ed by the winds of heaven; but their memory was precious. The inhabitants of Bohemia were shocked at the dreadful sacrifice which had been made of the best of blood to the wickedness of priests. The next year, about sixty of the principal persons of the country addressed a letter to the council, saying, "We can find no blame attached to the doctrine or life of John Huss, but, on the contrary, every thing pious, laudable and worthy of a true pastor. Ye have not only disgraced us by his condemnation, but have also unmercifully imprisoned, and perhaps already put to death Jerome of Prague, a man of most profound learning and copious eloquence. Him, also, ye have condemned, unconvicted. Notwithstanding all that hath passed, we are resolved to sacrifice our lives for the defence of the gospel of Christ and of his faithful preachers." were not seen. These were men, ready to be led through all the perilous conflicts of a reformation, had they had enlightened guides. But, alas! it was an age of awful darkness; and, though many saw the vices and abominations of Antichrist, yet none, as yet, saw the true way of reform. The best men had a poor understanding of the faith. The idea that the kingdom of Christ was a spiritual kingdom, was embraced by but few, if any. Errors of practice were distinctly visible, but errors of doctrine The Romish church, in the council of Constance, passed a decree forbidding the use of the cup by the laity in the communion. This, added to the other enormities and corruptions of the age, roused the Bohemians to arms. About 40,000 assembled together on a mountain near Prague, which they called Mount Tabor, where they raised a strong fortification, and put themselves under the direction of two chiefs, Nicolas and John Ziska, with the determination to revenge the deaths of John Huss and Jerome, and obtain the liberty of worshipping God according to the dictates of their own conscien ces. Their numbers increased soon to an amazing extent; war was declared against Sigismund, the German emperor, and a deluge of blood was shed. Each party appeared to the other as enemies of true religion, hated of God and justly exposed to extirpation by fire and the sword. The most shocking and terrible acts of barbarity, therefore, were continually exhibited. At length, the Papal party yielded; and, in 1443, a treaty of peace was concluded, in which the Bohemians were allowed the use of the cup in the sacrament and the administration of the ordinance in their own language. With these terms, the major part only were satisfied. These were called Calixtines. The remainder, who seem to have been the true Waldenses, wished for a more thorough reforma tion from popery and a restoration of Christianty to its primitive simplicity. They were called Taborites, and, through ignorance and fanaticism, went to many unwarranted excesses, and were the object of fiery persecution, especially from their brethren the Calixtines. In 1467, they formed a separate church and chose their own pastors. In 1480, their number was increased by an accession of some Waldenses, who esca, ped out of Austria, where they had been severely persecuted, and some of their pastors had been burned alive. But their enemies gave them no rest. The next year, the Hussites were all banished from Moravia, and were compelled to seek refuge in other countries for six years. Their number, however, did not much diminish. In the beginning of the sixteenth century they had in Bohemia and Moravia two hundred congregations. These poor oppressed and despised people appear to have formed the true church of Christ in that age. They greatly needed the clear light of a future age, a clear view of the pure doctrines of the gospel ;* they were guilty of many acts of violence and rapine in defence of their religion, considered justifiable in that age; but among them, as among the early Waldenses, was a spirit of prayer, a spirit of holiness, and abhorrence of the errors and corruptions of the man of sin, a strict discipline, a desire for the pure and simple worship of Jehovah, and a disposition to make the scripture the only rule of faith and practice. Their covenant God, no doubt, beheld them in the thickets and clefts of the rocks, and heard their midnight songs of praise, and communicated to them his Holy Spirit. And if, as we have reason to believe was the case, they feared God, they are among That the Hussites had many correct views, it is evident from the following articles of their creed given by Æneas Sylvius, who was afterwards pope Pious II. The pope of Rome is equal with other bishops. Among priests there is no difference. There is no purgatory fire. It is vain to pray for the dead and an invention of priestly covetousness. The images of God and the saints ought to be destroyed. The blessing of water and palm branches is ridiculous. The religion of the mendicants was invented by evil demons. No capital sin ought to be tolerated, although for the sake of avoiding a greater evil. Auricular confession is trifling; it is sufficient for every one in his chamber to confess his sins unto God. The temple of the great God is the whole world. The suffrages of saints, reigning with Christ in heaven, are implored in vain, forasmuch as they cannot help us. The festivals of saints, are altogether to be rejected. We should cease from work on no day, except that which is now called the Lord's day. the hundred forty and four thousand who now stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion. The Taborites were those Bohemian brothers called Piccards and Beggards who joined Luther in the reformation. Their descendants and followers are now to be found in the same countries. The brethren and sisters of the Free Spirit, called in the Flemish, Beggards and Beguins, were a numerous people in Holland and Germany, who seemed to turn from the ceremonies and superstitions of popery to something like inward piety and spiritual contemplation, and were most violently persecuted by the magistrates and Roman clergy in the fourteenth century. Thus have we seen the Witnesses hitherto prophesying in sackloth, from the first rise of the Papal dominion. We shall now behold them indeed triumphant in the great reformation; though, wherever the Man of Sin rules they will be subjected to oppression, and if possible, to death, until his dominion be taken away. CHAPTER XI. Circumstances in Europe favouring a reformation.