ance with the evident limits of their powers of differentiation) an unlimited number of results can be deduced, just as, in the case of a tree, hundreds of branches, and thousands of leaves, blossoms, and fruits are produced from the original shoot. Oh! may God take pity on our age, and open some man’s eyes, that he may see aright the true relations in which things stand to one another, and may impart his knowledge to the rest of mankind. With God’s assistance I hope, in my Synopsis of Christian Wisdom, to give an earnest of my efforts to do so, in the modest hope that it may be of use to others whom God, in due season, may call to carry on the work.
24. Rectification.—In the meantime we may draw three conclusions:
(iii)(i) Every art must be contained in the shortest and most practical rules.
(iii)(ii) Each rule must be expressed in the shortest and clearest words.
(iii) Each rule must be accompanied by many examples, in order that the use of the rule may be quite clear when fresh cases arise.
Fourth Principle
25. Nature advances from what is easy to what is more difficult.
For example, the formation of an egg does not begin with the hardest part, the shell, but with the contents. These are at first covered by a membrane; it is not till later that the hard shell appears. The bird that learns to fly accustoms itself first to stand on its legs, then to move its wings gently, then to do so with more force until it can raise itself from the ground, and last of all gains sufficient confidence to fly through the air.
26. Imitation.—In the same way a carpenter’s apprentice learns, first to fell trees, then to saw them into planks and fasten them together, and finally to build complete houses of them.
