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 21
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Now, however, the system developed by Spangenberg was no mere emergency plan, but was carefully constructed, with a view to deal- ing with all the conditions to be considered and to prosecuting all the operations, both spiritual and material, to be undertaken, in what was believed to be, and upon trial proved to be, the best way. Things were accomplished during those years which, without large pecuniary resources-and these they did not have-would otherwise have been impossible. When this system is spoken of as the General Economy -General Oeconomie, also Gemeinschaftliche Oeconomie, i. e., an economy in common, the emphasis is to be laid not upon "Economy," a word understood and used in the ordinary sense by them, but upon the word "General," in seeking the special significance of the term. They spoke of many an organization or establishment, religious, social or industrial, as an economy ; e. g., they referred to Whitefield's Econ- omy, Wiegner's Economy and Antes's Economy-his mill seat, plan- tation and large workshop combined and employing a number of persons.
That it was a General Economy, embracing Bethlehem and the affiliated stations on the Nazareth land under one management, and including the entire personnel, and not any peculiar ideas or prin-
1745-1748. 18I
ciples suggested by the word Economy, must be taken as the prominent thought. What there was unique in the system lay in certain details of organization and management, and these rested not on any general ideas experimented with for their own sake, but on purely practical grounds. Spangenberg and the men with him who elaborated the system, were no mere doctrinaires, seeking to apply and test some kind of academic theories of religious, social or industrial life, but were sober-minded men of affairs, with all their exalted religious ideals and fervid enthusiasm. The details of the system and the various features of the organization usually had practical reasons back of them, and in the combination of great practical wisdom with intense piety, holding questions the most matter-of-fact in close connection with the finest ideas of spiritual devotion and social sentiment, the genius of the man in control and the force of his personality appear.
It has been the custom of some writers to apply the word com- munistic to the system. This is a misleading term, on account of some ideas popularly associated with it. The arrangement was not communistic in any sense beyond that in which a number of persons who agree, for a definite or indefinite period, to give their time and labor to an institution or common cause, are furnished subsistence from that source. No personal liberty was surrendered, even to the extent to which a man under a written contract is bound for the stipulated time. No papers, so far as can be ascertained, were signed by any, thus brought to Pennsylvania without expense to them, and taken care of in every particular while connected with the organization. "Any dissatisfied person is at liberty to leave at any time," was the plain declaration, "for there is no wall around ' Bethlehem." The corresponding right to expel persons for cause was, of course, claimed, and the reasonable demand that, so long as one remained a member of the Economy he must conform to all regulations, was insisted on. There was never the slighest inter- ference with private property rights, although many who were possessed of means voluntarily contributed to the cause, or loaned money without interest, or gave the Church the benefit of their estates on condition that they be cared for.
Without attempting to describe the minutiae of the intricate organization, or to reproduce the designations given the numerous administrative and deliberative bodies, or the various special func- tionaries, a few salient features may be noted. Besides the small
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board which stood with Bishop Spangenberg at the head of a general administration, there was a larger body representing different depart- ments, that met in stated conference. It planned minor organization in the several departments and the execution of plans was committed to the respective heads, subject to the approval of the highest cen- tral board. When, with the expansion of the work, a general super- intendent of agriculture, building operations and other externals became necessary, Henry Antes had so fully identified himself with the interests of the Economy that he was willing to assume this office, and removed to Bethlehem with his family in June, 1745, to take charge. Then everybody and everything in connection with those activities became subject to his ultimate supervision.
A number of special boards and stated or occasional conferences were gradually instituted in connection with minor divisions of the several departments. There were, besides those that had to do with more strictly spiritual matters, and with educational concerns, a building committee, committees on domestic supplies, food, clothing and the like; a committee associated with the physician in charge of the medical department, sanitary arrangements and the dispensary, and a corps of secretaries. Conferences were held on matters of the farms, dairies and stock-yards, on the different classes of manu- facturing industries, as these increased, and on commercial affairs.
