USA > Pennsylvania > Chronicles of Pennsylvania from the English revolution to the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1688-1748, Vol. II > Part 30
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UNITAS FRATRUM AND ATTEMPTED CHURCH UNITY. 841
administer the sacraments, unless regularly called and ordained according to Article XIV of the Augsburg Confession.
On Dec. 28, 1742 (O. S.), at Roxborough, another conference, or Synod, was held. The object of the meeting was to gather the remaining solitary of the Wissahickon, but this failed. A new Syndic was chosen to succeed Zinzendorf, and it was arranged that the Synod should meet annually. Proceeding to Philadel- phia, as Spangenberg tells us, Zinzendorf devoted him- self to the Moravian Lutherans as much as time per- mitted, and established a church "of those Englishmen who had been recently brought by the ministry of the brethren to a knowledge of the Gospel," and finally preached in the evening of December 31 "in the newly erected church building in Philadelphia."
Leaving the church before the conclusion of the ser- vice, so as to avoid saying farewell, he went to Frank- ford, and spent the night there, and on the next day set out for New York. He sailed eight days later.
The Philadelphia Moravian congregation which Zin- zendorf organized at the close of his visit to America consisted of thirty-four persons. Under date of Aug. 20, 1743, Samuel Powell (not the Quaker carpenter) and others, whose names were not German, took title to the church lot. By a deed of Apr. 22, 1746, a trust was declared, and in that year a parsonage was built on a lot adjoining on the east. In 1745, a Moravian church was built in Heidelberg.
Mühlenberg at first could establish moderate Pietism only in his parochial charges and the congregation at Germantown, which joined the other three: but these posts were very important, and grew in strength. New Hanover had 250 communicants in 1743. Philadelphia began in that year a stone house of worship 70 ft. long and 45 ft. wide. It was situated on a lot at the south- east corner of Fifth and Cherry, and was called St.
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Michael's. New Providence built one somewhat smaller, at Trappe. It was named the Augustus Kirche, in compliment to the Rev. August Herman Franke, and is now standing. Respectable in habits, with forcefulness, financial generosity, and self-sacri- fice, and with the prestige of association with Halle, and even making the far-fetched claim that the Court Chaplain's endorsement was a quasi appointment by royal authority, Mühlenberg was finally enabled to save German Lutheranism in America from being swal- lowed up by Moravianism. He, moreover, gained some- what in influence as against Stoever. The Lutherans of Tulpehocken, excluded from the old place of worship by the Moravians, started a new church building in the Spring of 1743, calling it Christ Church, and, on the advice of Mühlenberg, called as Pastor Rev. Tobias Wagner, ordained in Würtemberg. Wagner served at Tulpehocken three years, and at other places after- wards. Furthermore, the Halle institution sent to Mühlenberg in 1744 an assistant, Rev. Peter Brunn- holtz, ordained at Stolberg. Mühlenberg and he soon divided the district, the former taking New Hanover and New Providence, and the latter Philadelphia and Germantown. A larger church at the last named place was built in 1746.
The Lutheran congregation at Lancaster had be- sought the Archbishop of Upsala in Sweden to send a Pastor. The Archbishop finally ordained as such Laurents Thorstansen Nyberg, who arrived in 1744, having had, it was alleged, interviews with the Mora- vians in London on the way, but, to allay suspicion of being influenced, having carefully avoided the ship on which Spangenberg returned to Pennsylvania.
Jacobs's History says that Peter Kock of the Swedish Church, and Henry Schleydorn of the German, pro- jected a union of the Swedish and German Lutherans, and succeeded in having a conference held at Gloria
UNITAS FRATRUM AND ATTEMPTED CHURCH UNITY. 843
Dei Church in May, 1744: but Nyberg insisted upon including the Moravians, because they subscribed the Augsburg Confession. Mühlenberg objected. Then, when the question of the church usages came up, Naes- man, the Swedish Pastor, insisted upon the Swedish liturgy being adopted by all, because the Swedish was the original Lutheran Church on the Delaware. The objection of the Germans to this became an obstacle. Kock had the union so much at heart that he deter- mined to have Naesman called back to Sweden, but did not accomplish it before Mühlenberg, in 1748, started his own Synod.
