SKETCHES

MORAVIAN LIFE

CHARACTER

COMPRISING

A GENERAL VIEW OP THE HISTORY, LIFE, CHARACTER,
AND RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL INSTITU
TIONS OF THE UNITAS FRATRUM.

BY JAMES HENRY.
MEMBER OP THE MORAVIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY, AND OF THE
HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

PHILADELPHIA:
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.
1859.

CONTENTS.

PAGE
I. Introduction  7
II. The Ancient Unitas Fratrum  14
III. Herrnhut  ".  30
IT. Zinzendorf  59
V. Spangenberg, or Moravianism Illustrated  99
VI. Toe Moravian Cultus  125
VII. Christmas Celebrations  155
VIII. Easter Celebration  163
IX. Education and Schools  170
X. Nazareth Hall  194
XI. Environs of Nazareth  212
XII. Ephrata  222
XIII. Bethlehem  231
XIV. Music at Bethlehem and Nazareth  264
XV. The Missionary Enterprise  276
XVI. Social and Personal Characteristics  296
XVn. "William Henry Van Vleck  306

MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHAMCTEE.

INTRODUCTION.
In presenting a picture of Moravian life, exem
plified by certain portions of its history and biography,
my object has been to furnish such an. aesthetic view of
the subject as might be likely to draw the attention
of those who have either not been observers, or have
formed misconceptions of it.
To the many who search out grgatness in the nu
merical strength, eclat, and general worldly influence
of a people, it may appear a matter of wonder why
the Brethren's Church should be at all deserving of
a place in history; since the space it occupies in
society is so small, the influence it wields so unpopu
lar, and the decorations of its exterior worship so
little in accordance with the sensuous wants of the
times we live in, as well as of all time. The only
answer to this is, that the existence of the people
called United Brethren is a great historical fact, in
the present and the past. Regarding the term in its
2 J " (7)

8 MORAVIAN LIEE AND CHARACTER.
purest sense, it is certainly one of the oldest Christian
peoples living ; and it will be my aim to show in these
Sketches that, though almost crushed at times by
civil and ecclesiastical power, it was never annihi
lated. Its great age and its remarkable tenacity of
spiritual life, its striking powers of endurance under
the hand of brute force, render it worthy of a name,
and that name is no small one in the world's his
tory. A characteristic trait in Moravianism, old as well
as new, has been its entire independence of all the
palpable extraneous aid that gives the dominant
religions, and more particularly the Roman Catholic
faith, their greatest popular strength. In early times
it knew but little of churches; the old Bohemians
and Moravians were wont to worship in secrecy,
and even in the times of the newly-arisen church,
the sanctuary was a place of no architectural at
traction, but a simple room in some appropriate
dwelling. - That the elements of this Christian people could
never assimilate with the great worldly element, is,
perhaps, its chosen and distinctive feature; the
beauty that adorns its whole historical life. All its
associations, as read in the hymns of Zinzendorf, and
heard in the tones of its music, are unworldly and
distasteful to the multitude; and hence the Brethren
remained a small Christian family, and ever will
remain such, if their ritual be preserved pure, uncor-
rupted, and savored with apostolic simplicity.

INTRODUCTION. 9
Since the first renewal of the United Brethren's
Church m 1722, it met with opposition and prejudice
wherever it worked its way, in civilized as well as
uncivilized society, and the history of its progress
through all obstacles forms a curious as well as an
interesting portion of the biography of Zinzendorf
and his compeers.
The works which have emanated from Moravian
minds are quite numerous, and relate to doctrines,
synods, general Moravian history, memoirs of eminent
men, sermons, hymns, essays, missions, and, occasion
ally, a religious fiction. The larger proportion of
these writings are the production of German Bre
thren ; some very important ones are English, and a
few American.
In reference to the opposition met with by the Re
newed Brethren's Church, I would add that numerous
writers have appeared from time to time, sending
their shafts of censure and misinterpretation against
it, and covering with obloquy the simple institu
tions that grew up in Herrnhut. - The works of the
enemy form quite a little library in the archives
of that place, and are carefully preserved by our
people themselves ; while on the opposite side of the
same apartment are ranged all those volumes that
were written in their defence or commendation.
All this literature, for and against Moravianism,
had its origin in a country where thought is active,
and the human mind unfathomable ; — where reason
and faith are diverging to opposite extremes. While

10 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
the former is seen to cast off all the hopes and as
pirations that foreshadow an unseen world^ rending
asunder man's relations with an endless life, and
making his emotional being only subservient to the
purposes of his sensual existence, the latter enters
more deeply into religion, thinks more intensely upon
and within it, and calls out more of its essential
beauty, than the faith of any other country on earth
is capable of conceiving.
Zinzendorf was not the first to pave the way for
an evangelical church, such as his institutions pre
sented to the world, for Spener and Franke went
before him. The former was born in 1635, and died
in 1705. His theatre of action was chiefly at Frank-
fort-on-the-Main ; he carried his doctrines among all
classes, amid the cottages of the peasant and the
palaces of the noble. He wrote the "Pia Desi-
deria;" and Zinzendorf 's eulogy upon -him was,
" Spener was a child of God, and this was more than
all his other gifts, his learning and his high offices."
Franke, a student of Spener's, was born in 1662,
was formed in his school of religious thought, and
received an appointment in the University of Halle.
There, with seven guilders, he commenced an orphan-
house, out of which grew up the world-renowned
Orphanotrophy of Halle. His favorite motto was,
"Pray and labor;" and his popularity spread through
out Germany. He died in 1727.
At the time of his own appearance there, Zinzen
dorf found Germany and other parts of Europe favor-

INTRODUCTION. 11
able to the reception of his simple doctrines; and
most of the opposition to him seems to have been
grounded upon information about him and the com
munity at Herrnhut, conveyed through improper chan
nels. His whole scheme was so original, the new cha
racter assumed by the nobleman in descending from
titles and estates to pursue life among all men pro
miscuously, in forsaking the gayeties of a court and.
going back to the apostolic age for his ideal of a
modern association, formed so strange a phenome
non, that many doubted the rationality of the whole
proceeding. But notwithstanding all the writing to which this
new and singular spectacle gave rise, Moravianism
grew apace; Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Eng
land and America welcomed and adopted it, not
among indiscriminate masses in cities, but generally
in villages built up by its own people, and used as
their exclusive dwelling-places.
In the Sketches of Moravian life itself, as given in
the following pages, much has reference to the past,
as, in consonance with a new order of things, new
men, and new ideas, we are willing that a great deal
that was old and long cherished should become obso
lete, and that life should come up under new forms.
In our European congregations our Brethren are
more tenacious of their birth-right; they have for
saken little they once possessed, and live in isolated
villages ; but whether the infection of European so
ciety and all its social dangers is destined to invade
2*

12 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
them at some future day, it is not in my province to
predict. Zinzendorf himself never saw such a distant
future before him, when he planted his standard in
Lusatia, and sung, that " as long as it remained held
within the bonds of love, as long as the work of its
Master was unmolested, so long should Herrnhut
firmly stand:" "Herrnhut soil nicht langer stehen
Als die Werke deiner Hand
Ungehindert drinnen gehen
Und die Liebe sey sein Band," etc.
He then would scarcely have conceived that the
influences and practices instituted around the Hut-
berg were to extend among 200,000 people, as our
statistics inform us they do at the present day.
From our own stand-point in society it is pleasant
to look back upon the scenes of which I have here
attempted some feeble outlines. It may justly be
said that Paris and its influences govern the whole
civilized world. In this, our favored country, all the
corruptions, the superficial tone, the attire, the seduc
tions and the glare of society take their impress from
the centre of what is falsely termed refinement, and
in placing this refinement side by side with that of
the older Moravian, we shall discover the emptiness
of a materialistic life and the never-fading beauty of
an inner one.
But in doing away with old things, that have once
been rooted in the affections of man, we seldom see
them utterly destroyed. Obsolete forms are always

INTRODUCTION. 13
coming up again, old costumes are adapted and ap
plied to the tastes of the age, and many antique
models of architecture are resuscitated. The games
of the youth of many generations gone by are the
games of the living, and the songs of the past are
sung over again. In the history of the human heart
and the clothing of its affections there is no pro
gress, and we cannot tear it away from its old
images without finding it recurring to them again.
The hardest struggle man has to encounter is with
the world as it is, and the highest point of moral
power he can ever attain to, is to be emancipated
from all its influences and think for himself. Firmly
stationed on that pedestal of original thought, his
teachings reach far into futurity, and he is felt long
after those who had opposed him have become for
gotten and unknown. The sentiment applies to
Zinzendorf, both as an apostle and an original
thinker; as to one endowed with Christian zeal,
and persisting in independence of thought. As a
man classed among the worldly great, but not in
the same category with human greatness in its
outer brilliancy, he is still known in Germany, for
his marble statue stands in the Valhalla of Bavaria.

II.
THE ANCIENT UNITAS FRATRUM.
In extending our researches into the obscurity of
the Old Brethren's Church, we shall find that Bohe
mia and Moravia formed the ground of its develop
ment and greatest activity.
The inhabitants of that portion of Europe were,
perhaps, more tenacious of their religious faith than
any other cotemporary races, and all the vicissitudes
that distinguish their annals, all their wars and per
secutions, arose from that remarkable spiritual prin
ciple which inspired them throughout the long,
slowly advancing centuries of that medieval period
of modern history. These peoples claimed an an
cestry from the Sclavonic nations, among whom
Christianity had found its way during some of the
first centuries, but left no visible fruits until about
the ninth century, which is regarded as the great
epoch of conversion among them.
It was then that we hear of two Greek monks,
Cyrillus and Methodius, entering, with the inculca
tions of Christ in their apostolic purity, into Bohemia
and Moravia, although, as just observed, Christianitv
(14)

THE ANCIENT UNITAS ERATRUM. 15
had found access there at a much more remote day.
After their appearance, all those divisions . of the
church which had fallen off from their allegiance to
the Roman See joined the newly-converted Scla
vonic races ; but its inquisitorial power was soon at
work, and took hasty and decisive steps to counter
act the defection and show its opposition to the
spread of the Greek faith by edicts, persecution,
and imprisonment.
The Bohemians and Moravians became, thence
forth, the marked objects of papal rancor; but it is
a notable circumstance in the annals of these Chris
tians, that no political or hierarchical authority could
ever crush them or force them to renounce the forms
of belief and worship that had their foundation in
the authentic scriptural records which they sacredly
preserved. As early as the tenth century, Pope John XIII.
had compelled the Bohemians and Moravians to ex
change the Greek for the Latin worship, but this
compulsion was only of transient effect, and they
soon shook off their new creed. Persecution now
assailed them in its greatest virulence, but they
encountered it with a degree of heroism that cha
racterized them up ; to the close of the seventeenth
pentury, soon after which we find their last rem
nants emigrating to Lusatia and joining Zinzen
dorf. Prague was made the seat of a Roman episcopacy,

16 MORAVIAN LIEE AND CHARACTER.
Dithmar, of Magdeburg, installed as bishop, and the
Roman liturgy introduced. The Bohemians sent
deputies to Rome in the year 977, desiring the use
of their native language in religious services. This
they were permitted to enjoy in some small degree
only, and finally, when it was interdicted, a large
portion of them fell off from Romanism and wor
shiped in private. Pope Gregory VII. or Hilde-
brand, at the close of the eleventh century, issued
a severe edict against them, which was supported
by force ; and this forms the point in their history
which was most distinguished by papal oppression,
and where the scenes of unmitigated cruelty are most
plainly visible.
The Church of Rome became sensibly more and
more degenerate, and as it departed from the pure
faith of the apostolic times into the mazes of error,
the Sclavonic people shrunk within their homes
and made their sanctuaries in secret places. Their
days of oppression lasted through the lapse of
more than a century; they restricted themselves,
during all this gloomy period, to their own Greek
forms and rituals as" well as they could ; but new
dangers now presented themselves before them in
the shape of corruption in their internal constitution
and practices. From this jeopardy they seem to
have been rescued by a remarkable providential in
terposition, which was a union with several new co-
temporary Christian sects, who came hither from

THE ANCIENT UNITAS FRATRUM. 17
different quarters of Europe and espoused their
cause. For now the Waldenses, a pure and primi
tive people, made their appearance in Bohemia,
(Anno 1176,) settled along the borders of the Eger,
and soon became united in friendly and religious
communion with the Bohemians and Moravians.
Their early history is involved in uncertainty, some
dating their origin in the eighth or ninth century,
while others seek for it long prior to that time.
They inhabited the valleys of Piedmont and France,
and received their appellation either from Peter
Waldo or from their being Valdesi, or inhabitants
of the valley.
The Waldenses are looked upon as the earliest
champions of Christian truth, but its advocacy
brought upon them the most relentless persecu
tion, followed, during the thirteenth century, by
numerous cases of martyrdom. But, notwithstand
ing this, they spread, and though during the ascend
ency of the Bohemians and Moravians they dwindled
into a small band of people, their descendants are
found to this day in the valleys of Piedmont, Swit
zerland, and Southern France. They traced their
episcopal ordination to the Apostles, and when they
arrived in Bohemia they found their doctrines and
practices to assimilate with those of the uncorrupted
Christians of that country. During the fourteenth
century the Wickliflites made their appearance on
the stage of church history, and they, like all other

18 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
reformers, had to endure the enmity, reproach, and
tortures of papal intolerance and power. It is not
probable that John Wickliffe went personally to Bo
hemia, but it is known that his followers emigrated
thither, circulated his writings and doctrines, and
finally, merged into the Brethren's Church.
The Hussites sprung from the Bohemian, John
Huss, professor of an academy, and, in 1400, its
preacher in Prague, who was uniform in his doc
trines and professions with his predecessors, the
Waldenses and Wickliffites. In consequence of the
fearlessness he showed in promulgating evangelical
truths, the imprecations, threats, and denunciations
of Rome were showered upon him. He traveled,
under the feigned protection of the Emperor Sigis
mund, to Constance, to appear before the council,
where he was condemned as a heretic, and on the
sixth of July, 1415, surrendered his life at the
stake, with that remarkable equanimity which has
rendered his name one of the most prominent in the
history of martyrdom. The result of this sacrifice
was the war of the Hussites, commenced by the re
bellious Bohemians, under their leader Zisca, or
John of Trautenau, and continued ten years after
his death.
A portion of these Bohemians contended chiefly
for the restoration of the sacramental chalice, and
were thence called Calixtines ; the more quiet and
prudent of them, however, held their meetings upon
a mountain, to which Zisca gave the name of Mount

THE ANCIENT UNITAS FRATRUM. 19
Tabor, whence they derived the appellation of Ta-
borites. During the whole time of their association with
these various sects, the Bohemians and Moravians
remained the object of odium to the Church of
Rome, and its emissaries were ever at work to re
duce them to obedience, or entice them to the ob
servance of its own worship and to renounce their
purer faith. But although they could not emanci
pate themselves from this reign of spiritual oppres
sion, still they conducted their worship in secret
places, and often in caves, whence they obtained the
name of " Speluncales," until, finally, in the middle
of the fifteenth century, King George Podiebrad
showed them so much leniency as to permit them
to settle in the Principality of Litiz, on the borders
of Moravia ; and, in the year 1456, they formed
themselves into the association of the Unitas Fra-
trum, at Kunewald. Their security here was but
short-lived, for in a few years afterwards King
Podiebrad himself sanctioned a violent persecution
against them, in which the Calixtine priests and
the Romish clergy were implicated. The Brethren
were expelled from their villages, many were im
prisoned, and others driven to the stake. But, not
withstanding all this, they met together in solitudes,
enacted new regulations, and their government was
entrusted to elders, who were chosen by ballot.
They increased in numbers, received accessions from
among the most distinguished Bohemians and Mora-
3

20 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
vians, as well as from strangers, and even held synods
among the recesses of the mountains.
In the year 1467 a deputation from the Bohemian
and Moravian Brethren met in synod at Lhota, con
sisting of seventy of the most reputable of their
people. Nine of these, of the most undoubted cha
racter, were chosen, from among whom three were
selected by lot to constitute their priests and spirit
ual advisers. These three men were Matthias of
Kunewald, Thomas Przelaucius, and Elias Kreno-
vius. Having, in a subsequent synod, discussed the
question whether the elders, who were called pres
byters among the Apostles and early Christians,
could perform the office of ordination as well as the
bishops, it was decided that such a rule was, in all
respects, conformable to the example of the primi
tive church and to the writings of the early fathers.
They reasoned upon this authority that their pres
byters might, very properly, administer the rites
of ordination; but, in order to meet all the objec
tions of their opponents, they decided upon seek
ing episcopal ordination from some pure source,
and, accordingly, turned their attention to the Wal
denses, whose history showed an uninterrupted line
of episcopacy connected with that of apostolic
times. The Waldenses still had their churches and bishops
in Austria, and our Brethren decided upon sending
thither three of their priests, one of whom was
Michael Bradacius, to receive this sacred anointment

THE ANCIENT UNITAS FRATRUM. 21
from the last remaining of the Waldensian bishops,
Stephen. He hailed the Brethren with warmth, re
joiced to hear of the Christian life among them,
presented them in detail the whole history of his
church, its long array of bishops, and then imparted
to the three men the rite of episcopal ordination.
Hardly a year had elapsed after this event before
the Brethren were again assailed by their enemies.
Their friends, the Waldenses, had passed through
an equally severe ordeal in Austria, and their bishop,
Stephen, who had been the instrument of transmit
ting the episcopacy to the Brethren, and thence to
our present church, was burned, and his people
scattered in dismay. The prisons of Bohemia were
filled with the devoted victims of our ancient church,
where many were starved to death, and other equal
horrors imposed upon them.
The Bohemian crown now descending upon the
head of Wladislaus of Poland, a prince of mild dis
position, the Brethren were allowed an opportunity
of recovering their lost privileges, and once more
enjoying their religion, and they were so far restored
to comparative ease and security, that in the year
15,00 they numbered two hundred congregations in
Bohemia and Moravia.
In 1508 the Bohemian king was prevailed upon by
the Roman clergy to sign an edict against the Bre
thren, with that subserviency which other potentates
had shown to the power of Rome, for scarcely had
he closed the transaction than he fell on his knees,

22 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
in the presence of the bishops who had led him into
its performance, and prayed to God that the edict
might not be fulfilled. The scenes of former years,
however, followed; the Bohemians were martyred
and burned ; they fasted and prayed, and, finally,
turned their thoughts toward forsaking their country
altogether. With this view they decided that four
of their number should depart, separately, into
foreign lands, on the errand of seeking out a new
people, who were living in the practice of a pure
faith, and knew the true God, with whom they might
join themselves. The first member of this little
embassy proceeded to Greece, the second to Russia,
the third to Thrace and Bulgaria, and the fourth to
Palestine and Egypt. When these men returned
home, they reported to their countrymen that the
people they had sought could nowhere be found;
that the world, as they had everywhere beheld it,
was corrupt and fallen, and the so-called Christians
sunk in superstition.
They next sent messengers in search of the Wal
denses, hoping to find some remnant of these in
France and elsewhere, with whom they might pos
sibly form a renewed friendship and communion.
But of the Waldenses a mere handful was found still
existing, in scattered abodes, and the Brethren had
to resign themselves to their forlorn condition, and
pray for the coming of some great reformer, whose
name might be the signal of a general regeneration
of the Christian church.

THE ANCIENT UNITAS FRATRUM. 23
During that time the art of printing added its
facilities to the publication and dissemination of the
Scriptures, and the- Bohemian Brethren, who had
translated them into their own language, issued the
Bible in Venice, which went through two subsequent
editions in Nuremberg. They, at the same time,
opened a correspondence with Erasmus, of Rotter
dam, who ratified all they had written and spoken
in self-defence, but advised them to proceed in their
worship in quiet and reserve ; he commended them
for giving one another the appellation of brother
and sister, admonished them to show less obedience
to their preachers than to the Word of God, and
put more trust in Him than in men.
A century had now elapsed since John Huss had
uttered the remarkable prophecy to his persecutors :
" In one hundred years, ye shall account to God and
to me for what ye are now doing," when Luther
arose in 1517, and attacked the errors of the ruling
church by an exposure of all its notorious abuses.
The advent of Luther was nowhere so gladly wel
comed as among the. down-trodden Bohemian and
Moravian Brethren. They sent up their prayers to
heaven at the prospect of a speedy rescue from
thraldom and from the tortures of a bigoted and
relentless enemy.- In 1522 they deputed John Hprn
and Michael Weiss to wait upon Luther to bring him
their kindly greetings, and congratulate him upon
the great work he had assumed; to assure him of
their co-operation in it, and uniting with this as-
3*

24 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
surance the hope that the light of the true gospel
might soon cast its refulgence over the nations of
Europe. Luther's response was couched in the most
friendly terms; he acknowledged the sincerity and
earnestness of their love of the truth, and, at the
same time, felt himself animated by such a noble
example as their history and vicissitudes presented.
Both Luther and his coadjutor, Melanchthon, pre
served the most amicable relations with the Unitas
Fratrum, corresponded with them, received their re
peated deputations, deliberated with them on church
discipline and new reforms, the accomplishment of
which was only frustrated by the termination of his
heroic career. Before his death, the great reformer
left a concise and expressive testimony in favor of
the United Brethren in these memorable words:
"Since the times of the Apostles no people have
appeared who have made a nearer approach to them
in faith and practice than the Bohemian Brethren.
Although these Brethren do not excel us in purity
of doctrine, since every point of our creed proceeds
from the scriptural source, yet they are our superiors
in church discipline, which dispenses the blessings of
good government to their congregations ; an acknow
ledgment which the love of truth and the glory of
God exact from us."
Although the era of the Reformation had opened
so promisingly to the United Brethren, they never
realized the fulfillment of the hopes they had con
ceived in the appearance of Luther.

THE ANCIENT UNITAS FRATRUM. 25
Their churches were again closed under the perse
cutions of government, and they were commanded
either to unite themselves with the Church of Rome
or forsake their country. In this extremity some
joined the Calixtines, a few concealed themselves or
dispersed in various directions, but the greater por
tion fled to Poland. Here their stay lasted but ten
weeks, and they were once more driven out of the
land, and fled to Prussia, where their creed under
went examination, and being found to correspond
with all the articles of the Augsburg Confession,
a number of towns were offered for their shelter and
protection. Their exile here lasted until the mild
government of Maximilian enabled them to enjoy their
religion in their own country again, where we find
them once more reinstated and holding synods in
the year 1557, and in 1564 all their churches in
Bohemia and Moravia were reopened for their use.
They now entered upon the task of a new transla
tion of the Bible into the Bohemian language, and to
effect this the more carefully and accurately, they
sent students to the Universities of Wittemberg and
Basle to learn the original languages. They esta
blished a press for the special purpose of its publica
tion, and after fourteen years assiduous application,
completed the Bohemian version, which afterwards
went through several editions.
At the dawn of the seventeenth century the clouds
of oppression once more lowered around the Brethren,
and, in 1627, hundreds of nobles and burghers were

26 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
forced to flee their country, and take refuge in
Saxony, Silesia, Brandenburg, Poland, Prussia, Hun
gary, and elsewhere, and such as were not able to
emigrate, remained the passive victims of papal ty
ranny, although no force or torture could drive them
into its worship or allegiance.
From this date all evangelical religion seems to
have been swept out of Bohemia and Moravia, and
all their schools and churches were permanently
closed. Every Bible that could be found, and all
writings that tended to the diffusion of its doctrine,
were industriously sought out and burned, and, by
that striking perversion of the spirit and tendencies
of Christ's mission on earth, which rendered hier
archical power so baneful to Europe, the lives and
prosperity of thousands of exemplary and excellent
men became a sacrifice.
Among those unfortunate exiles, the voice of one
was heard to raise up in prayer during this hour of
gloom, beseeching God to come to their rescue and
restore to them their homes.
" We are orphans and are fatherless. Men perse
cute us ; we labor and we have no rest. Servants
have ruled over us ; there is none that doth deliver us
out of their hand. The joy of our heart has ceased;
our dance is turned into mourning. But Thou, 0
Lord, remainest forever, and Thy throne endureth
from generation to generation. Wherefore • dost
Thou forget us forever, and forsake us for so long a
time? Lead us back to Thee again, so that we may

THE ANCIENT UNITAS FRATRUM. 27 4
again return home. Renew our days, as of old."
(Lam. v.)
This Jeremiad proceeded from the lips of Amos
Comenius, who was born at Canna, in Moravia, in
1592. He studied at Herborn, and, in 1614, returned
home to his native country, and became a rector of
the schools of Przerow, and distinguished himself
ever afterwards for his profound knowledge in educa
tional science. He was appointed pastor of the
Unitas Fratrum at Fulneck, and assumed the super
intendence of its schools.. In 1621 this town was
made a prey to the ravages of war, and the valuable
library of Comenius plundered by the Spaniards.
In 1624, when the edict was issued against all
evangelical preachers of Bohemia and Moravia, Co
menius took refuge in the mountains, and found pro
tection under the Baron of Slaupna, during which
time he instructed his children.
Some years afterwards he was obliged to escape
with a portion of his congregation to Lissa, in Poland,
where he continued his labors of instruction. In
1631 he published his famous work, " Janua lingua-
rum reserata," which was translated into the Ger
man, Polish, Bohemian, Greek, English, French,
Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Arabic, Turkish, Persian,
and Mongolian languages. In 1638 .his fame
elicited for him an invitation to visit Sweden, to
reform its school system; he concluded, however,
to decline it, sending his advice and views on
the subject to his friends in that country. In

28 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
1641 he received similar proposals from England,
whither he actually went; but his plans for put
ting any new reforms into execution were frustrated
by the civil war then prevailing. In 1642 he went
to Sweden, and, rendering valuable services there
in the cause of education, was rewarded with a pen
sion, which was an ample competency for him, and
enabled him to pursue his labors and writings in the
same cause. His life, thus unremittingly devoted to
literary and evangelical pursuits, finally closed at
Hamburg, after he had reached the age of eighty
years. In the year 1632 he had been chosen bishop
of the Unitas Fratrum, and gave his daughter in mar
riage to Peter Jablonsky, subsequently bishop of the
Brethren, and father of Daniel Ernest Jablonsky,
through whom, as will be shown, the episcopal ordi
nation was handed down to their renewed church.
At the close of the seventeenth and opening of the
eighteenth centuries no distinct traces of the Unitas
Fratrum are to be found in the countries of Bohemia
and Moravia. After the peace of Westphalia all
hope for them seems to have been lost, and they
were, in consequence, obliged to hold themselves in
more strict concealment than ever before. They
escaped into other countries, where thousands sought
and found protection. Some of these went to Prussia
and Poland, but the majority to Saxony and Upper
Lusatia. In Poland some of their congregation still
survived, and many were induced to move thither
and join them, but the larger portion of this ill-fated

THE ANCIENT UNITAS FRATRUM. 29
Christian people by degrees became lost among other
nations, and what once constituted the Ancient
Unitas Fratrum was so-entirely dispersed as to leave
but few traces behind.
Of those few remnants of them, still lingering in
Bohemia and Moravia, there were some who read the
Bible in secret, even concealing it from their wives,
children, and servants, and only availing themselves
of the precepts it taught them, in instructing others.
Their meetings were held in the night, and in cel
lars, or other unseen recesses-; and wherever a few of
them remained throughout the land, they pursued
the practices and preserved the invincible fidelity to
their religion, which had distinguished their fore
fathers for many centuries before them.
It was during this stage of the history of the
Unitas Fratrum that the first movement took place
in Lusatia, which attracted Christian David, the
Nitschmanns, the Neisers, Toeltschig, Zeisberger and
others to that hospitable region, where a safe asylum
was held out to all who wished to enjoy the immuni
ties and blessings of a pure evangelical worship.
(See Ratio Discipline Unitatis Fratrum, and Ly-
nar's Ursprung undFortgange der Briider Unitat.)

III.
HERRNHUT.
In that portion of eastern Saxony termed Upper
Lusatia, or "Die Ober Lausitz," an old and beauti
ful country still greets the eye of the traveler. As
he pursues the course of the "Chausse'e," or public
highway, running south from Loebau to Zittau, or,
as he is more likely to do, takes that modern inven
tion and destroyer of the poetical past, the locomo
tive, which now steams through the districts of country
that have been the scenes of all the noted warfare of
the last and the present century, from Charles XII.
to Napoleon I., he will find himself cast among the
varied associations of old Europe. Looking to
ward the south, the semicircular range of the Bohe
mian Mountains appears in view, rising here and
there into those peculiar peaks which characterize
the geology of this portion of the earth in contrast
with our own. These form the boundary between
Bohemia and Saxony, under the jurisdiction of the
latter of which Lusatia still remains. To such a quiet
and extremely aged picture as the landscape here
furnishes, these mountains afford a most appropriate
inclosure, and heighten, in a marked degree, the whole
(30)

HERRNHUT. 31
beauty of Lusatia. Scattered all around throughout
this region 'are still to be found the vestiges of
feudalism, and, occasionally, a cloister or a chapel.
The ruins of the castle, where they yet exist, are
carefully preserved with that veneration for the ob
solete that results from a European education.
But what most strikes the American tourist, in
these portions of central Europe, is the "Dorf" and
its gray cottages. Many of these lowly structures
may be centuries old, and are but in the earliest
stage of their annals when our buildings reach their
usual time of demolition. A dense thatch is seen to
cover them, and the dark color and patches of moss
that adorn it bespeak the degree of age that bears
upon it. The homestead is comprised of a single
building, the stable and dwelling being under one
and the same roof. Aside of the low and narrow
doorway is seen a small window, sufficient to afford
a scanty supply of light, but pierced through walls
of masonry that seem designed to last for ages.
Within the dwelling-room itself, the most remarkable
object is the huge tile-stone, occupying, in some
smaller domiciles, nearly one-fourth of the apart
ment, and reaching up almost to the ceiling, — the
top of it overhung with apparel, or covered with
tools, cooking utensils, and a heterogeneous collec
tion of the nee'dful appointments of the household.
In emerging from one of these venerable chambers,
and casting an inquisitive glance upward, you will
observe that a ladder, or some old, broken, and
4

32 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
rickety stairs lead the way to the dormitory above.
As there is never a fence, and seldom a Sedge, either
for the inclosure of field or garden, the cow, which
constitutes one of the family's nearest neighbors,
and occupies the same covering, is never seen in
pasture ; and the peasant is met coming in with a
Luge pile of fragrant 'clover, which he has just
mown in the adjoining field. At almost every win
dow in the larger-sized cottages a little projecting
platform is covered with flower-pots, showing forth
out of all the poverty of real life that feeling of
poesy which ever reigns in pleasant companionship
with nature herself, — with nature untrammeled by
the adornments of false art, pure and expressive of
simple joys.
Numerous are the pictures of living poetry in
these antiquated lands ; and when the stranger passes
by or sojourns among them, he finds the original
from which art has taken so many of her finest de
signs; It will not be required, nor indeed will it be
well for him, to go into all the interior circumstances
of life, as the comparison between its needful wants
and actual supplies sometimes shows an appaling con
clusion, and he might, perchance, fall into reflections
which would mar all the beauty his imagination had
aided him in raising up.
But it is not alone the exterior of life that should
engage our attention here among these lowly homes.
The human heart, as it lives and beats within them,
is pecuUarly constituted. To understand those hearts

HERRNHUT. 33
we must have access to their workings, by the medium
of language, and that language is the one in which
they are born, and live, and die.
When these people meet you, their greeting is
that of affection. When the stranger from a distant
land comes among them to seek out some remnants
of an old ancestry, some long-forgotten ones, whose
names Jhave been handed down to him, he finds him
self received with open arms and all the warmth of
an old love. The words of welcome he finds ad
dressed to him are significant of the most heartfelt
joy. Such a model of moral beauty, springing out
of humble life, the American is unaccustomed to,
and in stepping aside from the great highway of
travel among these rural abodes of Lusatia, he will
be led into a comprehension of the nature, depth,
and earnestness of the people from whom the Mo
ravians have sprung.
In the midst of this country Herrnhut lies tran
quil and undisturbed. Entering it from its northern
side, over the " Chausse'e," its quiet is so remarkable
as to impress you with some unusual feeling. You
greet and are greeted by every one of its inhabit
ants. The artisan seems hidden somewhere from
notice, as the din of industry awakens but little at
tention and can scarcely be heard.
As you scan the environs of the village, nothing
could present a more perfect idyl. Here the earth
has no wastes ; all its apportionments are perfectly

34 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
garden-like, without even a hedge to show the de-
markations of property.
In the picture of rural life, as here presented,
there is a dreamy repose shed forth by the old ways,
customs, pursuits, and external features of European
inaction, that belongs only to itself and has no re
semblance to life on this side of the Atlantic. But
nature here is never purely herself; as the forest is
planted* so the tree by the wayside is placed there by
art ; the woods are carefully culled of their exube
rance, of their superfluous boughs, decayed limbs, or
fallen trunks of trees, and the forest-keeper is a
personage who figures everywhere. He plants and
replants, and watches over these artificial groves, as
the centuries fly along, leaving no such thing as
native growth to be seen.
Of the objects that attract the visitor's attention,
the "Hutberg" is the most prominent. This is an
eminence in the upper portion of Herrnhut, on the
slope of which the cemetery occupies a considerable
space, surrounded and shaded by dense rows of lin
dens. Like all the other Moravian burial-places,
the graves have their allotted portions of earth, and
the name of the occupant is designated by inscrip
tions on small, oblong, and uniform marble slabs.
An avenue of lindens leads from the village to the
"Hutberg," beneath which the funeral procession
passes when going from the church. Besides the
solemn purposes to which it is applied, the cemetery
is a thoroughfare, in- strolling up to the summit of

HERRNHUT. 35
the "Hutberg" and to the observatory there, called
the "Altan." The "Laube," or arbor, is found
among its paths, where the pleasures of meditation
are enjoyed in the vicinity of the grave. The pecu
liar poetry which the Moravian throws around the
subject and circumstances of death, renders the
combination of the arbor and the grave no incon
gruity, and you may often find these seats occupied
by smiling and cheerful faces. A few flights of steps
conduct to the summit of the "Hutberg," in emerg
ing from the precincts of the burial-ground, and after
having sought out the final resting-place of the most
remarkable characters of Moravian history — such as
Count Zinzendorf and the Countess, Anna Nitsch-
mann, Christian David, Spangenberg, and many
others, the first of whom has now reposed here nearly
a century — you are tempted to seek the summit and
look down on Herrnhut and its environs. Here
the picture I have already attempted to describe be
comes more panoramic, and, in addition to its varied
and interesting features, the ancient village of Ber-
thelsdorf attracts your attention.
Another long avenue, extending three-quarters of
a mile" from Herrnhut, and shaded by closely planted
lindens, now very old and umbrageous, leads to
Berthelsdorf, where are first observed two large
buildings, occupied by ten members of the Unity's
Conference and their families. This conference is
to be considered as the ruling head and authority of
the Moravian Church. In close proximity to these,
4*

36 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
stands the Manor House, or, at a later period, called
the "Schloss,"1 which, in its primitive form, was the
family mansion of Count Zinzendorf, and was occu
pied by him as proprietor of the estates of Ber-
thelsdorf during the infancy of Herrnhut, whither
he removed subsequent to his marriage with the
Countess Erdmuth Dorothea Reuss. On his final
return thither, in 1757, he spent the remainder
of his days in this mansion, where he died in
1760. At a later period the edifice was greatly
enlarged, the improvements giving it the appear
ance of a "Schloss." It is now the residence
of the President of the Unity's Conference and of
other members thereof. Around an oval table in
the second story are seen seated, three times each
week, the Unity's Conference. Their time, during
these sittings, which last from nine to half-past eleven
o'clock in the morning, is chiefly devoted to the
perusal of letters from every quarter of the globe.
In these deliberations, Greenland, South Africa,
Surinam, Australia, the West Indies, and North
America, all come up in succession as subjects of
consultation, and it constitutes the sole employment
of the twelve members of this body to read and dis
cuss measures growing out of this vast correspond
ence. No less than fifty letters per week are received
1 Literally a castle, but the word applies to all structures
of ample dimensions, and adapted to the uses of a large
family mansion.

HERRNHUT. 37
by the Conference from its various correspond
ents. The apartment which is the scene of these
transactions is adorned with portraits of various Mo
ravian characters, such as Zinzendorf, Spangenberg,
Nitschmann, and Amos Comenius.
Passing somewhat farther down, from Herrn
hut, and crossing a small brook, you enter the
little hamlet of Berthelsdorf, and, proceeding among
its extremely old and quaint homes, reach that
ancient church, formerly used by Count Zinzendorf
and Rothe, before the building of Herrnhut. It is
now the village church of the Lutherans, and is the
resort of the people in the vicinity. It is a remark
able edifice, having been founded five centuries ago,
and is in excellent repair ; it sends forth from
within its adamantine walls, every Sabbath morn, the
good old chorales of the Lutheran and Moravian
Church. The edifice is larger than it originally was,
having been renewed from time to time. It was
fated to pass through many ordeals. In the war of
the Hussites it was greatly injured by fire, and in
1538 the Roman Catholics were expelled from it
and the priest driven out by main force. Berthels
dorf itself is situated in a valley, looking upward
toward the "Hutberg," which rises 850 feet above
the village. Its origin is wrapt in obscurity, and its
name is supposed to have been derived from one
Berthold, about the year 1346. It contains about
2000 inhabitants, and since 1480 has been in pos
session of the noble family of De Gersdorf.

38 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
A favorite resort of the inhabitants of Herrnhut
is the "Heinrichsberg," a pleasure-ground among the
beautiful ravines on one of the southern hillsides.
Here numerous bowers and shady winding paths
invite the young and old to spend the afternoon in
the enjoyment of tea or coffee within their quiet
recesses. In giving a few of these characteristics of Herrn
hut, as it now appears, my object is merely to intro
duce the subject of the following pages, by a pre
sentation of the locality where Moravianism took its
rise, and where it still flourishes, under the auspices
of a small body of people who are imbued with its
essential elements.
Of the company of Moravian exiles, the descend
ants of the old Bohemian and Moravian Church and
of the original followers of John Huss, whose event
ful history and claims to a pure episcopacy that pur
sued a stream uncontaminated by Popery from the
apostolic ages, have just been told, Christian David
was the most noted. He came to Berthelsdorf in
company with his countrymen, espoused the cause
of Zinzendorf, entered into the spirit of his plan
for the erection of Herrnhut, and sedulously aided
the designs of this new Christian apostle. The firBt
tree felled for the purpose was close by the high
way, and a "Denkmal," or monument, marks the
spot, with a suitable inscription upon it describing
the event. Around it are placed seats of stone, and
this is a never-failing point of attraction to the his-

HERRNHUT. 39
torical visitor. Though 136 years have elapsed since
that event,""the original frame-work of Zinzendorf's
spiritual system, conceived by himself and put into
execution by his efforts, united with those of his
followers, may still be regarded as perfect at Herrn
hut. In estimating the village system from its best
point of view, we must regard with care the stress
laid upon the organization of the congregation.
Zinzendorf, whose genius was peculiarly adapted for
the task of social organization, aimed chiefly at the
principle of exclusion ; bringing together a com
munity of people, whose whole life and pursuits,
trades, occupations, professions, pleasures, pastimes,
were all to be regulated and characterized by one
religious impulse. "For its accomplishment some of
the unexceptionable elements of socialism were
needed, in order to cement the whole mass of the
congregation and support its economical interests. -
I will premise, however, that communism in the
form of the Phalanstery was not adopted, and, with
the exception of its first application in America,
where it lasted about twenty years, it formed no fea
ture of the Brethren's communities. These interests
of the individual required a mutual protection, and,
on this account, the number of trades was limited,
no one having the privilege of pursuing his occupa
tion unless granted him by the authorities of the con
gregation. The general proprietary was called the Diacony,

40 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
which held the lands, farms, and all the larger esta
blishments under its control and direction, the reve
nues being applied to the general purposes of the vil
lage and the society at large. Under this form of
organization competition in trade was effectually ex
cluded, and the community was enabled to flourish by
a harmony of industrial pursuits, for, in following out
the details of this system, we find that care was taken
not to allow one tradesman to under-sell the other ;
the prices of all goods offered for sale were limited,
and the quality of all manufactured articles inspected
and kept up to a certain standard. Under these
regulations the great principle was implied, that the
love of gain was never to enter into the aims of those
engaged in trade, but that the desire of benefiting
one's neighbor should be the paramount object of an
industrious life.
All the necessary rules were laid down for the
mutual conduct of master and apprentice, the bear
ing of each toward the other; fidelity to contract
in the making and delivery of goods ; as to the cir-
pumspect choice of trades for the boys, and a proper
discretion in allowing them to follow their inclinations
in this particular.
Another institution was the almonry, or poor-fund,
with its almoner, who administered to the wants of
the destitute, whenever they came to be in need of
help, through disease or other causes.
Physicians were regularly appointed by the general
superintendence of the village, and paid their stipu-

HERRNHUT. 41
lated salaries ; no fees were ever allowed to be given
them; they were required to be married men, to call
down Divine assistance in their efforts to cure, and
never to boast of their own efficiency in the course
of their practice.
It was enjoined upon the physician that he should
never forbear disclosing to his patient his real con
dition, since it was pre-supposed that every one would
rejoice, on learning he was approaching nearer to
Jesus. In the Zinzendorfian community egotism became
an oblation to a high spiritual purpose ; the inner life
of its people derived its sustenance from a pure,
simple, and active faith, and all their acquisitions
were made subservient to spiritual ends. A total
surrender of egotism was, accordingly, the first step
to membership in this people, fashioned after the old
apostolic times. Zinzendorf ushered in his plan by
the erection of a house for single Brethren and one
for single Sisters. He divided his congregation into
"Choirs," or classes: the younger girls, the elder
girls, the sisters, the married brethren and sisters,
the widows, widowers, the younger boys, the elder
boys, the single brethren, all constituted distinct
"Choirs," and had their stated and special meetings.
In the institution of the Brethren's and Sisters'
Houses, the plan intended was, to afford an asylum
to all the young men and women of the community.
In Herrnhut we find every young man has his allotted
room in the Brethren's House, where he repairs

42 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
whenever he choses, if not a constant resident of the
institution, and pays his tax for its support. The same
rule applies to the Sisters' House, in reference to the
young women. Many of either sex, who have no
means of support under the parental roof, make
choice of these abodes, and pursue their employments
there. A principal1 has the superintendence of each
of these institutions, and, in the Sisters' House, %the
inmates of which generally number about two hun
dred, numerous assistants, or vice-principals, are ap
pointed, who are set over smaller divisions of the
sisters. The aged lady presiding over the Sisters' House
at Herrnhut for nearly half a century, was the Coun
tess of Einsiedlen. Her estates and private dwelling
were contiguous to the village, but she repaired regu
larly to the Sisters' House to perform her duties
there, and was highly respected and esteemed by
those under her charge. She faithfully administered
the duties of this office up to the time of her death,
which occurred only a few years ago. To explain
this circumstance more fully, it may be necessary to
state, that the Moravians received a large share of
patronage from the nobility, and numbers of titled
personages adopted their forms, and became devoted
followers of their faith.
The office of this principal and her assistants is to

1 Called Pfleger and Pflegerin, or one who cares for those
under him or her.

HERRNHUT. 43
keep under their constant supervision all the young
women residing within the walls of this asylum. All
the young girls of the village have their appoint
ments in the building, and assemble there before pro
ceeding to church service, followed by their princi
pals. Over all these female "Choirs" the principal
exercises a spiritual influence, guides their conduct,
and has confidential communications with them at
stated times, such as preceding a communion or
Choir Festival.
The institution of the "Speaking," or the confi
dential communication between the principal and
those under her charge, the plan of the Sisters'
House itself and its whole organization, have been
regarded by many as bearing a strong tinge of Ro
man Catholicism, and this, with many other features
of striking resemblance to the Roman Church, drew
upon the Moravians the charge of Romanism, and
originated the saying that, " The road to Rome went
through Herrnhut."1 The inmates of these houses,
1 It is very properly remarked by Lynar: "It appears to
me that they who designate the United Brethren as a Lu
theran monastic order, labor under a great misconception.
There is, confessedly, a certain form of monasticism in their
general subordination, obedience to superiors, allotted hours
of worship, and other prescribed rules and social forms. But
if we reflect how it is marked by its celibacy, its withdrawal
from all the usual forms of industry, its seclusion, its mendi
cancy, the frequent application of coercion in the entrance to
the cloister, and the large revenues falling to its use, we
shall see the vast difference between the two ; and, laying
5

44 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
however, were never bound by promises or vows to
remain within their walls, nor did theylmmure them
selves therein for any longer time than the ordinary
necessities of life might render it desirable for them
to sojourn there. For the most part, they are given
to industrious pursuits, they mingle with society,
come and go at their pleasure, and when the chance
of marriage presents itself, they are at liberty to
leave. The institution of the Brethren's and Sisters'
Houses is a marked feature of the Zinzendorfian
plan, and tends, perhaps more than any other ar
rangement, to cement the whole social body residing
in a single village. Under this organization there can
be but little poverty and no destitution, for while all
the members of the religious family, as it may justly
be viewed, are cared for, helplessness and old age are
the objects of a peculiar tenderness and sympathy.
Another characteristic of Herrnhut was, the conse
cration of manual labor, and its elevation to the posi
tion of a religious duty.
As the aims of the whole people were concentrated
upon one purpose, that of first seeking their own
chasteness of life, and thence setting out upon the
apostolic mission among mankind, labor enjoyed its
dignity, and the trades, occupations, and professions
aside all other considerations, we cannot but acknowledge
that one has proved as great a benefit to the State as the
other has been prejudicial."

