Bede, in speaking of our Saviour, repeats this passage:--“Go ye into the village that is over against you, and immediately you shall find an ass tied, and a colt with him: loose them, and bring them to me: and if any man say any thing to you, say ye, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will let them go.” Jesus Christ, says Bede, teaches mystically the doctors, by these words, that if they meet with any obstacle, if any one prevents them from freeing sinners from the bonds of the devil, from drawing them to God in confessing the faith, they ought not, for this reason, to renounce preaching his word, but should, on the contrary, continue to insinuate it into their souls; for the Lord has need of such labourers to edify his Church. Who could, in fact, quote all that the saints have written, when teaching us, that it is better to obey God than man? Our oppressors oppose to us these words:--“All, therefore, whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do,” (Matth. xxiii.); but they are reduced to silence by the prohibition which follows:--“But do not ye after their works.” God says, (Deut. xxiv.)--“Do according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach you: as I commanded them, so ye shall observe to do.” The Lord desires, therefore, that he who obeys, should only do so after his own commandments. It is also said, (1 Pet. ii.)--“Servants be subject to your masters with all fear.” And the Apostle further adds:--“Not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.” Not, however, in things in which they are wickedly inclined; for that would be to obey the devil. The will of God and the Holy Scriptures, therefore, teach us, that obedience to superiors is obligatory only in lawful matters. I have clung firmly to this truth, and have preferred in my sermons, to inculcate obedience to God, rather than to the pope and the archbishop, or any others that may oppose this saying of Christ. I put my name to these words, in order to teach you how to confront the emissaries of the devil.[33] FOOTNOTES: [32] Although this letter was more particularly addressed to John Barbat, Huss intended it to be read to several others. [33] “Ut sciatis canibus diaboli obviare.” LETTER VI. TO THE BELIEVERS IN PRAGUE. [He felicitates them on the constancy with which they listen to the word of God.] John Huss, a servant of Jesus Christ in hope, to all those who love God, who confess his law, in expectation of the Saviour, with whom they desire to live for all eternity! Grace be with you, and the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ, who offered himself as a victim for our sins, to deliver us from this world of affliction, and from eternal damnation, according to the will of God the Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever!