Page:The life & times of Master John Hus by Count Lützow.djvu/80

 expresses himself strongly on the subject of hypocrites, particularly among the priesthood. He draws attention to the insufficiency of the precautions taken by the church to guard against such men, while it is always prepared to be watchful of heretics. The second treatise, which formed part of this book, has not been preserved, though we are acquainted with its name, De Distincta Veritate.

In the third book, which contains no less than six treatises, Matthew can be said to have formulated his views most clearly. The book shows evidence of the fact that the different books of the Regulae were written separately and at different times, though Janov afterwards united them into one entirety. The third book, and indeed all parts of the Regulae, therefore, teem with repetitions, and the writer who endeavours to briefly delineate the contents of the work constantly runs the risk of committing the same offence. In the first treatise Matthew expounds a tenet which is the foundation of all his teaching. Jesus Christ himself, he writes, is the primary principle of truth, and the only sufficient guidance and law of Christian life. The second treatise, De Testibus Veritates, refers to the prophets and apostles as the witnesses of truth; and in the third, Matthew again broaches his views concerning the necessity of frequent communion. He quotes numerous witnesses, beginning by Jesus Christ and ending by contemporaries such as Adalbert Ranco, in support of his favourite doctrine. The fourth treatise, On the Unity and Universality of the Church, criticises bitterly the depraved state of the church at the time of Janov. The idea, outlined in this treatise, that the evil state of the church foreshadows the end of the world and the appearance of Antichrist, is fully developed in the fifth treatise, De Antichristo. As Matthew