less spirit and a beautiful brotherhood. This constituted Zinzendorf 's ideal, which was crowned with wonderful success.
At the time of Zinzendorf 's death (17G0), the Breth- ren were established in most of the Protestant states of Germany, in Holland, (ireat Britain, and North Amer- ica, and after his decease they spread to Bussia, Den- mark, and Baden. In all of these countries they were represented by exclusive settlements; in Great Britain and America they had, besides, a number of churches in which their peculiar system did not prevail. The various governments granted them liberal concessions, and made them independent of the State Church ; the Parliament of Great Britain, with the full concurrence of the bench of bishops, acknowledged them in 1749 as '• an ancient episcopal Church," anil passed an act en- couraging them to settle in the North American colo- nies. On the part of the theologians of the day. how- ever, the same fraternal spirit was not always manifest- ed. Lutheran divines, especially, began to jmljlish bit- ter attacks upon the Brethren. That these, in this early period of their history, gave j ust cause of olTence, at least to some extent, cannot be denied. In the first place, the controlling influence of the Church was carried to un- reasonable extremes, particularl_v as regards the sacred rights of the marriage relation and of the family. These were interfered with. In order to educate a chosen gen- eration for work in the kingdom of tJod, the Church un- dertook the training of the children almost to the exclu- sion of parental rule. In the second place, about the year 1745 there began to appear in the churches of Middle Germany a spirit of f^anaticism, which spread to some other ^Moravian towns on the Continent, and even to Great Britain. Those in America were not affected. It was a fanaticism which grew out of a one-sided view of the relation of believers to Christ. The Brethren spoke of him in a fanciful and antiscriptural style. A new religious phraseology, unwarranted by the Bible, gained the supremacy. The wounds of Jesus, and particularly the wound in his side, were apostrophized in the most extravagant terms. Images were used more sensuous than anything foinul in the Song of Solomon. Hymns abounded that poured forth puerilities and sentimental nonsense like a Hood. This state of affairs, which in Moravian history is designated " the time of sifting," continued for about five years, reaching its climax in 1749. When Zinzendorf and his coadjutors awoke to a sense of the danger which was threatening the Church, thej- adopted the most energetic measures to bring back the fanatics to the true faith. By the blessing of God they succeeded: the Church was foully restored to sound doctrine and scriptural practice. This is an experience without a parallel in ecclesiastical history, and shows how firmly it was founded upon Christ as its chief cor- ner-stone. This, too, is the suflicient answer to those assaults which were then made upon it by Rimius. by the author of The Moravians Delected, and by a legion of other writers, whose publications have been collected by the librarian of the archives at Herrnhut, where they fill up a large book-case, and are examined as lit- erary curiosities by tlie visitor of the present day.
The best evidence of the entire suppression of fanati- cism is the fact that the Moravian settlements, subse- quent to 1750, not only continued to be centres of a widely spread influence for good, but also exercised such influence in an ever-increasing degree throughout the world. However exclusive their system, tliey were not market-places in which the people stood idle all the day ; on the contrary, there were various ways in which these towns made their power to l)e felt. They gave a direc- tion to chosen men of God. who became illustrious lead- ers in other parts of Christendom — as, for iiistance, to .John Wesley, to Schleiermacher. and to Knajip; tliey were cities of refuge for the pure (Jospcl during the long reign of rationalism in (iermauy ; they educated in their boarding-schools thousands of young jieople not con- nected with the Moravian Cliurcli; tliev originated a
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vast home missionary work, which will be described be- low, under the head of "Diaspora;" and they sent out so large an army of missionaries into heathen lands that by common consent the Moravians are recognised as the standard-bearers in the foreign missionary work of mod- ern times.
Since the beginning of the present century various modifications have been introduced in the Church, es- peciallv such as set aside any undue interference on its part with the rights of the family. The General Synod of 1857 undertook a thorough revision of the Constitu- tion, on the basis of local independence in the three "provinces" of the Unitas Fratrum.
II. Moravian Towns.— There still exist fifteen exclu- sively Moravian settlements on the Continent of Europe, and four in Great Britain. In such settlements the mem- bersliip is divided into seven classes, called "choirs," from the Greek xopij^- These classes are : the married couples, the widowed, the unmarried men, the unmar- ried women, the boys, the girls, and the little children. Each class is committed to the supervision of an elder. Growing out of this system, we find in every Moravian town a Brethren's, a Sisters', and a IVidoius' House. In a Brethren's House, unmarried men live together and carry on trades, the profits of which go to support the establishment, as also the enterprises of the Church in general. A Sisters' House is inhabited by unmarried women, who maintain themselves by work suited to their sex. In each house there is a prayer-hall, where daily religious services are held. A common kitchen supplies the iniruites with their meals. There is noth- ing monastic in the principles underlying these estab- lishments, or in the regulations by which they are gov- erned. The inmates are bound by no vow, and can leave at their option. A Widows' House is a home for widows, supplying them with all the comforts which they need at moderate charges, and enabling the poor- est to live in a respectable manner. Each house has a spiritual and a temporal superintendent. The settle- ments in general are governed by two boards : the one, called the " Elders' Conference," with the senior pastor at its head, attends to the spiritual affairs; the other, called the " Board of Overseers," with the " warden" as its president, to financial and municipal matters. On business of importance, a general meeting of the adult male members is convened. These towns at present count among their inhabitants not a few who are not members of the Moravian Church. Such residents, un- til recently, wore not permitted to own real estate. This fundamental principle is now undergoing a change whicli will, without doubt, gradually lead to the aboli- tion of the entire system of exclusivism.