After they had spoken these woordes, they departed out of the Cloister, where they were assembled and gathered together. Marginalia4. bishops sent to Iohn Hus.The day before his condemnatiō which was the sixt day of Iuly, the Emperour Sigismōd sent vnto him foure Bishoppes, accompanied with maister Wencelate de Duba, & Ihon de Clum, that they should learne and vnderstand of him what he did intend to do. When as hee was brought out of prison vnto them, Iohn de Clum began first to speake vnto him, saying.

MarginaliaThe pitifull & louing oration of Iohn de Clum vnto Iohn Hus.Maister Iohn Hus I am a man vnlearned, neither am I able to councell or aduertise you, beyng a man of learnyng & vnderstandyng: notwithstanding I do require you, if you know you selfe giltie of any of those errours, which are obiected and layde agaynst you before the councell, that you will not bee ashamed to alter and chaunge your minde to the will and pleasure of the councell: if contrarywise, I will be no author vnto you, that you should do any thyng contrary or agaynst your conscience, but rather to suffer and endure any kinde of punishment then to deny that whiche you haue knowen to be the truth. Vnto whom Ihon Hus turnyng him selfe with lamentable teares, said: MarginaliaThe maruelous constancie of Iohn Hus.verely as before I haue often tymes done, I doo take the most hyghe God for my witnes, that I am ready with my whole heart & mynde, if the Councell can instruct or teach me any better by the holy Scripture: I will be ready with all my heart to alter and chaunge my purpose, Then one of the Byshops whiche sate by, said vnto hym, that he would neuer be so arrogaunt or proude, that hee would preferre his owne minde or opinion before the iudgemēt of the whole coūcell. MarginaliaThat is no right modestie that more regardeth to obey man, then manifest veritie.To whom Ihon Hus answered, neither do I otherwise mynde or intende. MarginaliaIohn Hus aunswereth.For if he which is the meanest or least in all this Councell, cā conuict me of errour, I will with an humble heart and mind perform and do whatsoeuer the Councell shall require of me. Marke sayd the Bishops, how obstinatly he doth perseuer in his errors. And when they had thus talked, they commaunded the kepers to cary hym agayne vnto prison, and so they returned agayn vnto the Emperour with their cōmission.

The nexte day after, whiche was Saterday and the sixt day of Iulye, there was a generall Session holden of the Princes and Lordes, bothe of the Ecclesiasticall and Temporall estates in the head church of the Citie of Constance, the Emperour Sigismond beyng president in his Imperiall robes and habite: in the middest whereof there was made a certaine hyghe place beyng square about lyke a table, and harde by it there was a deske of woode, vpon the whiche the garmentes and vestimentes pertaining vnto priesthode were layd, for this cause, that before Ihon Hus should be deliuered ouer vnto the Ciuill power, hee should bee openly depriued and spoyled of his pristly ornaments. When Ihon Hus was brought thether, hee fell downe vpon his knees before that same hyghe place, and prayed a long tyme. In the meane while the Byshop of Londy, went vp into the pulpet and made this Sermon folowyng.

