EUROPEAN INTELLIGENCE. Our church fund also is in great need and it is now too evident that this year, if of aid. We cannot, as in former years, we do not receive help, the Church fund meet our current expenses. We have will be exhausted. Therefore we do not given up the idea of a school as im- cease our prayers in full confidence. Dear practicable. When Dr. Wackermann, of brethren, still help us as before, that our Asbach, obtained a teacher for his chil- | little Diaspora Church may become a misdren, ho, at the same time, became the sionary station and may be a proof of the superintendent of the elementary school, in love and unity of Evangelical Churches. which he was engaged three hours every | And with your gifts unite your prayers day. For this, and for taking part of the that we may make progress internally as service and giving instruction to the cate well as externally, and that we may joy 1 chumens, he received from the Church fully praise Him who has called us into His funds 100 sgr., while the teacher at Wald- marvellous light. breitbach, who has to provide for himself, God the Lord, who said, “ Ask, and it receives 1 10 sgr. Thus the Church fund shall be given you," give to you all your his a yearly outgoing of from 650 to 680 r. d., wishes and desires, and reward you accord. for the payment of pastor and teacher, to ing to what you have done for us and which the interest of the pastor's fund con- our brethren. tributes 170 to 180 r. d. In the preceding In the name of the Presbytery, · year, when it received a contribution of HIRSCII, Pastor. 185 r. d., there was still a deficit of 300 r. d., Waldbreitbach, June 1, 1859. r BOHEMIA. PROTESTANT CHURCH AT PRAGUE: ITS HISTORY AND WANTS. To the Editor of Evangelical Christendom. than Bohemia." The events which have Dear Sir, —In the year 1853, I had the taken place within its borders form, indeed, privilege of appealing to the liberality of a striking and instructive chapter in civil British Christians, on behalf of a poor and ecclesiastical history. It can never be Protestant congregation at Krabschütz, in forgotten, that its Slavonian population were Northern Bohemia; and you were so good the last to receive, and the first to reject, as to insert my appeal in the pages of your the Romish yoke; that in its martyrs, journal. The sympathy which it awakened, John Huss and Jerome of Prague, it could and the gifts which called forth, were boast of “Reformers before the Reformagenerous beyond my expectation, and sup- tion,"'* and in the most spiritually-minded plied our Bohemian friends with the needful of their followers —the members of the funds, not merely for the completion of the Ancient Unity of the Brethren—the firmest church and parsonage which they had maintainers of apostolical doctrine and disalready taken in hand, but also for the cipline, and the earliest printers and circuvery desirable addition of a convenient lators of the Word of God in the vernacular school-house. Of the sum collected in this tongue; and that, in yielding eventually country, a portion was received through to the storm which swept from its surface the medium of Evangelical Christendom, almost every vestige of Protestantism, it affording one proof among many, of the might claim the testimony of surrounding benefit conferred by a periodical, which is nations, that it had manifested, both by as ready to become the channel of enlarged action and suffering, the earnestness of its Christian benevolence as of varied religious desire to preserve the faith of the Gospel, information. and the stubbornness of its resistance to the Encouraged by the success of my former overwhelming force which the Papacy appeal, I venture to solicit the favourable knew how to wield for the destruction of attention of your readers to another Bohe- its civil and religious liberties. That no mian object. I do this the more confidently, vigorous effort was made by the negotiators because I feel with a German writer of the of the Peace of Westphalia, to save the present day, that "there is no country in remnant of the 200 congregations of the Europe more deserving of the sympathy Brethren which existed in Bohemia and and regard of the whole Evangelical Church Moravia in the beginning of the seventeenth * See the very interesting and instructive work of M. E. de Bonnechose, bearing this title. Edinbargh, 1844. EUROPEAN INTELLIGENCE. century, or to obtain permission for their exiled members to return to their native land, was a wrong, for which reparation is still due from the Protestant States that were parties to that great European treaty. Among these States, Britain is not indeed to be numbered, having been precluded by its own civil dissensions from sharing in the later struggles of the Thirty Years' War. But we shall not, on that account, reject all claim of Bohemia to our sympathy-and the less, as the connexion between England and that country can be shown to be old and intimate.