Services on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve............ 162 Services of the Passion Week and Easter Festival......... 163 CORRECTION. On page 54, to the list of churches in North Carolina, Macedonia should be added, which was commenced in 1856. CHAPTER I. HISTORY OF THE MORAVIAN UNITED BRETHREN'S CHURCH. INTRODUCTION. THERE are three eras in the history of the Moravian Church. The first comprises the period of the "Ancient Church," from the year 1457 to 1627; the second that of the "Hidden Seed," from which the Renewed Church has sprung, from the year 1627 to 1722; and the third that of the "Renewed Church," from the year 1722 to the present time. A brief sketch of the origin, progress, decline and renewal of the church is here presented. More complete histories are the following: Cranz's Ancient and Modern History of the Brethren, translated from the German by La Trobe, London, 1780; Ratio Disciplinæ Unitatis Fratrum, Barby, 1789; Gedenktage der alten Bruederkirche, Gnadau, 1821; Bishop Holmes' History of the Brethren, 2 vols., London, 1830; and Bost's History of the Bohemian and Moravian Brethren, published by the Religious Tract Society, London, 1848. Short sketches: Historical Sketch of the Church and Missions of the United Brethren, Bethlehem, 1848; and Epitome of the History of the Church of the United Brethren, Bradford, England, 1850. In the year 1842, a large number of original manuscripts were discovered, at Lissa, in Poland, relating to the Ancient Brethren's Church. These are now in the archives of Herrnhut, in Saxony, and known as the "Lissa Folios." They have thrown a new light upon the early history of the Brethren. Two eminent Bohemian historians have examined these records, and pronounce them invaluable both as regards the history of the church, and the general history of Bohemia and Moravia. The one is Palacky, who is giving the fruits of his researches in his great work, Geschichte von Boehmen, Prague, 1857, the fourth volume of which has appeared; the other, Gindely, whose work, Geschichte der Boehmischen Brueder, Prague, 1857, the second volume of which has been published, contains the most complete history of the Ancient Church that has been printed thus far;* although, being a Roman Catholic, his sentiments must be received with due caution. In the church itself, based upon the new sources, have appeared, Kurze Darstellung der Geschichte der alten Boehmisch-Maehrischen Bruederkirche, Rothenburg, 1852, by Henry Reichel, of Herrnhut; Verbeek's kurzgefasste Geschichte der alten und neuen Brueder- Unitaet, Gnadau, 1857; Life of John Amos Comenius, by D. Benham, Lon * Plitt's Bruedergeschichte, with additions and corrections by H. Reichel, is a voluminous and learned work, proceeding from the church itself; but remains in manuscript. don, 1858. This work contains likewise an essay by Comenius, on the education of youth, entitled, "The School of Infancy." Histories of the Renewed Church exclusively are: Croeger's Geschichte der erneuerten Bruederkirche, 3 vols., Gnadau, 1854; Memorial Days of the Renewed Brethren's Church, 1822; Schrautenbach's Graf v. Zinzendorf, und die Bruedergemeine seiner Zeit, Gnadau, 1851-not a popular work, but setting forth what might be called the philosophy of the early history of the Renewed Church. The article in "Herzog's Real Encyclopædie," (or Bomberger's Condensed Translation,) on the Bohemian Brethren, is written from an ultra Lutheran point of view, without reference to the Lissa Folios, and does not present a truthful picture of the Ancient Church. In the "Encyclopedia Americana," there is an article on the United Brethren or Moravians, which has been copied into several histories of denominations. This article describes the church as it was when that work appeared; since which time its ecclesiastical constitution has undergone many changes. The "New American Cyclopædia" contains a correct account of the present church. In "Mosheim's Church History," a note by the translator, which the editor of the American edition has thought proper to retain, volunteers information respecting the Brethren, derived from one of the many scurrilous works, attacking and defaming the church, which were written by its bitter enemies, and published in the last century. |