ture is sometimes like that of a carpenter, sometimes like that of a fisherman, or of a toll-gatherer. Christ himself had spoke very meanly, and used many a phrase becoming a peasant, which is now looked upon to imply something of quite a different nature, since we are unacquainted with the manner of speaking used by the journeymen at Nazareth. He prescribes a method to his missionaries, how to deal with the comptrollers of the scripture, by whom he means those that desire proofs of every doctrine out of the scripture, viz. that they ought to prove all such things by the defects or imperfections of these writings, which those comptrollers pretend to make good by the perfection and infallibility of the scripture. The reading of the scripture appears to him to be more dangerous than useful to the society. According to count Zinzendorf, the doctrine that God the Father is our Creator, the Son our Redeemer, and the Holy Ghost our Sanctifier, is a false doctrine, and one of the capital errors that reign in Christendom. Creation and sanctification ought not to be ascribed to the Father and the Holy. Ghost. To avoid idolatry, people ought to be taken from the Father and Holy Ghost, and conducted to Christ, with whom alone we have to do. The ancients never dreamt of a Trinity; whoever adores the Father and the Holy Ghost, differs not from a servant of Jupiter, Mercury, Apollo, or of any great hero to whom the ancients gave the title of God. Our great doctor appears so positive of the orthodoxy of his new opinion, that he calls the theology received among Christians, a dry one, and good for nothing else than to amuse dogs and swine, unbelievers and athiests, invented by the devil, and that such as teach us are Satan's professors. Satan has thought within himself, says he, "Men shall not come to see the Father," that is the true Father, who is the Saviour, according to count Zinzendorf: "I'll conduct them round about the Saviour, I'll represent to them a phantom of a Father, and they shall think, as the Jews formerly did, that this is their God; thus the Saviour shall not get them. By this means, I'll keep them in my power, whilst they think within themselves they are very wise. The mistake among Christians, adds he, arises from their not comprehending, that it is honour enough for the Father, to be the Father of God the Creator of all things, and to be his own and only Father." The Holy Ghost is called by the Hernhuters, the eternal wife of God, the mother of Christ, the mother of the faithful, the mother of the church. No. 33. Count Zinzendorf, in the sixth part of his Natural Reflections, gives a long detail to justify this change he makes in the common theology. He looks upon it as important and necessary; complaining much, that, since the reformation, people are in gross ignorance concerning the person of the Holy Ghost, and that the divines in this article commit a very palpable omission. He adds, that such as cannot comprehend the mystery of the Trinity in the manner he explains it, want undoubtedly uprightness of heart more than understanding. Thus it appears, that the son is chiefly the object of the Hernhuters worship. Though count Zin-, zendorf in plain words calls him the carpenter Jesus, having taken along with him, into his glory, the poor figure he made in this world, yet the most tender names are given him. He is called their Lamb, their little Lamb, their little Jesus. They make his name of the feminine gender, calling him their mother, their mamma Jesus. The creation, redemption, and sanctification is the work of Christ, but the Father and Holy Ghost minister to him in all of them, which is the identical word they use in expressing themselves on this head. "Whoever believes in Christ, though he knows nothing more of the Godhead, will be saved. The apostles, to avoid idolatry, had not baptised in the name of the Father, the Son and Holy Ghost, but in Christ's name only. God had darted his Son as a flash of lightning, and the Son by his incarnation had made a parenthesis in the Godhead. What in common life is called a grandfather, a father-in-law, such was the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Son had taken it as a favour, that he was allowed to become man and go out of the Godhead. Christ had not conquered as God, but as a man, with the same strength we conquer. God had assisted him, and he assists us also. Christ had not had the least power more than we have. He had laid aside his Godhead, and wrought miracles as men are able to do." They have a great devotion for the five red wounds of the crucifixion, but that which Christ received in his side is extolled above all the rest. This is "their favorite wound, the very dear little holy opening, the precious and thousand times pretty little side." They kiss this wound, they kiss the spear that made it, and would kiss the soldier whose hand had conducted the spear; they thank him for it. It is in this opening that the faithful reposes himself; there he breathes, there he sports, there he lays down sometimes length-wise, sometimes crosswise there