596 years today Jan Hus was burnt at the stake
in Constance (Germany)
Jan Hus, who was born in Bohemia in 1369, became one of the greatest personalities in Czech history because he gave all his knowledge, abilities and strength to serving the just cause of the common people. As a poor student at Prague University he became familiar with the hard life of the common people. He was close to them in their sufferings and never became estranged from them. He wrote: "When I was a student they often sang vigils in the church. While we were singing, the priests collected money from the congregation and thus misused us."While still a student Hus came in contact with the work of the English reformer John Wycliffe and was completely won over. It seemed to him that the English thinker was expressing just what he himself felt. It was mainly Wycliffe's principle that the sinful authority ceases to be an authority that aroused Hus's enthusiasm. Wycliffe's criticism of the Church in England had much in common with Hus's critical views of Church and society in Bohemia. That is why Hus was so drawn to Wycliffe's work and made it to theoretical basis of his own critical writings.Hus became Dean and Rector of the Charles University in Prague, but from March 14, 1402, he also preached regularly in the newly built Bethlehem Chapel. In his sermons Hus attacked the rich clergy and the very endeavor of the Church to pile up wealth. He would compare Christ's original Church with the prodigal, luxurious Church of his times. He would show how all the splendor of the prelates, like the <NOBR>luxury</NOBR> of the nobles' castles, came from the effort of the laboring people. Such indictments stirred the exploited people to revolt against their feudal masters.
Hus also gave the ordinary believer self-confidence and courage. In one sermon, for instance, he compared the wretched peasant or a poor old woman with a wealthy and sinful lord or prelate and concluded that the peasant and the old woman, each living a virtuous life, stood higher before Christ than any nobleman or even prince and king. Soon the Czech prelates took steps to silence Hus. They knew that Hus, in demanding <NOBR>complete</NOBR> poverty for the Church, endangered their positions and their material interests. At first Wycliffe's writings were banned by the Archbishop of Prague, and anyone who defended him was to be persecuted as a heretic. By that time Hus already had the support of the people of Prague. He handed over his copies of Wycliffe's writings, which were publicly burnt, but went on claiming his devotion to Wycliffe's work and defending it faithfully.
The conflict between Hus and the prelates led by the Archbishop of Prague reached its climax in 1412. In that year the messengers of Pope John XXIII came to Prague to sell indulgences. The Pope was then at war with the King of Naples and was therefore in need of a considerable amount of money. So he decided to sell indulgences publicly to all Christians. "Everybody who bought indulgences for a certain sum was forgiven his sins and thus could buy himself an after-life in Paradise instead of in hell." Hus severely criticized the Pope's action. He also demanded that the vendors of indulgences should leave Prague. "When, induced by Hus's preachings, three journeymen openly protested in church against such vendors, they were arrested by the city beadles and, in spite of the protests of the people, executed." After this struggle against the sale of indulgences Hus had to leave Prague. "His friends feared for his life, inasmuch as he was excommunicated and Prague placed under and interdict: no Christian was allowed to offer him food or drink or <NOBR>lodging</NOBR>."
Hus then left for southern Bohemia, for Kozi Hradek where he continued his literary work and his sermons. He preached to the people under a linden tree in front of Kozi Hradek and crowds of peasants came from far and near, gathering round him to seek a way out of their misery and poverty. Thus the country people also became drawn to Hus's work. Now that Hus preached to a different type of audience than in Prague, he increased his attacks against the prelates and against all who exploited the "villein" population. He was firmly convinced that his own views, based on the teaching of Holy Scripture, could bring the serfs a better life. Since he was convinced that he defended God's truth, it was indeed the truth of the common laboring people, Hus did not hesitate to accept the invitation to the Church Council in Constance. The disintegration of the church had by this time gone so far that there were three popes who were waging war with one another and voices against the abuses of the Church could be heard everywhere. A section of the high clergy therefore decided to convene a Church Council in order to remove the worst abuses and also to settle the long drawn-out dispute with the Czech "heretic."
