Page:De Schweinitz - The Moravian episcopate (1865).pdf/5



We have been repeatedly asked to give a critical account of the Episcopate of the Moravians. It forms an interesting subject of inquiry. In the popular histories of the Church its origin is set forth, but an examination into its validity would have been foreign to their purpose. An history whose province it would be to discuss this point, and, in general, to bring forward the authorities which exist for the current narratives of the founding of the Church and the institution of her ministry, has not yet appeared in the English language. Indeed it is well that a work of this kind remains to be written, for in recent times only have the most important records come to light, and but a few years ago, through the researches and publications of Bohemian antiquaries, have they been made more generally available than they were when first discovered.

We need scarcely say that this article is not meant to subserve the interests of exclusivism, nor based upon the idea that episcopal ordination only is valid. The founders of the Moravian Church in the fifteenth century secured what is commonly called “the apostolical succession” because they believed that an episcopal form of government would be the best for them, would give them stability and unity, and, above all, would help them maintain their protesting position over against the Romish Hierarchy and the National Church of Bohemia; but they did not hesitate to fraternize with the Reformers of Germany. On the contrary, it was one of their highest aims to bring about a union among all evangelical Christians. As they were the leaders of the Protestant world in translating the Bible into a vernacular and publishing hymns and introducing a holy discipline, so also in the furtherance of this great duty. And such has remained the principle of the Church to the present day. Her episcopacy is essential to her existence; it