THE RIGHT PREVAILS
The Lord trieth the righteous; but the wicked and him
that loveth violence his soul hateth.
--Bible.
In brief, we traveled in this way until we reached the City of
Lancaster, which to us seemed all bustle and confusion. The constable,
as became his dignity, alighted from his litter and took the lead, with
his deputies following, and we after the deputies, in single file,
creating great excitement, especially as it was conjectured by some that
we were Papists--this by reason of our monkish cowls and long cloaks and
abstracted air. Others of the idlers whom we passed jeered us and spat
on us as being spies--of what, I am certain I never could learn--and
that we were to be hanged as traitors.
As no one had known of our coming, the idlers and the busybodies were
unprepared to give us such greeting as they no doubt would have
relished, and we were led without any great difficulty to the
court-house where, upon refusal to pay the taxes and in default of bail,
we were committed to prison. Here we were held in a cold, bare room
which we minded not; for our jailor permitted us to occupy it together,
which gave us great joy, and we complained neither at the confinement
nor the coarse food, but the rather spent our time in praising God and
most of all praying for our persecutors, all of us being unshaken in the
hope that deliverance would come from above and that in due time our
prison door would be opened unto us.
At last--and in this I believe our constable had a grateful part--when
Tobias Hendricks (whose name I write here that his good deed may shine
far out into the world), a venerable old man and himself a justice of
the peace, came forth and offered bail for us, though knowing none of us
except by rumor and repute, taking our bare word for our appearance in
court when wanted, we were released from our captivity, and quietly and
undisturbed we started out for our beloved Kloster, and upon the twelfth
day of our departure with the constable and his eager deputies, we six
Brethren once more filed into our little camp on the Cocalico, where we
were greeted with all the love and affection that the sobriety of our
lives permitted.
Not many weeks thereafter, the May Court convened in Lancaster and we
six Brethren, agreeable to our promise, put in our appearance before the
commissioners and assessors of taxes who, when they saw before them
these six gentle Brethren, in the bloom of youth, who had raised such a
warfare against the world, the fear of the Lord came upon our judges so
that they did not speak to us otherwise than friendly and offered us
every favor.
The first question put to us was, "Will ye be lawful subjects of the
king?" To which we replied--but in all respect--that as we had already
pledged allegiance to another King we could therefore obey the earthly
king only so far as his rights accorded with those of our eternal King.
To this our judges did not demur but asked another question, namely,
whether we would pay the taxes? To which we replied respectfully as
before, but firmly, not the head tax, because we acknowledged no worldly
authority's right over our bodies, since they had been redeemed from men
and the world. Moreover, we considered it unjust that, as we were
pledged to spend our lives in our present condition, one of great
benefit to the country about us, we should be measured by the same
standard as vagabonds and be made to pay the same tax as they; that we
desired not to be considered disobedient, because it was our rule to
live peaceably with all men so far as within us lay, for thus we were
enjoined by the Scriptures; but that if the judges would consider us a
spiritual family we would be willing to pay of our earthly possessions
according to what was just.
All this was granted us and remains unchanged to the present day; for
the fear of God came upon the gentlemen who were our judges when they
saw before them men who in the prime of their ages, by penitential works
had been reduced in flesh, so that our judges used great moderation and
granted us our personal freedom under condition that we should be taxed
as one family for our real estate, the judges even asking us how much
tax in our judgment would be just and fair--in short, for us to assess
our own rate.
This we refused to do, but finally, after much persuasion, we suggested
to the judges that a tax of forty shillings against our settlement as a
whole would be fair. This proving satisfactory to the board of judges,
we were discharged, and with exceeding gratitude to these gentlemen for
their benevolent treatment of us, which was so different from the
persecutions we often endured from our neighbors, who were so often
bounden to us for our charity, we set out with light hearts and winged
feet on our long tramp through forest and field for the Kloster.
It was late in the day and darkness had already come upon us when we
left the city of Lancaster, but our joy made the journey seem short and
by midnight we arrived in the settlement just as the night watch was in
full session.
