USA > Pennsylvania > Lancaster County > History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 68
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As early as 1737, Beissel's people had accumulated
In 1883 there were in Ephrata four hotels, three general stores, one hardware-store, one tin-shop, one ' a large area of landed property along the banks of the Cocalico. Creek, which, as found by reference to the " Chronicon Ephratonce" and old deeds, was held as common stock. (See also history of Ephrata village in this chapter. )
grocery-store, one liquor-store, one furniture- and organ-store, three coal- and lumber-yards, four leaf- tobacco- and cigar-stores, one shoe manufactory, em- ploying five men, one coach manufactory, employing fourteen men, one bending-works, employing twelve As early as 1735 the monastic system was inaugu- men (these works were destroyed by fire July 19, : rated, and Beissel invested with the title of father,
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EPHRATA TOWNSHIP.
and assumed the monastie name of " Friedsam," to which was added the suffix "Gottrecht," together meaning Peareable, God-right.
The first prior of the brotherhood was Israel Eck- . erline, otherwise " Brother Onesimus." Among the other cloister names borne by both sexes, see history of Ephrata village, this chapter.
The first building erected under the monastie sys- tem was built in 1735, on the hill named by Fried- sam " Mount Zion." The building was called Kedar, and contained one principal room for religions wor- ship, love-feasts, and the ceremony of feet-washing. Besides this there were other rooms, very small, for the use of the brethren and sisters, those of the latter being in the upper story. Another building larger in dimensions, and called "Zion," was built on the same hill in 1738. These, as well as the several buildings of later ereetion, were covered with shin- gles on the roofs and outside walls, and remain thus covered to the present time, 1883.
In the year 1740 there were in the Ephrata clois- ters thirty-six single brethren and thirty-five sisters ; and at one time in later years, when the society was ; ing-rooms, the "gaol," the chapels, and dormitories at the height of its prosperity, the whole congrega- , were also covered with the same kind of ornamental tion, including those living outside the principal . pen-work, which was done by the sisters ju a room
buildings, but in the immediate neighborhood, num- bered about three hundred.
The large building called " Periel," intended as a meeting-house for religious worship, was built in 1741. Three years later the building " Saron" was erected as a dwelling-house for married men and women who had voluntarily renounced matrimonial vows, the sexes to be kept separate in different parts of the house. The plan proved a failure; many of the self-divorced couples reunited and returned to live together at their previous homes, "Saron" was then occupied by the women, Auna and Maria Eicher, with the other celibate sisters who loved the spiritnal guidance of Father Friedsam. Connected with the building "Salm" was a chapel of goodly size and a commodions hall called "Saal," for the holling of the Agapas or love-feasts.
The building " Kedar" was found insufficient for the use of the brethren or monk-, and in 1746 another and much larger building was erected for them, and named "Bethania." Connected with it was a galler- ied meeting-room sufficiently large enough to accom- modate the whole society for public worship. In that use it superseded the buikling " Peniel," and in it the Saturday meetings continued to be held through all the years of the society's prosperity. Around Bethania and in its immediate vicinity were chu -- tered several smaller buildings, among them being a school-house, printing-office, almonry, bakery, and others, used for different purposes.
The houses Bethania and Saron (occupied respee- tively by the brethren and sisters), though both very large and three stories high, afforded but rude and poor accommodations to the inmates. With ceiling>
barely seven feet in height, passages so narrow that two persons could not pass each other in them, with very low and narrow doors, swinging on wooden hinges and fastened by wooden latches, with cells | hardly large enough to hold a cot, and each having only the light and ventilation afforded by a single window, eighteen by twenty-four inches in size, and containing only the most indispensable articles of fur- i niture, and that of the rudest description, these houses were certainly anything else than abodes of luxury for the brethren and sisters who inhabited them.
It is stated that in the house "Bethania" the brothers slept on wooden benches, with wooden blocks for pillows. Probably the dormitories of the sisters were a little better furnished in that particular. In each of the cells was an hour-glass, and the walls (especially those of cells occupied by the females) were nearly covered with very large sheets of paper, on which were written in large and elegantly exe- cuted German text passages of Scripture and verses of original poetry by Beissel. The walls of the meet-
(called the " writing-room") set apart for that pur- pose. The sisters " Anastasia," "Iphigenia," and "Zenobia" were mentioned as being remarkably skillful in this ornamental writing.
