sufferings for Christ's sake, of their missionary undertakings, of their connection with Count Zinzendorf, of their doctrine, and of their ecclesiastical and social arrangements. Bethlehem being settled by German emigrants, the German language was, of course, used exclusively, and hence those who knew only the English language would be apt to misapprehend and misconstrue many things. But were the Brethren to be blamed for this?

Besides, there were the public Synods, open for all servants of Christ; for it was the wish and desire of Count Zinzendorf that they might be continued as General Pennsylvania Synods of all denominations. Any Presbyterian minister might attend them and express his views and opinions as freely as the German Reformed, the Lutheran, or the Moravian Brethren, but as the majority of the delegates were Germans, their language, of course, was used.

In 1743 four Synods were held, generally lasting two days, Peter Böhler presiding, which, however, are of less general interest than those of 1742, in which Zinzendorf presided, and the subsequent ones under Spangenberg's direction. It will, therefore, suffice to mention them in only a few words.

The first was held in Philadelphia in March. The English congregation established there requested to be acknowledged as such by the Church of God in the Spirit, that is, by the General Pennsylvania Synod. In consequence of this recognition there were now two congregations in Philadelphia in connection with the Brethren at Bethlehem, neither of which was as yet a Moravian congregation. The one was the German Lutheran congregation on Race Street, attended to by a Lutheran brother from Bethlehem and separate from the German Lutheran congregation under Pastor Mühlenberg; the other was this English congregation with

laborers from Bethlehem, under the superintendence of the General Synod. These were the elements from which the Moravian congregation of Philadelphia was formed in 1749.

The second Synod of 1743 was held in June at Mühlbach (Mill Creek, Berks County), not far from Tulpehocken, and a congregation "without a name," that is, undenominational, not in connection with any denomination but under the superintendence of the General Synod, was organized there.

The third Synod, held at Bethlehem in September, was occupied with reading and discussing a pamphlet written against the Moravians by the Siebentäger at Ephrata.

In December a fourth Synod was held at Philadelphia, in which the latest reports from the Moravian congregations in Europe were communicated.

In 1744 there were two General Synods, one at Oley in March, and the other at Heidelberg in November.

At the former George Nicke, pastor-elect of the Lutheran church at Tulpehocken was ordained by Peter Böhler, as the Lutheran superintendent. Peter Böhler was not yet a Bishop of the Moravian Church, and consequently this ordination must be viewed as a bona fide Lutheran ordination.

At the latter the new meeting-house at Heidelberg was solemnly dedicated to the service of the Triune God.

Besides these Synods there were also other public meetings, in which the Moravian element was more predominant, especially the annual “great love-feast” at Philadelphia. The first meeting of this kind was held in May, 1743, and lasted two days. More than two hundred persons of different denominations and languages were present. Lutherans, Reformed, Tunkers, and Moravian brethren (or according to their nationali

ties, emigrants from Moravia, Germany, Sweden, England, and native Indians) after a public sermon, partook in fraternal harmony of a love-feast, consisting of bread, meat and beer, whilst letters and reports from Europe and America were communicated. One of these letters, from Spangenberg, urged the organization of a society for the Furtherance of the Gospel. Peter Böhler and Henry Antes were the principal speakers.

Such meetings, not of a deliberative nature but of an exclusively devotional character, naturally served to strengthen the bond of love between the members of the Moravian Church and their friends in different parts of the country, and above all increased their love and devotion to their common Lord and Master.

But at the same time the antagonistic zeal of their opponents was also augmented thereby, and it is not surprising that the Presbyterians of these days took offense at such meetings, which, as devotional exercises, were perfectly unintelligible to the spirit of Puritanism.

Upon the whole, this was a time of universal excitement either for or against the Brethren. Many among the Lutherans and German Reformed, who had desired and written for ministers of the Gospel to their friends in Europe, and had waited in vain from year to year, now joyfully embraced the offer made by the Brethren at Bethlehem, to supply their spiritual wants, without any compensation. Thus many congregations were organized at the time and supplied with the means of grace by the itinerant ministers sent from Bethlehem.

The most active of these itinerant ministers of the Brethren was Jacob Lischy, a native of Switzerland. Having accompanied Count Zinzendorf on his first Indian journey within the borders of the Province of Pennsylvania, he became acquainted with many of his German Reformed brethren, and soon received a number

75

of vocations or calls from various parts, either to organize new congregations or to serve as minister for those who for a longer or shorter period had been destitute of Gospel privileges. Willing to serve his countrymen to the utmost of his power, he accepted these calls and preached alternately at eighteen different places, among them Heidelberg, Berne, Mill Creek, Warwick, Coventry, Donegal, and York." As his evangelical sermons were gladly received by the people and the number of his hearers increased everywhere, opposition on the part of the enemies of the cross of Christ soon manifested itself, and was augmented by Pastor Böhm who, both in the public papers and in the pulpit, condemned him and his doctrine. This induced Lischy to convene a church council of the different German Reformed churches, at Heidelberg, August 29, 1743, which was attended by fifty elders and deacons, besides by many lay members of twelve different congregations. Many complaints were preferred against him; he was called a Zinzendörfler (a follower of Zinzendorf); it was said that he had promised him to try to gain over to his interest all the German Reformed; and his ordination was declared invalid. To refute these charges, Lischy produced his certificate of ordination, and related candidly how he had become awakened by the preaching of the Moravian Brethren in Switzerland, and showed that there was nothing in their doctrine to which the German Reformed (who did not hold the doctrine of Reprobation which was defended by the Holland classis) could object.

All these German Reformed congregations, satisfied with his defense, gave him renewed vocations, which he

75 Vocation to Coventry. Büdingische Sammlungen, III, p. 109.

76 Aufrichtige Relation vom Anfang der Reformirten Sache in Pennsylvanien, December, 1744," written by Lischy for Spangenberg.-Bethlehem Archives.

had printed, in order to justify himself before the enemies of the Brethren. Nevertheless, the Brethren at Bethlehem did not fully approve of the manner in which Lischy carried on the work of the Lord in these German Reformed congregations, and a few years later it became manifest that their fears had not been unfounded.

Besides Andrew Eschenbach, Bro. Leonhard Schnell was at that time a very active and efficient itinerant minister among the Lutherans. The first awakenings in Maguntsche (now Emmaus) were produced by his preaching there in 1742. In November, 1743,” accompanied by Robert Hussey, he undertook a journey from Bethlehem to Georgia, on foot, during which journey he proclaimed the Gospel in Virginia and North Carolina, in many instances in places where there never before had been any preaching. Here and there he heard very strange reports concerning the Zinzendörflers, which in part at least could be traced to either willful or unintentional misrepresentations in the letters of Gilbert Tennent and Mr. Mühlenberg. Brownfield, Conrad Führer, and others, rejoiced at his arrival in Georgia. Pastor Bolzius and many of his parishioners opposed him openly, but still he found opportunity of preaching the Saviour's love even among the enemies of the Brethren. In April, 1744, they returned by sea to Bethlehem.

A third itinerant minister to be mentioned here was Paul Daniel Bryzelius, a native of Sweden, who had studied at Upsala. The field of action assigned him was among his countrymen in New Jersey, along the Delaware, south of Philadelphia, where there had been no regular pastor for some years. On January 13, 1743,78

77 Journal of Schnell and Hussey, of their journey to Georgia, November 6, 1743, to April 10, 1744.

78 Bryzelius' Report of his Labors among the Swedes. MS., Bethlehem Archives.