224 HISTORY OP 



afterwards moved to Virginia, where they obtained 



some notoriety in connection with the Indian affairs. 



The society was wedded to apostolic simplicity; they 

 desired no toive?' — no bells. They refused to have a 

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

 which was regularly held at twelve o'clock: Friedsam 

 contending that the spirit of devotion ought to be suffi- 

 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 

 Avere taken, neither had they any written covenants, as 

 is common in the Baptist churches. The New Testa- 

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

 and church discipline. The property which belonged 

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

 brethren and sisters, was common stock; but none was 

 obUged 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. 



Many 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 place to be educated. — 

 Ludwig Hacker, the teacher of the common school, 

 projected the plan of holding a school in the afternoons 

 of the Sabbath, 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 dm-ing the week, as well as to 

 give religious instruction to those of better circum- 