Soon after Hus's arrival at the Council he was arrested and thrown into prison. In the winter of 1414 he was carried away to the castle of Gottlieben, where, hands and feet in fetters, he lay in a tower exposed to cold winds. His letters from Constance, which he wrote in prison and sent to Bohemia, are filled with faith and the love of man, of his native country and of the Czech people. Even on July 6, 1415, when led through the streets of Constance in a shameful procession to the stake, Jan Hus remained calm and of good cheer. While bound to the stake, Hus said: "The prime endeavor of all my preaching, teaching and writing and of all my deeds has been to turn people from their sins and this truth that I have written, taught and preached in accordance with the word of God and the teaching of the holy doctors I willingly seal with mydeath today."
After Hus' death, the Hussite movement expanded into all of Bohemia and Moravia as a decidedly popular movement. Almost the entire population became Hussite, including many Germans. At its beginning, the Hussite movement was very dynamic both spiritually and socially. But certainly after years of warlike and spiritual struggling with powers of the counterreformation, Hussitism weakened inside and out. The Hussites turned to so-called Utraquism, a reformed church created with a strongly conservative character, but still one in which a serious impulse toward biblical Christianity was never abandoned. The legally indefensible execution of the Czech "heretic" Jan Hus, and the failure to produce any genuine ecclesiastical reform, fuelled religious dissent in Bohemia, and with it the rise of nonconformist, popular and even nationalist tendencies in religious music. The most important part of the Council Constance was that it brought together music and musicians from almost anywhere in Europe. These people could now meet and learn from each other directly. "The sympathy of the Council fathers did not extend as far as the teaching of Jan Hus, who in his own country recommended sacred song in Latin and Czech, congregationally and privately." The famous cantio de corpore Christi became in its Czech translation an important congregational hymn of the Utraquist Church. But, its fifteenth-century melodic adaptations in diverse sources, and its transfer into the Lutheran Gesangbuch, also show that such music could not be contained within regional, national or confessional borders. Jan Hus stood on the threshold of the new era which within a century of his death resulted in the Reformation. In his moral stature, his unyielding devotion to truth as he knew it, in the purity and integrity of his character, and in his heroic and unswerving loyalty to the Church universal, the body of Christ, he is our judge as well as our inspiration. May he ever continue to give us courageof soul to share his conviction that "Truth conquers all!"
How was executed Jan Hus
Peter from Mladonovice (died in 1451) a writer of foremost escort of Hus Sir Jan from Chlum to Constance and there he learned all the details of Hus' trial and execution. From his first notes was soon created intent to report all the details of beloved Master, and so composed relations in Latin
which by its range, equivalent importance, belongs within chronicle. The author himself named it a "history". Altogether the entire work has five parts. The most important is third and fifth part, in which the Peter's narration reaches high chronicle level.
The fifth section became somehow independent and was used during worship on the Hus holiday as gospel (letters of Hus from Constance then replaced the epistle), first in Latin but very soon in Czech. Translation of this part, made also by Peter (perhaps already in 1417-1420), became widely spread in copying and then imprinting and became for Czech utrakvist some kind of equivalent counterpart to biblical narration about Christ's crucifixion. The sample here is showing the last route of Hus from bishop's cathedral, where he was tried for heresy, condemned by the council and burned at the stake, dying heroically on July 6th, 1415. It is being introduced from the translation from the Latin original into English (NY <NOBR>Columbia University</NOBR> Library . . . )
Jan Hus, who was born in Bohemia in 1369, became one of the greatest personalities in Czech history because he gave all his knowledge, abilities and strength to serving the just cause of the common people. As a poor student at Prague University he became familiar with the hard life of the common people. He was close to them in their sufferings and never became estranged from them. He wrote: "When I was a student they often sang vigils in the church. While we were singing, the priests collected money from the congregation and thus misused us."While still a student Hus came in contact with the work of the English reformer John Wycliffe and was completely won over. It seemed to him that the English thinker was expressing just what he himself felt. It was mainly Wycliffe's principle that the sinful authority ceases to be an authority that aroused Hus's enthusiasm. Wycliffe's criticism of the Church in England had much in common with Hus's critical views of Church and society in Bohemia. That is why Hus was so drawn to Wycliffe's work and made it to theoretical basis of his own critical writings.Hus became Dean and Rector of the Charles University in Prague, but from March 14, 1402, he also preached regularly in the newly built Bethlehem Chapel. In his sermons Hus attacked the rich clergy and the very endeavor of the Church to pile up wealth. He would compare Christ's original Church with the prodigal, luxurious Church of his times. He would show how all the splendor of the prelates, like the <NOBR>luxury</NOBR> of the nobles' castles, came from the effort of the laboring people. Such indictments stirred the exploited people to revolt against their feudal masters.