The dress adopted by Friedsam for the brethren and sisters of Ephrata was nearly the same as that of the Capuchina. They wore a cowl and gown of white, -linen in summer, woolen in winter. The cowl of the sisters differed a little from that of the brethren, and, as a matter of course, they wore the petticoat in place of trowsers ; but they wore the same kind of gown, and the tout ensemble of the dress of both sexes was so nearly the same that the difference between monk and nun could hardly be discovered at a little distance. Both brothers and sisters went barefooted, except when the weather was too cold. They lived on food of the plainest kind, consisting almost entirely of bread, vegetables, and mush. No animal food was found on their tables, and even butter, cheese, and milk were discountenanced as being gross and nuspiritual in their nature and ( what was perhaps of greater importance) injurious to the voice. The "sweet singing" of the sisters at Cones- toga, and afterwards at Ephrata, was highly prized by Father Friedsam, who was himself an excellent musician, and had no mean talent as a composer.
All their vessels for communion and ordinary drink- ing purposes, also all their trays, plates, and other articles for table-service, and even their candlesticks, were of wood, and manufactured by the hands of the best skilled among the brethren. When the com- mencement was made at Ephrata they lnul few, if any, beasts of burden, and the plow was drawn by the brethren, ranged in a long line on each side of a rope,
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HISTORY OF LANCASTER COUNTY.
and even the sisters often assisted in the labor at that time. But after a short time they procured oxen and horses to perform this work. Father Friedsam did not encourage idlers at Ephrata. Every one had his or her work to perform, whether out or in-doors, and each one performed it, and as a natural consequence the society at Ephrata became more and more pros- perous as the years passed.
A paper-mill was built and put in operation by the people at Ephrata for the manufacture of paper for nse on the printing-press, which will be mentioned
Singing-schools were begun at Ephrata in 1742, under the direction of Father Friedsam, who was himself a good singer, as well as an excellent per- former on the violin and other musical instruments. The musie used in these schools was of Beissel's own composing, and was written on sheets by the sisters of "Saron," in a room of that house devoted to that purpose. More than four hundred hymns, all of Beissel's composition, were thus copied in their great hymn-book, " Zionitscher Weihrauchugel." After a time the pupils became noted for their fine perform- ance, which attracted many strangers to visit them, and one of their visitors thus described their singing in a letter to Governor John Penn : " The performers sat with their heads reelined, their countenances sol -! ein and dejected, their faces pale and emaciated from their manner of living, their clothing exceeding white and picturesque, and their music such as thrilled the very soul. I almost began to think myself in the world of spirits."
Ludwig Hacker came to join the Ephrata people in 1739, and in the following year a Sabbath-school was established under his leadership. It was very largely attended, and the pupils became very enthu- siastic in religious matters, until there resulted among them a general awakening. Each morning and even- ing, before and after the sessions of the common school, they met for prayer and exhortation, developing an excitement and zeal so extravagant as to cause Fried- sam to discourage the daily meetings, as also the erection of a house which had been commenced in- tended for their especial use. The Sabbath-school, however, continued to be held weekly for many years, and a building was built about 1750 for its use. The Sabbath-school-house was one of the buildings used in the fall of 1777 as hospitals for the wounded from the battle of Brandywine.1
1 " A few days after the battle of Brandywine had been fought (Sept. 11, 1777) four or hve hundred of the wounded soldiers were taken to Ephrata and placed in the hospital. Dis. Yerkel, Scott, and Hurisant were the altending surgeons and physicians. The wounds and camp
During the year 1745 the prior, who had exceeded his authority in erecting a tower and ordering a chime of bells from a firm in Europe, without con- sulting the proper authorities, and for this breach of trust was deposed, and Peter Miller appointed to fill the vacancy. Of the tower and bell, the following will be of interest.
One of the structures proposed to be erected by the prior and his friends was a tower, in which was to be hung a chime of bells. Upon the arrival of the first bell the indignant communists, startled alike hereafter. They had also a saw-mill, a flour-mill, a ' at the unauthorized innovation upon their plain fulling-mill, and a mill for making oil from flaxseed. , ways and at the inordinate extravagance of their These mills served not only the Ephrata settlement, . presumptuous prior, at first resolved to break the bell but also the people of the surrounding country, who were glad to patronize thein, for, besides doing good work, they were operated on principles of serupulous honesty.
