See Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, Cent. XVII. ch. ii. sect. ii. Part II.
Eccles. Hist. Cent. XVI. ch. ii. sect. iii. Part. II.
Observat. Hallen, 15 t. p. 341.
It is a prayer addressed to Jesus Christ, and suited to the condition of a dying person who builds his hope on the Mediator. M. Le Clerc has inserted it at length in the Sentimens de quelques Theologiens de Hollande, 17 Lettre, p. 397.
Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson, 2d Vol. p. 502. 2d Edition.
The author's "Confessions of Faith," mention this convention, its dissolution, and the subsequent union of the Helvetian, and Bohemian protestant congregations, in the Synods, held at Astrog, in the years 1620, and 1627. The original settlement of these churches, was in Bohemia, and Moravia. Persecution scattered the members of them: a considerable number of the fugitives, settled at Herrenhut, a village in Lusatia. There, under the protection and guidance of Count Zinzendorf, they formed themselves into a new community, which was designed to comprehend their actual and future congregations, under the title of "The Protestant Church of the Unitas Fratrum, or United Brethren of the Confession of Augsburgh." That Confession is their only symbolic book; but they profess great esteem for the eighteen first chapters of the Synodical Document of the church of Berne in 1532, as a declaration of true Christian Doctrine. They also respect, the writings of Count Zinzendorf, but do not consider themselves, bound by any opinion, sentiment, or expression, which these contain. It is acknowledged, that, towards the middle of the last century, they used in their devotional exercises, particularly in their hymns, many expressions justly censurable: but these have been corrected. They consider Lutherans and Calvinists, to be their brethren in faith, as according with them in the essential articles of religion; and therefore, when any of their members reside at a distance from a congregation of the United Brethren, they not only attend a Lutheran, or Calvinist church, but receive the Sacrament, from its ministers, without scruple. In this, they profess to act in conformity to the Convention at Sendomer. The union, which prevails both among the congregations, and the individuals which compose them, their modest and humble carriage, their moderation in lucrative pursuits, the simplicity of their manners, their laborious industry, their frugal habits, their ardent but mild piety, and their regular discharge of all their spiritual observances, are universally acknowledged and admired. Their charities are boundless, their kindness to their poor brethren is most edifying; there is not among them a beggar. The care, which they bestow, on the education of their children, in forming their minds, chastening their hearts, and curbing their imaginations,-particularly in those years,
"When youth, elate and gay,
Steps into life and follows, unrestrained,
Where passion leads, or reason points the way." Lowth.
are universally acknowledged, universally admired, and deserve universal imitation.
But, it is principally, by the extent and success of their missionary labours, that they now engage, the attention of the public. These began, in 1732. In 1812, they had thirty-three settlements, in heathen nations. One hundred and thirty-seven missionaries, were employed in them: they had baptized, twenty-seven thousand, four hundred converts: and such had been their care, in admitting them to that sacred rite, and such their assiduity, in cultivating a spirit of religion, among them, that scarcely an individual, had been known, to relapse into paganism. All travellers, who have visited their settlements, speak with wonder, and praise, of the humility, the patient endurance of privation, and hardship, the affectionate zeal, the mild, and persevering exertions of the missionaries; and the innocence, industry and piety of the converts:-the European, the American, the African, and the Asiatic traveller speaks of them, in the same terms: and, that they speak without exaggeration, the conduct both of the pastor, and the flock in the different settlements of the United Brethren in England, incontestibly proves. Whatever he may think of their religious tenets, Talis cum sitis, utinam nostri essetis, must be the exclamation of every christian, who considers their lives. Those, who desire further knowledge of this amiable, and worthy denomination of Christians, will find it in David Cranz's ancient and modern History of the Brethren, printed at Barby, 1771, and the two continuations of it, Barby, 1791, and 1804. The History has been translated into English; and is become exceedingly scarce; the Continuations have not been translated. Mr. La Trobe, the Pastor of the United Brethren in London, has published a Concise Historical Account of the Protestant Church of the United Brethren adhering to the Confession of Augsburgh.
Epist. 1706, p. 736.