is his country, his house, his hall, his little bed, his little table: there he eats, there he 90 drinks, | drinks, there he lives, there he praises the dear words, "Holy angels, coming with the Saviour little Lamb. The Hernhuters have this distinguishing chaacter of fanaticism, that they reject reason, reasoning and phil sophy. The children of God do not instruct themselves out of books. To demonstrate religion, to make it as evident as four times four are sixteen, is an useless and superfluous labour. Jath does not require the least demonstration. It is brought forth in the heart by the Holy Ghost. The children of God believe, because they find pleasure in believing. Nevertheless this faith produced without reasoning, serves them instead of all other things. No other commandment should be preached to men, than that of believing. This is count Zinzendorf's doctrine. Regeneration comes of itself, without our being required to do any thing towards it. It is a capital truth, says our Moravian bishop, that such as have not received grace, that are not yet children of God, that have not yet a feeling of their reconciliation, that do not know yet upon what terms they are with their Creator and Saviour, ought not to be engaged to prepare themselves for it by any action, good works, good resolutions. They must be told, that all that has been believed hitherto to be a preparation for coming to God, is rather an hindance to their salvation. Reg neration is brought about suddenly, all at once. One moment is sufficient to make us free to receive grace, to be transformed to the image of the little Lamb. A person regenerated enjoys great liberty. He doth what the Saviour gives him an inclination to do, and what he has no inclination for, he is not obliged to do. He doth what the Saviour makes him do, for he is the master, in whose power it is to make laws and to repeal them; who at all times can change the economy of salvation, make criminal what was virtuous, and virtuous what was criminal. It is wrong to say that a regenerated person doth any thing: properly speaking they do nothing. It is the Saviour that acts for them. He is with respect to the Saviour as a child, whose hand one guides, yet who believes it is himself that works, and rejoices at it. On the great day of judgment, the Hernhuters will not be placed on the Saviour's left-hand among those that are goats; this is to be understood of course. Nor will they be amongst those called the sheep on the right-hand of the judgment-seat, a place of honour they look upon too mean to be assigned them. Count Zinzendorf tells us, that the in his glory," denote the saints coming along with him, and that the Hernhuters will be those saints that accompany him. He adds, that such as do not die Hernhuters, will have mercy on that day, provided they think favourably upon their dying bed of those belonging to that sect. it The circumcision of the Saviour has, according to them, served to shew of what sex he was. has likewise restored to honour that part of the human body, which as a consequence of Adam's fall, was become a disgrace to it; insomuch, that it is at present the most noble, and the most respectable part of a man's body. part of a man's body. The sisters are exhorted never to think of it, but with sentiments of the most profound veneration. They are even thought to make a scruple of respecting men for any other reaThe organ of generation of the other sex is no less honourable. It has been sanctified by the birth of the Saviour. We abate of the strength of our author's expressions whilst we abridge him, for fear of offending the modesty of our readers. son. All the souls are of the feminine sex. There are only anime, and no animi, says the Moravian bishop with great elegance. To think that there are male souls, would be, according to this profound divine, the greatest folly, a chimera, which ought not to enter the thoughts of a Christian, were he even in the midst of an high fever. All that is of the male quality, and was adapted to our body, is detached from it as soon as it is interred. It belongs not to its natural and primitive state: it is an addition made to it afterwards: it is the seal of the office, which the male sex is intrusted with. For, our sex is an employment, an office. Jesus is the spouse of all the sisters, and the husbands, in the most proper sense, are his procurators, his agents, in every respect like those ambassadors in ancient times, who, on marrying a princess in the name of their master, put a booted leg in the wedding-bed. A husband is also properly no more than a chamberlain of his wife; his office is but for a time, and ad interim. However, the titles which the count gives him are not less glorious: he is Vice-Christ, Vice-Ged. The sisters are conducted to Jesus by the ministry of their husbands, who thus are their saviours in this world. When therefore a marriage is made, what is the reason of it? Because there was a sister, who should be brought to the true spouse by the mediation of such a procurator. Count Zinzendorf, in a conference on this