In all my long life I have never forgotten and shall never forget how we
appeared to our Brethren that night as we came to the narrow doorway
leading into the _Saal_, I being in the lead. We could hear the fervent
prayers that were being offered for our release and for a moment while
the Brethren within were kneeling all unconscious of our nearness, I
held up my hand and beckoned the Brethren behind me to wait a moment
while we stood there silently gazing upon the bowed forms of the
worshipers.
I have myself attended more than one of our midnight funerals of some
dear Brother or Sister, and though wonderfully impressive and touching
to one's heart, even they never touched me more deeply than this
impressive sight before us. As we peered into the large _Saal_, with the
upper galleries shadowed in darkness, the only light the flickering
tallow candles in front of each of our devout Brethren, we saw the dark,
mysterious shadows in the corners of the _Saal_ with ourselves standing
in such a gloom we were not perceived. But for a few moments we stood
thus with a great peace filling our hearts, when suddenly we walked
quietly in, the prayer still in progress, and with heads bowed and hands
crossed upon our breasts like the penitents of the olden days ranged
ourselves in front of the platform whereon stood our beloved brother and
leader, Conrad Beissel, erect, austere; and so far as we could judge
from his immovable features, wholly undisturbed by our unexpected
arrival, though well we knew that this seeming indifference was but one
of discipline and self-control and that the heart within the sturdy
frame was beating warmly for each and every one of us.
The invocation in our behalf being ended there was for a few moments as
we stood before our leader a silence so profound as to be almost
painful. Then suddenly the powerful voice of Brother Weiser rang
throughout the hall in that magnificent, soul-stirring war-hymn of the
_Vaterland_ and the Reformation, a hymn as strong and rugged as the
mighty warrior who wrote it, "_Eine Feste Burg ist Unser Gott_."
The first line had not yet been completed when it was taken up by all
present until the strains of the full-voiced battle cry sounded and
resounded throughout the hall. For the time our Brethren had forgotten
all the repressing influences of our Kloster life and poured forth their
flood of praise and thanksgiving from their very hearts; for such
singing had never before shaken the walls of the _Saal_.
After the hymn was ended thanks were duly offered and the night watch
closed with a powerful address by Brother Beissel on the power of the
beast upon earth, and while I feel not at this late day like stating
aught that might savor of malice or revenge, I find in looking over our
old records this note made with reference to our recent experience,
namely, "Upon those neighbors, however, who had gloated over the
misfortunes of the Brethren there fell the terror of the Lord so that
they hurriedly left these regions"; and thus the beast received his
reward.
After the services were over and the Brethren were wending their ways
toward their _Kammers_ for their much-needed rest I asked our
superintendent about Sonnlein; for though I had said naught of him
during these occurrences, yet he was in my heart and in my anxiety most
of the time. I can still see and hear our leader, almost shocking me by
laughing, a thing he was most rarely guilty of, as he said, "Thy
Sonnlein is safe enough in thy _Kammer_, but I assure thee not only did
I pray and hope for thy deliverance for thine own sake and the sake of
our Kloster, but I do confess in all love for thee and thy boy that
hadst thou not soon returned to take care of him I had either been
compelled to give up my life here or give up thy boy."
I fear I did not even take time to thank him, but hastened to my cell
where I found my boy soundly sleeping.
It was no doubt thoughtless for me to waken him, but I could not help
it, and when he did awake to throw his arms about my neck and hold me
tight, I felt that, perhaps, it was no great sin after all to rouse him
from his sleep. After very many questions as to where I had been and why
the bad men had taken me, and all such questions as only an eager,
trusting child can ask, I finally told him it was time to go to sleep,
which he did without any great difficulty.
As he lay there sleeping in all the sweet innocence of childhood and
health, I looked first at him and then out through the little window at
the perfect beauty of God's handiwork in his heavens, and then I went to
my rest, proud to be a son of him who created me in his image and who
had put me into a world which, though full of dark and evil deeds, yet
held in it, if we only looked aright, so much of beauty and joy and
peace and love.