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By Julius F. Sachse.
THE BAPTISMAL POOL ON THE WISSAHICKON.
CHAPTER II. OTHER CHURCHES ORGANIZED.
SPREAD OF THE NEW DENOMINATION.
While the mother church at Schwarzenau continued to be the most important center throughout, it will be remembered that the Brethren soon carried the gospel doctrines far and wide, and the new denomination spread with remarkable rapidity. Of this period of growth Alexander Mack says : "After this evidence of their love to God, by obeying his command they were powerfully strengthened and encour- aged to bear testimony for the truth in their public meetings, to which the Lord added his blessing, and believers were more and more obedient, so that in the short space of seven years their society became numerous, not only at Schwarze- nau, but also in various places in the Palatinate. A society was likewise formed at Marienborn, to which the awakened from the Palatinate attached themselves, for in endeavoring to form a society for themselves, they were persecuted and banished. And even at Marienborn their external privileges were soon blasted, for as the light diffused itself the truth spread, and their numbers increased; it excited alarm and envy; persecution arose; they were driven out as exiles, and under the direction of Providence found an asylum at Crefeldt, under the jurisdiction of the King of Prussia." There were also members at Epstein, and perhaps an organ- ized church, and there seems to be good authority for say- ing, there were many members living in Switzerland, and persecution drove some to Holland. The secret, of course, of the spread of the new doctrines, and the rapid increase of membership in the new denomination was that there were many workers, and aggressive missionary work. Like the
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Apostolic Church, the Church of the Brethren has, in all her history, been a missionary church, and must continue to be so, as long as she is apostolic in faith and doctrine. Of this period when the "society became numerous," in the short space of seven years, Alexander Mack says : "Within this short space of time, it pleased God to awaken many laborers among them, and send them into His vineyard, whose names and places of abode are as follows : John H. Kalklöser from Frankenthal; Christian Libe and Abraham Dubois from Epstein; John Naas and others from the North; Peter Becker from Dilsheim; John H. Traut and his brothers; Henry Holtzappel and Stephen Koch; George B. Gantz from Umstadt; and Michael Eckerlin from Strass- burg; the greater number of whom resorted to Crefeldt; some few, however, atttached themselves to the society at Schwarzenau." There was evidently a definite policy of providing workers, and we do well to maintain always a fixed and definite policy of having, as far as possible, a body of faithful and efficient ministers. It is probable that we shall never fully know of the spread of the Brethren and their doctrines to the fullest extent, but it is still to be hoped that later researches among the archives, and translations of hitherto untranslated works, will throw new light upon this unexplored field, and we shall perhaps find that they covered a much larger field than we generally suppose. The further growth and development of the great work already estab- lished, and the changes in location of congregations, and the moving to other parts, can more properly and logically be treated in the next chapter, for long before now, as indi- cated by the above development, powerful influences had been set to work to stop its spread and destroy the workers and their work. We shall see how far these opposers of the truth succeeded.
CHAPTER III.
PERSECUTION.
Retrospect .- Such childlike faith, and unfaltering trust and pious devotion was the seed of a church. What self- forgetfulness, and what self-abnegation! It was early in the morning, in 1708; this is all we know. The month and the day are studiously avoided. They covenanted not to re- veal the name of the one who baptized the leader, and they kept their vow; we shall never know on whom the lot fell. They had traveled over Germany to collect the opinion of the awakened upon the subject of baptism; they had dili- gently searched history for apostolic and primitive Chris- tian practice; they prayerfully studied the New Testament; there was but one conclusion. The crisis came and the camp moved forward. They knew the consequences but they faltered not. Blessing and prosperity followed the new congregation, and converts were added in such num- bers as to arouse the spirit of envy in the established churches ; opposition and persecution were at once instituted. The twenty-one years of the church's existence in Germany were eventful years. We know the struggle, but history is silent on many things we should like to know. We may know more, sometime we shall. The Schwarzenau congre- gation flourished and in seven years the society was numer- ous. There was a congregation established at Marienborn, to which the awakened from the Palatinate attached them- selves. These members were all driven out as exiles in 1715, but found a refuge, or asylum at Crefeldt, under the jurisdiction of the King of Prussia, whence also came the congregation from Epstein.