HERRNHUT. 45
of all were sanctified, and received the benedictions
of prayer and song.
Much stress should be laid upon this aspect of Mo
ravian life, inasmuch as it serves to show how the as
perities of toil for daily bread were mitigated, how the
contrasts of society were subdued, and the condition
of those gifted with fortune and those born without
estate fully equalized; for, notwithstanding the
equality aimed at by Zinzendorf, both of these grades
of society have existed at all times in every Mora
vian community, and in Europe, where the distinc
tion between noble and peasant is so strongly and
indelibly marked, the Christianity acted, and does
yet act, with a subduing influence.
At Herrnhut, the Diacony or Proprietary of the
farms, wood lands, hotel, stores, and large manufac
tories is still upheld, and is based upon the funda
mental principle of Zinzendorf's plan, to perpetuate
the congregation by a blending of interests, and mak
ing the whole membership intent upon one purpose.
The Diacony is sustained in all the European com
munities, although recently abolished in this country,
and is connected with a lease system, giving the right
of holding real estate to those only who are members
of a congregation. Thus by excluding all foreign
elements from the population of a small village com
munion, the tone of society can be upheld in compara
tive purity; all the forms of the church, its rituals,
festivals, and enjoinments preserved, «,nd the Chris
tian family, after the early, apostolic model, and in

46 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
accordance with the idea of Zinzendorf, fully carried
out. Hence the village, and it only, became the seat
of a fully-developed Moravianism; because its per
fect isolation, its uniformity, its conjoint purposes
and pursuits, and its unique cultus removed it be
yond, and elevated it above, the atmosphere of a
grosser world; all these rendered it the true sphere
of an apostolic Christianity, and fulfilled the ideal
of a perfect congregation.1
1 The admission into the community of Herrnhut was not
a matter of easy accomplishment, and before permission was
granted to any one to become a member of the society, he was
required to hand into the ecclesiastical board a written decla
ration of his intentions.
The Board, or Conference, then requested of him a personal
interview, in which a candid declaration of his sentiments
was asked. He was told that the congregation was looked
upon as a wise institution of Christ, which was partly destined
to spread His kingdom among infidels and heathen, and
partly for the fulfillment of the testament of Jesus, which
enjoins unity and a close connection among his believers as
the only condition of happiness, and the sole means of pro
tection against the tide of worldly vanity, that, involves so
many in ruin.
It was not presumed that an individual was more sure of
his salvation within than without the congregation, if he only
belonged to the true church of Christ, which is invisible, and
consists of such members as really believe in Jesus Christ,
and give practical evidence of this belief.
It was, therefore, not sufficient to be a Christian to gain
admittance to the congregation, but a proper appreciation,
and a peculiar endowment were deemed requisite.
God was not willing that all true Christians should join

HERRNHUT. 47
To render more united this community of thought
and labor, Zinzendorf applied to Moravian worship
this congregation, since he wishes them to be scattered
throughout the earth as useful seed ; on this account it could
enjoy its 'friendships beyond its own circle, without prose
lyting. The initiation to the congregation was a matter of deep
moment, and demanded much wary reflection, because every
one who assumed its responsibilities must pledge his life for
Christ, be prepared for every summons, and live after the
manner of the Apostles, when it was said of them, "they de
voted themselves to the Lord," and consequently to the con
gregation. The candidate was at liberty to reside several weeks among
the Brethren, and make himself fully acquainted with them>
before closing his purpose to join them.
During this period he was questioned as to his past career —
what had been his fortunes in the world ; was he out at ser
vice or at home with his parents ; or were there any obstacles
in the way, rendering it impracticable for him to come among
them. The main question put to him was, how he had come
¦ to think of seeking his salvation, and what had led him to
apply to them. It was never inquired whether he were rich,
or poor, or what were his abilities.
After all scruples and objections had been surmounted, and
the applicant remained firm in his purpose and conviction
that he considered himself called to become a member of the
Herrnhutian community, the lot was resorted to ; should this
result in the negative, he was told he could not be accepted ;
if, on the contrary, in the affirmative, he was received.
He now had permission to stay, and was regarded as a can
didate for admission. He visited the Brother, who is the
adviser or principal of the Choir to which he was destined,
and conversed with him in the most confidential manner. ,
It was now considered by theOonference of Elders, whether

48 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
all the embellishments of music, the festival, the
uniformity of head-dress among the sisters, the
the lot should be used for his final entrance into the commu
nion of the society, and if it proved a negative he was apprised
of it, and no further action was taken in his case until it was
thought that time had removed the hindrance. If now the lot
approved of him, it was announced to the whole assembled
congregation that Brother  would be received as a mem
ber on the following Congregation-Bay, which occurred every
month. The reception of the new Brother took place in the even
ing of this day, after the usual discourse was ended.
The candidate sat before the minister, who impressed upon
him the duties and obligations connected with the step he had
taken, and held out to him the share of spiritual blessings dis
pensed by Jesus, which he would receive; promising-him, at
the same time, the reciprocal duties the congregation owed
him. Then all arose, and during the singing of a liturgy, the new
candidate was received with the kiss of peace, bestowed, ac
cording to the sex, by Elder or Eldress.
The minister, finally, with the whole assembly, knelt down
and prayed, and the ordinance was concluded with singing.
This was the entrance into the Congregation ; the next step
was to become a candidate for the Holy Communion. <
This also became a subject for the Elders' Conference, who
appealed to the lot to know if the time was come for his par-
taking of this sacred rite. When an affirmative was given, he
was notified through his Choir adviser to attend the Commu
nion Love-Feast, as a spectator.
Here it was made known that he was about to become a
candidate for the Sacrament. When it was thought the proper
time had arrived, the Conference once more resorted to the
lot, to know if he was prepared for admission, and if the reply
was favorable, he was desire* to be in readiness at the next

'HERRNHUT. 49
white dress on select occasions, and numerous other
regulations, intended to imbue with order the whole
structure he had erected.1
If a reflection of Roman Catholicism has been
here and there recognized in the drama of the wor
ship of Herrnhut, we shall find its church architec
ture the farthest possible departure from it. The
poverty of its early pioneers, and the necessity of
expending its surplus funds in the work of the
missions, rendered superfluous all ornaments of the
sanctuary. The church at Herrnhut presents no
pulpit, no cushioned seats, no columns, no festooned
drapery; nothing but a simple table raised upon a
dais, for the performance of all religious exercises.
Although now its ample means would enable it to
erect an edifice in modern style, with all the acces
sories of fashionable worship, yet the adherence to

ceremonial. A few hours before the Communion, his adviser
summoned him, and, in presence of the Pastor and several
other members, prayed over him, sung verses, and, during the
singing, washed his feet. When the newly-received member
was a Sister, this was done by the female Principal, in presence
of the Eldresses. (See Lynar.)
1 In paying this tribute to the Count's memory, we must
ascribe to him the remodeling, rather than the original con
struction, of the new Moravian Church. The old Moravian
and Bohemian emigrants to Herrnhut, who formed the ma
terial for this new organization of 1722, were extremely
tenacious of their old forms, rituals and hymns, and out of
those elements Herrnhut, organized under the auspices of
Zinzendorf, sprung up.

50 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
the old in thought, form, and general modes of life
is so deeply rooted, that it stands there in all its
simplicity, untouched.
One of the few customs of the early days of
Herrnhut that have now become extinct, was that
of the Night-watch. This office was instituted in
1727, when the village was but small, the people in
their first love, and a greater zeal felt for this kind
of nocturnal guard than would be the case at the
present time. In the winter evenings, the watchman
commenced his rounds at eight o'clock, and con
tinued until six in the morning. . In summer, he
began at nine o'clock, and closed his duties at four
o'clock. This office was assumed by all the male
inhabitants in rotation, from sixteen to sixty years.
The announcement of the hour in verse rendered
the custom peculiarly beautiful; thus at eight o'clock
was sung: — The clock is eight I to Herrnhut all is told
How Noah and his Seven were saved of old.
9 o'clock. Hear, Brethren, hear ! the hour of nine is come ;
Keep pure each heart and chasten every home.
10 o'clock. Hear, Brethren, hear ! now ten the hour-hand
shows ;
They only rest, who long for night's repose.
11 o'clock. The clock's eleven ! and ye have heard it all
How in that hour the mighty God did call.
12 o'clock. It's midnight now I and at that hour ye know
With lamps to meet the bridegroom we must go.
1 o'clock. The hour is one ! through darkness steals the
day;
Shines in your hearts the morning star's first
ray?

HERRNHUT. 51
2 o'clock. The clock is two ! who comes to meet the day,
And to the Lord of days his homage pay ?
3 o'clock. The clock is three ! the Three in One above
Let body, soul and spirit truly love.
4 o'clock. The clock is four ! where'er on earth are three,
The Lord has promised He the fourth will be.
5 o'clock. The clock is five ! while five away were sent,
Five other virgins to the marriage went.
6 o'clock. The clock is six ! and from the watch I'm free,
And every one may his own watchman be.1
But this sentinel of Zion was not confined to the
set stanzas ; he continued his edifying verses during
his entire rounds. In singing these hymns he fre
quently awoke the sleepers, who found the subject
suited to their own situations, and the impressions of
the night caused by those appropriate songs often
had their enduring effect. It is related that during
the visit of a certain nobleman to Herrnhut, he was
so delighted with this primitive custom that he in
sisted upon assuming the watch for an entire night,
and went the rounds in the usual form.
During the same epoch of Moravian fervor the
institution of the "Hourly Prayer" took its rise.
A company of twenty-four brethren and as many
sisters (afterwards increased to seventy-two) came
together and pledged themselves to occupy one hour
in the twenty-four, each in his or her turn, and em
ploy it in intercession for himself or herself and
others, wherever known and in need of aid from
1 Composed by Zinzendorf.

52 MORAVIAN LIFE- AND CHARACTER.
above. The hour thus allotted to each one was
drawn by lot, and at whatever time of day or night
it might fall, they were to be found at their posts,
devoted to the charge assigned them.
The Night-watch and Hourly Prayer were some
what similar in tendency. Neither aimed at a pro
tection from without, but the design was rather to
guard the life within, and it formed another of those
essential points in a perfect Christian organization,
complete in all its parts, which distinguished the
system of the Moravians above all similar religious
communities on record.
Previous to the settlement of Herrnhut, Count
Zinzendorf spent his early youth with his grand
mother, who lived on her estates at Great Henners-
dorf, at the distance of three miles from the village.
The old Castle of Hennersdorf, distinctly seen from
Herrnhut, is an interesting object of research to
the visitor. Leaving the highway, and entering an
avenue of lindens,- you are conducted beneath their
¦shade up to the very entrance of the former court
yard of the castle, now converted to the purposes of
a barn-yard; and on inquiring for the forest-keeper,
who resides in its lower rooms, which are heavy-look
ing, massive, vaulted chambers, he receives you with
a welcome, reaches for the key, and guides you up
through its dilapidated corridors and empty halls,
where there is a cold dreary feeling reigning through
out. The tapestry of a former century hangs upon
the walls in tattered fragments ; and in looking out

HERRNHUT. 53
through its windows upon the pleasant domains
around, you are reminded of the past history con
nected with the venerable pile,- over which many
centuries have already passed. The forest-keeper
himself, the official to whom I have already alluded,
resides here, and has ' the care of the woods of the
Unity, or General Proprietary. He seems to take
an interest in the history and traditions of the old
castle, and gives many particulars in regard to its
earlier annals, but leaves some films of doubt resting
upon them, as to his verity as a chronicler.
Near to the Castle of Hennersdorf stands a vener
able church, under the care of its aged Lutheran
pastor, who, having the keys of its vaults, leads the
inquisitive stranger thither to exhibit the remains of
the widow von Gersdorf, the Count's grandmother,
which are still perfect and uninjured by time.
In sketching the characteristics of Herrnhut, as
they have been and still are, I find much that is
essential in Moravianism to be derived from the
national character and the language of the people
who gave it birth. A century has effected but little
change in the modes of life, or in the expressions of
feeling of a people, who, in common with those of
Southern and Middle Europe, are children of emo
tion. Born and trained up in abstemiousness, the
early German Moravians were better fitted for en
durance and privation, such as fell to their lot in the
missionary field, than any other race -of people ; but
through all the vicissitudes of want and suffering, the

54 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
language of their infancy, the social customs of their
forefathers, the hymns of Zinzendorf, Paul Gerhard,
Luise von Hayn and others shielded and solaced
them. In the language and heart of the German people
we discover a key to much that would otherwise be
inexplicable in the phraseology of the early Mora
vian Brethren. Its forms of worship approach so
nearly to nature, are so divested of art, if we except
the application of the sound classic music which
adorns it, that we cannot account for its derivation
but by looking into German social life. Here we
find the emotions declared in language. Sentimen
tality becomes a living truth, and is acted as we
find it written in our poetry. The colloquial scenes
of the family might be copied, and they would ap
pear like fiction. Upon this characteristic of Ger
man emotional thought was founded that essential
portion of the Zinzendorfian theology which relates
to the Saviour. In the old Hennersdorf Castle, the
window is still shown where he is said to have
thrown out letters to the Saviour, when a child, and
it is remarkable that the child remained a portion of
his character to the last. From the very commence
ment of his early experience, Christ's personality
seized upon his heart and mind, and his imaginary
intercourse, which he felt to be real, was with a
being whom he knew to be a brother. To give vent
to the impressions springing out of that intercourse,
he indulged in expressions and composed lyrical

HERRNHUT. 55
strains, in which the language and the social ele
ment of the race of that country exhibited their
strongest infusion. Much of the censure attached
to Zinzendorf 's phraseology among the English and
Americans, arose from the simple fact of their not
taking this view of German life. What appears so
artificial and theatrical to us, is perfectly natural to
the German people, and this explanation renders
clear and explicable, what sometimes appears to be
the puerility of Moravianism.
In the church of Herrnhut, and in the old edifice
of Berthelsdorf, the gathering for worship is marked
by the most respectful decorum. In these mo
narchical countries, subordination and respect for
authority are striking features, and it is pleasing
to observe the quiet and passiveness of life among
those who esteem it a religious duty to submit to
the endless rules of conventionality, order, and law,
that distinguish the society of Central Europe.
Upon certain days of the year there is an as
sembling of the "Diaspora"1 Brethren at Herrnhut,
or of such members of the church as are scattered
1 The " Diaspora," or dispersed congregation, dates as far
back as 1742, when it was found necessary to establish a
traveling ministry, to enable all such as desired the inter
course of the Brethren, to come within their influence and
enjoy their teachings. This division of the society is con
fined to Germany and the continent, where it includes all
classes, and is now so far extended as to number 40,000 mem
bers in Livonia, and not less than 100,000 in Germany, Switz
erland, and the south of France. 6

56 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
throughout the surrounding country, but are not
united together in a congregation. On these occa
sions the audience is a very large one, the church
being of ample size, and it is an interesting moment
when this devout crowd is seen coming and going.
Among this widely-spread "Diaspora" are found
many exemplary specimens of the Brethren; and
whether on the estate, with its mansion, or in the
lowly cot and its few acres, the excellence of Chris
tianity shines forth.
In common with the usages and naive etiquette of
German life, seen everywhere, the social forms of
the family at Herrnhut are expressive of its general
religious system. Before sitting down, and after
rising from meals, the host and hostess give you
their hands, and wish you Ein gesegnete mahheit !l
and Ich wiinsche wohl gespeist zu haben !2 Then,
if in summer, a stroll in the garden follows, or an
hour in the "Laube," until the time for coffee has
approached, when a fragrant cup of this beverage is
enjoyed, some regaling cigars, pleasant reading, and
abundance of conversation. The birth-day is an
event of no little importance, and the entertainment
of friends, who come in large numbers to pay their
congratulations, is a matter conscientiously observed.

1 A blessed meal 1
2 I hope you have dined well ! As this ceremony generally
accompanies the dinner, the first salutation precedes, and
the second follows the meal.

HERRNHUT. 57
If we regard these old institutions, these poetical
customs, the pure Zinzendorfian Moravianism, with
all its unique, simple rituals, still exhibited at Herrn"
hut, we must conclude that time there effects no
changes as it does among us. Its people do not
seem intent upon building up a new future every
day, but, looking back upon the past, they dwell
there in thought and cling to its observance with
tenacious grasp.
These are some of the characteristics of Herrn
hut as it now is, and I have forborne to dilate upon
many points brought into notice, since they serve
but as a text for the delineations of Moravian life in
America, such as it has been. In describing the
organization of the village congregation here among
ourselves, we shall behold the counterpart of living
Herrnhut, which we are to regard as the original and
the model.1
1 A distinguished testimony has been given to Herrnhut,
its system, and the character of its founder, by Dr. Leo,
Professor in Halle, who thus writes : —
"At a time when such a general dispersion took place, Zin
zendorf gathered together. Herrnhut may be said to have
realized the full accomplishment for church and social life
what our times are in quest of: a moral order in human re
lations, a union of the evangelical confessions, an emancipa
tion of church from state, and following out her true designs,
both as regards internal relations as well as the position she
naturally stands in toward the State. Herrnhut, certainly, is
not to be pointed out as a complete model for practical pur
poses, but, regarded as an instrument of instruction, it teaches

58 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
us all we need. Its organization was adapted for a certain
length of time to the preservation, propagation, and discharge
of the great work of humanity, and this was to be done in
limited circles, but here and in full.
"As theological science began to undermine the temple of
the Lord, Zinzendorf, aided chiefly by poor and simple people,
and ridiculed by the learned and educated, succeeded in bear
ing away the altar ard its sanctuary, and even with these the
veil which he might at one time extend before him, into a tent
that stood upon a firm foundation, in order to save them for
the whole world of Protestantism.
" This is a part of the world's history, the merit of which
belongs to him, and far surpasses that of all the philosophers
from his time up to our own, who are driven like waves, one
against the other, until they reach the firmly built shore of
revelation. "Zinzendorf himself regarded his institution only as a
transition ; he made the declaration that whenever the gospel
should burst forth in a more luminous appearance than was
exhibited among the Brethren, they should unite themselves
with the new dispensation, and that they were in a manner
pledged to do so. The mannerism of Zinzendorf, with his
unique and singular forms of expression, (though many of his
intrinsic beauties have passed unregarded,) has been made the
subject of frequent rebuke. But this very characteristic has
preserved his people from communication with the mongrel
and the impure ; from the contagion of the worst grade of
moral leprosy that could possibly come in contact with a
work like his ; and to which it must inevitably fall a prey as
soon as it puts on these attractive forms, which all the world
admires."

IV.
ZINZENDORF.
" He believed because he loved."
In estimating individual greatness, we generally
place before the mind some standard of merit by
which to weigh the performances of him who excites
our wonder and admiration.
The world has many standards to which its ideas
of greatness must necessarily conform, and those are
often so falsely laid down that society is misled by
the factitious glare that accumulates around men of
note. In some men, to all appearances, the heart has
no room for action, so that to the end of their lives
it leaves no memories of its sensitive loves, its dif
fusive tenderness, or the pleasant influences by which
it binds man to man. In others, on the contrary,
the history of emotion is an expansive representa
tion of an individual career, and when eminence
springs from this source it shows how a heroism may
originate within the inner workings of a pure and
chastened mind.
The value and importance of such a history as
that of the heart under the finest religious influences,
6* (59)

60 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
are nowhere more striking than in the personage
known as Count Zinzendorf. If ancient descent and
long-worn titles were of any value, his position, as a
nobleman, was of great eminence, while his claims
to distinction on the score of inherited rank were
by no means small, for the illustrious family from
which he sp'rung traced an ancestry as far back as
the eleventh century, at which period it was ranked
among the twelve great houses, which were considered
the chief support of the Austrian dynasty. He was
entitled Nicholas Lewis, Count and Lord of Zinzendorf
and Pottendorf; Lord of the Baronies of Freydeck,
Schoeneck, Thiirnstein, and the Vale of Wachovia;
Lord of the Manor of Upper, Lower, and Middle Ber
thelsdorf; Hereditary Warder of the Chase to His
Imperial Majesty, in the Duchy of Austria, etc. etc.
He was born in the City of Dresden on the 26th of
May, 1700, and on the same day was baptized in the
presence of several sponsors, among whom was Dr.
Spener. His father died within a few months after
his birth ; and, just before his death, his infant son
was brought to him to receive his blessing, but the
expiring parent exclaimed when he beheld him : —
" My dear son, I am expected to give you my bless
ing, but you are already happier than I, although I
am nearly at the throne of Christ !"
In 1704 his mother married a second time, when
the youth was placed under the care of his grand
mother, the widow Henriette, of Gersdorf, who lived

ZINZENDORF. 61
at Groshennersdorf. She was a lady of distinguished
piety and acquirements, which were even of a classi
cal order, as we are told of her having conducted
considerable epistolary correspondence in the Latin
language, and was in constant communication with
Franke, Spener, Anton, Von Canstein, and other
men of their class. She was, at the same time, a
poetess, and, like many of her cotemporaries, pos
sessed the ready gift of rendering her Christian
feelings in German verse. Happily the young noble
man, until his tenth year, remained under the protec
tion of this superior woman, and during the course of
these innocent days at Groshennersdorf, many little
incidents are related, which illustrate the quality of
his mind, and point to the leading aim and direction
of his future character.
It is said that when the army of Charles XII. of
Sweden penetrated into Saxony, some of his soldiers
intruded upon the privacy of Hennersdorf Castle
just at the moment when the young Zinzendorf was
engaged at his wonted employment of holding com
munion with his Saviour in the attitude of fervent
prayer, and that they were so struck with the scene
before them, a child of only six years of age exhibit
ing such earnest devotion, and so sanctified a de
meanor, that their purposes were disarmed, and they
joined in with his devotional exercises.
After this he was removed to the Royal School at
Halle, under the superintendence of Franke, where
he was regarded as a youth of great abilities, and

62 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
made rapid progress in learning. He could compose a
Greek oration at sixteen, and speak extemporaneously
in Latin on a given subject. But Zinzendorf s heart
ever kept pace with his intellect; and during his six
years stay at the University of Halle, the friend
ship of the venerable Franke fostered his early in
clinations, already nurtured and encouraged by his
grandmother, and the association with his school com
panions gave rise to the institution among a select
number of them, known as the "Senfkorn Orden,"
or the "Order of the Mustard Seed." The statutes
of this order are still extant, and their purport is,
"to follow Christ in walk and conversation, to love
your neighbor, and strive for the conversion of Jews
and heathen." The badge was a shield, bearing
upon it the representation of an "Fcce Homo," with
the words inscribed on it, "Sis wounds our heal
ing." Baron Frederick de Watte ville was among the
members of the union, and he, together with many
others of its chosen number, became a devoted fol
lower of the cause it represented.
Growing apace in Christian love, and adorned with
the accomplishments of mind which he received at
Halle, the Count was now sent to the University
of Wittenberg to learn jurisprudence. It was cus
tomary for persons of his rank to go through the in
cidental practices of fencing, riding, and dancing,
studies that were little in accordance with his tastes,
and while undergoing their initiation, he prayed that
the Lord might quicken his capacity for them, to

ZINZENDORF. 63
enable him the sooner to pass through them. His
poetical inclination evinced itself at the age of twelve
years, from which time, throughout the years de
voted to his education, he wrote verses, expressive
of the same sentiment found throughout the memoirs
of his whole inner life. His course at Wittenberg
lasted three years, and during this time he devoted
a large part of his attention to theological pursuits,
and the disputations in which the theologians of
Halle and Wittenberg were at issue ; and having
closed his career there, he was placed under the
tutelage of a new preceptor, and commenced his
travels. He went to Holland, and, on his way thither, pass
ing through Dusseldorf, saw among the paintings of
that school an Face Homo, with this inscription, "I
have done this for thee, what wilt thou do for me?"
It made a singular impression upon him, and was the
subject of immediate prayer.
From Holland he proceeded to Paris, and here,
having been introduced into gay society, he found
himself surrounded with all its fascinations. In ad
dition to the prestige of rank, Zinzendorf's person
and lineament of countenance, with its mild benig
nity, must have rendered all the higher circles acces
sible to him, and we find in the account given of his
Parisian life, that he was everywhere a welcome
and a courted guest. His friendships here were not
only cultivated among the secular classes, but he
found himself mingled with the Catholic clergy, and,

64 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
of those, one of his most intimate associates was the
Cardinal de Noailles. The Catholics used strong
persuasions to draw him over to themselves, and long
discussions ensued between the young Count and the
Cardinal, without, however, alluring him from pre
conceived ideas, or his own forms of uttering Christ's
love and sacrifice, which he found more congenial
than those in the sensuous glare of the Roman wor
ship, as presented to his mind and imagination.
He soon left Paris and its seductive influences,
and, returning to Saxony by way of Bavaria, he went
through Castell, where he visited his aunt, the Coun
tess of Castell. This visit was marked by one of those
passages in opening manhood, where the early affec
tions come into play, and in which Zinzendorf ex
hibited himself in all his fullness. The opening of this
scene in the young Count's life was an acquaintance
with his cousin, Theodora, daughter of the widow of
Castell. The casual acquaintance ripened into an af
fection, which, from the details of that episode in the
biography handed down to us by his friend, Spangen
berg, in which the confessions are artlessly given by
the Countess herself, forty years afterwards, appears
to have been more strongly developed on his part than
on her own. The aged Countess relates how, at the
time of her first intimacy with her youthful and ar
dent cousin, she received him in the most cordial and
affectionate manner, giving him her miniature at his
departure, and expressing the wish of a speedy re
newal of his visit.

ZINZENDORF. 65
This he misunderstood as a tacit acquiescence in
the proposals he had indirectly made, under the smiles
of the mother of Theodora. The young lady herself,
however, experienced no feelings other than those of
a kinswoman's ordinary affection, and was afterwards
deeply grieved that she had given her young cousin
cause for hope. They parted from each other in this
state of feeling, and Zinzendorf happening to visit
Count Henry Reuss, in Ebersdorf, learned, in the
course of familiar conversation, that the latter was
about choosing a wife, that his mother had set her
heart upon Theodora of Castell, as a suitable consort
for him, but that she had waived this choice altogether,
knowing that Zinzendorf had made the first claim in
that direction. He now showed the strong bent of
his character, put his faith in practice, regarded the
event as the Divine finger pointing to him some other
destiny as his connubial allotment, and voluntarily
offered to sacrifice to his friend all his preconceived
affections for the lady, who thence became the wife
of Count Reuss, and whose nuptials were celebrated
by Zinzendorf himself in prayers and hymns.
On his return to Dresden, his rank entitled him to
certain civil offices under government, but he felt such
an extreme repugnance to all secular employment that
it was long before he could be prevailed on to accept
a seat in the public councils, under the title of Aulic
and Justicial Counsellor ; but at the very moment he
was assuming this official dignity in the State, he re-

66 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
solved to make the preaching of the gospel the des
tiny of his future life.
Having then engaged some assistants in the work,
he commenced a system of religious instruction, and
held regular devotional meetings. He was so fully
absorbed in this one purpose, that everything else
was made subservient to it, and when he found that
the claims of rank became a restraint upon the obli
gations of an apostle of Christ, he felt anxious to set
aside his worldly titles, and sink to the level of an
ordinary citizen.
In 1732 he was married to the Countess Erdmuth
Dorothea von Reuss, sister of Henry von Reuss, to
whom allusion has just been made in the incidents of
Castell. This noble lady possessed qualities of mind
and heart of the highest order, making her deserving
of the most conspicuous place in the biography of Mo
ravian women. She was well fitted for the work she
was entering upon, as the wife of Zinzendorf, and the
circumstances of their marriage were unusual and
unprecedented in the history of all similar contracts.
After transferring to her all his property, he entered
into a covenant with his youthful partner, that they
should both be ready, at a moment's warning from
the Lord, to enter upon the mission, take up the pil
grim's staff, and ever be prepared to endure the
scoffs of mankind. How implicitly they mutually
fulfilled this heavenly pledge is seen in the sequel of
their lives.
Previous to his marriage the Count had entered

ZINZENDORF. 67
upon his duties as proprietor of the manor and es
tates of Berthelsdorf, on which occasion he was pro
claimed lord of the manor, and received the usual
tributes of respect and homage from the vassals occu
pying them. These, as before described, lay in
Upper Lusatia, and had been purchased by Zinzen
dorf, after selling his hereditary property, out of a
large portion of which he had been defrauded through
the unfaithfulness of a steward.
Soon after this event, the arrival of Christian
David and his fellow-pilgrims, exiles from Moravia,
and the descendants of the Ancient Unitas Fratrum,
took place. Christian David himself was a remarka
ble man, and somewhat after the Count's own heart.
He was first introduced to the notice of the latter by
his steward, and permission was given him and his
company to take refuge at Berthelsdorf.
When Zinzendorf performed his wedding-tour he
found himself entering, during the darkness of night,
upon his own domain, and beheld at some distance
through the trees a small light ; on a nearer approach,
he discovered it to be the newly-erected habitation of
the Moravian emigrants ; he descended from his car
riage, entered the door, and joined the little band in
fervent prayer and hymns.
The sudden growth of the small society, now
springing up around the Hutberg, to which the name
of Herrnhut was given, the warm spirit and some
what enthusiastic disposition of the Count and his
people, excited the wonder and admiration of the
7

68 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
country around. With this, however, slander, mis
representation, and ill-feeling were combined, lead
ing to a steady contest from within a few years
after the foundation of Herrnhut until the year
1736, when the government of Saxony deemed it
necessary to probe the truth of the complaints pro
mulgated against the Brethren. The storm that was
now about to visit Herrnhut had first gathered
around the head of its founder himself; under the
pretext of his disseminating false doctrines, his
enemy, Count Briihl, succeeded in obtaining a decree
from the Saxon government, banishing him from its
territory. This event, which occurred in March,
1736, was soon after followed by a royal commission
sent to investigate the Herrnhutian community, its
usages, social forms, and practices. The commission
was favorably received, and the results of the ex
amination proving satisfactory, no immediate steps
were taken to disturb Herrnhut and its people.
On hearing of his banishment, Count Wachters-
bach gave Zindendorf an invitation to occupy the
Ronneberg, whither he accordingly repaired, accom
panied by his family, Christian David, De Watte-
ville and others, who formed his retinue, and called
themselves the Pilgrim Congregation. But before
they proceeded to the Ronneberg, Christian David
had been sent to explore the proposed quarters
destined for the temporary sojourn of the exiles,
and his report to the Count was made in words as
little flattering as could well be conceived. The

ZINZENDORF. 69
habitation was so forbidding that he advised him not
to go there. " Have you not been in Greenland,
Christian?" asked the Count. "Yes," replied he;
"if it were but Greenland."
The old pile stands to this day upon the summit
of a craggy eminence, commanding a view of the
town of Hanau, and of the road over which Napoleon
passed, on his return from the battle of Leipsic.
It is an ancient ruin, having been founded at some
distant point of time, when knight, baron, lance and
buckler were familiar terms, and held their sway
over these domains. When the Count and his friends
moved into it, they found the denizens of the gray
old castle a motley set of Jews, Separatists, and
people of every strange creed, who lived there in
the capacity of peddlers, mendicants, and mechanics,
and sheltered themselves in its dusky recesses and
vacant halls.
When Zinzendorf and his suite made their first
entrance into this singular abode, the inhabitants of
the place presented to the newly arrived pilgrims a
most repulsive and cheerless appearance, and we
may readily fancy the character of the scene pre
sented at the moment when they landed at the
threshold of that old feudal structure. In spite,
however, of all discouragements, the Ronneberg be
came and remained the dwelling-place of the Pilgrim
Congregation, and it was here the Count entered
upon his first term of banishment. The chief em
ployment of himself and followers was to teach the

70 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
children loitering around the premises they occupied;
then a small congregation was formed, out of which the
larger communities of the Wetterau grew up in sue- ,
ceeding years, known as Marienborn and Herrnhaag.
This portion of Germany was favorable to the rise
and progress of an early, imaginative, and over
excited Moravianism, having been the field of the
activity of Spener, whose influence was strongly felt
in the formation of these congregations.
Duly settled at the Ronneberg, and having ar
ranged the affairs of his congregation, which was
greatly augmenting, the Count commenced traveling
from place to place, enlarging the sphere of his
Jabors. At this time he was wont to travel by what
ever mode he found most convenient — frequently by
the public coach, often on foot; and, in his inter
views with persons with whom he delighted to as
sociate, he sometimes conversed for ten hours in
succession. In these journeyings, he would fre
quently set out in the afternoon and pursue his
rambles till midnight, often with an empty purse.
One of the characteristic incidents of this period
was his interview with the King of Prussia. During
his stay at Berlin, Frederick William I. desired to
see him, and, through his chaplain, Jablonsky, ap
pointed the place of conference at the royal hunting
lodge of Wusterhausen. He questioned the Count as
to all the various points of doctrine he held, and upon
finding, from the nature of his replies, that they

ZINZENDORF. 71
were pure and unimpeachable, he declared he had been
deceived by the numerous false reports he had heard,
and became his sincere friend, corresponding with
him until his death, in 1740. It was one year after
the interview that the king himself requested Jab
lonsky to confer the episcopal ordination upon him,
which took place at his subsequent visit to Berlin,
in 1737.
During the year 1736 he is seen in England,
seeking the friendship of the venerable Archbishop
of Canterbury, John Potter. This dignitary dis
closed the most liberal sentiments toward the Count
and the Brethren, acknowledging their claims to an
uninterrupted line of bishops, since the days of the
Waldenses, and charging them to preserve the jewel
that had thus fallen to their inheritance. He re
marked, at the same time, to Bishop Nitschmann,
that no Englishman, versed in ecclesiastical history,
could deny the episcopal succession of the Brethren,
a point on the authenticity of which they have
always laid great stress, as strengthening the claims
of their little Bohemian and Moravian church to the
purity of its origin.
In the year 1737, being fifteen months after his
departure from Herrnhut, he was once more recalled
to Saxony, and permission was given him to remain
under certain conditions. The Count was happy to
find himself again at Herrnhut, the first seat of his
early spiritual love; met his congregation, and sang,
7*

72 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
in the fervor of the moment, one of his frequent
improvisations, — " Zufriedene Gemeine,
In Jesu Blute reine."
But his conscience would not allow him to sign the
act of his recall, and he thenceforth became a volun
tary exile for the ten succeeding years. The early
portion of the ensuing year was spent in Berlin, where
he preached to multitudes of people of all classes
and conditions ; and his discourses held in this city
are among his most esteemed productions. They
were taken down by John De Watteville, afterwards
his son-in-law, and preserved among his writings.
In the year 1739, we find Zinzendorf in the Island
of St. Thomas, where the efforts of the Moravian
Brethren were not a little frustrated by the com
bined opposition they met with from the authorities
of the island. The negroes themselves readily ac
cepted the ministrations of the missionaries, and the
Count found himself in the midst of a congregation
of seven hundred souls. In two days after his ar
rival, he made himself conversant with the Creole
language, and preached to and wrote for the negroes
in their own tongue. Leaving St. Thomas with a
parting address in his usual pathetic vein, he re
turned by way of the islands of St. John and St.
Croix, visiting the graves of those martyrs who had
already fallen in the service of the Lord, victims to
the West Indian climate. During his stay in St.

ZINZENDORF. 73
Eustatia, he found time to compose one of his most
admired hymns, —
" The Saviour's blood and righteousness
My beauty is, my glorious dress."
In an extremely shattered state of health, the
consequence of the voyage to the West Indies, he
returned to Marienborn, in the Wetterau, whence,
after being reinstated in health, he again set out
on his travels through Germany and Switzerland,
preaching in almost every place through which he
passed. In traversing the Black Forest, he saw the
Cloister of St. George, and his fancy suggested that
here a Moravian station might be established. The
idea was never realized; but it is worthy of note, in
connection with this incident, that in 1809 the town
of Kb'nigsfeld1 was built on the same eminence, at
only three miles distance from that cloister.
In the winter of 1741, we once more find the
Count crossing the' sea, and landing at New York,
accompanied by his daughter Benigna, Anna Nitsch-
mann and others, on his way to the infant colony
which had gathered together at Bethlehem, and had
taken refuge in the small log dwelling on the banks
of the Lehigh. His mission to America, at this
time, was one of extreme hazard, as Pennsylvania,
1 Described in an interesting work that has just appeared,
entitled " An English Girl's Account of a Moravian Settle
ment in the Black Forest." London, 1857.

74 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
the scene of his labors, in those parts whither his
mission directed him, was mostly inhabited by
Indians. Having joined in the celebration of Christmas
Eve at Bethlehem, the Count set out in the following
year, 1742, on his three Indian journeys, with no
other companions than his daughter Benigna, Anna
Nitschmann, two other sisters, and eleven brethren,
some of whom spoke English and Dutch, together
with Conrad Weiser, the colonial interpreter. These
Indian excursions were full of adventure. The shel
ter for the night was usually under pitched tents ;
the company forded streams with their horses,
climbed up pathless hills, and suffered all the dis
comforts of a rude and savage country. The first
of these three Christian embassies to the Indians
was to Meniolagomekah, the settlement of the Dela
wares, but before proceeding thither they paid a visit
to the Indian Patemi, who lived near Nazareth,
spoke English well, and made them acquainted with
the rites, ceremonies and customs of his nation.
His second journey was to Shekomeko, where the
Mohicans dwelt, on the boundaries of New York
and Connecticut, among whom he baptized six con
verts. His sojourn under the tent of bark, provided
for him by the missionary Rauch, in the depth of a
primeval forest, was to him one of unusual enjoy
ment, and he described the days and nights spent
amid these associations as the most pleasant of his

ZINZENDORF. 75
life. This was the first Indian congregation, and
consisted of ten persons.
In the autumn of the same year, he undertook his
third and last journey among the Shawanese, and
rapaired to their principal village Wajomick (Wyom
ing) on the Susquehanna. He was accompanied by
two converted Indians, Conrad Weiser, and a few
other friends. It was the most perilous of his Indian
adventures. The Shawanese themselves were a treach
erous tribe, and, during the absence of Weiser, im
bibing some suspicions against the Count and his
party, they laid a scheme to murder them all. It
providentially happened that Weiser had a forebod
ing of some coming evil, and hurried back barely in
time to arrest the intended massacre.
It was on the same occasion that the remarkable
preservation of the Count took place, when, on awak
ing in his tent he found a snake coiled around his
neck, which he removed with his own hands. In those
rude times churches were scarce; the sanctuary was
sought in barns and private houses, and we find
Zinzendorf holding forth the doctrines of Herrnhut
and singing the hymns of his own lyre within such
precincts. He was surrounded and listened to by
people of all creeds, as a more heterogeneous mix
ture of religions than was then to be found in Penn
sylvania existed nowhere.
On his appearance in Philadelphia, his demeanor,
phraseology, and purposes were but ill understood,
and great misconstruction was placed upon them.

76 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
In transplanting Herrnhut and Marienborn to a
land of such incongruous elements, in transferring
the language and thoughts that there found utter
ance to a new people, living amid different associa
tions and feelings from those of Lusatia, much
obloquy and ridicule were brought upon the newly-
arrived Moravian emigrants. The hymns of Zinzen
dorf, as well as the Moravian's general mode of
expression, clothed in a literal translation, could
scarcely be comprehended, and, where a natural
indifference to religious sentiment existed, as was
usual among those who showed the greatest cold
ness and opposition to him, he could attract no
sympathy nor receive any appreciation.
The closing scene of his labors in this country
was witnessed in the newly-built Moravian Church
in Philadelphia, where, on the 31st December, 1742,
before a crowded assembly, he preached on the text
of the day, Mark xiv. 8 : " She hath done what she
could," etc. In this discourse he gave a narrative
of his performances during his brief stay in America,
his preachings, his work among the Indians, and the
establishment of numerous congregations throughout
the province. At the conclusion of his address, he
retired unnoticed by the audience, in order to avoid
a formal leave-taking, and drove off in a coach, in
waiting for him, to New York, to embark for Europe.
Before his departure, he called on Capt. Garrison,
whom he had known in St. Thomas, and who had
retired from service, and entreated him to convey

ZINZENDORF. 77
him on board his vessel home to Europe. The aged
seaman was loath to encounter the dangers of the
sea, and declined undertaking another voyage. Zin
zendorf told him the vessel this time would ride
safely through the stormy ocean ; that knowing it,
he could predict it ; he persisted in his request, and
finally succeeded in surmounting the scruples and
fears of the aged Garrison, who once more assumed
the helm. The voyage lasted six weeks, and was not
without its perils, for, when near the Scilly Isles,
a violent storm overtook them, and all on board,
except Zinzendorf, gave themselves up for lost.
Calm and collected, he encouraged the captain to
dismiss his fears, for that in two hours the storm
would abate. The prediction was verified, for in that
time the winds veered to another quarter, and the
danger was over. Looking upon his prophecy in the
light of a miracle, Garrison asked him how he came
to know all this. The Count replied that for twenty
years he had been in constant intercourse with his
Saviour, that he conferred with Him, and He gave
him to know, on this occasion, that the storm would
cease in two hours.
The scene of his exertions now were England and
the Wetterau, where we find him engaged in the work
of building up the church which he had been instru
mental in renewing in 1722, and which was taking
root in various portions of England, America, Hol
land, and Germany. The ten years of his exile
expired in 1747, and, according to his prediction,

78 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
he once more obtained leave of the Saxon govern
ment to return to Herrnhut, which he found growing
in size and improving in the enjoyment of temporal
and spiritual blessings.
After the Count's return from America, a serious
convulsion commenced with the inner life of the
Brethren, which assumed a shape so serious as to
threaten the whole fabric with dissolution, and to
leave a dark spot upon his memory. The Ronneberg
Castle had soon been deserted by the pilgrims; they
first wandered to Frankfort-on-the-Main, and then
the Wetterau became their home. Here Marienborn
and Herrnhaag were built up, and remained the seat
of an active Moravianism until 1750.
The history of our people from 1744 to 1750 is
characterized by much that is open to censure, but
though the outpourings of a misguided religious
enthusiasm marred, in a great measure, the fine
structure that Zinzendorf had commenced, it finally
ran its course and left some sterling results. This
epoch is commonly known as the " Sichtungs Zeit,"
or "Sifting Time," and was marked by that overflow
of fervor and devotional playfulness that gave the
whole picture an air of monomania. Those un
fortunate years, from 1744 to 1750, are strikingly
recorded in the hymns, which, though expunged
from the manuals of the Brethren almost a century
ago, are still to be found in various hands.
Zinzendorf himself seems to have furnished the
incentive to this departure from the spirit of a cor-

ZINZENDORF. . 79
rect religious discipline, and was afterwards the
foremost to discover the nature and real extent of
his aberrations. He says : " The first opportunity
for the terrible day of 'Sifting' I myself must have
given, and chiefly through the idea, ever present,
and from which I never could emancipate myself
during my whole life, that no state of true Chris
tian felicity, no full reliance on Christ's death, could
be realized unless the heart of the whole congrega
tion assumed the disposition of a child. This idea be
came imprinted on me. On my return from America,
I sought the opportunity of making it evident to my
Brethren. It found ingress among them and was
seized with avidity. But out of a few would-be
children a large society sprung up, and this, in some
years, sunk into a state of degeneracy. The source
of those abuses arose from the views taken that con
verted the simplicity, uprightness, and candor of our
worship into a matter of hilarity." One 'of the re
sults of the "Sifting Time" was the desertion and
final abandonment of Herrnhaag, which might be
considered one of the finest towns of the early
period, standing in view of the Ronneberg, and
comprising nine hundred and fifty souls.
In this dispersion of Herrnhaag a better phase of
Moravianism followed ; its people emigrated in large
numbers to America, and the departure from the
memorable spot was signalized by hymns of sorrow,
tears, and repentance. The place is now a scene of
8

80 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
ruins, never having been resuscitated since 1750,
but an inscription is still traced upon one of its
dilapidated doors, significantly telling the story
of its former devotion.
" Wir und des Lamms seine Blutgemein,
Woll'n unaufhbrlich des Zeugen seyn,
Das im Opfer Jesu allein zu finden
Gnade und Freiheit von alien S'unden
Fur alle Welt."
Among the descendants of the emigrants .from
Herrnhaag many curious reminiscences of its inner
events are still preserved, and sometimes related,
though with feelings of reserve and hesitation.
Mixed up with the picture of a strange infatuation,
there are, however, in the record of that gray past,
numerous beautiful passages to which the old often
and fondly recur.1
Before the full reinstatement of the Count as
ecclesiastical head of Herrnhut, another deputation
from the Saxon government, fully empowered to sift
the doctrines of the Brethren, arrived and held coun
cil in the Castle of Hennersdorf. This committee
of investigation, in which some of the ablest theo
logians were employed, was engaged fourteen days,
and the result was satisfactory to the royal deputa
tion, for the Brethren, by a public decree, were ac-
1 The scenes of the Ronneberg, Herrnhaag, and the Wet
terau are to be found depicted in a favorite work by Glau-
brecht, "Zinzendorf in der Wetterau."

ZINZENDORF. 81
knowledged as having henceforth the sanction of the
law in all their proceedings and 'purposes.
A similar investigation was instituted in England,
where a public petition brought them before the
notice of Parliament. Long and warm debates suc
ceeded, in which Lords Granville, Halifax, and
Chesterfield, the Prince of Wales, and the Duke of
Argyle, took part, arguing the tenets of the Mo
ravians. The issue proved not only favorable, but
the arguments closed with the strongest recom
mendations in their favor ; the Bishop of Worcester
adding his tribute of commendation to the people,
their cause, and their remarkable history.
During this epoch, and, indeed, still later, similar
prejudices induced the authorities in the American
colonies to issue edicts against the Brethren, which
lasted, however, but for a short time, and always re
acted in their favor. Meanwhile, numerous small
congregations had sprung up all around, which,
grounded on the principles of Herrnhut, and endowed
with all the Christian earnestness and warmth of the
first Lusatian congregation, have outlived the tem
pests of time, and stand unscathed to this day.
The enlargement of the society, the increase of the
missions, and all incidental disbursements, brought
on, toward the year 1750, severe financial difficul
ties. The Count had, as we have seen, transferred
the proprietorship of the estates of Berthelsdorf to
his wife, who administered his property with great
prudence and forethought. But through the con-

82 . MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
nection of the Brethren with the Jew Gomez Serra,
and many unjustifiable expenditures during the
residence of the Count at the Lindsay House, in
London, with his suite of fellow-laborers, called
the Pilgrim Congregation, the troubles that came
thickening upon him threatened to overwhelm him
not only with bankruptcy, but even with imprison
ment. He had, during the press of his pecuniary
troubles, assumed the whole burden of the Bre
thren's obligations upon himself, and put his Ger
man estates under pledge for the final redemption
of all debts incurred. But these would not have
sufficed to meet all the liabilities that weighed upon
them, had not the timely aid of devoted friends, and
particularly those from Holland, come to the rescue.
During the first eight months of the year 1756,
he resided in his own house at Berthelsdorf, where
some of the best discourses of his later life were
held, bearing the impress of that beautiful simplicity
which betokened the " Disciple," the appellation now
bestowed upon him by the flock that reverenced and
loved him.
The death of the Countess, which occurred four
years before his own, was a bereavement that fell
heavily upon the Count ; and although he found a
second wife in Anna Nitschmann, who, in a spiritual
sense, may have been able to take the place of the
departed Erdmuth Dorothea, yet the position of the
latter seems not to have been wholly filled by her
successor.

