Page:Glimpses of Bohemia by MacDonald (1882).pdf/55

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CHAPTER V.

THE PRESENT STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE BOHEMIAN CHURCH.

THE demonstration at Klobouk might lead to a mistaken impression of the position of Protestantism in Bohemia and Moravia. Even in Klobouk the Protestants only form one-third of the population, and in the greater part of the country, in all the large towns, they form the merest fraction of the community. All the pastors we have named, and indeed the majority of the Reformed ministers, are now earnestly working for the extension of the Church amidst many discouragements and trials. The views on the state and prospects of the Reformed Church, expressed by Pastor Dusék, in his paper printed in the Proceedings of the First General Presbyterian Council, and by Pastor Cisar in a paper printed in the Proceedings of the Second Council, were in the main confirmed by all that we saw.and heard. In these papers the wants of the Church are fully detailed, and thus the question for the consideration of the stronger Churches of the Presbyterian Alliance is not what are the wants of Bohemia, but, which of the schemes brought under our notice by the pastors are most pressing, and could be most suitably aided from without. Our Churches must take care that our efforts really strengthen our weaker sisters, and do not impair their self-reliance.

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