"to pieces and bury the fragments, but upon more ma- ture reflection and by the advice of the practical Beissel they agreed to sell it, and found a customer at a price far below its cost in the Lutheran congrega- tion of Lancaster borough, and for many years the bell, which never reached Ephrata, hung in the tower of Trinity Lutheran Church, Lancaster, and when supplanted there was sold to the Washington Fire Company. With the disbandment of the Lancaster volunteer fire department it was bought and pre- sented to Grace Lutheran Church, in whose tower it now hangs. It bears the inscription, cast in the metal: Sub auspicio niri venerandi Onesimi Societ. Ephrat. Propositi, A.D. MDCCXLV .:
The Old Printing-Press.'-The famous printing- press of Ephrata was obtained by the Society in 1742, and put in operation the same year or in the early part of 1743. The first book printed' on it was for Israel Eckerline in 1744.ª
During a full half-century after Beissel's printing- press commenced work at Ephrata, it was kept in ac- tive operation at that place. Besides " The Book of Martyrs" and the sectarian publications of Beissel and his brotherhood, there was printed upon it one or more editions of the New Testament (or as some accounts have it, of the Bible).
fever batlhal their skill, and one hundred and fifty of the soldiers died hete. . . . The first who died were buried with honore of war, a funeral sermon In ing preached by one of their own number appointed for that purpose. This practice was continued for some time, till they thed too Inpadly to allow time for the performance of the ceremony, when every- thing of the kind was dispensed will."
2 Under the auspices of the venerable man Onesimus, placed over the society at Ephtata, A. D. 1715.
3 The facts relating to the Ephrata printing press were furnished principally by D. J. IL Dinbbs, of Lancaster.
4 A number of books lund been previously printed for Beissel and the Ephrata Society (commencing as early as 1728) by Benjamin Franklin, of Plaladelphia, and Christopher Sauer, of Germantown. The first printed by Franklin for Belsarl way entitled, " Divine Melodies of Love and Praise." The fust one issued from The press of Sanet was entitled, "Zoon's Hill of lucense, or Monddans of Myth," the volume home detheted to " All the Solitary Turtle-Doves that Con in the Wilder- ness." Another, from the gen of Michael Wohlfahrt, was entitled, " Wisdom of God," published in 1737.
6 In 1715, ot soon after La heilige had been deposed from the prior- ship, every copy of his book that he had had printed the year before wat- burned, by oder of Father Friedsam and the brotherhood. The celebrated Conad Weiser, being present, assisted in the auto-de-fe.
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EPHRATA TOWNSHIP.
In 1777, when Col. Bartram Galbraith, the county lientenant, sent men to the paper-mill at Eptirata for . paper to make cartridges for the Continental army, they, finding none at the mill, searched the printing- office, and, discovering there a great number of printed sheets of the Bible (or Testament), seized three wagon- loads of them, and the sacred ammunition was soon afterwards fired into the lines of the British foe at Brandywine and Germantown.
Forty-three publications, including Eckerline's that was burned, are known to have been printed on the old Ephrata printing-press while in possession of the society. Copies of thirty-eight of the different Eph- rata publications are now in possession of Mr. S. IT. Zalım, of Lancaster City. We herewith give the titles of those at hand :
1745. " Urstandliche und Erfahrungsvolle Hole! Zeugniesse," etc. (Testimonies of Spiritual Life), 4to, pp. 294. This book tells us about " the joys of vir- ginity" and " the raptures of silence."
1745. "Güldene Apfel in Silbernen Schalen" . (Apples of Gold in Caskets of Silver), 12mo, pp. 519.
1745. " Die ernsthafte Christenpflicht" ( The Earn- est Duty of Christians), 12mo, pp. 120.
1747. " Das Gesang der Einsamen und Verlassenen Turtel-Tanbe" (The Song of the Solitary and For- saken Turtle-Dove), Ho, pp. 359.
1747. " Der Blutige Schauplatz, oder Martyrer Geschichte der Taufgesinnten" ( The Bloody Scaffold, or Baptist Martyrology), folio, pp. 1514. This im- mense folio, of which copies are still occasionally seen, was a reprint of a work first published in Eu- rope in 1660. Its republication was undertaken prin- cipally at the suggestion of the Mennonites. The printing occupied fifteen of the brethren almost con- stantly for three years. There appear to have been two editions, one containing a frontispiece with mys- tical figures and emblems intended for the brethren ; the other, which is by far the most common, was without the emblems, and was probably intended for circulation among the Mennonites and the great body of German Baptists. The book has been frequently reprinted in Lancaster and elsewhere.
1752. "Erster Theil der Theologischen Lectionen" (Theological Discourses, Part I.), 4to, pp. 432.
