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Two Heroes Face Death
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and queen of Bohemia, the university, members of the nobility,
and officers of the government, united in an appeal to the pontiff
that Huss be permitted to remain at Prague and answer by deputy.
Instead, the pope proceeded to the trial and condemnation of Huss,
and declared the city of Prague under interdict.
In that age this sentence created alarm. The people looked upon
the pope as the representative of God, holding the keys of heaven
and hell and possessing power to invoke judgments. It was believed
that until it should please the pope to remove the ban, the dead were
shut out from the abodes of bliss. All the services of religion were
suspended. The churches were closed. Marriages were solemnized
in the churchyard. The dead were interred without rites in ditches or
fields.
Prague was filled with tumult. A large class denounced Huss
and demanded that he be given up to Rome. To quiet the storm,
the Reformer withdrew for a time to his native village. He did not
cease his labors, but traveled through the country preaching to eager
crowds. When the excitement in Prague subsided, Huss returned to
continue preaching the Word of God. His enemies were powerful,
but the queen and many nobles were his friends, and the people in
great numbers sided with him.
Huss had stood alone in his labors. Now Jerome joined in the
reform. The two were hereafter united in their lives, and in death
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they were not to be divided. In those qualities which constitute
real strength of character, Huss was the greater. Jerome, with true
humility, perceived his worth and yielded to his counsels. Under
their united labors the reform rapidly extended.
God permitted great light to shine upon the minds of these chosen
men, revealing to them many of the errors of Rome, but they did not
receive all the light to be given to the world. God was leading the
people out of the darkness of Romanism, and He led them on, step
by step, as they could bear it. Like the full glory of the noontide sun
to those who have long dwelt in darkness, all the light would have
caused them to turn away. Therefore He revealed it little by little, as
it could be received by the people.
The schism in the church continued. Three popes were now
contending for supremacy. Their strife filled Christendom with
tumult. Not content with hurling anathemas, each cast about to