skibtoh: OF iistoiig th^ Jflhstons AND OF THE CHUECH THE UNITED BKETEREN, COMMONLY CALLED MORAVIANS. (Originally prom the pen op the late JAMES MONTGOMERY.. Esq. of Sheffield.) SKETCH, &c. {Revised to September, 1869.) The United Beetheen, commonly called Moeavians, may be said to be yet comparatively little known in this country. Their Missions among the Heathen, however, have recently attracted much attention, not only as models of what such establishments should be, but as proofs how effectually the rudest barbarians may be civilized by being christianized. Wherever the Brethren have preached the Gospel among savages, they have introduced the arts of social life; and wherever the Gospel has been received, those savages have become new creatures, not only in heart and in conduct, but in personal appearance and intellect. The commendation due to the Moravians on these accounts has been liberally awarded to them, not only by enlightened travellers, who have occasionally visited their remote settlements, and been struck with wonder on beholding the comfort¬ able habitations, the happy circumstances, the humble demeanour, and the fervent piety of the converts from Paganism, whether Greenlanders, Esquimaux, North-American Indians, Negroes, or Hottentots,* but by the Governments of the Colonies where the Missionaries have been stationed, who have borne the most favour¬ able testimony to the benign influence of their labours upon the state of society in the neighbourhood of their congregations, and have extended to them the most indulgent protection. The ancestors of the Moravian Brethren, who chiefly emigrated from Bohemia, had been a Church of Martyrs even before the Re¬ formation. Originally descended from the Sclavonian branch of the Greek Church, they never implicitly submitted to the authority of the Pope, though their Princes, from the year 967, adhered to the Roman Communion : but they resolutely retained the Bible in their hands, and performed their Church-service according to the ritual of their fathers, and in their mother-tongue. For these heresies, as they were deemed, many of them endured bitter persecution. Among the confessors and martyrs for the truth, appeared, in the fourteenth century, John Huss, who was condemned to the flames as an heretic, in 1415, by the Council of Constance. At the close of the war which followed upon his death, the Chdech oe the * Vide Barrow’s Travels in South Africa, Vol. 1.; Printed Evidence, taken before the Privy Council on the Abolition of the Slave Trade, 1789 ; Bryan Edwards’ History of the British West Indies, &c. Among the most distinguished testimonies may be quoted that of the late Bishop Porteus, who, in a pamphlet addressed to the public authorities and proprietors in the British West India Islands, published in 1808, made the following remarks:— “ Among other religious communities, they who have most distinguished themselves in the business of conversion, are the Moravians, or United Brethren. These indeed have shown a degree of zeal, of vigour, of perseverance, of an unconquerable spirit and firmness of mind, which no dangers, no difficulties, could subdue, (combined at the same time with the greatest gentleness, prudence, and moderation,) and of which no example can be found since the first primitive ages of Christianity. They have penetrated into the remotest regions of the globe, have sown the seeds of Christianity among the most savage and barbarous nations, from Labrador, Lapland and Greenland in the North, to the Cape of Good Hope in the South, and have been particularly successful in the conversion of the Negro slaves in several of the West India Islands, more especially that of Antigua.” The following is from the pen of Mr. Wilberforce, and is extracted from his celebrated work on Christianity :— He desci'ibes them as “ a body of Christians who have, perhaps, excelled all mankind in solid and unequivocal proofs of the love of Christ, and of the most ardent, and active, and patient zeal in His service. It is a zeal tempered with prudence, softened with meekness, soberly aiming at gi’eat ends by the gradual operation of well-adapted means, supported by a courage which no danger can intimidate, and a quiet constancy which no hardships can exhaust.” THE CHUECH. 