The conflicts between Slav and Teuton in
the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the
closing years of the nineteenth century have
threatened the balance of power in Europe.
the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the
closing years of the nineteenth century have
threatened the balance of power in Europe.
Poland - 1910 - Protestantism in Poland, a Brief Study of its History
org/access_use#pd-google
? Protestantism in Poland
A Brief Study of its History
as an Encouragement to
Mission Work Among the Poles
BY THE
Rev. Charles E. Edwards
Philadelphia
THE WESTMINSTER PRESS
1901
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? \<$o\
Copyright, 1901, by
The Trustees of the Presbyterian Board of Publi-
cation and Sabbath-School Work
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? Mission Work Among the Poles
Thousands of Poles have emigrated to the
United States. Some even reckon them by
millions. They come from lands destitute of
the Scriptures. Such a fair opportunity for
giving them the gospel has not been granted
to the Church for three centuries. "Can they
be converted? " is the cold question of unbe-
lief. A direct answer is afforded by the his-
tory of the Eeformation in Poland; and this
history may be used in America to encourage
efforts in winning a new people for Christ.
"The past, at least, is secure," said an Ameri-
can statesman. Poland still has the traces
and ruins of her Eeformation; and even the
ruins of a church may plead for the gospel.
Real estate agents point to the remains of
cities built in the far West by an ancient
American race, and argue that by proper ex-
penditure these wastes may again be inhab-
3
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? 4 MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES
ited and become like the garden of the Lord.
Isaiah prophesies concerning our Christian
workers: "And they shall build the old wastes,
they shall raise up the former desolations, and
they shall repair the waste cities, the desola-
tions of many generations. And strangers
shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons
of the alien shall be your plowmen and your
vinedressers. "
The significance of the Reformation in
Poland can be better appreciated if we recall
its former greatness. It once included the
whole of ancient Scythia. It was once a
European power, extending from the Baltic to
the Carpathian Mountains and to the Black
Sea, and from the Oder to the Dnieper. It
once had two hundred and eighty thousand
square miles and fifteen millions of people,
when France had two hundred and eight
thousand square miles and twenty millions, and
the vast area of Russia, twenty-five millions of
subjects. Its plains were a granary for Europe.
It was larger than Spain, and not much less than
the whole of Germany. John Calvin wrote to
"the most mighty and most serene prince,
Sigismund Augustus, by the grace of God,
the King of Poland, Great Duke of Lithuania
Russia, Prussia, and Lord and Heir of Mus-
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? MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES 5
covy," etc. ; and these titles remind us of
Polish victories and power. The Emperor
Charles the Fifth obtained dominions more
extensive than those of any other European
sovereign for eight hundred years, or since the
days of Charlemagne. It is a marvel of God's
providence, that he and his son Philip the Sec-
ond, whose possessions included the distant
Philippines that bear his name, were unable
to crush the Reformation, which was led by
poor men, constantly in danger of exile, im-
prisonment, or death. Coligni, the French
admiral and statesman, a noble Huguenot
Presbyterian, planned a gigantic combination
of the scattered Protestants, to offset the
might of Spain and Austria. A majority of
the Polish Parliament were Protestants. The
armies which they could muster when their
Eeformation flourished were sufficient to
check those of Polish Romanists. Count Va-
lerian Krasinski, author of what Prof. W. P.
Morfill terms "an interesting but now for-
gotten work "1 on the Polish Preformation, de-
1 Historical Sketch of the Bine, Progress and Decline of the
Reformation in Poland and of the Influence which the Scriptural
Doctrines have exercised on that Country in literary, moral, and
political Respects. By Count Valerian Krasinski. 2 Vols.
London, 1838. "To the Protestants of the British Empire
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? 6
MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES
clares that if Coligni's plans had succeeded, the
Reformation would have triumphed over all
Europe.
The Poles belong to the great Slavonic race,
which includes a majority of the inhabitants
in the Austrian and Russian empires, besides
myriads of others in provinces subject to the
Turk, and in kingdoms newly freed from his
rule. The Polish people may be traced as far
back as the sixth century. "At the time
when all the lands forming the jagged margin
of the Mediterranean were included in the
vast empire of the Roman Caesars, the Slavo-
nians were decidedly the most numerous of the
four stock-races which divided amongst them
the rest of Europe--the Celts in the west, the
Goths in the middle and north, the Slavonians
in the east, and the Ugrians or Finns in the
extreme circumpolar regions. Physically, they
are a Avell-formed race, taller than the Celts,
with complexions as fair or nearly as fair as
the Goths, and with hair brown or reddish,
but seldom black. Contrasted with the Goths,
they are what physiologists call brachy-ce-
phalic,--that is, their heads were proportionally
broader across, and less deep from front to back,
and of the United States of America, this Work is respect-
fully dedicated hy a Polish Protestant. "
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? MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES
7
their cheek-bones being in consequence some-
what more prominent and their eyes smaller. "1
The Polish State was founded by Mieceslav
the First, a prince of the Piast dynasty, about
a thousand years ago. Poland then became
nominally Christian. At that period Cyril and
Methodius translated the Scriptures into the
Slavonian tongue, and this version is still in
use in all Greek Orthodox churches. The
dialect in which they wrote, now called Church
Slavonic, is of great importance to the scien-
tific student of Slavonic tongues, which differ
from each other less than Dutch does from
German. Various Slavonic countries even-
tually were won over to the Church of Pome.
Those who deride theology as of no practical
importance, should consider the far-reaching
consequences of religious training, which are
stamped upon the Slavonic peoples, which re-
appear in their American immigrants, and
which make a gulf between them and the
Americans who have a pure gospel. Their
alphabets, literature, schools, architecture, and
historical affiliations, have been determined by
their forms of religion. Croatians and Serv-
ians are the same people and speak the same
language; but Croatians (who gave us the
1 Westminster Review, 63: 114, etc.
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? 8 MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES
word cravat) are Romanists and use the Ro-
man alphabet, while Servians use the Greek
alphabet, and follow the Greek Church. "The
Bohemian churches are of a German Gothic;
those of their Russian kinsfolk followed
models of Constantinople in architecture and
art, as well as discipline and ritual. " 1 As are
their churches, so are their alphabets: Poles
and Bohemians use Roman letters; Russians
and Bulgarians, the Greek. These all are of
the Slavonic race, and nearly all of them are
represented by colonists, schools, and churches,
in our American cities. An American who at-
tempts to read his mother tongue when trans-
literated in Greek letters, can see an illustra-
tion of these national and theological differ-
ences.
