224 niSTORT OP 



afterwards moved to Virginia, where tlicy obtained 



some notoriety in connection with the Indian affairs. 



The society was wedded to apostohc simpUcity; they 

 •deshed no towe?' — no bells. They refused to have a 

 bell to call them to meeting, even the midniglit meeting, 

 which was regularly held at twelve o'clock: P'riedsam 

 contending that the spirit of devotion ought to be suih- 

 cient to make them punctual to the hour, which generally 

 proved to be adequate. 



" The community was a republic, in which all stood 

 upon perfect equality and freedom. No monastic vows 

 were taken, neither had they any written covenants, as 

 is common in the Baptist cliurches. The New Testa- 

 ment was their confession of faith, their code of laws, 

 and church discipline. The property Avhicli belonged 

 to the society, by donation, and the labor of the single 

 brethren and sisters, was common stock; but none was 

 obliged to throw in his own property, or to give up any 

 possessions. The society was supported by the income 

 of the farm and grist mill, paper mill, oil mill, fulling 

 mill, and the labor of the brethren and sisters, in the 

 cloister. 



IMany of the male members were men of education, 

 and the school which they had established, attracted 

 attention abroad; young men from Baltimore and of 



Philadelphia, were sent to this i)lacc to be educated. 



Ludwig Hacker, the teacher of the common school, 

 projected the plan of holding a school in the afternoons 

 of the Sal.ibath, or Saturday, and who, in connexion 

 with some of the brethren, commenced it, to give instruc- 

 tion to the indigent children who were kept from regular 

 school by employments which their necessities obliged 

 them to be engaged at during tlie week, as well as to 

 give religious instruction to those of better chcmn- 



