The Separatists of southern Germany were equivalent
to what in New England are called "Come Outers"--protestants against the
prevailing religious faith, or, as they would say, lack of faith.
These German "Come Outers" were for the most part mystics, who had read
the writings of Jacob Boehm, Gerhard Terstegen, and Jung Stilling; they
cherished different religious or doctrinal beliefs, were stigmatized as
fanatics, but were usually, I judge, simple-hearted, pious people,
desirous to lead a more spiritual life than they found in the churches.
Their refusal to send their children to the schools--which were
controlled by the clergy--and to allow their young men to serve as
soldiers, brought upon them persecution from both the secular and the
ecclesiastical authorities, resulting in flogging, imprisonment, and
fines. The people who finally emigrated to Zoar, after enduring these
persecutions for ten or twelve years gathered together in an obscure
part of Wuertemberg, where, by the favor of a friend at court, they were
permitted to settle. But even from this refuge they were hunted out
after some years; and, finding no other resource left, they at last
determined to remove in a body to America, those few among them who had
property paying the passage of those who were without means.
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