During stormy centuries of the Piast
dynasty, Rome received gifts and conces-
sions from princes who sought her favor; yet
she seems to have had only a feeble hold upon
Poland. Other countries trembled before the
thunders of the Vatican; but Poland was in-
different to its censures. In conflicts between
the secular and ecclesiastical powers, the latter
were often defeated. There was a sturdy,
national spirit in Poland; and their historians,
1 Littell's Living Age, 1879.
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? MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES 9
some of them zealous Romish priests, confess
that worship in the national language was ex-
tant until the sixteenth century.
With Casimir the Great, the Piast dynasty
ended in the fourteenth century. The beauti-
ful and beloved Queen Hedwig, his daughter,
married Jagello, Duke of Lithuania, who
was baptized, and introduced Christianity
among his heathen subjects. For two cen-
turies, the most prosperous period of Polish
history, the crown was hereditary in Lithuania
and elective in Poland; but a Jagellon was
always elected. Under the Jagellon kings,
"the mass of the peasantry are to be conceived
of as living in their dirty villages, ignorant
and boorish. The nobles, on the other hand,
are spoken of as a singularly handsome,
sprightly, intelligent and polite race, generally
well accomplished and with an extreme facil-
ity in learning foreign languages and habits;
the women animated, clever and more beauti-
ful than the women of any other continental
country. The bravery of the Poles, and their
military excellence in every respect, were then
as now, universally admitted; and whatever
modern theorists of a certain class may say,
there is no better test of a nation's stuff and
substance than how it will fight. In the fif-
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? 10 MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES
teenth and sixteenth centuries, the political
suffrage was more extended there than in any
other country in Europe. In 1500, Poland
with fifteen millions had four hundred and
eighty thousand voters. In France, in the
last year of Louis Philippe there were only
one hundred and eighty thousand in thirty-
five millions. In no country of the world was
the constitution so republican, and at the same
time so efficacious in action; in none was the
central authority so respectable, resting on
a basis so broad and popular. Sigismund the
Third at one Diet was reminded that he was
ruling over a nation of free nobles, having no
equals under heaven. "1
There was a Slavic Reformation a hundred
years before Luther's conversion. Andreas
Galka Dobszyn, who received the degree of
M. A. from the University of Cracow ex-
pounded the works of Wyclif and wrote a
hymn in honor of the English reformer. "Ye
Poles, Germans and all nations! Wyclif
speaks the truth! Whoever wishes to know
himself, let him approach Wyclif; whoever
will enter the ways which he has pointed out
will never leave them, and never will err.
Truth is the heritage of Christ. The priests
1 Westminster Review, 63 : 130.
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? MISSION WORK. AMONG THE POLES 11
have hidden the truth; they are afraid of it,
and they deceive the people with fables. O
Christ! For the sake of thy wounds, send us
such priests as may guide us toward the truth
and may bury the antichrist. "
John Huss of Bohemia read with delight
the writings of Wyclif, the "morning star
of the Reformation. " When the quarrel arose
between the Germans and Bohemians in the
University of Prague, Huss became the leader
of his countrymen. The Germans, who em-
braced in their party all the foreigners at the
University, had three votes, while the native
Bohemians had only one, at all their elections.
Thus Germans disposed of University honors.
Huss pleaded for home rule, and has endeared
his name even among Bohemians who do not
accept his religious views. He urged that the
custom be reversed, and that three votes be
given to the national party, and one to the
Germans, according to the practice of the
Universities of Bologna and Paris, which were
called the mothers of Prague. The monarch
granted this demand October 5th, 1409 ; where-
upon the Germans seceded and founded the
University of Leipsic, which thus indirectly
perpetuates the memory of the Bohemian re-
former. After the departure of the Germans,
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? 12 MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES
Huss was elected rector of the University.
Krasinski writes that "the national party
eagerly embraced the religious doctrines of its
leader, the anti-Romanist feeling being blended
with the anti-German. Poland was intimately
connected with Bohemia; the languages of
both countries were then almost the same.
The youths of Poland generally resorted for
their education to the University of Prague,
where a college for them was founded by
Queen Hedwig. One of the first martyrs of
IIuss's Reformation was a Pole. " At Prague
in 1411, two Bohemians and a Pole, Stanislaw
Paszek, a shoemaker by trade, denounced as
false the doctrine of indulgences. Their lives
were sacrificed for their zeal, and Huss
preached a sermon at their burial. Huss was
greatly esteemed in Poland, and all the Poles
at the Council of Constance united with their
Bohemian brethren in the effort to save him
from a martyr's death.
Poles assisted Hussites in their wars, but
the Reformation of Huss did not triumph in
Poland. Had it done so, it might have spread
among all the Slavonic nations. Krasinski
accounts for the failure partly by the unfavor-
able effects of dissensions among the Hussites,
and partly because the patriotic motives which
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? MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES 13
stimulated Bohemians in contending against
Germans, were lacking in Poland, where no
such conflict took place. Froude remarks :1
"The Bohemians had avenged the murders of
John Huss and Jerome of Prague on eleven
bloody fields; but they had been crushed, and
there remained only Jean Ziska's skin which
he bequeathed to his country to be stretched
on a drum, and so keep alive the echoes of the
eternal battle music. " Nevertheless, Ronie
was fast losing her hold upon the minds of the
people in the fifteenth century.
The conflicts between Slav and Teuton in
the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the
closing years of the nineteenth century have
threatened the balance of power in Europe.
