Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Symbolism In Bohemia; Or, The Book And The Cup.
SYMBOLISM IN BOHEMIA ; OR , THE BOOK AND THE CUP .
( Continued from page 505 . ) " The geographical position of Bohemia is an irregular square , pointing to the north , south , east , and west , in the centre of N Europe—hounded on the north-east by Prussian Silesia , on the north-west by AV E
Saxony , on the south-east by Moravia , on the south-west by Bavaria , Avhile the s southern point extends into Austria Proper . It is a kingdom , but subject to the house of Austria , the Emperor of Austria being at the same time King of Bohemia . Present population about 5 , 000 , 000 , or 7 , 000 , 000 including Moravia , of whom 90 , 000 are Protestants .
" Bohemia was the last country in Europe to submit to the yoke of Borne , and the first to attempt to cast it oft ' . It could boast of reformers before the Eeformation , and took the lead in the printing and circulation of the Bible in the language of the common people , and after being ivorsted in a long and gallant struggle for the maintenance of its civil and relig ious liberties , it became the noblest victim of the Thirty Tears' War .
Between England and Bohemia there has been a connection of old standing and of no common interest . By the marriage of King Eichard II . to the Bohemian Princess Anne , a lady of eminent piety , the followers of Wickliff obtained a friend and protectressaud his writings an earlentrance into
Bo-, y hemia , by which John Huss , the reformer of Bohemia , and his friend Jeremo of Prague , Avere brought to a knoAA-ledge of the truth . This truth , which Huss preached in the Bethlehem Church , Jerome explained and enforced in the halls of the University in Prague , while 1 ' AVO Oxford bachelors of divinity soughtby a
, series of pictorial representations , to make the difference between the kingdom of Christ and the hierarch y of Borne , with its tyranny and corruptions , intelligible to the multitude . More than a hundred years before the Reformation in Scotland a missionary was
sent from Prague to Scotland—viz . , the zealous and devoted Paul Crawar , who was burned at St . Andrew ' s . Huss and Jerome died the death of martyrs at Constance . The Council of Constance , before condemning them , condemned and pronounced infamous their teacher John AVickiiff / aud ordered his books to be destroyed , and his exhumed bones to be burned .
'" ' NeA'ertheless , the work which they had commenced in Bohemia was continued , and prospered greatly . Nearly the whole of the population accepted the doctrines of the Gospel , and enjoyed at the same time the greatest national prosperity . In 1 G 1 S onl y a fortieth part of the people was connected with the
Church of Eome ; but in 1 G 20 the battle of the AVhite Hill put an end to their time of prosperity , which , in spite of former and continual persecutions , they had experienced .
"Looking back for a moment on those former persecutions , Ave find that not only the Hussites themselves were subject to them , but also the Jews were most cruelly beaten , and from time to time tormented fearfully . In 1420 , for instance , 1 , 300 Jews were
burned alive because they were supposed to have favoured the Hussites . And yet , strange enough , about the same time the Hussites themselves seem to have had a more quiet season , for even the Queen of Bohemia favoured them . But this did not last long , and so , with very feAV interruptions , they had to pass through continual fearful struggles .
" But still these ivere not to be compared with the work of unrelenting persecution which wns commenced in 1 G 21 by the Emperor Ferdinand IL , with the help of the Jesuits , It is supposed that no nation ever suffered so much as did the people of Bohemia from the terrors of Eome . Thirty-six thousand families left the country , and it really seemed that the whole of Protestantism had been crushed in the
land . But the faithful remnant continued to meet in the hills , in caves , ancl in the forests , and there they also hid their Bibles and psalm-books . So when in 1781 the Edict of Toleration was proclaimed by the Emperor Joseph IL , numbers of Protestants came forward in every direction , and congregations were formed again in many places . They were not suffered ,
however , to constitute themselves as ' Hussites , ' nor yet as 'Bohemian Brethren , 'under Avhich appellation they had existed before ; but they were allowed to choose between the Augsburg and the Helvetic Confession—that is , to become either Lutherans or Calvinists ( Reformed ) . By far the greater number adopted the latter , the smaller portion conformed to the former . Other Protestant denominations Avere not allowed to exist in the countrv .
" At this present time these two Churches enjoy nearly perfect liberty , so far as the Government and the constitution are concerned . But the poiA'er and influence of the Romish Church being still very great in the land , the Protestants are under many disadvantages , and have frequently to experience secret opposition and oppression , which is being brought to bear upon them in numberless Avays . "—PICTUS .
CHARTER 03 ? COLOGNE . I should be much obliged to any brother AVIIO would give mc reliable information upon the Charter of Cologne . Bro . Findel has made so many mistakes out of Guild Masonry that his statements are worthless . AVhat are the lodgo minutes said to have been
discovered Avith it , and ivhat can be said about them for or against ? Some of the signatures to the charter -will bear the test of historical probability . In addition to the Templars ; AY ho undoubtedly used all our symbols , it is said that the following non-operative associations did the same—Platonic Academy , Florence 14 S 0
, . Company of the Trowel , Florence , 1512—but there is still earlier evidence of these in the dwelling-house of the celebrated French merchant and financier , Jacques Occur . The Eosicrucians and alchemists also used , some of our symbols . —JOHN YABKEK .
ATHEISM . HOAV can the editor of an atheistical journal be a Freemason ?—QUEBY . IG-NOEANCE . Ignorance of our own ignorance is the Avorst spe » eies of ignorance , —A PAST PROVINCIAL GHAHJD MASTEE .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Symbolism In Bohemia; Or, The Book And The Cup.
