Philadelphia, The
Westminster
press, 1901.
Poland - 1910 - Protestantism in Poland, a Brief Study of its History
Protestantism in Poland, a brief study of its history as an encouragement
to mission work among the Poles,
Edwards, Charles Eugene.
Philadelphia, The Westminster press, 1901.
http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000
Public Domain, Google-digitized
http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
This work is in the Public Domain, meaning that it is not subject to copyright. Users are free to copy, use, and redistribute the work in part or in whole. It is possible that heirs or the estate of the authors of individual portions of the work, such as illustrations, assert copyrights over these portions. Depending on the nature of subsequent use that is made, additional rights may need to be obtained independently of anything we can address. The digital images and OCR of this work were produced by Google, Inc. (indicated by a watermark on each page in the PageTurner). Google requests that the images and OCR not be re-hosted, redistributed or used commercially.
The images are provided for educational, scholarly, non-commercial purposes.
? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? LIBRARY OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
PRESENTED BY
Daniel Slabey
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. 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
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? \<$o\
Copyright, 1901, by
The Trustees of the Presbyterian Board of Publi-
cation and Sabbath-School Work
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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-
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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. "
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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-
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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.
Philadelphia, The Westminster press, 1901.
http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000
Public Domain, Google-digitized
http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
This work is in the Public Domain, meaning that it is not subject to copyright. Users are free to copy, use, and redistribute the work in part or in whole. It is possible that heirs or the estate of the authors of individual portions of the work, such as illustrations, assert copyrights over these portions. Depending on the nature of subsequent use that is made, additional rights may need to be obtained independently of anything we can address. The digital images and OCR of this work were produced by Google, Inc. (indicated by a watermark on each page in the PageTurner). Google requests that the images and OCR not be re-hosted, redistributed or used commercially.
The images are provided for educational, scholarly, non-commercial purposes.
? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? LIBRARY OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
PRESENTED BY
Daniel Slabey
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. 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
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? \<$o\
Copyright, 1901, by
The Trustees of the Presbyterian Board of Publi-
cation and Sabbath-School Work
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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-
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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. "
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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-
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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!
to mission work among the Poles,
Edwards, Charles Eugene.
Philadelphia, The Westminster press, 1901.
http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000
Public Domain, Google-digitized
http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
This work is in the Public Domain, meaning that it is not subject to copyright. Users are free to copy, use, and redistribute the work in part or in whole. It is possible that heirs or the estate of the authors of individual portions of the work, such as illustrations, assert copyrights over these portions. Depending on the nature of subsequent use that is made, additional rights may need to be obtained independently of anything we can address. The digital images and OCR of this work were produced by Google, Inc. (indicated by a watermark on each page in the PageTurner). Google requests that the images and OCR not be re-hosted, redistributed or used commercially.
The images are provided for educational, scholarly, non-commercial purposes.
? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? LIBRARY OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
PRESENTED BY
Daniel Slabey
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. 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
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? \<$o\
Copyright, 1901, by
The Trustees of the Presbyterian Board of Publi-
cation and Sabbath-School Work
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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-
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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. "
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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-
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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.
Philadelphia, The Westminster press, 1901.
http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000
Public Domain, Google-digitized
http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
This work is in the Public Domain, meaning that it is not subject to copyright. Users are free to copy, use, and redistribute the work in part or in whole. It is possible that heirs or the estate of the authors of individual portions of the work, such as illustrations, assert copyrights over these portions. Depending on the nature of subsequent use that is made, additional rights may need to be obtained independently of anything we can address. The digital images and OCR of this work were produced by Google, Inc. (indicated by a watermark on each page in the PageTurner). Google requests that the images and OCR not be re-hosted, redistributed or used commercially.
The images are provided for educational, scholarly, non-commercial purposes.
? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? LIBRARY OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
PRESENTED BY
Daniel Slabey
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. 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
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? \<$o\
Copyright, 1901, by
The Trustees of the Presbyterian Board of Publi-
cation and Sabbath-School Work
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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-
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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. "
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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-
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-06-10 17:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x004124000 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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!
