CHAPTER XV THE BEGINNINGS OF ANTITRINITARIANISM IN POLAND, DOWN TO 1565 Thus far our history has been a story of oft-repeated failure and frequent tragedy. Wherever thinkers or preachers arose, alike in Catholic lands and in Protestant, and whether in Italy and France, or in Switzerland, Germany, and Holland, who were independent enough and daring enough to appeal to the Scriptures, or to the early Fathers of the Christian Church, or to reason, against the orthodox doctrines about God and Christ, there they were inevitably called to account by both Church and State, and forced either to recant and relapse into silence, or else to suffer banishment, imprisonment, or martyrdom. The movement was thus effectually suppressed throughout all western Europe. From all this depressing story we can now turn to a happier one, in spite of its still being often darkened by the shadows of persecution and death, in two countries of eastern Europe, where laws were more tolerant, and the State was less subservient to the will of the Church. The first of these countries was Poland. in the age of the Reformation, a great and powerful monarchy, a little larger than the state of Texas, and one of the most free and enlightened nations of Europe. Its capital, Krakow, boasted a a celebrated university, the second oldest in all Europe, which had given the world Copernicus and other famous scholars; while its metropolis Poland was, (and later capital), Warsaw, was called "the Paris of the East." The Poles were a people of uncertain origin, a part of that great Slavic stock which has for centuries occupied the east and southeast of Europe. By the ninth century the wandering tribes had become a nation with a hereditary monarchy; toward the end of the fourteenth century the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was united to Poland under the crown of the famous Jagiello dynasty; and when this dynasty became extinct in 1572, the monarchy became elective, whence its people have often loved to call it a republic. The real power of government was henceforth in the hands of the nobility, a class comprising about a tenth of the population, and including all men who owned land or whose ancestors had owned it. The nobles were supposed to have equal political rights, and only they might vote. The magnates, or more powerful nobles, owned vast tracts of country, including cities and villages, and held nearly absolute sway over all upon their estates. Laws were made by their delegates meeting in Diets. The nobles were proverbially quar relsome and jealous of one another; so that neighboring nations, taking advantage of the weakness resulting from these internal discords, eventually fell upon Poland and carved it to pieces in three successive divisions (1772, 1793, and 1795), distributing it all among Russia, Prussia, and Austria. Thus for a century and a quarter Poland was extinct, save in the hearts of its children, until as a result of the World War it has again been reëstablished among the nations. Poland had accepted Christianity in the tenth century, and Lithuania had done so upon its union with Poland; but the nobles were little inclined to allow foreign interference with their affairs, and for centuries after the Catholic Church had gained an almost absolute sway in western Eu |