ZINZENDORF. 83
With his newly married wife, his son-in-law De
Watteville, and his daughters Benigna and Eliza
beth, he*how set out once more on a tour to Swit
zerland, passing through Barby, Marienborn, and
Basle, and thence to Montmirail on Lake Neuf-
chatel. Here he gathered a host of friends around
him ; thence he proceeded to Geneva and most of
the principal Swiss towns; but feeling the symptoms
of approaching disease, he hastened homeward, and
reached Herrnhut early in the following year, 1758.
His final tour was made in 1759 to Holland,
where he . devoted his thoughts to the inner life of
the true missionary, and spoke and wrote in the most
expressive and artless language on the duties, obli
gations and aims of the faithful evangelist. In the
same year, he received a friendly epistle from the
Coptic Patriarch of Cairo, to which he responded in
the most Christian terms, giving, in 'answer to his
request, an account of the history and doctrines of
the Brethren.
Although the life of the "Disciple" was now fast
waning, yet his application to the cause of his peo
ple was unabated. During the last four months
preceding his death, he held one hundred and
twenty discourses, and he spoke, composed hymns
and songs on themes which nourished his heart,
almost up to his latest hours.
Zinzendorf's death occurred on the 9th of May,
1760, and the accompaniments of this event were
characteristic of the people and customs of that day.

84 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
Lying calm and resigned on a low couch1 in his
house at Berthelsdorf, where he had dwelt during
the early years of Herrnhut, he was visited in the
closing hours of his illness by a large number <rf
anxious friends, with whom he conversed to the last.
The moments of his final departure cast that shadow
of grief upon Herrnhut that was at all times pe
culiar to the sorrow of the older Moravian, a sorrow
mixed with hope, a cloud illumined by sunshine.
His body lay for several days in the church at
Herrnhut, where crowds came to visit it and to con
template the earthly form of one whose presence,
while living, infused its paternal tenderness among
them all. To render the occasion impressive, music
was performed during the whole time, six Brethren
sitting around the corpse, who were relieved by six
others every hour.2 The funeral ceremonies were
accompanied with all the impressive forms that dis
tinguished the burials at Herrnhut ; the body was
borne to the cemetery by thirty-two of the clergy,
who happened to be present, and had come from
various parts of the world, sixteen sharing the office
by turns. More than two thousand persons formed
the procession, and as many more witnessed the
scene as spectators. The final surrender of the
1 The bedstead is preserved at Herrnhut.
2 The performance of music during the exhibition of the
remains was usual on extraordinary occasions. It formed a
portion of the obsequies of Spangenberg, who lay in state at
Berthelsdorf. (See Spangenberg.)

ZINZENDORF. 85
body to the earth was a moment of intense feeling,
and long treasured up among the recollections of
those who survived the memorable day.
In the archives of Herrnhut are still to be seen
many of the memorials of Zinzendorf 's life, illus
trating his peculiarities of thought and habits, paint
ings of scenes in his family and his lineage, and
portraits of nearly all his distinguished relatives.
Among the relics deposited there and exhibited by
'one of his still surviving descendants, the archivist
Von Schweinitz, is his Text-book, filled with pencil
notes. This manual was his constant companion.
The dignitary of the archives shows you, at the
same time, the three lots held in a small case, which
were carried in his vest pocket, and used on every
occasion, where the will of the Lord was referred to.
This species of communion with his divine Master
was so blended with his character, that, like most
individuals of a high spiritual cast, the whole outer
seemed to be absorbed by an inner life. In applying
his talents to spiritual themes, he became a ,sacred
poet of a high order. His imagery and figures, though
few, and limited to the purposes of a single and all-
engrossing subject, are finely chosen, and, if we
except the effusions of that short period when his
music rioted in the puerilities of Herrnhaag and de
parted from decorum, his hymns have grown in the •
admiration of posterity through the lapse of the
century that has now followed his death. Such was
the facility with which he composed, that he fre-

86 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
quently produced verses during church service, as
the necessity of the occasion required; and he is
known to have poured forth eight improvisations in
a single day.
His sacred lyrics are published in a considerable
volume, and are placed among the choicest German
hymnology.1 In these we find reflected Zinzen
dorf 's own heart and being, his devotion, his reli
ance, his hope, his confidential intercourse with the
1 Knapp, the able author of this compilation, who has
ushered in the hymns of Zinzendorf with the most free and
philosophical views on the true nature and essence of this
department of composition, thus discourses upon his merits :
"No Christian poet could, at first sight, be less understood
or less easily accepted by the reader, after turning aside from
the ordinary church hymns in vogue, than Zinzendorf; and
yet, in giving utterance to my own impressions, I could find
no sacred bard who offers to the longing Christian a sweeter
repast, a more glorious life-scene, or a richer acquisition.
As the compiler of a hymnology, in the preparation of which
I have perused myriads of hymns, I must honestly confess
that no labor of my past life has been accomplished with
such joyous results, such an abiding heavenly blessing, as
the elaboration of those apparently unpoetical relics of this
child-like man of the new Moravian covenant. I entered
upon the work with some degree of diffidence ; I had a pre
conceived idea of its monotony, and feared I should draw but
poor results. But now, after it is closed, I look upon the
sainted poet in quite another light. I give to the Christian
world this book, as an opus posthumum, fully sensible how
far I stand in heavenly wisdom below this lofty spirit, and
how much I owe to God for having been allowed the high
privilege of entering upon this work."

ZINZENDORF. 87
Saviour. All is concentrated in Christ, and his own
relations to Him begin and terminate the great
body of his hymns.1
Before entering into the memoirs of Zinzendorf,
his portrait, as shown in correct and vivid delinea
tions, furnishes an interesting study, being one of
the most irresistible countenances found in man.2
Without reading any written language in elucidation
of those features, we peruse on their surface some
thing that tells us their possessor must have cast
superior influences around him, and that his mission
on earth must have been truly remarkable.
In the sketch of Herrnhut, I have referred to
the geniality that underlies the German character,
and which is most obviously depicted in the por
traiture of Zinzendorf. Here we read neither the
ascetic nor the despairing and gloomy pietist, but
the Moravian, as he discloses himself at the birth-day,
the marriage, and the tomb. Such a life of love on
the part of man, poured out constantly and freely
among his fellow-men, we never observe in the
history of ordinary philanthropy, and cannot ac
count for it but on the principle of divine love,
1 The best period of his hymns was 1722 to 1740, and his
eccentricities occupy the interval of 1744 to 1749, during
which there occurs an intermixture of various languages,
bizarre comparisons and strange fancies.
2 For a reliable portrait I would refer to Enapp's Hymns
of Zinzendorf, in which is a copy of the painting from life,
executed by Kupetsky, and formerly in possession of Lavater.

88 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
operating through man and permeating all his ac
tions. That the whole world did not accept Zin
zendorf, is a fact which renders his character and
the tale of his life so much the more interesting.
Coming out of a class of society from which few
Christian apostles ever emerge, he was regarded as
a strange phenomenon, and, from the originality of
his manner, and the fearlessness of his course, in
proclaiming Christ, his motives could not at all times
be comprehended or entered into by society at large.
To comprehend him and to enter, into him, form the
great distinctive contrasts of mind and heart, intel
lect and emotion, which I have proposed as the
leading thought in the estimate of Zinzendorf, Herrn
hut, and the Moravian character. Zinzendorf has,
for a century past, been the subject of study, of
portraiture, of idealisms, of poetical imitation, and of
fiction. In all those attempts of philosophical and
poetical minds to portray the being of pure devo
tion, the man of philanthropic love, of unalloyed
faith, to borrow the tones of his harp and accommo
date them to a more polished style of thought, the
mind chiefly is called in play.
Goethe, whom I shall again have an opportunity
of referring to, has adopted the Zinzendorfian wor
ship to his purpose in this way, applying his art to
a subject which he thoroughly comprehended, but
out of which he could create no embodiment for his
own soul. Herder, in his Adrastsea, holds up a
spiritual image of Zinzendorf, and expatiates upon

ZINZENDORF. 89
his hymns, as the production of a ductile language
and filled with the riches of a heart-melody such as
cannot elsewhere be found. Novalis, the sensitive
but short-lived poet and philosophic novelist, born
under a Moravian roof and nurtured in its usages,
devoted much of his later life to Zinzendorf the
poet, and Zinzendorf the divine.
Besides these names of wide repute, and popu
larity, there is quite an array of writers, who took
up the subject of Zinzendorf, aesthetically and phi
losophically ; all regarding the subject from the
stand-point of art, fiction, poetry or theological
abstraction. But the entrance into Zinzendorf is
given to minds of a different class from those
idealists : it is approached by the medium of a
purely emotional Christianity, and though the critic
may imagine he knows, comprehends, and feels the
self-same emotions as the "Disciple" knew and felt,
he will find, upon a closer analysis, that he is yet
afar off from him. None have given so full an in
terpretation of him and all the inner meanings that
his hymns express, as the Moravian writers, who,
divesting the. matter of all rhetorical criticism, have
employed the evangelical style itself, in which the
"Disciple" thought, and seized the ideas in which
he livedf Of such men I may name Gottfried
Clemens -and Bishop Albertini, as well as Schrau-
terbach, his early friend and companion.
It is worthy of note, that time has not cast its
shadows over the memory of Zinzendorf, but appears

90 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
to bring out in bolder relief the worth of his doc
trines, and the beauty of his poetry. After the
latter had lain in scattered fragments, some in the
Brethren's hymn-books and some in manuscripts
throughout the archives, for eighty years, the in
defatigable compiler already quoted, assumed the
work and gave to the notice of .the world what it
never knew it possessed.
These hymns have been adopted by other sects,
and their imitations will be found in the collections
of sister churches in this country, although their
rendering in English is but an imperfect substitute.
for the original German thought and form of a Zin-
zendorfian theology.
In his personal appearance, Zinzendorf was dig
nified and commanded respect; but in the details
of his attire, he showed great indifference and needed
but a scanty wardrobe. He was generally averse to
ostentation in the selection of his residence. The
mansion now standing at Berthelsdorf, and known
as the " Schloss," was, while he occupied it, but a
modest building ; and during a long time he retired
into obscure and quiet quarters to pursue his medi
tations and work out the mission of his life. He
rarely required attendants, and when he did, these
were generally persons employed in other offices.
All his income was devoted to the purposes of his
cherished fondling, the church ; and we are told by
one of his most intimate, devoted, and loving friends,
Bishop Hutton, of England, that his own personal

ZINZENDORF. 91
expenses might have been covered by a yearly
outlay of fifty pounds.
Of his consort, Erdmuth Dorothea, the biographer
of Zinzendorf speaks in terms of the highest pane
gyric. Although she was the mother of twelve
children, six sons and six daughters, she found time
to take an active part in the spread of Moravianism
and promulgation of the doctrines of the Brethren.
During her husband's absence in America, we find
her engaged in a mission to the Queen of Denmark,
whom she visited at her castle of Hirschholm. She
tried to divest her, as well as other potentates with
whom she sought interviews, of the many miscon
ceptions formed about Herrnhut and the Count, and
upon this occasion found her a most accessible per
son, and cordial in her expressions and good wishes
for the Countess and her cause.
A similar, errand tempted her to visit Russia, and
solicit a hearing from the empress, an enterprise
which took place in winter. Her lots1 decided,
however, that she should not seek an audience of
the empress, and disposing of her court-dress, she
mounted her sledge and turned her back upon St.
Petersburg. On reaching the borders of the em
pire, she received a summons to return, which she
disobeyed. ' In those days every important step was submitted to and
decided by lot, not only by Zinzendorf himself, but by all
engaged in his cause. 9

92 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
Her whole life was a scene of activity either in
the cause of Herrnhut and its people, or in the dis
charge of domestic duties. She was of a feeble
frame, yet of great mental energy, uniting, at the
same time, high intellectual powers with that ex
treme simplicity of thought and feeling, which dis
tinguished so many female characters of her day in
the Moravian church. She stood up ably and reso
lutely, full of counsel and resource, in the face of
difficulty and amid all the embarrassments by which
Zinzendorf found himself at times surrounded, and
proved such an help-mate and heroic wife, in every
sense of the word, that we need not wonder that his
own eulogium on her character should be so strongly
drawn. Her time, love, and affections being divided
among her own family and her people, she was
looked up to and regarded as a mother and a ruler.
Of her numerous offspring, nearly all died in infancy
and youth, (two of them during her absence in Rus
sia,) and only three daughters survived her out of
the twelve children.
Like so many distinguished personages of the
early church, the Countess Erdmuth Dorothea pos
sessed the gift of poesy in a remarkable degree, and
her sacred lyrics rank with the ablest of those ef
fusions which had their source in the Saviour's love,
sufferings, and death ; in the life, joy, and anticipa
tions of Christian faith, in the whole Zinzendorfian
sentiment and imagery, which forms the material of
our hymns, and their essential ground-tone. Her

ZINZENDORF. 93
compositions are characterized, at the same time, by
a depth of conception and a finish in form which
are not easily found in those of any other of her
cotemporaries. One year after the death of the Countess, Zin
zendorf was united in marriage with Anna Nitsch-
mann, and it is a somewhat singular coincidence
in the lives of these two remarkable beings, that
they lay on the bed of death at the same time
and expired only within twelve days of each other.
They had wandered together through the Ame
rican forests ; had consecrated the primitive log-
cabin at Bethlehem, by a Christmas Eve solemnity ;
had assisted in many of the festivals of England,
Marienborn, and Herrnhaag ; had lived three years
of wedded life ; and were laid side by side in the
tomb, in the central portion of the Hutberg, almost
at the same time.
Anna Nitschmann was in many respects a re
markable personage, and attracted as much respect
and deference from those who come under her im
mediate influence as Zinzendorf himself. She was
the daughter of old Father Nitschmann,1 one of
those original emigrants from Moravia, who was
present when the corner-stone was laid of the first
church edifice in Herrnhut. His daughter Anna so
distinguished herself by her piety and example, that
at the age of fifteen years, the Sisters of Herrnhut
1 He lies interred in the Bethlehem cemetery.

94 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
chose her their chief Eldress, in which capacity she
drew upon herself the regard of the sisterhood of
Herrnhut and Herrnhaag, at which latter place she
resided during the Count's banishment from Lusatia.
She was called the " Mother," and was one of those
models of the old Moravian Sister, that have their
living counterparts in Europe, but are here only
preserved, either in portraits or in the memory.
Like most of the early Moravians who were instru
mental in building up the church, her life opened in
rugged adversity. She, as well as her countrymen
of Moravia, was inured to labor, and, when a girl,
earned a livelihood by spinning wool. Besides pos
sessing a poetical nature, which has left so many
beautiful evidences behind, Anna Nitschmann was a
speaker on public occasions, and although in those
days it was required of all in unofficial life to speak
and pray, yet for one of her sex she became emi
nent in the performance of ministerial duties. As
Eldress, these abilities were called in constant re
quisition, the "Advisers," or those presiding over
the choirs, being charged with the function of giving
confidential advice and exhortation, as will be re
ferred to under the head of the Moravian Cultus.
Nearly a century has elapsed since she and Zin
zendorf have been consigned to the silent precincts
of the Hutberg, and when that century comes round,
we can fancy to ourselves the solemnities of the anni
versary at Herrnhut, and the scene at the graves
of the departed. These recollections are sacred

ZINZENDORF. 95
there, and cannot be allowed to pass unnoticed, un-
felt, and unwept.1

1 The youthful Count Lynar, who spent some time at
Herrnhut, and employed himself while there in the instruc
tion of youth, was enabled to enter into the spirit of Zinzen
dorf and his institutions, and although not personally ac
quainted with him, has given us one of the best delineations
of his character we possess. In a concise but able exposi
tion of the Herrnhutian system and a general review of
Moravian history up to his time, 1778, he thus speaks of
Zinzendorf : —
"I have never seen the Count, but from his actions, his
writings, and the testimony of judicious, credible, and un
biased observers, I have arrived at the following conclusions :
He possessed genius, yet it was not universal, and only
allowed its development under particular circumstances. It
is a great error to suppose, as many do, that he would have
become eminent, as minister of state, if he had remained in
the discharge of civil pursuits. These require a moderate
and guarded temperament ; as soon as the passions are over
charged, the work they are engaged in is ruined. For the
world, his address was too straightforward. He possessed
talent, humor, and an extraordinary memory. His imagina
tion was as lively and as glowing as was ever to be found in
the human brain ; it clung so closely to the subjects toward
which it may have been led, that it pursued them into the very
spheres, where they were finally lost. His mind was in a
constant state of action and excitement. He formed a reso
lution so quickly, thought, spoke, and dealt with so much
decision, that there never seemed .to be any doubt, objection,
or hindrance underlying it. He availed himself of various
languages, in order to give readiness to his ideas. Had he
addicted himself to more cautious reflection, he might have
9*

96 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
escaped the charge of manifold contradictions, and saved
himself the trouble of rendering so many explanations, and
writing so many defenses.
" That his judgment was not so weak as many are inclined
to believe, is fully corroborated by the numerous correct and
rare views he has taken of the wants of his times. He was
true, honest and sincere ; qualities which, aided by his humor,
often served to render his expressions naive and striking.
Bold and undaunted in the face of danger, he seems to have
chosen for his motto, ' tu contra audentior ito.' In this re
gard, he resembled Luther. That ambition was his chief in
centive, and, as one of his nearest female kindred imputed to
him, that he sought the highest seat in the realm of humility,
I do not believe.
" Whether, in the course of long and uninterrupted success
in the realization of so many of his plans and the surmount
ing of every difficulty, some feelings of self-adulation may
have softly entered into his heart, and even when rendering
to God the glory, the gentle thought of self may have stolen
in and got the upper hand, I will not pretend to say, although
his tone and even occasional personal acknowledgments in
his writings would tend to show something of this within him.
But his ruling passion and the source from which all his
actions flowed were, in my view, his love of Jesus Christ, and
a burning desire to promote the happiness of mankind.
" From his early youth he sought no pleasure but that of
spiritual pursuits, and this remained the absorbing object of
his life. Some of the circumstances of his education may
have given rise to this, yet, disregarding the influences of
immediate causes and looking to a higher hand, which guides
and controls all beneath it ; weighing the various and widely
disseminated benefits imparted to both church and state by
the exertions of Count Zinzendorf, and the bulwark they
have established for the Christian and good citizen against
vice and infidelity, I cannot but regard this branch of the
work, as well as the great work itself, as one brought about

ZINZENDORF. 97
by Divine agency, wherein the human instrument himself is
endowed with many imperfections.
" Selfishness could never be imputed to Count Zinzendorf.
All that was his own he gave away freely, and, in every enter
prise, he never considered from what source money was to come.
' It must be done,' he would say ; ' I shall continue to borrow,
if even tons of gold are required. I expend nothing on my
self, but all for the use of the congregation. God will see it
paid.' It often involved him in difficulties, but he always
extricated himself. No one could have carried industry to
greater lengths. He slept but a few hours, and allowed him
self barely time to eat. To write and preach so much, to
perform so many journeys, to erect so many schools, set them
in operation and continue them, required a more than ordi
nary activity.
" Out of all that has been said of him, we may draw one
leading trait in his character, and that was immoderation.
He pursued everything to its farthest limits. He no sooner
caught the shadow of a possibility than it grew into a pro
bability, and that became a certainty, and upon this latter he
acted. Dark fancies, but in harmony with his genius and in
citements, worked with remarkable force upon his mind, sum
moned up all his energies and directed them to the purposes
he had in view. Under this form, he possessed a fervor which
bore him successfully through many undertakings. I might
here apply to his case the figure of a lover in contrast with a
friend, who are each in earnest pursuit of some desirable
object. While one is warm, the other glows ; where one
sees insuperable difficulties, the other wastes no time in re
flection ; while one is taking soundings, the other has leapt
into the water. While the friend walks, the lover runs,
wanders, stumbles, falls ; runs again, and, finally, reaches
his object." (Lynar, Ursprung und Forlgange der Briider
Unitcit.) In further illustration of the preceding characterization of
Zinzendorf, I add the following specimen of his intercourse

98 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
with children, which is to be found among his discourses
entitled " Kinder Reden," and although an English transla
tion will not do justice to the childlike simplicity which en
abled him to convey Christ's being and attributes among
children, still it may serve as a substitute for the use of such
as are not versed in the language in which these innocent
sentiments are delivered.
" Our dear Saviour says, Forgive and ye shall be forgiven.
As soon as a child has sufficient understanding to know that
another one has done something to him that he thinks is not
right, or something which he does not like, and takes it
amiss, and is much affronted, then our dear Saviour also takes
it very much amiss of him. But when you are so friendly
disposed to one another, that you are satisfied with every
thing that passes between you ; when your friend is sorry for
what he has done, and you feel sorry for him on account of it
and you say nothing more about it, but become affectionate
to one another, then your Saviour also forgives you.
" My son, give me thy heart ! My children, I have spent
much time in thinking what should prevent every one from
giving up his heart to his Creator, why every one is not hap
piest in company with his Creator. Cannot all eat and drink
and dress in the same manner as others do, and yet love
their Creator ? God says, in Jeremiah, something similar to
this : ' Thy father hath eaten and drunk and loved me, and
thou thinkest, when thou art king, thou canst not love me.
It is well with him, but with thee it is not.'
"My dear children! see that your hearts are given up to
your Saviour, and promise him that you will be his. Say to
Him, Dear Saviour, Thou seest and knowest me and all my
wants, and knowest best where my danger lies. Come, against
my own wishes, to my assistance. Save me from misfortune ;
support me, a poor child ; Thou seest that I cannot make my
own happiness, make Thou it for me. Our dear Saviour will
not leave your prayers unheard, when they proceed from the
heart," etc.

V.
SPANGENBERG, OR MORAVIANISM
ILLUSTRATED.
It was on the 17th of November, 1727, that Count
Zinzendorf passed through Jena, and had an inter
view with Doctor Buddeus and some of the students
of the University. Among these was August Gott
lieb Spangenberg, born in Klettenberg, in 1704, and
residing here, engaged in study. The Count, as usual,
entertained the company with those matters nearest
his heart, dwelling upon the passage from Corin
thians: "Be ye, therefore, followers of God, as dear
children." He took occasion to describe the new
Zion, Herrnhut, to them, which was now just enter
ing its fifth year. Our young student was strongly
drawn toward Zinzendorf; his feelings were awakened
by his manner, his subject, and the picture he drew
of the colony in Lusatia ; but at this time he entered
into no further acquaintance with the Count.
The following year, the deputation sent from
Herrnhut to England, consisting of three Brethren,
passed through Jena, and renewed the friendship
with Doctor Buddeus and the Jena students. Span
genberg was delighted to see them, bade them wel-
(99)

100 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
come, and translated into the Latin language the
address they were conveying to the English court.
There was a general awakening among the Jena
students about this time, and an active correspond
ence sprung up with Zinzendorf and Herrnhut,
particularly on the part of Spangenberg, who pre
vailed on the former to repeat his visit to Jena, where
he told him he would find the sympathies of more
than one hundred students strongly inclining to him
and his people. Responding to the call, he went
once more to Jena, and there, in the little fervent
assemblage, they sang, " Salve Crux beata, Salve !"
This event resulted in a visit of Spangenberg and
Clemens to Herrnhut, in 1730, where their own re
ception, the life of the people, the warmth of their
apostolic love, their singularly resolute spirit to
abide by their faith, and resist the persecutions of
government and of society, made a profound im
pression on the two students, and decided the future
course of life of the Magister of Jena. In 1732 he
received an appointment to Halle, as adjunct pro
fessor and superintendent of the Orphan House. His
participation in the cause of Herrnhut and Zinzen
dorf soon drew down upon him the animadversions of
the Theological faculty there, with Professor Franke
at its head, who called him to task for his zeal and
his manner of carrying out, too literally, the doc
trines of Christ and his Apostles. Among other
complaints brought against him was that of having
performed the ceremony of washing of feet. He

SPANGENBERG. 101
answered that a weary soldier had called on him for
aid, whom he took into his house, and having bruised
feet, he applied warm water to them to heal them.
The learned professor informed him that such an
act was beneath his dignity, as one of the learned
faculty; that Christ never intended that the pedi-
lavium should be taken in its literal sense, nor
actually applied by his disciples or mankind to the
washing of feet. Spangenberg's reply was very
much in character with his whole life and in ac
cordance with a true interpretation of the Moravian
tenets. He requested that a child should be called
in and have the passage read to him respecting this
transaction of the Saviour, and then ask him the
purport of it. What the child's answer should be,
was the answer to the question in dispute. He held
himself as wise as the child, but no wiser.
Laboring under all this opposition, he found his
position as professor and director of the Orphan
House irreconcilable with his sense of duty, as he
conceived himself called upon to preach to man
kind; and when a decree was sent him from his
sovereign to vacate his office, which, rather than to
deplore, he hailed with joy, as it was a pleasure to
suffer for conscience' sake. Returning to Jena, he
was received with acclamation by his old friends,
the students, who escorted him out of the city, when
he departed for Herrnhut.
The two friends met once more, and when Span
genberg laid a statement of his grievances before

102 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER,
Zinzendorf, both concluded to refer to the Brethren's
general council as to what course should be pursued.
Spangenberg asked whether he had not better pub
lish a defence of himself before the eyes of the Hal-
leasians and the world. The conclusion on the part
of the Brethren was couched in that one highly cha
racteristic sentence used in all similar cases: "Re
main silent and wait upon the Lord." Having now
become an inmate of this cherished abode, he soon
turned his attention to the new enterprise of the
Brethren, the mission to the West Indies, and de
parted with four married couples and ten Brethren,
on foot, to Copenhagen, to see them embark thence
on this new and hazardous adventure.
The project of sending out missions to Georgia was
conceived and carried out in 1735, and to Spangen
berg was assigned the task of leading the little band
of Brethren on this perilous expedition. He himself
proceeded to London, and was joined by the com
pany of emigrants soon after. During his stay he
made an acquaintance with the commissioners for
Georgia, as well as with the Bishop of London ; with
the former, his time was spent in negotiations pre
paratory to the emigration and settlement of the
colony, and his object in calling on the latter was,
to lay before him the history of Herrnhut and the
schemes of its founder.
After a speedy voyage, Spangenberg arrived in
the new and thinly peopled province of Georgia,
and took possession of the fifty acres of land granted

SPANGENBERG. 103
him by the trustees in London, and with the little
body of ten persons, commenced building a hut on
the Savannah River. Previously to its erection,
they encamped fourteen days in the open air, beside
a fire, felling trees, out of which they split rude
boards ; and scarcely had they completed the humble
dwelling and moved in, before a storm of rain came
on. As there was another arrival of twenty more
Brethren looked for the following year, preparations
were forthwith made for the erection of a larger
house for their reception.
Hither in the wilderness, in a foreign country,
Herrnhut and its observances, its hymns and its
prayers, were soon transplanted; and as a relief to
the labors of the woodman's life, which it really
proved to these people, the petition and the anthem
went up to heaven at all hours. The Halle pro
fessor was now obliged to wield the axe, prostrating
the trees of a dense pine forest, and hewing timber
for the construction of houses. He aided in cooking
food, and left untouched no branch of labor wherein
he found call for his services and ingenuity. In
February of 1736, the twenty emigrants arrived
from Herrnhut, which place they had left the pre
ceding August. They came under the conduct of
Bishop David Nitschmann, Governor Oglethorpe
and John Wesley having been their fellow-pas
sengers. General Oglethorpe, who was governor
of Georgia, often came to see Spangenberg and
his colony, and, on such occasions, found him en-
10

104 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
gaged in work, and sometimes employed as cook.
Wesley's acquaintance with Spangenberg originated
here, and the friendship between the former and the
Brethren continued until 1740, when he instituted
the society afterwards known as the Methodists.
Under the superintendence of Bishop David Nitsch
mann, a regular organization of Herrnhutian life
was now commenced on a very small scale, having
its overseers, admonishers, and its servants and
nurses. The minor subdivisions, known at Herrn
hut as the "Bands," and afterwards common in
England, were also introduced, in which a few met
together for the purpose of spiritual edification and
prayer. Anton Seiffert was then appointed Elder,
and entered upon his office with the benediction of
the bishop ; who, laying his hands upon him, prayed
fervently for the success of his ministration. Seiffert
received his consecration under the deepest im
pressions, and in silence; and then, with the usual
accompaniments of hymns of praise, ended that
remarkable scene in the Georgia forests.
Spangenberg now turned his attention to Penn
sylvania. A company of Schwenkfelders, who had
gone out from Berthelsdorf to America, had directed
their course to this province and settled here. He
was desirous of seeking them, and examining their
condition ; and, accordingly, setting out by sea for
Charleston, and thence again by sea to New York,
he arrived at the latter place in safety, after a
twelve days' voyage from the former. He traveled

SPANGENBERG. 105
across New Jersey into Pennsylvania, and discovered
the Schwenkfeld colony settled in that portion of
the province now known as Montgomery County;
and was hospitably received by one of them named
Christopher Wiegner. Very soon, however, he re
ceived the appointment from Bishop Nitschmann to
proceed to the West Indies, on a visitation to the
mission in St. Thomas. He consented to go, and
repairing without delay to New York, embarked for
St. Thomas, on the 10th of September, 1736. Re
maining in St. Thomas and St. Croix, until the six
teenth of October, and reviving the drooping mis
sionaries there, who had many difficulties to contend
with, not only in the climate, but in the opposition
of the white inhabitants, who covered them with
persecution and insult, he again set sail for New
York, with the well-known Nicolas Garrison, who
proved a warm friend, and sympathized deeply with
the Christian errand he was engaged in. Returning
to his friend Wiegner and the Schwenkfelders, he
remained among them until a summons came to him
from Bishop Nitschmann to proceed to Georgia,
where his presence was anxiously awaited by the
colony. They were in difficulties. The Spaniards
were endeavoring to supplant the English colonists,
who. demanded the assistance of the Moravians.
These refused to take up arms in their defence,
and saw no other prospect before them, but to for
sake their flourishing little settlement, and emigrate
farther North. This event soon followed ; the colony

106 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
near Savannah was broken up ; the last Brethren
remaining there departed for Pennsylvania, and
Spangenberg, after a four years' arduous, zealous,
and tempest-tossed service in America, proceeded
to Philadelphia, and embarked thence for Europe.
He only learned after his embarkation on the ves
sel, that she had no means of defence ; that a
war had actually broken out between England and
Spain, and that the voyage was likely to be the most
perilous he had yet undertaken. Under the weight
of emotion inspired by these circumstances,, he
quoted to himself that passage of Scripture, " And
when ye hear of wars and rumors of wars, be ye
not afraid," and his heart was strengthened. The
voyage, however, proved prosperous ; he landed safely
in England, and, toward the close of 1739, he found
himself in Marienborn, the seat of the Brethren at
that period. In this last voyage, as well as in that
from Philadelphia to Georgia, which occupied eleven
weeks, Spangenberg's equanimity and perfect de
pendence on God were illustrated in a remarkable
degree. In the first voyage, the passage was so
stormy and his apparent indifference so great, that
the captain regarded him in a superstitious light;
he looked on him as a sorcerer, and was on the point
of casting him overboard, and several times declared
himself to that effect. On his voyage to England,
his calmness and inner peace were so striking, that
he drew around him the more alarmed of his fellow-
passengers, who seemed to find protection in his

SPANGENBERG. 107
mere presence. At Marienborn he was united in
marriage with the widow Immig, whom Zinzen
dorf and the Countess had known at Dresden, and
who was an exemplary Eldress in her Choir during
the time of her widowhood.
Spangenberg's scene of activity was now chiefly
in England, where, during the absence of Zinzendorf
in America, in 1741 and 1742, he was engaged in
spreading the name and doctrine of Herrnhut among
the English people ; and numbers were found who were
touched with the earnestness and sincerity of our ac
tive apostle, joined the new cause he was endeavoring
to make known, and perpetuated the church in a
land where their descendants live in the profession
and enjoyment of Moravianism to the present day.
At one time we find him holding an interview with
the Archbishop of Canterbury, and pressing the
claims of the new church upon his notice and pro
tection; at another time returning to Marienborn
and looking after the interests of the congrega
tion there. An extensive correspondence was kept
up all this time with Count Zinzendorf; which
continued until the return of the latter from Ame
rica, in 1743. Having, in 1744, been consecrated
bishop, it was deemed expedient that Spangenberg
should now revisit America ; and setting sail with his
wife on a day when the daily text read, "I am with
you," he reached New York once more, after a pas
sage that was accompanied by much apprehension, the
sea then being infested with Spanish vessels. Once
10*

108 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.'
more within that new and distant country, his at
tention was directed to the Indians ; and he repaired
to Shekomeko, with his wife and Captain Garrison.
From Shekomeko they proceeded to Bethlehem;
where they remained for five years, arranging and
superintending the Economy of the Brethren there,
as well as at Nazareth, Christianspring, and Gnaden-
thal. This social plan was upheld for twenty years
in these several places, and was, for the greater part
of that time, under Spangenberg's direction and
care. Their joint population at this early period
was about six hundred, among whom there were
probably a number of converted Indians.
No explanation having been given of the princi
ples of the Moravian Economy, as it existed in this
country during those twenty years, when it stood
under the supervision of Spangenberg, a few words
might be added in its elucidation, particularly since
some misconstruction has been placed upon the sub
ject by those who have taken a superficial view of
our history and character. The motto of this com
mon family was, "In commune oramus, in commune
laboramus, in commune patimur, in commune gaude-
mus."1 Under Spangenberg's administration, it was
conceded to every one that the property he held,
previously to entering the common circle, was to be
retained; his labor only was bestowed on the com-
1 " We pray together, we labor together, we suffer together,
we rejoice together."

SPANGENBERG. 109
mon cause. How labor itself was regarded, how it
was sanctified, how it was accompanied with demon
strations of festivity, with prayers and song, has
already been shown. The whole element of self had
to be merged in the exclusive desire and aim of the
Brethren to promulgate the knowledge of Christ.
No one, therefore, labored for the accumulation of
earthly treasure ; but life, and all that renders it a
drudgery to us of a later stage of thought and action,
was one continued preparation for the unseen king
dom of spiritual joys.
During its infancy, and indeed the greater part
of its maturity, this social family flourished in love
and harmony; and the picture which Spangen
berg himself gives us of it during 1744 to 1749, is
such as must lead us to believe that it was the reali
zation of all that is dreamt of by men, who make a
similar attempt, but on a materialistic basis. What
became of self and all its impressions during this
period, or how the jarrings of human discord were
hushed for so long a time, has never been chronicled
to us ; but if we enter into the Christian life, festive
joys, and industrious avocations of these early, primi
tive people, we can find a solution of the problem,
why the system was upheld so long. The tendency to
accumulate, which belongs to all systems of socialism,
and proves their eventual downfall, was excluded from
the Moravian Economy; which is evident from the
very fact that its united co-operation was a labor of
love. Its profits and its surplus were expended in

110 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
supporting the schools, in aiding the neighboring and
destitute Indians, who often came to Bethlehem for
food and shelter, in sending out missionaries and
teachers among them, and in receiving emigrants
from abroad. To do all this, and the work was not
a small one, the most unremitted labor was demanded;
and in this labor all were engaged, the young and
old; so that it necessarily called down upon itself
the character of a species of adoration.
It was during these five years that Spangenberg
found all his powers called into activity. He
managed the whole Economy of the Brethren, esta
blished schools to the number of thirty, instituted new
congregations, and, in addition to all this, now devoted
his attention to the Indians. In 1749 we find Span
genberg once more departing for Europe, where he
arrived after a remarkably quick voyage of four
weeks. During the following year he passed his time
in England and Germany alternately, going constantly
to and fro ; and engaged with Zinzendorf in conduct
ing the affairs of the Brethren. His faithful wife,
Mary, was called away from him in 1751, shortly
before his intended departure for Greenland, whither
he was summoned. He gives us, in his own lan
guage, a pathetic account of the end of her days
on earth ; and in the memoir read by the Ordinarius,
(Zinzendorf,) who himself drew up the eulogy on her
character, there is a fine portrayal of all the eminent
qualities that marked Mary Spangenberg, in com
mon with those rare women who took the lead in the

SPANGENBERG. Ill
spiritual ministration of the early Moravians. She,
like the Countess of Zinzendorf and Anna Nitschman,
was ready to officiate on all occasions ; and in speak
ing of her loss, Zinzendorf deploringly regarded it as
an irreparable one.
Brother Joseph, as our Bishop Spangenberg was
now affectionately called,1 departed for Copenhagen,
to set sail for Greenland; but being too late to em
bark, his mission was frustrated, and he returned to
Herrnhut. In the same year he again left Europe
for America; and, after a pleasant voyage of eleven
weeks, during which time he edified his fellow pas
sengers with daily service, singing, and composing
hymns for them, and once furnishing them a Love-
Feast, he arrived in New York, and forthwith pro
ceeded to the bourne of his wishes, Bethlehem. He
found the congregation much larger ; and in the dis
charge of his duties as Patriarch, to which station he
was chosen immediately on his arrival, he found him
self surrounded with difficulties. Here and there he
discovered some loosened chords of harmony; and
to bind them fast again became his constant care
and solicitude.
Lord Granville having offered the Brethren a tract
of land in South Carolina, comprising 100,000 acres,
Bishop Spangenberg set out, the 25th of August,
1752, with five assistants, to discover its locality and
1 And as he signed himself. See MS. of the Historical
Society of Pennsylvania, printed in Reichel's History of
Nazareth Hall, page 9.

112 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
survey it. The text for the day of their departure
was, "The people that knoweth its God," etc.
The march of the exploring party through Vir
ginia and North Carolina was attended with difficul
ties that no one had imagined. They had morasses and
forests to traverse and mountains to climb, and were
forced to encamp every night, for fourteen weeks, in
the woods. For paths through these inaccessible
forests they sought out the track of the buffalo, and
frequently relieved their horses of their baggage, in
order to enable them to climb the steep rocky as
cents. Winter came on, and they found themselves
wading through deep snows amid these impenetrable
American wilds. On one occasion their food as
well as provender for the horses became exhausted;
and they spent three days without eating, when,
coming upon a little brook, they followed its course
into an open pasture, where they shot two deer. A
short distance hence they came in contact with white
people, who conducted them to the region afterwards
known as the Wachau.1
It was not until the 12th of February following
that Spangenberg once more found himself safely
seated in Bethlehem, recounting the adventures of
his heroic mission among the solitudes of North
Carolina. Early in the spring of 1753 he delivered
an admirable discourse in the Brethren's Church;

' Now the country around Salem, North Carolina, and
called Wachovia.

SPANGENBERG. 113
then once more embarked on board of a ship, and
arrived in London on the 27th of May.
During the month of April of the ensuing year,
we again find him celebrating Easter morning on the
ocean, and calling to mind the multitudes it had
swallowed up, and who should all rise again " in that
great day of the Lord." This was his fourth visit
to America, and lasted seven years. On this occa
sion he was welcomed by the people of Bethlehem
with a Love-Feast. Shortly after his arrival he was
married to the widow Miksch, whom he had known
as a handmaid of Christ, the usual appellation of all
the faithful and exemplary women of those days, and
he speaks of her in these terms: "My Martha is a
good child, a worthy gift of the Saviour for me ! If
her open-heartedness and my sternness could be di
vided between us, it would be of service to the
Church. We yield ourselves up to it."
The year 1755 was the opening of Indian troubles
for the Moravians of Bethlehem, and they were
thrown into perplexity and peril through the opera
tion of opposite causes. From their well-known zeal
for the Indians, many of these believed them to be
their friends, and fled to their towns for protection.
Many of the white inhabitants, on the other hand,
regarded them as being in league with the savages,
and an attack on their part threatened them more
than once. But when the appalling massacre on the
Mahony became known, the character of the Bre
thren came out in its true light ; and the illusion was

114 MORAVIAN LrFE AND CHARACTER.
dispelled that they were allies of the Indians and
French against the English. Early in the morning
after the night of this memorable catastrophe, Span
genberg called the congregation, and after reading
the text for the day, he detailed the circumstances
of the sad event, the news of which had just been
brought by the messenger to Bethlehem ; then has
tening to Nazareth he repeated the mournful tale of
the massacre of the eleven Brethren of the Pilgrim
House at Gnadenhutten. To form some idea of the
fearful state of Bethlehem at this time, I will quote
the following lines from Spangenberg's letter to Zin
zendorf: " The Indians are now threatening to at
tack Bethlehem, but our hearts rest in childlike hope.
Our children are ignorant of the war and murder
around them; they are all lively, and sing and play
before the Lord in their innocence. The widows and
single sisters are like the children, although they hear
of the massacres and burnings. The married sisters
look upon their children and infants, and suffer their
tears to flow over them, yet they are quite gentle
and resigned. The Brethren are day and night on
the watch to guard against an attack. The neigh
boring people seek refuge among us, and we refuse
no one. In short, we are comforted and resolute in
the Lord.
" We abide, unterrified, at our posts ; for should we
yield, the whole country between this and Philadel
phia would become a prey to the ravages of the In
dians, there being no other place that could resist

SPANGENBERG. 115
them. As yet no one has deserted us ; indeed it has
not entered the mind of any to seek for safety out
side of our people. From man we seek no rescue ;
the Lord alone, whose property we are, will aid us.
How tender is our mutual love under these circum
stances ! When we behold a brother, it is like look
ing upon an angel of God. The sisters pray, weep,
and comfort us with their childlike and placid looks.
Some repining words are now and then heard uttered
by one or the other, but she is soon reminded ; — Have
not we a Saviour, who loves us tenderly? a Father,
who numbers all the hairs in our heads? a Holy
Spirit, that cares for the body when it lies in the
earth, until it is again raised up ? God be praised,
we have thus far spilled no blood, and think not of
doing it. We are good children together, and if we
are industrious, life and things prosper."
The letter is not only characteristic of Brother
Joseph himself, but is the best illustration that I am
able to adduce of Moravian faith in the middle of
the last century, among the most trying events in
which it was placed.
It will be seen by these statements, that the whole
country north of Philadelphia was, in a manner,
shielded by these little Moravian settlements, and
that their protection lay more in the strength of the
spiritual calmness and heavenly peace, that imparted
such a remarkable and inspiring personality to Zin
zendorf and Spangenberg on the stormy ocean, than
11

116 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
in any material means of defence.1 The provincial
governor, who then resided at Philadelphia, became
a warm friend of Spangenberg, and fully appreciated
the valuable services of the Brethren. He availed
himself of the bishop's counsel, and regarded these
people as one of the outposts of civilization during
those stormy periods.
Spangenberg's energies were now tried to their
utmost capacity; he not only had the whole super
vision of the several Economies, but kept up an ac
tive correspondence with Germany and the West
Indies, as well as with North Carolina.
Of the Indians who had taken refuge among the
Moravians, there were in Bethlehem one hundred,
whose necessities were provided for, in being nursed,
fed, and clothed. During the winter, the greater
part of these were lodged in one house, but when
summer returned little huts were provided for them.
During the year 1756 the number of refugees who
sought this asylum numbered six hundred. These,
with much difficulty, were carried through a severe
winter by the Brethren. Some flying to them naked,
were provided with clothing, others nearly starved
were served with food, while to all was dispensed the
bread of life; as they not only made it a point to
1 In each of the Moravian settlements of Bethlehem, Naza
reth, Christianspring, Gnadenthal and Friedensthal, there
was a regular night-watch kept ; and a large number were
armed, who frequently went out on scouting expeditions to
discover Indians in ambush around the villages.

