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 17
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The established daily routine left nobody unemployed at any time, unless sick, except during the hours of necessary sleep; and the esprit de corps assiduously cultivated, proceeded from the central idea of doing everything as a service to the Lord. It is significant that
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one of the first features of the daily order established-only two days after the organization-was the division of the entire congregation into prayer-bands, to maintain the "hourly intercession" that had been introduced in Herrnhut in 1727, referred to in the preceding chapter, in connection with the regulations of the Sea Congregation. These were the nineteen classes of June 25, thus specially organized for prayer-turns. The hours extended from five o'clock in the morn- ing to midnight, and all took their assigned turns, from Count Zin- zendorf to Andrew the Negro. From midnight to five o'clock, the night-watch-a man in the chapel, a woman in the women's dormi- tory and another man outside, patrolling the premises-did duty, watching and praying. They called out the hours until the bell, procured July I and hung July 6 to a tree near the house, was used for this purpose. Joachim Senseman was the first time-keeper and bell-ringer. Saturday nights the watch was kept by one of the bands organized on June 25. This was called Bandenwache. They closed the watch on Sunday morning by going out to the newly-opened graveyard and singing a hymn in commemoration of the Resurrec- tion. Returning, they sang morning hymns at the dormitory doors, and finally engaged in prayer together in the chapel, opening thus the day's round of devotions. This, and other such highly-wrought religious arrangements, characteristic of the first fervor of the new organization, were only temporary.
The first thing each day was general morning prayer after rising, and the last thing before retiring at night was evening prayer. This usually took the form of a song-service. The hours for devotions, meals and labor were announced by the time-keeper. The labor to be performed each day was determined the preceding day, and the work apportioned. Announcements of all kinds for the succeeding day were made at each evening meal, so far as they concerned all in common. Naturally, the eating and sleeping arrangements, the management of the culinary department, and other such features of the domestic economy, were subjected to minute and rigid regula- tions, to maintain, in such crowded quarters, that order and decorum which the high tone of the settlement demanded.
The method of entrance and sitting in the chapel was also carefully regulated from the beginning, and no little difficulty was experienced in the effort to train the uncouth throngs that gathered from far and near to public services. As to the services, as held at the beginning -in this matter there were many subsequent changes-one Sunday's
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order may be given : Morning prayer, breakfast-all, old and young, partaking together-House Conference, to arrange daily routine, German preaching, dinner for residents and guests, English preach- ing, catechization, an address by the Indian, John Wasamapah ("Tschoop"), a sermon for afternoon callers, Bible exposition, quar- ter hour meetings by the different divisions known as "choirs," singly, vesper service, usually consisting of singing exclusively, the evening meal, evening prayer for the single men, and then the customary prayer hours until midnight. Formidable a's this appears, the nice system applied, the extreme brevity of most of these services and the fervent devotion which prevailed caused such a program to be less burdensome to the flesh than might be supposed.
During the several months that followed the organization, first occasions occurred for every kind of special religious service and rite in the ritual of the Church, and these have interest also as notable incidents of those weeks. The first funeral took place on June 27. It was that of John Mueller, a young man of Rhinebeck, N. Y., who had accompanied the missionary Rauch to Bethlehem, and had died on June 26. Count Zinzendorf, with Christian Froehlich, strolled into the woods north-east of the Community House and selected a spot at which Froehlich dug the grave. In conducting the funeral, Zinzendorf consecrated the ground as the "God's acre" of the settlement-the present historic old cemetery. It was at first often called Bethlehem's "Hutberg," after the hill of that name on which the cemetery of Herrnhut is situated. The first funeral of a neighbor, outside of Bethlehem, held by the Brethren was that, on July 28, of their friend, Isaac Martens Ysselstein, who died July 26. Boehler conducted the service in English at the house of the family, on the south side of the river, and his body was interred on his farm. The site of his grave is unknown, but the dust of this good Hollander probably reposes beneath the rumble of massive machinery, or the heat of glowing furnaces, or the thunder of passing trains. The first member of the Sea Congregation who died was John George Heydecker, on September 10, in Falkner's Swamp, while on an evangelistic tour. The funeral was conducted by Zinzendorf, Sep- tember 12. This was the second interment at Bethlehem.
