The Postilla of Chelcicky is, beside the "De regulis" of Mathew Janovsky, the most remarkable product of the Bohemian mind. Its terse diction, its deep human insight, its profound awe before God and his Word, its spirit of thorough submission to Jesus Christ, its stirring appeals to man and his need of regeneration, its scorn of oppression and love of the oppressed, its buoyant hope in the victory of Christ's Kingdom, all this made the Postilla of Chelcicky another Apokalypsis to the nation. It was printed in 1522 and 1532.
As for the Hymns, they were unknown, in the vernacular, before the time of John Hus. He first introduced them in the Bethlehem Chapel in Prague. The people welcomed this innovation with enthusiasm, and the collections of hymns called "Kancionaly" (hymnals) are, next to the Bible, the most important books in devotional use. The Unity of the Bohemian Brethren, especially, took the utmost pains in the preparation of these hymn-books. They are, indeed, peculiar to Bohemia. Being the property of Associations of Choirsingers ("Literatske Sbory"), they were written on parchment, adorned with magnificent initials and miniature paintings, bound in costly covers, and were the pride of the fraternities which counted among their members nobles, scholars, and burghers. There was scarcely a town in Bohemia that could not boast some such treasure of art. Their price now is their weight in gold. A great many of them went abroad along with other spoils during the thirty years war.C. Dusek.