3 Ukited Brethhen, iinder its present name, was formed, in the year 1457, by those who chose rather to suffer as witnesses of the truth, than to defend it by carnal weapons. Soon after, at the Diet of 1468, a bloody decree was issued against them, and was com¬ manded to be read from all the pulpits in the land. In the sufferings which they afterwards endured, were literally exemplified the decla¬ ration of the apostle concerning the ancient worthies—“ They had trials of cruel mocJcings and scourgings^ yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonments: they were stoned, were tempted, were slain by the sword; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (of whom the world was not worthy,) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth,^'‘ Tinder the above-mentioned decree the prisons in Bohemia were crowded with the Members of their Church, and their first Bishop, Michael, remained in close confinement until the death of the King Podiebrad. Many perished in deep dungeons with hunger; others were inhumanly tortured; the remainder fled from their country to the forests of Moravia, where, fearing to be betrayed in the day-time, they kindled their fires only at night, around which they spent their hours in reading the scriptures, and in prayer. When they afterwards obtained some respite from persecution, they were the first people who employed the newly-invented art of printing for the publication of the JBible in a living tongue, and they issued three editions of the Tohemian Scriptures before the Heformation. When Luther, Melancthon, Bucer,and Calvin, at length arose, to tes¬ tify more successfully than ifAey had been able to do, against the errors and usurpations of the Church of Eome, to each of these illustrious men the Brethren submitted their doctrinal tenets, their Church-discipline, and the records of their affairs; and from each, in return, they received assurances of cordial approbation, and the kindest encouragement. But, as the Eeformation did not penetrate into the recesses of Bohemia and Moravia, they had to suffer renewed and aggravated persecution; till towards the close of the seventeenth century, they were so broken up, hunted down, and scattered abroad, that they ceased to be known publicly to exist as a Church. Their devotions, at the peril of life and liberty, were performed by stealth, in private dwellings, in deep forests, and lonely caverns ; a few only daring to assemble in one place, and at one time. Subsequently to this dispersion, their Bishop, John Amos Comenius, one of the most distinguished scholars of that age, published in 1661, a History of the Brethren, with a Dedication, (which he calls his last will and testament,) to the Church of ^England, bequeathing to it the memorials of his people, in the following affecting terms:—“ If, by the grace of Grod, there hath been found in us, (as wise and godly men have sometimes thought,) any thing true, any thing honest, any thing just, any thing pure, any thing lovely and of good report, if any virtue and any praise, care must be taken that it may not die with us when we die; and, at least, that the very foundations of our Church be not buried under its present ruins, so that generations to come may not know where to look for them. And indeed this care is taken, and provision is made on this behalf, by this our trust committed to your hands.” Sixty years afterwards, the Church of the Brethren was raised, as it were from the dead, by a persecution intended to crush its last remnant in Moravia. Some families flying from thence, found refuge on the estates of Count Zinzendorf, in Lusatia, in the Electorate of Saxony, 4 WEST INDIES. where in 1722 they built a humble village (Herrnhut),which is now the principal Settlement of the Brethren. As dispersed members of their Church, together with some pious people from other quarters, joined them, their congregations gradually multiplied through Grermany,and a few were established in Denmark, Russia, Holland, and North America. The Brethren first appeared in England, as a body,, before the middle of the last century, where, (though the most malignant calumnies were circulated against them,) in the simplicity of conscious innocence, they laid their case before Parliament. Their doctrines, discipline, character, and history, were scrupulously examined in Committees of both houses, and two Bills, exempting them from taking oaths and bearing arms, were carried with the unanimous consent of the Episcopal bench; indeed all opposition was abandoned after the final investiga¬ tion of their claims, and they were fully acknowledged by the British Legislature to be “ an Ancient Protestant Episcopal Church, which had been countenanced and relieved by the Kings of England, His Majesty’s predecessors”The Brethren have now several congrega¬ tions in England, Scotland, and Ireland; but their numbers are everywhere small, and their means of supporting the work of enlight¬ ening the Heathen very slender. If it could be ascertained how much they have done, and with how little means, the world might be held in wonder and admiration; while they would say, “ This is the Lord's do- ing, and it is marvellous in our eyes." Yet, even of the little that has been at their disposal, no inconsiderable proportion has been furnished by the occasional bounty of Christians of other denominations. When the Moravian refugees on Count Zinzendorf’s estates scarcely amounted to six hundred persons, —when they had only just found rest from suffering themselves, and were beginning to build a church and ha¬ bitations where there had previously been a desert, the missionary spirit was sent down upon them with such constraining influence, that in the short period of eight