USA > Pennsylvania > Lehigh County > Bethlehem > A history of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 1741-1892, with some account of its founders and their early activity in America > Part 12
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But the embarrassments of his troublesome rank pursued him to Pennsylvania, and he soon perceived that this was in his way yet
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A HISTORY OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
more than the Moravian episcopate would have been. When he arrived in America he took another of his lesser titles, that of von Thürnstein, and so announced himself to the Governor of Penn- sylvania, who being both a well-informed and well-bred gentleman, respected his incognito and made use of it in addressing communi- cations to him. But he found that the ignorant misunderstood and the malicious misrepresented his course ; and the rude liberties taken with him by ill-bred assailants, subjected his ancestral name to indignities under which he felt his kindred falling with him, on account of the course he had taken in a conviction of his calling, but against their protest. This so oppressed his mind that he resolved to take an extraordinary step which he had thought of before as a last resort. This was to formally renounce his rank and title2 with a view to escaping from its embarrassments and delivering his family from annoyance through the detraction he suffered in the craze of the time.
2 The Count's full array of titles, as given by Spangenberg in his Life of Zinzendorf, is the following : Nicholas Lewis, Count and Lord of Zinzendorf and Pottendorf; Lord of the Baronies of Freydeck, Schoeneck, Thürnstein and the Vale of Wachovia ; Lord of the Manor of Upper, Middle and Lower Berthelsdorf; Hereditary Warden of the Chase to his Imperial Roman Majesty, in the Duchy of Austria, below the Ems; late Aulic and Justicial Counsellor to his Majesty, Augustus II, King of Poland, for the Electorate of Saxony. It is not surprising that such men as those several ministers of the religions, sectarian leaders and separatists in Pennsylvania-who agreed on nothing but to attack Zinzendorf and incite the populace against him-did not know that noblemen with several titles sometimes, for particular reasons, temporarily took a different one from that by which they were mainly known; that under the ramified and punctilious etiquette of those days, in titled circles, this was at times decidedly important to them ; that this was known as traveling or sojourning incognito, which meant, not an attempt to pass for somebody else, but merely that, for some reason, their prominent rank was not to be associated with the quality in which they were then figuring; or that they wished to be exempt, for the time being, from official and cere- monious constraints inseparable from the station represented by their chief title. That kind of men could not be expected therefore to know that Count Zinzendorf really was also Von Thürnstein and had a right to the name, as in Europe, on other occasions, he had used the names Von Freydeck and Von der Wachau when he did not wish to be formally recognized and dealt with as the Count of Zinzendorf ; and men who understood such matters, as at the court of Berlin and among the conservative and decorous classes in London, not only addressed him but referred to him under his incognito, even though they well knew that he was Zinzendorf.
Neither is it surprising that some better-informed but ill-disposed persons in Pennsylvania, the same as in Europe, pretended not to know these things, when alluding to this matter in aspersing him. But when respectable and presumably well-informed modern writers betray that same lack of knowledge, or follow the course of those in his day who affected to ignore it, and call Von Thürnstein a "pseudonym," or "a fictitious title," or "an assumed name," or
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At a meeting of the leading men of Philadelphia, held at his request on his birthday, May 26, 1742, at the house of Governor Thomas, he published such a renunciation in a Latin address, of which printed copies had been distributed to the persons present, in order that they might follow more understandingly, because of the difference between the Continental pronunciation of Latin, which he used, and the English pronunciation to which these gentlemen were accustomed. These copies were then collected and deposited under seal with Charles Brockden, Deputy Master of the Rolls of the Province and Recorder of Deeds for the city, who was present.3 They were to remain in his charge pending further necessary steps in Europe. This act, which created quite a sensation and was variously commented upon, was thus in the nature rather of a public notice of his purpose. It was never really consummated ; for after his return to Europe, he was urgently dissuaded from the step, not only by his family, but by the civil authorities, and the reasons presented were so cogent that he yielded.
