Page:Letters of John Huss Written During His Exile and Imprisonment.djvu/37

first is that of his interdiction and exile from Prague in the years 1410 and 1411; the second comprehends the period which elapsed from his departure from the council till his death.

 

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PREFACE OF DR MARTIN LUTHER, TO THE LETTERS OF JOHN HUSS, PUBLISHED BY HIM IN THE YEAR 1537.

 

In order to render more prudent, and to instruct, by means of the tyrannical judgments of the Council of Constance, all theologians that may be hereafter called to sit in a council of the Roman Church.

 

Should any man read these letters, or hear them read, being, at the same time, in possession of a sound intelligence, and, in the face of God, having a regard for his own conscience, he will not, I am convinced, hesitate to allow that John Huss was endowed with the precious gifts of the Holy Spirit. Observe, in fact, how firmly he clung, in his writings and his words, to the doctrines of Christ; with what courage he struggled against the agonies of death; with what patience and humility he suffered every indignity; and with what greatness of soul he at last confronted a cruel death in defence of the truth;—doing all these things alone and unaided, before an imposing assembly of the