 Introduction to the Letters of John Hus. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Letters of John Hus by Emil de Bono Showes, translated by Campbell McKenzie. Introduction and Preface. Once the end of the 14th century, there was born in Bohemia, a man whose name is inseparably connected with one of the most important revolutions of modern Europe. His history I have narrated in a preceding work. I there placed before my readers the great events of that memorable epoch, and exhibited on the stormy stage of the world this Christian, whose death, even more than his life, agitated his country and all Germany. My object in the present work is to complete the first, to finish the portrait of the illustrious reformer of Bohemia by making him also known in his domestic life, the effusions of his private intercourse. The man is completely revealed in his correspondence, and I hear publish all that the friends of Hus have handed down to us. These letters, which are translated now for the first time into our tongue, were never intended for the public eye, having been addressed by Hus to his disciples and friends, to be perused far from the view of his enemies and under the shade of the domestic roof. They furnish most precious documents to history, and are unquestionable testimonies of the spirit and character of their author. So they are not remarkable, either for profundity of thought or for style and singularity of doctrine. They're nevertheless exhales an innocent candor and an angelic piety like a fragrant perfume from every page. What especially pervades them are the Christian thoughts on the fall of man, and his regeneration through Jesus Christ. The conviction that all the things of this world pass away and are but the shadows of things eternal. That man is nothing without God, that there is nothing but darkness or false lights wherever the defined flame does not penetrate. And lastly, above all these thoughts subsists that which embraces all the rest. That faith is life. He behold in his correspondence a soul superior to seduction as well as to terror, a firm and upright reason which penetrates every subtlety, originates in the conscience alone, clings tenaciously to what appears to it to be the truth as to man's most precious possession, as to the treasure which has nothing to fear, neither from rust nor robber. Huss was one of those spirits more contemplative than practical which, after having recognized an idea as true, admit of no medium or arrangement in propagating it, and concern themselves for the consequences not more for others than for themselves. The inflexibility of his character equaled his probatee of feeling, and it may be affirmed that in all respects both by the heart and the intelligence, Huss was of the number of those who appear in the world as if predestined to martyrdom. Yet he sought not after it like a passionate sectarian or a blind enthusiast, he was as far from possessing that pride which complacently feeds itself on its own conceptions as from that sullen fanaticism which causes a man voluntarily to shorten his life by useless rashness through dint of persuading himself that death is desirable. Before entering into a contest with his superiors, John Huss hesitated, consulted, and examined visited with ecclesiastical censures at Prague. He knew not whether he should obey and be silent, or continued to preach the gospel. I burn, says he, with an ardent seal for the gospel, and my soul is sad, for I know not what to resolve on. At a later period at Constance when condemned and ready to die, he wrote, I exhort you in the name of the Lord to detest every error that you may discover in my works, but keeping in mind this truth which I have ever had in view, pray for me. He faithfully depict his feelings in a letter which he addressed at the same period to the priest Martin, his disciple, an admirable letter, a true model of prudence and every Christian virtue. Attach thy soul to the reading of the Bible, and especially the New Testament. Fear not death if thou desirest to live with Christ, for he has said himself, fear not those who kill the body, but who cannot destroy the soul. If they should trouble you on account of thy adhesion to my doctrines, answer, I believe my master to have been a good Christian, and touching on what he has taught and written, I have neither read nor understood all. Hoss was neither a superstitious man nor a visionary. Nevertheless, he had visions, and received warnings in his sleep he foresaw what came to pass, yet refused to attach faith to his dreams. He does not dare to place trust in them, and distrusts his senses rather than slight the authority of a single precept of his God. He repeats this text, placed no confidence in dreams, and after having related them to his friends he adds, I write this not because I consider myself a prophet, or that I would exalt myself, but to show I have suffered bodily and mental temptations as well as a great fear of transgressing the commandments of the Lord. One was predominant in his mind, the most absolute submission to the divine will, as well as an ardent desire to become acquainted with it. Pray, says he, fervently to the Lord, that he may grant me his spirit, that I may dwell in the truth and be delivered from all evil. If my death should add to his glorification, pray it may arrive speedily, and that he may enable me to support my ills with constancy. But should it be better for my salvation that I return amongst you? We will implore of God to enable me to return from the council without a spot, that I may keep back nothing from the truth of the gospel of Christ in order to be enabled to discover more surely its light, and bequeath to our brethren a good example to follow. The sacrifice which he made of his life was the more exemplary, and his martyred them the more sublime because he had felt beforehand all the terrors of death. It was in God that he sought for support against them. Beseech the Lord to grant me the assistance of his spirit, that I may confess his name even unto death. I shall stand in need of his divine aid, although I am confident he will not suffer me to be tried beyond my strength. His confidence in God did not forsake him to the last moment. Our Saviour, says he, raised Lazarus from the dead after the fourth day. He could also snatch me from prison and death. I, an unfortunate man, if it were for his glory, for the advantage of the faithful and my own good. And yet, when in chains and awaiting death, he is more occupied with the interests of others than his own. His soul, calm, pious and compassionate sympathizes with all around him. His jailers are exhorted and instructed by him. He thinks with tenderness of his disciples, of the faithful believers of his church, of his friends. The sight of his benefactors draws tears from his eyes and he writes to them in these touching terms. Generous Seniors, my Comforters, and faithful defenders of the truth, you whom God has sent me as my angels, I cannot fully express how much I am grateful for so much constancy and for all the charitable kindness you have shown me, a weak sinner, but servant in hope of Jesus Christ. His poverty, being great, he regrets not being able to remunerate his friends who have assisted him with money. He bequeaths them all he possesses, which is but little. For the surplus of his debts he addresses an appeal, with a confidence altogether Christian, to all who are rich, and conjures them to pay for him those who are poor. He promises them in exchange for the worldly riches, which they advance to him spiritual and imperishable wealth. Every word that falls from his lips or his pen affords signs of that virtue so well-defined by the apostle, of that charity, so mild, patient, and benevolent, to which nothing is indifferent. As in everything it finds an opportunity of exercising itself usefully, and fulfilling a duty. At the approach of death he feels his ardent zeal redoubled for the salvation of his brethren and dear disciples, and includes in the same solicitude all those who have listened to his preaching. And in his last exhortations no one is accepted. Even on the point of appearing before the king of heaven all earthly distinctions vanish before his eyes, and the soul of the obscure workmen is to him as precious as that of the monarch. His own soul presents an unalterable calm amidst the most cruel pains, and sometimes unbends to a sweet and tranquil