inter alia, expressing sympathy with the | people, have sway. I have not the least new dissenters in Switzerland. At that objection that these petty tyrants remove meeting, it was suggested that the committee should consider the propriety of opening up a correspondence with these continental brethren. We are glad to see that the British Anti-State Church Association continues to exert itself in London and other parts of England. Providence has of late been doing great things for voluntaryism, and we hope its friends in Scotland, who had the honour of taking the lead, will not now sink into apathy and inactivity.

MORMONS.

THIS fanatical people are about to leave their sacred city of Nauvoo, in Illinois, for California, a region on the west coast of North America. They are expected to proceed in 25 companies of 100 families each. The waggons to convey them and their baggage will number 5000, which, it is said, will occupy a line of road 25 miles long. In front is to be a printing press, from which will be issued every morning a paper, to be sent back to inform the rear what is going on in the van.

The widow of Smith, their prophet, refuses to accompany them, and has published the following letter:

Nouvoo, Ill., Nov. 20th, 1845.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW YORK SUN.

Sir, I hope to be excused for addressing, for the first time in my life, a letter to the editor of a newspaper, and this I have been induced to do, from seeing the letters of Gen. Arlington Bennet, published in the newspapers, urging the Mormon people to remove to the Pacific Ocean, and advocating the cause of the Mormon Church. This Church, such as it is, was formed by my lamented husband, who was martyred for its sake, and, whether true or false, has laid down his life for its belief!

to California, or any other remote place, out of the world if they wish; for they will never be of any service to the Mormons, or the human family, no matter where they go. Their object is to keep the people over whom they rule in the greatest ignorance and most abject religious bondage, and if these poor confiding creatures remove with them, they will die in the wilderness! The laws of the and my children, and my settled intenUnited States are quite enough for me tion is to remain where I am, take care of my property, and if I cannot educate my children here, send them to New York or New England for that purpose. Many of the Mormons will no doubt leave in the spring, and many more will remain here; and nothing will give me greater pleasure than to have a mixed society in Nauvoo, as in other cities, and all exclusive religious distinctions abolished.

I must now say, that I never for a moment believed in what my husband called his apparitions and revelations, as I thought him labouring under a diseased mind; yet they may all be true, as a prophet is seldom without credence or honour, excepting in his own family or country; but as my conviction is to the contrary, I shall educate my children in a different faith, and teach them to obey and reverence the laws and institutions of their country. Shall I not, Sir, be protected in these resolutions against the annoyance of the men I now oppose, for they will no doubt seek my life?

What object Gen. Arlington Bennett has in advocating the claims of these petty tyrants I am not able to understand; for he assured me, when at my house, that he had not the smallest intention of connecting himself in any manner with them, much less removing with them to the Pacific Ocean. But this is a strange world, and I would not I am here, Sir, with a family of chil- be surprised if they offered to anoint ana dren to attend to, without any means of crown him King and Emperor in the giving them an education, for there is West. As I have nothing more to say, not a school in the city, nor is it intend- I will take the liberty to write you ed there shall be any here, or at any another letter.-With great respect, I other place, where the men who now am, Sir, your humble Servant, govern this infatuated, simple-minded |

EMMA SMITH.

MURRAY AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.

THE

UNITED SECESSION MAGAZINE

FOR MAY, 1846.

MISCELLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS.

LIFE OF JOHN HUSS.*

THE papal church boasts of possessing a unity, unbroken through all the changes of past generations; but history is a severe commentator on the vain words. It utters a voice from the tomb of the past, which makes Rome's glorying void. A long chapter might be written from the words of history bearing this title, "Roman schism in FACT versus Roman unity in THEORY; and there are few years of the annals of the papacy but would furnish contributions illustrative of Romish divisions in all lands. We take one case in point, from the close of the history of the fourteenth century, recording what has been appropriately termed "THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST," which commenced in 1378. Gregory XI. had just returned to Italy and re-established the holy See at Rome when he breathed his last, expressing ominous fears of coming troubles to the hierarchy. Italian threats and influence raised his successor, Urban VI., to the pontifical throne. The eleven French cardinals uttered bitter complaints, protested "he is not our pope by canonical election," and, hurrying to Fonde, elected a Frenchman to the papal see, who, under the name of Clement VII., took up his residence at Naples. "These are the beginning of troubles." To maintain his claims, Urban scattered blessings or maledictions, on kingdoms and cardinals, according as they favoured or opposed the schemes of his ungovernable ambition till 1389, when he died in weakness and rage. Clement again, possessing a nature of a widely different mould, became the servant of servants. He bent, he fawned, he dissembled, he distributed immense largesses to princes and their flatterers, that through their favour he might hold his high place. In 1394, the court of France, aided by the Sorbonne, endeavoured to heal these divisions, by advising either the voluntary resignation of the two competitors,—an arbitration agreed to by both,

