§ 45. HUSS AT CONSTANCE. 379
case of Eleazar in the Book of the Maccabees, who would not make a lying confession. ^ But he was setting his house in order. He wrote affecting messages to his people in Bohemia and to John of Chlum. He urged the Bohemians to hear onlypriests of good report, and especially those who were earnest students of Holy Writ. Martin he adjured to read the Bible diligently, especially the New Testament.
On June 15th, the council took the far-reaching action forbidding the giving of the cup to laymen. This action Huss condemned as wickedness and madness, on the ground that it was a virtual condemnation of Christ's example and command. To Hawlik, who had charge of the Bethlehem chapel, he wrote, urging him not to withhold the cup from the laity. ^ He saw indisputable proof that the council was fallible. One day it kissed the feet of John, as a paragon of virtue, and called him " most holy," and the next it condemned him as " a shameful homicide, a sodomite, a simoniac and a heretic." He quoted the proverb, common among the Swiss, that a generation would not suffice to cleanse Constance from the sins the body had committed in that city.
The darkness deepened around the prisoner. On June 24th, by the council's orders, his writings were to be burnt, even those written in Czech which, almost in a tone of irony, as he wrote, the councillors had not seen and could not read. He bade his friends not be terrified, for Jeremiah's books, which the propliet had written at the Lord's direction, were burnt.
His affectionate interest in the people of " his glorious country " and in the university on the Moldau, and his feeling of gratitude to the friends who had supported him continued unabated. A dreadful death was awaiting him, but he recalled the sufferings of Apostles and the martyrs, and especially the agonies endured by Christ, and he believed he would be purged of his sins through the flames. D'Ailly had replied to him on one occasion by peremptorily saying he should obey the decision of 50 doctors of the Church and retract without asking any questions. " A wonderful piece of information," he
1 Workman : Hus' Letters, pp. 226, 239-241.
2 See Workman, pp. 185, 245, 248.
380 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
wrote, " As if the virgin, St. Catherine, ought to have renounced the truth and her faith in the Lord because 50 philosopliers opposed her." ^ In one of his last letters, written to his alma mater of Prag, he declared he had not recanted a single article.
On the first day of July, he was approached by the archbishops of Riga and Ragusa and 6 other prelates, who still had a hope of drawing from him a recantation. A written declaration made by Huss in reply showed the hope vain.^ Another effort was made July 5th, Cardinals D'Ailly and Zabarella and bishop Hallum of Salisbury being of the party of visiting prelates. Huss closed the discussion by declaring that he would rather be burnt a thousand times than abjure, for by abjuring he said he would offend those whom he had taught. ^
Still another deputation approached him, his three friends John of Chlum, Wenzel of Duba and Lacembok, and four bishops. They were sent by Sigismund. As a layman. Joliji of Chlum did not venture to give Huss advice, but bfyle )iim, if, he felt sure of his cause, rather than to lie against Goj^^J;!! standfast, even tQilfiiiili. One of the bishops asked whether le presumed to be wiser than the whole council. No, was the reply, but to retract he must be persuaded of his errors out of the Scriptures. " An obstinate heretic ! " exclaimed the bishops. This was the final interview in private. The much-desired opportunity was at hand for him to stand before the council as a body, and it was his last day on earth.
After seven months of dismal imprisonment and deepening disappointment, on Saturday, July^th, Huss was conducted to the cathedral. It was 6 a.m., and he was kept waiting outside the doors until the celebration of mass was completed. He was then admitted to the sacred edifice, but not to make a defence, as he had come to Constance hoping to do. He was to. listen to sentence pronounced upon him as an ecclesiastical out- "cast and criminaL He was placed in the middle ofthe church on a high stool, set there specially for him.* The bishop of Lodi
1 Workman, p. 264. 2 j^id^ p. 276.
* Non vellet abjurare sed milUsies combtiri, Mansi, XXVII. 764.
* Ad medium concilii ubi erat levatus in altum scamnum pro eo. Mansi, XXVIT. 717.