The letters of John Hus/Letter 59, To his Friends in Constance
LIX. To the Same
(Without date: June 9 or 10, 1415[1])
I love the counsel of the Lord more than gold and topazes;[2] therefore I hope by the mercy of Jesus Christ that He will grant me His Spirit, to the end that I may stand firm in the truth; for the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.[3] The Lord Almighty be the eternal reward of my nobles, who steadfastly, stoutly, and faithfully stand on the side of justice. God will grant them to understand aright the truth in the kingdom of Bohemia. But to pursue the truth they must return to Bohemia laying aside all vainglory to follow a King that cannot die, a Man of sorrows but yet a King of glory Who hath the gift of eternal life.
How delightful it was to shake hands with Lord John, who was not ashamed to hold out his hand to a poor abject heretic, a prisoner in irons and the butt of all men’s tongues. I shall not perchance have much further speech with you. So greet all the faithful Bohemians when you see them. Palecz came to see me in prison when I was very ill. The greeting he gave me before the Commissioners[4] was this: “Since the birth of Christ, there hath not arisen a more dangerous heretic than yourself, excepting Wyclif." He went on to say, “Every one that hath heard you preach is infected with this heresy of yours that the substance of the material bread remains in the sacrament of the altar.” “Oh! master,” said I, “what a dreadful greeting this is, and what a dreadful sin you are guilty of! I shall die or be burnt, if perchance I rise from my sick bed. What reward then will be given you in Bohemia?” and so on. Perhaps I ought not to have written this; it may look as if I hated him sorely. These words are ever in my heart: Put not your trust in princes, etc.;[5] and again: Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm.[6] For God’s sake be careful while you are here and when you return. Carry no letters. Forward books by friends sparingly.
You ought to know for a fact that I have had a struggle not to disclose my dreams;[7] for I dreamt of the Pope’s flight before it took place; and after telling Lord John, he said that very night, “You will see him again.” I dreamt too of Master Jerome’s imprisonment, though not in its actual form; of my own imprisonments also, where I should be taken and how they were disclosed, although not in their actual form. I have often had apparitions of hosts of serpents with heads at their tails, but not one was able to bite me; and many other visions. I am telling you of these, not because I suppose myself to be a prophet and am puffed up, but to show you that I suffered temptation both of body and mind and what I have been most afraid of, to wit, that I might transgress the command of Jesus Christ. The words of Master Jerome came to my mind: “If I come to the Council, methinks I shall never return.” Andrew the Pole, a worthy tailor, said to me also when bidding me farewell:[8] “God be with you; I think you will not come back.” Beloved in God, faithful and loyal knight, my Lord John [Chlum], the King of heaven—not of Hungary—grant you an everlasting reward for your loyalty and the toils you undertake on my behalf!
- ↑ I judge the date from Chlum’s hand-shake; see infra and p. 218.
- ↑ Ps. cxviii. 127, Vulg.
- ↑ Matt. xxvi. 41.
- ↑ P. 174.
- ↑ Ps. cxlv. 2, Vulg.
- ↑ Jer. xvii. 5
- ↑ Cf. pp. 191-3. Chlum evidently was sceptical as to these dreams. Cf. his answer, p. 192 (second sentence).
- ↑ In Czech from this point to the end. In Mon. i. 68, Neander, and others, the passage is mistranslated by taking the “Lord John” to be Hus, thus ascribing the whole of this beautiful sentence to the tailor Andrew!