or UNITED BRETHREN. The name of Moravians, or Moravian
Brethren, was in England given to the members of a foreign Protestant
church, calling itself the _Unitas Fratrum_, or United Brethren. This
church formerly consisted of three branches, the Bohemian, Moravian, and
Polish. After its renovation in the year 1722, some of its members came
to England in 1728, who being of the Moravian branch, became known by
that appellation; and all those who joined them, and adopted their
doctrines and discipline, have ever since been called Moravians.
Strictly speaking, however, that name is not applicable to them, nor
generally admitted, either by themselves, or in any public documents, in
which they are called by their proper names, the _Unitas Fratrum_, or
United Brethren.
The few remaining members of the ancient church of the United Brethren
in Bohemia, Moravia, and Poland, being much persecuted by the popish
clergy, many of them left all their possessions, and fled with their
families into Silesia and Saxony. In Saxony they found protection from a
Saxon nobleman, Nicholas Lewis, count of Zinzendorff, who gave them some
waste land on one of his estates, on which, in 1722, they built a
village at the foot of a hill, called the Hut-Berg, or Watch-Hill. This
occasioned them to call their settlement _Herrnhut_, the watch of the
Lord.” Hence their enemies designated them in derision by the name of
Herrnhuters, which is altogether improper, but by it they are known in
some countries abroad. By their own account, the community derive their
origin from the ancient Bohemian and Moravian Brethren, who existed as a
distinct people ever since the year 1457, when, separating from those
who took up arms in defence of their protestations against popish
errors, they formed a plan for church fellowship and discipline,
agreeable to their insight into the Scriptures, and called themselves at
first, _Fratres Legis Christi_, or Brethren after the Law of Christ; and
afterward, on being joined by others of the same persuasion in other
places, _Unitas Fratrum_, or _Fratres Unitatis_. By degrees, they
established congregations in various places, and spread themselves into
Moravia and other neighbouring states. Being anxious to preserve among
themselves regular episcopal ordination, and, at a synod held at Lhota
in 1467, taking into consideration the scarcity of ministers regularly
ordained among them, they chose three of their priests ordained by
Calixtine bishops, and sent them to Stephen, bishop of the Waldenses,
then residing in Austria, by whom they were consecrated bishops;
co-bishops and conseniores being appointed from the rest of their
presbyters. In 1468 a great persecution arose against them, and many
were put to death. In 1481 they were banished from Moravia, when many of
them fled as far as Mount Caucasus, and established themselves there,
till driven away by subsequent troubles.
In the mean time, disputes respecting points of doctrine, the enmity of
the papists, and other causes, raised continual disturbances and great
persecutions at various periods, till the Reformation by Luther, when
they opened a correspondence with that eminent reformer and his
associates, and entered into several negotiations, both with him and
Calvin, concerning the extension of the Protestant cause. But their
strict adherence to the discipline of their own church, founded, in
their view, on that of the primitive churches, and the acknowledged
impossibility of its application among the mixed multitude, of which the
Lutheran and Calvinist churches consisted, occasioned a cessation of
coöperation, and, in the sequel, the Brethren were again left to the
mercy of their persecutors, by whom their churches were destroyed, and
their ministers banished, till the year 1575, when they obtained an
edict from the emperor of Germany, for the public exercise of their
religion. This toleration was renewed in 1609, and liberty granted them
to erect new churches. But a civil war, which broke out in Bohemia in
1612, and a violent persecution which followed it in 1621, again
occasioned the dispersion of their ministers, and brought great distress
upon the Brethren in general. Some fled into England, others to Saxony
and Brandenburg; while many, overcome by the severity of the
persecution, conformed to the rites of the church of Rome.
