Religious Freedom.
[by J. C. W. Lindemann]
At Komorn and other Hungarian fortresses they were thrown into stinking holes underground, and there they were given the worst food, which was hardly edible. During the day they were led out and then had to carry water in buckets or remove rubble with wheelbarrows, etc. In the process they had to suffer ridicule and beatings; no one was allowed to speak to them or otherwise alleviate their hard lot.
Once a pitiful woman dared to secretly put bread and bacon into a wheelbarrow. She was discovered, however, and the executioner put her head through a board, in which position she had to endure "to her shame" for several hours in the fiercest cold.
When these unfortunate preachers had done their day's work, they were bound together in a long chain and led back to prison. There they lay at night on the bare floor; a beam was their pillow; their feet lay in a stick. — This is how Jesuits convert where they have the power!
Finally these men were sold piece by piece for 50 crowns to Naples to work on the galleys (penal ships). The way there they had to cover on foot, and yet they were loaded with heavy chains and locks. Soldiers went in front and behind, so that they would be regarded as criminals everywhere, and they had to keep up with them. If they remained behind, they were beaten; no one paid any attention to the fact that they were starving and sick, and in some cases even old people. Those who fell down dead remained lying and were eaten by the birds.
In May 1675 the survivors arrived in Naples, and were now forged [by chain] among the most godless men and vilest criminals at the oars. But if they did not have to drive the ships, they had to carry heavy beams and do similar work on the land. In doing this the overseers were after them sharply and often beat them mercilessly. Several of them succumbed to such efforts and left this valley of misery.
But God did not let this great tribulation last too long. The Dutch Admiral Ruyter came into the waters of Naples, which was then Spanish, and brought a relief fleet against France. As soon as he heard of his suffering co-religionists, he took up their cause earnestly, and effected their deliverance. In February, 1676, they were delivered, and now hastened on Dutch ships to the Netherlands, where they were received with great joy, and cared for with extraordinary love. Some of them remained in Holland, others went to Switzerland and Saxony.
In Hungary, the godless fathers of the Society of Jesus raged against the shepherdless congregations; they placed soldiers in the houses, who committed nameless cruelties in order to "wear down" the Protestants. And for many more years this tyranny continued, until at last Joseph II put an end to it. —
In Poland, Luther's doctrines and books became known as early as 1518, and even bishops soon had the reputation of being completely devoted to the new teachings. But in 1520, at the Diet of Thorn, it was decreed that anyone who brought Luther's books into the country, or sold or read them, should lose his property and be expelled from the country. Nevertheless, Luther's teachings became more and more widespread; clergymen, monks, knights and whole cities fell to them. Polish students went to Wittenberg, came back as Lutherans, and preached the pure Gospel. Even in Krakow, the old capital of the country, this was the case.
Although King Sigismund I decreed in 1534 that no one should study in Wittenberg, and the synod of Petrikau decided that the bishops should keep a careful watch on Lutheran heresy and suppress it with diligence, there were no general measures of violence, and under King Sigmund August († 1572) Luther's teachings continued to spread, even though bishops and Jesuits were fiercely zealous against them. When Stephen Bathory came to the Polish throne in 1576, he immediately invoked the previously drafted religious settlement, in which all Christian religious parties promised themselves equality and complete compatibility. This prince used to say, "Three things God has reserved for Himself: to make something out of nothing; to rule over consciences, and to know beforehand what is to come."
He died as early as 1587, and under his successor, Sigmund III, the persecutions of the Protestants now began. The latter had been educated by the Jesuits, and remained under their influence all his life. He gave all high offices only to Catholics; therefore many nobles fell away from the Protestant faith and became persecutors of their Lutheran subjects. They snatched the churches from them and forced them to become Catholics as well. All Protestants were gradually excluded from the Senate by the king, and he himself was present when the Reformed church at Cracow was destroyed. His son Vladislav IV (1633-48) was more tolerant again, but under his successors the Protestant Church was more and more completely suppressed. In 1716 they were forbidden to build new churches; in 1724 the Lutheran president and mayor [Johann Gottfried] Rösner was cruelly executed in Thorn; 5) in 1733 the Protestants were excluded from all state services; they were deprived of the right to vote in all imperial negotiations, and the penalty of high treason was imposed if they complained about these oppressions to foreign powers. One church after another was taken from them, and they were not allowed to repair the damaged ones. It is true that on December 1, 1767, through the emphatic mediation of Empress Catherine II of Russia, a treaty was concluded which was to grant the Protestants recognition, toleration, and [Page 20] security; but they did not really enjoy this peace. Only when the partition of Poland took place in 1772 did better times come.
5) See the story of this incident under the title "The Bloodbath of Thorn" in the Der Lutheraner, Year X, p. 4 ff [EN].
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