III. Schools and Literary A ctivity. — The Brethren de- voted themselves to education. Their earliest schools were found in the parsonages of the priests. IMany of these, instead of families, had classes of young acolytes living with them, whom they trained for the ministry. Next were instituted parochial schools, in which a thor- ough elementary education was given, including Latin, and which were frctiuented by large numbers of pupils not connected with the Church. In 1574 a classical school or college, with professor Esrom Kildinger, from Wittenberg, as its rector, was founded at Eibenschiitz, in Moravia; soon after another at jMeseritsch, in the same country; and in 1585 a third at Lissa, in Poland. Of this last Amos Comenius subsequently became the rector. These colleges were attended by many young nobles, not excepting such as were of the Catholic faith. In 1585 three theological seminaries were opened at Jungbunzlau, in Bohemia, and at Prerau and Eiben- schiitz, in Moravia. The training of acolytes in the parsonages was, however, not given np.
By the side of such efforts to promote education maj- well l)e put the literary activity of the Brethren. This was extraordinary, far surpassing that of the national and Eoman (Catholic churches, and competing even with that of the lieformers. The Unitas Fratrum had four publi- cation offices: three in Bohemia, the tirst established in 1500, and one in Poland. From these offices, and from sev- eral public presses, which were often used, came forth a multitude of publications in Bohemian, Polish, German, and Latin, comprising the Holy Scriptures, liymn-books and catechisms, confessions of faith, exegetical and doc- trinal works, books and tracts of a devotional character, polemical writings, and in the time of Comenius school- books, didaclic works, and pbiloso])hical treatises. In addition to this prolilic author, whose works numbered over ninety, the principal writers were Luke of Prague (eighty works), Augusta, Blahoslav (twenty-two works, among them a Bohemian (Jrammar, still in use), Lo- renz, /Eneas, Turnovius, Ephraim, Aristo, Hybinski, etc. Their Latin diction was often rough, but their Bohe- mian style pure, elegant, and forcilile. In tliis respect they reached a standard which has never been surpassed. Excepting the writiugs of Comenius, the literature of
the Brethren was mostly lost in the anti-Reformation, when evangelical books of every kind were committed to the flames. The most important of those works which have been preserved are the Kraliz Bible (q. v.), the catechisms, the confessions of faith, and the hymn- books. The lirst Catechism in Bohemian appeared in 1505; the second, in Bohemian and German, in 1522, republished by Zezschwitz in 18();j, tran>lated into Eng- lish by Schweinitz in 18G9; the third, in (ierman, byJ. (iyrck, in 1554 and 1555; the fourth, the "tireater Cat- echism," in Latin, in ICIG; the fifth, the *• Shorter Cat- echism," in German and Polish; and the sixth, the Catechism of Comenius, in German, in Kill. Several others are mentioned, of which, however, little is known, except that one of them was a tctraglot — in Greek, Latin, Bohemian, and (ierman — published in 1015. There were twelve different confessions of faith, in Bo- hemian, German, Latin, and Polish. Gindely counts lip thirty-four, but of these the majority were merely new editions of the same Confession. The most impor- tant are, the Confession of 1533, printed in German at Wittenberg, preface by Luther, presented to the mar- grave of Brandenburg — very rare, a copy in the Bohe- mian Museum at Prague; the Confession of 1535, in Latin, with a liistorical introduction, presented by a deputation of bishops and nobles to Ferdinand II at Vi- enna, found in Niemeyer's Collcctin, p. 771-818, pub- lished in a revised form at Wittenberg in 1538, together with a Latin version of the Confession of 1533, both in one volume, under the supervision of Luther, who sup- plied the work with a preface, found in Lydii Waldeitsia, ii, 344, etc. ; and the Confession of 1573, in Latin and German, based upon all the previous confessions, giving the matured doctrines of the Church, embracing a his- torical prooemium by Biidinger, and printed at Witten- berg, under the direction of the theological faculty of the university, the Latin Confession found in Lydii Waldensia, iii, 95-256, and the German in Kiicher, p. 161-25G. The hymnology of the Brethren was one of the chief means wliich they used for spreading the Gos- pel and promoting spirituality. They gave to the na- tional fondness for song a sacred direction. Their hymns were doctrinal ; the (Jerman versilication was hard, the Bohemian soft and smooth; the tunes, which were printed out in the hymn-books, were in part the old Gregorian, in part borrowed from the German, and in part popular melodies adapted. In spite of their rough- ness, the German hymns, whoso simi)licity and devo- tion, fervor and loving spirit. Herder highly commends, found favor in the churches of the Bcformation, while the Bohemian expressed, says Chlumecky, "the deep religious feelings of the people, and were a blossom of the national life, showing forth the Slavonic ideal of a sanctified mind." The first Boliemian Hymn-book ai>- peared in 1504; the second, wliich was the master])iece of the Brethren's hymnology, containing 743 hymns, in 1661. This latter jiassed fhrough a luimber of editions. The first German Hymn-book was published in 1531 ; the second in l.o43; the third and best in 1.560. This was dedicated to Maximilian II. contained 411 hymns, and was frequently republished. Polish hymn-books came out in 15.54 and 1500.