOWN, Page 21
CHAPTER V.
THE NEW CONGREGATION ESTABLISHES ITSELF UPON THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY APOSTLES, AND ELECTS THE SUPERINTENDENT AS ITS TEACHER, Page 3I
CHAPTER VI.
CONCERNING A NEW AWAKENING IN FALCKNER'S SWAMP, AND THE TRANSACTIONS WITH THE BAPTISTS CONNECTED THEREWITH, ... Page 38 CHAPTER VII.
THE SABBATH IS INTRODUCED IN THE CONGREGATION ; WHEREFORE THE LATTER IS BROUGHT UNDER THE JUDGMENT OF THE WORLD ; BESIDES MANY OTHER DISTURBANCES, Page 44
CHAPTER VIII.
THE TWO BAPTIST CONGREGATIONS SEPARATE ENTIRELY; AND THE BRETHREN AT CONESTOGA GIVE THEIR BAPTISM BACK AGAIN TO THE OTHERS, Page 48
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CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IX.
THE NEW CONGREGATION, IMPELLED BY HOLY ZEAL, GROWS, AND THE SWEET SAVOR OF ITS WALK AND CONVERSATION IS SPREAD ABROAD, Page 53
CHAPTER X.
THE TEMPTER TRIES TO INSTIGATE A PERSECUTION BY RAISING A CRY OF IMMORALITY, Page 57
CHAPTER XI.
CONCERNING THE SUPERINTENDENT'S OFFICIAL COURSE IN THE CON- GREGATION, UNTIL THE FOUNDING OF EPHRATA, . Page 61
CHAPTER XII.
HOW EPHRATA WAS FOUNDED, AND ORDAINED FOR THE SETTLEMENT OF THE SOLITARY, Page 64
CHAPTER XIII.
CONCERNING A NEW AWAKENING AT TULPEHOCKEN, . . .. Page 70
CHAPTER XIV.
EPHRATA IS OCCUPIED BY THE SOLITARY OF BOTH SEXES ; DIVINE WORSHIP IS INSTITUTED, AND THE COMMUNAL LIFE INTRO-
Page 76 DUCED,
CHAPTER XV.
NEW PERSECUTIONS ARE COMMENCED ; IN PART BY THE MEMBERS OF THE CONGREGATION, Page 82
CHAPTER XVI.
THE HOUSE OF THE SOLITARY IS SO CONSTITUTED AS TO OPPOSE THE WORLD IN EVERYTHING. A VISITATION OF THE BAPTISTS ARRIVES AT THE SETTLEMENT, Page 88
. CHAPTER XVII.
AN AWAKENING TAKES PLACE IN THE CONGREGATION OF BAPTISTS AT GERMANTOWN, THE MOST OF WHOSE MEMBERS JOIN IN THE AWAKEN- ING AT EPHRATA, .Page 95
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE BROTHERS' CONVENT, NAMED ZION, IS BUILT, Page 106
CHAPTER XIX.
THE TITLE OF FATHER IS GIVEN TO THE SUPERINTENDENT ; AND CON- CERNING THE QUARRELS THAT AROSE ON ACCOUNT OF IT, ... ... Page 113
viii
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XX.
A HOUSE OF PRAYER IS BUILT IN ZION ; BESIDES OTHER OCCURRENCES WHICH TOOK PLACE IN THE CONGREGATION AND SETTLEMENT ABOUT THE YEAR 1740, Page 119
CHAPTER XXI.
CONCERNING THE SPIRITUAL COURSE OF THE CHURCH IN THE SETTLE- MENT ; AND THE VARIOUS PROPHETIC GIFTS,. Page 129
CHAPTER XXII.
CONCERNING THE TEMPORAL COURSE OF EVENTS AMONG THE BRETHREN IN ZION, AND HOW THEY LAPSED INTO THE WORLD. ITEM, THE SUPERINTENDENT'S CO-WORKER DIES,. Page 137
CHAPTER XXIII.
