13. Ye men of learning, to whom God has given wisdom and keen judgment that ye may be able to criticise such matters as these and improve them by your counsels, see that ye delay not to assist the sacred fire with your sparks, nay, rather with your torches and with your fans. Let all consider that saying of our Christ: “I came to cast fire upon the earth; and what will I if it is already kindled?” (Luke xii. 49). If He wish His fire to burn, woe unto him who, when he has the opportunity of bringing fuel to the flames, contributes nothing but the smoke of envy, malevolence, and position. Remember the reward that He promises to His good and faithful servants who employ the talents entrusted to them in such a way that they gain others, and the threats that He utters against the slothful who bury their talents in the earth (Matt. xxv. 25). Therefore, let not your own knowledge suffice you, but use all your strength to further the instruction of others. Be guided by the example of Seneca, who says: “I wish to communicate all that I know to others”; and again: “If knowledge were given me on the condition that I should keep it to myself and not share it with others, I should refuse it” (Epist. 27). Do not, therefore, withhold instruction and wisdom from the Christian people, but rather say with Moses: “Would God that all the Lord’s peoples were prophets!” (Num. xi. 29). The reformation of the Church and of the state is comprised in the proper instruction of the young; and shall we, who know this, stand idle, while others put their hand to the work?
14. May we all, with one accord, be moved to promote such a worthy object in every possible manner by advising, warning, exhorting, reforming, and in every way furthering the work for God and for posterity. And let no one think that he is not called upon to act in the matter. For though a man may be naturally unsuited to be a schoolmaster, or may be fully engaged by his duties as a clergyman, a politician, or a physician, he makes a great mistake if he think that he is on that account exempt from the common task of school-reform. If he wish to prove his devotion to
