Word of God; and our merciful Saviour will assuredly send you firm and
faithful guides. May God, through our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ,
grant you mercy, peace, and grace, for all good things, in order
that what you have well commenced in him, you may conclude in like
manner, and may persevere in doing so even unto the end. Acknowledge,
therefore, and draw on you the mercy of God, who sent his Son into
this world for our sakes; who allowed his Son to become man, and to
be humiliated, despised, and condemned by all, to such a point that,
when the people were called in by the priests to choose between two
prisoners, they delivered, in preference to Jesus Christ our Saviour,
a robber and murderer, and laughed to scorn our Lord, who said, by the
mouth of Jeremiah, “Lend an ear, and behold my anguish;” and again,
“See if any pain is comparable to mine.”
He cried out to his Father, “My God, Why hast thou forsaken me?” Such
were his plaintive words whilst suffering on the cross an ignominious
death, and exposed to the blasphemies of the priests, who insulted him
at the foot of the cross, exclaiming, “He put his confidence in God;
let God deliver him if he can! Thou who couldest destroy the temple,
now come down from thy cross!” His cry was, “My God, Why hast thou
forsaken me?” And why did he utter that exclamation? In order that
we may recognise and admire his immense mercy; and that, supporting
with him the outrages of the wicked, we may look for our refuge in Him
alone: in order, in fine, that we may publicly shew our gratitude for
his Divine compassion, which has redeemed us from everlasting damnation.
Such has been towards us the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
recommended his disciples to say, into whatever house they entered,
“Peace be with you!” And when he raised up the dead, he said to them
also, “Peace be with you!” And before his death, when conversing with
his disciples, “I leave you my peace!” Wherefore, dearly beloved, I
implore him to accord you that same peace. May peace be with you from
the Lord, that you may live honestly and soberly--in calm, in justice,
and in piety; and that you may conquer your enemies and those of
God--the devil, the world, and the flesh. Peace be with you from the
Lord, that you may love each other, and your enemies also. Peace be
with you, that you may listen to his Word with attention and humility.
Peace be with you, that you may speak wisely and well, and that you may
escape from your enemies. Peace be with you, that you may learn how
to be silent with advantage; for whoever listens with humility never
disputes evil-mindedly with any one; he who speaks prudently triumphs
over the fool; and he who is silent in proper season, rarely acts
against his conscience.
On account of all these things, may peace, grace, and mercy be with
you! peace, that you may have a tranquil conscience; grace, that
your sins may be forgiven you; and mercy, that you may be delivered
from unquenchable fire! May, then, peace be with you all, after this
miserable life, in the bosom of eternal felicity, from God, the Father,
and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
LETTER IX.
TO THE HEARERS OF THE WORD OF GOD AT PRAGUE.
[He fortifies them, and inspirits himself against the anathemas of
the pope.]
I, Master John Huss, &c. &c., call on you, dearly beloved, not to allow
yourselves to be disturbed on account of my absence, or on account of
the maledictions with which the enemies of God overwhelm me. I have
faith in my Saviour, and I feel confident that all things will happen,
both to you and to me, for our good. Only beware of sin, and pity the
fate of those who, believing that they are acting well, oppose God and
his holy Word: like the Jews of old, who crucified Jesus Christ and
stoned Stephen, and of whom both Christ and Stephen said, “They know
not what they do.” They cannot hurt me, whether they prepare my cross
with blasphemy; or overwhelm me, like another Judas, with abuse which
they shout out in public; or, in fine, fling stones against the gate
of the temple, and overthrow it. In doing such things, it is against
themselves that they labour; and it is they who ought to tremble.
They have imagined certain practices of worship in conformity with
human ordinances, in order to subject to their will men of simple
minds, and induce such to follow them; but God will bestow on his
believers the knowledge necessary to discern such practices, and to
recognise in them mere human traditions, by means of which their
inventions lead astray weak minds, separating them from the law of God,
and crushing them to the earth, by terrifying them with the thunders of
anathemas.
