books. He knew precisely what he was doing. He knew that
Wycliffe's doctrines had been condemned by the English Church
Council at Black-Friars. He knew that these very same doctrines had
been condemned at a meeting of the Prague University Masters. He
knew that no fewer than two hundred volumes of Wycliffe's works had
been publicly burned at Prague, in the courtyard of the Archbishop's
Palace. He knew, in a word, that Wycliffe was regarded as a
heretic; and yet he deliberately defended Wycliffe's teaching. It
is this that justifies us in calling him a Protestant, and this that
caused the Catholics to call him a heretic.

John Hus, moreover, knew what the end would be. If he stood to his
guns they would burn him, and burned he longed to be. The
Archbishop forbade him to preach in the Bethlehem Chapel. John Hus,
defiant, went on preaching. At one service he actually read to the
people a letter he had received from Richard Wyche, one of
Wycliffe's followers. As the years rolled on he became more
"heterodox" than ever. At this period there were still two rival
Popes, and the great question arose in Bohemia which Pope the clergy
there were to recognise. John Hus refused to recognise either. At
last one of the rival Popes, the immoral John XXIII., sent a number
of preachers to Prague on a very remarkable errand. He wanted money
to raise an army to go to war with the King of Naples; the King of
Naples had supported the other Pope, Gregory XII., and now Pope John
sent his preachers to Prague to sell indulgences at popular prices.
They entered the city preceded by drummers, and posted themselves
in the market place. They had a curious message to deliver. If the
good people, said they, would buy these indulgences, they would be
doing two good things: they would obtain the full forgiveness of
their sins, and support the one lawful Pope in his holy campaign.