CONTAINS THE DISPUTES WHICH OCCURRED BETWEEN THE SO-CALLED MORAVIAN BRETHREN AND THE CONGREGATION IN EPHRATA, .. Page 145
CHAPTER XXIV.
A NEW CONVENT FOR THE SISTERS IS BUILT, CALLED SHARON ; THE SINGING SCHOOLS COME INTO VOGUE AT THE SETTLEMENT, . ... Page 157
CHAPTER XXV.
CONCERNING THE DOMESTIC CONTENTIONS IN THE SETTLEMENT, UP TO THE TIME WHEN THE ECKERLINS MOVED INTO THE DESERT, ..... Page 170
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE BROTHERHOOD RECOVERS AGAIN FROM THE VARIOUS TRIBULATIONS CAUSED BY THIS SEPARATION. NEW CHURCH-WORK TAKES PLACE IN PHILADELPHIA, BESIDES AN AWAKENING AMONG THE ENGLISH PEOPLE, Page 187
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE MILLS OF THE SOLITARY ARE DESTROYED BY FIRE; A BOOK OF MARTYRS IS PRINTED FOR THE MENNONITES ; THE DOMESTIC HOUSE- HOLD UNDERTAKES A REFORM WITH THE HELP OF THE SOLITARY ; AND A NURSERY IS ESTABLISHED TO LEAD BOYS TO A SPIRITUAL LIFE, Page 209
CHAPTER XXVIII.
CONCERNING AN AWAKENING IN GIMSHEIM, IN THE PALATINATE, WHICH BROUGHT MANY PEOPLE TO THE SETTLEMENT. VERY SPECIAL CIR- CUMSTANCES CONNECTED WITH A DROUGHT IN PENNSYLVANIA, .. Page 218
CHAPTER XXIX.
CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF THE ECKERLINS TO ITS END, .. Page 224
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CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXX.
HOW THE COUNTRY WAS VISITED BY WAR, AND HOW THE SOLITARY IN THE SETTLEMENT FARED BY IT. ABOUT THE QUIET IN THE LAND. ALSO, THE PRIOR'S OFFICE IS GIVEN TO ANOTHER BROTHER, ... Page 235 CHAPTER XXXI.
THE COMMUNITY AT EPHRATA IS EXTENDED BY AN AWAKENING, FOR WHICH TWO BROTHERS OF THE BAPTIST CONGREGATION, GEORGE ADAM MARTIN AND JOHN HORN, PREPARED THE WAY,. . Page 242
CHAPTER XXXII.
CONCERNING VARIOUS. STRANGE AFFAIRS WHICH OCCURRED IN THE COUNTRY ABOUT THE SAME TIME, AND IN WHICH THE SUPERINTEND- ENT WAS INTERESTED, Page 263
CHAPTER XXXIII.
CONCERNING THE LAST CIRCUMSTANCES CONNECTED WITH THE LIFE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT, AND HOW AT LAST HE LAID ASIDE HIS EARTHLY TABERNACLE, Page 278
CHRONICON EPHRATENSE,
CONTAINING THE
BIOGRAPHY OF THE VENERABLE FATHER IN CHRIST,
FRIEDSAM GOTTRECHT,
THE LATE FOUNDER AND SUPERINTENDENT OF THE SPIRITUAL ORDER OF THE SOLITARY IN THE BARONY OF LANCASTER IN PENNSYLVANIA.
COMPILED BY
BR. LAMECH AND AGRIPPA.
He is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's sope : he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver .- MAL. III : 2, 3.
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God : and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear ?- I PET. IV : 17, 18.
JEHOVA
UI
NID
HIRUNDO
ALTARIA TUA
INVENIT
NON OMNIBUS
+ 84
DELICIA EPHRATENSES
EPHRATA: PRINTED ANNO MDCCLXXXVI.