God enjoins to pray for such men as we believe to be in error, and
to declare them condemned of God; but he has not ordered such snares
to be laid in his temple against innocent men. Perhaps, to judge by
their letters, they act in memory of the eternal damnation of Dathan
and Abiram, who, unworthy as they were, had presumed to pretend to the
priesthood.
They designate, by these letters, all the priests who improperly usurp
the sacerdotal functions through love of riches, pleasure, dignities,
or other gratifications of the flesh. They pour out anathemas, and
vociferate like senseless disciples of Judas, as simonists and
reprobates really are. Let us pray to God, dearly beloved, that he may
deign to continue to us his blessings: no anathema will then be able
to reach us, but the Sovereign Pontiff, Jesus Christ, will bless us,
saying, “Come ye, blessed of my father, receive the kingdom which was
prepared for you from the beginning of the world.”
Let us eagerly long for this blessing, dearly beloved; let us seek for
it and await its coming, living piously in this world, in order to
enjoy eternal life in the regions of heaven, by the merits of Jesus
Christ our Lord, blessed for ever and ever.
LETTER X.
[Huss, whilst reminding believers of all the benefits with which the
Lord has loaded us in his first coming, elevates their souls to the
expectation and hope of the second coming and final judgment.]
John Huss, servant of God, to all believers, peace and mercy from God
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Strengthen your hearts, dearly
beloved, for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ is nigh. You know
that Christ has come once already; ponder on it therefore, and fortify
your hearts by grace, and by the trial of affliction. Reflect, dearly
beloved, that the Son of God, himself God Eternal, became man, and
humbled himself in order to help us. The immortal Physician came to
heal our incurable sores: the all-powerful Lord came, not to trouble
the dead, but to vivify the living, and redeem his elect from eternal
death.
The King of the world, the Supreme Pontiff, came to accomplish, by
his works, the law of God. He came into the world, not to rule over
the world, but to give his life for the redemption of a great number.
He came, not like a usurer, to swallow up the riches of the world,
but to redeem, by his blood, those whom sin had sold to the devil. He
came, omnipotent as he is, to suffer a bloody and ignominious death
from the Pharisees under Pontius Pilate, in order to free us from the
power of Satan. He came not to destroy the elect, but to save them;
as he himself has said, “I have come that they may have life;” that
they may have life here by his grace, and still more abundantly in
eternity; that everlasting life, reserved for all the elect, which is
unattainable to the proud, the luxurious, the avaricious, the violent,
the ambitious, the intemperate, the effeminate--all, in fact, who are
opposed to his words; but which shall be enjoyed by the elect alone,
who listen to his law, who accomplish it by their works, and who suffer
persecution.
Meditate, therefore, in your souls on these benefits which our Lord
Jesus Christ has heaped on us by his first coming, and strengthen
your hearts, dearly beloved, by grace and affliction; for the second
coming of Jesus Christ is near, and, with it, the sentence of the Great
Judge, infinitely wise, infinitely just, infinitely formidable, from
whom neither the great nor the learned of this world can escape; whom
they can neither move by favour nor by gifts; and with whom will come
the just, the preachers of his Word, and all that have been unjustly
persecuted in the world.
Nigh, then, draws the judgment of that severe and redoubtable Judge,
whose regard the wicked will not venture to encounter; the judgment of
Him at whose word all iniquity will be laid open: at his command the
bodies of the evil-doers shall be delivered to the flames, and their
souls shall dwell for all eternity with the devils, after having heard
from the mouth of God that just and terrible sentence, “Depart to the
everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
Meditate, then, dearly beloved, on these two things--the benefits of
the Saviour at his first coming, and his justice and judgment at his
second advent--and fortify your hearts by grace and the cross. And when
you suffer, arouse yourselves; lift up your heads (that is to say, your
minds), for your deliverance is nigh at hand,--your deliverance from
every misery, and from the eternal damnation which we shall be saved
from at the voice of that equitable Judge, who has said, “Come to me,
blessed of my Father, receive the heavenly kingdom that is prepared for
you.” Amen.
LETTER XI.
TO THE SAME.