There was also a police committee-the Richter Collegium referred to in the previous chapter-which maintained law and order. Under the management of Spangenberg's wife, who revealed a high order of administrative ability, and, although of frail constitution, devoted herself to the tasks that came to her with untiring zeal, all the classes of female industry were in like manner thoroughly organized. Much of her time was given to meetings, not only of mothers, nurses and teachers, but also of the spinners, weavers, knitters, seamstresses, dairy-women, laundresses, and other classes. There was a general steward of the Economy, who had the oversight of all purchased supplies, for the sustenance of the colony, and of all that went to the culinary department from field and orchard, abattoir and dairy. With the relation of their respective functions nicely arranged, there stood with this important official, a general accountant, after it appeared that the duties of the steward were too onerous for him to also do all the book-keeping. During the years of which this chapter treats, Jasper Payne filled the position of steward most of the time. The first general accountant, as a separate official, was Christian Fred-
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erick Oerter. John Brownfield also performed both duties for a time. The strict and systematic manner in which accounts were kept is revealed by the mass of account books preserved in the Bethlehem archives. There remains also in manuscript a complete exposition of the entire system of accounts, worked out gradually and finally perfected by Oerter, which shows what exact business methods were applied throughout, down to the minutest details. Careful accounts, according to a prescribed method, had to be kept in every department, by every particular industry, farm and line of service. Statedly all of these had to be turned in to the general accountant who examined them, along with all orders and receipts, hundreds of which yet remain, and posted up everything in his general books. Those books reveal how it was possible to watch every detail of that elaborate Economy and keep control of the situa- tion on every side continually in order to prevent serious loss through mismanagement, carelessness or possible unfaithfulness in any quar- ter; to enable those in responsible control of all to so direct, that business attention was centered, as occasion demanded, on those points where it was most needed in order that nothing might be undertaken that would dangerously drain resources and that no sud- den crisis might bring financial disaster.
Not the least interesting evidence of Bishop Spangenberg's intelligent efforts to keep all classes of the people imbued with the religious spirit to be put into everything, however material or menial, to preserve sympathetic touch, foster a cheerful esprit de corps and awaken enthusiasm for new and difficult undertakings, from time to time, is to be found in the way in which the numerous gatherings of all classes of workers, on all kinds of occasions and for all kinds of purposes were managed. They usually combined a devotional, social and business character. With them were commonly associated a meal, more or less substantial, for all assembled. These were, according to the custom of the time, always spoken of as lovefeasts. Some, in reading the records of those days, have been disposed to make merry over the many lovefeasts, having in mind what is now known by that name. These occasions, utilized as they were, served an important purpose, in connection with many special objects, and in the matter of maintaining the general morale of the Economy. They were appreciated, too, especially by men and women employed at hard manual labor, with the very plain fare and almost Spartan- like regime that had to be habitually the order; for besides the relaxa- tion they afforded, the special, social meal was a welcome thing.
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From one point of view, those many lovefeasts were what would now be regarded as a wise stroke of business policy, while, in connection with the end of the sowing or the harvest, with the sheep- shearing or the completed spinning of the season, with the finishing of a heavy task in clearing land or erecting buildings they helped to invest the laborious life with an idyllic charm. Where a spirit was maintained that prompted men to sing hymns or discourse melody on instruments of music when they went to the harvest field and when they returned from it after the burden and heat of the day; when they set out for the site of a barn or a mill that was to be erected on some distant part of the domain; when they proceeded with pick and shovel to where the cellar of a new building was to be excavated; or when they set out with axes, cross-cut saws, and equipment for a week's camping in the forest, to fell timber and float it down the Lehigh, cheerful and rapid work was done.
