Book Description

Excerpt from The German Sectarians of Pennsylvania: A Critical and Legendary History of the Ephrata Cloister and the Dunkers In submitting to his readers the present volume of Pennsylvana local history the writer offers no apology. The universal approval bestowed by both press and public upon The German Pietists Of Pennsylvania has encouraged him to persevere in his labor and research, and he now presents a continuation of the history of the "Sect People" of Pennsylvania in the form of an exhaustive account of the Ephrata Cloister and the Dunkers. Incidentally, the early history of one is that of the other. Later, however, while the Dunkers or German Baptist Brethren became a large and flourishing denomination, the other branch resolved itself into a monastic society composed of both sexes, and was fixed for many years in unique habitations upon the banks of the picturesque Cocalico in the county of Lancaster. At last the institution, by a change of the social and political conditions, together with the death of the older members of the society, lapsed into a regular German Seventh-day Baptist congregation. The members of the original society were the virtual successors to the Society of the Woman in the Wilderness on the Wissahickon, which formed the basis for our first volume of this series. In issuing the same, the hope was expressed that the publication would be the means of bringing to light some further facts and documents bearing upon this interesting phase of our early local history. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.