MarginaliaThe sermon before the sentence.IN the name of the Father, the Sonne, and of the holy Ghost. Trustyng by humble inuocation vpon the Diuine helpe and ayde, most noble Prince, and most Christian Emperour, and you most excellent fathers, and reuerend Lordes, Byshops, and Prelates, also most excellent Doctours and Maisters, moste famous and noble Dukes and high Countes, honorable Nobles, and Barons, and all other men worthy of remembraunce: that the intent and purpose of my minde may the more plainly and euidētly appeare vnto this most sacred congregation, MarginaliaThe theame.I am first of all determined to intreate or speake of that which is readde in the Epistle on the nexte Sonday, in the sixt chap. to the Romaines. That is to say, let the body of sinne be destroied. &c. It appeareth by the authoritie of Aristotle in his booke intituled De Cælo & mundo, MarginaliaHys theame confyrmed by Aristotle.How wicked, daungerous and foolish a matter it semeth to be, not to withstand peruerse and wicked beginnings. For he sayth, that a small errour in the beginning is very great in the end. It is very damnable and daungerous to haue erred, but more harde to be corrected or amended. Wherupon that worthy Doctour S. Hierome in his boke vpon the exposition of the catholicke fayth, teacheth vs, how necessary a thing it is, that hereticks & heresies should be suppressed, euen at the first beginning of them, saying thus: the rottē and dead flesh is to be cut of from the body, least that the whole body do perishe & putrifie. For a scabbed sheepe is to be put out of the fold, least the whole flocke be infected. And a litle fire is to be quenched, least the whole house be cōsumed and burned. Arrius was first a sparke in Alexandria, who because he was not at the first quenched, hee presumed and went about with his wicked and peruerse imaginations & fancasticall inuētions to spot and defile the catholicke faith, whiche is founded & established by Christ, defended with the victorious triumphes of so many Martyrs, and illuminate and set forth with the excellent doctrines & writynges of so many men. Such therfore must be resisted: such heretickes of necessitie must be suppressed and condēned. Wherfore I haue truely propounded, as touchyng the punishmēt of euery such obstinate hereticke, that the body of sinne is to be destroyed. Wherupon it is to be cōsidered according vnto the holy traditiōs of the fathers, that some sinnes are aduerse and cōtrary vnto another. Other some are annexed or conioyned together: other some are, as it wer, braunches and members of others. And some are, as it were the rootes and head of others. Amongest all which, those are to bee counted the moste detestable, out the which, the most and worste, haue their originall & beginning. Wherfore albeit that all sinnes & offences are to be abhorred of vs: yet those are specially to be eschewed, which are the head & roote of the rest. For by how much the peruersnes of thē is of more force & power to hurt, with somuch the more spede and circumspectiō, ought they to be rooted out and extinguished, with apt preseruatiues and remedyes. For somuch then as amongest all sinnes none doth more appeare to be inueterate, then the mischief of this moste execrable Schisme, therfore haue I right well propounded that the body of sinne should be destroyed. For by the long continuaunce of this Schisme, great & most cruell destruction is sprōg vp amongst the faithfull, and hath long cōtinued, abhominable diuisions of heresies are growen: threatnyngs are increased and multiplied: the confusion of the whole Clergye is growen thereupon, and the opprobries and sclaunders of the Christian people are aboundauntlye sprong vp and increased. And truely it is no maruell, for somuche as that moste detestable and execrable Schisme, is as it were, a bodye and heape of dissolution of the true faith of God: for what can be good or holy in that place, where as such a pestiferous Schisme hath rayned so long a time? For as S. Bernard sayth, like as in the vnitie and concorde of the faithfull, there is the habitation and dwellyng of the Lorde, so lykewise in the Schisme and dissipation of the Christiās, there is made the habitatiō and dwellyng of the deuill. Is not schisme and deuision the originall of all subuersion, the den of heresies, and the nourisher of all offences? for the knot of vnitie and peace beyng once troubled and broken, there is free passage made for all strife and debate. Couetousnes is vttered in othes for lukers sake, luste and will is set at libertie, and all meanes opened vnto slaughter. All right and equitie is banished, the Ecclesiasticall power is iniuried, MarginaliaThey can not abyde the laitie to rule in any case.and the calamitie of this Schisme, bryngeth in all kynd of bondage, swordes and violence doth rule, the laytie haue the dominion, concorde and vnitie are banished, and all prescripte rules of Religion vtterly contemned and set at naught.

Consyder most gentle Lordes, how that during thys most pestiferous Schisme, how many heresies haue appeared and shewed themselues, howe manye heretikes haue scaped vnpunished, how many churches haue bene spoyled and pulled down, how many cities haue ben oppressed and regions broughte to ruine, what confusion hath there happened in the clergye? What & how greate destruction hath beene amongst the Christian people? MarginaliaAll the popishe religion lyeth in landes, lordships, & liberties.I praye you marke how the churche of God, the spouse of Christ, and the mother of all faythfull, is contemned and despised. For who doth reuerēce the keyes of the church, who fereth the censures or lawes, or who is it that doth defende the liberties thereof? But rather who is it, that doth not offēd the same, or who doth not inuade it, or els what is he that dare not violently lay handes vpon the patrimony or heritage of Iesus Christe? MarginaliaNote here the popes diuinitie, how the bloud of Christ serueth to purchase their patrimonye.The goodes of the clergy, and of the poore, and the reliefe of Pilgrimes and straungers, gotten together by the bloud of our Sauiour, and of many martyrs, are spoyled and takē away.