6. Huss and Jerome. 119
perished.
Sigismund, the betrayer of Huss and Jerome, now became king of Bohemia, and regardless of his oath to support the rights of the Bohemians, he proceeded to establish popery. But he had gained little by his subservience to Rome. For twenty years his life had been filled with labors and perils. His armies had been wasted and his treasuries drained by a long and fruitless struggle; and now, after reigning one year, he died, leaving his kingdom on the brink of civil war, and bequeathing to posterity a name branded with infamy.
Tumults, strife, and bloodshed were protracted. Again foreign armies invaded Bohemia, and internal dissension continued to [ 119 ] distract the nation. Those who remained faithful to the gospel were subjected to a bloody persecution.
As their former brethren, entering into compact with Rome, imbibed her errors, those who adhered to the ancient faith had formed themselves into a distinct church, taking the name of“ United Brethren.” This act drew upon them maledictions from all classes. Yet their firmness was unshaken. Forced to find refuge in the woods and caves, they still assembled to read God ' s word and unite in His worship.
Through messengers secretly sent out into different countries, they learned that here and there were“ isolated confessors of the truth, a few in this city and a few in that, the object, like themselves, of persecution; and that amid the mountains of the Alps was an ancient church, resting on the foundations of Scripture, and protesting against the idolatrous corruptions of Rome.” 156 This intelligence was received with great joy, and a correspondence was opened with the Waldensian Christians.
Steadfast to the gospel, the Bohemians waited through the night of their persecution; in the darkest hour still turning their eyes toward the horizon like men who watch for the morning.
156 Wylie, b. 3, ch. 19.