it might scandalize their Calixtine brethren, or the so-called Catholic Church-from carrying the theory of a creed which they embraced with all the fervor of their spirits, to a practical application. Wherever they went, they observed with all fidelity the simple rites of their worship. Their priests ministered the communion under both kinds, without the aid of rubric, missal, priest's robe, or the Latin tongue. They spoke and prayed in their own vernacular. They were not careful to use a gold or silver chalice for the wine of the communion. An iron, earthen, or wooden cup answered their purpose full as well. If they declared the churches and altars which had been desecrated by "the mammon of unrighteousness," and the simony of the priests, to be churches and altars "of the devil and of idols," or spoke of monasteries as dens of robbers, sties where the swine of lazy and useless monks were fatted, they sometimes suited the action to the speech, sacked the church, shivered the altar, and burned the monastery. If some unfortunate monk attempted to remonstrate-"Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel," was the prompt reply. "Christ never told men to serve him by shutting themselves up in indolence," such was the argument by which the Taborites answered all objections. Monasteries thus became the special objects of their vengeance. Hundreds of them were sacked. and burned. Some of the nuns, whom the terror of the Taborites had effectually converted to the communion of the cup, married to the horror and scandal of the Calixtines.

The Taborites treated many of the reputed holy things of the age with the most sacrilegious disrespect. Relics of the saints were ruthlessly flung out of the churches like common earth. The holy oil was unceremoniously applied to a most profane use, unless it was emptied like the chrism and holy water upon the ground. The vessels that contained these liquids were broken, or polluted, for the Taborites set a slight value on holy sprinklings or extreme unction. Their form of baptism was the application of water, with the simple formula of its being done in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. Auricular confession they dismissed with the brief logic of adopting the formal division of sins by the church, and declaring that if venial, by this probably meaning sins of the

heart, it was enough to confess them to God; if mortal, (public and gross) they should be confessed in presence of the brethren. As to purgatory, they maintained that by the discipline of probation God prepares such as will be saved, to enter upon their reward, and their eternal immunity from sin, with the close of their earthly existence. They who die in mortal sin go at once to their retribution of eternal justice in hell. Consequently prayer for the dead is vain and futile. The Taborites neither prayed to the saints, nor paid regard to their images and pictures in the churches. "What was Peter or Paul, or any other of the saints?" they asked. "Were they not men, saved like us by the help of God alone, and in prayer to him, by the intercession of no saint, but of Christ only?" They resented the superstitious worship which the pictures and statues of the saints received. The sternness of the prophet on Carmel, while he mocked the worshippers of Baal, seemed to relax into a grim smile, and we can imagine with what cool derision the Taborite could look up in the presence of his gaping and credulous enemies, to the gouged eye or slit nose, (erutis oculis et nasis abscissis) of some mangled image, crying out in his so-called blasphemy, "if you are God or his saint, defend yourself, and we will believe you." (Si Deus aut ejus sanctus es, tunc te defende, et credimus tibi.) The place of his worship was disfigured by no image, desecrated by no sculpture. A handful of filth, or a thrust of his sword, or a blow of his terrible flail, relieved him from all the apprehension which a beautiful painting might excite as to his worshipping in a desecrated place. As to naming churches after particular saints, the views of the Taborite would have fully accorded with the sentiments of the most rigid Puritan of the Commonwealth. Even Jerome and Augustine, whom Huss and Jacobel loved to quote as authority, did not pass unquestioned by the Taborites. By confirming or multiplying ecclesiastical rites, it was possible—they maintained-that these men had done the Church more evil than good. To give churches their names, or the names of others who were merely men, was an impious and accursed thing, and such churches, with the splendid dwellings of their pastors, ought to be burned and destroyed. The Apostles never consecrated churches by such titles, or dwelt in such

houses; they were content with alms, and went about all over the world, preaching the Gospel, without tythes or endowed churches.

The Taborites evidently knew how to defend their doctrines by word, but their most effectual logic resided in their terrible flails that threshed down all opposition that dared to lift its head. Councils and crusades, and denunciations of all kinds, were ineffectual to put them down. They relinquished none of their peculiar tenets, except those which they derived from the study of the Apocalypse. Time showed the futility of many of the interpretations which some of their preachers gave to the prophecies of this book. Others seem to have been generally abandoned, insomuch that the Roman Catholic historian, Natalis Alexander, in giving account of their doctrines, makes no mention of those which are said to have originated with Martin Loqui. The only tenets which he ascribes to them, besides those of which the Calixtine author of "The Diary of the Hussite War" makes mention, and which have been already given, are such as we might naturally suppose would be associated with them. He speaks of their denial of the supremacy of the papal See, their doctrine of the parity of the clergy, their maintaining that whoever was guilty of mortal sin was, ipso facto, deprived of all secular and ecclesiastical authority, and was not to be obeyed. According to him, they held that prayer for the dead was an invention of the avarice of the priesthood; that there was no need of consecrated cemeteries, for it made no difference with what kind of earth human bodies were covered; and that the religious orders of the monks were a device of devils. It is easy to perceive, that notwithstanding some fanatical views, and some opinions which were nurtured by the ignorance and prejudice of many among them, their sincere as well as avowed purpose was to restore the Church, as near as possible, to its primitive model. Most of their doctrines were based clearly upon the authority of Scripture, and we are only surprised to find them, within so short a period after the death of Huss, so far in advance of what Huss and Jerome, or even Jacobel, had taught. Many of them-not all, however-utterly rejected the doctrine of Transubstantiation, which Huss and Jerome had avowed to the last, and which Jacobel had main

tained in his peculiar sense, by distinguishing between Christ's material and his spiritual body, the latter of which only was present in the sacrament of the altar. The doctrine of justification by faith alone, so distinctly apprehended and taught by Luther, does not appear to have attracted their special attention. Their circumstances and position ranged them on the negative side of most of the questions between them and the Roman church, and their principal work was more to tear down than construct, more to refute a false system, than to build up a new theology. They had little leisure and little learning or intellectual discipline, to apply themselves to the philosophy of their own belief, or study the order and harmony of doctrines which they derived from the simple word of Scripture, and adopted with an unquestioning faith.

This picture of the Taborites would be incomplete without adding to it the features preserved to us by a letter of Æneas Silvius to the Cardinal de Carvajal, in which he gives an account of the visit paid them by himself, in company with others, at a date some years after the siege of Prague. As ambassadors sent to treat with the Taborites, they demanded and received their hospitality. They were cheerfully welcomed by the Taborites who went out to meet them, and they were entertained with confidence and respect. "A most remarkable spectacle was now witnessed, an indiscriminate rabble, mostly composed of peasants, who wished however to appear genteel and refined. Although a cold rain-storm, such as frequently occurs in Bohemia, prevailed at the time, many had no other protection than a mere frock, some wore robes made of skins, some of their horsemen had no saddles, some had no bridle, and others were without stirrups. One was booted, another not. One had lost an eye, another a hand, so that, to borrow the language of Virgil, it was a shame to see populataque tempora raptis auribus, et truncas inhonesto vulnere nares. There was no order of procession, no reserve in speech, and we were received in a rough and peasant style. Yet presents were made us of fish, wine and beer. Having entered the town, we took a view of it, and if I were not to call it a town or asylum for heretics, I should be at a loss for a name to give it. For whatever monsters of impiety and of blasphemies are unmasked

among Christians, flock together here, and find security in a place where there are as many heresies as there are heads, and full liberty to believe what you like. On the outer gate of the city there are two shields suspended; on one of these is a picture of an angel holding a cup, which he is represented as extending to the people, as if to invite them to the communion of the cup. On the other there is a portrait of Zisca, who is represented as an old man and entirely blind. . . . . What more fitting for such a people, who have no understanding of divine things, no religion, no apprehension of what is just and right, than a blind leader? In this case that word of the Saviour is fulfilled, if the blind lead the blind, both fall into the ditch.... These people have no greater anxiety for anything, than to hear a sermon. If any one neglects this, and lies asleep at home, or busies himself with work or play during the time of sermon, he is beaten for it, and is compelled to obligate himself to hear the word of God. Their place of worship is built of wood, and is much like a barn; this they call their temple. Here they preach to the people, here they daily expound the law. They have here but one altar, neither consecrated, nor to be consecrated, and from this they exhibit the sacrament to the people. The priests neither wear crowns, nor shave their beards. The Taborites voluntarily provide by gifts for their support. They offer nothing upon the altar; they condemn. tythes; of first fruits, they hold neither to the name nor to the thing itself. Yet they do not accord in one and the same belief. One thinks one way, and another in another; each follows his own liking, neither do they live by a single rule." It is to be borne in mind that we have no account of the Taborites, except from persons who were either their avowed enemies or were strongly prejudiced against them. They undoubtedly were guilty of many imprudent acts, many deeds of violence, many excesses utterly unwarrantable. Many elements. of fanaticism were mingled with their creed. Many and strong prejudices peculiar to the class of which they were mostly composed, possessed their minds, but when their circumstances are considered, the persecution that drove them from their dwellings, the crusade that forced them in self-defence to take the weapons of war into their hands, the contempt and cruelty

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