HISTORY OF THE PROTESTANT CHURCH OF THE UNITED BRETHREN. PART I. Containing an Account of the Origin and gradual Increase and Extension of the Brethren's Church in Moravia, Bohemia, and Poland, till the total Suppression of its Ecclesiastical Constitution. CHAP. I. FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE BRETHREN'S CHURCh to the begINNING OF THE REFORMATION BY LUTHER, FROM THE YEAR 1457 to 1517. SECTION I. A company of Hussites retire to LITITZ-Their number is increased— Form a religious Society by the name of UNITAS FRATRUM-Endure heavy persecutions-Elect their own Ministers-Convene Synods— Obtain EPISCOPAL ORDINATION-A projected union with the Waldenses is frustrated. FROM the time when Huss commenced his labours as a preacher and Reformer, in the year 1400, to the settlement of a small remnant of his followers in the Lordship of Lititz, in 1451, half a century had elapsed. During that period there had been an incessant struggle between light and darkness, truth and falsehood, the kingdom of God, and the powers of Satan. Many a valuable life had been sacrificed either in diffusing and defending divine truth, or in propagating and supporting error and falsehood. Many immortal spirits had been cited to appear before their Maker and Judge, some to receive the crown of life, and others to answer for their enmity to Him and his people. All the while God was secretly working and maturing his own designs; designs which no human ingenuity can accelerate, and no human opposition retard. The faith and sufferings of the Hussites in Bohemia, like those of the Waldenses in Italy and France, and all their predecessors, who under the banners of the Captain of salvation, had gone. forth conquering and to conquer, served to illuminate the dark regions of the earth, to spread the knowledge of the Lord, and to bring nearer the fulfilment of divine prophecy-" The kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heavens, shall be given to the saints of the Most High." The conflict in Bohemia, though attended with atrocities, which make human nature shudder, terminated to the glory of God and the benefit of his church. The cruelties exercised towards the Hussites, taught them what the true followers of Jesus have to expect from a wicked and unbelieving world, which, while it retained the Christian name, virtually denied the doctrines of Christianity, and trampled upon its precepts. It served to separate the precious from the vile among the great mass of the professed friends of Huss; among whom there were many, who, assenting to the tenets he held, had not imbibed the same spirit of meekness and constancy; and though they admired his faith, were not prepared to share with him the martyr's crown. When the strong arm of power was exerted to crush the rising cause, and arrest the progress of divine truth in Bohemia, by the banishment of its friends, that very circumstance eventually tended to diffuse the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, and extend pure and undefiled religion. The genuine followers of Huss, being reduced to a very small number, availed themselves of the Emperor's permission, and retired to the lordship of Lititz. From this small remnant originated a branch of the Christian church, which in ancient and modern times, and under every vicissitude of repose or persecution, has, by the blessing of God, firmly adhered to the doctrine of Christ crucified; and considering its slender means, has not been behind others in zeal and perseverance, in propagating the truth as it is in Jesus. In the year 1453 many citizens of Prague, together with some of the nobility, and learned men from different parts of Bohemia and Moravia, removed to Lititz. Their number increased so rapidly, that in three years they occupied several villages. They attended the ministry of some Calixtine cler-1 |