gaiety. Although a prey to so many outrages, he otters neither threat nor murmur. He pardons his enemies. He blesses and adores the hand of God which tries him, and sees in these rigors only marks of his love. Shortly before his death he writes to his friends thus, When we shall meet hereafter in a happy eternity you will know with what clemency the Lord deigns to assist me in my trials. Such does John Huss appear in the edifying letters of which we here present the translation. And it is impossible to peruse them without repeating, with Luther, If this man was not a generous and intrepid martyr and confessor of Christ, certainly it will be difficult for any man to be saved. We have penetrated in every direction into the mind so eminently Christian. We have shown in all its aspects this soul so marked with candor and so powerful, and now it remains to us to assign to John Huss his place among the men who have agitated the world, and to determine the work which is personal to him. What in fact he has left behind him that is durable. To succeed in such an endeavor we must take into account a prejudice which still prevailed at that period. False notions had for centuries been in circulation and had taken root in Christendom relative to the authority of individual convictions, judgment, and conscience. It was denied that man, sustained by divine grace, could find in himself any assistance. That was believed to be a meritorious act of Christian virtue to seek for no direction in one's own internal feeling, and to trample reason on their foot. An opinion was adopted not because in itself it had been found conformable to the scriptures or to truth, but because it was considered to agree with the decisions of some great doctor, pope, or council, or because it was found in Augustine, Origen, or Jerome. Tradition alone was listened to, and it was altogether forgotten that the first Christians who had sprung from the Jews and Gentiles were accustomed to consult their conscience before all, in face of the altars of paganism or of the temple still standing in Jerusalem, and that they took for their only guide this secret an inflexible monitor. A few eloquent men and few great minds had, it is true, consulted their individual opinions rather than yield to clerical and traditional authority. Abelard and Beringer in France had given proof of boldness and independence in proclaiming their doctrines, but they grew timid when it was necessary to defend them. Their voices died away, and their heads were bowed low before the menaces of popes and councils. In Italy, Armand de Bress had ventured openly to resist the pontifical power, but the revolution of which he gave the signal was a civil rather than a religious one. Numerous sects and whole populations had in different countries emancipated themselves from the yoke by depending on that irresistible force which the sympathy of the masses and the association with the whole nation creates in order to think, believe, and suffer. England in Feen had witnessed a powerful mind that of Wycliffe, nourished by the scriptures, bring to light a body of doctrine from which at a later period sprang the code of the Reformation. But Wycliffe escaped alive the solemn sentence of an ecumenical council, and many doubt whether he could have passed triumphantly through that formidable ordeal. It was reserved for the little town of Constance to afford a spectacle which the world had not witnessed for ages. There, one man, weakened by sickness and long imprisonment, isolated from a few friends, dispersed and trembling, resisted, strong in the gospel and in his conscience, all that external authority could display to intimidate and subjugate souls. He yields not before the efforts of all the spiritual and temporal powers united. John Hus, lastly, by his example, still more than by his doctrines, reopened to the Christian world a path that had long been closed, and if it is permitted to compare sacred things with profane, affected in the sphere of religion and morality what, at a later period, Columbus brought to pass in the external and physical world. He laid open a new empire, or to speak more correctly, he discovered a domain which had been forgotten for ages, that of the conscience in matters of faith. Inquiry was a feel interdicted to all. Hus entered on it anew in the midst of hostile clamors and reopened it amidst the noise of the thunder and the tempest. He fell in his attempt, but it was important to prove that the conscience of the Christian was stronger than all the powers of earth. For that end one of those sublime sacrifices which terminate in death was requisite. John Hus, therefore, must die. And in his death consisted his victory. It was the firmness of his character which gave him influence over people, like most of those whose passage through the world has left the most durable impression. He was great, especially by the heart, and although he was, by the qualities of his mind, one of the most distinguished men of his age, yet his greatness was rather moral than intellectual. He established no new system, nor attached his name to any religious creed, and his glory is, in consequence, the pure. Not being the author of his doctrines, he had no personal interest in their triumph. And the love of the truth did not, in his heart, confound itself with vanity. He was not able to obtain external liberty for religious worship. But he did more, for by his faith, by his courage, before tribunal, the most elevated in the opinions of men, by the vast renown of his virtues, condemnation, and martyrdom. He caused a part of Europe to understand the sacred right of that freedom of conscience, which, when properly employed, constitutes the Christian equally on the throne as in chains. John Hus, in a word, greatly contributed to bring back Christianity to its primitive character, that of being the religion of the heart, and to restore its real spirit, a spirit of life, of progress, and of liberty. If religion be not this, if it be the monopoly of a college of priests or the privilege of a sect, it becomes immediately exclusive, intolerant, and oppressive. The history of antiquity, as well as of modern times, teaches us that men who constitute themselves as infallible interpreters of the divinity make their gods after their own likeness. The creator of the world would soon be no longer in their mouths a compassion of father who gives to all his children on earth an equal right of approaching him in adoration of prayer, and who presents his word to all minds, like his son, to the regards of every creature, but a jealous master ever ready to punish and strike at the will of his interpreters at the cry of those who call themselves the representatives of his power. Religion would no longer be that celestial an internal bond which attracts the soul to God by love. It would become the yoke which masters externally by constraint, a dreadful instrument of punishment to the souls which it abases by placing them under restraint and more destructive if possible to men's minds than to their bodies. It is on this account that the generous Christians of all churches who have heroically resisted the oppressors of the conscience are justly entitled to the imperishable admiration and gratitude of all who adore in spirit and in truth. Among these no man was ever more remarkable than John Huss, for no other ever did more to restore to the conscience in the heart of man that throne which it ought never to have abdicated. Preliminary Notice The letters of John Huss were collected by his friend Peter Moldoniewicz, the notary, and it was the great reformer of the sixteenth century, Martin Luther, who first published them, rendering justice to the faith, doctrines, and noble character of their author. Peter at first translated into Latin four letters written by Huss in Bohemia and published them in fifteen thirty-six, together with those which the nobles of Bohemia and Moravia had addressed to the Council of Constance. Wittenberg was the place where he published them, on the occasion of a general council being convoked by Paul the Third. He joined to these letters a preface, of which the following is an extract. My object in publishing these letters, said Luther, is if God should permit the Council to assemble toward such persons as might be present to beware of following the example of the Council of Constance in which the truth was exposed to such lengthened and