Ferencz József: Párhuzam hazánk és egyházunk története között (Kolozsvár, 1896)

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fatherland for us. That we can owe this land of ours, that we can say, it is the land of Hungary even to-day, we are indebted on the one hand to the bravery, wisdom and patriotism of our ancestors, and on the other hand to God.

So was it with us, Christian Brethren, as a denomination, in struggling to maintain our Church. Why no sooner was our Church legally recognised in Transylvania under the Prince John Sigismund, than after his death all the nobility which accepted the Unitarian religion, left again their new faith. Soon after, Francis Dávid also was imprisoned for his deniing the Divinity and worship of Christ as this creed was too advanced then; it preceded several centuries. And thus the words of the Holy Scripture have been fulfilled with us also: "/ will smite the shephered, and the sheep of the flock shall ke scattered abroad." St. Matthew. XXVI. 31.

The condemnation of Francis (Dávid was of severer consequence for our church than even the death of John Sigismund, inasmuch as with the latter there fell out only one key-stone from the beautiful edifice of our church, while with the former the edifice itself was shaken, so that it required the greatest wisdom and precaution to save and ensure it from entire distraction.

But it has been saved and ensured, though with scars and splits, such as the separation of the Hungarian congregations from the Transylvanian diocese and their subsequent disappearance, or again the complete suffocation for a time of the freethought repre-