friends are spies; and I have heard it said by several of those who
questioned me, A certain John Cardinal has confounded together the Pope
and the Cardinals, in saying that they were all simonists. Let Master
Cardinal keep as much as possible under the imperial roof, that his
person may not be seized as mine was.[62] No one has done me so much
harm as Paletz. May God forgive him! Paletz has directed everything.
He insisted upon citing all the persons who adhered to my opinions,
that they might be constrained to abjure. He has said, in my prison,
that all those who came to hear me, maintained that the material bread
remained after consecration.
I am surprised none of our Bohemians visit my prison; perhaps they act
all for the best. Let this paper be torn directly after it is read.
Send by the bearer of this letter another shirt. Seignior John, insist
with the Bohemians, that the citation of all those who are called upon
to appear, may be annulled; that the Emperor may consider his heritage,
and not suffer any ill-disposed person to harm it. Why can I not speak
to him once before being condemned? for I came here after his desire,
and with the promise that I should be permitted to return safe and
sound to Bohemia.
FOOTNOTES:
[59] _Hist. et Monum. Johann. Huss_, Epist. liv.
[60] Luther adds: “_Male loquentes etiam Cardinali Hostiensi_.” He is
deceived when he takes the Cardinal Osti for Master John Cardinal,
referred to in this letter: the latter was a Doctor of Prague, and a
friend of John Huss. The manner in which Huss expresses himself on this
subject, suffices to shew Luther’s error.
[61] The Emperor Charles IV.
[62] This alone is sufficient to prove that the person in question was
not Cardinal Osti, President of the Council.
LETTER XVI.[63]
TO THE SAME.
[He informs his friends of Pope John’s flight, and requests the
Bohemian Nobles to employ their efforts to obtain his deliverance.]
My keepers have already taken themselves away. I am no longer supplied
with food, and I am ignorant of the fate that awaits me in my prison.
I implore you to go with the other Nobles to the Emperor, to induce
him to put an end to my captivity, that he fall not, on account of me,
into sin and confusion. I beseech you also to come and see me with our
Nobles of Bohemia, for it is necessary that I should speak with you.
Noble Seignior John, go and speedily find the Emperor with the Seignior
Wenceslaus and all the others; it would be dangerous to wait: it is
important for me that it should be done as soon as possible. Come
quickly, and learn the other things which I desire you to do.
I fear that the Grand Master of the Papal Court may carry me away
with him this night, for he has remained to-day at the monastery.
The Bishop of Constance has written to me that he would not treat any
affair with me. The cardinals have done the same.
If you love the unfortunate Huss,[64] take care the king gives me
guards of his own court, and that he delivers me from prison this
evening.
_Written in prison on Sunday evening._
My noble lord, delay not!
FOOTNOTES:
[63] _Hist. et Monum. Johann. Huss_, Epist. lvi.
[64] Si diligitis miserum anserem.
LETTER XVII.[65]
TO THE SAME.
[He tells him of the consolation which he has received in prison.]
I have received great consolation from the visit of the Bohemian
noblemen, but I was much distressed at not having been permitted to see
you.[66] Master Christian has left the city, bearing the message of
Seignior Henry, and also of Master Jessenitz. I think the Council is
much agitated on account of the Pope’s flight.
In all things executed, or to be executed, God should be consulted
before human reason. This is what they have not done, and it is why[67]
* * * * *
If God grants me a happy issue I will not forget this faithful
friend;[68] but if my death is only deferred, it is to you I recommend
him.
I have discovered that the Seignior William is my friend; return him
thanks for me.
I saw Wenceslaus Duba shedding tears when he spoke to me, and the
Seignior Mozka shewed me all the kindness of a friend.
FOOTNOTES:
[65] _Hist. et Monum. Johann. Huss_, Epist. lv.
[66] The regret thus expressed by Huss would lead to the presumption
that this letter, like the preceding, was addressed to John of Chlum,
whose name is not found among those of the Seigniors and friends of
John Huss, mentioned by the latter as having visited him in prison.
[67] Here the text is deficient.
[68] It is probable that this friend, whom he does not name, is the one
to whom he has already alluded in several preceding letters.
LETTER XVIII[69]
JOHN HUSS TO HIS BENEFACTORS.
[He returns them thanks; exhorts them to live purely; and reminds
them of the conduct of the Council towards Pope John XXIII. after
his flight.]