Persecution .- Persecution did we say, in the preceding retrospect ? Yes, persecution; religious persecution! In
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the most enlightened country in Europe, in the eighteenth century, within two hundred years from the present, relig- ious persecution ! Surely the saddest, and most heart-touch- ing subject in all history is the history of persecution. The most inhuman treatment of barbaric savagery, because they are savages, is tame as compared with the indescribable torture and most horrible cruelty inflicted, by the so-called Christian church, in putting its helpless victims to a lingering death. It is impossible to understand the history of the Brethren at this period, or the true inward spirit of their lives, unless we can get at least a partial view of this perse- cution. Perhaps it is all we can get; we shall never know its full meaning, and the bitterness of their struggle.
First of all, let us get the historic setting of this period, and we shall, perhaps, be able to measure, at least in part, its real import. The agitation, conflict, and persecution that followed the overthrow of Catholic domination, at the time of the Reformation, finally broke out in the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), which involved all continental Europe. The valley of the Rhine became the theater of war, and the pious Germans suffered the horrors of continual persecution, rapine and murder. "The state church in various parts of Germany was now Catholic, now Protestant. When the Catholics were in power they persecuted the Protestants. When the Protestants were in power they persecuted the Catholics. As the Protestants divided up into sects they persecuted each other. Cruel persecution for religious be- lief and practice was a daily occurrence. The government was changing, unstable, and often insincere. It was neither able nor inclined to give protection. It may be said in brief, that for one hundred years, from the beginning of the Thirty Years' War, the Rhine countries were scenes of almost constant carnage."1 The bloody struggle of the Thirty Year's War was ended by the Treaty of Westphalia (1648), sometimes called the Treaty of Münster, and by 1 T. T. Myers in "Two Centuries of Brethren."
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PERSECUTION.
this treaty, the Catholic, Lutheran, and Reformed Churches were leagued into a new persecuting power.
"The three state churches denied to all others the right to exist in the German Empire. Whoever found his religious convictions running counter to these; whose faith was of a different sort; who interpreted his Bible in another sense; who worshiped God in his own way; found life a burden and a cross. Church and state vied with each other in their zeal to persecute dissenters. The harmless Mennonites, the God-fearing Schwenkfelders, the Pietists, and the Mystics were all reviled, persecuted, and regarded as fit subjects for insane asylums or prisons. What happened to these in the closing years of the seventeenth century became also the fate of the Taufers in the opening third of the eighteenth century."2
We cannot further follow out in this connection and give full particulars of the sufferings of the Brethren as their persecutors drove them from place to place, and inflicted punishments of severe labor, deprivations, fines, and impris- onments. As already intimated the Marienborn and Ep- stein congregations, and refugees from the Palatinate, were driven out as exiles, and banished from their homes, with their goods confiscated, and finally found refuge in Crefeldt. Here the new organization flourished, for several years, and many were added to their number, but bitter experiences awaited them. Members were received by baptism from all shades of belief, as a result from previous teaching and training, and often it was a slow process of assimilation and indoctrinating. In the Crefeldt congregation there was a diversity of opinion that occasioned general discussion and finally broke out into an open rupture and division, that was fraught with momentous results. The main facts in the case were somewhat as follows : There was a young minister
2 M. G. Brumbaugh, "Eighteenth Century Influences in Germany"; Seidensticker's "German Emigration to America"; D. K. Cassel's "History of the Mennonites"; Sachse's "Pietists of Colonial Penn- sylvania "; Pennypacker's "Historical and Biographical Sketches."
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by the name of William Häcker who had been baptized, but was preaching for the Mennonites, who paid him 800 guil- ders. He became acquainted with a young woman who was not a member of the church, the daughter of a merchant, and finally married her. This unfortunate incident caused a great excitement, and an open rupture. Christian Libe with four Brethren rose up and expelled Häcker, though John Naas and the congregation disapproved, and wished only to suspend him from bread-breaking. Other expul- sions followed, and the congregation suffered much from this confusion. Häcker took sick and died. Peter Becker, who had been his special friend, continued to be so, and ministered to his comfort to the time of his death.
