Therefore the "bands," that is, the temporal and ecclesiastical grades and ranks among men, are hateful "to the meek and poor Lord Jesus." In his intense hatred of all temporal and spiritual authority, Chelčicky sometimes appears to expound very modern ideas, but we must always remember that we are reading the words of a writer of the fifteenth century and of a fervent Christian. Very characteristic of Chelčicky is his hatred of bloodshed. While the magisters of the Calixtine Church had, after a prolonged discussion, decided that war in self-defence was permissible, and even a duty for those who held the true doctrine, Chelčicky maintained the absolute sinfulness of war under whatever circumstances. In his _Reply to Rokycan_ he writes: "Has Christ repealed His command--'Thou shall not kill'? If Christ has not revoked that order, then it must still be obeyed both at Prague and at Tabor." Chelčicky was, therefore, entirely out of sympathy with his countrymen during the momentous period (from 1420 to 1434) when their great victories attracted the attention of all Europe. It is a natural consequence that even at a period of general national enthusiasm, Chelčicky--similar in this respect to the socialists of all times--shows an almost complete absence of pride in his distinctive nationality. A result of Chelčicky's intense hatred of all social privileges and distinctions was his repeated quaint jibes against the nobility and the clergy, and his pronounced affection for the humble life of the peasantry, another of the many traits in Chelčicky in which he appears similar to Tolstoy. Though the uncontested fact that he was able to spend a considerable time at Prague at his own expense proves that Chelčicky was not entirely without means, and it is probable that he was a small landowner, yet he always speaks of himself as a peasant. Thus, in his _Reply to Rokycan_ he writes: "If, therefore, I, the peasant, strike out blindly with my club, your reverence must not be scandalised." Chelčicky has nowhere attempted to expound his views on the constitution of Church and State systematically. In the _Sít Víry_ ("Net of Faith "), undoubtedly his masterpiece, we find the nearest approach to such an attempt. The sum of his teaching--as I have written elsewhere--constitutes an attempt to establish a theory of religious nihilism, substituting for all secular and ecclesiastical authority the ill-defined "will of God."