such violent attacks. Nevertheless, it triumphs now, and holding erect its victorious head shows forth that guilty assembly in its true colors. Undoubtedly, God has sufficiently manifested in that Council how he resists the proud and confounds the haughty by their own imaginations without paying any consideration to outward dignity. The following year, Luther published a complete edition of the letters of John Huss and prefixed to it a preface which we sub-join, and in which he enumerates with great power the principal claims of Huss to the esteem and admiration of posterity. This preface also contains some interesting and curious details, and Luther even narrates in it the strong impression produced on himself in his youth at first reading by chance some of the writings of that Christian whom he had been taught to execrate as a dreadful heretic. Luther is supposed to have drawn up the summary of contents which are found at the head of most of the letters of John Huss in the collection of his works, and we have most carefully preserved them. The letters of John Huss are divided into two series, each of which refers to a different period of his life. The first is that of his interdiction and exile from Prague in the years 1410 and 1411. The second comprehends the period which he lapsed from his departure from the council till his death. Preface of Dr. Martin Luther to the letters of John Huss published by him in the year 1537. In order to render more prudent and to instruct by means of the tyrannical judgments of the council of Constance, all theologians that may be here after called to sit in a council of the Roman Church. Should any man read these letters or hear them read, being at the same time in possession of a sound intelligence, and in the face of God having a regard for his own conscience, he will not, I am convinced, hesitate to allow that John Huss was endowed with the precious gifts of the Holy Spirit. Observe, in fact, how firmly he clung in his writings and his words to the doctrines of Christ. With what courage he struggled against the agonies of death, with what patience and humility he suffered every indignity, and with what greatness of soul he at last confronted a cruel death in defense of the truth. Seeing all these things alone and unaided before an imposing assembly of the most powerful and eminent men, like a lamb in the midst of wolves and lions. If such a man is to be regarded as a heretic, no person under the sun can be looked on as a true Christian. By what fruits then shall we recognize the truth, if it is not manifest by those with which John Huss was so richly adorned? The greatest crime of John Huss was his having declared that a man of impious life was not the head of the universal church. He allowed him to be the chief of a particular church, but not of the universal one. Just the same as a minister of the word whose life is criminal still remains minister according to external appearance, although he is not. On that account a member of the saints in his church. In a similar manner John Huss denied that an impious and flagitous pontiff was a worthy one. Although seated on the throne of the church it is if we should declare that Judas, being both traitor and robber, was not an honest man, although he had been called to the function of an apostle. Every effort, in fact, was made to prevail on John Huss to admit that a criminal pope ought to be regarded as a saint and was infallible, that his words and acts were alike holy and ought to be received and respected as so many articles of faith. All the men of the Council of Constance, wisest they were considered, would have lent a favorable ear to such assertions. They who, when they had dethroned three culpable pontiffs, did not allow to anyone the right of condemning them to the flames. But when John Huss said the same things, they dragged him at once to the stake. The door was once more thrown open to similar events by the intelligences which the Roman pontiffs scattered with such profusion over the whole world, and by the jubilee which he instituted at Rome to build the Church of St. Peter. For the pope, amongst his other inventions, declared, and afterwards confirmed by his bulls, that the souls of such persons as having undertaken a pilgrimage to Rome should happen to die on the way, should at once take flight to heaven, and, in his quality of God on earth and God's viceroy, he orders most preemptorily the angels to bear such souls upwards on rapid cars. Tetzel, the bearer of the indulgences of the Bishop of Metz, in like manner taught that the souls would spring from purgatory to heaven as soon as the clink of the money paid into the treasury should be heard. But when shortly after he was confounded and put to shame, he shut his impudent mouth. It was to oppose such impieties, calculated as a word to discuss even a brute animal, that John Huss, preacher of the Word of God at the Chapel of Bethlehem at Prague, put himself forward. He denied that any such power was given to the Roman pontiff, who, he boldly declared, might be mistaken in that as well as many other things. Having then taken the great liberty of inculcating that the Pope can err, a heresy then considered far more frightful than to deny Jesus Christ, he was constrained by violence to confirm what he had maintained in saying that an impious pope was not a pious one. All then were in wild commotion like so many wild boars, and they gnashed their teeth and knit their brows, bristled up their coats, and at last, rushing precipitously on him, delivered him cruelly and wickedly to the flames. One of the first articles that it was necessary to admit at that period was that the Roman pontiff was infallible. In such was the opinion of the jurist consults of the Roman court. It did not appear presumable that any error could emanate from so elevated a quarter. But when personal presumptions are formed, it often comes to pass. Too much is presumed. The extraordinary mistake of these men, on so important a point, and the manifest outrages which John Huss suffered from them, only served to animate him with greater courage. A conscience pure of all crime before God and before the world affords a man a great consolation in his misfortunes. And if his suffering should be for the name and the glory of God, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter of the Afflicted, immediately comes to his aid and lends him assistance against the world and against demons, as Christ has promised. Matthew 10. In these words, it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you, and Luke 21, for I will give you a mouth in wisdom which all your adversaries shall not be able to resist and gain say. I have heard from some persons worthy of faith that the Emperor Maximilian said in speaking of John Huss, they have done great injustice to that excellent man, Erasmus of Rotterdam, in his early writings, now in my possession, has declared that John Huss had been burned, but not convinced. And the general opinion amongst pious men of that day was that he had been loaded with outrage and violence. I will relate here what Dr. Stoupis narrated to me of a conversation which he had with his predecessor Andrew Proles, a man of birth and merit, relative to the rose of Dr. John Zacharias. This Zacharias was represented in the cloisters bearing a rose in his hat, as a distinction for him, and an affront to John Huss. Proles seeing this image said, I would not consent to wear that rose. Stoupis, having inquired for what motive, Proles replied, when it was maintained before the Council of Constance against John Huss that the Pope could not be represented by anyone, Dr. Zacharias brought forward the passage of Ezekiel, chapter 34, it is I who am above the shepherds and not the people. John Huss denied that these words could be found to form part of the chapter alluded to, and Zacharias offered to prove the contrary, from the very Bible which John Huss had brought from Bohemia, for Zacharias, like many others, had often visited Huss for the purpose of convincing him, and he had, by chance, happened to perceive the passage in question. The Bible was then produced in the assembly, and it showed that Zacharias was right. John Huss nevertheless maintained that the Bible was not a correct one, and that the other versions would not confirm it. But being overwhelmed by the clamors of his adversaries, he lost his cause, and Zacharias received a rose