time, Hus exhorts the masters, bachelors, and students of the university to love each other, to root out schisms, to strive above all for the glory of God, bearing in mind how he (Hus) had always striven to further the progress of the university for the honour of God, how he had sorrowed over discord and excesses among the students, how he had wished to join in union the members of the illustrious Bohemian nation. “And behold,” Hus continues, “some of those who were dearest to me,[1] for whom I would have laid down my life, have assailed me with insult and calumny, have brought on me much bitterness and a bitter death. May the omnipotent God forgive them, for they know not what they do. I pray for these men with a sincere heart, that God may spare them. Meanwhile, beloved in Jesus Christ, stand by the acknowledged truth, which conquers all and grows ever stronger unto all eternity. Be it also known to you that I have recanted no article nor abjured one. The council also wished that I should declare false all the articles, and any one, which they might extract from my writings. I refused to do so unless their falseness could be proved from Scripture; should any one of the articles have been falsely interpreted I abhor such an interpretation and commend its correction to Jesus Christ, who knows my sincere innermost intentions, not interpreting them in an evil sense, such as was not in my intention. You also I exhort in the Lord to reject whatever evil sense may be given to any of the articles, but to retain the truth. Pray to God for me and greet one another in holy peace.″
The last letter of Hus which has been preserved is dated June 29. Written in Bohemian, it contains a short farewell to Hus’s friends in Bohemia, to whom it is addressed. Hus writes: “May God be with you and grant you eternal reward for the good which you have done to me and still do, though my body will soon be dead. Do not allow Lord John (of
- ↑ Hus alludes to those priests who had formerly been his friends, but afterwards became spies and informers against him.