It is remarkable that these things happened, but the most remarkable part of this sad struggle and experience, is that the results were so serious, when the large majority of the congregation opposed the expulsion of Häcker, and disap- proved of Libe's course. It is important to us, at this time, to note causes that made such a condition possible, and the final resultant effects produced.
Refugees from all over Germany had come to Crefeldt, with widely different teaching and training. It was im- possible to assimilate rapidly the diversified views of these converts to the Brethren's doctrines. While this was the internal condition, among the members, there were powerful external conditions of many refugees not in fellowship with the Brethren, who brought to bear every possible influence against the work of the Brethren. In the next place, while Christian Libe was only assistant Elder in the Crefeldt Congregation, he was a powerful preacher, and a man of large influence. In this unfortunate controversy, he was either insincere, or afterwards drifted entirely from his moorings. He himself, afterwards, did as Häcker had done, married outside of the congregation, and proved unfaithful to the Brethren's doctrine by finally becoming a wine-mer- chant. He never came to America. As a result, or effect,
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PERSECUTION.
of all this, it may be said, it was a step in the direction of more fixed principles of doctrine, and a more definite policy of church government among the Brethren.
This Crefeldt territory seemed to be especially under the persecuting influence of the Reformed Church, as will be seen by the following accounts :
" The Crefeldt congregation had many remarkable expe- riences. In 1714 six members of the reformed congrega- tion at Solingen became concerned on the question of infant- baptism, its lawfulness and its necessity. This resulted in their joining the Crefeldt congregation through holy bap- tism. These six were Wilhelm Grahe, Jacob Grahe, Luther Stetius, Johann Lobach, Wilhelm Kueppus and Johann Henkels. The youngest, Wilhelm Grahe, was twenty-one years old. They were immersed in running water in the river Wupper.
"This raised a great storm. The synods of the Berg Province and the Reformed general synod heard of this with deep regret. The secular government called these six Brethren as well as the landlord of Wilhelm Grahe, Johann Carl, before the judge, who was a Catholic. On Febru- ary 26, 1717, they were taken to Dusseldorf and thrown into prison.3
"Here they had to endure great hardships, digging trenches, wheeling dirt, performing all sorts of menial serv- ices.4 This imprisonment lasted four years. In their misery they were visited by Stephen Koch, who gave them spiritual consolation. They became quite sick in prison and in their suffering they were also visited by Gosen Gojen and Jacob Wilhelm Naas.
" This Gosen Gojen was a Mennonite preacher of the Cre- feldt congregation. He afterwards became convinced that immersion was the only Christian baptism, and in Septem-
3 The prison of Gulch.
4 For a full account of their sufferings see Goebel's "Christliches Leben," Vol. III, p. 238 et seq.
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ber, 1724, he was immersed in the Rhine after the apostolic manner.
"The Jacob Wilhelm Naas named above was a son of John Naas, Elder at Crefeldt, and a member of the congre- gation of Täufers or Brethren."
The official action of the Synod, that brought about this imprisonment, will be seen in the following ecclesiastic cen- sure : ad acta Montensis, 144, held at Solingen, "The Synod General must learn with regret that several heretofore Re- formed church members have been by Dompelaers, living at. Crefeldt, rebaptized in rivers and other running waters."
When, later, the General Synod learned that the Brethren had left Crefeldt, the assembled preachers expressed their joy in the following official record : Acta Synod General, 1719, 21 ad 44, "The preachers of the Meuro Classe have received the confession of faith of the so-called Dompelaers staying at Crefeldt, and they have sent their 'remonstration' to his gracious Majesty the King of Prussia. However, this Fratres Meursanae Synodi report with pleasure that these Dompelaers, who have been so injurious to our church, have betaken themselves away by water and are said to have sailed to Pennsylvania."5
5 Brumbaugh's "History of the German Baptist Brethren," p. 50.
CHAPTER IV.
FIRST EMIGRATION.