The gospel which unites Jew and Gentile,
barbarian and Scythian, in Christ, cures such
national feuds. The Slavic Reformation pre-
pared the way for that of the German Luther;
and Luther's doctrines in turn were preached
in Bohemia and Poland. "John Huss," said
Luther, "has weeded the vineyard of Christ
from many thorns. He has condemned the
scandal of the apostolical see. I have found
a fertile and well-tilled ground. " Huss, he
said, was the seed which must die and be
1 Council of Trent.
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? 14 MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES
buried in order that it might germinate and
grow. The doctrines of Luther were dissem-
inated by Polish students who frequented
Wittenberg. In Dantzic, the chief town of
Polish Prussia, some suffered for their pro-
fession of the reformed faith. Sigismund the
First (who reigned 1508-1548), was opposed to
political innovations, but was praised by
Calvin for his tolerance of religious reform.
Protestant Bohemians emigrated to Poland
and introduced their doctrines into various
parts of the kingdom. Although checked by
the authorities at first, the Reformation soon
became too strong to be suppressed. One of
the most singular events in the history of the
kingdom occurred during the reign of this
sovereign, and shows the growing power of
the new doctrines. For generations the cele-
brated order of the Teutonic Knights had been
a thorn in the side of Poland, and various
battles had tested the prowess of Pole or
Teuton. King Sigismund the First waged
war with them and was victorious. In set-
tling the terms of peace in 1525, the Grand
Master of the order, Albert of Brandenburg, a
descendant of the Hohenzollern family who
in 1411 possessed themselves of the marquisate
of Brandenburg, proposed that their order
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? MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES 15
should be secularized. He and other knights
married wives and professed Lutheranism.
The king himself took part in the stately cere-
monies which so happily terminated this long
conflict. This is said to have been the first
instance of secularization in history, and the
first diplomatic recognition of Lutheranism as
an established religion.
The most rapid progress of the Keformation
in this realm was during the reign of this
king's son and successor, Sigismund Augustus
(2548-1572), when the Protestant churches
were established, not as tolerated, but as
legally acknowledged communities. The Vis-
tula is the great river of Poland, and it
seemed about to become a Protestant stream.
Its towns, like Cracow, Sendomir, Thorn, and
Dantzic, saw Protestant assemblies. "In the
sixteenth century Poland was the most tol-
erant country in Europe. The only protest
made by any nation against the revocation
of the Edict of Nantes and the massacre of
St. Bartholomew came from Poland. "1 The
celebrated Jesuit Skarga complained that two
thousand Eomanist churches were converted
into Protestant ones. Calvin's disciples mul-
tiplied among the people, the nobility, and in
1 Westminster Review, 80: 180.
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? 16 MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES
the University of Cracow; and his eagle eye
saw the importance of gaining that kingdom
for the gospel.
The dedication of a book was a more serious
matter in those times than now. Luther dedi-
cated an edition of his German Bible to Sigis-
mund Augustus. In 1549 this king accepted
from Calvin the dedication of his commentary
on the Epistle to the Hebrews, in which he
says:--
"Your kingdom is extensive and renowned,
and abounds in many excellences; but its hap-
piness will then only be solid when it adopts
Christ as its chief ruler and governor, so that
it may be defended by his safeguard and pro-
tection; for to submit your scepter to him is
not inconsistent with that elevation in which
you are placed, but it would be far more glori-
ous than all the triumphs of the world. Un-
dertake then, I pray, O magnanimous King,
under the auspicious banner of Christ, a work
so worthy of your royal elevation, as well as
of your heroic virtue, so that the eternal truth
of God, by which his own glory and the salva-
tion of men are promoted, may, wherever thy
kingdom spreads, recover its own authority,
which has been taken away by the fraudulent
dealings of antichrist. It is truly an arduous
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? MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES
17
work, and of such magnitude as is sufficient to
fill even the wisest with solicitude and fear.
As it is the peculiar work of God, we ought
not in this case to regard the extent of human
powers as the glory due to his power; so
that relying on that not only to help us but
also to guide us, we may venture on things
far beyond our own strength. For the work
of restoring and establishing the Church is not
without reason everywhere assigned in Scrip-
ture to God. The Lord who has himself as it
were by his own hand laid the foundations of
the Church will not suffer it to remain in a
decayed state, for he is represented as solici-
tous to restore it and to repair its ruins; for
by speaking thus, he in effect promises that he
will never fail us when engaged in this work.
As he would not have us sit down as idle
spectators of his power, so the presence of his
aid in sustaining the hands which labor, clearly
proves that he himself is the chief architect.
This one thing is abundantly sufficient, that
we have such an invincible Leader, that the
more he is assailed, the greater will be the vic-
tories and the triumphs gained by his power.
Farewell, invincible King. May the Lord Jesus
rule you by the spirit of wisdom, sustain you
by the spirit of valor, bestow on you all kinds
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? 18 MISSION WOKK AMONG THE POLES
of blessings, long preserve your Majesty in
health and prosperity, and protect your king-
dom. Amen. "
Later, in 1554 he wrote: "When Christ
wishes even his humblest disciples to be like
lamps suspended in a lofty place, that send
out their light to a distance, what does he re-
quire of a king, whom he has placed at the
summit of human dignity, that he might shine
before all others? Remember then, most ex-
cellent King, that a light has been divinely
kindled up for the whole of Poland, which
cannot be kept hidden any longer without
your incurring serious blame. When the battle
that is to be fought here is for the glory of
God in the kingdom of Christ, for the purity
of religious worship, for the salvation of the
human race, such is the excellence of the cause
that it should absorb all vexations in its glory,
and easily surmount all obstacles. When God
asserts that it is his own work to restore his
ruined Church, of which he is the only founder,
we may conclude with certainty that he will
by no means desert us in the moment of need.
Because the enemies of sound doctrine will
strive with all their might to shut the door
against pious and sincere teachers, it would be
necessary that a helping hand should be held
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? MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES 19
out to them by your Majesty, in order that
without any restraint they may turn the peo-
ple away from the errors of superstition to the
straight path of piety. "
Nicholas Radziwill, one of the most distin-
guished nobles of Poland, the friend and con-
fidant of King Sigismund Augustus, in 1553
publicly adopted the Reformed doctrines, and
caused to be translated and printed at his own
expense the first Protestant Bible in Poland.
