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CH. XVIII.] THE CALIXTINES PERSECUTED.

551

Calixtine party by making them a sacrifice to religious bigotry. In this course he was abetted by the time-serving Rokyzan. But it was not long before he discovered his error. The pope's favor was not to be secured even at such a price. In maintaining what he conceived the course of justice-the concordat of Iglau—George drew down upon himself the anger of the pontiff, Pius II., which manifested itself in the form of interdict. The articles of Prague-the Compactata were revoked, under the pretext that no pope had signed them. The Catholics were incited to rise against the Calixtines, and when Paul II. succeeded to the tiara, the zeal of the Roman court against the Bohemian heretics became still more violent.

Meanwhile the warlike Taborites had disappeared from the scene. They no longer formed a national party. But the feeble remnants of that multitude that had once followed the standards of Zisca and Procopius still clung to their cherished faith, and, with the word of God as their only supreme authority, the United Brethren appear as their lineal representatives. How from such an origin should have sprung a people whose peaceful virtues and missionary zeal have been acknowledged by the world, is a problem only to be solved by admitting, that in the faith of the old Taborites, however they may have been guilty of fanatical excesses, there was to be found that fundamental principle of reverence for the authority of scripture alone, which they bequeathed as a cherished legacy to those who could apply and act upon it in more favorable circumstances and in more peaceful times.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE TABORITES AND MORAVIANS.1

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EARLY HISTORY OF THE MORAVIANS. COUNCIL OF BASLE.-COMPACTATA OF IGLAU. COURSE OF ROKYZAN. - PERSECUTING AND VIOLENT MEASURES. — BANDS OF EXILES." THE UNITED BRETHREN."- TRYING PERIOD. - ROKYZAN'S TIMIDITY. SYSTEM OF CHURCH ORDER. -SYNODS. - BISHOPS. FOREIGN SYMPATHY SOUGHT. THE CALIXTINES. WAR BETWEEN BOHEMIA AND HUNGARY. - DEATH OF GEORGE PODIEBRAD. — LENIENT MEASURES.- PERSECUTION RENEWED. MICHAEL POLLACK. - PROJECTED MASSACRE. DIET OF 1485. — THE "AGREEMENT" OF THE BRETHREN. CALUMNY. POLITICAL INFLUENCE. PERSECUTING SPIRIT OF THE CALIXTINES. CHURCHES OF THE BRETHREN. - PROPOSAL TO EXTIRPATE THE BRETHREN. A DISPUTATION APPOINTED. SEVERE EDICTS. - ANECDOTE OF ONE OF THE BRETHREN. CRUELTIES IN 1510.-FOREIGN SYMPATHY. ERASMUS. - PERIOD OF TRIAL. - RECOGNITION OF OTHER CHRISTIANS..

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1460-1517.

THE early history of the Moravian church abounds in scenes of deep and thrilling interest. For nearly three hundred years before John Wesley was the admiring witness of their calm faith amid ocean perils, they had exhibited to the world the most sublime illustrations of heroic constancy, under the severest hardships and persecutions. There might seem but little congeniality between the warlike Taborites

'The materials of this chapter have been derived from the various histories of the Moravians, and from a valuable work entitled "Reformation and Anti-Reformation in Bohemia," by Dr. Pescheck of Zittau, translated and published in London in two 8vo volumes, in 1845. "The History of the Brethren, or Unitas Fratrum,” by David Crantz, translated into English

by Benjamin La Trobe, was published in London in two 8vo volumes in 1780. Bost's History of the Moravians is a smaller and more popular work. Pescheck's volumes are largely compiled from extended documents, and are arranged with little regard to system, although for the most part of unquestionable authority and gathered with great diligence.

CH. XIX.]

COURSE OF ROKYZAN.

553

who followed the invincible Zisca to the field, and the humble, peaceful, and peace-loving brethren, whose gentle manners, honest industry, and simpleminded devotion made Hernhut the radiating centre of missionary influences, that have extended from Greenland to the islands of tropic seas, from the Eastern to the Western continent; but in the faith of the former, who bowed with implicit submission to the sole authority of the word of God, we recognize that living germ of the church of the United Brethren, which more than two centuries of protracted persecution was unable to suppress. Through a tedious but far from fruitless discipline, they were brought to the exercise of those rare graces of the spiritual life which have commended them to the sympathy and respect of the Christian world. Like the Israelites of old, they had their Red Sea and desert to pass through; but the first was red with the blood of martyrs, and the last was bitter with the pains of plundered want and weary exile.

The attempts made through successive years, after the close of the council of Constance, to crush out the Bohemian heresy and subdue the followers of Huss, had proved futile. Milder measures, as we have already seen, were at last found necessary, and the council of Basle (1431) listened patiently, for fifty days, to discussions conducted by the Bohemians on one side, and the representatives of the Romish church on the other. Through the influence of the able but intriguing Rokyzan, a compromise was at last effected. The Bohemians were to retain the use of the cup, but in other respects were to conform to

the rites and doctrines of the church, promising obedience to the Papal See. These articles-soon confirmed by the Emperor Sigismund at Iglau, and afterward known as the Compactata of Iglau-failed to satisfy the demands of the more zealous portion of the Hussites: but they were now in the minority; and when their opposition had been effectually crushed in a new appeal to arms, (1434,) they found themselves constrained either to acquiesce in the prevalent policy of the Utraquists, or enjoy their proscribed worship in solitudes or secret retreats.

But the compromise measures were scarcely more acceptable to the papal party than they had been to the Taborites. They had been carried by the influence of Rokyzan, who aspired to become Archbishop of Prague. The object of his ambition seemed just within his grasp. At the diet of 1435, he was elected to the post, and his election was confirmed by the emperor. But the papal party refused to acknowledge him, and he was denied investiture unless he would abandon the doctrine of the cup. Indignant at being thus foiled in his purpose, and having the object, whose pursuit must have cost him many a reproof of conscience, snatched from his grasp, Rokyzan threatened to break entirely with the Roman Catholic church. His hearers urged him on. In the diet of 1450 he succeeded in procuring the appointment of an embassy to Constantinople, to seek a union with the Greek church. The Patriarch Nicomedis promised to ordain the Bohemian bishops, but the Turkish conquest (1453) defeated the execution of the design. Rokyzan became now more timid.

CH. XIX.]

PERSECUTION REVIVED.

555

Hitherto he had not hesitated to denounce the Compactata which he had been so largely instrumental in procuring. He publicly taught that the forms of religion should be established according to the law of Christ alone. He introduced hymns, in the vulgar tongue, into the churches and schools of Bohemia.

But at length he began to draw back. He was too hesitating to take a decided step, or countenance the measures of the Taborites. The Regent, George Podiebrad, (1450,) was moreover inclined to adopt a temporizing policy, and Rokyzan henceforth stood more aloof from the "Brethren." His convictions

were in their favor, but his ambition would not allow him to act upon them. When their assemblies were broken up, he replied to their complaints by advising them to maintain communion among themselves, and seek their mutual edification by the reading of the Bible and of good books. They had hoped for his sanction, but could not obtain it. Severe cruelties were inflicted upon them, through the influence of papal emissaries; and even Gregory—although a nephew of Rokyzan-was, as one of their number, cast into prison.

In 1451, Peter Maldoniewitz, the faithful notary of John de Chlum, and the friend of Huss at Constance, who had for many years been a Hussite preacher, engaged with others in zealous efforts to disseminate the knowledge of the gospel throughout Bohemia. But their efforts were met by violent opposition. Persecution was more bitterly revived. Three deacons of the Hussites were compelled to sacrifice their lives for their creed. One of them,

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