A History of the Moravian Church Part 32

[Footnote 96: i.e. By the Lot. This is what Zinzendorf's language really means.]

[Footnote 97: But this applied to Europe only. In America Bishop Spangenberg was still Chief Elder; and Christ was not recognized as Chief Elder there till 1748. What caused this strange incongruity? How could the Brethren recognize a man as Chief Elder in America and the Lord Christ as Chief Elder in Europe? The explanation is that in each case the question was settled by the Lot; and the Brethren themselves asked in bewilderment why our Lord would not at first consent to be Chief Elder in America.]

[Footnote 98: See Benham's Memoirs of James Hutton, p. 245, where the papers referring to Bishop Wilson's appointment are printed in full.]

[Footnote 99: It was a little green book, with detachable leaves; each leaf contained some motto or text; and when the Count was in a difficulty, he pulled out one of these leaves at random.]

[Footnote 100: Matthew xi. 25. "Little Fools" (Narrchen) was Zinzendorf's rendering of naypeeoee {spelled in greek: nu, eta, pi, iota (stressed), omicron, iota}.]

[Footnote 101: For want of a better, I use this word to translate the German "Lammlein"; but, in common justice, it must be explained that "Lammlein"

in German does not sound so foolish as "Lambkin" in English. In German, diminutives are freely used to express endearment. (See James Hutton's sensible remarks in Benham's Memoirs, p. 563.)]

[Footnote 102: Cross-air--soaring in the atmosphere of the Cross.]

[Footnote 103: See Chapter XIV., p. 384.]

[Footnote 104: See Chapter III., p. 208.]

[Footnote 105: It has often been urged, in Zinzendorf's defence, that he did not know what was happening at Herrnhaag. But this defence will not hold good. He was present, in 1747, when some of the excesses were at their height; and during the summer of that year he delivered there a series of thirty-four homilies on his "Litany of the Wounds."]

[Footnote 106: See, e.g., Kurtz's Church History. Dr. Kurtz entirely ignores the fact that the worst features of the "Sifting Time" were only of short duration, and that no one condemned its excesses more severely than the Brethren themselves.]

[Footnote 107: Canon Overton's sarcastic observations here are quite beside the point. He says (Life of John Wesley, p. 55) that Spangenberg subjected Wesley to "a cross-examination which, considering the position and attainments of the respective parties, seems to an outsider, in plain words, rather impertinent." I should like to know where this impertinence comes in. What were "the position and attainments of the respective parties?" Was Spangenberg Wesley's intellectual inferior? No.

Did Spangenberg seek the conversation? No. "I asked his advice," says Wesley, "with regard to my own conduct."]

[Footnote 108: Thus Overton, e.g., writes: "If John Wesley was not a true Christian in Georgia, G.o.d help millions of those who profess and call themselves Christians." Life of John Wesley, p. 58.]

[Footnote 109: "And forthwith commenced the process of purging," adds Overton.

Witty, but untrue. Boehler did nothing of the kind.]

[Footnote 110: See, e.g., Overton, Evangelical Revival p. 15; Fisher, History of the Church, p. 516; Wakeman, History of the Church of England, p. 438.]

[Footnote 111: This clause is omitted by John Wesley in his Journal! He gives the fundamental rules of the Society, but omits the clause that interfered most with his own liberty. See Journal, May 1st, 1738.]

[Footnote 112: Precise date uncertain.]

[Footnote 113: What did the Brethren mean by this? We are left largely to conjecture. My own personal impression is, however, that the Brethren feared that if Wesley took Communion with them he might be tempted to leave the Church of England and join the Moravian Church.]

[Footnote 114: Mr. Lecky's narrative here (History of England, Vol. II., p. 67, Cabinet Edition) is incorrect. He attributes the above two speeches to Moravian "teachers." No Moravian "teacher," so far as I know, ever talked such nonsense. John Bray was not a Moravian at all. I have carefully examined the list of members of the first Moravian congregation in London; and Bray's name does not occur in the list.

He was an Anglican and an intimate friend of Charles Wesley, and is frequently mentioned in the latter's Journal. It is easy to see how Lecky went wrong. Instead of consulting the evidence for himself, he followed the guidance of Tyerman's Life of John Wesley, Vol. I., p.

302-5.]

[Footnote 115: Cur religionem tuam mutasti? Generally, but wrongly, translated Why have you changed your religion? But religio does not mean religion; it means Church or denomination.]

[Footnote 116: I believe I am correct in stating that the Watch-Night Service described in this chapter was the first held in England. As such services were held already at Herrnhut, where the first took place in 1733, it was probably a Moravian who suggested the service at Fetter Lane; and thus Moravians have the honour of introducing Watch-Night Services in this country. From them the custom pa.s.sed to the Methodist; and from the Methodist to other Churches.]

[Footnote 117: This letter was first discovered and printed by the late Rev. L. G.

Ha.s.se, B.D., in 1896. See Moravian Messenger, June 6th, 1896.]

[Footnote 118: Cennick described these incidents fully in his book, Riots at Exeter.]

