Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 2.djvu/496

.oA • BOHEMIA. 480 sion a severe attack of fever, accompanied by excessive vomiting, so prostrated him that his guards carried him out of his cell thmk- ini^him about to die. Yet throughout all his letters from prison the beautiful patience of the man shines forth For the enemies who ^vere pursuing him to the death there is only forgiveness ; for the trials with which God has seen fit to test his servant here is only submission. He overflows with gratitude for the steadfast af- fection of his friends, and sends touching requests of remembrance to them all ; he teaches charity and gently points out the way to moral and spiritual improvement. There is neither the pr.de of martyrdom nor the desire for retribution ; all is pious resignation and love and humility. Since Christ, no man has left behind him a more affecting example of the true Christian «F'-it ^han John Huss, while fearlessly awaiting the time when he should suffer for what he believed to be truth. He was one of the chosen few who exalt and glorify humanity. Yet he was but human and the final victory was not won without the agony of self-con- quest; while at times he comforted himself with dreams tha God ^vould not suifer him to perish, but that like Daniel and Jonah and Susannah he would be rescued when aU help seemed ^' Hope seemed justified when the rupture occurred between the pope and the council. No sooner was Huss made aware of the flight of John XXIII. than he begged his friends to see Sig.s- mund instantly and procure his liberation. The answer was his transfer to the tower of Gottlieben. When the pope was brough back a prisoner to the same castle of Gottlieben, and the counci proceeded to try and condemn him as a simonist and dilapidator who was ruining the Church, while his personal vices and crimes, unfit for description, were a scandal to Christendom, -«^ confir- mation of all that the Wicklifiites had urged ^ght well seem to Ztm the expectation that Huss would be released with honor John XXIIL, however, with the wisdom of the cMdren of the ■ world, essayed no defence; he confessed aU that was laid to his • Von der Hardt IV. 47.-Mladenowic Relatio (Palacky, p. 255)-Pf ^^/' f" Ml.-Jo. Hus Monument. I. 7, 39-42.-Epistt. xi., xxvu., ^^•- ^^.'J'^g^,,' xxxvi., xlvii., U., Hi., ivi. (Monument. I. 60, 65-9, 73-5).-Laur. Byzyn. D.ar. Bell. Hussit. (Ludewig Eeliq. MSS. VI. 128-9).