About the year 1640, by incessant persecution, and the most oppressive
measures, this ancient church was brought to so low an ebb, that it
appeared nearly extinct. The persecutions which took place at the
beginning of the eighteenth century, were the occasion that many of the
scattered descendants of the Bohemian and Moravian Brethren at length
resolved to quit their native land, and seek liberty of conscience in
foreign countries. Some emigrated into Silesia, and others into Upper
Lusatia, a province of Saxony, adjoining to Bohemia. The latter, as
before observed, found a protector in Nicholas Count Zinzendorff, a
pious, zealous man, and a Lutheran by education. He hoped that the
religious state of the Lutherans in his neighbourhood would be greatly
improved by the conversation and example of these devout emigrants; and
he therefore sought to prevail upon the latter to join the Lutheran
church altogether. To this the Brethren objected, being unwilling to
give up their ancient discipline, and would rather proceed to seek an
asylum in another place; when the count, struck with their steadfast
adherence to the tenets of their forefathers, began more maturely to
examine their pretensions; and being convinced of the justness of them,
he procured for the Brethren the renovation of their ancient
constitution, and ever after proved a most zealous promoter of their
cause. He is, therefore, very justly esteemed by them as the chief
instrument, in the hand of God, in restoring the sinking church, and, in
general, gratefully remembered for his disinterested and indefatigable
labours in promoting the interests of religion, both at home and abroad.
In 1735, having been examined and received into the clerical order, by
the theological faculty at Tuebingen, in the duchy of Wurtemburg, he was
consecrated a bishop of the Brethren’s church.
After the establishment of a regular congregation of the United Brethren
at Herrnhut, multitudes of pious persons from various parts flocked to
it, many of whom had private opinions in religious matters, to which
they were strongly attached. This occasioned great disputes, which even
threatened the destruction of the society; but, by the indefatigable
exertions of Count Zinzendorff, these disputes were allayed, and the
statutes being drawn up, and agreed to in 1727, for better regulation,
brotherly love and union were reëstablished, and no schism whatever, in
point of doctrine, has since that period disturbed the peace of the
church.
Though the Brethren acknowledge no other standard of truth than the
sacred Scriptures, they in general profess to adhere to the Augsburg
Confession of Faith. Their church is episcopal; but though they consider
episcopal ordination as necessary to qualify the servants of the church
for their respective functions, they allow to their bishops no elevation
of rank or preëminent authority. The Moravian church, from its first
establishment, has been governed by synods, consisting of deputies from
all the congregations, and by other subordinate bodies, which they call
conferences. According to their regulations, episcopal ordination, of
itself, does not confer any power to preside over one or more
congregations; and a bishop can discharge no office except by the
appointment of a synod, or of its delegate, the elders’ conference of
the unity. Presbyters among them can perform every function of the
bishop, except ordination. Deacons are assistants to presbyters, much in
the same way as in the church of England. Deaconesses are retained for
the purpose of privately admonishing their own sex, and visiting them in
their sickness; but they are not permitted to teach in public, and, far
less, to administer the sacraments. They have also _seniores civiles_,
or lay elders, in contradistinction to spiritual elders or bishops, who
are appointed to watch over the constitution and discipline of the unity
of the Brethren, &c. The synods are generally held once in seven years;
and beside all the bishops, and the deputies sent by each congregation,
those women who have appointments as above described, if on the spot,
are also admitted as hearers, and may be called upon to give their
advice in what relates to the ministerial labour among their own sex;
but they have no decisive vote in the synod. The votes of all the other
members are equal. In questions of importance, or of which the
consequence cannot be foreseen, neither the majority of votes, nor the
unanimous consent of all present, can decide: but recourse is had to the
lot, which, however, is never made use of except after mature
deliberation and prayer; nor is any thing submitted to its decision
which does not, after being thoroughly weighed, appear to the assembly
eligible in itself.
