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M^^ilS-^^ * ^Itl M' KENT'S FIRST CENTENNUL CELEBRATION OF THE 100th BIRTHDAY OF THE MORA- VIAN MISSION. Sunday and Monday, the 8th and 9th of this month, were red letter days at the Moraviantown Mission in this county, the happy occasion being the 100th year of the establishment of tl'.ia well-known Mission church (8th May 1792.) The Rev. A. Hartman is the pastor, and the 15th in order since its institution. The Mission is located in the beautiful valley of the Thames, some 20 miles from Chatham in the northern part of Orford, between Thamesville and Bothwell, THREE SERVICES WERE HELD in the trim little chapel of the Indian Re- serve, on the Sunday, at which the very worthy pastor and the Right Rev'd. Bishop Backman, of Bethlehem, Penn., the head- quarters of the Moravian church in America, J officiated. The church was decked with everG;reen8 and flowers, and conspicuous on • the pulpit was a fine steel engraving of large size, of the great painting ot the devoted German Missionary Zeisberger preaching to the Indians in the forest by moonlight. The original is a work of international reputation and has crossed the Atlantic several times for exhibition in Europe, as well as America. The Bishop's visit was with special refer- ence to the centennial jubilee, and greatly did his presence add to the interest of the occasion. At the morning service the Bishop read a beautiful letter of greeting, of which he was the bearer,from the Mother Church in Herrn- hut, Saxony, which we give below. It was truly a^iostolic, and its warm expressions of sympathy, fraternal love and goodly counsel, went to the hearts of all present. It was well rendered into the Delaware by Chief Moses Stonefish, who is an adept at interpretation. The Bishop followed the reading of this interesting salutation of the mother church to her Canadian daughter, with A SERMON OF GREAT INTERHST and spiritual fervor ; and all hearts were comforted and gladdened by his simple but impressive presentation of the truths of that Gospel so dear to the Moravian church, and in carrying which to the remotest and dark- eat quarters of the world it finds its highest service. At 2 o'clock there was a love-feast which lasted for a couple of hours, during which the Bishop gave a sketch, summarized from the journals of the Missionary Zeisberger, of the exodus of the Delawares from Ohio to Kent, which, with its sufferings and afSio- tions, extended over 10 years. We shall give this in due course as an interesting {)iece of history, detailing the perils and osses of a Christian people in their search for greater "freedom to worship Ood. " This was THE FIRST CHURCH IN KENT as the Moravian is the first Protestant church in the woH>f the river, but after the battle of the Thames on the 4th cf October, 1813, between Generals Proctor and Harrison, which ended in the defeat of the British and the dea th of Tecumseh, it was burnt down by the Americans, as were Washington, York, Buifalo, and other places during that war, to the discredit of both nations. The present Mission is called New Fairfield and is on the south side of the Thames. The Indians enjoy a happy time. Their lands were granted to them by the Canaiiian Government, and they are wholly provided for in their schooling, farming, &C., receiv- ing an annuity from the Dominion Govern- ment, ind not having even to contribute anything toward the support of their pastor, who is paid by the authorities of the Mo- ravian Church at Bethlehem, Pc-.ui. Under the Dominion Franchise Act. some 60 of them were made voterr last year by his Honor Judge Hughes. They preser^'e their tribal traditions and Moses Stonefish is Iheir present chief. At the school under Mr. Edwards, there vire some fifty boys and girls in i-.ttendance, and a commodious school house and play ground they have. The one next the Mission house is taught by Miss MHler, an English lady, who, at Mr. Hartman's re- quest, came from England especially to teach it. This is maintained by the Mo- ravian Mission, while the other is a public one. Here we see a linguistic curiosiW — the Indian children learning to read English while uiable to talk it oi- understand it, and the teacher not understanding the native tongue. Two or three of the children read to me (juite well from the .Ird Reader. The difficulties of this process, as Mr. Jackson, the U. S. Commissioner of Alaska, and Superintendent of