HUSS

HUSS, JOHN, the Bohemian reformer, was born at a village called Hussinecz, situated in that part of Bohemia which borders on Bavaria, on the 6th of July 1369. His parents were in humble circumstances, and he was in early life subjected to both toil and privation—a discipline which was probably not without its use in preparing him for his subsequent career. After passing through the initiatory branches of education, he entered the university of Prague, where he studied philosophy and theology under Stanislaus of Znaim, a man of liberal tendencies, and from whom Huss probably received the first impulse towards those opinions and efforts to which he owes his fame and his place in the history of the Church. Huss took his master's degree in 1396, and in 1398 he began to lecture. In 1400 he was appointed confessor to Sophia, queen of Bohemia; in 1401 he became president of the theological faculty in the university; and in 1402 he was selected to fill the office of preacher at the Bethlehem Chapel, an edifice which had been erected and endowed by John of Milheim, one of the royal councillors, and a wealthy citizen of Prague named Creutz, for the express purpose of facilitating the preaching to the people in the Bohemian tongue (verbum Dei communi populo civitatis in vulgari Bohemico ad predicandum). These appointments show in what respect Huss, though as yet but a young man, was held. His chaplaincy at the Bethlehem was especially important to him, as it afforded scope for the exercise of those peculiar powers of popular address which he possessed, and gave him opportunity of employing these in the promotion of those measures of reform on which his heart was already set.

Whilst yet a student at the university, Huss's earnest and religious mind had been grieved by the prevailing levity and immorality of the clergy, as well as the gross superstition, ignorance, and vice of the body of the people. The

times in which he appeared were those of the deepest mediæval darkness, when boundless corruption reigned throughout the Church, when anarchy and discord were threatening her with ruin, and when almost every man in whose bosom a regard for the interests of religion and morality remained, was compelled to assume the position of a censurer and a reformer. Mosheim observes, that "no teacher or writer of any eminence in this century (the fifteenth), can be named, who does not plainly and greatly lament the miserable state of the Christian Church, and anticipate its ruin, unless God should interpose for its rescue."¹ Several had already appeared in Bohemia, who had uttered energetic testimony against the prevailing corruptions. Milicz of Kremsia, Conrad of Waldhausen, John of Steikna, and Matthias of Janow, had formed a succession of witnesses whose unwearied and vehement denunciations alike of the misconduct of the clergy and the corruptions of the populace, had been gradually leavening the minds of the community with sentiments favourable to a better state of things. In the footsteps of these men, Huss, deeply imbued with their spirit, and familiar with their opinions, enthusiastically followed, and by his eloquent, impassioned, and fearless discourses at the Bethlehem Chapel, greatly extended the movement they had commenced. At first, indeed, he confined himself to topics affecting only the laity, but from these he advanced boldly to attack the sensual and vicious habits of the clergy. The result was, that he drew around him a small but attached and congenial community from among the former, while he incurred the bitter hatred and opposition of the latter.

It is true, that at first his efforts for reform seemed to be conducted under the sanction of his ecclesiastical superiors. A young nobleman, Sbynek, or Zbynek, of Hasenburg, was at that time archbishop of Prague; and being disposed to introduce order into his diocese, and to discourage the gross superstitions that were bewildering the people, he availed himself of the knowledge, influence, and zeal of Huss for this purpose. For some time, therefore, the latter worked under the protection and with the approval of his diocesan; but the motives, designs, and the spirit of the two men were so different, that it was not possible they should continue very long to pursue a common course. Zbynek was a man of the world, whose tastes were more for military operations than for ecclesiastical or spiritual functions, and whose desire for reform in his diocese was kindled by no higher feeling than that which prompts a general to enforce order among his soldiers. Huss was a man fired with religious zeal, caring little for secular interests, devoted to the service of morality and piety, and whom nothing could satisfy but a return to such a state of things as the high standard of spiritual Christianity sanctioned. Between two such men there was hardly anything in common; and though peculiar circumstances might impel them in a common direction for a season, no sooner would the influence of these be removed, than their paths must necessarily diverge ever more and more widely from each other. As it happened, hardly seven years had elapsed when their relations were completely changed; the patron had become the persecutor, and the humble priest was agitating a reform which not only roused the indignation of the archbishop of Prague, but occupied the attention, and perplexed the counsels of the supreme Pontiff himself.

