Freed from the direct oversight of church and government hierarchies, the immigrants that poured into William Penn’s colony in America splintered into a constantly evolving maelstrom of mystical sects, pietist offshoots and communal experiments. Travelling but a few miles from Philadelphia, one might encounter small groups of enthusiasts whose practices included vegetarianism, celibacy, pacifism and the beginnings of a uniquely American styled revivalism. One of the most fascinating was to be found at Ephrata, in what is today Lancaster County. A number of the buildings still survive, although the white robed Sisters and Brethren of the Ephrata Cloister are no more.
After nearly a century of war, as many as five thousand German Pietists began the arduous journey to Pennsylvania. Among them was Conrad Beissel, an orphaned baker who bristled at the requirement that he attend the state sanctioned Reformed Church. Hoping to join Johannes Kelpius’s Society of the Woman in the Wilderness, he arrived only to find that the group had all but disbanded. He joined a group of German Baptists, but soon developed a set of doctrines that no longer made that association compatible. Moving to the Pennsylvania frontier, he soon had gathered a core group of adherents attracted by his calls to celibacy, one of the doctrines that would become a hallmark of the Ephrata Cloister.
The prayer room at the Ephrata CloisterAn accomplished musician (and reportedly long winded pulpiteer), Beissel attracted Mennonites, Lutherans, Baptists and Reformed church members with his charismatic style and separatist teachings. His conviction that the Old Testament practice of Saturday worship should be the order for believers created consternation, ridicule and resentment. The resentment grew markedly, however, when a number of young women joined the group, including wives who abandoned their husbands.
One of these women was the wife of Christopher Saur, the Early American Bible printer. Saur had been a friend of Beissel’s and Beissel returned that friendship by securing the materials for typesetting which Saur had difficulty acquiring. Benjamin Franklin, among others, worked feverishly to discourage printing in the German language, at one point proposing a newspaper tax that would only apply to German language periodicals. Yet, despite Franklin’s views about the English vs. German language controversy, his views soon changed as the conflict with Britain grew. In particular, Saur’s pro-Tory leanings eventually made him anathema to the larger community. At one point, rioters destroyed his presses and he was forced to flee Germantown, replaced by the pro-Colonial Michael Billmeyer.
During the pre-War years, however, the Cloister grew to be a large farming and milling center, noted for its learning, its publications and, in particular, the hymns written by Beissel. While Beissel seemed to have little difficulty attractingThe Printing Office of the Brotherhood was first established in the buildings on Mount Zion, then moved to Bethania (Brothers’ House), built circa 1735. The original press did not survive. Photo courtesy of Ephrata Cloister, Ephrata, PA. adherents, he had focused on recruiting the most learned men he could find. In particular, he desired to bring over one of the Reformed preachers, since they were often highly educated and proficient in languages. Of course, most of these men were married and did not fit the mold for Beissel’s new Jerusalem. When a young unmarried pastor arrived by the name of John Bartholomew Rieger, Beissel immediately set his sights upon him. When he learned that Rieger had married, he is reported to have exclaimed “O Lord, Thou sufferest them to spoil on my very hands!”{footnote}Good, J.I.; The History of the Reformed Church in the United States, 1725-1782; Daniel Miller Publisher, 1899, Reading, PA, p.162{/footnote}
Rieger had began his studies at Heidelberg University, but soon after had left to complete his training at Basel. Like most of the Palitinate men, he was very well educated in theology and classical learning and would have made the prize Beissel sought. Shortly thereafter, however, another young man, one Peter Miller, arrived in Pennsylvania from Heidelberg. Miller would not only prove to be the exact man Beissel sought, but his gifts would extend the worldly tenure of the Cloister far longer than it might have otherwise survived.
The Academy was opened by the Householders in 1837 as a private school for their children and those of the area. The tradition of teaching school at Ephrata dates back to the mid-1700s when Brother Obed (Ludwig Hocker) conducted lessons for neighborhood children. Most of the teaching focused on reading, writing and arithmetic. In the early 1840s, the enterprising teacher Joseph Wiggins also offered chemistry, measuring, surveying, and astronomy. In the mid-1800s, the building became a public school serving several generations of students until it closed in 1926. Text and photos courtesy of Ephrata Cloister, Ephrata, PA.It seems that while highly educated, for reasons that the records do not share Miller had not been ordained. When the German Reformed pastor John Philip Boehm urged Miller to seek ordination from the American Dutch Reformed church, Miller sharply disagreed, preferring to have the Presbyterians conduct his exams. “In this land of glorious liberty the people [are] free to elect their ministers and to also dismiss them. Christians [are] free and Christ alone [is] their head.” The Presbyterians examined Miller and found him an astoundingly well education young man. One of those present, Rev. Jedediah Andrews of Philadelphia, wrote that Miller had been given a question about sanctification and “he answered it in a whole sheet of paper in a very notable manner. He speaks Latin as well as we speak our native tongue.” And referring to another Reformed minister who accompanied him, “and so does the other, Mr. Weiss.”
