tly speaking, Seifert
was only ordained a Deacon, and never was consecrated Bishop.
The fourth and last service of the day was given up to song, a
discourse, and prayer.
On Sunday, March 11th, after morning prayers, Wesley went to Tybee for
an interview with General Oglethorpe. At a general gathering of the
Moravians later in the day, the second chapter of Acts was read, with
special reference to the last four verses, and the description of the
first congregation of Christ's followers, when "all that believed were
together, and had all things common," was taken as the pattern of their
"Gemeinschaft". This plan, which had already been tested during the
first year, proved so advantageous that it was later adopted by other
American Moravian settlements, being largely responsible for their rapid
growth during their early years, though in each case there came a time
when it hindered further progress, and was therefore abandoned. In
religious matters, the organization of the Savannah Congregation had
been modeled after that at Herrnhut, so far as possible, but in material
things the circumstances were very different. At Herrnhut the estates of
Count Zinzendorf, under the able supervision of the Countess, were made
to pay practically all the general Church expenses, and many of the
members were in the service of the Saxon nobleman, Nicholas Lewis, Count
Zinzendorf, in various humble positions, even while in the Church he
divested himself of his rank and fraternized with them as social
equals. But the men who emigrated to Georgia had undertaken to support
themselves and carry on a mission work, and Spangenberg, with his keen
insight, grasped the idea that a common purpose warranted a community
of service, the labor of all for the benefit of all, with every duty,
no matter how menial, done as unto the Lord, whom they all, in varying
degrees, acknowledged as their Master. Later, in Bethlehem, Pa., with
a larger number of colonists, and wider interests to be subserved,
Spangenberg again introduced the plan, and elaborated it into a more
or less intricate system, which is described in a clear and interesting
manner in "A History of Bethlehem", by Rt. Rev. J. Mortimer Levering,
which has recently been published.
Not only on account of its successor the "Oeconomie", at Bethlehem,
and others copied therefrom, but in view of the various modern attempts
which have been and are still being made to demonstrate that the action
of the
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