The necessity of conciliating the o])posing parties was apparent. The machinations of Romanism threatened them with a common danger; and it became important, after 1551, to check the progress of the antitrinitarian movement headed by Lrelius Soeinus; and the efficient organization of the Bohemian congregations, together with the fact that many of the foremost personages in the state were at least their friends and jmtrons, indi- cated that a closer relation with them was essential to the stability and required for the defence of the Refor- mation. The earliest attempt of which we have au- thentic information was made by Felix Cruciger, a supporter of the Swiss Confession and evangelical su- perintendent in Little Poland, through the medium of discussions on the state of the Church with representa- tive Bohemians. A compromise was ultimately effected at the general Synod of Kozminck in 1555, by which the Bohemian Confession was adopted, the liturgy of the Bohemians to be introduced, an<l their consent to be obtained to any undertaking. This agreement se- cured the approval of many theologians of the Reformed confessions in other lands, and of such men as Paul Ver- gerius and Brenz among the Lutherans. But the pro- visions of Kozminek were not executed with energy. John a Lasko, the eminent Reformer, whose high birth and former services gave him an assured influence, re- turned from exile (December, 155G) and discouraged further effort; and when, towards the close of the year 1557, opinions adverse to the proposed union were re- ceived from Calvin, Bullinger, Viret, and others of the Swiss Reformers, the compromise fell to the ground, having effected nothing that was expected from it, and leaving behind it the additional c<im])lication of excited feelings between the Reformed and the Bohemian par- ties.
To remedy this failure, Lasko now proposed that a
colloquy be held in Moravia for the purpose of discuss- ing the objections raised against the Bohemian Confes- sion, and the Brethren readily agreed. Leipnik was chosen as the place of meeting. Fifteen points were presented for discussion, bearing chiefly against the view of the Lord's supper taught by the Bohemian Church, and against the constitution of the Church it- self, the latter presenting the more difficult problem to be solved. The constitution of the Bohemian Brother- hood had adopted the Romish principle of a clerocracy. The government of the churches was ^jlaced wholly in the hands of a regularly ordained and graded officiary ; and if the lay element was recognised in the fact that the clergy were required to depend for their support, in part, on secular occupations, this was counterbalanced by the imposition of celibacy on the priesthood, thus securing to persons of that class not only a distinctive character, but also an appearance of superior sanctity. To change the constitution of the Church in this respect was impossible without giving up the principle of an organization to which the Brotherhood owed its preser- vation in the most trying times of persecution. The requirement of celibacy from their priests was explained as a prudential measure dictated by the greater liability of that class to persecution ; but the exclusion of the laity from the government of the Church admitted of no explanation satisfactory to a people whose nobles had been leaders in the Reformation and guides in the subsequent progress of the Church. The Conference of Leipnik closed without having effected any material re- sult ; and when a renewed effort to secure the approval of the Bohemian Confession by the Swiss theologians, Calvin and Musculus in particular, had failed, it was evident that all but hope was lost. The Synod of Xions (September, 1560), at which the Evangelical Church of Poland was constituted, did something, how- ever, to keep that hope alive by admitting delegates from the Bohemian fraternity to its deliberations, and bj' adopting ecclesiastical terms peculiar to that Church, such as senior and consenior, into the new constitution. In Great Poland, where Lutheranism predominated, the Melancthonian party, headed by the brothers Eras- mus and Nicholas (iliczner, put forth earnest efforts in behalf of Protestant fraternity. A synod at Posen (1 5G0), composed of representatives from the Evangelical and Bohemian churches, as well as of Lutherans, developed a plan of union which subsequently became the basis of the Sandomir Ar/reement. In the following year a dis- cussion of doctrinal differences took place at Buzenin, the Lutherans being scantily rejiresented, wliich led to the translation into Polish of the revised Bohemian Con- fession, and its submission for the approval of the Evan- gelical party ; and it was resolved that delegates from either section should attend all synods without a formal invitation. The progress of the Antitrinitarian move- ment, headed by Lajlius Soeinus, together with the incursion of Anabaptist refugees from Bohemia and Moravia, likewise promoted the interests of fraternity among the Evangelicals by threatening to sweep away entire congregations from tiie orthodox faith. The Cracow congregation, acting under the advice of Cal- vin and Bullinger, met the emergency by adopting the Swiss Confession and form of government (1560), and was followed in this measure b}' most of the congrega- tions in Little Poland, so that from this time the Poles must be regarded as Calvinists; and even the Lutherans of Great Poland and Lithuania took similar action by the substantial adoption of the resolutions of Xions, at a synod at Gostyn, in June, 1565, reserving only the teaching of the Augsburg Confession on the Lord's sup- per, and certain ecclesiastical usages.