RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
BoSthlus Bohemian
developed the London Missionary Society. He was also active in founding the British and Foreign Bible Society and the Religious Tract Society. In 1796 with two other ministers and Robert Haldane he offered to go to India as a missionary, but the plan was not approved by the East India Company. Besides sermons and tracts he pub-
lished An Essay on the Divine Authority of the New Testament (London, 1801), and with James Bennett wrote the History of Dissenters from the Revolution to 1808 (4 vols., 1808-12; 2d ed., 2 vols., 1-833).
Bibliography: James Bennett, Memoirs of the Life of Rev. David Bogue, London, 1827; DNB, v, 302-303.
BOHEMIA. See Austbia.
I. Origin and History to 1496. Origin of the Sect (§ 1). Early Organization (§ 2). First Priests of the Brethren (§ 3). Relations with the Waldensians (§4).
I. Origin and History to 1496: The Compactata of Prague, which marked the political end of the Hussite Wars in 1433 (see Huss, John, Hussites), oroved unsatisfactory to the religious and ecclesiastical demands of the majority of the Bohemians. Many scattered communities accordingly arose throughout the country, seeking to carry out the Reformation in life and doctrine, independent of the Waldensians who had long been settled in Bohemia. In 1453-54, moreover, the preaching of the Utraquistic archbishop Rokycana (pastor of the Teinkirche at Prague after 1448) resulted in the formation of a community at Prague, headed by his nephew Gregory. The conviction that the validity of the sacraments, sermons, prayer, and the like depended on the moral and religious character of the priest caused them to seek for " good " pastors, and this congregation, together with others and at the suggestion of Rokycana, became closely allied with the Chelcic Brethren, the followers of a layman named Peter of Chelcic, who first appeared at Prague in 1419 and seems to have died before 1457. He had refused to join any of the
. . Hussite parties, since he rejected all
of the"* temPOral defense of the Gospel, and Sect. recorded his peculiar views in his writings, of which the most important were his Netz des wahren Glaubens (1455) and his PostUla (1434-36). His ideal of Christian life, the fulfilment of the " law of Christ " (Matt. xxii, 37-39; Gal. vi, 2) in public and in private life without regard to consequences, and his rejection of all that could not be reconciled with this law, such as temporal power, wealth, war, and trade, made a profound impression on Gregory and his followers, and inspired them to attempt to realize this ideal. At their request their friend and counselor Rokycana secured permission from King George Podebrad for them to settle in the village of Kunwald in the district of Lititz, which belonged to him, and they accordingly established their colony there in 1457 or 1458, Michael, the pastor of the neighboring town of Senftenberg, becoming their spiritual head. How large it was, whether including only individuals or entire famines, is not known, although the latter seems to have been the case. At all events, families were soon attracted to Kunwald, for the oldest document of the Brethren, a synodical resolution of 1464, presupposes the existence of households w'th civil occupations, as well as of widows and orphans.
BOHEMIAN BRETHREN.
II. The Brethren under Lukas.
Oppressive Measures of Vladislav
(§1). Overtures to the Protestants
(§2). Later Organization (§ 3).
III. Development from 1528 to 1621.
Johann Augusta (§1).
Cessation of Persecution (§ 2).
The Brethren Merged in the Utraquists (§ 3). IV The Brethren in Prussia and Poland.
This sketch of the origin of the Bohemian Brethren renders it clear that the current view which represents them as remnants of the Taborites is incorrect. In 1471 they designated themselves as disciples of Rokycana and his colleagues, and declared that they had been developed from the older communities mentioned above. The main outlines of the organization are contained in certain synodical resolutions of 1464-67. The community was divided into three groups: beginners or penitents, comprising children under the age of twelve and all who sought to enter the community from the time they made profession of their desire until they were received; the advanced, forming the majority of the community and devoting themselves to various civil callings, with masters and matrons appointed to supervise and counsel them; and the perfected (also called priests, although the community then had no specially appointed priesthood), who had re-
2. Early nounced private property and given Organ- their possessions to the poor, par-
ization. ticularly to those who " journey for the sake of the word of God." It was the duty of the perfected to proclaim the word and to hear confessions; they were required to travel in pairs, instead of alone, to earn a livelihood by the work of their hands, and to collect alms regularly, which were destined partly for the poor and partly for themselves, in case their work was insufficient to support them. Those of the laity, either male or female, who had voluntarily chosen poverty, also belonged to this class. At the head of the communities stood one or more elders, although no details of their duties are known, and information is equally scanty regarding the composition of their frequent synods. The Brethren at Kunwald gained an increasing number of adherents in Bohemia and Moravia, while their opposition to the dominant Church became stronger and stronger, especially as a result of the persecution instituted against them by King George in 1460. They accordingly felt themselves obliged, seven years later, to break entirely with the Church by the creation of an independent priesthood, the historical course of events being as follows, according to Goll's proposed combination of the sources, which are not always in entire agreement.
By a meeting with the Waldensians and their " bishop " Stephen, with whom they had become acquainted through Rokycana, the Bohemian Brethren had entered into relations with the Waldensians
Bohemian