After creating considerable enthusiasm as a preacher, Nyberg began to diverge very much from the theo- logical attitude of the Swedish Church, and of such a Pietistic Lutheran as Mühlenberg, ridiculing certain main doctrines, and to talk in a way, which, as described, we are surprised to find acceptable to the Moravians, for Mühlenberg speaks of him as mutilating the holy doctrine of Christ's person, nature, offices, &c.
For a while there was conformity to the arrangement for an annual conference of the Congregation of God in the Spirit. Spangenberg, after returning, began holding such Synods every three months, the Lutheran Consistory started by Zinzendorf and a Reformed Collegium also sometimes sitting. In 1745, Nyberg joined the Congregation, and also married a Moravian.
In December, 1745, the conference of the Congrega- tion of God in the Spirit met in Lancaster. Some of Nyberg's deacons begged him not to participate, but he not only did so, but was instrumental in procuring quarters for those attending, and in obtaining from Justice Smout the court house for the sessions. Some of the populace threw mud and stones at Spangenberg, when he began to preach. One person, it is said, who had his pockets full of stones for that purpose, was so much impressed with Spangenberg's prayer, as not
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only to desist, but afterwards to confess, and to become a follower. On the following Sunday, a number of the Lutherans opposed the entrance of Nyberg into his church. He got in by force, and preached, "after the doors were locked." Afterwards the opposition party petitioned the Governor, who ordered the church closed. On Nyberg declaring that he was a genuine Lutheran, and liable only to the Archbishop in Sweden, the Governor ordered the church opened for him; and then, he being allowed to preach Sunday mornings, those opposed to him met in the afternoons, but they, not succeeding in holding morning service on a certain festival, nailed up the door. Subsequently Nyberg preached in the town hall, until a certain Justice- Smout ?- turned against him. A civil proceeding against Nyberg's opposers resulted in their acquittal. Mühlenberg went to Lancaster, and, despite fears of disorder, preached in the church. The minister at Gloria Dei opposed the tendencies of Nyberg, and for a while took charge of the church. Nyberg, who, by the withdrawal of Justice Smout's favor, lost permis- sion to preach in the court house, started a new church. Its call to him contained a clause that he might asso- ciate with the Moravians at Bethlehem, and attend the Synod. Rev. Johann Friedrich Handschuh, ordained by the Consistory of Altenburg, coming to work where Mühlenberg should send him, was appointed to the older church, and arrived there in May, 1748. Those who proceeded against Nyberg won a complete victory in Sweden : the Archbishop of Upsala revoked Nyberg's commission, and deposed him. He removed to Bethle- hem, and was received formally into the Moravian Church on Aug. 13, 1748.
Bp. Spangenberg having in 1745 obtained the per- mission of the Iroquois Council at Onondaga, the Moravians removed their Indian converts from Sheko- meko to a tract near the mouth of the Mahoning Creek,
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west of the Lehigh, commencing there in the Spring of 1746 a village called Gnadenhütten, or Huts of Grace. The teacher appointed for the place on July 24 was the before mentioned Indian convert Tschoop.
With all Mühlenberg's success among the Lutherans, aided, as it was, by his marrying a daughter of so important a German as Conrad Weiser, the collapse of Zinzendorf's Union in Pennsylvania, or, rather, the re- striction of the Congregation of God in the Spirit to those willing to be called Moravians, was largely the work of the other great Protestant denomination of Continental Europe, the Reformed.
Rev. Michael Schlatter, born July 14, 1716, at St. Gall, Switzerland, and apparently ordained in that country, was sent to Pennsylvania in 1746 by the Synod of Holland, under instructions to organize churches where none existed, to ordain elders and deacons, also to combine scattered congregations, to gather the min- isters into a governing Coetus, or Synod, to see that salaries were paid, and to report to Holland, besides preaching for the pastors who should invite him. Shortly after arriving, he undertook the Pastorate of Philadelphia and Germantown, leaving to Boehm that of Falkner Swamp, Providence, and Whitpain, and brought about peace between Boehm, Weiss (who had Old and New Goshenhoppen, Great Swamp), and Rieger (who had Schaeffer's Church and Earltown in Conestoga). Schlatter and these three ministers and the delegates from their and his own and eight other congregations, made up the first Coetus, which convened in Philadelphia on Sep. 29, 1747. Lischy, organizer under the Moravians of Reformed congregations in Lancaster and York Counties, and ordained by Bishop Nitschmann, had asked to be allowed to join: his case was referred to Holland, and he was admitted to a later Coetus.
