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Protestantism in Poland and Bohemia - James Aitken Wylie

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Germany, which because the seat of that great<br />

struggle which seemed as though it were dest<strong>in</strong>ed<br />

to overthrow <strong>Protestantism</strong> wholly, till all<br />

suddenly, Sweden sent forth a champion who<br />

rolled back the tide of Popish success, <strong>and</strong> restored<br />

the balance between the two Churches, which has<br />

rema<strong>in</strong>ed much as it was then settled, down to<br />

almost the present hour.<br />

We beg<strong>in</strong> with <strong>Pol<strong>and</strong></strong>. Its Reformation opened<br />

with brilliant promise, but it had hardly reached<br />

what seemed its noon when its light was overcast,<br />

<strong>and</strong> s<strong>in</strong>ce that disastrous hour the farther <strong>Pol<strong>and</strong></strong>'s<br />

story is pursued, it becomes but the sadder <strong>and</strong><br />

more melancholy; nevertheless, the history of<br />

<strong>Protestantism</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Pol<strong>and</strong></strong> is fraught with great<br />

lessons, specially applicable to all free countries.<br />

Christianity, it is believed, was <strong>in</strong>troduced <strong>in</strong>to<br />

<strong>Pol<strong>and</strong></strong> by missionaries from Great Moravia <strong>in</strong> the<br />

n<strong>in</strong>th century. In the tenth we f<strong>in</strong>d the sovereign of<br />

the country receiv<strong>in</strong>g baptism, from which we may<br />

<strong>in</strong>fer that the Christian faith was still spread<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong><br />

<strong>Pol<strong>and</strong></strong>,[1] It is ow<strong>in</strong>g to the simplicity <strong>and</strong><br />

apostolic zeal of Cyrillus [2] <strong>and</strong> Methodius, two<br />

3

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