USA > Pennsylvania > The German Pietists of provincial Pennsylvania : 1694-1708 > Part 10
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It is further an interesting fact that Auren laid the corner-stone of Holy Trinity (Old Swedes) Church of Christiana (Wilmington), on the Seventh day, Saturday, May 28, 1698.
Notwithstanding his outspoken Sabbatarianism, Auren was called as pastor to the Rattcong (Racoon) Church in New Jersey, and as he continued to preach the doctrine of Sabbath, he was cited by Biörck to appear before the Gov- ernor of New York; but so ably did Auren defend his position, that he was permitted to return as pastor, with the understanding that he was to preach the Orthodox Lutheran doctrine on Sunday to his congregation, while he and his family were at liberty to keep the seventh day.
Auren died February 16, 1713, and was buried in New
170 " A Little Olive Branch put in the Mouth of the (so-called) Noah's Dove, Printed and sold by William Bradford at the Sign of the Bible in New York, 1704," sm. 4to. Title from catalogue of "The Bradford Ex- hibition" by the Grolier Club, New York, 1893. The copy on exhibition is the only one known. The owner of the specimen refused to leave his name be known to the public.
Kelpius' Letter. 129
Jersey. The funeral sermon was preached, February 24, 1713, by Rev. Abraham Lidenius; and on the next day, February 25, he was buried in the Racoon Church, thie service being read by Dr. Andreas Sandel.171 He left a widow172 and two sons, the youngest only five weeks old.]
As to the Sabbatarian tendencies of the Kelpius party, the evidence is not quite so clear. It is known, however, that at an early day communications were opened between Kelpius and others on the Wissahickon and the leaders of the Sabbatarians in Rhode Island and Connecticut.
This fact is shown by the following letter, the draft of which is in the Journal of Kelpins in his own handwriting, which gives perhaps the fullest and most exact account of the peculiar theosophy of the original Connnunity which it was possible to reveal to any one who had not made the subject an especial study. It is addressed to Steven Mum- ford, to whom is accorded the honor of establishing the first Sabbatarian congregation in America.
"To Mr. Steven Moinfort in Long Island,173 in America, concerning the Pietists in Germany.
" 1699, 11 December. " DEAR FRIEND AND BROTHER :
"In fellow-fighting in that Free and Royal Spirit which strives for the Prize of the first Resurrection when in this Midnight the Cry of the Bridegroom's coming is sounded forth among the Virgin waiters for the Preparation of the Temple Body, wherein the King of Glory and Father of the coming Eternity is to enter.
171 February 16, 1713, Auren died at Ratkungs Hook, and was buried by me, February 25, in the Ratkungs Church .- Diary Andreas Sandel.
172 Auren was married in November, 1710, by Rev. Biörch to Lydia, daughter of Hans Giostason. He was then living near the Susquehanna River .- Diary Andreas Sandel.
173 This should be Rhode Island.
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The Pietists of Provincial Pennsylvania.
" Your great desire for to be a little further informed of the Principles and Practizes of those People that go under the Name of Pietists,17 what they hold as Doctrin differing from others, what their Discipline is and what Methods they use in their own Country ; this desire I will hope, doth not arise from the Root of tliat Athenian Curiosity to hear some new thing; But rather you being one among thousands in Juda, who sees how since that glorious Primi- tive Church of Christ Jesus the Apostacy hath run in a continual current till this very day, and though this Stream hath divided itself in many smaller Rivulets, under several Names of more reformed Purity, yet you are not ignorant how they derive their Emanation from one Spring and ten to the same End, Viz. that the Woman in the Wilder- ness might be carried away by the Flood. Therefore you, as a Remnant of her seed, long for to see your Mother and groan for the Manifestation of her children. No wonder then, if your continual Gazing upon this Supercaelestial Orb and Sphier from whence with her Children, causethi you to observe every new Phoenomena, Meteors, Stars and various Colours of the Skei, if peradventure you may behold at last an Harbinger as an Evidence of that great Jubelee or Restitation of all things and glorious Sabbath- ismos or the continual days of Rest without intervening or succeeding Nights, whereof God hath spoken by the mouth of all his Prophets since the world began (Acts 3, 21) and whereof both the Testaments propliesie in evey Title and Iota. If now this late Revolution in Europe (not to speak of that in other parts) which in the Roman Church
17: Christopher Sauer states that the name first arose from an expression used by a Prof. Veller, who, in a funeral sermon on one of the students, said " He was a Pietist," meaning that he was a God-fearing person .- Sauer's Almanac, 1751.
