Huss and Jerome
89
In the gloom of his dungeon he foresaw the triumph of the true
faith. Returning in his dreams to the chapel at Prague where he had
preached the gospel, he saw the pope and his bishops effacing the
pictures of Christ which he had painted on its walls. “This vision
distressed him: but on the next day he saw many painters occupied
in restoring these figures in greater number and in brighter colors.
As soon as their task was ended, the painters, who were surrounded
by an immense crowd, exclaimed, ‘Now let the popes and bishops
come; they shall never efface them more!’” Said the Reformer, as
he related his dream: “I maintain this for certain, that the image of
Christ will never be effaced. They have wished to destroy it, but it
shall be painted afresh in all hearts by much better preachers than
myself.”—D’Aubigne, b. 1, ch. 6.
For the last time, Huss was brought before the council. It was a
vast and brilliant assembly—the emperor, the princes of the empire,
the royal deputies, the cardinals, bishops, and priests, and an immense
crowd who had come as spectators of the events of the day. From all
parts of Christendom had been gathered the witnesses of this first great
sacrifice in the long struggle by which liberty of conscience was to be
secured.
Being called upon for his final decision, Huss declared his refusal
to abjure, and, fixing his penetrating glance upon the monarch whose
plighted word had been so shamelessly violated, he declared: “I deter-
mined, of my own free will, to appear before this council, under the
public protection and faith of the emperor here present.”—Bonnechose,
vol. 2, p. 84. A deep flush crimsoned the face of Sigismund as the
eyes of all in the assembly turned upon him.
Sentence having been pronounced, the ceremony of degradation
began. The bishops clothed their prisoner in the sacerdotal habit, and
as he took the priestly robe, he said: “Our Lord Jesus Christ was
covered with a white robe, by way of insult, when Herod had Him
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conducted before Pilate.”—Ibid., vol. 2, p. 86. Being again exhorted
to retract, he replied, turning toward the people: “With what face, then,
should I behold the heavens? How should I look on those multitudes
of men to whom I have preached the pure gospel? No; I esteem their
salvation more than this poor body, now appointed unto death.” The
vestments were removed one by one, each bishop pronouncing a curse
as he performed his part of the ceremony. Finally “they put on his