Page:Adventures of Baron Wenceslas Wratislaw of Mitrowitz (1862).djvu/30

 many human beings with his own hand. He would not, he said, maintain an untruth for the whole world; but this was utterly false, for he had never shed a drop of blood with his own hand, much less slain anybody himself. He had certainly held the chief command in many battles, in which many men had perished; but this was not his fault, but that of the Pope and cardinals, whom he had often called upon to give up wars and temporal matters, and busy themselves with the Church reform that was so much wanted,—the purpose for which the present council was convened. They should neither oppose the free preaching of the Word of God, nor the communion in both kinds, which was held by the Greek Church also; neither should they damn and persecute those who differed from them in opinion, for instance, the Waldenses, who, poor as they were, were yet honourable and respectable people. They should take care that in the multitude of ecclesiastical regulations God’s law was not forgotten, and that the reproach made by our Lord to the Jews (Mark vii. 8.) should not hold good with regard to the present church.

The deputies departed with words of kindness and friendship from the cardinal; and as they left the hall in which the meetings had been held, an Italian bishop forced his way to them through the crowd, shook hands with them, and began to weep bitterly.

After two embassies from the council to the Bohemians, the first “Compactata” were settled, which allowed the Bohemians and Moravians the use of the cup in the communion, but reserved the rights of bishops to appoint preachers, and those of the Church to possess property, and appoint clergymen to administer it. Soon afterwards a civil war broke out between the great nobles and the people of Prague on the one side, and the Taborites and the inhabitants