almost through every State in the Union, more or less; but they are most numerous in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, and Indiana. It would be a difficult task to give a regular statistical account of these people, as they make it no part of their duty to keep an exact account of the number of communicants. Some of their larger congregations number from two to three hundred members; each congregation has from two to three preachers, and some more. In travelling and preaching there are in general two together; and very frequently one speaks in the German, and the other in the English language, to the same congregation. None of their ministers receive any pecuniary compensation for any services they perform pertaining to the ministry; they preach, officiate at marriages and funerals among all who call upon them, without respect to persons: though their ministers will not perform the rites of matrimony, unless they can be fully satisfied that there are no lawful objections in the case of either of the parties to be married.

Their teachers and deacons are all chosen by vote, and their bishops are chosen from among their teachers, after they have been fully tried and found faithful; they are ordained by the laying on of hands and by prayer, which is a very solemn and affecting ceremony. It is the duty of the bishops to travel from one congregation to another, not only to preach, but to set in order the things that may be wanting; to be present at their love-feasts and communions, and, when teachers and deacons are elected or chosen, or when a bishop is to be ordained, or when any member who holds an office in the church is to be excommunicated. As some of the congregations have no bishops, it is also the duty of the bishop in the adjoining congregation to assist in keeping an oversight of such congregations. An elder among them is, in general, the first or eldest chosen teacher in the congregation where there is no bishop; it is the duty of the elder to keep a constant oversight of that church by whom he is appointed as a teacher. It is his duty to appoint meetings, to baptize, to assist in excommunication, to solemnize the rites of matrimony, to travel occasionally to assist the bishops, and in certain cases to perform all the duties of a bishop. It is the duty of their teachers to exhort and preach at any of their regular stated meetings; and, by the request of a bishop or elder, to perform the ceremony of baptism and rites of matrimony.

It is the duty of their deacons, (or, as they are sometimes called, visiting brethren,) to keep a constant oversight of the poor widows and their children, to render them such assistance as may be necessary from time to time; it is also their duty to assist in making a general

visit among all the families or members in their respective congregations, at least once a year, in order to exhort and comfort one another, as well as to reconcile all offences that may occur from time to time. It is also their duty to read the Scriptures, to pray, and even exhort, if it may appear necessary, at their regular meetings of worship.

The general order of these people has been to hold their meetings for public worship at dwelling-houses; but in some of their congregations they have now erected meeting-houses, or places expressly for worship. Some of them are built very large, without a gallery or a pulpit.

They, as yet, have but one Annual Meeting, which is held every year about Whitsuntide, and is attended by the bishops and teachers, and other members, who may be sent as representatives from the various congregations. At these meetings there is, in general, a committee of five of the eldest bishops chosen from among those who are present, who retire to some convenient place, to hear and receive such cases as may then be brought before them, by the teachers and representatives from the various congregations, which are (or at least the most important of them) afterwards discussed and decided upon, and then those several queries with the considerations as then concluded, are recorded and printed in the German and English languages, and sent to the teachers in all the different congregations in the United States, who, when they receive them, or as soon as convenient, read them to the rest of their brethren. By this course of proceeding, they preserve a unity of sentiment and opinion throughout all their congregations.

Some of their ministers manifest a great deal of zeal in their Master's cause; and although some of them are poorly circumstanced in the world, yet they, at their own expense, leave their families for several weeks in succession, and some even longer, to preach the Gospel to others. They have had a general revival amongst them within the few last years past; many have been convicted and converted under their preaching, and the cause of religion seems to be progressing among them; and what might seem strange to some, is, that they baptize by immersion, and that at any season of the year.

