Poschel, Philipp P., a German Protestant divine, was born Sept. 23, 1769, at Ansbach. In 1797 he was minister at Bulenheim, and in 1817 city pastor in Augs- burg, where he died, Feb. 6, 1838. He wrote Meine Mussestunden, oder Resultate meines Nachdenlcens iiber die wichtigsten Gegenstandt aus dun Gebiete der Religions- wissenschaft (Nuremb. 1804): — Freimiithige Gedanken zur Beantivortung der Frage: vie Icarm einzig u. allein der gesunkenen Achtung der Religion u. i/i rer Lehrer aufge- holf a iri rden ' (ibid. 1803) : — Wiinsche u. Yorschldge zur lirchl. Verfassung in Baiern (Angsb. 1823): — Idem iiber Staat u. Kirche. Kultus, Kirchenzucht u. Geistlich- keit, etc. (Nuremb. 1816) : — Erhebungen des Herzens in Predigten (Augsb. 1825, 1826, 2 parts) -.—Predigten avf alle Feste des Jahres, etc. (ibid. 1826). See Winer, Handbuch der theolog. Literatur, p. 954.
Poschel, Thomas, a German religious enthusi- ast, was born March 2, 1769, at Horitz, in Bohemia. He entered the ministry, and was ordained Sept. 6, 1796. While he was vicar at Braunau he had to pre- pare for death the unfortunate bookseller Palm, and to accompany him to the place of execution (Aug. 26, 1806). This incident seems to have exercised a detrimental influence on his mind, so naturally inclined to mysticism. When, in 1809, Braunau passed from Austria to Bavaria, Poschel was placed under the dependency of the bishop of Salzburg; and in 1815, when the city became Austrian again, he returned to the diocese of Linz. Soon after- wards his insane behavior caused him to be sent from Braunau to a country place called Ampfelwang. He now considered himself a martyr of the faith, and preached his ''new revelation." Christ, he says, dwells in the hearts of such as are pure, and directs all their actions. To them appear God and the Virgin, and make them the recipients of their revelations. He who does not get purified incurs damnation, and deserves death, which alone can purify him. This doctrine must be obeyed even if it should exact the sacrifice of life itself, if the fruit of the new revelation is not to be lost and given to the Jews. For God has determined that the Jews shall be converted. Judaism and Christianity melted together into one general, catholic religion, the millen- nial kingdom is to commence when these events have taken place. The new doctrine found proselytes not only in Ampfelwang, but in the surrounding localities — Azbach, Unkenach, Gampern, Schiifling, etc. The Piischelians affected great piety, prayed with deeply bowed heads, some stretched on the ground ; they made uncommon use of all religious practices, as pilgrimages, fasting, communion, with or without previous confes- sion, solemn invocations of the Virgin and the saints. But the tide of extravagance rose apace. Women
POSCHELIANS
430
POSEY
heard confessions and gave absolution. They are said to have committed mosl indecent acts in their assem- blies. The ceremony of purification preceded the ad- mission of new members: a kiml of oil or a powder which the proselyte was made to swallow produced dreadful convulsions, while a crowd of maddened fe- males performed a savage dance around the Bufferer, to expel the devil, who had hitherto held possession ol the new member. The escape of Napoleon from Elba strengthened the belief thai he was the Antichrist, and
that, as a i sequence, the millennium was at hand.
Disorderly tramps roamed about, prophesying and preaching, held themselves for chosen members of the kingdom of Cod, and resisted hoth the ecclesiastical and civil authorities. At last government took the mailer in hand, nightly raid- were made upon their assemblies, their doings were investigated, and Poschel was pul into custody at Salzburg. This intervention of the po- lice did not appease the fanaticism of the sectarians, who were misled several times even to sanguinary ex- cesses. A mother tried to torture her child to death, to honor the Lord; a father to kill his child in prison. The insanity of these people reached its pitch in the Holy Week of 1817. In the night thai followed Palm Sunday it was resolved, in a meeting held near Amp- felwang, to offer a sacrifice to the Lord. A peasant, of the name of Haas, was to be the victim. His mother and an old man were dragged to the scene of the- holo- caust : the woman was killed with one stroke, while the man died only a few days afterwards of his wound, the ceremony I. conning by this postponement devoid of ef- fect. Haas prevailed on his adopted daughter, a girl of nineteen years, to give her life for him. The mon- sters killed her most cruelly, and are even said to have drunk her blood, as being the blood of Christ. The Bcene of these horrors was on the ensuing day occupied by the militia and the actors arrested, hut, only six if the Ii aders were kept in custody. The sect, which did not count over 126 members, thereafter disappeared rapidly. PSschel, who had always condemned the hor- rors committed by his disciples, was transferred to Vi- enna, where, his insanity being clearly demonstrated, he was placed under severe ecclesiastical custody. He died in 1837. In a wider sense, the name of Posche- lians was for some time used to designate fanatics of Poschel's and the Poschelians1 description. See Alzog, Kirchengesch. ii. 680; Giesebrecht, Kirchengesch. der neuesten Zeii i Bonn, 1855), p. 338 sq. (J. II. W.)