468 



MORAVIANS. 



State, but kept long unknown to the public. 

 These lists represent the " qualified " voters 

 at that election to have been 166,509, and the 

 " rejected " voters only 11,016; but the ac- 

 cusers point to the fact that fifty counties in 

 the State returned no lists of the "rejected " 

 voters, though the registration law absolutely 

 prescribes it, and that five counties more re- 

 turned no lists at all. "Whatever was the cause 

 of such an omission, they aver that the offi- 

 cial lists themselves, if duly returned, would 

 show the "rejected" voters in 1868 to have 

 been not fewer than 20,000. They affirm fur- 

 ther, that, besides these citizens excluded from 

 voting after they had been registered, a large 

 number of others presented themselves to be 

 registered, but were refused registration, even 

 for subsequent rejection, and a much larger 

 number did not present themselves for regis- 

 tration at all, only to avoid enduring the insults 

 and mortification which they were sure to 

 meet with had they offered their votes. This 

 last description of citizens is so numerous that, 

 in St. Louis County alone, they are reckoned 

 at from 8,000 to 10,000 so that the citizens 

 of Missouri, who, at the election of 1868, were 

 legally entitled to the exercise of the elec- 

 tive franchise, but, by the working of the 

 registration law and the action of its execu- 

 tors, were unlawfully either refused registra- 

 tion or excluded from voting after registration, 

 or kept from offering themselves as voters 

 at all, are represented to have been at least 

 80,000. 



MORAVIANS. The General Synod of the 

 Moravian Church met at Herrnhut on the 24th 

 of May, 1869, and adjourned on the 8th of 

 July. It was the first session of this body held 

 since 1857. It had been the intention to hold 

 it in 1867, ten years after the last, but the pre- 

 liminary steps occupied two years longer. By 

 a fortuitous and happy coincidence, the year in 

 which it was actually held was the centennial 

 of the Synod at Marienborn, in 1769, at which 

 the constitution of the Unity of the Brethren 

 was framed. According to the modifications 

 effected in the composition of this body by the 

 Synod of 1857, deputies from the congregations 

 were no longer present, but only representa- 

 tives of the provinces. Of these there were 

 twenty-seven, nine from each province. Be- 

 sides these, six brethren from the missions, 

 members of the elders' Conference of the Unity, 

 bishops, and official members, swelled the num- 

 ber of voting members to fifty-four. Among 

 the subjects that were considered by the Synod 

 were the Saviour's government of His Church ; 

 the doctrine, the liturgy, church discipline, the 

 ministry of the Word, ecclesiastical orders, the 

 constitution of the Unity and its several prov- 

 inces, foreign missions, the home-work of the 

 three provinces, etc. Little essential change 

 was made in what was already established. 

 > In reference to church work, the Synod de- 

 cided that the diffusion of their views in 

 Bohemia and Moravia, the birthplace of this 



church, is an incumbency of the whole Unity, 

 to be performed as Providence may open the 

 way. The subject of the missions received 

 especial attention, and it was decided that tbe 

 ultimate aim in all the mission-fields should be 

 to raise up a native ministry, and the es- 

 tablishment of self-sustaining congregations. 

 The Synod sanctioned the establishment of a 

 training-school at Nisky, in Prussia ; the erec- 

 tion of a house for the accommodation of visit- 

 ing missionaries at Kleinwelke, in Saxony, 

 where the children of missionaries are to be 

 educated; and the publication of a missionary 

 periodical for use in the West Indies. 



The following are the chief points of Mora- 

 vian doctrine, as revised by the General Synod 

 of 1869 : 



We regard every truth revealed to us in the Word 

 of God as an invaluable treasure, and sincerely believe 

 that the loss of life itself would be a trifling evil com- 

 pared with the denial of any one of them. But most 

 especially is this the case with that truth which the 

 Kenewed Church of the Brethren has ever regarded 

 as her chief doctrine, an inestimable jewel -which, 

 by God's grace, she still holds fast : 



" That whosoe'er believeth in Christ's redemption 

 May find free grace, and a complete exemption 

 From serving sin." 



From this great truth we deduce the following 

 points of doctrine most essential to salvation : 



a. The doctrine of the total depravity of human na- 

 ture that there is no health in us and that, since 

 the fall, we have no power to help ourselves out of 

 the bondage of sin. 



b. The doctrine of the love of God the Father, who 

 " has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the 

 world," and who "so loved the world that he gave 

 his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in 

 him should not perish, but have everlasting life." 



c. The doctrine of the real Godhead and real man- 

 hood of Jesus Christ ; that God, the Creator of all 

 things, was manifest in the flesh, and has reconciled 

 the world unto himself that " he is before all things, 

 and by him all things exist." 



d. The doctrine of the atonement and satisfaction of 

 Jesus Christ for us ; that he " was delivered for our 

 offences, and was raised again for our justification," 

 and that in Ms merits alone we find forgiveness of 

 sins and peace with God. 



e. The doctrine of the Holy Ghost and his gracious 

 operations ; that it is he who works in us the knowl- 

 edge of sin, faith in Jesus, and the witness that we are 

 the children of God, and that without him we cannot 

 know the truth. 



/. The doctrine of the fruits of faith; that it must 

 show itself as an active principle by a willing obedi- 

 ence to God's commandments, flowing from love and 

 gratitude, and that genuine faith wul ever be thus 

 distinguishable." 



The following are the General Moravian 

 Church statistics for 1868 : 



Members. Congregations. Communicants. Total. 



German Province 20 4,895 - 7,270 



British Province 48 3,208 5,448 



American Northern Province. 44 5,680 10,114 



" Southern Province. 10 1,088 1,741 



Missionaries and their children. . 305 405 



15,176 24,978 



Seventeen bishops were living at the close 

 of 1869, of whom five were in the United States, 

 four in Great Britain, seven in Continental 

 Europe, and one in Antigua, West Indies. 



