In 1694, Johannes Kelpius and about forty other German Pietists set sail for the recently established colony of Pennsylvania. Unlike others who flocked to the new world to escape religious persecution or in the hopes of new opportunities, Kelpius and his followers came to await the end of days.
University educated scholars and astronomers, the group that called themselves the Society of the Woman in the Wilderness (but came to be known by other colonists as the Hermits or Mystics of the Wissahickon) had determined through extensive study of the Book of Revelations that the second coming would occur in 1694.
Philadelphia was chosen as the ideal location to wait for the heavenly kingdom due to its proximity to the wilderness which allowed the group the isolation they needed to purify their souls through meditation and observation of the heavens. They set up a rudimentary settlement near the banks of the Wissahickon Creek, near present-day Roxburough. When the year passed, the hermits continued to wait through several more years and some even continued to wait after Kelpius’ death in 1708, though most grew disaffected and were eventually absorbed into the nearby settlement of Germantown.
HSP is home to some of the few surviving relics of the Kelpius community, including Kelpius’ own journal from 1694 documenting the group’s hazardous 10-week Atlantic crossing. The journal entries recount their ship’s encounters with impress gangs, battles with hostile French vessels, perilous storms, and even divine intervention. For this #FridayReads, check out the digitized journal in HSP’s Digital Library: http://ow.ly/UCe9u
If your Latin and German are a bit rusty, check out this English translation:http://ow.ly/UCed8