trine of an objective communication of grace, through holy baptism, this error is, doubtless, totally incompatible; for the Divine Spirit, once received, cannot, in every instance, remain fruitless in respect to the ulterior progress of man. But, it was precisely such an objective communication of the Spirit, that Luther originally rejected, when he most spoke of these struggles of desperation. § LXXIV.-Combination of the doctrinal peculiarities of the Moravians and the Pietists. In this Pietistic school, and, indeed, in one of its principal seats--in Halle, where the opinions of Spener had been promulgated, from the academic chair-Count Lewis von Zinzendorf,* and his friends, Frederick von Watteville, and Spangenberg, who were the souls, and successively the Bishops, of the Moravian Brethren, assembled in Herrnhut, received, in the leading points at least, their religious education. The one-sided, practical spirit, and the sectarian arrogance, which the above-named leaders and partisans brought, in an equal degree, into the society, formed the element connecting the two parties. The Bohemian Brothers brought a rigid external discipline, as their peculiar characteristic, and Zinzendorf, Watteville, and Spangenberg, "the socalled theology of the cross and blood." The peculiar * Respecting Zinzendorf, the reader may consult the very lively, and even impartial sketch of him, which Varnhagen von Ense has traced in his work, entitled Leben des Grafen von Zinzendorf. Berlin, 1830. Spangenberg left behind him a large work on 'Zinzendorf; smaller ones were composed by Reichel and Duvernoy. He was born at Dresden in the year 1700, and died in 1760. doctrines of the Hernnhutters seem to have been composed of these three elements. In consequence of the one-sided, practical tendency we have described, and which was common to both parties, Count Zinzendorf was enabled to persuade his vassals, who were divided by many differences in matters of faith, especially by the Moravian, Calvinistic, and Lutheran tenets, to disregard the prevailing diversities of opinion, as they yet agreed in "the fundamental articles," and to induce the Moravian Brothers to follow his advice. Zinzendorf really entertained the notion, that all, who merely believed in redemption, through the blood of Christ, were of one faith, as if this doctrine could even be believed, and maintained unconnected with other dogmas. To remove, however, as far as possible, all injurious consequences and evil reports, he divided his community into three tropes-the Lutheran, the Calvinistic, and the Moravian. With reason did the Lutherans accuse the society of a doctrinal indifferentism, and asail it on all sides.* That Zinzendorf also wished to found the community of Hernnhutters, on the basis of sectarian pride, is * To the well-known judgment of the Faculty of Tübingen on the Herrnhutters, Zinzendorf remarks (p. 205, Collection of his smaller writings): "He (Melanchthon) required unity only on the principal articles, and if these principal articles were but once settled, then the matter might be so arranged, that men could bear and communicate, and unite with each other. But every man will make his own point, forsooth, a secondary point, when he is charged with heresy, and every hæretifex of his opponent's doctrine will make that a fundamental error." How productive this idea might have become, had it been only adhered to! The views expressed by Zinzendorf, in regard to Catholics, on occasion of the persecutions he had to endure from the Lutherans, are well entitled to attention.-See his life by Varnhagen, pp. 49, 143, and elsewhere. proved by many incidents in his life, as well as by the strongest declarations on his part. He, too, looked upon the Lutheran Church, as, on the whole, irrecoverably lost; and all his efforts were directed to the planting, every where, branches of the community of Brothers, into which the yet sound portion of Lutherans might be received, while the by far larger incurable remnant might be suffered to perish. "The Lutheran Church, in his words, was to be so sucked out, unsalted, unspiced, that nothing but a mere skeleton should remain."* Even subscription to the Augsburg Confes sion he delayed till the year 1748. In virtue of the cross and blood theology," (a favourite expression with the Herrnhutters themselves, but which has been ridiculed by modern Protestants, in a very unchristian manner), the disciples of Zinzendorf were, in their public discourses and writings, almost exclusively occupied, with the exposition and meditation on the bloody death of our Redeemer on the cross. The death of Jesus Christ being the centre-point of the Christian faith, the religious discourse of Christians, though not always expressly, should certainly, by implication, ever proceed from, and revert to this cardinal mystery. The Herrnhutters, indeed, represent the great sacrifice of atonement, offered up for us too exclusively, in its immediate, outward form, and do not sufficiently bring out its idea, through the medium of reflection. Wishing to foster sensibility, they strive, too exclusively, to picture the external fact of the crucifixion to the fancy; and thus it cannot fail to happen, that they re * Compare Bengel's Life and Ministry. By Frederick Buck, p. 380, Stutgart, 1831. From p. 276 to 402, the relation of Bengel to the Community of Brothers is very well pointed out. volve in a very narrow, uniform circle of expressions, and figurative representations, which frequently produce only undefined, hollow, and empty sentiments. It should never, however, have been denied, that from this theology, the Herrnhutters, especially in the first period of their history, which was most obnoxious to censure, derived a moral energy, highly deserving of esteem, and which, in their missionary labours, displays itself under the most favourable aspect. But yet, there were not wanting among them deeper emotions, and beautiful. evidences of experience in the interior life, as, to furnish a proof of this, we may appeal to the brief, but very pleasing description, which an uneducated Hernnhutter gives of the inward unction of the spirit.* This theology has, moreover, in its moral influence on ordinary life, produced the most beneficial effects. And how could it be otherwise? Who can meditate with love on the passion of the Saviour, without loving him? And he who loveth him, will keep his commandments. The physical part in our Lord's sufferings forms the substratum, and the point of contact for meditation, with which the believer connects his sorrow for sin, and his sense of gratitude for redemption. Love will not quickly remove from the beloved object, and it dwells, too, with complacency on minute particulars; and, therefore, it argues a profound ignorance of the wants of the human heart, to make it a matter of reproach against the Herrnhutters, that they dwell, with devout contemplation, on the several wounds of the Redeemer, and so forth. The error consists only herein, that this devo *See Zinzendorf's Collected Works, p. 235, et seq. †The most singular observation of this kind has been recorded by Varnhagen, in his Life of Zinzendorf, p. 283. tion is too exclusive-that every member of the sect is trained up to these uniform practices of piety-and that a free developement of the peculiarities of different minds, is not encouraged, nay, not even permitted. What an inexhaustible fund for contemplation, doth not the death of our Lord present to the unlearned, as well as to the learned, to the man of tender sensibility, as well as to the severe thinker! Hence, in the Church this wealth reveals itself, according to the different capacities of individuals. But, it is a character proper to sectarianism, to protrude only one side of a mighty whole. As regards the ecclesiastical discipline of this religious community-the exclusion of irreformable members from its bosom-the separation of the sexes into bands and choirs, even out of the times of divine servicethe washing of feet, which is considered something more, than a mere simple function-and other institutions, rites and customs; the description of these appertains not to this place. But, it is worthy of remark, that, in studying the peculiarities of this society, we are often reminded of many phenomena in the early history of the Church. The elections of superintendents by lots, recall to mind the ordeals of the middle age, far more at least than the election of Mathias by the Apostles. The prayers from midnight to midnight, or even during the whole night, once, and perhaps even still, practised by them, remind us of the Akoimeta ; and the disgusting and obscene figures of speech, which Zinzendorf indulged in, have a parallel in the practice of the Manicheans, who set forth their opinions by images, drawn even from the nuptial relations. It is worthy of remark, also, that whereas, the sects, which in other countries have grown out of Protestantism, |