SPANGENBERG. 117
provide for their physical wants, but preached the
gospel, and sung the hymns of Herrnhut for them.
It may well be imagined that this outpouring of
generosity exhausted the means of the Moravians.
Some subsidies were sent from other parts, as Phila
delphia and intermediate places, but to sustain them
selves under these trying circumstances, they found
it incumbent to strive "in body and spirit."
In the year 1759 Bishop Spangenberg undertook
a second journey to North Carolina, which, seven
years before, accompanied by his surveyor, his
hunter, and fellow-pilgrims of Bethlehem, he had
ventured to explore. With his wife and a few Bre
thren, he now departed, and his adventures on this
expedition were nearly as bold as were the first, in
1752. The Indians were as hostile in those portions
of the province as they had been in Pennsylvania in
1755 to 1757. They burned and massacred through
out North Carolina and Virginia, and our party
having to encamp in the woods every night, their
lives stood in imminent danger. The journey was
accompanied with such peril that no guide could be
procured to conduct them through the forest, but
when near the region of the Wachau, they succeeded
in sending a messenger before them to the people of
Bethabara, who immediately came out with an escort
to meet them. They found the place surrounded by
the same dangers that but a few years before had
encompassed Bethlehem. The wild Cherokees were
lurking around, and the utmost vigilance of the in-

118 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
habitants was exercised night and day to ward them
off. They were obliged to sustain all who came to
them for protection ; and they had one hundred chil
dren under twelve years of age to care for. Brother
Joseph remained eleven months in the Wachau, and
amid all the dangers of Indian strife, he was deeply
engaged in arranging the internal affairs of Betha
bara, directing its people in ritual and doctrine, and
establishing its family in faith and love. The return
to Bethlehem was amid the haunts of the savage.
At night a fire was kindled in the woods, around
which while some slept, others watched ; but an un
erring hand finally conveyed them unscathed to
Bethlehem, after a journey of twenty-four days.
They were again welcomed home, and their arrival
was signalized by a Love-Feast of the whole congre
gation. It was four years previous to this that
Spangenberg had been apprised of the death of the
Countess Zinzendorf; and now, in 1768, the still
more afflicting news of the Count's own departure
were brought to Bethlehem. Bishop Joseph's senti
ments on both occasions are so beautifully couched
in his native German, that I refrain from the attempt
to render their untranslatable pathos in our own lan
guage. He has, both here and elsewhere, drawn the
finest psychological portrait of Erdmuth Dorothea
von Zinzendorf that we possess ; and his eulogium
on the "Disciple" himself, at receiving the intelli
gence of his death, is so Moravian in its tone and

SPANGENBERG. 119
expression, that the original language in which it is
conveyed is its most proper medium for perusal.
At the time the news of Zinzendorf's death came
to America, a second visit had been anxiously looked
for; he had secured such a firm hold on the affec
tions of all, that his presence seemed needed every
where; and it was a source of profound grief that
both this hope was to be left unrealized and that the
great spiritual patriarch was no longer to be seen on
this side of eternity. In many an old Moravian this
transition of a friend from one life to the other pro
duced no visible effect — it became a matter of time
only when spirit should again become united to
spirit, and the affections of earth be renewed again
in heaven.Soon after the death of the "Disciple," Spangen
berg was recalled to Europe to assume the place
the loss had made vacant; and he accordingly pre
pared for this event by a general visitation to the
congregations around Bethlehem. The Economy at
this place, having now lasted twenty years, was dis
solved ; and in a Love-Feast which was given in cele
bration of his departure, he imparted his blessings to •
all his people, and consigned them to the keeping of
the Saviour. He was accompanied to Philadelphia
by a few friends, who returned soon after with his
final salutation to his American Brethren, conveyed
in the same scriptural terms of simplicity and affec
tion that characterized all his writings and dis
courses. To render these discourses in an English
11*

120 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
dress, does so little justice to their author, and serves
to make Moravianism such an incomprehensible
thing, that I forbear here, as elsewhere, placing
Spangenberg before the reader, whenever his warm
est effusions are called forth. In common with Zin
zendorf, his thoughts were born of the language of
his country, his religious emotions were the offspring
of the national temperament, and when we attempt
to make our own tongue the medium of the Moravian
ideas of an earlier day, we can give them no ade
quate expression.
After a tempestuous voyage of sixty-nine days to
England, and another nearly disastrous one of five
weeks thence to Hamburg, he found himself once
more approaching Herrnhut, after thirteen years'
absence. He entered the church at nine o'clock in
the evening, without any previous notice of his ar
rival, just as the congregation was singing, "0
Haupt voll Blut und Wunden." His figure and
general appearance had a striking resemblance to that
of the "Disciple," and the assembly were so affected
with this sudden apparition that many shed tears.
The next morning he repaired to the grave of Zin
zendorf on the Hutberg, to drop a tear upon the spot
where his nearest earthly friend now lay interred.
Spangenberg was immediately appointed a mem
ber of the Conference of Herrnhut, to which was
confided the general direction of the church, both at
home and abroad, and which, in 1769, assumed,
under an enlarged form, the title of " The Unity's

SPANGENBERG. 121
Elders' Conference." Through his later years his
mental activity was as great as ever, and in addition
to all his other ministerial engagements, he was em
ployed in writing several important works, among
which were the Life of Zinzendorf and his celebrated
Idea fidei Fratrum. The former furnishes the most
correct and authentic biography we have of Zinzen
dorf; the latter treatise attracted much attention
throughout Europe, having been translated into the
English, Dutch, Danish, French, and Swedish lan
guages. A great portion of this time was spent in
Barby, where the Unity's Conference held its seat for
the period of thirteen years ; and on his arriving at
his eighty-first birth-day, the anniversary happening
to fall upon the Jubilee of his official years spent in the
service of the United Brethren, it was solemnized
with all the demonstrations of joy befitting such a
memorable occasion. He was awakened early in the
morning by a choir of singers : his colleagues of the
Conference expressed their hearty good wishes, and
congratulated him on the event of the day, on the won
derful preservations that had been shown him in his
eventful career, and the hale old age to which he
had attained, the fidelity he had shown, and the suc
cess that had crowned all his works on earth. They
prayed that a succession of blessings might descend
upon his declining days, and that he might grow
more and more in grace until his race was run. In
reply to these expressions of love on the part of his
associates, he made the most candid confessions, ac-

122 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
knowledged his gratitude to his God and Saviour,
and closed the scene by kneeling down with them all,
and pouring out his soul in fervent prayer. Hymns
composed for the occasion were handed him by nu
merous friends, and during the Love-Feast prepared
for him a special psalm was sung, in commemora
tion of the day, and performed by choir and orches
tra, according to custom. After the celebration had
ended, he presented a written address to the Bre
thren who had joined in it, wherein, among other
things, he promised to prepare and present to them,
as a keepsake, a narration of all the wonderful bless
ings which God had conferred upon them since the
opening of their history.
Brother Joseph remained in the full possession of
his mental powers, performing all the duties assigned
him, until near the close of his remarkable and event
ful life. His second faithful spouse was taken from
him in 1789, in her eighty-first year — a worthy
handmaid of Christ, having shared in all the vicissi
tudes of her husband's life, dispensed the charities
and benevolence of her own peculiar calling to every
one with whom she came in contact, and left behind
her a name precious to all. During the Bishop's latter
days, when disease began to show its inroads, he re
moved from Herrnhut to the Unity's mansion at
Berthelsdorf, known as the "Schloss." Here he was
shown many attentions by those around him; but
though his bodily powers gave way, his active mind
was engaged to the last moment. On a fine morning,

SPANGENBERG. 123
in the month of August, he allowed himself to be car
ried out into the field, where the reapers were taking
off the harvest. He summoned them around him,
gave them refreshments, addressed and blessed them.
Then, raising his feeble voice, sang, "Nun danket
alle Gott," which so affected the assembled group
that their tears flowed freely, and the scene of the
Patriarch's last farewell never faded from their
memories. At the age of eighty-eight years his
life finally closed in a gentle slumber, through
which he was permitted to derive some glimmer
ings of heaven, in the shadowy images that flitted
before him, ere he closed his eyes forever on earth.
Beautiful as his death, were the last observances
paid to his interment. His remains lay exposed to
view in the chapel at Berthelsdorf, and were visited
by all the people of Herrnhut and its environs ; soft
music and solemn hymns performing their dirge-like
harmony during the exhibition of the body, as was
wont on all great occasions. Then it was borne to
the Herrnhut Cemetery, where it now reposes among
so many more of the good and the truly great.
In following up the career of another artless and
devoted man, my aim has chiefly been to illustrate
Moravianism, by furnishing the biography of one of
its best representatives and exponents. All that
Spangenberg has performed, — all that he has
preached, written, and sung, (for his hymns, like
Zinzendorf's, are replete with the one great theme
of Christ's love and sacrifice,) — elucidate in their

124 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
own peculiar and engaging light the whole spirit of
Moravian life. Not only the every-day social life
can be gathered here in these memoirs, but the mar
tyrdom of the people, whose history is included in
it, nearly up to the close of the last century — its
most marked and eventful epoch. Such untiring
zeal and unfaltering devotion in the cause of his
Master was only equaled, not excelled, by the "Dis
ciple" himself; and in the memoirs that have been
left, drawn chiefly from his own papers, there is
nothing to show but perfect consistency in the whole
course of his life and Christian mission. His career
was uniformly pure and self-sacrificing; he was at all
times ready to yield to the calls of his people, going
to and fro, wherever summoned. In his devotion, his
lamp was always trimmed and burning, and in his
solicitude for his flock, he was ready with words of
reproof, correction, advice, and comfort, at all times
and at all places. As a man and a Christian, he is a
striking pattern among the remarkable men who
were instrumental in building up the renewed church
of the Brethren.

VI.
THE MORAVIAN CULTUS.
The nature of the Moravian Cultus, or mode of
worship, forms, and rituals, may be partly inferred
from the brief sketch I have given of Herrnhut;
but, in addition to this, it demands some general and
abstract views, taken from a stand-point without
the pale of the society. I have avoided entering into
many details of the religious organization of Herrn
hut ; as the Moravianism of America forms the en
grossing subject of these pages, and the picture of
its German prototype has only been introduced in
order to furnish the origin of its forms and customs,
and, thereby, to elucidate their spirit.
Before regarding the picture of the festive institu
tions, as they exist in Europe, and still, in some de
gree, characterize the Moravian rural villages in
this country, I must premise, that the same distinc
tions of age and sex as those in Herrnhut were
strictly preserved in the religious arrangements of
Moravian life and worship. To each of these di
visions, or "Choirs," was reserved its appointed
times and places of inculcation, devotion, and fes
tivity; for between these three avocations, life,
(125)

126 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
spiritually speaking, was divided. Children, youth,
and adults of either sex, and the married collectively,
were divided into distinct classes, who, although all
assembling together on general church occasions
every Sunday, or at intermediate times, had, in
addition, their separate meetings, and these gene
rally preceding a Festival. To each of these classes
of the congregation was allotted one Festival during
the year, and a general Festival of the whole united
"Choirs" took place annually. These subdivisions
of the religious family might be termed the " Choir
System;" and all exclusive meetings, or Festivals of
the "Choirs," "Choir Meetings," or "Choir Festi
vals," denoting that the solemnity was appropriated
to the particular " Choir" by whose name it was called.
To the outward observer of the Moravian picture,
as presented to him for the first time, nothing ap
peared more striking than the white dress of the
children, girls, and single Sisters. On their Festi
vals they were all seen thus attired, and the head
dress was the "Gemein Haube," or "Schneppel
Haube," as it was sometimes familiarly termed, a
cap worn by all the female portion of the congrega
tion. It is now laid aside in America, but in Ger
many it is still preserved, and regarded with some
degree of veneration by those who uphold, rigidly,
the outward forms of Moravianism.
This cap is a singularly plain head-dress, generally
consisting of four pieces or parts, and tied under the
chin by ribbons of different colors, to distinguish the

THE MORAVIAN CULTUS. 127
" Choir." The children wore the light-red ribbon,
the girls the dark-red, the single Sisters pink, the
married women blue, and the widows white. By
these simple badges the whole sisterhood designated
its various " Choirs," and in the celebration of a
Festival, the whole "Choir" appeared in its pre
scribed costume.
Previous to all annual Festivals and Sacraments,
each "Choir" was wont to repair to its Principal,
(Pfleger or Pflegerin,) the visit being usually per
formed singly by each individual, to receive admo
nition as to spiritual guidance and self-examination,
which the approaching solemnities seemed to demand.
The interview lasted about fifteen minutes, and the
duties involved in it were regarded of serious import
by all in whom an inner religious life was active.
We may naturally suppose that this devotional regi
men, in the earlier stages of Moravianism, was highly
conducive to its advancement in true piety, and that
such communings with a Superior were sought after
and valued as precious moments ; but as the commu
nity enlarged its limits, and the heart lost its purity,
many repaired to the place of visitation with alloyed
motives and feelings.
By many a spectator of the Moravian forms, these
monthly "Speakings," as they were termed, were
regarded in the light of the Roman Catholic confes
sion, and the motives of that institution were imputed
to the Moravian Sister, as she sat before her Princi
pal. The interview, however, was of a somewhat
12

128 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
different nature, as it consisted in a mutual inter
change of Christian sentiment, without the exaction
of any confession of past transactions. In such
communings there may, naturally, have been ac
knowledgments of past error, on the part of the
individual who called on his or her Principal, yet
the design of this institution did not point to the
confession, but rather to a perfectly unrestrained
disclosure of Christian experience. The responsi
bilities of this office were held of no little import
ance, as the influence imparted by the person, either
male or female, who dispensed the words of exhor
tation to each distinct "Choir," was supposed to
keep alive the spirit of faith, hope, and love. The
regular event of the monthly "Speaking" was the
most appropriate precursor of the solemnity that
was to follow, and had its chastening effect upon the
soul of the candidate for the communion. Another
precursor of these solemnities was the separate
"Choir Meeting," which derived its beautiful and
solemn feature from the exclusive number and dis
tinct class of candidates for the Festival, and to
which a peculiar tone of devotion was imparted in
the forms of prayer and liturgic singing.
The origin of the Choir Festival generally at
tached itself to some bright point of history, where,
in the past annals of the Church, a remarkable
awakening had taken place in the earlier epochs of
Herrnhut. Out of this origin some sacred feeling
emanated, and, although the Festival was a matter

THE MORAVIAN CULTUS. 129
of joy, the happiness of the day was always imbued
with solemnity. On the opening of the Festival, in
the morning, the event was announced from the
belfry of the church by chorales, performed on wind
instruments, and as the "Choir," in whose honor
the day was celebrated, entered the hall of worship,
these strains of solemn melody sounded impressively
upon the ears of all. Within the precincts of the
Sisters' House it was usual for the Sisters, on their
own Festival, to receive the salutation of a choir of
female voices, greeting them at daylight, before
they rose, with anthems of joy. In addition to this,
congratulations were extended to all those who were
celebrating their anniversary, a custom whose deri
vation is traced to Herrnhut, where anniversaries
are marked by affectionate congratulations on all
sides. These were expressive of sympathy in the en
joyments of the " Choir," and when dispensed by the
aged to the young, they were in token of a blessing
upon their opening Christian career.
As to the services of the church during the Festi
val, they consisted in the usual forms of devotion,
preaching and singing ; the introduction and close,
as well as that of the Love-Feast, always character
ized by orchestral music, selected from the old and
best masters of cathedral composition. This species
of music received no small degree of cultivation ;
and, as it was expressive of the Moravian love of
music in general, found a useful application in all
solemn church celebrations. At an earlier period of

130 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
Moravian history, the Festival of the single Sisters
was accompanied by a multitude of ceremonials and
church services, yet these were so blended with
vocal and instrumental music as to render the scene
highly picturesque, viewed by a mere spectator, aside
from its spiritual character.
In tracing the derivation of these rituals to their
source, I must refer the reader to a remarkable
Sisters' Festival, which took place in Herrnhaag, in
the month of May, 1747. It has already been told
that this place was the seat of the Brethren during
the Count's exile, and that there was exhibited that
excessive ferment which caused so much disfigure
ment to our early church. " Early in the morning,"
says the writer of the chronicle, who, from the lan
guage and terms, appears to have been a participant,
"the Sisters were awakened from their slumbers by
the voices of Anna1 and the other Eldresses, greet
ing them in a well-known psalm. A second psalm
followed, and upon hearing the third psalm, all arose
and proceeded down stairs, singing together. At
seven o'clock they repaired to the chapel, where the
morning blessing was given by Papa.2 After the
usual morning services, the whole ' Choir' of maidens
proceeded, at three o'clock in the afternoon, to meet
the Sisters of Marienborn, three miles from Herrn-
1 Anna Nitschmann, the chief Eldress of Herrnhaag, and
previously of Herrnhut.
2 Count Zinzendorf, who. was thus familiarly called.

THE MORAVIAN CULTUS. 131
haag. They passed through the avenue leading in
that direction, and when the two 'Choirs' came in
view of each other, that of Herrnhaag divided, ar
ranging itself on opposite sides, and permitted the
procession from Marienborn to pass through. These
were then greeted by Anna, she addressing Justina,
Eldress of the Marienborn choir, and her colleague,
Anna Johanna, addressing Salome, colleague of Jus
tina. As they all moved in a body toward the
church, the musicians,1 who sat upon the oval bench
before it, saluted them, and upon their entrance into
the hall of worship, the trombones pealed forth
sacred anthems, aided by the voices of the congre
gation. " The whole number of virgins on this occasion
was about two hundred and fifty, who were all, with
out exception, attired in white.
"Among the guests present were many of the
families of the nobility. The hymn used for the
Love-Feast was the Forty-fifth Psalm, the most ap
propriate cantata ever sung.
" Succeeding the Love-Feast, and after the inter
val of one hour, came the evening liturgy. Here
the ' Choir' sat arranged as in the Love-Feast, and,
during the meeting, the ' Te Sponsam' was sung.
While this was performing, Anna Johanna arose,
and, proceeding toward the Count and Countess,
knelt before them, receiving their benediction, as
1 Female performers.
12*

132 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
well as that of Benigna, the Deaconess of the Single
Sisters, and, at the same time, was ordained Eldress
of the Single Sisterhood. Then all the Principals,1
fifty in number, saluted her with a kiss, and the
solemn scene drew tears from the eyes of every one
present. The next meeting following upon this was
the singing meeting, which was held in a most patri
archal manner by Christian."2
Our narrator informs us that the Illumination
next followed, and that it was worthy of the occa
sion. The Sister's House was filled with light, and
with various transparencies and inscriptions, all com
memorative of the event. The Choir of Sisters
went out by pairs, during the illumination, into the
square before the house, and, while standing there,
sung hymns of praise. After they had retired, and
had closed their doors, the congregation sung be
fore the dwelling "hymns of rest," (Schlaflieder.)
Finally, between the hours of eleven and twelve
o'clock, they closed the performances of the day by
an evening blessing, dispensed by the Count, after
which they all retired to rest, filled with the deepest
emotions. The Festival here described is illustrative of an
over-wrought Moravianism that characterized the
middle of the last century, and found its full de-
1 Pflegerinnen, each having a small company of Sisters
under her care.
2 Christian Renatus, son of Count Zinzendorf. His por
trait hangs in the church at Bethlehem.

THE MORAVIAN CULTUS. 133
velopment at Herrnhaag. Since then its tone and
rituals have become greatly modified, and less ob
noxious to the censure which, with some degree of
justice, was cast upon it.
Up to a recent date, the Sisters' Festival was sus
tained in our villages with all its unique observances.
The early salutation at the doors of the sleeping
apartments; the procession to and from the place
of worship, of girls in white apparel, with the cha
racteristic head-dress and pink ribbon, and the
whole of the front seats of the church presenting a
uniform picture of the maiden's choir ; the absorb
ing music of the orchestra; the promenades in the
open air in the garden, with music in the inter
vals from an amateur company of musicians; the
chorales on the trombones on the opening of the
Love-Feast, as in the days of Marienborn and
Herrnhaag ; the congratulations extended by the old
to the young, indicating their wishes for happiness
now and solicitude for a life's peace in future, — all
these demonstrations of a refined, cultivated, and
deeply-devoted Christian life, were witnessed in our
Moravian villages.
The Festival of the Single Brethren, too, had its
marked features, and they passed through many of
the solemnities that honored the Single Sisters, such
as anthems and chorales on wind instruments in the
morning, the harbinger of the Festival, the proces
sion into the church, the enjoyment of Love-Feast
and collations during the day, the final close at

134 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
evening with some beautiful and stirring performance
of the orchestra, introductory to the liturgy, — all
these festivities constituted the round of a Chris
tian Moravian's life, and lent to the aspect of his
creed the realization of a heaven on this side of
eternity. We might term the Festival the great embodi
ment of the strongest characteristics of Moravian
ism, a perfect blending of profound religion with
earthly pleasure. It is not often that we discover
such a phenomenon in the social world that admits
and exercises Christianity. There is a feeling of
stern duty in its religion that too often blunts the
pleasure of ordinary life, and the line drawn be
tween the two is so strongly marked that one must
be sacrificed to the other.
The spirit of the species of devotion shadowed
forth in the sketch I have just given was of Ger
man extraction, and sprung from the national modes
of life and thought of a people in whom a deep-
seated feeling of religion is prominent. As long as
the German element prevailed in our villages, and
remained free from the influence of American enter
prise and its materialistic tendencies, the pure scenes
of the Festival were enacted in the manner drawn
in the preceding picture. But time, which changes
all things, is fast resolving the poetic into the com
monplace, and as religion assumes the garb of
austerity and stern conventionality, its spirituality
becomes more dimly seen. To secure the influences

THE MORAVIAN CULTUS. 135
of devotion upon the human mind, no scenes are
better calculated than those springing out of the
na'ive and simple. In the attempts of art to present
the most engaging pictures of humanity, or to por
tray such scenes as are of the most pure and spi
ritual tone, it should seek out nature, or man in such
positions as conform most nearly to nature. In
the outpourings of the soul, as we see them in the
past history of the Moravian, in the unaffected and
innocent manifestations of his devotional career, we
are made conscious of a poetic, and even romantic
blending of religious emotion with the every-day
transactions of his social existence. To infuse into
'this existence the joys of, religion, to make every
spiritual motive identical with pleasure, the plea
sure of the soul, was the great end of the Moravian
Cultus. Any mode of worship that can clothe the
Christian's faith in such enticing colors, or impart
to the daily routine of a selfish and disappointed
existence the sacred recreations that characterized
old Moravian life, must serve to nourish the flame
of religious thought, and keep pure and flowing the
fountains of a simple but holy creed.
Yet in examining the question, why the Moravian
Cultus produced such marked results upon the out
ward character and inner life of the individual, we
cannot allow the influences exerted by music to es
cape our attention. As music constitutes the en
trance to the world of spiritual thought, its study
and practice tell, with remarkable force, upon the
emotional part of the Christian character. From

136 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
the earliest period in the history of the Brethren,
its cultivation was an essential portion of all the
rituals of the Church, and it not only proved the in
spiring, elevating, and chastening handmaid of de
votion, but gave vitality to all the forms of social
life. Although the idea of the Festival, in its applica
tion to religious purposes, is foreign to American
thought, and forms no feature in our plan of wor
ship, it is common in Europe; and where Roman
Catholicism reigns, the festal holiday is a frequent
occurrence. In those old countries it belongs to the
traditions of the people, and on the days set apart
for the celebration of those saints' anniversaries, which'
fill the Roman calendar, crowds are seen, in best
attire, attending the cathedrals. Should it fall en
tirely into decadence here, we must attribute the
misfortune, as we ought to deem it, to the great uni
formity of American thought and feelings, on all
points of custom, usage, and recreation. What is
deemed admissible in Europe, where the force of tra
dition allows nothing to be lopped away, would be
thought out of place here.
An old and beautiful custom prevailed in many
households, and may still be found here and there to
this day, of asking a blessing at every meal, in a
hymn, consisting of a single verse. The verse, if
sung at the breakfast-table, is accompanied by the
reading of the Daily Text, a small manual, published
annually, and containing texts from the Old and

THE MORAVIAN CULTUS. 137
New Testament, for every day, each text being
coupled with a verse. In the memoirs of Zinzendorf
and Spangenberg, reference has been made to the
use of the Text-Book, and though it is no longer
in as general use, as a pocket-companion, as it was
in earlier times, yet it is generally adhered to by all
staunch Moravians, and its perusal at the breakfast-
table is a fixed custom.
Another favorite companion of the morning meal
was the Birth-Day Book. In this repository were
recorded the names of all friends, far and near, living
and dead, the places of their nativity, birth, age, etc.,
making a record of those most dear to the heads of
the family ; and while the anniversary of their births
is referred to, they are kept alive in the memory of
cotemporary or surviving love and affection. As the
Birth-Day Book acquired a somewhat venerable cha
racter in the family, as it passed down to posterity,
the accumulation of names of former days gave it ad
ditional interest and value, and where it succeeded
in escaping the wear and tear of time, and had out
lived many generations, it was clung to as one of the
relics deemed most worthy of preservation.
When traveling, the Moravian of the patriarchal
times had his "Reiselieder," or traveling hymns.
These, sung in the solitude of the chamber, before re
tiring, or at rising in the morning, or performed in
agreeable chorus by several pilgrims, added solace
to the journey, and, if on the mission of evangelical
labor, assuaged its toils and hardships. We might

138 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
raise up before us many a pleasant picture, if we
were to imagine the traveling missionary, before
starting on the errand of Christian love, pour forth
in the depth of the forest those inimitable hymns we
possess, and which, with the melodies that accom
pany them, remain intact. In addition to these,
there were "Wiege Lieder," or cradle hymns, in
which Christ, under the personification of an infant,
is introduced, and made the subject of song for the
cradled child.
As labor was placed in the same attitude it en
joyed in Herrnhut, as an active element of an ideal
congregation, and carried out in reality by the fol
lowers of Zinzendorf, it requires notice, under the
general head of a Moravian Cultus. In the earlier
portion of our history in America, and even up to a
very late period, labor had its dignity and its re
ligious aspect, all of which it derived from the
organization of social life in Herrnhut, of which ours
was an imitation. The whole daily transaction of a
commonplace life being imbued with one^thought,
which was always uppermost, and Christ being the
embodiment of that thought, every human purpose
became dedicated to it. Under this conception of
the true end and aim of labor, no one considered it
disgraceful to be engaged in pursuits of domestic
economy, in trade or agriculture. To carry out the
conception of Herrnhut, every calling had its so
lemnization. The reapers, the mowers, the ploughers,
the washers, the scourers, had their Love-Feasts, and

THE MORAVIAN CULTUS. 139
their appropriate hymns. When the reapers entered
upon the harvest, or the ploughers commenced or
ended their work, a Love-Feast opened the under
taking, or crowned its successful issue.
The "Spinne Lieder," or spinning hymns, were
very common, and adapted to the exercises of that
once useful art. We have still left recorded many
amusing little morceaux, characteristic of the simple
scenes that were enacted, when a company of Sisters
sat with distaff or spinning-wheel, and whiled away
the hours, with the accompaniment of hymns. Thus
every day and every pursuit had its appropriate
sacred lyric, sanctifying, beautifying, and ennobling
life, and strewing its thorny paths with the roses of
celestial hopes.
I recur to these observances of the fading past
with peculiar emotions, as they are the indications
of a poetical age, where the pictures of life have
reality for their pencil, and the moral they inculcate
sinks deeply into the heart of the living age. That
faith, on which those early Moravian pilgrims
grounded their hopes, was a sterling faith, undis
turbed by the agitations of modern thought and in
vestigation, and the hymns they poured forth under
all the circumstances of rest, labor, and travel, were
pure inspirations, and carried with them the beati
tude of heavenly peace.
I have remarked that music characterized the
whole life of the Moravian, in the sanctuary, in the
family, in traveling, and at labor. Hymns were not
13

140 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
only adapted to departure and rest, but were often
sung by the Sisters when going from place to place;
and it is related that those of Marienborn and
Herrnhaag, while passing to and fro, used to
make the woods resound with their chants. This
music was, and yet is, of a high and classic order,
being of the old German school, while the orches
tral performances are chosen from the works of
Haydn, Beethoven, Mozart, and others.1 The Love-
Feasts are generally enlivened with at least one
passage from the Creation, the Psalms being printed
and circulated among the congregation. Most of
the quaint phraseology of the Moravian hymns has
been expunged, and in addition to the numerous
translations from the German, many of Watts's com
positions have been introduced.
1 Among those who first promoted and gave form to the
Moravian Church music, may be named Tobias Frederick, a
peasant boy, who appeared among the early emigrants of
1722, and was distinguished at the youthful age of thirteen
years for his extraordinary musical abilities. He attracted
the attention of the musical public in general for his genius;
traveled through Denmark and Sweden, where, as well as at
the University of Jena, he performed great services in aiding
the work and knowledge of the Brethren, at that early period.
He was appointed to the directorship of their sacred music at
Herrnhut, in which capacity he raised its character to that
standard of purity and harmony, in all its combinations,
which render its approach jto the ideal of an angelic choir as
near as can be conceived. Tobias Frederick died in 1736,
and, taken all in all, has never yet been equaled. (See Croe-
ger's Briidergeschichte.)

THE MORAVIAN CULTUS. 141
The German Hymn-Book contains the produc
tions of older writers, from the middle of the seven
teenth up to the end of the last century, and some
even date as early as the latter part of the six
teenth century. Those authors whose lyrics are
most copiously selected are Zinzendorf, his son,
Christian Renatus, Anna Nitschmann, Luise von
Hayn, Erdmuth Dorothea von Zinzendorf, Span
genberg, etc. ; and among the older writers are
found Paul Gerhard of the seventeenth century,
Schindler, Heerman, Schiitz ; and still earlier, Luther
and those of his time.1 Of these bards, many be-
1 The hymn-books now in general use in the Moravian
Church are but concise abridgments of the older manuals of
the Brethren. In reviewing the lyrical history of the univer
sal Protestant Church, we are struck with the great produc
tiveness of the early ages in sacred song-. It is supposed that
not less than 70,000 hymns are in existence, under the various
forms of composition in which they have appeared from time
to time. Of our primitive hymn-books, which were generally
stored with the poetry of previous editions, the largest was
that compiled in London by Zinzendorf in the year 1753,
containing 2169 hymns, to which a second volume was added
in 1754, comprising 1096 additional ones. In this second
volume are to be found a large number of the improvisate
effusions of the Count, which were occasionally gathered as
they proceeded from the lips of this prolific bard.
The first form seen in this collection is that elementary spe
cies of the church hymn, which consisted of the Bible songs
of praise, thanksgiving, and devotion, found in the various
books of the Old Testament, from Genesis to Isaiah, and in
the New Testament, from Matthew to Revelations. N This was
an ancient form of sacred psalmody, and common to the
whole Christian Church in the remotest times of which we

142 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
longed to noble families, and we find the names of
counts and countesses appended to- a large portion
have any knowledge. These hymns are numbered from 1 to
110. We then find the Bible texts, from 111 to 193, arranged
in verse, some of which may be classed among the most
beautiful of all our hymns, such as the Twenty-third Psalm,
rendered in German. These parodies were not confined to
the Old Testament, but the texts of the New Testament are
metrically arranged in the same manner as those of the Old
Testament. The hymns numbered from 194 to 265 are trans
lations from the Greek of the Eastern Church, from the Chal-
daic of the Alexandrian Church, and from the Latin of the
Western Church.
After these follow those properly termed the Hymns of the
Ancient Brethren, Nos. 266 to 432, where the productions of
John Hus,1 of the fifteenth century, and Michael Weissen, of
the sixteenth century, are brought to notice.
Then follow the hymns after the Reformation, such as the
Augsburg Confession in metre, the symbolical hymn of Berne,
the hymns of Luther, Speratus, Matthesius, N. Herrmann, etc.,
Nos. 433 to 509.
Nos. 510 to 821 comprise the lyrics of Nicolaus, Herber-
ger, Paul Gerhard, Angelus, Heerman, and others ; and the
remaining hymns, up to 2169, are the compositions of writers
who lived during the succeeding interval between this and
the middle of the last century, soon after which there seems
to have been a decline in this species of poesy, as few authors
are recognized of more recent date than the year of Zinzen
dorf s death, which was 1760.
The most hallowed specimen of the quite ancient music
still in vogue in the Brethren's Church, is the "Te Deum
Laudamus," the composition of which is ascribed to Ambro
ses, Bishop of Milan. This venerable production is now

1 The authority for this corrected Bpelling of the name of the Great Reformer,
la Rev. Dr. Bomberger's edition of Uertzog's Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature.

THE MORAVIAN CULTUS. 143
of our German hymns. One of the most beautiful
and simple of -all is that written by Ludomilla,
nearly 1500 years old, and has been in general use through
out the Catholic and Protestant Churches since its first ema
nation from the church which gave it birth.
In connection with its origin, it is related of this hymn
that when St. Augustine was converted to Christianity, and
was baptized by Ambrosius, they sung the whole of the " Te
Deum Laudamus" together, in alternate verses ; Ambrosius
began and Augustine followed, each composing a verse under
the inspiration of the moment, the lines of which were after
wards preserved and handed down to succeeding ages.
Of the class of hymnologists enumerated in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, none was more fertile than Paul
Gerhard, who was pastor in Berlin, and, subsequently, in Lub-
den, in Lower Lusatia. He was born in 1616, and died in
1676. The number of his productions, which were mostly
sacred, was not less than 120, and far exceeded that of Lu
ther's hymns, who wrote but 37. Of all the lyrical writers of
his time, he was best acquainted with the wants and taste of
the people, and more than any other wrote in the vein of popu
lar feeling.
Nicholas Herrmann, the Cantor of Joachimsthal, is noted
for many national hymns, the most celebrated of which is,
"When my hour draweth nigh," "Wenn mein Stundlein
vorhanden ist," etc.
Zinzendorf himself was so addicted to versification, that he
not only extemporized, wrote, thought, prayed, and sung the
exhaustless sacred themes that engrossed his soul, but en
gaged any one else in the exercise of poesy, wherever any
latent talent for this gift seemed to dwell.
In the infancy of Herrnhut it was a universal propensity
among its people to combine sacred song with all their aspi
rations, and when the Count found a peasant girl, or a peasant,
13*

144 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
Countess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, who died in
1672. Einer ist es dem ich lebe,
Den ich liebe friih und spat,
Jesus ist es dem ich gebe
Was er mir gegeben hat.
Bin ich in sein Verdienst verhiillt ?
Fiihre mich, Herr, wie du willt.
One there is for whom I live,
Constant love to Him I owe ;
All I have to Him I give,
All I have did He bestow.
Am I in thy service still ?
Lord, conform me to thy will.
inclined to metrical thought, he endeavored to bring forth
some crude poetical effort. He was in the habit of assem
bling small companies, and proposing to them some subject,
on which they all wrote, and then handed in their compo
sitions for revision. He was particularly desirous of eliciting
rehearsals from those Brethren who had encountered trials
and severe mental vicissitudes in their journeyings, at sea, in
prison, or among the heathen, — making them available as the
choicest material for sacred song.
Singing is not merely a peculiarity of the modern Moravian,
but was cultivated by the Unitas Fratrum and the Bohemian
Brethren long before them, for we even find it among the
charges brought against John Hus and Hieronymus of
Prague, that they had made attempts to seduce the people
over to their doctrines, by conveying these in sacred verse,
and in the vernacular language !
The famous David Chystraeus, who delivered a discourse
in 1569, on the state of the Christian churches in Greece,
Asia, and Bohemia, testifies to this peculiar quality of the old
Bohemian worship, and says that in all their meetings, the
Brethren sung very delightfully.

THE MORAVIAN CULTUS. 145
The melodies founded on the rules of pure har
mony, and emanating, as I have said, from the older
schools of classic music, are distinguished for the
soul that animates them, their depth and sincerity
of thought. In most instances, they are sung with
organ accompaniment, but it frequently occurs that
they are heard with a full chorus of voices, without
accompaniment, which gives them a striking and an
abiding effect. Though not calculated for display,
or to seize upon the popular or uneducated mind,
they live forever in such hearts as have affenuine sus
ceptibility for harmony, and have had this awakened
by culture.
In Germany, the cultivation of music is closely
interwoven with all the pursuits of life, and as long
as it remains so essentially natural among our Mo
ravian Brethren there, the ritual, in all its primi
tive forms, will be able to retain a foothoold. In
this country, however, the musical tone and taste of
our Moravian villages seem approaching their de
cadence, and, as a necessary result, the externality
of devotion changes its whole character. The cause
of this declension of music among us may be traced
to that national pursuit of wealth, which debases all
that is pure within, and leads the thoughts to all
that is gross and glittering without.
The earlier history of the Moravian was the uni
versal history of the human heart in the fervor of
its youthful ebullitions. But when the primitive
hymns of their first love had been culled of their

146 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
extravagance, when the religious exercises became
less numerous and more befitting the commonplace
obligations of the individual, the tenor of Moravian
life corresponded more nearly with the ideal of a
perfect Christianity. Among the most engaging
pictures to which the musical ritual gave rise, we
must not overlook the funeral ceremony. In the
village, every death is announced by a dirge on the
trombones, mostly from the belfry of the church.
The dirge thus played is selected with reference to
the sex of the deceased, each having its appropriate
death-melody. No soul escapes from its tenement
of clay without this public signal to all the deni
zens of the village, and as those stirring notes
ascend upward and vibrate around you, penetrating
into every habitation of the living, the thoughts
turn from the engagements of time, and dwell for
the moment among the images of another world.
Most frequently these announcements come float
ing upon the morning air, as Death is a frequent
visitor during night-time, or, should the event be in
afternoon, the long-drawn notes of the trombone
sound mournfully through the quiet evening. At
such a moment, man feels oppressed with the cares
of the day, and as he listens to this expressive and
subduing language of tone, he feels the more deeply
the force of the event which has just consigned
another fellow-mortal to eternity.
The ritual commences even before the departure
of the spirit, and as it begins to yield up its last

THE MORAVIAN CULTUS. 147
earthly attachments and recognitions, a small circle
may often be seen gathered around the couch, ad
ministering the offices of love in imparting the last
blessing. This is usually performed when all ex
pectations of a prolonged life are surrendered, and
the candidate for the coming change is prepared to
depart. Then the well-known hymn is not un-
frequently sung : —
" Lord, let thy blest angelic bands
Convey my soul into Thy hands,
When soul and body sever;
My body, though reduced to dust,
Thou wilt, 0 Lord, I firmly trust,
Raise up to live forever.
Then shall I see Thee face to face,
In everlasting joy and peace,
And sing with all the saints above
The wonders of redeeming love.
0 Christ, my Lord, I'll Thee adore,
Here and above for evermore."
Frequently the last blessing precedes death by
several days, and long before the final flickerings of
life are observed. In those instances the hymns of
comfort and solace are repeated by the groups as
sembled around the invalid, if prompted to do so ;
but it is an invariable custom to sing verses, and
frequently to administer the Sacrament, previous to
his dissolution. The remains are usually placed the
next day within the " Corpse-house," whither the
friends of the deceased repair to gaze upon the face

148 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
before its final disappearance from earth. A simple
rose, the tribute from the hands of affection, is some
times added to the lifeless figure, now attired in the
white habiliments of the tomb. This ornament to
the garb of death is expressive of peace and joy to
the soul of the departed. In this silent sanctuary
the little lamp is placed, and it is the office of some
quiet and fearless Sister to repair there during the
night to trim the beacon that custom deems needful
for the lifeless body, while still within the pre
cincts of the living. To many, this mission of the
night would seem a fearful one, but to some there is
a companionship in the cold form, the well-known
lineaments addressing you, as it were, " Fear not !
for while my body sleeps the sleep of death, my
spirit reigns over and guards you."
In the church service, preceding the burial rites,
the discourse not unfrequently bears reference to
the deceased, and ends with a short memoir, either
drawn up as an autobiography, or by the hands of
some friend, giving the outlines of a past career, and
expressive of its inner history. Some of the best
vocal dirges are then sung by the choir, preparing
the mind for the scene that is to follow. After
passing from the church, the whole assemblage ar
range themselves before the " Corpse-house," where
verses are again sung, chorales played on trombones,
and then the procession moves forward with solemn
pace to the cemetery, the trombones preceding it,
and playing the thrilling and harmonious music of

THE MORAVIAN CULTUS. 149
the funereal ritual. Around the grave a similar scene
is enacted, the voices of the multitude mingling with
the notes of the instruments, played by four per
formers, who adapt the chorale to the subject of the
occasion. In Herrnhut, the burial rite, to which the early
part of the evening is appropriated, is distinguished
by a much larger number of instruments, ten
performers often preceding the long train that
winds its way from the church through the avenue
of lindens to the " Hutberg." Many of these dirges
are perfect compositions, and are finely invested with
the solemnities of death, so that they have become
consecrated to this sole event, and, when heard,
bring up its associations in all times and places.
The same may be said of most of the other melo
dies of the Moravian repertoire. They become iden
tified with the subject to which they are applied, and
when heard by those who have learned and known
them from childhood, bring up scenes of fond recog
nition. Thus the dirge of death and the song of
triumph, the anthem of praise, the hymn of joy,
are alike, in turn, appropriated to these successive
events as they follow in the cycle of the Moravian
year, and there seems to be a spiritual sustenance
wanting when the pleasures of a musical Cultus are
cut off.
It is among the striking attributes of a Moravian
creed to surround the circumstances of death with
the garlands and roses of a cheerful hope. Hence

150 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
the cemetery, in many of our larger villages, follow
ing the design of the "Hutberg," becomes a cheer
ful resort ; and while the bodies of the departed
sleep beneath the turf, adorned with smiling flowers,
expressive of heaven and typical of its realized
joys, the living footsteps are seen to pace the walks
around the grave, with thoughts chastened by the
sacred spot.
On the celebration of the Birth-day, which is an
obligation of no small import, the members of a
family make their offerings in the shape of a table
decked with flowers and small contributions, demon
strative of family loves ; and, in many instances,
hymns of congratulation are sung, to greet the re
cipient of the Birth-day.
In the ceremony of marriage, the older customs
prescribed a Betrothal, a ceremony of serious and
solemn accompaniment, in which the officiating cler
gyman delivered a feeling and impressive charge to
the bridal pair, seated in the circle of numerous
chosen friends. The scene was then cheered by
wine and cakes, and closed by lively conversation.
In the public ceremony of marriage, which followed
a week afterwards, the rites were gladdened by a
general Love-Feast, dispensed to the whole assem
blage in the church where it took place.
Of all the religious observances, that of the Love-
Feast is, perhaps, the most characteristic of the
whole Moravian Cultus; and though I have fre
quently adverted to this custom, some further re-

THE MORAVIAN CULTUS. 151
marks seem necessary to illustrate the purposes of
that institution. The rite itself was in imitation of
the "Agapse" of the early Christians, and was in
troduced at Herrnhut in the year 1727.1
1 The "Agapa?" have had their origin traced to the apos
tolic times, and reference is made to them by Ignatius, in his
Letters, Clemens, of Alexandria, Chrysostomus, in his Homi
lies, Hieronymus, (Ecumenius, Theophylactus, and Theo-
doretus. In those early ages the " Agapse" were held prior to the
Sacrament, with the view of showing the distinction between
the two rites, and, at the same time, to furnish an imitation of
our Saviour's last supper with his-Disciples, before instituting
the Communion itself.
Reference is made to these Love-Feasts in The Acts and
in Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians, as well as in the reports
furnished by Pliny to the Emperor Trajan, who there speaks
of the Love-Feasts of the Christians.
TertuUian states that the aim of these Love-Feasts was the
maintenance of brotherly love ; that they were not intended
to encourage much eating or drinking, but were dedicated
to sacred singing and discourses.
In the " Concilio Gangrensi," a canon appears, which lays
an anathema on all those who despise the "Agapa? !"
In primitive times the Love-Feast was accompanied by the
"Kiss of Peace," a custom of an apostolic derivation as well
as the ordinance itself, as found in Paul's Epistles, and many
other writers. It was called the " Osculum Pacis," or " Sanc
tum Osculum," and was taken from the words, "Salute one
another with a holy kiss." The Kiss of Peace was adopted
in the Communion and in some of the Liturgies, but it is no
longer in general practice, having been recently discarded in
many of our American congregations. (See Lynar.)
14

152 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
At that time Zinzendorf, after a church service,
was wont to send around to small conclaves of the
Brethren refreshments from his own kitchen, to
enable them to pursue their meditations under an
enlivenment of the heart.1
The Love-Feast is applied to the gloomy and the
cheerful ; it invests the most solemn occasions with
the light of hope, and sanctifies the most joyous
moments with the solemnities of religion. Hence it
was the scope of the Zinzendorfian worship to make
the Christian life a constant reaction of parts, one
tempering and influencing the other. The Love-
Feast was thus appropriated to the Christmas cele
bration, the Easter solemnities, the cheerful festi
val, and, on august occasions, even to close the funeral
service. To see this rite represented in its true
spirit, and thus receive a proper appreciation of its
intents and influences, the observer of Moravian life
must be led through its whole diary. He must
study and analyze it in its contrasting parts, but,
above all, he must be sufficiently cultivated in the
higher gifts of music to explain to himself the true
and abstract motives of what, to the prejudiced mind,
appear childlike and frivolous. The world's history
has shown that the outward demonstrations of re
ligion are displayed in a thousand forms, and I have
observed that the design of the Moravian was to

1 Eine Erquickung des Herzens, " a refreshment of the
heart."

THE MORAVIAN CULTUS. 153
surround nearly all these forms with pleasure such
as the soul delights in.
During the Love-Feast collation, which is pre
ceded by hymns sung by the whole congregation,
anthems are performed by the orchestra and chorus.
The Love-Feast was often held in honor of the re
ception of some distinguished visitor from abroad,
as already alluded to in the life of Spangenberg. At
the schools in the olden times it was held on Ex
amination-days, in the Hall, when the pupils were
arranged on a long, continuous bench, and partook
of their coffee and cakes in common with the audience.
With the obliteration of old practices, this has been
thrown aside as superfluous, although the primitive
rite would even now contribute its share in fastening
the affections of many a susceptible pupil to this
adopted home of his youth.
In these outlines of the customs of a people who
have flourished one hundred and thirty-six years, we
find an application of the essential spirit of Chris
tianity to the whole business of life. In those purer
times, that have now become a matter of record and
study, no material interests could absorb the feel
ings of the Moravian, and in the flow of geniality
and mirth on social occasions, the whole tone of
thought was tempered and refined by an education
such as I shall describe in the picture of schools and
their system of inculcation.
In the species of Christianity here developed, we
have seen poetry called in aid to seize upon the

154 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
affections, and by allowing the whole tenor of life to
be dramatized, as it were, by all the exhibitions of
a visible symbolism and the constaht purification of
soul which the language of sacred music must neces
sarily produce, it attained a degree of social, purity
such as history seldom presents.

VII.
CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS.
Christmas celebrations have ever been pre
eminently marked by a festive character, and as this
anniversary forms the opening of the great Chris
tian drama, by bringing before the mind's eye the
Saviour's nativity, it may be deemed the most ap
propriate introduction to the Moravian Festivals.
Throughout the Christian world the childlike
pleasures of this sacred season endear it to the
memory, and as the events of the Nativity lie open
to the understanding and affections of the young,
by the representation of a Divine incarnation in the
infantile form, many of the religious performances
have special reference to the wants and imagination
of youth. Throughout our Moravian villages, the
eve of Christmas is ushered in by a church
scene, where appropriate decorations are frequently
added, to enhance and enliven its interest. During
the night when this fondly-anticipated ceremony
comes off, a large portion of the surrounding rural
population flock thither to witness it; to gaze at the
paraphernalia, listen to the music, and partake of
the Love-Feast. This has been a time-honored cus-
14* (155)

156 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
torn, and has always presented a singular contrast
between the staid devotion of the Moravian himself
and the boisterous merriment of the yeomanry, who
are generally allowed free access to all the Christ
mas and New-Year's solemnities. Within the cha
pel, however, the utmost order and quiet are ob
served, and no molestation is offered to mar the
designs of the Festival. It is not unusual to open
it with the reading of the second chapter of St.
Luke, one of the most poetical records of Holy
Writ, where the memorable passage is introduced : —
"And there were in the same country shepherds
abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks
by night. And lo! the angel of the Lord came
upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round
about them : and they were sore afraid. And the
angel said unto them, Fear not : for, behold, I bring
you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all
people. For unto you is born this day in the City
of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."
After this simple recital, a short discourse fol
lows, and the musical rites open with an anthem, per
formed by full chorus and orchestra alternately, with
the chorales of the whole congregration. The Love-
Feast now approaches, consisting of cakes and coffee,
and is distributed among all present, the congrega
tion and guests forming, in some instances, a multi
tude of between one and two thousand.
During this collation a portion of Beethoven's
Mass is performed, and the German words sung.

CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS. 157
Sei willkommen,
Schoner Stern in heil'ger Nacht 1
Ganz von Andacht hingenommen
Schau' ich deine stifle Pracht !
Hosiana ! Gelobet sey Der da kommt
Im Namen des Herrn, etc.
"Be thou welcome,
Beautiful star, in the holy night !
All transported by devotion
I behold thy quiet lustre I
Hosanna ! Praised be
He who cometh," etc.
The singing on this, as on all liturgic occasions, is
alternate between the male and the female, the youth
and the adult portions of the worshipers, who, from
time to time, are relieved by the choir.
In connection with the old Christmas-eve rituals
there still remains an ancient vestige of the dra
matic, savoring somewhat of the practices of the
Church of Rome, yet so endearing by its simplicity
and its strong affinity to those childlike interpreta
tions of Christianity, on which the heart delights to
dwell, that the colder age of new things has not yet
been able to obliterate it. I allude to the introduc
tion of wax-tapers. When the choir sings, " Mache
dich auf, es werde Licht ! denn dein Licht kommt,
und die Herrlichkeit des Herrn gehet auf iiber dir I"1
large trays of lighted tapers are brought in from the
1 Arise ! it becomes light : for thy light cometh and the
glory of the Lord ariseth !

