to attend. What follows regarding it is from letters written by Mr. Dusék and Mr. Pirie.
The Synod met in St. Clements, the only Reformed Church in Prague, on 13th October, the very anniversary of the Edict of Toleration. The church was crowded by about 2000 people, many of them from distant parishes, and of the forty-six pastors thirty-seven were present, the remaining nine being detained either by old age or illness. Both the singing and the prayers were unusually solemn and hearty, while Pastor Schubert in the opening sermon, avoiding the historical allusions usual on such occasions, declared from Luke xix. 41 and 42 the message of the Gospel, and urged his fellow-pastors to be faithful in bringing men to Christ. The Superintendent then delivered an opening address from the 129th Psalm. The church was decorated with evergreens and banners, the latter bearing the Hussite symbol—a sacramental cup on a Bible. The pastors wore gowns and bands, and formed a striking group as they stood round the Superintendent’s rostrum. Addresses were delivered by the foreign delegates—Dr. Laughton, moderator of the General Assembly, and Mr. Pirie, missionary to the Jews, from the Free Church of Scotland; Dr. Scott of the United Presbyterian Church; and Dr. Cattel, of La Fayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania.
In the evening a meeting of the Bohemian Evangelical Alliance—a kind of missionary society—was held. Senior Janata opened with an historical survey. Pastor Szalatnay then read a memoir by his grandfather, one of the Hungarian pastors who came to Bohemia after the proclamation of the Edict, and several others delivered stirring addresses. On the following day the Synod adjourned until 28th November, as the lay members could not remain from home until the completion of the beet harvest.
.jpg)