MORDECAI was the son of Jair, of the race of Saul, and a chief of the
tribe of Benjamin. He was carried captive to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar,
with Jehoiachin, or Jeconiah, king of Judah, A. M. 3405, Esther ii, 5,
6. He settled at Shushan, and there lived to the first year of Cyrus,
when it is thought he returned to Jerusalem, with several other
captives; but he afterward returned to Shushan. There is great
probability that Mordecai was very young when taken into captivity. The
book of Esther gives the whole history of Mordecai’s elevation, the
punishment of Haman, and the wonderful deliverance of the Jews, in clear
and regular narrative. But it may be asked, For what reason did Mordecai
refuse to pay that respect to Haman, the neglect of which incensed him
against the Jews? Esther iii, 1–6. Some think the reason was, because
Haman was an Amalekite; a people whom the Israelites had been
commissioned from God to destroy, because of the injuries they had
formerly done them, Deut. xxv, 17–19. But this scarcely seems to be a
sufficient account of Mordecai’s refusing civil respect to Haman, who
was first minister of state; especially when by so doing he exposed his
whole nation to imminent danger. Beside, if nothing but civil respect
had been intended to Haman, the king need not have enjoined it on his
servants after he had made him his first minister and chief favourite,
Esther iii, 1, 2; they would have been ready enough to show it on all
occasions. Probably, therefore, the reverence ordered to be done to this
great man was a kind of divine honour, such as was sometimes addressed
to the Persian monarchs themselves; which, being a species of idolatry,
Mordecai refused for the sake of a good conscience. And perhaps it was
because Haman knew that his refusal was the result of his Jewish
principles, that he determined to attempt the destruction of the Jews in
general, knowing they were all of the same mind. As to another question,
why Haman cast lots, in order to fix the day for the massacre of the
Jews, Esther iii, 7; from whence the feast of purim, which is a Persic
word, and signifies _lots_, took its name, Esther ix, 26; it was no
doubt owing to the superstitious conceit which anciently prevailed, of
some days being more fortunate than others for any undertaking; in
short, he endeavoured to find out, by this way of divining, what month,
and what day of the month, was most unfortunate to the Jews, and most
fortunate for the success of his bloody design against them. It is very
remarkable, that while Haman sought for direction in this affair from
the Persian idols, the God of Israel so over-ruled the lot as to fix the
intended massacre to almost a year’s distance, from Nisan the first
month to Adar the last of the year, in order to give time and
opportunity to Mordecai and Esther to defeat the conspiracy.
Brethren, was in England given to the members of a foreign Protestant
church, calling itself the _Unitas Fratrum_, or United Brethren. This
church formerly consisted of three branches, the Bohemian, Moravian, and
Polish. After its renovation in the year 1722, some of its members came
to England in 1728, who being of the Moravian branch, became known by
that appellation; and all those who joined them, and adopted their
doctrines and discipline, have ever since been called Moravians.
Strictly speaking, however, that name is not applicable to them, nor
generally admitted, either by themselves, or in any public documents, in
which they are called by their proper names, the _Unitas Fratrum_, or
United Brethren.
The few remaining members of the ancient church of the United Brethren
in Bohemia, Moravia, and Poland, being much persecuted by the popish
clergy, many of them left all their possessions, and fled with their
families into Silesia and Saxony. In Saxony they found protection from a
Saxon nobleman, Nicholas Lewis, count of Zinzendorff, who gave them some
waste land on one of his estates, on which, in 1722, they built a
village at the foot of a hill, called the Hut-Berg, or Watch-Hill. This
occasioned them to call their settlement _Herrnhut_, the watch of the
Lord.” Hence their enemies designated them in derision by the name of
Herrnhuters, which is altogether improper, but by it they are known in
some countries abroad. By their own account, the community derive their
origin from the ancient Bohemian and Moravian Brethren, who existed as a
distinct people ever since the year 1457, when, separating from those
who took up arms in defence of their protestations against popish
errors, they formed a plan for church fellowship and discipline,
agreeable to their insight into the Scriptures, and called themselves at
first, _Fratres Legis Christi_, or Brethren after the Law of Christ; and
afterward, on being joined by others of the same persuasion in other
places, _Unitas Fratrum_, or _Fratres Unitatis_. By degrees, they
established congregations in various places, and spread themselves into
Moravia and other neighbouring states. Being anxious to preserve among
themselves regular episcopal ordination, and, at a synod held at Lhota
in 1467, taking into consideration the scarcity of ministers regularly
ordained among them, they chose three of their priests ordained by
Calixtine bishops, and sent them to Stephen, bishop of the Waldenses,
then residing in Austria, by whom they were consecrated bishops;
co-bishops and conseniores being appointed from the rest of their
presbyters. In 1468 a great persecution arose against them, and many
were put to death. In 1481 they were banished from Moravia, when many of
them fled as far as Mount Caucasus, and established themselves there,
till driven away by subsequent troubles.
