The religions services of the Moravians are condneted with great simplicity. They meet for worship daily, in the evening, the service being much like that of a pro!!! r meeting amongst other Christians. They use a litany on the Lord's day, but extempor ary prayer is frequent. They admit the use of instrumental music. They maintain the practice of washing the feet, both in choirs and in congregations, before the com munion. They meet on the last day of the year, to bring in the New Year with prayer and other exercises of religion. On Easter morning they assemble in the burying ground to celebrate the resurrection of Christ, and to express their confidenceconcerning the brethren who have died during the preceding year. The death of a member of the brotherhood is made known in the chief settlements by sound of trumpets, as if for vic tory; the melody indicating the particular choir to which the deceased belonged. In some of the settlements peculiar dresses are worn by the members of particular choirs.
In 1875 there were in Europe 68 congregations of Moravians, with 9,121 communi cants: and in America, 75 congregations, with 8,315 communicants. Seventeen bishops were living in 1875, of whom 6 were in the United States. There were 92 mission sta tions, with 333 missionaries, and above 1000 native assistants, having the care of 59,853 communicants.
(ante), so named because Moravia was at one time their principal seat, existed as a body of Christians—I. From the time of John Huss, about the mid middle of the 15th c., when they were more commonly called the Bohemian brethren. In 1456 sonic members of a parish in Prague, wishing for their own personal N‘elfare to escape from the corruption of the national .church, withdrew, by permission obtained from the regent of Bohemia through the intervention of their priest, to an estate called Lititz, on the eastern frontier, that had been desolated by war and was thinly inhabited. Their object was not to form a new sect, but to continue the reformation which Huss had commenced, limiting their efforts, however, to the society formed among themselves within the national church, the members of which were pledged to adhere to the Bible as the only rule of faith and practice, to maintain a scriptural discipline, and in administering the Lord's supper to employ the exact words of Christ without attempting any explanation of thcin. In 1457 they adopted a statement of their principles and com mitted it to the care and administration of 28 elders. They assumed at first the title of Brethren and Sisters ef the Law of Christ, afterward shortening it to The Brethren. Still later the well-known Latin title Unitas Fratrum, Unity of the Brethren, came into use, and is now their official designation. Gregory the patriarch presided over them, and sonic of the priests of the national church ministered to them. Their influence rapidly extended through Bohemia and Moravia. Their elders made their principles known, and received many earnest inquirers into fellowship. In 1461 they suffered persecution, notwithstanding which they continued to grow. In 1464 three of the elders were intrusted with a special supervision of their affairs, and received written instructions for their guidance. In this document they say, "We are, above all, agreed to continue, through grace, sound in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ; to be established in the righteousness which is of God, to maintain the bond of love among each other, and to have our hope in the living God. We will show this both in word and deed, assist each other iu the spirit of love, live honestly, study to be meek, quiet, humble, sober, and patient, and thus to testify to othfrs that we have in truth a sound faith, genuine love, and a sure and certain hope." To these principles they have ever remained true. They have manifested their faith by their works, and have diligently maintained scriptural discipline. Their confessions of faith have always magnified the importance of practical Christianity, and in their churches they have required evidence of personal piety, not the mere assent to a creed. In separating from the national church and ordaining a
ministry for themselves they sought divine guidance by patient waiting, fasting, and prayer, and last of all by the use of the lot. In 1467 three men were appointed, again by lot, to the ministry, who were ordained first by their own presbyters, in accordance with what they believed had been the practice in apostolic times, and secondly as bishops by Waldensian bishops, that they might also conform to the custom of the churches in the age after the apostles, besides gaining thus a ministry that would be universally acknowledged. After this their numbers increased rapidly in all parts of Bohemia and Differences of opinion concerning dkcipline caused them internal trouble, 14S0-94; and grievous persecutions, 1468 and 1508, came upon them from without. The national church united with the Roman Catholics to exterminate them by means of imprisonment, spoliation, torture, and death. But again "the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church." The persecutions came to an end, and the brethren renewed their numbers and their strength. When the reformation in the 16th c. began, they were in a flourishing condition, having churches in 400 parishes with at least 200,000 members, among whom were included some of high rank and influence. They used their own hymn-hook, catechism, confession of faith, and printing-presses for multiply ing Bibles and evangelical hooks. They were therefore truly, as they have beel, "reformers before the reformation." I et, in full accordance with their character, they hailed the new movement with joy, entering into conference first with Luther, and afterward with the Swiss reformers. This fellowship was helpful to all parties. The doctrinal system of the Moravians was improved, and discipline and union among the reformers were promoted. The brethren established themselves in Poland, 1549, during the persecution inflicted on them by Ferdinand I. Large numbers of them, banished from Bohemia, removed to East Prussia, and thence one of them, George Israel, went to Poland, where he preached with great success. In 1557 the Polish churches were received into the union. Rudolph II., 1609, in compliance with the demands of his. barons, granted a charter which secured religious liberty in Bohemia and Moravia. An evangelical consistory was formed at Prague in which the brethren as a legally acknowl edged church were represented by one of their bishops. In 1619 the Bohemian revolu tion caused by the accession of Ferdinand II. changed the face of religious affairs, and developed into the Thirty-years war, during which Bohemia and Moravia were broughc into subjection to Roman Catholic power. In 1621 the king, having put to death many Protestant nobles, began what was called the anti-reformation. Commissioners, aided by Jesuits and soldiers, went through the country to force the people back to the Roman church. Many laid down their lives; 30,000 families left the country, and the rest of the people were driven into an outward subjection. The Morticians, thus banished from their homes, re-appeared in other lands. About 100 new parishes were organized in Prussia, Hungary, and Poland. They had cherished the hope of returning to their own countries at the termination of the war. But at the peace of Westphalia these countries were not restored to the enjoyment of religious liberty. Eight years after that peace, their settlement in Poland was broken up by war between that country and Sweden. The members of their council were scattered, and their parishes were transferred to the Reformed church. For more than half a century their visible organization ceased to exist; only its hidden seed in Bohemia and Moravia remained. But their bishop, Amos Comenius, as if prophetically assured of their future re-appearance, published a new edition of their history, doctrines, and discipline; commended them to the care of the English church, and formed plans for preserving their episcopacy by consecrating clergymen of the Reformed church, with which they had been united in Poland.