HUSS
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HUSS
branches, covered with large pinnated leaves. The blossom is of a reddish or dark purple color, and is suc- ceeded by large, slender pods or capsules, curved like a horn or sickle, containing a sweetish pulp, and several small, shining seeds. These pods are sometimes eight or ten inches long, and an inch and a half broad ; the color is dark brown, and the seeds which they contain are about the size of an ordinary dry pea, not perfectly round, flattened, hard and bitter, and of a dark red color. The quantity of pods borne by each tree is very consid- erable, being often as much as 800 or 900 pounds weight ; they are of a subastringent taste when unripe, but when come to maturity they secrete within the husks and around the seeds a sweetish-tasted pulp. When on the tree the pods have an unpleasant odor, but when dried upon hurdles they become eatable, and are valued by poor people, and during famine in the countries where the tree is grown, especially in Spain and Egypt, and by the Arabs. They are given as food to cattle in modern, as we read they were in ancient times, but at the best can only be considered very poor fare. (See Celsius, i, 227 ; Oedmann, vi, 137 sq. ; Salmas. Exercit. PUn. p. 45 sq. ; Hasselquist, Travels, p. 531; Arvieux, Voi/age, p. 20(5 sq. ; Pemvj Ct/clopcedia , s. v. Ceratonia.)
Hiiss, John (more properly litis, the other mode of spelling his name being a mere usage which has estab- lished itself in the English language), was the illustrious Bohemian reformer before the Iteformation, and the pre- cursor of the Church -of the Bohemian and Moravian Brethren.
I. Sketch of his Life.— He was born JiUy 6, 13G9, or, according to some authorities, 1373, at Husinec, a small market-town of Bohemia, on the Planitz. His parents were common people, but in good circumstances for their station in life. Verj' little is known of his early years, lie entered the University of Prague, and took his first degree in 1393. The development of his mind was slow, but his behavior was distinguished by the strictest prob- ity and the most genuine godliness. In his intercoiu-se with others he was modest and kind. A spirit of mel- ancholy gave a subdued tone to his bearing. He was a tall man, with a thin, pale, sad face. His public career began in 1398, when he was appointed a professor in the university. In 1401 he became dean of its theological fticidty, and in 1402 its rector. At the same time he •was pastor of the Bethlehem Chapel at Prague, erected by John de jMilheim (1391), in order to give the people an opportunity of hearing the Gospel in their native tongue, and in this position he exerted great influence. jSIultitudes flocked to his chapel, among them Queen So- phia, who also chose him for her confessor. His ser- mons were not oratorical, but lucid, fervent, and simple, displaying a thorough knowledge of the Bible, and leav- ing an indelible impression upon the minds of the peo- ple. It was from the pulpit of this church that he set forth the truth with such force as to make Rome tremble. The Reformation, which Huss may be said to have in- augurated, may be dated from the 28th of jMay, 1403, when the doctrines of John Wicklifl'e were publicly con- demned in a meeting of the faculties and doctors of the university, in spite of the efforts of Huss and his friends to prevent such a decision. The formation of two par- ties was the result ; the one in favor of reform, the other opposed to it. At the head of the first stood Huss, who labored with zeal and boldness, uncovering the putrid sores of the Church, and particularly the gross immoral- ities of tlie clergy. For a time Zybnek, the arclibish- op of Prague, recognised the honesty of Huss's inten- tions. But soon disagreements occurred between them ; and when thousands of students left the university be- cause of a new distribution of votes on academical occa- sions (1409), which Huss had been mainlj' instrumental in bringing about, the archbishop openly arrayed him- self on the side of his enemies. An opportunity soon of- fered for showing Zybnek's ill will. The clergy of Prague laid before him formal accusations of heresy against Huss, which the latter met with comiter accusations