The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 111

Jerome, who died soon after, said: “Both bore themselves with constant
mind when their last hour approached. They prepared for the fire as
if they were going to a marriage feast. They uttered no cry of pain.
When the flames rose, they began to sing hymns; and scarce could the
vehemency of the fire stop their singing.”—Ibid., b. 3, ch. 7.
When the body of Huss had been wholly consumed, his ashes, with
the soil upon which they rested, were gathered up and cast into the Rhine,
and thus borne onward to the ocean. His 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
safe-conduct 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

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