years, they sent Missionaries to ^t. Thomas', in the West Indies, to Greenland, to the Indians in North and South America, to Lapland, to the Gape of Good Nope, to Western Africa, to Algiers, and to Geylon : as they did subsequently to others of the West India Islands, to lersia, to Egypt, to Labrador, to Tartary, and to India. In 1732, pitying the misery of the Negroes in the West Indies, two Brethren sailed to the Danish Island of St. Thomas, and such was their devotedness to the work, that having heard that they could not otherwise have intercourse with the slaves, they went with the full purpose of submitting to become slaves, that they might have the opportunity of teaching the poor Africans the way of deliverance from the captivity of sin and Satan. Although this sacrifice was not eventually required of them, sacrifices scarcely less painful were cheerfully submitted to for many years, during which they had to “ eat their bread in the sweat of their brow," and to maintain themselves by manual labour, under a tropical sun, while every hour of leisure was employed in conversing with the Heathen. The fruits of their zeal and perseverance in due time ap¬ peared ; and in the West Indian Colonies, (Danish, British, and • See Acts 20th George II. cap. 44, and 22nd George II. cap. 30, passed in 1747, and 1749; also a Congratulatory Letter from Archbishop Potter to Count Nicholas Lewis, one of their Bishops, on his consecration, which will be found in the Preface to Crantz’s History of the Brethren. “ King’s Letters” for the relief of this Church were issued twice by Charles II., under the recommendation of Archbishop Sancroft and Bishop Compton, and twice by Greorge I., under that of Archbishop Wake. aEEENLAND. 5 Dutch,) there are now about 56,000 of African descent, joined to the Brethren’s congregations; and a vast number have entered into eternal rest, stedfast in the faith of Christ. Of the above number, about 23,000 are in the slave colony of Surinam alone, where, however, the climate and the long inland voyages to reach the estates, prove very fatal to the Missionaries. Always very interesting in its character and results, the Mission in Surinam is now perhaps more so than ever, on account of the recent emancipation of the slaves in the colony, and a remarkable movement among the Bush-Negroes, marked by the diffusion of the Grospel, chiefly through native instrumentality, in districts hitherto unreached. In Antigua, 6,234 persons are gathered into the eight Moravian congregations in that island. In Jamaica, the numbers under pas¬ toral care are 12,402. In Kitfs, Barbados, and Tobago, the word of the Cross has free course and is glorifled ; and in the three Danish Islands, St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. Jan, the scene of the earliest labom’s of the Brethren, the work of the Lord is making satisfactory progress.—A separate fund was opened in the year 1824, by the London Association, for the purpose of enabling the Brethren to extend the Christian Education of the Negroes, both adults and children, an object then greatly neglected. The Schools required having been established by means of this Fund, it was closed; but in 1850, the population, widely scattered after the emancipation, re¬ quiring further schools, the Brethren opened another fund, and esta¬ blished in Jamaica Country Schools, where above 1,900 of the Negro children in that island are educated, in 31 schools, at a cost for each school of only £10 to £20 per annum. Six schools of a similar kind have also been established in Barbados, one in Tobago, and three in St. Kitfs. For the important object of supporting these schools separate contributions will be thankfully received, as the Mission- Funds are not considered applicable to that purpose. Not a step behind the first Missionaries to the Negroes, in ardour and self-denial, were those who went to Greenland in 1733. In order to effect the benevolent purpose of converting the Greenlanders to the faith of Christ, Matthew Stach, and his cousin, Christopher Stach, proceeded to Copenhagen early in the spring of that year. Nothing can more strikingly exhibit the zeal of those devoted ser¬ vants of Christ, than the truly apostolic spirit in which they entered upon their arduous labours in His vineyard. They literally obeyed the injunction of Christ to His disciples, when He sent them out to preach the Gospel,—‘ Tahe nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money, neither have two coats a-piece' There was no need,” says one of them, “ of much time or expense for our equipment. The congregation consisted chiefly of poor exiles, who had not much to give, and we ourselves had nothing but the clothes on our backs.” (A sum of less than £3 sterling, constituting their first Missionary fund, had been handed to the Brethren destined to the West Indies.) They travelled to Copenhagen on foot; the un¬ favourable prospect on reaching that city did not dispirit them; they committed their cause to God, fully persuaded