It seemed an eccentric notion, but the animating spirit was heroic. Believing that the choice was before him between his noble rank and title, with everything honorable before men that went with it ; and devoting himself to the work of the gospel and the spiritual good of his fellowmen, in the way he had chosen and believed to be the right
speak of his "failure to conceal his identity," as if they thought this was what he intended and expected to do, this cannot be called not surprising, and it is hardly excusable. What his detractors in Pennsylvania at that time said about him in their ignorance or animosity would not be worth referring to in connection with this kind of a matter. The modified modern reproductions by writers who should not do this, warrant the use of some space to set the subject right before the readers of these pages. Zinzendorf's singular resort to an antiquated prerogative in creating an adoptive relation to the Moravian Father Nitschmann, associated, as he once intimated, with his assumption, "ad interim," of the Moravian epis- copate, occasioned his freak of using this name several times in a half playful manner in certain letters while in Pennsylvania-a thing also given publicity by eager censors. That requires no justification. It belonged to those odd fancies which unnecessarily gave occa- sion to carpers, often rendered his words and movements inscrutable to plain, matter-of-fact people and offended those who had no sympathy with anything beyond the limits of sturdy soberness. He genially acknowledged "a disposition to extravagances."
Among the Quakers of Pennsylvania he passed as plain " Friend Lewis" and among the Brethren, with like plainness, as "Bruder Ludwig."
3 Brockden's attested copy of the memorandum of the formality, with the names of those present, printed in the Buedingsche Sammlungen, III, p. 330, is to be found on page 95 of The Early History of the Church of the United Brethren, etc., by Levin T. Reichel - a manuscript printed in 1888 by the Moravian Historical Society.
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A HISTORY OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
way for him, he determined to pursue the latter and let the former go. His only reward was to be yet more calumniated, to have his family name yet more ruthlessly dragged into the gutter, and to have later historians, in sympathy with the coarse revilement of that time, report the whole procedure as merely gotten up "for stage effect."
These various elucidations, given thus fully in connection, to set the persons and plans at the foundation of the Bethlehem activities in a correct light, will serve in advance, instead of explanations which would otherwise have to be added specially to some movements and arrangements farther on. They will also forestall some details in connection with important occurrences of the months from January to June, 1742, which would be necessary in so far as these have a bearing on the subject of these pages.
Zinzendorf's most conspicuous local activity during those months lay in his connection with the neglected and demoralized German Lutheran congregation of Philadelphia, long without a minister, dis- couraged through fruitless efforts to procure one from Europe, but continuing to worship as best they could in an old building belonging to William Allen, which had, as it seems, done duty as a barn, a car- penter's shop and a butcher's shop, and then been fitted up as a make-shift place of worship. Around that rude meeting-house are clustered some of the most disagreeable sensations of his activity in Pennsylvania; and with his efforts to there be of service to his neglected co-religionists are associated the most persistently adverse and derogatory representations of his work in America that have been perpetuated in print. The beginning of his connection with that congregation was his preaching there, January 21 N. S., on invi- tation of the church wardens. This led through a series of negotia- tions to his public formal acceptance of a call to be their minister, which occurred on the second Sunday after Easter, May 13 N. S .; the re-organization of the congregation and election of new wardens on the basis of some general articles of constitution; and the appoint- ment of John Christopher Pyrlaeus, who was a Lutheran candidate of the University of Leipsic, to be his assistant. He spoke of this call as unanimous. This must doubtless be taken merely in the sense of nemine contradicente; for while the preponderating sentiment unquestionably favored this solution of their preplexities about secur- ing a pastor, there was suppressed dissatisfaction in some quarters which was worked upon by agitators outside, and some unstable ele- ments, at first much taken with the plan, were won to the opposition
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when the active crusade against Zinzendorf was opened. This did not start with the Lutherans. The German Reformed people used the meeting-house on the last Sunday of each month, when they were ministered to by the Rev. John Philip Boehm, of Whitpain, whose itinerary embraced this charge. He was "a man of war from his youth," skilled in the tactics of the church militant, immovable in what he conceived to be his duty as well as in any prejudice that possessed him, and, in keeping with a rugged nature and rough environment, was not over-choice about the weapons he used. He represented in Pennsylvania the extreme Calvinism and the austere rule of the Classis of Amsterdam under which he was laboring to gather and organize the Reformed elements of the region. He was the chief promulgator in the Province, of the so-called pastoral letter of that doughty body, issued five years before, which was the text- book of those ministers of New York and New Jersey who were lift- ing up their voices so vehemently to save the country from the Mora- vians. From a perusal of its misleading contents, he had conceived an intense aversion to the Count in advance, and upon the appear- ance of the latter on the scene he proceeded to reproduce its stric- tures and calumnies, with additions, in a pastoral letter of his own, which he had printed and circulated; besides continuing to cry aloud and spare not wherever he went. Some of its absurd statements and accusations seemed to Zinzendorf sufficiently injurious in their influ- ence among the uninformed and credulous masses, that, contrary to his usual course with such pasquinades, he wrote a reply which, later in the summer, was, on consultation, put into the hands of George Neisser, to responsibly issue. He gave it in charge of the printer, Henry Miller, then employed in Franklin's office, where it was printed.
