Page:The life & times of Master John Hus by Count Lützow.djvu/64

 that he does not intend to write anything contrary to the teaching of that church, and declares, “Should I have written anything unwisely, I wish to state that I do not intend to hold any views except those held by the Christian community, and the University of Prague.” This passage is interesting as foreshadowing the great authority on theological matters which the University of Prague acquired during the Hussite wars. As regards the question of the veneration of pictures, Stitny writes in a very moderate manner, declaring, perhaps in not unintentional opposition to Matthew of Janov, who had very strong views on this subject: “I am not one of those who think that there should be no images among Chrstians. I think they exaggerate; for we may have pictures instead of writings as a memorial of such (holy) things, but not that such a picture be as a likeness of God.” With great humility, Stitny deferred to those whom he believed to possess profounder learning than he himself could claim. In a letter addressed to Adalbert Ranco, “that master of stupenduous intellect and wondrous memory, who first of the Bohemians obtained the mastership of Holy Scripture at the University of Paris,” Stitny, while sending him his book Of General Christian Matters, begs him to correct his writings should they contain anything contrary to Scripture.

Stitny’s writings were very numerous, and he constantly re-wrote them, sometimes altering their names. He did not begin writing early in life; and of his two greatest works the first, the book Of General Christian Matters (O obecnych vecech Krestanskych) was only finished in 1376. It deals mainly with theological matters, but the book, written for the instruction of Stitny's children, contains much excellent advice on matters of daily life. More pretentious is Stitny’s other great work, entitled Besedni Reci, which may be translated by