# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1847 09 20_S10
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

benefactors and protectors of the truth," he implored "by the mercy of Jesus Christ: Renounce the vanities of this world and serve the eternal King, the Lord Christ." Yet the Council was still not resolved to pass the death sentence. Partly out of love for their fellow man, partly out of prudence, they wished to save him, and sought from every side to bring him, in his prison, to recantation and submission. But Hus rejected every such formula as a denial of the truth and as scandalous. A pious abbot urged him at least to declare this much: that although much had been imputed to him that he had never thought, he would nevertheless submit humbly in all things to the decision and correction of the Council. Hus answered: "Because I have appealed to Jesus Christ, the mightiest and most righteous judge, entrusting my cause to him, I leave it to his holy verdict, for I know that he will judge every man not according to false testimonies, not according to councils capable of error, but according to truth and as each has deserved." His old friend and theological colleague, Paletz, also came to the prison and begged him not to shrink from the shame of recantation. "To be condemned," Hus replied, "and to die at the stake, is surely a still greater shame; but can you advise me to act against my conscience?" And Paletz wept. "The Lord's power," the confessor wrote, when the demands for recantation did not cease, "is not diminished — the power of him who led Peter out of prison by an angel, so that the chains fell from his hands. But may the will of the Lord always be done, which is fulfilled in me for his honor and for my sin's sake. The Lord is with me as a brave warrior. The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?" That was his disposition — not the intoxication of a fanatical enthusiasm, but the power of God, which was mighty in him through the deep sense of his own weakness that pervaded him. "Blessed are you," he writes on June 23, "when men hate you, etc.; great then is your reward in heaven" — a word of the most glorious comfort, easy to understand but hard to fulfill in suffering. "O dearest Christ, draw us weak ones after you, for if you yourself do not draw us, we cannot follow! Grant a strong, willing spirit, and where the flesh is weak, let your grace go before, accompany, and follow; for without you we can do nothing, and least of all, for your sake, go into a cruel death."

On July 5 the last deputation appeared — four bishops and two Bohemian knights, among them Chlum — sent by the Emperor to call upon Hus once more to recant. Chlum said: "I am an unlearned man and do not know how to advise you. Yet I beg you, if you are conscious of any error, do not be ashamed to change your opinion according to the will of the Council. Otherwise I cannot advise you to do anything against your conscience." Hus answered through tears: "I call God to witness that I am heartily willing, if the Council instructs me better from Holy Scripture, to change my opinion at once." One bishop declared that he would never think so highly of himself as to prefer his own opinion to that of the whole Council. "Neither am I so minded," Hus replied. "If the least member of the Council convicts me of an error, I will gladly submit to the whole Council's will." So the death sentence was decided, and was to be carried out the following morning. In the face of death Hus now wrote a few words of farewell to a young friend, Peter of Mladoňovice. He thanked him for every kindness shown him, urgently commended to his care, "for God's sake," his greatest friend Johannes, "the faithful and steadfast knight" (Chlum), that he might come to no harm on his account, asked him to thank the King for all the good shown him, and to greet the friends through him. "I beg you," he writes further, "to live according to God's word, to obey God and his commandment as I have taught you. Pray to God for me; I pray for you; with his help we shall all come to him. Amen. M. John Hus, servant of God in hope. — Postscript: Peter, my dearest friend, keep the fur coat as a remembrance of me. Sir Henry (knight of Lazembok), farewell, with your wife. I thank you for all kindnesses. God grant you every blessing."

On July 6, his forty-second birthday, Hus was led from his prison into the cathedral church and placed at a special, elevated spot. The whole church assembly, together with the Emperor and the princes of the Empire, was present. The Bishop of Lodi, Jacobus, ascended the pulpit (mass having already been held) and preached on Romans 6:6: "That the sinful body might be done away." During this time Hus lay on his knees and prayed silently. After the sermon, the heretical articles which they claimed to have found in his writings were read aloud. From the very beginning Hus felt compelled to explain and correct various points. He was commanded to be silent. Then he spoke aloud, with hands lifted to heaven: "I beg you, in the name of the Most High God, hear me calmly, that I may at least justify myself before those present against the charge of heresy." Again he was ordered to be silent. Then Hus fell down, and in a loud voice committed his cause to God, the most righteous Judge. Among the heresies charged against him was also the denial of the doctrine of the transformation of the bread, which he had never denied; the claim that he himself would become the fourth person of the Trinity, which the Council, in spite of his protest, was not ashamed to believe of him; and his appeal to Christ, as a mockery of the authority of the church. When Hus heard this last, he said: "Behold, my good Jesus, what you commanded your own is condemned by my enemies!" "Yes," he continued, "I say it steadfastly, that one appeals to you most safely, because no one can bribe you with gifts, and no one can deceive you through falsehood or cunning." Then he looked at the Emperor and said: "I presented myself voluntarily for this hearing, under the pledge and faith of the Emperor here present." Sigismund blushed — and was silent. The sentence was that Hus, as an incorrigible heretic, should be deposed from his priestly office and then handed over to the secular authority for punishment. Then he prayed aloud: "Lord God, I beg you, for the sake of your mercy, forgive all my enemies, for you know that I have been unjustly accused and condemned." They now dressed him in the full priestly vestments, and he was once more called upon to recant. He repeated the declaration he had always given, and was then stripped of his vestments amid certain curses. The communion chalice was torn from his hand with the words: "Accursed Judas, we take this cup from you, in which the blood of Christ is offered!" He replied aloud: "But I trust in the mercy of God, that he will not take the cup of salvation from me, but that with his help I shall this very day drink of it anew in his kingdom." When at last a tall paper cap, painted with flames and devils and inscribed "Haeresiarcha," was placed on his head, he said: "My Lord Jesus wore the crown of thorns for me; therefore I, wretched as I am, will gladly wear this lighter one for his sake." They cried: "We commit your soul to the devils of hell," and he said: "But I commend my spirit into your hands, O Lord Christ, my Redeemer." — Thereupon the secular authority, in the person of Ludwig, Elector Palatine, acting on imperial commission, received him and led him out for the execution of the death sentence. On the way to the place of execution, which lay on an island in the Rhine, he saw his writings burned. Having reached the place of execution itself, he was no longer permitted to speak to the people; but he prayed with such fervor that the people loudly expressed their wonder that a heretic could do so. He then took leave of his friends, weeping, and at the stake thanked his jailers once more. Now his hands were bound behind his back, his body was fastened to a stake with six wet ropes, and his neck was chained. For the last time the Elector now called on him to recant. Hus declared: "I call God to witness that all my preaching, teaching, and writing, and all my doing, have aimed at this: to save souls from the power of the devil. So then I will now seal the same with my blood." It is said to have been at this moment that Hus uttered the well-known prophecy concerning Luther: "Today you roast a goose, but after a hundred years a swan will come,