Page:The Hussite wars, by the Count Lützow.djvu/269

Prokop then referred to the executions of Hus and Jerome, the authors and advisers of which await God’s punishment. He then again complains that the Hussites were not allowed to expound their views, while Jesus Christ had even allowed the devil to address Him.^[1] The letter then formulates in sixteen “articles” the grievances of the Utraquists against the Church of Rome. Many grievances are here alluded to which have already been frequently mentioned in these pages. Great stress is laid on the poverty of the clergy—a point on which even moderate Utraquists agreed with the Táborites. The writer then affirms that many priests enter the Church without vocation and from lower motives.^[2] He then treats of the prayers for the dead. It is here interesting to note that these prayers are not absolutely condemned, a circumstance which proves that. even the Táborist, the most advanced party in the Bohemian Church, approached far less closely to modern Protestantism than has often been stated. It is, however, also maintained that no payment should be taken for such services.^[3] The letter next deals with the vexed question of vestments and the dress of priests generally. Prokop himself, differing in this respect from the priests of the Hussite High Church, who dressed like other Catholic priests, officiated in the clothes which he habitually wore, “a coat of coarse thick cloth.” He accused the Catholic priests of vanity, and wrote with disapproval of their “long tabards and other garments.” The letter then referred to the well-worn subject of the immorality of the clergy, a matter constantly discussed by

 

peccatorum. Contribuunt propter hoc ut vos debellare debeatis contra nos et nos depopulare” (Martène et Durand, “Veterum Scriptorum et monumentorum amplissima,’’ Coll. VIII. p. 19.)

1. “Christus tamen audivit diabolum ut habetur Matth. cap. 10. Et ipsi [the Roman Catholic priests] non sunt meliores Christo, nec nos pejores diabolo” (Martène et Durand, as above, VIII. pp. 19–20).
2. “Propter vitam otiosam et bene comedere et bibere et ut honorentur et venerentur super terram” (Marténe et Durand, as above, VIII. p. 20).
3. “Quia si vellent orare pro mortuis et animarum missas legere . . . tamen nullum munus propter hoc capere debent, neque magnum, neque parvum” (Martène et Durand, as above, VIII. p. 20.)