HUSSITES

The followers of John Hu , a Bohemian reformer and divine, who was convicted of heresy by the council of Con stance, and burnt by order of the Emperor of Germany, in 1415. The circumstances attending the origin of this sect are interesting; inasmuch as while, on the one hand, there is no doubt but that the writings of Hu and Jerome of Prague were the source from which Luther drew a great part of his opinions and views, it is ascertained at the same time that it was from the books of Wiclif that Hu was himself induced to institute his bold inquiries into the faith and morals of the church. The errors which were charged against him contain many of the opinions now held by all Protestants; but several of these he himself denied, and those for the a ertion of which he ultimately suffered have neither been universalh' held by reformers, nor seem of very great importance. They were these: — 1. That Pope Sylvester and the Emperor Constant i no did evil to the church when they enriched it. 2. That if any ecclesiastic be in a state of mortal sin, he is disqualified for the administration of the sacraments. 3. That tithes are not dues, but merely eleemosynary. On the other hand, he held the Romish idea of transubstantiation; and the opinion of the nece ity of communion in both kinds, which became afterwards the most remarkable feature in the doctrines of the Hu ites, is not in reality to be ascribed to their founder. The condemnation of Hu is also remarkable, as it is from the circumstances attendant on it that the imputation of not keeping faith with heretics is originally charged upon the Roman church. The Emperor Sigismund gave Hu a safe conduct, to secure him from any ill consequences that he might apprehend from delivering himself up voluntarily to be examined by the council. Nor did the council a ert any right to condemn him. They handed him over to the secular arm, to the emperor himself. But it is confidently a erted that when the emperor scrupled to violate a promise which was undoubtedly binding upon him, it was at the pre ing instance of the pope or cardinals that he allowed the execution to take place. The apologists of the Roman Catholics in this matter affirm that this safe conduct imported only that Hu might go to Con stance without being harmed; the words of the original instrument, however, are reported to be, " Transire, stare, morari, redire libere permit tat is." After the execution of Hu , and of his disciple Jerome in the following year, there arose a violent insurrection among their partizans in Bohemia, who maintained themselves for many years by force of arms, and split into two sects, under the denominations of the Calix tines and the Thaborites. The former, so called from demanding the cup in the sacrament, were finally reconciled to the church by the conce ion which they required. The latter were so called from the name they gave to the hill on which they pitched their camp in the neighbourhood of Prague, and carried their notions upon the authority of the church and its ministers, ceremonies, and all the exterior of religion, to the length of an extravtigant simplicity. The Bohemian Brothers and the Beghards, who gave so great an impulse to the Reformation, were the descendants of this branch of the Hu ites. (Cochlaeus, Hist or i a Hu it arum; Gt'eseler's Text-book, iii. 355., translation.) [s. 580]