Moravian

& s. [See def.] A. As adjective: 1. Pertaining to Moravia. 2. Pertaining to the church of the Moravians. "Now in the tents of grace of the meek Moravian Mi ions." Long fellow: Evangeline, ii. 4. B. As substantive: 1. Ord. Lang .: A native of Moravia. 2. Ecclesiol. & Church Hist . ( pl .): A religious sect, called at first Bohemians, and constituting a branch of the Hu ites, who, when the Calix tines came to terms with the Council of Basle, in 1433, refused to subscribe the articles of agreement, and constituted themselves into a distinct body. Their tenets were evangelical. In 1522 they made advances to Luther, who partially recognized them, but they ultimately adopted Calvin is tic views as to the Lord's Supper. Their discipline was very strict. They supervised the conduct of their members in their private or secular affairs, as well as in their ecclesiastical relations. They refused to bear arms. Driven by persecution, the scattered abroad, and for a time settlement was at Fulnekin Moravia, whence they were called Moravian Brethren, or Moravians. On May 26, 1700, was born Nicol a us Ludwig, Count von Zinzendorf, son of the chamberlain and state minister of August us II., Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. From early life the son was devoted to religion, his piety being of the mystic type. Having met with a Moravian refugee, who told him of the persecutions to which his sect was exposed in Austria, Count Zinzendorf offered him and his co-religionists an asylum on his estate. The man, whose name was David, accepted the offer, and in 1722 settled with three other men, at a place called by Zinzendorf Herrnhut=(the Lord's guard). Under his fostering care, the sect greatly increased in strength, and were often called, from their place of settlement, Herrnhutters. Till his death, on May 9, 1760, he traveled, largely spreading their views. Small Moravian churches arose on the Continent, in England, in Ireland, and in America. Though they have never been numerous, yet in the latter part of the eighteenth century and the beginning of this, they acquired great reputation from having a larger proportion of their membership engaged in foreign mi ions than any Christian denomination since apostolic times. Cowper, Dr. Chalmers, and others wrote of them with high admiration. Called also the United Brethren. Mo-rā-vi-an-Işm, 8. [English Moravian; -ism.] The tenets or practice of the Moravian Brethren.