Chapter LXXV: Preface: Of Martin Luther to the Four Letters of John Huss, Which He

CAUSED TO BE TRANSLATED INTO LATIN, AND WHICH HE PUBLISHED
SEPARATELY AT WIRTEMBERG, IN THE YEAR 1536.

Of these four Letters, written by John Huss in the Bohemian tongue, I have procured a Latin translation, with the view of publishing them forthwith, in the same year fixed for a General Council, at the earnest request of our illustrious Emperor Charles. I have not taken this trouble with the view of calling down indignation and contempt upon the Council of Constance. This, on account of its culpable acts, I have done elsewhere, and will always be ready to do, in defence of the interests of the whole Church. My motive in publishing these Letters, is, if God permits the said Council to assemble, to warn the members to take care not to follow the example of the Council of Constance, in which the Truth was exposed to such lengthened and violent attacks; and yet, nevertheless, now triumphs, and, raising its victorious head, shews this unworthy assembly in its naked aspect, and stripped of its tyrannical authority. In this Council, indeed, the cardinals and most distinguished men aimed principally at extinguishing schism; they abandoned the cause of religion as below their notice, and left it to the perverse race of monks and sophists; from whence has sprung, as formerly from Babylon, all the evil which has produced, in Germany and in Bohemia, so many calamities, wars, massacres, and inextinguishable hatreds. The Papacy, freed from schism, did not afterwards behave less cruelly towards the world, filling the churches with false doctrines, indulgences, mercenary masses, and all sorts of inventions of priests and monks. Such are the fruits of this sacred Council; it would, therefore, be dangerous to trust again, at this time, the interests of religion to the rage of these perverse men; but it is of consequence that kings, princes, and bishops, combine all their energies, in order that similar calamities, and more frightful ones, be not the result of the new Council now summoned.

Certainly God has sufficiently shewn, in the Council of Constance, how he resists the proud, how he confounds the lofty in their own designs, without regard to the external dignity of any one.

I publish, therefore, these Letters with the design of giving salutary warning. He who, having been thus warned, will not listen to advice, will perish dreadfully, but not through my fault. May Jesus Christ give us the spirit of prayer, and grant to those who are called to direct this Council, to seek first the things which are of God, and to neglect and undervalue those which concern themselves.

+Note B.+, p. 197.

TREATISES OF JOHN HUSS, ACCORDING TO THE ORDER OF THEIR DATES.

1^o. Treatise on the Glorified Blood of Jesus Christ.[167]

2^o. Treatise on the Books of Heretics which should be read and not
burned.

3^o. Answer to the Englishman John Stokes, the Calmuniator of
Wycliffe.

4^o. Vindication of some of the Articles of Wycliffe.

5^o. On the Withdrawal of Temporal Goods from the Clergy.

6^o. On Tithes.

7^o. On the Crusade published by Pope John XXIII. against Ladislaus.

8^o. Refutation of the Bull of John XXIII. touching the Indulgences
for that Crusade.

9^o. Answer to an Unknown Adversary.

10^o. Answer to the Preacher in Plzna.

11^o. Of the Five Duties of a Priest.

12^o. On the question of knowing whether it be allowable publicly to
denounce the Views of the Clergy.

13^o. Researches upon Three Doubts, namely, Whether we must believe
in the Pope? Whether it be possible to be saved without Confession to
a Priest? and whether any learned Doctor has said that any of those
overtaken with Pharaoh, or destroyed with Sodom, can be saved?

14^o. On what we must Believe?

15^o. Treatise on the Six Errors received in the Church.

16^o. Answer to Stephen Paletz.

17^o. Answer to Stanislaus by Znöima.

18^o. Refutation of the Writings of Eight Doctors of Theology.

19^o. Treatise of the Church.

20^o. The Book of Antichrist.--Anatomy of its Members.

21^o. Of the Reign, the Life, and the Manners of Antichrist.

22^o. Of the Abomination of Priests and Monks in the Church of Jesus
Christ.

TREATISES WRITTEN BY JOHN HUSS IN HIS PRISON, FOR THE EDIFICATION OF
HIS KEEPERS.

1^o. Explanation of the Apostles’ Creed, of the Decalogue, and of the
Lord’s Prayer.

2^o. Of Mortal Sins.

3^o. Of Marriage.

4^o. Of the Knowledge and Love of God.

5^o. Of the Three Enemies of Man.

6^o. Of the Seven Mortal Sins.

7^o. Of Penitence.

8^o. Of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ.

TREATISES OMITTED IN THE FIRST EDITION OF THE WORKS OF JOHN HUSS, THE
DATES OF WHICH ARE UNKNOWN.

1^o. Against the Opinion that the Body of Christ is Created in the
Sacrament of the Altar.

2^o. Against the Worshipping of Images.

3^o. Of the Abolition of Sects and Human Traditions.

4^o. Of Schism and the Unity of the Church.

5^o. Of Evangelical Perfection.

6^o. A Fragment on the Mystery of Iniquity.

7^o. A Fragment on the Revelation of Christ and Antichrist.

8^o. Fragments on Diverse Subjects.

FOOTNOTE:

[167] This Treatise, approved of by the Archbishop Sbinks, is as early as the year 1404 or 1405. It was written before John Huss had been denounced or persecuted by the clergy.

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Transcriber’s Note

Errors in punctuation have been fixed.

Spelling has been retained as printed in the original publication, except as follows:

Page 5: "porens" changed to "porcus"

Page 22: "Chris" changed to "Christ"

Page 75: "latin" changed to "Latin"

Page 201: "Clemangis" changed to "Clémangis"

Page 202: "pars sult" changed to "pars vult"

Enclosed italics font in _underscores_

Enclosed smallcaps font in +plus signs+

The caret (^) serves as a superscript indicator