The first marriage ceremony was performed-also by Zinzen- dorf-on July 8. It was that of the missionary John William Zander and Johanna Magdalene Mueller. The first birth and baptism occurred July 16, a daughter of Bryzelius and his
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wife. The name Anna Regina was given the child in baptism by Zinzendorf on the evening of the same day. The first adult baptized at Bethlehem was a Quakeress of Philadelphia who had been married to Froehlich on July 10. Her name was Esther Robins, and, in baptizing her on July 17, Zinzendorf gave her the additional name Mary. The first ordination was that of Zander on August 9, performed by Bishop Nitschmann and Zinzendorf. Five presbyters present joined in the imposition of hands, and the certificate Zander took with him to Berbice was endorsed by twenty-seven witnesses. The first baptism of Indians at Bethlehem took place on September 15. There were two of them. The first was Wanab, also called Gabriel, who was baptized by Zinzendorf and given the name David. The second, Tassawachamen, was baptized by Buettner and named Joshua. At the same time a white man of Oley, Joseph Bull, was baptized by Eschenbach and given the additional name John. This man figured later very conspicuously in connection with the missions among the Indians. He married an Indian wife and was called by the Indians Shebosh, the name by which he became most generally known. The following details of this interesting ceremony are on record.
The candidates were seated in the center of the chapel on three chairs. Three men stood back of them and those who were to perform the baptism took their places on either side of Seiffert the Elder who sat at the table and led the singing. In front of the can- didates was placed a tub of water covered with a large white cloth. Just before the baptism the men who stood behind them removed the blankets of the Indians and the blouse worn by the white man, and they all knelt on the edge of the white cloth at the tub of water. Zinzendorf, Buettner and Eschenbach at the same time drew near, each with a bowl in his hand, and dipped water out of the tub. At the moment when the appropriate words of the appointed verse were being sung, Zinzendorf repeated the names of the three and said : "We baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost." Thereupon the water was poured on the heads of the three. During the continuance of the singing, Seiffert and the helpers approached and joined in the imposition of hands; after which the baptized men took their seats again, the blankets and blouse were replaced and the service was concluded with benisons sung by the congregation.
A special, informal service worthy of note was held on July 7, in the uncleared woods a short distance to the east of the Community
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House. It marked the first step towards the erection of the next large building of the settlement, which however was not proceeded with until two years later, on account of other building operations meanwhile deemed more urgent. It was decided to build a large house as a common home for the single men of the settlement. Count Zinzendorf, planning the location of the different classes of buildings had in view, selected the site for this house. On that day the founda- tion lines were staked off and in the afternoon the single men pro- ceeded to clear the spot. The work was gone at in a cere- monious manner. All who were then at Bethlehem assembled on the ground. Zinzendorf delivered a brief discourse, a prayer was offered and the young men sang a hymn that had been written for the laying of the corner-stone of the Single Breth- ren's House at Herrnhaag in 1739. Then they went at their task with enthusiasm. The building which eventually arose there is the oldest part of the present Sisters' House, the south-west corner. The most urgent task, so far as the erection of buildings was con- cerned, was the enlargement of the Community House. Even the original building was not finished when the colony arrived in June. During the first five months of the year 1742, almost every man and woman who could be used by Zinzendorf in the spiritual labor he was inaugurating at many points, was called away from Bethlehem, and hardly any were left to go on with the external work. When Bishop Nitschmann was commissioned to visit St. Thomas, and Father Nitschmann was left almost without assistance, he sent an appeal for more help, which was considered at the fifth Conference of Religions in April. The colony was expected soon from Europe, quarters had to be provided and the time for spring sowing had come. Father Nitschmann knew that they must not only have shelter, but also a prospect of bread for the coming winter. The answer returned him was that the spiritual sowing took precedence, and rather than with- draw people from this work, things might lie fallow at Bethlehem and Nazareth another year, and bread be bought. Thus Zinzendorf's evangelistic enthusiasm, with an almost reckless disregard of the material necessities of the hour, overruled the master builder's prac- tical sense-but then, if the hour of need came, Zinzendorf would buy the bread. On August 12 it was decided to commence this addition at the east end of the Community House at once. On September 19 the corner-stone was laid with suitable solemnities. This addi- tion was completed on August 22, 1743, when it was taken posses-
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sion of, and an entire rearrangement of apartments and domestic order was effected. During the first months passed in the original part of the building, many necessary features yet wanting were grad- ually added, such as setting in windows, building partitions, laying permanent floors and building chimneys; and during the first weeks even the carpenters' shop had to remain in the building until a little log house was erected for this purpose.
