his parishioners. It was proposed to purchase a hall, and Dr. Moody Stuart had collected for this purpose a sum which, with interest, now amounts to £260, when opposition was raised, which finally, after five years of continuous effort, compelled the Edinburgh Committee to abandon the station for the time. During these five years, however, Mr. Nespor, and Mr. Jelen, who succeeded him, did good work in collecting and uniting the Protestant inhabitants, who, to the number of about 200, attended their services, and also in instructing the young. Now the old pastor of a village some four miles from the town, who is the legal parochial minister of Kuttenberg, has resigned, and the Protestants have elected Mr. Dusèk moderator of their Session, and resolved to form a separate congregation in the town. The only difficulty is to get the sanction of the Government to this step, and to obtain that sanction the congregation must satisfy the officials that they are able to maintain a pastor. They cannot at present do this without extraneous aid. A grant out of the funds the Presbyterian Churches are now raising would remove the difficulty at once, and it is important to notice what a satisfactory investment of money devoted to God’s cause such a grant would make. A pastor for the 200 Protestants resident in the town would be secured, and he would occupy a position of conspicuous usefulness. Placed in the midst of so large a population nominally Roman Catholic, many of whom, however, are enquiring after the faith of their ancestors, surely he might expect to reap, in some measure, in proportion to the seed sown by the army of Hussite martyrs “whose dust is more precious far than the silver lodes they have replaced.”
At Podiebrad a congregation of about 600 people has been formed. They have built a church costing 5000 florins, of which 4000 florins have been raised by their own efforts, and they would be recognised by the Government if a manse were also built. A sum of £300 would probably be sufficient to secure for this congregation the benefit of recognition. At present one preacher has charge of both Nymburg and Podiebrad, and much greater progress might be expected were each town to have a recognised pastor of its own.
