faithful witness of his word in Bohemia, in the person of John Huss. The boldness with which he attacked the errors of popery, and the success which attended his labors, are almost incredible. While they were beheld by his friends with delight and admiration, his enemies, viewing them as destructive to their cause, determined to rid themselves of so powerful and dangerous an opponent. He was cited before the council of Constance, condemned as an incorrigible heretic, and suffered martyrdom at the stake on the 6th of July 1415.* A year after his faithful friend and coadjutor Jerome of Prague shared the same fate.

proThe more moderate party in the Council objected to these ceedings, as fraught with injustice, and highly impolitic, tending to exasperate the whole Bohemian nation, and kindle the flames of war. Subsequent events proved, that their apprehensions were but too well-founded. The Bohemian nobility, joined by the university of Prague, sent a very spirited letter to the Council, complaining of the insult offered to the whole nation, by committing John Huss to the flames, a man universally respected for his doctrines, his talents, and piety. The Council, who had previously threatened all who should favour his doctrines with excommunication, did not deign to reply, but issued a circular, commanding the adherents of the papal communion in Bohemia, to assist, by every means in their power, in the extermination of all heretics.

This exposed the Hussites to new and dreadful persecutions. They were publicly excommunicated by the Pope, and thrown into prison. Their property was confiscated, and a reward offered for apprehending any who might betake themselves to flight. Hundreds were cast into the deep shafts of the mines near Huttenberg, some drowned, and others committed to the flames. An upright Hussite clergyman, after suffering many cruelties, was, together with three farmers and four boys, placed on a pile of wood. Being once more exhorted to abjure all heresy, the clergyman replied-" God forbid! we would,

* A brief sketch of his life and martyrdom will be given in the next

section.

†The name given to those who had espoused his cause.

if it were possible, endure death not once only, but a hundred times, rather than deny the truth of the gospel, solemnly revealed in the Bible." While the fire was kindling, the clergyman, clasping the children in his arms, began a hymn of praise, in which all joined till they were suffocated by the flames.

Nor were these cruelties confined to Bohemia. The rage of their enemies pursued the Hussites into foreign countries. Kraso, a rich merchant of Prague, who was at Breslaw in Silesia, on business, had in the course of conversation betrayed his attachment to the doctrines of Huss. This was too heinous a crime to remain unpunished, and he was thrown into prison. The next day a student from Prague was, on a similar charge, committed to the same prison. Kraso, observing his companion greatly dejected through fear of the torture he might have to suffer, endeavoured to encourage him, and thus addressed him— "My brother, how great is the honour to bear a public testimony for the Lord Jesus! Let us cheerfully suffer for his sake. The conflict is short; the reward eternal. Let us remember the cruel death the Lord Jesus Christ endured, when he shed his precious and innocent blood for our redemption; and let us call to mind the cloud of witnesses who have suffered martyrdom for the truth." The student, however, had not sufficient fortitude, and retracted his belief in the doctrines of Huss; but the merchant remained faithful, and was led to the stake.

Not all, however, who venerated the name of Huss, and desired a reform in religion, were imbued with the meek and holy spirit of the gospel, which teaches the true followers of the Saviour to deny themselves, and learn of him, not to resist, but patiently to suffer for his sake. Not all were endowed with the zeal and fortitude of martyrs, and ready, like their leader and others, rather to sacrifice their lives to the truth, than disgrace the gospel of peace by employing carnal weapons in its defence. Many indeed were sufficiently enlightened, to discern the falsehood and absurdity of the tenets and rites imposed on them under the name of religion, and to detect the perfidy and vices of those, who claimed it as their sole prerogative to explain the Holy Scriptures, and controul the faith of the nation; but they were still in a great measure ignorant of the

true nature of the kingdom of Christ, which is not to be extended by the sword of the warrior, or the din of arms, but by the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and by the small still voice, speaking to the heart and conscience, and teaching its subjects that heavenly wisdom," which is pure, peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy, and good fruits, without hypocrisy, and without partiality.”

In the mean time, the Council of Constance, to which the Hussites were still looking for a redress of their grievances, was dissolved in 1418, without passing one conciliatory act. Two years after, Pope Martin V. published an edict accusing them of the most damnable heresies, and calling upon emperors, kings, and princes, for the sake of the wounds of Jesus, and their own eternal salvation, to assist in their extirpation.

