CH. XIX.]

PERSECUTION REVIVED.

571

procured, and employed in Bohemia for the printing of Bibles alone. The version used was a translation of the Vulgate, and answered its purpose for a hundred years.

The short peace of the Brethren was soon disturbed by fresh troubles. Some of them had gone so far in the zealous defence of their non-resistance tenets, as to declare that a Christian could not with a good conscience hold civil office, or bear arms. These propositions were represented to the king as of dangerous tendency; and in the diet of 1503, he was urged to extirpate them from the kingdom. Several of the states protested against these insinuations, asserted the innocence of the Brethren, and opposed the cruel measures which were contemplated. But when the friends of the Brethren had withdrawn from the assembly, their enemies prevailed upon the king to sign a persecuting decree.

Against this the Brethren entered their remonstrance. The king changed his mind, and sought to bring about a union between them and the Calixtines. With this view he directed that some of their principal preachers should visit Prague, and confer with the professors of the university and the Calixtine consistory. Though apprehensive of a plot against them, the Brethren complied with the command, (Dec., 1503.) But on the very day on which the conference was to have been opened, their most bitter enemy, the rector of the university, died. None of the rest dared to meet them in a public discussion. They were afraid of being confounded in argument in the presence of the citizens. The conference was deferred

from day to day, till under various pretexts it was altogether abandoned.

From time to time, however, the work of persecution was revived. The views of the Brethren, as maintained in their apologies, were studiously misrepresented. Their non-resistance principles especially were so perverted by their enemies as to make them objects of odium and contempt. In 1508 this malice threatened to break out in a more violent manner. The Roman Catholic bishops succeeded by flattery in obtaining from Ladislaus several severe decrees against the Brethren. These were met by a presentation to the king of their confession. This, with their apologies, was all the resistance they could offer to the measures of their persecutors. Yet if any thing could have justified a departure from their principles by the use of physical force, it was the decree of August 10th, 1508. In this it was com manded that "all Picardines, without distinction of sex or age, should be punished with death."1 An anecdote in this connection illustrates the fearless spirit of the Brethren, notwithstanding their view of non-resistance. The chancellor, Albert, on his return from the diet where the decree had been ratified, paid a visit to the Baron of Coldicium, and reported to him what all had agreed upon. The baron turned to his servant Simon, one of the Brethren, and asked him how he liked it. "All have not agreed to it," was his reply. "Who are they," asked the chancellor, "who dare oppose all the states of the kingdom?" "There is in heaven," replied the servant,

1 1 Pescheck, i. 41.

CH. XIX.] SYMPATHY SOUGHT IN OTHER LANDS.

573

lifting up his hand, "One, who if he were not present at your counsels, you have taken counsel in vain."

The murderous character of the edict disgusted some of the principal nobility. Through their opposition its execution was deferred. But in 1510 it received the second assent of the states, and to some extent was enforced. Many of the Brethren became its victims. Numerous were the cases of imprisonment. Some were mutilated, some burned, and some put to death by drowning. All varieties of torture were employed to subdue the constancy of the martyrs. So far did the power of persecution prevail, that divine service could only be performed in secret, save in the district of Baron Schwamberg.

Already, as we have seen, the Brethren had sought to discover in other lands Christian organizations to which they could extend their sympathy and communion. These they had found among the Waldenses alone. Their effort was now (1486) renewed. Previous to this they had made the matter a subject of deliberation. But in the synod of that year they gave evidence of their large views and liberal spirit. They declared that the Catholic church of God was not limited to any visible society of believers, but was to be found in any part of Christendom, wherever the holy Catholic faith, agreeable to the truth of God, prevailed. Again they sent forth brethren to Rome, Italy, France, and the Waldenses, to search out those whom they might recognize as their spiritual kindred. They longed to enjoy the assurance that somewhere in the world there were those whose doctrines and worship

were mainly identical with their own; that in their isolation, they were not altogether separate from spiritual kindred who in other scenes and other lands were bearing testimony to a pure gospel.

Some whom they sent out on this novel errand of searching for Christian brethren, went to Greece, to Russia, to Scythia, to Egypt, to Constantinople, and to Thrace. Others visited France, Rome, and various parts of Italy. Their report is indeed striking and significant. They found, they said, sighing souls, but no organized church with which they could unite. Hence, at a synod at which the report was made, (1489,) it was resolved: "If God anywhere in the world should stir up righteous teachers and reformers of the church, they would make common cause with them." Such was the truly catholic spirit by which they were animated.

The fame of Erasmus had already reached Bohemia. The Brethren looked to him-a Biblical scholar-with some degree of hope. In 1511 they presented to him their confession of faith-the same which had been exhibited to Ladislaus in 1480. They asked him to point out its errors, or show them in what respects it could be improved. True to his nature, the timid scholar gave it his secret approval, but advised them to keep quiet. He excused himself from coming out openly in their favor, as it would only injure himself and do them no good. In some of his writings, however, he expressed himself favora bly in regard to them.1

1

The language of Erasmus, in reply to one of the calumniators of the Brethren, was, "If the Brethren elect

pastors from among themselves, it is nothing more than what the primitive Christians did; if they make choice

CH. XIX.]

SYNODICAL DECISION.

575

The interval between this and the appearance of Luther as a reformer, was one of sore trial to the Brethren. They were rarely left unmolested in the enjoyment of religious worship. They grew weary of their state of isolation, separated from the rest of the religious world. Their condition was, with many at least, that of seeming, if not actual, schism from the Christian body. Some proposed that they should reunite with the Calixtines, in the hope of peace and larger usefulness. The subject was brought before one of their synods. Here it was decided, that if in another church than their own a priest of pure doctrine and holy life was to be found, it was a subject for gratitude to God; but this was no sufficient reason for reunion or communion with a church which had been left because of its errors. The successor of the priest might be a man of a totally dif ferent character. Even though one might not enjoy the membership of a properly organized church, all might keep the unity of the spirit and of the body of Christ. Nor was it without danger for believers to forsake privileges accompanied by divine grace among themselves, to seek them among strangers. In case there should be found many priests of another church united together in the work of a faithful ministration of the word of God, and properly consti

of unlettered and uneducated men, they may well be excused, since the want of learning is sufficiently compensated by the holiness of their lives; if they call one another brother and sister, I see no harm in it; would to God that this appellation, dictated by brotherly love, existed universally among Christians; if they place

less confidence in their preachers than in the Holy Scriptures, that is, if they put more confidence in God than in man, they are right. As to holy days, I find their sentiments little different from those which prevailed in the times of Saint Jerome; but festivals have now increased to an enormous number."