As already stated, the Moravian Society in London was small; but its meetings were numerous. From a list of the “public and private opportunities of the Brethren at London, throughout the whole week,” in February, 1747, we learn that they had four sermons every Sunday, two in English and two in German; also German preaching every Tuesday, and English every Tuesday and Thursday. Besides these services, however, there were twenty-two others on Sunday, six on Monday, five on Tuesday, thirteen on Wednesday, nine on Thursday, five on Friday, and five on Saturday, making seventy-two religious services every week, exclusive of monthly general meetings, prayer days, children’s prayer days, and sacraments. To what extent Gambold took part in these Moravian meetings, it is impossible to say; but, numerically considered, there was, beyond a doubt, sufficient scope to gratify his longings for religious fellowship.
In 1747, Gambold, accompanied by Ingham, Okeley, Hutton, and Cennick, paid a visit to Hernhaag, where he continued for several months, and gained the respect and love of all who knew him. His visit was at an important crisis in the Brethren’s history; and, probably, was occasioned by the disastrous fanaticism which had broken out in that important settlement. In 1738, a building was begun at Hernhaag, designed to serve as an asylum for persons educated in the German Calvinistic Church, and persecuted on account of their connection with the Brethren. In 1740, a congregation was regularly organized; and, in a few years, Hernhaag contained a greater number of inhabitants than Herrnhut. Here boarding-schools were established for the education of the children of the Moravian ministers, whether employed in the service of the church at home or in foreign lands; and the place altogether was one of great importance. In 1746, however, there was the utmost danger of this Christian settlement being ruined. Here began an evil, which soon became widespread, and which required vigorous and long-continued efforts to annihilate. The following is extracted from Holmes’ “History of the Protestant Church of the United Brethren” (Vol. i., p. 399).
“In their zeal to root out self-righteousness, the Brethren were not sufficiently on their guard against levity of expression. The delight they took in speaking of the sufferings of Christ, which arose from the penetrating sense they had of their infinite value, by degrees degenerated into fanciful representations of the various scenes of His passion. Their style, in speaking and writing, lost its former plainness and simplicity, and became turgid, puerile, and fanatical, abounding in playful allusions to Christ as the Lamb, the Bridegroom, etc., by which He is described in holy writ, and in fanciful representations of the wound in His side. In describing the spiritual relation between Christ and His Church, the highly figurative language of the Canticles was substituted in the place of the dignified simplicity, used by our Saviour and His apostles, when speaking on this subject. Some less-experienced preachers even seemed to vie with each other in introducing, into their discourses, the most extravagant, and often wholly unintelligible, expressions. This kept the hearers in a state of constant excitement, but was not calculated to subject every thought of the heart to the obedience of Christ. Religion, instead of enlightening the understanding, governing the affections, and regulating the general conduct, became a play of the imagination.
“This species of fanaticism first broke out at Herrnhaag, in the year 1746, and, from thence, spread into several other congregations. Many were carried away by it, for it seemed to promise a certain joyous perfection, representing believers as innocent, playful children, who might be quite at their ease amidst all the trials and difficulties incident to the present life. The effect produced was such as might be expected. The more serious members of the church (and these after all formed the major part) bitterly lamented an evil, which they could not at once eradicate. Others, considering the malady as incurable, withdrew from its communion. The behaviour of such as were most infected with this error, though not immoral and criminal, was yet highly disgraceful to their Christian profession. Had not God in mercy averted the impending danger, a spirit of religious levity and antinomianism might, by degrees, have sapped the very foundation of the Brethren’s Church, and completed her ruin.”
What part Gambold took in this affair at Herrnhaag, and with what results, we have no means of knowing; but certain it is, that, this pestiferous lusciousness spread to England, and, for many a long year afterwards, disgraced the Moravian hymns, and justly exposed the Moravians themselves to the censures and taunts of both friends and foes. It would be easy to quote instances illustrative of this, from the English Moravian Hymn Book, “published chiefly for the Use of the Congregations in Union with the Brethren’s Church,” in 1754; but the reader would not be edified by such quotations.
The Moravians in England, when compared with the Methodists, could hardly be considered a prosperous community. From the first, a considerable number of their members belonged to other churches; and, in 1749, an effort was made to multiply such extra-ecclesiastical adherents, by instituting what was called an English Tropus, the object being to provide a means whereby the members of other communities, and, notably, of the Church of England, might be enrolled in the Moravian Brotherhood, without severing themselves from the churches of which they already formed a part. This was one of the subjects discussed at a synod held in London in the above-mentioned year; and, to facilitate the matter, Gambold addressed the following letter “To Papa, i.e. Count Zinzendorf,” the beginning of which, to mention nothing else, shows how far even Gambold had fallen into the offensive use of the adulatory language of Moravian sycophants.
“Most dear and paternal Heart.—A certain reflection has this day arisen in my mind, which, such as it is, I wish to communicate to you. I perceive that you and your faithful colleagues are earnestly labouring to bring it about, that, those, who flee from the fold of the Anglican religion, may not be completely cut off from the said religion; but still continue in ecclesiastical bond with it; and, therefore, you propose to constitute an Anglican tropus among the Brethren,—an object most dear to us, and with the greatest propriety recommended; inasmuch as it is beginning, as I imagine, to be thought desirable by the clergy of this country also. I greatly fear, however, that there are, in their hierarchy, certain deficiencies which may occasion some obstruction to the consent of the majority; moreover, other considerations may oppose the arrangement, that one prelate (the others being unconsulted, except, perhaps, synodically), should be able to concede this privilege.
“Two special means, or symbols of union, are contained, as I understand, under the word Tropus. One requisite is, that some prelate of the Anglican Church should be invested with the office of examining into such matters as the Brethren agitate, and, on the part of his Church, and with the seal of the same, assisting at their ordinations. The other requisite is, that the Liturgy, or Prayers of the Anglican Church should be admitted in our assembly. The former involves the appointment of prudent political men; the latter provides for the security of religious, pious persons sustaining any injury from us; tending, moreover, to the abatement of disaffection as respects both communities, and to their mutual benefit and salvation. I, therefore, earnestly desire the accomplishment of the design.
“What evil, in the mean time, could ensue if the whole Book of Prayers of the Anglican Church should occasionally be used in public; not at this time as prayers, but as text; and an explanation occasionally given as to the passages which, with us, may seem to require some explanation? Certain exceedingly grand portions of sacred Scripture which are intermingled with these may, in this service, be omitted as being beyond all dispute; and so, in six or eight prelections, or short discourses, the whole may be finished. The service may, with propriety, be preceded by some such introduction as the following: