a-day, from his seventh to his seventieth year, for his daily bread, yet acted as a class-leader for thirty-four years, and accomplished much for Christ and the well-being of his fellows! Believing brother or sister in the ranks of toil! "go and do likewise." Measuring duty by such a case, let my readers who have more time and means at their disposal, de what they can. How many talents have you to answer for when the Lord comes to reckon with you? "Talk not of talents; what hast thou to do? Thy duty be thy portion-five or two. Till thou shalt give me grace to use them well; CHAPTER VI. LEONHARD DOBER, THE POTTER. "Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee, receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears. And go, get thee to them of the captivity, and speak unto them, and tell them."-EZEK. iii. 10, 11. "He is a freeman whom the Truth makes free, And all are slaves beside." THE MORAVIAN CHURCH, or Church of the United Brethren, has ever been, with very rare exceptions, a community of useful Christians in humble life. More of the "illustrious obscure" have arisen out of its ranks than from any other Church in Christendom. Though-oppressed by civil power, few in numbers, and poor in worldly substance, more. missionaries of the cross have gone forth from them than from any other branch of Christ's Catholic Church. Their origin is in the evangelization of Bohemia; their history is the bloody pages of persecution, both previous to, and after the great reformation of the sixteenth century. Huss and Jerome of Prague were their Protestant martyrs as early as the times of Wycliffe. But the modern history of the United Brethren dates from 1722, when a few poor refugees, descendants of the ancient Brethren, arrived on the estate of Count Zinzendorf, in Lusatia, Germany. This generous nobleman, "whose praise is in all the churches," gave them liberty to settle and build a village. It was a dreary place, covered with timber, and far from another inhabited locality; but the men of God persevered, and, before the winter, had their abode ready for habitation. They dedicated the place solemnly to God, and called it Herrnhuth,-which means, the Lord's providential care. The community was formed entirely of refugees from Moravia, who escaped from the most bitter and heart-rending persecutions to which they were there exposed by the Jesuits. Ten years after their settlement at Herrnhuth, and when they numbered only six hundred individuals, and all poor, they began missions to the heathen, which, in the course of ten years more, had formed stations in forty places, and in a circle comprehending the West Indies, Greenland, South and North America, Lapland, Algiers, Guinea, Cape of Good Hope, Ceylon, and Egypt. Almost every man in the whole community considered himself ready to go on a mission if required. They did not fear obstacles; travelled on foot, or worked for their passage in vessels; learned languages at the loom, or other labour; lived for the Lord, and rejoiced to be spent in his service, and in winning souls to Christ. They were full of faith and of the Holy Ghost. Their first mission was to the Island of St. Thomas, in the West Indies, and began in 1732. It originated in an inter view with Anthony, a negro from that island, at Copenhagen, who professed anxiety for his soul and for the salvation of his benighted countrymen. Count Zinzendorf was moved, and laid the matter before the Brethren. The appeal was successful, and two young men volunteered to go. LEONHARD DOBER was one of these. He was born at Munchroth, in Swabia, May 7th, 1706, and educated by a pious father. He came to Herrnhuth in his sixteenth year, where he was converted. He was a potter to trade. Strong faith, ardent piety, uncommon self-denial, and indomitable perseverance, characterized him. In assigning reasons for his offer he thus addressed the Brethren: "I formed the resolution that, if another brother should be found willing to accompany me, I would offer myself to be a slave, in order to tell these poor beings what I knew and had experienced of the love and grace of our blessed Saviour; for I am fully persuaded that the word of the cross, though preached by the weakest of his followers, must have a divine influence upon the souls that hear it. As to myself, my earnest desire was, that should I even be of benefit to none, I might thereby show my love and obedience to our Lord and Saviour. I leave my proposition to the decision of the congregation, and have no other reason to urge it but this,—that I think there are yet souls on that island who cannot believe because they have never heard." What devotion and philanthropy are here! How strong and enthusiastic must have been Dober's love to his Saviour, to evoke such a resolution! Nor was it ephemeral. He actually sailed, in company with David Nitshman, for St. Thomas, on October 8th, 1732, where they arrived in December. While pondering their course of procedure, mode of subsistence, and opportunities of preaching, they were unexpectedly invited to reside in the house of a planter, to whom they had carried a letter containing a recommendation quite unknown to them. Next Sabbath they met the negroes, read a letter from Anthony at Copenhagen, and discoursed on "This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent”—a passage which occurred in the epistle. They explained their object in coming, and invited the swarthy sons of Africa to accept the Saviour. The negroes clapped their hands with joy, and welcomed the glad tidings. Thus encouraged, they laboured from week to week, not without much opposition from the white inhabitants, and from many of the negroes, and many trials from the climate. David Nitshman left in 1733, and Dober remained alone. Now a new trial met him, for his trade as a potter was of little service, and Nitshman, whose work as a carpenter had supplied both their wants, was gone; but God provided for him. The governor of the island offered him the situation of tutor in his family, which for a year he held. After an illness in 1734, he felt that his time was too much occupied by his tutorship, and obtained a dismissal. Working for his bread and water (he seldom had anything more), he laboured "in season and out of season" to win souls to Christ. Nor was his effort fruitless. "He that goeth forth, and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." When Count Zinzendorf visited the island in 1739, he found eight hundred regularly attending the ministry of the gospel. In 1749 they amounted to several hundreds more. This was the beginning of a work which in the course of a century, numbered upwards of forty thou sand converts to Jesus Christ! Leonhard Dober returned to Europe in 1734. His stay on the island was short; yet he had baptized four negroes, and left many under instruction. He was the father of modern missions, with the exception of the apostolic Eliot. who laboured among the Indians of America, and translated the Scriptures into the Choctaw language, which no living man can read. Dober was recalled to take office in the church at Herrnhuth, being made general elder in 1734. In 1747 he was consecrated bishop, and in 1764, a member of the Unity's Elders' Conference-in all of which he did much to serve the church. In 1766 his pilgrimage was ended, and he entered into his rest. He left the church under the Lord's care, saying, "He who gave himself for the church will care for it. *** My time here is expired. I have finished my day's work, and now I am ready to go to my Lord, when he shall call" Leonhard Dober was an humble potter, yet he accomplished a great work, and has his memory embalmed in the history of missions. He was a hero in comparison with whom no warrior may once be named. What are the patriotism of Regulus and Manlius, the friendship of Pythias, the fatherly love of Zaleucus-who, for temporal benefits to others, dared to surrender themselves to death or suffering-compared with the deliberate dedication of Leonhard Dober to the work of saving the souls of slaves? Such resolution, sacrifice, and devotion, are worthy of imitation still, since so many souls are perishing. The humblest can aid the work, for "all things are possible to him that believeth." "Lord of the harvest, labourers send Who willing are their lives to spend. In scorching heat, and chilling cold, |