Mr. Boehm's crusade had a climax in Philadelphia, after it had progressed far enough to enlist the active co-operation of the rabble, that was possibly more heroic than even he had anticipated. On a Sunday in July, five ruffians, avowing themselves to be Reformed, with a promiscuous gang behind them, entered the meeting house while Pyrlaeus was preaching, interrupted him with the statement that some one outside wished to speak to him, and when this ruse failed, seized him, dragged him from the pulpit and out of the build- ing, kicked and trampled upon him. It became clear later that some persons in the Lutheran party who had joined the crusade, were impli- cated in this act, as well as in the previous carrying out of Mr.
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Boehm's suggestion to surreptitiously put a special padlock on the door "to keep the cattle out ;" and in the next step, to have the man with the key absent himself when "the Count's party" would assemble for service, so that if they forced an entrance-as they did-into their place of worship, an accusation of trespass, and even a pretext for forcible ejectment, although it was their rightful Sunday, might be trumped up. This incident ended the connection of Zinzendorf and of those who adhered to him with that meeting-house. During the months in which he was officiating there he continued also to preach in the German Reformed church of Germantown. That congrega- tion was composed of a different element of the Reformed Church which had declined to adopt Boehm's church constitution and the Amsterdam ideas. He had no official connection with it, and his crusade, supplemented by that of the coterie of Germantown Sepa- ratists, failed to produce much effect there until at a later time. The people under Bechtel's leadership were more disposed to fall in with the teaching and spirit of the Berne Synod of 1532, which Zinzen- dorf presented to their attention. Bechtel was ordained there on April 22 N. S., by Bishop Nitschmann, to be Reformed minister and superintend the work that would be organized among people of Reformed connection elsewhere, under Zinzendorf's plan, on the basis of the Berne Synod; which he thought-in the absence of any authority in the Province decreeing what standards should be adopted denominationally, or of even a general denominational organization on the basis of any of these varying standards-had as much right on the English soil and under the tolerant government of Pennsylvania, as the canons of the Synod of Dort, imported from Holland, had. The Count had meanwhile compiled a unique catechism for popular use in the particular work of the time, based on the principal twelve of the forty-four articles of the Synod of Berne, selected in the line of his general object "to enthrone the Lamb of God" in Pennsyl- vania, and introduced by a rhymed paraphrase of the captions of those selected chapters. The work was turned over in the rough to Bech- tel, who gave it, together with the Berne articles, thorough study, within the limits of his ability and education, and then, after it was gotten into final shape, with some practical suggestions on his part utilized, it was adopted by him as a medium of instruction. In his capacity as a Reformed minister, on that ancient broad evangelical platform, he adopted and edited the work, in accordance with the understanding reached, and had it printed under his name, as publicly
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responsible for its issue and promulgation. This catechism and a collection of hymns for general use at that time, compiled by Zinzen- dorf at the beginning of the year and printed with the title Hirten- Lieder von Bethlehem-Pastoral Hymns of Bethlehem-are now rari- ties among the Pennsylvania imprints of that period.+
It remains yet to introduce the most prominent events of those months from January to June-the general assemblies which resulted from the efforts of Henry Antes. They may be treated with com- parative brevity, because some of their details lie outside the scope of these pages, and others having an important bearing upon what subsequently developed with Bethlehem as its operating center, in so far as Zinzendorf's ideas influenced action and results, appear with sufficient clearness in the exposition of his scheme already given. In accordance with the understanding reached December 20, Antes, on December 26 N. S., issued his circular,5 inviting the leaders of the various persuasions to participate in a general "Conference of
4 Of the Hirten Lieder, only two copies are known by the writer to exist. The edition was probably distributed, for the most part at least, in paper covers merely, as special collections of hymns for religious gatherings frequently now are - hence its extreme scarcity. The collection was printed by Saur of Germantown, who is reported to have con- descendingly said he did so because he "judged it to be harmless.' Doubtless he regarded it as rather a matter of business when it came to making out the bill and collecting the cash. A second edition "Nach der Germantowner Edition" was incorporated as part first in the small German hymn-book of the Moravian Church published, 1754, in London. More copies of the Bechtel catechism are extant, but the existence of an exact reprint-imprint, date and all-issued in Europe in 1743, but with German type, often leads to confusion with
the original. Saur, as self-appointed censor of all religions, sects and ministers, refused to print the catechism because it had Bechtel's name to it. Franklin, less disposed to such censorship, took the contract and printed it with Latin type. An English and a Swedish edition of 1742 and 1743 respectively are extremely rare.
