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Early Reformers
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that no injustice should be done him. In a short time, however, he
was placed under arrest, by order of the pope and cardinals, and
thrust into a loathsome dungeon. Some of the nobles and people
of Bohemia addressed to the council earnest protests against this
outrage. The emperor, who was loth to permit the violation of a
safe-conduct, opposed the proceedings against him. But the enemies
of the Reformer were malignant and determined. They appealed
to the emperor’s prejudices, to his fears, to his zeal for the church.
They brought forward arguments of great length to prove that he
was
perfectly at liberty not to keep faith with a heretic
; and that the
council, being above the emperor,
could free him from his word
.
Thus they prevailed.
After a long trial, in which he firmly maintained the truth, Huss
was required to choose whether he would recant his doctrines or
suffer death. He chose the martyr’s fate, and after seeing his books
given to the flames, he was himself burned at the stake. In the pres-
ence of the assembled dignitaries of Church and State, the servant of
God had uttered a solemn and faithful protest against the corruptions
of the papal hierarchy. His execution, in shameless violation of
the most solemn and public promise of protection, exhibited to the
whole world the perfidious cruelty of Rome. The enemies of truth,
though they knew it not, were furthering the cause which they sought
vainly to destroy.
In the gloom of his dungeon, John Huss had foreseen the triumph
of the true faith. Returning, in his dreams, to the humble parish
[92]
where he had preached the gospel, he saw the pope and his bishops
effacing the pictures of Christ which he had painted on the walls
of his chapel. The sight caused him great distress; but the next day
he was filled with joy as he beheld many artists busily engaged in
replacing the figures in greater numbers and brighter colors. When
their work was completed, the painters exclaimed to the immense
crowd surrounding them, “Now let the popes and bishops come!
They shall never efface them more!” Said the Reformer, as he related
his dream, “I am certain that the image of Christ will never be
effaced. They have wished to destroy it, but it shall be painted in all
hearts by much better preachers than myself.”
Soon after the death of Huss, his faithful friend Jerome, a man of
the same fervent piety and of greater learning, was also condemned,