Page:The Hussite wars, by the Count Lützow.djvu/259

 the theories of Prokop, who now, in view of the ever-recurring foreign peril, attempted to mediate between the contending parties. Prokop on this question did not agree with Payne and Pelhřimov and the majority of the Táborite divines. He believed that Christ was really present in the Sacrament of Communion, and he held that Christians should kneel before it, a custom which some of the advanced Táborites abhorred. On the other hand Prokop’s views also differed widely from those of magister Přibram. Prokop believed in the remanence of the substance of bread, that is to say he believed that after the consecration, besides the body of Christ, the substance of bread also continued to exist. When at a meeting of theologians Přibram attempting to refute the theories of Prokop, quoted the father of the Church, Prokop was somewhat irritated, and in a letter written to Přibram shortly afterwards, advised him to cling to the words of Christ and His Apostles, and to ignore the words of the “doctores,” the fathers of the Church. It was probably the conciliatory attitude of Prokop, as well as the news that the German princes had now finally decided to engage in a new crusade, which induced the controversialists to discontinue their deputations, at least for a time.

In the autumn of 1429 Prokop left Prague and first proceeded to Kutna Hora, a city which he appears often to have visited when he was able to absent himself from the Utraquist armies. These armies were at that moment scattered over different parts of Bohemia, but were already preparing for the new