of preaching on the burning topics of the day; and the most popular
topic then was the detested power of Germans in Bohemia. German
soldiers ravaged the land; German nobles held offices of state; and
German scholars, in Prague University, had three-fourths of the
voting power. The Bohemian people were furious. John Hus fanned
the flame. "We Bohemians," he declared in a fiery sermon, "are more
wretched than dogs or snakes. A dog defends the couch on which he
lies. If another dog tries to drive him off, he fights him. A
snake does the same. But us the Germans oppress. They seize the
offices of state, and we are dumb. In France the French are
foremost. In Germany the Germans are foremost. What use would a
Bohemian bishop or priest, who did not know the German language, be
in Germany? He would be as useful as a dumb dog, who cannot bark,
to a flock of sheep. Of exactly the same use are German priests to
us. It is against the law of God! I pronounce it illegal." At
last a regulation was made by King Wenceslaus that the Bohemians
should be more fairly represented at Prague University. They had
now three votes out of four. John Hus was credited by the people
with bringing about the change. He became more popular than ever.

If Hus had only halted here, it is probable that he would have been
allowed to die in peace in his bed in a good old age, and his name
would be found enrolled to-day in the long list of Catholic saints.
However wicked the clergy may have been, they could hardly call a
man a heretic for telling them plainly about the blots in their
lives. But Hus soon stepped outside these narrow bounds. The more
closely he studied the works of Wycliffe, the more convinced he
became that, on the whole, the great English Reformer was right; and
before long, in the boldest possible way, he began to preach
Wycliffe's doctrines in his sermons, and to publish them in his