In 1555 Calvin wrote to him: "It is my wish
that the kingdom of Christ should nourish
everywhere, yet at the present moment Poland
deservedly occupies my thoughts with a very
special anxiety. For from the time that the
light of a purer doctrine began to shine upon
it, this happy beginning has at the same time
inflamed my desire with the hopes of a better
progress. Unquestionably you see that it is
a work of immense difficulty to establish the
heavenly reign of God upon earth. You see
with what indifference that cause is treated,
which ought not only to occupy the chief
place among our cares, but even absorb all our
thoughts. "
Again he writes to the King: "Since in
Poland true religion has already begun to
dawn, since many pious and wise men volun-
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? 20 MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES
tarily aspire after the pure worship of God, I,
whom the King of kings has appointed a
preacher of his gospel and a minister of his
Church, call upon your Majesty in his name to
make this work above all others your especial
care. Your Majesty has far less difficulty to
struggle with than Hezekiah and Josiah, who
had an arduous and severe contest with the
contumacy of their people; whereas in our
days the greater part of the Polish nobility
shows a prompt and cheerful disposition to
embrace the faith of Christ. "
Polish nobles desired Calvin to establish
their Reformation in person; but he recom-
mended the Polish noble and reformer John a
Lasco or Laski in his stead. During that
century there were many eminent representa-
tives of this family in the Church, the council,
and the camp. John Laski, or a Lasco, was
born in 1499, and was educated for the priest-
hood. His travels in Germany, Italy, France,
and Belgium, introduced him to many famous
scholars of the day. In 1524 Zwingli sowed
the first doubt in his mind as to the orthodoxy
of the Eoman Church. The year 1525 he
spent with Erasmus, who had a regard for
him bordering on enthusiasm. D'Aubigne,
speaking of Erasmus as the greatest critic of
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? MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES 21
the age, quotes his praises: "A glorious
ancestry, high rank, prospects the most bril-
liant, a mind of wonderful richness, uncom-
mon extent of knowledge, and with all this
there is about him not the faintest taint of
pride. The sweetness of his disposition puts
him in harmony with everyone. His morals
are pure as the snow. He has all the brilliancy
of gems and gold. He has manners so easy,
so open and so cordial that his company day
by day makes me young again. " This friend-
ship Laski repaid with the liberality of a
Polish grandee. He purchased the library of
Erasmus, but left to him its use during his
lifetime. He returned to his native land in
1526, and might have obtained the first
dignities of the Polish Church, for his uncle
was the primate of the kingdom and he
seemed destined to be his successor. By his
marriage, after his profession of the Reformed
faith, he sacrificed these splendid prospects of
preferment. Protestant princes sought his aid
in advancing the Reformation. He may be
considered as the real founder of the Protestant
Church in Friesland, as in 1543 he was nomi-
nated superintendent of all the churches, and
labored there with zeal for six years. By
invitation of Archbishop Cranmer he went to
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? 22 MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES
England in 1548 to assist in the reformation of
the English Church, and spent six months
with him at Lambeth. Latimer highly praised
him in a sermon before King Edward the
Sixth; and King Edward in a letter to Sigis-
mund Augustus described Laski as a man
gifted with eminent qualities and possessing
extensive information. After another visit to
Germany we find him in England in 1550. If
an Anglo-Saxon asks whether a Pole can be
converted, it may suffice to point to this
Polish noble who was chosen as one of eight
divines who formed in 1551 a commission
for the reformation of English ecclesias-
tical law. He was nominated the superin-
tendent of the foreign Protestant congrega-
tion established in London, composed of
French, Germans and Italians, who found
both asjdum and liberal support from the
English Government. Upon the accession of
Queen Mary to the throne, John Laski left
England, and after sojourning in Friesland
and Frankfort-on-the-Main, where he estab-
lished a church for the Belgian Protestant
refugees, he returned in 1556 to his native
land. He had previously published an account
of the foreign churches that he had superin-
tended, and explained his views about the
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? MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES 23
necessity for a reformation in Poland. He
became superintendent of all the Reformed
churches in Little Poland, soon after his
return. He labored to promote a union of the
Protestant denominations; and organized a
hundred and twenty-two churches in Little
Poland. To Calvin he reports: "I am now,
my Calvin, so overwhelmed with cares and
business that I cannot write. On the one
hand enemies, on the other false friends, assail
us, so that there is no rest. Farewell. Send
greeting's most cordially to all brethren in the
Lord. " He died in 1560, was buried with
honors, and his death was a great loss to the
Reformation. At Basel he had studied di-
vinity with (Ecolampadius and Hebrew with
Pellican. He visited Bucer at Cambridge.
His influence was great in the court of
Edward the Sixth, and can be traced in the
second prayer book, and in the views of Cran-
mer and Hooper. His catechism at Embden
in Friesland was partly the basis for the
Heidelberg Catechism. He wrote what was
virtually the first confession of the Nether-
lands Reformed Church. Rev. Dr. A. Kuyper
of Holland has done good service to the Church
in publishing the works of this reformer.
D'Aubigne thus estimates him: "A Lasco
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? 24 MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES
does not stand in the first rank of the men of
the Reformation. But in one respect he sur-
passed them all, and this by reason of the
state of life in which it pleased God that he
should be born. He knew better than anyone
what it was to sacrifice for Jesus Christ the
world with its dignities and its favors, and he
did this with a noble courage. No sooner was
the bandage, placed over his eyes, removed,
than he felt abhorrence of bondage. He be-
came one of the most beautiful examples of
moral freedom in the sixteenth century. "
John Laski did not labor in vain for the
union of Protestants in Poland. The Bohe-
mian Brethren, sometimes called Waldenses,
driven from their country in 1548 emigrated
to Poland, where they formed forty congrega-
tions. At the first general Protestant synod,
held at Kosminek, 1555, a union was effected
between them and the Reformed or Calvinistic
churches. Calvin wrote to a Polish nobleman,
Stanislaus Krasinski: "From a union with the
Waldenses [or Brethren] I hope the best, not
only because God blesses every act of a holy
union of the members of Christ, but also be-
cause at the present crisis the experience of the
Waldenses, who are so well drilled in the service
of the Lord, will be of no small benefit to you. "
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? MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES 25
In the year 1569 occurred a notable event,--
the formal union of Poland and Lithuania at
the Diet of Lublin. The principal noblemen
of the three Protestant communions of Poland,
assembled at that Diet, resolved to promote a
union of their respective denominations, hoping
that Sigismund Augustus, who had often
wished for such a union, would at last be in-
duced to embrace Protestantism.
