from that flight which the
Emperor Sigusmund had forbidden him under pain of death; had he
not violated the conditions which he had agreed to in writing
with the Kaiser and thereby nullified all the value of that
safe-conduct. Huss's hasty wickedness played him false. For,
having instigated deeds of savage violence in his native Bohemia,
and being bidden thereupon to present himself at Constance, he
despised the prerogative of the Council, and sought his
safe-conduct of the Kaiser. Caesar signed it; the Christian
world, greater than Caesar, cancelled the signature. The
heresiarch refused to return to a sound mind, and so perished. As
for Jerome of Prague, he came to Constance protected by no one;
he was detected and arraigned; he spoke in his own behalf, was
treated very kindly, went free whither he would; he was healed,
abjured his heresy, relapsed, and was burnt. Why do they so often
drag out one case in a thousand? Let them read their own annals.
Martin Luther himself, that abomination of God and men, was put
in court at Augsburg before Cardinal Cajetan: there did he not
belch out all he could, and then depart in safety, fortified with
a letter of Maximilian? Likewise, when he was summoned to Worms,
and had against him the Kaiser and most of the Princes of the
Empire, was he not safe under the protection of the Kaiser's
word? Lastly, at the Diet of Augsburg, in presence of Charles V.,
an enemy of heretics, flushed with victory, master of the
situation, did not the heads of the Lutherans and Zwinglians,
under truce, present their Confessions, so frequently re-edited,
and depart in peace? Not otherwise had the letter from Trent
provided most ample safe-guards for the adversary; he would not
take advantage of them. The fact is, he airs his condition in
corners, where he expects to figure as a sage by coming out with
three words of Greek: he shrinks from the light, which should
place him in the number of men of letters [_lilleratorum_
{transcribers note: the Latin is interpolated into the
translation here}] and call him to sit in honourable place. Let
them obtain for English Catholics such a written promise of
impunity, if they love the salvation of souls. We will not raise
the instance of Huss: relying on the Sovereign's word, we will
fly to Court. But, to return to the point whence I digressed, the
General Councils are mine, the first, the last, and those
between. With them I will fight. Let the adversary look for a