The Great Didactic of John Amos Comenius/The Great Didactic/Chapter 25
CHAPTER XXV
1. Resistless necessity compels us to treat at length a subject which we have touched on in the previous chapter. If we wish our schools to be truly Christian schools, the crowd of Pagan writers must be removed from them. First, therefore, we will set forth the reasons which underlie our views, and then the method of treating these ancient writers so that, in spite of our caution, their beautiful thoughts, sayings, and deeds may not be lost to us.
2. Our zeal in this matter is caused by our love of God and of man; for we see that the chief schools profess Christ in name only, but hold in highest esteem writers like Terence, Plautus, Cicero, Ovid, Catullus, and Tibullus. The result of this is that we know the world better than we know Christ, and that, though in a Christian country, Christians are hard to find. For with the most learned men, even with theologians, the upholders of divine wisdom, the external mask only is supplied by Christ, while the spirit that pervades them is drawn from Aristotle and the host of heathen writers. Now this is a terrible abuse of Christian liberty, a shameless profanation, and a course replete with danger.
3. Firstly, our children are born for heaven and are reborn through the Holy Ghost. They must therefore be educated as citizens of heaven, and their chief instruction should be of heavenly things, of God, of Christ, of the angels, of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. This instruction should take place before any other, and all other knowledge should be shielded from the pupil; firstly, because of the uncertainty of life, that no one may be snatched away unprepared, and secondly, because first impressions are the strongest, and (if they are religious impressions) lay a safe foundation for all that follows in life.
4. Secondly, God, though He made provision of every kind for His chosen people, gave them no school other than his own Temple, where He Himself was the Master, we were the pupils, and his oracles were the subject taught. For thus He speaks by Moses: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one God: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon thine heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up” (Deut. vi. 4). And by Isaiah: “I am the Lord thy God, which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldst go” (xlviii. 17); and again, “Should not a people seek unto their God?” Christ also says: “Search ye the Scriptures” (John v. 39).
5. God has shown by the following words that His voice is the brightest light for our understanding, the most perfect law for our actions, and the surest support for our weakness. “Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments! Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, which shall hear all these statutes and say: Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people” (Deut. iv. 5, 6). To Joshua, also, He speaks thus: “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and thou shalt have good success” (Jos. i. 8). By David also He says: “The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes” (Psalm xix. 8). Finally, the Apostle bears witness “that every scripture inspired of God is profitable for teaching, etc., that the man of God may be complete” (2 Tim. iii. 16, 17). The wisest of men (by this I mean truly enlightened Christians) have made the same assertion. Chrysostom has said: “What it is needful to know, and what it is not needful to know, that we can learn from the Scriptures.” And Cassiodorus35 says: “The Scriptures are a heavenly school, a guide through life, the only true source of information. To search for the true meaning of them should occupy the student’s whole time, and leave him no leisure to be led astray by philology.”
6. God expressly forbade His chosen people to have anything to do with the learning or the customs of the heathen: “Learn not the way of the nations” (Jer. x. 2); and again, “Is it because there is no God in Israel that ye go to inquire of Baalzebub the God of Ekron? (2 Kings i. 3); “Should not a people seek unto their God? on behalf of the living should they seek unto the dead? To the law and to the testimony! if they speak not according to this word, surely there is no morning for them” (Isaiah viii. 19, 20). And why? Surely because “all wisdom cometh from the Lord, and is with him for ever. To whom else hath the root of wisdom been revealed?” (Ecclesiasticus i. 1, 6); “Although they have seen light and dwelt on the earth, the way of knowledge have they not known. Nor understood the paths thereof, etc. It hath not been heard of in Chanaan, neither hath it been seen in Theman. The Agarenes that seek wisdom upon earth, the authors of fables and searchers out of understanding, have not known the way of wisdom. But he that knoweth all things knoweth it and hath found out all the way of knowledge and hath given it unto Jacob his servant and Israel his beloved” (Baruch iii. 20, 21, 22, 23, 32, 36, 37); “He hath not dealt so with any nation, and as for his judgments, they have not known them” (Psalm cxlvii. 20).
7. Whenever His people went aside from His laws to the snares of man’s imagination, God used to blame not only their folly in forsaking the fountain of wisdom (Baruch iii. 12), but the twofold evil that they had committed, in forsaking Him, the fountain of living waters, and hewing them out broken cisterns that could hold no water (Jer. ii. 13). Through the agency of Hosea He complained also that His people held too much intercourse with other nations, saying: “Though I write for him my law in ten thousand precepts, they are counted as a strange thing” (Hos. viii. 12). But, I ask, is not this what those Christians are doing who hold heathen books in their hands night and day, while of the sacred Word of God they take no account, as if it did not concern them? And yet, as God bears witness, it is no vain thing, but our very life (Deut. xxxii. 47).
