The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 108
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
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.
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