Moravian settlement

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ June 7, 1421, the fortress of Prague surrendered to the city, and by this the power of the Hussites was so firmly established in Bohemia, that they determined to carry the war into Moravia, to gain possession of the cities that had remained loyal to the emperor. They were met on the borders by some Moravian lords, and it was agreed to hold a General Diet of all the States belonging to the Kingdom of Bohemia, where they were to discuss matters of faith, but chiefly provide for some regular form of government for the whole kingdom. ”

“ Dress in the last case plays an important part. [154]
The northeastern section of Moravia is known as the Lassko country and is peopled by Lassi Moravians. This group occupies districts mainly around the towns of Moravska-Ostrava and Frydland. South of them a number of Slovak villages are found within the Moravian border. Their inhabitants, sometimes known as Moravian Slovaks, are emigrants from the Hungarian mountains [150] who reached the western Carpathians in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Although they speak Bohemian, their customs differ considerably from Bohemian usages. ”

“ The Moravian colony, shut in within a bend of the Volga, in the midst of the Kalmuck hordes, eloquently demonstrates what miracles decision and perseverance can effect. It is the first shoot planted by Europe in that remote region, amidst those pastoral tribes so jealous of their independence; and the changes wrought by the Moravian brethren on the rude soil they have fertilised, and on the still ruder character of the inhabitants, give striking evidence of the benefits of our civilisation.
Every thing breathes of peace and contentment in this little town, on which rests the blessing of God. ”

“ In Germany Church extension is almost unknown; in England it is still in its infancy; in America it is practically an annual event; and thus there are now more Moravians in America than in England and Germany combined. In Germany the number of Moravians is about 8,000; in Great Britain about 6,000; in North America about 20,000.
From this fact a curious conclusion has been drawn. As the American Moravians have spread so rapidly, the suspicion has arisen in certain quarters that they are not so loyal as the Germans and British to the best ideals of the Moravian Church ”

“ On the north it is separated from Austrian and Prussian Silesia by the Sudetes, which attain a height of 4775 feet in the Altvater or Schneeberg, and sink gradually towards the west, where the valley of the Oder forms a break between the German mountains and the Carpathians. The latter are the dividing range between Moravia and Hungary, having here an average height of 3000 to 4000 feet. On the west are the so-called Bohemian-Moravian mountains, forming the elevated east margin of Bohemia and descending in terraces, but without clearly-defined ridges, to the river March. ”

“ Fire kindled by the friction of wood. The Germans of Moravia in like manner still light bonfires on open grounds and high places on Midsummer Eve; and they kindle besoms in the flames and then stick the charred stumps in the cabbage-fields as a powerful protection against caterpillars. On the same mystic evening Moravian girls gather flowers of nine sorts and lay them under their pillow when they go to sleep; then they dream every one of him who is to be her partner for life. ”

“ There was a time when Bohemians in Moravia were taught by Austrian officials to believe that they were Moravians, not Bohemians. The difference between Bohemian and Moravian is as great as the difference between Bronx English and Brooklyn English, yet this fact did not discourage the grammarians in Vienna from setting up boundaries where none existed. Croatia, as pointed out elsewhere, is peopled by a nation calling itself alternately Croatians and Serbs. ”

“ Thus, step by step, the American Moravians prepared the way for great changes. If these changes are to be regarded as reforms, the American Moravians must have the chief praise and glory. They were the pioneers in the Home Mission movement; they were the staunchest advocates of democratic government; they had long been the stoutest opponents of the Lot; and now they led the way in the movement which ended in the separation of the Provinces. In England their demand for Home Rule awakened a partial response; in Germany it excited anger and alarm ”

“ MORAVIAN MANSE, HECKMONDWIKE.
BOOK ONE. THE BOHEMIAN BRETHREN.
CHAPTER I — THE RISING STORM.
When an ordinary Englishman, in the course of his reading, sees mention made of Moravians, he thinks forthwith of a foreign land, a foreign people and a foreign Church. He wonders who these Moravians may be, and wonders, as a rule, in vain. We have all heard of the Protestant Reformation; we know its principles and admire its heroes; and the famous names of Luther, Calvin, Melancthon, Latimer, Cranmer, Knox and other great men are familiar in our ears as household words. ”

“ And when he now, yielding to the stern law of necessity, made overtures to the Bohemian rebels, all his proposals for peace were insolently rejected. Count Thurn, at the head of an army, entered Moravia to bring this province, which alone continued to waver, to a decision. The appearance of their friends is the signal of revolt for the Moravian Protestants. Bruenn is taken, the remainder of the country yields with free will, throughout the province government and religion are changed. ”

“ It was from the east that Christianity completely and permanently penetrated into Moravia and Bohemia. In 862 the Moravian Prince Rostislav, who, though invested with sovereignty by the Germans had soon renewed the national feuds with them, sent a mission to the court of the Greek Emperor at Constantinople, asking him to send Christian teachers of the Slavonic race to Moravia.
The envoys thus addressed Michael, the then ruler of the Eastern empire: "Our people have rejected paganism and already observe Christian law. ”