Education, says : "Will be better appreciated if ycu conceive of an attempt being made to instruct the children of New York in arithmetic, geo- graphy, and other common school branches through tl. medium of Chhiese teachers and text books." And, now, for the Moravian Mission or rather the Moravian Church ; for the Indians here are not called Moravians from any tribe ot this name, for there is none such ; but, because of the old historic church of Moravia and Bohemia, founded in 1457, nearly J of a century before Luther's Re- formation. A marvellous church like that of the Vaudois in Piedmont, the Hugenots and llamiserds in Southern France ; and, indeed, from the Eastern branch of the Waldensian church, the Moravian derived their Episcopate in 1735. But it is not of this martyr church and its persecutions, it mictions and almost ex- tinction that I would speak, although in this it surpasses the specimens given by St. Paul himself in ^he 11th Chap of 2nd Cor., but it is as a Martyr Church in the sense of being a \^'iTNESS Church in the cause of Christ, since its revival in 1735. Do you ask " WHO ARE THE MORAVIANS ?" Popularly so called from one of the original homes of the Church, the correct name of the Cliurch is "Unitas Fratrum" — Unity of the Brethren — or " United Brethren," indi- cating that it embraces christians of various shades of opinion on minor points — just the ui'i.ty that the present movement in thePr - testant Churches of England and the United States and Canada, are to-day seeking to at- tain, encouraged by the resolutions cf ths Episcopal Church of the U.S. at its last Con ference in Chicago in October last, and which have been so cordially responded to by the various Protestant denominations in America, and which is rapidly becoming the question of the day. They are members of the Protestant Epis- copal Church, and are renowned not only for their missionary work throughout the world, but for their connection with the gifted and distinguished young Count Zinzindorf, of Saxony (afterwards Bishop) and the influ- ence exercised by them upon our John Wes- ley ; and this latter, to my mind, is a higher tribute to them than even the most volum- inous reports of their m'^sionary work in 8 distant lands, for if they conUl so reach tlie heart and head of Wesley, we maj' well be- lieve the good report of their \vork in the perilous mission fields of the Eskimo arid the deadly E(iaatorial ranges of Surinam, Aus- tralia, ete. Wealey in 1736, crossed the Atlantic with some of tnese Moravians, and in 1738 wrote to his brother Samuel of them in these words : — " God has given me at length the desire of " my heart — [ am with a church whose ccn- " versatiou is in heaven, in whom is the •' mind of Christ, and who so walked as he " walked — and they have all one Lord and "one faith, so they are all partakers of one " spirit, the spirit of meekness and love, " which uniformly and coutinuilly animates " all their conversation." And after his visit to "Hernnhut," the home of the Moravians on the estate of Count Zinzindorf in Saxony he says later : "(Tlory be to God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for giving me to be an eye- ivitness of your faith and love and holy conversation in Christ Jesus." It is said that there is no doubt that this visit to Hernnhut, suggested to Mr. Wesley the love feasts, division of members into classes and class meetings which he not long after adopted. Wesley used to say that he dated his conversion from his acquaintance with the Moravians. In addition to their foreign missi' n work is that of the Diaspora, of which the mem- bers are very proud. This is a mission a'nong the State Churches of Continental Europe an I perhaps their branches in Con- tinental America, but of this I am not sure. It takes its name from a Greek term signify- in? the Dispersion, in the first verse of Peter's First Epistle. Thi object is not to withdraw members from existing churches, but to foster spiritual life by the formation of societies for prayer, scripture reading and for edification in general. Is not this like the guild in our midst the result of Mr. Haslem's catholic evangelistic teaching ? The Moravians in 1749 were recognized by the F jh Parliament as desirable sub- jects anc .iicouraged to settle in the Colon- ies and allowed to make a solemn affirmation in lieu of an oath and exempted from mili- tary service. This Act was caused by an Act passci in the then British