USA > Pennsylvania > Lancaster County > Ephrata > Chronicon ephratense : a history of the community of Seventh Day Baptists at Ephrata, Lancaster County, Penn'a. > Part 15
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which he took such offence, that he left the Settlement, and did not walk with them any more, and when asked, why he had left the Settlement he said: The singing broke my neck. Before he left he inade the following declaration to the Superintendent: "A king's daughter took a poor peas- ant's daughter into her company, because she was gifted with various arts and abilities; however, after she had learnt all her arts, she thrust her off and banished her into misery. I, therefore, ask the Superintendent, whether the king's daugh- ter treated the peasant's daughter justly?" The Superin- tendent thereat showed him all kindness, and promised him, since there was not anything more for him to do in the Com- munity, he would go with him in spirit, and remember him in his prayers before God. He afterwards showed him much favor, and thus the Superintendent was against his will inveigled into this important school.
Before the commencement was inade, he entered upon a strict examination of those things which are either injurious or beneficial to the human voice, in consequence of which he declared all fruit, milk, meat, to be viands injurious to the voice. One inight have thought that he borrowed this from the teaching of Pythagoras, in order to break his scholars of the animal habit of eating ineat, of which habit he was never in favor. When bringing all this before the Brethren for examination, they observed that he crossed some words with his pen, by which he had declared the love of women as also injurious to the voice. When asked why he did this, he answered that some might take offence at it. But the sentence was retained with full consent of the Breth- ren, and the writing was added as preface to the hymn-book. This was but fair, for who does not know that carnal inter- course stains not only the soul, but also weakens the body, and renders the voice coarse and rough; so that the senses of him must be very blunt who cannot distinguish a virgin from a married woman by her voice. Much concerning the fall of inan can be explained from the voice. It is a well-known fact that the voices of nearly all people are too low, and this occasions the sinking of the voice in church-songs. On the contrary, it cannot be explained how the voices of friars who
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keep their vows change for the better; he who in his youth was a skillful bass singer, may become an excellent tenor singer in his old age.
But he also added to the things necessary to be observed in united song, that godly virtue must be at the source of our whole walk, because by it you obtain favor with the spirit of singing, which is the Holy Spirit. It has been observed that the least dissension of spirit in a choir of singers has brought confusion into the whole concert. The singing- schools began with the Sisters, lasted four hours, and ended at midnight. Both master and scholars appeared in white habits, which made a singular procession, on which account people of quality frequently visited the school. The Su- perintendent, animated by the spirit of eternity, kept the school in great strictness and every fault was sharply cen- sured. The whole neighborhood, however, was touched by the sound of this heavenly music, a prelude of a new world and a wonder to the neighbors. But it soon appeared what God intended with this school. Afflictions were aimed at, and these were plentifully imposed upon both sexes, in so far that a lesson seldom ended without tears; although within the Brethren the essence of wrath was stirred. And though strange scenes occurred, no one ventured to check the Superintendent, for so far everyone believed that he acted as God's commissioner, until at last Samuel Eckerlin, one of his principal adherents, when required to submit to the rules, left the school, whereby he fell under the liatred of the Brethren, and his spiritual growth faded in conse- quence of it.
The Superintendent conducted the school with great sternness, so that whoever did not know him, might have thought him to be a man of unchecked passions. At times he scolded for one or two hours in succession, especially when he saw that they were under a ban, and at such times he looked really majestic, so that even his countenance glis- tened. When the Sisters saw that a continual quarreling was going on in their school, they took counsel among them- selves to find out the cause of this quarreling, and came at last to the conclusion that it must be in the difference of sex, and, therefore, determined to give up the school. But they
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were greatly mistaken in the cause. It was the very oppo- site. For God assigned to him a dangerous post, where many a saint had already lost his crown; besides some had even tried to cut off his locks, and who knows whether some such people were not among his choir. Meanwhile they sent a Sister, Tabea by name, who was bold enough for such a mission, to inform the Superintendent that they would break off all connection with the school entirely. Thereupon the Superintendent asked them, whether they would free him of all responsibility before God, to which they answered "Yes." Thus was the spiritual union between the Superintendent and the Sisters sundered by this imprudent counsel, and he entirely withdrew his favor from their house.