In the mean time, disputes respecting points of doctrine, the enmity of
the papists, and other causes, raised continual disturbances and great
persecutions at various periods, till the Reformation by Luther, when
they opened a correspondence with that eminent reformer and his
associates, and entered into several negotiations, both with him and
Calvin, concerning the extension of the Protestant cause. But their
strict adherence to the discipline of their own church, founded, in
their view, on that of the primitive churches, and the acknowledged
impossibility of its application among the mixed multitude, of which the
Lutheran and Calvinist churches consisted, occasioned a cessation of
coöperation, and, in the sequel, the Brethren were again left to the
mercy of their persecutors, by whom their churches were destroyed, and
their ministers banished, till the year 1575, when they obtained an
edict from the emperor of Germany, for the public exercise of their
religion. This toleration was renewed in 1609, and liberty granted them
to erect new churches. But a civil war, which broke out in Bohemia in
1612, and a violent persecution which followed it in 1621, again
occasioned the dispersion of their ministers, and brought great distress
upon the Brethren in general. Some fled into England, others to Saxony
and Brandenburg; while many, overcome by the severity of the
persecution, conformed to the rites of the church of Rome.
About the year 1640, by incessant persecution, and the most oppressive
measures, this ancient church was brought to so low an ebb, that it
appeared nearly extinct. The persecutions which took place at the
beginning of the eighteenth century, were the occasion that many of the
scattered descendants of the Bohemian and Moravian Brethren at length
resolved to quit their native land, and seek liberty of conscience in
foreign countries. Some emigrated into Silesia, and others into Upper
Lusatia, a province of Saxony, adjoining to Bohemia. The latter, as
before observed, found a protector in Nicholas Count Zinzendorff, a
pious, zealous man, and a Lutheran by education. He hoped that the
religious state of the Lutherans in his neighbourhood would be greatly
improved by the conversation and example of these devout emigrants; and
he therefore sought to prevail upon the latter to join the Lutheran
church altogether. To this the Brethren objected, being unwilling to
give up their ancient discipline, and would rather proceed to seek an
asylum in another place; when the count, struck with their steadfast
adherence to the tenets of their forefathers, began more maturely to
examine their pretensions; and being convinced of the justness of them,
he procured for the Brethren the renovation of their ancient
constitution, and ever after proved a most zealous promoter of their
cause. He is, therefore, very justly esteemed by them as the chief
instrument, in the hand of God, in restoring the sinking church, and, in
general, gratefully remembered for his disinterested and indefatigable
labours in promoting the interests of religion, both at home and abroad.
In 1735, having been examined and received into the clerical order, by
the theological faculty at Tuebingen, in the duchy of Wurtemburg, he was
consecrated a bishop of the Brethren’s church.
After the establishment of a regular congregation of the United Brethren
at Herrnhut, multitudes of pious persons from various parts flocked to
it, many of whom had private opinions in religious matters, to which
they were strongly attached. This occasioned great disputes, which even
threatened the destruction of the society; but, by the indefatigable
exertions of Count Zinzendorff, these disputes were allayed, and the
statutes being drawn up, and agreed to in 1727, for better regulation,
brotherly love and union were reëstablished, and no schism whatever, in
point of doctrine, has since that period disturbed the peace of the
church.