from the Council, in perpetual memory of this fact. And yet, observed Prolace, it is certain that these words are not found in any correct Bible, whether manuscript or printed, and that they all testify against Zacharias. Such was the account of Prolace to Dr. Staupitz. The verse alluded to is found in all German, Latin, Greek and Hebrew Bibles, and it was quoted by John Huss. But at Constance they could not admit it in any other way than as quoted by Zacharias, who deserved neither to receive the rose nor to wear it. The adversaries of John Huss's opinion have themselves testified to his learning. Thirty years back I heard several able theologians declare that John Huss was an exceedingly superior doctor, and that he surpassed an erudition and knowledge of all the persons composing the Council. His writings and, among others, his treatise on the Church and his sermons confirm this eulogium. When I was a divinity student at Erfurt, my hand happened to a light one day in the Library of the Monastery on a volume of John Huss's sermons. Having read on the cover of the work the words, sermons of John Huss, I was immediately inflamed with a desire to ascertain by perusing this book that had escaped from the flames, and was thus preserved in a public library what heresies he had disseminated. I was struck with amazement as I read on, and was filled with an astonishment difficult to describe, as I sought out for what reason so great a man, a doctor so worthy of veneration and so powerful in expounding the Scriptures, had been burnt to death. But the name of Huss was, at that period, such an object of execration that I absolutely believed that if I spoke of him in terms of praise, the heavens would fall on me, and the sun veil his light. Being enclosed the book, I withdrew, sad at heart, and I remarked to myself by way of consolation. Perhaps he wrote those things before he fell into heresy. At that time I was still ignorant of what had passed in the Council of Constance. All that I could say would only add infinitely to the high character of John Huss. His adversaries render him a striking, though unintentional testimony, for if their clouded eyes could open to the light they would blush at the remembrance of the things which they themselves narrate. The author of a collection of the Acts of the Council, written in German and enriched with very remarkable details, endeavors with all his power to cover with odium the cause of John Huss. And yet he declares that when Huss beheld himself stripped of all the dignities of his order, he smiled with intrepid firmness. According to the same author, also Huss, when conducted to the funeral pile, constantly repeated, Jesus, son of God, have pity on me. At the sight of the fatal stake to which he was to be fixed in order to be burned, he fell on his knees and cried out, Jesus, son of the living God, who suffered for us all, have pity on me. Beholding a peasant, bringing some wood to feed the flames, he again smiled with mildness and uttered these words of Saint Jerome. Oh, holy simplicity. A priest, having drawn nigh and demanded if he desired to confess, Huss replied that he was ready to do so. And the priest, having insisted on the necessity of abjuring, John Huss refused, saying that he did not consider himself guilty of any mortal sin. The man who, in the agony of death, invoked with so firm a heart, Jesus, son of God, who for such a cause delivered up his body to the flames with so strong a faith and so steadfast a constancy, if such a man, I repeat, deserves not to be considered a generous and intrepid martyr and true follower of Christ, it will be difficult for anyone to be saved. Jesus Christ himself has declared, He who confesses me before men, him will I also confess before my father. What more shall I say? The Roman Pontiff raises many men to the rank of saints, of whom it would be difficult to predicate if they are with the elect or with the devils. And he precipitates into hell a man like this, when it results from the examination of his whole life, that his place is in heaven. I have again specified these matters in order that they may serve as a salutary warning to such of our theologians as may repair to the approaching council. For should they resemble the men who assembled at the Council of Constance, the same thing will happen to them as to their predecessors. The acts which they will be anxious to conceal and bury in oblivion shall be dragged forth to the open day and published everywhere. The doctors of Constance were convinced that no person would ever presume to accuse them either by word or writing and much less in the teeth of the cruelest menaces to honor John Huss as a saint and condemn them for their conduct. Events have on the contrary either by me or by others verified the predictions of John Huss. Our theologians strong in their authority anticipate no peril. I admit their power to be equal to what they possessed in John Huss's time, but it is not less certain that he who then judged at their tribunal now sits in a place where his judges must give way before him. End of the Preliminary Notice to the Letters of John Huss by Emil de Bona Showes, translated by Campbell McKenzie. Letters 1 to 5 of the Letters of John Huss by Emil de Bona Showes, translated by Campbell McKenzie. This lead-revox recording is in the public domain. Letters of John Huss, attestation of Peter Maldoniewicz, called the Notary. These pages are all faithfully copied from the Letters of John Huss, written with his own hand, and they correspond word for word with the originals. First Series Letters written at the period of the interdiction of John Huss and of his exile from Prague in 1411. Some of them may have been written in 1410. The Letters of this series contain the greater part of the admirable exhortations addressed by John Huss to the believers of his church. They are not distinguished either for their great diversity of incidents or the dramatic interest of those in the second series, but they clearly evidence the great intrepidity, Christian piety, love for his brethren, and true greatness that pervaded the mind of Huss. The writer already felt a pre-sentiment of his martyrdom, and it is easy to perceive in reading them that he would not give way when his time was calm. Letter 1 to the College of Cardinals In this letter, John Huss complains of having been falsely denounced and humbly demands to be dispensed from being obliged to appear in person. For the same purpose, John Huss makes an appeal to John XXIII, which has been inserted in his history accompanied by the testimony of the Academy of Prague. I write with humble submission and respect that is due to your commands, Reverend Fathers in Christ, you who are clothed with an apostolic character, who shine as great lights to enlighten the nation, and who are elevated to power in order to efface the sins of the world, to snatch souls from the snares of Satan, and to sucker those who suffer in Christ's name. I would humbly have recourse to your fatherly consuls, incapable as I am of supporting the burden which weighs me down. The evils that overwhelm me date from the time that a portion of the church withdrew their obedience from Gregory XII. I then recommend it with success in my sermons before the barons, princes, clergy, and people, their adhesion to the College of Cardinals, for the union of my holy mother church. It came to pass that the Reverend Father in Christ, Spinko, Archbishop of Prague, an adversary of the Sacred College, caused a pastoral letter to be affixed to the doors of the churches, prohibiting all masters of the University of Prague, and in particular myself, from exercising any functions of sacred ministry, under the pretext that the masters of the University of Prague, who had adhered to the Sacred College, had withdrawn their allegiance from our Holy Father Gregory XII and the Holy See. But facts must be judged by their results, and it occurred that the Archbishop was constrained by the decrees of the Council of Pisa to approve of the conduct of the masters. Such was the first origin of the accusation laid against me and of all my troubles. The Sacred College of Cardinals, having promised many favors to their adherents, I have kept in remembrance these promises, and have placed trust in them, as one should do in the promises of those who are the pillars of the Church. I therefore implore your reverences, and on my knees I conjure you to