About this time a young man, named Daniel Scheibly, was bought from a ship by the Brethren, and because he was of good manners, they extended to him the right hand of Brotherhood. Because the above mentioned Sister Tabea had thrown off the yoke of Christ and was become a freed- woman, she incautiously engaged in a secret correspondence with this young man, and at last promised to marry him. Such an uncommon thing in the Settlement soon became rumored abroad. A conference was hield about it, and she was asked by the Brethren why she had seduced their servant, and they demanded back the money they had expended for him; but at last they came to an amicable settlement for conscience sake, and relieved her of the debt. Finally the time of their marriage arrived. One of the house-fathers was to officiate; then, while she stood before him in the dress of a matron, having laid aside the habit of the Order, and the mnomnent had arrived for them to be united, the Superin- tendent called her apart, and took her again under his pro- tection; whereupon she dismissed hier bridegroom and again entered the Sisters' House. To atone for the scandal she had caused she shed many tears of fervent repentance, by whichi she washed off the stain from her habit, wherefore also her name Tabea was changed to Anastasia, 1 which means "One
1 It seems fit briefly to mention some incidents in the life of this Sister. .She was the youngest child of a respectable family in the Canton of Basel,
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risen from the dead." Her bridegroom, however, left the Order, and fell back into the world.
The example of this Sister influenced the others again to submit to the guardianship of the Superintendent, so that the school was re-commenced. Soon after a choir of Sisters appeared in the meeting, and sang the hymn, "God, we come to meet Thee," with five voices, which was so well received in the Settlement, that everyone had his name en- tered for the choir, so that one did not know who should per- forin the outside work. But this heavenly art also soon found its enviers, for one of the house-fathers publicly testified and wrote against it, but the Brethren reprimanded him and said: The wisdom of God had ordered this school to their sanctifi-
Thomen by name, and she was the first in the family who was among the elect, and entered the Sisters' convent in the bloom of youth. Her brother and sister soon followed her, joined the Order, and ended their course in the Settlement, and last the parents followed. That is what a pious minister in Switzerland, Lucius by name, had told them when taking leave, namely, that there were many sects in the country they were going to, therefore they should join the most despised She was accomplished and well formed, endowed with fine natural gifts, and was an excellent singer, on which account she was of much value to the Order. She was fortunate also in enjoying the confidence of the Superintendent, and was his right hand in the important work of the singing-school, spending many a sleepless night over it. At one time he gave her many tunes of his composition to copy, which so fatigued hier that she at last fell asleep, and cut his tunes into pieces.
Her subsequent fall was the consequence of her excessive human nature. The Superintendent had at that time often warned the Solitary against the outward church, because it usually produced husbands and wives. She, nevertheless, was always prominent in church visitations, and her friendly disposition drew everyone toward her, so that lier fellow-combatants were little noticed aside of her. This stirred up envy within them, and they mockingly called her Court Cavalier. To this was added, finally, the deatlı of her faithful guide, the Superintendent; in consequence of which she confided in others who could not help her in her Solitary life. Meanwhile by her travels she lost her fellowship with her Sisters, and thus also her home in the convent, which obliged her in her old age to marry a rich mer- chant, after having been a nun 30 years. For all this she was indebted to her unsanctified natural gifts. This, however, was a great loss to hier, because she had taken the vow of perpetual virginity, and had on that occasion allowed her head to be shaved. After a short period of wedlock she was transferred into eternity. May God give her a blessed resurrection, and not repent him of His gifts and calling.
