Page:John Huss, his life, teachings and death, after five hundred years.pdf/279

 Rising from prayer and so as to be heard by his friends near by, he said: “Lord Jesus Christ, I wish to bear most patiently and humbly for thy Gospel’s sake and the preaching of thy Word, this dire, ignominious and cruel death.” Once again he urged all not to credit the articles charged against him. His outer garments being removed, his hands were tied with ropes behind his back and bound to a stake. When they noticed that his face was toward the east, a position which did not befit him because he was a heretic, they turned his body so that it should face the west. His neck was then bound to the stake by a rusty chain. Two bundles of fagots were placed under his feet and, mixed with straw the pile was heaped up around his body to his chin. Addressing his executioners, he said: “The Lord Jesus Christ, my Redeemer, was bound with a harder chain, and I, a miserable sinner, am not afraid to bear this one, bound as I am for his name’s sake.”

Once more an opportunity was given him to recant, this time by the marshal of the empire. Happo of Poppenheim, and the count palatine. “God is my witness,” Huss replied, “that the things charged against me I never preached.” And then he repeated: “In the same truth of the Gospel which I have written, taught and preached, drawing upon the sayings and positions of the holy doctors, I am ready to die to-day.” At this the two nobles struck their hands together and left.

The combustibles were then lighted, and while the flames were licking up around the helpless body, Huss sang: “Christe fili Dei vivi miserere mei”—Christ, thou Son of the living God, have mercy upon me. And as he reached the line, “qui natus es ex Maria Virgine”—who art born of the Virgin Mary—the flames were blown by the wind into his face. Almost stifled, he still was able to articulate, “Lord, into thy hands I com-