Page:Letters of John Huss Written During His Exile and Imprisonment.djvu/199

 

LETTER XLIV.^[1]

 

TO A FRIEND.

 

[An admirable confession of the infirmities of human nature. The latter does not struggle against evil only, for the flesh strives perpetually against the Spirit, and is not easily brought under its yoke. Reader, peruse this letter, and rejoice.^[2]]

 

Salutation to you, through Jesus Christ! Learn, very dear friend, that Paletz, in endeavouring to persuade me, told me that I ought not to dread the shame of an abjuration, but to think only of the good which would ensue from it. I answered, “The opprobrium of being condemned and burned is greater than that of sincerely abjuring. What shame should I fear, then, in abjuring? But tell me, Paletz, how wouldest thou act if thou wert assured that errors were falsely imputed to thee? Wouldest thou wish to abjure them?” “That, in fact, would be hard,” replied he; and he wept. We afterwards spoke of many things which I refuted.

Michael de Causis, this miserable man, has appeared several times before my prison with the deputies of the Council, and whilst I was with them, said to the keepers,

 

1. Hist. et Monum. Johann. Huss, Epist. xxx.
2. We remind the reader that the headings of the Letters being written by Luther, we have not in any way changed them.