cast a regard of kindness on my misfortune, that I may be dispensed from appearing in person, and from other most painful obligations resulting from it. I am innocent of the things of which my adversaries accuse me, and of this I call to witness our Lord Jesus Christ. I am willing to appear in the presence of the University of Prague, of all the prelates, one of all the people who came to hear me, and before them to give by word and by writing a full and absolute account of the faith that I guard in my heart, and to confess it, even at the peril of being burned to death. Your reverences may be assured of this confession by the public documents as well as by the testimony of the University of Prague. Here too, to Salvisius, his Columniator. Grace to you, and peace from our Lord Jesus Christ, it has come to my ears that you have accused me of heresy. If this be true, send me word, and you shall know then by the grace of God what is the faith which I confess, which I defend, which I do not disemble in the shade, what which I profess as becomes a true Christian. And would to God that your eyes might be opened as to the manner in which, for nearly thirty years you have shored your flock in preschatets. Where do you dwell? How do you labor? How do you feed your flock? You have forgotten these words of the Lord, woe unto the shepherds who only care for themselves and do not feed their sheep. Tell me, I pray you, are you penetrated with that part of the Gospel of Christ which says, the good shepherd goeth before his sheep, and his sheep follow him for they know his voice? The time will come when you must render an account for your sheep, and of your numerous benefices concerning which it is said in your own ordinances that he who can live upon one cannot retain another without committing a mortal sin. Meditate then of these things, and accuse not your neighbor of heresy. If you know him to be a heretic, you ought to warn him according to the Apostles' precept, a first and a second time. If he refuse to listen to you, avoid him, and even should you be chosen to condemn him, still you must demonstrate by the scriptures that you condemn him justly, and deliver over his books to the flames. I write you these few lines to warn you fraternally according to the precept of Christ which tells us, if thy brother has just sinned, warn him in secret. Receive then my words, my brother, and declare, if you have thus spoken of me. Prove that I am a heretic, and I will, with humility, correct myself, and you shall receive a reward for having rescued a man from error. Nevertheless I hope by the grace of Almighty God that my faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is as great as yours, and that I am not less prepared to die for it with humility. May peace be with you, that peace that is not given with the world, with the flesh and the devil. The Lord has said, you shall have tribulations in the world, but if you preserve and well-doing, who can do you harm? I burn with an ardent zeal for the gospel, and my soul is sad, for I know not what to resolve on. I have meditated on these evangelical words of our Savior, John chapter 10, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep, but he that is enhyrling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeeth the wolf coming, and leaveeth the sheep, and fleeeth, and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. I have also meditated on these words from St. Matthew chapter 10, but when they persecute you in one city, flee to another. Of these two precepts so different to each other, which ought I to follow? I know not. I have meditated on the letter of St. Augustine to an illustrious bishop who counseled him in a light case. Augustine thus terminates his answer, he who takes the flight, and does not deprive in so doing his church of the evangelical ministry, does what the Lord has commanded him, but he who in his flight takes away spiritual food from the flock of Jesus Christ, is enhyrling, who when he sees the wolf approaching fleeeth because he cares not for the sheep. It is because thou hast consulted me, well-beloved brother, that I write these things, which appear to me to be according to both truth and charity. But I invite thee not to follow my counsel, if thou findest it better. What can be more advisable in such an extremity than to offer up prayers to God to have pity on us, after the example of some holy men who have ordained by their prayer not to abandon the church of God, and who have persevered in their good resolutions even in the very teeth of their enemies? Such is the opinion of St. Augustine. Inform me, then, if you acquiesce in these words, for although the necessary element of God's word is not wanting to my flock, my conscience reproaches me with my absence as a scandalous act. I fear, on the other hand, that my presence during the term of my interdiction might be the means of tearing this food away from my flock, and of depriving them of the Holy Communion and other advantages which concern salvation. Therefore, let us pray humbly to Almighty God that he may deign to reveal to us what I ought to do in the present circumstance, in order that I may dwell in the right way. The advice that the Blessed St. Augustine expresses in his letter is wise. He establishes, in fact, that in circumstances where we may be anxious for ourselves alone, flight is permitted, and he cites on the point the example of St. Athanasius. But should the whole flock be exposed, we must resign ourselves to our lot in order to do what may prove most useful to the Church. End of Letter 3. Letter 4. To the Rector of the University of Prague. Venerable Rector, I have received great consolation from your letter, in which you declare, amongst other things, that the just man shall not be afflicted whatever may befall him. From which you infer that temporal tribulations and my separation from my friends ought not to discourage me, neither sadden nor cast me down, but, on the contrary, should fortify and make me glad. I accept with gratitude this consolation. I cling to the words of Scripture and say, if I am just, no trouble whatever it may be could sadden me, so as to turn me from the path of truth. If I live and wish to live holy in Christ, it is necessary that I suffer persecution in the name of Christ. For as it was necessary that Christ should suffer in order to enter into glory, we also should bear our crosses, miserable beings as we are, and should imitate him in his passion. I protest then, Venerable Rector, that I have never felt myself overwhelmed by persecution, that I am only borne down by my sins and by the errors of the Christian people. What indeed are the riches of the world to me? What affliction can their loss cause me? What is it to me to lose the favor of the world which makes us swerve from the path of Christ? What signifies infamy which, when supported with humility, proves, purifies and illuminates the children of God in such a manner that they shine and radiate like the bright sun in their father's kingdom? And lastly, what is death if this miserable life be torn for me? He who loses it in this world triumphs even over death and finds true life in the next. But men blinded by luxury, vain glory, and ambition understand not these things. Others are turned away from the truth by fear and languish on in a strange perplexity deprived of charity, patience, and of every other virtue. On the one hand they are urged on by knowledge of the truth and on the other by the fear of losing their reputation or of exposing their wretched bodies to death. For my own part I will expose mine to it, I trust with the assistance of our Lord Jesus Christ, if His mercy comes to my assistance. But I do not desire to live in this corrupted age unless I can lead to repentance myself and others according to the will of God. This is what I ardently desire for you, and I exhort you, as well as all those united to you, to hold yourselves ready for the combat. For behold, already appear the preludes to the beginnings of Antichrist. The combat is near, and the poor bird must flap his wings against the wings of the behemoth, and against this tale of Antichrist that always engenders abominations. The prophet has shown it to us when he declares that he who teaches falsehood is the tale of the Antichrist, and a grave old man is the head. The Lord will confound both, one and the other. He will confound the pope, and his