158 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
eastern side of the chapel, carried through the as
sembly and distributed among the children. To the
aged, this sudden light appears in its true typical
import, and the poetical scene is not undervalued
by those who can read the mysteries of religion.
But among the juvenile portion every face becomes
radiant with joy at the appearance of this expected
effulgent emblem, owing more to the general excite
ment of the moment than to the inspiration which
the symbol should produce. The rural guests espe
cially are absorbed in the spectacle before them,
and seem to observe with intense delight the bril
liant display of hundreds of wax-lights, held before
the smiling faces of the children. The tapers are
extinguished in gradual succession, the mugs are
gathered and carried away, the music wanes, and
the last tones of the organ fall upon the ears of the
retiring multitude as they emerge into the frigid
atmosphere of a December night.
This is the outline of the church ceremonial and of
the scenes at the altar, at the opening of the Christ
mas week, and the description applies to our smaller
villages even at this time ; but as a more mixed popu
lation creeps into them, the simpler rites will gra
dually be exchanged for others, more in accordance
with the wants of a new order of society.
Throughout the homes of the village, other scenes
of like tendency are enacted. During the whole of
the preceding week, the young men may be seen
upon the bleak hills, where the moss is yet verdant

CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS. 159
and the hemlock and laurel are always cheerful,
and grow luxuriantly in places where naught else
will thrive, gathering huge piles and heaping on
wagons those well-known Christmas-greens. The
hemlock, sending forth its grateful aroma, is at any
time a pleasant ornament, but when it comes in mid
winter to cheer us amid the general dearth of vegeta
ble nature, we find it a most welcome emblem of
festive happiness. The Moravian houses of the olden
time were always redolent with this lively evergreen
at the Christmas season, and its delightful perfumes
bear along with them the associations of old me
mories. The evergreen and the hemlock-garland,
interwoven with the glossy leaves of the laurel, or
the bouquet of chaste flowers, are a constant feature
of the Moravian anniversary of almost every descrip
tion ; and whether it be a Birth-day, a Christmas-
tide rejoicing, a musical, a centennial, or a " Choir"
festival, this green-leaved type of happiness greets
the eye, and tells of the return of the wished-for
day, which at its appointed time the heart sighs
after. Long evenings are spent in weaving the
wreaths, preparing inscriptions and transparencies,
in harmony with the glad occasion. Each habita
tion, in which childhood constitutes a portion of the
fire-side group, contributes its share to these dis
plays of sacred art, and a succession of visitors is
seen passing from door to door, to examine and
discuss the merits of the "Decoration."
As you leave the chilly atmosphere of the ice-clad

160 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
street, and enter the comfortable domicile, where the
green and aromatic drapery assails you, the design
of the picture, being conceived in the utmost sim
plicity, breathing purity and sanctity of purpose, and
elevating the imagination of the beholder to a world
of sacred light, its true effects never fail being
realized. Inscriptions referring to the Nativity are
usually placed in the back-ground of the picture,
which is illuminated in the evening, and to which
are added figures and pictures illustrative of the
Christian subject. A large portion of the room is
sometimes occupied with the Christmas exhibition,
and incongruous elements are occasionally brought
into play, to please the young folks and the public,
and to allow full scope to the ingenuity of the de
signer, who in most cases is the Pater Familias.
But when the "Decoration" is made to present a
chaste adornment of wreaths, surrounding and over
hanging the manger, with transparencies depicting
the eventful night, as the artist's fancy may con
ceive it to have been in Judea — the Magi bearing
spices, the star in the East — then it seems truly to
fulfill its real design, and to come up to the ideal of
a Christmas-eve representation.
During the whole of this week, the wax-candles —
yellow, red and blue — and the coiled taper become
important articles of merchandise, the demand for
which seems unlimited. In former times these little
accompaniments of the joyous season were produc
tions of the Sisters' Houses, and many an aged

CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS. 161
Sister made ample preparations to supply a round
of customers.
In these dramatic conceptions of a sacred event,
the heart, speaking of the past, seemed to grow
apace, and the truly spiritual designs of all such
visible representations have never been lost upon the
juvenile portion of the household. These festivities,
it is true, are purely idylic ; they belong to an age
where wealth and its train of influences have no
overweening tendencies, where the mind has ample
scope for its own quiet cultivation, and can rear
itself within the isolation of unmolested thoughtful
hours. The whole Moravian Christmas-eve, as seen in
one of our villages, was a truly beautiful and poetical
picture. To strengthen this picture, however, we
must always give it its rural associations, where the
simplicity of an unadorned life, the freedom from
conventionality, prevail, and where for the enjoy
ment of nature's better privileges the soulless forms
of society are excluded.
Christmas, and its train of pleasures, form but a
portion of the festival season. The whole week in
tervening between it and New- Year is a continua
tion of the scene begun at the eve, as witnessed in
the church and in the homes of the village, and the
wings of youthful enjoyment continue their flight
until New-Year's day has closed. The church so
lemnities of New-Year's eve are not less in import
ance than those of Christmas-eve, and are sustained

162 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
till past the midnight hour, after the clock is heard
to chime in the first day of the year.
It may deserve notice in this place that, in all
the Moravian village congregations, diaries are kept
of the most important events transpiring daily or
weekly within their little circles throughout the
year. In former times, the most trivial circum
stances were recorded by the "Pastor Loci," in
these registers, which were deposited in the archives
of the church. During the exercises of New- Year's
eve, a synopsis of the past year's diary is read, to
which is added a list of the members, all the new
accessions and departures, births, deaths, and mar
riages. The first of these meetings takes place at
nine o'clock, and the second, or close, at eleven,
which concludes with the opening of the New- Year.
To perform this ceremony, the trombones are called
in aid, and their loud peal is made to burst upon the
audience, just at the moment the first tone of the
clock in the belfry is heard to announce the hour of
twelve. The speaker is cut short in the middle of
his sentence, laying down in some eloquent passage
his most forcible arguments, and all is made to give
way to the sudden arrival of the new-born year.

VIII.
EASTER CELEBRATION.
"And as he went, a very great multitude spread their
garments in the way, and others cut down branches off the
trees and strewed them in the way. And when he was come
nigh, even now at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the
whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise
God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had
seen. And the multitudes that went before and that fol
lowed, cried, Hosannah to the Son of David, blessed is He,
a King, that cometh in the name of the Lord."
With the above recital in the life of our Saviour,
and the Acts of Sunday, as they are styled, com
mence the exercises of Passion Week. The beau
tiful anthem of Hosanna, from the Choir, accom
panies the reading, and is a fine introduction to the
performances of this poetico-dramatical week.
To those who are strangers to the duties of the
sanctuary, the readings of Passion Week offer many
fascinations, as they attract them to services which
from first to last are filled with interest. The
evening and day services of this week constitute
some of the most interesting of the year, and are
attended by full congregations, who are absorbed
in the affecting narrative, as it proceeds onward
15 (163)

164 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
through the vicissitudes of a Redeemer's life to the
final sacrifice.
Under the Moravian forms, these readings are in
terspersed with numerous illustrations and embellish
ments of solemn melody, imparting additional pathos
to the various scenes as they pass before the hearer,
and enlist his feelings by an exhibition of the me
lancholy beauty of the divine picture presented to
his view. The representation of the sacred drama,
with the aid of poetry, melody, and an occasional
appeal to the senses, in various minor ceremonies of
church worship, has been one of its most cherished
features. In contrast with the joyous festivities of Christ
mas, its evergreen wreaths and picturesque adorn
ments of hearth and altar, there is a sublime and
plaintive coloring thrown over the whole Easter
solemnity, which binds it fast to the affections. Here
the glorious strains of the Christmas anthem are ex
changed for the dirge-like hymn, which, when sung,
as it frequently is, without organ accompaniment, by
full-toned voices, and in judicious accordance, con
stitutes the most impressive vocal music. Every
evening of the week, until Thursday, there follows a
continuation of the sacred history, but on Maunday
Thursday, Good Friday, and Saturday afternoon,
the meetings are held during the day. On Maunday
Thursday two readings precede the Sacrament. On
Friday morning and afternoon some of the most
solemn scenes of Holy Writ are passed in review, and

EASTER CELEBRATION. 165
every remarkable passage in the sufferings of Christ
is accompanied by a suitable hymn sung during the
intervals. In the evening the readings of the day
are closed with the passage, " When the even was
come, there came a rich man of Arimathea, a city
of the Jews, named Joseph, an honorable counselor,
and he was a good man and a just, and there came
also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by
night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes,
about an hundred pound weight. Then they took
the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen cloths with
the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury,"
etc. The whole of Good Friday's exercises are then
closed by a Liturgy. This Liturgy is perhaps one of
the finest church services we have, and the parts
being alternated between the pastor, the joint con
gregation, male and female portions, and the choir, it
relieves the common order of church singing of its
monotony. Generally, upon the quiet Saturday afternoon, or
Great Sabbath, there is a moderate assemblage met
together in Love-Feast. Its participants are sup
posed to enjoy the meal of love with each other over
the grave of the Saviour, while He reposes in the
tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, previous to the great
event, on the succeeding morning. In Bethlehem,
on the evening of the Great Sabbath, the exquisite
performances by the choir, "Jesus bowed his head,"
etc., takes place. It is a composition requiring all
the aid of musical proficiency to receive its due

166 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
effect, and is never attempted in the smaller vil
lages. Very early in the morning, and long before dawn,
it has been an old custom to go around the village
and awaken the still sleeping inhabitants by an
Easter morning chorale, performed on the trom
bones. This is one of those incidents of Easter which
impart to its celebration its old and essentially Mo
ravian feature, and, I trust, that the genius of in
novation may not extinguish this exquisite poetry of
the past, and allow the good people of the village to
sleep into the Easter morning without this melodious
announcement. Should this, like many other insti
tutions, pass away, it is no idle hope, that some new
generation coming after us may strive to reawaken
the lost and simple spirit; that it may possibly
throw off the refinement of these latter days, and go
back to the na'ive and the sincerely beautiful. This
early announcement is, certainly, the finest conceiva
ble opening of that eventful anniversary, and I
would look upon its obliteration from the customs of
Moravian life, like that of many others, as much to
be deplored.
The early morning -service is still retained, after
which a procession to the graveyard takes place,
always in time to meet the rising sun. Here the
trombones perform their part with marked effect,
and contribute not a little to the beauty of the cere
monial. When the Easter ceremonies are favored by
an early spring, and the morning air is serene, the

EASTER CELEBRATION. 167
procession to the graveyard is replete with the finest
emotions. We are now not merely reading the event,
but are acting it over, under the inspiring influence of
the open air, at break of day. The locality of the
Nazareth Cemetery is peculiarly interesting, and
for the opening of Easter morning, there can be no
place more worthy of selection. At this early hour
the scene around breathes the deepest tranquillity.
Picturesque in all its parts, a perfect, and even fault
less landscape sleeps before you at six o'clock of our
Easter morning, with the eastern light swelling into
the bright glow of sunrise. Then the impressive
words of the Litany, and the outpouring of those
harmonious themes, to which the trombones are so
well adapted, summon up thoughts that are precious
and enduring for the soul.1
' In connection with our Easter celebration, and all the
observances of Passion Week, it may not be deemed in
appropriate to refer to those early customs of the Roman
Catholic Church, called Easter Plays, and recorded among
its institutions of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The
crucifixion, interment, resurrection, and ascension of Christ,
formed the subject of these sacred dramas, whose origin may
be traced as far back as the twelfth century.
These " Easter or Passion Plays" were purely devotional
in their aim, and seem, originally, to have consisted in mere
recitation on Palm Sunday and Good Friday, by various per
sons, representing Christ, the Apostles, Herod, Pilate, etc.,
alternating with choral melody. Sometimes the parts were
divided between the clergy, who, by turns, rehearsed the his
tory or chaunted the words of Christ or those of the other
15*

168 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
characters in the sacred history, allowing the hearers to par
ticipate in a portion of the dialogue or narrative.
The resurrection was not unfrequently treated in the same
manner. Three priests, representing the three women at the
tomb, were seen at the holy sepulchre, erected for the pur
pose in the church, and addressed the angel sitting there, and
after being apprised by him that Christ had arisen, they
returned to the altar, and announced the tidings in an appro
priate song, composed in honor of the event.
From these simple sacred rites the spiritual drama seems
to have derived its origin, many of the accessories of a thea
trical exhibition being subsequently introduced, to give effect
and interest to the proceeding.
The locality for these performances, and in particular that
of Good Friday, was the church, and they were mostly trans
acted at night; they were called "Ludus de Nocte Paschae."
The worshipers were not satisfied with the representation
of the Passion Week only, but went through the whole his
tory of our Saviour, his birth, the appearance of the Magi,
the life of the Virgin Mary, the illustration of the parables,
and that of the wise and foolish virgins.
The language employed in these rehearsals was Latin, but
after the laity were allowed to take part in them, the German
was substituted, with occasional Latin passages introducing
old hymns.
The object of these ancient dramatic performances was
religious instruction and edification ; they had in view the
visible exhibition before the minds of the people of the great
truths of their faith. The spectacle, in all its inner mean
ings, was deeply religious, and closely combined with the
general church doctrine.
As many improprieties crept into these ceremonies, a
decree was issued against them by Pope Gregory, and,
instead of their being held within the church, they were re
moved into the open air, and the market-place was often
the scene of the scriptural drama, after witnessing which

EASTER CELEBRATION. 169
the spectators withdrew into the church. At a later period
their relations with church worship entirely ceased, and they
became more secular in form and spirit.
These performances were largely attended, and became
very popular in the several Christian countries of Europe,
for, having originated in Germany, they were introduced
into France, England, and. Italy. As long as they preserved
a connection with devotional service, they were found to
answer a good purpose, by giving visibility to sacred history
among a people who were deprived of education and all the
modern facilities of reading Scripture ; but as an application
to secular pleasure followed the strictly dramatic church ser
vice, the performance itself passing out of the hands of the
clergy, they no longer retained their religious character or
exercised the influence that was shown in their original de
sign. (Neumaier's Christliche Kunst.)

IX.
EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS.
In the early history of Herrnhut, the Brethren
directed some of their first efforts to the subject of
education. The grand mission of the Moravians was
the great evangelical enterprise, and for the promo
tion of that end, education became an incidental mea
sure. Originally, the clergy, missionaries, and those
employed in the sacred and educational offices were
not distinct from the rest of the community, but the
tendency of education and social life was such as to
render all capable of filling any of these offices.
A large institution for the special instruction and
training of Brethren was established in the Wet
terau, in 1739, under the superintendence of John
Nitschmann, having a direct reference to the great
work of the missions, but in this school they were not
merely taught literary and religious knowledge, but
were exercised in various departments of useful labor.
The same principle was an inherent feature of Herrn
hut life and training, and had in view the general
exercise of bodily and mental powers, and the prepa
ration of all alike for the future service of the church.
(170)

EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. 171
In this regard those primitive times knew of no dis
tinction between laity and clergy.
At a later date regular institutions of learning
sprung up, aiming at a more complete course of
study, separating the theological pupils from those
designed for the ordinary pursuits of life, and re
ceiving a support from the public at large. This
plan exists at the present day. Their chief field is
in Germany; but in addition to the German schools,
they extend over Switzerland, Holland, Ireland,
England, and the United States ; and in the course
of little more than a century have, from the small
beginning in the Wetterau, increased to the number
of fifty. Both male and female pupils are admitted
each into their allotted institutions, which are re
sorted to by all classes of society both in Europe
and America. These schools are usually of mode
rate size, their number of inmates in Germany ex
tending from fifty to one hundred. Our own institu
tions at Bethlehem and Salem are much larger, the
number of girls exceeding one hundred and fifty in
the former, and frequently two hundred and .fifty in
the latter, while at Litiz they seldom exceed one
hundred. The boys' school at Nazareth has, for
some years past, averaged about one hundred.
Like Moravianism itself, these schools have never
been characterized by that overweening popularity
which seizes upon the admiration and meets with
the approval of the great and indiscriminate public,
and grows rapidly into favor, in order rapidly to lose

172 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
it again. They have made their appearance in dif
ferent localities, where the Moravians had their early
settlements, and in no instance have they lost their
hold upon public esteem.
In our European schools, the rule of limiting
pupils to a moderate number works with marked
success, and, among ourselves, it has been found to
be a safer and more judicious course to train a small
number well, than a large and promiscuous mass of
youth imperfectly and superficially. But whether
heart or mind engage the preceptor's efforts, a sys
tem of training must lay the basis of all instruction,
and that training constitutes education in its in
trinsic meaning, such as it has been the aim of the
Moravian to impart. A systematic endeavor to
train operates with less restraint on the pupil, and
with more successful results on the part of the pre
ceptor, in Europe than here. Man there being born
to order, to a tamer submission to authority and a
reverence for official dignity, in a degree unknown
among our own people, the youth are more pliable,
and education is more plastic. It is partly owing
to this national characteristic of an unrestrained
freedom of action, and a want of that which so
strikingly characterizes the German, — a stern regard
for order, that a three or four years' term becomes an
essential condition to the success of a Moravian
training. A large portion of our American youth are
justly amenable to the charge, that they never had

EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. 173
serious or positive inculcations as to the great virtue
of order. It has been the misfortune of many to
have been taught that a reversal of this great Euro
pean virtue would constitute a point of merit, and
when such arrive at our schools, they find they have
to start from the lowest step of the ladder. They
find that brightness of intellect is, in some measure,
a secondary affair, and that education, in its Mo
ravian signification, expresses something more than
mere intellectual cultivation ; that its arena is not
the literary tilting field, but that they must now be
called upon to pass successful muster beneath a
moral military discipline. The best lesson the
youth of the republic could learn under this head,
would be that which might be drawn from the training
of the steed, which, let him be of the most perfect
form, agile limbs, and purest blood, would be en
tirely valueless unless his noble instincts were
curbed, moulded, and directed to some practical
turn by his master, man.
But even American youth, with their peculiar
bent for freedom, have, in the majority of instances,
succumbed to the discipline of our schools, provided
they have been placed there at an age of suscepti
bility and obedience, and have come with moral
natures capable of being softened, even after they
had been partially perverted by wrong guidance, or
no guidance at all. The first year's apprenticeship
these young disciples have to undergo is occupied in
expelling the vicious qualities of a previous educa-

174 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
tion, that had no fixed aim, nor tended toward any
definite result ; an education that had given unre
strained employment to the brain, but without re
ference to gradual development, or a wise limitation
of studies.
To furnish the reader with an explanation of the
merits of the system by illustration, I shall com
mence with the routine of one of our boys' schools.
Each of these schools stands under the direction
of a Principal, who, in some instances, resides within
the building itself with the pupils. The Principal
and his wife are to be regarded in the light of
parents of the large family, and are appealed to
under all circumstances of a parental nature, or
when long absence from home seem to form a va
cant place in the hearts of children, which kindred
ties alone can fill.
The division of the Institution into Rooms is one
of its most striking peculiarities. In each of these
we find two colleagues, or companion teachers, who
live constantly with the pupils, taking watch over
their charge by turn, and each serving his day in
rotation. It is the duty of the Room-teacher to rise
with his fifteen or eighteen boys, the largest number
a Room should reach, to take them to meals, to morn
ing prayer, and to remain with them, while pursuing
their preparatory studies, until the eight o'clock
bell announces the commencement of the school day.
From that time the teacher is engaged in different
departments, he himself teaching; the boys, who

EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. 175
constitute his Room, are distributed throughout the
different classes, higher or lower, according to their
grade of merit and proficiency, without reference to
their ages or the Room in which they live. At the
hour of eleven the teacher of the Room takes them
in charge till twelve o'clock, when the dinner bell
summons all down to the dining-room.
In order to render this performance a creditable
one, no little skill and some military tactics are re
quired at the hands of the tutors. Dining, as also par
taking of both the other meals, becomes a practice put
into systematic form, and is a part of the great whole
of the general pedagogic plan ; and, indeed, if we con
sider how large a share of attention it occupies in
the affairs of life, and how absorbing is the interest
in all that relates to it, we may not wonder that it
engrosses some attention, as a part of education.
The going to and returning from the " Salle a
rdanger," must be a quiet and regular proceeding;
the teacher follows in the rear of the procession,
and a Pythagorean silence is enjoined from the time
of departure to the repast until it is accomplished.
So strict, in former times, was this Pythagorean
doctrine, from which strictness, however, there has
been a slight departure, that while at table the pupils
were wont to indicate their wants by raising the hand,
and designating the size of the bread, or proportion
of meat, etc., by the number of fingers held up.
This rule of perfect silence has had the best in
fluence, and when strictly regarded at the dinner,
16

176 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
affords one of the most admirable exercises in the
whole daily routine. In the olden time the meals
were always opened with a verse, which was sung by
the united voices of the pupils ; but of later times,
singing, unfortunately, has been exchanged for simple
reading of the grace.
A custom was introduced at Nazareth Hall, and
for some time preserved, of reading aloud during
dinner by one of the pupils ; but the general din of
knives and forks, plates, and feet, caused many in
terruptions to the hearer, and rendered the history
or story a work of fragments, only enjoyed at
intervals. But reading, it has been found, is no
proper adjunct of the repast, as the mind during
that time requires anything but serious or reflective
thought, and the digestive powers should be left to
their undisturbed sway. The piano, however, would
form a pleasant companion of the dining-room, and
cheerful music would lend an increased charm to the
-gastronomic enjoyments of the pupils.
After the mid-day repast, of which the bill of
fare, were it produced, would be very laconic, the
family regulations proceed; the teacher taking
his "Room" under his care until two o'clock P.M.,
when all once more disperse into their classes,
which, having occupied three hours in the morn
ing, require but two in the afternoon. At four,
the time for recreation arrives. Then the teacher
on duty again marshals his troop, and the woods are
sought or a walk is had, which occupies the inter-

EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. 177
val of daylight. On the play-ground there are many
amusements to employ both teacher and pupil, and
these are participated in together. The return to
supper now follows, and this being dispatched, the
evening is closed by "Preparation," or an hour's
study, which, among the older pupils, extends to
two hours, to enable them to duly qualify them
selves for the succeeding day's exercises.
When the teacher retires with his pupils for the
night, the solemnities of prayer are observed ; he
paces the dormitory until perfect quiet tells that all
have gone to sleep, and then resigns his "Room"
for the next day to his colleague, to go through the
same process of watching, drilling, reproving, en
tertaining, and instructing in the elements of wisdom,
a family of youth, who have all the waywardness,
the caprice, and the innocence of childhood.
The scheme of academic life being on the plan of
the family, the tutor is required to absorb all the
affections of the "Room" over which he presides.
In the intervals between school hours it becomes his
duty to amuse his pupils ; and in order to render his
business a grateful task, and to lighten the burden
resting upon him, he often seeks to regale the hours
by stories, amusements, games, and reading. These
avocations seem to render his own calling, in some
measure, supportable, and to reconcile the unruly
spirits placed under his guardianship, where they
are deprived of the luxuries of home, to the re-

178 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
straints which a rigid system imposes upon them.
But a long continuance of service such as this is apt
to wear upon the preceptor and make inroads upon
his health and happiness, and it is requiring too
much of one and the same individual to exact of
him more than five or six years of this species of tuto
rial life. In this space of time he will have outlived
several generations of pupils, among whom a strik
ing diversity of temper will have been encountered ;
while, on the part of their preceptor, the greatest
trials of fidelity of purpose, warring with the weak
ness of humanity, are concomitants incidental to his
calling. Two great interests are here always at
work, and while the sympathies of the disinterested
observer side, naturally, with the pupils, the greatest
self-sacrifice is going on in the mind and physical
energies of him who controls them.
Under the Moravian regime, however, the teach
er's career is regarded in the light of a probation,
and all his sacrifices of health and personal ease, and
a long durance within the walls of a secluded board
ing-school, are made subservient to the one great
end of removing every selfish claim, and arriving at
a more perfect fulfillment of Christian denial. The
teacher's life itself in these institutions becomes
a training, both as to habit and thought, and
though accompanied with some disadvantages, by
weaning him from society and debarring him from
acquiring the tact and accomplishments of conven-

EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. 179
tional life, yet the more lasting and important influ
ences are left behind on mind and heart.
It has ever been deemed essential that the teacher
be educated within the walls of the Moravian school,
not only to capacitate him for its peculiar mode of
inculcation, but, at the same time, to render him
proof against the difficulties and trials of his peda
gogic career. It appears to be a rather neglected,
but most commendable usage, for the teacher to ex
tend the pleasures of the family to his circle of
pupils by that most admirable of all the relaxations
of a vacation, a pedestrian tour. In this regard,
the customs of the European schools deserve our
attention and imitation. While corresponding in their
general regulations very nearly with our own, the
schools of Switzerland, and particularly those of
Geneva, which stand deservedly among the best in
Europe, are noted for Alpine tours made during the
summer vacations, and extending across the Alps to
Italy as far as Milan and Venice. These rovings
among the mountains, with "Alpen-stock" and knap
sack, often continue for several weeks, and in the
school of Tb'pfer they have resulted in one of the
most entertaining and admirable works, pleasantly
and naively written, by Tb'pfer himself.1
1 Voyages en Zigzag, ou Excursions d'un Pensionnat, en
Vacances. A book copiously illustrated with Swiss scenery,
amusing and grotesque school-boy tableaux, and fine de
lineations of nature and academic life. It has gone through
numerous editions, and has received a deserved popularity.
16*

180 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
The custom is not confined to the Swiss schools
only, for we find some of the "Pensions" of South
ern Germany sending out their lads, under a similar
equipment, to rove through the mountains and sail on
the lakes of Switzerland, and thus enjoy the sunny-
side of a school-boy's life. The scheme is more
practicable in a country where the youth are col
lected from different parts, and where a return
home, during a four or five weeks' vacation, is pre
cluded ; but even in our own country, circumstances
would often render the excursion feasible and de
sirable, and drive away the dullness of holidays
spent within the solitary walls of the school. A
ramble amid our own romantic and primeval woods
would operate with good effect upon the practical
and artistic susceptibilities of the pupil, and we
should find a visible improvement among our own
youth of either sex in the cultivation of a love of
nature, grow out of such expeditions into the moun
tains, under the guidance of an instructor, whose
fine tastes could give direction to the imagination of
those under his or her charge.
It is not too late in the day nor too antiquated in
purpose, even in these more prosaic times, to revive
those earlier customs, and we may as well look to a
revival of old forms of life to add to its excitements
as to seek exploded and antiquated costumes to deck
the outer man.
The whole gastronomic policy of our schools has
been, and is yet, in some mitigated degree, under as

EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. 181
wise a jurisdiction as the intellectual regimen pre
scribed to them. A diet that brings health to the
system and roseate hues to the cheeks is, above every
other, the true food of the body, and the wisdom of
educational government lies in furnishing that exer
cise and pure air which are the chief promoters of
hygiene. As to the nature of the exercise pre
scribed to the pupils, it consists mostly of a walk in
the woods or into the surrounding country, and while
at the play-ground, the game of ball is a frequent
and favorite amusement.
Gymnastics have been introduced, wherein they
are at liberty to test the strength of limb and prac
tice in feats of agility. These may have a good end
in view, so far as relates to the development of
muscular powers ; but the old custom of roving at
large was always a pastime that filled up the vacant
hours with the greatest zest, made nature a delight
ful companion, and refreshed the jaded mind by
giving the limbs their free scope in the unrestrained
amusements of the "Round Place."
I have said that the tutors themselves frequently
share in the amusements of the green-wood, and
rivalries at various games oftentimes spring up be
tween themselves and the boys. Winter evenings
call for mental recreation, previous to the hour of
"Preparation," or that portion of the night which
closes with study ; and to those teachers gifted with
the somewhat rare faculty which can invent a tale
after the manner of the Troubadours, as it pro-

182 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
ceeds, it was, and is, a source of no little pleasure
to find themselves surrounded with an audience of
wondrous and gaping listeners, waiting in anxious
suspense for a denouement which still lies hidden
within the mazes of the story-teller's brain. Le
gends, after this fashion, are usually furnished by
installments, and the evening's entertainment termi
nates with a " to be continued," and, as long as the
narrator has the ingenuity to sustain the interest of
his story, he can command that most desirable state
of things in the "Room," a breathless silence.
In presenting these recollections of the past, as
well as existing diversions of the Moravian Board-
ing-Schools, I am indicating the different points of
a picture, of which the tout-ensemble has ever been
pleasant and instructive to look upon. In the grown
up man or woman, whose memory recurs to the
scenes I have touched upon, and who figured among
them, emotions are awakened which are sacred to
themselves, since the events on which they are based
form an impressive point in their earlier lives.
Many of the youth themselves, participating in
all the forms of a Moravian Cultus, witnessing our
musical ceremonials, our poetical rites, enjoying our
cheerful Love-Feasts, and sojourning long enough
among us to go through a repetition of the Christian
year of Moravian life and festivity, become imbued
with ideas of the loveliness of Christianity which
the world could neither "give nor take away." Un
der this combination of influences, the results of

EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. 183
education are, in a large degree, purely emotional,
and the moral character is more firmly moulded by
heart-culture than by that of intellect.
The views I have taken of scholastic life are chiefly
in reference to Nazareth Hall, and where they apply
to the female character, to Bethlehem, Litiz, and
Salem schools; but the spirit exhibited in them has
been the invigorating element of all the Moravian
institutions in Europe.
Having previously made use of the term emotional
education as being one of the results of the Mora
vian system, I shall now add a few remarks on the
meaning of the expression, before speaking of the
intellectual department.
In the Moravian forms of life, the warmth of soul
and geniality of social intercourse that spring from
German nationality, are strikingly apparent. At
the same time, we can trace much that partake of
an emotional bias in the customs still reigning at
Herrnhut. Among these we have the method of
singing the hymns of the church, which all the chil
dren there learn so perfectly, that not even a book
is used in service, and frequently, not a line read
aloud by the pastor. The hymns are familiar to all,
and can be caught up by every one as soon as he
hears the first line started.
The custom of reciting the hymns was made a
universal practice in the Moravian schools, and,
although now no longer strictly adhered to in this
country, was once a regular weekly exercise. By

184 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
the Moravian youth a twofold object was gained —
that of learning to sing the tunes of the church, and
of becoming versed in the beautiful productions of
our hymnology. All the pupils imbibing the spirit
of these sacred verses, and acquiring the old Ger
man chorales at the same time, found themselves
entering upon a province of instruction which I have
termed emotional.
In America we still adhere to the practice of
having weekly singing-schools, but less regard is
paid to the cultivation of the chorale than formerly,
and our music is, in some degree, tainted with the
false taste of modern psalmody, too much in vogue
in this country. The exercises in choral singing by
whole classes is a feature of our system which can
not be too highly recommended ; it has been intro
duced in many American schools, and, indeed, is an
old custom among them, which, from time to time,
has suffered neglect. It is the primary step to an
emotional education, which, in connection with the
intellectual department, should form the highest
aim of the instructor of youth. By imbibing the
first principles of harmony, such as the old Lutheran
chorale exhibits, the foundation is laid for a good
superstructure of musical thought, on which much
of the refinement of human life is built. The sub
ject of educational discipline is not converted into a
mere thinking, calculating machine, but that mys
terious portion of the organism termed the heart, is
awakened into sympathetic action with the brain.

EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. 185
To these exercises in singing I must add the very
essential portion of a Moravian cause of instruction,
music on the piano, as conducive to the general re
sults of the species of culture referred to. Whether
the pupil makes much actual progress, or becomes a
proficient in the art, is not the sole inquiry ; the
aim being more a general refinement of thought and
introduction to musical feeling, produced by an
acquaintance with the choicest airs and sonatas of
Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven, than to send forth
accomplished musical scholars.
Lessons are given by those progressive steps from
simple elements to higher composition that charac
terize the literary studies of our schools. Instruc
tion in instrumental music thus forms a conspicuous
feature, and in the female academies the success is
more visible, in so far as relates to mere accomplish
ment ; but in considering music as a medium of re
finement, its influences are as fully manifested in our
male as in our female schools. This whole process
of education secures the affections of the youth, who
become attached not only to the localities of his
school-boy years, but to the forms of worship and
the solemnities by which he is surrounded, and in
this species of education fond reminiscences are
sown for all his future life.
The strongest evidences of this fact are to be seen
in the frequent revisits to the Moravian schools, by
pupils who have grown up to manhood and venerable
age, and also during the last few years, in the Re-

186 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
unions convened at Nazareth Hall, where some memor
able and affecting scenes have been enacted on the
part of the rejuvenated old men. Similar instances
take place in the visits of aged ladies to the schools
of Salem, Bethlehem, and Litiz, and the return to
those old homes of their childhood always results in
a declaration and outpouring of their affections for
persons, localities, and early transactions in life,
connected with that poesy of the heart, which never
fades away, even when all else becomes callous.
In connection with these views, I may add that
the plan of the family, though often attempted on a
small scale, is not generally thought to be successful
in its application to educational purposes ; and if we
consider the difficulties to be encountered by the prin
cipal and preceptor, in conciliating the conflicting
wishes, and guiding the habits of a mixed commu
nity of boys, gathered from all opposite points, and
reared in contrasting circumstances of life, we may
infer how unelysian the joys of the family might be.
But notwithstanding many warring elements are oc
casionally found to render the social life of our
schools imperfect, the moral and intellectual regi
men prescribed softens down many asperities, and
renders the family plan a successful one.
In the long history of Moravian boarding-schools,
instances of a happy realization of an ideal life
could be pointed out, which the memory of the old
man recalls with delight, and to which the venerable
dame of the living times reverts with yearning emo
tion.

EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. 187
All these results are the characteristics of an emo
tional education, a growth in man's psychology, sepa
rate and distinct from that of the mere intellect, and
having an immediate bearing on those grand aims and
designs of life which make it a question of immor
tality. To these first developments of an inner life,
made in our schools without any regard to creed, sect,
or dogma, but brought forth by the cultivation of the
simple Moravian hymn, with its unaffected Christi
anity, the pupil is often known to pay his acknow
ledgments at an after-period, when long intercourse
with the world has proved that mere intellectual
knowledge is wisdom under a soulless personifica
tion. ,
As regards the intellectual part of the system, it
may be remarked that a large and captious pro
gramme has never been aimed at in our mode of in
struction, the whole scheme being a development of
mind by that gradual process which fits one stage of
its growth for entering upon a successive one. To
teach the youth how to learn, rather than to make
him learned, was ever and still is the object of Mora
vian instruction.
First in importance is the rule of writing all les
sons committed to memory. This limits the amount
of learning, but conduces to thoroughness and cor
rectness, the basis of the whole mental superstruc
ture. History is given in the form of a lecture. The
reading of some chosen passages of the world's most
17

188 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
eventful and striking periods occupies the hour, be
fore a class of fifteen or twenty pupils. A synopsis
or outline of the portion accomplished during that
time is thus furnished by the tutor, which, being
copied by all the class, learned, and digested, is re
cited at the next lecture. Formerly, nearly all
branches of study were inculcated in this way, but as
the labor of revising each task fell upon the teacher,
it became too onerous, and the text-books of other
schools of the country have been allowed in certain
studies to supersede that old and unrivaled plan by
which knowledge is left but slender means of escape
from the youthful student. It is not only the in
terest awakened during the hour of school in the fate
of empires, or the character of the hero, that comes
within the lecturer's plan, but the very habit of
writing down the outline and learning thoroughly all
it embraces, renders the process of this species of
instruction unsurpassed. It is not the aim to teach
the pupil the world's whole history, and furnish the
names of those who have figured therein, and the
years whence they all date their origin, in order to
send forth good historical scholars; but, rather, to
select the auspicious epoch when some remarkable
convulsion of human thought and action took place,
casting on the surface of time beings of remarkable
endowments, and concentrate the young mind's
powers upon the contemplation of such scenes, in
order to bring about the development aimed at by
every true system of education.

EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. 189
The tendency of the mode of tuition now under
review, is to render the habits of thought and action
correct. This principle is nowhere better illustrated
than in the careful and punctilious revision of tasks,
which the pupil invariably submits to the tutor. By
suffering no error to go unheeded, the mind of the
scholar passes through an ordeal of discipline, which
in after-life fixes the character, and leaves indelible
traces behind. Indeed that cardinal point of cor
rectness stamps the system as an unequaled one, and
forms the secret of all early training.
In explaining geometry, ample opportunity is
given for the exercise of the pupil's ingenuity and
logical acumen, by the manner the teacher adopts of
first exhibiting his demonstration on the black-board,
and then putting the capacities of the class to the
test, by allowing every member of it to try the solu
tion himself.
It has long since been laid down that all heads are
not adapted to all studies, and the grand result of
every educational effort should tend to train the mind
for the task of grasping the ends and aims of its own
individuality. The scope of the mode of instruction
we are considering seems calculated to achieve this
purpose. In order to mould the character into forms of cor
rectness, and lead it in the walks of system and
regularity, its whole scheme has been most pro
foundly studied, and all its details nicely weighed.
To accomplish all this, however, a short term of

190 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
pupilage is not adequate. The uncontrolled and
neglected subject who comes here to be instructed in
mind and guided in heart, cannot be led into the
straight path before having gone across the rugged
and craggy defiles of correction and severe disci
pline. To bring this about, sometimes requires a
penance of years, but the process is in most cases
successful, wearing off the rough surface of the dia
mond, and exhibiting the fair glittering qualities that
lie within.
I have previously observed that the Moravian
school makes but little parade of knowledge, and does
not promise to lead the mind of the child through the
whole domain of science. This is not promised,
simply because it cannot be done ; and it would be
catering to an age of false pretensions, an age in
which varnish, veneering, and glitter are worshiped,
to hold out any visionary and superficial plans of
instruction. The results of these literary pursuits
are found more in the general progress of mind
than in the attainment of any showy accomplish
ments. The mental faculty trained and disciplined in the
paths of science by the same laws it was two thou
sand years ago, eschewing every new process of ad
vancement, and avoiding every open and precipitous
path into the domains of knowledge, reaches its ma
turity, and acquires its symmetry, as gradually and
as surely as the oak is developed from the acorn.
All accomplishments of a mushroom growth are the

EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. 191
inventions of a modern and progressive epoch, and
retard, rather than add to, the evolution of the
mind's hidden powers.
After these general remarks upon the educational
principles in vogue among the Moravians, and which
are applicable to their male and female schools in
Europe and in this country, I will conduct my readers
to one of these institutions, which has become vene
rable by time, and by the respect it has inspired
among all who have known and sustained it.
Plain and unenticing in its exterior, an abode of
rural peace, surrounded by no worldly attractions,
its popularity has been proportioned to its useful
ness, and though of modest pretensions, and limited
in its scale of operations, it will be found that therein
lie the elements of its worth and endurance.
Let us now approach Nazareth Hall.1
1 Of the various treatises upon education that have ap
peared among the Moravians of the last century, there was
one by Bishop Layritz, which was held in high esteem when
the intellectual was made more subservient to emotional know
ledge than in these days ; and as his precepts upon the instal
ment of practical lessons, and virtuous and religious princi
ples, are curiously and quaintly given, I will furnish a speci
men of one which relates to the education of the girl after
she has left school and entered upon the duties of home life.
"The avocations to which a daughter should devote all her
energies during these years include the whole household
economy and all that pertains to household duties. The
chief of these are spinning, knitting, cooking, washing, and
working in the garden, etc. 17*

192 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
"In all these female employments it is more urgent that
she should be led into the useful than the ornamental. Thus
it will be more needful for her to learn to cut out shirts and
other linen clothing, and faithfully sew them, than to addict
herself to patch-work, embroidery, and other fine needle-work.
I do not say that the latter should be entirely neglected, if
there be an opportunity for its exercise, but my aim is to have
her first become skilled in what is really useful and indispen
sable. The same rule may be applied to all other female em
ployments. Let your daughters avoid what is rare, handsome,
and costly, which with them is generally the first object of
attraction, and direct them chiefly to the serviceable, and
exercise them so long on it as to enable them to produce a
good piece of work. In spinning linen, cotton, and wool, in
struct them how to divide the cuts, hanks, and skeins, accord
ing to usage, and also as to how much is required for a yard
of linen ; so that when they take it to the weaver they may
know how much they have to claim of him.
"Here they can apply their knowledge of writing and
ciphering. After they have been a certain time with their
mother in the kitchen, and learned how to cook, then set
them to cooking alone, and let their mother furnish them a
weekly bill, so that they may learn by experience how much
and what is needed for every meal, and when their resources
fail, let them seek advice of their parent.
" In cooking, the same remark applies as to sewing, viz. :
that the daughters should not be engaged in the skillful, or
the choice and expensive, but adhere to the substantial,
simple, and digestible dishes, and only indulge in the former
for the sake of practice.
"As a matter of course, they should understand everything
belonging to the kitchen, including the killing and dressing
of poultry and fish. To this acquirement add the knowledge
of the price of provisions, and how to proceed when they pur
chase them. The daughter can also keep a day-book, and

EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS. 193
charge her outlays, and her experience will teach her where
her profit arises.
"In these years a faithful mother will instruct her in wash
ing, and show her how to perform the whole operation of it,
from soaking the clothes to the final drying and mangling.
The worthy mother will see that her daughter does not over
exert herself, but that she inures herself to labor by gradual
efforts, and thus preserves her health and fits herself for
future industry. The example of the parents will conduce
greatly to show how she should conduct herself toward ser
vants, and that she should neither give way to too much
familiarity, nor exercise an air of too much authority among
them. "It will add much to her habits of order and punctuality,
if the daughter is directed to make out a regular list of the
pieces, so that when they are returned from the laundry, she
can count them over, and lay them away on their respective
shelves. "And every year let the mother and the daughter go over
the house-inventory, striking out of it whatever has disap
peared, and adding whatever has been purchased. When,
finally, all these things are accomplished under the eyes of
the Lord, the education of the daughter under the mother's
care will receive an enduring blessing from Him."

X.
NAZARETH HALL.
The old Boarding-school, known for the greater
portion of a century as Nazareth Hall, stands in a
commanding position, at the western side of the
village, and in its southern view enjoys a landscape
unsurpassed for beauty and fertility.
It was erected in 1755, for the purpose of accom
modating Count Zinzendorf and his suite of fellow-
pilgrims who accompanied him in his missionary
labors, and as these resided with him in the ca
pacity of coadjutors, this, in common with the desig
nation of all other similar institutions, was intended
as a " Disciple" or "Pilgrim House."
As the Count, after his visit in 1741, never re
turned to America, the large and imposing mansion
was not used for its original design, and shortly be
fore his death, in 1760, it was applied to the pur
poses to which it has ever since been dedicated.
This early Boarding-school began in 1759 and
lasted until 1779, during a part of which period
it was large and flourishing ; but from causes the
enumeration of which would here be irrelevant, the
operations of the Institution ceased for six years,
(194)

NAZARETH HALL. 195
when it was resuscitated under new auspices, (1785,)
and has since remained, with the exception of some
adverse stages, a successful undertaking.
The old Hall is a massive structure, built of blue
hmestone, (now covered over by a rough coating of
gravel,) which formed the material of all the build
ings of those early times. Its double-pitched roof,
with two rows of dormer-windows, strengthens its
claims to antiquity ; and the balcony which crowns
it is eagerly sought by the visitor, in order to study
the surrounding prospect. During the hour pre
ceding sunset, in a tranquil evening, the scene which
nature here presents to her devoted student is beau
tiful in the extreme ; and whether we look out upon
the landscape from this balcony, or through the
windows on the south side of the building, the
senses become captivated by a harmonious picture.
In the course of modern progress many new sug
gestions have been thrown out to ornament the
structure, in order to accommodate it to the wants
and ideas of the times we live in ; but in this brush
ing up of old walls, tearing off old panel-work, re
moving old balustrades, and effacing the marks on
the stairs, which had been worn upon them by the
feet of by-gone generations of boys, the antiquarian
interest of the Hall has been, in some measure,
diminished, and the change has called forth the re
grets of all those whose affections and tastes derive
their sustenance from the past. It belongs to the

196 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
classic and refined perception to seek out that
which is primitive, historical, and full of traditional
story. To minds of this class elegant architecture
affords but little attraction, and if it does, it only
excites the intellect, without engaging the emotions.
Let but some fragment of wood discover itself, which
has been sanctified by age or the incidents of the
past, and then the inanimate object becomes a thing
of communication and thought.
Before the Hall underwent its late renovation, it
had been the repeated victim of change, the various
partition-walls in its second stories having often
been torn down, in order to make large rooms
small and small rooms large. Some years ago it
was forced to submit to the fate of all venerable
piles in this country, which must either be torn down
or clothed in an entire new dress. Fortunately, its
demolition was spared, but, much to the mortification
of the antiquarian, it was metamorphosed into a com
paratively modern looking structure. Notwithstand
ing this modernizing operation, it, however, still re
tains many of its lifeless memorials. In the small
chapel, on the first floor, stand the four original
octagonal columns that formed conspicuous objects
in the old church, and which are associated with the
recitations of the pupils on Examination-days, and be
tween which all the old classic music of Haydn and
Mozart was performed by the youthful amateur mu
sicians. In the upper portion of the building, the
roof, dormer-windows, balcony, and belfry, can all

NAZARETH HALL. 197
be identified, although much of the rest is lost to
the eye, as it vainly seeks for that which it knew so
well in boyhood.
Where the Corpse-house stood, there is now a
vacant spot ; but that solemn and mysterious struc
ture which received the remains of those who were
borne thither previous to interment, still vividly lives
in the imagination, as it stood in rather close prox
imity to the Hall.
The venerable fountain which poured forth from
the blue limestone reservoir, has been removed and
placed under a more fanciful structure of painted
lattice-work, contiguous to the Hall, quite near to
one of the few remaining land-marks of the olden
time, the large poplar tree, near the west end door
way. I deem this another instance of our defective
taste, as the stone fountain in all the ancient Euro
pean towns is one of their most characteristic fea
tures, and while the eternal waters of the earth
continue to flow from it, the huge stone basins of
granite or old gray marble indicate an age beyond
the memory of man.
The square in front of the Hall, though deprived of
many of its old poplars, still presents the same green
area, now intersected and incompassed by walks,
and nearly inclosed by buildings which have sprung
up in recent times.
For the play-grounds of the boys, venerable and
shady woods are reserved on the summit of the hill,
in the rear of the town ; but these woods have been

198 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
sadly curtailed of their once natural and forest-like
character, and no longer furnish the extensive range
for the lads, who were wont to roam over them
during the afternoon and twilight hours. The
"Round Places" are still there, shaded over by the
hickory, oak, and chestnut, and even by the very
trees that stood there in days of yore ; but as the
eye scans the limits of the present grounds, it
escapes through the interstices of the foliage into
open fields all around, and the fact discloses itself
that many old spots are entirely gone.
The garden, or pleasure-ground, possesses, pro
bably, stronger claims to identity than any other spot
or object remaining, as the old trees there constitute
its great beauty and attraction. Its paths and its
unique structures remain unaltered, and in stroll
ing through this much-admired and cherished re
sort, the imagination of the pupil, who once held
converse with them, falls irresistibly among the
dreams and visions of the past. The garden was
not at all times open to the boys, but they were
admitted at special hours, their allotted recreation,
as we have seen, having been at the "Round
Places;" yet it was always free for visitors and
citizens, and its shades were often chosen for idle
hours. Among things inanimate, an old and familiar
friend was the bell, that hung for an age within
the belfry, which still surmounts the Hall. This
old favorite, in the days of our youth, was well

NAZARETH HALL. 199
known for its habit of telling the quarters before
it told the hours, and, lingering in the garden,
or in the woods above the graveyard, those gentle
sounds of one, two, and three quarters fell upon
the ear with the force of significant and expres
sive music. In these monotonous tones of the
modest quarter bell, the denizen of the Hall as well
as of the hamlet enjoyed much comfort, and when
ever he missed the sounds for a time, he was glad
to hear them again. In its new abode, the same
old clock is heard to proclaim the quarters, but
from its changed position, its effect on the visitor
is in part lost, as it no longer retains the perfect
identity looked for in the recognition of old and
cherished objects.
During recitation hours, Time, under this imper
sonation, was an important actor, as the telling
of the hours, and especially of the last four quar
ters, drove away suspense on the part of the diffi
dent school-boy, who may not have been well pre
pared, or on whom the irksomeness of hard study
was an onerous burden. By all such, the final
fourth quarter was listened to with restless sus
pense, and when the eventful "four o'clock" pealed
forth, a general shout announced the close of the
school day.
A staunch regulation in old Moravian life was the
custom of dining precisely at 12 M. With this view
the bell was punctually rung at "three-quarters," as
it was called, or a quarter of an hour preceding the
18

200 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
event. This made the hour of the meal perfectly
uniform throughout the Hall and village, and as the
three-quarter bell rung, the laborer was seen bend
ing his steps homeward, on the important errand of
cheering the inner man.
There was another "three-quarters" just before
eight in the morning, which gave intelligence to all
within and without the Hall, that the hour for school
was near at hand, and forced many a fearful youth
to brace his nerves for the coming occasion, when,
with a partially learned lesson, he was to enter the
presence of a dreaded tutor. To that noted bell,
therefore, we owe many grateful and heart-awaken
ing memories, for it was the arbiter of important
events in the visits of Time to the soul of youth,
and the aged still feel a pleasure in listening to the
tones it sends forth, although summoning the lads of
another generation to its momentous calls.
I have already, under a different head, alluded to
the nature of the recreations indulged in by the
pupils, and shall endeavor to present them here more
in detail, although they are characteristic of most
of our schools, and are only modified by the require
ments of sex; yet in the sketch of Nazareth Hall,
all its peculiar pastimes form a portion of its chroni
cles. And these chronicles are not to be overlooked,
for the pastimes, the games in the woods, and the
walks in the environs, are the green spots within the
memories of all the old men who were once pupils

NAZARETH HALL. 201
there. In the summer season, the swimming ex
cursions on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons,
those immemorial semi-weekly holidays, were mat
ters of great desire and enjoyment. The tutor,
with his "Room" of clamorous youth, who, long
ere the hour of two arrived, became impatient to go
forth to the Bushkill,1 might be seen departing on
a "swimming," regularly on each of those after
noons. With "swimming-breeches," as they were
styled in the nomenclature of the Hall, towel and
soap, and dressed in the nonchalant attire of boys
upon a hot day, the merry groups repaired to some
well-known "Deep Hole," sufficient for the purpose
of making the primary attempts at bathing. On the
return from the scene of ablution, a well-known
stopping place used to present itself at Nisky,
where the good dame came forth with pots of cold
milk, pies, and buttered-bread, to regale the appe
tites sharpened to their utmost acuteness by health-
giving air, exercise, and aquatic sports.
At a later day, and, indeed, at the time I am
writing, the pond at Boulton is the exclusive resort
for all these purposes, and the first inquiry made by
the boys, on their arrival there, is for the " boat-
key," to enable them to unchain that most important
instrument of the day's amusement, and sail on the .
1 Bushkill, or Lehietan, a beautiful and romantic stream,
on which, three miles distant from Nazareth, are situated
Boulton go" works.