Though the Brethren acknowledge no other standard of truth than the
sacred Scriptures, they in general profess to adhere to the Augsburg
Confession of Faith. Their church is episcopal; but though they consider
episcopal ordination as necessary to qualify the servants of the church
for their respective functions, they allow to their bishops no elevation
of rank or preëminent authority. The Moravian church, from its first
establishment, has been governed by synods, consisting of deputies from
all the congregations, and by other subordinate bodies, which they call
conferences. According to their regulations, episcopal ordination, of
itself, does not confer any power to preside over one or more
congregations; and a bishop can discharge no office except by the
appointment of a synod, or of its delegate, the elders’ conference of
the unity. Presbyters among them can perform every function of the
bishop, except ordination. Deacons are assistants to presbyters, much in
the same way as in the church of England. Deaconesses are retained for
the purpose of privately admonishing their own sex, and visiting them in
their sickness; but they are not permitted to teach in public, and, far
less, to administer the sacraments. They have also _seniores civiles_,
or lay elders, in contradistinction to spiritual elders or bishops, who
are appointed to watch over the constitution and discipline of the unity
of the Brethren, &c. The synods are generally held once in seven years;
and beside all the bishops, and the deputies sent by each congregation,
those women who have appointments as above described, if on the spot,
are also admitted as hearers, and may be called upon to give their
advice in what relates to the ministerial labour among their own sex;
but they have no decisive vote in the synod. The votes of all the other
members are equal. In questions of importance, or of which the
consequence cannot be foreseen, neither the majority of votes, nor the
unanimous consent of all present, can decide: but recourse is had to the
lot, which, however, is never made use of except after mature
deliberation and prayer; nor is any thing submitted to its decision
which does not, after being thoroughly weighed, appear to the assembly
eligible in itself.
MORDECAI was the son of Jair, of the race of Saul, and a chief of the
tribe of Benjamin. He was carried captive to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar,
with Jehoiachin, or Jeconiah, king of Judah, A. M. 3405, Esther ii, 5,
6. He settled at Shushan, and there lived to the first year of Cyrus,
when it is thought he returned to Jerusalem, with several other
captives; but he afterward returned to Shushan. There is great
probability that Mordecai was very young when taken into captivity. The
book of Esther gives the whole history of Mordecai’s elevation, the
punishment of Haman, and the wonderful deliverance of the Jews, in clear
and regular narrative. But it may be asked, For what reason did Mordecai
refuse to pay that respect to Haman, the neglect of which incensed him
against the Jews? Esther iii, 1–6. Some think the reason was, because
Haman was an Amalekite; a people whom the Israelites had been
commissioned from God to destroy, because of the injuries they had
formerly done them, Deut. xxv, 17–19. But this scarcely seems to be a
sufficient account of Mordecai’s refusing civil respect to Haman, who
was first minister of state; especially when by so doing he exposed his
whole nation to imminent danger. Beside, if nothing but civil respect
had been intended to Haman, the king need not have enjoined it on his
servants after he had made him his first minister and chief favourite,
Esther iii, 1, 2; they would have been ready enough to show it on all
occasions. Probably, therefore, the reverence ordered to be done to this
great man was a kind of divine honour, such as was sometimes addressed
to the Persian monarchs themselves; which, being a species of idolatry,
Mordecai refused for the sake of a good conscience. And perhaps it was
because Haman knew that his refusal was the result of his Jewish
principles, that he determined to attempt the destruction of the Jews in
general, knowing they were all of the same mind. As to another question,
why Haman cast lots, in order to fix the day for the massacre of the
Jews, Esther iii, 7; from whence the feast of purim, which is a Persic
word, and signifies _lots_, took its name, Esther ix, 26; it was no
doubt owing to the superstitious conceit which anciently prevailed, of
some days being more fortunate than others for any undertaking; in
short, he endeavoured to find out, by this way of divining, what month,
and what day of the month, was most unfortunate to the Jews, and most
fortunate for the success of his bloody design against them. It is very
remarkable, that while Haman sought for direction in this affair from
the Persian idols, the God of Israel so over-ruled the lot as to fix the
intended massacre to almost a year’s distance, from Nisan the first
month to Adar the last of the year, in order to give time and
opportunity to Mordecai and Esther to defeat the conspiracy.