Algernon Blackwood

“ At the present day, more especially in its missions, has the Moravian Church been blessed; and although these have not always been successful, the zeal and love of souls which inspired them is ever worthy of the highest admiration. From Lapland and Labrador to the Islands of the East Indies the Moravian missionaries have spent their lives and strength in spreading the Gospel they loved so well. ”

“ All Moravian settlements have certain institutions for the well-being of their older members; houses where, at a very nominal rate, widows and impoverished old ladies can be boarded, and at the same time furnished with work suitable for their years. For the men there is a similar establishment. Even the inn is the property of the Brotherhood, who give to a salaried man the charge of the house and guests. ”

“ It tells how a little company of Christians fought, not only to keep their own particular Church and creed unspotted from the world, but how when numbering only six hundred unhappy exiles, they commenced a series of missionary efforts which have been abundantly blessed of God⁠—missions which have been so energetically carried out that they now number over seventy-six thousand converts, and which for the zeal and courage shown by the workers have won the respect of all the civilized world. ”

“ This religious fervour manifested itself still further in his school-life. At his first school we find him at the head of a society which he founded for the purpose of spreading the Gospel and cultivating personal piety amongst his schoolfellows. It was called “The Order of the Grain of Mustard Seed,” and through its means an excellent moral tone was spread throughout the school. On leaving school the Count entered the University of Wittenberg, and since his pious inclinations led him to prefer the Church as his lifework, he began to study theology. ”

“ At the present day, the Church has four hundred and fourteen bishops or ministers, over seventy-six thousand converts, besides numerous deacons, deaconesses and assistants. Their schools, which are as much noted for the thoroughness of their education as they are for the wholesome spirit of their religious life, have been long established at several places in Europe. ”

“ They are situated at opposite sides of the village, and much of the internal life of the Moravian Brotherhood may be seen from the method of conducting their schools. A long day of hard study is commenced at six o’clock with a reading out of the Bible, the same portion being read in all Moravian settlements all the world over at the same time. After a short prayer, all the boys and masters combined with great heartiness in singing a hymn of Luther or Zinzendorf’s. ”

“ In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries there existed a religious community to the number of, perhaps, two hundred thousand, called the “Bohemian Brethren.” They were scattered throughout Bohemia and certain parts of Poland, and were remarkable for the zeal and general purity of their lives. ”

“ Just when these were almost despairing of infusing, in any successful degree, new life and vigour into their old Church, or of giving to it a public existence again, we find them mysteriously brought into contact with the man who above all others seemed best fitted to carry out and embody such a resuscitation. ”