[John Huss justifies himself, by the example of Christ, for having
quitted Bethlehem.]
Dearly beloved, the birth-day of the Son of God is near at hand;
purify, therefore, your dwelling, and let it be clean of all sin;
listen attentively and piously, according to your opportunity, to the
Word of God, and pay no attention to the evil-doers who forbid you
to meet at Bethlehem. They have endeavoured to lead you astray on
account of me, and now they no longer have that motive. As for those
who declare that I took to flight, I can reply, that I acted of my own
free will, in order to obey the Divine Word, and follow the example of
him who has said--“And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your
words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of
your feet as a testimony against it. And if you are persecuted in one
city, flee to another.” And when the Jews sought to put him to death
before his hour was come, he often withdrew himself from their hands.
St John, in fact, has written--“Jesus therefore walked no more openly
among the Jews; but went thence unto a country near to the wilderness,
unto a city called Ephraim, and there continued with his disciples.”
But the Jews sought for him, and often asked amongst themselves--“Why
comes he not on a feast day?” For the priests and Pharisees had ordered
whoever should discover his retreat, to inform them of it, in order
that he might be followed. It is not, therefore, surprising that, in
compliance with such an example, I should have withdrawn, and that the
priests should ask where I am.
Learn then, dearly-beloved, that it is through the example and
recommendation of Christ that I removed to a distance from
you, through fear of being to the wicked an occasion of eternal
condemnation, and to the good a cause of sadness and mourning. I fled,
in order that impious priests might not prohibit the preaching of the
word of God, and that you might not be deprived, on my account, of the
Divine truth, for which, by the grace of God, I am ready to die. Know
also, dearly beloved, that it was necessary that Christ should suffer
within the period prescribed by his Father. Be assured, that whatever
God may have determined in relation to me, his will shall be done; and
should he deem me worthy to die for his name, he will summon me to
martyrdom; but if, on the contrary, my life is to be prolonged for the
preaching of his word, in like manner that is also in his will.
Undoubtedly, some of your priests desire my return to Prague, and would
willingly see me there again, in order to their chanting the offices
and the mass being dispensed with: it is they whom the holy preaching
of the Gospel offends, on account of their avarice, their pride, and
their adulteries. But you, who love God’s word, and who make every
effort to unite yourselves to him, would be well pleased to see me, and
would gladly have me amongst you in a spirit of charity, like one of
your dear friends. For my part, I long to behold you again, in order
to be able to announce to you God’s word; for the principal care of
the ministers of the Church ought to be to announce, in all sincerity
and with fruit, the gospel of Christ, in order that the people may be
acquainted with the will of God, may avoid many evils, and be led into
the right path for living irreproachably. Woe, then, to such priests as
neglect the word of God! Woe to them who, when they can announce it,
live nevertheless in effeminacy and idleness! Woe to them who prevent
the word of God from being preached and listened to!
Happy, on the other hand, are they who attend to it, who guard it in
their hearts, and who preserve it in themselves by good works. Christ
has blessed them, saying,--“Happy are they who hear the word of God,
and keep it.” May Christ, blessed for evermore, augment for us all this
great happiness! Amen.
LETTER XII.
TO THE SAME.
[He celebrates the joys and blessings of our Lord’s birth-day.]
My very dear brethren, Although I am separated from you in body,
not being perhaps worthy to preach to you any longer the word
of God, nevertheless, the love with which I yearn towards you
constrains me to approach and address you in a few words. This is
the day, dearly beloved, on which the angel of the Lord said to the
shepherds--“Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall
be to all people.” And immediately, a multitude of the heavenly host
were heard to cry out,--“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace, good-will toward men.”
Knowing that, dearly-beloved, rejoice; for, this day a Child is born
of inestimable price, a man-God, in order that glory may be to God in
the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men. Rejoice; for,
this day is born for us a Mediator, that man may be reconciled with
God, and that this peace may be spread over the earth. Rejoice; for,
to us is born a Physician, to make sinners pure from sin, to deliver
them from the power of Satan, to redeem them from eternal damnation,
to impart to all a heavenly joy, that glory may be to God on high,
and on earth peace, good-will toward men. Rejoice; for, to us is born
a King, to fill us with joy; a High Priest, to pour on believers
the Divine blessing; a Father, to adopt us as his children for all
eternity. To us is born a well-beloved Brother, a Master in every kind
of knowledge, a veritable Chief, a Judge of most perfect equity, that
glory may be to God on high, and on earth peace, good-will toward men.