Several circumstances conspired to push Huss forward in the career on which he had entered. Already imbued with principles derived from the study of the sacred Scriptures, the writings of Augustine, and those of Milicz and Matthias of Janow, his mind received a still more decisive impulse in the direction of reform from the perusal of the writings

of Wycliffe. With some of these he had become acquainted as early as 1391; but it would appear that it was not till a later period that he experienced the full amount of their influence on his mind. By the perusal of them he was completely won over to the views of the Realists in philosophy; and though he did not embrace all Wycliffe's theological opinions, he undoubtedly owed to him much spiritual enlightenment,—a benefit which he was prompt publicly to acknowledge whilst preaching, commending them to the people as full of truth, and frequently declaring that he wished his soul after death to go to the same place whither that of Wycliffe had gone.² It was as a defender of Wycliffe that Huss first came into collision with Archbishop Zbynek. In 1406, the latter began to institute proceedings for the suppression of the Wycliffite heresy in his diocese, and even went the length of banishing or committing to the flames some who refused to recant the opinions they had embraced from the teaching of the English reformer. Against this cruelty Huss, though not himself prepared to concur in all the opinions for which these men suffered, indignantly protested. "What sort of thing is this," he wrote to the archbishop, "that men guilty of incest and every kind of crime pass with impunity, whilst humble priests, plucking out the thorns of sin, fulfilling their duty, well affected towards your rule, not following avarice, but gratuitously, for God's sake, labouring in the gospel, are cast into prison as heretics, and suffer banishment for preaching the gospel itself?"³ To these remonstrances Zbynek seems at first to have listened; at least he did not at this time pursue his persecution of the Wycliffites, nor does Huss appear to have incurred his displeasure by the zeal he had shown on their behalf. A more serious cause of quarrel arose out of the part which Huss took in the disputes which were then agitating Christendom, in consequence of the Papal schism. The archbishop had espoused the side of Gregory XII. in opposition to Wenceslaus, the king of Bohemia, and Huss, taking the same side as the king, employed his influence in securing support for his cause. Not long before this an event had occurred, very much through Huss's efforts, which greatly increased his power of serving the king in such an emergency. The university of Prague had hitherto numbered among its students a large body of Germans, who indeed formed the majority, and to whom had been conceded the privilege of three votes in all questions affecting the interests of the university, whilst the native Bohemians possessed only one. Against this, as an act of injustice, Huss, supported by his friend Jerome of Prague, and by the patriotic feeling of many of their countrymen, had at length successfully struggled: by an edict of the king in 1409, the relative weight of the parties was reversed, three votes being given to the Bohemians, and only one to the Germans. In consequence of this the latter seceded in a body, to the number, according to the lowest estimate, of 5000. Huss was immediately after elevated to the post of rector of the university; but whilst he was thus enabled to serve the side of the king in his contest with the archbishop and clergy more efficiently, the part he had taken in the measures which resulted in the secession of the Germans, materially contributed to his own subsequent injury. He had thereby not only given mortal offence to the archbishop and the clergy of Bohemia, but he had multiplied enemies in every place to which the dispersed students and professors betook themselves; whilst, at home, the loss occasioned to the city by the withdrawal of so large a number of its inhabitants turned from him the favour of the citizens, and facilitated the attempts of his enemies to stir up a party against him.

The archbishop now resolved to proceed vigorously for

Huss. the suppression of the reformers. In 1410 he procured from the pope, Alexander V., full powers to prohibit preaching in private chapels, and to consign the writings of Wycliffe to the flames. Huss, in the face of this, boldly continued to preach as before at the Bethlehem Chapel, where he was still listened to by admiring crowds. This provoked the archbishop to accuse him to the pope of heresy; in consequence of which he was summoned to appear at Bologna, before Cardinal Otto of Colonna, to answer for himself; and, on his failing to appear, was excommunicated. This sentence was renewed by Cardinal Brancas, to whom the case had been referred for reconsideration; but, though Zbynck endeavoured to carry it into effect, the influence of Huss with the king and the people of Bohemia was still so great that he was compelled to relinquish the attempt, and even to recall his accusation of heresy, and request the pope to remove the ban under which Huss had been laid.

Archbishop Zbynck died in 1411, and was succeeded by Alric of Unitzow, a man wholly uninterested in religious disputes, and devoted to the interests of the king. Under his sway Huss might have remained unmolested, had it not been that events occurred which compelled him to assume even a still more decided posture of opposition to the corruptions of the Papacy than he had hitherto assumed. In 1412 the pope issued a bull commanding a crusade against King Ladislaus of Naples, and proclaiming full indulgence to all who should take arms in this crusade, or furnish money for carrying it on. This roused Huss's indignation, and he attacked the bull both with voice and pen. In this he was seconded only too zealously by his friend Jerome, who, not content with exerting his fiery eloquence on the subject, proceeded to parade the papal rescript through the streets suspended to the neck of a common strumpet, after which it was publicly burnt. These proceedings called forth, as might be expected, the anger of the pope; they were even too much for the king; and, accordingly, when Huss was again placed under the papal ban he was obliged to yield. He left Prague in 1413, and retired to Hussinecz, having first appealed from the pope to Christ himself, and defended his views in a work entitled De Ecclesia. At Hussinecz he employed himself in writing letters to his friends, in composing some additional expositions of his opinions, and in occasionally preaching to the peasantry in the open fields.

