OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 361 



stances. It is not known in what year, exactly, the Sahhath St-hool was roin- 

 nienced. Hacker came to Ephrata in the year IT.W, aiul it is presumed that lie he«an 

 soon after he took up his residence amoug.st them. The materials for the huildiiiK were 

 furnished, as is recorded in the minutes of the Society, in the year 174!). After tho 

 battle of Brandywine, the Sabbath School room, with others, was «riven uj) for a hos- 

 pital, which was occupied as such some time; and the school was never afterwards 

 resumed. Hacker at that period was sixty years of age. 



By this time (1777) the society began to decline, not from causes alleged liy some 

 writers — Avant of vigor of mind in the successor of Beissel, who died 1708. for his suc- 

 cessor, Peter :Miller, was a man of much greater powers of miud, aud had the manage- 

 ment of the establishment during Beissel's time; and to whose energy and i^rseverance 

 is mainly attributable the great prosperity of the institution in its eai-ly days. The in- 

 stitution was one of the seventeenth century, and in accordance with European feelings, 

 most of the members being natives of Germany. The state of ])nblic opinion at lieis- 

 sel's death was widely difierent from what it was during tlie first fifty years after it was 

 established, in relation to politics and government, and with this march of intellect dif- 

 ferent sentiments were entertained in regard to religious institutions. It was com- 

 menced as a social connnunity in the midst of a wilderness — the hand of improvement 

 made the desert bloom as the rose, and at that time (17G8) were surrounded by a dense 

 population. These circumstances — connected with incessant pei-secution — tlie tunnoil 

 and contention into which they were thrown and constantly kept by some of their en- 

 vious neighbors, were the principal causes of its decline; which continued in the wane 

 until within a few years, since which it is reviving and growing in numbers. 



At an early period they established a printing olfice, one of the first German presses 

 in the State, (the second I believe;) which enabled them to distribute tracts and hymns, 

 aud afterwards to print several large works, in which the views of the founder are fully 

 explained. Many of these books have been lost and destroj-ed. In the revoluticmaiy 

 war, just before the battle of Gei-mantown, three wagon loads of books, in sheets, were 

 seized and taken away for cartridgc/i. They came to the paper mill to get paper, and 

 not finding any there, they pressed the books in sheets. 



Music was much cultivated; Beissel was a first i-ate musician and composer. In 

 composing sacred music he took his style from the music of nature, and the whole com- 

 prising several large volumes are founded on the tones of the J^^olian harj) — the singing 

 is the ^olian harp harmonized. It is very peculiar in its style and concords, and in its 

 execution. The tones issuing from the choir imitate very soft instrumental nuisic; con- 

 veying a softness and devotion almost superhuman to the auditor. Their nuisic is set 

 in four, six, and eight parts. All the parts save the bass are led and sung exclusively 

 by females, the men being confined to the bass, which is set in two parts, the higli and 

 low bass— the latter resembling the deep tones of the organ, and the first, in combina- 

 tion with one of the female parts, is an excellent imitation of the concert horn. The 

 wdiole is sung on the falsetto voice, the singers scarcely opening their mouths, or moving 

 then- lips, which throws the voice up to the ceiling, which is not high, and the tones, 

 which seem to be more than human, at least so far from common church singing, api)oar to 

 be entering from above, and hovering over the heads of the assembly. Their singing 

 so charmed the Commissioners who were sent;[to visit the Society by the English Gov- 

 ernment, after the French war, that they requested a copy to bo sent to the Royal 

 family in England; which was cheerfully complied with, and which I understand is still 

 preserved in the National Library. About twelve montlis afterwards a box was re- 

 ceived of three or four feet long, and two or two and an half wide, containing a present 

 in return. What the present was is not now certainly known— none having si-en it but 

 Friedsam and Jaebez, who was then Prior, and into whose care it was consigned. It 

 was buried secretly by him, with the advice of Beissei,. It is supposed, by a hint given 

 by Jaebez, that it was images of the King and Queen, in fidl costume, or images of the 