5 In view of the interpretation put upon this move and the light in which the proceedings are presented by writers of biased attitude, using adverse and often quite erroneous accounts as sources, the circular of Antes deserves a place here, to reveal the real purpose of the gatherings and the spirit in which they were called. It reads in translation as follows :
IN THE NAME OF JESUS : AMEN.
BELOVED FRIEND AND BROTHER :
Inasmuch as frightful evil is wrought in the Church of Christ, among the souls that have been called to the Lamb (to follow Christ) mainly through mistrust and sus- picion towards each other-and that often without reason - whereby every purpose of good is continually thwarted - although we have been commanded to love; it has been under consideration for two years or more, whether it would not be possible to appoint a general assembly, not to wrangle about opinions, but to treat with each other in love on the most 8
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Religions" at Germantown on New Year Day O. S., January 12 N. S.6
Seven such general conferences took place: the first, January 12-13, at Germantown, in a vacant house of the clock-maker, Theobald Endt; the second, January 21-23, in Falkner's Swamp, at the house of George Huebner ; the third, February 21-23, in Oley, at the house of John de Turck; the fourth, March 21-23, at Germantown, in the house of John Ashmead, where Zinzendorf had his headquarters several months; the fifth, April 18-20, in the Germantown Reformed church; the sixth, May 16-18, at Germantown, in the house of Lawrence Schweitzer; the seventh, June 13-15, in Philadelphia, in a house of Edward Evans on Race Street above Second.
Upwards of a hundred persons generally attended the regular sessions, in which, on several occasions, as many as fifty participated officially as accredited deputies of various persuasions. A great many more were present at some public meetings. At the beginning no fewer than thirteen varieties of creed and sect could be counted in the motley assemblage. Seven such were represented by accredited deputies, and several separatists, representing only themselves, took
important articles of faith, in order to ascertain how closely we can approach each other fundamentally, and, as for the rest, bear with one another in love on opinions which do not subvert the ground of salvation; and whether, in this way, all judging and criticising might not be diminished and done away with among the aforesaid souls, by which they expose themselves before the world and give occasion to say : those who preach peace and conversion are themselves at variance. Therefore this matter, so important, has now been under advisement again with many brethren and God-seeking souls, and been weighed before the Lord; and it has been decided to meet on the coming New Year's Day at Ger- mantown. Hence you are cordially invited to attend, together with several more of your brethren who have a foundation for their faith and can state it, if the Lord permits. It has been announced to nearly all of the others (persuasions) through letters like this. There will probably be a large gathering, but do not let this deter you; for all will be arranged without great commotion. May the Lord Jesus grant us His blessing.
From your poor and unworthy, but cordial friend and brother,
HENRY ANTES.
Frederick Township, in Philadelphia Co.,
December 15 (26 N.S.), 1741.