It would, however, be far beyond the truth to represent every man in that Economy, especially after the lapse of some years when the num- ber of people had greatly increased and the novelty of the situation had departed, as a Christian hero, ever ready to do and dare, and performing everything with cheerful self-denial as to the Lord. There were many weak ones to be borne with, many unsteady ones to be admonished; there were discontented and ungrateful ones and peevish whiners from the beginning; and now and then cases of gross misdemeanor and flagrant unfaithfulness occurred. Yet they were heroic days and, in the main, the people nobly lived up to the thought given them by Bishop Spangenberg, when he adopted the motto which Dr. Paul Anton had before applied to the establishments of Halle : In commune oramus, In commune laboramus, in commune patimur, In com- mune gaudeamus.
The responsibility assumed by Spangenberg and the range and variety of matters to which he had to give personal attention made his position extremely difficult, especially at the beginning when everything at Bethlehem and Nazareth had to be newly organized, careful inspection had to be given to the work at many other places, and the cloud that hung over the Indian missions in New York weighed heavily upon him. His devoted wife came near breaking down under the strain of her arduous duties during the first year. On one occasion, while her husband was absent in the Indian country, her tasks were so overwhelming that, when speaking to the officials about some matters in which she could no longer go on without
JOHN CHRISTOPHER PYRLAEUS
NATHANAEL SEIDEL JOHN CHRISTOPHER FREDERICK CAMMERHOF
GEORGE NEISSER
JOHN NITSCHMANN
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assistance, she burst into tears. The chivalrous response to this pathetic appeal afforded her every relief possible, but two critical attacks of illness which prostrated her proved that she was taxed beyond her strength. It soon became clear to Spangenberg that the labor was too great for them. Correspondence with Zinzendorf was opened on the subject, with the result that, early in January, 1747, an assistant arrived in Bethlehem in the person of the young Bishop John Christopher Frederick Cammerhoff, whose wife, a gifted and pious young Livonian baroness, Anna von Pahlen, became the assist- ant overseer of the women. They reached Lewes with their company2 bound for Philadelphia, December 28, 1746, on the snow John Galley, Captain Crosswaite. The ice preventing their progress up the Delaware, they went ashore there, made their way by land to Phila- delphia and reached Bethlehem, January 12.
Cammerhoff was an extraordinary young man in natural gifts, learning and eloquence, as well as in piety, zeal and energy. Although only twenty-five years old, he had been consecrated to the episcopacy shortly before he started for Pennsylvania as coadjutor to Bishop Spangenberg. Knowing his superior qualities and his enthusiasm, Spangenberg welcomed him with joy. With surprising rapidity he learned the English language, became familiar with public affairs in Pennsylvania, and with American conditions generally, and mastered every feature of the situation and work at Bethlehem and elsewhere. He devoted himself with almost reckless energy to those duties particularly which called him into the Indian country. He undertook the most arduous and perilous journeys at all seasons and in any kind of weather, although never inured to hardships, and of physique far from robust. His career of inordinate activity was brief. Already in 1751, he succumbed to the strain and died at Bethlehem. Were there
2 The entire party consisted of thirteen persons, viz. besides Bishop Cammerhoff and his wife, Sven Roseen, a Swede who had studied at Upsala and Jena and then joined the Brethren, and his wife, Anna Margaret; John and Johanna Wade, English members; Mat- thias Gottlieb Gottschalk, a theological student of the Moravian Seminary at Lindheim ; John Eric Westmann, later a missionary in the West Indies, at Sarepta, Russia, and in Guiana; Vitus and Mary Handrup; Judith Hickel, a widow; Esther Mary Froehlich, wife of Christian Froehlich, now following her husband back to Pennsylvania, and another person not named. Four other members of the Church had arrived at Philadelphia from Europe since the colony of 1743, viz. in September, 1745, the fan-maker of London who presented the spinet brought to Bethlehem on the Little Strength, William Peter Knolton, and his wife Hannah; Jarvis Roebuck, one of the sailors of the ill-fated Little Strength, and Eva Mary Meyer, a widow.