,
AUTHORS' PREFACE.
Unto the Saints and Beloved of God, the Firstlings of His Grace and Followers of the Lamb whithersoever He goeth, who were born of the seed of the Mother above, be Grace and Peace from Him who was, and is, and is to come.
Since early times men have endeavored to establish and main- tain unity of spirit in the Christian Church, and with God, by means of councils, creeds, and confessions of faith, but in vain; for the separation between God and fallen man was far too great to be overcome by such external measures. To restore harmony, God had to come down from heaven, take upon Himself Adam's fallen humanity, and be killed for it upon the cross; and after He had pledged Himself to this important work, in the baptism received from John, He took His guilt from Adam and upon Him- self, and since then the discord which existed between God and man has fallen upon Him, since He became the surety, and had to make good again that wherein man had offended. Therefore, what associations soever may be found among the various divi- . sions of the Christian Church, there are none of them valid except that one in which, through the sacrifice of His own life, wrath was propitiated and turned into love, and of which He Himself in His baptismal water-bath was the founder; wherefore also he could say: That they may be one, even as He and the Father are one (JNO. XVII, 17), and herein appears His priestly character, whereby Adam's schism and hurt are healed again.
Now, after the Son entered upon His suretyship He had to sur- render His God-right, and lay aside His divinity, otherwise He could not have been Mediator between the two parties; this Paul declares (PHIL. II, 8). He humbled Himself. What trials He had to undergo from the Father, from the time of His Mediator- ship, it hath not pleased the Spirit to reveal, although searchers in the Spirit find occasion enough therefore in the Scriptures of the New Covenant. Then first the Spirit led Him into the wilder- ness to be tempted of Satan (LUKE IV, I), which is equivalent to: Now wrestle with the prince of cruelty. In "HEBR. IX, 14, also, it says expressly that the Spirit was actively cooperative in
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AUTHORS' PREFACE.
His sacrifice upon the cross. He Himself, the Son, likens His Father to a vine-dresser and Himself to the vine; and how the latter is treated by a vine-dresser is well known. And though through all He maintained His oneness with the Father, and ever avowed that He and the Father were one, nevertheless the trials between His Father and Him finally reached their utmost, for otherwise Adam's disobedience to God could not have been avenged; yet, since there was no offence in Him, He could resign Himself absolutely into the Father's hands. And because this wondrous process has been transmitted by Him to His followers He could say to them: Blessed is he who shall not be offended in me.
If one reads the story of His crucifixion carefully one sees that at that time God was in league with His enemies; for they were faithful servants to Him, though in His plan of wrath, and carried out what His hand had determined for Him. Therefore, also, He loved His twelve chosen witnesses all the more fervently in His lone condition, for they had endured with Him in His suffer- ings; and He could say to them: With desire have I desired to eat this passover with you. That, however, the Son here was conscious of the whole God-determined plan concerning himself, cannot well be doubted, for He Himself said to Pilate: Thou couldest have no power at all against Me, except it were given thee from above. (JNO. XIX, 10). But at last the trial became so severe that He said: My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? By thus being forsaken He was made a curse completely; for from whom God withdraws His communion he is accursed. Here, too, He was finally consecrated unto His high-priesthood, to which His previous wonderful works had con- tributed but little. Had He been conceived of the seed of man, the severe trial of the wine-press would have aroused in Him, if not wrath, yet at least righteouness, so that He would have called for vengeance, as was the case with those martyrs who on that account were not allowed to come as an offering upon the altar, but had to wait under the altar for their redemption. But He had within Him the tender well-spring of the eternal Mother, where- with He propitiated the Father and turned His wrath into love; therefore also He lost not His confidence in Him; but commended His spirit into His hands. And now when everything seemed to be lost, He, as an High Priest crowned with honor and praise, embraced all His foes in His high-priestly prayer, and said: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, words which
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AUTHORS' PREFACE.
sooner or later will surely be fulfilled in them. This was the last and greatest miracle which the faithful Servant, according to ISA. LIII, performed upon earth. Had He failed in this work, wrath might indeed have been propitiated by His sacrifice, but He would have fallen short of adorning paradise, and the Mother would not have accepted Him. Therefore also with this high-priestly prayer the drama was so wonderfully changed that He could give the thief the assurance that he should to-day be with Him in paradise.
