(1373-1415)
[Illustration: John Huss. [TN]]
John Huss, a reformer before the Reformation, and the martyr of
Constance, was born about the year 1373. His birthplace was Hussinetz, a
village of Bohemia. His parentage was humble, and his early toils and
privations formed the school in which he was trained for future
hardships and sufferings. He studied at the university of Prague; and
some of his teachers were men somewhat in advance of their age. In the
year 1396 Huss received his master's degree, and began to lecture in
his university in 1398. In 1400 he was appointed confessor to the Queen
of Bohemia; and in 1401 he became president of the philosophical faculty
of Prague. The corruptions of his day, especially among the Romish
priesthood, early suggested deep thoughts to this ardent man, and he
found a few who were like-minded with himself among those who resided at
Prague. Some of these entered into an arrangement for spreading truth as
purely as it was then known; Huss was chosen their preacher, and there,
in a place appropriately called "Bethlehem," or the House of Bread, he
"refreshed the common people with the bread of holy preaching." The
impression which he produced was profound. A fervent love, a holy life,
glowing appeals, and a gentle manner, all helped to make him a master in
grace, but soon brought him into collision with dark, mediaeval minds.
Here, then, is another decided and heroic man who has entered the ranks
of the friends of truth. He will have much to do and much to endure--his
patron will become his persecutor, and his friends will cast him out--if
he is to assail the corruptions of the year 1400. But Huss was not the
man to be damped by danger. His only inquiry was, What is duty?--he will
do it at all hazards, and let us consider how; for in considering it, we
see another example of the need of heroic decision in a world like ours,
if man would really benefit his brother man. As early as the year 1391,
the Bohemian reformer was studying the works of the great Englishman of
that age; and all these things helped to urge him forward in the path in
which he resolved to move. An archbishop might thwart him, and try to
put him down. A whole university might oppose some of his measures.
Wickliff's books might be burned, and loud remonstrances be heard. As a
result, students, variously estimated at from 5,000 to 44,000 might
forsake the university of Prague. But unmoved by such commotions, Huss
went boldly forward.
But, intrepid as he was, Huss needed all his intrepidity. One of his
friends was first thrown into prison, and then banished for his
boldness; and Huss had to appeal to the archbishop, the chief agent in
the persecution. "What is this," he cried "that men stained with
innocent blood--men guilty of every crime--shall be found walking abroad
with impunity, while humble priests, who spend all their efforts to
destroy sin ... are cast into dungeons as heretics, and must suffer
banishment for preaching the gospel?"
Matters soon reached a crisis. Huss was summoned to Italy to defend his
doctrines, and all Bohemia was roused by that step. The future martyr
was not permitted to go--it would have been to sacrifice his life.
Meanwhile Queen Sophia used her influence on his behalf. The king wrote
to the Pope and the cardinal in his favor. He demanded liberty for Huss
to preach, and insisted that all actions against him should cease, so
that for a while the persecution was stayed. But at last Huss was
pronounced a heretic; and now he is one stage nearer to Constance and
the funeral pile. On the way, however, he could exclaim, "Where I see
anything at variance with the doctrines of Christ, I will not obey,
though the stakes were staring me in the face." That was his maxim all
through life; and in such an age such heroism in such a cause was the
harbinger of death.
At one stage of these life and death struggles, Huss had to do battle
against a whole theological faculty; and that and similar contests
trained him to a boldness and decision which was constantly growing. But
he had now to separate, for the truth's sake, from friends whom he had
prized through life. His pathway, indeed, is gradually becoming more
narrow, as well as more rough--he is one of those who must often walk
alone.
Indulgences were now attacked by him in public disputations. About this
period some of his friends were condemned to death because they objected
to indulgences, and Huss took up their cause. He hastened to the Senate
House, and pleaded for the three condemned men. He made their danger his
own, and declared that he, the teacher, not they, the disciples, should
die. In spite of his efforts, and in violation of promises given that no
blood should be shed, his three friends were hurried to execution; and
what could be the result of that step, but a more intense antagonism, a
more resolute decision? On a subsequent occasion, accordingly, Huss
appeared before the king and his council, to defend what he reckoned the
right. He offered, with characteristic ardor, to be bound to die at the
stake if he did not make good his views, provided his eight opponents
would do the same. But all other struggles were soon merged in the great
conflict with Rome itself. The Pope had determined to put down Huss, and
he was excommunicated with the most terrible of papal forms. If he did
not submit in twenty days, the ban was to be proclaimed against him in
all churches; all who harbored him were to be laid under an interdict,
and Huss himself was to be burned according to law.
The King of Bohemia had urged Huss to leave Prague for a time, in the
hope that peace might thus be restored. He complied, and, like Luther in
the Wartburg, in the Castle of Kozi-hradek wrote some of his most
important works. Never was more determined courage displayed by any man
in similar circumstances than by Huss in that castle.
From his hiding-place Huss often went abroad and preached to the crowds
who flocked to hear him; but the Council of Constance is now at hand,
for we are referring to the year 1414, and he is to proceed thither
under a safe-conduct from Sigismund, Emperor of Germany, with the
assurance that if he could not submit to the decision of the Council,
the emperor would send him back unharmed to Bohemia. This was an
opportunity for which Huss had longed. He would now, he thought, deliver
his message and uphold the truth before assembled potentates, and
proceeded to Prague to prepare for the council.[11] He there publicly
challenged all his opponents to convict him of error if they could, and
proved that he was valiant for the truth as long as he was free.