Province of New York, enjoining Moravians and vag- rant teachers among the Indians to desist from further teaching or preaching and to depart from the Province. The protection extended to them by the Imperial Parlia- ment was continued to them by our Cana- dian Statute. The Holy Scnptufes are their only rule of faith and practice, the doctrine of the atonement receiving peculiar emphasis as the certre and sum of all saving truth ; and the humanity and Godhead of Christ being kept prominent in their teaching and liturgy. In the morning lervice a Litany is used; in other services extempore prayer. Litur- gies are used for baptismal, burial and marriage service-. Would this not form a broad enough basis for unity among all protestants ? The Lord's supper is observed with a simple ritual and is preceded by a love feast. Tlie Government of the Church is by Synods for the Legislative and by Boards of Education for the Executive work. The orders are Episcopal; three grades— Bishops, Presbyters and Deacons. There are three Provinces, i. e., Germany, (ireat Britain and North America, of which latter the mission with us is a part, and I think the oidv one. Who would have believed that for nearly 100 years there has nestled in the centre of our County a branch of this grand old Moravian (Church ? the oldest Protestant Episcopal Church in existence. And it will add to its interest to know that the vener- able father of Dr. Holmes, who this month reached his 90th year, was christened by Mr. Senseman and that its services in early years were attended by the settlers for miles around. Mr. Hartman, the present pastor of the mission, is a German, as most, if not all, of their missionaries are, and is a gifted and reuiarkable man. His father and mother, before him, among the Bush Negroes of Surinam, were missionaries, where they both spent their lives, the mother surviving her husband for several years and continuing her mission labors under the greatest privations and triads in that land of death ; and he has a brother a missionary in Kalfraria, and a sister who is married to a missionary at Kyelang in Thibet, Mr. H's own earlier years were spent as a missionary in Australia and in 1884 he was called by theauthoritiesat Bethlehem togo to Alaska to prepare the way for preaching the gospel to the Eskimo. This was an under- taking of great labor and exposure, ♦.ravel- ling 600 miles up the Kus.vokmin river in the three-holed bidarka or skin-boat of the natives, built much after the style of the* Hanlan racing boat. It is this devoted missionary spirit and their unconquerable faith in God's support that distintruish the Moravians from all other churches. Heat, cold, poverty, iMsease, vice, cruelty and persecutions from all quarters. ha\ e no terrors for either men o • women, but they seem to feel the full force of the em- phatic words of our Lord to his disciples, "have faith in god." And so in the West Indies, Surinam, the Musquito Coast, South Africa, the North American Indians, Greenland, Labrador, the Aborigineea of Australia and Central Asia, 9 we find their mifisions establinhed with a courage and self-sacrifice that have, no doubt, in (Jod's providenre, stimulated the great missionary eflbrt among the Protestant bodies that is no'V animating the wliolc world. Oh that there were more missionary spirit in our churches in Canada and in our own prosperous and Iiappy congregation. May it I woi mo 10 If i n i k abliHhed with a that have, no stimulated the ig the Protestant ating the whole iiissionary spirit aid in our own jregation. May it please the Lord to increase our faith and work in this direction and lead us to give more willingly to the cause of the heathen. Can we whose souls are lighted With wisdom from on hiRh, Can we to men bcnignted The lamp of life deny J Salvation! C), Salvation! The joyful pound proclaim. Till each remotest nation . Has learned Messiah's name. • 10 •H m to IP OQ •r! v^ 6 o c 05 g .^ •f-l 1 4*5 o ( s i •H S3 O EH //^.hevA^^ ^H ■>>Vj?''