THE fifteenth century of the church is full of great transactions; and the schism of the popes, which appeared at the beginning of it, was for many years the great care and business of the princes and prelates of the West. After this, the difference between the council of Basil and pope Eugenius IV and the projects of the reunion of the Greeks to the Latin church were the great concerns of the whole world: but the former had not those mischievous consequences that were feared, nor the latter that success which was hoped. Some time before this century, there arose a religious controversy in England, which hath since produced great revolutions in Europe; for it was conveyed from England into Germany, where it kindled great commotions both in church and state. Among many bad effects, says a popish writer, it produced these two good ones: it put men upon the study of useful learning, and chiefly upon searching into the holy Scripture and tradition: and it obliged the prelates to labor after the reformation of the manners of Christians, and of the ecclesiastical discipline.
Jerom of Prague was the companion and co-martyr of Doctor Huss, to whom he was inferior in experience, age, and authority, but he was esteemed his superior in all liberal endowments. He was born at Prague, and educated in that university, where he was admitted master of arts; and promoted the doctrine of Wickliffe in conjunction with Huss. He traveled into most of the states of Europe, and was every where esteemed for his happy elocution, which gave him great advantages in the schools, where he promoted what Huss had advanced. The universities of Paris, Cologne, and Heidelberg, conferred the degree of master of arts upon Jerom, who was accused of making disturbances at Heidelberg. He went over to England, where he copied out the books of Wickliffe, and returned with them to Prague.
Jerom was cited before the Council of Constance, on the seventeenth of April 1415, when his friend doctor Huss was confined in a castle near the city. He arrived at Constance the same month, when he was informed how his friend had been treated, and that he also would be seized: upon which, Jerom retired to Iberlingen, an imperial city, from whence he wrote to the emperor and council to desire a safe conduct; and one was presented to him, which gave him permission to come, but not to return. He then caused a protestation to be fixed up, wherein he declared, that he would appear before the council to justify himself, if a proper safe conduct was granted: and he demanded of the Bohemian lords an act of his declaration. After this, he began his journey to return into Bohemia: but he was stopped at Hirschau, by the officers of John the son of prince Clement, count Palatine, who had the government of Sultzbach: and Lewis, another son of the same prince, carried Jerom to Constance, where he was to answer the same accusation as had been exhibited against doctor Huss, who was martyred the seventh of July.
Jerom had many friends at the council, who bore him great affection, and tried all they could to bring him to a recantation, as they were convinced he had no chance of escaping if he took his trial, because the emperor had declared that he should be exemplarily punished. His friends prevailed, and he was brought before the council, in the nineteenth session, held the twenty-third of September, when he read a public abjuration of his doctrines, thinking thereby to elude his prosecution.
In this retractation, he is said, to have anathematized the doctrines of Wickliffe and Huss; to have protested, that he was of the same sentiments with the Romish church; and to have professed, that he would follow its doctrine, particularly about the keys, the sacraments, the orders, the offices, and the censures of the apostolic see; and also concerning indulgences, the relics of saints, ecclesiastical liberty, and the cermonies. It is farther said, that he thereby approved the condemnation of the articles which the council prescribed; acknowledged they were faithfully extracted from the works of Huss, and that he was justly condemned. But he was carried back to prison, notwithstanding this recantation, and was accused of insincerity. New articles of accusation were brought against him, and it was alleged, that it would be dangerous to set him at liberty. He immediately repented of his abjuration, and of condemning Huss. He desired audience of the council, and was twice heard in the general congregations held in May 1416, when one hundred and seven heads of accusations were proposed against him, which he endeavored to answer, and made an oration, wherein he declared that he repented of his recantation, and of having approved the condemnation of Wickliffe and Huss. Dupin also says, that the fathers of the council were fully satisfied of his relapse, and sent for him to the twenty-first session, held the thirtieth of May. The bishop of Lodi, who preached the sermon previous to the condemnation of Huss, now preached another to usher in the fate of Jerom. When the sermon was ended, the martyr, unjustly stigmatized a heretic, declared he still persisted in his last retractation; but professed he held transubstantiation. He was then condemned as a heretic relapsed, delivered over to the secular power, and led away to death, which he endured with great constancy.
Such is the account given by the popish writers: but the Florentine secretary, who was a spectator of all he relates, and gave a full account of the matter to Aretinus the pope's secretary, is more circumstantial and impartial in his relation of this affair. He tells us, that as Jerom was returning to Bohemia, he was brought back to Constance by the duke of Bavaria; and, the next day, carried as a prisoner before the council, where it soon appeared, that his abjuration had slipped from him in one of those unguarded minutes when virtue and religion are off their guard. Poggius, who was one of the best judges of the age, asserts, that Jerom spoke with such a quickness of sentiment, such a dignity of expression, and such strength of argument, that he seemed to equal the noblest of the ancient compositions. When some members of the council called out for him to put in his answers, he told the assembly, that the objections against him were the effects of prepossession and prejudice: that, therefore, in justice, they should permit him to lay open the whole tenor of his doctrine, life, and conversation, whereby he could indubitably weaken and invalidate all the prepossessions which ignorant zeal and open malice had rendered too strong against him in his unhappy condition. He was told, he could not expect such indulgence. This exhausted his patience, and he exclaimed to the whole assembly in these terms. "What barbarity is this! For three hundred and forty days have I been through all the variety of prisons. There is not a misery, there is not a want, that I have not experienced.
