and kings ." --Jacques Lenfant , History of the Council of Constance , vol . 1 , p . 516 . Thus they prevailed .
Enfeebled by illness and imprisonment , --for the damp , foul air of his dungeon had brought on a fever which nearly ended his life , --Huss was at last brought before the council . Loaded with chains he stood in the presence of the emperor , whose honor and good faith had been pledged to protect him . During his long trial he firmly maintained the truth , and in the presence of the assembled dignitaries of church and state he uttered a solemn and faithful protest against the corruptions of the hierarchy . When required to choose whether he would recant his doctrines or suffer death , he accepted the martyr ' s fate . The grace of God sustained him . During the weeks of suffering that passed before his final sentence , heaven ' s peace filled his soul . " I write this letter ," he said to a friend , " in my prison , and with my fettered hand , expecting my sentence of death tomorrow . . . . When , with the assistance of Jesus Christ , we shall again meet in the delicious peace of the future life , you will learn how merciful God has shown Himself toward me , how effectually He has supported me in the midst of my temptations and trials ." --Bonnechose, vol . 2 , p . 67 .
In the gloom of his dungeon he foresaw the triumph of the true faith . Returning in his dreams to the chapel at Prague where he had preached the gospel , he saw the pope and his bishops effacing the pictures of Christ which he had painted on its walls . " This vision distressed him : but on the next day he saw many painters occupied in restoring these figures in greater number and in brighter colors . As soon as their task was ended , the painters , who were surrounded by an immense crowd , exclaimed , ' Now let the popes and bishops come ; they shall never efface them more !'" Said the Reformer , as he related his dream : " I maintain this for certain , that the image of Christ will never be effaced . They have wished to destroy it , but it shall be painted afresh in all hearts by much better preachers than myself ." --D' Aubigne , b . 1 , ch . 6 .
For the last time , Huss was brought before the council . It was a vast and brilliant assembly--the emperor , the princes of the empire , the royal deputies , the cardinals , bishops , and priests , and an immense crowd who had come as spectators of the events of the day . From all parts of Christendom had been gathered the witnesses of this first great sacrifice in the long struggle by which liberty of conscience was to be secured . Being called upon for his final decision , Huss declared his refusal to abjure , and , fixing his penetrating glance upon the monarch whose plighted word had been so shamelessly violated , he declared : " I determined , of my own free will , to appear before this council , under the public protection and faith of the
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