: reign it the dominant creed of that city, without, how- ever, infringing upon tb< religious liberty of the Koniau ■ "The works of Luther found many readers, and even . in Poland, and n Bee et society, composed of . Miien and laymen, met frequently to ligious subjects, including those pom:- more especially which the li-e of the Reformation brought pn > e public mind. It was in connect'
that Ant
in Poland for th
known I iy the Ul • -v. lloWl
scriplit
n- were first adopted viduals, and the foundation laid ii se members were afterwards icininns (q. v.). The spread of
limited lo the upper i bile among the great mas- of the people the view- of the Reformers found ready acceptance ;
result in no small degree owing to the arrival of Bobe-
bren, to the number of about a thousand, who
had been driven from their own country, and found a
be province of Posen. This event happened in
1548, and the public worship of the Brethren being con-
Bobemian language, which was inti to the inhabitants of Posen, attracted toward- them tbe sympathies of multitudes. The Romish bishop of Posen, alarmed at the influence which the Brethren were exer- cising over the people of his dioce-e. applied for and ob- tained a royal edict for their expulsion from the coun- try. This order they immediately obeyed, and | to Prussia, where they found full religions liberty. Next year, however, some of them returned to Poland, where they had formerly received so much kindness, and con- tinued their labors without being molested in any form. Their coiiL'ie-ations rapidly increased, and in a shorl time ed the large number of eighty in the province of Great i'olaud alone, while many others wen formed in different parts of the country.
■■ \ c imsl im e oci nrred about this time which was provi lei • | overruled for the still wider diffusion of
■ p inciples in Poland. The student- of the University of Cracow, having taken offence at some real or imagined affront offered them by the rector, repaired
.ini\ei.-it;e-, put particularly to the uewlj en ct- ed University of Kohiirsber_r, from which the greal ma- jority of them returned home imbued with Protestant principles. The Reformed doctrines now made extraor- dinary proeje-s. particularly in the province of Cracow. In vain did the Romish clergy denounce the growing her- esy; all their remonstrances were unavailing, and at leugth they convened a general synod in 155] t i consider the whole BUbject. On this occasion Hosius, bishop of Ermeland, composed his celebrated Confession, which has
been acknowledged by the Church of Koine as a faithful
exposition of it- creed. The synod not only decreed that tin- creed should be signed by the whole body of the clergy, bur petitioned the king that a royal mandate issued ordering it- subscription by the laity. It was now resolved that a violent persecution should be commenced against the heretics, and thi* determination was strengthened by an encyclical letter from i; ommending the extirpation of heresy. Several cases <<t'
bloody per-eruti b il the noble-:. ai'OUSed tO
jealousy by the high-handed measures of th<
openly declared their wi-h to restrict the authority of the
■ 1 the people were unanimous in exp siuiil ar de-ire.
i ile of matter- in Poland when the diet
or 1562 was convened ; and scarcely had its deliberations been commenced, when a general hostility was evinced by the member- to epi-copal jui i-dinion. The resull was that ai ti i- liberty for all confessions was
• virtually established in I'olaud. At the die; of 1556 the ■ d to convoke a national Fjraod over which be himself should preside, and which should reform th.- Chnrch on the basis of the Holy Scriptures. Ii w i- proposed, also, to invite to ibis assembly the most
Rel -. Buch a- Calvin, J;..-
tbon, and \ Bui the expectations of the Prot-
estants in Poland were chiefly turned towards John a
I iski, who h ei been in-tiumental in promoting
.
and England. For a long time he remained within the
i ■ Romish Church, in the hop, that il would be
. anion. |n 1540 he di the Protestant church on the principles ol Zw high reputation which Lascn had nlread a scholar ami a Christian, nttt icted the ram u d i of the Protestant prime- in various pan- of Euro] e, sev- eral of whom Invited him to take up hi- re-idence in
their domiu ins. Th.' sovereign of k ,-t Krie-i ,■
ion- to complete (he reformation of the Church in that
country, prevailed upon Laeco to allow himself to be man-
POLAND
339
POLAND
tnated superintendent of all its churches. To carry out the object of his appointment was a matter of no small difficulty, considering the extreme reluctance which pre- vailed to the eutire abolition of Romish rites, but by en- ergy, perseverance, and uncompromising firmness he suc- ceeded, in the brief space of six years, in rooting out the last remains of Romanism, and fully establishing the Protestant religion throughout the whole of the churches of East Friesland. In 1548 Lasco received an earnest in- vitation from Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, to join the distinguished Reformers who had repaired to Eng- land from all parts of the Continent, that they might com- plete the reformation of the Church in that country. Having accepted Cranmer's invitation, the Polish Reform- er left Friesland and went to England, where he was ap- pointed, on his arrival in 1550, superintendent of the for- eign Protestant congregation established at London. In this important sphere he continued to labor with much comfort and success, until the demise of Edward VI and the accession of Mary arrested the progress of the Ref- ormation in England, and compelled Lasco with his con- gregation to leave the country. This little band of ex- iles, headed by the Polish Reformer, were driven by a storm upon the coast of Denmark, where, on landing, they were received at first with hospitality and kindness, but, through the influence of the Lutheran divines, they were soon obliged to seek an asylum elsewhere. The same hatred on the part of the Lutheran clergy was shown to the congregation of Lasco at Lubeck, Hamburg, and Rostock. At length the remnants of the congregation found in Dantzic a peaceful asylum, while Lasco himself retired to Friesland, where he was received with every mark of respect and attachment. In a short time, how'- ever, finding his position by no means so comfortable as at first, he removed to Fra'nkfort-on-the-Main, where he established a church for the Belgian Protestant refugees, and made various attempts, without success, to unite the Lutheran and Protestant churches.