? Protestantism in Poland
A Brief Study of its History
as an Encouragement to
Mission Work Among the Poles
BY THE
Rev. Charles E. Edwards
Philadelphia
THE WESTMINSTER PRESS
1901
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? \<$o\
Copyright, 1901, by
The Trustees of the Presbyterian Board of Publi-
cation and Sabbath-School Work
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? Mission Work Among the Poles
Thousands of Poles have emigrated to the
United States. Some even reckon them by
millions. They come from lands destitute of
the Scriptures. Such a fair opportunity for
giving them the gospel has not been granted
to the Church for three centuries. "Can they
be converted? " is the cold question of unbe-
lief. A direct answer is afforded by the his-
tory of the Eeformation in Poland; and this
history may be used in America to encourage
efforts in winning a new people for Christ.
"The past, at least, is secure," said an Ameri-
can statesman. Poland still has the traces
and ruins of her Eeformation; and even the
ruins of a church may plead for the gospel.
Real estate agents point to the remains of
cities built in the far West by an ancient
American race, and argue that by proper ex-
penditure these wastes may again be inhab-
3
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? 4 MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES
ited and become like the garden of the Lord.
Isaiah prophesies concerning our Christian
workers: "And they shall build the old wastes,
they shall raise up the former desolations, and
they shall repair the waste cities, the desola-
tions of many generations. And strangers
shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons
of the alien shall be your plowmen and your
vinedressers. "
The significance of the Reformation in
Poland can be better appreciated if we recall
its former greatness. It once included the
whole of ancient Scythia. It was once a
European power, extending from the Baltic to
the Carpathian Mountains and to the Black
Sea, and from the Oder to the Dnieper. It
once had two hundred and eighty thousand
square miles and fifteen millions of people,
when France had two hundred and eight
thousand square miles and twenty millions, and
the vast area of Russia, twenty-five millions of
subjects. Its plains were a granary for Europe.
It was larger than Spain, and not much less than
the whole of Germany. John Calvin wrote to
"the most mighty and most serene prince,
Sigismund Augustus, by the grace of God,
the King of Poland, Great Duke of Lithuania
Russia, Prussia, and Lord and Heir of Mus-
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? MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES 5
covy," etc. ; and these titles remind us of
Polish victories and power. The Emperor
Charles the Fifth obtained dominions more
extensive than those of any other European
sovereign for eight hundred years, or since the
days of Charlemagne. It is a marvel of God's
providence, that he and his son Philip the Sec-
ond, whose possessions included the distant
Philippines that bear his name, were unable
to crush the Reformation, which was led by
poor men, constantly in danger of exile, im-
prisonment, or death. Coligni, the French
admiral and statesman, a noble Huguenot
Presbyterian, planned a gigantic combination
of the scattered Protestants, to offset the
might of Spain and Austria. A majority of
the Polish Parliament were Protestants. The
armies which they could muster when their
Eeformation flourished were sufficient to
check those of Polish Romanists. Count Va-
lerian Krasinski, author of what Prof. W. P.
Morfill terms "an interesting but now for-
gotten work "1 on the Polish Preformation, de-
1 Historical Sketch of the Bine, Progress and Decline of the
Reformation in Poland and of the Influence which the Scriptural
Doctrines have exercised on that Country in literary, moral, and
political Respects. By Count Valerian Krasinski. 2 Vols.
London, 1838. "To the Protestants of the British Empire
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? 6
MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES
clares that if Coligni's plans had succeeded, the
Reformation would have triumphed over all
Europe.
The Poles belong to the great Slavonic race,
which includes a majority of the inhabitants
in the Austrian and Russian empires, besides
myriads of others in provinces subject to the
Turk, and in kingdoms newly freed from his
rule. The Polish people may be traced as far
back as the sixth century. "At the time
when all the lands forming the jagged margin
of the Mediterranean were included in the
vast empire of the Roman Caesars, the Slavo-
nians were decidedly the most numerous of the
four stock-races which divided amongst them
the rest of Europe--the Celts in the west, the
Goths in the middle and north, the Slavonians
in the east, and the Ugrians or Finns in the
extreme circumpolar regions. Physically, they
are a Avell-formed race, taller than the Celts,
with complexions as fair or nearly as fair as
the Goths, and with hair brown or reddish,
but seldom black. Contrasted with the Goths,
they are what physiologists call brachy-ce-
phalic,--that is, their heads were proportionally
broader across, and less deep from front to back,
and of the United States of America, this Work is respect-
fully dedicated hy a Polish Protestant. "
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? MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES
7
their cheek-bones being in consequence some-
what more prominent and their eyes smaller. "1
The Polish State was founded by Mieceslav
the First, a prince of the Piast dynasty, about
a thousand years ago. Poland then became
nominally Christian. At that period Cyril and
Methodius translated the Scriptures into the
Slavonian tongue, and this version is still in
use in all Greek Orthodox churches. The
dialect in which they wrote, now called Church
Slavonic, is of great importance to the scien-
tific student of Slavonic tongues, which differ
from each other less than Dutch does from
German. Various Slavonic countries even-
tually were won over to the Church of Pome.
Those who deride theology as of no practical
importance, should consider the far-reaching
consequences of religious training, which are
stamped upon the Slavonic peoples, which re-
appear in their American immigrants, and
which make a gulf between them and the
Americans who have a pure gospel. Their
alphabets, literature, schools, architecture, and
historical affiliations, have been determined by
their forms of religion. Croatians and Serv-
ians are the same people and speak the same
language; but Croatians (who gave us the
1 Westminster Review, 63: 114, etc.
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? 8 MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES
word cravat) are Romanists and use the Ro-
man alphabet, while Servians use the Greek
alphabet, and follow the Greek Church. "The
Bohemian churches are of a German Gothic;
those of their Russian kinsfolk followed
models of Constantinople in architecture and
art, as well as discipline and ritual. " 1 As are
their churches, so are their alphabets: Poles
and Bohemians use Roman letters; Russians
and Bulgarians, the Greek. These all are of
the Slavonic race, and nearly all of them are
represented by colonists, schools, and churches,
in our American cities. An American who at-
tempts to read his mother tongue when trans-
literated in Greek letters, can see an illustra-
tion of these national and theological differ-
ences.
