HUSS, John, Sylvester Hassell On account of the marriage of Richard II. of England to Anne of Bohemia, there rose up a close association between these two countries; after her husband’s death Anne returned to Bohemia with many of Wycliffe’s writings. These productions were also carried with them by several Oxford students who went to the University of Prague; and thus the influence of Wycliffe’s writings was added to that of the writings of Milicz, Conrad and Matthias, in the publication of the truth in Bohemia.
John Huss (1369-1415) was a man of poverty and affliction all his life of forty-six years. “His is undoubtedly the honor of having been the chief intermediary in handing on from Wycliffe to Luther the torch which kindled the Reformation, and of having been one of the bravest of the martyrs who have died in the cause of honesty and freedom, of progress and of growth towards the light. He added nothing to the intellectual, but immensely to the moral capital of the world. Seldom have the power of conscience and the imperial strength of a faith rooted in Christ asserted themselves in so commanding and heroic a manner.”
He was a humble, upright, God-fearing, straight-forward, unswerving, conscientious man. He did not discern as much of the truth as did Wycliffe; but what he did discern he was neither ashamed nor afraid to proclaim to the world. First a student, then a graduate, a professor and a rector of the University of Prague, he also preached in the Bohemian tongue to the people, and earnestly denounced many of the flagrant abuses of Catholicism, though he did not deny transubstantiation nor any other of the ordinary doctrines of that communion.
Inconsistently, however, with these doctrines, he taught the Bible doctrine of salvation by the electing love and grace of God, and also the right of private judgment in the interpretation of the Scriptures.
Summoned to appear before the Council of Constance he attended under a safe-conduct of the German Emperor Sigismund, and he was not in the least abashed or intimidated in the presence of that imposing and formidable assemblage. He suffered greatly, but most humbly, in the six long months of his imprisonment.
After his condemnation to death on thirty-nine articles, he fell on his knees in the Council, lifted up his hands, appealed to Heaven and prayed for his enemies. He was then degraded from the priesthood with many childish formalities, but he bore all the insults with meekness and dignity. Delivered to the secular arm, he went with fortitude and even cheerfulness to his dreadful death. Reaching the place of execution, he kneeled and prayed, using especially the fifty-first and thirty-first Psalms, and repeatedly saying, “Into thy hands, Lord, I commit my spirit.”
After being chained by his neck to the stake he was again called upon to recant, but answered that he could not unless convinced of his error; that his chief aim had been to teach men the necessity of repentance and the forgiveness of sins according to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
When the fire had been kindled, he sang with a loud voice the Kyrie Eleison, “Jesus, Son of the living God, have mercy upon me.” His voice was stifled by the flames, but his lips were seen for some time afterwards to move as if in prayer. The ashes of the body were cast into the Rhine.” (Hassell’s History ppg 466, 467)