in 1554...while still retaining the oversight of a few parishes in east prussia, george israel, by commission of the council, set out to conduct a mission in poland. alone and on horse back, by bad roads and swollen streams, he went on his dangerous journey and...arrived in the town of thorn..as he was walking on the frozen river to try whether the ice was strong enough to bear his horse, the ice broke up with a crash. george israel was left on a solitary lump and was swept whirling down the river; and then, as the ice blocks cracked and banged and splintered into thousands of fragments, he sprang like a deer from block to block, and sang with loud exulting voice: 'praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons and all deeps; fire and hail, snow and vapour, stormy wind fulfilling His word'. there was a great crowd on the bank. the people watched the thrilling sight with awe, and when at last he reached firm ground they welcomed him with shouts of joy.
we marvel not that such a man was like the sword of gideon in the conflict. . he..rode on to posen..began holding secret meetings and established the first evangelical church in the country. the roman catholic bishop heard of his arrival and put 40 assassins on his track. but israel was a man of many wiles as well as a man of God. he assumed disguises and changed his clothes so as to baffle pursuit, appearing now as an officer, now as a coachman, now as a cook. he presented himself at the castle of the noble family of the ostrorogs, was warmly welcomed by the countess and held a service in her rooms. the count was absent, heard the news and came in a tate of fury. he seized a whip, 'i will drag my wife out of this conventicle'..and burst into the room while the service was proceeding, his eyes flashing fire and the whip swinging in his hand. the preacher, cerwenka, calmly went on preaching. sir, said george israel, pointing to an empty seat, sit down there. the count..meekly obeyed, listened quietly to the discourse, became a convert that very day, turned out his own lutheran court chaplain, installed george israel in his place and made a present to the brethren of his great estate on the outskirts of the town
for the brethren the gain was enormous. as the news of the count's conversion spread, other nobles quickly followed suit...ostrorog became the centre of a swiftly growing movement; the poor brethren in prussia returned to poland and found churches ready for their use; and before 7 years had passed away the brethren had founded 40 congregations in this their first land of exile. (note: the brethren were often threatened in moravia and bohemia. this grew until the 30 years war 1618-48 drove many out.)
1621..he bade his friends farewell. 'i go in the garment of righteousness thus arrayed shall i appear before God'. alone in firm step he strode to the scaffold, stroking proudly his silver hair and beard. 'thou old grey head of mine, thou are highly honoured; thou shalt be adorned with the martyr-crown.
as he knelt and prayed he was watched by the pitying eyes of ..2 kind-hearted jesuits who had come to see him that morning. he prayed for his country, for his church, for his enemies and committed his soul to Christ; the sword flashed brightly in the sun; and one strong blow closed the restless life of wenzel von budowa, the 'last of the bohemians'.
and with his death there came the death of the ancient church of the brethren. from the moment when budowa's head fell from the block the destruction of the church was only a question of time. as budowa, so died others after him...nearly all departed with the words upon their lips, 'into thy hands i commend my spirit; how the drums beat louder each time before the sword fell, that the people might not hear the last words of triumphant confidence in God; how caspar kaplir, an old man of 86, staggered up to the scaffold arrayed in a white robe, which he called his wedding garment, but was so weak that he could not hold his head to the block; how otto von los looked up and said, 'behold i see the heavens opened'; how dr. jessen, the theologian, had his tongue seized with a pair of tongs, cut off at the roots with a knife and died with the blood gushing from his mouth; how 3 others were hanged on a gallows in the square; how the fearful work went steadily on till the last head had fallen and the black scaffold sweated blood; and how the bodies of the chiefs were flung into unconsecrated ground and their heads spitted on poles in the city, there to grin for full 10 years as a warning to all who held the protestant faith. in all the story of the brethren..there has been no other day like that. it was the day when the furies seemed to ride triumphant in the air, when the God of their fathers seemed to mock at the trial of the innocent and when the little church that had battled so bravely and so long was at last stamped down..
not, indeed, till the last breath of church life had gone did the fearful stamping cease. the zeal of king ferdinand knew no bounds. he was determined, not only to crush the brethren, but to wipe their memory from off the face of the earth...not a stone did he ..leave unturned to destroy them. they began with the churches. instead of razing them to the ground...they turned them into roman catholic chapels by the customary methods of purification and rededecation. they rubbed out the inscriptions on the walls and put new ones in their places, lashed the pulpits with whips, beat the altars with sticks, sprinkled holy water to cleanse the buildings of heresy, opened the graves and dishonoured the bones of the dead..
meanwhile the brethren had been expelled from bohemia. it is a striking proof of the influence of the brethren that ferdinand turned his attention to them before he troubled about the other protestants. they had been the first in moral power; they had done the most to spread the knowledge of the bible; they had produced the greatest literary men of the country; and, therefore they must be the first to go. what actually happened to many of the brethren during the next jew years no tongue can tell.
but we know enough...we know that 36,000 families left bohemia and moravia, and that the population of bohemia dwindled from 3 millions to 1. we know that about one half of the property -lands, houses, castles, churches - passed into the hands of the king. we know that the university of prague was handed over to the jesuits. we know that the scandalous order was issued that all protestant married ministers who consented to join the church of rome might keep their wives by passing them off as cooks. we know that villages were sacked; that ..hymn books, confessions, catechisms, and historical works of priceless value..were burned in thousands; and that thus nearly every trace of the brethren was swept out of the land. we know that some of the brethren were hacked in pieces, that some were tortured, that some were burned alive, that some swung on gibbets at the city gates and at the country crossroads among the carrion crows. for 6 years bohemia was a field of blood and spanish soldiers, drunk and raging, slashed and pillaged on every hand.
a clergyman of the day said, 'oh, to what torments were the promoters of the gospel exposed! how they were tortured and massacred! how many virgins were violated to death! how many respectable women abused! how many children torn from their mothers' breasts and cut in pieces in their presence! how many dragged from their beds and thrown naked from the windows! good God! what cries of woe we were forced to hear from those who lay upon the rack, and what groans and terrible outcries from those who besought the robbers to spare them for God's sake'..
let us review the story of that wonderful church. what a marvellous change had come upon it! it began in the quiet little valley of kunwald; it ended in the noisy streets of prague. it began in peace and brotherly love; it ended amid the tramp of horses, the clank of armour, the swish of swords, the growl of artillery, the whistle of bullets, the blare of drums and the moans of the wounded and the dying. it began in the teaching of the sermon on the mount; it ended amid the ghastly horrors of war.
what was it that caused the destruction of that church? (the author asks...note: it seems that there were several causes that stand out. 1. the church became prosperous and 2. the church, in having contact with others who did not have the same simple way of life and were enamored with education maybe were factors.)..even with all his $ and his men king ferdinand found the destruction of the brethren no easy task. he had the whole house of hapsburg on his side; he had thousands of mercenary soldiers from spain; he was restrained by no scruples of conscience; and yet it took him 6 full years to drive the brethren from the country. and even then he had not completed his work. in spite of his efforts, many thousands of the people still remained brethren at heart; and as late as 1781..100,000 in bohemia and moravia declared themselves brethren..
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