THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG 92
ordained.”’ By that time, however, there was gathered a body of Christians, not exclusively descended from the Bohemian fathers, but representing a union of survivors of the almost extinct church of the Bohemian-Moravian Brethren with representatives of German Pietism.
In the very nature of the case, therefore, a new and different development began. It was shaped by Zinzendorf. He had, indeed, declared that he would do all in his power to fulfil those hopes of a
renewal of the Brethren’s church which
3. Organi- filled the heart of its aged Bishop zation under Comenius; but at the same time he Zinzendorf. was by conviction a Lutheran, and had adopted Spener’s idea in its deep-
est import, of establishing ecclesiole in ecclesia. This idea he carried out to extremes of which its originator had never thought. On the one hand, the Brethren were to constitute an independent church; and yet, on the other, they were not to interfere with the State Church, but to set forth within the same a union of believers representing the old Brethren, the Lutheran, and the Reformed elements, in one Unitas Fratrum. They were to serve as salt within the various confessional ecclesiastical bodies, but were to refrain from seeking to make proselytes for their church. Inner fellowship with the Brethren should neither involve nor demand separation from any existing Evangelical body. Accordingly, he did not allow the Brethren to expand as they had expanded in their original seats; but exclusive Moravian towns were founded, where no one but a member owned real estate, and the church controlled, not only their spiritual concerns, but also their industrial pursuits. In such towns a high type of piety was developed. A missionary spirit was fostered, which sent messengers of the Gospel to all parts of the heathen world, and found fields at home, through the so-called ‘‘ Diaspora,” on the continent of Europe, and, through domestic missions, in Great Britain and America. In their boarding-schools thousands of young people not connected with the Moravian Church received an excellent Christian education; and, during the long and dreary period of rationalism, vital faith in the essentials of the Gospel was cherished in such a manner that positive influences went forth from these centers wholly out of proportion to the paucity of the numbers of those identified with these settlements in the narrowest sense. At the same time there occasionally appeared a self-satisfied spirit, which, on the one hand, looked upon the Moravians as “‘ a peculiar people ”’ in a manner unjustifiable and beyond the warrant of holy writ, and on the other took acceptance with God for granted, as belonging of necessity to all the members of a church in which the Savior was preeminently the central figure of theology and of practical religion, and his name literally constituted a household word. Fora brief period (1745-49), known as ‘‘ the time of sifting,” and in a few of the settlements, a far greater evil manifested itself. Fanaticism broke out among ministers and people. It did not lead them into gross sins, but gave rise to the most extravagant conceptions, especially as regarded the atonement in general, and Christ’s wounded side in
particular; to sensuous, puerile, and objectionable phraseology and hymns; and to religious services of reprehensible character. For such fanaticism Zinzendorf unwittingly furnished occasion by the fanciful and unwarranted -ways in which, from his inclination to hyperbole and paradox, he expressed the believer’s joy and the love which the pardoned sinner bears to the Savior. But, when he and his coadjutors began to realize the magnitude of the evil, they earnéstly labored to bring back the erring ones to the sober faith and reverent love taught by the Scriptures. Such efforts were crowned with success, and the entire restoration of the church to spiritual health formed the best answer to the many attacks made upon it at that time and for a long period afterward, in part by earnest theologians, who taught the very same things as those the Brethren were aiming to promote, and in part by scurrilous enemies.
Zinzendorf was consecrated a bishop in 1737, and during his lifetime practically stood at the head of the church, although he had many assistants; and synods, in which his influence was all-powerful, were often held. After his death, the synods assumed their proper position, and the executive ad-
ministration was vested in elective
4. Develop- boards. The polity which he had inment troduced kept the Unitas Fratrum Elsewhere. numerically small; but it was gradually established in Saxony, Prussia,
Holland, Denmark, Baden, Switzerland, and Russia. In all these countries, except Switzerland, the exclusive system was introduced; on the part of their governments liberal concessions were granted. In the course of time the exclusive system was abolished, even on the continent of Europe, where it had originally been rendered necessary by the operation of ecclesiastical laws—at least in part. There are now twenty-four congregations on the continent of Europe. In Great Britain, the Moravians established themselves in 1738, chiefly through the efforts of Peter Boehler, who became God’s instrument in leading John Wesley to a knowledge of the truth. In 1749 they were acknowledged by an act of parliament as ‘“‘ an ancient Episcopal Church.” Four exclusive settlements were originally founded; but the rest of their churches, forty in number, never introduced the German polity. Here, too, the peculiarities of the old system have been practically abolished in the former settlements. Georgia was the colony in which the Moravians began their work in North America (1735); but they soon relinquished that field, and came to Pennsylvania (1740), where they built Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Lititz, in which three towns the exclusive system was introduced. Subsequently, they established, on the same plan, Hope in New Jersey (which enterprise proved a failure), and Salem in North Carolina. Their other churches were free from the trammels of this polity, which was totally relinquished in 1844. During the century in which it continued, it necessarily kept the church small in the United States of America also; since its relinquishment, the Moravians have increased rapidly, and during the last twenty years have doubled their membership. The number of their churches is ninety-one,