Part 4 (2/2)
[Ill.u.s.tration: PLAN OF THE INSPIRATIONIST VILLAGES]
Not unfrequently the examination of a cla.s.s is adjourned from day to day, because they are found to be cold and unimpressible; and I notice that on these occasions the young people in particular are a cause of much grief and trouble on account of their perverse hardness of heart.
The celebration of the Lord's Supper is their greatest religious event.
It is held only when the ”inspired instrument” directs it, which may not happen once in two years; and it is thought so solemn and important an occasion that a full account of it is sometimes printed in a book. I have one such volume: ”_Das Liebes- und Gedachtniszmahl des Leidens und Sterbens unsers Herrn und Heilandes Jesu Christi, wie solches von dem Herrn durch Sein Wort und zeugnisz angekundigt, angeordnet und gehalten warden, in Vier Abtheilungen, zu Mittel und Nieder Eben-Ezer, im Jahr_ 1855” (”The Supper of Love and Remembrance of the suffering and death of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: How it was announced, ordered, and held by his word and witness, in four parts, in Middle and Lower Eben-Ezer, in the year 1855”). It is a neatly printed volume of 284 pages.
The account begins with the announcement of the Lord's command: ”Middle Eben-Ezer, April 21st, 1855, Sat.u.r.day, in the general meeting, in the beginning, when the congregation was a.s.sembled, came the following gracious word and determination of the Lord, through Brother Chr. Metz.”
Thereupon, after some words of preface, the ”instrument” kneeled down, the congregation also kneeling, and said: ”I am commanded humbly to reveal, according to the sacred and loving conclusion, that you are to celebrate the supper of love and remembrance in the presence of your G.o.d. The beginning and the course of it shall be as before. There will be on this occasion humiliations and revelations, if in any the true Worker of righteousness and repentance has not been allowed to do his work. The Lord will make a representation of the lack of his understanding in many of you; his great love will come to light, and will light up every one.” After more of this kind of address, the ”instrument” said: ”You are to begin the Lord's Supper on Ascension-day, make ready then all your hearts, clean out all filth, all that is rotten and stinks, all sins and every thing idle and useless; and cherish pious thoughts, so that you shall put down the flesh, as you are commanded to,” and so on.
On a following Sunday, the ”instrument” recurred to the subject, and in the course of his remarks reproved one of the elders for disobedience to the Lord and resistance to grace, and displaced him in the a.s.sembly, calling another by name to his place. At the close, he spoke thus, evidently in the name and with the voice of G.o.d: ”And I leave it to you, my servants, to take out of the middle order here and there some into the first, and out of the third into the second, but not according to favor and prejudice, but according to their grace and conduct, of which you are to take notice.”
A day was given to admonitions and preparation; the ”instrument”
speaking not only to the congregation in general, in the morning and afternoon meetings, but to a great many in particular--admonis.h.i.+ng, exhorting, blaming, encouraging them by name. The next morning there was a renewal of such hortatory remarks, with singing and prayer; and in the afternoon, all being prepared, the elders washed the feet of the brethren. This is done only in the higher orders.
Thereupon tables are brought in, and bread and wine are placed. After singing, the ”inspired” person blesses these, and they are then received by the brethren and sisters from the hands of the elders, who p.r.o.nounce the customary words of Scripture.
This being accomplished, the a.s.sembly temporarily adjourns, and persons previously appointed for this office spread on the tables a modest supper of bread and cake, coffee, chocolate, and a few other articles of food, and to this all sit down with solemn joy. At the conclusion of this meal, a hymn is sung, and the a.s.sembly retire to their homes.
When the three regular orders have gone through this celebration, there is a fourth, consisting of children under sixteen years, and of certain adult members who for various reasons have been thought unworthy to partake with the rest; and these also go through a thorough examination.
I asked one of their leading elders whether they believed in a ”prayer-cure,” explaining what the Oneida communists understand by this phrase. He replied, ”No, we do not use prayer in this way, to cure disease. But it is possible. But if G.o.d has determined death, ten doctors cannot help a man.”
