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Chap. XVII.—B. P.] HISTORY OP THE MORAVIANS. 
in Bohemia, sixty years before the Reformation. In 
1457, some of the followers of John Huss united to¬ 
gether, and adopted the name of “TJnitas Bratrum,” 
or “ The Unity of the Brethen.” In the course of 
a few years they became organized as a Church, with 
a synodal and episcopal government, episcopal orders, 
and a strict discipline. In spite of great opposition 
and fierce persecutions, this Church stood its ground 
in Bohemia and Moravia, rapidly increasing in extent 
and influence, and embraced amongst its adherents a 
large proportion of the population, including many of 
the noblest families of those countries; finally it spread 
into Poland. After a season of outward prosperity 
and of close alliance with the other Protestant deno¬ 
minations, it was, in common with them, fiercely at¬ 
tacked, and, after terrible persecutions from the then 
dominant Popish powers, was finally trodden down in 
the year 1627, and became almost extinct. 
Some of the descendants of the members of this 
Church, who in secret still adhered to the tenets of 
their fathers, emigrated in the year 1722, and finding 
a refuge in Saxony, on the estate of a pious and 
highly-gifted nobleman, the young Count Zinzendorf, 
founded a small settlement, which they called Herrri- 
hut. They were joined by a number of persons from 
the Reformed Churches of Germany, by the Count 
Zinzendorf himself, and many of his friends, and by 
many more from Moravia. In the course of a few 
years they formed themselves, under the leadership of 
Zinzendorf, into a distinct religious society, in close 
brotherhood with the Protestant Rational Church. 
