Letters of John Huss, written during his exile and imprisonment

[In this letter, John Huss complains of having been falsely denounced, and humbly demands to be dispensed from being obliged to appear in person. For the same purpose, John Huss...

Grace to you and peace from our Lord Jesus Christ. It has come to my ears that you have accused me of heresy. If this be true, send me word, and you shall know then, by the grac...

May peace be with you, that peace that is not given with the world, with the flesh, and the devil. The Lord has said:--“You shall have tribulations in the world; but if you pers...

Venerable Rector, I have received great consolation from your letter, in which you declare, amongst other things, that “the just man shall not be afflicted, whatever may befall...

[Huss consoles him, and justifies himself by exposing why he preferred obeying God, who had commanded him to preach, to the pope, the archbishop, and all those who had prohibite...

John Huss, a servant of Jesus Christ in hope, to all those who love God, who confess his law, in expectation of the Saviour, with whom they desire to live for all eternity!

I, John Huss, the servant of God, do supplicate and conjure you, well-beloved, not to abandon the truth which God, in his mercy, has imparted to you. That power which has begun...

Master John Huss, servant of God, to all who in Prague are the elect of God, and who love our Lord Jesus Christ and his Word, wishes mercy and peace from God the Father, and our...

I, Master John Huss, &c. &c., call on you, dearly beloved, not to allow yourselves to be disturbed on account of my absence, or on account of the maledictions with which the ene...

[Huss, whilst reminding believers of all the benefits with which the Lord has loaded us in his first coming, elevates their souls to the expectation and hope of the second comin...

Dearly beloved, the birth-day of the Son of God is near at hand; purify, therefore, your dwelling, and let it be clean of all sin; listen attentively and piously, according to y...

My very dear brethren, Although I am separated from you in body, not being perhaps worthy to preach to you any longer the word of God, nevertheless, the love with which I yearn...

[He impresses on the believers of Prague the necessity of zeal, and of a desire to hear God’s Word, and recommends them not to renounce these things on account of the scandals a...

My very dear brethren, Although I cannot see you externally with my eyes, but only with my mental vision, I am nevertheless acquainted with your charity and your constant faith...

To you, dearly-beloved in the Lord, be salvation and all that is most precious in the bosom of Jesus Christ--to you whom I love in the truth, and not I alone, but all who have k...

[John Huss wrote this letter previous to his departure from Bohemia, and left it sealed up in the hands of the person to whom it was addressed, requesting it not to be opened un...

I, John Huss, in hope, priest and minister of Jesus Christ, to all our well-beloved and faithful brethren and sisters, who have heard from my mouth the divine word, and who have...

Salvation be to you through Jesus Christ! Learn that from the day I left Bohemia, I have travelled on horseback, and without concealment, my face being uncovered. As I approache...

Very dear Friends, I desire you to be informed that an auditor of the Sacred Apostolical Palace came to our lodging with the Bishop and the Ecclesiastical Judge of Constance. Th...

Salutation through Jesus Christ. We entered Constance after the festival of All-Saints’ day, without having suffered injury in the towns we passed through, and where we delivere...

Know, my well-beloved friends, that I am well in every respect. I have arrived at Constance without any safe-conduct from the Pope. Pray, then, to God that he may grant me firmn...

May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, so that, being delivered from sin, you may walk in grace, increase in modesty and virtue, and enjoy, after this lif...

May God be with you! I conjure you, dearly-beloved, to attach yourselves to the cause of the Lord; for several endeavour to stifle the word, and take away from you the Gospel of...

My very dear Brother,--Be zealous in preaching the Scriptures, fill the office of a good preacher of the Gospel, remember thy vocation, and work like a favoured soldier of Chris...

[John Huss wrote the following letters in the prison where he was first detained, at the Monastery of the Minor Brothers, near the Lake of Constance, outside the city walls.]

May God be with you; so that, in wrestling against Satan and the world, you may persevere to the end. I conjure you, well-beloved, from the prison which I inhabit, to pray to Go...

Excellent Lord, I rejoice greatly at your good health, your presence here, and the firm perseverance of your good and faithful heart in the trouble which you take for me in my m...

Noble and good Seignior, I have great consolation experienced, and I implore you in the name of God not to lose patience in taking so much trouble about me for so long a time; t...

My good Seignior, endeavour to obtain a Bible for me, and send it by this excellent man;[57] and if Peter, your secretary, has any ink, let him give me some, with a few pens and...

I have passed nearly the whole of last night in answering in writing the articles that Paletz has drawn up; he labours directly for the purpose of procuring my condemnation. May...

My keepers have already taken themselves away. I am no longer supplied with food, and I am ignorant of the fate that awaits me in my prison. I implore you to go with the other N...

I have received great consolation from the visit of the Bohemian noblemen, but I was much distressed at not having been permitted to see you.[66] Master Christian has left the c...

Most generous Lords, faithful defenders of the truth, and my consolers; you whom God has sent as angels to me, I cannot fully express to you how grateful I feel for all the cons...

The Emperor might well ask who was to be judge, since the Council has not cited me to appear before him, nor have I been accused in his presence. Nevertheless, the Council has c...

Explain this night’s dream. I thought they wanted to destroy, at Bethlehem, all the representatives of Christ, and that they destroyed them. The next morning, on rising, I saw m...