I3I
Mysticism Defined.
goes under the Name of Quietis111,175 in the Protestane Church under the Name of Pietism, Chiliasın, and Phila- delphianism, If I say this together or one in Special pur- tends any thing to this effect. I do not question, but it will be your as well as my desire, who would rejoyce not only to give you full satisfaction as to this, but to see with you, yet in our days, that happy day, which when its new Earth swallows all that forementioned Floud and where its glorious Sun causeth all other Stars and Phoenomena to disappear, no Night succeeds it, but that the Night is swallowed up in ye Day, Darkness into Light, Death into Life, Judgment into Victory, Justice into Mercy, all im- perfect Metals into Gold, and Gold itself is refined seven times, and all Churches and Virgins comprised into the one Dove (Cant. 6, 9), then all the Sons of God will shout for joy as they did in the Beginning, when God was all in all, as he will be all in all, when again the End hatlı found its Beginning. Amen ! Halleluiah !
" Dear and worthy friend, though unknown to the Flesh but known in that better, yea in the best Line and highest descent in the Life of our Immanuel, whose Day we re- joyce to hear of and more to see, as well within us as without us, in its Depth, Hight, Breadth and Length, through the whole palsed and groaning Creation, as well as in our Mother Jerusalem above and Beneath! How can I
1i> The Quietists were the followers of Miguel de Molinos, a Spanish Mystic. The chief object of this sect was the attainment of spiritual and physical perfection. The founder taught that little value was to be placed upon ceremonial observances, but „ piritual perfection consisted in the perfect repose of all the faculties of the soul in God and indifference to all the actions of the body. For those who obtained this "fixed" or " continuous" state there was no sin and no occasion for anxiety. "Mys- tical theology," said Molinos, "is not a science of the intellect, but of sentiment ; it is not learned by study, but received from heaven."
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The Pietists of Provincial Pennsylvania.
write the particulars of the Quietists or Pietists, Chiliasts 176 or Philadelphians,177 whose Fame is spread in all the 4 quarters of the now Christianity. They first sprang in Italy, in Rome itself (and are increased now through the whole Roman Church in many Millions, though they was and are still depressed) 15 or 20 years before the Pietists or Chiliasts in Germany and Switzerland (where the first Reformation) in the year '89 and '90, with a swift increase through the whole Nation, so that their Branchies also did break forth into other Nations, as in England under the name of Philadelphians. This Penn is too dull to express the extraordinary Power the Pietists and Chiliasts among the Protestants in Germany (and especially in Saxony) and Switzerland was endued with in their Infancy. This only I say, as one who hath read the Histories, that since the days of the Apostels, such Miraculous Powers and opera- tions have not been manifested as in a matter of 31/2 years among these. And like as the Miracles wrought by God through the Hand of Moyses was for the main part in the outward Creation or Macrocosm, the Miracles of Jesus the Messia on the Bodys of Man or Macrocosm, 178 so these in our days was wrought (much like unto them in the days of the Apostels) on the Soul and more interiour parts by Ectases, Revelations, Inspirations, Illuminations, Inspeak- ings, Prophesies, Apparitions, Changings of Minds, Trans- figurations, Translations of their Bodys, wonderful Fastings
176 Vide, p. 37, 38, Ibid.
177 Vide, p. 16, Ibid.
118 Macrocosmn, used in a figurative sense to denote the universe or visi- ble system of worlds, literally the great world. The opposite, microcosm, the little world, was a name given to man in the times when astrology flourished, as it was supposed that his organization accurately corres- ponded to the organization of the universe. The above conception dates back to Democritus (b. 460 B. C.).
133
Man or Macrocosm.
for II, 14, 27, 37 days, Paradysical Representations by Voices, Melodies, and Sensations to the very perceptibility of the Spectators who was about such persons, whose con- dition as to the inward condition of their Souls, as well as their outward Transactions, yea their very thoughts they could tell during the time of their Exstacies, though they had never seen nor heard of the Persons before.
" These and many other Gifts continued as is said, for a matter of three years and a half among all sorts of Persons, Noble, and ignoble, Learned and unlearned, Male and female, young and old, MACROCOSM APPEARING TO DR. FAUSTUS. very conspiciously and generally Protestants chiefly, and some Papists, and with some though more refined such and like Gifts last till this very day.