202 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
waters. Accompanying these excursions may gene
rally be seen a baggage-wagon, well provisioned,
and fully appointed with all the culinary equipment
requisite for a whole day's encampment in the
woods. The appearance of the team, as it moves
along the road, drawing the car with a long rope,
similar to that of a fire-engine, is a merry spectacle,
and the arrival at Boulton, within sight of the water,
is generally announced by a hearty cheer, indicative
of the good state of feeling among the boys, who
are like birds just released from the cage.
Far up among the winding recesses of the stream
there are found romantic retreats, where the hem
lock and laurel overhang and shade it. Here the
boys select some quiet nook for their collations,
which receive additional zest from the fish and
frogs caught during the day. Among the dense
thickets of laurel a fire is lighted to prepare
the meal, boil the coffee, etc., imparting to the
tableau the appearance of a gipsy encampment.
Such entertainments as are here enjoyed give relish
to the tedium of academic life ; these healthful
out-door recreations invigorate the system and im
part buoyancy to the temperament, and, to prevent
its sinking, they should always be indulged in to an
extent compatible with a judicious and lenient dis
cipline. During the autumn, when the leaf of the forest turns
to its sere and yellow hues, new interest is felt for
the arrival of four p.m., and each boy, armed with

NAZARETH HALL. 203
bag and club, strikes into the woods to gather the
wild offerings of the season. This portion of out
door life has its never-failing joys, and I have known
boys to lay up during those- days of brown autumn
stores of nuts for esculent purposes, which have ex
cited the envy of many a gray squirrel. To discuss
these nuts becomes the employment of the winter
months, and they prove an excellent solace for the
deprivation of the higher luxuries of home. They
cost much personal labor, and involve many adven
tures in gathering them.
Having laid up these winter stores, due prepara
tions are now made for the scene that soon discloses
itself in the snow-clad fields and icy ponds in the
vicinity. Descending on sleds is a daily amusement,
and Wednesday and Saturday afternoons enable the
"Rooms" to go out and enjoy sledding and skating
in all their glory. These parties are, probably, the
merriest in the yearly round of amusements, and the
recollection of them in the minds of those who re
vert to them, is always glowing and cheerful. The
most intensely cold days are braved with indiffer
ence, and the young life-blood warms to the highest
point the enthusiasm of those inspiring pleasures.
But, perhaps, the general sleigh-ride by all the
"Rooms," is the most exciting occurrence of the
year, (always excepting Examination-day and de
parture for home.)
In more primitive days, on the first appearance
of a deep fall of snow, it was customary, on the
18*

204 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
afternoon preceding the grand f§te, to go out
among the neighboring farmers and engage a full
cavalcade of sleighs, sufficient for the accommoda
tion of the whole school. A party of one hundred
required a considerable muster, and, before the mo
dern encroachments of luxury and taste, with paint,
arabesque and gilding, and buffaloe and tiger skins,
had crept into the country, the old-fashioned stiff-
backed sleigh, with the home-made party-colored
coverlet trailing behind, was often introduced into
the merry train. The steeds, often past the meridian
of life, and educated to toil rather than pleasure,
and the drivers, innocent of the dangers that Bellero-
phon had encountered, yet all seemed inspired by
the occasion, and the grand signal for departure was
given, followed by the music of the bells, the cheers
of the boys, and the acclamations of the specta
tors. For the stopping-place, some inn was generally
selected where the cuisine stood in fair repute, and
to which due notice of the number of the party and
the hour of arrival had been sent the day before.
All these events are written as the things of a
past day, yet the customs of which they formed a
part still survive, under modified forms, but imbued
with as jovial indications of youth as ever. The
old-fashioned sleigh, with its coverlet, has given place
to the ample omnibus and four, driven by an adept,
with a full supply of dark fur robes, and miniature
bells in numberless strings in lieu of the large one
formerly dangling beneath the horse's neck'; all mark

NAZARETH HALL. 205
a new age in the outward circumstances of life,
although the heart and its joys, youth and its pre
dilections, remain as ever, bright and cloudless.
Among other things now passed away, was the
celebration of teachers' and principals' Birth-day.
The former was generally made the occasion of an
afternoon party in one of the "Rooms," and par
ticipated in by a few teachers, over coffee, cigars,
and buns ; while the boys belonging to the same
Room, and seated at their long tables, enjoyed that
part of the luxury which related to the coffee and
buns. This "Vesper," as the collation was termed,
was a convivial one, and was an offspring of Mora
vian life which, as already seen, makes the Birth
day a prominent and happy event.
There is no record left to show when the last of
these joyous afternoons was observed, but, together
with the "Inspector's turkey-feast," on the occasion
of his own anniversary, they are now deemed obso
lete. In 1855 the Examination and the Centenary
Anniversary of the erection of the Hall were cele
brated on the same day.
To give a becoming acknowledgment to this event,
the boys decorated all their "Rooms" with oak-leaf
garlands and inscriptions on the walls, indicative of
the day, the vacation and its pleasures. In the
chapel, prepared by the hands of the tutors, were
beautiful devices of hemlock wreaths, roses, and
flowers, illustrative of the jubilee to which the

206 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
Hall had attained, and, at the same time, animat
ing the " Examination" by a twofold solemnity.
The Hall had just reached its hundredth year of
existence ; it had been occupied as a boarding-school
nearly all that time, and had sent forth from its
tutelage fourteen hundred pupils. In the recita
tion and musical department, unusual exertions had
been made by the preceptors to fill up the pleasure
of the day, and every one seemed gratified.
The outer symbols of the affections and re
joicings, which we recognize in the hemlock, the
laurel, the wild moss, and the oak-leaf, fashioned
into simple designs and classic wreaths, have ever
been a happy result of art, as inculcated in the Hall,
and it is to be hoped that these characteristic fea
tures may be preserved, and go down unchanged
to the youth of many generations yet to come.
I have already hinted that the garden retained its
identity more than any other spot ; but even here,
many time-worn resting-places have been shorn
of their attractions, and transformed into new
rural conceptions. These well-known seats should
be suffered to remain, be they ever so primitive or
rudely constructed, until the tooth of time shall have
gnawed away everything that is left of them. They
are the truest depositories of our youthful suscepti
bilities, and when we come to seek them out, after
long absence, the present is completely merged in
the past.
An old and cherished resort of the pupils of the

NAZARETH HALL. 207
earlier part of the present century was "Sacred to
Meditation," the designation of a summer-house
near the oval pond, which it overlooked, and which
has since been superseded by a grass plot. This
was always occupied by some congenial conclave,
discoursing on themes that most interested the youth
ful imagination, in the full play of boyish fancy and
frivolity. At the extremity of the avenue, which
first admits the visitor into the garden through a
huge revolving gate, surmounted by the well-known
eagle, with its outspread wings, there formerly stood
another summer-house, containing a panel painting.
It was the clever production of some forgotten land
scape artist, perhaps belonging to the Hall, and de
scribed a pastoral scene, the details of which have
now worn off from my memory. It long withstood
the ravages of the atmosphere and the vandalism of
the boys, until, eventually, it became so defaced that
its figures could no longer be recognized. This was
a chosen locality for many of the pupils of the
olden time, and the very defacements of the picture
strengthened their attachment to it. Over the mas
sive stone walls that inclose the spring a balcony is
now erected for the use of the musicians, who often
perform on festival days.
Of the trees that formerly lent their grateful
shadows to the denizens of this hallowed spot, the
greater part yet remain, noble and beautiful in their
old age. The gaunt and ungraceful form of the
American elm is still to be seen near the "Reser-

208 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
voir," while above it we find the stately and tower
ing white pines and beech. In strolling among
the trees, the visitor recognizes, on all sides, a host
of old acquaintances in these arborescent figures;
and, although age has swelled their proportions into
increased size and stature, they address the mind by
the same medium of intelligence they were always
wont to do. On the beech, a well-known and ready
victim of the pocket-knife everywhere, many initials
may yet be traced of boys who flourished here a
quarter of a century ago ; but where such incisions
were made at an earlier date, they have been con
signed to oblivion by the tree, whose monumental
trust scarcely exceeds a score of years.
In revisiting the village, the former pupil will
miss many a well-known face, but in an hour's stroll
through the garden, he will find the English elm, the
ash, the beech, the pine, the copse of juniper, the
larch, the catalpa, the poplars, the willows near
the stream, the same underwood, the same flowers,
grasses, and mosses so familiar to him when he dwelt
among them.
In connection with the Hall, we must not pass the
Sisters' House unnoticed, for, from the part it acted
in the cuisine, it occupies an important place in the
memories of the older pupils. Here, for a long
time, flourished the " kitchen department," from
which the meals were carried to the Hall refectory by
the Sisters, who were aided by the boys in the capa
city of "Week-holders," an office which, every Satur-

NAZARETH HALL. 209
day night, was assumed, for one week, by two boys
of each "Room." Many pleasing pictures of the
Moravian maiden Sister, sitting in industrious silence,
innocent of the world's attractions, happy and ele
vated to the inner element of Christian life and con
templation, were found here, and are still referred
to by those who seek out former acquaintances.
With these the boys cultivated an intercourse for
the sake of a favorite mint-cake, and repaired regu
larly to the Sisters' House for those invaluable con
fections. The Sisters' House and its out-buildings,
sombre and somewhat dilapidated, still remain, and
preserve their quaint picture unaltered and uneffaced.
Examination-days are yet what they ever were.
The same exercises engage the efforts of the pupils,
and similar scenes are enacted over again at the de
parture for home. In the "Square," the busy scene
is still beheld, of leave-taking, heaping up trunks,
last adieus, hurras for home, and all the other ac
companiments of the close of the session. Sad
hearts, as ever, linger behind within the silent walls,
looking on the gay spectacle before them, and
repining at their own lot, which dooms them to re
main, while others depart with visions of enjoyment
in store.
Since the day of which I was a part, some changes
have taken place in the exterior of life, in the conven
tionalities of thought, and in the general observances
of society; yet here youthful ebullitions come up
from the same spring they ever did, and the heart's

210 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
fountains, like the deep sources of the mountain
brook, remain the same throughout all time.
As soon as the "Examination" is over, and the
"Vacation" has arrived, liberty lends wings to the
youthful captive, and he feels like an unchained
being. During a four weeks' respite, he can throw
aside the shackles that bound him, and his allegiance
to preceptor and to school.
Many return with pleasure to their adopted home,
the abode of learning, where the foundation of early
affection of both mind and heart is first laid, and
the attachment to the Hall endures for a triennial stay
there. But as the boy develops and strides forward
toward manhood, his yearnings for the larger pursuits
and ambitions of life come on, his wishes increase
upon him, and he gradually tires under the confine
ment of his Alma Mater.
This is probably as it must be, but even in three
or four years the discipline of this peculiar school
will tell upon future character. Of all its eleven who
have gone forth to occupy the position in society
which Providence may have assigned them, few, it is
gratifying to observe, have dishonored the institution
that fostered their juvenile years. Few, it is true, ever
reached that high eminence which, in the accepta
tion of the world's vocabulary, is called fame;
yet if we follow their career along those ordinary
paths where true merit and genuine worth find their
own rewards, we shall see that, without reaching
any dazzling eminence or pride of place, on them

NAZARETH HALL. 211
the Hall, the good tree of wisdom and decorous de
meanor, always left fall its grateful fruits. In looking
"over the career and fate of others, we may find that
life proved a shipwreck of the virtues and the early
inculcations of religion, even to the tender nursling
of Moravian paternity; but if the eye could have
reached the deep recesses of the heart of those fallen
ones, doubtless, secret yearnings for that Arcadia of
their youth could have been discerned.

19

XI.
ENVIRONS OF NAZARETH.
In leaving the Hall, its inmates, their duties and
their pleasures, it will be worth our attention to look
around and see what is left of the original Naza
reth itself, as it stood when the scenes of which I
have given a sketch took place.
Something of the original village may be con
ceived, by visiting, here and there, an antiquated
house, that has withstood the inroads of time and
the encroachments of modern architecture. Few of
these, however, remain ; the village itself having, by
constant renovation, become completely modernized.
The antiquarian in these matters of early Moravian
vestiges feels an interest in researches connected
with them, for the" tale of Moravian life was marked,
poetical and picturesque.
The old cemetery beyond the boys' play-ground
may still be traced, although it was suffered to fall
into neglect, the land it occupied having been sold,
and, for want of sufficient interest in it, no proper
measures were taken to secure in perpetuity this old
and remarkable burial-place. A few of the broken and
fragmentary slabs, with defaced names upon them,
(212)

ENVIRONS OF NAZARETH. 213
have been rescued and preserved in the room of the
Moravian Historical Society. It was here that in
terments from Ephrata, the "Rose," and Old Naza
reth took place, and during the appalling times of
Indian warfare, the funeral procession often moved
in fear, and required an armed guard for an escort
into the woods. Standing alone, in its solitary re
ality, that ancient burial-ground might have proved
an object of thoughtful meditation, for it gave a
resting-place to some of those early pioneers and
Indian converts whose names it would be pleasant
to read, and which the pilgrim to that silent spot
would gladly seek.
A little south of the cemetery are the most favorite
and noted views the environs of Nazareth furnish.
From Gnadenthal Hill, lying but a short walk's dis
tance west of the play-ground, the southern panorama
presents itself, and will repay the visitor for his
ramble thither. Far as the vision reaches, can
be seen an intermingling of hills and champaign
country, dotted with small settlements and farm
houses, and inclosed along the southern and western
horizon by the Lehigh Hills and the Blue Ridge.
The Gnadenthal Hills have always been a che
rished resort, both to the strolling student, in search
of a fine pictorial study, and to the gay school-boy
troop, who were wont to cross them in autumn to
visit the orchards of "Old Schlabach," and take
home liberal supplies of apples. And when the
chestnuts ripened, this was the scene of action for

214 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
the busy lads who sought the coveted fruit of the
beautiful tree that crowns the summits of these hills.
In addition to the view from this western point,
the picture around the play-grounds is engrossing
to the wanderer over this well-trodden ground. Its
beauty was never lost upon the contemplation of the
tutor, as he sat on a rustic bench during the plays
of the boys, and the latter themselves, after the ab
sence of half a lifetime, seek the spot to realize once
more that which, implanted in the early imagina
tion, becomes a subsequent day-dream.
If the sojourner here wish to extend his researches,
and feast upon the pictures around, let him drive out
through the ancient and still lingering remnant of
the Moravian village of Christianspring. In this ex
cursion he will pass the site of Gnadenthal, now con
verted into the County Aims-House, but still pre
serving one or more of the original structures that
composed the place. In the visit to Christianspring,
he will discover the ancient houses as they always
stood, but for a key to their design and history, he
must refer to oral information and written chroni
cles. The same may be said of the whole ramble
around Nazareth and its environs. The curious ex
plorer should be versed in the history, the incidents
and the characters of an early period, and be im
bued with some feelings of admiration for their moral
achievements. Two pleasant retreats, known as the "John
Spring," and the "Lundt Spring," are engraven

ENVIRONS OF NAZARETH. 215
upon that same tablet on which so much has already
been written, for they were favorite resorts during
moments of liberty from the enthrallments of study,
and even in this late day of the life of many a former
pupil, these springs and their gurgling waters call up
visions of the morning of their manhood.
The "John Spring," which was inclosed within a
small hollow, or ravine, at the termination of the
"Round Place," surrounded and sheltered overhead
by dense foliage of oaks and chestnuts, not only
attracted the school-boy to its sequestered and lonely
shades, but in the stroll around Nazareth it always
became a point of attraction. But in visiting at this
time what was formerly known as "John Spring,"
it is difficult to recognize where that favorite spot
was, and where that cool spring oozed out of the hill
beneath the spreading shade of those old trees ; for
those well-known trees have all been leveled with the
ground, the ploughshare has been there, and open
fields and glaring sunbeams have driven away the
twilight stillness that was so long its charm.
In exploring the localities known as the "Lundt
Spring," we -shall find that nature has for once
retained her mastery, and that little has been
done by the hand of man to mar her primitive
beauty. The "Lundt Spring," lying deep down in a
ravine, to the north of the village, preserves its ro
mantic identity.
The old "Bore Spring" still issues forth perpen-
19*

216 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
dicularly out of the same perforation once made for
it, and whence tradition says it spouted up some feet
in height ; and, as we tread the paths in the vicinity
of the noted fountain, the dark slate rocks fringed
with moss and ferns, and rare wild flowers, still lend
a picturesque aspect to the sides of the hill.
The "Lundt Spring" is a place well adapted for
parties of pleasure, and is often made available for
that purpose. It is also resorted to by the lover of
solitude and study, and as it is, to all appearances,
unassailable by the hand of utility and improvement,
it will probably long flourish in its primeval wildness.
Although the woodman's dreaded axe is fast approach
ing, and is occasionally heard near and around it,
sweeping from the earth the genius of poesy and
imagination, and following alone the rude instincts of
necessity and material wants, yet this solitary foun
tain, amid the concealments of venerable oaks and
its rocky defile, will, let us hope, be long held sacred
by the coming generation. The villagers have re
served the grounds that inclose the spring, and
with rude seats, and paths, and rural architecture,
have rendered the spot inviting to Jhe pleasure-
seeker who loves to stray into the quiet woods,
where can be heard no sounds but those of birds or
or of the dripping waters of some cool spring.
A short walk south of the "Whitefield House," or
Ephrata, leads to the site of Old Nazareth. The
ancient building that constituted the chief abode of
the early inhabitants has recently been removed,

ENVIRONS OF NAZARETH. 217
after having stood for a long time, attracting the gaze
of the curious, and inviting many an explorer of
our antiquities to its interior, to discover that rude,
quaint, and primitive workmanship, in which the
hands of one of the first and most remarkable Mora
vians, of him who felled the first tree for the build
ing of Herrnhut, were engaged. That man was
Christian David.
Passing through the gateway, formerly guarded
by the " Two Lindens,"1 but now by their successors,
1 For a long time those two lindens stood, majestic con
sorts, overhanging the gateway, and were objects of great at
traction. The " corpse-house" was in close proximity to them,
and the funereal scene; just before the procession moved
onward to the cemetery, was enacted under their boughs.
Here the boys played, and their recollections of the Hall
and its surroundings are enlivened by the noble trees that
shaded their sports, and became the objects of their boyish
attachments. Old Father Sch'afer, who lived near the Square,
in the little stone-house, which, to this day, stands in its pris
tine simplicity and humility, became, in a measure, immor
talized by having unconsciously performed the meritorious
deed ctf planting those two trees. No chronicle of the oc
currence being within my reach, it is not in my power to say
how long ago this took place ; but the greater jart of a cen
tury must have elapsed since the date of the event.
Father Sch'afer, as he was wont to pass the Hall, to and
fro, became known to the boys as the worthy who planted
the lindens ; and in 1855, when the Reunion of the old pupils
took place, there was a reverential mention made of him,
in recalling the images of the two trees that now could no
longer be seen ; for decay having come upon them, and ren-

218 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
and through an avenue of English elms, of recent
growth, and climbing the ascent leading past the
garden, we are brought to the cemetery. Imme
diately over the entrance are the words from

dered them unsafe occupants of the place which they had
adorned, they shortly before had been felled to the ground.
Here they stood, the janitors of the gateway, and as* we
passed into the pleasure-grounds, or if we stood upon the
summit of the hill and looked down upon the village and its
environs, the two huge lindens were objects of glad recog
nition. Those old acquaintances are gone. For some years their
stumps were still examined by the curious pilgrim, but, during
the summer of 1857, the old pupils, assembling on the vene
rated spot, decided on replacing the lindens by planting, with
all due ceremony, two nurslings, which, we hope, many of the
living youth, who assisted in the transaction, may live to see
grow up into a sturdy old age.
The two original lindens have had many to lament their
fall, as the boys of thirty and forty years ago, feeling the glow
of rejuvenescence within them, have returned to revel in
the past, and become young again, by culling the flowers, of
departed days. Many of those flowers, it is true, have lost
their fragrance ; they smell sweetly no more, as they did when
a merry boyhood knew no bitterness ; still they are beautiful
to the soul, and the heart of the grown-up man feels chastened
as he gathers them.
What the eventual fate of the lindens was, I never learned ;
whether their trunks were sacrilegiously used for fuel, or
piously preserved, history does not say; yet the important
position they occupied in the memory, and the strong hold
they had upon the veneration of all who knew them, made
them deserving of a better fate than probably befell them.

ENVIRONS OF NAZARETH. 219
Scripture: "Because I lived, ye shall live also;"1
intimating that those who are borne through that
passage shall, for a short time, be seen no more, but
that the death, which is thought to seal up all earthly
hopes and aspirations, is only a transient sleep,
and a preparation for a bright reunion of kindred
spirits. Its chosen situation on the summit of the
bill, where the eye looks down on Nazareth and
takes in the whole landscape, has always made it dis
tinguished among our burial-places. The ground is
laid out in a manner similar to that of all the Mora
vian cemeteries, one-half allotted to each sex. Each
grave is covered with a large, oblong marble slab,
bearing the name, age, place of nativity, and of death.
Around the mound that marks the grave, humble
flowers are planted and nurtured, and of these the
wild thyme is a well-known favorite. Within late
years trees have been added, and will in time be
come the chief interest and attraction of the grounds.
This sacred spot, with its ancient graves, whose
inscriptions tell of many names that were connected
with the annals of Nazareth, is not unworthy of con
templation ; and if the mind of the visitor has fallen
into a proper mood by the chaste and solemn impres
sions of the ground he treads upon, the study of the
whole outward world will receive increased effect. Of

1 This inscription above the gateway is in imitation of the
Herrnhut Cemetery, where a similar quotation is placed over
head, in entering its silent portals.

220 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
late years one of the aged denizens of the village
has taken the burial-place into his peculiar charge,
selecting and planting the trees, improving the
walks, and gently letting down into their small
narrow cells many of those whose lot it is to be
carried thither. Having himself already reached
the patriarchal age, and seeing that the horizon of
this earthly sphere is gradually drawing closer, he
seems to take a pleasure in adorning that quiet
place on the summit of the hill, where he too shall,
ere long, be borne.
Of the various strolls around Nazareth, not the
least inviting is that in the direction of Friedensthal,
an ancient settlement of the Moravians, where their
old mill yet occupies its former site, although the
original buildings around it have disappeared. The
road in this direction leads through the settlement
known by the name of Nisky, a rural cluster of cot
tages of singular comfort and neatness, so that the
passer-by is almost tempted to step in and see how
life is spent in such abodes. Here the earth teems
with fruits, and the community seems to sit in the
lap of fertility. No display of art is seen to grace
the dwellings, but the character of the spot breathes
that species of tranquil comfort which belongs to an
unassuming rural abode. No place can be found in
this vicinity to vie with Nisky, in all the requisites of
a charming picture, and as we pass its cottages, with
smiling verdure, fruitful drapery and shady trees,

ENVIRONS OF NAZARETH. 221
grouped around, we feel disposed to cultivate an ac
quaintance with them.
Among these old cottages, there is, at the extremity
of the village, one that is rendered remarkable as the
former hospice of the boys, when they returned from
bathing, of which I have made mention while re
counting their aquatic feats. . The domicile stands
in its primitive aspect, surrounded by its green
lawn, and shaded by its fruit-trees, as in days
of yore. But the inmates who then ministered to
the school-boys' wants, and opened the door of hos
pitality, are no more — both, in their appointed time,
have gone the way of all the earth, and their remains
been "deposited in the beautiful cemetery.

XII.
EPHRATA.
In the eastern portion of the village of Nazareth
stands an old gray edifice, the appearance of which
betokens some peculiar origin, and naturally awakens
an inquiry in the mind of the stranger as to its his
tory and purposes.
This is the "Whitefield House." For more than
one hundred years it stood quite alone, having but
two humble log-huts in close proximity to it, and, in
company with those, it overlooked that same wide,
unrivaled domain I have already pointed out from
the terrace of the Hall. This venerable mansion is
a solid structure, built of limestone in the most
durable style of masonry, and fitted to resist, for
a long time, the assaults of corroding age. It
faces a lawn of quiet aspect, and the view from its
upper windows is only equaled by that from the
Hall or the precincts of the cemetery. This group
of houses, with its allotted portion of land, is
called "Ephrata;" and as it may be considered
the cradle of Moravianism in America, I shall,
after having led my reader through Herrnhut, and
(222)

EPHRATA. 223
sketched the life and character of its founder, Zin
zendorf, introduce it to his attention.
After Spangenberg, with his small party of ten
persons, had led the way to our shores, we have
seen that he was soon followed by another company,
of twenty emigrants, who settled in the vicinity
of Savannah in the year 1735. Without effecting
any permanent colony, they were, at last, in con
sequence of hostilities between the province and
the Spaniards, obliged to forsake the place. But
before leaving Georgia a few of them became in
timately acquainted with George Whitefield, who per
suaded those who were good mechanics to go to
the northern wilds of Pennsylvania and there, on a
tract of land, five thousand acres in extent, erect
a large building which he designed as a school for
colored orphan children. The Brethren who under
took this task were named Antes, Seifert, and
Boehler. When they arrived at the designated
place, they found themselves in the vicinity of an
Indian village, where afterwards was " Old Naza
reth," long marked by its original appearance, and
the quaintness of its curiously-built German-looking
houses. On their first visit to this little opening in the
wilderness, the pioneers slept under an oak-tree, the
roots of which are still traced out by one of our
devoted antiquaries, and of which a fgw fragments
are piously preserved. He points out the spot where,
20

224 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
down in the meadow, a little distance north of
Ephrata, stood the memorable tree ; and, should any
one feel an interest in exploring to their source these
historical matters, I will refer him to the "Antiquary
of Nazareth." It was under this tree they termi
nated their day's toil by songs of praise, which, un
fortunately, have not been preserved, else it would be
gratifying to record them here.
In an interview with Whitefield, who was then at
Philadelphia, having left Georgia at the same time
with the Moravian company, they settled the terms of
their contract with him, and then, with their families,
they returned to Ephrata, to proceed with the con
struction of the building. As winter came on before
the completion of the house, the foundations of which
could only be laid up to the first story, log build
ings were hastily thrown up, and the settlers re
mained within them until the ensuing spring, when
differences arising between them and Whitefield, the
place was forsaken, and the whole company, in
cluding an additional arrival from Germany, pro
ceeded to a tract of five hundred acres that had
been purchased on the Lehigh, and now the site of
Bethlehem. This event occurred in 1741, the year
following the commencement of Ephrata, the build
ing of which was not resumed and completed until
1743, when the Brethren purchased of Whitefield
the whole five thousand acres of land. This will
suffice as the preliminary history of Ephrata, and
I have unavoidably introduced it here, as it opens

EPHRATA. 225
to view the first permanent settlement of the Mora
vians in this country.
During the last hundred and fifteen years, the
antique pile has passed through many vicissitudes, and
has been appropriated to various uses. The most
important of these was, for a long time, that of a
" Nursery" for the infant children between two and
three years, and even younger, who were placed in
the public charge, after having been taken from their
parents, who were, by the exigencies of those trying
times, forced to this measure, in order to be enabled
the better to labor for the common good of the com
munity. The sensibilities of a modern and effeminate age,
like our own, will hardly be reconciled to this re
markable phase in the character and history of those '
early Moravian Brethren, and no religious ends
would seem to justify a species of martyrdom such
as it was. But it is difficult to realize the position
in which the German emigrants of that day really
stood, or to conceive the actual hardships they had
to undergo in order to obtain the necessaries of life.
The nursery system, I am happy to say, was, after
a course of years, abandoned, and Ephrata was ap
plied to other purposes.
The interior of the building exhibits that rude
ness of construction and material which were the
result of those primitive times. The wood-work,
although recently covered with a coating of paint,
showed, for more than a century, nothing but the

226 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
dingy color of the oaken boards, which had been
sawed by hand out of the forest tree. The little
porch, before the entrance to the south side, is of
the same rude unpainted material, as is also the
frame-work of the windows. The sills of the upper
and lower doors are made of a finely variegated soap-
stone, reputed to have been brought from abroad, and
at one time rumored to be of alabaster, but with what
correctness I cannot say.
The site of Ephrata and Nazareth seems to have
been judiciously chosen, for the remarkable fertility
of all the adjacent lands has rendered this a
country equal in productiveness to any portion of
Pennsylvania ; while a glance from the upper apart
ments of the Ephrata House across the surrounding
farms and woodland scenery will fascinate the eye
with their beauty.
Though the hand of change and innovation is now
doing its work all around, Ephrata itself is still held
sacred, and the rude and callous reformer forbears
to touch it. While formerly it was a quiet retreat,
off from the wayside, as you passed on to the village
of Nazareth, now the place is almost absorbed by
the town itself, and its air no longer is that of per
fect and undisturbed seclusion.
At some distance north of the Whitefield House
stood, until recently, a solitary building called "The
Rose," which was a place of refuge while the Indians
had possession of the surrounding country, and was
used by the Brethren as an inn and store, previous

EPHRATA. 227
to the erection of such places of public accommoda
tion in Nazareth itself.
Below Ephrata, on the site of the old Indian vil
lage, which our three adventurers found there, Old
Nazareth was commenced in 1744, and was the scene
of some of the early operations of the primitive
people. The traditions of those early days are occa
sionally drawn forth from some surviving descendant
of the settlers, and among these I have found one
relating to the "Rose."
It was customary to have all the cakes for that esta
blishment supplied from the Old Nazareth bakery,
and a little girl was charged with transporting them
on a wheelbarrow out to the "Rose." On these
occasions the Indians, who infested the neighbor
hood, frequently attacked this "transportation line,"
seized the wheelbarrow, trundled it to some distance,
to terrify the little creature, and then restored it to
ner again.
It is also told, and I made some reference to it
when speaking of the ancient burial-ground, that
the early interments often took place under an
escort of armed men, who proceeded with the corpse
from the "Rose" to the "Hutberg," as it was then
called. The "Rose" itself now presents nothing more of
its former appearance than its mere locality, which
is prettily chosen, and commands a fine southern
view, embracing Ephrata, Nazareth, and the Lehigh
hills. 20*

228 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
The walk between the two places, Ephrata and the
" Rose," through a large portion of woods, in old
times, must have been a delightful one, passing over
in part what was then termed the " King's High
way," a main road running east of Ephrata and
north from Nazareth.
In a few years after the erection of the Ephrata
Mansion and Old Nazareth, the village of Nazareth
proper was commenced, with the Hall, and, subse
quently, the Sisters' House and other buildings.
The husbandman cleared away the forest, became
master of the fields, and the sway of the red man
was no more. The last relics of the aboriginal were
left to be turned up by the plow for many years
afterwards ; and, indeed, have not yet escaped the
scrutiny of the school-boy, in the jasper-colored
arrow-heads. Of these, large numbers have been
picked up, and treasured as mementoes of savage
life. Upon the lawn in front, in the olden time, many
pleasant scenes took place, connected with the so
lemnities of the church. One of the most interest
ing of these was the general "Love-Feast" of the
congregation, on the day of the laying of the corner
stone of Nazareth Hall.
It is still left to explain more fully the origin of
the two small block-houses, mentioned above as be
longing to the Ephrata group. These aged-looking
objects were thrown up in the winter of 1740, or, as
our most reliable antiquary will have it, one of them

EPHRATA. 229
only, and the other in 1743, for the shelter of the
little company who wintered there. The oak timber,
of which they are composed, is yet in a tolerably
good state of preservation; and if those who have
the control of the property should let their respect
of the past remain in the ascendency, the humble
structures, the first refuge of our pilgrim fathers in
this portion of the New World, may stand a long
while. Their sharp peaked roofs, small windows
and frame-work, already distorted by the force of
time, their dusky look, and the rude, unhewn log-
work on one of them, — all serve to mark them as
some peculiar results of a period that has now become
historical. In standing before these houses, the interest in
them is not a little increased by the reflection, that
during the winter of their first occupancy Bishop
David Nitschmann, old Father Nitschmann, and
Anna Nitschmann, whose history and character I
have already referred to, arrived here, and resided
with the other party till the ensuing spring. During
this period, the latter had resigned her important
office of Eldress at Herrnhaag, in order to travel to
a distant country, brave the terrors of the sea, and
traverse savage wilds, such as the interior of Penn
sylvania might be regarded at the eventful period
intervening between 1740 and 1760.
If we suffer our imagination to place us, during
that winter, in a spot so far removed from the
precincts of civilization, we shall receive additional

230 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
light on the subject of the Moravian enterprise
during its incipient stages. The Nitschmanns had
expatriated themselves from their native country,
Moravia, had gone to Herrnhut, and joined the
renewed church of the Brethren, and thence pro
ceeded to the great work of the mission, by going
forth, personally, to explore distant lands. The
missionary of those days was cast upon his own re
sources; the women were given to industrious pur
suits, and generally the men were able mechanics;
and while they dwelt within an inner sphere, their
outward life was one of hardship and probation.
Small and obscure as the Moravian work seemed
to be, at the time when Ephrata was the only
beacon-light that presented itself to this handful of
pilgrims, as they traced the paths into the unfre
quented quarters inhabited only by the Indians, the
gradual success that everywhere, at all accessible
points of the earth, attended it, proved the wise
guidance by which its great purposes were led.
In walking from the "Rose," or, rather, from
the spot where it once was, the antiquated Ephrata
House, with its sombre and significant exterior, and
its many historical associations, looms up before us.
Although this monument of a past time is nearly
surrounded by the unattractive and commonplace
facts of the day, and of the times in which we move
and take a part, yet the spirit of that same past
hovers over and protects it.

XIII.
BETHLEHEM.
It was early in the year 1741, that the small
body of Moravians, seventeen in number, who,
during the winter of 1740, occupied the log-house
in Ephrata, proceeded to the River Lehigh to take
possession of the five hundred acres of land they
had purchased of Mr. Allen. At that time the In
dian stream, known by the name of Lecha, ran
peacefully through the mazes of a forest, along the
ridges of mountains called by the same name.
When the first axe was raised to clear the site of
this new colony, there were on or near the river
but two habitations of the whites, together with a few
scattered Indian wigwams. During a cold Decem
ber evening of this memorable year, a small company
might have been seen assembled in the obscure log-
hut, which, with a stable attached to one end of it,
had been first thrown up to meet the wants of the
settlers. Among this assembly were Count Zinzen
dorf and his daughter Benigna, who had just ar
rived in America, had found their way to these
wilds, and joined the body of pilgrims who had
(231)

232 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
wintered at Ephrata, and the chief characters
among whom I have named. The scene here pre
sented was a Christmas-eve in the-woods, and on
that eventful night the Moravian hymn of Zinzen
dorf's own composition was heard to rise out of
the hut, uttered by the voices of that choir of de
voted Christians, their hearts filled with increased
interest from the coincidence that the Christmas
celebration was performed in part within a stable.
The proposed name of the settlement had been
Bethlechem, or house on the Lecha, but as the
scenes of Bethlehem, in Judea, on the night of
the Saviour's nativity, had just been commemo
rated, it was suggested it should be changed to
Bethlehem. In the following year, 1742, a large house was
completed for the accommodation of the infant con
gregation, and new accessions coming in from Eu
rope, the village gradually swelled in size.
The aboriginal, who was then the occupant of this
wild domain, soon came within the softening influ
ence of the gospel introduced by the Moravian Bre
thren, became a convert to Christianity, and a friend
to the cause and interests of the small band of emi
grants who took possession of this spot. Subse
quently, those tribes, who were not in the immediate
vicinity of the Moravian settlement, and who were
opposed to the Christian converts, either through the
animosity so apt to be entertained try a separate

BETHLEHEM. 233
people, or from opposition to the English, being
under French influence, proved offensive and dan
gerous to the inhabitants of Bethlehem, and frequent
incursions were made toward and against the place.
To ward off these dangers all the vigilance of its in
habitants were exercised, and their escape from mas
sacre and total extinction is one of the miracles of
their history. It is related of those early times, that
the Sisters would at one time be in the field gather
ing flax, when the Indians, approaching by stealth,
endeavored to make them their prey ; at another time,
ignited wads would be discharged into the thatched
roofs of the houses, in order to set them on fire.
In addition to this, the Indian converts were in
jeopardy from the government itself, as the English
had offered a high reward for an Indian scalp, which
rendered it hazardous for any of the uncivilized
people who enjoyed the protection of Bethlehem, to
venture far into the forest, as their death would be
the inevitable penalty, should they fall into the
hands of a white or savage enemy.
The red man, who was thus domiciled and domes
ticated among the Moravians, soon became attached
to the new mode of life he had assumed and the new
religion he had adopted in exchange for that which
he had laid aside. The services for the Indian au
dience were performed in their own language, trans
lations being provided for them, and every facility
was afforded for the proper comprehension of that

234 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
Divine instruction, which now, for the first time,
threw a flood of light upon their souls. In reading
these passages of Moravian life, where the Indian
group engrosses the picture, we are struck with the
unique and marked peculiarity of the people whose
history and fame we are thus cursorily dwelling
upon. The period that characterized early Bethlehem
was one of the poetical phases in the history of our
race, and although the modes and associations of life
were rude, the aims were purely spiritual, and every
individual was endowed with inner impulses. As the
imagination carries us back to that period, we hear
a solemn chaunt, the music of the Moravian hymn, in
the Mohican tongue. The actors in this scene are
in primitive costume, modified by intercourse with
the whites; and as the anthem ascends on high, or
the Christian prayer is poured out in heathen tones,
the spectacle becomes interesting, and significant of
the lofty mission of the early Moravians. At that
time, as well as at the present, the entire passion
and aims of life were directed to reclaim the savage,
and to witness the effects, upon the untamed mind, of
the doctrine of salvation, couched in the fascinating
imagery of Moravianism. If all the transactions of
that life could be brought to view, the real history,
and not the fiction of the Indian character, might be
realized. The occupation of those Indians consisted in
making brooms, weaving baskets and other similar

BETHLEHEM. 235
articles ; and their attachment to the Brethren lasted
through life, few ever forsaking it when once formed,
but living, dying, and receiving interment in this
place of their adoption. Many of the graves of
these early converts are still visible in the cemetery,
on its northern side, with their respective names
chiseled on the mouldering stones. To these I would
have the pilgrim bend his steps, whenever he may
feel prompted, by visiting Bethlehem, to recall the
thoughts and pictures of an earlier age.
Among the incidents of the time to which I am
now referring, one may be culled from the archives
of the church1 at Philadelphia, which will tell, in
more befitting language, what I have attempted
to describe. It is the visit of the Nantikok and
Shawano (Shawnee) Indians to Bethlehem, which
took place in July, 1752.
"On Thursday, the twentieth of July, a messenger
arrived at Bethlehem, bearing a string of wampum,
and commissioned by the Nantikok and Shawano
Indians to speak these words : —
" 'Brother, I am near to Bethlehem, and am very
glad to visit it. I am not coming to treat about
any particular affairs, but in order to see you.
"'Every one is glad: the chiefs are glad, the
young men are glad, the women are glad, and the
children are glad.'
"As soon as this message had been received, the
1 Translated for and published in the "Moravian."
21

236 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
Brethren Owen Rice, Horsefield, and Burnside, went
to meet the Indians at the Manockisy, on the road
to Gnadenhiitten, taking with them some refresh
ments. Presently the whole company appeared on
the hill, marching in fine order. The men had their
guns on their shoulders, butt-end foremost; an aged
chief led them, carrying a pipe of peace, adorned
with ribbons. As tbey approached the town, they
began to sing : ' I rejoice to have an opportunity of
visiting the Brethren.'
"Brother Joseph (Bishop Spangenberg) met the
Indians at the gate leading into Bethlehem, shook
hands with the old chief and bade him welcome.
He then accompanied the band on their way through
town. In front of the Single Brethren's House,
(the present boarding-school,) the Single Brethren
and boys stood grouped together, expressing their
joy at the visit. Near them were the musicians,
blowing the trombones. Wherever the Indians
passed, men and women came to the doors and
expressed satisfaction at their arrival, until they
reached Friedenshutten, (a small settlement on the
other side of the Lehigh,) where, in two or three
hours' time, we had built enough huts to accom
modate them all decently.
" After having partaken of the refreshments pro
vided for them, they received numerous visits from
our Brethren, and then betook themselves to rest,
fatigued with the excessive heat which prevailed
during their journey. In the evening, the chief

BETHLEHEM. 237
informed us that they had a word to say unto us,
requesting us to name the time and place, when and
where they might declare it.
" Friday, July twenty-one. The chiefs, together
with the greater part of the Indians, assembled in
our little Hall, and, after friendly salutations had
been interchanged, the speaker stood up, holding
a string of wampum in his hand, and spoke as
follows : —
"'Brother, I am come from Gnadenhiitten to
Bethlehem, and will not now repeat what I said
there; though with this string of wampum, I will
brighten thy eyes afresh, open thy ears, wipe off
thy sweat, make thy throat smooth, and thy in
wards clean, as I did at Gnadenhiitten ; at the same
time, again declaring, that we are very glad to see
Bethlehem. All are glad, even the children.'
" Hereupon he presented the string of wampum,
which Bishop Spangenberg received, assuring him
that they were welcome, and declaring that they had
seen with their own eyes, how all rejoiced at their
arrival. The speaker now stood up a second time,
with another string of wampum in his hand, and said :
'Brother, I come from Wajomik (Wyoming) to Gna
denhiitten, from Gnadenhiitten to Bethlehem, and
from Bethlehem I proceeded to my quarters. I have
cleared all the way with great care, taken the stones
away, so that the foot dash not against them ; have
grubbed up all the stumps, cut off the boughs, raised
the valleys, leveled the mountains, so that one can-

238 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
not only go from Bethlehem to Gnadenhiitten, but
also from Bethlehem to Wajomik, without impedi
ment, and from Wajomik to Bethlehem; there is
nothing more in the way. I have also swept clean
in Bethlehem; a person may go from Bethlehem to
our quarters, and from our quarters to Bethlehem,
without hinderance; the road is all as smooth and
even as here in this hall.'
" When the speaker had concluded, Bishop Span
genberg took the string of wampum in his hand,
and said : ' This is a weighty word, in our estima
tion, but very agreeable. We will speak with one
another about it, and give you an answer as soon as
we are prepared to do so.' Here the interview
ended. This was followed by an evening service in
the church, attended by nearly all the Indians, who
were profoundly attentive. On the following day
they received visits from the inhabitants of Bethle
hem, and, on Sunday, all attended church.
" Other Indians from the Susquehanna having
arrived, together with a number of the Indian
Brethren and Sisters from the Gnadenhiitten and
Meniologamekah settlements, the whole number
amounted to one hundred and thirty-six.
" In the afternoon, a baptism of an Indian woman
took place, with two Sisters dressed in white ; and
two Brethren, standing on each side, acted as spon
sors, while the Indians, seated in a circle around
them, could see and hear the whole ceremony.
" On Monday, the twenty-fourth, we informed the

BETHLEHEM. 239
Indians, our answer was ready. The interview again
took place in the 'little Hall.' In the centre stood
a round table, covered with a red cloth. Two
lighted candles stood upon it. On the one side
of the table sat the chiefs, and behind them their
people; on the other side, our Elders, several mis
sionaries to the heathen, and as many Brethren
and Sisters as the hall could contain. Three per
sons from Philadelphia were present.
"In the first place, Bishop Spangenberg arose
and bade welcome to the Indians, asking them if
they were ready to hear our answers. They re
plied, ' Gladly !' Thereupon he spoke as follows: —
'"Brother, you have come from Gnadenhiitten
to Bethlehem in a time of great heat ; at your ar
rival, you brightened our eyes, wiped off our sweat,
cleansed our ears, made our throats smooth, and
purified our inwards with this string of wampum,'
pointing to the string which they had given, and
then lying on Father Nitschmann's knee.
" 'You have also assured us, that it was a pleasure
for your chiefs, your young men, your women, and
your children, to come and visit the Brethren. We
thank you for this visit. We should have cleared
your eyes, wiped off your sweat, purged your ears,
made smooth your throat, and your inwards clean,
but found that what we did at Gnadenhiitten to this
end was sufficient. Your eyes were clear and your
ears open before our words entered them. Nothing
21*

240 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
bad has taken hold of you; the good has had an
entrance. We rejoice at your being here, and you
must have seen that old and young, men and women,
yea, the children, share this joy.'
" The Indian speaker then arose and repeated
Bishop Spangenberg's speech, in the Nantikok lan
guage, the Indians pronouncing a hearty ' Yes !'
after each sentence.
" When he had finished and taken his seat, Bishop
Spangenberg stood up and answered the second word
of the Indians, which referred to the second string
of wampum received from them, and now lying on
Father Nitschmann's knee. Pointing to it with his
finger, he said : —
"'Brother, you have told us, by this string of
wampum, that you have not only made the way
clear in Bethlehem, but also from here to Gnaden
hiitten, yea, as far as Wajomik. You have raised
all the valleys, leveled the hills, taken away the
stumps and the stones, against which one might
have dashed the foot ; you have cut down the woods,
so that one can see from Bethlehem to Wajomik and
from Wajomik to Bethlehem, and pass to and fro
without hinderance. All this is a matter of great
weight and extremely agreeable to us. We will
abide by your words, make frequent use of the road,
so that no grass grow upon it ; and if bad people
throw a stone upon that way, we will carefully re
move it. If the roots begin to sprout, we will grub
them up again, so that the ways always remain

BETHLEHEM. 241
clear. You, also, will frequently make use of it,
and this will be a pleasure to us.'
"Spangenberg now delivered the belt of wampum
to the speaker, who took it and repeated this ad
dress in the Nantikok language. Every sentence
was received by the Indians with applause.
"The speaker having taken his seat, Spangenberg
then produced the belt of wampum, given by the
Six Nations to Zinzendorf,1 ten years before, and
1 The belt of wampum, here referred to, was that given to
Zinzendorf, under the following circumstances, as related by
Spangenberg : —
"When the Count (in 1742) set out for Tulpehokin, he
encountered on his way three Sachems of the Five Nations,
who had been in Philadelphia, and were now on their return
home. One of these was an Onondago, one a Cayuga, and
the other an Oneida chief.
"As soon as Zinzendorf understood who they were, he
communicated with them, and told them that he came to
them and their people with a word from the Lord, and as he
brought these tidings in part himself and in part through his
Brethren, he wished them to say whether they were satisfied
to receive them. It was not his nor his Brethren's object to
buy land of them, nor to trade with them, but only to point
out the way to eternal happiness to such of them as were
willing to have it shown them.
" Conrad Weiser, the provincial interpreter, explained these
views to them, and added : — ' This is the man whom God has
sent from across the seas to the Indian, as well as the white
people, in order to make them know His will to them.' He then
gave them a present, after the Indian custom, to add strength
to his words. The Indians received it, and then held a con
sultation among themselves, as they were wont to do, before

242 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
one given by them to Bishop Camerhoff two years
previously, at the great council of Onondago, renew
ing the covenant intended by the first belt ; and
handing these to the chiefs, they examined them
very closely, and told each other what they signified.
"After these and other transactions had transpired,
Brother Schlagel entered the Hall, bearing a large
basket full of tobacco, which he placed at Bishop
Spangenberg's feet ; while Sister Schlagel, in the
name of the Sisters, brought two smaller baskets
filled with thread, ribbons, needles, pins, scissors,
and thimbles, telling the Bishop, in a low tone of
voice, that the Sisters, seeing the presents which the
giving answer to an embassy. After the expiration of half
an hour, two of the chiefs came to the Count, and addressed
him as follows : —
" ' Brother, you have come a long way to us over the sea
to preach to the white people and to the Indians. You did
not know that we were here, and we knew nothing of you.
This was done by a high hand above. Come to us, you and
your Brethren, you will be made welcome. Take with you
this fathom of wampum as a token that our words are the
truth.' "The belt contained one hundred and eighty pieces of
wampum. In 1743 the Count gave me this belt of wampum
for future use, before my intended departure for America, and
when, in the course of several years, I visited Onondago,
where the Five Nations were accustomed to hold their great
council, they soon brought the above incident to remem
brance. When we produced the belt of wampum they recog
nized it, counted the wampums, and knew how many had been
on the strings." {Spangenberg's Life of Zinzendorf.)

