CH. XIX.] CHURCH ORDER OF THE BRETHREN. 561 rule of the churches was committed. At their summons the most eminent of the Bohemian and Moravian Brethren were convoked, to form such regulations as the interest of the churches required. General rules for the conducting of their worship, the observance of fast days, the doctrines and government of the church, were subjects of discussion, and these were definitely settled. Their system of church order occasioned them some anxiety. A growing repugnance to the Romanizing tendencies of the Calixtines, from whom, moreover, they were repelled by persecution, forbade them to seek ordination at their hands. Even had they sought it, their application would doubtless have been rejected. The subject therefore was carefully considered in a synod held at Lhota in 1467.1 They resolved to choose their own teachers, from among themselves. It shows their discreet caution that first of all they elected twenty persons as candidates. These twenty were to elect nine of their number, to whom the definitive choice of three was to be committed. At another synod the question arose whether presbyters might be ordained without a bishop. It was answered in the affirmative. Both orders, it was said, were originally equal. Still, to avoid all occasion for scandal, it was deemed best to secure episcopal ordination. The three who had been elected as preachers were therefore sent for this purpose to the Waldensian church-the only one which they could recognize as pure and scriptural. These, after their ordination, returned to the Brethren and ordained others, as the necessities of the church required. The circumstances of the Brethren-persecuted by the Romanists, and disowned by the Calixtines, who were apprehensive of the result if they should become in the least identified with them-led them to look abroad for sympathy. Might there not bethey asked-in other lands, those whose views and doctrines accorded with their own? Only among the Waldenses could such be found. But even of them, it was said that they did not confess the whole truth. Persecution had made them shrink from a bold and fearless avowal of all their convictions. Notwithstanding this, it was resolved that communion with them should be proposed, while they should be admonished of what the Brethren regarded as errors. The admonition was kindly received. The proposal of communion was accepted. The common faith which they held was endeared to them the more by the common hardships which a persecuting spirit inflicted on both. The result was most disastrous to the Waldenses. The fact of their communion with the Brethren (Picards) was betrayed. Their leader, Bishop Stephen, along with several others, was burned. Some were scattered abroad in other lands. Some fled to the march of Brandenburg, and others joined the Brethren. This year (1480) was marked by quite an accession to the church of the exiles, from this as well as other sources. Meanwhile the Utraquists were not left unmolested. George Podiebrad, who from Regent had be CH. XIX.] PERSECUTION OF THE CALIXTINES. 563 come king, was unwilling to favor the Brethren, or restrain their persecutors, lest the infamy of the hated "Picards" should attach to himself. Calixtine in sentiment, he held by the Compactata of Iglau. But this came far short of the standard of papal orthodoxy. Pius II., who had long pretended friendship for the king, at last won over to himself Matthias of Hungary, and in separating him from George, threw off the mask. The articles of Prague-allowing toleration to the Calixtines-were revoked, and George was put under interdict. Paul II. (1465) was even more violent than his predecessor. In his zeal against the Bohemian heretics, he dispatched a legate, Rudolf, Bishop of Lavant, to Silesia, Saxony, and Bohemia, to preach up a crusade. The ambassadors of the king were driven out of Rome with rods. A murderous war sprang up on the frontiers of Bohemia between Catholics and Calixtines, each party branding its prisoners with the cup or the cross. The invading hosts were manfully resisted; but at this juncture (1471) the king died. Ladislaus of Poland, whom the excommunicated monarch recommended on his death-bed as his successor, adopted another policy. He persecuted the Calixtines in order to conciliate the pope. A revolt took place. The exasperated citizens threw the Burgomaster out of the window of the councilhouse, and beheaded some of the town councillors. Their most furious attacks, however, were directed against the priests and monks. Tranquillity was at last restored by the sons of the late king, and Ladis 1 1 Menzel, ii. 192. laus consenting to treat the Utraquists with less rigor. The pope moreover found violent measures impolitic. He determined to try what kindness could effect. He withdrew therefore the excommunication and crusade, and, agreeably to the Compactata, declared the Bohemians, the Utraquists included, good sons of the church. All this however was but a temporary expedient, demanded by the emergency. The oppressive measures were only deferred to a time more favorable to their execution. A short interval only elapsed before the administrators of the Utraquistic consistory, and several other ministers, were arrested and imprisoned. Some were put to the rack, or treated with such severity that they did not long survive. On the 21st of August, 1480, Michael Pollack, curate of St. Giles in Old Prague, a man of irreproachable character and distinguished for his eloquence, and three other curates, were seized, because they had called the pope Antichrist, and conveyed to the royal castle (Karlstein), where Pollack perished of hunger and hardship, and the others were scarcely released at the intercession of the states. Other persons were banished, or, apprehensive of danger, fled the city. Among the latter were Lucas of Prague-subsequently a bishop of the Brethrenand his friend John Nix, a man of learning. The king moreover prohibited the singing of certain Hussite hymns, and when the prohibition was disregarded, the transgressors were committed to prison, and some were put to death by torture. CH. XIX.] CONTEMPLATED MASSACRE DEFEATED. 565 The monks, who had become more bold and even extravagant in their rage, "condemned the Hussites to hell." It was in vain that the people murmured. The magistrates of Prague conspired with the nobili ty opposed to reform, to exterminate the Calixtines. Various royal edicts of a persecuting nature were issued, and the night of the 24th of September, 1483, was long remembered as one that threatened to become almost as memorable for wholesale massacre as the French St. Bartholomew's of the succeeding century.1 The plot, however, was discovered. A great uproar took place among the people. Three public halls, and all the monasteries were plundered, and several monks and senators were killed. Ladislaus, at first indignant, refused to interfere when he learned how great had been the provocation offered to the Utraquists.2 In the public diet of 1485, the king, who seems to have become disgusted with the harsh measures of the persecutors, ordered a treaty to be confirmed between the opposing parties. They were required to promise mutual toleration and friendship. But in spite of this, mutual hatred still continued. The Calixtines as well as the Brethren were for many years subjected to vexatious and harrassing modes of persecution. Some of the more yielding among them joined the Catholic church. Others steadfastly adhered to their peculiar views, and refused to accept the ordination of the Romish bishops. Some of their 'Other authorities give the date of the contemplated massacre as Dec. 24th, 1485. It is possible that the failure of the first attempt 2 Pescheck, i. 43. ay have |