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God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

But we do not imagine it difficult to give the explanation. It is surely conceivable that the actuating principle of a Moravian enterprise, may carry no sympathy whatever along with it, while many things may be done in the prosecution of this enterprise, most congenial to the taste, and the wishes, and the natural feelings of worldly men. They may not be able to enter into the ardent anxiety of the Moravians for the salvation of human souls; and when the principle is stripped of every accompaniment, and laid in naked and solitary exhibition before them, they may laugh at its folly, or be disgusted by its fanaticism. This, however, is the very principle on which are founded all their missionary undertakings; and it is not till after a lengthened course of operations, that it gathers those accompaniments around it, which have drawn upon the United Brethren the homage of men who shrink in repugnance and disgust from the principle itself. With the heart's desire that men should be saved, they cannot sympathize; but when these men, the objects of his earnest solicitude, live at a distance, the missionary, to carry his desire into effect, must get near them, and traversing a lengthened line on the surface of the globe, he will supply his additions or his corrections to the science of geography. When they speak in an unknown tongue, the missionary must be understood by them; and giving his patient labour to the acquirement of a new language, he furnishes another document to the student of philology. When they are signalized by habits or observances of their own, the missionary records them for the information and benefit of his successors; and our knowledge of human nature, with all its various and wonderful peculiarities, is extended. When they live in a country, the scenery and productions of which have been yet unrecorded by the pen of travellers, the missionary, not unmindful of the sanction given by our Saviour himself to an admiration of the appearances of nature, will describe them, and give a wider range to the science of natural history. If they are in the infancy of civilization, the mighty power of Christian truth will soften and reclaim them. And surely, it is not difficult to conceive, how these and similar achievements may draw forth an acknowledgement from many, who attach no value to the principles of the Gospel, and take no interest in its progress; how the philosopher will give his testimony to the merits of these men who have made greater progress in the work of humanizing savages, than could have been done by the ordinary methods in the course of centuries; and how the interesting spectacle of Esquimaux villages and Indian schools, may, without the aid of any Gospel principle whatever, bring

out strains of tenderest admiration from tuneful poets and weeping sentimentalists.

All this is very conceivable, and it is what Moravians, at this moment, actually experience. They have been much longer in the field of Missionary enterprise, than the most active and conspicuous of their fellow labourers belonging to other societies. They have had time for the production of more gratifying results; and the finished spectacle of their orderly and peaceful establishments, strikes at once upon the eye of many an admirer, who knows not how to relish or to appreciate the principle which gives life and perpetuity to the whole exhibition.

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These observations may serve to account for the mistaken principle upon which many admirers of the United Brethren give them the preference over all other missionaries. We are ready to concur in the preference, but not in the principle upon which they found it. They conceive that the Moravians make no attempt towards christianizing the Heathen, till they have gone through the long preparatory work of training them up in the arts of life, and in the various moralities and decencies of social intercourse. This is a very natural supposition; but nothing can be more untrue. It is doing just what every superficial man is apt to do in other departments of observationmistaking the effect for the cause. They go to a missionary establishment of United Brethren among the Heathen. They pay a visit to one of their villages, whether in Greenland, in S. Africa, or on the coast of Labrador: It is evident that the clean houses, cultivated gardens, and neat specimens of manufacture, will strike the eye much sooner than the unseen principle of this wonderful revolution in the habits of savages, will unfold itself to the discernment of the mind. And thus it is, that in their description of all this, they reverse the actual process. They tell us that these most rational of all missionaries, begin their attempts on the Heathen by the work of civilizing them; that they teach them to weave, to till, and to store up winter provisions, and to observe justice in their dealings with one another; and then, and not till then, do they, somehow or other, implant upon this preliminary dressing, the mysteries and peculiarities of the Christian Faith. Thus it is that these men of mere spectacle begin to philosophize on the subject, and set up the case of the Moravians as a reproach and an example to all other missionaries.

Now we venture to say that the Moravians at the outset of their conference with savages, keep at as great a distance from any instruction about the arts of weaving, and sewing, and tilling land, as the Apostle Paul did, when he went about among Greeks and Barbarians, charged with the message of salvation to all who would listen and believe. He preached

nothing but "Jesus Christ and him crucified;" and neither do they; and the faith which attends the word of their testimony, how foolish and fanatical soever it may appear in the eyes of worldly men, proves it to be the power of God and the wisdom. of God unto salvation. It is another evidence of the foolishness of God being wiser than men, and the weakness of God being stronger than men. However wonderful it may be, yet such is the fact, that a savage, when spoken to on the subject of his soul, of sin, and of the Saviour, has his attention more easily. compelled, and his resistance more effectually subdued, than when he is addressed upon any other subject whether of moral or economical instruction. And this is precisely the way in which Moravians have gone to work. They preached the peculiar tenets of the New Testament at the very outset. They gained converts through that Faith which cometh by hearing. These converts multiplied, and, in many instances, they have settled around them. It is true that they have had unexampled success in the business of civilizing their disciples; but it has arisen from their having stood longer on the vantage ground of the previous knowledge of Christianity with which they had furnished them, than any other missionaries; and the peace, and order, and industry, which are represented by rash and superficial observers, as the antecedents of the business, are, in fact, so many consequents flowing out of the mighty influence which attends the word of their testimony.