SYMBOLISM IN BOHEMIA ; OR , THE BOOK AND THE CUP .
( Continued from page 505 . ) " The geographical position of Bohemia is an irregular square , pointing to the north , south , east , and west , in the centre of N Europe—hounded on the north-east by Prussian Silesia , on the north-west by AV E
Saxony , on the south-east by Moravia , on the south-west by Bavaria , Avhile the s southern point extends into Austria Proper . It is a kingdom , but subject to the house of Austria , the Emperor of Austria being at the same time King of Bohemia . Present population about 5 , 000 , 000 , or 7 , 000 , 000 including Moravia , of whom 90 , 000 are Protestants .
" Bohemia was the last country in Europe to submit to the yoke of Borne , and the first to attempt to cast it oft ' . It could boast of reformers before the Eeformation , and took the lead in the printing and circulation of the Bible in the language of the common people , and after being ivorsted in a long and gallant struggle for the maintenance of its civil and relig ious liberties , it became the noblest victim of the Thirty Tears' War .
Between England and Bohemia there has been a connection of old standing and of no common interest . By the marriage of King Eichard II . to the Bohemian Princess Anne , a lady of eminent piety , the followers of Wickliff obtained a friend and protectressaud his writings an earlentrance into
Bo-, y hemia , by which John Huss , the reformer of Bohemia , and his friend Jeremo of Prague , Avere brought to a knoAA-ledge of the truth . This truth , which Huss preached in the Bethlehem Church , Jerome explained and enforced in the halls of the University in Prague , while 1 ' AVO Oxford bachelors of divinity soughtby a
, series of pictorial representations , to make the difference between the kingdom of Christ and the hierarch y of Borne , with its tyranny and corruptions , intelligible to the multitude . More than a hundred years before the Reformation in Scotland a missionary was
sent from Prague to Scotland—viz . , the zealous and devoted Paul Crawar , who was burned at St . Andrew ' s . Huss and Jerome died the death of martyrs at Constance . The Council of Constance , before condemning them , condemned and pronounced infamous their teacher John AVickiiff / aud ordered his books to be destroyed , and his exhumed bones to be burned .
'" ' NeA'ertheless , the work which they had commenced in Bohemia was continued , and prospered greatly . Nearly the whole of the population accepted the doctrines of the Gospel , and enjoyed at the same time the greatest national prosperity . In 1 G 1 S onl y a fortieth part of the people was connected with the
Church of Eome ; but in 1 G 20 the battle of the AVhite Hill put an end to their time of prosperity , which , in spite of former and continual persecutions , they had experienced .
"Looking back for a moment on those former persecutions , Ave find that not only the Hussites themselves were subject to them , but also the Jews were most cruelly beaten , and from time to time tormented fearfully . In 1420 , for instance , 1 , 300 Jews were
burned alive because they were supposed to have favoured the Hussites . And yet , strange enough , about the same time the Hussites themselves seem to have had a more quiet season , for even the Queen of Bohemia favoured them . But this did not last long , and so , with very feAV interruptions , they had to pass through continual fearful struggles .
" But still these ivere not to be compared with the work of unrelenting persecution which wns commenced in 1 G 21 by the Emperor Ferdinand IL , with the help of the Jesuits , It is supposed that no nation ever suffered so much as did the people of Bohemia from the terrors of Eome . Thirty-six thousand families left the country , and it really seemed that the whole of Protestantism had been crushed in the
land . But the faithful remnant continued to meet in the hills , in caves , ancl in the forests , and there they also hid their Bibles and psalm-books . So when in 1781 the Edict of Toleration was proclaimed by the Emperor Joseph IL , numbers of Protestants came forward in every direction , and congregations were formed again in many places . They were not suffered ,
however , to constitute themselves as ' Hussites , ' nor yet as 'Bohemian Brethren , 'under Avhich appellation they had existed before ; but they were allowed to choose between the Augsburg and the Helvetic Confession—that is , to become either Lutherans or Calvinists ( Reformed ) . By far the greater number adopted the latter , the smaller portion conformed to the former . Other Protestant denominations Avere not allowed to exist in the countrv .
" At this present time these two Churches enjoy nearly perfect liberty , so far as the Government and the constitution are concerned . But the poiA'er and influence of the Romish Church being still very great in the land , the Protestants are under many disadvantages , and have frequently to experience secret opposition and oppression , which is being brought to bear upon them in numberless Avays . "—PICTUS .
CHARTER 03 ? COLOGNE . I should be much obliged to any brother AVIIO would give mc reliable information upon the Charter of Cologne . Bro . Findel has made so many mistakes out of Guild Masonry that his statements are worthless . AVhat are the lodgo minutes said to have been
discovered Avith it , and ivhat can be said about them for or against ? Some of the signatures to the charter -will bear the test of historical probability . In addition to the Templars ; AY ho undoubtedly used all our symbols , it is said that the following non-operative associations did the same—Platonic Academy , Florence 14 S 0
, . Company of the Trowel , Florence , 1512—but there is still earlier evidence of these in the dwelling-house of the celebrated French merchant and financier , Jacques Occur . The Eosicrucians and alchemists also used , some of our symbols . —JOHN YABKEK .
ATHEISM . HOAV can the editor of an atheistical journal be a Freemason ?—QUEBY . IG-NOEANCE . Ignorance of our own ignorance is the Avorst spe » eies of ignorance , —A PAST PROVINCIAL GHAHJD MASTEE .