Now, beloved reader, had the first Adam successfully endured the trial of God in this process, the tempter would not have dared to destroy the union between God and him. But the preaching of the serpent implanted such a suspiciousness against God in him and his entire race that the leading of the cross, which Jesus Christ hath introduced by His manifestation in the flesh, is now treated with ridicule and scorn by all the children of Adam. If henceforth this union of the saints upon earth with God is not again to be attacked by the tempter, as was done in Adam's case, it is necessary that the plan for the temple structure of the Holy Ghost in the New Covenant be taken from that union which subsists between the Father and the Son. And as the Son, as the head of the church, endured the trial of suffering ordained for Him by the Father, for which reason the napkin lay separate from the linen clothes at His burial-so the suffer- ings of His body, the congregation, which yet remain are not all fulfilled. And since at the present time the sufferings of the body of Christ have reached a high degree, we may well question whether the time be not at hand in which the church will have to sing her Eli, Eli, Lama, from the cross, after the pattern of her Master, when God will openly forsake her, even as He there for- sook His Son, and will ally Himself with Babel; which will be the consummation of the trial of the church of Christ on earth, in which she shall be preserved in her priesthood.
Then, when her temptations shall have reached even to the omnipotence of God, for her, too, as for Christ, the scene will be changed, so that she will enter upon the promise vouchsafed unto the thief. For mark well, reader, the union of Christ with His congregation is unto the angel of envy a thorn in the eye; unto all eternity he shall not be able to destroy it, as once he did with Adam. It is the chain wherewith the dragon will be bound, as they will also then have the honor to bind kings in chains and robbers with fetters of iron (Ps. CXLIX, 8), whereupon the rich of the earth shall be overthrown, and along with the redemption
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AUTHORS' PREFACE.
from captivity of the eldest son, as the seed of Israel, Shiloh or Messiah shall enter upon His dominion, the rod of the oppressor being broken, and universal peace shall reign among all the rem- nant of the people. And since in these times the sufferings of the people of God have increased so greatly, who shall blame us for supposing that the times of refreshing from the presence of God are even at the door, in which the spiritual Israel shall be led into the promised land by Joshua, or Jesus ?
But to come to the point ; it should be known that the unity of the spirit among the saints upon earth is as incomprehensible as God Himself. This the Superintendent has remarked in his hymns, declaring that the bond of unity in the Congregation gath- ered under his service had something incomprehensible in it, otherwise it would long ago have been scattered by the tempter, who raged so fiercely against it. His whole leading and teaching implies that human wisdom and reason have been made foolish- ness, which foolishness, however, is wiser than the wisdom of this world ; wherefore, also, so much controversy and strife have arisen within the organization. It is, nevertheless, to be said on behalf of the actors in this long spiritual drama that they have been uniformly sensible, and in part also God-fearing persons ; although all this could not suffice, because no mere human virtue without the cross can gain entrance into the kingdom of God. Where- fore even their falls, which served to humble them, should rather be excused ; for no one has ever melted gold without finding some dross. And if the good no longer appears with the same excel- lence as, say, sixty years ago, when the favor of God so specially manifested itself, we yet are not to infer that it is wholly lost; but rather that it has only taken refuge under reproach from false lovers, lest the pearls be cast before swine and be trodden under foot by them.
