EDITOR'S NOTE. I HAVE read and revised your little Journal, my dear Beatrice, with great pleasure; it very much clears up my ideas about the Moravians; and if I, a veteran reader and writer of stories, was completely taken by surprise at one part of your true narrative, I think that on readers in general it may reasonably be hoped to have something of the same effect. My only motive for not wishing to appear as your editor, was lest your authentic history should erroneously be classed with my stories, that are only as near truth as I can make them. May a blessing rest on this your first effort as a writer; may it give much pleasure and no pain to those who have been so kind to you; and may you find, as I have done, that the ways of literature (like those of heavenly wisdom) are ways of pleasantness, and her paths peace! *See Times 2 May 1933 Your ever affectionate Friend, The Author of "MARY POWELL." AN ENGLISH GIRL'S ACCOUNT OF A MORAVIAN SETTLEMENT. INTRODUCTION. BETWEEN four and five hundred years ago, John Huss preached a reformed Christianity among the Germans. He took the Bible for his guide, and was put to death for his doctrines, though they were those of Jesus Christ himself. But there is a good old saying, that "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church;" and from the blood of John Huss may be said to have sprung the reformed church of the Moravians, certain of whom were his followers, and preserved his doctrines among them through a long course of years, though obliged to do so in great privacy, for fear of their lives. B In the year 1722, these poor people found a kind friend in a young German nobleman, named Count Zinzendorf. He gave them shelter on his estate of Bertholdsdorf, in Lusatia, where a piece of ground was bestowed on them near the Hut-berg, or Watch-hill, and here they built themselves a village; which has since become famous, under the name of Herrnhut. The Count formed them into a church, based on their own laws and discipline, and protected those who joined them, he himself being their director. So many persons flocked to Herrnhut to enjoy the free exercise of their faith, that the Saxon government became alarmed, and forbade the Count to receive any more settlers. On this he quitted Herrnhut, took holy orders, and became a kind of missionary. He visited England, went twice to America, and after a varied course of usefulness under persecution, returned to England, and took up his abode at Lindsay House, Chelsea, the old palace of the Duchess of Mazarin. Meanwhile, several of the Moravians at Herrnhut had gone to Greenland as missionaries. The missionary spirit increased among them, and many went abroad to preach the gospel in other lands. |