ewis count of Zinzendorf; and to his activity and zeal the progress of it is to be ascribed. According to the account which he gives of himself, he had formed a design, when only ten years old, of collecting a small society of believers, who should altogether employ themselves in exercises of devotion under his direction. Accordingly, when he became of age, in the year 1721, he settled at Bertholdorf, a village in Upper Lusatia, where he was soon joined by a number of professedly from Moravia; so that in a few years Bertholdorf became a considerable village, having an orphan house, and other public buildings. In 1728, thirty-four new houses were erected; and in 1732 the number of inhabitants amounted to five hundred. From the name of a hill in the neighbourhood of this village, called the Hub-berg, these colonists gave their dwelling place the appellation of Hub des Herrn, and afterwards Hernhuth, signifying the guard or protection of the Lord; whence arose the denomination of their sect. As their number increased, Zinzendorf established a peculiar discipline; dividing his adherents into different classes of married men, married women, widowers, widows, maids, bachelors, and children; each class being under the inspection of a director, chosen by its members; and the classes are also subject to the superintendence of an elder, co-elder, and vice-elder. Particular attention was paid by these several classes to the instruction of youth; and as a great part of their worship consisted in singing, they pretended that children were instructed in their religion by hymns. There are some persons of both sexes appointed by rotation to pray for the society, who are admonished of their duty by inward feeling; and they pretend to determine the divine will in particular cases by casting lots. All matrimonial contracts are subject to the direction and approbation of the elders. This sect professed in their first establishment to belong to the Lutheran church; but count Zinzendorf, for the greater credit of this new society, afterwards pretended that it was a revival of the ancient Moravian church, or Bohemian brethren, who were converted from popery by John Hus. But this seems to have been a mere pretence. Such was the origin of a sect, which in process of time became very considerable and extensive, and which adopted tenets and practices as infamous as they are singular. Zinzendorf was denominated the trustee and guardian of the brethren; in 1737 he was consecrated bishop of this sect, a dignity which he resigned in 1740. Towards the close of the year 1744, he was denominated minister plenipotentiary and economus; and it was enacted, that nothing of importance should be done without his consent; and he afterwards styled himself the lord advocate of the unitas fratrum. Zinzendorf has travelled in person all over Europe, and been twice in America; and he has also sent missionaries almost throughout the known world. It would be endless to recount the numberless artifices which this sect has made use of to establish his own authority, and to extend the interest of his party. According to his own account, published in 1749, the society had almost a thousand labourers dispersed all over the world, who preached in fourteen languages, and ninety-eight different establishments, among which are castles, that have twenty, fifty, or ninety apartments. How far these boasts are justified by fact, we cannot pretend to determine; but it is certain, that the decline of this sect has been no less signal and rapid than its progress. With regard to the tenets of the Hernhutters, it may be observed, that at their first rise they professed to admit the confession of Augsburgh, and count Zinzendorf has always referred to this confession as the standard of his doctrine. However, it is well known, that he has advanced the most pernicious notions, and recommended the most abominable practices; such notions and practices as disfigure the sacred truths of the gospel, and sap the foundations of morality. The count himself speaks in very derogating terms of the scripture; and expressly affirms, that the reading of the scripture appears to him to be more dangerous than useful to society. To avoid idolatry, he says, people ought to be taken from the Father and Holy Ghost, and conducted to Christ, with whom alone we have to do. The Holy Ghost is called by the Hernhutters the eternal wife of God, the mother of Christ, the mother of the faithful, and of the church. The language of their devotion is obscene and abominable; and the ideas excited by it are such as no chaste mind can entertain. In some of their hymns of devotion, they make their direct addresses to what was formerly adored at Lampacus. The con- jugal act is a piece of scenery, in which the male repelents Christ the husband of souls, and the female the church; and they have actually appointed such ceremonies, in the celebration of marriage, as suppose them to have entirely given up all sense of shame. Count Zinzendorf expressly declares, that the law is not a rule of life to a believer; that the moral law belongs only to the Jews, and that a converted person cannot sin against light. We shall only add, that no examples can be found of a fanaticism more extravagant, and a mysticism more gross and scandalous, than those of the Hermuthers; and it would be impossible to multiply specimens of their creed or devotion, extracted from the sermons and writings of their founders, without offending the charitable reader. Those whose curiosity leads them to wish for farther information, may consult Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, vol. v. p. 85, note (4). Warburton's Doctrine of Grace, vol. ii. p. 153, and Rimius's Candid Narrative of the Rise and Progress of the Hermuthers, commonly called Moravians, or Unitas Fratrum, &c. 1753, and Supplement, &c. published in 1755.in fortification, a lattice, or portcullis, in form of an harrow, beset with iron spikes. The word herse is French, and literally signifies "harlow"; being formed of the Latin herpex or irpex, which denotes the same.

It is usually hung by a rope fastened to a moulinet; to be cut, in case of surprise, or when the first gate is broken with a petard, that the herse may fall, and stop up the passage of the gate or other entrance of a fortress.

The herse is otherwise called a sarasin, or caiara; and when it consists of straight stakes, without any cross pieces, it is called orgus.

Herse, is also a harrow, which the besieged, for want of chevaux de frise, lay in the way, or in breaches, with the points up, to inconvenience the march as well of the horse as of the infantry.