8. Therefore the true Church and the true worshippers of God have sought for no teaching other than the Word of God, from which they have drawn the true and heavenly wisdom that is superior to all earthly knowledge. Thus David says of himself: “Thy commandments make me wiser than mine enemies,” and “I have more understanding than all my teachers, for thy testimonies are my meditation” (Psalm cxix. 98, 99). Similarly Solomon, the wisest of mortals, confesses: “The Lord giveth wisdom; out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding” (Prov. ii. 6). The son of Sirach also testifies (in the prologue to his book) that his wisdom is drawn from the law and the prophets. Hence the exultation of the righteous when they see light in the light of God (Psalm xxxvi. 9); “O Israel, happy are we: for things that are pleasing to God are made known unto us” (Baruch vi. 4). “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life” (John vi. 68).
9. The examples of all ages show us that it has been an occasion for stumbling whenever the Church has turned aside from the fountain of Israel. Of the Jewish Church, sufficient is known from the lamentations of the Prophets. As regards the Christian Church, we learn from history that a pure faith lasted as long as the Gospel, and nothing else, was preached by the Apostles and their successors. But as soon as the heathen entered the Church in numbers, and the ardour that existed at first grew cold, pagan books were read, at first in private and then in public, and the result was a great confusion of doctrine. The key of knowledge was lost by the very men who boasted that they alone possessed it, and from that time opinions without number were substituted for the articles of faith. Then did strife arise, whose end is not yet visible; charity grew cold, and piety disappeared. And thus, under the name of Christendom, paganism came into existence again, and still reigns supreme. For the threat of the Lord Jehovah had to be fulfilled: “If they speak not according to the Word of God, surely there is no morning for them” (Isaiah viii. 20). “Therefore the Lord hath poured out upon them the spirit of sleep, and hath closed their eyes, that all vision might become unto them as the words of a book that is sealed,” because they worshipped God in accordance with the teaching man (Isaiah xxix. 10, 11, 13, 14). O, how truly in their case is fulfilled what the Holy Spirit says of the heathen philosophers: “They became vain in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened” (Rom. i. 21). In short, if the Church is to be purified from uncleanness, there is only one way, and that is to put aside all the seductive teaching of man and return to the pure springs of Israel, and thus to give over ourselves and our children to the teaching and guidance of God and of His word. Thus at last will the prophecy come to pass, “And all thy children shall be taught of God” (Isaiah liv. 13).
10. Indeed our dignity as Christians (who have been made sons of God and heirs of the kingdom of heaven through Christ) does not permit us to degrade ourselves and our children by allowing them to have an intimate acquaintance with pagan writers, and to read them with such approval. We do not choose parasites, fools, or buffoons, but serious, wise, and pious men as tutors for the sons of our kings and princes. Should we not blush, therefore, when we confide the education of the sons of the King of Kings, of the brothers of Christ and heirs of eternity, to the jesting Plautus, the lascivious Catullus, the impure Ovid, that impious mocker at God, Lucian, the obscene Martial, and the rest of the writers who are ignorant of the true God? Those who, like them, live without the hope of a better life, and wallow in the mire of earthly existence, are certain to drag down to their own level whoever consorts with them. Christians, we have carried our folly far enough! Let us pause here. God calls us to better things, and it is good to obey His call. Christ, the eternal Wisdom of God, has opened a school for the sons of God in His own house; in which the supreme control is exercised by the Holy Spirit, and the professors and masters are the Prophets and the Apostles, all endowed with true wisdom, and all holy men, who, by their teaching and example, point out the way of truth and of salvation; where the pupils are the elect of God, the first-fruits of men, ransomed by God and by the Lamb; where the inspectors and guardians are the angels and archangels, the principalities and powers in heaven (Eph. iii. 10); and where true wisdom, which is of use to us in this world and the next, is taught on all subjects that the mind of man can grasp. For the mouth of God is the fountain from which all the streams of wisdom flow; the countenance of God is the torch from which the rays of true light are scattered; the Word of God is the root from which spring the shoots of true wisdom. Happy are they, therefore, who look on the face of God, listen to His words, and receive His sayings in their hearts. For this is the only true and infallible way to attain the true and eternal wisdom.
11. Nor can we omit all mention of the earnestness with which God forbade His people to have anything to do with the works of the heathen, and of the consequences that followed their disregard of His injunction: “The Lord will consume those nations from thy sight. But the graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire. Thou shalt not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein, for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God; and thou shalt not bring an abomination into thine house, and become a devoted thing like unto it” (Deut. vii. 22, 25, 26). And again: “When the Lord thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, take heed to thyself that thou be not ensnared to follow them, after that they be destroyed from before thee, and that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, How do these nations serve their gods? But what thing soever I command you, that shall ye observe to do; thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it” (Deut. xii. 29). After their victory Joshua reminded them of this, and advised them to remove the idols (Jos. xxiv. 23); but they did not obey him, and these heathen productions became a snare for them, so that they continually fell into idolatry until both kingdoms were overthrown. Should not we, therefore, take warning by their example, and avoid their error?
