John Hus Part 4

Hus answered in tears: "Be it known to you that if I knew I had written or preached anything against the law and holy Mother Church, I would humbly recant; may G.o.d be my witness to this; but I always desired that they should show me doctrines better and more credible than those I have written and taught. If such be shown me, I will gladly recant."

A bishop sneered: "Wilt thou then be wiser than the whole Council?"

Master Hus replied: "I do not claim to be wiser than the whole Council, but, I beg you, give me the least man at the Council that he may instruct me out of the word of G.o.d, and I am ready to recant at once."

"Behold, how obstinate he is in his heresy!"

XVII.

Hus Condemned.

On Sat.u.r.day, July 6, the Council had great scruples in condemning the Duke of Burgundy, a self-confessed would-be a.s.sa.s.sin, but it had absolutely no scruples in condemning the blameless patriot reformer of Bohemia.

"Dressed in black with a handsome silver girdle, and wore his robes as a Magister"--Hus was led after Ma.s.s before the whole Council in the cathedral. He kneeled and prayed fervently for several minutes. James Arigoni, Bishop of Lodi, preached from Rom. 6:6--"That the body of sin might be destroyed." Henry de Piro proposed that Hus be delivered to the civil power for burning.

Sixteen charges from Wiclif's writings were read. When Hus tried to explain, he was brutally refused. Thirty articles from Hus' own works were then read. He attempted to speak, but was stopped by loud cries, despite the admonition of the Bishop of Constance.

Hus knelt down and cried: "I beg you, in the name of G.o.d, to grant me a hearing, that those who are present may not think I am a heretic. After that deal with me as you see fit."

They threatened to silence him forcibly by the soldiers. He continued to kneel and pray with uplifted face to G.o.d, the just Judge.

Hus was next charged with saying, "that he was and would be a Fourth Person in the Trinity."

Even the Roman Catholic Hefele admits the absolute falsehood of this infamous accusation.

When his appeal to Christ was condemned as a d.a.m.nable heresy, Hus cried out: "O G.o.d and Lord, now the Council condemns even Thine own act and Thy law as heresy, for Thou Thyself didst commend Thy case into the hands of Thy Father as the righteous judge."

Charged with treating the papal excommunication with contempt, Hus replied he had three times sent representatives to the papal court and had never had a hearing. "For this reason I came freely to this Council, relying upon the public faith of the Emperor, who is here present, a.s.suring me that I should be safe from all violence, so that I might attest my innocence and give a reason of my faith to the whole Council."

As he spoke of the safe-conduct, the prisoner looked straight at the Emperor; the Emperor blushed. That blush was never forgotten. Urged to betray Luther at Worms, the Emperor Charles V said: "I should not like to blush like Sigismund."

"A bald and old Italian priest" then read the two decrees of the Council that all the writings of Hus, both Latin and Bohemian, should be destroyed, and that Hus as a true and manifest heretic was to be burned.

Hus loudly protested: "Up to now you have not proved that my books contain any heresies. As to my Bohemian writings, which you have never seen, why do you condemn them?"

Hus again knelt and prayed with a loud voice: "Lord Jesus Christ, forgive all my enemies, I entreat Thee, because of Thy great mercy. Thou knowest that they have falsely accused me, brought forth false witnesses against me, devised false articles against me. Forgive them because of Thy boundless mercy."

This touching prayer was greeted with derisive laughter by the foremost ecclesiastical dignitaries.

XVIII.

Hus Degraded.

The priestly robes were now put on Hus, and the sacramental cup into his hands. When the white robe, the alb, was put on, Hus said: "My Master Christ, when He was sent away by Herod to Pilate, was clothed in a white robe."

[Ill.u.s.tration: HUS DEGRADED, BY MARTERSTEIG]

He was once more urged to swear off his errors. Turning to the people with tears in his eyes and emotion in his trembling voice--"How could I thus sin against my conscience and divine truth alike?"

As they took off his priestly robes, the Archbishop of Milan said: "O cursed Judas, who hast left the realms of peace and allied thyself with the Jews, we today take from thee the chalice of salvation."

"I hope to drink of the chalice in the heavenly kingdom this day."

The holy fathers of the General Council of all Christendom then gravely and learnedly debated whether to use shears or a razor to remove the tonsure. Finally they decided for the shears, and his hair was cut to leave bare the form of a cross. Next his head was washed, to remove the oil of anointing, by which he had been consecrated to the priesthood.

A paper cap, two feet high, painted with three ghastly devils tormenting a soul, and with the words, "This is a heretic," was placed on his head; Hus remarked: "My Lord Jesus Christ wore for me a crown of thorns; why should I not for His sake wear this easier though shameful badge?"

[Ill.u.s.tration: HUS WITH THE HERETIC'S CAP]

XIX.

Hus Made Over to the Emperor.

Doomed by the Church, Hus was now made over to the Emperor, with the usual hypocritical prayer that he might not be put to death.

Sigismund said: "Sweet Cousin, Duke Louis, Elector of the Holy Roman Empire and our High Steward, since I bear the temporal sword, take thou this man in my stead and treat him as a heretic."

The "sweet cousin" called the warden of Constance: "Warden, take this man, because of the judgment against him, and burn him as a heretic."

Others added: "And we give thy soul over to the devil."

"And I commit my soul to the Lord Jesus Christ."

The Warden made him over to the executioner, who led Hus out under a strong guard, escorted by eight hundred armed men, followed by an immense mult.i.tude of people curious to see the final scene.

XX.

Hus Burned.

In the church-yard they were just burning the books of Hus; he smiled sadly. With a firm step, singing and praying, Hus went to the "Bruehl," a quarter of a mile north of the Schnetz gate. There he knelt, spread out his hands, lifted up his face, and prayed with a loud voice: "Into Thy hands I commit my spirit."

[Ill.u.s.tration: HUS LED TO DEATH, BY h.e.l.lQUIST]

The paper cap, "the crown of blasphemy," as it was called, fell to the ground, and Hus noticed the three painted devils; smiling sadly, he said: "Lord Jesus Christ, I will bear patiently and humbly this horrible and shameful and cruel death for the sake of Thy Gospel and the preaching of Thy word."