It is well that the Moravians have risen into popular admiration. This will surely give weight to their own testimony about their own matters. And when one of their members publishes an account of the manner in which the United Brethren preach the Gospel, and carry on their missions among the Heathen, information from such a quarter will surely be looked upon as of higher authority than the rapid description of a traveller. Now such a treatise has been published by Spangenberg; and it does not appear that any preparatory civilization is now attempted by their missionaries, who have been engaged in the business for many years, and have been eminent above all others, both for their experience and their success. We shall subjoin a few extracts as being completely decisive upon this point.

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'The method of the brethren to bring the heathen to Christ was in the beginning of their attempts, particularly in Greenland, nearly as follows:

They proved to the heathen that there is a God, and spoke to them of his attributes and perfections. In the next place, they spoke upon the creation ;-how God had made man after his own image, which, however, was soon lost by the fall. They then made the heathen acquainted with the laws which

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"God gave by his servant Moses. Hence they proved to them 'that they were sinners, and had deserved temporal and eternal 'punishment. And from this they drew the consequence, that there must be one who reconciled them to God, &c.

This method of teaching they continued for a long time, 'but without any success, for the heathen became tired of such 'discourses. If it be asked, how happened it that the brethren 'fell upon the said method, I must confess that I am apprehen'sive I was myself the cause of it. The first brethren who 'were destined for Greenland, went to Copenhagen by way of Halle, where I at that time lived. They tarried a few days with me, and conversed with me relative to their intentions. Upon this, I gave them a book to read, (for I knew no better at that time,) in which a certain divine treated, among the rest, ' of the method to convince and to bring the heathen to Christ. The good man had probably never seen an heathen in all his life, much less converted any; but yet he imagined he could 'give directions how to set about it. The brethren followed 'them, but without success.

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Meanwhile, it pleased the Lord our Saviour to give the con· gregation at Herrnhut more insight into the word of atone'ment through the offering of Jesus. Nor were the brethren wanting in declaring to those in Greenland, that they must preach Jesus Christ, if they meant to produce any blessing ' among the heathen. Upon this, the brethren began to trans'late some parts of the Gospel, especially what relates to the sufferings and death of Jesus, and read that to the heathen. This gave an opportunity to speak with them farther on that 'head. Then God opened their hearts that they attended to the word, and it proved to them also the power of God. They 'became desirous of hearing more about it, and the fire which had been kindled in them by the Holy Ghost, spread farther and farther. And thus many were converted to God; since which time the brethren were frequently asked by the heathen, why they did not preach sooner to them of Jesus; that they had been quite tired of hearing the discourses about God, and 'the two first parents, &c.

'Above thirty years ago, when I lived in North America, I 'sometimes got the brethren that were used occasionally in the 'service of our Lord to come together, in order that I might C converse with them about their labours. Johannes, an Indian ' of the Mahikander nation, who had formerly been a very ' wicked man, but was now thoroughly converted, and was our 'fellow labourer in the congregation gathered from among the heathens at that time dwelling in Chekomekah, happened to 'be just then on a visit with us, and also came to our little meet

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ing. He was a man that had excellent gifts, was a bold confessor of what he knew to be true, and understood the German 'language so as to express himself with sufficient clearness. As we were speaking with one another about the heathen, he said, among other things,- Brethren, I have been an heathen, and am grown old among them; I know, therefore, very well how it is with the heathen. A preacher came once to us, desiring "to instruct us, and began by proving to us that there was a "God. On which we said to him, "Well, and dost thou think we are ignorant of that? now go again whence thou camest.' Another preacher came another time and would instruct us,, 'saying, Ye must not steal, not drink too much, not lie, &c.We answered him, "Fool, that thou art! dost thou think that we do not know that? go and learn it first thyself, and teach the people thou belongest to not to do these things. For who are greater drunkards, or thieves, or liars, than thine own people?" Thus we sent him away also. Some time after this Christian Henry, one of the brethren, came to me into my hut, and sat down by me. The contents of his discourse to me were nearly these:-I come to thee in the name of the Lord of heaven and earth. He acquaints thee that he would gladly save thee, and rescue thee from the miserable state in which 'thou liest. To this end he became a man, hath given his life 'for mankind, and shed his blood for them, &c. Upon this he lay down upon a board in my hut and fell a-sleep, being fatigued with his journey. I thought within myself, what 'manner of man is this? there he lies and sleeps so sweetly; I might kill him immediately, and throw him out into the forest, 'who would care for it? but he is unconcerned. However, I could 'not get rid of his words: they continually recurred to me; and though I went to sleep, yet I dreamed of the blood which Christ had shed for us. I thought--this is very strange, and 'went to interpret to the other Indians the words which Chris'tian Henry spake farther to us. Thus, through the grace of "God, the awakening among us took place. I tell you, therefore, brethren, preach to the heathen Christ and his blood, and 'his death, if ye would wish to produce a blessing among them.' • Such was the exhortation of Johannes, the Mahikander, to us. 'But the brethren were already, before that time, convinced that 'Jesus Christ must be the marrow and substance of the preaching of the Gospel among the heathen, even as he is in general called, with justice, the marrow and substance of the whole Bible. The ground of this position is contained in sect. 9, and follow'ing, where we treated of the Apostles' labours among the Gentiles. Nor shall we do amiss if we follow the method of the Apostles, who, in their office, were under the peculiar leadings of the Holy Spirit, as far as it is applicable to us. Hence what

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