Most generous Lords, faithful defenders of the truth, and my consolers;
you whom God has sent as angels to me, I cannot fully express to you
how grateful I feel for all the constancy and charitable kindness that
you have shewn to me a poor sinner, but a servant in the hope of our
Lord Jesus Christ. I trust the Divine Jesus, our Creator, Redeemer,
and Saviour, will reward you in the present life, and give himself
unto you, as the most precious gift in the life to come. I exhort you,
therefore, by his mercy, to bind yourselves strongly to his law and
holy commandments.
Noble Lord Wenceslaus, in taking a spouse, live purely in marriage, and
renounce the vanities of the age; and you, Lord John of Chlum, you who
already serve no longer the kings of the earth, dwell with your wife
and your children under the yoke of the Lord.
You behold how the wheel of the vanities of the world turns round,
raising one man and depressing another, but giving to all whom it
raises a fleeting joy; after which comes the eternal punishment in fire
and darkness.
You know of what description are these spiritual princes who call
themselves the true vicars of Christ and his Apostles; who proclaim
themselves the Holy Church, and the very Sacred Council that is
infallible; and which, nevertheless, transgressed in adoring John
XXIII., and in calling him most holy, when they knew him to be a
manslayer, impure, a simonist, and a heretic, as they have declared
him to be in the sentence which condemns him. Behold how they have
struck off the head of the Church; they have torn out the heart of the
Church; they have dried up the inexhaustible fountain of the Church;
they have violated and destroyed the imperishable refuge of the Church,
where every Christian should find a refuge!
May God pardon Stanislaus, Paletz, and their brethren; for they thus
designated the Pope in the sentence which they rendered by the mouth of
Stanislaus.[70]
* * * * *
And now Christendom is without a Pope; it has Jesus Christ for the
Head, who directs it--for the heart that vivifies it by grace--for the
fountain which waters it with the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost--for
the imperishable and never-failing refuge, to which I have recourse
in my misfortune, in the firm hope that there I shall always find
direction, assistance, and an all-sufficient regeneration, and that God
will fill me with infinite joy, by delivering me from my sins, and from
this miserable life!
The Council erred several times in erroneously rejecting some articles
from my books, as tainted with corruption, and mutilating several
passages, as will be seen on comparing these articles with my books. It
is there evident to both of us that Jesus Christ, the infallible Judge,
will not sanction all that has been done and said at this Council.
Happy, then, are they who, keeping his law, perceive, detest, and
avoid vain pomp, avarice, hypocrisy, the fraud of Christ’s enemies, and
who wait with patience the coming of the Sovereign Judge and his angels.
I conjure you, by the bowels of Jesus Christ, to avoid bad priests,
and to love good ones, according to their works. I conjure you and the
faithful Barons, not to permit, according to your power, worthy priests
to be oppressed. It is for that purpose that God has raised you above
others; and I think there will be in Bohemia a great persecution of the
faithful servants of God, if he does not relieve them by the arms of
the secular lords whom he has enlightened by his Word, more than by our
spiritual chiefs. Oh! what madness to condemn as erroneous the Gospel
of Christ and the Epistle of St Paul, who professes to have received
the truth, not from men, but from God; and to reject the example of
Jesus Christ himself, of his apostles, and of the other saints, in
condemning the Communion of the Cup of our Lord, instituted for all
adult believers. Do they not say, the permission given to devout laymen
to participate with the lips in the Cup of Christ is an error! And if a
priest presents them this Cup to drink of, he is reputed in fault, and,
should he persist, is condemned as a heretic!
O, St Paul, thou hast said unto all the faithful--“For as often as
ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death
till he come,” that is to say, until the judgment-day, when he shall
come; and, behold, already the custom of the Romish Church opposes the
accomplishment of thy Word!
FOOTNOTES:
[69] _Hist. et Monum. Johann. Huss_, Epist. xix.
[70] John Huss repeats again here what he had previously said relative
to the Pope. We omit it as superfluous.
LETTER XIX.[71]
TO JOHN OF CHLUM.
[He alludes to the injuries which he had to suffer from the Council
and deputies.]
If my letter has not yet been sent to Bohemia, keep it, and do not send
it, for harm might come from it.
