Protestantism in Poland and Bohemia - James Aitken Wylie

on the streets were often so great that the wagons
that bore away their little ones could with difficulty
move forward, while sad and tearful faces looked
down upon the departing troop from the windows.
On the 27th of July, 1623, the ministers of
Kuttenberg were commanded to leave the city
before break of day, and remove beyond the
bounds of the kingdom within eight days. Twentyone
ministers passed out at the gates at early
morning, followed by some hundreds of citizens.
After they had gone a little way the assembly
halted, and drawing aside from the highway, one of
the ministers, John Matthiades, preached a farewell
sermon to the multitude, from the words, "They
shall cast you out of the synagogues."
Earnestly did the preacher exhort them to
constancy. The whole assembly was drowned in
tears. When the sermon had ended, "the heavens
rang again," says the chronicler, "with their songs
and their lamentations, and with mutual embraces
and kisses they commended each other to the grace
of God."[3] The flocks returned to the city, and
their exiled shepherds went on their way.
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