CH. XX.]

TREATMENT OF THE EXILES.

591

and kindness from those who were of the same faith with their royal persecutor.

At Posen they were courteously and hospitably entertained, but even here they were not allowed to rest. An order was received from the king1 for their expulsion. They were thus forced to proceed, and directed their steps to the confines of Prussia. To Duke Albert of Brandenburg they sent a deputation, asking leave to settle in his dominions. At Königsberg they were examined by the Lutheran theologians, and by them were acknowledged as brethren. Seven towns, among them Soldau and Guidzin, were assigned them for their residence. The bishop, Paul Sprettin (Speratus), a former pupil of Luther, who was well acquainted with their ritual and doctrine, showed them many tokens of Christian kindness.

One by one, as they were able to make good their escape, their teachers followed them. George Israel, pastor of the church of Turnau, who afterward became the apostle of the Poles, refused to allow his friends to pay the penalty of his non-appearance before the magistrate. Thanking them for their kindness, he appeared at the castle of Prague and surrendered himself. "It is enough," said he, "to have been once redeemed fully by the blood of Christ, and there is no need of being bought again by the gold of man." He was thrown into prison, but in the course of a few weeks made good his escape and followed his fellow-exiles to Prussia.2

'Some authorities speak of the Bishop of Posen as the instigator to harsh

measures.

2 He ventured to walk out of the place of his confinement in the castle of Frague in broad day, through the

Such of the Brethren as remained in Bohemia were subjected to the most cruel hardships. The Baron of Schanow was put to the rack to extort a confession of his having opposed the king. In the midst of his tortures, with heroic indignation, he bit off his tongue. When asked the reason of his conduct, he wrote, "If I tell the truth according to my conscience, you will not believe me; and that I might not be induced by pain to declare what is false against myself and others, I have disabled myself from speaking at all."

The baron died of the tortures that had been inflicted. He was a distinguished victim, and counted worthy of a distinguished fate. The humbler classes of the Brethren were subjected to vexations scarcely less cruel. It was decreed at Prague, that no one of suspected faith should be admitted to the workshops of the mechanics, or should be allowed the rights of citizenship. The act was confirmed by the king, and almost every kind of outrage against the hated "Picards" was perpetrated with impunity. If any one was unwilling to pay his creditor, he only needed to accuse him of "Picardism," and all was settled by the banishment of the creditor. One man, for having in his possession a book of one of the reformers on the sacraments, was scourged in the market-place, and then banished. Another was branded on the forehead. Another was thrown into a dungeon and there murdered.

midst of the guards, in the habit of a clerk, with a pen behind his ear, carrying an ink-horn and some paper, and made good his escape to his brethren who had preceded him to

Prussia. In the space of six years, twenty congregations of the Brethren were established by him in the country.-Bost. 79. Lochner's Life of George Israel, 59, 60.

CH. XX.]

MARTYRDOMS. THE JESUITS.

593

A chapter of thrilling interest would be afforded by the history of the martyrdoms of this period. Never was the heroism of Christian faith more nobly illustrated. The victims met their fate with a constancy and a cheerfulness that showed the strength of their convictions and the fervor of their devotion. Thither, where our God is, must I look," said one, lifting her eyes to heaven, as the image of the cross was presented to her at the stake. They counted it "a grace given them to suffer for the law of God." "On my wedding day," said one, "I did not feel so happy as I do now." 1

The churches of the Brethren were now closed, and their ministers were persecuted wherever they could be met. Some found temporary rest and security in Moravia; others hid themselves in the daytime, but crept forth from their holes and hidingplaces by night to comfort and instruct their suffering brethren.

The Calixtines, moreover, were not left unmolested. In 1538 the communion of the cup was prohibited by Ferdinand, in an order issued by him at Vienna. He did indeed at one time solicit the pope for a grant of the cup, but his object was merely to procure peace and prevent any further defection from the papacy.

In the years 1554-5, emissaries of the newlyfounded order of the Jesuits had found their way to Prague. They had been sent for the purpose of "manufacturing genuine Catholic priests." It was a timely movement on the part of Rome. "There were

so few orthodox priests in Bohemia," says Pessina, "that had it not been for the Jesuits, the Catholic religion would have been suppressed." At first they spoke in the mildest tone. They assumed the most bland and winning manners. All that cunning, zeal, perseverance, and genius could accomplish, they ef fected. They laid hold of the court. They condescended to the masses. At the confessional, in the pulpit, in the lecturer's chair, their power was felt. Among them " were saints, equalling in faith the martyrs of old; poets, overflowing with philanthropy; bold and unflinching despots; smooth-tongued divines, versed in the art of lying." While the popes negotiated, they acted. They discerned the problem to be solved, and set themselves to the task with fearless energy and unscrupulous policy. Nothing seemed to them too desperate that might enlarge the authority of the Papal See.

With the arts of the Jesuits, the feebleness of the king, as he advanced in years, contributed to produce a relaxation of the severity employed against the Protestants. The council of Trent disappointed the hopes and refused the demands of Ferdinand, and his previous zeal for orthodoxy was sensibly diminished. The closing years of the sixteenth century were years of comparative security and repose to the Brethren. Some of them screened themselves under the name of the Utraquists, to whom an almost complete toleration was allowed.

In 1562 Maximilian II. succeeded to the throne, and soon after was elected emperor. His policy was more lenient. The Brethren were allowed, for the

CH XX.]

MAXIMILIAN AND JOHN CRATO.

595

most part, freedom from molestation. A dangerous attempt against their privileges met with a signal failure. In 1563 the Archchancellor of Bohemia repaired to Vienna, and by continued importunity prevailed on the emperor to sign a persecuting decree against them. But on his return, exultant in his success, he was arrested in the execution of his designs. He had scarcely left the gates of Vienna and reached the bridge over the Danube, when the part upon which he stood sunk under him, and he himself, with his suit and baggage, was plunged into the stream. Some fishermen hasted to the rescue of the chancellor, who had been seized by his gold chain, and supported in the water by one of his young attendants; but he was too far gone to be restored. The casket which held the persecuting edict was swept down with the current, and never recovered.

In the following year brighter prospects opened before them. They obtained the liberty of opening their places of worship, and engaging in public religious services. These privileges were granted by the emperor himself. When measures for enforcing conformity were about to be put in execution, the Brethren applied to him asking his protection. Their application was favorably received, especially when the emperor had perused their confession of faith, and they were left for a period unmolested. The principle of religious toleration was becoming popular at court. Maximilian had been educated by one who was himself a pupil of Melanchthon. His physician was John Crato, one of the Brethren whom Maximilian made his confidant. Once as they were