The Emperor might well ask who was to be judge, since the Council
has not cited me to appear before him, nor have I been accused in
his presence. Nevertheless, the Council has cast me into prison, and
ordered its procurator to proceed against me.
If I obtain a public audience, I ask, noble and excellent Seignior
John, that the Emperor should be present, and a place near him assigned
to me, in order that he may hear me with facility. I also pray,
that you, with the Seignior Wenceslaus, and my other protectors,
be present, if you can, and hear the words that Jesus Christ, my
procurator, shall put in my mouth, that whether I live or die, you may
be unto me true witnesses, that impostors may not say that I abjured
the truth which I preached.
Know, that in presence of witnesses and notaries, I demanded, in my
prison, from the commissioners, that they would send me an advocate
and procurator; they promised to do so, and afterwards refused them to
me. I then confided myself to the Lord Jesus, that he may enlighten,
plead, and judge my cause. I do not think that there are other
subjects of accusation against me than these: _First_, The obstacle
I raised against the publication of the bull of the Crusades: they
are in possession of my treatise; they have read it to me, and I have
acknowledged it. _Secondly_, They accuse me of having officiated when
under excommunication. _Thirdly_, My appeal to the Pope is imputed to
me as a crime: they read this appeal in my presence, and, before all,
I joyfully exclaimed that this appeal should be mine. _Lastly_, in the
fourth place, I am accused of having left behind me at Prague a writing
which my enemies have interpreted against me, and in which I said--“I
quit the city without a safe-conduct.” You will answer this by saying,
when I left Prague, I had no safe-conduct from the Pope; and, in fact,
I had none; and I was not aware, when I wrote that letter, that you
were to accompany me in my journey....
After the public audience, should I obtain it, may the Emperor not
permit me to be cast again into prison,--may I gather the fruits of
your good counsels, and of those of your friends; and, if it should
please God, tell the Emperor several things, for the advantage of
Christendom, and for his own good.
FOOTNOTE:
[71] _Hist. et Monum. Johann. Huss_, Epist. xlix.
LETTER XX.[72]
TO PETER MALDONIEWITZ.
[John Huss’s Dream.]
Explain this night’s dream. I thought they wanted to destroy, at
Bethlehem, all the representatives of Christ, and that they destroyed
them. The next morning, on rising, I saw many painters, who were
painting finer and more numerous images. I looked at them with joy:
the painters said, with the crowd--“Let the bishops and priests come
now, and let them endeavour to destroy these designs!” Upon this, great
multitudes rejoiced at Bethlehem, and I with them; and on awaking, I
found that I was laughing.
Several have published, that they wished to destroy what is written
at Bethlehem. I will send a copy of the treatises, which I have
transcribed in duplicate.
FOOTNOTE:
[72] _Hist. et Monum. Johann. Huss_, Epist. xliv.
LETTER XXI.[73]
PETER MALDONIEWITZ TO JOHN HUSS.
[Peter explains the dream to John Huss, according to the
interpretation of John of Chlum, whom, in pleasantry, they used to
call the Doctor of Bibrach; because, during John Huss’s stay in the
imperial town of Bibrach, as John of Chlum frequently conferred with
the priests and other lettered men, relative to the obedience due to
the Pope, excommunication, and other similar matters, the report was
disseminated in the town, that the nobleman, John of Chlum, had been
created Doctor in Theology.]
Dearest friend, Be not in any respect uneasy respecting the public
audience, for it occupies more attention than usual, as well as your
affairs; and we hope, with the grace of God, that every thing will
terminate happily. But trouble not your head with phantoms; forget
them, and think only in what manner you may reply to the objections
that will be made against you. And yet the word of truth, which cannot
err, forbids you to meditate too much; for it declares, that when you
are brought before men, it shall be suggested to you at the moment what
you ought to say.
