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
And now the coping stone was set on the temple {Aug. 13th.}. As the
Brethren were learning, step by step, to love each other in true
sincerity, Pastor Rothe now invited them all to set the seal to the work
by coming in a body to Berthelsdorf Church, and there joining, with one
accord, in the celebration of the Holy Communion. The Brethren accepted
the invitation with joy. The date fixed was Monday, August 13th. The
sense of awe was overpowering. As the Brethren walked down the slope to
the church all felt that the supreme occasion had arrived; and all who
had quarrelled in the days gone by made a covenant of loyalty and love.
At the door of the church the strange sense of awe was thrilling. They
entered the building; the service began; the "Confession" was offered
by the Count; and then, at one and the same moment, all present, rapt
in deep devotion, were stirred by the mystic wondrous touch of a power
which none could define or understand. There, in Berthelsdorf Parish
Church, they attained at last the firm conviction that they were one in
Christ; and there, above all, they believed and felt that on them, as on
the twelve disciples on the Day of Pentecost, had rested the purifying
fire of the Holy Ghost.
"We learned," said the Brethren, "to love." "From that time onward,"
said David Nitschmann, "Herrnhut was a living Church of Jesus Christ. We
thank the Lord that we ever came to Herrnhut, instead of pressing on, as
we intended, to Poland."
And there the humble Brother spoke the truth. As the Brethren returned
that evening to Herrnhut, they felt within them a strength and joy they
had never known before. They had realised their calling in Christ. They
had won the Divine gift of Christian union. They had won that spirit of
brotherly love which only the great Good Spirit could give. They had won
that sense of fellowship with Christ, and fellowship with one another,
which had been the costliest gem in the days of their fathers; and
therefore, in future, they honoured the day as the true spiritual
birthday of the Renewed Church of the Brethren. It is useless trying to
express their feelings in prose. Let us listen to the moving words of
the Moravian poet, James Montgomery:--
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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