that if their intention was pleasing in His sight. He could be at no loss for means to bring them to Greenland, and to support and protect them there. In this confident hope they were not disappointed;—Count Pless, the Cham- 6 GEEENLAND. berlain of the King, interested himself for them; and, at his re¬ commendation, the King wrote a letter, with his own hand, to the Eev. Hans Egede, the Danish resident Minister, in their behalf. In one of his conversations with them, Count'Pless asked, how they intended to maintain themselves in Greenland ? Unacquainted with the situation and climate of the country, the Missionaries answered, “ By the labour of our hands and God’s blessingadding, “ that they would build a house, and cultivate a piece of land, that they might not be burdensome to any.” He objected, that no timber fit for build¬ ing grew in that country. “ If this is the case,” said our Brethren, “ then we will dig a hole in the earth and lodge there.” Astonished at their ardour in the cause in which they had embarked, the Count re¬ plied, “ Ko, you shall not be driven to that extremity; take the timber with you, and build a house; accept of fifty dollars for that purpose.” When the Brethren arrived in Greenland, they experienced often the greatest difficulty in procuring a subsistence. Sometimes the stock of provisions at the colony began to fail. They had, however, not only learned to be satisfied with very mean and scanty fare, but had also inured themselves to the eating of seals’ flesh, and to mixing up a little oatmeal with train oil.—Such were some of the hardships endured by them. Yet even train-oil was a delicacy, compared to some of the fare which the calls of hunger obliged them to use. The Missionaries were plain men, who knew only their native tongue; and who, in order to acquire one of the most barbarous dialects upon earth, had to learn the Danish language first, that they might avail themselves of the grammar of the Eev. Hans Egede. So successful, however, has been this Mission, that now nearly the whole of the Greenland population, in the neighbourhood of their settlements, six in number, is become Christian. The state of society is wonderfully changed, and scriptural instruction, through the medium partly of the Danish, as well as the Moravian teachers, is at least as universal in those frozen regions as in our own country. A fourth settlement near Sta- tenhuk, the southernmost point of Greenland, was established in 1824 in faith and hope, and has been greatly blessed. It has been named FredericTcstJial. In 1863 2 i fifth settlement was established, to which the name JJmanak was given, and in 1864 a sixth was added, at Igdlorpait. The account of the conversion of the first Greenlander deserves a particular recital:—“On the 2nd of June, 1738,” write the Missionaries, “many Southlanders visited us. Brother Beck at the time was copying a translation of that portion of St. Luke’s Gospel which describes the agony of our Saviour in the garden. After some conversation with them, and giving them an account of the creation of the world, the fall of man, and his redemption by Christ, he read a few sentences of that part of the translation which lay before him. The Spirit of God en¬ abled him to enlarge, with more than usual energy, on the sufferings and death of our Saviour, and to exhort his hearers seriously to con¬ sider the vast expense at which Jesus had ransomed the souls of His people. Upon this, the Lord opened the heart of one of the company, whose name was Kayamah, who, stepping up to the table in an earnest manner, exclaimed, ‘How was that? Tell me that once more; for I, too, desire to be saved.’ These words, which were such as had never before been uttered by a Greenlander, penetrated the soul of Brother Beck, who, with great emotion, gave them a fuller account of the life LABEADOR. 7 and death of our Saviour, and the method of salvation through Him. Some of the Pagans laid their hands on their mouths, which is their usual custom when struck with amazement. On Kajarnak an im¬ pression was made that was not transient, but had taken deep root in his heart. By means of his conversation, his family, (or those who lived in the same tent with him,) were brought under conviction; and before the end of the month, three large families came with all their property, and pitched their tents near the dwelling of our Brethren, ‘in order,’ as they said, ‘ to hear the joyful news of man’s redemption.’ ”— Kayarnak became eminently serviceable to the Missions, as a teacher of his countrymen, and adorned his Christian profession till his death. A great change took place from this time, in the mode adopted by the Brethren in their endeavours to instruct the natives. The method hitherto pursued by them consisted, principally in speaking to the Heathen of the existence, the attributes, and perfections of Grod, and enforcing obedience to the divine law; hoping, by these means, gradually to prepare their minds for the reception of the sublimer and more mysterious truths of the Grospel. Abstractedly considered, this method may appear the most rational; but when reduced to practice, it was found wholly ineffectual. For five years the Mis¬ sionaries had laboured in this way, and could scarcely obtain a patient hearing from the savages. How, therefore, they determined, in the literal sense of the words, to preach at once Christ and Him crucified. Ho sooner did they declare unto the Greenlanders the ‘Word of Re¬ conciliation,' in its native simplicity, than they beheld its converting and saving power. This reached the hearts of their audience, and produced the most astonishing effects. An impression was made, which opened a way to their consciences, and illumined their under¬ standings. They remained no longer the stupid and brutish creatures they had once been; they felt they were sinners, and trembled at their danger; they rejoiced in the Saviour, and were rendered capable of more exalted pleasures than those arising from plenty of seals, and the low gratification of sensual appetites. A sure foundation being thus laid in the knowledge of a crucified Eedeemer, the Missionaries soon found that this supplied their young converts with a powerful motive to the abhorrence of sin, and the performance of every moral duty towards God and their neighbour; taught them to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world; animated them with the glorious hope of life and immortality; and gave them the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, as the Creator, Preserver, and Moral Governor of the world,in a manner far more correct and influential than they could have hoped to obtain, had they persevered in the first mode of instruction. The Missionaries themselves derived benefit from this new method of preaching. The doctrine of the Cross of Christ warmed and enlivened their own souls in so powerful a manner, that they could address the Heathen with uncommon liberty and fervour, and were often astonished at each other’s power of utterance. In short, the happiest results have attended this practice, not only at first, and in Greenland, but in every other country where the Brethren have since laboured for the conversion of the Heathen, Some of the Greenland Missionaries were earnestly desirous to com¬ municate the Word of Life to the Esquimaux tribe on the opposite shores of Labbadoe, in British America, and notwithstanding the loss of several lives in the attempt, they succeeded in establishing a Mission 8 NOETH AMEEICA. there in the year 1770; and above 1000 Esquimaux are now gathered together, and dwell in unity and Christian love, at five Stations, formed on that still more inclement coast.* Thither provisions and other needful stores for the Missionaries are annually conveyed from the Thames, through icy seas and along rocky shores. By the special protection of the Almighty, the vessels used for this purpose by the Brethren’s ‘ Society for the furtherance of the Grospel’ have now for one hundred years performed their yearly voyages in safety. In 1734, some Brethren went among the Indians of North Ame¬ rica. Their labours, their trials, their sufferings, and their success, were extraordinary, even in Missionary history. Many hundreds of these roving and turbulent savages, of all others perhaps the most haughty and untractable, were converted from the error of their ways, and adorned the doctrine of God their Saviour, both in their lives and by their deaths. In no situation has more severe suffering and trial been endured by the Brethren, than in this Mission. On one occasion ninety-six Indian men, women, and children, composing their congregation, were treacherously made prisoners by white banditti, and having been marched away from their peaceful habitations and beloved teachers, were two days after scalped and tomahawked in cold blood; and, according to the testimony of their murderers, with their latest breath gave affecting evidence of their faith. At another time, eleven members of the Mission-family were burnt alive in their dwell¬ ing, by a troop of Indians in the French service, or massacred and thrown back into the flames in attempting to escape.f In no instance did the Word of Salvation reach the consciences of the wild Indians with greater power, or more strikingly display its saving efficacy, than in the case of Tschoop. He had been distin¬ guished by every act of outrage and sin, and had even crippled him¬ self by his debaucheries ; but the lion was tamed, and the slave of sin and the devil became the child of God, and a preacher of righteousness to his countrymen. He once gave the following account of his con¬ version. “ Brethren,” said he, “ I have been a Heathen, and have grown old amongst them; therefore I know how Heathen think. Once a preacher came, and began to explain to us that there was a God:—We answered, ‘Dost thou think us so ignorant as not to* know that ? Eeturn to the place from whence thou earnest.’ Then again, another preacher came and said, ‘ You must not get drunk, nor steal, nor lie,’ &c.—We answered, ‘Thou fool, dost thou think us ignorant of this ? Learn first thyself, and then teach the people to whom thou belongest to leave off these things ; for who steal, lie, or are more drunken than thine own people ? and thus we dismissed him. After some time, Brother Eauch came into my hut, sat down, * On the coast of Labrador, the thermometer is not unfrequently at 80 deg., and sometimes 40 deg. below Zero of Fahrenheit, or from 62 to 72 deg. below the point where water freezes. In Greenland the cold is but seldom so severe as 20 deg. below Zero. + Some particulars of this tragical scene were related in the following terms by a Missionary, who was almost miraculously preserved:—A cruel Indian war, occasioned by the contest betweeiFthe English and the French, had broken out, spreading terror and confusion through the whole country. “ Late in the evening of the 24th November, 1755, while the Missionaries were at supper, their attention was suddenly roused by the continual barking of dogs, which was followed by the report of a gun. On opening the door, they observed a party of hostile Indians standing before the house with their pieces pointed towards them. The Indians immediately fired, and Martin Nitschman was killed on the spot. His wife and some others were wounded, but ran up stairs into the garrets, and barricaded the door with bedsteads. Hither the savages pursued them, but not being able to force an entrance, they set fire to the house, which was soon enveloped in flames. Eleven persons belonging to the Mission, among whom was a child only fifteen months old, were burnt alive, and only one escaped. Sister Senseman, already surrounded by the flames, her arms crossed upon her breast, was heard to exclaim, ‘ 'Tis all well, dear Saviour, I expected nothing else,’ " SOUTH AFUICA. 9 and spoke nearly as follows:—‘ I am come to yon in the name of the Lord of heaven and earth : He sends to let you know that He will make you happy, and deliver you from the misery in which you lie at present. For this end He became a man, gave His life a ransom, and shed His blood for sinners,’ &c. When he had finished his discourse, he lay down, fatigued with his journey, and fell into a sound sleep. I thought—What kind of man is this ? There he lies and sleeps: I might kill him, and throw him into the wood, and who would regard it ?—but this gives him no concern. However, I could not forget his words, they constantly recurred to my mind. Even when asleep, I dreamt of the blood of Christ shed for us. I found this to be widely different from anything I had heard before, and I interpreted Rauch’s words to the other Indians. Thus, through the grace of God, an awakening commenced among us. I say, therefore, Brethren, preach Christ our Saviour, and His sufferings and death, if you would wish your word to gain entrance among the Heathen.” This Mission still occupies ybwr stations among the Delawares and Gherolcees. A new Mission was commenced in the year 1849, on the Mosquito Coast in Central America^ where many Negroes and the remains of numerous tribes of Indians, are within reach of instruction, and where the young king of the Mosquitos is being educated by the Missionaries. They are reaching, from time to time, fresh villages of Indians, and have now six stations upon that territory; and at one of them an Industrial Training School is opened for Indian youths. In 1736, George Schmidt settled in South Aueica, and built himself a hut, and cleared a piece of ground near Serjeant’s River. Finding it impossible to learn the Hottentot tongue, he set reso¬ lutely upon the task of teaching the barbarians the Dutch language. He soon so won the affections of these rude people, that many became willing scholars, and made proficiency in learning to read the Scriptures. In the course of seven years, he had gathered a congregation of forty- seven Hottentots, and had baptized seven persons who gave proof of their change of heart and life. But owing to obstructions created by ene¬ mies of the work at that period, he returned to Europe in 1743 to obtain powers from the Dutch Government to pursue his peaceful ministry. These were denied, and he was never permitted to go back to the colony. His heart, however, was among his Hottentots till the hour of his death; he was wont to consecrate a part of every day to secret inter¬ cession with the Lord in their behalf; and it is recorded that he was at length found a corpse in the performance of this duty.