* It may be traced back to the latter portion of the fourteenth century, the period when Wickliffe in the former, and Militsch, Stieckna, and Janowsky in the latter country, were exposing the errors of the Church of Rome, and labouring to bring about a reformation both of doctrine and practice. In the year 1381, our King Richard II. married Anne, sister to Wenceslaus, King of Bohemia, a princess of eminent piety and love for the Word of God. Hereby not only did the followers of Wickliffe obtain a kind protectress, but means were provided for the transmission of that great Reformer's doctrines to the city of Prague itself. Huss declared, in his answer to Stokes, A.D. 1411, that he had been a student of Wickliffe's writings for above twenty years, and the truths which he had thus learnt, he boldly proclaimed from the pulpit of the Bethlehem Church, while his friend Jerome, who had returned from Oxford in 1400, lectured upon them, with no less power, in the halls of the University. After that Wickliffe's doctrines had been anathematised by the Pope, and Archbishop Zbynek had publicly burned 200 copies of his works in the square at Prague, two English Bachelors of Divinity, who had recently arrived in that city, suc cceded by means of a series of scenical representations, to keep in remembrance of the common people the truths which had proved so obnoxious to Rome and to her bigoted partisans. Thus the servants of Christ, in England and Bohemia, "stood fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel," according to the light which they possessed, "in nothing terrified by their adversaries." (Phil. i. 27.) How pleasant it would be to be able to believe, that such times of mutual help and refreshment were again approaching; that the true followers of Christ, in enlightened Britain, and comparatively dark Bohemia, were prepared to give each other the right hand of fellowship; and that many in our own highly-favoured country were but waiting for the opportunity of contributing, according to their ability, to the circulation of the Holy Scriptures, the preaching of Christ's saving Gospel, and the building up again of the spiritual Church of God, in a land, which has not unjustly been called "The cradle of the Reformation." That the present state of Bohemia is favourable to earnest and judicious efforts for the revival of spiritual religion, will hardly be questioned by any who are acquainted with that country. Ever since the year 1848, a large measure of toleration has been conceded, and the existing Protestant communities-chiefly of the Augsburg and Helvetic Confessions-are protected in the preaching of the Gospel and the exercise of their ecclesiastical rites and discipline. Of the mass of the people it may be asserted, that they are but nominally Roman Catholics. The majority seem tired of Popery, and many of them are looking for something better, though scarcely knowing where to find it. The report of Dr. Nowotny on this interesting subject is well *In a certain sense, even the fields of Crecy and Agincourt may be said to bear testimony to it. From the former, as is well known, the heir apparent to the British crown derives the ostrich-plume and motto, borne by the gallant Bohemian monarch who fell there; on the latter, John Zizka, afterwards the terrible leader of the Hussite armies, was seen fighting under the banners of our Henry V., and in the very year, 1415, that witnessed the martyrdom of Huss, at Constance. The following testimony to her piety is borne by Archbishop Arundel, the bitter persecutor of the followers of Wickliffe: "Although she was a stranger, she constantly studied the four Gospels in English, with the expositions of the doctors, and in the study of them, and in the perusal of godly books, she was more diligent than the prelates themselves, whose office and calling required it." And Huss, in one of his treatises, represents her as reading the Scriptures in Bohemian, German, and Latin. Her early death was a national calamity. "Homo áraλpaßnroc," as he is termed in the History of the Bohemian persecution,-having taken his first lessons in reading, after his elevation to the archiepiscopal see. The people held him in such derision, that a Bohemian epigram was handed about at Prague to the following effect: "Tho' mitred Zbynek scarce can spell, He scents the heretics full well, EUROPEAN INTELLIGENCE. worthy of attention.* His account of the and Pastor Benesch and his wardeus arc veneration in which the memory of John quite willing that the Elders of the BreHuss is held by his countrymen, the his-thren's Church at Herrnhut should act as torical traditions which they cherish, and trustees for any donations that may be de. the contemptuous dislike of the Romish rived from British liberality. Church, expressed by many of their proverbs, · The January number of your journal is confirmed by other witnesses. To assist contained an appeal for help towards the in promoting the spirit of inquiry, and in erection of a school-house, addressed to you diffusing Evangelical light among all classes by the minister and wardens of the Reof the population of Bohemia, appears, there formed congregation at Prague. I should fore, to be an object of great importance. It manifest very little of the spirit of the is under this conviction that the circum- Evangelical Alliance, and show myself a stances of the Bohemian congregation at very indifferent friend to the Protestant Prague, adhering to the Confession of Augs- Church in Bohemia, were I not to wish burg, are herewith laid before British Chris- success to this appeal, and to rejoice that it tians; and some help is respectfully solicited has already met with a kind response from towards providing it with a suitable church. various quarters. Should it please God to The leading features of the case are con- accept and bless both these efforts to protained in the subjoined statement, which has mote His cause, He will, I doubt not, so been abridged from three different appeals, order things, “ that there may be an issued by Pastor Jacob Benesch, and ad- equality; he that gathereth much having dressed to the Christians of Germany, the nothing over, and he that gathereth little Committee of of the Gustavus-Adolphus having no lack.” Society, and the General Synod of the I am, my dear Sir, ever yours faithfully, Brethren's Church, held at Herrnhut in the P. LA TROBE, year 1857. For its substantial accuracy Secretary to the Unity of the the undersigned is able to vouch, having Brethren in England. spent a couple of days in Prague in 1857, visited Pastor Benesch in his own