New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-01-24


so brought scandal upon the whole body and gave
excuse for persecution.
There are however, no chapters In Mr.. Leas sec
oud volume 40 full of interest as those which have
10 do with Bohemia and the Hussites. Here, III
semi-barbarous bu. vigorous state the lnqnisition
met it's match. The Bohemans had the intelligence
to comprehend, the 'dgment to appreciate ana the
courage to espouse and defend the doctrines whlch
Huss derived from Wickiffe. They and the greater
part OF their mobiles became adherents or the re-
formed faith, and Rome could do nothing with
them. They would not admit the lnquisition. Ihev
were stubborn and defiant After every device IN
the shane of ecclesiastical censure and denuhcla-
tions. decretals, bulls, accommodations. inter
diets had been tried uselessy, resort was had 10
that last resource of medieval orthodoxy the
nreachino of crusade What this meant was
that the Chnrch of Christ so-called not merely In
yited but commanded all Christendom to arise
assemble invade and eXterm'nate the unfortunate
people who dared TO follow the dictates OF con-
science and who were too honest ana manly 10
simuate reverence for the most shameless worId
lincs and debaucheas that ever insulted Heaven by
pretending to be the ministers OF pure religion
Bohemia was more than once the scene OF sucn
crusade and suffered severely. But the Hussltes
were not feeble folk. They were martial race
and having concluded that it might be we'll to give
cipline. proceeded to carry out such devastating
raids north south east AMI west. that all the peo-
pies on their borders became heartily tired OF the
crusading business and thenceforth for long time
let the heretio9 alone.
Mr.. LEAFS account Of the trial of John Huss is
capital example of impartial and clear-sighted re-
search He will not blame the Council OF
Constance fol- the violation OF the
imperial safe-conduct which had been
granted the reformor Repulsive as the betrayal
must be to every principle of honor and justice IL
is impossible not to recognize the soundness OF tne
historians contention that 1t was strictly in accord
with the ecclesiastical law of the Middle Ages and
that the Council in fact could have followed no
other course without laying itself open to the
capital charge of fautorshlp of heresy " 1t had
BEEN observes Mr.. Lea "too long principle OF In
ouisitora practice that the hereto had no rights,
and that the man accused of heresy by sufhclent
witnesses to be treated as hereto untiI ne
could clear himself. for any one to hesitate ABOUT
puttinq it in force in this case. In erect tne
Council treated Huss with exceptional lenlency.
1t unquestionablv preferred his abIuratlon, hu'a-
iaton and consequent degradation from leadership,
to his death. In burning him 1t ran the danger OF
creating martyr In forcing him to confess and
abjure 1t would have deprived him of all further
power TO seduce the faithful. When therefore"
saws Mr. Lea, I'VE see how inevitable was his
condemnation. how he could have saved himself
only at the cost of burdening his soul with perjury
and converting his remaining years into living
lie, We obtain a measure Of the infamy OF the
system, and In some measure estimate the
lnnumerabe wrongs inflicted on countless thou
sands of obscure and forgotten victims" And IL
the members of the Council of Constance are not to
blame for the condemnation of John Huss and
Jerome of Prague, it is because TO use Mr. LEAFS
tha dinua al
completely confused the ideas of right and wrong
that the ordinary notions of morality were SUI
perseded."
The Church never kept faith if to keep faith was
Instantaneous to its temporal interests IL
fortified Its calculated perfdy with the doctrine
that faith was not to be kept with heretics. III
gave indefinite elasticity to the application or TINS
doctrine by making the accusation Of heresy the
equivalent Of conviction. The Church was often
enough IN dsaccord with ITSELF Its decretals were
confused and contradictory. Some OF IFS dogmfs
were plainly In contraverslon of Scrptural teach
ing and patristic practice. None the less was lay
disobedience to its commands accounted heresy.
None the less was mere suspicion of heresy warrant
for the denial of all rights. With cunning
deserving the Characterization dcvilish the prac-
tce of the InQulstion made 1t impossible for sus-
pected hereto to clear himself without perjury and
seC-derradatlon This the fatal pitfal carefully
arranged in the case of john lluss. He deniei the
truth of most Of the charges preferred against him.
But he was only gwen the opportunity to abJnre
the whole of them, and he could not, as an honest
and self res ectiug IN, thus by implication de-
clare himself guilty of what he maintained were
false accusations. So he went to his hery DOOM
but though his ashes scattered never so care
fully the deed itself rename an alpowerfll relic
and spoke thenceforward with trumpet-tonguc
tba inio IN which
deTed it.
In the condemnation of HusS the immoral prac-
tice established by the Inquistion forced the COuD-
Gil of Constance to conclusl N, the inexpedieucy
and imoruience of which its members generally
recognized In other instances however the Cd
stnate persistence of the Church in palpabe wrong
can only be explained by the superstition that all
moral principles had by this time become hope
lessly confused. Take ia illustration the case of
the Caixtlnes. Their chief contention and that
which put them at variance with Rome, was bellet
in the orthodoxy of communicating the sacrament
IN both clements. Now this was the earliest prac-
tcs of the Church. 1t had the explicit aud unam-
biguous authority OF the Gospels. 1t had been
followed for centuries. Communion in one element
originated with the ManichGals; had been con-
demned as herssy in the fifth century by Leo the
Great aud again. later. by Gelasius l. Bnt In the
eleventh century some hlir-drawn fancies
concerning the PROCLAMATION of the elements,
born Of the then braod-pew doctrine OF
transmits initiation, arose, AMI the Clurch ther1-
upon reversed its traditional position on the sub
ieot and refused the cup to the laltv. The position
thu, taken was indefensible, and the Calxtlnas'
VINO were thoroughly versed in the Scriptures and
! the commentaries of the early fathers knew this
In fact the champions OF Rome could not meet
them in argument. What thew could do and did,
was to denounce them as hereics The lnquisi-
tor Capietrano. addressing the papal egate on the
subject SAID frankly: If we excuse the heretics,
we condemn ourselves nave always
avoided debate with the BohemlaDs under the
ordinary rules for thev study TO Justify their n7r-
eSy from the ancient Scriptures ID oDserVanco'
and they have perfect knowledge of the texts