A History of the Moravian ChurchHutton, J. E. (Joseph Edmund)
Religion
A History of the Moravian Church
Hutton, J. E. (Joseph Edmund)
Moravian Church -- History
"We have had enough of useless talk," said Count Matthias Thurn; "it is
time to take to arms." The long fight was drawing to a finish. As the
King refused to listen to reason, the members of the Diet, one and all,
Protestants and Catholics alike, prepared an ultimatum demanding that
all evangelical nobles, knights, citizens and peasants should have
full and perfect liberty to worship God in their own way, and to build
schools and churches on all Royal estates; and, in order that the King
might realise the facts of the case, Budowa formed a Board of thirty
directors, of whom fourteen were Brethren, raised an army in Prague, and
sent the nobles flying through the land to levy money and troops. The
country, in fact, was now in open revolt. And thus, at length compelled
by brute force, the poor old King gave way, and made his name famous
in history by signing the Letter of Majesty and granting full religious
liberty to all adherents of the Bohemian National Protestant Confession.
All adherents of the Confession could worship as they pleased, and all
classes, except the peasantry, could build schools and churches on Royal
estates {July 9th.}. "No decree of any kind," ran one sweeping clause,
"shall be issued either by us or by our heirs and succeeding kings
against the above established religious peace."
The delight in Prague was boundless. The Letter of Majesty was carried
through the streets in grand triumphal procession. The walls were
adorned with flaming posters. The bells of the churches were rung. The
people met in the Church of the Holy Cross, and there sang jubilant
psalms of thanksgiving and praise. The King's couriers posted through
the land to tell the gladsome news; the letter was hailed as the
heavenly herald of peace and goodwill to men; and Budowa was adored as a
national hero, and the redresser of his people's wrongs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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