The present inspired instrument being very aged, I asked whether another was ready to take her place. They said No, no one had yet appeared; but they had no doubt G.o.d would call some one to the necessary office. They were willing to trust him, and gave themselves no trouble about it.
It remains to speak of their literature.
They have a somewhat ponderous hymnology, in two great volumes, one called ”The Voice from Zion: to the Praise of the Almighty,” by ”John William Petersen (A.D. 1698),” printed at Eben-Ezer, N. Y., in 1851, and containing 958 pages. The hymns are called Psalms, and are not in rhyme.
They are to be sung in a kind of chant, as I judge from the music prefixed to them; and are a kind of commentary on the Scripture, one part being taken up with the book of Revelation.
The other volume is the hymn-book in regular use. It contains 1285 pages, of which 111 are music--airs to which the different hymns may be sung. The copy I have is of the third edition, and bears the imprint, ”Amana, Iowa, 1871.” Its t.i.tle is ”Psalms after the manner of David, for the children of Zion.” It has one peculiarity which might with advantage be introduced in other hymn-books. Occasional verses are marked with a *, and it is recommended to the reader that these be taught to the children as little prayers. In practice, I found that in their evening meetings the grown persons as well as the children recited these simple and devotional little verses as their prayers: surely a more satisfactory delivery to them and the congregation than rude and halting attempts at extemporary utterance.
Many of the hymns are very long, having from twelve to twenty-four verses; and it is usual at their meetings to sing three or four verses and then read the remainder. They do not sing well; and their tunes--those at least which I heard--are slow, and apparently in a style of music now disused in our churches. The hymns are printed as prose, only the verses being separated. I was told that they were ”all given by the Spirit of G.o.d,” and that Christian Metz had a great gift of hymn-writing, very often, at home or elsewhere, writing down an entire hymn at one sitting. They are all deeply devotional in spirit, and have not infrequently the merit of great simplicity and a pleasing quaintness of expression, of which I think the German language is more capable than our ruder and more stubborn English.
Their writers are greatly given to rhyming. Even in the inspirational utterances I find frequently short admonitory paragraphs where rude rhymes are introduced. Among their books is one, very singular, called ”Innocent Amus.e.m.e.nt” (”_Unschuldiges Zeitvertreib_”), in a number of volumes (I saw the fifth). It is a collection of verses, making pious applications of many odd subjects. Among the headings I found Cooking, Rain, Milk, The Ocean, Temperance, Salve, Dinner, A Mast, Fog, A Net, Pitch, A Rainbow, A Kitchen, etc., etc. It is a ma.s.s of pious doggerel, founded on Scripture and with fanciful additions.
Another is called ”Jesus's ABC, for his scholars,” and is also in rhyme.
Another is ent.i.tled ”Rhymes on the sufferings, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.” There are about twelve hundred pages of the ABC book.
They have printed also a miniature Thomas a Kempis, ”for the edification of children;” two catechisms; a little work ent.i.tled ”Treasure for those who desire G.o.d,” and other works of similar character. A list, not complete, but containing all the books I have been able to collect, will be found in the Bibliography at the end of this volume.
At the end of the Catechism are some pages of rules for the conduct of children, at home, in church, at school, during play hours, at meals, and in all the relations of their lives. Many of these rules are excellent, and the whole of them might well be added to the children's catechisms in use in the churches. Piety, orderly habits, obedience, politeness, cleanliness, kindness to others, truthfulness, cheerfulness, etc., are all inculcated in considerable detail, with great plainness of speech, and in sixty-six short paragraphs, easily comprehended by the youngest children. The fifty-fourth rule shows the care with which they guard the intercourse of the s.e.xes: ”Have no pleasure in violent games or plays; do not wait on the road to look at quarrels or fights; do not keep company with bad children, for there you will learn only wickedness. Also, _do not play with children of the other s.e.x_.”
THE HARMONY SOCIETY,
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