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MORAVIANS 819 , through the instrumentality of a Moravian exile named Christian David. In consequence of this awakening, the desire to live in a Prot- estant country was felt more and more. Fifty years after the death of Comenius, in the night of May 27, 1722, two families of Moravians escaped from their native country, and reached Berthelsdorf, an estate in Saxony belonging to Count Zinzendorf, who had offered them a ref- ige. Other Moravians soon joined them, and in ive years a colony of 300 persons lived on Count 'inzendorf's estate. They built a town, and lied it Herrnhut; introduced the discipline their fathers, preserved by the publications )f Comenius ; and in 1735 obtained the epis- >pal succession of the Unitas Fratrum. Zin- mdorf soon became a bishop of the Brethren, id devoted himself entirely to their service. Churches were established in various parts of "le continent, in North America, and in Great Britain. In 1749 the British parliament ac- lowledged the Moravian Brethren as an epis- >pal church, and passed an act encouraging lem to settle in the North American colonies, ley devoted themselves to missions among e Indians with, great success, one of their lost celebrated stations being at Gnadenhiitten (" tents of grace ") in what is now Tuscarawas Ohio, where 100 Moravian Indians were onerously massacred by whites, March 8, L782, on a groundless suspicion of having been mcerned in certain outrages in Pennsylvania, le numbers of the Brethren, both in America id in Europe, never increased as did those of ly other denominations of Christians. This ras owing to two causes. First, almost the entire strength of the renewed Moravian church ras concentrated on the foreign mission field, mdly, the fundamental principle underlying the efforts of Zinzendorf and his coadjutors, on 'ialf of the church at home, was Spener's idea )f ecclesiolm in ecclesia, little churches within church, households of faith whose mem- jrs should be separated as much as possible the world, and which should constitute ^treats where men could hold undisturbed imunion with God. This idea, carried out msistently, resulted in the establishment of foravian settlements, that is, towns founded )y the church, where no one who was not member was permitted to own real estate, Ithough strangers, complying with the rules of 'ie community, were allowed to lease houses, system st> exclusive necessarily kept the mrch numerically small, although it undoubt- " r was of great advantage in other respects, served to foster the missionary zeal which las distinguished the Moravians. During the st 40 years great changes have taken place the United States in respect to this system, id also in regard to the constitution of the mrch generally. The last general synod, held Herrnhut in 1857, remodelled the constitu- ra, and opened the way for a more general levelopment of the resources of the church in ~ie home field. The Unitas Fratrum now con- sists of three provinces, the American, conti- nental, and British, which govern themselves in all provincial matters, but are confederated as one church in respect to general principles of doctrine and practice, and the prosecution of the foreign mission work. Each province has a provincial synod, whose executive is an elective board of bishops and elders, styled the "Provincial Elders' Conference," to which the entire management of the church in provincial things, including the appointment of pastors, is intrusted in the interval between two synods. For the general government of the three prov- inces and the foreign missions, there is a gen- eral synod, which meets every 10 or 12 years, and to which each province sends the same number of delegates. The executive board of the general synod is called the "Unity's El- ders' Conference," and is the highest judica- tory for the whole Unitas Fratrum, when that synod is not in session. In the American province there are two districts, the northern and the southern, each having a synod and a provincial elders' conference. The seat of government for the northern district is at Bethlehem, Northampton co., Pa. ; and for the southern, at Salem, Forsyth co., N. C. The Moravian churches in these two districts, without exception, are now like those of other Christian denominations, the exclusive system having been given up entirely. The establish- ments formerly found in the settlements, and known as brethren's, sisters', and widows' houses, have likewise passed away. In the British province, the seat of government is at Ockbrook, Derbyshire. Only four of the churches of this province are settlements, and even these are gradually undergoing modifi- cation. In the continental province, the old system was strictly kept up till quite recently, when several important changes were intro- duced, which before long will practically do away with the exclusive polity altogether. The governing board, which is at the same time the general board for the whole " Unity " (the name by which the Unitas Fratrum is generally known in Moravian phraseology), has its seat at Berthelsdorf, a village on the estate of the same name, in Saxony, about a mile from Herrnhut ; it assembles for business in the castle formerly inhabited by Count Zinzendorf, who devoted his entire property to the good of the church. On the continent of Europe a Moravian settlement still has brethren's, sisters', and widows' houses. In a brethren's house unmarried men live together, and engage in various trades and professions, the profits of which go to the chilrch; in a sisters' house unmarried women reside, and have an opportunity of earning a livelihood by different kinds of work ; a widows' house is a home for indigent or other widows, where they live comfortably at a very cheap rate. Each house has a spiritual and temporal su- perintendent, a common refectory and dor- mitory (except in the case of widows' houses),