12. “But books are not idols,” some one will say. I reply: They are the works of the heathen, whom God has destroyed from before the face of His Christian people, as He did of old. Nay, they are more dangerous than idols. For these only led away those who were fools at heart (Jer. x. 14), while books deceive even the wisest (Col. ii. 8). The former were works of men’s hands (as God used to say when chiding the folly of the idolaters), the latter are the works of the human understanding. The former dazzled the eyes by the brilliancy of their gold and silver, the latter blind the intelligence by the plausibility of their carnal wisdom. Do you still deny that pagan books are idols? What was it that led the Emperor Julian away from Christ? What was it that so undermined the understanding of Pope Leo X. that he believed the history of Christ to be a mere fable? Under what influence did Cardinal Bembo36 dissuade Sadoleto from reading the Bible (saying that such folly was unsuitable for so great a man)? What is it that in these days leads so many learned Italians and others towards Atheism? Would that there were none in the reformed Church of Christ who have been drawn away from the Scriptures by Cicero, Plautus, and Ovid, writers that reek of death.
13. But it may be said: The abuse must be attributed not to the things, but to the persons. There are pious Christians to whom no harm is done by reading pagan authors. The Apostle replies: “We know that no idol is anything in the world: howbeit in all men there is not that knowledge (that is to say, the power of discerning). Take heed lest this liberty of yours become a stumbling-block to the weak” (1 Cor. viii. 4, 7, 9).
Now God in His mercy preserves many from destruction, and there is no excuse for us if, knowingly and willingly, we have anything to do with such snares (I mean the divers inventions of the human mind or of Satan’s cunning), since it is certain that some, nay most men, are unhinged by them and are led into Satan’s net. Let us rather obey God and not bring idols into our house, nor set up Dagon by the Ark of the Covenant, nor mingle the wisdom that is from on high with that which is earthly, bestial, and devilish, nor give any occasion for stirring up the anger of God against our sons.
14. Of a precisely similar nature was the event that Moses uses as an illustration. Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, and young priests (in ignorance of their duty), filled their censers with common, instead of with sacred, fire. For this they were smitten with fire by God, and died (Levit. x. 1). Now what are the children of Christians but a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God? (1 Peter ii. 5). If we fill their censers, their minds, with strange fire, are we not handing them over to the anger of God? For to a Christian soul all is strange, and should be strange, that has any other source than the Holy Spirit; and of such a kind are the ravings of the heathen philosophers and poets, as the Apostle bears witness (Rom. i. 21, 22; Col. ii. 8, 9). Not without reason did Jerome call poetry the wine of devils; since it intoxicates the incautious and sends them to sleep, and, while they sleep, plies them with monstrous opinions, dangerous temptations, and the foulest desires. We should therefore be on our guard against these philtres of Satan.
15. If we do not obey the wise counsels of God, the Ephesians will stand in judgment against us, for they, as soon as the light of divine wisdom shone upon them, burnt all their curious books, since these were henceforth useless to them as Christians (Acts xix. 19). The modern Greek Church also, although there exist the most excellent philosophical and poetical works, written by the Greeks of old, who were reputed the wisest of men, has forbidden its followers to read them under pain of excommunication. The result of this is that, although with the invasion of barbarism they have fallen into great ignorance and superstition, God has hitherto preserved them from being carried away by anti-Christian error. In this matter, therefore, we ought to imitate them, that (greater stress being laid on the reading of Scripture) the heathen darkness, which still remains, may be removed, and that in the light of God we may see light (Psalm xxxvi. 9). “O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord” (Isaiah ii. 5).