6 The old style dates then yet officially used in Pennsylvania, and therefore attached to the circular and the reports of the meetings, are usually retained in history. The new style dates are here taken, to agree with those adopted by the Brethren and now associated with occurrences just before, during and right after these gatherings; especially the important events that directly followed at Bethlehem, with which only new style dates have been con- nected and made historic. Otherwise, a sudden skip of eleven days would appear between the close of the last conference and the organization at Bethlehem, making an interval of ten days seem twenty-one days.
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part in the proceedings. The Moravian Brethren from Bethlehem who attended, were there only as individuals and unofficially. They brought no credentials as deputies, for they had no organization yet in Pennsylvania, and took the position that they did not represent one of the existing religions and sects of the Province. Others who belonged to the general Association of the Brethren in Europe and regularly participated in the conferences were associated in this capacity with the several religions-Lutheran or Reformed-in which they had been brought up, and among the adherents of which they were to labor in Pennsylvania. This was consistent with Zinzendorf's general plan, and if the explanation of this plan already given is kept in mind, this idea can be understood. Not until in the seventh con- ference did the Moravian Brethren figure as representing a recognized distinct body in Pennsylvania. That the names of some of them were among the signatures witnessing the journal of one and another con- ference, signified nothing in the matter of their relation to it; for, as was explicitly stated, these witnesses were purposely chosen at random from among reputable men present at the sessions without regard to their being deputed members or not.
In the nature of things, it could not be expected that all of these incongruous elements-some of them fanatical in the extreme, others, like the group of Germantown separatists, hopelessly irreconcilable and contumacious-could be led to any kind of agreement, even under the simple plan of Henry Antes, which, at first, sought nothing more than a cessation of sectarian hostilities ; agreement to disagree peaceably on settled differences ; mutual recognition of whatever good there might be in each system; a covenant to labor more earnestly for the common welfare, each party in its own way. Some came only to propagate their specialties. Some were intent on sowing discord and defeating the object from the beginning. Such, when they found themselves headed off and were unable to put their way through, resorted to misrepresentation and revilement; and their screeds finding their way into print, have chiefly furnished the materials on which those writers who have wished to present adverse accounts of the whole movement, have based their versions.
Therefore, by the time the fourth conference was reached, only Lutheran and Reformed elements that were in accord with Zinzen- dorf's plan; certain of the Mennonites, Tunkers and "Hermits" attending as individuals not deputed by their respective bodies, and the Moravian Brethren, also on this footing, remained in it. But
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with this sifting, a gradual development into a more tangible organ- ization took place. The convention assumed the character of a standing body, and what at first was only a "Conference of Religions" became "the Pennsylvania General Synod." In the report of its proceedings as finally shaped and printed, the several conferences are called synods. Thus the common term, the "Seven Pennsylvania Synods" came into vogue. This General Synod was supposed to represent what Zinzendorf styled "the Church of God in the Spirit," with its membership of sincere and genuine Christians found among the various religions and sects. It is a misapprehension to suppose that under this term he had in mind merely the constituency repre- sented in that Synod. The second article adopted in the very first conference was an answer to the question: "What is embraced in the Communion of Saints?" and was the following declaration: "The Church of God in the Spirit throughout the world, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all, is one which cannot be num- bered, and members of it are to be found in places where they would never be sought." The term meant simply what is understood by "the Invisible Church" within the external pale of the Church Univer- sal. That Pennsylvania General Synod was had in mind as instituted to represent the Pennsylvania contingent of this Invisible Church, and to foster fellowship and co-operation among such true children of God in all denominations. The step which constituted this standing Synod was taken at the close of the third conference, when Trustees of the Synod were chosen. Fifty names were written on pieces of paper. A civil officer, present as usual by request, drew thirty of these names. Then another appointed person drew from this number, twenty. Of these twenty, ten were drawn, and of the ten finally five. After that three of the five were elected. These three were empowered to select two other men to serve with them, whose names were not to be known by any but the Trustees, unless it should be thought advisable to communicate their names to the government of Pennsylvania. It was furthermore decreed that if it should become commonly known who they were, their appointment should lapse and others should be chosen in their places. These two were to labor unobtrusively, with- out being known as having an official appointment; to oversee and foster the union of the Church of God in the Spirit among the people connected with the Synod; to prevent, as well as they could, its dis- solution on the one hand, and every tendency towards the formation of a new sect out of it, distinct from the existing denominations, on
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