* On the subject of this article, see "The Reformers before the Reformation,” by Emile de Bonnechose; "Letters of John Huss," edited by Emile de Bonnechose; Mosheim, Century XIV. and XV.; Gilpin's Life of Huss; Lebens Beschreibung des Mag. Johan. Huss, Prague, 1792; Pelzel's Geschichte der Böhmen; J. Huss, Hist. et Monum.

NO. V. VOL. III.

BB

-or, finally, a general council. "This letter is pernicious and poisonous," cried Clement, after reading these propositions, and in a few days after, he expired from the fury into which he had been thrown on perusing it. The schism, however, survived its principal authors. In 1409, the celebrated council of Pisa was held, for the purpose of reforming and uniting the church. At this meeting, attended by a large assemblage of cardinals and bishops, both popes were deposed, and Peter de Candia was unanimously elected sovereign pontiff, under the name of Alexander V. Instead then, of one universal infallible head, the church had now three heads, each claiming to be the only vicar of Christ on earth, and excommunicating the others, with all their deluded adherents, as beyond the pale of salvation. Throughout half a century this great schism raged, shaking the foundations of thrones, kindling fierce ecclesiastical warfares, and making the church torn by factions, a gazing-stock and a terror to distracted nations.

It was on these times of trouble that JOHN Huss was cast, as a frail but precious bark on an angry sea. He was born in the small town of Hussinetz in Bohemia in the year 1373. His parents, though but humble peasants, spared no pains to give him a good education, and at an early age he made such rapid progress in learning as to give promise of future eminence. He seems to have also feared the Lord from his youth, and was preparing then for the sufferings he was afterwards honoured to bear for Christ. One winter evening in his boyhood, while reading by the fire the Life of St Lawrence, his imagination was kindled at the narration of the martyr's dying pains, and he thrust forward his hand to the flame. Having been prevented by one near him from doing himself harm, he was asked what he meant by a purpose so strange. To this he replied with great simplicity, "I was only trying what part of the tortures of this holy man I might be able to endure.' In 1396, Huss obtained the degree of Master of Arts at the university of Prague, and afterwards, entering holy orders, he became so distinguished for his eloquence that Sophia, Queen of Winceslaus, chose him as her confessor. This office raised him into notice with many of the nobles of Bohemia, but it was in Bethlehem chapel where he preached, that he laid the foundation of his lasting fame as a servant of God. Some time before this he had become acquainted with the writings of our own Wycliff, and though startled by the bold words of the English reformer, the truth of the gospel found a place in his heart. The fires then kindled by the great schism in the church, brought vividly before the eyes of men the corruptions of the papacy; and Huss looked away from their lurid glare to the soft clear light of the morning star of reform, revealing to his soul the true sayings of God. The more he studied the writings of Wycliff the more he loved them; and while he never advanced so far into the day as his teacher, there were three important truths in which the Bohemian was, in great measure, one with the English reformer. Huss firmly believed that the Scriptures of God are the only infallible authority in religion,-that the priesthood then required to undergo an entire reformation to be like the ministry in primitive times, and that spiritual powers are conferred on pastors by the Holy Ghost alone.

It is questionable if Huss ever saw these truths in their full practical

bearings, as striking at the very foundations of Romanism, but he held them fast in a pure conscience. Their confession brought on him much opposition, but to it all he had this answer:-" I have been raised up (see Ezek. viii. 8, 9) by God to dig in the wall, in order that the multiplied abominations of the holy place may be laid open. It has pleased the Lord to draw me forth from a place where I was like a brand plucked from the burning, and I have obeyed the voice that said unto me, Dig in the wall.' I next beheld a door, and that door was the Holy Scripture, through which I contemplated the abominations of the monks and priests laid open before me; at this sight I could not be silent." The messenger has thus received his commission, and henceforward he goes every where fulfilling it, preaching, writing in season out of season, holding up the sins of the priesthood in the clear mirror of the truth, and not sparing the spot of corruption, though seen in the forehead of the pope himself.

