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that series of events connected with the Reformation in Bohemia, which is second to no other in importance and interest in the history of modern times. Especially will it be interesting to follow this author as he shows how this earlier and apparently unsuccessful religious movement paved the way for the subsequent Reformation under Luther.

The author, Mr. Gillett, graduated at Yale College in 1841, and for many years has been the pastor of a Presbyterian Church in (Harlem) New York City. That he has been able to carry on the studies which the preparation of such a work as this has necessitated, in connection with the discharge of the many duties incident to a pastor's life, shows that he has not only a natural taste for historical investigation, but also an uncommon aptitude for historical composition, which afford us reason to hope that yet other works may be given hereafter to the public from his pen.

As already intimated, these volumes have not been prepared without diligent study of the proper sources of information. The list of works, from which materials have been drawn, shows that the facilities at the command of the author have been ample. They embrace the various histories of the Councils of Pisa, of Constance, of Basle; the Lives of the contemporaneous Popes; the various Lives of Huss, and of his principal friends and followers; the Histories of his Times, and of Bohemia itself, including those of Cochleius, Eneas Sylvius, Bezezyna, Kohler, Helfert, and Becker. It has been, indeed, stated by Moravian scholars in this country, that there have been two works quite recently published in Bohemia, which seem to have been overlooked by the author, and which, they say, might, perhaps, have been consulted with some advantage. We understand, also, that they regret that Mr. Gillett did not communicate and advise with some of the prominent men in their denomination in this country, with regard to that part of his history which respects the modern Moravian Church. Still, we are assured that none can be more highly gratified with the work as a whole; and they commend it warmly as a faithful record of the heroic times of the fathers of their church. It is well that American Christians should know more of Huss, and of Jerome, of Zisca, and of Procopius, and of the tens of thousands of noble martyrs whose blood was so freely yielded in Bohemia in the attempt to resist the usurpations of the papacy.

The style of Mr. Gillett is always clear and spirited. It is a

good, vigorous, manly, English style, and his descriptions often glow with a warmth of feeling, well suited to his noble theme. But although we say this, it is also true that there are occasionally marks of carelessness in style; and we have marked one or two inaccuracies of expression; for instance, (Vol. I., page 324), "Men whom we would have been glad to have found in better company." The two volumes are beautifully printed, and the large fair type is a real luxury for the eye. But all this adds of course to the cost, which we fear may prevent the work from gaining at first so rapid a sale as we are sure it will find when it becomes better known.

The closing paragraphs of the last volume sum up so admirably the prominent events in this history, that we are tempted to reprint them, although the extract is rather extended.

"In connection with the revival of learning and the evils of the schism, as well as a growing religious consciousness which brought to light the corruptions of the church, an encouragement was given to the long suppressed demand for the revival of a purer type of Christianity, and at the opportune moment the men were raised up, in the providence of God, who were to give utterance to that demand. Conrad Waldhauser, John Milicz, and Matthias of Janow were the precursors of John Huss. They prepared the way for his labors, and more or less clearly apprehended the radical conflict which existed between the interests of a corrupt hierarchy and the claims of Christian truth.

"Huss inherited their views, but he brought to their elucidation and application a bold and fearless spirit, a stern consciousness, a discriminating mind, and a rare self-command. With a purpose that never wavered, and an energy that never wearied sometimes in the face of royal authority, and in spite of unjust excommunication-he pursued the line of duty marked out by his conscientious convictions, reprobating the iniquity of the times and the abuses of the hierarchy, and holding up before the world his ideal of the church of Christ. All human authority was made by him subordinate to the authority of the Great Master himself. Hence, constantly appealing to the scriptures in support of his views and in defense of his course, he led men to look beyond the decisions of councils or the bulls of popes, and to study for themselves the word of God. The impulse was thus given to a reform more radical than he had himself contemplated. Before he was aware, he had come into conflict with the whole hierarchical system, and stood forth single-handed, and almost alone, as the champion of truth against the errors by which it was overlaid and well-nigh suppressed.