"Thus partly I have declared how they was baptized with such energical drops out of that supercaleistial Pillar of Cloud by Gifts and miraculous Manifestations of the Powers from on high.
"Now will I tell in short in what a craggy, uneven yea dark wilderness they have been led since, when hitherto they have been baptized with the fiery Pillar of many
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The Pietists of Provincial Pennsylvania.
inward and outward Tribulations, Sorrows, Temptations, Refinings, Purifications (but nevertheless this Fiere casts such a Light befor'ın that securs'm from the persuing Might and dark influence of Egypt and guides'm in that beloved land and City.) This must be through many Tribulations as the Apostels have witnessed, so they felt it and feel it still very smartly. For when these things begun to ferment every where, I. The Students in the Universities forsake their foriner way of Learning and applied them- selves wholly to Piety and Godliness, (from whence their name was derived) leaving and some burning their heath- enishi Logiks, Rhetoriks, Metaphysiks. 2. The Laymen or Auditors begun to find fault with the Sermons and Lifes of their Ministers, seeing there was nothing of Ye Power of the Holy Ghost, nor of the Life of Christ and liis Apostels. 3. The children under the Information and Tuition of Pietists, (for the Students applied themselves chiefly to the Education of Children, as they do till this day with great, yea extraordinary success) begun to reproof their Parents if they was working and Lye or unrighteous- ness ! yea some in their tender years came to witness strange things of the Invisible worlds. Till at last Deinetrius with' his Craftsmen begun to see and hear that not only in Lipzig, (from which University this Motion first begun to spread abroad) but almost throughout all Germany and adjacent Contrys these Pietists did persuade and turn away much People, saying that the Form of Godliness without the Power thereof is meer Idolatry and superstition ; Yea they saw, how that not only this their craft was endangered by these and set at nouglit, but also the Temple or Uni- versities of the great Goddess Dianoria or Reason and Ratiocination (which is quite different from that Dionoria or Understanding or Unction whereof John witnesses
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The Anti-Pietists.
I Joh. 5. 19. c. 2, 27. ) should be despised and her Magnifi- cence (thus the Rectors in the Universities are titled) should be destroyed, if in the place of Dianoria, the Sophia from on high should be adored and instead of Temples or Uni- versities, the Hearts of inen should be consecrated. (Ex- cuse ine, dear Heart, that I thus run into an Allegoricall Application, for the very same Comedy was played as you read in the Acts of the Apostels, only the time and persons changed.) Thus the Battel and Insurrection begun, which lasteth till this day.
"The Anti-Pietists (so their Adversaries are pleased to call themselves) betook themselves to the secular Arin. But several Princes being partly inclined to the Principles of the Pietists, partly convinced of a superior Agent in these things, took them in their Protection, especially the Elector of Brandeb. In the Principality of Brunswick and Lunebourg, the course was otherwise, for in the very beginning 3 Bishops or Supirts was removed their offices ; the same happened in other Countries and Cities, as Erford, Lipzik, Quedlinbourg, Halberstad, Hambourg, Hassen Cassel, where and in Switzerland lately several Ministers are removed and some banished the Country. Thus they increased under the Cross. As for any peculiar Badge or Mark, they have none being above these trifling affections) or any peculiar Church Ceremony or Discipline which should cause a Shism or branchi a new sect. For they are not ignorant of the wilderness wherein the Church is and hath been hitherto, and in what a glory she will appear when she comes up from the Wilderness leaning on her beloved. Cant. 8. 5. They see will enough how all the Reformnations and Revolutions in this last Age as well as theirs are but Apparitions of the fair colours of the Aurora or Break of the day, mixed with many uncleanness wherein
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The Pietists of Provincial Pennsylvania.
there is 110 stay (as my beloved Brother and faithful Fellow- Pilgrim in this Wilderness state Seelig hath written) for they are not the substance or sun itself through the various beautiful Apparitions of the Skie, should entice one allmost enamoured in them and to mistake the Harbinger for the King ! whom to ineet they prepare themselves earnestly, some of'm laying aside all other engagements whatever, trimming their Lamps and adorning themselves with white silky. Holiness and golden Righteousness, that they may be found worthy, when the Bridegroomn comes, to receive him with confidence and joy and to bring him in the House of their Mother, where He will drink with'in that new spicy wine of the Kingdom in all everlasting Progresses. That we also may prepare ourselves with our whole endeavours continually I wish heartily, who do recommend you in the Clifts of the Foundation-Rock of our Salvation, Jesus Christ. Remaining your fellow Traveller in this blessed work and best engagement.
