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became the watch-word—the talisman—of reform; and the simple and emphatic demand for "the book of life" could not be overwhelmed by elaborate theses on the authority of the church—on the dangers and the crime of schism—nor by bulls and briefs which anathematised. heresy. John Hus translated several of the works of Wickliffe into bohemian. The truth he held dear be caused to be written on the walls of his chapel, and he put hymns into the mouths of the people, which became more terrible weapons than swords and staves. His memorable death sanctified and endeared his doctrines, and even women (to the prodigious scandal of the catholic clergy) wrote defences of the great reformer.
The Taborites, or Hussites, under their great leader Žižka, occupy an interesting situation immediately after the death of John Hus. Their bishop, Nicolas of Pelhřimow, excited the displeasure of the magistracy of Prague by a tract which he wrote in 1420, and. which they denounced as tainted with heresy. In 1423, this body proclaimed its anti-reforming character more
