lemen addressed to the council earnest protests
against this outrage. The emperor, who was loath to permit the violation
of a safe-conduct, opposed the proceedings against him. But the enemies of
the Reformer were malignant and determined. They appealed to the emperor's
prejudices, to his fears, to his zeal for the church. They brought forward
arguments of great length to prove that "faith ought not to be kept with
heretics, nor persons suspected of heresy, though they are furnished with
safe-conducts from the emperor and kings."(137) Thus they prevailed.

Enfeebled by illness and imprisonment,--for the damp, foul air of his
dungeon had brought on a fever which nearly ended his life,--Huss was at
last brought before the council. Loaded with chains, he stood in the
presence of the emperor, whose honor and good faith had been pledged to
protect him. During his long trial he firmly maintained the truth, and in
the presence of the assembled dignitaries of church and state, he uttered
a solemn and faithful protest against the corruptions of the hierarchy.
When required to choose whether he would recant his doctrines or suffer
death, he accepted the martyr's fate.

The grace of God sustained him. During the weeks of suffering that passed
before his final sentence, heaven's peace filled his soul. "I write this
letter," he said to a friend, "in my prison, and with my fettered hand,
expecting my sentence of death to-morrow.... When, with the assistance of
Jesus Christ, we shall again meet in the delicious peace of the future
life, you will learn how merciful God has shown Himself toward me, how
effectually He has supported me in the midst of my temptations and
trials."(138)

In the gloom of his dungeon he foresaw the triumph of the true faith.
Returning in his dreams to the chapel at Prague where he had preached the
gospel, he saw the pope and his bishops effacing the pictures of Christ
which he had painted on its walls. "This vision distressed him: but on the
next day he saw many painters occupied in restoring these figures in
greater number and in brighter colors. As soon as their task was ended,
the painters, who were surrounded by an immense crowd, exclaimed, 'Now let
the popes and bishops come; they shall never efface them more!' " Said the
Reformer, as he related his dream, "I maintain this for certain, that the
image of Christ will never be effaced. They have wished to destroy it, but
it shall be painted afresh in all he