The establishment of the Coetus brought about the
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dissolution of the Reformed Tropus of the Congrega- tion of God in the Spirit. The ministers as a rule and most of the people joined the Moravians, while some found their way back to the congregations united with the Church of Holland. The Reformed Collegium ceas- ing to exist, the Synod of the Congregation which met on Oct. 23, 1748 (N. S.), became the first Synod of the Moravians, although for some years afterwards a few Lutheran and Reformed ministers continued to attend.
In 1748, a Lutheran Ministerium was organized by Mühlenberg. The Swedish Provost, Sandin, as well as Hartwig, a German missionary in New York, were present, but rather as guests. Naesman seems to have stayed away, although making a prayer at the conse- cration, a few hours before, of St. Michael's Church, Philadelphia, where the meeting was held. The Swe- dish Provost, perhaps as the only man authorized by home authority to ordain, ordained John Nicholas Kurtz as Pastor of Tulpehocken. Hartwig, Mühlenberg, Brunnholtz, and Handschuh united in the laying on of hands. Stoever and Wagner were not asked to join the Ministerium, and, in fact, when it first met, it was com- posed of only Mühlenberg, Brunnholtz, and Handschuh, sent over by the Halle divines as Pastors, and Kurtz, sent over by them as a catechist, and promoted to Pas- tor. The justification for these conservative Pietists keeping to themselves appears to have been in the fact that the other ordained German preachers were subject to no consistory. Mühlenberg and his coadjutors were not starting a union of true believers or a tribunal, but merely a conference of missionaries, who could not bind their fellows, but were each responsible to the con- sistory sending him. A Synod was formed with twenty- four lay delegates representing congregations at Ger- mantown, New Providence, New Hanover, Upper Mil- ford, Saccum, Tulpehocken, Nordkill, Lancaster, and Earltown, besides the members of the church council
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of Philadelphia. The congregation at York sent a let- ter regretting absence, owing to the shortness of notice. All these congregations had come by this time into union one with another, so that the body was in fact made up of the United Pastors and United Congrega- tions, together with Peter Kock, a member of the Swe- dish Church. There was no vote taken in the Synod. Convened annually, its last meeting was in 1754.
Zinzendorf, enlisting the kindness, sympathy, or qualified approbation of kings, nobles, and statesmen, of Abp. Potter and bishops, and of university profes- sors, triumphed over the jealousy and criticism of fellow theologians and the repulsion caused by his stirring up of religious excitement, his strange expressions, and his vehement language. He had been banished from Saxony in 1736: his banishment ceased in 1746. The British Parliament, in 1749, in the Act of 22 Geo. II, c. 30, recited that the Unitas Fratrum was "an ancient Protestant Episcopal Church," and that the settling of such people in America would be beneficial to the col- onies. Accordingly the same Act relieved the members who scrupled to take an oath by allowing them in all civil cases in the British Isles and America to "declare in the presence of Almighty God, the witness of the truth of what I say," and also relieved the members in the colonies from military service on paying the tax in lieu thereof. The legislation, to be sure, was super- fluous for Pennsylvania.
Zinzendorf died at Herrnhut on May 9, 1760, having lived to know of thousands of heathen converted through his agency. He left no sons but only three daughters surviving him; of these, Benigna, or Henri- etta Benigna Justina, married Johannes Langguth, otherwise known as Baron John von Watteville, having been adopted by Baron Friedrich von Watteville. Baron John was also a Moravian Bishop.
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE WAR OF THE AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION.
Characteristics of Lt. Gov. Thomas and the Assemblymen - A pest house for immigrants - Election law-Riot of 1742-"The Healing As- sembly"-Naturalization-The Six Nations' visit in 1742-Their decision against the Delawares at the Forks-Maryland and Virginia express will- ingness to conciliate the Six Nations - Kinsey appointed Chief Justice-Privateering-Relations with France-The "Pragmatic Sanction"-War declared-The Assembly's change of policy as to Thomas's salary-Warlike measures of Thomas and others-Indian affairs-Treaty of Lancaster in 1744-Movement of Pascatoways-Assembly again declines to pass militia law, but agrees to support prisoners-Bill in Parliament to prevent colonial paper currency from being legal tender- The taking of Louisbourg, Cape Breton-The Assembly votes 40001. for the King's use, to be spent in foodstuffs-Gunpowder sent as "grain"- Thomas advances his own money for raising troops, and for clothing-Pennsylvania's treasury empty -The Shawnees-The Six Nations consider the "Balance of Power"-The meeting at Albany in 1745-The Assembly of Pennsylvania still not biddable-An expedition ordered against Canada -The Assembly, to raise money for the King's use, proposes large issue of paper currency loaned on mortgage, but Thomas refuses to violate instruc- tions, and receives only 5000l .- The experiences of the Pennsylvania troops in the expedition.
