Protestantism in Poland and Bohemia - James Aitken Wylie

and erecting their stage in public exhibited scenic
representations of Bible histories, or of the
combats, martyrdoms, and canonisations of the
saints. These wandering apostles were furnished,
moreover, with store of relics and wonder-working
charms, and by these as well as by pompous
processions, they edified and awed the crowds that
gathered round them. They strenuously and
systematically labored to destroy the influence of
Protestant ministers. They strove; to make them
odious, sometimes by malevolent whisperings, and
at other times by open accusations. The most
blameless life and the most venerated character
afforded no protection against Jesuit calumny.
Volanus, whose ninety years bore witness to his
abstemious life, they called a drunkard. Sdrowski,
who had incurred their anger by a work written
against them, and whose learning was not excelled
by the most erudite of their order, they accused of
theft, and of having once acted the part of a
hangman. Adding ridicule to calumny, they strove
in every way to hold up Protestant sermons and
assemblies to laughter. If a Synod convened, there
was sure to appear, in no long time, a letter from
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