preachers, his officers, and his doctors who, under a false name of holiness, conceive abominations. What greater abomination is there than that of the prostitute who abandons herself publicly to every comer? Nevertheless, the abomination is greater still of him who, sitting in high places, offers himself, as if he were God, to the adoration of all. He takes in spiritual things, and sells all that he possesses not. Woe then unto me, if I preach not against such an abomination! Woe unto me, if I weep not, and I write not against it! Can you find one man for whom such things are not a calamity? Already the great eagle takes its flight and cries to us, Woe, Woe to the Inhabitants of the Earth! End of Letter 4 Letter 5 to John Barbat Hus consults him, and justifies himself by exposing why he preferred obeying God, who had commanded him to preach to the pope, the archbishop, and all those who had prohibited him from so doing. I salute you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I have learned, my beloved friends, your grievous affliction. Look upon it as for your good, for it is to bring to light your firmness and your constancy that you have fallen into various temptations. I also, my very dear friends, have been tempted, and I rejoice at last that I am called a heretic for the gospel's sake, and excommunicated like a rebellious and wicked man. To fortify me in the sweet calm of my soul, I have called to mind the life and words of Christ and the apostles, acts for. I remembered in what manner Anas, the High Priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and all the kindred of the High Priest, when they addressed the apostles, prohibited them from speaking and teaching in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said unto them, whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye, for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. And when the same priests prohibited them a second time from preaching, they replied, Acts 5, we ought to obey God rather than man. It is true that the pagans, the Jews, and the heretics all regulate their conduct on this precept of the obedience that is due unto God. Alas, this maxim blinds those who are not Christians, but not the apostles, nor the true disciples of Christ. Saint Jerome says, if the master or bishop prescribes what is not contrary to the faith or the scriptures, the servant should obey. But if he commands what is contrary to these, we must rather obey the master of the soul than the master of the body. And in another place he adds, if the emperor orders you to do that, which is good, execute the will of the emperor. Should he require you to do ill? Answer, it is better to obey God than men. Saint Augustine also says in his sermon on the words of the Lord, if my earthly presence commands that which you ought not to do, despise this power and fear a higher one. Consider the different degrees of human power. Do you obey under the officer if the procounsel orders you to the contrary? And if the procounsel orders you to do one thing and the emperor another, would you attempt to disobey the latter for the former? If the emperor commands you to do that which is prohibited by God, despise the emperor and obey God. We ought then to resist the power of the devil or of men when they suggest anything against God. And in doing so we resist not but obey even God's commandments. Such are the sentiments of Saint Augustine. Gregory also says in his last treatise on morality, know therefore that evil should never be done from mere obedience. Saint Bernard writes in one of his letters, to do evil after the orders of anyone is not to obey but to disobey. And Saint Isidore maintains that if he who is in authority does and orders a thing which is not according to the Lord, or violates the written law and orders it to be overstepped, to him ought to be applied these words of Saint Paul, if an angel should descend from heaven and preach to you a gospel different from that which we preach, let him be accursed. He also declares that whoever forbids you to do what is commanded by the Lord ought to be held in execration by all those who love the Lord. He ought to be regarded as a false witness and a sacrilegious person. It would appear from these words that these names are applicable to those who interdict the preaching of the divine word and that such persons are excommunicated according to the words of the prophet. Cursed be those who resist thy commandments. Jerome expresses the same feeling as is experienced by myself when he writes to Rusticus, Bishop of Narbonne, let no bishop abandon himself to envy and anger through an infernal jealousy because the priests exhort the people, preach in the churches, and bless the multitude. I declare then to those who prohibit me to do these things that he who interdicts priests from doing what God commands professes himself to be superior to Jesus Christ. Bede, in speaking of our Savior, repeats this passage. Go ye into the village that is over against you and immediately you shall find an ass tied and a colt with him, loose them, and bring them to me. And if any man say anything to you, say, the Lord hath need of them, and straightway he will let you go. Jesus Christ says Bede teaches mystically the doctors by these words that if they meet with any obstacle, if anyone prevents them from freeing sinners from the bonds of the devil, from drawing them to God in confessing the faith, they ought not, for this reason, to renounce preaching his word. But should, on the contrary, continue to insinuate it into their souls, for the Lord has need of such laborers to edify his church. Who could, in fact, quote, all that the saints have written when teaching us that it is better to obey God than man? Our pressers oppose to us these words, all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do, Matthew 23. But they are reduced to silence by the prohibition which follows. But do not ye after their works? God says, Deuteronomy 24, do according to all that the priests, the Levites shall teach you, as I commanded them, so ye shall observe to do. The Lord desires, therefore, that he who obeys should only do so after his own commandments. It is also said, 1 Peter 2, servants be subject to your masters with fear. And the apostle further adds, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the fro-ward. Not, however, in things which they are wickedly inclined, for that would be to obey the devil. The will of God and the holy scriptures, therefore, teach us that obedience to superiors is obligatory only in lawful matters. I have clung firmly to this truth and have preferred in my sermons to inculcate obedience to God rather than to the pope and the archbishop or any others that may oppose this saying of Christ. I put my name to these words in order to teach you how to confront the emissaries of the devil, and of letter five. End of letters one through five of the letters of John Huss by Emile de Bonnechose, translated by Campbell McKenzie. Letters six to ten of the letters of John Huss by Emile de Bonnechose, translated by Campbell McKenzie. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Letters six to ten. Letter six to the believers in Prague. He felicitates them on the constancy with which they listen to the word of God. John Huss, a servant of Jesus Christ in hope to all those who love God, who confess his law in expectation of the Savior with whom they desire to live for all eternity. Grace be with you and the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ who offered himself as a victim for our sins to deliver us from this world of affliction and from eternal damnation, according to the will of God the Father to whom be the glory forever and ever. Dearly beloved, having learned your zeal and your progress in the word of God, I render thanks unto the Lord that he has deigned to enlighten you to such a point that perceiving the frauds of antichrist and his ministers, you may not allow yourselves to be turned away from the truth. I feel a lively confidence that his mercy will crown the work of regeneration commenced in you and that he will not permit you to turn aside from the truth whence many diverged through fear of danger, apprehending man, a weak sinner as he is, more than the all-powerful God who has power both to kill and bring to life, to destroy and to save, to preserve his faithful believers in the midst of grave and numerous perils and to give