On the 30th of May, 1416, Jerome was delivered to the secular arm. The council vainly thought that, by making the civil magistrate the executioner of its unrighteous decrees, it would avoid the enduring stain of blood; but God is not mocked. He hath said of the mother of harlots, "And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth." (Rev. 18:2424And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth. (Revelation 18:24).) There the God of judgment will find the blood of Huss and of Jerome.
Aeneas Sylvius, afterward pope, in writing to a friend, says, "Jerome went to the stake as to a joyful festival; and when the executioner would have kindled the fagots behind his back, 'Place the fire before me,' he exclaimed; 'if I had dreaded it, I would have escaped it.' Such was the end of a man incredibly excellent. I was an eye-witness to that catastrophe, and beheld every act." Such is the testimony of two Roman Catholic writers—Poggius and Sylvius—and members of the council. They bear witness to the indecent conduct of the council, and to the moral heroism of the two martyrs. Jerome continued to sing hymns, with a "deep untrembling voice," after he was bound to the stake. He raised his voice, and sang a paschal hymn, then very popular in the church.
Hail! happy day, and ever be adored,
When hell was conquered by heaven's great Lord.
He continued to live in the flames a quarter of an hour. "Thou knowest, Lord, how I have loved Thy truth," were amongst the last words of Jerome of Prague. Not a word fell from his lips that discovered the least timidity. Both he and Huss sang in the flames to their last breath. And bright angels in waiting carried their happy souls to heaven, where they would be present with the Lord.