subject, held at Osy with the Seventhday men, made use of the following expressions, which, to avoid scandal as much as possible, wc shall shall soften a little "Christ, in his person, is not only espoused, but even wedded to every believer." From what has been said, two consequences naturally result, which have not escaped the count. The one is, that whoever knows himself to be a man, ought to acknowledge the dignity that is in him, and honour the choice that has been made of his person. The other, that marriage is the most precious depositum the Saviour has intrusted with his church; that is to say, without doubt, to the society of Hernhuters, and the most important mystery to which he has given them the key. Considering this we cannot at all be surprised at being told, that they look upon all that are married out of their society to live in fornication and adultery. The male sex consists of married men, unmarried men, and widowers. According to their original plan, all that had passed the twenty-first year, should be married. After these years, say they, the state of marriage is a brutish state, a state of madness, where no one knoweth himself. Besides this division of men into these classes, there is another more general one, by which they are distinguished into two choirs; one instructs the married people of both sexes, and the other the unmarried ones. Zinzendorf was very strict in his discipline; and indeed he seems to have had all that sanctification and entire justification being in one and the same interest. That a believer is never sanctified or holy in himself, but in Christ only. He has no holiness in himself at all, all his holiness being inputed, not inherent. That a man may feel peace which passeth all understanding, may.rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, and have the love of God and of all mankind, with deminion over all sin; and yet all this may be only nature, animal spirits, or the force of imagination. That if a man regards prayer, or teaching he scriptures, is commonly as matters of duty; if he judges himself obliged to do these things, or is troubled when he does them not, he is in bondage, he has no faith at all, but is seeking salvation by the works of the law. That, therefore, till we believe, we ought not to pray, search the scriptures, or communi cate. We leave the reader to form what notion he pleases of these sentiments, which border near upon the Antinomian scheme; but then he must hear what they have to say for themselves, which we shall relate with the strictest impartiality, after we have given the history of their missions. given by themselves. austerity which constitutes the founder of a sect. History of the Missions of the United Brethren, as In this he differed much from Christ; for our Saviour not only went about, doing good, but he never refused to eat or drink with men, although of most profane characters. Such are the outlines of the history of these people; but we shall consider them in a more extensive point of view, after briefly stating some of their opinions, as drawn up by Mr. Wesley; and then, from their own writings, we shall see whether his assertions are true or false. "They believe and teach, says Mr. Wesley, that Christ has done all that was necessary for the salvation of mankind; that consequently we are to do nothing, as necessary to salvation, but sincerely to believe in him; that there is but one command and one duty now, namely, to believe in Christ; that Christ has taken away all other commands and duties, having wholly abolished the law; that the believer is therefore free from the law, and is not obliged thereby to do or omit any thing, it being inconsistent with his liberty, to do any thing as commanded. That there is no such things as degrees in faith or weak faith, since he has no faith who has any doubt or fear. That we are sanctified wholly the moment we are justified, and neither more nor less holy to the day of our death; entire The first mission sent out by the United Brethren was to the Island of St. Thomas, the occasion of which was as follows. A negro having come to visit Hernhuth in Germany, where these people were settled, he told the brethren that his mother, a negro woman, who lived in that island, would be glad to hear of the Saviour. This stirred up a desire in some to go thither, and Leonard Dobee, afterwards a Moravian bishop, resolved for the sake of these poor Heathens, even to become a slave himself, if he could find no other means of preaching the gospel to the Negroes. He went to St. Thomas's in the year 1732, and began to declare to them the word of revelation. He was followed by others, and the testimony of the death of the Lord of life and glory, for the sins of the world, began to operate upon the hearts of the poor negroes. In 1736, the first of three negroes who had embraced the gospel, was baptized, and then a sort of opposition arose. The white people, from some fa'se principles, hindered the conversion of the negroes to Christianity. The missionaries, and those negroes who came to them to hear the gospel, were