Rejoice, sinners, for He who is born is the Son of God, the High Priest
who absolves all that repent, in order that glory may be to God on
high, and on earth peace, good-will toward men. Rejoice, for this day
the holy bread, that is to say, God has made himself food for men,
in order to satisfy, with His body, all that hunger. Rejoice; for,
this day is born the Redeemer of the world, the Saviour of sinners.
Rejoice; for, this day an immortal God is born, in order that mortal
man may live for ever. Rejoice, for the Lord of the universe lay poor
in a stable, in order that our poverty might be changed into riches.
Rejoice, dearly-beloved, that the predictions of the prophets and of
the saints have been fulfilled. Rejoice, for the omnipotent Father and
the Son, abounding in wisdom and grace, are given to us, that glory may
be to God on high, and on earth peace, good-will toward men. Rejoice,
then, dearly-beloved, for the angel said--“Behold, I bring you good
tidings of great joy.” And what was that joy? That a Saviour was born
who would deliver us from all our miseries, and free us from sin. The
Son of God is given us, that great joy may be with us, and glory to God
on high, and on earth peace, good-will toward men. Let us endeavour
to insure that this Infant which is born to us may accord us that
good-will, that peace, and that joy, which lasts for ever and ever.
Amen.
LETTER XIII.
[He impresses on the believers of Prague the necessity of zeal,
and of a desire to hear God’s Word, and recommends them not to
renounce these things on account of the scandals arising from
wicked preachers.]
I desire ardently, dearly-beloved, that you may be delivered by Jesus
Christ from all your sins, and that, despising the vanities of this
world, you may overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil. I am
anxious that, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, you may
suffer all things with patience, with a view to salvation, and that you
may persevere even unto the end in your trials and afflictions. That
is what I demand for you, dearly-beloved, in my prayers; for God is my
witness that I laboured for upwards of twelve years in the vineyard
of the Lord, and that my greatest consolation in my ministry was to
perceive your zeal in listening to the divine Word, and the serious
repentance of a great number.
Wherefore, dearly-beloved, I conjure you, by the passion of Jesus
Christ, to hold firmly to his Gospel, and so to conduct yourselves that
it may bring forth fruit in all your actions. Be not shaken in your
faith, and regard not those who, having placed only an uncertain foot
in the path, have turned aside elsewhere, and have become the most
violent enemies of God and of his disciples.
You know, dearly-beloved, that Christ’s disciples, who held converse
with him, withdrew, and refused to follow him farther. Yet Christ
came to separate men from one another, for he has said--“I have
come to separate the son from his father, and the daughter from her
mother.” And also--“You shall be delivered up to men, and persecuted
for my name’s sake.” And in order that we may not be shaken by this
abandonment of his disciples, or frightened by persecution or death,
our Saviour added--“A hair of your heads shall not fall without the
will of God.” If, then, a single hair cannot perish, how can believers
themselves perish? Wherefore, dearly-beloved, preserve a real faith
and a sure hope; remain steadfast in the love of God’s Word; listen
with the most ardent affection to those whom the Saviour has sent you,
in order that they may preach his Gospel with constancy, and resist
the devouring wolves and false prophets of whom Christ has spoken,
when he said--“False prophets will come, and will lead astray many.”