Already at this crude stage the first specimen of decorative art at Bethlehem was put in place in the chapel of the Com- munity House on July 3. It was evidently the work of Zin- zendorf's secretary, John Jacob Mueller, who was also an artist, as stated in a preceding chapter. He arrived at Bethlehem, June 28, with some other persons, in a wagon from Philadel- phia. He probably then brought this piece of ecclesiastical orna- mentation with him-no doubt hastily painted before he left the city. It was a picture of Christ bearing His cross. It was placed against the south wall of the chapel, in the center, behind the table and chair of the officiating minister. Connected with it, to the right and left, and extending to the four sides of the room as a border under the rough ceiling, were running inscriptions in German in three sections, elaborating variations of the first two lines of the well-known hymn of the Church which begins, in English, "The Saviour's blood and righteousness my beauty is, my glorious dress;" together with the first two lines of another German hymn of the time, addressed to the Lamb slain. Thus the first attempt at any kind of decoration fast- ened attention upon the central theme of speech and song and was utilized as an object-lesson for visiting Indians.
In that chapel, moreover, the first tile stove of the settlement was set up in October. It had been brought from the kiln of Ludwig Huebner, the potter "in the Swamp." He came to Bethlehem to put it in place and then later became a resident. In the latter part of July a large force of men commenced work at a commodious barn which had become a necessity. It was raised, October 15. The needs of the settlement now required the enlargement of facilities for transportation and agricultural work. Seybold was sent out, the lat- ter part of July, to purchase additional horses. He returned on August 20 with four from Esopus, in New York. At the same time, a threshing-floor was constructed by another set of men, for now their first harvest was to be gathered. July 16, they began to cut grain at Bethlehem and Nazareth. The ingathering of this first rye
II
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and wheat grown on their land was the occasion of special thanks- giving. While the men were mowing oats, a few days later, some of the women, the record states, pulled flax "at the Schweitzer's." This is the first written history of the locality now called Fountain Hill, for that Schweitzer was Conrad Ruetschi the squatter, whose peaceable withdrawal from the "Simpson tract," a little later, when it became the property of the Brethren, was brought about with some difficulty, as in the case of the Indians on the Nazareth land.
In the latter part of the summer and during the autumn of 1742 several other small log houses were erected to serve pressing needs. In one of them a room was fitted up for the care of men taken sick; women being accommodated, when ill, in the Community House. Very primitive was that first hospital of Bethlehem presided over by Dr. Meyer. Another, built in September, contained a room in which to serve meals and, when necessary, lodging to strangers who could not be admitted to the guest-room of the Community House. This first approach to a hotel at Bethlehem was of importance.
The question of building a regular tavern somewhere near was dis- cussed already at a meeting on July II. It was thought of not only as a general public convenience, but also as a measure of self-defense, over against the intrusion and imposition to which the settlers were constantly subjected, often by very undesirable visitors, and some- times even by persons bent on evil purpose. Zinzendorf did not favor the idea of the Brethren doing this officially, and thought it should be left to the private enterprise of some neighbor. It may be added, in this connection, that the first attempt at such a public tavern was made in the summer of 1743, on the Ysselstein farm south of the Lehigh, by John Adam Schaus, at this time miller on Cedar Creek in the Maguntsche neighborhood, at whose house Zinzendorf passed the last two days of July, 1742, while on his first tour in the Indian country.