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A HISTORY OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
no other element of his personality and influence to be recalled, his short service would merit only great admiration. But a blemish must be referred to on account of what it represented and introduced. With his coming, the spirit of the Herrnhaag extravagances, alluded to in a previous chapter, was brought to Bethlehem, and, for a season, it threatened to inoculate the settlement, as it had those in the Wetterau and, to a lesser degree, others in Europe. That phenom- enon in the history of the Moravian Church has been aptly compared by one writer to the diseased condition of the heart called fatty degeneration. It is associated particularly with the years from 1746 to 1750-a period afterwards spoken of as "the time of sifting" (Luke 22:31)-but it had its roots in preceding tendencies for which, primarily, Zinzendorf himself was responsible. This applies more particularly to his course after he returned from America in 1743. He infused a leaven that finally wrought things not expected, for he over-estimated the general quality and capacity of the human material worked with.
This is to be recognized in various particulars. In his absorbing purpose-deemed so important-to propagate a more emphatically Christ-centered teaching, he neglected for a time the proportions of essential doctrine. In concentrating attention so exclusively on the atoning sacrifice of Christ, he over-developed the ideas of the people at one point and left them dwarfed at others. His disposition to discard hackneyed terms and indulge in novel expressions, in order to lend freshness and force to thought, produced a penchant for eccentric phraseology. A certain audacity with which he advanced ideas, dealt with subjects and experimented with measures outside of conventional limits, sometimes set the meat for strong men before persons who were intellectually and spiritually babes, needing milk. Beyond the bounds of prudence, he trusted the ability of lesser minds to follow, grasp and apply bold thoughts. The intensity which he put into everything maintained a strain among the people under which the merely emotional prevailed unduly. His exuberant fancy, running easily into oddities, introduced a fashion in lighter kinds of religious versification and liturgical embellishment that was far removed from sober, dignified simplicity and fed a taste for the fantastic. In his desire to foster a genial conception of spiritual life over against the austere type of pietism, and, at the same time, to encourage a child- like constant clinging to the Saviour of sinners, as opposed to both legalism and perfectionism, he unwittingly occasioned a peculiar spe- cies of careless self-complacency in the direction of antinomianism.
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These items make up the whole indictment against Zinzendorf in connection with the craze that broke out at Herrnhaag, where, as in many a headlong tendency, followers ran away with what leaders would have kept within restrictions. The Wetterau had been a con- gregating-place of religious enthusiasts and erratics, and a hot-bed of every sort of extravagance before the Brethren settled there. Therefore, not only over-fervid, genuinely good people, but crack- brained adventurers and even imposters gravitated towards Herrn- haag, where far less restraint was applied to admission than at Herrnhut.
For a season Zinzendorf's discerning eye was withdrawn from this rapid and promiscuous influx. Much was left to the control of per- sons lacking wisdom, some of them very young and inexperienced. Among these was his own son, Christian Renatus, whose mind and temperament had all the ardor without the virility characteristic of his father, and whose intense adoration of the suffering Saviour was expressed in his well-known lines : "One passion only do I have; 'Tis He and none but He." This, as propagated there, ran into mawkish sentimentality and puerile language. A mania for coining extravagant phrases broke out, each rhymster trying to outdo the other in grotesque jargon; and, even in ordinary conversation, a style of expression came into use that degenerated into inane drivel. A rage for the spectacular was fostered in connection with all kinds of festivities. Pictorial representations of the sufferings of Christ in their various features were produced, so outre that at times they became almost sacrilegious caricatures. Transparencies and illumin- ations of every description abounded. The daily life of the place became a constant round of partly social and partly religious celebra- tions, with a fanatical idealizing of the congregation, as a whole, and of its several divisions, as organized, especially its various officials, under the exaggerated conceit of being the special, selected favorites of Jesus. This relation to Him was paraded, now under the fancy of being spiritual children playing about the cross, and anon under the imagery of the Canticles. In the midst of this luxuriating, which involved expense, a heedless improvidence was indulged in for a season that brought after it a day of reckoning. Many sensible men in the Church eschewed and deplored these follies and protested against them, but in vain.
