Chelcic; they passed his pamphlets in secret from hand to hand; they
took down notes of Rockycana's sermons; and now they resolved to
practise what they heard. If Peter had taught them nothing else, he
had at least convinced them all that the first duty of Christian men
was to quit the Church of Rome. Again and again they appealed to
Rockycana to be their head, to act up to his words, and to lead them
out to the promised land. The great orator hemmed and hawed, put
them off with excuses, and told them, after the manner of cowards,
that they were too hasty and reckless. "I know you are right," said
he, "but if I joined your ranks I should be reviled on every hand."7
But these listeners were not to be cowed. The more they studied
Peter's writings, the more they lost faith in Rockycana. As
Rockycana refused to lead them, they left his church in a body, and
found a braver leader among themselves. His name was Gregory; he
was known as Gregory the Patriarch; and in due time, as we shall
see, he became the founder of the Church of the Brethren. He was
already a middle-aged man. He was the son of a Bohemian knight, and
was nephew to Rockycana himself. He had spent his youth in the
Slaven cloister at Prague as a bare-footed monk, had found the
cloister not so moral as he had expected, had left it in disgust,
and was now well known in Bohemia as a man of sterling character,
pious and sensible, humble and strict, active and spirited, a good
writer and a good speaker. He was a personal friend of Peter, had
studied his works with care, and is said to have been particularly
fond of a little essay entitled "The Image of the Beast," which he
had borrowed from a blacksmith in Wachovia. As time went on he lost
patience with Rockycana, came into touch with the little societies
at Wilenow and Divischau, visited Peter on his estate, and gradually
formed the plan of founding an independent society, and thus doing
himself what Rockycana was afraid to do. As soldiers desert a