Those among the Hussites, who were disposed to defend their religious liberties by force of arms, considered this as the proper moment for commencing their operations. Under their renowned leader, Zisca, they commenced and carried on war for thirteen years, with remorseless cruelty on both sides. Without entering into a detail of the battles that were fought, and the victories that were won, it is sufficient to remark, that Zisca was almost uniformly successful, and at length found himself and his followers in peaceful possession of the whole kingdom of Bohemia. The emperor, Sigismund, after repeated defeats, acknowledged the superiority of Zisca, and sent deputies to him with proposals of peace. A place was fixed on for a congress, and the Bohemian general set out to meet Sigismund. But on his way thither he was infected by the plague, and died at the castle of Priscow, on the 6th of October, 1424. His body was buried in the great church of Czarlow in Bohemia, where a monument was erected to his memory with the following inscription:-HERE LIES JOHN ZISCA, WHO HAVING DEFENDED HIS COUNTRY AGAINST THE ENCROACHMENTS OF PAPAL TYRANNY, RESTS IN THIS HALLOWED PLACE, IN SPITE OF THE POPE.

Among those who had ranged themselves under the standard of Zisca, there existed much diversity of opinion on religious subjects, which ended in open rupture. Persons of rank and learning insisted chiefly, and almost exclusively, on the resti

tution of the cup in the eucharist to the laity, and were called Calixtines.* Others contended for the abolition of all popish errors and ceremonies. These, for the sake of greater safety, performed divine worship on a mountain, fortified by Zisca, and called Tabor. From this circumstance they received the name of Taborites. Their party consisted of the most upright followers of Huss, and was daily augmented by vast numbers, who flocked to them from all parts of Moravia and Bohemia. They separated from the Calixtines, and were persecuted by them.

After the death of Zisca, Procop, or Procopius, became the leader of the Hussites; the war was renewed, and raged with unabated fury for several years. For the purpose of effecting a reconciliation, a general Council assembled at Basle in 1431, to which both the Hussite parties were invited. The Taborites for some time refused to send deputies, alleging that general Councils, instead of benefiting the church, had hitherto only tended to rivet the chains of papal domination on its members. At length Procop resolved to go; and when solicited by his friends to demand a passport for his protection, exclaimed— "Passport! need we any other passport than our swords ?" He was accompanied by Cosel, another leader of the Taborites. They were received at Basle in the most extraordinary manner, and the respect shewn them fell little short of what is usually paid to princes. The magistrates received them at the gates of the city, and the greater part of the inhabitants went out to meet them, and gazed at them with astonishment. In repeated conferences they sought to convince the Council of the necessity of reform, and to obtain, for themselves and their countrymen, that religious liberty, which on scriptural principles, they had a right to demand. But this was a novel doctrine to the Council, and generally disliked; and though the deputies were treated with civility, they soon found that they had gained nothing, and returned to Bohemia, fully convinced, that, under existing circumstances, no general Council would ever espouse the cause of pure Christianity.

* From the Latin word, calix, a cup, whence the term chalice is derived.

The other party, the Calixtines, likewise attended the Council. In point of number, rank, property, and worldly distinctions, they exceeded the Taborites, and the deputies shewed more willingness to accommodate existing differences. They promised obedience and subjection to the papal see, on condition that the following four points, called the Bohemian compact, were conceded :

1. That the word of God shall be freely preached by able ministers, according to the Holy Scriptures, without the addition of human inventions.

2. The Lord's Supper shall be administered unto all in both kinds, and divine worship performed in the mother tongue.

3. Open sins shall be openly punished, according to the law of God, without respect of persons.

4. The clergy shall exercise no worldly dominion, but preach the gospel.

The Council professed their readiness to accede to the wish of the deputies, and even commended them as good children of the church. Its insincerity, however, soon became manifest. Of the four conditions, only the second was actually complied with. And in the sequel the Pope totally disannulled the Bohemian Compact.

Emissaries were sent into Bohemia by the popish party, with the professed object of bringing back the people to the true faith; but they secretly used every exertion to widen the breach between the Calixtines and Taborites. In this they succeeded but too well for the Taborites were generally dissatisfied with the concessions made at the Council; and the Calixtines, being through the persuasions of Rokyzan, their deputy at the Council, prevailed upon to be content with the use of the cup in the sacrament, took up arms against their brethren. The Taborites were totally defeated: Procop fell on the plain of Breda, and his followers were dispersed. Those who escaped the ravages of the sword, fled to mount Tabor; where the emperor permitted them to settle, and follow their own religious opinions.

Aeneas Sylvius, a popish writer, who visited this colony, gives the following account of it:-" In the square stood the temple, a wooden structure, hardly superior to a country barn,