“You may cook this goose, but there will come a swan who will not be silenced," said John Huss to the bishop who ordered his execution, A century later, Martin Luther happened upon a volume of sermons by John Huss. "I was overwhelmed with astonishment," Luther later wrote. "I could not understand for what cause they had burnt so great a man, who explained the Scriptures with so much gravity and skill."
Huss would become a hero to Luther and many other reformers, for Huss preached key Reformation themes (like hostility to indulgences) a century before Luther drew up his 95 Theses. But the reformers also looked to Huss's life, in particular, his steadfast commitment in the face of the Catholic church's cunning brutality.