Hus also gave the ordinary believer self-confidence and courage. In one sermon, for instance, he compared the wretched peasant or a poor old woman with a wealthy and sinful lord or prelate and concluded that the peasant and the old woman, each living a virtuous life, stood higher before Christ than any nobleman or even prince and king. Soon the Czech prelates took steps to silence Hus. They knew that Hus, in demanding <NOBR>complete</NOBR> poverty for the Church, endangered their positions and their material interests. At first Wycliffe's writings were banned by the Archbishop of Prague, and anyone who defended him was to be persecuted as a heretic. By that time Hus already had the support of the people of Prague. He handed over his copies of Wycliffe's writings, which were publicly burnt, but went on claiming his devotion to Wycliffe's work and defending it faithfully.
The conflict between Hus and the prelates led by the Archbishop of Prague reached its climax in 1412. In that year the messengers of Pope John XXIII came to Prague to sell indulgences. The Pope was then at war with the King of Naples and was therefore in need of a considerable amount of money. So he decided to sell indulgences publicly to all Christians. "Everybody who bought indulgences for a certain sum was forgiven his sins and thus could buy himself an after-life in Paradise instead of in hell." Hus severely criticized the Pope's action. He also demanded that the vendors of indulgences should leave Prague. "When, induced by Hus's preachings, three journeymen openly protested in church against such vendors, they were arrested by the city beadles and, in spite of the protests of the people, executed." After this struggle against the sale of indulgences Hus had to leave Prague. "His friends feared for his life, inasmuch as he was excommunicated and Prague placed under and interdict: no Christian was allowed to offer him food or drink or <NOBR>lodging</NOBR>."
Hus then left for southern Bohemia, for Kozi Hradek where he continued his literary work and his sermons. He preached to the people under a linden tree in front of Kozi Hradek and crowds of peasants came from far and near, gathering round him to seek a way out of their misery and poverty. Thus the country people also became drawn to Hus's work. Now that Hus preached to a different type of audience than in Prague, he increased his attacks against the prelates and against all who exploited the "villein" population. He was firmly convinced that his own views, based on the teaching of Holy Scripture, could bring the serfs a better life. Since he was convinced that he defended God's truth, it was indeed the truth of the common laboring people, Hus did not hesitate to accept the invitation to the Church Council in Constance. The disintegration of the church had by this time gone so far that there were three popes who were waging war with one another and voices against the abuses of the Church could be heard everywhere. A section of the high clergy therefore decided to convene a Church Council in order to remove the worst abuses and also to settle the long drawn-out dispute with the Czech "heretic."
Soon after Hus's arrival at the Council he was arrested and thrown into prison. In the winter of 1414 he was carried away to the castle of Gottlieben, where, hands and feet in fetters, he lay in a tower exposed to cold winds. His letters from Constance, which he wrote in prison and sent to Bohemia, are filled with faith and the love of man, of his native country and of the Czech people. Even on July 6, 1415, when led through the streets of Constance in a shameful procession to the stake, Jan Hus remained calm and of good cheer. While bound to the stake, Hus said: "The prime endeavor of all my preaching, teaching and writing and of all my deeds has been to turn people from their sins and this truth that I have written, taught and preached in accordance with the word of God and the teaching of the holy doctors I willingly seal with mydeath today."
After Hus' death, the Hussite movement expanded into all of Bohemia and Moravia as a decidedly popular movement. Almost the entire population became Hussite, including many Germans. At its beginning, the Hussite movement was very dynamic both spiritually and socially. But certainly after years of warlike and spiritual struggling with powers of the counterreformation, Hussitism weakened inside and out. The Hussites turned to so-called Utraquism, a reformed church created with a strongly conservative character, but still one in which a serious impulse toward biblical Christianity was never abandoned. The legally indefensible execution of the Czech "heretic" Jan Hus, and the failure to produce any genuine ecclesiastical reform, fuelled religious dissent in Bohemia, and with it the rise of nonconformist, popular and even nationalist tendencies in religious music. The most important part of the Council Constance was that it brought together music and musicians from almost anywhere in Europe. These people could now meet and learn from each other directly. "The sympathy of the Council fathers did not extend as far as the teaching of Jan Hus, who in his own country recommended sacred song in Latin and Czech, congregationally and privately." The famous cantio de corpore Christi became in its Czech translation an important congregational hymn of the Utraquist Church. But, its fifteenth-century melodic adaptations in diverse sources, and its transfer into the Lutheran Gesangbuch, also show that such music could not be contained within regional, national or confessional borders. Jan Hus stood on the threshold of the new era which within a century of his death resulted in the Reformation. In his moral stature, his unyielding devotion to truth as he knew it, in the purity and integrity of his character, and in his heroic and unswerving loyalty to the Church universal, the body of Christ, he is our judge as well as our inspiration. May he ever continue to give us courageof soul to share his conviction that "Truth conquers all!"
