Page:The letters of John Hus.djvu/235

later than the preceding letter to Chlum, while the references to John Barbatus, as well as to Easter, add strength to this argument. From the tone of the letter it is evident that Hus was depressed. It is evident also that the visit of the inquisitors had been interrupted by the new stir over the Pope’s proposed abdication. The answer to Gerson, it seems, still hangs fire.

 

L. To his Friends

 

(Without date: middle March 1415)

 

I send a rhyming answer plain,
To match your letter’s cheerful strain,
The whale did Jonah safe restore:
No marks of lions Daniel bore:
Three Hebrews were by fire unharmed,
Susannah charges false disarmed.^[1]
And why? Just, innocent and pure,
Each kept in God a trust most sure,
Their righteous Lord, Who sets those free
Who hope in Him eternally.
’Tis He, Who can th’ imprisoned Goose
From durance vile in mercy loose.
Yet bonds do purge his former stains
And contrite tears turn joys to pains:
That he, Christ’s prisoner, may learn
To bear reproaches and discern
Curses and shame in their true light,
To bruise the tempter’s head, to fight
And conquer death: or else to wrest
From life itself its guerdon best.

The God of mercy preserve you and give you comfort in His grace, and grant to you with myself constancy in Constance;^[2] for if we shall be constant,

 

1. These were favourite illustrations with Hus. See p. 176.
2. Cf. pp. 159, 160, 195.