Ruffians Mob Pastor and Cause Organization
of First Moravian Church July 27, 1742
An affair occurred in Philadelphia July 27, 1742, which, disgraceful as were the proceedings, was the means of establishing a separate Moravian Church in that city.
Count Nicholas Ludwig Zinzindorf arrived in Philadelphia, December 10, 1741. He came with the hope of uniting all Protestant Christians into a confederacy or league.
Almost immediately upon his arrival Henry Antes, a pious wheel-wright and farmer in Falkner’s Swamp, now Frederick Township, Montgomery County, invited Zinzindorf to attend a synod or conference at Germantown, which had for its object a movement similar to that of the distinguished[distinguished] visitor.
Zinzindorf accepted the invitation and attended the Synod, January 12, 1742. Indeed he went there before that date, and preached in the German Reformed Church, January 1, his first sermon in America. He got acquainted with the people and earnestly began his great work.
This Synod was the first of seven. It was held in the house of Theobold Endt, a Germantown clockmaker. Zinzindorf was made moderator.
The delegates of the different sects met and discussed the best way of bringing about a more perfect union of all Protestant denominations. There were a number of Moravians present, but not as delegates, for no settled congregation of that sect as yet existed.
No definite results were reached though Zinzindorf’s ideas impressed the assemblies.