prisoned; but escaping, became
involved in political movements, and suffered at length the double
penalty for heresy and treason, being hung on a gallows with a fire
blazing at his feet. It is interesting to remark the social rank of
these three early martyrs. Heresy was pervading all classes, from the
lowest to the highest.

[Sidenote: The Council of Constance deposes the pope,] The Council of
Constance met A.D. 1415. It had a threefold object: 1. The union of the
Church under one pope; 2. The reformation of the clergy; 3. The
suppression of heresy. Its policy from the first was determined. It
proclaimed itself supreme. It demanded the abdication of the pope John
XXIII.; exhibited articles of accusation against him, some of them of
such enormity as almost to surpass belief, and justifying the epithet
that he was "a devil incarnate." The suffrage of the council was
changed. The plan of voting by nations, which reduced the Italians to a
single vote, was introduced. These incidental facts may indicate to us
that there were present men who understood thoroughly how to manage the
machinery of such an assembly, and that the remark of Aeneas Sylvius,
afterward Pope Pius II., respecting the Council of Basle was equally
true as to that of Constance, that it was not so much directed by the
Holy Ghost as by the passions of men. The influence that lawyers were
now exercising in social affairs--their habits of arrangement, of
business, and intrigue, is strikingly manifested in the management of
these assemblages; their arts had passed to the clergy, and even in part
to the people. But how vast was the change that had occurred in the
papacy from the voluntary abdication of Celestine to the compulsory
abdication of John!

[Sidenote: and murders John Huss.] To this council, also, came John
Huss, under a safe-conduct from the Emperor Sigismund. Scarcely,
however, had he arrived when he was imprisoned; this treachery being
excused from the necessity of conceding it to the reforming party. On
June 5th, A.D. 1416, Huss was brought in chains before the council. It
was declared unlawful to keep faith with a heretic. His countrymen, the
Bohemian lords present, protested against such perfidy, and loudly
demanded his release. Articles of accusation, derived from his works,
were presented. He avowed himself ready to defend his opinions. The
uproar was so great that the council temporarily adjourned. Two days
afterwards the trial was resumed.