Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 2.djvu/503

 DIFFICULTY OF ABJURATION. 437 Boble firmness Of Huss we must bear in mind that no intimation of It seems to have been made to him.* '-"nauon The obstacle in the way of Huss's abjuration lay not so much L.ht OnT "^f . '^' *r^'*' ^ '^ '""^ -^^'^ h« ^-d n^t «n f ;.K ^ testimony his judges had found him guilty of and the Yitiation of the sacraments in polluted hands he denied energetica ly ever to have held or expressed. Many o the er^ort extracted from his works, moreover, he repudiated, assertinX iuTlt ThtT/'^T' T'™^°^ ^^''^^ ^^y Wavated his S ;. . °'"^"'° ""^ reconciliation was confessing under JutL ttem Thf"'^ '' '^^"^ ^^^*^ *^^^^ --- -'i tin tb! olemr, f^v'. 7'' committing perjury to God in the most solemn fashion, and to a tender conscience hke that of Huss it was worse than death. From this dilemma there was no escape On I?d Hu! r 'r *u' ^**^'" ^"^ *^« P''"*^^ '^f charactef whicJ For a month the struggle continued, and no human soul ever bore Itself with oftier fortitude or sweeter or humbler chaJ^. 71 asked for a confessor, and intimated that he would prefer Stephen Palecz, the enemy who had hounded him to the Seath Palecz came and heard his confession, and then urged him to abjure sav mg that he ought not to mind the humihation. " The hi hatTon of condemnation and burning is greater," rephed HusI " hTw tL; can fear humiliation? But advise me: what would you do i^ Z .Wo Id ""'"^*'^' ^^"^ ' "" ^°" '^^ -- ^Cted to you. Would you abjure?" Palecz burst into tears and could only summer, " It is difficult." He wept again freely when Huss «speciaUy for calhng him a falsifier. Another confessor was sent fe Jof Tn ^r ^ "" r 'T "" ^ '° '"^^' ^™-" *^ ^^'"^^^ necessity of con- Pre epto. of'Zt H .T "' ""^ ^°=""^" ^^P'-^' ^"»- ^e fa Mo"
 * Von der Hardt IV. 432-33.