"In this conflict he fell-a victim overpowered by numerous and bitter foes. Men that stood by him at first, forsook him at the critical moment, and joined the ranks of his assailants. The force of his convictions had brought him to recog. nize in Wickliffe a fellow-laborer in the same great cause, and the odium that rested on the name of the English reformer was inherited by himself. The council of Constance gladly surrendered him as a sacrifice to the prejudices by which it was itself environed and controlled.

"His associate, Jerome of Prague, met the same fate. His chivalrous nature scorned to retract his conscientious convictions as to the character, the truth, and integrity, of one whom he had known and loved. And now was illustrated the trite adage that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.' Hundreds and thousands in their native land stood ready to receive the bequest of their falling mantle. A nation imbued with their spirit set the council at defiance, and boldly remonstrated against the iniquity of the deed which had canonized forever the memory of the martyrs.

"Meanwhile an enlarged acquaintance with scripture had led to the restoration, in Bohemia, of the use of the cup in the eucharist. Considered as a mere rite, this innovation was a matter of small account. But it symbolized an element of independent thought, which appealed from popes and councils to scripture alone. It was of the nature of a practical and popular protest against errors which had crept into the church, under the sanction of ecclesiastical authority and antiquated usage. Its acceptance was an endorsement of the right of private judgment, and an impeachment of synodical and pontifical infallibility. It was a rent in the external unity of the church-an ominous crack, like that of the dome of St. Peter-which inspired terror by its portentous augury of what was yet to come.

"All the resources of papal authority and of ecclesiastical interest were con sequently marshaled to suppress the rite. But it was found that many of its adherents had already made it the first step to more radical innovations. Diverse tendencies had already begun to develop themselves among the followers of Huss, and the Taborites and Calixtines, as two radically diverse parties, appear upon the stage. In connection with the first, we find a puritanic severity of morals, a demand for evangelical simplicity of worship and purity of doctrine, a valor nurtured by religious principle, and sometimes allied with a wild fanaticism. In connection with the other, we note the timidity and the prudence of a cautious conservatism, a lingering respect for ancient usage, a jealousy of further innovations, and a disposition to watch and restrain what they regarded as the dangerous tendencies of their rivals.

"But a common interest temporarily cements the alliance of these two opposite parties, and renders them, while they retain this attitude, invincible to all foreign invasion. Classed together, as alike heretical, they are threatened with the same fate, and papal fulminations and crusading armies are met by both with a bold defiance and stern resistance. One invasion after another is hurled back from the Bohemian frontier, like the waves dashed to foam upon the rocks. "But the very humiliation of the foe opened the way for the development of the conflicting tendencies which had been temporarily restrained. Internal division was the result of foreign triumph. Calixtine and Taborite were now ranged in open and avowed hostility. It was scarcely a question which must triumph in the conflict. The Taborite was indisputably superior in all the elements of uncompromising zeal, of fierce resolve, and of desperate if not fanatical courage, to his Calixtine rival. He thought more earnestly if not profoundly. He felt more deeply. His wrongs had been greater, and his vengeance was more terrible. The strife that now arose was scarcely less bitter than that of the united Hussites against the imperialists. It ranged neighbor against neighbor, and brother against brother; but, steeled against compassion and sympathy, the

Taborites swept down before them all resistance, and encamped before Prague, ready to visit upon it such retribution as it had challenged. To save it from its threatened fate, its defenders submitted to negotiate, and the result was, the concession, in the main, of the demands of the Taborites, and the establishment of their supremacy.

“But the anarchy of the kingdom required that authority should be deputed to able hands, and that the monarch to be selected should be one whom all should be constrained to acknowledge. Sigismund, as the rightful heir, was preferred by many who differed from him in their religious views. The Campactata devised by the Synod of Basle, opened the way for his recognition, but reproduced the old divisions between Calixtine and Taborite. The latter were defeated in the open rupture which followed, and Sigismund at last secured his hard

Won crown.

"From the Taborites, who now abandoned all further appeals to physical force in their own defense, sprang the church of the United Brethren. Through a century of persecution they still maintained their fidelity to an evangelical creed and the memory of Huss. The Calixtines, sometimes leaning toward Rome, and sometimes repelled by her bigotry, wavered in uncertainty as to their position, although still holding fast their four articles. At length the advent of Luther extended to both parties a new strength, and the current of the Bohemian reformation was swollen by the powerful tributary of German reform.

With intervals of persecution, Protestantism made steady progress in Bohemia for another century, till it had almost secured the complete ascendency. But its bold and violent measures provoked the vengeance of the "Catholic" league, and the bigoted Ferdinand, with unfaltering purpose, resolved to suppress it. The tide of the thirty years' war swept over northern and central Europe, covering its track with desolation and crime. Of all the states that suffered, Bohemia was the most signal victim. In the general pacification, she was abandoned by her German allies, and left to the tender mercies of her unscru pulous and bigoted monarch. His vengeance was terrible. He deliberately preferred a desert to a kingdom of 'heretics,' and his preference was well nigh realized. Bohemian art, literature, and enterprise received a blow from which they have never recovered. Protestantism was almost utterly suppressed. Its ablest champions pined in exile, or in prison, or atoned for their patriotism and Protestantism on the scaffold. The nation that five centuries ago was among the foremost of Europe, dwindled into insignificance; and for more than two centuries Bohemia has ranked as little more than a province of the Austrian empire. Her old renown has been commemorated by the noble achievements of Moravian missionaries, who trace their spiritual lineage to her great reformer; but her condi tion to-day is such as to render her a signal monument of the impolicy of persecution, and the incalculable mischiefs that have flowed from the violent suppression of religious freedom.

"The day may not be far distant when upon her own soil the memories of her own glorious past shall be revived. Her hills and valleys have witnessed the heroism of men who stood forward as champions of scriptural authority, and the rights and privileges of religious freedom. Her plains have been moistened and fertilized with the blood of martyrs. Many a locality has been immortalized by the valor of her sons, and the names of Huss and Jerome, of Jacobel, Zisca, and

Procopius, will never die out of her annals, whoever may guide the pen. A national partiality even now triumphs over ecclesiastical prejudice, and men who would contemn Huss as a heretic, honor him as a patriot." pp. 627-633.

AN OUTLINE OF THE ELEMENTS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.* -Professor Clark, of Union College, has prepared a little Manual of the History of the English Language. It will be found convenient, we doubt not, by many students who have not the resolution to take up more extensive and more original works. It does not make pretense to originality or profundity, but is confessedly founded on the researches of others, especially of Marsh and Craik, the latter of which has but just been made accessible to Americans by a reprint. The body of the work proper is of somewhat less than 150 pages, and is followed by 50 pages of speci mens, illustrating the history of the language, from pure AngloSaxon down to the fully developed modern English.

THE SOUL OF THINGS.-The texts or mottoes prefixed to this singular book are the following sentences, the first from Carlyle and the second from Babbage: "On the hardest adamant some footprint of us is stamped in; the last rear of the host will read traces of the earliest van." "The air is one vast library, on whose pages are forever written all that man has ever said, or woman whispered." The doctrine of the volume is that all objects are continually exerting or emitting influences upon all other objects within their reach; that these influences are so taken up by and incorporated with the substance of their recipients that they are ready to be given forth to any soul that is brought into a highly sensitive condition. For example, a fragment of limestone or a bit of moss taken from the mammoth cave in Kentucky is put into the hand of a person in the psychometric state. The person does not know whence it was taken, but there begins to open before him, one by one, impressions of the interior of the cavern, which he describes in succession, as feature after feature is revealed to

* An Outline of the Elements of the English Language, for the use of Students. By N. G. CLARK, Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature in Union College. New York: Charles Scribner, 1863. 12mo. pp. vi., 220. [New Haven: Judd & Clark. Price $1.]

The Soul of Things; or Psychometric Researches and Discourses. By WILLIAM and ELIZABETH M. F. DENTON. Boston: Walker, Wise & Co., 1863. 12mo. pp. 370. [New Haven: Judd & Clark. Price $1.]

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