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From Here to Forever
When the body of Huss had been consumed, his ashes were
gathered up and cast into the Rhine, and thus borne onward to the
ocean to be as seed scattered in all the countries of the earth. In lands
yet unknown it would yield abundant fruit in witnesses for the truth.
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The voice in the council hall of Constance wakened echoes heard
through all coming ages. His example would encourage multitudes
to stand firm in the face of torture and death. His execution had
exhibited to the world the perfidious cruelty of Rome. The enemies
of truth had been furthering the cause which they sought to destroy!
Yet the blood of another witness must testify for the truth. Jerome
had exhorted Huss to courage and firmness, declaring that if he
should fall into peril, he would fly to his assistance. Hearing of the
Reformer’s imprisonment, the faithful disciple prepared to fulfill
his promise. Without a safe-conduct he set out for Constance. On
arriving, he was convinced that he had only exposed himself to peril
without the possibility of doing anything for Huss. He fled but was
arrested and brought back loaded with fetters. At his first appearance
before the council his attempts to reply were met with shouts, “To
the flames with him!
He was thrown into a dungeon and fed on
bread and water. The cruelties of his imprisonment brought illness
and threatened his life; and his enemies, fearing he might escape
them, treated him with less severity, though he remained in prison
one year.
Jerome Submits to the Council
The violation of Huss’s safe-conduct had roused a storm of
indignation. The council determined, instead of burning Jerome,
to force him to retract. He was offered the alternative to recant or
to die at the stake. Weakened by illness, by the rigors of prison
and the torture of anxiety and suspense, separated from friends, and
disheartened by the death of Huss, Jerome’s fortitude gave way. He
pledged himself to adhere to the Catholic faith and accepted the
action of the council in condemning Wycliffe and Huss, excepting,
however, the “holy truths
which they had taught.
13
Bonnechose, vol. 1, p. 234.
14
Ibid., vol. 2, p. 141.