that an instrument should be drawn up, formulating every point on which all Bohemians who adhered to the communion in both kinds agreed. Deliberations took place between the Praguers, the Taborites, and the other defenders of Prague.
The principal points of the belief of the utraquists of all shades, the recognition of which they considered an indispensable preliminary to all negotiations for peace, were expressed by the theologians of the University of Prague in four articles.[1]
These articles, as Palacký says, openly proclaimed the opinions of the Bohemian nation, and became the basis of all subsequent attempts of reconciliation between Bohemia and the Western Church. They became widely known under the name of the Articles of Prague. The articles declared—
I. The word of God shall in the Kingdom of Bohemia be freely and without impediment proclaimed and preached by Christian priests.
II. The sacrament of the body and blood of God shall in the two kinds, that is in bread and wine, be freely administered to all faithful Christians according to the order and teaching of our Saviour.
III. The priests and monks, according to secular law, possess great worldly wealth in opposition to the teaching of Christ. Of this wealth they shall be deprived.
IV. All mortal sins, particularly those that are public, as well as all disorders opposed to God's law, shall in all classes be suppressed by those whose office it is to do so. All evil and untruthful rumours[2] shall be suppressed for the good of the commonwealth, the kingdom, and the nation.
These articles were undeniably in accord with the wants of the age and formed the basis of a possible agreement. The utraquist nobles who, though they were on the king's side, yet warmly approved of the four articles, unsuccessfully attempted to obtain their acceptance by the papal legate.
- ↑ It is probable that deliberation on this subject took place some time before, and that a draft of the articles had been made as early as in 1417 (see my Life and Times of Master John Hus, pp. 343–344).
- ↑ This principally referred to the statement frequently made by the Germans that Bohemia was a heretical country.
