Barbara Heinemann Landmann - The Inspirationists Gather in Hesse, 1823-1843.

The Inspirationists Gather in Hesse, 1823-1843.

Shambaugh (1908) is the primary source for the history of the Community following Barbara's loss of the gift of Inspiration.

After both Michael Krausert and Barbara Heinemann Landmann lost the gift of Inspiration, Christian Metz was left as the sole Werkzeug for the Community. He led the Inspirationists, in both spiritual and secular matters, for the next 44 years, from Barbara's marriage and banishment in 1823 to his own death in 1867.

He is described by the members of the Community as a man of commanding presence and of great personal magnetism, who challenged admiration, respect, and even homage wherever he went. . . . The testimonies of Christian Metz are couched in beautiful language and are altogether on a higher plane than those of Barbara Heinemann. (Shambaugh, 1908)

The main task facing Christian Metz at the beginning of his leadership was to move the Inspirationists from persecution to safety.

Persecution came about because the Inspirationists refused to report for military duty, they refused to take oaths, and they refused to send their children to the schools established by the state. The authorities arrested and fined them. Mobs threw stones through the windows of their meeting houses. People on the street assaulted them verbally and physically.

In Schwarzenau, in 1825, the court handed down an order. The Inspirationists there had to pay taxes for the support of the established churches and schools. They could not keep their own teachers. Their children had to attend the state schools and participate in the religious instruction given by the pastor. Their children would be baptized by force, if necessary.

In the following year the court handed down another order. Since the orthodox church offered and taught everything that was necessary for salvation, the Inspirationists had to choose: return to the fold of the orthodox church, or leave town within six months. The Inspirationists looked toward Hesse, a more tolerant state.

In Hesse, Christian Metz sought a large estate where the Inspirationists could live in common and work at their customary trades. The Inspirationists leased part of the cloister at Marienborn, near Ronneburg. The congregation from Schwarzenau moved to Marienborn.

Now began fulfillment of the prophecy delivered by Christian Metz: "The Lord would soon collect and gather in His faithful servants." (Bezeugungen)

The next group of faithful servants to be collected was the long oppressed congregation at Edenkoben. For them, the Inspirationists leased a nearby estate called Herrnhaag.

Next, the congregation at Ronneburg had to move; the government there had turned against them. Through the efforts of Christian Metz, the Inspirationists leased the cloister at Arnsburg. Now they were afraid that they had leased more land than they needed; but soon the cloister at Arnsburg was filled up with Inspirationists arriving from other countries, especially Switzerland. The Inspirationists needed still more land, so they leased the convent and estate of Engelthal.

The four estates—Marienborn, Herrnhaag, Arnsburg, and Engelthal—were within a few miles of each other. Though physically separate, they had one common management. The Inspirationists began to adopt a communistic life style. Housed together in the four estates were rich and poor, educated and uneducated, professionals, merchants, manufacturers, artisans, farmers, and laborers. The rich gave of their means, the merchants of their business ability, and the artisans and farmers of their labor. Within a few years, the Community attained a degree of prosperity which promised the peaceful life foretold in the early prophecies, the life for which its members had been striving so many years.

Unfortunately, peace eluded them. Revolution was abroad in Europe, and the ruling classes felt threatened by nonconformists. The rulers began to take away, one by one, the Inspirationists' cherished liberties. Parents had to pay fines for keeping their children out of public schools; and the fines, especially for families with several children, became unbearable. Rents kept rising, and land became too expensive to buy. The very elements turned against the Inspirationists, since excessive heat and drought left them with nothing to gather at harvest time.