1754. " Eines Christen Reise" (The Pilgrim's Prog- ress), 12mo, 2 parts, 280 and 264 pages. The first edition of " Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress" ever pub- lished in America.
1755. " Nachklang zum Gesang der Einsamen Tur- tel-Taube" ( Echo of the Song of the Solitary and Forsaken Turtle-Dove), 4to, pp. III.
1756. " Das Bruderlied, oder Ein Ausfluss Gottes" (The Brothers' Song, Ito, pp. 30.
1756. " Ein Angenehmer Geruch der Rosen und der Lilien" (The Pleasant Odor of Roses and Lilies), Ato, pp. 18. The two preceding volumes were respect- ively issued by the brethren and sisters. The first is
dated at Bethania, the brothers' house ; the second is said to have been composed in Saron, the dwelling of the sisters.
1759., M. Tobias Wagner's " Abschieds-Rede an seine Lutherische Gemeinden" (M. Tobias Waguer's Valedietory Discourse), pamphlet, pp. 9.
1762. M. Valentin Wudrian's "Creutz Schule" (Wudrian's School of the Cross), Svo, pp. 465.
1762. " Neu vermehrtes Gesang der einsamen Tur- tle-Taube" (Improved edition of the Song of the Soli- tary Turtle-Dove).
1763. " Eine Kurze Vorstellung des Theils von Africa, welches bewohnt wird von Negroes" (A short account of Africa), Svo, pp. 107. A book against the slave-trade.
1764. " Von der Historia des Apostolischen Kamp- fes" (The History of the Apostolie Conflict), Svo, pp. 388.
1764. " Des jüngeren Nicodemi Evangelium" (The Gospel of St. Nicodemus).
1765. " A Dissertation on Man's Fall-Translated from the High German Original," Svo, pp. 37. The author was Conrad Beissel. It is eurions ou account of its appearance in the English language.
1766. " Paradiesisches Wunderspiel" ( Wonderful Melody of Paradise), Ato, pp. 472.
1767. "The Family Prayer Book." Containing morning and evening prayers for families and private persons. To which are annexed directions for a de- vout and decent behavior in the public worship of God; more particularly in the use of the common prayers appointed by the Church of England, to- gether with the church catechism. Collected and published chiefly of the Episcopal Congregation of Lancaster, Pequea, and Caernarvon. Printed for T. Barton.
1769. " Christliches Gemüthsgespräch" (Christian Meditation ), Svo, pp. 168.
1770. " Die Ernsthafte Christen Pflicht" (The Earnest Duty of Christians). A second edition of the book published in 1745.
1773. "Deliciae Ephratenses," Part I. (The De- lights of Ephrata.) Discourses of Conrad Beissel.
1786. "Chronicon Ephratense" (The Chronicle of Ephrata). This book contains a history of the order. 1788. " Anhang zum Widerlegten Wiedertäufer" (Appendix to the Confuted Anabaptist).
1788. " Apologia, oder Schriftmäsige Verantwort- ung" ( Apology, or Scriptural Answer), pp. 72. The two books last mentioned were directed against a volume called "The Confuted Anabaptist." The authorship of the second volume is ascribed to Alex- ander Mack, Jr.
1790. " Merkwürdige Geschichte von einem Men- schen der mit dem Teufel in einem Bund getreten" (Wonderful History of a Man who had made a Com- paet with the Devil).
1792. (. A. Roemeling' " Herausfuehrung aus Babel" (Deliverance from Babel), pp. 542.
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HISTORY OF LANCASTER COUNTY.
1792. "Christliche Bibliothek" (Christian Library), von George A. Martin, Svo, pp. 148.
1792. "Vom Christlichen Gebrauch der Lieder" (The Christian Use of Hymns), 12mo, pp. 56.
1795. " Das Neue Testament" (The New Testa- ment ).
1795. "The Cheap and Famous Farrier."
It is known that a large amount of Continental money was printed on the old Ephrata press while Congress was in session at York, Pa., in 1777-78.
