Further, where Cope saith, that the general council was above the emperor, and hath power in case of heresy to break public leagues and grants: to that I say, that this safe conduct stood not only upon the emperor, but also upon the consent of the pope himself. Vide infra.
And admit that to be true, that the council had power to make this decree, to break promise with heretics; yet this cannot be denied, but that John Huss was condemned and judged before that decree in the nineteenth session was made. Finally, when Cope hath proved by what Scripture the councils have power to defeat the authority of their emperors in such secular causes touching safe conducts and outward safety, then will I answer him more fully herein. But to the purpose again of the story.
John Huss taketh the emperor's safe conduct.John Huss seeing so many fair promises, and the assurance which the emperor had given to him, sent answer unto the emperor, that he would come unto the council. But before he departed out of the realm of Bohemia, and especially out of the town of Prague, he did safe write certain bills long enough before, as well in Latin as in the Bohemian language and Almain, and caused them to be set and fastened upon the gates of the cathedral churches and parish churches, cloisters and abbeys, signifying unto them all, that he would go to the general council at Constance; whereof, if any man have any suspicion of his doctrine, that he should declare it before the lord Conrad, archbishop of Prague; or, if he had rather, at the general council, for there he would render and give up unto every one, and before them all, an account and reason of his faith. The example of his letters and intimations set up, were these, the copy whereof here followeth:
The Letters of John Huss set up in common places of the City of Prague.
Another Intimation of John Huss, for his going to Constance, drawn out of the Bohemian Tongue.
on his journey to and from the council." To this it may he answered, that "common travelling passports" were not in general use for more than three hundred years after this event: that it was not essential for John Huss to provide himself with one: and that, when granted, they were peculiar and special privileges, and, in every sense of the word, "safe-conducts," extended to travellers, when their rank, the importance of their embassage, or the peculiar nature of the times, demanded for them a special pledge of protection. Besides, if it be admitted, by the above Roman catholic writer, that the safe-conduct secured to John Huss protection on his journey from the council (of which, though evident in itself, the safe-conduct makes no mention), it must also be inferred that it remained in force during his stay at Constance, nor can it be denied but that the violation of it, in his condemnation and martyrdom, was an act of the grossest treachery.—Ed.