[Footnote 11: It should be carefully observed here, that the
emperor guaranteed to Huss a safe journey both to Constance and
from it. The words of the document are: "Ut ei transire, stare,
morari, redire libere permittatis."]
Huss set out for Constance on October 11, 1414, with two faithful
knights to protect him by the way. Even in Germany he was cordially
welcomed by many. He courted opportunities of making known his views,
and at Nuremberg, in particular, he enjoyed such an opportunity to the
full. He reached Constance on November 3d, where his enemies were busily
employed, and he was speedily posted as a vile heretic; indeed, it was
soon made plain that if he was a bold, intrepid man, he needed to be so.
Officials from the Pope, who was then at Constance, desired him, as an
interdicted priest, to abstain from the Church services; but he declined
to comply. Had he chosen even to equivocate, he might have escaped; but
Huss was not the man to trim. Such a course was formally proposed to
him; but though he was far from being buoyed up by false hopes, he
resolutely and without hesitation declined all underhand suggestions: he
would uphold the truth, but that was all that he would do. "I fear
nothing," he said; "for I hope that, after a great conflict, will ensue
a great victory, and after the victory a still greater reward to me, and
a still greater discomfiture to my enemies."
Huss was not kept long in suspense. He sought various opportunities of
proclaiming his views: but these were all denied him, and moreover, on
November 28th, he was made a close prisoner. He was removed in chains to
the castle of Gottleben. By night and day he was kept chained there, and
all was done that was likely to bow down, or to break, the undaunted
man. But though one form of disease after another assailed him, no
wavering thought was harbored, no wavering word escaped; all his sorrows
only led him deeper and deeper into the truth which he prized so well,
and, in the face of crowding dangers, his resolution actually became
more and more fixed and heroic.
The cruel mockery of justice at Constance was carried on by tribunal
after tribunal; but the victim was steadfast and unmovable. Now, gleams
of hope broke forth for him and his friends, and then darkness gathered
round them once more; but Huss found one thing unchanging, the word of
his God--and when the council met in the Franciscan convent, which had
become the martyr's prison, formally to try his case, they cruelly
attempted to prejudge the matter without hearing him at all. But the
emperor interfered, and Huss appeared before them, ready to retract
whatever was contrary to Scripture: but whenever he attempted to plead,
a savage outcry arose around, till the voice of truth was drowned in the
din. On June 7th, he stood forth the second time before the council; but
it was a wrangle rather than a solemn trial, for Huss would not abate
one jot of his convictions, except as the Scriptures condemned them.
On June 8th, his third examination took place. Huss was told, at the
close, that if he would suppliantly submit and retract opinions which he
declared he never held, his judges would be lenient--otherwise, his
danger was obvious. He was thus asked to confess his errors, to swear
that he would never more preach them, and publicly recant; but he
constantly refused such terms, unless he were convicted by the word of
God. Even the emperor pleaded with him to yield; the judges also urged
him, and professed a desire for his escape; but he was not to be moved,
and must therefore hasten back to his cell, an outcast heretic in
chains. If he would recant, he would be permitted to live--but little
more, for imprisonment for life was to be his lot. But little did those
judges know either the man whom they held in their grasp, or the
principles and the power which bore him up. He could die, but he could
not be anything but a true man. An emperor's safe-conduct was found to
be a worthless thing, and "Trust not in princes" was a portion of the
word of God which Huss learned thoroughly to understand.
[Illustration: Huss' execution. [TN]]
It was with unruffled self-possession that Huss gave himself to
martyrdom. As he had never abandoned the Romish Church, he calmly
engaged in its functions preparatory to his death. Indeed, some touching
scenes were witnessed in his prison--he unshaken--his friends, his very
enemies weeping like womanhood beside him. Deputation after deputation
visited him--one of them from the emperor himself--and recantation was
constantly the burden of their pleading. But Huss would not recant
except upon conviction; and on July 6, 1415, he appeared once more
before the council, where the emperor was present on his throne. Many of
the judges were Huss's bitter personal enemies, for as he had assailed
the measureless corruptions of their order, that was an unpardonable
sin. Besides, history is careful to tell that bribery was largely
employed to make sure of his destruction--and now the last act of the
dark tragedy has arrived. No further defence was permitted to Huss, yet
he uttered one solemn appeal. Once and again he prayed for his enemies.
Being clothed in his priestly robes, he was stripped of them by seven
bishops, while he still persisted in holding fast his convictions,
except as the truth of God could be shown to condemn them. The mark of
his tonsure was next removed, and that with great cruelty. A cap daubed
over with the figures of demons was then placed on his head, and thus
the heroic martyr of Bohemia was led forth to be burned in the name of
religion.
[Illustration: Execution of Huss.]
At the place of execution Huss prayed, and often repeated the words,
"Into thy hands, Lord, I commit my spirit." When compelled to rise from
his knees, he still appealed to the Saviour, and prayed for "a strong
and steadfast soul" to endure that shameful death. Even after he was
placed at the stake, and had actually been surrounded by fagots, he
declared that he willingly wore his chains for Christ, who wore yet
heavier bonds. With his last breath he repelled a temptation to recant,
and when the fire was kindled he began to sing with a loud voice,
"Jesus, son of the living God, have mercy upon me." When he was
repeating the words for the third time, his voice failed; he was stifled
by the flames, and soon reduced to ashes. These ashes were cast into the
Rhine.
Thus perished one of the noblest men who ever walked our world. His
death led to the Hussite war. In his native Bohemia he was so loved that
the peasants rose in great bodies, crying for vengeance. Many of the
nobles joined them, and for fifteen years battle and bloodshed avenged
his execution.