[Peter explains the dream to John Huss, according to the interpretation of John of Chlum, whom, in pleasantry, they used to call the Doctor of Bibrach; because, during John Huss...

I have received much consolation from what the Doctor of Bibrach has desired you to write to me; his explanation is in accordance with my own ideas. I forget neither this precep...

Dearest friend,--Learn that your acts and the truth have never been more the objects of secret and unjustifiable snares than at present; however, your affair is postponed in con...

May the God of mercy preserve and strengthen you in his grace; and may he impart to you, as well as to me, constancy in this city; for if we continue constant, we shall obtain t...

[He again requests that the noblemen who have been his protectors should obtain him a hearing; and he prays earnestly to have the Emperor and the Council applied to on the subje...

[He informs him in what terms the Emperor explained, before the deputies of the Council, his views relative to the audience. He afterwards gives him some intelligence of the pos...

[John Huss replies separately to all the articles. He also enumerates the annoyances to which he is subjected by several bishops relative to a quantity of gold pieces which they...

This letter, says Luther, is a noble testimony in support of the saying of the Apostle Paul, that virtue will improve in affliction, and God brings forth fruits in us by temptat...

The Lord, to-day, gave me a firm and intrepid heart. Two articles were struck out, and I am in hope that a greater number will be treated in like manner. They were all crying ou...

[This letter teaches us in what consists the trial of spiritual combats; it shews how true is what we confess in the Creed, that there is but one holy and universal Church,[97]...

I, Master John Huss, in hope, servant of Christ, and ardently desiring that believers in Christ may not, when I shall have ceased to live, find in my death an opportunity for sc...

Salutation in Jesus Christ. What I am informed by Peter affords me pleasure. I do not keep his letters, but destroy them immediately. Let not the sexterni[103] be sent me; for I...

The Lord be with you! The warning of the Lord is more precious to me than gold and topaz. I hope, then, in the mercy of Jesus Christ, that he will grant me his Spirit, that I ma...

May God be with you, noble Henry! I received your letter on the Wednesday before the fete of Saint Vitus, and it caused a great joy, although in prison, and in the expectation o...

You will forward the letter on parchment to the Seignior Henry Schopeck; I have kept it in my prison in remembrance of him; and I composed this hymn during my leisure hours.

[John Huss wrote this letter in his own handwriting in his prison at Constance, to console the king and kingdom of Bohemia, and to warn them not to abandon the true Evangelical...

[The authentic profession of faith, in which John Huss declares, with the assistance of our Lord Jesus Christ, that he will not abjure the truth which he has acknowledged, unles...

Master Martin, my dear disciple, my well-beloved brother in Christ, live according to the law of Christ; be zealous in the preaching of God’s Word. I conjure you, in the name of...

As a preacher of the word of Christ, my very dear brother, do not oppose the administering of the Cup, it being a Sacrament instituted by Jesus Christ and his apostles. No text...

A multitude of people have come to exhort me, and amongst them many doctors, but few brethren, as the Apostle has said. They were prodigal in their counsels and phrases; they to...

[John Huss replies to the Father, that is to say, to the Cardinal,[114] clearly establishing, that it is better to die for the truth than to depart from it, though only a nail’s...

[The Father insists on the counsel which he has given: “whoever thou mayest be who readest these pages, see how the false title of the Church deceives the excellent Cardinal.”[1...

Salutation to you, through Jesus Christ! I beseech you, for God’s sake, not to shew my letters, nor to publish them; for I fear they might place several persons in jeopardy. If...

[An admirable confession of the infirmities of human nature. The latter does not struggle against evil only, for the flesh strives perpetually against the Spirit, and is not eas...

To-morrow, at six o’clock, I am to answer on the following points:--I am asked, in the first place, if I am willing to acknowledge as erroneous all the articles extracted from m...

These are the things which the Council has often required of me; but they imply that I revoke, that I abjure, and that I accept a penance; and I cannot do it, without denying, i...

[He encourages and exhorts them not to be frightened on account of the Council having delivered his writings to the flames. He reminds them of the corrupted morals of that assem...

Honourable Masters, bachelors, and students, of the University of Prague, you whom I cherish in Christ Jesus, I exhort you all to love one another, to extirpate schism; to honou...

My well beloved in the Lord, many causes, and especially the expectation of my speedy death, had made me suppose that the letters I recently wrote to you would be the last. Now...

I have resolved, dear and faithful friends in our Lord, to make known to you in what manner the Council of Constance, swelled with so much pride and avarice, has condemned as he...

May God be with you, and grant you every felicity, for the kindness you have heaped on me. Suffer not the Seignior John,[131] my best friend, my other self, to expose himself to...

I am greatly rejoiced that the Seignior Wenceslaus desires to take to himself a wife, and to flee from the vanities of the world. It is time he should retrace his steps. He has...

My very dear benefactor in Jesus Christ,--It is no slight satisfaction to me to be able to write to you. Your letter, dated yesterday, has made me understand, first, how will be...

Christian, my master and benefactor, keep steadfast in the truth of Christ and in the love of his disciples. Fear not; for the Lord will shortly afford us his protection, and au...

My excellent benefactors, I exhort you,[137] by the bowels of Jesus Christ, you who defend the truth, to renounce the vanities of the age, and to combat for our eternal King, Je...

Seignior Ledertz, my faithful friend, you, Dame Margaret, and all of you who love me, may God bestow on you all his riches, for the great trouble you have taken, and for the man...