Miller eventually settled into a church at Tupelhoeken and ministered uneventfully for a number of years, until he came to Beissel’s attention. Beissel visited him and made an impression on the scholarly young preacher, later converting to the Dunkard sect (as Beissel’s group was characterized). Accounts tell the story of a spring day in 1735 when Miller, three of his elders and a number of other families were re-baptized into the Seventh Day movement. They assembled at the house of a member, having collected a large pile of Heidelberg Catechisms, Luther Catechisms and assorted devotional books and burned them in the yard. {footnote}Ibid. p.163{/footnote}
As was the custom, Miller took a Biblical name and was henceforth known as “Brother Jabez.” While there are numerous accounts and stories about Miller that survive, the veracity of the most interesting has been questioned. It hasThe Academy was opened by the Householders in 1837 as a private school for their children and those of the area. The tradition of teaching school at Ephrata dates back to the mid-1700s when Brother Obed (Ludwig Hocker) conducted lessons for neighborhood children. Most of the teaching focused on reading, writing and arithmetic. In the early 1840s, the enterprising teacher Joseph Wiggins also offered chemistry, measuring, surveying, and astronomy. In the mid-1800s, the building became a public school serving several generations of students until it closed in 1926. Text and photos courtesy of Ephrata Cloister, Ephrata, PA. beenchronicled that Miller was asked by Thomas Jefferson to translate the Declaration of Independence into the languages of the European nations. While he was certainly among those most able to accomplish the task, there is no actual evidence that he was the one who did so, notwithstanding a stained glass window created by Van Ingen for the Pennsylvania Statehouse depicting the event.
There are also any number of conspiracy theories that surround Miller involving Freemasonry and which purportedly explain both his desire to remove himself from ecclesiastical oversight as well as his apparent easy access to Franklin and George Washington. Part of that, no doubt, relates to an incident in which a bitter enemy of Miller’s was accused of treason and sentenced to be hanged. Although usually cloistered at Ephrata until his death at an advanced age, he took it upon himself to intercede. The Ephrata Cloister was a grand social experiment that indulged the ego of Beissel, wrecked homes and countless lives and sorely disappointed Miller in its, and his, waning years. Yet, this story seems to belie the notion that the sect had caused him to sever connections with the people and events of the “outside” world or to stifle the simple impulse of Christian charity. Church historian J.I. Good recounts the event calling it “a beautiful story of forgiveness.”
At the zenith of the community in the 1740s and 1750s, about 300 members worked and worshiped at the Cloister. Today, the Ephrata Cloister is a National Historic Landmark, open for tours, special programs, and on-going research opportunities. Text/photo courtesy of Ephrata Cloister, Ephrata, PA.There lived in Ephrata [the local town] a man who distinguished himself for his base conduct towards Miller’s Society, who was also known as a traitor to the American cause. Charged with treason, he was condemned to death. No sooner was the sentence pronounced than Miller set out on foot to visit General Washington so as to intercede for the man’s life. But he was told that his prayers would not be answered for his unfortunate friend. “My friend!” exclaimed Miller, “I have not a worse enemy living than this man.”Living quarters at the Ephrata Cloister
“What?” rejoined Washington, “you have walked sixty miles to save the life of your enemy? That in my judgment puts matters in a different light. I will grant you his pardon.” The pardon was made out andwithout a moment’s delay Miller proceeded on foot to the place, fifteen miles distant, where the execution was to take place on the afternoon of the same day.
He arrived just as the man was conducted to the scaffold, who, seeing Miller in the crowd, remarked, “There is old Peter Miller, who has walked all the way from Ephrata to have his revenge gratified today by seeing me hung.” These words have scarcely been spoken when he was made acquainted with the very different object of Miller’s visit, namely that his life was spared. {footnote}Ibid. pp 164-5{/footnote}