During stormy centuries of the Piast
dynasty, Rome received gifts and conces-
sions from princes who sought her favor; yet
she seems to have had only a feeble hold upon
Poland. Other countries trembled before the
thunders of the Vatican; but Poland was in-
different to its censures. In conflicts between
the secular and ecclesiastical powers, the latter
were often defeated. There was a sturdy,
national spirit in Poland; and their historians,
1 Littell's Living Age, 1879.
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? MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES 9
some of them zealous Romish priests, confess
that worship in the national language was ex-
tant until the sixteenth century.
With Casimir the Great, the Piast dynasty
ended in the fourteenth century. The beauti-
ful and beloved Queen Hedwig, his daughter,
married Jagello, Duke of Lithuania, who
was baptized, and introduced Christianity
among his heathen subjects. For two cen-
turies, the most prosperous period of Polish
history, the crown was hereditary in Lithuania
and elective in Poland; but a Jagellon was
always elected. Under the Jagellon kings,
"the mass of the peasantry are to be conceived
of as living in their dirty villages, ignorant
and boorish. The nobles, on the other hand,
are spoken of as a singularly handsome,
sprightly, intelligent and polite race, generally
well accomplished and with an extreme facil-
ity in learning foreign languages and habits;
the women animated, clever and more beauti-
ful than the women of any other continental
country. The bravery of the Poles, and their
military excellence in every respect, were then
as now, universally admitted; and whatever
modern theorists of a certain class may say,
there is no better test of a nation's stuff and
substance than how it will fight. In the fif-
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? 10 MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES
teenth and sixteenth centuries, the political
suffrage was more extended there than in any
other country in Europe. In 1500, Poland
with fifteen millions had four hundred and
eighty thousand voters. In France, in the
last year of Louis Philippe there were only
one hundred and eighty thousand in thirty-
five millions. In no country of the world was
the constitution so republican, and at the same
time so efficacious in action; in none was the
central authority so respectable, resting on
a basis so broad and popular. Sigismund the
Third at one Diet was reminded that he was
ruling over a nation of free nobles, having no
equals under heaven. "1
There was a Slavic Reformation a hundred
years before Luther's conversion. Andreas
Galka Dobszyn, who received the degree of
M. A. from the University of Cracow ex-
pounded the works of Wyclif and wrote a
hymn in honor of the English reformer. "Ye
Poles, Germans and all nations! Wyclif
speaks the truth! Whoever wishes to know
himself, let him approach Wyclif; whoever
will enter the ways which he has pointed out
will never leave them, and never will err.
Truth is the heritage of Christ. The priests
1 Westminster Review, 63 : 130.
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? MISSION WORK. AMONG THE POLES 11
have hidden the truth; they are afraid of it,
and they deceive the people with fables. O
Christ! For the sake of thy wounds, send us
such priests as may guide us toward the truth
and may bury the antichrist. "
John Huss of Bohemia read with delight
the writings of Wyclif, the "morning star
of the Reformation. " When the quarrel arose
between the Germans and Bohemians in the
University of Prague, Huss became the leader
of his countrymen. The Germans, who em-
braced in their party all the foreigners at the
University, had three votes, while the native
Bohemians had only one, at all their elections.
Thus Germans disposed of University honors.
Huss pleaded for home rule, and has endeared
his name even among Bohemians who do not
accept his religious views. He urged that the
custom be reversed, and that three votes be
given to the national party, and one to the
Germans, according to the practice of the
Universities of Bologna and Paris, which were
called the mothers of Prague. The monarch
granted this demand October 5th, 1409 ; where-
upon the Germans seceded and founded the
University of Leipsic, which thus indirectly
perpetuates the memory of the Bohemian re-
former. After the departure of the Germans,
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? 12 MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES
Huss was elected rector of the University.
Krasinski writes that "the national party
eagerly embraced the religious doctrines of its
leader, the anti-Romanist feeling being blended
with the anti-German. Poland was intimately
connected with Bohemia; the languages of
both countries were then almost the same.
The youths of Poland generally resorted for
their education to the University of Prague,
where a college for them was founded by
Queen Hedwig. One of the first martyrs of
IIuss's Reformation was a Pole. " At Prague
in 1411, two Bohemians and a Pole, Stanislaw
Paszek, a shoemaker by trade, denounced as
false the doctrine of indulgences. Their lives
were sacrificed for their zeal, and Huss
preached a sermon at their burial. Huss was
greatly esteemed in Poland, and all the Poles
at the Council of Constance united with their
Bohemian brethren in the effort to save him
from a martyr's death.
Poles assisted Hussites in their wars, but
the Reformation of Huss did not triumph in
Poland. Had it done so, it might have spread
among all the Slavonic nations. Krasinski
accounts for the failure partly by the unfavor-
able effects of dissensions among the Hussites,
and partly because the patriotic motives which
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? MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES 13
stimulated Bohemians in contending against
Germans, were lacking in Poland, where no
such conflict took place. Froude remarks :1
"The Bohemians had avenged the murders of
John Huss and Jerome of Prague on eleven
bloody fields; but they had been crushed, and
there remained only Jean Ziska's skin which
he bequeathed to his country to be stretched
on a drum, and so keep alive the echoes of the
eternal battle music. " Nevertheless, Ronie
was fast losing her hold upon the minds of the
people in the fifteenth century.
The conflicts between Slav and Teuton in
the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the
closing years of the nineteenth century have
threatened the balance of power in Europe.
The gospel which unites Jew and Gentile,
barbarian and Scythian, in Christ, cures such
national feuds. The Slavic Reformation pre-
pared the way for that of the German Luther;
and Luther's doctrines in turn were preached
in Bohemia and Poland. "John Huss," said
Luther, "has weeded the vineyard of Christ
from many thorns. He has condemned the
scandal of the apostolical see. I have found
a fertile and well-tilled ground. " Huss, he
said, was the seed which must die and be
1 Council of Trent.
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? 14 MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES
buried in order that it might germinate and
grow. The doctrines of Luther were dissem-
inated by Polish students who frequented
Wittenberg. In Dantzic, the chief town of
Polish Prussia, some suffered for their pro-
fession of the reformed faith. Sigismund the
First (who reigned 1508-1548), was opposed to
political innovations, but was praised by
Calvin for his tolerance of religious reform.