obliged to endure endure and suffer much. The late count Zinzendorf, whose zeal for the happines of his fellow creatures, and particularly of the Heathens, could not be restrained by any difficulties, arrived in the island. of St. Thomas in the year 1739. He found some of the missionaries in prison; but, upon his request, the governor set them at liberty. From that time the gospel has been preached there uninterruptedly, although the negroes have, ever since then, undergone many hardships, and borne many afflictions for the sake of the gospel. The ministry of the Brethren of St. Thomas, and the two adjoining islands of St. Crux and St. Jan, has been crowned with great success, so that many thousands of poor benighted negroes have been enlightened, and have believed in the name of the Lord Jesus, and been brought to the enjoyment of the blessings purchased by his blood. These negroes are also a proof that a genuine reformation in principles and practice is always inseparable from true conviction, and the proprietors of the estates acknowledge this to be the fruit of the gospel; that their slaves, since they have believed in Jesus, are become faithful, obedient, and diligent; yea, the magistrates themselves have more than once declared, that the baptized nations are a greater security to them than their forts. The brethren have built chapels for the negroes for Divine worship in each of the three Danish islands, and the number of negroes, who are now under the care of the brethren, amount to about six thousand. Many of these poor creatures are very pious, and when they die, it is generally in a triumphant manner, trusting for salvation in the merits of Christ. tions of baptized negroes, who adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour. In the island of Antigua a mission has also been established since the year 1756. Though the progress of the gospel has not been so rapid, nor the effects so striking here as in Jamaica; yet many negroes have received the word of atonement with joy and are become partakers of the redemption in the blood of Christ. The brethren have a house. and chapel at St. John's, where, according to our latest accounts, many negroes attend the preaching. constantly. The brethren preach also to the negroes on the several plantations. The last mission sent to the Caribbee Islands was to Barbadoes. The negroes on this island were of ten the subject of the thoughts and prayers of many of the brethren; but when the way and manner of establishing a mission there was taken into consideration, we saw difficulties which seemed insurmountable. After making an attempt which did not answer, in the year 1765, a brother in England resolved to go thither, to attempt to bring the negroes to the knowledge of the truth. He was joined soon by another brother from America. These missionaries found favour in the eyes of some of the gentlemen of the island, and many negroes shewed a desire to hear the glad tidings of redemption from sin by the blood of Christ. The work of the Holy Ghost was soon apparent. The missionaries were enabled to purchase a spot of ground, to fit up a dwelling for themselves, and a hall in which the negroes could meet. Many fruits already appear, and some negroes have been baptized. Besides these islands on which missions are established, the brethren have visited several others; and as the negroes, who have received the faith, are often either sold or transported to estates of their masters on other islands, they have brought the glad tidings of great joy to the negroes there; and we have reason to believe, that they prove a good savour, even where there are no established missions. We will now turn our eyes to Asia, though we cannot give you so joyful an account from that quarter of the globe, as you have above from Ame In the year 1754, some gentlenen of considerable possessions in Jamaica being much concerned for the salvation of the souls of their poor negroes, desired that a mission might be established in that island which was agreed to; and they, with a zeal that is uncommon this age, made the mission in the beginning to be attended with great success. This mission has been the only one begun by us, that met with encouragement in the beginning. It was soon seen that the Holy Ghost had prepared the hearts of many of the negroes to receive the gospel and some fruits appeared quickly. But though the difficulties from without were not of such a nature as to obstruct the labours of the brethren, as was apparently the case in other places, yet in a few years, the seed which had sprung up, seemed to whither and die away. But these last years, there has been a most blessed revival, and the word has been preached at several places in the island with such success, that there are now several congrega-length, in the year 1768, they accomplished what rica. In the year 1759, with the concurrence of the court of Denmark and the Asiatic Company at Copenhagen, a colony of brethren went to Tranquebar, in the neighbourhood of which they formed a settlement, with a view to a mission among the