The Brethren had been at Crefeldt about four years, and there were at least two operating causes why there was soon to be brought about a change fraught with tremendous and far-reaching results, in the centuries to come. On the one hand, persecution was pressing harder and harder, on every side; for, as baptisms multiplied, the churches were aroused afresh into bitter persecution. On the other hand, the Brethren had every opportunity to become well informed on the subject of Pennsylvania, and especially the settlement at Germantown, the first permanent German settlement in America, which had been made in 1683, by 13 families, or 33 persons, from this same Crefeldt community. The Brethren knew Germantown for years, knew Penn's prov- ince of religious liberty, and a few of the older ones, no doubt, heard Penn preach in the valley of the Rhine and in Holland. They had every opportunity to learn full partic- ulars of the now prosperous settlement of the Germans in the Quaker province, the foundation of which had been laid by the Crefeldt settlers thirty-six years before.
Crefeldt, therefore, was destined to furnish the first com- pany of Brethren for emigration and settlement in the new world, just as it had furnished the first emigrants for the first settlement of Germantown. Here there had been many trials and scenes of persecution, and many were now ready to do anything or go anywhere, so there was but the assur- ance of religious freedom and liberty of conscience. To these people the endearments of home remained only as a sad memory. They were all exiles and pilgrims among strangers and enemies. Their persecutors pressed them hard everywhere. Finally their hearts almost sank within them.
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Regretfully, they turned their eyes away from the beloved "Vaterland " and looked wistfully, hopefully, to the land of promise in the New World. Brave souls those, who, in those days, could face the horrors of an ocean voyage, in un- seaworthy, comfortless, death-breeding old hulks. But there was hope beyond, as an anchor to their souls. Did they not count the cost, nor measure the sacrifice? They could not realize all, but they trusted Him whom they fol- lowed and for His sake they were willing to endure all things. The uncivilized Indian was to be preferred to the enemies at home, inhospitable shores to a land of persecution; they would find some new friends for those they left behind, and at great sacrifice, they would have other homes for those of their childhood. The enjoyment of religious liberty, in the " province of peace," would pay for all they leave behind, and all they should endure, and the darkness of the hour of the sacrifice of all things, proved to be just preceding the dawn of the day of their salvation. The company consisted of about twenty1 families, it is said, perhaps one hundred and twenty persons, and organized with Peter Becker as their leader. He was a minister at Crefeldt and is known as a man gifted in prayer with earnestness and fervency, and as a sweet singer, but not noted as a preacher. The story of this journey and voyage to America, so momentous in its results, is briefly told. They came in the year 1719; that is almost all we know.
The voyage is said to have been a stormy one, which is likely true. Landing at Philadelphia, the procession moved to Germantown, the place that was to be so inseparably con- nected with their future history. It would be exceedingly interesting to know the names of all those that composed this company, but we must be satisfied with the names of those that sat at the first love-feast and communion service, four years later.
The principal settlement was made in Germantown, while 1 Goebel says, 40 families, 200 persons.
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FIRST EMIGRATION.
small settlements were made at distant points-some scatter- ing to Skippack, Falckner's Swamp and Oley. There were new experiences awaiting these hardy pioneers, as they marched forth into the primeval forests. The reliance upon God, which they had learned in the school of bitter perse- cution, no doubt served as their support and comfort in many a new trial and dark hour. They were face to face with a series of struggles. They were struggling to con- quer the forest wilds, to make them fruitful fields. They were struggling to establish homes. They were struggling to adapt themselves to new and strange conditions and cir- cumstances in life. And, above all, they were struggling to adjust religious differences and prejudices that marred their fellowship and prevented their united effort in Christian work.
