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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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children or those who are members of ; , the cfitfrch are * , a « tney were / amongst thelia ; - cWlemon ' iatis , looked agon as the prpperty , rathe * - of the puhtie , than the jr . own paifieiAPts , fronii whom they are taken when a yeW laid , and put to a School , where the t frsttessou taught them is simple obedience
&hd quietness . * They have several elders whose business is to give the Bishop , or Pastor , who , by the way , is a mechanic , the most exact information they can relating to the religious state of the whole df&Tmunity .-f They suspend each other from communion , or withdraw themselves from it , tiot ' orfly from any scafldaFo ' us
offence , which seldom happens among them , hut on account of any little misdemeanor , ^* rch seems contrary to the honour of the gospel . Count Zinzeudorf was once suspended for being * in a passion with one' his servants , and was obliged to acknowledge his fault , and to ask pardon publicly before he was restored .
* They fell one remarkable story concerning a person who was a member with them , Ira * something offended at the strictness of their discipline . He did not submit to fraternal * correction , as they call it . They therefore proceeded to admonish him , at srhftih * he was greatly exasperated . Being a ; pet » son of eminent rank , he then set
them at open defiance , and insulted them in a very audacious manner . Upon which they excommunicated him , very solemnly . He "was then seized with violent agonies , htfth of ^ ody arid mind ; and when he had for several ** weeks tried most noted physic cians , and eVery method ' of amusement and comfort he could tftink of , to no
purpose , he at last sent for the elders , and desired them to pray for him . But they insisted on his being brought , I think , on his couch , to their public assembly , where he made an open confession of his sin . It is « t ' Very melancholy incident they tell of another of their number who having made a -very florid profession , not without some
their duty . " Xe Long , a Moravian Author in Rimius , p . 10 . * T ^ bey pay an uncommon attention to kbe instruction of youth . There are assemblies' held of little children that are not yet in a condition to walk . Thev are it s \ carried thither . Hymns are sung in these meetings and prayers * iftade ; even sermons are preached to them , suitable to the capacities or * these infant hearers . "" Rimius ^ V" ® r ' JP
f " 'jKrery member is ttaiiy visited WJr oneof his ' c ^ lafis , who g ^ ives him exbortiL tWtoL atfd tttk ^ s notice Of 1 the actual state of ^ tiii ^ JUl ^ Svhereof he makes a report to tle « KJSAftoto * v'Tbe JE / dfef ** liave > the sole rlghtr ofrttiaking raetooheia . > Na * promj « $ , of nUMfriage t * fef ttoyrt validity , Without , th * ir
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mixture of ostentation , one day , receiving the sacrament amongst them , was taken with convulsive pains and died in the assembly , crying with his last breath , and with the greatest horror , Spiritual < Pride I Spiritual Pride !
These people were misrepresented to the late King of Poland , so that he seat an order against them , whieh would probably " have ended in extirpation ; but it was very remarkable that a few days before it was to be executed he got that
accidental hurt in his toe , which mortified and proved the occasion of his death . The present King sent a commission to inquire after them , but received a report so much in their favour that he secretly protected them .
Mr . Jiig-ham assures me that he has seen amongst them such extraordinary answers of prayer as has thrown him into great amazement . J Persons ha * ve been recovered from dangerous , and desperate illness , as it seems , by this means ; and he added a lit * tie story , for the truth of which he undertakes to answer , upon his own knowledge .
One of the brethren , who is an Elder , wag bathing * in a river , a little above Savanna , when an alligator darted directly at him . The Moravian did not attempt to fly , but finding himself inwardly supported , as he afterwards declared , with a full assurance of being delivered , he swam directly towards the alligator , and laid his hands on the head of that voracious creature , without the least f fea
degree o r upon him . Upon Which the alligator sunk down like a stone , to the bottom of the river , and made no other attempt upon him . He says that several of the inhabitants were at that time within sight , and it was as" a sort of a standing saying among some sort of the English , that the little man dad beat the alligator . I might have adde < I , that in dubious cases their Church has often recourse to the determination of lots , ^| and Mr .
In-% Dr . Doddridg'e himself , as Dr . Kippis , his biographer , who knew him well , has observed , carried his notions on this subject " somewhat farther than reason and truth will warrant , " so as to ascribe to
prayer u such an immediate influence upon the Supreme Mind , and to expect from it such interpositions as are scarcely consistent with the regular order of Providence , and the stated course of events in the world . " Dr . K . considers Dr . Price and
Dr . Ogden as . having also exceeded , oh this point . , J 3 . Britt ., v . 305 .. | l Thi ^ mode of determination was adopted on a remarkable , occasion , by jfche Congregation-Church . In 1731 , " The Count having- endeavoured to evince tin *' Utility of a total ^ onfoemitjf /^ thi lWa JUii < theraii < 4 ^ urjDh « j * it } w **/ , £ & •« £ ved that w #
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TO Hr . fioddridgefy Actount of the Moravian Brethren .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1816, page 68, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2449/page/4/
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