several beautiful editions of the Bible during the last fifty years, and those who have learnt to read the signs of the times, declare that: "Nobody can deny the existence of a deep religious spirit in modern Bohemia. Attempts to explain this may vary, but the facts leave no room for doubt that every day the connection between religion and life grows stronger. Religion demands attention, and the interest in it is growing."
The Bible has not spoken as yet its last word in Bohemia. "Sad was the fate of the bodily tabernacles of our once great minds," says a historian. "The ashes of John Hus and Jerome were cast by the enemies into the Rhine. The tomb of Zizka was broken up and smashed in 1622, and in the same year the bones of Rokycana and the heart of King George were burned in the cemetery of the Tyn Church by the Jesuits. The bones and dust of Zerotin suffered a barbarous desecration in 1722. But there is no power that could annihilate the spirit of these our heroes. As soon as the doleful time that shut our nation into darkness of ignorance had passed away, this spirit began to act creatively at the resurrection and moral renewal of our people." May it continue to do so. The present spiritual state of the nation is felt to be contradictory to the past, and the national mind is groping after a new thread that may lead it out of the dismal labyrinth of inward inconsistency.
The Postilla—i.e., the book of sermons and expositions read on Sabbaths and festivals in the churches—became very early the indispensable companion of the Bible.
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