How was executed Jan Hus
Peter from Mladonovice (died in 1451) a writer of foremost escort of Hus Sir Jan from Chlum to Constance and there he learned all the details of Hus' trial and execution. From his first notes was soon created intent to report all the details of beloved Master, and so composed relations in Latin
which by its range, equivalent importance, belongs within chronicle. The author himself named it a "history". Altogether the entire work has five parts. The most important is third and fifth part, in which the Peter's narration reaches high chronicle level. The fifth section became somehow independent and was used during worship on the Hus holiday as gospel (letters of Hus from Constance then replaced the epistle), first in Latin but very soon in Czech. Translation of this part, made also by Peter (perhaps already in 1417-1420), became widely spread in copying and then imprinting and became for Czech utrakvist some kind of equivalent counterpart to biblical narration about Christ's crucifixion. The sample here is showing the last route of Hus from bishop's cathedral, where he was tried for heresy, condemned by the council and burned at the stake, dying heroically on July 6th, 1415. It is being introduced from the translation from the Latin original into English (NY <NOBR>Columbia University</NOBR> Library . . . )
. . . but prior to that they placed on his head a paper crown for vilification, saying to him among other things: "We commit your soul to the devil!" And he, joining his hands and lifting his eyes to heavens, said: "And I commit it to the most merciful Lord Jesus Christ <NOBR>on account of</NOBR> me, a miserable wretch, bore a much heavier and harsher crown of thorns. Being innocent, he was deemed deserving of the most shameful death. Therefore I, a miserable wretch and sinner, will humbly bear this much lighter, even though vilifying crown for His name and truth."
The paper crown was round almost eighteen inches high, and on it were shown three horrible devils about to seize a soul and to tear it among themselves with claws. The inscription on that crown describing his guilt read: "This is a heresiarch."
Then the king said to Duke Ludwig, the son of the late Clem of Bavaria, who then stood before him in his robes, holding the golden orb with the cross in his hands: "Go receive him!" And the said Clem's son then received the Master, giving him into the hands of the executioners to be led to death.
When so crowned he was then led from the said church; they were burning his books at that hour in the church cemetery. When in passing by he saw it, he smiled at this their act. On his way indeed he exhorted those standing around or follow him not to believe that he was to die on account of errors falsely ascribed to him and deposed by the false testimony of his chief enemies. Indeed, almost all the inhabitants of that city, bearing arms , accompanied him to death.
And having come to the place of execution, he, bending his knee and stretching his hands and turning his eyes toward heaven, most devoutly sang psalms, and particularly, "Have mercy on me, God," and "In Thee, Lord, have I trusted," repeating the verse "In Thy hands, Lord." His own [friends] who stood about then heard him praying joyfully and with a glad countenance.
The place of execution was among gardens in a certain meadow as one goes from Constance toward the fortress of Gottlieben, between the gates and the moats of the suburbs of the said city. Some of the lay people standing about said: "We do not know what or how he acted and spoke formerly, but now in truth we see and hear that he prays and speaks with holy words." And others said: "It would certainly be well that he have a confessor that he might be heard." But a certain priest in a green suit with a red silk lining, sitting on a horse , said: "He should not be heard, nor a confessor be given to him, for he is a heretic."
But Master John, while he was still in prison, had confessed to a certain doctor, a monk, and had been kindly heard and absolved by him, as he himself stated in one of the letters to his [friends] from prison. When he was praying, the offensive crown already mentioned, painted with three devils, fell from his head. When he perceived it, he smiled. Some of the hired soldiers standing by said: "Put it on him again so that he might be burned along with the devils, his masters, whom he served on earth."