To my enemies you have allowed the fullest scope of accusation: to me you deny the least opportunity of defense. Not an hour will you indulge me in preparing for my trial. You have swallowed the blackest calumnies against me. You have represented me as a heretic, without knowing what is my doctrine; as an enemy to the faith, before you knew what faith I professed; and as a persecutor of priests, before you could have any opportunity of understanding my sentiments on that head. You are a general council: in you center all that this world can communicate of gravity, wisdom, and sanctity: but still you are men, and men are seducible by appearances. The higher your character is for wisdom, the greater ought your care to be not to deviate into folly. The cause I now plead is not my own cause: it is the cause of men; it is the cause of Christians; it is a cause which is to affect the rights of posterity, however the experiment is to be made in my person." The bigotted part of the assembly considered this speech as poison to the ears of the auditors: but many of the members were men of taste and learning, who were favorably inclined to the prisoner, and pitied him in their hearts, though a restraint was on their tongues.
Jerom was obliged to give way to their authority, and to hear his charge read, which was reduced under these heads; "that he was a derider of the papal dignity, an opposer of the pope, an enemy of the cardinals, a persecutor of the prelates, and a hater of the Christian religion." He answered this charge with an amazing force of elocution, and strength of argument. "Now, says he, wretch that I am! whither shall I turn me? To my accusers! My accusers are as deaf as adders. To you my judges! You are prepossessed by the arts of my accusers. " We are told by Poggius, that Jerom, in all he spoke, said nothing unbecoming a great and wise man: and he candidly asserts, that, if what Jerom said was true, he was not only free from capital guilt, but from the smallest blame.
The trial of Jerom was brought on the third day after his accusation, and witnesses were examined in support of the charge. The prisoner was prepared for his defense; which will appear almost incredible, when it is considered that he had been three hundred and forty days shut up in a dark offensive dungeon, deprived of day-light, food, and sleep. His spirit soared above these disadvantages, under which a man less animated must have sunk; nor was he more at a loss for quotations from fathers and ancient authors, than if he had been furnished with the finest library in Europe.
Many of the zealots and bigots of the assembly were against his being heard, as they knew what effect eloquence is apt to have on the minds even of the most prejudiced. However, it was carried by the majority that he should have liberty to proceed in his defense, which he began to such an exalted strain of moving elocution, that the heart of obdurate zeal was seen to melt, and the mind of superstition seemed to admit a ray of conviction. He made an admirable distinction between evidence as resting on facts, and as supported by malice and calumny. He laid before the assembly the whole tenor of his life and conduct, which he owned had been always open and unreserved. He justly observed, that the greatest and most holy men have been known to differ in points of speculation, with a view to distinguish truth, not to keep it concealed. And he then expressed a noble contempt of all his enemies, who would have induced him to retract the cause of virtue and truth. He next entered on a high encomium upon doctor John Huss; and declared he was ready to follow him in the glorious tract of martyrdom. He then touched upon the most defensible part of Wickliffitism; and concluded what he had to say on that head with observing, that it was far from his intention to advance anything against the state of the church of God; that it was only against the abuse of the clergy he complained; and that he could not help saying, with his dying breath, it was certainly impious that the patrimony of the church, which was originally intended for the purpose of charity and universal benevolence, should be prostituted to the lust of the flesh, and the pride of the eye, in whores, feasts, foppish vestments, and other reproaches to the name and profession of Christianity.
The prisoner received many interruptions from the impertinence of some, and the inveteracy of others: but he answered every one with so much readiness, and vivacity of thought, that, at last, they were ashamed, and he was permitted to finish his defense. His voice was sweet, clear, and sonorous; pliable to captivate every passion, and able to conciliate every affection, which he knew how to do with wonderful address. He was admired by his enemies, and compassionated by his friends: but he received the same sentence that had been passed upon his martyred friend; and Poggius says, the assembly condemned him with great reluctance.
The same author tells us, that Jerom had two days allowed for his recantation; and that the cardinal of Florence used all the arguments he could for that effect, which were ineffectual. The divine was resolved to seal his doctrine with his blood; he could not be seduced to make another retraction; and he suffered death with all the magnanimity of Huss. He embraced the stake to which he was fastened, with the peculiar malice of wet cords. When the executioner went behind him to set fire to the pile, "Come here, said the martyr, and kindle it before my eyes; for if I dreaded such a sight, I should never have come to this place, when I had a free opportunity to escape." The fire was kindled, and he then sung a hymn, which was soon finished by the incircling flames.