"JOHANNES KELPIUS."
Dated in the Wilderness.
[Stephen Mumford (born 1639; died July, 1701) is ac- credited with being the founder of the Seventh-day Baptist Church in America. He was a native of England, and prior to his emigration to America had been a member of the "Bell Lane Church of Christ" (Seventh-day Baptist), London.
He arrived in New England in 1664, and at once joined with Dr. Clarke's First-day Baptist Churchi at Newport, though his views favored thie observance of the seventh day, as Backus states in his " History of New England," 179 "bringing with him the opinion that the whole of the Ten
179 Vol. iii, p. 232.
Stephen Mumford. 137
Commandments, as they were delivered from Mount Sinai, were moral and immutable; and that it was the anti- christian power which thought to change times and laws that changed the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week.
Several members of the First Baptist Church in Newport embraced his sentiments, and yet continued with the church for some years. They kept up a correspondence with their brethren in England, by which they were much strength- ened in their resolution to lead a Christian life.
These persons were wont to meet together for worship on the seventh day with Stephen Mumford and others, in a very primitive manner, at their own houses. 150 Finally, five of these members withdrew from the First-day Baptist Church, and on December 23, 1671, together with two other persons, entered into a church covenant and formed a Seventh-day Baptist Church upon the model of the one in London1. 181
From this small beginning originated the Seventh-day Baptist Church in America, which now numbers about 9000 members, about 100 churches, three colleges, and maintains missionary stations in Shanghai, China ; Harlem and Rotterdam, Holland ; together with thirty-four home missionaries operating in twenty-five States and Territories.
But little is known of the personal history of this Sabba- tarian pioneer, as many of the records of the church prior to 1700 have been lost. In the year 1671 he became a freeman of the Community. Three years after the forma- tion of the Newport Church, Mumford went to England
180 Seventh-day Baptist Memorial, Vol. i, p. 70-71.
18] The members who withdrew were Stephen Mumford, Samuel Hub_ bard, Roger Baster, William Hiscox, and Mrs. Tacy Hubbard ; to these were added Rachel Longworthy, and a sister whose name is now forgotten.
IS
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The Pietists of Provincial Pennsylvania.
in the interests of the faith and for the purpose of obtain- ing aid for the struggling Church in America. Upon his arrival in London he writes, under date of March 14, 1675 : "I took my journey to London in the Waggon, where I the brethren with of them, who had hear of our place talk of coming turned to New afterwards, arriv- October of the the year 1687 we Jamestown. How-
was received by much joy, in some a great desire to and people ; some with me." He re England shortly ing in Boston in same year.182 In find him living in ever, November 29, 1687, he and his wife Ann conveyed somne of their property at that place to William Phipps, Kt., of Boston, and returned to Newport, after which we have no record of him, except the memorandum in the diary of Magister Kelpius in 1699. ]183
A late writer, in commenting upon the Mumford letter, states : " In such contemplations did Kelpius dream away his young life. Doubtless to him all was a brilliant reality to be enjoyed at some future day ; and with a heart full of faith in his doctrines, and sustained by holy aspirations for the higher life, he went forth to meet the heavenly Bride- groom. Far better for him thus to live and die, visionary though he was, than to live and die without hope and without God in the world."
182 Austin's Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island.
183 Stephen Mumford and his wife are both buried in the old cemetery of the Sabbath-keepers at Newport, R. I.
THE RETURN OF DANIEL FALKNER.
S the close of the seventeenth cen- tury drew near, the leaders of the Com- munity looked forward to the coming of the millen- nium with greater faith than ever. The terrible scourge of the Barbadoes plague (yellow fever) that had swept the Province during the summer of A MITHRAIC SYMBOL. 1699 was looked upon as but another forerunner of the expected deliverer. It is true their mystic number was far from complete; reports from their emissary in Europe were not encouraging ; enemies at home were casting ridicule at their religious teachings, while in Germany their brethren were proscribed and scattered. Still the religious enthusiasts in both hemi-
"Gloria Dei," A.D. 1700.
