came turgid, puerile and fanatical, abounding in playful allusions to Christ as the Lamb, the Bridegroom, etc., by which He is described in Holy Writ, and in fanciful representations of the wound in His side. In describing the spiritual relation between Christ and His Church the highly figurative language of the Canticles was substituted in the place of the dignified simplicity, used by our Saviour and His Apostles, when speaking on this subject. Some less experienced preachers even seemed to vie with each other in introducing into their discourses the most extravagant and often wholly unintelligible expressions. This kept the hearers in a state of constant excitement, but was not calculated to subject every thought of the heart to the obedience of Christ. Religion, instead of enlightening the understanding, governing the affections, and regulating the general conduct, became a play of the imagination. "This species of fanaticism first broke out at Herrnhaag in the year 1746, and from thence spread into several other congregations. Many were carried away by it, for it seemed to promise a certain joyous perfection, representing believers as innocent, playful children, who might be quite at their ease amidst all the trials and difficulties incident to the present life. The effect produced was such as might be expected. The more serious members of the Church (and these after all formed the major part) bitterly lamented an evil, which they could not eradicate. Others, considering the malady as incurable, withdrew from its communion. The behavior of such as were most infected with this error, though not immoral and criminal, was yet highly disgraceful to their Christian profession." Pictorial representations of the sufferings of Christ, illuminations of the church and other public buildings, birthday celebrations, connected with expensive love feasts, were manifestations of the unnaturally excited poetic spirit of the congregation, which in its practical consequence led to extravagance—and to debts. Peter Böhler, at that time in England, as superintendent of the monetary affairs of the Church there, was fully aware of the fearful increase of their liabilities, and raised a warning voice, but his protest was not heeded. Neither was any attention paid to the wise counsels of Spangenberg who, in a letter to Count Zinzendorf in 1746, expressed his forebodings in reference to the lavish expenditures in the European settlements and their inevitable consequences. This letter was not answered, and Spangenberg, the most faithful and indefatigable of all the Brethren, had reason to suppose that some of the most influential of his fellow-laborers in Europe looked upon him with a suspicious eye, considering him as having become lukewarm, because he, the man of good common sense, could not appreciate their extravagant religious notions, nor approve of the sentimental nonsense, which in a flood of hymns was pouring over to America also. He rejoiced to receive in Cammerhof a faithful and able assistant, but was inwardly grieved, when he perceived, that the latter had received secret instructions, according to which he acted in such a manner, that the original idea of Zinzendorf of a Church of God in the Spirit was gradually but entirely set aside. The hymns of the twelfth addition to the German hymnbook-set aside long ago as puerile in the extreme— were eagerly received, and Cammerhof's addresses, in the same perverted style, found many willing listeners."4 14 It is almost impossible to translate into English the religious jargon, which for a time-happily only a short time-took the place of sober Gospel language. The following short extracts from Cammerhof's letters may serve as a specimen: Im Juny 1747 wird ein besonders gesegnetes Abendmahl in Bethlehem so erwähnt: CONGREGATIONS CONNECTED WITH THE BRETHREN. 183 7. PENNSYLVANIA CONGREGATIONS IN CONNECTION WITH THE BRETHREN, 1744-1748. BESIDES the two colonies of the Brethren, the Church of Pilgrims at Bethlehem and the Patriarchal Economy at Nazareth, there were organized in Pennsylvania in this period quite a number of congregations, all more or less in connection with the General Synod and thus also with the Brethren, some of which afterwards Im Februar 1748 schreibt Cammerhof, Epist. X: "Es schmeckt der Gemeine nichts als die blutige Kost aus des Lammes Seite, und was nicht den blutigen Strich hat, das ist ekelhaft, und das Lämmlein thut uns auch die Gnade, und läszt unsern Gemeinbau immermehr zusammensinken, so das alles, was nicht blutig und ins Blut gelegt ist, herausgedrängt und zurückgewiesen wird. Un's Herzel, dies Lämmlein in's Herzelhafte spielerliche Fächel hineingebracht, damit wir auch andern was vorspielen können, bis alles Volk, ein jedes nach seiner Art, doch harmonisch mitspielen kann, vor dem der uns erwählet hat, hat er in einem seligen Liebesbunde erhalten, und noch mehr zusammenrücken lassen, sodasz unser Arbeiter-Haüflein den blutigen Sünder-Character zu seiner einigen Schöne hat, und die Mutter (d. h. Geist) ist geschäftig, es noch lieblich scheinender und allgemeiner zu machen." 