them in exchange for a brief space of suffering and eternal life of inexpressible happiness. Wherefore, beloved, do not let yourselves be borne down by terror and do not be frightened if the Lord should tempt some of you by allowing the ministers of antichrist to exercise their tyranny over you. God himself has said to his servant, Proverbs 3, be not afraid of sudden fear nor of the power of the wicked falling upon thee, for the Lord will be at thy side and will keep thy foot that thou be not taken. And he has also said by the mouth of his prophet David, I am with him in his day of trial. I will deliver him. Knowing that, dearly beloved, consider with St. James that it is fortunate for you to fall into various temptations because the trial of your faith worketh in you patience and that contributes to render you perfect and entire failing in nothing. St. James also says, blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he hath been proved, he shall receive the crown of life, which God hath promised to them that love him. Remain steadfast, therefore, in the truth and act in everything like true children of God. Have full confidence, for Christ has overcome and you will overcome also. Remember always him who suffered so much at the hands of sinners. Relax not in your good resolution, but laying down together the whole burden of your sins, rushed to the combat with your eyes fixed steadfastly on Jesus who established our faith and who for a glorious object despising shame suffered the ignominy of the cross and is now seated at the right hand of God. The creator, the king, the sovereign master of the world without being forced to it by his divine nature humbled himself, notwithstanding his perfection to our nature. He came to the assistance of us, wretched sinners and supported hunger and thirst and cold and heat and fatigue and want of sleep. He suffered, wilts instructing us, sorrow and grave affronts from the priests and scribes to such a point that they called him a blasphemer and declared him to be possessed of a devil, a varying that he was not God, whom they excommunicated as a heretic, whom they drove out of the city and crucified like one accursed. If then, Christ supported such things from the priests, he who healed all kinds of diseases without any earthly recompense by his word alone, who cast out devils, raised from the dead and taught the word of God, who never did injury to anyone, who committed no sin and who endured everything from his enemies because he discovered their wickedness, if he supported such things, why should we be astonished that the ministers of antichrist who are more avaricious, more debauched, more cruel and more cunning than the Pharisees now persecute the servants of God, overwhelm them with insult, excommunicate, imprison and kill them? Remember what our Lord and our King said, if the world hate you, you know that it hated me before you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as being of it, but because you are not of the world and because I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. Remember what I say to you, the servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you also. They will do all these things to you on account of my name because they have not known him who sent me. Remember also the prophecy of our divine savior, which declares that his elect will suffer persecution from the world, that is, from the wicked, who know neither God the Father nor our Lord Jesus, for although they confess with their lips that they know God, yet they deny him by their reprobate actions. It is of them that St. Paul spoke to Titus when he declared that their works are avarice, simony, debauchery and contempt of the word of God, placing human traditions above the word of God and performing no work of humility, charity, temperance and Christian love. Therefore is it that the wicked will not cease to persecute the saints as long as the war lasts between Christ and the anti-Christ? For St. Paul has told us that all who desire to live purely in Christ shall suffer persecution, but the wicked shall advance in the path of perdition, always deceived and deceiving others. St. Paul teaches us by these words that all pious men will suffer persecution for Christ's sake. The wicked will be seduced and will seduce others and their heart will swell with malice for their own destruction. It is of them that our Saviour has spoken these words. Behold, I send you forth a sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to the councils and they will scourge you in the synagogues. And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. They shall scourge you. The brother shall deliver up the brother to death and the father of the child and the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. But he that endureth to the end shall be saved. This persecution shall last till the day of judgment. The Lord spoke in this way to his disciples in order that they might, if possible, escape from such evils. He elevated their understanding that they might be prudent and might be able to recognize by their works that devouring wolves whose veracity would swallow up the whole world. He also showed them by what signs they might know false prophets. The latter not agreeing with the true prophets either in the explanation of the holy scriptures or in their works. There are false Christs calling themselves the chief disciples of Christ and yet who prove themselves by their works to be his greatest adversaries. These will seek by every means to smother and suppress the word of God for it condemns their insolence, pride, avarice, simony and other evil works. They have made an eruption into the churches and places of worship to prevent the word of God being preached there. But Jesus Christ has not permitted them to bring their criminal undertaking to a prosperous end. I understand that they intend destroying the Chapel of Bethlehem and that they interdict sermons in other places where the word of God is taught. But I feel a firm confidence that God will not permit them to succeed. They wanted to entwine the simple bird in a snare of citations and anathemas and they have already set their ambush even for some of you. But if that bird which is a mere domestic fowl whose flight is circumscribed and far from lofty has broken through their nets, how much more will other birds that soar a loft as they announce the word of God? It despises such ineffectual wiles. They have thrown their nets and displayed their anathemas like the image of a bird of prey to cast terror all around. They have flung about their fiery darts from the quiver of Antichrist in order to prohibit the word of God and his worship. But the more they strove to disguise their real nature, the more they rendered it visible and in seeking to stretch forth their traditions like nets, they broke them to pieces. In their anxiety to gain the peace of the world they destroyed not only it but at the same time the spiritual peace. And in their attempts to injure others they wounded themselves most. What happened to the priests of the Jews has befallen them. For they have lost that which they were endeavoring to retain and have fallen into what they were striving to avoid. They hope to succeed in stifling and putting down the truth which always conquers. And they were ignorant that its very essence and characteristic consisted in this that the more attempts were made to dim its luster, the more it shone brightly forth. The greater the endeavor to suppress it, the more it soared aloft. Pontiffs and priests, the scribes and Pharisees, Herod and Pilate and the inhabitants of Jerusalem formerly condemned the truth. They crucified it and buried it. But it rose from the tomb and conquered them all, sending forth in its stead twelve preachers of the word. This same truth, instead of acting feebly and inefficiently, has sent to Prague mighty eagles, surpassing all other birds by their piercing sight and which by the grace of God fly aloft in the air and win over others to Jesus Christ who will strengthen all those who are faithful to him. He has said, I will always be with you even unto the end of the world. If then, God, the most powerful and just of defenders is with us, what evil work can prevail against us? What fear, what death can separate us from him? In what shall we be the worst if for his sake we were to lose our friends, the honors of the world or even our miserable life