Protestant Bohemians emigrated to Poland
and introduced their doctrines into various
parts of the kingdom. Although checked by
the authorities at first, the Reformation soon
became too strong to be suppressed. One of
the most singular events in the history of the
kingdom occurred during the reign of this
sovereign, and shows the growing power of
the new doctrines. For generations the cele-
brated order of the Teutonic Knights had been
a thorn in the side of Poland, and various
battles had tested the prowess of Pole or
Teuton. King Sigismund the First waged
war with them and was victorious. In set-
tling the terms of peace in 1525, the Grand
Master of the order, Albert of Brandenburg, a
descendant of the Hohenzollern family who
in 1411 possessed themselves of the marquisate
of Brandenburg, proposed that their order
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? MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES 15
should be secularized. He and other knights
married wives and professed Lutheranism.
The king himself took part in the stately cere-
monies which so happily terminated this long
conflict. This is said to have been the first
instance of secularization in history, and the
first diplomatic recognition of Lutheranism as
an established religion.
The most rapid progress of the Keformation
in this realm was during the reign of this
king's son and successor, Sigismund Augustus
(2548-1572), when the Protestant churches
were established, not as tolerated, but as
legally acknowledged communities. The Vis-
tula is the great river of Poland, and it
seemed about to become a Protestant stream.
Its towns, like Cracow, Sendomir, Thorn, and
Dantzic, saw Protestant assemblies. "In the
sixteenth century Poland was the most tol-
erant country in Europe. The only protest
made by any nation against the revocation
of the Edict of Nantes and the massacre of
St. Bartholomew came from Poland. "1 The
celebrated Jesuit Skarga complained that two
thousand Eomanist churches were converted
into Protestant ones. Calvin's disciples mul-
tiplied among the people, the nobility, and in
1 Westminster Review, 80: 180.
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? 16 MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES
the University of Cracow; and his eagle eye
saw the importance of gaining that kingdom
for the gospel.
The dedication of a book was a more serious
matter in those times than now. Luther dedi-
cated an edition of his German Bible to Sigis-
mund Augustus. In 1549 this king accepted
from Calvin the dedication of his commentary
on the Epistle to the Hebrews, in which he
says:--
"Your kingdom is extensive and renowned,
and abounds in many excellences; but its hap-
piness will then only be solid when it adopts
Christ as its chief ruler and governor, so that
it may be defended by his safeguard and pro-
tection; for to submit your scepter to him is
not inconsistent with that elevation in which
you are placed, but it would be far more glori-
ous than all the triumphs of the world. Un-
dertake then, I pray, O magnanimous King,
under the auspicious banner of Christ, a work
so worthy of your royal elevation, as well as
of your heroic virtue, so that the eternal truth
of God, by which his own glory and the salva-
tion of men are promoted, may, wherever thy
kingdom spreads, recover its own authority,
which has been taken away by the fraudulent
dealings of antichrist. It is truly an arduous
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? MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES
17
work, and of such magnitude as is sufficient to
fill even the wisest with solicitude and fear.
As it is the peculiar work of God, we ought
not in this case to regard the extent of human
powers as the glory due to his power; so
that relying on that not only to help us but
also to guide us, we may venture on things
far beyond our own strength. For the work
of restoring and establishing the Church is not
without reason everywhere assigned in Scrip-
ture to God. The Lord who has himself as it
were by his own hand laid the foundations of
the Church will not suffer it to remain in a
decayed state, for he is represented as solici-
tous to restore it and to repair its ruins; for
by speaking thus, he in effect promises that he
will never fail us when engaged in this work.
As he would not have us sit down as idle
spectators of his power, so the presence of his
aid in sustaining the hands which labor, clearly
proves that he himself is the chief architect.
This one thing is abundantly sufficient, that
we have such an invincible Leader, that the
more he is assailed, the greater will be the vic-
tories and the triumphs gained by his power.
Farewell, invincible King. May the Lord Jesus
rule you by the spirit of wisdom, sustain you
by the spirit of valor, bestow on you all kinds
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? 18 MISSION WOKK AMONG THE POLES
of blessings, long preserve your Majesty in
health and prosperity, and protect your king-
dom. Amen. "
Later, in 1554 he wrote: "When Christ
wishes even his humblest disciples to be like
lamps suspended in a lofty place, that send
out their light to a distance, what does he re-
quire of a king, whom he has placed at the
summit of human dignity, that he might shine
before all others? Remember then, most ex-
cellent King, that a light has been divinely
kindled up for the whole of Poland, which
cannot be kept hidden any longer without
your incurring serious blame. When the battle
that is to be fought here is for the glory of
God in the kingdom of Christ, for the purity
of religious worship, for the salvation of the
human race, such is the excellence of the cause
that it should absorb all vexations in its glory,
and easily surmount all obstacles. When God
asserts that it is his own work to restore his
ruined Church, of which he is the only founder,
we may conclude with certainty that he will
by no means desert us in the moment of need.
Because the enemies of sound doctrine will
strive with all their might to shut the door
against pious and sincere teachers, it would be
necessary that a helping hand should be held
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? MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES 19
out to them by your Majesty, in order that
without any restraint they may turn the peo-
ple away from the errors of superstition to the
straight path of piety. "
Nicholas Radziwill, one of the most distin-
guished nobles of Poland, the friend and con-
fidant of King Sigismund Augustus, in 1553
publicly adopted the Reformed doctrines, and
caused to be translated and printed at his own
expense the first Protestant Bible in Poland.
