Protestantism in Poland and Bohemia - James Aitken Wylie

containing the letters patent sank in the deep floods
of the Danube, and was never seen more -- nor,
indeed, was it ever sought for. Thaunus says that
this catastrophe happened on the fourth of the Ides
of December, 1565.
In Maximilian's reign, a measure was passed
that helped to consolidate the Protestantism of
Bohemia. In 1575, the king assembled a Parliament
at Prague, which enacted that all the Churches in
the kingdom which received the Sacrament under
both kinds -- that is, the Utraquists or Calixtines,
the Bohemian Brethren, the Lutherans, and the
Calvinists or Picardines -- were at liberty to draw
up a common Confession of their faith, and unite
into one Church. In spite of the efforts of the
Jesuits, the leading pastors of the four communions
consulted together and, animated by a spirit of
moderation and wisdom, they compiled a common
creed, in the Bohemian language, which, although
never rendered into Latin, nor printed till 1619, and
therefore not to be found in the "Harmony of
Confessions," was ratified by the king, who
promised his protection to the subscribers, had this
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