These prison letters are generally undated, and contain few indications of time. The student will understand that the order in which they are arranged is therefore to a large extent conjecture, and indicates merely whether in our opinion the letters come early or late in this first imprisonment. With one or two exceptions, we have seen little reason to question in this matter the judgment of Palacky. That Letters XLIL.-V. were written in February 1415 is clear from a statement of Fillastre in his Diary, that that month was filled up with Inquisition matters, only to be broken off towards the close by the issue of the abdication of John (see Fillastre in Finke, op. cit. 166). Of the value of the letters themselves we need say little. They will appeal to every reader by their tenderness and true piety.
To the ProPLE or Prague! (Blackfriars, January 19, 1415)
May it please God to be with you, that ye may persevere in resisting wickedness, the devil, the world, and the flesh.
Dear friends, I beseech you, as I sit here in my prison, of which I am not ashamed, seeing that I suffer in hope for God’s sake, Who visited me in His mercy even with a sore sickness, and hath brought me back again to health, and suffered those to be my most persistent foes whom I had treated with much kindness, and had sincerely loved.
Written in Czech
I beseech you, I say, to pray God for me that it may please Him to be with me. For in Him alone I have hope, and in the prayers you offer to Him, that He will cause me to be faithful in His grace even unto death. If at this time it shall please Him to take me to Himself, His holy will be done; or if He shall deign to restore me alive to you, His will likewise be done. I am now assuredly in need of your best help; yet I know that God will send no calamity or trial upon me but what will turn out for your good and mine, so that, in being exercised thereby and abiding steadfast, we may win a great reward.
Let me inform you that my enemies have given an utterly false translation in Latin of those letters which I had left for you on starting on my journey.! They are writing so many articles against me that my time in prison is fully occupied in replying to them. I have no counsellor by me but the merciful Lord Jesus, Who said to His faithful friends: I will give you a mouth amd wisdom, which all your adversaries shall mot be able to resist? Oh, dear friends, remember that I laboured with you in all zeal, and ever long for your salvation, even now when I am in prison and in the midst of great trial. Sent off at Constance on Saturday, the vigil of St. Fabian.
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