-Philip's triumph over Boniface. Removal of the Pope to Avignon. Great Western schism. Mendicants unpopular. General demand for a reform. Council of Constance. Discouragements.— Character of the Popes. Their power. Low state of Religion and Learning. Immediate causes.-Avarice of the Popes. Sale of Indulgences opposed by Martin Luther. Luther's birth and education. Retires into a monastery. Reads the Scriptures. Made professor at Wittemberg. Opposes Tetzel. Meets with applause. Circumstances favouring his cause. Summoned to Rome. Appears before Cajetan and Miltitz. Disputes with Eckius. Reformation commences in Switzerland. Erasmus. Melanchton. Frederick the Wise. Luther excommunicated. Burns the Pope's bull, and establishes the Lutheran Church. Summoned to the Diet of Worms. His defence and condemnation. Secreted at Wartburg. Re-appears, and publishes the New-Testament in German. Preaches the Gospel with great success. FROM what has passed before him, the reader will gain some general view of the deplorable state of the Christian world at the commencement of the sixteenth century. The Papal power was not, perhaps, so great as it once had been. Boniface VIII. may be viewed as having stood, in the fourteenth century, on that proud and guilty eminence of absolute spiritual and temporal dominion, which had been the desire of almost every pontiff through successive ages. Provoked by his haughty and overbearing demeanour, Philip, king of France, hurled him from his seat, and he died in disgrace and anguish. To prevent such almost uncontrollable dominion at Rome, Philip placed a Frenchman in the Papal see, and fixed his residence at Avignon in France. This remained the seat of the Papacy for 70 years; a period called, by the Catholics, the Babylonish captivity. But this removal from Rome greatly awakened the power of the Pontiffs. It removed their personal influence, which had been immense, from the city. It gave their enemies in Rome an opportunity to cabal against them, and ravage with impunity, St. Peter's patrimony. Many Italian cities revolted from the Pope. Decrees sent from Avignon, were treated with contempt. Other parts of Europe caught the same feeling; and, from this time, the thunders of the Pontiffs were heard without much fear or dread. ed by the winds of heaven; but their memory was precious. The inhabitants of Bohemia were shocked at the dreadful sacrifice which had been made of the best of blood to the wickedness of priests. The next year, about sixty of the principal persons of the country addressed a letter to the council, saying, "We can find no blame attached to the doctrine or life of John Huss, but, on the contrary, every thing pious, laudable and worthy of a true pastor. Ye have not only disgraced us by his condemnation, but have also unmercifully imprisoned, and perhaps already put to death Jerome of Prague, a man of most profound learning and copious eloquence. Him, also, ye have condemned, unconvicted. Notwithstanding all that hath passed, we are resolved to sacrifice our lives for the defence of the gospel of Christ and of his faithful preachers." were not seen. These were men, ready to be led through all the perilous conflicts of a reformation, had they had enlightened guides. But, alas! it was an age of awful darkness; and, though many saw the vices and abominations of Antichrist, yet none, as yet, saw the true way of reform. The best men had a poor understanding of the faith. The idea that the kingdom of Christ was a spiritual kingdom, was embraced by but few, if any. Errors of practice were distinctly visible, but errors of doctrine The Romish church, in the council of Con. stance, passed a decree forbidding the use of the cup by the laity in the communion. This, added to the other enormities and corruptions of the age, roused the Bohemians to arms. About 40,000 assembled together on a mountain near Prague, which they called Mount Tabor, where they raised a strong fortification, and put themselves under the direction of two chiefs, Nicolas and John Ziska, with the determination to revenge the deaths of John Huss and Jerome, and obtain the liberty of worshipping God according to the dictates of their own conscien ces. Their numbers increased soon to an amazing extent; war was declared against Sigismund, the German emperor, and a deluge of blood was shed. Each party appeared to the other as enemies of true religion, hated of God and justly exposed to extirpation by fire and the sword. The most shocking and terrible acts of barbarity, therefore, were continually exhibited. At length, the Papal party yielded; and, in 1443, a treaty of peace was concluded, in which the Bohemians were allowed the use of the cup in the sacrament and the administration of the ordinance in their own language. With these terms, the major part only were satisfied. These were called Calixtines. The remainder, who seem to have been the true Waldenses, wished for a more thorough reforma |