[Footnote 119: See Moravian Hymn-book, No. 846.]

[Footnote 120: A nickname afterwards applied to John Wesley.]

[Footnote 121: Now called Bishop Street.]

[Footnote 122: The congregations which owe their existence to the labours of Cennick are as follows:--In England: Bristol, Kingswood, Bath, Devonport, Malmesbury, Tytherton, Leominster; in Wales: Haverfordwest; in Ireland:--Dublin, Gracehill, Gracefield, Ballinderry, Kilwarlin, Kilkeel, Cootehill.]

[Footnote 123: There was no real truth in these allegations.]

[Footnote 124: See Boswell's "Johnson," April 10, 1772; April 29, 1773; and April 10, 1775.]

[Footnote 125: Regarded then as one of the wonders of England. (See Macaulay's History of England, Chapter III., Sect. Fashionable part of the capital.)]

[Footnote 126: The case of Gomersal may serve as an example. The certificate of registration runs as follows: "14th June, 1754. These are to certify that the New Chapel and House adjoining in Little Gumersall, in the Parish of Birstall, in the County and Diocese of York, the property of James Charlesworth, was this day Registered in the Registry of his Grace the Lord Archbishop of York, for a place for Protestant Dissenters for the public worship of Almighty G.o.d. "ROB. JUBB, "Deputy Registrar."]

[Footnote 127: Consolatory Letter to the Members of the Societies that are in some connection with the Brethren's Congregations, 1752. I owe my knowledge of this rare pamphlet to the kindness of the late Rev. L. G. Ha.s.se.]

[Footnote 128: Contents of a Folio History, 1750.]

[Footnote 129: The Representation of the Committee of the English Congregations in Union with the Moravian Church, 1754.]

[Footnote 130: His other works were: (a) A Solemn Call on Count Zinzendorf (1754); (b) Supplement to the Candid Narrative (1755); (c) A Second Solemn Call on Mr. Zinzendorf (1757); (d) Animadversions on Sundry Flagrant Untruths advanced by Mr. Zinzendorf (no date).]

[Footnote 131: Indignantly denied by James Hutton, who was present at the service in question.]

[Footnote 132: At one time I could not resist the conviction that Frey had overdrawn his picture (see Owens College Historical Essays, p. 446); but recently I have come to the conclusion that his story was substantially true. My reason for this change of view is as follows:--As soon as the settlement at Herrnhaag was abandoned a number of Single Brethren went to Pennsylvania, and there confessed to Spangenberg that the scandals at Herrnhaag were "ten times as bad" as described by Frey. See Reichel's Spangenberg, p. 179. Frey's book had then appeared in German.]

[Footnote 133: Their chief apologetic works were the following: (1) Peremptorischen Bedencken: or, The Ordinary of the Brethren's Churches. Short and Peremptory Remarks on the Way and Manner wherein he has been hitherto treated in Controversies (1753), by Zinzendorf. (2) A Modest Plea for the Church of the Brethren (1754), anonymous. (3) The Plain Case of the Representatives of the Unitas Fratrum (1754), anonymous. (4) A Letter from a Minister of the Moravian Branch of the Unitas Fratrum to the Author of the "Moravians Compared and Detected," (1755), probably by Frederick Neisser. (5) An Exposition, or True State of the Matters objected in England to the People known by the name of Unitas Fratrum (1755), by Zinzendorf. (6) Additions, by James Hutton. (7) An Essay towards giving some Just Ideas of the Personal Character of Count Zinzendorf (1755), by James Hutton. (8) A Short Answer to Mr. Rimius's Long Uncandid Narrative (1753), anonymous.]

[Footnote 134: And yet Tyerman says that in 1752 the Moravian Church was "a luscious morsel of Antinomian poison." Life of John Wesley, II., 96.]

[Footnote 135: See Gerhard Reichel's admirable Life of Spangenberg, Chapter X.

(1906. J. C. B. Mohr, Tubingen.)]

[Footnote 136: Translated by Samuel Jackson, 1838.]

[Footnote 137: Zinzendorf's Robe.--At a conference at Friedberg Zinzendorf suggested (Nov. 17th, 1747) that a white robe should be worn on special occasions, to remind the Brethren of Rev. vii. 9, 13; and, therefore, the surplice was worn for the first time at a Holy Communion, at Herrnhaag, on May 2nd, 1748, by Zinzendorf himself, his son Renatus, two John Nitschmanns, and Rubusch, the Elder of the Single Brethren. This is the origin of the use of the surplice by the modern Moravians.]

[Footnote 138: Referred to hereafter as U.E.C.]

[Footnote 139: A rule repeatedly broken by the rebellious British. It is frequently recorded in the Synodal Minutes, "the British deputies turned up without having had their election ratified by the Lot."]

[Footnote 140: E.g., in Labrador, where it is regularly read at week-night meetings.]

[Footnote 141: But this was not the case in England. Only a few children were educated at Broadoaks, b.u.t.termere, and Fulneck; and the parents of the children at Fulneck were expected to pay for them if they could. I am indebted to Mr. W. T. Waugh for this information.]