This faithfulness to his Lord soon drew on him the unrelenting hostility of the men whose sins he denounced, and at this time an occasion occurred favourable for working out their plots against his righteous soul. The University of Prague had been founded by the emperor Charles IV., who gave peculiar privileges to the Bohemians in this school of learning. Through the prevailing corruptions of the age, however, some German nations, who resorted thither in great numbers, wrested from the Bohemians their chartered rights. By the influence and exertions of Huss, these immunities were again restored; but the Germans, in chagrin at their defeat, withdrew from Prague, and had a university established for themselves at Leipsig. There were sordid, mercenary spirits then in Bohemia, ready to take up the cry of the Ephesian silversmith uttered in other times," Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth;" and these directed against Huss all the popular odium of causing a decline in the prosperity of the city. To this was added the accusation of heresy in the doctrines he preached, supported by the fact, that in 1409, he had refused to obey the command issued to burn all the writings of Wycliff found in Prague. To this order from the pope, Huss had replied, "I appeal from Alexander ill informed, to Alexander better informed;" and he read the works of the reformer, as before, with a glad heart,

Whatever Rome

This was not to be endured in a son of the church. thinks of making void the law of God through her traditions, disobedience to her own commands has been ever treated by her as a mortal sin. Huss was summoned into the presence of the pontiff, to answer for his contumacy. It was easily seen what arguments would be employed with him if he went within reach of the eagle's talons. Hence the king and nobles of Bohemia interceded that his cause might be heard before a legate commissioned to hold a court in their own capital. But all was in vain. Prague itself, which espoused his cause, was placed under the papal ban, and he himself was cast out of the church. The city was thrown into the greatest commotion by these thunders of the vatican, but Huss in patience possessed his soul. Man has not heard his prayer, but he knows a throne which "ne'er rejects a mourner's plea." To this throne of grace he thus appeals," I am oppressed by an unjust sentence from man, I therefore, John Huss, present this my

appeal to the Lord Jesus Christ, my Master and Judge, who knows and protects the just cause of the humblest of men." This settled in his own mind the question of his excommunication as to privilege, but he was greatly perplexed as to duty, whether he was warranted, from any regard to the unrighteous sentence, to leave his few sheep in the wilderness a spoil to beasts of prey. At length he resolved to retire for a time to his own native town, from the quiet seclusion of which he thus writes his flock,-" Learn, beloved, that I have not quitted you to deny divine truth; for this, with God's assistance, I am willing to die."

In his retreat he was not idle. He went about every where preaching the word in the towns and villages around, and he was followed in all places by immense crowds of people, who heard gladly from his eloquent lips the gospel of truth. And how does he reconcile this course of christian liberty, with the obedience demanded from a submissive catholic? The path of duty is not determined by him without a severe inward conflict; but hear how he has learned of his Lord to serve and to suffer: "In order to be confirmed in the sweet peace of my spirit, I meditate within myself on the life and words of Christ and his disciples. I call to mind in what manner Annas the high priest forbade the apostles to speak and to teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter answered, Judge ye yourselves whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you rather than unto God.' I know well if I persevere in what is holy, no evil will be able to turn me from the path of truth. If I desire to live piously, it is necessary for me to suffer in his name. But what to me are indignities, and even death? He who loses life triumphs over death itself and finds the real life above." brought to pass that is written, "All thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children." Huss has now gained two great conquests,-a victory over servile submission to human authority, and a freedom from bondage to the fear of death. Henceforth he is called to manifest in his life the worth and completeness of the triumphs he has gained,

here below, Thus is it

The troubles of the nation did not permit this master-spirit of Bohemia to remain long in retirement, and again was he called to contend for the truth. The pope, fired with indignation at Ladislaus of Hungary, for showing favour to his rival in the holy See, published a bull excommunicating him from the church, and promising large indulgences to all who should unite in subverting the power of the contumacious prince. "Will you obey the pope's bull, and preach up the crusade?" demanded the legates at Huss. "There is nothing," replied the reformer," that I am more desirous of doing, than to obey the apostolic commands; but even were I to be burned for doing so, will never obey the pope's orders, except in so far as they are in accordance with the holy scriptures." This was the true spirit of subsequent reform and of protestantism at Spire. But Huss advanced farther. To wipe away the disgrace from the religion of peace, of appearing to appeal to force for proving truth, he published a scriptural and most cogent refutation of the pope's bull. This, along with his powerful and solemn appeals from the pulpit against the doctrine of indulgences, greatly embittered the resentment of the priesthood against him, and

I