Christ teaches believers to beware of them, and to recognise them
by their works, which are avarice, simony, contempt of God’s Word,
persecution of believers, calumny, zeal for human traditions, &c. These
men, in fact, wear sheep’s clothing: they assume the externals of the
Christian, and, as they are, within, devouring wolves, they rend and
devour Christ’s flock. It is of such that Christ has said to his
disciples:--“Behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves; be,
then, prudent as serpents, and simple as doves.” Let them be prudent,
said he, that they may avoid, like serpents, to allow themselves to be
crushed, and to permit the head of the Church of Christ to perish in
them: let them be simple as doves, in order to suffer with patience the
cruelty of the wolves. And we, dearly-beloved, already behold these
wolves clearly before us; but let us not suffer them to lead us astray,
and turn from the path by which we are striving to arrive at heavenly
joys.
Preserve firmly faith, hope, charity, humility, mildness, justice,
modesty, temperance, sobriety, patience, and the other virtues,
adorning yourselves with good morals and good works. Rejoice that you
suffer persecution, for Christ has said--“Blessed are ye when men shall
hate you, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil,
for the Son of man’s sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy;
for behold your reward is great in heaven.” Who, then, is there that
possesses faith, hope, and charity, who will not support with patience,
contempt, and ignominy, for the love of his Saviour, when he is well
assured of receiving a hundredfold advantage in everlasting life?
In the expectation of these things, remember this saying of Christ,
that “an affliction shall come such as never had been seen from the
beginning of the world.” And why? the Apostle tells us--“that a time
shall come when men will not receive the sound doctrines, but will
listen to false teachers with greedy ears;” they will leave the truth
and cling to fables. Thus is now accomplished the prophecy of St Paul,
who declares, that all who desire to live purely in Christ will suffer
persecution; and the impious will triumph in their ruin.
Receive, therefore, dearly-beloved, the exhortation of St Peter; beware
of allowing yourselves to be led astray with others, by the error
of the wicked; do not permit your mode of life to be disturbed; but
increase in the grace of God, in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and
pray that God may graciously accord happy success to my preaching,
wherever a want of it may be felt, in the towns and villages, fields
and forests, in every place where I may be useful, in order that the
word of God may not be stifled in my mouth; uphold and console each
other under the protection of God the Father, of his well-beloved Son,
and of the Holy Spirit, who can preserve you from all evil, and procure
for you eternal joy. To him be praise and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
LETTER XIV.
TO THE INHABITANTS OF THE TOWN OF LUNA.
[John Huss recommends union, and teaches them to endure insults
rather than to avenge them.]
Master John Huss, an unworthy servant of God, to the believers residing
in the town of Luna. Peace, and the protection of our Lord Jesus
Christ, be with you!
My very dear brethren, Although I cannot see you externally with my
eyes, but only with my mental vision, I am nevertheless acquainted with
your charity and your constant faith in God and in his Gospel. I know
that the Saviour has united you in faith, peace, charity, and attention
to his word, so that I find amongst you, more than in any other town of
Bohemia, that concord which so deeply rejoices my heart. I conjure you,
therefore, dearly-beloved,--I whose features are unknown to you, but
who am attached to you sincerely in God--I conjure you, in the interest
of your salvation, to love one another; to remain united, and to let
no man come between and divide you; for this precious unity, which
subsists between you by the true faith, will save you in the presence
of God; and God, through his mercy, will, in return, give you strength
to overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Meditate on these things, dearly-beloved, and allow no schisms, or
treachery, or jealousy, or violence, to spring up amongst you. Should
any obstinate disseminator of disturbance and discord arise amongst
you, warn him like a brother, but do not enter into any disputes before
the judges or courts of law; for that would cause the destruction
alike of your fortune, body, and soul. Study to avenge the insults
offered to God, rather than your own. Alas! it is in this point that
the whole world is mistaken; for all men are more ready to avenge their
own injuries than those of God. And that is the broad path opened by
Antichrist; and, above all, dangerous to us who are priests, and who
desire to see the ordinances of men more rigorously observed than the
commandments of God. Such, or such a priest, monk, or prelate, is a
fornicator or adulterer with impunity, and yet he insists on having his
own ordinances observed, under pain of excommunication! In like manner,
they do not inflict punishment on the laity who sin against God; but
should one of them presume to say--“My brethren, you have unjustly
condemned me!” they at once strike with the sword, because any one has
raised his voice against the injustice of his clerical judge.