In connexion with what has been said in the commencement of our account, concerning their doctrines, &c., we will only add, by way of conclusion, that they believe that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation, he that feareth him and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him; and that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should

not perish, but have everlasting life:.and that God sent his Son into the world, to seek and to save that which was lost, believing that he is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God through a crucified Redeemer, who tasted death for every man, and was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. And although it has herein been testified, that they hold general redemption as a doctrine, still it is not preached among them in general, as an article of faith. It has probably been held forth by those who felt themselves, as it were, lost in the love of God; and, perhaps, on this account, they have been charged with holding the sentiments of the Universalists, which they all deny. They conceive it their duty to declare the whole counsel of God, and therefore they feel themselves bound to proclaim his threatenings and his judgments against the wicked and ungodly; yet in accordance with their general principles, which are Love and Good Will, they are more frequently led to speak of the love and goodness of God towards the children of men.

BAPTISTS, SEVENTH DAY, GERMAN.

BY WILLIAM M. FAHNESTOCK, M. D.,

BORDENTOWN, N. J.

ABOUT the year 1694, a controversy arose in the Protestant churches of Germany and Holland, in which vigorous attempts were made to reform some of the errors of the church, and with the design of promoting a more practical, vital religion. This party, at the head of which was the pious Spener, ecclesiastical superintendent of the court of Saxony, was opposed, violently, and after having bestowed upon them, in ridicule, the epithet of Pietists, they were suppressed in their public ministrations and lectures, by the Consistory of Wittemberg. Notwithstanding they were prohibited from promulgating, publicly, their views and principles, it led to inquiry among the people. This state of things continuing, many learned men of different universities left Europe and emigrated to America, whilst others remained and persevered in the prosecution of the work they had commenced with so much diligence. In the year 1708, Alexander Mack, of Schriesheim, and seven others in Schwartzenau, Germany, met together, regularly, to examine carefully and impartially, the doctrines of the New Testament, and to ascertain what are the obligations it imposes on professing Christians; determining to lay aside all preconceived opinions and traditional observances. The result of their inquiries terminated in the formation of the society now called the Dunkers, or First Day German Baptists. Meeting with much persecution as they grew into some importance, as all did who had independence enough to differ from the popular church, some were driven into Holland, some to Crefelt in the Duchy of Cleves, and the mother church voluntarily removed to Serustervin, in Friesland; and from thence emigrated to America in 1719, and dispersed to different parts of Pennsylvania, to Germantown, Skippack, Oley, Conestoga, and elsewhere. They formed a church at Germantown in 1723, under the charge of Peter Becker. The church grew rapidly in this country, receiving members from the banks of the Wissahiccon and from Lancaster county, and soon after a church was established

at Muehlbach, (Mill creek,) in that county. Of this community was one Conrad Beissel, a native of Germany. He had been a Presbyterian, and fled from the persecutions of that period. Wholly intent upon seeking out the true obligations of the word of God, and the proper observance of the rites and ceremonies it imposes, stripped of human authority, he conceived that there was an error among the Dunkers, in the observance of the day for the sabbath-that the seventh day was the command of the Lord God, and that day being established and sanctified, by the Great Jehovah, for ever, 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 for ever, 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, (in the same county,) which had previously been occupied by one Elimelich, a hermit. His place of retirement was unknown for a long time 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 observance 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 the purpose were finished-May, 1733,-constituting, with the buildings subsequently erected by the community, the irregular, enclosed village of Ephrata. The habit of the Capuchins, or White Friars, was adopted by both the brethren and sisters; which consisted of a shirt, trowsers, and vest, with a long white gown and cowl, of woollen web in winter, and linen in summer. That of the sisters differed only in the substitution of petticoats for trowsers, and some little peculiarity in the shape of the cowl. Monastic names were given to all who entered the cloister. Onesimus (Israel Eckerlin) was constituted Prior, who was succeeded by Jæbez, (Peter Miller,) and the title of Father-spiritual father-was bestowed by the Society, upon Beissel, whose monastic name was Friedsam; to which the brethren afterwards added Gottrecht-implying, together, Peaceable God-right. In the year 1740, there were thirty-six single brethren in the cloister, and thirty-five sisters; and at one time, the