And rising at the order of the executioner from the place where he was praying, he said in a loud and clear voice, so that his [friends] could plainly hear him: "Lord Jesus Christ, I am willing to bear most patiently and humbly this dreadful, ignominious, and cruel death for Thy gospel and for the preaching of Shy World." Then they decided to take him among the bystanders. He urged and begged them not to believe that he in any way held, preached, or taught the articles with which he have been charged by false witnesses.
Then having been divested of his clothing, he was tied to a stake with ropes, his hands tied behind his back. And when he was turned facing east, some of the bystanders said: " let him not to be tuned facing east, because he is a heretic; but turn him toward the west." So that was done.
When he was bound by the neck with a sooty chain, he looked at it and, smiling, said to the executioners: "The Lord Jesus Christ, my Redeemer and Savior, was bound by a harder and heavier chain. And I, a miserable wretch, am not ashamed to bear being bound for His name by this one." The stake was like a thick post half a foot thick, they sharpened one end of it and fixed it in the ground of that meadow. They place two bound bundles of wood under the Master's feed. When tied to that stake, he still had his shoes on and one shackle on his feet. Indeed, the said bundles of wood, interspersed with straw, were piled around his body so that they reached up to his chin. For the wood amounted to two wagon - or carloads.
Before it was kindled, the imperial marshal, Hoppe of Poppenheim, approached him along with the son of the late Clem, as it was said, exhorting him to save his life by abjuring and recanting his former preaching and teaching. But he, looking up to heaven, replied in a loud voice: "God is my witness," he exclaimed, "that those things that are falsely ascribed to me and of which the false witnesses accused me, I have never taught or preached. But that the principal intention of my preaching and of all my other acts or writings was solely that I might turn men from sin. And in that truth of the Gospel that I wrote, taught, and preached is accordance with the sayings and expositions of the holy doctors, I am willing gladly to die today."
And hearing that, the said marshal with the son of Clem immediately clapped their hands and retreated.
When the executioners at once lit [the fire], the Master immediately began to sing in a loud voice, at first "Christ, Thou son of the God, have mercy upon us," and secondly, Christ, Thou son of the God, have mercy upon me," and in the third place, "Thou Who art born of Mary the Virgin." And when he began to sing the third time, the wind blew the flame into his face. And thus praying within himself and moving his lips and the head, he expired in the Lord. While he was silent, he seemed to move before he actually died for about the time one can quickly recite "Our Father" two or at most three times.
When the wood of those bundles and ropes were consummated, but the remains of the body still stood in those chains, hanging by the neck, the executioners pulled the charred body along with the stake down to the ground and burned them further by adding wood from the third wagon to the fire. And walking around, they broke the bones with clubs so that they would be incinerated more quickly.
And finding the head, they broke it to pieces with the clubs and again threw it into the fire. And when they found his heart among the intestines, they sharpened a club like a spit, and, impaling it on its end, they took particular [care] to roast and consume it, piercing it with spears until finally the whole mass was turned into ashes.
And on the order of the said Clem and his marshal, the executioners threw the clothing into the fire along with the shoes, saying "So that the Czechs would not regard it as relics; we will pay you money for it." Which they did. So they loaded all the ashes in a cart and threw it into the river Rhine flowing nearby. __________________________________
Luther said it best: "The truth is, we [i.e., gospel-believers] are all Hussites."
The paper crown was round almost eighteen inches high, and on it were shown three horrible devils about to seize a soul and to tear it among themselves with claws. The inscription on that crown describing his guilt read: "This is a heresiarch."
Then the king said to Duke Ludwig, the son of the late Clem of Bavaria, who then stood before him in his robes, holding the golden orb with the cross in his hands: "Go receive him!" And the said Clem's son then received the Master, giving him into the hands of the executioners to be led to death.
When so crowned he was then led from the said church; they were burning his books at that hour in the church cemetery. When in passing by he saw it, he smiled at this their act. On his way indeed he exhorted those standing around or follow him not to believe that he was to die on account of errors falsely ascribed to him and deposed by the false testimony of his chief enemies. Indeed, almost all the inhabitants of that city, bearing arms , accompanied him to death.
And having come to the place of execution, he, bending his knee and stretching his hands and turning his eyes toward heaven, most devoutly sang psalms, and particularly, "Have mercy on me, God," and "In Thee, Lord, have I trusted," repeating the verse "In Thy hands, Lord." His own [friends] who stood about then heard him praying joyfully and with a glad countenance.
