persecutors vainly imagined that they had rooted out the truths he preached . Little did they dream that the ashes that day borne away to the sea were to be as seed scattered in all the countries of the earth ; that in lands yet unknown it would yield abundant fruit in witnesses for the truth . The voice which had spoken in the council hall of Constance had wakened echoes that would be heard through all coming ages .
Huss was no more , but the truths for which he died could never perish . His example of faith and constancy would encourage multitudes to stand firm for the truth , in the face of torture and death . His execution had exhibited to the whole world the perfidious cruelty of Rome . The enemies of truth , though they knew it not , had been furthering the cause which they vainly sought to destroy . Yet another stake was to be set up at Constance . The blood of another witness must testify for the truth . Jerome , upon bidding farewell to Huss on his departure for the council , had exhorted him to courage and firmness , declaring that if he should fall into any peril , he himself would fly to his assistance . Upon hearing of the Reformer ' s imprisonment , the faithful disciple immediately prepared to fulfill his promise . Without a safeconduct he set out , with a single companion , for Constance . On arriving there he was convinced that he had only exposed himself to peril , without the possibility of doing anything for the deliverance of Huss .
He fled from the city , but was arrested on the homeward journey and brought back loaded with fetters and under the custody of a band of soldiers . At his first appearance before the council his attempts to reply to the accusations brought against him were met with shouts , " To the flames with him ! to the flames !" --Bonnechose, vol . 1 , p . 234 . He was thrown into a dungeon , chained in a position which caused him great suffering , and fed on bread and water . After some months the cruelties of his imprisonment brought upon Jerome an illness that threatened his life , and his enemies , fearing that he might escape them , treated him with less severity , though he remained in prison for one year .
The death of Huss had not resulted as the papists had hoped . The violation of his safeconduct had roused a storm of indignation , and as the safer course , the council determined , instead of burning Jerome , to force him , if possible , to retract . He was brought before the assembly , and offered the alternative to recant , or to die at the stake . Death at the beginning of his imprisonment would have been a mercy in comparison with the terrible sufferings which he had undergone ; but now , weakened by illness , by the rigors of his prison house , and the torture of anxiety and suspense , separated from his friends , and disheartened by the death of Huss , Jerome ' s fortitude gave way , and he consented to submit to the council . He pledged himself to adhere to the Catholic faith , and accepted the action of the council in condemning
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