The German sectarians of Pennsylvania : a critical and legendary history of the Ephrata Cloister and the Dunkers . on, with its peculiar teach-ings and ceremonies, had become an established fact on thehill-side overlooking the settlement on the Cocalico. Theaustere religious ascetics were looked upon with awe andveneration by the secular members, and it was not long beforethe ambitious prior attempted to use his position to under-mine the power and usurp the authority of the / orstelicr. Beissel and Wohlfarth from the beginning were not inaccord with the Eckerlings and their followers in estab
The German sectarians of Pennsylvania : a critical and legendary history of the Ephrata Cloister and the Dunkers . on, with its peculiar teach-ings and ceremonies, had become an established fact on thehill-side overlooking the settlement on the Cocalico. Theaustere religious ascetics were looked upon with awe andveneration by the secular members, and it was not long beforethe ambitious prior attempted to use his position to under-mine the power and usurp the authority of the / orstelicr. Beissel and Wohlfarth from the beginning were not inaccord with the Eckerlings and their followers in establish-ing this peculiar feature within the settlement; but as amatter of fact neither the Vorsteher nor the foremost menof the secular membership offered any serious objection tothe undertaking, and during the building of Zion, when-allindications pointed to success, Beissel brought out an en-larged hymn-book known as the Weyrauchs Hiigel for theuse of the Brotherhood as well as for general circulationamong the Germans in the Province. Probably to one of the individual cabins. CHAPTER AMWEIvL UDGING from the records, theyear 1738 was a most eventfulone in the life of the Mysticsof Ephrata. The organizationof the Brotherhood of Zion and the influence of the Eckerlingbrothers built up in the infantcommunity a force which for atime threatened to overturn thewhole policy of the settlement,and to successfully oppose whichtook all the power of Beissel,Wohlfarth, Miller and such others as represented theconservative element. That Beissel was not always far-sighted enough for hisshrewd rivals will appear from various incidents occurringduring the next five years, the end of which period markedthe time of their final overthrow. The first radical innovation was a proposition to haveones self baptized for the dead. This scheme originatedin the fertile brain of Emanuel Eckerling, who managedto convince Alexander Mack that his father, the patriarch,had never been properly
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectpennsylvaniadutch
