Shall that which has cost many years of hard toil be thrown away? Shall an experiment begun under an extraordinary concurrence of providential circumstances, which never existed before, and may never exist again, miserably fail? Fail it most assuredly will, unless that part of the country which is overshadowing all the rest, is pervaded by the spirit of the gospel. The waves of an ungodly and most heterogeneous population will sweep away every landmark which the blood and toil and wisdom of ages has set up. No effect can be more indissolubly linked to its cause. Our civil institutions do good according as they are thought of and spoken about in Europe. A thousand unfriendly eyes are watching for our fall. A few select spirits pining away in the dungeons of Lombardy, or among the wastes of Siberia, pray earnestly for our success. The other question is of no less interest. Shall the church be armed with civil power? Shall political and ecclesiastical law emanate from the same person? The struggle on this momentous subject has begun at several points in the old world. The Protesting Church of Scotland, though possibly in some measure theoretically wrong, is practically right. In England, in the two extremes of the Episcopal Church, there are unequivocal indications that the burden is felt to be too heavy to bear. No intelligent man expects to see any radical and immediate changes there or on the continent. Institutions which have the moss of the middle ages upon them, cannot be altered in a day. But the leaven has been thrown in. The current has set in the right direction. The inherent and immedicable evils arising from the union of Church and State are beginning to attract serious attention. This unnatural coalition has indeed in its favor, thrones, aristocracies, standing armies, imprescriptible rights, and an iron custom. But these are not invincible. Truth will triumph over all. The question when or how, depends greatly on our decision. Can we live without direct aid from the State? Can we spread the gospel, as it was in the early ages, against the State, if need be? Is there vigor enough in the voluntary principle to dispense with all foreign alliances? This question must be substantially settled by our Home Missionary Societies. If a pious and learned ministry can be established on every important point within our borders, then a great step is taken, not only towards our own salvation, but to the disenthralment of Europe. A practical demonstration has been given on the broadest scale that the gospel needs no artificial props. Our struggling brethren in Scotland are furnish 1845.] Value of Home Missionary Labors. 635 ed with an encouragement better than thousands of gold and silver. If the preceding considerations are founded in truth, it follows that the youthful minister of the gospel, who wishes to accomplish the greatest good, will establish himself on some important point in the western Valley. Let him possess a disciplined mind, a heart filled with love to God and man, the steadiness, the practical wisdom, the invincible habits of study, the refinement and cultivated taste, which he may, and which he ought to possess, and plant himself on some controlling centre, and identify himself with the country of his adoption, and preach the gospel faithfully, and lay the pillars of learning and of the church on solid foundations, and when he dies, he will have done more, far more, for the good of his country, and of Europe too, than is possible for any to accomplish in our old, fast-moored, inert communities. He will be a benefactor to the world as truly as Howard or Wilberforce or Henry Martyn. He will be acting on as broad a theatre as either of them. Indeed, we do not know why the devoted pioneers of our Western Missions, the Bacons, the Badgers, the Blackburns, now gone to their reward, are not as fully entitled to the honorable name of Christian philanthropists as any that adorn the records of the church. In heroically meeting some forms of personal danger even the great apostle did not exceed them. The value of the labors of the Home Missionary Society, it should seem to be almost impossible to exaggerate. It is God's appointed instrumentality, showing its wisdom and its efficiency in every step of its progress, its indirect blessings great beyond comparison, cementing the union of the States, binding together the most distant communities, building up the cause of learning in all its departments, besides the direct good which it effects in churches planted, in souls saved, in the Redeemer glorified. With it are bound up in no small degree the hopes of the East and the West. It should have the means of greatly widening its influence. It ought to be able to place all its missionaries and agents above the depressing necessities which now surround many of them. If we are true to ourselves, if we are faithful as Christians and scholars, a brighter vision will dawn on us than that beheld by the ancient prophet. The wilderness and the solitary place will be glad for us, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. Yea, in regions, which prophetic ken could never discern, far beyond even the fabled Atlantis, the Islands of the Blessed, shall streams break out and waters in the desert. Over those wide and beautiful vallies, no lion shall be found, no ravenous beast shall walk there, but from their peaceful and happy bosom, the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy on their heads. ARTICLE III. TRIAL AND MARTYRDOM OF JEROME OF PRAGUE. A Letter from Poggio Bracciolini to his friend Leonardo Aretino, giving an account of the trial and martyrdom of Jerome of Prague. Translated by Rev. Oliver A. Taylor, Manchester, Mass. INTRODUCTION. MILNER in his Church History, giving an account of the trial and martyrdom of Jerome of Prague, remarks that "Poggius, a celebrated Florentine, who had been the secretary of John XXIII, and was present at these scenes, has left the most unequivocal testimony to the abilities, fortitude and eloquence of Jerome." This testimony is contained in a letter of Poggio to his friend Aretino; and here follows. I became interested in it, several years since, while engaged in literary labors; and supposing others might also find it equally interesting, have here attempted to give it in an English dress. It is to be found in the " Historia et Mon. Joannis Hus atque Hieronymi Pragensis," Ed. Norimb. 1715, Tom. II p. 532. It derives its value, not so much from the fullness of the account, as the fact that, while it was written by an adversary and may be relied on as true, it gives us a glowing description of the manner in which this holy martyr, through the grace which God conferred upon him, was enabled to stand up bold before his enemies, and faithfully to hold out to the end. In order to be fully appreciated, it should be read in connection with some account of the trials and sufferings of Jerome, drawn out more at large, either that of Milner, or else the one to be found in Fox's Book of Martyrs, in some of its forms. 1845.] Trial of the Martyr. 637 It may, however, be premised, in this place, that Jerome was not only a man of great natural abilities, but that he had been honored as among the most learned men of his age. He received his first impulse as a reformer, it should seem, from reading the works of Wickliffe, while at Oxford, about the close of the 14th century; soon after which he returned to his native place, and connected himself with John Huss and his associates, in earnest efforts for restraining the despotism of the papal court, and reforming the licentiousness of the clergy. Of an ardent temperament and a bold, independent address which did not often stoop to conciliate, he soon became suspected of heresy; and upon his removal to Vienna, he was thrown into prison, on account of his opinions,-a confinement from which he was delivered, in consequence of the solicitation of the university of Prague. As soon as he heard, in the year 1415, that his friend John Huss was at Constance ready to appear before the council, he pathetically exhorted him to maintain a firm and unyielding temper in his great trial, and strenuously insist upon the necessity of a reformation among the clergy, assuring him, at the same time, that, if he should receive information that his adversaries were likely to overpower him, he would immediately repair to Constance, to aid him in his defence. Having privately visited Constance, and in vain made the attempt, he set out on his return to Bohemia. On this journey at the village of the Black Forest he accidentally fell in with some priests, to whom, in a warm and unguarded conversation he denounced the council of Constance, as "the school of the devil and a synagogue of iniquity." This language being carried to the ears of the magistrates, he was arrested and delivered into the hands of the duke of Sultzbach, who was ordered to send him to Constance. On his way thither, he was met by the elector-palatine, who conducted him in triumph to the town, himself riding on horseback, with a numerous retinue, leading Jerome after him, in fetters, by a long chain. As soon as he was brought before the council, the clamor against him became loud and tumultuous,-John Gerson, chancellor of the university of Paris, one of the most learned men of his time, taking an active part, and the rectors of the universities of Cologne and Heidelberg concurring therein; while Jerome had no opportunity to reply. A thousand voices burst out from every quarter, Away with him! Burn him! Burn him." After an interval of about half an hour, the tumult having partly subsided, Jerome availed himself of a momentary pause, and looking round " upon the assembly with a noble air, cried out aloud, "Since nothing can satisfy you but my blood, God's will be done." From the assembly he was carried into a dungeon, and placed in one of its cells under a guard. While here, a certain Bohemian, having found out where he was, ran up to the window and addressed him aloud in these words, "Be of good courage, Jerome; and remain steadfast,-never fearing to die for the sake of that truth, in defence of which thou hast said so many things, when thou wert in the enjoyment of freedom." I give thee thanks, brother," replied the intrepid prisoner, directing his eyes to the window from which the voice proceeded, " for thy kind office in deigning to comfort an abject man. That I fear not death, you know; as in times past we have often conversed together on that subject; but now the time has come to try the thing itself, which is the hardest part of the matter." The Bohe mian who thus spoke, was Maddonwitz,' who had rendered services to Huss. The guard became alarmed at his voice, and immediately drove him away from the windows. In like manner, a person named Vitus, one of the family of John de Chlum, was seized and severely reprimanded for addressing Jerome in a friendly salutation. These incidents were made a pretence for a more severe treatment of Jerome; for he was immediately conveyed to a strong tower, where, with his hands tied behind his neck, and his feet confined in the stocks, so that he could not lie down, he was kept for many days on bread and water. These severities were inflicted with the design of forcing him to a recantation; and the illness which they occasioned, afforded a favorable opportunity for pressing him with arguments to this effect. Still he remained immovable. In the meantime Huss was burnt, when another similar attempt was made with no better success. However, though he was not to be subdued by the simple fear of death; imprisonment, chains, hunger, sickness, and even torture, through a succession of many months, united with strong importunities, became too great a trial for human nature to bear. Three times was he brought before his council and carried back to his dungeon before his enemies could prevail against him. At length he began to waver; and, on the 23d of September, a fatal day, on which he ever afterwards reflected with the deepest sorrow, he signed a written recantation of all the opinions he had maintained, in such words as the council had dictated, So Rees. He is called Peter in another account before me. |