This martyr, as well as doctor Huss, constantly professed to hold the doctrines of the real presence and transubstantiation: but it has been said, that "he also professed to hold and believe, what the church believes and holds; saying, that he rather believed Austin, and the other doctors of the church, than Wickliffe and Huss. "
The Wickliffites in England, and the Hussites in Bohemia, were very numerous: there was little difference in their doctrine; and the severity which the council of Constance had shown to Wickliffe, Huss, and Jerom, exasperated the majority of the people in both nations. The martydom of their two countrymen incited the Bohemians, particularly the Hussites of Prague, to sedition: they plundered the palace of the archbishop, destroyed the houses of the ecclesiastics, and massacred many persons. The nobility of Bohemia and Moravia were so far incensed, by the breach of promise made to them, that they formed an association, whereby they covenanted, that they would never receive the decrees of the council; they made a formal protestation in defense of Huss and Jerom; and they wrote very animated letters upon that subject to the council, who justified their sentences, and cited a great number of those who defended the doctrine of Huss.
The sect of the Hussites then began to be divided in two parties: the one called Calixtines, and the other Thaborites. The former differed from the church about the use of the cup; and the latter denied transubstantiation. They united their force, assembled thirty thousand men, and declared war against the papists. They took possession of Prague, and set up the famous Zisca against the emperor Sigismund, to whom the kingdom of Bohemia devolved, upon the death of his brother Wenceslaus in 1418. Zisca obtained many victories over Sigismund, made himself master of all Bohemia, and died in 1424. He was chief of the sect Pyghards, called by others Picards, or Waldenses: they abhorred the priests, and the monks, rejected many doctrines of popery, and nearly resembled most of the present Protestants. Erasmus, in 1519, censured the Pyghards very warmly; and yet, like them, he exclaimed against the multitude of holy-days, as being a heavy imposition on poor people, who, whilst they were hindered from working on those days, were in reality prevented from getting their bread. But Bayle says, that Picard was a Flemming, who overstretched the errors of the Adamites, and that Zisca put the sect to the sword. Sleidan distinguishes the Bohemians in this manner. "After the death of John Huss they were divided chiefly into three sects. One of them acknowledged the pope of Rome as head of the church, and vicar of Christ. Another partook of the Lord's Supper in both kinds, and in that service they recited some things in the vulgar tongue; but in other respects they differed not from the papists. The third sect was named Picards; who called the pope, and all that adhered to him, Antichrist, and the whore described in the Revelation: they received nothing besides the Scriptures: they chose their own bishops and priests: they forbid none to marry: they performed no funeral rites; and had very few festivals and ceremonies." However Rudigerus, in his history of the brethren of Bohemia, rejects the name of Picards that was imposed upon them, and conjectures that it was given them by their enemies to dishonor them by so infamous a title; as if we had been only, says he, the wretched remains of the leud Picard, who renewed the ancient heresy of the Adamites, by introducing nakedness and infamous actions.
The pope, and the emperor, perceived it was impossible to reduce the Bohemians by force, and invited them to the council of Basil, in 1432. The Bohemians sent a solemn deputation of three hundred persons to Basil, at the head of which were Procopius, and Peter Payne. The Bohemians reduced their pretensions to four heads. First, That the eucharist should be administered to the laity in both kinds. Second, That the word of God might be freely preached by the priests to whom it belonged. Third, That the ecclesiastics should have no more revenues, nor temporal demesnes. Fourth, That public crimes should be punished by the magistrates. They declared, they were ready to defend these articles; and that they had been unjustly condemned by the council of Constance. Peter Payne undertook to prove, that it was unlawful for the clergy to have demesnes, and temporal revenues. The controversy began in January 1433, and continued fifty days without any success: for the Bohemian deputies persisted in their opinion, and returned into their own country, where Payne was persecuted for being an Englishman, and a Wickliffite. Procopius was killed in fighting at the head of the Thaborites against the nobility, who accommodated matters with the council, and acknowledged Sigismund their king. The monks were permitted to return, on condition that the monasteries should be rebuilt. Philbert, bishop of Constance, and some other prelates sent from Basil, in 1436, restored the ceremonies of Rome in the churches of Prague. The emperor Sigismund died in 1437; and Albert duke of Austria, who married his daughter, was declared king of Bohemia. The Thaborites were banished: but the usage of communicating the eucharist in both kinds was maintained by George Pogebrac, who made himself master of the kingdom, and was declared a heretic by pope Paul II. Many persons separated from the Calixtines, and made a new sect under the name of "The Brethren of Bohemia," who had Kelesisky, a shoemaker, for their captain, and Matthias Convaldus for their pastor. They were called Picards; though they had nothing in common with those that were exterminated by Zisca. They were avowed enemies to the clergy and the church of Rome; they rebaptized all those who were admitted into their sect; and afterward joined with the Lutherans and Calvinists, when the Reformation became general.
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