Page:The Acts and Monuments of John Foxe Volume 3.djvu/501

 where is your proof? you feign a cause which you do not prove, &c. as it appeareth more at large in my treatise.' Then said the cardinal of Cambray: 'John Huss, thou didst say that thou wouldst not defend any error of John Wickliff's; and now it appeareth in your books, that you have openly defended his articles.' John Huss answered: 'Reverend father! even as I said before, so I now say again, that I will not defend any errors of John Wickliff's, neither of any other man's: but, forasmuch as it seemed to me to be against conscience, simply to consent to the condemnation of them, no Scripture being alleged or brought contrary and against them, thereupon I would not consent or agree to the condemnation of them; and forasmuch as the reason which is copulative cannot be verified in every point, according to every part thereof.'

Now there remain of thirty-nine. These are said to be drawn out of another treatise which he wrote against Stanislaus de Znoyma.

The first article: 'No man is lawfully elected or chosen, in that the electors, or the greater part of them, have consented with a lively voice, according to the custom of men, to elect and choose any person, or that he is thereby the manifest and true successor of Christ, or vicar of Peter in the ecclesiastical office; but in this, that any man doth most abundantly work meritoriously to the profit of the church, he hath thereby more abundant power given him of God thereunto.' Answer: These things which follow are also written in my book. 'It standeth in the power and hands of wicked electors, to choose a woman into the ecclesiastical office, as it appeareth by the election of Agnes, who was called John, who held and occupied the pope's place and dignity, by the space of two years and more.' It may also be, that they do choose a thief, a murderer or a devil, and, consequently, they may also elect and choose Antichrist. It may also be, that for love, covetousness, or hatred, they do choose some person whom God doth not allow. And it appeareth that that person is not lawfully elected and chosen; insomuch as the electors, or the greater part of them, have consented and agreed together according to the custom of men, upon any person, or that he is thereby the manifest successor or vicar of Peter the apostle, or any other in the ecclesiastical office. Therefore they who, most accordingly unto the Scripture, do elect and choose, revelation being set apart, do only pronounce and determine by some probable reason upon him whom they do elect and choose : whereupon, whether the electors do so choose good or evil, we ought to give credit unto the works of him that is chosen; for in that point, that any man doth most abundantly work meritoriously to the profit of the church, he hath thereby more abundant power given him of God thereunto. And hereupon saith Christ, in John x., Give credit unto works.'

The second article: 'The pope being a reprobate, is not the head of holy church of God.' Answer. I wrote it thus in my treatise: 'That I would willingly receive a probable and effectual reason of the doctor, how this question is contrary to the faith, to say. That if the pope be a reprobate, how is he the head of the holy church? Behold, the truth cannot decay or fail in disputation, for did Christ dispute against the faith, when he demanded of the Scribes and "Pharisees [ Matt, xii.], Ye stock and offspring of vipers! how can ye speak good things, when you yourselves are wicked and evil? And behold, I demand of the scribes, if the pope be a reprobate, and the stock of vipers, how is he the head of the holy church of God, that the Scribes and Pharisees, who were in the council-house of Prague, may make answer hereunto? For it is more possible that a reprobate man should speak good things, forasmuch as he may be in state of grace according to present justice, than to be the head of the holy church of God. Also in John v., our Saviour complaineth of the Jews, saying: How can you believe, which do seek for glory amongst yourselves, and do not seek for the glory that cometh only of God? and I, likewise, do complain, how that if the pope be a reprobate, can he be