The letters of John Hus/Letter 80, To John of Chlum
LXXX. To John of Chlum
(June 29, 1415)
Most gracious benefactor, dearly beloved in Christ Jesus, I rejoice without measure that I can still, by the grace of God, write to your grace. I gathered from yesterday’s letter,[1] firstly, how the iniquity of the great harlot—that is, of the blaspheming congregation, of which we read in the Apocalypse—is and shall be made bare, with which harlot the kings of the earth commit fornication.[2] In the same place, likewise, it is written that they commit fornication spiritually, that they depart from Christ and His truth and consent to the falsehood of Antichrist, whether by being seduced or terrified, or by being led to hope in the confederacy for the winning of the world's honour. Secondly, I gathered from the letter how that already the enemies of the truth are beginning to be troubled. Thirdly, I gathered the news of your grace's fervent loyalty, whereby you boldly profess the truth, knowing the baseness of the great harlot. Fourthly, I rejoice to gather that you now desire to put an end to the vanities of this world and to its toilsome service and to fight for Jesus Christ at home. To serve Christ is to reign with Him, as Gregory saith: He that faithfully serves Him will have Christ in the fatherland of heaven as his minister. Christ Himself saith: Blessed is that servant, whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Amen. I say unto you, that he will rise and gird himself, and will minister to him.[3] The kings of this world do not act thus with their servants. They only care for them so long as they are useful and necessary to them. Not so Christ, the King of glory, Who hath to-day[4] crowned the apostles Peter and Paul—Peter by crucifixion, Paul by beheading—and welcomed them into the kingdom of the heavenly fatherland. Peter was four times imprisoned and was led forth by an angel. Paul was thrice beaten with rods, once stoned, twice suffered shipwreck,[5] for two years bound with chains and in divers ways afflicted; who saith in his epistle: We were pressed out of measure above our strength, so that we were weary even of life.[6] They have now passed their trials and torments, and there remaineth for them infinite bliss and the life of quietness that knows no suffering. Now Peter and Paul reign with the King above, now they are with the choirs of angels, now they see the King in His beauty, now are they released from weariness and are full of bliss unspeakable. May those glorious martyrs, thus united with the King of glory, deign to intercede for us, that, strengthened by their help, we may be partakers in their glory, by patiently suffering what ever God Almighty shall ordain in this world for our greater good. Amen.
I beg you for God’s sake still keep on writing, if you can. I ask especially that greetings be conveyed to her Majesty the Queen,[7] and that she be counselled to be loyal to the truth and not offended in me, as though I were a heretic. Convey my greetings to your wife also, whom I beg you to love in Christ Jesus; for I trust she is a daughter of God through her obedience to His commands. Greet all the friends of the truth for God’s sake.