That George Thomas was impetuous, changeable, and impatient, has been already indicated: his diffi-
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culties were increased by his recurring in messages to the Assembly to disputes which might have passed out of mind, and by his attacking in revenge the propriety of former votes on other matters. Rather contemptuous of the representatives of the freemen, he may be sup- posed also to have annoyed them by his sarcasm. He gave them a more serious and alarming grievance. Ex- asperated by their attitude, and deeming himself the servant of England, he wrote to the Lords for Trade, that, so long as the Assembly should be composed of "a set of people who oppose all preparations for de- fence, the Province will remain exposed to any enemy that shall think fit to invade it," and, further, that the servants whose enlistment was objected to were en- abling the inhabitants to carry on manufactures di- rectly interfering with those of Britain. When his having so written became known in Pennsylvania, he was naturally looked upon as a betrayer, endeavoring to undermine the privileges and interests of the People. His personal relations with the Assemblymen, apart from the contention as to public affairs, he made dis- agreeable. On Oct. 15, 1741, when Kinsey was again presented as Speaker, and this time said that he had decided not to ask to be excused, the acting Governor broke out in rude language, and with such a manner as the representatives the next day voted to have been unparliamentary, menacing, and tending to destroy the necessary freedom of access. Having obtained Thomas Penn's consent before embarkation, Penn being ob- livious of Kinsey's usefulness to the Proprietaries in some lawsuits, the Lieutenant-Governor on the 16th sent a messenger to Kinsey, demanding his resignation as Attorney-General. Kinsey had been holding that office some years upon a commission giving tenure dur- ing good behavior, but had promised the Lieutenant- Governor, so the latter said, not to insist upon the tenure, if he might wish him to resign. Kinsey's first
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answer was that he would think over the matter, but he was obliged to relinquish, and Tench Francis, lately from Maryland, son of the Dean of Lismore, Ireland, was appointed.
It must be recognized that the members of the House in Thomas's time were not sweet religionists refusing only to disobey God, but were obstructionists, as has been shown natural in a Quaker community politically (pages 186 and 187), and as may also be deemed in- volved in that eternal vigilance which is the price of liberty. Despotism is so soon established over a pop- ulation with the lovable traits of gratitude, hero- worship, and financial generosity that liberty may be said to require for its cultivation the black soil of jeal- ousy, suspicion, and fault-finding. The laudable desire of the Assemblymen to keep the expenditure within the ordinary revenue, and to maintain popular or individ- ual rights, led in matters which had nothing to do with religious principles to niggardliness, captiousness, and insult to the Lieutenant-Governor. The salary, or al- lowance, to him was long withheld : although 500l. were voted in 1740, there was an arrearage in the Autumn of 1741 of 1500l., measured by the appropriation of 10001. per annum to Keith and Gordon. This saving may, however, be justified as political policy, to punishı for disloyalty to the People's interest: but such justifica- tion cannot be made to cover the whole course of the majority. A wise suggestion by Thomas in 1738 to es- tablish a "pest house," or hospital, for the care of immigrants with contagious diseases, had been laid aside, as then beyond the public means, so that the only course that could be taken for the health of the inhab- itants of the ports was by virtue of the law of 1700 and 1701, requiring a vessel with sickly persons from a sickly place to discharge one mile from the port, and not to come nearer without license from the Governor and Council, in the case of Philadelphia, or from two County
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magistrates, in the case of other ports or Counties, the Governor and Council to provide for the reception of sick persons disembarking. The Governor detained the vessels until lodgings were obtained in houses in the country. The inspection of the vessels was made for more than twenty-two years prior to August, 1740, by Dr. Græme, some time a Councillor. Græme's bill pre- sented in August, 1740, of 91. 