— During fifty years his labour seemed to have been in vain, and his prayers unanswered. But at the end of that interval an abundant answer was vouchsafed; and the Brethren were enabled, with the permission of the Dutch Government, to send three men of like spirit with George Schmidt, to the Cape of Good Hope. They found the spot which he had cultivated: the ruins of his hut were yet visible, but his garden was run to waste, and the whole valley was a haunt of wild beasts. It was called Bavian’s Kloof (Baboons’ Glen.) The new Missionaries, however, took possession of it, expelled these in¬ truders, gathered the Hottentots to hear the Word of God, and taught their children to read it, under the shade of a magnificent pear-tree, planted by their predecessor, which was still in full vigour and bearing. But this tree and its fruits were not all that remained of the good 10 MISCELLANEOUS. man’s labours :—an aged blind woman, named Helena, who had been one of his converts, being traced out, produced a Dutch Testament, which he had given her when he left Africa, and which she kept as her greatest treasure, carefully wrapped up in two sheepskins. She died in the faith, at the age of nearly one hundred years.—A young Hottentot woman, who had read to her occasionally from this book, became one of the earliest converts of the three Brethren. In that place, (since more aptly called Genddendal, or the Vale of Grrace,) there is now a flourishing congregation of 3,390 natives. At a con¬ siderable distance, another settlement of about 1,450 inhabitants (Mamre in the Oroenehloof) is also prospering. Two other settle¬ ments, named Enon and Elim, in the Eastern and Southern Districts of the Colony, have been established, together with a Missionary Station among the TambooMe tribes, beyond its N.E. boundary, called Shiloh. commenced in 1828; and one named Clarkson, formed in 1839, for the benefit of the Fingoos who had escaped from bondage under the Kafiirs. Shiloh, which was partially destroyed during the Kaflir war, is now restored, and has 590 Kafiirs in its congregation. Goshen, in British Kafiraria, is also re-established, and contains 184 of that nation. In 1863 a station was commenced on the Baziya, in Independent Kaf- fraria. Thus the Grospel is reaching the Kaffir tribes.—The character generally ascribed to these settlements, according to the testimony of both friends and opponents of Missionary exertions, is that they are like gardens of the Lord in the midst of the wilderness; the Hottentots and other natives being as much changed in their habits and minds, as the face of their country has been improved by industry and skill. The love of Christ has subdued their natural character, and has brought their afiections and their understandings into obedience to Himself. This was strikingly illustrated in the instance of the Leper-Hospital, in which the Brethren, with a zeal and self-denial such as actuated their first Missionaries, assumed a charge of a peculiarly trying cha¬ racter. Their labour of love had been blessed to the conversion of a considerable number of the inmates, but a change in the arrange¬ ment with regard to the chaplain of the hospital led to the retirement of the Brethren from this sphere of Missionary labour. Of the 8,776 natives comprising the South African congregations, 2,043 are communicants. A Mission to the Aborigines of Australia, for a time suspended, has been lately renewed with very pleasing success, in' the Wimmera District, about 100 miles N.W. of Melbourne, and another Station is established at Cipps’ land, about as far east of that town. The recent attempt to bring the Grospel to the natives in the interior has been abandoned for want of pecuniary support in the colony. The Brethren have also commenced another arduous undertaking— a Mission to Tibet and to the Mongol tribes, in the western part of the Chinese dominions; and four Missionaries with their wives, engaged for that important work, occupy a station ?^iKyelang,m Lahul, andPor), in Kunawur, in thePunjaub, near the frontier of Tibet. They are trans¬ lating works into the Tibetan language, and are circulating them, together with the Mongol Scriptures (already translated), and while awaiting permission to cross the frontier, are instructing the Buddhist inhabitants of Lahul. Several converts have recently been baptized at both stations. The following is a Table of the whole of the Stations of these Mis¬ sions, and of the number of Missionaries :— STATIONS OF THE UNITED BRETHREN’S MISSIONS— in 1809. Teople. Countries. Danish West India Islands. I St. Thomas . Stations. O) o t. ee <( , a w a a cr ; Ditto, on the Coast of La¬ brador. I tn a ^ «.2 g,' "a *2 C O a Greenland. 1753 1843 1754 1771 1805 1754 1782 ( 1812 1815 1823 1827 1833 1834 1830 1835 1837 1837 1839 1840 1848 V 1866 ( 1756 1773 I 1797 ) 1817 \ 1821 1838 1840 1848 1767 1825 1829 1841 1777 1819 1832 1845 1790 1842 1776 1837 1840 1844 1848 1849 18.50 1856 1858 1859 1844 1849 1856 1857 1859 1860 1864 1736 1808 1818 1824 1858 f 1828 1839 j 1850 < 1859 1863 t 1865 18.59 1862 1854 1865 1792 1838 1801 1770 1776 1782 1830 1865 r 1733 I 1758 I 1774 ^ 1824 1 1863 1864 J Station commenced, 1732 New Herrnhut. Nisky. Town of St. Thomas Friedensthal. Friedensberg.. Friedensfeld.. f 1754 Bethany.. ( 1782 Emmaus .. New-Eden.. Irwin-Hill.. Fairfield.. New-Carmel.. New-Bethlehem ...< Beaufort.. New-Fulneck ...... Bethany.. Nazareth .......... New-Hope.. Lititz. Bethabara. Springfield . Cheapside with Broadleaf.... 