*W" 'itA^ ^ jtce*. Jaa Cm e •H P. o Cm (X> o rH o -p 3 U T{ i*-l CO o ^ CO o -p g B o o m T! U I s 3 ' CQ andusky to meet Girty. These were sorrow- Humours of the massacre had reached them id not believe it possible. Soon after the Sandusky , while waiting for boats to take ;h6 news was confirmed by Joshua and Jacob, m. After four weeks delay at Lower Sand- led to Detroit, where convenient quarters '? at first in the barracks and afterwards at t"- Ide the town. The missionaries determined 3 si on among the Ohippewas on thie Huron river Jnadenhuetteh on the Clinton (formerly Huronj) ito Lake St Clair. Hither a small band of lied th^. Senseman and Michael Jupg re- liem* Edwards visited Pittsburg* years they left New Gnadenhuetten and sett* oga river near ¥(here Cleneland now stands, e Pilger-ruh (or "Pilgrims' rest')*? in ti\n.i- '''I U Zeisberger preached for the last time din I ifter service the bell was taken down and re- I I4th he left for Sandusky, The Saginaw a I ired i.and took on board Senseman and Jung, the I and ihe goods. Thre rest proceeded in two I nd with ihe cattle, the other led by Zeisber- I in canoes. I his party reached the motth of the Detroit I Saginaw awited them and landed on the Canada I of land v^ich had been offered to the Mis- I /■ ^ I ee and Elliott. They called this place ch tower). Several houses already built the missionaries and the people built bark living nearly a year at this place an early | I was held on the I2th of April 1892 in the »le corrpany coimiitted themselves to their Sav- I •d, and started for the Thaffi':i8 River (then oal- ihe) . Some went in canoes, and old Miohael iot bear the cold and wind«aco(»npanied the with the cattle by land* The canoes were 'If-I: .. ooripellod by atcm^y weather to remain over ni(;ht» April I3th They stopped at Det ters with Comnander MoKee«they voy 8(^9, but contrary winds detail They then sailed very rapidly, bi Indians in the small oanoes to '. reached Lake St Clair a severe ^ little mast, and it went over sa; hours delay, they sailed very faj Bouth of the Thames* Ihey cou) shallow water; then they ran into damage , except that the waves ca were wet thro\;igh« They soon st the night out in the storm and o waves all the time going over us for the wind blew from the N. W. Monday some Chippeways c-une to tl sisters ashore, and unloaded the after which they entered the cha up the river* Tuesday they cam berger and party remained, while with the boat as far as possible April 21 St. Michael Jung and th ed» ''-'-.^ '■''■' .; '■ .: ^ Onl*¥iesfciay Sunday Zeisberger pre vice, others scoffed* 23rd. 1 The com #iich had been stored, w 24th. Still more came and on th and towards evenii^ arrived at S boat could gqjiio further; so the r rmj weather to land on Pi^tin^ Island and .^0 .^'i o the md of the journey and then send * )8 for Sensman and Edwards • The inhabltanti y and took no pay for breiUl or provender .•'■.'f'' t * ' ',-,^ tho^v Vi-^nt, rw 794, McNeff the Government Surveyor, came to ^ I er instructions from Govener Simcoe (who,'*^^ ^^^^^\ ottlement, and expressed his best wishes for ► Gospel) laid off an entire township - 12 r^^ ----^ ... > ,x broBd« which was donated to the mission* isigned in trust to the "Brethren's Society" id) for propagating the gospel among th« us- vements advanced r£Q)idly. Upwards cf for|^' ,,formiiTg one str&et, which began at the road in S. W. to N . E. . On the North side Wf id stood the church; beside it Zeisberger*s Italy opposite a dwelling occupied by ficiwar* irmon. Next to theirs was Senaman*s heme >use. North of the lower end of the Town •ound. The church a log structure, boarded >W8 and a bell, was dedicated on October 19th. 9 most connodious chapels belonging to the I 18 1* The vi^ite settlerf around were not al- -lowed to purchase lots, as it v for the use of the Indians, In I798, American Coiigress hi land in Tuscarawas va].ley in r( ed in I78I and I792,preparatior Heskervelder and Mortimer had c On Mai^ 3Ist, tJie first part ■ ' *■ . j; ' .. . ^j^ "t^,, ^'-.vi i^-Y.:-- Edwards and six native brethren 7 miles from Gnadenhuetten> On August I5th of the same and 33 manbers, men, women and ch formed the first colony that mo canoes down the Thames, 8t Clair to the Cuirahoga river over the river. Meanwhile the work at lob ,Senseman,a faithful co-lab the work, but on the 4th of June the midst of his activity to hi John Sehmall came to the assist oured as school master till 181 uVi between 1800 and 1807 an Mission among the Chippawas by he came to New Fairfield, and li returned to Bethl ehem. ^ ^i' s^'^ The war of I8I2 be^-ween V — I* ^severe blow to the work of our ; of Amerioalplikl especial y ^t Pe I W. bank of the Sandusky in Ohj with all its in^jrovemenU was after the batUe of the Thame i ase lots, as it was a reservation exclusively the Indians. ,. ,. *%,.,.,. ; , ,. ^ r • , ?t \ ican CoiTgresa haviiig offered 10,000 acres of was val.ley in reparation for damages sustain- I792,preparations were made to remove thither d Mortimer had come from Bethlehem on Maj*- 22id *• .