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Doctor Huss heard this sentence without the least emotion. He kneeled down, with his eyes lifted towards heaven, and said, with all the spirit of primitive martyrdom, "May thy infinite mercy, O my God, pardon this

injustice of my enemies. Thou knowest the injustice "of their accusations: How deformed with crimes I have "been represented; how I have been oppressed by worth"less witnesses, and an unjust condemnation: Yet, O "my God, let that mercy of thine, which no tongue can express, prevail with thee not to avenge my wrongs." These excellent sentences were so many expressions of treason against the trade of priestcraft, and considered as such by the narrow-minded assistants. The bishops appointed by the council stript him of his priestly garments, degraded him from his priestly function and university degrees, and put a mitre of paper on his head on which devils were painted, with this inscription, in great letters,

A RING-LEADER OF HERETICS.' Our heroic martyr received this mock-mitre, smiling, and said, "It was less "painful than a crown of thorns." A serenity, a joy, a composure, appeared in his looks, which indicated that his soul had cut off many stages of tedious journey in her way to the point of eternal joy and everlasting peace.

The bishops delivered Huss to the emperor, who put him into the hands of the duke of Bavaria. His books were burnt at the gate of the church, and he was led to the suburbs to be burnt alive. Prior to his execution, Mr Huss made his solemn appeal to God, from the judgment of the pope and council. In this appeal (the whole of which would well repay the reader's perusal, he again repeats his assured faith in the doctrine of election; where he celebrates the willingness with which Christ vouchsafed, "By the most bitter and ignominious death, to REDEEM "the CHILDREN OF GOD, CHOSEN BEFORE THE "FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, from everlasting dam"nation." When he came to the place of execution, he fell on his knees, sang portions of psalms, looked stedfastly towards heaven, and repeated these words: "Into "thy hands, O Lord, do I commit my spirit; thou hast "redeemed me, O most good and faithful God. Lord "Jesus Christ, assist and help me, that with a firm and "patient mind, by thy most powerful grace, I may un

dergo this most cruel and ignominious death, to which "I am condemned for preaching the truth of thy most "holy gospel." When the chain was put about him at the stake, he said, with a smiling countenance, "My

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"Lord Jesus Christ was bound with a harder chain than "this for my sake; and why should I be ashamed of this "old rusty one?" When the faggots were piled up to his very neck, the duke of Bavaria was officious enough to desire him to abjure. "No, says Huss, I never preached any doctrine of an evil tendency; and what I taught “ with my lips, I now seal with my blood." He said to the executioner, "Are you going to burn a goose? In ἐσ one century, you will have a swan you can neither "roast nor boil." If he was prophetic, he must have meant Luther, who had a swan for his arms. The flames were then applied to the faggots, when the martyr sang a hymn with so loud and cheerful a voice, that he was heard through all the cracklings of the combustibles, and the noise of the multitude. At last his voice was cut short, after he had uttered, "Jesus Christ, thou Son of "the living GOD, have mercy upon me;" and he was consumed in a most miserable manner. The duke of Bavaria ordered the executioner to throw all the martyr's clothes into the flames: After which his ashes were carefully collected, and cast into the Rhine.

While doctor Huss was in prison, he wrote some treatises about the commands of God, of the Lord's prayer, of mortal sin, of marriage, of the knowledge and love of God, of the three enemies of man, and the seven mortal sins, of repentance, and of the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ. He also drew up a little piece about the communion in both kinds. He wrote an answer to the propositions drawn out of his books, which had been communicated to him: And he prepared three discourses; one about the sufficiency of the law of Jesus Christ; another to explain his faith about the last articles of the creed; and the third about peace. All these treatises were printed in one volume at Nuremburg in 1558: As also a second volume, containing a harmony of the four evangelists, with moral notes; many sermons; a commentary upon the first seven chapters of the first epistle to the Corinthians; commentaries upon the seven canonical epistles, the cixth psalm, and those following to the cxixth and several other pieces, which, if they were not altogether correct, must be imputed to the reigning darkness of the times, and to his incessant conflicts with the sons of Rome.

This great martyr, as well as his friend Jerom, may be considered, in some measure, as dying for the principles of Wickliffe, or rather the principles of the gospel, transmitted to them from England. To preserve the memory of

this excellent man, the seventh of July was, for many years, held sacred among the Bohemians. In some places large fires were lighted in the evening of that day upon the mountains, to preserve the memory of his sufferings; round which the country-people would assemble, and sing hymns.

As a specimen of the composed spirit of this excellent martyr, in the midst of this virulent persecution, we will subjom one of his letters, which he wrote from the prison, to his friends in Bohemia.

