The Moravians in Georgia | Page 7

and Rules of Discipline, and by his careful transmission of the Episcopate which had been bestowed upon him and his associate Bishops, he did contribute largely to that renewal which he was not destined to see.
In the home lands there were many who held secretly, tenaciously, desperately, to the doctrines they loved, "in hope against hope" that the great oppression would be lifted. But the passing of a hundred years brought no relief, concessions granted to others were still denied to the children of those who had been the first "protestants" against religious slavery and corruption, and in 1722 a small company of descendants of the ancient Unitas Fratrum slipped over the borders of Moravia, and went to Saxony, Nicholas Lewis, Count Zinzendorf, having given them permission to sojourn on his estates until they could find suitable homes elsewhere.
Hearing that they had reached a place of safety, other Moravians took their lives in their hands and followed, risking the imprisonment and torture which were sure to follow an unsuccessful attempt to leave a province, the Government of which would neither allow them to be happy at home nor to sacrifice everything and go away. Among these emigrants were five young men, who went in May, 1724, with the avowed intention of trying to resuscitate the Unitas Fratrum. They intended to go into Poland, where the organization of the Unitas Fratrum had lasted for a considerable time after its ruin in Bohemia, but, almost by accident, they decided to first visit Christian David, who had led the first company to Herrnhut, Saxony, and while there they became convinced that God meant them to throw in their lot with these refugees, and so remained, coming to be strong leaders in the renewed Unity.
Several years, however, elapsed before the church was re-established. One hundred years of persecution had left the Moravians only traditions of the usages of the fathers, members of other sects who were in trouble came and settled among them, bringing diverse views, and things were threatening to become very much involved, when Count Zinzendorf, who had hitherto paid little attention to them, awoke to the realization of their danger, and at once set to work to help them.
It was no easy task which he undertook, for the Moravians insisted on retaining their ancient discipline, and he must needs try to please them and at the same time preserve the bond of union with the State Church, -- the Lutheran, -- of which, as his tenants, they were officially considered members. His tact and great personal magnetism at last healed the differences which had sprung up between the settlers, the opportune finding of Comenius' `Ratio Disciplinae' enabled them with certainty to formulate rules that agreed with those of the ancient Unitas Fratrum, and a marked outpouring of the Holy Spirit at a Communion, August 13th, 1727, sealed the renewal of the Church.
"They walked with God in peace and love, But failed with one another; While sternly for the faith they strove, Brother fell out with brother; But He in Whom they put their trust, Who knew their frames, that they were dust, Pitied and healed their weakness.
"He found them in His House of prayer, With one accord assembled, And so revealed His presence there, They wept for joy and trembled; One cup they drank, one bread they brake, One baptism shared, one language spake, Forgiving and forgiven.
"Then forth they went with tongues of flame In one blest theme delighting, The love of Jesus and His Name God's children all uniting! That love our theme and watchword still; That law of love may we fulfill, And love as we are loved." (Montgomery.)
At this time there was no thought of separating from the State Church and establishing a distinct denomination, and Zinzendorf believed that the Unitas Fratrum could exist as a `society' working in, and in harmony with, the State Church of whatever nation it might enter. This idea, borrowed probably from Spener's "ecclesiolae in ecclesia", clung to him, even after circumstances had forced the Unity to declare its independence and the validity of the ordination of its ministry, and many otherwise inexplicable things in the later policy of the Church may be traced to its influence.
Halle Opposition.
In 1734 Zinzendorf took orders in the Lutheran Church, but this, and all that preceded it, seemed to augment rather than quiet the antagonism which the development of Herrnhut aroused in certain quarters. This opposition was not universal. The Moravians had many warm friends and advocates at the Saxon Court, at the Universities of Jena and Tuebingen, and elsewhere, but they also had active enemies who drew their inspiration principally from the University of Halle.
The opposition of Halle seems to have been largely prompted by jealousy. In 1666 a revolt against the prevailing cold formalism of