The letters of John Hus/Letter 82, To his Friends in Bohemia

by Jan Hus

For other English-language translations of this work, see Letter of Jan Hus to his friends in Bohemia (29 June 1415).

LXXXII. To his Friends in Bohemia^[1]

 

(June 29, 1415)

 

God be with you! May it please Him to bestow upon you the eternal reward for the many kindnesses you have shown me, and still do show, although perhaps in the body I am already dead. Do not suffer Baron John of Chlum, faithful, steadfast knight that he is and my kind benefactor, to run any risk. I pray this for God’s sake, dear Master Peter, Superintendent of the Mint, and Mistress Anna!^[2] I entreat you also to live a good life and obey God, as I have often told you. Give thanks in my name to my gracious mistress the Queen for all the kindnesses she hath conferred on me. Greet your family and the other faithful friends, whose names I may not mention. I entreat you all to pray to God in my behalf; by His help we shall soon meet together in His gracious and holy presence. Amen. I write this in prison in fetters, which I am wearing, I trust, for the gospel of God, expecting every moment the sentence of death. For God’s sake, I pray you suffer not good priests to be oppressed.

Master Hus,
in hope a servant of God.

 

Peter,^[3] dearest friend, keep my fur cloak in memory of me.

Lord Henry Lefl,^[4] live a good life with thy wife. My thanks to thee! God be thy reward!

Faithful friend, Master Lideři and Mistress Margaret, Masters Skuoček and Mikeška^[5] and others: may God grant you an eternal reward for your toils and the other kindness you have conferred on me.

Master Christian,^[6] faithful and beloved, God be with thee!

Master Martin,^[7] my disciple, remember those things which I taught thee.

Master Nicolas^[8] and Peter, the Queen’s chaplain, and the other masters and priests, be diligent students of God’s word.

Priest Gallus,^[9] preach the word of God.

Finally, I entreat you all to persevere in the truth of God.

On the feast day of the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, about the time of the evening meal.^[10]

 

1. The letter is in Czech, with the exception of the sentence to Peter and the superscription.
2. See p. 211, n. 4.
3. Mladenowic.
4. P. 151, last paragraph.
5. The son-in-law of Wenzel the pitch-maker, whose house from 1401 onwards had been a notable gathering-place of reformers (see Doc. 175).
6. Prachaticz.
7. P. 149.
8. Pp. 80, 236.
9. P. 236 n.
10. P. 273, n. 2.