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HUT 



If nm. 1 1 ad really held; but with regard to the greater num- 

 ~"Y""~ ' ber, he utterly denied them, declaring tint they were 

 either garbled and distorted, or altogether forged by 

 his enemies. Some of the prelates, and even the em- 

 peror himself, now urged him to retract and abjure the 

 whole of these articles ; but Huss required that he 

 should first be convicted of error ; for so long as this 

 was not done, it was impossible for him to retract any 

 of his opinions. And to this determination he adhered, 

 with immoveable firmness, as often as the council en- 

 deavoured to induce him to retract, and even threaten- 

 ed to bring him to the stake. 



At length, in the 15th session, which Sigismund at- 

 tended in person, the final sentence was pronounced, 

 that the writings of Huss should be publicly burnt; 

 and that he himself, as a manifest heretic, who openly 

 taught, and refused to retract, doctrines which had 

 long been condemned as dangerous to the Catholic 

 faith, should be deprived of his ecclesiastical dignity, 

 and delivered over, for punishment, to the temporal 

 arm. Huss, who was obliged to listen on his knees 

 while this sentence was publicly read, repeatedly at- 

 tempted to complain, and to vindicate himself in regard 

 to several offences which were falsely laid to his charge ; 

 but he was always interrupted, and compelled to keep 

 ilence. The unfortunate victim was now forced to 

 submit to the punishment of degradation, which was 

 performed with several absurd ceremonies by seven 

 bishops commissioned for that purpose. He was then 

 delivered over, by the emperor, to the elector palatine, 

 who was commanded to execute upon him the usual 

 punishment of heretics. 



Immediately after the termination of the session, 

 Huss was conducted under a strong escort to the square 

 in front of the-episcopal palace, where he was compelled 

 to witness the public burning of his writings ; and from 

 thence to the place of execution before the city gate. 

 While he was preparing for the stake, several fruitless 

 attempts were made to extort from him a recantation ; 

 but his fortitude remained unshaken to the last. When 

 he was fastened to the stake, and fire was laid to the 

 faggots around him, he continued his devotional exer- 

 cises until the vital spark became extinct within him. 

 His ashes were gathered up and thrown into the 

 Rhine. 



Such was the fate of John Huss, who fell a victim to 

 the most abominable persecution. His talents and ac- 

 quirements, although not of the first order, were highly 

 respectable ; and his moral character was universally 

 acknowledged to be irreproachable. In his manners 

 he was gentle and condescending. Strict in his prin- 

 ciples, and virtuous in his conduct, he looked more to 

 the practice than to the opinions of others. His piety 

 was calm, rational, and manly ; and his zeal in the 

 cause of Clirislhnity was untainted with fanaticism. 

 The events of his life sufficiently prove, that his forti- 

 tude was not to be shaken by any human power. 



It is difficult to conceive how such a character as 

 that of Huss should have been exposed to such unre- 

 lenting animosity and furious persecution. His creed, 

 it is true, did not exactly square with the tenets of the 

 established orthodox faith ; yet several of his persecu- 

 tors had publicly maintained almost all the offensive 

 doctrines which he was charged with disseminating. 

 It seems most probable, according to the opinion of 

 some authors, that the violent animosity excited against 

 him is to be ascribed chiefly to the zeal with which lie 

 declaimed against the dissolute morals of the ecclesias- 

 tics., the usurpations of the Roman court, and tlie tem- 



poralities of the clergy. These principles were natu- HUM, 

 rally considered as dangerous to the power and influ- Hutoheswn. 

 ence of the priesthood ; and his brethren, who dreaded '"""""'""' 

 the effects of his eloquence and example, were glad to 

 have recourse to an accusation of heresy, as the best 

 and least unpopular means of destroying the enemy 

 of their corruptions, and of crushing those principle* 

 which appeared subversive of their privileges and pre- 

 tensions. 



Jerome of Prague, the friend and pupil of Huss, 

 underwent the same fate with his companion. He, in- 

 deed, was at first terrified into a temporary submission ; 

 but he afterwards resumed his fortitude ; and, at length, 

 on the 30th of May, 1416, sealed by martyrdom faig 

 belief in the principles he professed. 



The memory of John Huss was long cherished by 

 his countrymen, the Bohemians ; the sixth of July wa* 

 for many years held sacred, as the anniversary of his 

 martyrdom, and medals were struck in honour of the 

 martyr. The Bohemian and Moravian nobles address- 

 ed a spirited protest to the council of Constance, in an- 

 swer to the intimation of his sentence and execution ; 

 and the zeal of his indignant disciples afterwards broke 

 out into an open war against the emperor, which wa 

 conducted, on both sides, with a savage spirit of bar- 

 barity, and gave rise to acts of atrocity at which hu- 

 manity shudders. These troubles were at length for- 

 tunately terminated by the interference of the council 

 of Basil in the year 1433. See Zitte I^ebens beschrei- 

 bung des Mag. Johan. Huss, Prague, 1789; jKn. Syl- 

 vii Hist. Bofiem. in Freheri Script, rer. Bohem. ; Wil. 

 Seyfried De Johannis Iliissi martyris vita, falls el 

 scriptis, Jena, 1743; Pelzel's Geschichte der Bohmen, 

 Prague, 1782; Mosheim's Ecclesiast. Hist. vol. iii. ; 

 Gilpin's Lives, Life of John Huss ; and the Gen. Biog. 

 Diet, (z) 



. HUSUM is a sea-port town of Denmark, situated on 

 the west coast of the duchy of Sleswick, about two 

 miles from the email river Chv, and about four from 

 Sleswick. It was formerly celebrated for the great 

 quantities of malt wliich it exported. At one time 40 

 large vessels belonged to this town, and the oyster 

 trade was almost confined to its inhabitants. 



HUTCHESON, FRANCIS, an ingenious philosopher 

 Gild elegant writer, was the son of a dissenting minister 

 in the north of Ireland, and was born on the 8th of 

 August 1G94. From his childhood he discovered a su- 

 perior capacity, and an ardent thirst after knowledge ; 

 and having received the usual elementary instruction at a 

 grammar-school, he was sent to an academy to begin his 

 course of philosophy. In the year 1710, he was entered 

 a student in the university of Glasgow; where he renew- 

 ed his application to the study of the Latin and Greek 

 languages, and explored every province of literature; 

 but devoted himself chiefly to divinity, which he propo- 

 sed to make the peculiar study and profession of his life. 



After spending six years at Glasgow, he returned to 

 his native country ; and having entered into the minis- 

 try, he was just about to be settled in a small congre- 

 gation of Dissenters in the north of Ireland, when 

 some gentlemen about Dublin, Vho were acquainted 

 with his great talents and virtues, invited him to under- 

 take the charge of a private academy in that city. With 

 this invitation he complied ; and he had resided but a 

 short time in Dublin, when his talents and accomplisli- 

 ments attracted general notice, and procured him the 

 acquaintance of persons of all ranks, who had any taste 

 for literature. Lord Molesworth is said to have taken 

 great delight in his conversation, and to have assisted 



