The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-08-05

The Moravians at BssAlehem. P~Hnsyrv~nas.
tCcsrs- pona enes ot the Alo.sy Jourbxi.l
BssTLs.:.; Pa, July ~, lssl-As you go up
den turn Of the road bring into view picturesque
hollow ont Of which peer the roofs and steepes Of
quaint little old townth looks % II 1t might have
stood there for the last century and was good for
Of one and two story houses, built Of implanted brick
with the steep roofs and heavy white window shut.
tiers IN vogue ct the time Of the revolution-a very
antiquated and very much alike. The sidewalks
look as II they had just been swept. The little strip
Of green grass that divides them from the neat,
smooth pavement, Is scrupulousy trimmed and even.
The door steps are scrubbed and secured to the
last extremity. The polished knockers and door
handles gfsten In the sanshine. Tue very stable
yards q neat a parlors. Looking at the place
Is like reading chapter in Leviticus, such severe
condemn alton does it pass ON all things unclean.n
Here and there is stray sign, bat the general as
pect OF AFFAIRS 10 anything but bosiness-like. No
show windows, no boxes standing on the sidewalk,
no wagons standing in the street. no loaiers stand
ing on the coIners-no drinking saloons, no ten
pin alleys, not even one OF those red globes that
have been held at MI times and under all circum.
sesncss 70 mean oysters and Ice cream. II IT is
are sitting IN their d0orways and children rompng
under the trees In front Of them, at nearly eyery
house. Apple, pea b and cherry trees stand in the
open street, as Il there were no such thing as
temptation or thieves; and one man has trained
bis grapevine like an Arb0r over the sidewalk IL.
for the accommodation Of the pubic's well known
taste for low hanging fruit. Everywhere the most
primitive quiet and simplicity.
Il In l749, as refuge for the Moravians and they
have bad uDdisputed possession Of it ever since.
These 4oravisns are descendants of the early Chris
tians Of Moravia and Bohemia-the scenes Of the
preaching and martyrd0m Of John Huss, and the
places where the Wilderness, when driven out of
Italy and France, took refuge They trace the his
t0ryof their church back TO the day when Paul and
Titus went out TO teach IN IliyriCum and Dalma;.
tix"-the ancient names Of those provinces. After
many entures Of persecution in their native coun-
Try, Count ZDzendOrff then Regent Of SaxOnv Offer
ed them, in 1922 an asylum on one of his estates,
which still fOurisbcs under the name Of Herrnhut.
SUBJ equently lesigning his regency, he became .
colony, upon tract given him for that purpose by
the Rev. Geo. Whitfield.
IbS , S in many respects peculiar people they
Recognizing all Christians who profess and call
themselves such, they receive Lutherans, German
Reformed, Episcopalians, Aethodists, &C., without
requiring them to renounce their respective doc
trines. Tie only esse ltial requisite seems to be
belief in those four five fundamental principles of
Christianity N which nearly all sects agree. For
tht mseves, they claim to have preserved the prac
tees Of the Christian church from the time Of the
apostles, in their pristine purity, and not TO have
wandered of into the errors either Of Rome or
Geneva. For instance, they keep no saints days;
but Easter PeDtec ,st and Christmas are regularly
observed The ltany read In their churches is
substantially that Of which the Catholics use the
Latin version, and the Episcopalians the English
one, though the prayers written in modern times
are ooitted. They have, like those denominstions,
bishops, priests and deacons, and like the Presby-
terians and others, elders. synods and conferences
Perhaps the most striking popularity in their
chur ID government arises from their belief In spe
cisl interpretations Of Providence. In matters Of
doubtful or weighsy import the elders their own
casting lots, believing that God will direct the
suit. In this way they have sometimes filed vacant
Bithoprics and Presbyteries, and even regulated
points Of doctrine. They have precedent, they
say, in the choice Of Matthias by the apostles. A
part Of lis arrangement that is apt to seem anus
ing to US "wollds people," is It's application to
marriages. Instead Of the parties concerned, it is
the elderswho pick out the eligible matches Then
they cast lots. II the lot falls that such and such
young man and woman shall be married, married
they are-their own private judgment being con-
sdered as having nothing at all t. do with the mat
ter. They must not only believe, but act literally
the belief, that marriages are made in heav 4n
In this country, though, the custom has been modi
fed, but 1t is sin Necessary 10 obtain the elders
consent. Aud they triumphantly insist, that no
where are there 30 many happy marriages as among
Believing that true Christianity divests, or ought
to dvest death Of It's teoIs they seek to dispel the
gloomy ASSOCIATIONS with which most others sur
round it. When one dies, the relatives do not put
on mourning, nor are the undert8ker's mea, with
long Aces, expected to feign q sympathy they do
not feel. There are no black plumes, no hearse no
dismal pageantry. But choosing il possible, sunny
ing ground. which Is laid ont like q garden, aud
there, the corpse is lowered into the earth, to
sole mn strains OF instrumental music Join in chant
Ing b. INNS expressing trust in Gods purpose, and
h pc OF immortality. msto0k the grave yard here
a. Bethlehem for the public park, when firs, say
Il. II stands in tie very centre OF the tovn. In
stead Of monuments it is filed with trees and fow-
eIs. altheas an ! daisies, and climbing roses. The
plain fiat slab that marks each grave, seldom bear
the inscription Died" but almost always depart
ed" or "GcDe home 70 God"
The MoravaDs do not generally live ia commu-
nifty houses, like the Shakers, but in many of their
settlements, especially in their poorer days, they
have adopted that plan as saving expense One "a
vorite form Of it 10 the Sisters House, where all
the unmarried females having no households of their
OVID, live and work together, coming and going, Of
nse rss1 ess House. So s.S they Sss
men and boys occupy. A third is the Widows
House." Perhaps in these simple institutions one
may trace what nuDneries and monasteries were,
Lefore they were made houses of religious Sc clusion
and asceticism
Ore of the first buildings erected here was q
boarding school for girls, which has high reputar
top, ffouph IN many respects just the opposite Of
fashionable establishments in cities. Between three
and Il ur thousand pupils from all parts Of the Union
have been educated In II. At Nazareth there Is q
similar school for boys
That reminds me that nearly all the names Of the
towns hereabouts are scriptural, at least devo-
tiobal Shiloh l. on your lef. hand and Bethaoy on
your right. There is Canaan across the river,
and a little way off an Epbratah. You can rest any
cay in Hope, and sit down as long as you please In
Harmony. Once in while an irreveren. Yankee
name thrusts itself into the goodly assembIage. II
has rather ludicrous effect when they tell you that
the road 70 Paradise hes through Ragged Hollow,
and that to get to Bethlehem you must climb over
Jenny Jump Mountain.
Ar might be expected from sect of 80 liberal
creed and so practi al Q character the Moravians
have been more successful in missionary enterprises
than any other denomination OF the same size.
They have now upwards Of three hundred stations,
in Greenland, India, Africa, Tartary, &c. and claim
TO have made 10000 converts.
Like the Shakers, the Moravans live as much as
possible in sh, among themselves. They raise their
own food, weave their own cloth, make their own
clothes, build their own houses, make their own i'm.
PIGMENTS and furniture, seldom travel, even ito