In 1555 Calvin wrote to him: "It is my wish
that the kingdom of Christ should nourish
everywhere, yet at the present moment Poland
deservedly occupies my thoughts with a very
special anxiety. For from the time that the
light of a purer doctrine began to shine upon
it, this happy beginning has at the same time
inflamed my desire with the hopes of a better
progress. Unquestionably you see that it is
a work of immense difficulty to establish the
heavenly reign of God upon earth. You see
with what indifference that cause is treated,
which ought not only to occupy the chief
place among our cares, but even absorb all our
thoughts. "
Again he writes to the King: "Since in
Poland true religion has already begun to
dawn, since many pious and wise men volun-
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? 20 MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES
tarily aspire after the pure worship of God, I,
whom the King of kings has appointed a
preacher of his gospel and a minister of his
Church, call upon your Majesty in his name to
make this work above all others your especial
care. Your Majesty has far less difficulty to
struggle with than Hezekiah and Josiah, who
had an arduous and severe contest with the
contumacy of their people; whereas in our
days the greater part of the Polish nobility
shows a prompt and cheerful disposition to
embrace the faith of Christ. "
Polish nobles desired Calvin to establish
their Reformation in person; but he recom-
mended the Polish noble and reformer John a
Lasco or Laski in his stead. During that
century there were many eminent representa-
tives of this family in the Church, the council,
and the camp. John Laski, or a Lasco, was
born in 1499, and was educated for the priest-
hood. His travels in Germany, Italy, France,
and Belgium, introduced him to many famous
scholars of the day. In 1524 Zwingli sowed
the first doubt in his mind as to the orthodoxy
of the Eoman Church. The year 1525 he
spent with Erasmus, who had a regard for
him bordering on enthusiasm. D'Aubigne,
speaking of Erasmus as the greatest critic of
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? MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES 21
the age, quotes his praises: "A glorious
ancestry, high rank, prospects the most bril-
liant, a mind of wonderful richness, uncom-
mon extent of knowledge, and with all this
there is about him not the faintest taint of
pride. The sweetness of his disposition puts
him in harmony with everyone. His morals
are pure as the snow. He has all the brilliancy
of gems and gold. He has manners so easy,
so open and so cordial that his company day
by day makes me young again. " This friend-
ship Laski repaid with the liberality of a
Polish grandee. He purchased the library of
Erasmus, but left to him its use during his
lifetime. He returned to his native land in
1526, and might have obtained the first
dignities of the Polish Church, for his uncle
was the primate of the kingdom and he
seemed destined to be his successor. By his
marriage, after his profession of the Reformed
faith, he sacrificed these splendid prospects of
preferment. Protestant princes sought his aid
in advancing the Reformation. He may be
considered as the real founder of the Protestant
Church in Friesland, as in 1543 he was nomi-
nated superintendent of all the churches, and
labored there with zeal for six years. By
invitation of Archbishop Cranmer he went to
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? 22 MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES
England in 1548 to assist in the reformation of
the English Church, and spent six months
with him at Lambeth. Latimer highly praised
him in a sermon before King Edward the
Sixth; and King Edward in a letter to Sigis-
mund Augustus described Laski as a man
gifted with eminent qualities and possessing
extensive information. After another visit to
Germany we find him in England in 1550. If
an Anglo-Saxon asks whether a Pole can be
converted, it may suffice to point to this
Polish noble who was chosen as one of eight
divines who formed in 1551 a commission
for the reformation of English ecclesias-
tical law. He was nominated the superin-
tendent of the foreign Protestant congrega-
tion established in London, composed of
French, Germans and Italians, who found
both asjdum and liberal support from the
English Government. Upon the accession of
Queen Mary to the throne, John Laski left
England, and after sojourning in Friesland
and Frankfort-on-the-Main, where he estab-
lished a church for the Belgian Protestant
refugees, he returned in 1556 to his native
land. He had previously published an account
of the foreign churches that he had superin-
tended, and explained his views about the
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? MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES 23
necessity for a reformation in Poland. He
became superintendent of all the Reformed
churches in Little Poland, soon after his
return. He labored to promote a union of the
Protestant denominations; and organized a
hundred and twenty-two churches in Little
Poland. To Calvin he reports: "I am now,
my Calvin, so overwhelmed with cares and
business that I cannot write. On the one
hand enemies, on the other false friends, assail
us, so that there is no rest. Farewell. Send
greeting's most cordially to all brethren in the
Lord. " He died in 1560, was buried with
honors, and his death was a great loss to the
Reformation. At Basel he had studied di-
vinity with (Ecolampadius and Hebrew with
Pellican. He visited Bucer at Cambridge.
His influence was great in the court of
Edward the Sixth, and can be traced in the
second prayer book, and in the views of Cran-
mer and Hooper. His catechism at Embden
in Friesland was partly the basis for the
Heidelberg Catechism. He wrote what was
virtually the first confession of the Nether-
lands Reformed Church. Rev. Dr. A. Kuyper
of Holland has done good service to the Church
in publishing the works of this reformer.
D'Aubigne thus estimates him: "A Lasco
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? 24 MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES
does not stand in the first rank of the men of
the Reformation. But in one respect he sur-
passed them all, and this by reason of the
state of life in which it pleased God that he
should be born. He knew better than anyone
what it was to sacrifice for Jesus Christ the
world with its dignities and its favors, and he
did this with a noble courage. No sooner was
the bandage, placed over his eyes, removed,
than he felt abhorrence of bondage. He be-
came one of the most beautiful examples of
moral freedom in the sixteenth century. "
John Laski did not labor in vain for the
union of Protestants in Poland. The Bohe-
mian Brethren, sometimes called Waldenses,
driven from their country in 1548 emigrated
to Poland, where they formed forty congrega-
tions. At the first general Protestant synod,
held at Kosminek, 1555, a union was effected
between them and the Reformed or Calvinistic
churches. Calvin wrote to a Polish nobleman,
Stanislaus Krasinski: "From a union with the
Waldenses [or Brethren] I hope the best, not
only because God blesses every act of a holy
union of the members of Christ, but also be-
cause at the present crisis the experience of the
Waldenses, who are so well drilled in the service
of the Lord, will be of no small benefit to you. "
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? MISSION WORK AMONG THE POLES 25
In the year 1569 occurred a notable event,--
the formal union of Poland and Lithuania at
the Diet of Lublin. The principal noblemen
of the three Protestant communions of Poland,
assembled at that Diet, resolved to promote a
union of their respective denominations, hoping
that Sigismund Augustus, who had often
wished for such a union, would at last be in-
duced to embrace Protestantism.