7 St. John’s Mission- aries. In the (Con¬ gregations. >• 20 Gracehill ..., Gracebay .... Newfield .... Cedarhall .... Lebanon .... Gracefield .... Greenbay .... Sharon . Mount-Tabo r Bridgetown 10 13 Total . Stations 87 Clifton-Hill . Basseterre. Bethesda . Bethel. Estridge. Montgomery (renewed 1827) Moriah . Paramaribo (2 Stations) .... 5 Chari ottenburg. Salem. Rust-en-Werk. Liliendal . Catharina Sophia. Annaszorg. Heerendyk. Beersheba. Clevia and Waterloo. Beekhuizen ._ Bluefields. Magdala.| Rama Key.( Joppa./ Ephrata. Bethany. j Genddendal (renewed 1792)..A Mamre . Enon, on the Witte Revier .... Elim . Wittewater with Goedverwacht Shiloh, on the Klipplaat .... Clarkson. Goshen . Engotini. Baziya . Berea... Ebenezer . Ramahyuck. Ky^lang, Lahul, in thePunjaub Poo in Kunawur. New Fairfield, Up. Canada Westfield, Missouri. New Spring Place, in Kansas Nain . Okak... Hopedale. Hebron. Zoar . New-Herrnhut. Lichtenfels .. Lichtenau. Fredericksthal. f Umanak.| Igdlorpait. J _ Missionaries *319 10 8 6 32 25 5,802 > 31 12,402 22 6,234 10 2,506 3,225 1,963 V 70 23,396 724 57 8,776 77 7 287 1,048 1,801 68,284 Total under instruction 68,284, of whom 20,518 are Communicants. • fTl.ft tiMirAo rtf fBn \Ti«ainnftri«aa nrp inpllldpd. 12 For many years, the increasing burthen of pecuniary expense at¬ tending these Missions has been much more than the Brethren were able to bear; and they are, at the present time, d.epending chiefly on other communities of Christians for the means of continuing their in¬ teresting and invaluable work. The new and widely-extending fields of labour upon which- they are engaged, will oblige them to look still more for that brotherly assistance. Of a net annual expenditure, regulated by the most rigid, economy, of about £16,000, the Brethren can raise among their own body scarcely a third part. Thus, unless they are liberally and constantly assisted by others, distressing em¬ barrassment must be experienced.—Can such assistance be denied them, when they are willing, in their wonted simplicity and humilit}’-, to persevere in this labour of love, and cheerfully to give themselves to the Lord for this trying service, in far greater numbers, compara¬ tively, than does any other Church ? It is a remarkable fact that nearly one in forty-five of their adult members becomes a Missionary. —The supplies they require are of the most frugal description.— Much of the expenditure above named is required for the mainte¬ nance of buildings.—It is confldently believed, that He who said to His disciples, when He sent them forth to teach the nations, ^ Lo! I am with you alway, even to the end of the world,^ and again, ‘ taJce no thought ’ for temporal things, ^for your Heavenly Father hnoweth that ye have need of such things^ will not leave these devoted Missionaries destitute of support, but will incline the hearts of His children still to continue to them the opportunity to gather and to feed that portion of the flock of Christ from among the Heathen, whom it is the Divine purpose, through their instrumentality, to ‘ deliver from the fower of darhness, and translate into the kingdom of God’s dear .Son.’ Such persons as may be disposed to render pecuniary assistance to these valuable Missions, may contribute either to the “(General Fund,” or to that for the “ Country Schools in the West Indies,” through the London Association in aid of the Moravian Missions, who will thankfully receive and transmit their contributions. This Insti¬ tution interferes in no respect with the management of the Missions; but has in view to make them better known, and to gather the bounty of other communities for the assistance of a very small and less wealthy Church, devoting itself to the most arduous labours in the Christian Vineyard. Pail-on—THE EARL OF HARROWBY. Fice-Patrons-EARL OF SHAFTESBURY, LORD H. CHOLMONDELEY, LORD EBURY. Pi-esideni—TROS. FOWELL BUXTON, ESQ. Treaswrei-—SIR WALTER R. FARQUHAR, BART. Honorary Secretaries—RE\. W. B. MACKENZIE, M.A. REV. JAMES STRATTEN. Association Secretary —REV. T. PLUNKET MOONEY, B.A. Secretary —Mb. ROBERT WEBB. Assistant Secretary —Mr. O. S. IRON. Office of the Association, 32, Sackville Street, Piccadilly.—W. Subscriptions to the Missions are received, in London, by Mr. Robert Webb, or Mr. 0. S. Iron, at the Office of the Association, 32, Sackville-street, Piccadilly; by Messrs. Herries, Farquhar, and Co., St. James’s-street, for Sir W. R. Farquhar, Bart., the Treasurer; also, by Messrs. Smith and Co., Lombard-street; Williams and Co., Birchin- latie; Hatchard and Co., 1S7, Piccadilly; and Nisbet and Co., 21, jBerners-sireei. And in the Country, by Messrs. Miles and Co., Bristol; Hall, West, and Co., Brighton; Rev. H. C. Milward, M.A., Birmingham; Mr. J. B. Cutting, Leamington; Rev. W. Maynard, M.A., Liverpool; T. B. Foster, Esq., Manchester; J. Carlisle, Esq. Borvdon, Manchester; Rev. G. Sandford, M.A., Shield, and by all other Receivers in its Auxiliaries. London ;—C. Jaques, Printer, 30, Kenton Street.—W.C.