Huss and Jerome
95
His last words, uttered as the flames rose about him, were a prayer.
“Lord, Almighty Father,” he cried, “have pity on me, and pardon me
my sins; for Thou knowest that I have always loved Thy truth.”—
Bonnechose, vol. 2, p. 168. His voice ceased, but his lips continued
to move in prayer. When the fire had done its work, the ashes of the
martyr, with the earth upon which they rested, were gathered up, and
like those of Huss, were thrown into the Rhine.
So perished God’s faithful light bearers. But the light of the truths
which they proclaimed—the light of their heroic example—could not
be extinguished. As well might men attempt to turn back the sun in
its course as to prevent the dawning of that day which was even then
breaking upon the world.
The execution of Huss had kindled a flame of indignation and
horror in Bohemia. It was felt by the whole nation that he had fallen
a prey to the malice of the priests and the treachery of the emperor.
He was declared to have been a faithful teacher of the truth, and the
council that decreed his death was charged with the guilt of murder.
His doctrines now attracted greater attention than ever before. By
the papal edicts the writings of Wycliffe had been condemned to the
flames. But those that had escaped destruction were now brought out
from their hiding places and studied in connection with the Bible, or
such parts of it as the people could obtain, and many were thus led to
accept the reformed faith.
The murderers of Huss did not stand quietly by and witness the
triumph of his cause. The pope and the emperor united to crush out the
movement, and the armies of Sigismund were hurled upon Bohemia.
[116]
But a deliverer was raised up. Ziska, who soon after the opening
of the war became totally blind, yet who was one of the ablest generals
of his age, was the leader of the Bohemians. Trusting in the help
of God and the righteousness of their cause, that people withstood
the mightiest armies that could be brought against them. Again and
again the emperor, raising fresh armies, invaded Bohemia, only to be
ignominiously repulsed. The Hussites were raised above the fear of
death, and nothing could stand against them. A few years after the
opening of the war, the brave Ziska died; but his place was filled by
Procopius, who was an equally brave and skillful general, and in some
respects a more able leader.