Genealogical Record of the Schwenkfelders xiv

page xiv



sang a hymn of invocation, especially to the Holy Ghost, all standing; after that they sang sitting, then prayed, and thereupon read some sermons; then prayed again and sang a couple of hymns; after that they ate at midday; then prayed again standing and sang an invocatory hymn, after which they read quite until evening, when they prayed and sang standing. This was the order on Sunday, and when the people came together in the week-time (for spinning) they then almost always sang, and when any one wished to go home they knelt down together and prayed."

Towards the close of the seventeenth century the spirit of intolerance relaxed, and the Lutheran Church presenting her attractive side to this people, large numbers, especially of the young, were won over to her communion, and from that time the Schwenkfelders gradually decreased, until in 1718 they numbered only a few hundreds where they had formerly been counted by the thousands, and had disappeared entirely from many villages where they had once been numerous. Reduced in numbers as they now were, their conversion to the Roman Catholic faith was, nevertheless, deemed by the Jesuits an object of sufficient importance to enlist the energies of the Order in that direction, and in furtherance of such object they commenced operations about this time at the Imperial Court. It was not difficult to persuade Charles VI. that the treaty of Westphalia in its interdiction of religious persecution did not protect the Schwenkfelders. An order to the government at Liegnitz to send in an official report of that people and their creed was therefore readily obtained, and in obedience thereto some of the leading men were summoned to appear at Liegnitz on the 19th of May, 1718, where they were questioned and required to hand in a written declaration or confession of their faith and some of their doctrinal and devotional books. Next, the Lutheran pastors at Harpersdorf and Neudorf were


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