In another letter , to a priest who had become a disciple of the gospel , Huss spoke with deep humility of his own errors , accusing himself " of having felt pleasure in wearing rich apparel and of having wasted hours in frivolous occupations ." He then added these touching admonitions : " May the glory of God and the salvation of souls occupy thy mind , and not the possession of benefices and estates . Beware of adorning thy house more than thy soul ; and , above all , give thy care to the spiritual edifice . Be pious and humble with the poor , and consume not thy substance in feasting . Shouldst thou not amend thy life and refrain from superfluities , I fear that thou wilt be severely chastened , as I am myself . . . . Thou knowest my doctrine , for thou hast received my instructions from thy childhood ; it is therefore useless for me to write to thee any further . But I conjure thee , by the mercy of our Lord , not to imitate me in any of the vanities into which thou hast seen me fall ." On the cover of the letter he added : " I conjure thee , my friend , not to break this seal until thou shalt have acquired the certitude that I am dead ." -- Ibid ., vol . 1 , pp . 148 , 149 .
On his journey , Huss everywhere beheld indications of the spread of his doctrines and the favor with which his cause was regarded . The people thronged to meet him , and in some towns the magistrates attended him through their streets . Upon arriving at Constance , Huss was granted full liberty . To the emperor ' s safe-conduct was added a personal assurance of protection by the pope . But , in violation of these solemn and repeated declarations , the Reformer was in a short time arrested , by order of the pope and cardinals , and thrust into a loathsome dungeon . Later he was transferred to a strong castle across the Rhine and there kept a prisoner . The pope , profiting little by his perfidy , was soon after committed to the same prison . Ibid ., vol . 1 , p . 247 . He had been proved before the council to be guilty of the basest crimes , besides murder , simony , and adultery , " sins not fit to be named ." So the council itself declared , and he was finally deprived of the tiara and thrown into prison . The antipopes also were deposed , and a new pontiff was chosen .
Though the pope himself had been guilty of greater crimes than Huss had ever charged upon the priests , and for which he had demanded a reformation , yet the same council which degraded the pontiff proceeded to crush the Reformer . The imprisonment of Huss excited great indignation in Bohemia . Powerful noblemen addressed to the council earnest protests against this outrage . The emperor , who was loath 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 " faith ought not to be kept with heretics , nor persons suspected of heresy , though they are furnished with safe-conducts from the emperor
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