Poland
Christianity first entered Poland about the ninth century. When the light had waned during the Middle Ages, it was rekindled by the Waldenses, who visited the country. The country received a further illumination in Wycliffe’s day, for the testimony which reached Bohemia also penetrated Poland. It began to shine more brightly in Luther’s day. The form of government was democratic, many of the cities were self-governing, and the people of Poland were by no means willing tamely to wear the Roman yoke. The effort of the hierarchy to suppress the gospel only recoiled upon itself. While Sigismund Augustus, who became king in 1548, never left the Roman communion, he was not opposed to the gospel. No country in Europe at that time enjoyed greater liberty, and the truth made considerable headway. The three Protestant communions in Poland — the Bohemian, the Lutheran and the Calvinistic—united in 1570. At that time the number of their churches exceeded two thousand. The Scriptures were translated into the native tongue, and a period of prosperity ensued such as the country had never known till then and has not enjoyed since.
Night returned with the invasion of the Jesuits, and the people of Poland were again brought into bondage to Rome, since which time, like other priest-ridden countries, it has sunk low among the nations.
John Alasco, a Polish nobleman, became one of the distinguished figures of the Reformation. While studying as a youth in Switzerland, he met Zwingli, who encouraged him to read the Scriptures. He spent some time with Oecolampadius. He was, on his return, given an important position in the Church, but close contact with the papal system opened his eyes to its evil character. The greatest ecclesiastical dignity his country could offer could have been his, but his heart had been won for Christ, for whose sake he forsook all and became a voluntary exile from his fatherland. After serving the cause of truth in Friesland for some time, he was invited by Archbishop Cranmer, when Edward VI came to the throne, to help forward the Reformation in England. He returned to the Continent on the accession of Mary. Repulsed by the Lutherans because of his Calvinistic views, he finally returned to Poland and took part in the Reformation there. He died in 1560, at the age of sixty-one.
Bohemia
The teachings of Luther and Calvin spread and prospered in Bohemia, where a gospel testimony was, as we have previously observed, already shining among the Bohemian brethren. The whole country became outwardly Protestant, and the brethren flourished under these favorable conditions. They differed in certain respects from the Reformers, refusing, among other things, the doctrine that infants were saved by baptism, asserting that baptism was only an outward sign of admission to the Church. The Reformers, too, recognized the rightness of their discipline. “I am pleased,” Melancthon wrote, “with the strict discipline enforced in your congregations. I wish we could have a stricter discipline in ours.”
The fruits of the Reformation in Bohemia did not last long. The Jesuits began to multiply in the country and to acquire increasing influence. Ferdinand, a bigoted Romanist, ascended the throne. The Protestants refused allegiance to him. Ferdinand, who meanwhile had become emperor, took his revenge. The leaders of the Protestants and their principal ministers perished on the scaffold. Oppression and torture pursued all who refused to accept the Romish religion. Many thousands were driven into exile, Protestantism in Bohemia was trampled into the dust, and with it the Bohemian nation perished. Nearly two hundred great families sold their lands and castles and left the country, and thirty-six thousand families of the common people went into exile. The Thirty Years’ War which followed reduced the country to a desert.
Hungary
In like manner, the Reformation entered Hungary and prospered exceedingly for a time, but, alas, the faith was crushed by the cruel and relentless hand of the Catholic reaction. A few remained and worshipped in secret.
Spain and Italy
These lands were visited by the gospel. But it had to struggle against the concentrated forces of a relentless foe. The Papacy reigned supreme in both these countries. The ever-watchful Inquisition was quick to observe any symptoms of deviation from Romish teaching and descended with swift and relentless cruelty upon its victims. Some faced its tortures and its fires, some quailed before its terrors, and some feared to confess their faith. Many fled to the hospitable shores of Protestant lands. England sheltered many; Geneva became a city of refuge for many more; others found refuge elsewhere.
Protestant books found their way into Spain from Germany, England, France, Italy and Switzerland. Luther’s Commentary on Galatians was translated into Spanish, and likewise the writings of Erasmus. In 1526 some Franciscan monks were brought before the Inquisition, and from this time forward rigorous measures were taken. Gospel books were prohibited, and Spain became insulated from the great movement in Europe, save for writings which were smuggled in.
Some light gleamed fitfully within the Roman pale. Juan de Valdés, a man of noble birth, seems to have had some knowledge of the truth, which he disseminated among the upper classes in Naples. A man named Ochini was preaching there at that time, and his preaching was influenced by Valdés’ teaching. His books were sufficiently opposed to Romish ideas for some of them to be prohibited.
Francisco de San Romano of Burgos, a young merchant, was converted at Bremen. He gave up his business with the object of preaching the gospel. He was made a prisoner, taken to Spain, lay for two years in prison, and then died triumphantly at the stake in 1544. Jayme de Enzinas suffered in the same way in 1546. His elder brother, Francisco, translated the New Testament into Spanish. He waited on the Emperor and tried to persuade him to patronize the work. The Emperor’s confessor took note of him, and he was arrested and imprisoned at Brussels, but he escaped to Strasbourg where he died from the Plague.