themselves eternal condemnation , and in order not to be to the pious a cause of affliction and persecution . I have retired also through an apprehension that impious priests might continue for a longer time to prohibit the preaching of the word of God amongst you ; but I have not quitted you to deny the divine truth , for which , with God ' s assistance , I am willing to die ." -- Bonnechose , The Reformers Before the Reformation , vol . 1 , p . 87 . Huss did not cease his labors , but traveled through the surrounding country , preaching to eager crowds . Thus the measures to which the pope resorted to suppress the gospel were causing it to be the more widely extended . " We can do nothing against the truth , but for the truth ." 2 Corinthians 13:8 .
" The mind of Huss , at this stage of his career , would seem to have been the scene of a painful conflict . Although the church was seeking to overwhelm him by her thunderbolts , he had not renounced her authority . The Roman Church was still to him the spouse of Christ , and the pope was the representative and vicar of God . What Huss was warring against was the abuse of authority , not the principle itself . This brought on a terrible conflict between the convictions of his understanding and the claims of his conscience . If the authority was just and infallible , as he believed it to be , how came it that he felt compelled to disobey it ? To obey , he saw , was to sin ; but why should obedience to an infallible church lead to such an issue ? This was the problem he could not solve ; this was the doubt that tortured him hour by hour . The nearest approximation to a solution which he was able to make was that it had happened again , as once before in the days of the Saviour , that the priests of the church had become wicked persons and were using their lawful authority for unlawful ends . This led him to adopt for his own guidance , and to preach to others for theirs , the maxim that the precepts of Scripture , conveyed through the understanding , are to rule the conscience ; in other words , that God speaking in the Bible , and not the church speaking through the priesthood , is the one infallible guide ." --Wylie, b . 3 , ch . 2 .
When after a time the excitement in Prague subsided , Huss returned to his chapel of Bethlehem , to continue with greater zeal and courage the preaching of the word of God . His enemies were active and powerful , but the queen and many of the nobles were his friends , and the people in great numbers sided with him . Comparing his pure and elevating teachings and holy life with the degrading dogmas which the Romanists preached , and the avarice and debauchery which they practiced , many regarded it an honor to be on his side . Hitherto Huss had stood alone in his labors ; but now Jerome , who while in England had accepted the teachings of Wycliffe , joined in the work of reform . The two were hereafter united in their lives , and in death they were not to be divided . Brilliancy of genius , eloquence and learning-- gifts that win popular favor--were possessed in a pre-eminent degree by Jerome ; but in those qualities which constitute real strength of character , Huss was the greater . His calm judgment
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