Gottlieb Demuth, one of the Georgia colonists, already men- tioned several times, who had been living a few miles away in the Saucon Valley, removed to Bethlehem at this time, and one of the small houses built in September was for his accom- modation. He was wanted for important work in connection with building and agriculture at Bethlehem and Nazareth; for now developments were to proceed on the Barony. Building operations had not yet been resumed there, but some land had been put under cultivation, there was hope of a peaceable settlement with the Indians,
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and now a project had come into Zinzendorf's mind in connection with that domain which essentially affected plans for Bethlehem. On July 17 the entire English contingent of the Sea Congregation arrived at Bethlehem from Philadelphia, and, July 31 to August 2, they removed to Nazareth and took up their quarters in the log house built by the pioneers in the Autumn of 1740. Before leaving Beth- lehem they were organized-July 24-with David Bruce as their Elder, John Hagen as Warden and Elizabeth Wahnert as Eldress, temporarily, with assistants.
Zinzendorf had been pondering a variety of complications that might arise under the personal liberties and rights people were given by the laws of the Province, in connection with the attempt to organize a regular church settlement at Bethlehem, after the model of those in Europe. The reception of people from the population of Pennsylvania as members of such a settle- ment was a matter that, to his mind, threatened such complications especially. The settlement, to be what was contemplated, would have to claim authority under law to enforce its own peculiar regulations within its own limits. One of these would necessarily be the right to expel persons from the place, who could no longer be tolerated. In cases of resistance, if persons should be disposed to test their rights under the civil law, it seemed probable that no special concessions that could be secured under the constitution of the Province, would give the authorities of the village power that the Courts would sustain, if conviction of offenses of which the law took cognizance did not stand against the individuals. Even in this case, everything, beyond mere exclusion from church membership, would have to be left to the law to be dealt with, and its penalties would not include compulsion to quit the place-the one thing that in the local regulations of the settlement would be considered the most desirable disposition to be made of persons inimical, in principle and conduct, to its institutions. This reasoning led him to the thought that on the Barony of Nazareth, with the right of Court Baron and views of frankpledge-if these were made use of and rendered operative by the necessary legal process-the kind of local control had in mind could be maintained under the laws of the Province. Such supposable complications, and such jeopardy to the character and purpose of the settlement would not then arise.
Therefore he conceived the idea that, after all, it might be better to have the Nazareth manor in view for the church village-Orts-
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gemeine-and let Bethlehem be utilized in a special way as a school center and headquarters of the extensive work among the children of Pennsylvania which he thought of developing. With this idea was connected the transfer of these English colonists to Nazareth, as a nucleus. It seemed more expedient to have that settlement assume an English character at the beginning, under the English laws bearing upon the case. When they located at Nazareth, the regular English preaching that had been commenced at Bethlehem, July 8, ceased temporarily, for now people from the neighborhood who came to English services could attend there. But very soon this entire scheme was abandoned.
On September 16-17, important revisions were made in the organ- ization of Bethlehem. Six different plans were worked out and considered, and one of these, which would open the way for the establishment of such a church village there, like Herrnhut, in process of time, was adopted. It was drawn by lot from among the six. From that day the destiny of Bethlehem to become the chief settle- ment and the administrative center of all Moravian work in America was fixed. This was adhered to, although eventually Nazareth became such a church village also. The first week in October, the ephemeral Nazareth English settlement came to an end, and on October 8, all who made up its personnel-excepting a few to be employed in the English itineracy-returned to Philadelphia, where, on the 12th, they organized as a little house church, to prosecute city mission work, and await further developments.