BETHLEHEM. 243
Brethren had prepared, were anxious to make one
also, and had, therefore, sent these articles. Then
the Bishop again stood up, and said : ' Brother, our
young people, made glad by your visit, have brought
you a small present of tobacco. You have a great
way home ; receive this gift in love. Our women,
also, have brought two baskets, full of presents for
your women. A small company of our children,
living not far from here, at Maguntsche,1 having
heard of your being here, resolved to bring you
their morsels of bread, but fearing that it might get
too dry on your journey, they have sent five bushels
of meal instead, which you can divide among your
selves.' "Thereupon, the Indians closed the interview in the
following manner: — The most aged chief of the Shaw-
nees stood up and expressed his satisfaction to his
people, who responded with acclamations of joy.
The most aged chief of the Nantikoks stood up and
spoke in the same way to his people, who also re
ceived his words with applause. Next another chief
arose, turned to us, and assured us, in the English
language, that they were heartily satisfied and thank
ful. Finally, the speaker, who had conducted the
interview on the part of the Indians, took the belts
of wampum in his hand, which the Brethren had
given, held them aloft, and, in a very slow pace,
marched around the table. When opposite to Bishop
Spangenberg, he remained standing a few minutes,

Now Macungy, in Lehigh County.

244 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
and then continued his circuit, at the same time
singing a short song of thanksgiving. This cere
mony was followed by general- applause from the
Indians, and then was this whole business con
cluded."1 At that time, Bethlehem and Nazareth, ten miles
apart, were kept in constant communication with
each other ; the forest that intervened between them
was dense, and the journeyings to the latter were ac
companied with difficulties. Indeed, the old chronicles
tell us how the first parties going to Nazareth were
preceded by axe-men to fell the trees and clear the
way. When the harvests at Nazareth were ample, and
laborers were wanted, Bethlehem sent its people to as
sist in taking off and garnering the well-laden sheaf.
The spiritual Principal of the Sisters' House at
Bethlehem occasionally repaired to Nazareth to per
form the duties of visitation, and among the re
markable personages who figured in those primitive
times were Sister Anna Rosel and Susel von Gers-
1 This visit of the two Indian tribes to Bethlehem was the
result of an embassy sent to Gnadenhiitten on the fifteenth
of the same month, in order to make acquaintance with the
Brethren, of whom they had had good reports through some
of their own people. Bishop Spangenberg met them at the
latter place, and the ceremonies enacted there were in nearly
the same order as just related of the Bethlehem visit. Upon
dismissing the party, they presented them a tanned deer-skin,
to mend their children's shoes, by the way, adding to it sixty
bushels of flour and eighty pounds of tobacco, which were
received with expressions of joy. (See LoskieVs History of
the Moravian Missions.)

BETHLEHEM. 245
dorf. In affairs of moment, these Sisters were called
in aid, and their authority was duly submitted to in
all matters of female jurisdiction.
Bethlehem being then, as it yet is, the central
point of the Moravians and the seat of their eccle
siastical government in this country, all the newly-
arrived emigrants and visitors from Europe directed
their steps hither. During the Revolution, it, as well
as Nazareth, became the refuge of American officers
and soldiers, and many a company of troops stopped
at these towns, and quartered over night, or for days,
enjoying their hospitalities. The chivalric La Fayette,
after the battle of Brandywine, was taken, wounded,
to Bethlehem, where he was generously cared for,
and received every attention until his recovery.
The friendly Mohican, the American soldier, or the
foreign officer, were alike the recipients of Moravian
sympathy, and could, at all times, flee thither as to
a stronghold of defence and succor.
Among the fine episodes in the history of Bethlehem,
we must not disregard that of the presentation by the
Sisters of the banner to Count Pulaski.1 The memory
of this event has been consecrated by Longfellow,
in a poem, which, although filled with imagery en
tirely incongruous in its relations to the place and
people whom it is designed to commemorate, is still
expressive, in the finest light, of a transaction that
showed, like all others, the catholic philanthropy of
1 The banner is now in possession of the Maryland His
torical Society.

246 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
the Moravian Brethren and Sisters. It was a pre
scribed tenet of the Moravian to submit to the ruling
government, and whether the Sisters, in abetting the
cause of the Revolution, acted in strict conformity
with that rule, is a question we can hardly allow
entrance here, as the whole incident seems to have
been a matter of romance, which ought not to be
marred by any prosaic considerations.
Many a former visitor to Bethlehem may yet retain
some vivid recollections of an old time-worn bridge,
that conducted him across the waters of the Lehigh,
when approaching the town. This bridge was an
uncovered structure; the wood-work had become
gray with age, and as the foot-passenger loitered on
its side-walk, and scanned the beauties of the stream
above and below, with the Lehigh hills before him to
the south, he was loath to leave such an enchanting
point of view. When the coach from Philadelphia,
after an hour's severe toil across the mountains, rolled
into the valley, its inmates were greeted at sunset
with the glowing scene before them. On the opposite
side, they were pleased to recognize, once more, the
antique walls of the Sister's House, the school, the
imposing church, and numerous antiquated edifices,
that gave character to the introductory portion of
the town. The venerable bridge, with its placid
waters beneath, stood ready to receive you, and
having no covering to obstruct the view, as the jaded
steeds plodded wearily across it, the eye was delighted
with the scene it entered upon.

BETHLEHEM. 247
A qiRrter of a century has done much to impair
that beautiful picture. Nearly all the quaintness of
life and character has disappeared, and though many
of the self-same structures remain that made their
hold upon the imagination, new designs of architec
ture have, in general, supplanted the old, and de
stroyed the poetry of the past. The old bridge was
swept away by the flood of 1841, and one of modern
construction has taken its place. The woody slopes
of the mountain have, to a great extent, been
cleared, and the din of the railway and busy traffic
mark the progress of civilization. Yet through the
vista of these changes it is delightful to look back
into the past; for the strong contrasts of the pic
ture as it is, and as it was, lend additional charms
to that which is gone and cannot be restored. Let
us, therefore, occupy the spot a little longer, since
it is the most pleasant and refreshing duty we have
to perform.
As the traveler stood upon the old bridge, and
dwelt upon the landscape, the waters of the Lehigh
near by, and the southern mountains thrown into par
tial shade by the declining sun, his eye rested upon that
wilderness of forest trees, covering the spot known
as the "Island." Umbrageous boughs invited the
rambler, and suitable provision was made for amuse
ment and meditation ; and thus the place became a
constant resort for all, for the denizen as well as for
him who spent the summer months at Bethlehem.
Above and around the "Island," the Lehigh rushes
22

248 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.

along, and the music of its waters animates the
study which nature here presents. In its present
aspect the "Island" varies little from its former ap
pearance, and although it is, in some degree, shorn
of attractions by the encroachment of the railway
on the southern bank of the river, and the privacy
of its solitude is invaded by the locomotive, yet in
its native growth of .forest trees it possesses an in
extinguishable charm. Skiffs line the shore, and
the current is stemmed by those who navigate the
stream in order to approach and land upon the
"Island." In the evening, as the boats glide near
the pleasure-ground, music floats upon the water, and
many gay and picturesque scenes, as in times of
yore, delight the eye, although the living generation
has allowed an earlier stage of true refinement to
pass away, and has adopted most of our national
modes of life, and thus put on much of the gross-
ness of the day. The musical element which charac
terized all Moravian gayety, festivity, and pastime,
has become diluted with national education and na
tional associations, and as the German becomes
merged in the American character, these strong
traits of education and culture will become less and
less visible.
Leaving the "Island" and all its scenes of mirth,
of intellectual and musical recreation, of "vespers"
and reunions of the innocent and happy, in times
that have vanished, and realized in a greater or less
degree by all those who have lived in or visited

BETHLEHEM. 249
Bethlehfin, let us call up the reminiscences as well as
the living performances of nocturnal music,-by trio,
or quartette, or sextette, in the open air. Sere
nades were ever a favorite employment of the Phil
harmonic Society, and, whether in honoring the
nuptials of the newly-wedded, or breaking in upon
the solemn stillness of the midnight hour in bid
ding welcome to some favored guest, or compli
menting some esteemed musician, the Nocturne was
assiduously cultivated. Many of the evening per
formances were executed on instruments, but most
generally vocal clubs, after the manner of the
Mannerchore, went the rounds, singing well-known
and popular German airs. Of these compositions a
number are yet preserved and sung, such as the
"Chapel," by Kreutzer, (introduced by the well-
known Herrmanns, a Bavarian company, who visited
Bethlehem some years ago,) a quartette of unrivaled
purity, harmony, and feeling, and listened to, time
after time, with emotion by all who have heard it.
A general love of music was such a distinguishing
feature of old Bethlehem, that the visitor was accus
tomed to hear on every side the sounds of the piano.
Neither has the love of that fine art so far dimi
nished as to take away this characteristic from its
people. The decline has not been as much in the
general devotion to music, as in the purity of taste,
for as the national tone infuses itself into the Ger
man element, the fine classic musical cultivation of
former times appears to be on the wane.

250 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
The old cemetery is now in the centre of the town,
and spreading trees, casting their luxurious shadows
over the sacred spot, invite the meditative or curious
mind to seek for thought, or discover historical names
among the mossy tablets. Here, at all times, parties
sit and stroll about, for the Moravian respect for
Christianity reigns supreme, and the pure joys of
earth are not overclouded by the proximity of the
grave. The Bethlehem Cemetery, no less a scene of
social reunion than its German counterpart, is a com
mon thoroughfare for all, and no compunction is felt
when straying from the business paths of life across the
precincts of the tomb. Here the obliging antiquary
will aid us in tracing, among the almost clefaced
and illegible grave-stones, a number of the Indian
names I have spoken of, which designate the rest
ing-place of many of those early Christian converts,
sons of the primitive forests, whom the Moravians of
Lusatia found here.
"Their names, their years, spelt by the unletter'd muse,
The place of fame and elegy supply."
In the year 1842 the centennial celebration of the
foundation of Bethlehem was held within the ceme
tery, by an evening service, with all the ritual ac
companiments of wind instruments and vocal music;
an event that will be long impressed upon the recol
lections of all present.
Passing along the southern walks of this enchant
ing burial-place, the eye rests upon a few remain-

BETHLEHEM. 251
ing edifices that once constituted the most important
part, as they now do the most striking features
of Bethlehem. The Sisters' House, a grotesque pile
of old gray stone, with its huge buttresses and its
receding angles, still stands there, one of the few
lingering monuments of the institutions I have been
describing; while the more modern yet massive edi
fice, the church, bears also an historical air in its
exterior, though founded in less marked and pecu
liar times than those which gave rise to the Sisters'
House. This institution still, to some extent, fulfills
its original design, and is the residence of a mode
rate number of elderly maidens, who, having sought
this general asylum for all who were deprived of
the advantages of a parental home, have dwelt here
for a series of years. In accordance with primitive
Moravian regulations, the maidens of the society
were expected either to enter this abode, or to con
tribute their tax to its support, after the manner of
the Herrnhutian and other German Sisters' Houses.
These old regulations have gradually given way to
modern ideas, as we are wont to call them, and life
in the Moravian village, under its reformed system,
assimilates to life all around it. The Sisters' House
is tenanted by a solitary few — a lingering ¦ remnant
of the past, who still cling to old images, and look
with sorrow upon the new.
The church, always held in regard for its chaste
and unassuming architecture, stands upon an ele
vated terrace, which confronts us in entering the
22*

252 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
town. In its interior arrangements, the Moravian
rule of dividing male and female is still observed.
The organ, built by Tanneberg, of Litiz, was for
merly esteemed one of the best in the country ; and,
in its day, has sent forth its volumes of solemn tones,
in the performance of church, funereal, and festal
services. Within the vestry-room may be seen a
small gallery of portraits by Haidt, representing the
fathers of the church, missionaries, and all who were
identified with the early history of the Brethren.
These paintings now bear an antique look, the artist
having lived more than a century ago. He was of
Dutch origin, and many of his productions are
carefully preserved in Bethlehem, Nazareth, and
Litiz. In addition to the various portraits thus
handed down to us, we also have from his pencil a
number of sacred historical paintings, which may be
seen in the churches of Bethlehem and Nazareth.
Haidt, during the time he flourished, was, like most
of the laity, employed in clerical duties.
The old fire-engine, claimed to be one of the first
of its kind imported into this country, was brought
from London in 1762, and is preserved as a curious
relic. The original water-works, perhaps the first
attempt to propel water by its own agency, having
undergone some renovation, are still in operation,
and faithfully perform their old duty of furnishing
with an adequate supply the reservoir at the summit
of the town.
Of the numerous individuals and personages who,

BETHLEHEM. 253
from time to time, presented themselves to the visi
tor, and excited his esteem and admiration, nearly all
have passed away. Among the amusing and oblig
ing characters who figured in the earlier part of
the century, was old Father Thomas, whose worth
and peculiarities will be held in remembrance by the
class of visitors who were his cotemporaries. At a
later period, Doctor Steckel and Doctor Green be
came well known as the cicerones, by right of ap
pointment, and provided considerable entertainment,
in the continual fund of humor and anecdote which
they dispensed to the guests, whom they were
charged to accompany around the village, through
the school, the choir houses, church, cemetery, and
along the banks of the Lehigh. The former of these
employees reached a great age, and up to a very
advanced period performed the duties of his office;
but, as the years of his life accumulated, he was
no longer able to discharge them, neither did he
find in the new generations which followed in the
footsteps of previous ones, as pilgrims to Bethlehem,
the same cordial reception which had been awarded
him. Doctor Green, rubicund in face, and cold
water in principle, was for a long time believed by
many to be an example of theory versus practice.
True it is, that he originated the temperance and hy
dropathic doctrines, long before they had become
popular in this country, but whether he himself was
as abstemious as he claimed, remains among those
problems which it " concerneth no man" to discuss.

254 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
His fame as a cicerone, dispensing fun and anecdote,
and exaggeration of many objects and institutions
of Bethlehem, as he presented them to the view of
the strolling visitor, who was often rather an in
truder than an appreciative guest, will be duly re
corded among the minor recollections of the past,
and as belonging to those portions of the Moravian
picture presented on its mere surface.
Within later years a new cemetery has been
laid out in that part of the town occupying the
upper declivity of Nisky Hill. The grounds of
Nisky Hill now form a pleasant resort, and from
the winding paths along the romantic and precipi
tous bluff, we look down on the Lehigh, and on the
mountains beyond, and all the intervening landscape.
Its walks are among the most pleasant that Bethle
hem affords, being more secluded from the associa
tions and annoyances of business life than the more
trite and well-known localities on the " Island" and
along the Lehigh. It is among the greatest attrac
tions of Nisky Hill that art has done so little, and
nature so much for it; and while she is left in
undisturbed possession, the trees suffered to grow
into tottering age, the rocks to rest unmolested in
their primitive beds, decked with moss and trailing
ivy, the old and young will repair here for the oppo
site purposes of meditation and pleasure.
In a sequestered lane, passing up from the church,
there stands a quiet and well-shaded cottage, seem
ingly shut out from the gay and busy portion of the

BETHLEHEM. 255
town, so as to excite the attention of him who passes
along by the recluseness of its aspect and the rural
feeling that reigns around. Here lived for many
years the venerable Heckewelder,1 elaborating in this
retirement his work on Indian life, manners, and
traditions; and after a career of Christian useful
ness, devotion, and self-sacrifice, here he ended his
days, and was interred within the cemetery we first
visited. Upon his grave are cast the shadows of the
same trees that overhang those of the Indians not
far off. While the mortal remains of the red men
and their friend repose beneath the turf, may their
spirits find happiness in a realm unknown to us !
The female boarding-school was opened to the
public in 1786, and though of more recent founda
tion than the boys' school at Nazareth, has had
under its care and parental training a very large num
ber of young ladies from all parts of the Union, as
well as from the West Indies. It has been the
means of attracting many persons to Bethlehem, inde
pendent of those who come as casual visitors, and as
both classes of guests have increased, the several
inns have so enlarged their dimensions as to be
come no longer recognizable. During a long and
successful period of its history, this school- has
established such a firm hold upon the affections of
its pupils, that in their retrospect of life it has be-
1 His daughter now resides in the Sisters' House. She was
the first white woman born in what is now the State of Ohio.

256 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
come an endearing point. On the female mind, the
influence of that culture, which has its seat in our
schools, has been more visible than on the male
youth, by the adornment it has imparted to the moral
character, and that tone of quiet demeanor springing
out of a three years' education there.
What the observances of a Christian culture are,
and how they operate upon the formation of cha
racter, and in building up in their finest symmetrical
proportions the true man or the true woman, is
sufficiently explained under the heads of Education
and Schools, and the Moravian Cultus.
In our system it is not assumed that merely those
accomplishments should be taught which are calcu
lated to adorn the drawing-room, as in most instances
these result more from great conversational powers
and vivacity of temperament than from solid educa
tion. It is there that both man and woman are per
formers on the great stage of artificial life, where the
heart is glossed over by the fictions of society, where
it delivers its poetry by an assumed medium, where
nature is only admired in pictures, and where words
and language originate emotion, instead of allowing
it to speak through them. But in rearing the female
under Moravian tutelage, all true womanly suscepti
bilities, wherever they exist, are brought forth and
cultivated, and on her return home, the girl who
has been a resident of these schools for several
well-spent years, gives evidence of this cultivation
in the modesty and amenity of deportment which

BETHLEHEM. 257
have ever distinguished the Moravian eleve of either
sex. It is here presupposed, however, that the sub
ject of discipline has been a practicable and pliant
one, and in all respects adapted to the application of
a system which has never yet found its equal.
In the programme of instruction some modifica
tions have been made ; the former simple plan of a
series of plain studies surrendering to the growing
wants of a public, on whom its support must neces
sarily depend. Yet, even with these innovations, the
excellence of the educational principle has in no
material degree deteriorated, and we may regard it
as being applied to a new people in a later time, and
to a country whose progress shows its new phases
with every decade.
Music, as far as the faculty of a young girl
reaches, has ever been assiduously taught, and when
taught in its purer forms of deep and classic com
position, has contributed its resistless influence to
the formation of soul; but where a departure from
this classic taste is allowed to prevail, the gene
ral results of music on the expanding mind must
be lost. As a portion of female education in its
true sense, without reference to bare accomplish
ment, music must be regarded as of high import,
and, with reference to the female, this ground has
always been taken by the Moravian educator. It
seems to manifest itself in the tenderness and de
sires of the age, as well as the country we live in,
that a high intellectual standard should form the

258 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
acme of all education ; but if my readers will have
duly weighed the scope of the system of which I
have attempted an exposition, they will find that
high intellectual cultivation without emotion, and
that peculiar education which is its product, will
never tend to the happiness of life.
Within recent years, the Bethlehem School has
made some creditable displays of musical proficiency
in the performance of such productions as the " Crea
tion," the "Glocke," Rossini's " Stabat Mater,"
Mendelsohn's " Elijah," and other works of the
immortal masters. In the vocal execution of this
music, the pupils certainly evince no small degree of
advancement, and while the mind becomes refined
by such pure culture as is characteristic of these
works, it gains equally in the improvement such
musical practice imparts.
It speaks in tones of commendation of our female
schools, to remark, that when the girls of a past
century grew up they sent their daughters hither,
and when those in their turn departed to their
homes, and reached the age and assumed the re
sponsibilities of the worthy matron, with the glorious
jewels of wedded life around them, these, too, were
sent to the cherished Bethlehem to imbibe that
which, in the innocence of girlhood, the mother and
grandmother had enjoyed.
In former days, life in the school at Bethlehem
was more recluse than it now is, for its whole tenor
partook of the influences of the retired Moravian

BETHLEHEM. 259
village, and was less molested by the gay spec
tacle witnessed during the summer months. The
tutoress herself was at that time a prim Sister, her
very attire bespeaking her calling and her destiny.
In that undisturbed mode of life and education, and
the absence of all the attractions of listless amuse
ment and fashion, the results of Moravian culture
were more distinctly visible than they now are, and,
as it is* my office to chronicle the past, rather than
to panegyrize the present, I cannot refrain from
wishing that that part might be restored. As
the picture of that day, when the genuine type of
the Moravian Sister is held up to view, becomes
more dim, its poetic effect upon us increases, and,
like all things appertaining to the imagination,
mellows in the distance.
The Sisters' and Widows' Houses still preserve
their primitive interior arrangements, and we find
the oaken staircases, the flagged pavements, the
small windows, and the large dwelling-rooms in the
former, which were once occupied by companies of
four Sisters, each sitting in her allotted corner.
The low ceilings of the Widows' House, the broad
oaken stairs, and the solid masonry of the walls, all
speak of the past, when architecture looked forward
to endurance and strength, rather than, as now, to
beauty and the mere purposes of the day.
Bethlehem has been sought by the superannuated
as the resting-place and the solace of declining life.
It is the "Mecca" to which all those who have been
23

260 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
employed in the service of the Moravian cause, either
as pastors at home or missionaries abroad, direct
their steps. In its cemetery may be found the
names of many who had fulfilled the duties of
the Moravian clergyman's life, labored in a long
and arduous campaign of evangelical service, toiled
amid the needs of poverty and- the passions of hu
manity, living on the scanty pittance of many of
our small village congregations, then risen to posts
of comparative eminence in their sphere, and, finally,
received an earthly reward by being allowed their
humble portion and the enjoyment of quiet, sweet
ened by social happiness, in this place. This reunion
of the old always seemed to strengthen the bonds of
their attachment to Bethlehem, and even constituted
a society within itself. The circumstances' of their
residing here in such numbers gave a tone to the
moral and religious character of the place, and more
especially during its isolated condition, when it was
an exclusive community. Since the law of exclusion
has been laid aside, and a promiscuous population
has been invited to come and dwell here, society has
become more diluted, and the retired missionary is
no longer a prominent object.
Bethlehem has been visited by large numbers of
our citizens, as well as by many foreigners of distinc
tion, and has been the abiding-place of the invalid,
or of those who desire tranquil leisure during the
warm summer and the autumnal months. The musi
cal virtuoso frequently comes hither to hear and be

BETHLEHEM. 261
heard, and finds the society around him, particularly
if he be a German, congenial and appreciative.
Standing on the borders of a picturesque and ro
mantic stream, in the midst of a captivating land
scape, confronted by mountains, and with a salu
brious air coming down the long valley that
stretches to the west, it charms alike the visitor and
the resident. A mixed society has thus sprung
up, which no longer leaves the Moravian so dis
tinctly marked as before, nor is the town as striking
and sedate in aspect. Many of the old land-marks,
however, together with the remnants of social life
which the memory delights to dwell upon, are
yet to be traced, and tell us that something still re
mains of the old Moravian town. Scarcely a year
elapses without a number of the retired apostles
of the church, or some aged inhabitant who had
grown up and was nurtured in a fondness for the
beautiful simplicity of the older school, passing from
off the scene. All such, while they live, cling to the
institutions in which they were cradled, and are loath
to exchange the associations of German life, its
warmth and its festivities, for the modern style of
American modes and practices. But as this generation
passes away, a new stage of men and things super
venes, receiving its impress from "young America,"
and looking forward to a world of hopes, based upon
the materialism and progress of the age in which we
figure. The spiritual life of Moravianism, founding
its hopes and aspirations in a world of future per-

262 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
feetion, and its rewards not in the dross of life, but in
the jeweled crown of eternity, is fast merging into
American forms of thought and action, and casting
off its German parentage and relationship. Yet,
notwithstanding this admixture of a modern and
national element, the summer months may be plea
santly whiled away in and around Bethlehem, for
the seductions of nature here are great, either in the
drive to Allentown, to " Bauer's Rock," a craggy
eminence to the southwest, upon the loftiest part of
the Lehigh range, and commanding a wide-extended
view, along the southern banks of the stream, to
ward Hellertown, or Freemansburg, or northwardly
toward Bath or Nazareth. This whole region is so
fertile and romantic, and, in its champaign aspects, so
picturesque, that the seeker of rural enjoyment can
find abundant solace in all he sees in these precincts,
and in the excursions that are within range.
Notwithstanding the innovations of the mechani
cal arts and of commerce upon the poetical beauties
of the Lehigh, whose banks have been trodden, time
after time, by the serious and the gay, nature is
beautiful yet, and sufficient remains of the native
forest trees, with the clear sparkling waters of the
old Indian stream beneath them, to gladden the ima
gination and soothe the heart of the stricken in
years, as he once more seeks his wonted resting-
place. A commercial age is apt to lay aside the instincts
that direct themselves to the pure and the beautiful

BETHLEHEM. 263
in nature, and those equally chaste affections which
linger among the decaying emblems and images of
the past, — exchanging them for the gilded toys of a
later school of taste and design, in which a higher
spirituality is but feebly developed. Wherever this
latter quality clings to the events and structures
of the olden time, I would fain see its remembrance
preserved and held sacred, and some monumental
tribute bestowed upon it as its only and its highest
temporal recompense.

23*

XIV.
MUSIC AT BETHLEHEM AND NAZARETH.
After offering the sketch of the interview with
the Nantikok and Shawano Indians within the " Little
Hall," as it was then called, I will introduce the
reader into the same apartment under a different
appropriation. This venerable chapel occupies the
upper portion of the building adjoining the Sis
ters' House, the entrance to which is found by as
cending a small flight of wooden steps, and thence
by an ancient and well-worn staircase with its oaken
balustrade. Here music in its higher forms might often have
been heard. To the select auditory that delighted
to gather here, concerts were given by an orchestra
of amateur musicians, aided by the voices of the
Sisters, who joined in the Euterpean relaxation, and
in which all ages united, from the girl of sixteen to
the matron, whose voice remained vigorous until the
frame decayed.
In these evening concerts the well-filled chapel
generally testified an appreciative audience, where
all came to listen, enjoy, and discuss the merits of
(264)

MUSIC AT BETHLEHEM AND NAZARETH. 265
the performance, at the close of which no applause
was ever offered, for the general feeling of quiet
satisfaction that prevailed was understood, and was of
itself a sufficient guaranty for the required appro
bation. In these pleasant soire'es the entertainment
was always of a genial character, and nothing offen
sive to good taste was ever admitted to mar the
sanctity of the old chapel.
Of the veteran virtuosi who still dwell in1 Bethle
hem, it is gratifying to find many who, year after
year, repaired to that old music hall, for the greater
part of the present century, and kept alive, by their
devotion to the cause of the divine art, the taste of
the community for the best works of the tone-
masters. Most of these amateurs were engaged
in the ordinary avocations of an industrious life,
and many left their work-benches, at the close of
day, to take up in the evening the violin, the 'cello,
the flute, or the contra -bass. A professed mu
sician was seldom seen here, except when giving an
exhibition for his personal benefit. This love of
music was inherent in the Moravian, and was, along
with the whole system of religious culture, introduced
from Europe.
Although the chapel was the scene of regular
evening entertainments, given by the Philharmonic
Association, generally throughout the winter and
sometimes in the summer months, during an influx
of visitors, the most eharming of them all was that
on the anniversary of Whitmonday, called the

266 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
Musical Festival. Upon entering the Little Hall,
we beheld the joyous evergreen, woven into the
accustomed wreath, with which the walls were taste
fully draped. Grunewald, the artist, lent his aid
to animate the occasion, by furnishing pictorial
images of Apollo, and his votaries Beethoven and
Mozart. This combination of the sister arts, united
with the services of the ladies, who formed the
wreaths and garlands and fashioned the nosegays
of the early summer flowers, lent to the scene
an air of poetical interest and naive enjoyment.
The auditory of an earlier day looked to musical
performances as a portion of life's sustenance, and
combined them with the pastimes and vacant hours
that found their way among the sterner duties of a
commonplace reality. These simple decorations,
the truest emblems of the spirit and design of the
Festival, suggested at a period of the year when
nature begins to expand to both eye and ear, ap
pealed with wondrous effect, to the annual guest, of
the welcome musical banquet.
This Festival had become of such old standing,
that it was regarded as a permanent institution, and
if aught transpired to hinder its celebration, a cloud
of disappointment seemed to cast its shadows over
the public mind. The entertainment lasted the whole
day, and to the chronicler of medieval Bethlehem,
it forms a bright point to look back upon. In addi
tion to a well-selected programme, an oratorio was
usually presented to the dilettanti, and among all

MUSIC AT BETHLEHEM AND NAZARETH. 267
these compositions the selections from Haydn and
Mozart were ever the favorites. The virtuosi of
Bethlehem claim the honor of having first introduced
to the notice of an American public Haydn's " Crea
tion," and, although it made its first appearance in
Philadelphia, the score was furnished by them to
Mr. Hupfeldt, who succeeded in bringing it out
before a Philadelphia audience.
The merit of having transplanted this production
of Haydn from Germany into America was no small
one, as it is probably the most chaste work of vocal
melody the tone-master has ever produced, and ap
peals by its purity of thought and its idyllic gentle
ness to the sense of our common humanity. Haydn,
indeed, composed for all countries and all ages, and
his melody never fades from the musical vision;
hence his master-piece was warmly studied among
us, and his beauties were appreciated, alone at the
piano, in the church choral music, or in the public
concert. ~"
A venerable and esteemed citizen of Bethlehem long
continued to be the regular performer of Adam, in the
duet of Adam and Eve, while the latter character was
usually personified by a young maiden. The youth
ful Eve never flourished long upon the musical stage,
for as she ripened into womanhood the common
destiny of life stole her away, giving place to
another, and she again in her turn to yet another.
Many, therefore, were the maidens, who, in their
short-lived career of the Moravian prima donna of

268 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
the "Little Hall," sung Eve, yet Weiss outlived them
all ; and it is but recently we have had the pleasure
of seeing him stand up and perform his part, with
his deep sonorous voice and well-studied delivery,
such as he was ever wont to display in the execution
of parts appropriated to him. Since its first intro
duction, which was thirty-three years ago, the public
have been favored with this work of Haydn nearly
every year, and there is no portion of its popular
choruses that is not familiar to all who have attended
the Bethlehem concerts of secular and sacred music.
Other oratorios have met with similar success,
and were for a long time diligently rehearsed by the
Philharmonic Association. Among these may be
named the " Seasons," by Haydn, a work wherein
the pastoral conceptions of the composer speak
through the same language of tone that gives itself
utterance in the rural imagery of the "Creation,"
and among many was as much cherished as the
"Creation" itself. Aside of this, may be named
Schiller's "Glocke," performed in German, and set
to music by Romberg. In the " Glocke" we find
that rare excellence of the most exquisite and
moral poetry wedded to choice melody. These
merits contributed to make it an old favorite, as
the poem is one of the classic productions of the
German anthology, and stands almost unrivaled
for its sincerity and pathos. To these may be
added the "Seven Sleepers," and numerous other
minor selections from Mendelsohn, Mozart, Beet-

MUSIC AT BETHLEHEM AND NAZARETH. 269
hoven, Rossini, and others of the German and
Italian schools.
Occasionally, a musical celebrity would stray
hither, to hear and be heard; the atmosphere around
him was musical, and the inducements to while away
a month irresistible. Of such the "Bavarian Min
strels," whom I have noticed in the preceding sketch,
will long be remembered, as their vocal perform
ances were the inspiration of a perfect harmony of
feeling, and their skillful expression displayed a
mastery in the art of tone. At a later period,
Knoop's achievements on the violincello left indeli
ble impressions behind, and no one either before
or after him could deliver such exquisite combi
nation of tone-thought on that most expressive of
all instruments.
In the chapel of Nazareth Hall, the teachers and
citizens were wont to assemble in the evenings, and
rehearse many of the symphonies of Haydn and
other composers, together with an excellent pro
gramme of chamber music, in trios, quartettes and
quintettes, and when engaged in the symphony, they
employed as full an orchestra as they could muster.
Each virtuoso, on his own favorite instrument, from
the violincello to the kettle-drum, gave his whole soul
to the subject, and if the performers, as a tout-en
semble, did not arrive at the proficiency of professed
artists, they at least displayed the feeling, which is
one of the first requirements of music, and often
redeems the deficiencies of skill.

270 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
A favorite of these genial Haydn symphonies was
the "Farewell," which was signalized by the suc
cessive disappearance of the lights. One performer
after another, each as he closed his part, succes
sively extinguished his taper, the music grew fainter,
the sounds fell gradually into a pensive andante,
.another taper was extinguished, until the last sur
vivor of that gay symphony was left alone, playing
in his solitary position ; and as the notes of his violin
melted insensibly into feebler tones, and died away,
he seemed, in extinguishing his own taper, to close
the scene, and to drop the curtain on some fine
dramatic act.
As regards the other Moravian villages, music
was industriously studied, although concert and
chamber music were more successful in Bethlehem
and Nazareth than elsewhere, for here there was a
constant accession of proficients from Europe, who
kept the flame alive, as the German Moravian
student was, with rare exception, well trained in
the art. Within recent years, as previously ob
served, the female Boarding-school at Bethlehem
has taken up the cause of vocal music, performing
the works of Haydn, Romberg, Mendelsohn, Ros
sini, and even Beethoven, in a very creditable style
of execution and expression.
On the evening previous to the "Public Exhibi
tion," in June, the large church is used for an enter
tainment, being lighted with gas, in modern contrast
with the obscure candles of the old chapel. An

MUSIC AT BETHLEHEM AND NAZARETH. 271
ample stage, adorned with arches of evergreen fes
toons, is thrown up, sufficient for the accommodation
of nearly two hundred young ladies and a few gentle
men, who represent the bass and tenor parts. Throw
ing aside the primness of a former time, the girls
are attired in the costume of the day, and the
effect upon the large audience that sit before them
is highly pleasing, as, in a glorious chorus of the
"Creation," they all rise up beneath a flood of light
that is shed upon them.
In speaking of music as a past or declining feature
in the Moravian character in America, the fact must
not be overlooked that this remark applies only to
certain forms. The cultivation of the voice and pro
ficiency on the piano are as great as ever, and per
haps they are carried to a higher degree of perfection
than hitherto; it is only in orchestral and chamber
music that we can say that public taste has arrived
at a turning point. As long as the Philharmonic
Society of Bethlehem and the old Concert Hall
flourished, and were upheld by a kind of traditional
veneration for the music in which every one had been
reared from childhood, the German school of compo
sition was rigidly adhered to; but now the modern
Italian school has crept in, and receives that common
admiration for its transient beauty, which it finds all
over the world, wherever man is susceptible of the
influence of modulated tone. Selections from it are
usually produced by the Sextette Club, or they be
come familiar to the ears of the piano pupil, through
24

272 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
the numerous popular musical publications that flood
the country.
The most characteristic of all music among the Mo
ravians is that of the trombone, played usually in
the open air, on the belfry, in the graveyard, at
the church-door, and, at New Year's eve, in the
orchestra. Here the Moravian hymn is drawn out
with wonderful expression, and in rendering its
harmonies on these pensive wind instruments, we
catch all its beauties in their fullest force. The
trombones are generally played in quartette, and
when the chorales are correctly executed by guiding
the crescendo to its proper point, and imparting to
the air its finest shades of meaning, the out-door im
pressions are deep and abiding. Many of these well-
known chorales are very ancient, but their exquisite
tone combinations never permit them to tire upon
the cultivated ear, the long vibratory notes blending
in beautiful accord when passing out of the sombre
instrument. In their musical history of a past cen
tury the trombone has imparted solemnity to the
opening and close of every anniversary; the quar
tette, with their thrilling tones, adding poetry to the
transactions of life, as well as to the religious cultus.
The Sextette Club, already alluded to, has been
instituted by the young men of Bethlehem, who per
form on the cornet, and the music, although of a dif
ferent school of composition from that of the trom
bone, is a great acquisition to out-door recreation
and entertainment. The Sextette not only enliven

MUSIC AT BETHLEHEM AND NAZARETH. 273
many a public occasion with choice and popular
melodies, selected from the modern opera, but they
even produce, with effect, the classic compositions of
the great masters ; and their instruments, with that
remarkable ductility of sound that distinguishes
them, adapt themselves to compositions of a solemn
cast. On the waters of the Lehigh, or in the street,
when the evening has subsided- into the deep quiet of
night, the Sextette is often heard and listened to
with fixed enjoyment. Within the last few years
the Sextette Club has added greatly to the day's
happiness of a Nazareth Reunion. Early in the
morning a coach is seen entering the town, filled
with the members of the club, who perform some
chosen air as they arrive at the place where the
old pupils are assembled. They precede the pro
cession to the Hall, play in the church as intro-'
ductory to the address ; play at the supper table,
where mirth and good humor run high ; and, finally,
crown the closing scene of leave-taking in the square
by some stirring strain that softly dies away as the
last of the Reunionists retreat from the scene.
If the cultivation of music has never reached that
artistic perfection of which it is susceptible, when
made an engrossing pursuit, it has been so gene
rally introduced into all the movements of social
life that its aim and influences have been carried out
to their fullest extent. When music has been so
fully incorporated with every form of a people's life,
leading them along by its irresistible power over the

274 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
heart and soul, and making them familiar with its
tone-visions — visions of a far higher order than all
the materialistic associations of earth — we must con
clude that it has left some marked results upon their
character. In the ordinary course of a callous ex
istence, tone-thoughts always awaken new feelings,
and by the accessory of song or instrumental music
the most ordinary event becomes a matter of poesy.
Thus we have seen that the Birth-day celebration
was often enlivened by a greeting from a musical
chorus ; a marriage-feast was serenaded in the even
ing ; the days of public rejoicing were ushered in by
sweet sounds.
We have seen, too, in the whole history of the re
ligious cultus, that music ever presided : it cheered
every festival, it held all ascetism at a distance, it
warmed the whole religious life, it filled every ob
servance with spirituality and made every ritual a
matter of deep emotion, it attained that paramount
object of making religion an enjoyment. It would
be superfluous to offer a defence of music, in its fra
ternity with a religious cultus, as the world has never
yet seen a form of Christianity of which the external
worship was not combined with some rhythmical
form or musical demonstration. A Christian cultus
has often appeared wherein the indications of a
musical emotion are scarcely descernible, but even
among communities who endeavor to stifle this in
stinct of human nature the elementary conditions of
the art are unconsciously manifested. The very

MUSIC AT BETHLEHEM AND NAZARETH. 275
first suggestions that originate modulated melody
arise from the pulsations of the human heart, and
as these pulsations are impressible in any individual,
so the primary musical element is found in every
human being.
In order to adapt music to the necessities of real
life its early study should be regarded as an essen
tial of education, and hence we have seen that a
large portion of the Moravian's academic years were
occupied in the simple exercises of the art. Reared
from an infantile age among the beautiful associa
tions of tone, thoughts clothed in the language of
melody became the companions of each individual's
private meditations. The motive of an air is never
lost in the memory, the sacred hymn learned in
youth dies only with the mind itself, and hence, as
a portion of a religious cultus, its cultivation should
never be lost sight of.

24*

XV.
THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE
It might be supposed that among a people liv
ing in small communities of three to five hundred
souls, and instituting for themselves a peculiar life of
thought and worship, all those forms of religious
and educational culture, at which we have just
glanced, should have some ulterior and useful aims
to fulfill, not only in relation to themselves, but to
others without the pale of their society. As we
have seen it become their mission, in the maturity
of their history, to educate the civilized, so too it
became equally important to evangelize the uncivil
ized portions of the earth.
The life of the Moravian at home, though quiet,
industrious, and unpretending, not only exhibited
good results within itself, by its peculiar practices
and limited worldly aspirations, but diffused its in
fluences abroad in the vast scale of its missionary
labors. These may be termed vast, when we con
sider the small means, both as to wealth and num
bers, of the people who sent forth the ardent and
undaunted heralds of Christian salvation. It may
(276)

THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 277
be said that one, as much as the other, of these
enterprises, gave a certain share of celebrity to the
Moravians, occupying, as they do, more than a cen
tury and a quarter of time, and having the whole
civilized and uncivilized world for their theatre of
action. In this manner, a promiscuous public, with
out reference to sect, have formed their acquaint
ance by supporting their schools, and thus mixing
with them and studying their music and rituals;
while the missionary, extending his labors and re
searches in fields never previously trodden or ven
tured upon by other pioneers, sent his modest fame
abroad by the singular, and apparently miraculous,
preservation he met with in endeavoring to gain over
the aboriginal of every clime and of the most aggres
sive species of humanity.
By many it is deemed a questionable philanthropy
to leave the work of Christian truth undone and
neglected at home, and carry the tidings it pro
claims into distant regions, where idolatry has so
firm a foothold as to render man unimpressible to
purely spiritual doctrines and unsusceptible of ab
stract ideas regarding the divine and the holy. Yet
the Moravians, while they have attended to this field
at home, and to the dissemination of the truth, as
they view it, among the villages and the cities of
Europe and America, independent of their own con
gregations, by maintaining a regular corps of home
missionaries have, at the same time, always regarded
their special mission to be the propagation of the
gospel among the heathen.