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cation, they had sweated in it and endured school discipline, therefore they would not permit a stranger to interfere. After the Superintendent had with much trouble broken the ice, and taught the first principles of singing to the scholars, he divided them into five choirs with five persons to each choir, namely, one air, one tenor, one alto, and two bass singers. The Sisters were divided into three choirs, the upper, middle and lower; and in the choruses a sign was made for each choir, when to be silent and when to join in the singing. These three choirs had their separate seats at the table of the Sisters during love-feasts, the upper choir at the upper end, the middle at the middle, and the lower at the lower end; in singing antiphonally, therefore, the sing- ing went alternately up and down the table. Not only had each choir to observe its time when to join in, but, because there were solos in each chorale, every voice knew when to keep silent, all of which was most attentively observed. And now the reason appeared which induced him to estab- lish such choirs of virgins. It was with him as with Solomon, he was zealous to make manifest the wonderful harmony of eternity, in a country which but lately wild savages had in- habited; for God owed this to North America as an initiation into the Christian church, therefore these choirs belong to the firstlings of America. The contents of these songs were entirely prophetic, and treated of the restoration of the image of Adamn before his division, of the heavenly virginity, the priesthood of Melchizedek, etc. The gift of prophecy overflowed the Settlement like a river at that time; and close observation showed that the beautiful sun of Paradise had then already reached its meridian, but afterwards inclined towards its setting, and was at last followed by a sorrowful night, as will be shown in its place. This wonder- ful harmony resounded over the country; whoever heard of it, wished to see it, and whoever saw it, acknowledged that God truly lived among these people.
And now let us tell for the information of those who are versed in this art, how he explained the first principles of singing so simply that even a child could understand them; therefore he did not care for the artificial terins of the
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masters, which rather obscure than enlighten the art. Ac- cordingly, whenever he took a hymn in hand, in order to compose a tune to it, he was careful to represent the spirit of the hymn by the tune; then after he had composed a choral- song, he fixed the metre, not according to custom, but as the nature of the thing required it. He, however, soon found out that some of the melodies were very strained, and that notes occurred which did not belong there. Thus he dis- covered the key, for every key has its own peculiarity, and adopts only such notes as are natural to it, and this is the reason why the melodies of Lobwasser have a strained sound, because the key to them was not understood, and notes were thus used which were not suitable. In order that he might not make mistakes in composing, he had for each key certain dominant notes, commonly four to the octave, which he called rulers, but the three other notes, servants. Thus in the f tunes, f, a, c, f, are the rulers, but g, b, d the servants, and although it sounds ill if a servant is made ruler, the com- poser, nevertheless, must know when it is proper to swerve into another key. This gives a very charming variation to the song, provided it resolves itself again into the original key before the end. The Superintendent was a master in this, but his scholars suspected that he had done it in order to find a cause for fault-finding with them; for as soon as they changed to another key their voices fell into disorder.
When he attempted to compose the bass and middle- voices he encountered new difficulties, for you must know that vocal music, as well as mathesis, have their unalterable first principles, which angels even observe in their song. These he did not know, neither was he able, like masters in music, to find the concordance by means of instruments; at last he invented certain schedules, a special one for each key, in which he laid down the proportion between the soprano and the other voices, whereby composition was greatly facili- tated. For instance, in the key of f, the f in the soprano corresponds to a in the tenor, and c in the alto; the bass, however, has the octave of the middle voices. All his tunes have two basses; but he also composed some for six voices, and even for seven, namely, two soprano, one alto, two
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tenor, and two bass; for that purpose, however, he after all had to use two octaves. His last work, by many masters declared the most important, were the choral-songs. They were brought to light, partly printed, partly written, Anno 1754, under the title: " Paradisiacal Wonder Music, 2 which in these latter times and days became prominent in the occi- dental parts of the world as a prevision of the New World, consisting of an entirely new and uncommon manner of sing- ing, arranged in accord with the angelic and heavenly choirs. Herein the song of Moses and the Lamb, also the Song of Solomon, and other witnesses out of the Bible and from other saints, are brought into sweet harmony. Everything arranged with much labor and great trouble, after the manner of sing- ing of the angelic choirs, by a Peaceful one, 3 who desires no other name or title in this world."
