The Missionary by S. N. H.

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 4, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 22.

The Missionary.

By S. N. H.

Huss at Constance.

THERE was no time in all the experience of Huss that his true character showed forth so clearly as during his imprisonment and trial at Constance. There are times in the life of every individual when his real character manifests itself, but no time more testing than when every worldly prospect is blighted through the injustice of others. The first move made by the enemies of Huss was to have him summoned before the cardinals who were attending the council. This was accomplished by perseveringly heaping all manner of charges against him, some of which were utterly false. Pope John XXIII., knowing that his own case was to come before the council, united with the cardinals and other enemies of Huss to have the reformer brought to trial first. Huss had received a promise from the emperor that he should be permitted to make his defense before the council. "I have talked nothing in secret," writes Huss to the emperor, "so I wish to answer my accusers not in secret, but publicly." But his summons to meet the cardinals was before the emperor arrived.

The honorable knight, John de Chlum, to whom Huss had been given in charge, was with him when the summons arrived. He saw through the plot in an instant. With indignation he arose and protested against such a violation of the understanding. He could not permit this, he said; the cardinals would do well to consider what they were about in thus trifling with the emperor and with the empire. One of the cardinals said that they meant no evil. They only wished to proceed quietly and avoid a stir. Upon this statement, Huss consented to go with them. Following the embassy down stairs he met the hostess, Fida by name, who took leave of him with tears. A presentiment of the result vividly came before the mind of Huss, and he gave her his blessing. The real purpose of the cardinals appears from the fact that they had placed soldiers in the street as a precaution against any movement of the people in favor of Huss. The cardinals had no intention that he should escape from their hands. Chlum accompanied Huss to the assembly of the cardinals.

In the afternoon the cardinals reappeared and with them two of the bitterest enemies of Huss. These men clamored loudly for his imprisonment, urging with vehemence their accusations of heresy, and asserting that if left at liberty Huss would do more injury than any heretic since the days of Constantine. It was decided that Huss should be detained as a prisoner. The enemies of Huss were jubilant, and cried out to the prisoner, "Now we have you, and you shall not escape until you have paid the uttermost farthing." This outrage against justice fired the chivalrous knight with indignation. He went to the pope, who coldly excused himself on the ground that he was powerless in the matter. He went from cardinal to cardinal, who answered him with evasions or with open declarations that no faith is to be kept with heretics. He went through the open streets with the safe-conduct in hand, declaring how it had been violated. Thus every effort was put forth on the part of faithful Chlum for the release of Huss, but all to no effect.

At first the emperor was inclined to open the reformer's prison, but he was told that he had no right to grant a safe-conduct under the circumstances without the consent of the council, that the greater good of the church must overrule his promise, that the supreme power of the council would release him from his promise, that no formality of this sort could be suffered to obstruct the course of justice against the heretic. The promptings of honor and humanity were stifled in the emperor's breast by these reasonings. It was decided by this council that by no law, natural or divine, is faith to be kept with heretics to the prejudice of the Catholic faith. The Moravian authorities interceded earnestly for Huss. They warned the emperor that falsehood does not finally gain the victory over truth.

At this stage the proceedings against Huss were suspended for a while, as the case of the pope was taken up. Huss was removed to the castle of Gottlieben, on the other side of the Rhine, where he was shut up, heavily loaded with chains. Pope John was condemned by the council. This would seem to work favorably for Huss, but it was not the case. The bitterness toward him increased, and he suffered severely from privations and neglect. The council decided that the emperor had no power in the case to favor Huss or his friends, and all who continued to complain would be punished as heretics to the church. If there was one man in the entire city who was unmoved amid all this clamor, it was John Huss. June 5, 1415, he was put on trial. He was asked if he acknowledged the books which he had written. This he readily did. Then the articles of crimination were read. Some of these were fair statements of his opinions. Others were exaggerations or perversions, and others again were wholly false, imputing to him opinions which he did not hold and which he had never taught.

Huss commenced to reply, but had uttered but a few words when there arose in the hall a clamor so loud as to completely drown his voice. He stood motionless. He cast his eyes around on the excited assembly, surprise and pity, rather than anger, visible on his face. Waiting till the tumult had subsided, he again attempted to proceed with his defense. He had not gone far till he had occasion to appeal to the Scriptures. The storm was at that moment renewed, and with greater violence than before. Again Huss was silent. "He is dumb," said his enemies. Huss replied, "I am silent because I am unable to make myself audible amidst so great a noise." After a day's interval the council again assembled, and that day, June 7, was a memorable one. There was an almost total eclipse of the sun. It astonished and terrified the venerable fathers and the inhabitants of Constance. This brought everything to a stand-still until the eclipse passed.

Toward noon the light returned. The council met and John Huss was led in by a body of armed men. Sigismund and Huss were now face to face. There sat the emperor, his princes, lords, and suite crowding around. There, loaded with chains, stood a man for whose safety he had put in pledge his honor as a prince and his power as an emperor. The irons Huss wore were a strange commentary on the imperial safe-conduct. Still the emperor thought he would release Huss, or at least save his life, but he had not well measured that which he had to meet. First was the unyielding firmness of the reformer, and secondly, the determination of his enemies to see him condemned.