216 HISTORY or 



day was the command of the Lord God, and that day 

 being established and sanctified, by the Great Jehovah, 

 foreveri And no change, nor authority for change, ever 

 having been announced to man, by any power sufficient 

 to set aside the solemn decree of the Almighty; a 

 decree which he declared that he had sanctified forever! 

 He felt it to be his duty to contend for the observance of 

 that day. About the year 1725, he published a tract 

 entering into a discussion of this point, which created 

 some excitement and disturbance in the society, at Mill 

 creek ; upon which he retired from the settlement, and 

 went secretly, to a cell on the banks of the Cocalico,* 

 that had previously been occupied by one Elimelich, a 

 hermit. His place of retirement was unknown for 

 sometime to the people he had left, and when discovered, 

 many of the society at Mill creek, who had become 

 convinced of the truth of his proposition for the observ- 

 ance of the Sabbath, settled around him, in solitary 

 cottages. They adopted the original Sabbath — the 

 seventh day — for public worship, in the year 1728; 

 which has ever since been observed by their descendants, 

 even unto the present day. 



In the year 1732, the solitary life was changed into a 

 conventicle one, and a monastic society was established 

 as soon as the first buildings erected for that purpose 

 were finislied. May, 1733. The habit of the Capuchins, 

 or White Friars,t was adopted by both the brethren and 



* Cocalico, called by the Delaware Indians, Koch-Halekung, 

 Germanice, Schlangenhoehle, Serpents den ; from the abun- 

 dance of serpents along the stream. — Chron. Epk. 52. 



fCapuziner, eine Abart des Franciscaner Ordens, welche 

 gegen das lahr 1525, ihren Anfang nahm. Sie tragen eine 

 lange spitz zulaufende capuze und einen langen Bart; die 

 Verfassung des ordens ist streng und zeichnet sich durch 

 Enthaltsamkeit aus. 



