A History of the Moravian ChurchHutton, J. E. (Joseph Edmund)
Religion
A History of the Moravian Church
Hutton, J. E. (Joseph Edmund)
Moravian Church -- History
"They drink
and vomit," he said, "quarrel and fight, rob and pillage one another
by cunning and by violence, neigh and skip from wantonness, shout and
whistle, and commit fornication and adultery worse than any of the
others." He watched the priests, and found them no better than the
people. Some snored, wallowing in feather beds; some feasted till they
became speechless; some performed dances and leaps; some passed their
time in love-making and wantonness.
For these evils Comenius saw one remedy only, and that remedy was the
cultivation of the simple and beautiful religion of the Brethren. The
last part of his book, "The Paradise of the Heart," is delightful.
Comenius was a marvellous writer. He combined the biting satire of Swift
with the devotional tenderness of Thomas à Kempis. As we linger over
the closing sections of his book, we can see that he then regarded the
Brethren as almost ideal Christians. Among them he found no priests
in gaudy attire, no flaunting wealth, no grinding poverty; and passing
their time in peace and quietness, they cherished Christ in their
hearts. "All," he says, "were in simple attire, and their ways were
gentle and kind. I approached one of their preachers, wishing to speak
to him. When, as is our custom, I wished to address him according to his
rank, he permitted it not, calling such things worldly fooling." To them
ceremonies were matters of little importance. "Thy religion," said the
Master to the Pilgrim--i.e., to the Brethren's Church--"shall be to
serve me in quiet, and not to bind thyself to any ceremonies, for I do
not bind thee by them."
But Comenius did not stay long at Brandeis-on-the-Adler {1628.}. As
Zerotin had sided with the House of Hapsburg, he had been allowed, for a
few years, to give shelter to about forty Brethren's ministers; but
now commissioners appeared at his Castle, and ordered him to send these
ministers away. The last band of exiles now set out for Poland. The
leader was Comenius himself. As they bade farewell to their native land
they did so in the firm conviction that they themselves should see
the day when the Church of the Brethren should stand once more in her
ancient home; and as they stood on a spur of the Giant Mountains, and
saw the old loved hills and dales, the towns and hamlets, the nestling
churches, Comenius raised his eyes to heaven and uttered that historic
prayer which was to have so marvellous an answer. He prayed that in the
old home God would preserve a "Hidden Seed," which would one day grow to
a tree; and then the whole band struck up a hymn and set out for Poland.
Pathetic was the marching song they sang:--
Nought have we taken with us,
All to destruction is hurled,
We have only our Kralitz Bibles,
And our Labyrinth of the World.
Comenius led the Brethren to Lissa, in Poland, and Lissa became the
metropolis of the exiles.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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