This is the explanation of your dream:--The image of Christ, painted on
the walls of the chapel, is his life, which we ought to imitate; it is
the same for the holy and ineffaceable Scripture which is represented
on the same place, and which, towards the evening, the enemies of
the cross endeavour to rub out, the sun withdrawing itself from them
on account of the iniquities of their life; all these things, then,
appear forgotten in the eyes of the world; but the next day, when
the sun of justice shall have risen again, the preachers of Christ’s
word will renew these same images, and will retrace them in a more
brilliant manner, then preaching on the house-tops what was before only
whispered in the ear, and, as it were, delivered up to oblivion. The
result will be a great source of joy to believers; and although the
humble bird,[74] at present placed on the altar, may be delivered up
to suffering in putting off a feeble body; yet our firm hope is, that
hereafter awakening, after this miserable life, as from a dream, it
will live with Him who is in Heaven, and will laugh to scorn those
impious persons, who endeavoured to destroy the image of Christ and the
Holy Scriptures; and that at the last with the divine protection, he
will again, in a more remarkable manner, retrace the latter, for his
flock and his dear friends. This is the explanation given by the Doctor
of Bibrach,[75] in comparing this dream with one of Daniel’s visions.
* * * * *
Your friends and faithful disciples are happy in receiving your
letters. The Ambassador of the King of France has arrived to-day at
Constance.
FOOTNOTES:
[73] _Hist. et Monum. Johann. Huss_, Epist. xlv.
[74] Auca, _goose_, the signification of _Huss_ in Bohemia.
[75] Peter adds, “Correspondenter hunc locum visionis Danielis exponens
conformiter illi; quo auca in mari natitans petræ inniti videbatur,
quorum utrumque inconvulsam sustentaminis innuit firmitatem.”
LETTER XXII.[76]
REPLY OF JOHN HUSS TO PETER.
[He explains his dream himself, and comforts himself by the Holy
Scriptures.]
I have received much consolation from what the Doctor of Bibrach has
desired you to write to me; his explanation is in accordance with my
own ideas. I forget neither this precept of Cato--“Disturb not thyself
with dreams;” nor the order of God--“Pay not observance to visions;”
and yet I hope that the life of Christ, which I imprinted at Bethlehem
by his word in the hearts of my hearers, and which his enemies have
endeavoured to destroy, by forbidding me to preach in that place, and
by wishing to pull it down,--I hope, I say, that this same life shall
be sketched hereafter far more effectively by preachers of greater
eloquence than myself, to the great joy of the people who cling with
all their might to the life of Christ; greatly shall I rejoice when I
awake, as our Doctor expresses it,--that is to say, when I shall rise
from the bosom of the dead!
And as to the Scripture printed on the walls of Bethlehem, and relative
to which Paletz is so much irritated, declaring that I have abused the
people about it, this same Paletz insists on its being destroyed;
and in order to overwhelm me as much as possible, he has greeted me
in a most dreadful manner, as I shall relate hereafter, with God’s
permission.
With respect to what I ought to reply to the objections that may be
brought against me, I rely on the Divine Saviour, to whom I have
appealed--whom, in presence of the commissioners, I have chosen for my
Judge and Advocate, declaring firmly, that “I selected for my advocate
and judge the Lord Jesus, him who would soon judge us all.” I committed
my cause to him, as he had confided his to his Father. It is he who has
declared, as our doctoral lord of Bibrach remarks,--“Take no heed of
what you shall say; for I will give you a wisdom and eloquence which
your enemies will not be able to resist.”
Jerome has written:--“The Lord has said to us, Do not allow yourselves
to be troubled; fear nothing; you shall march to the combat, but it is
I who will fight; your mouth shall open, but it is I who will speak;
you shall be betrayed by your relations, your friends, your brothers;
and they will deliver you up to death. The injuries that we receive
from the persons who are strangers to us are less cruel than others;
our sufferings are so much the more bitter, that we expected more from
those who inflicted them on us; for we suffer not only in our body, but
also in our mind, from charity being destroyed.” This is what Jerome
says; and as to me, my grief proceeds, above all, from Paletz.
In truth, the Doctor of Bibrach has the advantage over Lord Henry, and
over Master John of Janowitz. The other dreams will be also explained,
if it please God.[77]
Let the Doctor of Bibrach keep to himself alone what he has imparted to
me, relative to my letters; for Christ has said,--“A man’s enemies are
of his own household, and you shall be betrayed by your own relatives.”
Farewell! Be firm and constant all you that dwell in this city of
Constance.[78] Greet all my friends for me, but prudently, for fear the
question be asked, How you know that I have sent them a greeting?
FOOTNOTES:
[76] _Hist. et Monum. Johann. Huss_, Epist. xlvi.
[77] The Latin text has the word _cætera_; but it is probable that
dreams are meant.
[78] Habete constantiam in Constantia omnes qui simul estis.
