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
Next year Zinzendorf came to England, and began to do the best he could
to destroy the separate Moravian Church in this country {1746.}. If the
Count could only have had his way, he would now have made every Moravian
in England return to the Anglican Church. He was full of his "Tropus"
idea. He wished to work his idea out in England; he called the English
Brethren to a Synod (Sept. 13-16), and persuaded them to pass a scheme
whereby the English branch of the Brethren's Church would be taken
over entirely by the Church of England. It was one of the most
curious schemes he ever devised. At their Sunday services the Brethren
henceforward were to use the Book of Common Prayer; their ministers were
to be ordained by Anglican and Moravian Bishops conjointly; he himself
was to be the head of this Anglican-Moravian Church; and thus the
English Moravians would be grafted on to the Church of England. For the
second time, therefore, the Count was trying to destroy the Moravian
Church. But here, to his surprise, he met an unexpected obstacle. He had
forgotten that it takes two to make a marriage. He proposed the union in
form to Archbishop Potter; he pleaded the case with all the skill at
his command; and the Archbishop promptly rejected the proposal, and the
marriage never came off.
As Zinzendorf, therefore, was baffled in this endeavour, he had now to
come down from his pedestal and try a more practical plan {1747.}; and,
acting on the sage advice of Thomas Penn, proprietor of Pennsylvania,
and General Oglethorpe, Governor of Georgia, he resolved to appeal
direct to Parliament for protection in the Colonies. As Oglethorpe
himself was a member of the House of Commons, he was able to render the
Brethren signal service. He had no objection to fighting himself, and
even defended duelling,[124] but he championed the cause of the Brethren.
Already, by an Act in 1740, the Quakers had been freed from taking the
oath in all our American Colonies; already, further, by another Act
(1743), the privilege of affirming had been granted in Pennsylvania,
not only to Quakers, but to all foreign Protestants; and now Oglethorpe
moved in the House of Commons that the rule existing in Pennsylvania
should henceforth apply to all American Colonies. If the Moravians, he
argued, were only given a little more encouragement, instead of being
worried about oaths and military service, they would settle in larger
numbers in America and increase the prosperity of the colonies. He wrote
to the Board of Trade and Plantations; his friend, Thomas Penn, endorsed
his statements; and the result was that the new clause was passed,
and all foreign Protestants in American Colonies--the Moravians being
specially mentioned--were free to affirm instead of taking the oath.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account