For a while Zinzendorf paid no proper attention to the intimations they ventured to give him of these excesses, which in their more
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extreme features were hidden from him; but at last his eyes were opened to the peril and promptly he turned upon the perpetrators with a force and severity that soon restored sanity. His indignation was mingled with humble self-reproach, for he discerned wherein he had unwittingly opened the way to it all. Various traces of this fanaticism lingered long, but vigorous efforts put a stop to the ten- dencies that were perilous, some of the more culpable were weeded out of the membership, and the Church was saved. External tribula- tions followed which also had a sobering effect.
The assailants of Zinzendorf and his work now had so much mate- rial to use for defamatory writing that on their side, in turn, the denunciation of the Count and his brethren became a kind of craze. That the wildest stories of gross religious aberrations and even of social disorders grew out of what had prevailed at Herrnhaag and elsewhere in the Wetterau, is not to be wondered at; especially as one after another knave who had gone there and lived awhile for sin- ister purposes, or had been detected there as a black sheep and expelled, circulated the most outrageous slanders which found credence easily because they came from professed eye-witnesses.
Yet more serious was the blow that came when, upon the accession of a new, young prince to the rule of the little domain in which Herrn- haag lay, a series of machinations by the attorney of that prince, a bit- ter enemy of Zinzendorf, brought on the ruin of the flourishing settle- ment, because new terms and conditions were imposed, under which the Brethren would not remain. A succession of voluntary emigra- tions from the place began in 1750 and, within three years, Herrnhaag was left empty and desolate. Many of its people came to Penn- sylvania as will appear in the further narrative. In the train of these disasters came the most formidable financial crisis in the history of the Church. There will be occasion to refer to this again. Thus out of the "time of sifting" came trial, purging and refining. The results of the ordeal proved the difference between the Brethren's Church, in its essential character, and the various extravagant sects with which its enemies classed it. "The rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell not ; for it was founded upon a rock."3
3 This unfortunate episode is thus sketched in some detail because frequent allusions to it, or extended accounts are met with in the works of ecclesiastical historians which convey incorrect impressions. Some fail to treat the matter understandingly, some represent the extravagance of those years as the prevailing condition of the entire Zinzendorfian era, which
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When Spangenberg discovered that his talented and enthusiastic young coadjutor was so thoroughly imbued with the extravagant spirit of the Wetterau and was introducing its language and manner at Bethlehem, he was at first surprised at the extent to which the mania had developed since he left Europe, and then alarmed, knowing what this new freak would entail upon the settlement and its work which, with all soberness and circumspection, had to proceed against a strong tide of prejudice and hostility in many quarters. When he, furthermore, made the discovery that Cammerhoff had, before he left Europe, even been instructed on some points at variance with his ideas and policies-for at this time Zinzendorf was yet blind to the injurious follies of the tendency he was fostering-grief was added to alarm. But Spangenberg was too noble and loyal in heart to let this dampen his zeal or weaken his sense of duty, and too strong a man to be over-ridden or to let the work suffer vital harm.
He depended somewhat upon Boehler, now again in Europe, to properly represent the practical situation and needs. Boehler, after relinquishing gradually his various ad interim duties, had left Beth- lehem, February 16, 1745, and, with Anton Seiffert, Henry Almers and wife, Paul Daniel Bryzelius and wife and Captain Garrison, had sailed from New York, April 8, on the Queen of Hungary, which before reaching England was captured by a French privateer, early in May, causing the passengers considerable delay and danger before they arrived in Europe. Boehler's knowledge of the circumstances and requirements at Bethlehem was of much service in counsel at that time over against the view Zinzendorf was then disposed to take of things.
Meanwhile material developments proceeded under the co-operative union that had been organized, at a rate that is surprising when surveyed in all particulars. In this line of operations thie services of Henry Antes, after June, 1745, when, as stated, he removed to Beth- lehem, were of immense value. What was achieved in the erection of buildings and the opening of farms and industries during the three years, 1745-1748, can be best appreciated if these enterprises, great and small, are grouped together for mention. During the first months
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