It is reported that the angels singing antiphonally appeared in a vision to St. Ignatius, and thus their methods found their way into the church. It is possible that in foriner ages they were inore in use in the convents; now but little is known of then. Yet one of these tune-books came over the ocean, and we are informed that, being engraved on copper, it was printed at Augsburg; but we cannot answer for it. When already half the Settlement was burdened with this work, the house-fathers, too, came to engage in the wonderful music, for the powers of eternity, which were embodied in it, had such an effect that whoever heard the song was forcibly attracted by the goodness of God. Some time during the night was fixed for the school-hour, and two Brethren were appointed teachers; but they showed such diligence in the school dur- ing winter that they neglected their domestic duties, which rendered it necessary to close the school. But the Superin- tendent, in consideration of the fact that such gray heads had paid so much honor to the work of God, in so far that they suffered themselves to be children again, had a music book for four voices written for thein, which he presented to their Community. Their veneration for this music was so great that everyone wished to possess the book, and who-
2 [Paradiesisches Wunderspiel].
3[Einem Friedsamen, the Superintendent's "church-name" was Friedsam].
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ever had it accordingly fell under judgment, as happened yonder with the ark of the covenant. The book thus wan- dered from house to house, till at last nobody wished to have anything to do with it.
After the Superintendent had accomplished such an ill- portant work for the benefit of the spiritual Order in Ephrata, it was resolved, at a general council, that both convents pre- sent him with a worthy reward as a testimonial of filial esteem. This was to consist of two complete music books, furnished for all voices, one of which was to be inade by the society of the Brethren, the other by that of the Sisters. Both parties put their inost skillful members to the task. On the part of the Brethren three of them worked at it for three-quarters of a year. It contained about 500 tunes for five voices; everything was artistically ornamented with the pen, and every leaf had its own head-piece. The Superin- tendent's name stood in front, skillfully designed in Gothic text; around it was a text of blessing added by each Brother. The work of the Sisters was not less remarkable. It was artless and simple, but something wonderful shone forth from it, for which no name can be found.
These two books were reverently presented to him, and the Brother deputed thereto thanked him in the name of the whole Brotherhood for his faithfulness and care. He accepted their present graciously, and promised to remember them in his prayers. There were some instances when the Superintendent showed himself to be a great man, and this was one of themn. Many might object that he was ambitious, but those who knew him more intimately, know how far he was from it. But the fact is, he was to make inanifest the manners of the New World among his followers, and how everyone inust esteem his neighbor higher than himself ; and herein did his disciples faithfully follow him, according to the simplicity of those times.
Before we conclude this chapter, let us mention the writing- school, where the writing in ornamental Gothic text was done, and which was chiefly instituted for the benefit of those who had no musical talents. The outlines of the letters he himself designed, but the shading of them was left to the scholar, in
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order to exercise himself in it. But none was permitted to borrow a design anywhere, for he said: "We dare not borrow from each other, because the power to produce rests within everybody." Many Solitary spent days and years in these schools, which also served them as a means of sanctification to crucify their flesh. The writings were hung up in the chapels as ornaments, or distributed to admirers.
CHAPTER XXV.
CONCERNING THE DOMESTIC CONTENTIONS IN THE SETTLEMENT, UP TO THE TIME WHEN THE ECKERLINS MOVED INTO THE DESERT.