5 Marz '48 wurden 2 Kindlein getauft, geboren den 4ten: Es sah sehr niedlich aus, da die beiden Väter mit einander ihre Kinder in die Gemeine brachten, just da ihnen die Gemeine entgegensang: Ihr sel'gen Kreuzluft-Küchelein, In unsere freien Kirchenluft, u. s. w. und darauf wurde dann zuerst die kleine Anna Miksch und dann der kleine Joachim Senseman mit Blut und Wasser aus der Pleura beströmt, und dann gesungen: Du Kreuzluft-Mägdlein bleibe Braut, Dem Marterlamm durch Blut vertraut, Auf ew'ge Zeiten. Du Kreuzluft-Knäblein zeige dich Recht Jesuskinderhaftiglich, Und wachs durch alle deine Zeit Fort in der Jesushaftigkeit, Und so bleibt alle beide Des Kreuzvolks ew'ge Freude. became Moravian congregations. As was the case in Europe, so also in Pennsylvania Moravianism gradually developed itself and was finally separated from Lutheranism and Calvinism, and Zinzendorf's idea of bringing about a union of the three Churches has not been realized Yet this idea gives a peculiar stamp to the history of the times, and it would be impossible fully to describe the development of the American Brethren's Church without reverting at least briefly, to the organization of the Lutheran and German Reformed Churches in America. Accordingly we will have to make a distinction among those congregations which at that time were. more or less in connection with the Brethren, and will for brevity's sake call those churches Lutheran or Reformed, in which the one or the other element prevailed, to which, however, a third class is to be added, namely, the free or mixed congregations. A. LUTHERAN CONGREGATIONS. WHEN Zinzendorf left Pennsylvania in 1743 there were five organized Lutheran congregations: 1. Philadelphia, organized by Count Zinzendorf; but in consequence of the riot mentioned before, split into two parties, for and against the Brethren. 2. Tulpehocken, attended to by ministers sent from Bethlehem. 3. Lancaster, since 1743 supplied with a Swedish pastor. 4. New Hanover, and 5. New Providence. Both these latter neighborhoods had never been in any connection with the Brethren, and here the Rev. Henry Melchoir Mühlenberg found his first field of labor. In 1743 he built a new church in New Hanover, minis tered in this congregation and also in New Providence, and gradually also gained a party in the Philadelphia congregation. He had been sent to America from Halle for the purpose of organizing congregations here and there, in which by the faithful preaching of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments, Christian life was to be awakened gradually; while on the other hand the Brethren never commenced with outward organizations of congregations, but endeavored rather to gain souls for the Saviour, and to assist in the further development of the Christian life already manifested, leaving it to the Lord and the leadings of His providence, whether such small companies of truly awakened souls should organize into congregations or not. Add to this, that among these awakened persons many regulations were introduced, which were considered important at the time, but untenable on Scriptural grounds, and it is certainly not surprising that Mühlenberg's congregations soon surpassed those of Zinzendorf's in numbers and in influence. In 1745 Pastor Mühlenberg welcomed three assistants, sent to him from Germany, the Rev. Mr. Brennholz, who had been ordained by the Consistory of Wernigerode, the candidates of the ministry, Schaum and Nicholas Kurtz, and thus was enabled to extend operations to Germantown and to Cohansey in New Jersey, and occasionally also to visit in Tulpehocken.'5 On the part of the Brethren about this time eight or ten Lutheran ministers could be counted, but there were not as many Lutheran congregations. Besides Nazareth, which till 1747 was reckoned as Lutheran, there were but three in connection with the Brethren. 1. Philadelphia.-Since 1743 there was in this city a 15 Hazelius History, p. 53. |