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CHAPTER III.

PROGRESS OF THE CHURCH, 1781–1881.

HE phrase “Edict of Toleration,” applied to describe an imperial decree, is apt to convey to Britons and Americans accustomed to real toleration, a wrong impression of the scope and effect of the edict. To understand the subsequent history of the Bohemian Church, it is essential that one should have a distinct idea of what the provisions of the edict actually were, and some knowledge of the character and position of its author. I will, therefore, submit a summary of the Edict, and then briefly notice its Imperial author.

Summary of the Edict of 1781.

I. In all parts of the Empire where Protestants have been prohibited by law from holding meetings, they shall now have liberty to meet privately for Divine worship, without any inquiry being made whether Protestant meetings have been held there before or not.

II. His Majesty declares the meaning of these private meetings to be, that in every district where there are one hundred or more families possessing conjointly the means of erecting a meeting-house, a school-

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