278 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
It is the peculiar attribute of Moravian Chris
tianity to bring before the mind the personality of
Christ, and to represent the spectacle of his life,
sufferings, and death, in those palpable forms that
render him constantly visible to the infantile and
unsophisticated candidate for hope, peace, and sal
vation. The Moravian lyric is replete with termi
nology, expressive of this personality, and so much
so, that in the older sacred poetry of the church the "
tendency was rather overdrawn, and the expressions
of the suffering Christ led to vague and extreme
meanings, which were only interpretable by the Mo
ravians themselves. Yet, under all this symbolism,
the ground-work of a beautiful faith lay concealed,
and in appealing to the rude but susceptible heart
of the untamed man, the faith of the cross was
educed in its abstract sense from the visible repre
sentation of God in the human form, and the endow
ment of this same form with all the love and sym
pathies of man himself.
In the hymn that was taught the Indian, the same
phraseology was always introduced, and thus his un
tutored heart softened under the benign influence of
Moravian worship.1 In some instances, the work of
1 Of the nature and reception of the doctrines taught,
Loretz says : " It is no matter of surprise that the Brethren
should remain steadfast in their adherence to the funda
mental truths of Christianity, the knowledge of Christ, and
the knowledge of human conception. The Scriptures teach
them, and experience among all mankind confirms them, and

THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 279
the missionary was abandoned, after one or more years
of persevering effort, but these futile attempts were
this confirmation has received additional weight from the
wide intercourse of the Brethren with so many moral and
immoral classes of mankind, enabling them to discover the
great uniformity of the one leading idea amid the greatest
disparity of races.
" Civil institutions, education, climate, and food, give rise
to as great a diversity among nations as that which exists
among the individuals of a single people ; yet it is clear that
one character is discernible in our whole race ; that man has
been created for one common destiny ; that his capacity for
knowledge and emotion, although differing in degree, is uni
versal, and hence, that the declarations of Holy Writ regard
ing the natural man are truth. To exemplify this, it is
apparent to all men that there is a God. We have met with
Greenlanders, in a perfect state of nature, who had not a
single word in their language expressive of the Deity, but
after their conversion they have acknowledged that in silent,
thoughtful hours, when they contemplated the sea, the moun
tains, the heavens, and other objects of creation, a mighty
thought seized them that all this must be the work of some
great being.
" It is evident, too, that in every man there exists a con
sciousness of moral or immoral conduct, — whether this be an
innate or an acquired conception is immaterial.
" The conscience accuses ; there are thoughts of reproof
and thoughts that justify us, and, under all grades of intelli
gence, there are actions which are accompanied with the con
viction of right and wrong. A moral feeling underlies the
conviction that, after death, we shall be rewarded or punished
for our actions. This same feeling is found pervading the
most savage tribes, instructing them that the Deity must be
pleased, let their general knowledge be ever so circumscribed.

280 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
mostly in climes very distant and scarcely accessi
ble, and the journeying to them extremely hazard
ous and expensive. Thus he sought Lapland in
1734, and the Samoyedes in 1737, and in 1739,
had already penetrated Palestine and Ethiopia;
these, with Algiers, Ceylon, China, Persia, the East
Indies, and the mountains of the Caucasus, are all
Sin, therefore, lays its burden upon every one, on the un
civilized as well as the moral and refined.
" Nearly all nations have their sorcerers or their jugglers,
who administer various forms of purification in order to
cleanse them of moral evil, and appease their God. Others
have their sacrifices to conciliate their idols and render them
propitious. All this coincides with the Scripture, where it
dwells upon the corruption of man and the necessity of a
reconciliation with God.
"The more intimately we have become acquainted with
heathen nations the more fully have we discovered that the
Greenlander, the Negro, the Hottentot, the Indian, the moral
or the immoral individual, the weak and the strong minded,
have all had the same experience in the work of conversion.
" Further evidence in favor of this is seen in the experience
of thousands among other sects, whatever may have been
their nation, their caste, education, or capacities ; they may
have been scattered over various portions of the earth and
dwelt far from each other, still, on nearer examination, it will
be found that their inner history was the same, that under
the greatest diversity of temperament, but one common want
was felt, and but one means of assuaging it was found. And
thus the truth of the doctrine of Jesus and his apostles has
been established among the Brethren, and proved the never-
failing source of consolation and of strength." (Ratio Dis
ciplines Unit. Frat.)

THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 281
abandoned mission -grounds, as well as those in
Guinea, among the Calmucks, in Abyssinia and
Tranquebar. Although the Brethren were obliged
to relinquish them, it was not without long-con
tinued effort, extending in some places to half a cen
tury, and among the Calmucks to eighty years.
Their existing missions still take in an extensive
range, and include Surinam, the Mosquito coast, the
English and Danish West Indies, the Indian terri
tories of our great West, and of Canada, Labrador,
and Greenland. , In the eastern hemisphere they
flourish at the Cape of Good Hope, Australia, (which
has been temporarily relinquished, but bids fair to
be revived,) and, at this moment, two enterprising
and undaunted missionaries are exploring Thibet,
Mongolia, and the Himalaya regions.
The earliest mission was undertaken in 1732, by
Leonhard Dober and David Nitschmann, the one a
potter, the other a carpenter, who proceeded to St.
Thomas, West Indies, and broke the first ground
there. Although the primitive missionary conception in
the mind of Zinzendorf had its birth in the " Senf-
korn Order," at school, in common with De Watte-
ville, his first practical idea on the subject appears
to have occurred to him on a visit to Copenhagen in
the year previous to the departure of the two first
missionaries. While studying there, he made ac
quaintance with the Royal Master of the Horse, the
Count of Laurwig, whose attendant was a negro

282 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
slave of the Danish West Indies. The Count con
versed with the negro, who described the spiritually
destitute condition of his fellow-slaves in the island,
as well as the longing his own sister had shown
for a knowledge of the true God. There, too,
he learned that the Danish missions in Greenland
were abandoned, and then became warmed with
the thought that an extensive field lay open for
the operations of the revived church of the Bre
thren, by its engaging in the work of missions to
those distant countries, the West Indies and Green
land. The Count returned to Herrnhut, and his
reception was signalized by the warmest demonstra
tions of feeling on the part of the congregation, who
went out to meet him and to congratulate him on his
safe arrival. They knew nothing of the new schemes
that had resulted from his visit to Denmark, and re
ceived with joy and surprise the first suggestions
made to them by Zinzendorf. There were many
ardent minds among them, who embraced a pro
position to go forthwith to the West Indies, and
among these were Leonhard Dober and Tobias Leo
pold ; and, on hearing the disclosures in regard
to the Greenland Danish mission, Matthias Stach
came forward and offered his services in that
field. A year passed away before any action was taken
on these deliberations, when Dober, the first-named
individual, set out from Herrnhut, choosing Nitsch
mann for his companion, as the latter had formed an

THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 283
attachment to the negro slave of Count Laurwig.
In the evening before their departure on this weighty
errand, a meeting was held in Herrnhut, in which
every one singly bestowed his blessing upon the two
apostles, in the form of a verse ; and more than one
hundred verses were thus sung, and then handed to
the two devoted Brethren as keepsakes.
In the same evening the Count conferred with
Leonhard Dober on the duties and importance of the
charge assigned him, and early in the morning, he
accompanied both as far as Bautzen. Laying his
hand upon the head of Dober, he imparted his bene
diction, and his instructions were embraced in the
comprehensive command of "following in all things
the spirit of Christ." He then gave them each a
ducat, which, together with the sum of three dollars
they each had on starting, formed their entire outfit.
Then proceeding on foot along the way leading
through Wernigerode, Brunswick, and Hamburg,
they traveled to Copenhagen.1
This event was coeval with the earliest stage of
the society, and a beginning having been "made in
St. Thomas, the Moravian settlements soon spread
throughout the Danish and English islands, where
they have flourished up to the present day.
With the exception of a few English and Ameri
can Brethren, the great body of the missionaries are
1 Croeger's Brudergeschiehte. 25

284 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
German; and as these die, or retire from service,
their places are replenished from the mother coun
try. In the various islands the missionary life may
be exhibited in its most engaging character.
The treatment of the colored race in these tropi
cal isles, and their induction into the doctrines, forms,
and observances of the Moravian worship, are cha
racterized by the same process by which all the semi-
civilized races are led into it; but the negro himself,
regarded in a social light, is considerably in advance
of the converted Indian. A strong feature of the
West Indian congregation is the rule, everywhere
observed, of the confidential " Speaking," which is a
monthly custom, and at the appointed times hun
dreds are seen repairing to the mission house for this
purpose. The sacraments, festivals, and Christmas and
Easter solemnities, the order of interments, are all
in conformity with the customs of Herrnhut, and
in every island where Moravianism has taken root,
the poor negro has found a sympathizing friend in
the Brethren, who would not relinquish this destiny
for any other that is likely to await them on earth.
The humble mission house and its chapel often stand
upon picturesque and pleasant locations, where the
beauties of the tropical landscape abound. Climate,
soil, and the mode of tillage, are such as we find be
neath a vertical sun, and life partakes of those influ
ences on health and mind that are peculiar to all
Southern regions.

THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 285
In the Danish islands, industry is essential to the
well-being of the missionary; but in the English
islands he is more exempt from manual labor, and
enjoys a more placid existence.
Many places of residence are interesting spots,
and the access to them is across a surface of coun
try that resembles a garden in fertility. The most
luxurious foliage and the most delicious fragrance of
fruit and flowers assail the senses, and make the
visitor conscious of his entrance into a land of para
disaical enjoyment. The palm and the cocoanut
trees rise up in lofty magnificence around, while
the superabundant fruits of the lemon and orange,
filling the air with their aroma, lie untasted on the
ground. The hedges are clothed in the blossom of
the blooming aloe, while the cabbage-palms adorn the
roadside, and lend their shadows to the traveler's re
lief. Among the rocks is seen growing the enormous
cactus, and descending to the sea-shore, the ocean
view adds to the romantic interest of the whole na
tural scene. To give a more perfect picture of these
islands, I subjoin the following description of the
visit to St. John by Breutel and Hauser : —
"On landing, we discovered at a distance some
persons waiting for us; these were the Brethren
Schmitz, Meyer, and Ziock. They had been joined
by the chief magistrate of St. John, Mr. Brabde,
who pressed us all, in the most friendly manner, to
breakfast at his house, situated near the shore.
" Having spent a few hours at this hospitable man-

286 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
sion, we all mounted the horses, prepared for our
journey- to Bethany; for on this rocky island no
vehicles are to be met with.
" Our caravan, consisting of seven riders and seve
ral negroes leading the horses of the Sisters and
conveying our luggage, had something oriental in its
appearance. "We proceeded pretty slowly up the mountain, on
the top of which, five hundred or six hundred feet
high, the missionary station of Bethany is situated.
It is hardly possible to conceive a more splendid
prospect than that on the road over the Coral Moun
tains. Here a sequestered vale, with a cool, inviting
grove of palms; there a neat plantation, the negro-
houses of which peep through the enormous leaves
of the Paradise fig-tree or of the banana. Here a
herd of cattle feeding on luxuriant pastures ; there a
view of the ocean, with numberless rocks, surround
ing the island.
"Sometimes the bridle-path leads along the sum
mit of the mountain, so that we looked down on both
sides, as from the ridge of a roof, upon the island
and the sea, and could plainly discover Tortola and
St. Croix. Now and then we met with a breadfruit-
tree or a wild fig-tree, whose airy roots hanging down
from its branches like ropes and thread, festooned
themselves on the ground.
"Farther on, as we ascended higher, the road was
sometimes covered over like an -arbor, and from the

THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 287
dark-green foliage descended the amaranthine, with
its red bell-shaped flowers, like a garland. The air
on the top of the mountains is always pleasantly
cool, owing to the sea-breezes. The forests on every
side swell out in luxuriant grandeur, but they are
not rendered vocal, as in our native country, by the
warbling of birds ; for the small number of the fea
thered tribe found here are totally destitute of this
pleasing gift of nature."
In these regions a perpetual summer reigns, and
although the chilliness of a West Indian winter is
felt, still nature continues to hold her verdure, and
the flowers to bloom. To this land of the sun the
early missionary of 1732 was tempted to go, to
seek out the forlorn negro, whose nature, though
not as free and savage as the aboriginal, had never
yet been illumined by any ray of Divine light.
Among this dark race the efforts of the Mora
vians were more successful than among any other
people, and in all the islands where the earliest mis
sions were established during the last century, they
now count their numbers by tens of thousands.1
Early in the year 1733, three missionaries, Mat
thias and Christian Stach, and Christian David, set
out for Greenland, and under the greatest difficulties
1 The total number of Moravian missions throughout the
globe, in 1857, was seventy, superintended by three hundred
missionaries. The whole number of persons under instruc
tion, in all the mission fields, about seventy-three thousand.
25*

288 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
commenced the building of New Herrnhut.1 Like
the introduction of a Moravian gospel to the fairer
climes of the tropics, the tale of the first missionary
efforts, in Greenland and Labrador, was fearful and
discouraging in the extreme; and it was not until
after repeated efforts, the arrival of other Bre
thren, and a long endurance of suffering, priva
tion, toil, and disease, that a foothold was gained.
On the shores of this winter- bound and desolate
country, four stations still exist, and the hardy
Greenlander, having submitted to the missionary's
teachings, becomes a consistent disciple of the glad
tidings of the gospel. What renders the work
among those distant and bleak countries so remark
able, is the fact of its having been undertaken and
executed by two or three individuals at a time, with
little pecuniary aid. These men resorted to manual
labor to support themselves, and by their own exer
tions supplied the necessaries of life. So destitute
were they of all the materials for building, that, at
Lichtenfels, in 1758, they had recourse to the float
ing timber of wrecked vessels, which were occasion
ally washed on the shore. The small bark, named
the "Harmony," braving the tempests and battling
with the icebergs, arrives yearly from Europe, and
has now performed its eightieth voyage.2
1 Christian David made two subsequent voyages to Green
land, and erected two houses there with his own hands.
2 No vessel that ever crossed the ocean has had a more
remarkable history than this little messenger of peace, which,

THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 289
But here the picture of nature is in striking con
trast with that of the tropics, where we find the first
seat of the Moravian missions. The supplies of the
though consisting of different structures, has borne the gene
ral name of the "Harmony."
The first ship was purchased for the purposes of the Labra
dor mission, in the year 1770, after its establishment had been
decided upon at the Marienborn Synod. This little craft was
called the "Jersey packet," and was a mere shallop of eighty
tons burden !
A small company of ten Brethren, under the conduct of
Haven and Drachart, arrived in Labrador in July, and hav
ing opened a friendly correspondence with the natives, the
Esquimaux, returned home in safety. In the following year,
a larger vessel was purchased in London, and was named the
"Amity." Led by the two above-named Brethren, fourteen
more individuals set sail in it, and, after a dangerous voyage,
in which they encountered icebergs and fell in among the
rocky coasts, landed in Labrador, and founded Nain. After
"Amity," several other vessels were made use of, until the
present brig, of two hundred and thirty tons, was erected at
Yarmouth, under the superintendence of Captain Taylor.
It is built with a prow of double timbers, and provided with
an ice-breaker, in order to resist all the obstacles of the
Northern seas, and is withal a good sailer.
Eighty-eight years have elapsed since these regular voy
ages commenced, and in all that time, and throughout the
adventurous scenes necessarily encountered, no disaster to
ship or crew has ever taken place.
. In 1778 it fell into the hands of a French privateer, but
was soon after set at liberty, by the influence of Bishop Hut
ton, who appealed to the French minister of marine service.
In the year 1803, on its return from Labrador, it was twice
pursued by a French frigate, but the darkness of the night

290 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
needful requirements of life are sparse and dearly
bought. For only four months in the year does sum
mer hold its feeble sway, and the little grass that is
gathered for hay is collected, in small and scattered
patches, on the mountain-side. The chase is the
profession of the Greenlander, as well as the Esqui
maux, who pursue the reindeer on the hills, and lie
in wait for the seal by the sea-shore, or skim along
the surface of the wave in the light kayak, or boat
of skins. Dreary as this existence may seem to us,
who belong to a latitude which is especially designed
for man, the missionary continues to dwell there and
pursue the work that first attracted him thither.
Among those ice-clad hills, and from the lips of these
dwarf specimens of humanity clothed in the wild
raiment of the reindeer and seal, the Moravian hymn
may be heard, and the same tones ascending heaven
ward, that issue from the gladdened hearts of the
negroes on the West Indian plantation. Christmas
and Easter are here solemnized as well as at Bethle
hem and Nazareth ; and although the paraphernalia
of the hemlock-wreath, the full-choir music, and illu
minated inscriptions, are wanting to give life to the
scene, yet the same spiritual motive underlies their
cheerful yet simple ceremonies.
The missionary of Okak, on the coast of Labra-
enabled its captain to escape. The remarkable and provi
dential preservation of the little ship, during nearly a whole
century, has enabled the Brethren to keep up an uninter
rupted communication with those arctic regions.

THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 291
dor, living upon a solitary island, situated in an in
let, writes that he has endured his arctic life for
twenty-five years. He says that his congregation,
comprising three hundred and six souls, are only
found at home during autumn and winter, the
rest of their time being employed in hunting the
seal and reindeer. When at home, they have
their divine service and school every day. When
the bell rings, the whole village is seen to emerge
from their huts of turf, and move in long lines
to church and school. The organ is played
alternately by two Esquimaux Brethren, and, on
festivals, anthems are sung, with a violin and flute
accompaniment. The whole worldly fortune of these
people consists in the reindeer and seal ; if the chase
has been fortunate, they are in the possession of all
they desire, and spend the winter at home amid the
rituals and hymns of Herrnhut. When they disperse,
throughout the summer, in quest of game, wandering
perhaps two hundred miles, on their dog-sleds, beyond
their homes, they sometimes escape from spiritual life,
and the missionary finds it his duty to recall them to
his fold, whence they had strayed too long.
The first missionary to South Africa was George
Schmidt, who, in 1737, landed at Cape Town, and
settled at Bavianskloof, in the interior of the country.
After remaining here for eight years he was obliged to
suspend the work, through the opposition of the Dutch
clergy, and he returned to Germany. On the spot
where he first preached to the Hottentots, he planted

292 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
a pear-tree. This tree grew up, and in 1792, fifty
years afterwards, meetings were held beneath its
shade. The venerable Archivist of Herrnhut, who
takes a pleasure in producing all remarkable reminis
cences of missionary life, still shows the identical
pears, gathered from Schmidt's tree.
After this long interval of time, three mechan
ics departed thither on the errand of salvation,
and found still living an aged Hottentot woman,
named Magdalena, who had been baptized by
Schmidt, and who received them with some vague
sensations of joy. On being questioned as to her
recollections of Schmidt, she could recall little or
nothing. She had become enfeebled by extreme old
age, and the scenes of the early mission had passed
from her memory. She could, however, bring to
mind the description that had been given her of the
suffering Saviour, who had died for her, and, after
succeeding interviews with the new missionaries, she
reawakened within herself many former impressions.
She lived eight years after that event, once more
confirmed in her Christian faith.
Among the North American Indians the mission
ary enterprise has met with less marked success.
For a long time these missions were maintained in
Georgia, among the Cherokees, and prosecuted in
their new homes within the Indian territories, where
they are yet conducted on a limited scale.
Another ancient scene of labor is the Fairfield
mission in Canada West, which is still upheld, with

THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 293
rather feeble results, and from the nomadic character
of our red men in general, no abiding influences can
be expected from the introduction of Christianity, or
success on a large scale awaited.
In reviewing the whole subject of the missionary
obligation and its fulfillment throughout the long
course of its past history, we must not overlook the
remarkable instances of self-sacrifice exhibited among
these early martyrs, in enduring a separation from
their children. They were taken from their arms
at ages varying from three to eight years, and sent
to the German and American boarding-schools to be
educated, and, in most cases, when the next inter
view took place between parent and child, neither
could recognize the other.
This system, unnatural as it may seem to us of a
less pure and an egotistic age, when self-sacrifice, as
enjoined by the religion of Christ, is even held in
disrepute, indicates the high purpose of the old Mo
ravian's aspirations. A sacrifice that can overlook
the claims of kindred, probably the strongest ties
that exist in man, tearing away self from those
earthly endearments for the sake of communicating
to heathen the consolations of that faith which they
regarded in the light of absolute knowledge, must
be regarded as one of the finest exhibitions of the
people whose life and history I have attempted to
describe. The world has seen its crusades, when thousands
have gone forth on the mission of recovering the

294 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
holy tomb, and become martyrs to a romantic and
vain pursuit, with no end in view, save that of an
empty ambition of acquiring a worldly renown. But
in studying the memoirs of the earlier Moravian
apostles, we shall find that, although a seeming
spirit of adventure may have sent them forth, yet
a serious religious purpose supported them under all
difficulties, and that when once engaged in the work
they had assumed, they devoted themselves sedu
lously to it to the last moment of their lives.
Among the pioneers of the Moravian heathen
mission, there might be numbered Count Zinzendorf
himself, who left the courts of Europe and engaged in
the task of introducing Christianity among our abo
riginal tribes, where we have seen him both on the
West Indian plantations, and in the Indian wigwams
of Pennsylvania and Connecticut, sitting face to face
with those savages whom he wished to make his
brethren. The greatest contrasts of climate seem no ob
stacle to the missionary, who comes and goes from
one extreme point of the habitable earth to the
other, who passes from excessive heat to excessive
cold, from the tropics to the arctic regions, un
der circumstances of mental and physical endur
ance, such as are seldom found on record. Of
the hosts who have encountered such toils and
trials many have died at their posts, victims to the
climate of that flowery land where the air breathes,
along with its spices, disease and death. Others

THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 295
have returned to their native country, or not un-
frequently to Bethlehem and Nazareth, to enjoy
the remnant of their days in quiet and repose.' Here
their labor of life is ended, and binding up the wounds
it has inflicted, and soothing them with the solace
of that benevolence which they find at all hands
a voluntary offering, they await the final call to the
world of the future, the visions of which have been
prefigured in the hymns and anthems so often heard.

26

XVI.
SOCIAL AND PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS.
From the peculiar cultus, the festive modes of
life, and, above all, the rigid regulations in reference
to age and sex, which governed every Moravian
community, we may look for marked peculiarities of
social and personal character.
Human love, we know, with all its joys and sor
rows, forms one of the great pivots of society —
giving employment to its hours, food for its thoughts,
themes for its poesy, and causes for its tragedies ;
raising men and women to regions of bliss, and cast
ing them down into the abodes of torture and de
spair ; being the beginning, the middle, and the end
of the individual's career, after he has taken his
position in society, and we may therefore reasonably
inquire how that same human passion figured in the
little Moravian village.
In more primitive times during the momentous epoch
termed courtship, it was unusual for the fair lady to
have seen her intended spouse even a single time
previous to the betrothal, and all the preliminaries of
(296)

SOCIAL AND PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. 297
an event on which the heart hangs its entire destiny
became the work of a day. Both olergy and laity
submitted the decision of their connubial choice to
the lot, evincing, by this mode of procedure, an
entire submission to the will of the Lord, and em
ploying this touchstone of spiritual faith in every
important and decisive step. With regard to the
merit of this singular feature of Moravianism, much
discussion has arisen, but in the adoption of such a
pure and devotional principle, and its application to
the ventures of life, which the world generally regards
as under the control of an unknown fate, we discover
evidences of a high order of Christianity. It was
the genius of Moravianism to submit all decisions to
a supreme will and direction, and, in so doing, the
lot was the most available agent. In this manner,
Belf-sacrifice was an offering, and as the passions
gave way to a sense of duty the soul hastened for
ward in the paths and pursuits of Christian hope.
There was, however, another tribunal, into whose
presence the important question had to be brought
before an espousal could be ratified, and that was
the Elders' Conference. The sanction of this body
was required in all cases of proposal between the
future man and wife, and the dread suspense that
preceded this conference formed an important pas
sage in the history of love. The avenue I have de
scribed as leading from Herrnhut to Berthelsdorf,
the seat of the conference, was a path of sighs to

298 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
many of those disconsolate ones who returned over
it homeward with a negative reply.
Yet it is not to be supposed that these matrimonial
regulations shut out from the Moravian all the reci
procities of the sexes that are wont to precede an
espousal. The loves of the unmarried had many an
interesting and imaginative episode, and passed
through the various crises of fear and hope, disap
pointment and realization, that, all the world over,
characterize the oft-told story of the tender passion.
As long as humanity lasts, the well-known history
of human loves will be enacted again and again, and
under every form of exterior life, the same senti
ments will reveal themselves.
Under the old Moravian code, in cases where the
affections were early placed, and human arbitrament
was deemed sufficient, the decision by lot was often
evaded. In such cases, the romance of courtship
usually led to a suspension from the rights and pri
vileges of the particular congregation where the
infringing parties resided, and they were desired to
remove without its pale, and were no longer con
sidered members.
To rescue these tales of the past, evincing the all-
conquering power of mutual love and affection over
the ordinances of the church, is not my province ;
yet I refer to them as some of the curious reminis
cences of an age of simple and hardy faith. When
the maiden Sister in those times was an inmate of
the "Sisters' House," access to her presence was an

SOCIAL AND PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. 299
insuperable difficulty; the name and claims of her
suitor were not unfrequently made known to her, and
an acceptance or refusal decided upon after some sub
sequent interviews at home. As to the results of such
unions, many were fortunate and happy, while, on the
other hand, some injudicious espousals never yielded
to the moulding hand of time, and that which was
uncongenial in our nature remained so until death
unlinked the chain. Upon the whole, however, the
Moravian marriage was productive of the average
sum of good that characterizes the ordinary tenor
of connubial life, and it can scarcely be said that
the singularity of form in the choice of husband and
wife led to more unhappy alliances, than we see in
the daily drama of human love and passion.
In this aspect of modern society, the springs of
misfortune and sorrow generally flow from the disap
pointed ambitions and the thwarted purposes of
worldly life, the jealousies, the hatreds and the rival
ries of false pride, and the worship of self. In the
community, which I here present to the reader,
there were few struggles of selfish ambition, and as
both partners were pledged to one spiritual purpose,
a pure and holy marriage came on apace, and, long ere
the close of a well-spent career, ripened into a more
than earthly love. In our view of society at large,
we shall find that the antecedents of marriage are, in
but few cases, an earnest of continued felicity in its
subsequent stages, and that when beauty, fortune,
and impassioned declarations add to the romance
26*

300 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
of courtship, they in most instances but serve to
darken the shadows that fall upon the scenes of a
commonplace existence, after reality has made its
revelations of the weaknesses that mutually exist.
The old Moravian courtship, therefore, detracted
but little from the aggregate of a happy life, and we
may justly regard that feature as in perfect keeping
with all its other forms of pure devotion and spiritual
motive. As regards the modeling of characters, we can
look for few finished specimens of accomplishment,
taking the word in its usual and conventional
force. But if we assume a chaste Christian tone
and modest demeanor as the highest requisite
of womanly and manly worth, many examples can
be pointed out in all Moravian circles. This tone
we find to be a result of those influences which
point directly to an emotional education. High in
tellect, wherever it exists, being brought into the ser
vice of the heart, all the gifts of mind being em
ployed as the mere instruments of devotion, the life
of the model Moravian retains its own peculiar cast.
Its modest refinement of Christian thought could
not easily be entered into by people of a worldly
intellectuality, whose natures are expanded into a
wider and colder philosophy, who worship man, as
he is seen every day, who never form an ideal that
ranks above some showy image of humanity, or who
never allow that ideal to go beyond the reach of
mere intellect. In Germany, where the standard of

SOCIAL AND PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. 301
a literary and musical education is infinitely higher
than here, specimens of the cultivated woman are
more frequent than among us. At various periods
of its history, Moravianism was embraced by noble
families, and others of prominent rank in European
society, the descendants of whom still hold to the
primitive faith and institutions of Herrnhut, and use
the phraseology of Zinzendorf.
In addition to those who have come within the
scope of these sketches, there have been handed down
to us the names of many remarkable women who were
exemplary and distinguished in their day, and who,
by their poetical talents, added to the lyrics of the
church. The cultus of the Moravian, as already
shown, is essentially poetical, and its exercise can
not but impart a bias to the female character, which
reflects all the beauties of the poetry of religion.
The imagery of such a Christian creed is pure and
simple, and addresses itself with distinctive force to
the sensibilities of the female heart, and we may not
wonder, therefore, if a refined, spiritual impress,
even if high intellectual culture be wanting, should
distinguish the portraiture of Moravian women.
It may be worthy of mention, as one of the curi
osities of literature, that Goethe formed an early and
Platonic acquaintance with a Moravian Sister of
Herrnhut, and in his "Wilhelm Meister" furnishes
a synopsis of her life and character, in the ideal he
has there presented under the "Confessions of a
Beautiful Soul." At the period when he was drawn

302 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
toward Moravianism, the society was advanced in
form and thought, and attached to itself many intel
lectual minds. In the idealistic picture alluded to
he has portrayed, with a masterly hand and with the
most minute touches of a psychological artist, the
inner history of a female soul, of one who was sup
posed to be gifted with all the delicate perceptions
of a refined religion.
In the "Confessions" of this remarkable being,
she acknowledges the Moravian belief and cultus as
the nearest approach to her own preconceptions and
the goal of that true sympathetic feeling she had
long been striving after. The great poet subjects
his type of female spiritual beauty to a wonderful
analysis of self-examination and experience, and as
she is allowed to narrate her own mental history, she
holds up to view, with marvelous distinctness, every
phase in the gradation from a worldly and a common
place to a religious felicity, viewed in those lights
which a Moravian cultus imparts.
The countenance itself of many distinguished per
sonages of our church is a most striking interpre
ter of the ruling characteristic disposition, and in
ward intelligence of him or her whom it represents.
Thus in the lineaments of Count Zinzendorf, Anna
Nitschmann, Christian David, Spangenberg, Christian
Renatus von Zinzendorf, James Hutton, Heckewelder,
and in the large gallery of Moravian portraits, we
find the whole sum of human benignity expressed,
and this pictorial exponent tells us, as well as their

SOCIAL AND PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. 303
written history, that their mission was one of love to
mankind. The simplicity of costume common to those days
served to cast in still stronger light the pure expres
sion of the outward person. The dress of the wo
men was not less marked for its simplicity than that
of the men, and the cap, with its Choir ribbon, the
simple handkerchief thrown across the shoulders and
primly drawn together in front, rendered the unpre
tending figure as morally attractive and as spiritually
noble as can be found among the ideal images which
art borrows from the exaggerations of history and
poetry. Although the type of the "Sister" in at
tire, physiognomic expression, and Moravian feeling
and phraseology, is scarcely to be found among us
at this day, yet it is frequent in all our European
communities, and but little modified by the influences
of surrounding society.
In forming an estimate of character, as exhibited
among the people of these communities, we must
study the German temperament itself, from which its
chief elements are derived. The " gemiithlichkeit "
of that nation is found to address us in all the pro
ductions of art, and in all the forms of religion. The
proper rendering of this term is, the expression of
mind educated by heart. Both in man and woman
do we see the significance of this phrase. It admits
access from one individual to the other by a ready
process, and once drawn to him, he is held by a tena
cious grasp. The passion of the Teutonic race pervades

304 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
all the manifestations of human thought, whether it
belong to fiction, poetry, painting, the love of music,
or the externals of church worship. This nation
ality of temperament is carried by the German Mo
ravian to his adopted country, and hence we find
among that people in this country many of those
peculiarities and amiabilities of social character which
spring out of the old Teutonic nature.
Our relations with the parent country are becom
ing more and more relaxed, and the scions of Ame
rican growth are prone to throw off all the associa
tions of German extraction, so that as a purely
American Moravianism takes the place of the Ger
man school of faith and manners, much is lost in the
essential forms, and the warmth of the primitive wor
ship is largely diminished. I will not pretend to say
that the practices of Christian worship in closest
affinity with American life are less sincere, or that
their religion is less true, yet, from the picture hitherto
presented of the lively and cheerful cultus of the Mo
ravian, Christianity comes up before us in attitudes
seldom, if ever, elsewhere presented.
That the Moravian mode could be placed before
society to imitate, we know is entirely impracticable,
and the doubtfulness of such an application becomes
more and more evident as the age develops its cha
racter for luxury and externality. Those naive en
joyments, which were interwoven with the religious
practices of the Moravian, necessarily implied a for
bearance of ostentation and a "contentment with lit-

SOCIAL AND PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. 305
tie. " Out of this grade of human life, at all times and
among all people, the chief sum of positive religious
feeling proceeds, and the moment that society rises
into luxury and stern conventional forms, that ele
ment subsides. In other words, the grade of social
life wherein the heart rules is entitled to be called
the model life of humanity, and the farther we
diverge from it, the farther we recede from the true
destiny of our earthly existence. As already said,
I would not pretend to advocate all the forms of
Moravian life at this advanced period of society, and
in what it supposes itself to be, a high state of
outward refinement, or recommend their application
to the religion of the age ; yet many things which
have been laid aside, as the useless symbolism of a
past generation, could be revived to beautify our wor
ship and render it more captivating to that large
number who, as they are carried down the tide of
time, are steadily steering out of the way of its in
fluences. Under the frequent use of the term poetry, as ap
plied to the Moravian worship, I do not wish to de
tract from its value or import; since, next to reli
gion itself, nothing on earth is purer, nor can the soul
be more readily admitted into its sacred depths than
through these passages from an outer to an inner life.

XVII.
WILLIAM HENRY VAN VLECK.
Of all the noted men and women, whose names
have been associated with the events and identi
fied with the institutions of the Moravian Church,
none belonging to this country have, as yet, come
under our notice. Nearly all the personages of
those early times were emigrants from Europe,
who, in carrying out the great task assigned them,
had to compass sea and land, forsake home and
kindred, sacrifice fortune and the advantages of
birth and social position. To their posterity they
left a new sphere of activity. The church, which
had been planted and nurtured into a growth of fair
proportions, exhibiting its ripening fruits, was to be
preserved in flourishing beauty, and guarded from
internal decay. Among the many eminent divines
who have thus contributed to the perpetuation of
Zinzendorfian life and spirit among us, no one more
than William Henry Van Vleck, deserves to be held
in sacred remembrance. Born in Bethlehem, in 1790,
he was placed at the usual age in Nazareth Hall, where
he afterwards entered upon a course of theological
(306)

WILLIAM HENRY VAN VLECK. 307
study, and, upon its completion, went through the trials
of a seven years' tutorship in that ancient seat of learn
ing. Residing for a short time in Bethlehem as the
spiritual adviser of the Brethren there, he was next
called to take charge of the Philadelphia congrega
tion. Previous to assuming this responsibility, he
was united in marriage to Anna Eliza Kampman,
who still survives him. Five years were usefully
spent as the pastor of the Philadelphia church of
the Moravians, when he received an appointment as
Principal or Inspector of Nazareth Hall. On his
arrival there, he found the school in a somewhat
feeble condition, but, by judicious management and
personal address, he succeeded, after a year's ad
ministration, in resuscitating it.
His next field of ministration was New York City,
where he resided a few years, and then receiving epis
copal ordination at Bethlehem, he removed to Salem,
North Carolina, in order to officiate as pastor there,
and, finally, to Bethlehem, where until near the last
days of his life he exercised the functions of his
sacred office. He delivered his final sermon on the
16th January, 1853, and expired on the nineteenth
of the same month, at the age of sixty-two years.
During his pastoral career in Philadelphia, he
was known and distinguished for that remarkable
simplicity and unobtrusive demeanor that always
marked his character, and made him, as a companion
of the social circle, a welcome guest wherever he went.
The species of Christian blandness found in him
27

308 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
was its own peculiar and original type, adopting no
conventional pattern, but aiming at the one great
ideal of humanity, — man walking after and imbued
with the spirit of Christ. His discourse in the pul
pit partook of that soft, winning, and persuasive
eloquence which seeks no ad captandum arguments
to seize upon an auditory, but secures its attention
by what is often termed a magnetic influence. In his
language he borrowed freely from Holy Writ, but
rarely to such an extent as to mar the propriety
of his style. He lived altogether a gospel life, and
hence was ever ready to quote appropriate passages.
To him it was a delightful enjoyment to give a
scriptural expression to all his views of surrounding
existence, or add to its whole outer surface the glori
ous imaginings of an inner one. His style of preach
ing was of the order termed evangelical, — pure, simple,
and scriptural.
The audience of a modern Christianity looks for
polished language, imaginative conception, and all the
accessories of rhetoric. Its attention must be drawn
by intellectual display, and to secure a large and
popular one, the preacher must call in the aid of
much thought, and that thought constantly stripped
of its old, and ever putting on some new dress, and
gaining some new exuberance. But in the themes
of our Moravian forefathers, erudition was laid aside,
and the hearts of the hearers were only appealed
to and approached by the repetition of the same
language, the same emotional phraseology, which

WILLIAM HENRY VAN VLECK. 309
they received as children of a larger growth, and thus
was constituted the true and only Herrnhutian church
the world has ever seen.
Our American Bishop Van Vleck was distinguished
by much of this fervid and artless eloquence, although
modified by the language in which he generally ad
dressed his people, and adapting itself to an age of
new things, and to a people differing from those of the
middle of the last century. Yet the doctrine of the
cross underlay all this new exterior of modern
thought, and the poetry which he frequently applied,
in common with Zinzendorf and Spangenberg, al
though emanating from a different school of compo
sition, flowed from the same fountain of inspiration.
But the evangelical discourse, like the hymn or
the melody sung from infancy to old age, never
tires upon an audience who assemble for the purpose
of listening to what it already knows and has heard.
The most intellectual teacher of our time will become
dull, his mental riches will be exhausted, and his
audience will go in search of some other novelty;
but the simple Christian discourse always remains
fresh when the hearers to whom it is addressed judge
it by the heart and not by the understanding.1 If the
1 It is not to be inferred from these remarks that all Mora
vian discourses are emanations of uneducated and merely
emotional minds. Most of our German, and not a few among
our American divines, are men of erudition and fine classi
cal training ; yet they constantly avoid a departure into the
regions of polemics or the discussions of every-day life, and

310 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
occasion seemed to chime with his own feelings, the
Bishop's quiet, soothing pathos and his simple lan-
they rarely contaminate the guileless subject of the cross
with that irrelevant combination of moral, social, and political
disquisition at which modern pulpit oratory aims, and which is
craved by an audience who repair to the place of worship for
the purposes of an intellectual repast. In appropriating the
phrase, Evangelical preaching, to the language, thoughts,
and usual vein of Moravian discourse, no proper conception
of its peculiarity will be afforded.
The subject of the present sketch was remarkable for his
powers of familiar exhortation ; and on the eve of his depart
ure from Herrnhut, he delivered to the Widows' Choir one
of the most pleasing, impressive, and simple addresses that
had ever been listened to. In his calm and quiet way, and in
the garb of an unadorned language, the speaker is here seen
to descend, like Zinzendorf in his communications with chil
dren, to the condition of human feelings nearest to nature ;
Christ becomes an invisible member of the spiritually-minded
company, and participates in all its individual thoughts
and desires. This is, therefore, not merely an evangelical
mode of inculcation, but it might more properly be termed the
Zinzendorfian form of evangelical discourse.
Among a number of cotemporaries of Bishop Van Vleck,
I might name Lewis D. de Schweinitz, a descendant of Count
Zinzendorf, as a man of great oratorical ability, and as fluent
a master of words in prose as his ancestor was in poetical
improvisation. He was equally at home in the German and
the English tongues, giving utterance to all the impulses of the
older school of Moravianism in the style of thought that cha
racterized the German mind in contradistinction to that of the
American. His profusion of gospel language and illustra
tion drew toward him the admiration and esteem of his
friend and companion Van Vleck, who not only studied him

WILLIAM HENRY VAN VLECK. 311
guage, were beautiful in the extreme, and in one of
those solemn Moravian funerals, which I have had
occasion to describe, his address always commanded
the profound attention and moved the sensibilities of
his hearers. For that which is usually termed pulpit
oratory, he was, perhaps, nowhere more distinguished
than when he resided in Philadelphia, where he flou
rished in the first stage of his clerical career, and
was vigorous, and, at times, animated. His congre
gation was appreciative and much endeared to him.
as a model of eloquence, but loved him for the deep earnest
ness and sincerity of his nature. In the capacity of preacher,
theRev.Mr.de Schweinitz was chiefly known within the limits
of the Brethren's society, but as a naturalist in the department
of Flora, his name stood second to no other in the whole world
of science.
At the same time, and in the same clerical circle at Beth
lehem, lived Bishop Anders. He was a man of rare classi
cal endowments, cultivated musical taste and ability, and
conspicuous for his well-digested composition and powers pf
true eloquence in the pulpit. It may be added, in reference
to the character of all these men, and particularly the details
of familiar intercourse among the German Brethren, from
Zinzendorf himself down to this time, that geniality, candor,
good humor, confidence, and affection, were always depicted
in the action, tone, and language of the group of friends.
The. Brethren, after long absence, always embraced and kissed
each other, and the custom is upheld to this day among a
portion of the elder Moravians. These characteristics, a re
flection of the Christianity which was brought hither from
Lusatia, impart a rich glow to the retrospect of Moravian
life, and much of it can yet be seen wherever old influences
are in operation.
27*

312 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
In his later years, at Bethlehem, he preserved
all the characteristics of his early eloquence, but
it was more subdued, and his tone and language
pointed to the sunset of life. His head now was
gray, his features, never fair, bespoke the venerable
bishop, and addressed you by the medium of that
spirituality that always atones for the absence of
physical beauty.
Owing to his singleness of purpose in evangelical
pursuits, William Henry Van Vleck lived a steady
and equable life. He was never flattered, nor was
the purity of his faith weakened by an overweening
popularity, yet the esteem in which he was held was
great, and, what can scarcely ever be said of a man
of note, his enemies, if he had any, were few.
From the fineness of his organization proceeded
that tenderness, forbearance, and deference in dis
cussion which led him, as far as was consistent with
personal judgment, to enter into the views of others
by omitting self. And although subject to the ordi
nary infirmities of man, these were rarely seen to
blemish the pure Christian model he presented to the
world. To gain love, he accommodated himself to
all with whom he came in contact, and such was the
perfection of this "Disciple," that although he pos
sessed a keen sense of the ridiculous, he showed no
disposition to ridicule any of his fellow-men; for,
with him, the faculty which is apt to give rise to the
burlesque, was wont, in his gayer moments, to find
its application in the heart, and instead of calling

WILLIAM HENRY VAN VLECK. 313
forth derision, excited sympathy. When he looked
upon nature, its beauty received a spiritual interpre
tation, and that which constitutes the material element
.in its groupings and forms, became to him a thing of
heaven, a typical loveliness. When he looked over
the landscape and saw the country chapel standing
there, he would say that it made the wilderness
" bloom and blossom as the rose." All the grandeur
and sublimity of the natural world, with him, re
treated from mind and imagination back to the heart,
and became a matter of adoration. He knew Art
and felt her influences, and practiced in her temple ;
but even there he made a sacred application of all he
learned, and drew consolation therefrom for his soul's
nutriment. If we were to institute a comparison between the
two remarkable men whose lives we have reviewed,
and our own remarkable Van Vleck, there might be
found some striking points of resemblance.'
In those two Germans, vigorous and sanguine tem
peraments imparted buoyancy to thought, and lighted
up with cheerfulness all the phases of their apostolic
career. Our American bishop was of an opposite tem
perament, and mostly cheered himself, after undue
exertion, by rallying his powers and striving for a
mastery over the despondency of a physically weak
nature. Yet from this sensitive organization sprung
many of those elements of character we find in
Zinzendorf and Spangenberg. Being nurtured in
the German language equally with the English, his

314 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
Moravianism was as essentially German as theirs,
and as it formed a part of his family education to
think in the phraseology of Herrnhut, all his feel
ings and associations partook of the old German
Moravian nature. He was so well fitted to address
a German audience by this medium, that, in his visit
to Herrnhut in 1848, when he held a discourse there
in the venerable church, he was listened to with in
tense admiration. His words, as they fell from his
lips, were taken down by reporters and published
next day, and many met him in the streets and
thanked him for his delightful precepts.
Like those eminent Germans, he was always at
prayer, and that which forms the greatest riddle to
the philosopher, to discover why and how man should
seek a power without his own mind, was to him a
problem long and clearly solved. His communion,
night and day, was with the Saviour, and all the
terms of Zinzendorf and all the hymns he sung were
at his command, and were the source of his highest
enjoyment. Although his voyage of life was more
serene than that of the illustrious founders of the
modern church, yet his activity in his own sphere
was equally great. The mission of their lives was
to organize and originate, to govern, lead, and direct
the people under their charge. Our own Van Vleck
was born in a time when the whole institution had
been tested and had lived and grown venerable
through a century's trials and vicissitudes. His

WILLIAM HENRY VAN VLECK. 315
endeavors, therefore, were directed to conservative
ends, and to an adherence to the past in its forms,
its rituals, and simplicity of life.
Of all the personages of the Church of the Mo
ravian Brethren, it would be difficult to find one so
specially distinguished by that Christian gentleness
that seemed to be attained by the subject of this
sketch. Upon his visit to Herrnhut, in 1848,
his fame had preceded him, and he was known
and held in esteem there long before he had been
welcomed by its people. Neither is it easy to copy
such men as have been formed in the mould of
William Henry Van Vleck, since his type of Chris
tian beauty is extremely rare, and those forms of
humanity that are fashioned after Christ are so
marred by passions, so given to the conventionalities
of a false standard of society, so led astray by the
impulses of self, or so inflated by egotism, that a per
fect model is vainly sought for. When man ap
proaches nearest to all the Christian requirements,
he is regarded as a wonder, as living above the ordi
nary atmosphere of human weakness and imbecility,
and if he pursues a consistent career, with no gross
errors to sully his history, he passes off from the
stage of the living with a canonized reputation.
In the performance of his obsequies, the cere
monies which distinguish every Moravian funeral
were observed, and he was carried to his place of
earthly repose over the path that leads from the

316 MORAVIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.
Bethlehem Church to its cemetery, amid the notes
of the dirge and the silent sympathy of a large body
of friends, who, in the discharge of those last duties,
performed to the many good who had preceded him,
afterwards met in the hall of worship to crown the
ceremony in the exercise of that melancholy joy, a
Love-Feast.

THE END.

ERRATA.

Page

25,
31,45,85, 88, 89,
102,111,118, 165,
180,
185, 196,
219, 219,

line 22. 22. 13.
26.25. 28. 4.
25.19.27.15. 2.
28. 1.
13.

For Wittemberg read Wittenberg.
" tile-stone read tile-stove.
After Christianity insert of labor.
For music read muse.
" adopted read adapted.
" Sohrauterbach read Schrautenbach.
" Halleasians read Hallensians.
" South Carolina read North Carolina.
" 1768 read 1760.
" Great Sabbath read Good Friday.
" practical read poetical.
" cause read course.
" youthful amateurs read early amateurs.
" lived read live.
" large read small.

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