16s. for inspecting and reporting upon seven vessels, was objected to as not specific; so he asked the Governor to excuse him from further service; but, in the course of the next twelve months, Dr. Lloyd Zachary and Dr. Thomas Bond hav- ing at first declined the disagreeable work, but after- wards performing it, when they could go together, Græme, at the importunity of a Councillor when Gov. Thomas was out of town, visited six vessels. A pesti- lence having broken out, the House on Aug. 22, 1741, undertook to appoint Dr. Zachary as the person to in- spect the vessels for Philadelphia, when directed by the Governor and Council, or when, on their default, di- rected by any two Justices of the City or County of Philadelphia. The Councillors, as ready as the As- semblymen to obstruct business, even in a crisis, started a controversy by resolving that only the Governor, and not the Assembly nor any magistrates, could authorize a person to go upon a vessel, and to inspect passengers and seamen. When Græme had presented a bill of 8l. 8s. for his later work, the Assembly cut down the total of both bills to 10l. The confinement aboard the ships at anchor of Germans who were suffering with diseases contracted in a long voyage, led some of the most sub- stantial German residents to urge, in a petition to the Lieutenant-Governor, the erection of the pest house. When, in January, 1741-2, he again suggested it to the Assembly, the answer, while promising consideration of the matter, spoke of the heavy expenses since the sug- gestion in 1738, and expressed the opinion that the
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pestilence might have been prevented by a due execu- tion of the laws. When he remarked, that, against the unusual expenses, they had saved so much of his salary, they spoke of the perquisites which he had received, estimating them at nearly 1000l. per annum, and saying "some of which he hath no right to." The latter clause they limited afterwards to the fines, the same being required by an Act of Assembly to be paid to the Pro- vincial Treasurer; but from fines and forfeitures, Thomas said that he had not received what amounted to 10l. for each year; for they had generally been in- curred by necessitous people, and he had always had humanity enough to remit the sums rather than see such persons languish in jail. The fees taken by the Secretary for his use were the same as for twenty years past. Thomas declared that he had refused fees not in the list furnished him by Gordon's Secretary, and had not directly or indirectly accepted anything as a gratu- ity or otherwise for charters, commissions, or offices of profit, although money had been offered, and the ex- ample of other Governors urged for its acceptance! Thomas acknowledged his perquisites from the Prov- ince to have averaged between 600l. and 700l. a year, and contrasted this with the salary and perquisites re- ceived by Keith and Gordon.
Thomas held under consideration two bills sent from the Assembly while he was vindicating himself, and on Aug. 17, 1742, said that he was not required to give his sentiments on the bills until the House had restored his "liberty of action" by making the usual allowance for his support for the two years past.
A committee to see what could be done about the proposed pest house, or hospital, was appointed on the same day as the date of the aforesaid answer on the subject. Fisher's Island, at the mouth of the Schuyl- kill, containing about 342 acres, was bought by the com- mittee, title being taken by Joseph Harvey, Thomas
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Tatnall, Joseph Trotter, James Morris, and Oswald Peel to the uses to be appointed by the Assembly. The purchase was approved on 3, 19, 1742, and, about a year later, when Thomas and the Assembly had come to better terms, an Act was passed regulating the trust, providing that the island be thenceforth called Prov- ince Island, and reserving 6 acres for the erection of the hospital.
Elections during a long period were held at the court houses of the respective counties, and, although con- ducted by the Sheriff, were under the control of in- spectors, any one of whom, under the Act of 1705, could require a person offering to vote for Assemblyman or for nominee for Sheriff or Coroner to affirm as to age, property, residence, &ct., but any one of which in- spectors, under the Act of 1727, could by vouching for a voter admit him to vote. Before the Act of May 19, 1739, on the subject, the inspectors were chosen by a majority of the voters present, when, on election day, this preliminary was taking place. Such method in- vited disorder, gave the chance for unqualified persons to participate in the selection, and had resulted at times in most or all of the inspectors being residents of the same part of the county, and unacquainted with the residents of other parts. So the Act of 1739 provided that the names of one inspector from each of the eight districts into which a county was to be divided, and of four inspectors from the city of Philadelphia, were to be drawn by lot from those chosen, some days before the annual election, by the voters of the townships or wards composing said districts or city. This law expired be- fore the election of 1742, leaving it to be held under the old law.
The advocates of defending the colony planned to change the Assembly at this election, particularly to substitute William Allen for Isaac Norris as a member for Philadelphia County. The country people, British
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