Before we close this preface we cannot refrain from yet express- ing our great sorrow that so little is being done to defend the Christian religion against the Turks, Jews, heathen, atheists, antichrist and naturalists ; all which hath its cause in this, that one has become alienated from the Spirit, and has entrusted the eternal treasure to mere earthly reason. Thus everything is sought to be made comprehensible, and everyone with unwashed hands, and without repentance or conversion, sets himself up as judge thereof, as though he had no need of any further enlighten- ment of the Spirit, but knew all things already, though under-
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AUTHORS' PREFACE.
standing nothing. Against such impertinent fellows we have raised, by the foolishness contained in this work, a bulwark which neither they nor any other Deist or Atheist shall overcome to all eternity. And as they will not condescend to this foolishness, neither shall they attain to the treasures which lie hidden under- neath it. Be this of our preface and of the entire work
THE END.
In the Settlement at Ephrata, April 14th, 1786.
BROTHER AGRIPPA.
CHRONICON EPHRATENSE.
CHAPTER I.
CONCERNING THE AWAKENING AMONG THE PIETISTS, BAP- TISTS, AND INSPIRED ; THE SUPERINTENDENT'S BIRTH, HIS BRINGING-UP, CONVERSION, ETC.
It is still fresh in the memory of all that, with the begin- ning of the present century, important changes in the realm of the church took place in many lands, especially in Germany. A great many people, of all ranks, separated themselves from the cominon forins of worship, and were in general called Pietists. But as only the three known church-parties were included in the religious peace, the Pietists everywhere began to be proceeded against with much severity. On this account many of them went back again into the pale of the church, and were therefore denominated Church-Pietists. The rest for the most part went back to the districts of Marienborn, Schwarzenau, Schlechtenboden, etc., whose rulers had theni- selves been awakened, and so took up the refugees and granted them liberty of conscience.
Among the Pietists gathered together in that region, two congregations were soon formed whose principles were radi- cally different and contrary ; namely, the Community of True Inspiration and the Baptists of Schwarzenan. As the Superintendent's relations were intricately involved with these congregations they will often have to be referred to. The Schwarzenau Baptists arose in the year 1708 ; and the persons who at that time broke the ice, amid much opposi- tion, were Alexander Mack, their teacher, a wealthy miller of Schriesheim an der Bergstrasse, (who devoted all his earthly possessions to the common good, and thereby be-
B
2
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CHRONICON EPHRATENSE.
came so poor that at lagt he had not bread enough to last from one day to the next), his housekeeper, a widow Noethi- ger, Andreas Bone, John George Hoening, Luke Vetter, Kippinger, and a gunsmith, whose name is not known. 'These eight associated themselves together, chose one of their number by lot as baptist, and then, according to the doctrine brought from heaven by Christ, baptized one an- other that same year, in the running stream of water that flows by Schwarzenat. Who their first baptist was has never become known.
From these eight persons are descended all the various kinds of Baptists among the High-Germans in North America, who now are scattered from New Jersey to Georgia ; but whether they were the first who restored immersion, as a candle to its candlestick, in Germany, that is a question demanding closer investigation. It is asserted that the godly Hochmann agreed with them on the subject of baptism, but as they carried the thing out while he was under arrest, he could not afterwards insist upon it any more ; probably, too, their sectarianismn was a hindrance to him. Certain it is that God was with them at that time. Neither was there any difference between them and the congregation afterwards founded at Ephrata, except with reference to the Sabbath, and it is affirmed that Alexander Mack once publicly declared : "We now lack nothing anymore, except the Sab- bath, but we have enough to carry already." They had their goods in common, and practiced continence, though, it is said, they did not persevere in this zeal longer than seven years, after which they turned to women again and to the ownership of property involved therein. And this is very likely, from the fact that, afterwards, when the great awak- ening in Conestoga took place, during which similar circum- stances arose once more, they always declared that if it were possible to live in such wise, their fathers at Schwarzenau, who for a time had the same zeal, would have succeeded in it. Thus they made their faithlessness the criterion according to which they would judge God's leading, which was the very source whence afterwards arose the division between them and the congregation at Ephrata.
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