Page:The life & times of Master John Hus by Count Lützow.djvu/308

 God. Priest Havlik, preach the word of God. And I beg you all to remain steadfast in God’s faith.”

There is no doubt that after the hearing on June 8 Hus hoped to be allowed to appear again before the council and expound his views more thoroughly than he had hitherto been allowed to do. The council, on the other hand, was already enraged by the slight and unsuccessful attempts he had been allowed to make to define his views. It was determined no longer to defer the formal condemnation and sentence. The council believed that sufficient evidence against Hus already existed. Few members of the assembly probably troubled to wade through Hus’s voluminous Latin works, and those written in his own language were only understood by his own countrymen and persecutors. Yet by means of so-called articles quoted, often unfairly, from Hus’s various works, it was thought that full proof of heresy had been established. If Hus was none the less allowed to live nearly a month after the third day of the hearing, this must be attributed to the attempts made to induce him to recant. I have already referred to the reasons why some of Hus’s opponents would have preferred such a recantation to a public execution, and have already mentioned the steps taken by the “father” for that purpose. Another attempt to induce Hus to recant was made on July 5, the day preceding the one fixed for his last appearance before the council, and also for his death, should he still remain impenitent. This last attempt at mediation was made directly through the influence of King Sigismund, who was, of course, better acquainted with the state of affairs in Bohemia than were the members of the council. Two Bohemian noblemen, John of Chlum and Venceslas of Duba, visited Hus, accompanied by four bishops and several priests. When Hus had been led out of his prison in the Franciscan monastery, Lord Venceslas addressed him in frank and manly words, which contrast very favourably with the crafty, insincere, and treacherous manner in which the council dealt