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Protestantism in Poland and Bohemia - James Aitken Wylie

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ecclesiastical reforms; this fortified the k<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> his<br />

vacillation, <strong>and</strong> furnished those with<strong>in</strong> the Roman<br />

Church who had been dem<strong>and</strong><strong>in</strong>g a reform, with an<br />

excuse for relax<strong>in</strong>g their efforts. They would wait<br />

"the good time com<strong>in</strong>g." The Pope's manager with<br />

skillful h<strong>and</strong> lifted the veil, <strong>and</strong> the Romanists saw<br />

<strong>in</strong> the future a purified, united, <strong>and</strong> Catholic<br />

Church as clearly as the traveler sees the mirage <strong>in</strong><br />

the desert. Vergerius labored to conv<strong>in</strong>ce them that<br />

what they saw was no lake, but a shimmer<strong>in</strong>g<br />

vapor, float<strong>in</strong>g above the burn<strong>in</strong>g s<strong>and</strong>s, but the<br />

phantasm was so like that the k<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> the bulk of<br />

the nation chose it <strong>in</strong> preference to the reality<br />

which John Alasco would have given them.<br />

Meanwhile the Diet of 1552 had left the<br />

bishops crippled; their temporal arm had been<br />

broken, <strong>and</strong> their care now was to restore this most<br />

important branch of their jurisdiction. Lippomani<br />

assembled a General Synod of the Popish clergy at<br />

Lowicz. This Synod passed a resolution declar<strong>in</strong>g<br />

that heretics, now spr<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>g up on every side,<br />

ought to be visited with pa<strong>in</strong>s <strong>and</strong> penalties, <strong>and</strong><br />

then proceeded to make trial how far the k<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong><br />

59

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