will soon appear again.

Counter councils were called, of course, in favour of the deposed pretenders; but the work at Pisa closed here, and the respectability of the new pontiff stifled for the moment all clamours for reform. John Huss gave his hopeful adhesion to Alexander; but one voice was lifted up for more effectual reforms. The learned and saintly Clemangis, once rector of the Sorbonne, was studying the Scriptures in holy retirement in the vale of Langres. He shared Wiclif's ideas for more thorough work. "The Council of Pisa," said he, " has only trifled with the Church, crying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace."

II. SIGISMUND VISITS ENGLAND.

At this time Sigismund, the Emperor elect of Germany, had not been crowned, and his difficulties led him to desire another Council. Chicheley was Archbishop of Canterbury, and was engaged in fierce controversies with the Lollards, when the Emperor arrived in London to persuade England to unite with France for the carrying out of the reforms Pisa had failed to effect. Doubtless he gained very false ideas of Wiclif, at this juncture, confounding the turbulent Lollards with his disciples, and hence all the more readily accepting Gerson's opposition to Wiclif as the only safe course for crowned heads. He was brother to the good Queen Anne, and better things might have been hoped from him had he not been the Emperor and a sensual voluptuary.

12.

THE ENGLISH EMBASSY TO CONSTANCE.

Chicheley appointed three bishops to attend the new Council, summoned to meet at Constance. Hallam of Salisbury and Bubwith of Bath, with Mascall of Hereford, made the embassy. Hallam was the leading spirit. The King sent a lay delegation as co-ambassadors, and a vast and splendid retinue attended them. The Emperor received them with special honours, and wore his English decorations of the Garter when he entered Constance. He had been recently crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle, over the sepulchre of Charlemagne. Frankfort was opened again at Constance, as I have said, but only to make itself a monument of Gerson's folly, in his fond attempt to reconcile any theoretical Papacy whatever with Catholic Councils and the old Nicem Constitutions. The Decretals had done their work; ma's minds had been chained by them for five centurie and the "immedicable wound" could only P remedied by eradication and actual cautery.

13. HUSS AS A REFORMER.

Under the impulse given him by Jerome of Prague, Huss was already known as a reformer less fanciful than Gerson, though he by no means saw the impossibility of retaining the Papacy. Wise, holy, and inspired by communion with God in Holy Scripture, he was nevertheless far in advance of his times, and his reputation as a "Wiclifite" insured him the deadly hatred of the

L

Council. When the Archbishop of Prague had burned Wiclif's books with public ceremony, Huss rebuked the act, and carried with him the heart of Bohemia. Though he committed himself to nothing more than a plea for liberty to read and examine, he was everywhere stigmatized as Wiclif's disciple. He even appealed to Rome, -yes, to that same Balthasar Cossa, now John XXIII. This was in the matter of an episcopal censure vented against him when he opposed the bookburning. This marks where he stood at this time. So far he was with Gerson. Alas! why was not Gerson with him?

14. CONSTANCE.

It is not my purpose to dwell on the history of this great man. Let us come to the Council. The infamies of John XXIII. were unutterable; and this was the pontiff who answered the appeal of Huss by a bull of excommunication, in A. D. 1412. It is noteworthy that, in protesting against it in a most catholic spirit, Huss quoted the wellknown example of Greathead, the saintly Robert of Lincoln. The Council was opened at last, and Huss was summoned to be present. The Emperor gave him a safe-conduct to go and to return. Jerome kissed him as he left Prague: "Dear master," said he, "be firm." Already the wicked Pope had appeared on the scene, his ambitious splendours and the unblushing shame of his conduct and that of his courtiers adding to the scorn of all decent men. Huss soon found

himself a prisoner at Constance, where he had opened his cause with dignity and power. The Emperor ordered his release, but Sigismund had not yet arrived in person, and the Pope had. So the latter kept Huss confined. When Sigismund appeared, the Pope's own case was uppermost, and Huss was left in prison. Jerome too had been cited; he also came and was imprisoned. It was a foregone conclusion that Wiclif and his followers must be condemned, to balance what they meant to do with Pope John. When this pontiff's character and conduct were under examination, his crimes proved so frightful, that our Hallam, Bishop of Salisbury, gave it as his opinion, that "he ought to be burned at the stake." He fled from Constance in terror, and the Council solemnly deposed him on the last day of May, 1415. The arrogant John became the most abject of suppliants. In outward appearance, at least, he accepted his sentence, and ratified it by his own hand.

15. THE MARTYRS OF CONSTANCE.

When, after an extraordinary revival of the old scholastic controversies, John Huss found himself condemned, he stood in the presence of Sigismund, and looked him steadfastly in the face, as he said, "I came here on the safe-conduct of the Emperor." Sigismund crimsoned to his forehead, and that blush saved Luther at Worms. Charles-Quint said, "I should not like to blush like Sigismund." It is said that Huss and Jerome both prophesied

a day of other counsels. "You roast a goose to-day," said Huss, punning on his own name; "in a hundred years will come a swan 1 you cannot burn." Why dwell on the heroic martyrdoms of Huss and the brilliant Jerome? Reciting the creeds and praying to Jesus, these intrepid heroes bore witness to the Faith. Æneas Sylvius, afterwards Pope, said: "They went to their punishment as to a feast. Not a word escaped them which betrayed a particle of weakness. In the midst of the flames, without ceasing, they sang hymns to their last breath. No philosopher ever suffered death with such constancy as they endured in the flames."

So speaks one who saw

an enemy and a subsenot say Amen, when I

it all and shared it all, quent Pope. Who will devoutly look up to God and add, May my soul be with theirs when we all come to stand before the only just tribunal, at the last day!

16. THE INFAMY OF CONSTANCE.

The martyrdoms were dramatically carried out, with refinements of cruelty and torture too horrible to narrate. Was there ever such work done by Christians in council assembled under invocation of the Holy Ghost? To a calm observer, there were but hair-splitting differences between the burners and the burnt. Good Lord, forgive them, for they knew not what they did! Constance was smitten with impotency from that hour, and Gerson's great learning and virtues perished without

1 Luther's device was a swan.