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The Pietists of Provincial Pennsylvania.
spheres who clung together and adhered to their precepts felt far from discouraged as the sun arose upon the March day which, according to them, ushered in the first day of the seventeenth century. (They made the popular mistake of supposing that 1700 began the new century.) In looking over the situation the American Community felt that their labors had not been altogether in vain. The religious condition of both Germans and English in the Province had been greatly changed for the better by the services which they had instituted and maintained since their arrival. In Philadelphia there were now two churches,- an Episcopal church, solidly built of brick ;184 a Seventh- day Baptist meeting-house, 185 within a stone's throw of the other ; while the Swedish Lutheran church at Wicacoa, humble as it was, was nearing completion. Presbyterian and Baptist services had also been held, but as yet 110 regular organizations had been established. In German- town such as were followers of Simon Menno were already casting about for a piece of ground upon which to build a regular meeting-house.
Then, again, the educational labors of Kelpius were beginning to bear fruit in the children who received moral instruction at the Tabernacle, and who had there been taught to pray and sing. Many of these children were now growing up into men and women, through whom the religious training would soon make itself felt among thie townsfolk.
184 Christ Church, on Second Street above Market.
185 This house of worship was on Second Street north of Christ Church. It came into the possession of the Baptists in 1707, and became known as the "First Baptist Church of Philadelphia." In 1762 a new church 61 feet by 42 was built. It was enlarged during the present century, and finally sold and abandoned for a more fashionable neighborhood (Broad and Arch Streets). The burying-ground was in the rear of the church.
141
Peter Schäffer.
Toward the close of the old century the Community was reinforced by several Pietists from Halle in Germany, the most important among whom was one Peter Schäffer, 186 a native of Finland and master of arts of the University of Abo. When this party arrived they were cordially received by the brethren and domiciled at the Tabernacle.
Schäffer, who was a learned but somewhat eccentric character, soon differed with Kelpius and the other Mystics as to the sacraments, which were not insisted upon by them. Consequently he offered to withdraw from the Community, and proposed to live a life of seclusion and contemplation.
Kelpius thereupon submitted to him the names of four or five devout families who would give him his living, pro- vided that he would instruct the children of the household for several hours in each day, the remaining time to be passed in his esoteric studies. Schäffer, however, rejected these offers, and concluded to labor as an evangelist among his countrymen along the Delaware and Schuylkill, and when the opportunity offered to act as a missionary among the Indians. He soon left the Tabernacle and came direct to the city. He presented himself to Edward Shippen, one of the magistrates and leading Friends of the Province, and informed him and his wife Rebecca that he had a call to stay under their roof for forty days and nights, during which time he was to subsist on bread and water. He was permitted to remain there during his pleasure ; and during this visit, it is stated, he became more and more involved in his mystical speculations.
186 Peter Schäffer, together with Ulstadius, a priest, and Ulhegius, a student of theology, some years prior to the former's arrival in America, liad given the courts and consistory of Sweden great trouble. Finally, Ulstadius was condemned to death, and Schäffer recanted and drifted to Halle, whence lie went to England and America
·
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The Pietists of Provincial Pennsylvania.
Early in the year 1700 he appears to have been chosen as schoolinaster at Wicacoa, where he, according to Pastor Biörck, at first must have given satisfaction, as the latter writes that at last a school has been established at Wicacoa "with an able teacher at the head of it, who also serves as parish clerk." It is not known how long this eccentric visionary remained in charge as schoolmaster at Wicacoa. From there he went to Pennsneck to open a school, but, according to the Swedish records, he effected but little. Soon after he came to New Jersey he entered upon what he termed a "death-fast," and received a revelation that he should arise and wander about at random. 187 From Penns- neck he returned for a short time to the Tabernacle on the Wissahickon. While there he received a call from the Swedes at Pennsneck to return to them and act as their pastor, with the assurance that {24 was ready for his sup- port. This offer he saw fit to refuse, and the next that is learned about him is that he accompanied Jonas Auren upon one of his missionary tours to the Indians on the Conestoga. Returning from this mission, he had another vision com- manding him to return to Europe, which he did forthwith.
After his arrival at Plymouth he subjected himself to an enforced fast of fifty days, at the end of which time he received another revelation that he should return to his old home in Finland and there reprimand his former judges for their course against him. He obeyed, and was imprisoned in the fortress of Gefle, where he became insane and died.
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