dwelling, seen his present place of worship, and examined the site on which he is desirous to The Bohemian Protestant Church, aderect a proper church and to provide suit- hering to the Augsburg Confession, was able school-premises. Personal intercourse founded in the city of Prague, in the year with him, and the testimony of Brethren at 1782, by virtue of the Edict of Toleration Herrnhut, warrant the belief, that he is a promulgated by the Emperor Joseph II. faithful preacher of the Gospel, and an Its first religious service was held in tho active and successful circulator of the palace of Count Morzini, in the Sporngassc. Bohemian Scriptures, much respected by In the year 1784, it obtained by purchase a persons of all classes. His sphere of house situated in the Tischlergasse in the ministerial usefulness is extensive, his New Town, a hall of which was fitted up congregation being scattered through the as a place of meeting. To this purpose it city and neighbouring villages, and re- continues to be applied ; but, owing to its ceiving not unfrequent additions from the confined dimensions and the lowness of its Roman Catholics around them. roof, it proves to be neither healthy nor The cost of the proposed improvements, convenient. According to the official reincluding the building of a church, is port of the Crown-surveyor it will not seat estimated at about 30,000 forins (or more than 300 persons, whereas the con3,0001.), of which scarcely a tenth can be gregation attached to it numbers nearly raised by the congregation, whose members 1,200, to say nothing of occasional hearers. are mostly poor. Their co-religionists in In years gone by, frequent application Bohemia and Moravia have sent offerings was made by our little flock for leave to out of their perury; the King of Prussia, purchase one of the secularised churches of with his wonted liberality, has given 1,000f. the city, and thus to provide itself with a (1001.), and the King of Saxony, though a suitable place of worship, but without sucRoman Catholic sovereign, 2004. (201.) cess. Now, however, that cquality of civil From several congregations of the United and religious rights prevails to a consider. Brethren, contributions have been received, I able extent, we find ourselves at liberty to MEMORIAL AND NIS OF PASTOR BENESCII CHURCH-OFFICERS, See “ Letters froin Eminent German Divines, on the State of Evangelical Religion in Germany," Second Series. Nisbet and Co. EUROPEAN INTELLIGENCE. take measures for the improvement of our position. Nor will such an effort on our part be considered unreasonable or premature, when it is known that the great majority of Protestant communities in Bohemia are already provided with commodious churches, while our congregation, in the metropolis of the land, has been obliged, for seventy-three years, to rest satisfied with a mean, unwholesome, and inconvenient locality. Often does it happen that, while we are engaged in worship, passers-by, attracted by the singing of our flock, are led to inquire, Who are these people, and what are they about? The answer generally is, "These are the Lamb's brethren (berani), who meet here to sing and pray; and yet, with all their singing and praying, they cannot succeed in getting a proper church." Towards such ignorant scoffers we cherish no unkind feeling; but we are truly grieved that we cannot invite them to enter into a place which they would be disposed to regard as a house of God, and in which they might hear the Word of life, the Gospel of salvation. We have no desire to raise an edifice which may attract by its architectural beauty. The city of Prague, with its hundred steeples, needs no additional ornament of this kind. All that we aspire to is, the erection on our own ground, of a neat, convenient church, of moderate dimensions, and the adaptation of a portion of our present dwelling to the purposes of a school. The need of such an institution is evident from the fact, that the majority of parents belonging to our church have hitherto been obliged to send their children to Roman Catholic schools; nor is it certain, that education, even on such undesirable terms, will continue to be obtainable, should the Concordat remain in force. In our congregation, there are encouraging traces of spiritual life, and the attendance on the services of the house of God, shows that the means of grace are generally valued. The accession to it within the last ten years, of seventy-one persons, formerly members of the Roman Catholic Church, bears testimony to its salutary influence on the surrounding community, notwithstanding the disadvantages under which it labours. The work which we are desirous to take in hand, greatly transcends our feeble powers. Of the sum of 30,000 florins (3,000l.), which is its estimated cost, but a small portion can be raised by our congregation, who are mostly poor in this world's goods. We therefore stretch out our hands to you, Protestant brethren, of our own and other Churches, who dwell in more favoured countries, beseeching you to come to our help, for the sake of the Lord, whom we desire to serve in fellowship-of the thousands. around us to whom we would gladly proclaim the Gospel message-and of our persecuted forefathers, who freely gave up home and substance, and liberty and life itself, rather than renounce the truth of God, or deny the Saviour who had bought them. And we do this the more confidently, because we know that "God is not unrighteous, to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have showed towards His name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister." (Heb. vi. 10.) JACOB BENESCH, Pastor and Senior in LAWRENCE WORISCHEK,Church wardens. **Contributions to this object may be sent to Rev. EDWARD STEANE, D.D., Camberwell, Surrey (S.) SWEDEN. "IS THE WORK AT HERRESTAD CONTINUED SINCE THE DEATH OF MRS. PETERSEN?" BY A SWEDISH LADY. This question has been asked me repeatedly by friends who take an interest in Sweden, and especially in the very extensive work of evangelisation carried on there by that devoted servant of God whom we have been accustomed to call "Grandmother of Herrestad." Gladly I can answer "yes" to this question. Her works do follow her, even on earth. She has left Herrestad a large estate, much encumbered by debt, in the hands of an excellent Christian woman, her own niece, Baroness Rappe. This lady has not been endowed with many worldly pos sessions, but with great natural gifts-much energy, judgment, and the fruit of the grace of God-a renewed heart. Her only desire at present is to fulfil dear Grandmother's EUROPEAN INTELLIGENCE. wishes in all things as much as is in her schools, where the children themselves had power. She has undertaken the arduous collected for Herrestad or worked for it on work of continuing the establishment for week-days, devoting their leisure or their giring work to poor women, which she little savings to this purpose. hopes after a while may become a self- The school had been going on well. Two supporting one. In Mrs. Petersen's time, years previous it had been visited by a aged as she was, it was necessary to have strong awakening. This had subsided ; much paid assistance. The Baroness hopes but, though the strong winds had passed, to be able to carry it on herself with the yet the schoolmaster says, that with praise help of her daughters. and thanksgiving he must add that the still The school will go on just the same, and small voice is there, and a mild wind is so will the missionary meetings and the wafting through that garden of the Lord, Sunday afternoon readings to the people. so that the plants give a sweet odour. He The Home for destitute children, Grand- gives the account of a boy who had demother's "grey sparrows,” will be modified parted this life sorrowing for his sins, but in some ways. The girls, Baroness R. glorying in the work of Jesus, and not intends to take to her own home and have wishing to stay longer on earth, which he the inspection of them herself. “dark and dangerous." He "would The two colporteurs who have hitherto go home,” so he said; and so, in humble been supported by means of the gifts which reliance on Christ, we may trust that he English friends have sent for Herrestad, did. The report goes on to say: "Praised and who have been very useful, are to go be God, whose faithful love is willing to on as long as there is money to support seek and gather the stray lambs in His them with. Their work is therefore doubly arms. May He continue to bless us and to in the Lord's hands. pour His Holy Spirit with all His unspeakAfter writing the above, it struck me ably glorious gifts on the humble asylum." that it would be desirable if Mrs. Petersen iður dear children,” so she goes on, could once more speak to you in her own "are generally called, the grey sparrows. words and recommend her work and her Does not this name bear a secret meaning ? children to you. I therefore, take up her Does it not remind us of that beautiful paslast report, in which she gives an account sage in the Bible, “The sparrow hath found of the three different lines of Christian an house and the swallow a nest for herself work going on at Herrestad. In regard where she may lay her young, even thine to her poor workwomen, she gives the altars, O Lord of Hosts, my King and my number of yards (9,367) spun and woven God!' The altar of God is the cross on in that year, and the money, 3,089 rix- which His only Son has been sacrificed for dollars, which, together with corn, pota- us; and this doctrine is the chief subject toes, and Bibles, constituted the wages of of the teaching in the school. We are all this their labour. She gives extracts from of us the recompense for our Saviour's the journals of her colporteurs, full of hope. atoning labour ; and we look at our ful intelligence, and the number of books children with a holy and serious feeling of sold by them in that poor neighbourhood responsibility which shall follow us into where few can buy. They amount to eternity. But, praised be God, we have an fifty-four. Several hundred tracts were everlasting pardon for our many neglects, given and lent out, and numbers of little which, notwithstanding our care, we un. boxes with texts and illuminated engravings willingly commit, and are therefore glad had been disposed of. that we as well as these children are When I come to look at that part of her under the special care of God. The Lord report which has reference to her School does not require of us that we should save and Orphan Home, I find it so beautiful neither ourselves nor the children that Ho and interesting that I do not know what to has committed to our trust. That charge select. In regard to pecuniary matters, she He himself gave to the Good Shepherd, to mentions that the contributions for the whom, if we will listen to His voice, we twenty-nine children, had, during the year, belong and shall follow Him to the end, been 933 rix-dollars, Swedish money (about living in the everlasting pardon won by 501.) In this calculation, Mrs. Þ. never Him for our sins." included her own contributions, she only This is all that I can say now, besides mentions what the Lord sent her through recon commending the work at Herrestad to other hands. Some donations had greatly re- the Christian love and the prayers of all joiced her heart, such as gifts from Sunday. I those who love the Lord and like to see the |
0 Anmeldelser Anmeldelserne verificeres ikke af Google, men Google tjekker indholdet og fjerner det, hvis det er falsk. Skriv anmeldelse |