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Protestantism in Poland and Bohemia - James Aitken Wylie

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Chapter 10<br />

Suppression of <strong>Protestantism</strong><br />

<strong>in</strong> <strong>Bohemia</strong><br />

THE suffer<strong>in</strong>gs of that cruel time were not<br />

conf<strong>in</strong>ed to the nobles of <strong>Bohemia</strong>. The pastors<br />

were their companions <strong>in</strong> the horrors of the<br />

persecution. After the first few months, dur<strong>in</strong>g<br />

which the conqueror lured back by fair promises all<br />

who had fled <strong>in</strong>to exile, or had hidden themselves<br />

<strong>in</strong> secret places, the policy of Ferd<strong>in</strong><strong>and</strong> II <strong>and</strong> his<br />

advisers was to crush at once the chief men<br />

whether of the nobility or of the m<strong>in</strong>istry, <strong>and</strong><br />

afterwards to dear with the common people as they<br />

might f<strong>in</strong>d it expedient, either by the rude violence<br />

of the hangman or the subtle craft of the Jesuit.<br />

This astute policy was pursued with the most<br />

unfl<strong>in</strong>ch<strong>in</strong>g resolution, <strong>and</strong> the issue was the<br />

almost entire trampl<strong>in</strong>g out of the <strong>Protestantism</strong> of<br />

<strong>Bohemia</strong> <strong>and</strong> Moravia. In clos<strong>in</strong>g this sad story we<br />

must briefly narrate the tortures <strong>and</strong> death which<br />

were <strong>in</strong>flicted on the <strong>Bohemia</strong>n pastors, <strong>and</strong> the<br />

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