In the meanwhile his enemies had not forgotten him, or relinquished their determination to destroy him. In 1414 the council of Constance was opened, and thither Huss was summoned by the Emperor Sigismund to answer on a charge of heresy. Though knowing that he was about to appear before "numerous and mortal enemies," he went without fear, having confided himself wholly to God and to his Saviour, from whom he besought wisdom and prudence, that he might answer his accusers, and stand firm for the truth. Before leaving Prague, however, he sought to fortify his innocence by submitting to an examination before the papal inquisitor, who gave him a certificate that he found nothing heretical in him. He also secured from the emperor a letter of safe-conduct, and from the pope the strongest assurances of protection. Accompanied by several Bohemian noblemen, he left Prague on the 11th of October, and reached Constance on the 3d of November. For the first four weeks after his arrival nothing was done or said touching his case. Expecting to be allowed to address the council, he employed the interval in preparing his defence. But his enemies had no intention of allowing him such an advantage. On the 28th of November he was seized and imprisoned in a loathsome dungeon. In consequence of the interference of the emperor, he was some weeks after transferred thence to a more salubrious apart-

Huss. ment, where he remained a close prisoner till the 24th of March. After this he was, in spite of the remonstrances of the Bohemian barons, removed to the Castle of Gottleben, where he was treated with the utmost severity, under which his health, already greatly enfeebled, completely sank. At length, emaciated by sickness and exhausted by suffering, he was brought before the council, but it was only to be treated as one already condemned. At his first appearance, which took place on the 5th of June, whenever he attempted to speak in his own defence, he was assailed by violent outcries, amidst which not a syllable he uttered could be heard. At his second and third hearing, which took place on the 7th and 8th of June, the presence of the emperor prevented the tumultuous proceedings which had disgraced the former assembly, but Huss was still rather harassed by his assailants than allowed freely and fairly to answer for himself. The council persisted in imputing to him errors which he repeatedly declared he never held, and they would hear of nothing but that he should solemnly recant and abjure them. In vain did he ask "How can I abjure what I never held?" The council was inexorable, and he was remanded to prison, there to make up his mind between recantation and death. Repeated efforts were made by emissaries of the council to induce him to the former; but the spirit of the martyr rose within him as he saw his end approaching, and he steadfastly refused to swerve from the path of consistency and truth. "I write this," says he in a letter to his friends at Prague, "in prison and in chains, expecting to-morrow to receive sentence of death, full of hope in God that I shall not swerve from the truth, nor abjure errors imputed to me by false witnesses." The sentence he expected was pronounced on him on the 6th July, in the presence of the emperor and the council. When it was read to him he fell on his knees and said, "Lord Jesus! forgive my enemies; as Thou knowest that I have been falsely accused by them, and that they have used against me false testimony and calumnies; forgive them for the sake of Thy great mercy." Loud laughter rang through the hall, from the assembled prelates, as this prayer went up for them to heaven. They then proceeded to degrade Huss from his sacerdotal rank. For this purpose he was dressed in the robes of a priest, the different parts of which were then successively taken off him, with set forms of expression. When this was over, and the tonsure had been obliterated from him, a cap painted with figures of demons was placed on his head, and the bishops said, "Now we devote thy soul to the infernal devils." "But I," exclaimed Huss, raising his eyes to heaven, "commend my soul, redeemed by Thee, into Thy hands, O Lord Jesus Christ!" He was then led to the place of execution. When fastened to the stake he said, "I willingly wear these chains for Christ's sake, who wore still more grievous ones." Once more he was admonished to recant, but his reply was, "What error should I recant when I am conscious of none? The chief aim of my preaching was to teach men repentance and the forgiveness of sins, according to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the expositions of the holy fathers; therefore am I prepared to die with a joyful heart." The fire was then kindled. As its smoke and flames rose around him, Huss began to shout, "Jesus, son of the living God, have mercy on me." Twice did he utter this, but before he could finish it a third time, his voice was stifled in the flames which the wind drove towards him. Still his lips moved as in prayer, and the calm bearing of the dauntless confessor of Christ continued to mark his countenance to the last. When the flames had done their office, his ashes were collected and cast into the Rhine, that no relics of him might remain. "But the miserable precaution was without any effect, since his disciples tore up the earth from the spot of his martyr-

HUSSARS
Hutchinson.

dom, and adored it with the same reverence, and moistened it with those same tears, which would otherwise have sanctified his sepulchre." Waddington's Hist. of the Church, vol. iii., p. 192. See also Neander's Church Hist., vol. ix., pp. 319-506; Gieseler's Church Hist., vol. v., pp. 103-122; Bonnechose Reformateurs avant la Réforme, &c., 2 vols. (W. L. A.)