page 26

in death shortly before the then contemplated emigration
to America.
The three orphan boys, George, Melchior, and Christopher,
joining some forty Schwenkfelder families,
forever turned their backs upon their native land,
embarked for Philadelphia, where, after a tedious
voyage of about five months, they arrived September
22, 1734. Young Christopher kept a diary ("Reise
Beschreibung"), which is found in print in the "Erl�uterung,"
of which book he also was the chief compiler,
and which gives a brief history of the persecutions
which befell Schwenkfeld and his followers in
Silesia, and an impartial exposition of the doctrinal
points upon which they and their opponents differed,
etc.
At a comparatively early period Christopher Schultz
was looked to as a leading spirit among the Schwenkfelders,
and was chosen as their Gospel minister, in
which capacity he served faithfully and efficiently to
the end of his life.
He was the chief organizer of the Schwenkfelders
into a formal religious body or congregation, composing
their present catechism, collating their hymnbook,
writing their constitution (Grund Regeln), and
a "Compendium" of religious doctrines of faith of
600 octavo pages--an excellent work, eminently
catholic, and, like the catechism, everywhere substantiated
by Bible truths and references.
For many years, up to the end of the American Revolution,
Father Schultz kept up a correspondence with
friends left in Germany; copies of some of his letters
and of those written in reply (all in German manuscript)
are still at hand. Father Schultz lived in stirring
times and he experienced a great deal. At the