The prophet has shewn it to us when he declares, that he who teaches falsehood is the tail of Antichrist, and a grave old man is the head. The Lord will confound both one and the other; he will confound the pope and his preachers, his officers and his doctors, who, under a false name of holiness, conceive abominations. What greater abomination is there than that of the prostitute, who abandons herself publicly to every comer? Nevertheless, the abomination is greater still of him who, sitting in high places, offers himself, as if he were God, to the adoration of all;[31] traffics in spiritual things, and sells all that he possesses not. Woe, then, unto me if I preach not against such an abomination! Woe unto me if I weep not, if I write not against it! Can you find one man for whom such things are not a calamity? Already the great eagle takes its flight and cries to us: “Woe! woe to the inhabitants of the earth!” FOOTNOTES: [30] John Huss alludes to his name, which, in the Bohemian, signifies _goose_. [31] “Adhuc major est abominatio bestiæ, quæ parata est a quocumque veniente adorari.” LETTER V. TO JOHN BARBAT. [Huss consoles him, and justifies himself by exposing why he preferred obeying God, who had commanded him to preach, to the pope, the archbishop, and all those who had prohibited him from so doing.] I salute you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! I have learned, my beloved friends,[32] your grievous affliction. Look upon it as for your good; for it is to bring to light your firmness and your constancy, that you have fallen into various temptations. I also, my very dear friends, have been tempted; and I rejoice at last that I am called a heretic for the gospel’s sake, and excommunicated like a rebellious and wicked man. To fortify in me the sweet calm of my soul, I have called to mind the life and words of Christ and the Apostles (Acts, iv.). I remembered in what manner Annas, the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and all the kindred of the high priest, when they addressed the Apostles, prohibited them from speaking and teaching in the name of Jesus. “_But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God, to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard._” And when the same priests prohibited them a second time from preaching, they replied (Acts, v.), “_We ought to obey God rather than man_.” It is true that the pagans, the Jews, and the heretics, all regulate their conduct on this precept of the obedience that is due unto God. Alas! this maxim blinds those who are not Christians, but not the Apostles, nor the true disciples of Christ.