The place of execution was among gardens in a certain meadow as one goes from Constance toward the fortress of Gottlieben, between the gates and the moats of the suburbs of the said city. Some of the lay people standing about said: "We do not know what or how he acted and spoke formerly, but now in truth we see and hear that he prays and speaks with holy words." And others said: "It would certainly be well that he have a confessor that he might be heard." But a certain priest in a green suit with a red silk lining, sitting on a horse , said: "He should not be heard, nor a confessor be given to him, for he is a heretic."
But Master John, while he was still in prison, had confessed to a certain doctor, a monk, and had been kindly heard and absolved by him, as he himself stated in one of the letters to his [friends] from prison. When he was praying, the offensive crown already mentioned, painted with three devils, fell from his head. When he perceived it, he smiled. Some of the hired soldiers standing by said: "Put it on him again so that he might be burned along with the devils, his masters, whom he served on earth."
And rising at the order of the executioner from the place where he was praying, he said in a loud and clear voice, so that his [friends] could plainly hear him: "Lord Jesus Christ, I am willing to bear most patiently and humbly this dreadful, ignominious, and cruel death for Thy gospel and for the preaching of Shy World." Then they decided to take him among the bystanders. He urged and begged them not to believe that he in any way held, preached, or taught the articles with which he have been charged by false witnesses.
Then having been divested of his clothing, he was tied to a stake with ropes, his hands tied behind his back. And when he was turned facing east, some of the bystanders said: " let him not to be tuned facing east, because he is a heretic; but turn him toward the west." So that was done.
When he was bound by the neck with a sooty chain, he looked at it and, smiling, said to the executioners: "The Lord Jesus Christ, my Redeemer and Savior, was bound by a harder and heavier chain. And I, a miserable wretch, am not ashamed to bear being bound for His name by this one." The stake was like a thick post half a foot thick, they sharpened one end of it and fixed it in the ground of that meadow. They place two bound bundles of wood under the Master's feed. When tied to that stake, he still had his shoes on and one shackle on his feet. Indeed, the said bundles of wood, interspersed with straw, were piled around his body so that they reached up to his chin. For the wood amounted to two wagon - or carloads.
Before it was kindled, the imperial marshal, Hoppe of Poppenheim, approached him along with the son of the late Clem, as it was said, exhorting him to save his life by abjuring and recanting his former preaching and teaching. But he, looking up to heaven, replied in a loud voice: "God is my witness," he exclaimed, "that those things that are falsely ascribed to me and of which the false witnesses accused me, I have never taught or preached. But that the principal intention of my preaching and of all my other acts or writings was solely that I might turn men from sin. And in that truth of the Gospel that I wrote, taught, and preached is accordance with the sayings and expositions of the holy doctors, I am willing gladly to die today."
And hearing that, the said marshal with the son of Clem immediately clapped their hands and retreated.
When the executioners at once lit [the fire], the Master immediately began to sing in a loud voice, at first "Christ, Thou son of the God, have mercy upon us," and secondly, Christ, Thou son of the God, have mercy upon me," and in the third place, "Thou Who art born of Mary the Virgin." And when he began to sing the third time, the wind blew the flame into his face. And thus praying within himself and moving his lips and the head, he expired in the Lord. While he was silent, he seemed to move before he actually died for about the time one can quickly recite "Our Father" two or at most three times.
When the wood of those bundles and ropes were consummated, but the remains of the body still stood in those chains, hanging by the neck, the executioners pulled the charred body along with the stake down to the ground and burned them further by adding wood from the third wagon to the fire. And walking around, they broke the bones with clubs so that they would be incinerated more quickly.
And finding the head, they broke it to pieces with the clubs and again threw it into the fire. And when they found his heart among the intestines, they sharpened a club like a spit, and, impaling it on its end, they took particular [care] to roast and consume it, piercing it with spears until finally the whole mass was turned into ashes.
And on the order of the said Clem and his marshal, the executioners threw the clothing into the fire along with the shoes, saying "So that the Czechs would not regard it as relics; we will pay you money for it." Which they did. So they loaded all the ashes in a cart and threw it into the river Rhine flowing nearby. __________________________________
Luther said it best: "The truth is, we [i.e., gospel-believers] are all Hussites."