"My dear friends, let me take this last opportunity of "exhorting you to trust in nothing here; but to give "yourselves up entirely to the service of GOD. Well " am I authorized to warn you not to trust in princes,

nor in any child of man, for there is no help in them. "GOD only remaineth stedfast. What HE promiseth, "he will undoubtedly perform. As to myself, on his "gracious promise I rest. Having endeavoured to be his "faithful servant, I fear not being deserted by him. "Where I am, says the gracious Promiser, there shall my "servants be.-May the GOD of heaven preserve you! "This is probably the last letter I shall be enabled to "write. I have reason to believe, I shall be called upon "to-morrow to answer with my life.-- Sigismund hath, in "all things, acted deceitfully. I pray, GOD forgive him! "You have heard in what severe language he hath spoken " of me."

There are several other letters in Fox's acts and monuments, in old English; to which we must refer our readers. They all breathe the same spirit of piety, firmness, and inward consolation.

JEROM OF PRAGUE.

THE LAY-REFORMER.

GREAT were the commotions, which prevailed in

the world, about the time of the promulgation of the gospel in Germany. The truth had every kind of prejudice to encounter; nor did the kingdom of darkness yield to its power without violent struggles and disorder. And all Protestants, who are Protestants indeed, and who

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know the grace of GOD and his gospel, have reason to bless that wonderful providence, by which many of the European nations were delivered from the grossest darkness and ignorance, and by which indeed even popish nations have been led to the revival of knowledge, and to disdain in part the blind submission, they once universally shewed to the corrupted see of Rome.

Jerom of Prague was the companion and co-martyr of doctor Huss, to whom he was inferior in experience, age, and authority; but he was esteemed his superior in all polite and liberal endowments. He was born at Prague, and educated in that university, where he was admitted master of arts; and promoted the doctrine of Wickliffe in conjunction with Huss. He travelled into most of the states of Europe, and was every where esteemed for his happy elocution, which gave him great advantages in the schools, where he promoted what Huss had advanced. The universities of Paris, Cologne, and Heidelberg, conferred the degree of master of arts upon him. He is said also to have had the degree of master of arts conferred upon him at Oxford; but it is certain, that he commenced doctor in divinity, in the year 1396. He began to publish the same doctrine with doctor Huss in 1408, and it is averred, that he had a greater share of learning and subtilty than his excellent friend. However that may be, the council of Constance kept a very watchful eye upon him, and esteemed him to be a very dangerous person to the interests of Rome. While he was in England, and most probably when at Oxford, he copied out the books of Wickliffe, and returned with them to Prague. By that great man's evangelical writings, it pleased GOD to work upon him, and upon his friend doctor Huss, to the acknowledgment of his truth. England, therefore (as we observed in the life of Wickliffe) may claim the honour of beginning the Reformation; and may it be the last country upon earth to lose it! At present, it must be owned, such is the national corruption of manners, the prevailing luxury of the times, and the practical atheism and irreligion of many among us, that it will be through GOD's mercy, if we are not consumed by his judgments, and given up for a prey to our enemies.

Jerom was cited before the council of Constance, on the seventeenth of April 1415, when his friend doctor Huss was confined in a castle near that city. He arrived at Constance in the same month, when he was informed how his friend had been treated, and that he also would be seized :

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Upon which, Jerom retired to Iberlingen, an imperial city, from whence he wrote to the emperor and council to desire a safe conduct; and one was presented to him, which gave him permission to come, but not to return. He then caused a protestation to be fixed up, wherein he declared, that he would appear before the council to justify himself, if a proper safe conduct was granted: And he demanded of the Bohemian lords an act of his declaration. After this, he began his journey to return into Bohemia: But he was stopt at Hirschau, by the officers of John, the son of prince Clement, count Palatine, who had the government of Sultzbach: And Lewis, another son of the same prince, carried Jerom of Constance, where he was to answer the same accusation as had been exhibited against doctor Huss, who was martyred on the seventh of July.

Jerom had many friends at the council, who bore him great affection, and tried all they could to bring him to a recantation; as they were convinced he had no prospect of escaping if he took his trial, because the emperor had declared that he should be exemplarily punished. His friends prevailed, and he was brought before the council, in the nineteenth session, held the twenty-third of September, when he read a public abjuration of his doctrines, thinking thereby to elude his prosecution.

In this retractation, he is said to have anathematized the doctrines of Wickliffe and Huss; to have protested, that he was of the same sentiments with the Romish church; and to have professed, that he would follow its doctrine, particularly about the keys, the sacraments, the orders, the offices, and the censures of the apostolic see; as also concerning indulgences, the relics of saints, ecclesiastical liberty, and the ceremonies. It is farther said, that he thereby approved the condemnation of the articles which the council prescribed; acknowledged they were faithfully extracted from the works of Huss, and that he was justly condemned. But he was carried back to prison, notwithstanding this recantation, and was accused of insincerity. New articles of accusation were brought against him, and it was alledged, that it would be dangerous to set him at liberty. He immediately repented of his abjuration, and of condemning Huss. He desired audience of the council, and was twice heard in the general congregations held in May, 1416, when one hundred and seven heads of accusation were proposed against him, which he endeavoured to answer, and made an oration, wherein he declared that he repented of his recantation, and of having approved

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