It is sometimes sad to record the facts of history, and it may seem sad to some to record this fact of religious differ- ences among the first Brethren in America, and the conse- quent first few years of spiritual drought. Historians have seized the opportunity of speaking of " jealousies and bick- erings" among themselves, without stopping to consider reasons or results In considering the religious conditions at this time, it is necessary to make a careful inquiry into the cause or causes, in order that we may understand future results. To the careful student and the impartial investiga- tor, it is gratifying to know that differences in views pro- duced discord among them, or at least lack of full fellow- ship. It only proves that the real spirit of the Brethren Church was at variance with the mystic influences and all kindred forms of error which some had absorbed in Ger- many. Some of the Brethren did not wholly escape the in- fluence of the disciples of Boehme. There had been pro- longed trouble in the Crefeldt congregation. The members discussed their differences while crossing the ocean, and the agitation was kept up after they came here, and in fact, con- tinued until some left the communion of the church, a few
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years later. But in addition to all this, there were the hard- ships of a frontier life to overcome. The settlements were widely separated, forest and stream intervening, poor roads, or none at all, and no transportation. Some had become indifferent, like most of the German settlers who had pre- ceded them, and among whom they had settled. All of these things tended to hinder the work for three years, and saddened many hearts, but there were earnest souls praying for relief from this spiritual famine, and the Lord soon answered in refreshing showers of spiritual awakening, and we are about to record a most important event in the relig- ious history of Pennsylvania.
CHAPTER V.
A NEW DENOMINATION IN COLONIAL AMERICA.
It must be remembered that these members who were so earnestly praying and working, were not raw recruits, but seasoned veterans. They were battle-scarred spiritual he- roes, disciplined in the hardest battles that Christian men are ever called upon to fight. The very highest type of Christian character alone survived the severest test of perse- cution through which they passed. The weak and faint- hearted had fallen by the wayside. This is why, in later years, the little German church on the slope of wooded hills on the old Indian trail was ready to do such splendid things, without parallel in the province, and thus contributed so large a part of the glorious history of two hundred years.
While there were some services held in the vicinity of Germantown, from the beginning, there was no special or- ganized religious effort made until the fall of 1722. At that time Becker, Gommere, Gantz and the Traut Bros. visited the scattered Brethren. The result of this visit was the unification of sentiment and the awakening of new inter- est in their religious activity. It was the beginning of a new era. In the fall of the following year important events oc- curred that constituted an immediate step toward organizing themselves into a church. The climax of this series of events was the application of six " persons on the Schuyl- kill" for baptism. These "persons on the Schuylkill" lived thirty-five miles up the river, and comprised Martin Urner and his wife and four neighbors. "This organization of the Germantown church and baptism of these first six con- verts took place on the 25th day of December, 1723."1
Of these important events, the "Chronicon" gives the 1 See "Urner Family," p. 9, Isaac N. Urner, LL.D., Philadelphia, 1893.
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following account : "In August of the year 1723, a rumor was spread through the country that Christ. Libe, a fa- mous Baptist teacher who had long been in the galleys had arrived in Philadelphia. This moved some newly awakened persons on the Schuylkill to go forth to meet him. The whole thing, however, was a fiction. These persons were persuaded by the Baptists (Brethren) to go with them to their meeting, during and after which they heard so much of the Germans' awakening that they went home very much edified. Soon after a second visit was made to German- town, by which both parties were so much edified that the German Baptists (Brethren) promised them a visit in return which they made four weeks afterwards with great blessing. The newly awakened ones were thereby stirred up still more, so that they begged to be received into their communion by holy baptism. This was the occasion of important proceed- ings among the Brethren in Germantown, for they still had in mind the misunderstandings which had arisen between them and their Brethren at Crefeldt. Besides, they were indeed a branch of a congregation, but yet not a congrega- tion that dared to presume to administer the sacraments. The worst was that they were divided among themselves and had only lately commenced to draw nigh to one another again. After they had seriously pondered over these things in the spirit, they finally agreed to consent to the request. Accordingly, after the candidates for baptism had chosen Peter Becker as their baptizer, they were baptized in the stream Wiskohikung, (Wissahickon,) near Germantown, on December 25th, of the year 1723. And as these were the firstlings of all baptized among the high German in America, their names shall be here recorded and given to posterity, namely : Martin Urner and his female housemate, Henry Landis and his housemate, Frederick Lang and Jane Mayle. The evening following they held the first lovefeast ever cele- brated in America at John Gommere's, which created a great stir among the people of that neighborhood, Peter Becker, mentioned before, ministering at the same.
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