— - - .. ^- - ^ . ip . , . ^ t, tJie first party, consisting of Heokervelder native brethren left Fairfield for Goshen, adenhuetten. . ,,v ,. . si.: [5th of the same year Zeisberger and Mortimer nen, women and children also left* These b colony that moved back. They went by ^ Thames, 8t Clair,by Detroit, across Lake Brie river over the portage to the Tuscarawas 4, Hile the work at Fairfield prospered . Gott- faithful co-laborer of Zeisbex'ger, carried on the 4th of June 1800, he was called away in s acUvity to his eternal rest and reward. ,, tne to the assistance of Michael Jung, and leJj- master till I8I3. #>* :^*ju tr;^ ^'.^^ wxi» mm ;00 and 1807 an attenpj.was made to found a . he Chippawas by Christian Denke,but in 1807 Fairfield, and labored here tlll'l8I8,^en he >hlehem« '^'i 7*$'r#F» , i» IW ihA^Wim^fism^ - F I8I2 beSween 5. S. and Great Britain was a the work of our church among the aborigines especial y'^t'Pairfield. The ataUon on the Sandusky in Ohio was broken up and Fairfield mprovements was destroyed. This occurred ae of the Thame8,0ot 5th I8I3,whioh was fought near the town; and the vlctoriou Harrison (Grandfather of the pr plundered and burned the vill^i house and chapel. Ihe missioi ael Jung, the latter old and brol han. Denke remained to care f( They settled on the shore of Lai bark huts* In spring they abai started a new town ten miles fn the close of the war, they retun arid decided to form a new 8tati< 1815, on the opposite bank of th( This place was called New Fairfi ;-;., ,,, Meanwhile the great missior Goshen, November 17 th 1808, after erfui zeal and patience for the Schmall' returned from Bethl( dies in 18 19. In 1824 Goshei remnant of brethren and sisters joined the mission here. In August 1837, nearly 2/3 sion left New Faitfield under m and emigrated to the far west, others at WestfAeld on the Kans junction with the Missouri rive brethren, re- joJn*4 this colony. a new station on the Missouri F venworth City. But after six present mission station, New Wes venworth, on the little Osage R: less there, arti it is probablt i the victorious Americans under General .c ither of the present Rresldent of the U.S,} ned the villege ,inoludin£j the mission The missionaries, John Schmall and Mich- er old and broken down, proceeded to Bethle- '■■-•■ - » ained to care for the impoverished Indians the shore of Lak, Ontario in a village of pring they abandoned this 8ettl«ient,and vn ten miles from Burlir^ton Heights . Aftr war, they returned to the site of Fairfield 3rm a new 8tation,which was established in site bank of the Thames from the olu town, ailed New Fairfield (now called Moraviantowr^ 16 great missionary hero Zeisberger^died at 17 th 1808, after laboring 63 years with wond- atienoe for the dalvation of the Indians, imed from Bethlehem to Fairfield in I8I8,and In 1824 Goshen was abandoned, and the small ren and sisters there returned to Canada and on here* 837, nearly 2/3 of the members of this mist itfield under missionaries Miksoh and Vogler the far west* Some settled in Wisconsin; eld on the Kansas River, eight miles from its e Missouri river. In 1839 the Wisconsin M this colony* In 1853 they all moved to , the Missouri R*ver near to \^at is now Lea- But after six years, they moved f^ain to the 8tation,New Westfield 50 miles S. W. of Lea- little Osage Rivor (they have been loi^g resV t is probablt that they will shortly proceed to Indian Territory and set mission has furnished Masks wit missionaries John H. Kllbuok. The semi-centennial of the celebrated in 1842. During 50 children had been baptize* here. new church was dedicated. Besides those missionaries count the following have laboure Mission, Luokenback, Haman, B -ennas, Warman, Reinke, Hartman, life for missions among the Esqv rigtsen. ( Hartman and Ingabrigt work. m erritory and settle there). New Westfield ished Masks with one of our most efficient n H. Kllbuok. ntennial of the New Fairfield Mission was 42. During 50 yetirs, lOI adults, and 432 n baptizes here. In 1848 (August I3th( a edioatod, se missionaries mentioned in the above ac- - - - - - < ini-i have laboured in connection with this enback, Haman, Baohman, Kampman, Vogler.Reg- Reinke, Hartman, Torgersen, who gave his s among the Bsquimauj of Alaska and Ingeb^ an and Ingebrigtsen are still engaged in the