LETTER XXIII.[79]
TO JOHN HUSS.
[Huss is informed of several circumstances by his friends.]
Dearest friend,--Learn that your acts and the truth have never been
more the objects of secret and unjustifiable snares than at present;
however, your affair is postponed in consequence of a train of
incidents that have occurred, and which were not in any way connected
with it.
All your friends, and particularly Christian, are most attentive to the
good widow, as to a second Sareptan.[80]
A bit of triangular paper has fallen into the hands of your enemies:
it has been the subject of a denunciation; and the informations were
lodged so promptly, that it was impossible to prevent the act.
The Doctor of Bibrach has been demanding, by what means, and by what
occasion, he can write to you: the conclusion that has been drawn, is,
that he is negligent about doing so. Write, I pray you, a few words of
consolation for your most attached friends.
FOOTNOTES:
[79] _Hist. et Monum. Johann. Huss_, Epist. l.
[80] This is the person who received John Huss into her house at
Constance.
LETTER XXIV.[81]
JOHN HUSS’S REPLY.[82]
May the God of mercy preserve and strengthen you in his grace; and may
he impart to you, as well as to me, constancy in this city; for if
we continue constant, we shall obtain the succour of the Lord. It is
now that I learn to understand the saying of the Psalmist: Pray and
meditate on the sufferings of Christ and the martyrs: for Isaiah has
declared, that experience gives intelligence, and unless a man has
undergone temptation, he can know nothing.
I do not understand what the Doctor of Bibrach inquires about; and I
form no conjectures relative to his being negligent in writing. I only
wish that he may be in good health; but that the health of the soul may
be first fortified in him by the Lord. What I desire most ardently for
him, is the improvement of his soul’s health as well as that of his
body, and after this life, eternal happiness with the saints.[83]
Rejoice all you who are united in the Lord; salute each other, and
prepare yourselves to partake worthily of the body of the Lord before
the Feast of Easter. I have not been able to participate in this holy
sacrament for a length of time; and I shall still be deprived of it
as long as it shall be the good pleasure of the Lord. It was the same
with the apostles of Christ and a great number of the saints, who were
debarred from the sacrament in prison and in desert places.
I rejoice that you are together, and that Zelizna Brada is with you in
good health. I also am well, being, as I hope, in Jesus Christ; and
I shall be still better after death, if I observe faithfully God’s
commandments. Oh! that God would accord me sufficient time to reply to
the Chancellor of Paris, who so rashly and unjustly, and in presence
of so great an assembly, did not blush to accuse his fellow-creature
of errors! But God, perhaps, by my death, or by his, will render all
writing on my part useless, and in his last judgment will clear up
every thing, far better than I could do by any work of mine.
FOOTNOTES:
[81] This letter has been, I own, classed under the same title and the
same figure as the preceding one in the collection of John Huss’s Works.
[82] Huss commenced this letter by the following verses, which he wrote
with his own hand, to console himself, and wile away the time; they
are, however, so filled with _jeux de mots_ and abbreviations, that it
is impossible to translate them satisfactorily. We therefore give them
in the original.--
Litera gavisus, respondeo capiti istud,
Cœtus, lacus, ignis, ac testis restituere
Jonam, Danielem, tres Pu...Susannam, quia fuere
Justus, castus, puri, hæc conti...Spem retinentes
In Domino justo, qui liberat in se sperantes.
Poterit qui aucam, Dominus pie, carcere tetro
Eripere clausam, quæ se fœdaverit retro,
Quam purgat carcer, donat et instruit flere,
In lachrymas risus vertens, ut nunc sciat vere
Opprobria Christi, blasphemias, lumine recto
Cernere injurias et capite Sathanæ secto
Vincere morte, vel ut sibi dederit optima vita.
[83] Huss here adds the following verses:--
Nocturnus, gradus, litaniæ, singulæ horæ,
Carceri sunt breves, vigiliæ dicere, leves.
Passo Christo patimur: sed hæc est passio nostra,
Nulla, vel modica, quæ tolleret crimina nostra,
Adjuvet vos Christus, ne glutiat nunc Antichristus.
LETTER XXV.[84]
TO THE SAME.
[He again requests that the noblemen who have been his protectors
should obtain him a hearing; and he prays earnestly to have the
Emperor and the Council applied to on the subject.]