THE "DCERKA"
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ready to die for Christ, and give up warfare, which is a very uncertain path to salvation."
The treatise entitled Dcerka (Daughter), also known as the treatise " on the true road to salvation," dates from
It was Expositions. addressed to some pious ladies who lived in common in a house near the Bethlehem chapel, and to whom Hus also wrote a letter, which has been preserved. The treatise has been called the Daughter, from the fact that each of the ten chapters begins with the words, KL^en, daughter, and see, and incline thine ear." In a short preface Hus very clearly explains the purpose of the book. He writes : " Listen, daughter, who hast proListen, daughter, and mised Christ (to retain) virginity. incline your ear, and know that I wish you to know yourself, knowing in whose similitude you were created ; secondly (I wish) you to know your conscience ; thirdly, the wretchedness of this world ; fourthly, the temptations of our earthly existence ; fifthly, the three enemies (the body, the world, and the devil) ; the sixth point on which I insist is that you should truly do penance ; the seventh, that you should value the dignity of your soul ; the eighth, that you should assiduously look to the ninth, that coming judgment ; the you should value the eternal life ; the tenth, that you should love our Lord God more than anything." Hus then deals with each of these points in one of the ten chapters of the book. "- Somewhat later than the Expositions, and the Daughter, Hus published his celebrated treatise, O Savto" kupectvi, on traffic in holy things," or simony, which he completed on September 2, 141 3. This valuable book is written in a manner similar to that of the works about
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