Page:Bohemia; a brief evaluation of Bohemia's contribution to civilization (1917).pdf/14

 He was a reformer, an author, leader of the nation, seeker after the Truth; Truth’s fearless champion, an ardent patriot—and a martyr, not for any particular doctrine but for the freedom of the soul and pure Christian life. Jan Hus was after the essentials—not the superficialities of Christianity. It is impossible to treat more fully the career of this man of whom countless treatises have been written as he indeed deserved, being, as he was, the Titan bringing about the new era in the spiritual, intellectual and moral life of the World. Of his numerous works following are the best known, being miraculously preserved even through the two centuries of systematic search for and destruction of all Bohemian, particularly Hussite books: Dcerka (The Daughter), O svatokupectví, (On Simony), Postilla (A Collection of Jan Hus’ Sermons), and his Letters.

The struggle for the purification of life and religion was heroically continued by a zeman (title of the smaller nobility) of Southern Bohemia, Petr Chelčický. His greatest work, Síť Víry (The Net of Faith) is concerned with the problems of the relation of Church and State. It enunciates the bold doctrine, that the Church must not meddle with the affairs of the State, and tries to demonstrate that the only law a Christian should recognize is the Law of Love, as Christ and his apostles examplified it by their lives. Chelčický had a profound influence on Count Leo N. Tolstoi who was of a kindred spirit with him.

The fruit of Chelčický’s labors was the church of the Bohemian and Moravian Brethren who, as is generally and enthusiastically conceded, lived the Gospel, becoming thus at once objects of the admiration and envy of their enemies.

In this period the Bohemian tongue reached its greatest power and purity. Its monumental achievement was the translation of the Bible with commentaries, in six volumes. Those who are competent to judge, agree that the Bohemian translation surpasses all others. This was due to the great flexibility of the Bohemian language, and its classical properties, as well as to the deep erudition of the translators.

Besides, there were hymnals, historical and geographical works, treatises on travel, etc. Classical educa-