"He was very strict in his morals, and practised self-denial to an uncommon degree. Enthusiastic and whimsical he certainly was, but an apparent devoutness and sincerity ran through all his oddities. He was not an adept in any of the liberal arts and sciences except music, in which he excelled. He composed and set to music, in two, four, five and seven parts, a volume of hymns, and another of anthems. He left behind him several books in manuscript, curiously written and embellished, and likewise published several other works." One writer has observed, "that the sisters apparently took little delight in their state of single blessedness, as two only, (aged and ill-favoured ones, we may suppose,) remained steadfast in the renunciation of marriage." This invidious remark is entirely unfounded; for though they were not required to renounce matrimony on entering the cloister, only four or five of the whole number that were received in it as inmates, during the period of one hundred and ten years, left and were married. One of these became the wife of a gentleman of Philadelphia, and afterwards, amid the cares and burdens of a large family, she regretted her change exceedingly, as did all the others who were induced to leave the "stille einsamkeit." "The others remained steadfast in their state of single blessedness, and now, with the exception of those remaining in the convent, lie beside each other in the beautiful cemetery in the foreground of the village." These gratuitous aspersions would be passed over with the silence they deserve, were it not that a fresh currency has been given to them by a late popular work. They have likewise been charged with denying the doctrine of original sin, and the eternity of punishment. They do not indeed believe that every individual of mankind is included in the condemnation of Adam, for many who are born, die without sinning; but they admit that in the fall of Adam, all disposition to good was lost, and "that the whole race inherit a natural innate depravity, which will lead them to sin, and prove their sure condemnation, unless they repent and are born again of the Holy Spirit." Beissel wrote a most curious and ingenious treatise upon this subject, in which he enters into long disquisitions on the nature and intellectual capabilities of Adam in his primeval state of innocence. He then explains in what manner he was affected by the fall, and with it elucidates many passages of scripture, which have escaped the attention of men of more erudition, but less profundity of penetration and genius. His views, however, though deep and ingenious, are somewhat mysterious, and would, in the present day, be considered as little better than the hypothetical speculations of an overwrought imagination. However, there is nothing that can be construed as denying the doctrine of human depravity, and the woeful consequences that the fall of Adam has entailed upon his posterity, unless each one