The course of events brings us to the strange division which took place in the Brotherhood of Zion, which had its origin in the dissensions which arose between the Superin- tendent and his first-born spiritual son, Onesimus, the Prior of the Brethren, whereby such a winnowing was brought about in the Settlement that it almost ended in a complete disruption of the same. It has already been mentioned that the Prior frequently became too powerful for the Superin- tendent, and that the Superintendent had much trouble to bring him to order again with the assistance of the Brethren; but what prompted the Prior to act as he did, was at that time still hidden from him. It was the secret of apostasy which was to be revealed through him, and which the Super- intendent's spirit still hindered at that time. Because these events have a great resemblance to the fall of the angel of envy and of the first man, let us go back to the source from which this evil flowed. Whoever is acquainted with the affairs of the Superintendent knows that much was entrusted to him by God at his awakening, namely, it was that good through which the grand-duke Lucifer was turned into the devil, and which also occasioned the fall of the first-created man, because both of them tried to bring this same good into they own possession. For the Superintendent, a man of great simplicity before he was taught wisdom by experience, it was impossible to imagine that any of his disciples would dare to rob hiin of this good, especially since he himself had nothing in his own hand, but had to do as God liad imparted to hiin. Being thius minded he entrusted many things to the Prior, hoping that he would not betray his trust. And dur- ing the first years of his official employment the Prior was so faitliful to his spiritual Father that lie did not enter into inti-
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macy with any of the other Brethren, not even with his own brothers. This intimacy between the Prior and the Superin- tendent was often the talk of the whole Settlement. The Prior, therefore, was often in the balance against the whole Brotherhood, and yet they could not outweigh him, so strong was the confidence of the Superintendent. But it was no small matter to continue this intimacy with the Superintendent, for his intercourse was like unto fuller's soap or a refiner's fire. Therefore, as soon as the Prior per- ceived that in this narrow life the Superintendent never would put any advantage into his hands, but that he would always be obliged to live by his grace, he gradually witli- drew from him and joined his own brothers, and this betrayed the trust which the Superintendent had put in him. The Brethren also objected to being any longer used for the latter's humiliation by the Prior, saying: "It is only a war for the cap."
Thus was the household in Zion conducted amid incessant changes, because the Prior did not possess sufficient right- eousness to humble himself before his spiritual Father, nor sufficient boldness to withdraw from his subordination. Yet was his fall meanwhile a foregone conclusion, for the Superin- tendent, possessed of a keen perception, knew very well that the Prior had betrayed his intimacy with him to his natural brothers, to such an extent that they became masters of him and of his goods, and he was in the same situation towards them as David to Zeruiah's children. They, mean- while, usurped the government, and commenced great things, which they were also able to carry out, because they had the whole Brotherhood on their side. For it was their intention to add yet another wing to the convent, to purchase more bells, a clock, doors and other unnecessary things, wherefore they kept four wagons, two for the purpose of maintaining the trade with the forges and with Philadelphia, and the other two to bring together an indescribably large quantity of lumber. All this the Superintendent did not hinder. He did not consider it advisable to check it with his own will, because the whole of Ephrata was built on the founda- tion of his self-denial and the sacrifice of his will to the will
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of God; and therefore the poor Brethren of Zion also had to deny themselves well.
About this time adverse circumstances brought it about, that the Superintendent fell sick, and everybody thought he would depart this life, which, at the time, would have been welcome to many, since he was a great burden to some as a witness before God. The Prior, at least, entertained this hope; for although the Superintendent outlived him by fully twenty years, the Prior used to say of him: The Superintendent, to be sure, had received of God the gift to awaken men, but not to be their spiritual guide, and therefore, as soon as the Father had transferred his witnessing power to the children, he had to give way, and leave the work to the children; the Superintendent has finished his day's work. Besides, the tomb-stone of the Superintendent was already made and laid by' for use. So every one could perceive what their opinions of the Superintendent were. During this illness, the Prior visited his spiritual Father, and since the Fathers of the old covenant when departing this life blessed their children, he asked that he also should please, before he departed from the Community, honor the Brotherhood with his blessing. The Superintendent consented; and these blessings were afterwards entered upon the minutes of the Brethren.
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