The old Ephrata printing-press passed out of pos- session of the Ephrata Society about the year 1795. In that year a small hymn-book (" Das Kleine Da- vidische Psalterspiel") was issued at Ephrata by Solomon Mayer. During the earlier part of the present century Joseph Bauman, of Ephrata, printed a number of volumes, among which the Works of Jacob Boehme enjoyed an extensive circulation. The most eurious of the later Ephrata books is the autobiography of Ezekiel Sangmeister, which was published in numbers in 1825. Sangmeister was a monk who was opposed to Beissel, and who wrote his own life as a bitter commentary on the " Chronicon Ephratense." His writings remained hidden for many years behind a secret panel in the wall of his cell, and seem to have been suppressed soon after their publication. Another Ephrata printer was Jacob Rush, who issued Boehme's " Christosophie," and possibly other volumes of a similar character.
The volumes bearing the names of individual Eph- rata printers are not so highly regarded as those which were issued by the direct authority of the brotherhood.
The ancient press, which the Ephrata brethren kept almost continually employed for a period of more than half a century, and which was continued in use by individual proprietors for an additional term of thirty years at least, is now in Philadelphia, in possession of the Historical Society of Pennsyl- vania.
Soon after the close of the French and Indian war the English government appointed commissioners to visit Ephrata for the purpose of learning something of this peculiar institution. Upon their visiting the place they were charmed with what they saw and heard, particularly with the sweet singing of the brethren and sisters. Some of the written music of "Saron" was sent by them as a present to the royal family, who, being greatly pleased with it, sent in re- turn a present inclosed in a box. Some months after the box was received at Ephrata, and privately opened by Friedsam and the new prior, Peter Miller, and, after examination, the box with its contents was buried in a secret place, and has never been resur- rected.
After more than forty years of spiritual leadership, Conrad Beissel died in 1768. Peter Miller ( Brother Jalbez), the new prior, then succeeded to the charge of the congregation and brotherhood, which had then
1
already passed through the period of its greatest prosperity. From this time it steadily declined under Miller's charge, although it has been generally ad- mitted that he was much the superior of Beissel, both in education and natural talent. The decadence of the society was not the result of the change of leadership, but of other causes, one of the principal of which was the fact that the time had passed when institutions like that founded by Beissel at Ephrata could flourish and grow on American soil. All of its history that is of much interest close, with the close of the Revolution. Yet a few years longer it con- tinued to exist with something of its original forms and surroundings, but at the end of a quarter of a century it had ceased to be more than a mere relic and reminder of the prosperous community that Father Friedsam had held in charge years before.
Of the Ephrata brethren and sisters there remained at the close of the last century only a few superanun- ated persons inhabiting the houses " Bethania" and "Saron." But the sisters skilled in penmanship were no longer seen at their work in the writing and music rooms; the singing- and Sunday-school had been closed years before; the paper-mill was silent, and the famous printing-press, though yet in operation to some extent, had passed from the control of the brethren. The principal building- were still stand- ing; they and their inmates having grown gray to- gether. To insure the support of the latter during the remainder of their lives, and to secure and legally hold the property of the community, a memorial was presented to the Legislature setting forth that the monastic branch of the Ephrata Society " is reduced to a few aged and infirm members who are incapable of managing their estate, and upon whose death the same will probably become extinct," and asking for an act of incorporation. Accordingly an act was passed Feb. 21, 1814, incorporating " The German Religious Society of Seventh-Day Baptists of Ephrata," and appointing Christian Bowman, Jacob Gorgas, Abel Witmer, Samuel Fahnestock, Jacob Kimmel, Jr., Obed Fahnestock, and Jacob Koenig- macher, trustees of the society. Successive boards of trustees were chosen from time to time, but about the year 1875 disputes arose, and the society became divided into two opposing factions, which under their respective boards of trustees (each claiming to be the legal and legitimate one) are now contesting in the courts for possession of the society property, which is said to be worth only about twenty thousand dollars.
In membership the Ephrata Society has dwindled to about a seore and a half, three-fourths of whom are women, and that the grace and spirituality of the founders of the seet have in some measure departed from its later dircetion may be inferred from the fart that of the male members one is a man eighty-two years of age, the other six are included in the two contesting boards of trustees, who are the parties to the pending litigation.
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EPHRATA TOWNSHIP.
Ephrata Monument Association .- Long after the battles of Germantown and Brandywine, and long after the Ephrata cloisters had been occupied as hos- pitals for the wounded soldiers in those battles, and those that died had been buried in a field not far dis- tant, did the patriotism of the people become aroused to the fact that the deeds of those noble heroes now dead should in some way be commemorated. True, the grounds in which they lay bivouacked, patiently awaiting Gabriel's reveille to be sounded, had been inclosed by a common fence, and over the gateway was painted the following inscription :
"Hier Ruhen die Gebeine vieler Soldater."
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