The Nazareth post being again vacant, Matthias Seybold and his wife, on October 16, removed to the place to temporarily guard the property. When they went to Philadelphia a few weeks later to sail for Europe, they were succeeded in the solitary duty at Nazareth by Michael Miksch and his wife, who remained until January 30, 1743, when they were relieved by Gottlieb Demuth and wife. Miksch returned to Bethlehem and occupied the historic original log house, the place in which Demuth had lived for a while, and, before him, the Zeisbergers, from the beginning to the middle of August, 1742.
In the midst of these shifting plans, the work among the children, which had been in view as one of the most important departments of activity, remained in a chaotic state and made but little progress during 1742. No parents "from the Townships" responded to the second circular sent out by John Bechtel on June 6, inviting them to meet at Bethlehem, June 24-25, for consultation on the subject. It
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was thought that the urgent farm work of the season kept some from coming who would otherwise have been there. It was decided therefore on July 17, to adopt a different course, and send persons about the country to talk with the people on the matter. Meanwhile, on June 28, the children of the Germantown school, opened May 4, were brought to Bethlehem, in care of Gotthard Demuth and wife, Johanna Hummel and Elizabeth Braun, who had been sent to Germantown for the purpose. They were quartered somewhere in the crowded Community House, and put in the care of several appointed persons. The Countess Benigna and other young women seem to have then continued to devote attention to the instruction of the girls. The boys, under temporary care of several men by turns, were reorganized on July 19 and taken charge of by the Elder, Anton Seiffert, assisted by Dr. Adolph Meyer, when not engaged in professional duties, with George Neisser, who had been in connection with the school when it was founded in May, and now was entrusted with so many kindred functions, serving as their special instructor ; which duty he had, as it seems, performed before this reorganization, from the time of their arrival. He may, therefore, quite properly, be given the distinction of having been the first school-master of Bethlehem. This, indeed, is the designation he gave himself when he assumed the publication, on August 10, of the reply, sketched by Zinzendorf-discussed and officially adopted by the Bethlehem authorities-to the outrageous utterances of Dominie Boehm's letter of warning to the people, already referred to. That reply was endorsed: "Published by George Neisser of Sehlen in Moravia, school-master at Bethlehem, cum approbatione Superiorum," with the imprimatur of John Brandmiller, giving authority.
Local circumstances made it difficult to continue that little board- ing-school for girls during the ensuing autumn and winter, and on August 20, the three girls who lived in Germantown were returned to their homes. The boys' school was continued. On September 28, some other children of parents in Philadelphia and elsewhere, who were not members of the Church, were also taken home, and only a few belonging to Moravian families were left.
The general subject of school work was discussed again at a session of the Pennsylvania Synod held in Fredericktown,
October 15, where the scheme to establish a general boarding-school for boys in Philadelphia and one for girls at Germantown was adopted. But this plan was not then carried out on account of
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practical difficulties. As a result of canvassing and proper explan- ations in various neighborhoods, many parents would at that time have availed themselves of such opportunities, in spite of the absurd calumnies that continued to be circulated, in order to foster prejudice. Evidences, sometimes distressing and sometimes ludicrous, of such suspicion and ill-will on the part of Bethlehem's neighbors in the "Irish settlement" appear from time to time. While these neighbors were not, so far as can be ascertained, among those who circulated the grosser slanders current in some quarters, their opposition to "the Moravians" was significant to the minds of people at a distance, for, being near neighbors, they were supposed to know them. This opposition shown by these sturdy pioneers of the Forks seems to have arisen mainly from exaggerated fears of local aggression and of plans for supremacy on the part of the Brethren, and from the prejudice that had been awakened by the utter incompatibility of theological conception and general religious cult. The genius of a Zinzendorf, and that of a Knox or a Calvin fostered among these settlers, were, doctrinally and socially, as well as racially considered, at opposite poles of the Christian circuit, and it is not surprising that time was needed to bring the representatives of the two into any kind of sympathetic touch.
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