Indianson the coast of Coromondel, and particularly to establish a settlement on the Nicobar islands. At what they had almost given up as impracticable, viz. I the establishment of a small colony in the Nicobar islands. The Indians received them kindly, gave them land to live on, and by the last accounts we have reason to believe, that as our brethren learn the language, these poor Indians will reap the blessings of the gospel. Of the six who went the first time to these islands, two departed this life very soon. Some brethren have also gone to Ceylon, at two different times, to try, if possible, to bring the gospel among the Cyngalese; but they could not obtain their aim, though their abode there was not entirely without fruit. In the year 1747, two brethren went to Persia, with the view of finding the followers of the ancient Magi or Gauri; but they could not obtain their aim, on account of the troubles of the war, which raged there at that time. The empress of Russia having granted the brethren some land in the kingdom of Astracan, on the banks of the Wolga, a colony is now established there, and we are not without good hopes, that God will bless and enable them to bring the gospel among the Heathens who are on the borders of that country, and who already shew a particular affection for them. Thus in Asia a beginning is made, and we cannot but hope that our Lord, who has opened the door, I will grant us to see the same happy effects as are evident in so many other places. The fruits of the travail of Christ's soul upon the natives of this quarter of the globe, are seen in the greatest numbers among the negroes in the American islands, who came from the coast of Guinea, and other parts of Africa.. Even as early as in the year 1737, two brethren went to Guinea, to preach the gospel to the negroes there; but one of them departing this life soon after their arrival, no farther attempt was made to establish a mission on the coast of Guinea till the year 1767, when at the desire of the African Company at Copenhagen, and after an agreement had been made by the said company, and confirmed by his Danish majesty, five brethren went thither in one of the company's ships. But very soon after their arrival three of them, among the rest the chief missionary, were taken off by a malignant fever. The remaining two spent some time in a sickly state at the Danish fort; but last year three brethren more went to them attended by another to assist them in settling in their proper habitation. One, of the three who went last, departed this life soon after his arrival.. No. 34. The Danish governor presented the brethren to the king of Achem, who received them into his friendship, and gave them leave to settle in any part of his territories wherever they might chuse. Thereupon they sought out a proper place, where, by the last accounts, they were employed in building a house, in order to enter upon the work of the mission. An attempt has also been made to bring the gospel among the Hottentots at the Cape of Good Hope. Our brethren lived five years among them, begun a school for the children, and baptized also seven adult Hottentots. But certain circumstances interfering, this mission could not be continued. I could also give you an account of some other attempts of the brethren towards the furtherance of the kingdom of Jesus in Africa, but as they do not properly belong to the class of missions among the Heathens, I shall only name two to you. One of these attempts has the Copta in Egypt and Abyssina for its special object; and three brethren are now resident at Cairo in Egypt, for that purpose. The aim of the other was directed to the salvation of the poor Christian slaves in Algiers. Our brother Richter went thither in the year 1740, where he, while preaching to the slaves sick of the plague, got the same disorder which proved the means of his dissolution. Another brother stayed there from the year 1744 to 1748, serving, and preaching to the slaves. I will not take up more of your time in relating many other important and striking incidents attending our mission. But I cannot conclude this part of my narrative without mentioning our present attempts to form a mission on the coast of Labrador, among the savage Esquimaux. In the year 1752, some merchants in London. fitted out a ship for that coast, and they had the good intention of assisting the brethren to form a mission among the Indians there. Accordingly four missionaries went with this ship, and took the frame of, and materials for a house with them, intending to stay in that country, and to dwell among the Indians. They arrived safely upon the coast, and the missionaries erected their house on a convenient spot. The ship sailing further northwards, with a view to trade, some Esquimaux came on board, and appeared very kind and loving; but at length enticed the mate, who was a brother, and some others away from the ship, under the pretence of trade, and then murdered. them. After those on board had waited some days in vain for the return of their companions, they sailed back 9.P. to. |