“ On the following day two more Indians visited the Moravians. Their faces were adorned with streaks of red paint, and they seemed very friendly, rejoiced over the gift of two pewter mugs, and on leaving made signs that some one should go with them, an invitation that could not then be accepted.
The 10th of April, the first Sunday in America, Spangenberg attended service in the English Church, and heard a sermon on the text, “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good,” well fitted to be the watchword of the Moravian settlers in the trials that were before them. ”

“ The quarrels between two of Svatopluk's sons, Mojmir and Svatopluk, hastened the ruin of the country. The Bohemian Prince Spytihněv seized the opportunity, which the intestine struggles in Moravia afforded him, for the purpose of shaking off Moravian supremacy and reestablishing establishing the rule of the dynasty of Přemysl over the whole of Bohemia. ”

“ In February, 1775, Frederick William Marshall, Agent of the Unitas Fratrum on the Wachovia Tract in North Carolina, (with headquarters at Salem) visited Georgia to inspect the Moravian property there, accompanied by Andrew Broesing, who joined Mueller and Wagner in their missionary work. It had been suggested that the Moravians preach in a church at a little place called Goshen, near “Knoxborough”, a church which had been built by subscriptions of Germans and English living in the neighborhood, and had been used occasionally by a preacher from Ebenezer. ”

“ The panels of the great staircase, being wainscotted, were painted by Haidt, a celebrated German artist; there were also in the house several admirable portraits. The house was sold by the society in 1770. There has not been any other settlement for the Moravians since that period. Their church is episcopal and has been acknowledged as such by Parliament. They live, in their settlements, like members of one large family; the most perfect harmony prevails amongst them, and they seem to have but one wish at heart, the propagation of the Gospel and the general good of mankind. ”

“ It is true that they evangelized all over Germany; but this part of their work was known as the Diaspora (1 Pet. i. 1) ; and the idea underlying this word is that the Brethren minister to the “scattered” in other Churches without drawing them into the Moravian Church. In Germany, therefore, the importance of the Moravians must be measured, not by their numbers, but by their influence upon other Christian bodies. It was from the Moravians that Schleiermacher learnt his religion, and they even made a passing impression on Goethe ”

“ The Lichtensteins, and for the most part the other Moravian nobles, pretty uniformly returned a non possumus to all their monarch's edicts of persecution; and, if they did not openly protest, their capacity for passive resistance was practically unlimited. Unless the Austrian Government was prepared to send soldiers into Moravia, little could be done towards the dispersal of the Anabaptists. ”

“ In order to avoid any danger of creating trouble between the Governments, the Moravian colonists carefully said nothing in London regarding their difficulties in Saxony, or the persecutions in Bohemia and Moravia, and instead of proclaiming themselves exiles for the Faith as they might have done with perfect truth, they appeared simply as Count Zinzendorf’s servants, sent by him to cultivate the five hundred acres about to be given to him, and by his orders to preach to the Indians. ”

“ In England a similar spirit of liberty prevails. For some years the British Moravians have had their own Theological College; it is situated at Fairfield, near Manchester; and although the students attend lectures delivered by a Moravian teacher, they receive the greater part of their education, first at Manchester University, and then either at the Manchester University Divinity School, or at the Free Church College in Glasgow or Edinburgh, or at any other suitable home of learning. Thus do the Moravians of the twentieth century tread in the footsteps of the later Bohemian Brethren ”

“ In some of their ideals the Brethren were like the Puritans; in others like the Quakers. They were modest in dress, never played cards, and condemned theatres and dancing as worldly follies. As they still entertained a horror of war, they preferred not to serve as soldiers; and any Moravian could obtain a certificate from the magistrates exempting him from personal military service. ”

“ This land could be selected near Zinzendorf’s estate, the town to be built on the Count’s property. If any wished to leave the Moravian Congregation, he should receive twenty acres elsewhere for himself. (3) Non-Moravians, like John Regnier, might live with them on the same conditions. (4) If one of the Moravians died without male issue, the Congregation should name his successor in the title to the land. ”

“ Hamilton, his succesor, has narrated in detail the history of the Renewed Church of the Brethren. Second, the Americans, when put to the test, showed practical sympathy with German Brethren in distress. As soon as the German refugees arrived from Volhynia, the American Moravians took up their cause with enthusiasm, provided them with ministers, helped them with money, and thus founded the new Moravian congregations in Alberta. And third, the Americans have their share of Missionary zeal. They have their own "Society for Propagating the Gospel" ”

“ As the Moravians are still among the least of the tribes of Israel, it is natural to ask why, despite their smallness, they maintain their separate existence, what part they are playing in the world, what share they are taking in the fight against the Canaanite, for what principles they stand, what methods they employ, what attitude they adopt towards other Churches, and what solution they offer of the social and religious problems that confront us at the opening of the twentieth century. ”

“ Moravia (2,277) , a crownland in the N. of Austria, lying between the Moravian and the Carpathian Mountains, with Silesia on the N., Hungary on the E., Lower Austria on the S., and Bohemia on the W.; is mountainous, with lofty plains in the S., and is watered by the March, a tributary of the Danube; the valleys and plains are fertile; grain, beetroot, flax, hemp, and vines are grown; cattle and poultry rearing and bee-keeping occupy the peasantry; sugar, textiles, and tobacco are the chief manufactures; there are coal and iron mines, graphite and meerschaum are found ”