itself? We shall at last be delivered from our load of misery. We shall receive a hundredfold riches, infinitely more precious, friends more dear, delight more perfect, of which death cannot spoil us. For he who dies for Christ will surely partake the triumph. He is free from all misery of every kind and enjoys eternal bliss to which our Lord Jesus Christ deigns to conduct us all. Beloved brethren and sisters no less dear to me, I write you this letter that you may remain fervent in the truth, which you have acknowledged and that you may not pay less attention than before to the word of God on account of the cruel threats of his enemies, for God is faithful to you and will both strengthen you and keep you from evil. In fiend I beseech you, dearly beloved, to pray for those who with the grace of God announce the truth. Pray for me also that I may write and preach still more against the malice of hell and that God may accord me in this combat that support which is so necessary in order properly to defend his word. You know that I do not hesitate to expose this miserable body to the peril of death for God's truth, being well aware that nothing will be wanting to us in his word and that his gospel must be propagated more and more every day. Moreover, I desire to live for those who suffer violence and who have need of the preaching of the word in order that the malice of Antichrist may be laid open and the good not be made its victims. I preach, therefore, in other places and I officiate for those of whom I speak being convinced that God's will must be accomplished in me, whether I suffer or die by Antichrist. But should I proceed to Prague, I am certain that snares will there be laid for me and that you will be persecuted by my adversaries who serve not God but prevent others from serving him. We pray to God for them, however, that if any of the elect should happen to be amongst them, they may be converted to the truth. May God accord you full understanding of these things which I write you. May he grant you perseverance and may your heart be worthy of all these blessings through the merits of Jesus Christ who suffered for us the most cruel and ignominious death, leaving us his example that we may suffer the same according to his holy will. Amen. End of letter six. Letter seven, do the same on the same subject. The grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all the believers in Prague who sincerely love his holy gospel. I, John Huss, the servant of God, do supplicate and conjure you well, beloved, not to abandon the truth which God in his mercy has imparted to you. That power which has begun to operate in us, whom he has chosen out, will continue, I feel, convinced, still to do so, and will give us in our temptations, perseverance, and strength. I myself only live by his mercy and grace. I can declare with St. Paul, for me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh and this is the fruit of my labor, yet what I shall choose, I what not, for I am in a straight betwixt too, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better, nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. And having this confidence, I know I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and the joy of faith. So did St. Paul, right from his prison in Rome to the Philippians. I also say unto you, dearly beloved, that although I am not in prison, I would willingly die for Christ. And be with him, and I say also that I should be well pleased to preach to you again the word of God for your salvation. I do not know which of these would be for the best, for I have full confidence for myself in the mercy of God and also fear that some evil may arise amongst you, which may occasion persecution against the true believers and be the cause of eternal perdition to those who believe not. These rejoice and desire most ardently, not only to smother in me the word of God, but also to shut the asylum of Bethlehem. Where I have preached the gospel of Christ to you. But if God consent not, their efforts will be vain. And if he permit it, such a misfortune will come to pass on account of the wicked. As Bethlehem, where the Lord was born in Jerusalem, where he redeemed us, we're seen to be overwhelmed to the lowest foundation. As to us, let us render thanks to God submitting constantly to his divine power, which always assists those who love him and sets those free who suffer for his sake, allotting their persecutors to eternal torments. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, not to let yourselves be cast down, but rather to pray to our Savior Jesus Christ to give you constancy to persevere the faith to the end and be persuaded that he will accord you the free and unmolested preaching of his word and that he will augment your strength in order to defend you from the fury of that antichrist, against which he has prophesied in his holy scriptures. End of letter seven. Letter eight. To the Church of Prague. Master John Hus, servant of God, to all who in Prague are the elect of God and who love our Lord Jesus Christ in his word, wishes mercy and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Dearly beloved, I congratulate you on your listening assiduously to the word of God and our merciful Savior will assuredly send you firm and faithful guides. May God, through our Savior 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 to 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 a man and to be humiliated, despised, and condemned by all to such a point that when people were called in by the priests to choose between two prisoners, they delivered in preference to Jesus Christ, our Savior, a robber and murderer and left 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, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Such were his plaintive words while 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 could it 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 recognize 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 theme, that we may publicly show 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 unto 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 tension and humility. Peace be with you that you may speak wisely and well and that you may escape 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 anyone. 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. End of letter 8. Letter 9 To the hearers of the Word of God at Prague, he fortifies them and inspirates himself against the anathemas of the Pope. I, Master John Huss, etc., etc., call on you, dearly beloved, not to allow yourselves to be disturbed on account of my absence or on account of the maladictions with which the enemies of God overwhelm me. I have faith in my Savior 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 were acting well, oppose God in his holy word like the Jews of old, who crucified Jesus Christ, stone 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 fiend-fling stones against the gate of the temple and overthrow it. In doing such things, it is against themselves that they labor 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 to adduce such to follow them but God will bestow on his believers the knowledge necessary to discern such practices and to recognize 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 us to pray for such men as we believe to be an error and to declare them condemned of God but he has not ordered such snares to belay in his temple against innocent men. Perhaps to judge by their letters they act in memory of the eternal damnation of Dathan and Abbaram 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 Simonus 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 forever and ever. End of letter 9 Letter 10 Huss, wilt's reminding believers of all the benefits with which the Lord has loaded us in the 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, and 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 and 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 favor nor by gifts 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 evildoers shall be delivered to the flames, and their souls shall dwell for all eternity with the devils, 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, beloved of my fathers, receive the heavenly kingdom that is prepared for you. Amen. End of Letter 10 End of Letters 6-10 of The Letters of John Huss by Emil de Bona Showes Translated by Campbell McKenzie.