Page:Letters of John Huss Written During His Exile and Imprisonment.djvu/41

 “It is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you;” and (Luke xxi.) “For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to resist and gainsay.”

I have heard from some persons worthy of faith, that the Emperor Maximilian said, in speaking of John Huss, “They have done great injustice to that excellent man.” Erasmus of Rotterdam, in his early writings, now in my possession, has declared that John Huss had been burned, but not convinced; and the general opinion amongst pious men of that day was, that he had been loaded with outrage and violence. I will relate here what Dr Staupitz narrated to me of a conversation which he had with his predecessor, Andrew Prolès, a man of birth and merit, relative to the rose of Dr John Zacharias. This Zacharias was represented in the cloisters bearing a rose in his hat, as a distinction for him, and an affront to John Huss. Prolès, seeing this image, said, “I would not consent to wear that rose.” Staupitz having inquired for what motive, Prolès replied, “When it was maintained before the Council of Constance against John Huss, that the pope could not be represented by any one, Dr Zacharias brought forward the passage of Ezekiel (chap, xxxiv.), It is I who am above the shepherds, and not the people. John