16. Let us now see by what reasonings the mind of man rebels against these injunctions, and winds about like a snake, seeking to avoid the necessity of obeying the Faith and serving God. The arguments used are as follows:
17. (i) Great wisdom is to be found in the philosophers, the orators and the poets. I answer: Those are worthy of darkness who turn away their eyes from the light. Twilight is as mid-day to the owl, but animals, that are accustomed to light, think otherwise. O foolish men who look for light in the darkness of the human reason! Lift up your eyes on high. The true light comes from heaven, from the Father of Light! Any light that is visible in human efforts arises from a few sparks that seem to shine because of the darkness that surrounds them; but what are a few sparks to us, in whose hands a blazing torch has been placed (the effulgent word of God)? If men investigate natural phenomena, they do but set the glass to their lips, without touching the wine; while in the Scriptures the Ruler of the Universe Himself counts the mysteries of His works, and explains the nature of things created, visible and invisible. When the philosophers talk of morals, they are like birds that have been caught with quicklime, for they make great efforts to move without making any advance. But the Scriptures contain true descriptions of the virtues, with keen exhortations that pierce to the marrow. When pagan writers wish to teach piety, they merely teach superstition, since they are not imbued with the true knowledge of God or of His will. “For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee” (Isaiah lx. 2). Now the sons of light should be at liberty to journey to the sons of darkness, that, having seen what a difference there is, they may rejoice the more in the path of light, and may feel compassion for the darkness of their neighbours; but to wish to exalt their glimmer above our own light is intolerable, and an insult to God and to our souls. “Of what advantage is it,” says Isidor,37 human doctrine, and know nothing of “to be learned in divine? to follow perishable inventions, and despise heavenly mysteries? If we love the Scriptures we must avoid those books that outwardly are eloquent and well written, but inwardly lack wisdom.” What a condemnation of such books! They are husks without kernels. Such was also the opinion of Philip Melanchthon: “What do the best philosophers teach but self-confidence and self-love? Cicero in his De Finibus estimates each kind of virtue with reference to self-love. How much pride and haughtiness there is in Plato! It seems to me that a self-sufficient character must inevitably imbibe faulty instincts from the ambition that pervades his writings. The teaching of Aristotle is nothing but one long struggle to prove himself worthy of a good place among the writers on practical philosophy” (System of Theology).
18. (ii) Again it is said: If they do not teach theology rightly, at any rate they teach philosophy, and this cannot be learned from the sacred writings, that have been given us for our salvation. I answer: The Word of God most high is the fountain of wisdom (Ecclesiasticus i. 5). True philosophy is nothing but the true knowledge of God and of His works, and this cannot be learned better than from the mouth of God Himself. For this reason St. Augustine, praising the Holy Scripture, says: “Here is philosophy, since the cause of everything that exists is in the Creator. Here are ethics, since a good and honest life can only be formed if those things are loved which ought to be loved, that is to say, God and our neighbour. Here is logic, since truth, the light of the rational soul, is God Himself. Herein is the salvation of the state; for the state can never be well guarded, or test on a foundation of confidence and peace, unless the common good be loved, and this, in its highest and truest sense, is God.” Recently, too, it has been pointed out by many that the foundations of all the sciences and philosophic arts are contained in Scripture, and more truly than elsewhere, so that the part played by the Holy Spirit in our education is indeed wonderful. For, though its first object is to instruct us in things invisible and eternal, it nevertheless unfolds the laws of nature and of art at the same time, teaching us how to reason wisely on all subjects and how to apply our reason in a practical manner. Yet of all this there is but a trace in the works of the pagan philosophers. A writer on theology has said that the marvellous wisdom of Solomon consisted in bringing the law of God into the families, the schools, and the public places, and there is no reason why the wisdom of Solomon, that is to say, true and heavenly wisdom, should not once more be ours, if we give our children the Word of God instead of pagan books, and thus supply them with counsels for all the chances of life. Our object, therefore, should be to have in our homes that which can make us wise, even in that external or worldly wisdom that we call philosophy. Those were luckless times when the children of Israel had to go down to the Philistines to polish each man his plough, his mattock or his axe, because there was no smith in the land of the Israelites (1 Sam. xiii. 19, 20). But it is surely not necessary that the resources of the Israelites should always be limited in this way; especially as the arrangement was a bad one, for the following reason: the Philistines supplied the Israelites with harrows, but on no account would they supply them with swords that might be used against themselves. From the pagan philosophers, in the same way, you can get the well-known syllogisms and flowers of speech, but from this source you will find it impossible to procure swords and spears with which to combat impiety and superstition. Let us then hope for the times of David and of Solomon, when the Philistines were laid low but Israel reigned and rejoiced in its good fortune.
19. (iii) But, for the sake of style, students of Latin should read Terence, Plautus, and similar writers. I answer: Are we to bring our children into ale-houses, cook-shops, taverns, and other dens of iniquity, in order that they may learn how to speak? For, I ask you, is it not into such unclean places that Terence, Plautus, Catullus, Ovid, and the rest of them lead our young? What do they set before them but jesting, feasting, drunkenness, amours, and deceits, from which Christians should avert their eyes and ears, even if they encounter them by chance? Is the natural man not depraved enough, that it is necessary to bring to him and to show to him all manner of wickedness, and, as it were, to seek out opportunities to hurl him to destruction? But it will be said: “The matter in those authors is not all bad.” I answer: Evil sticks far more readily than good, and it is therefore a very dangerous practice to send the young to a spot where good and evil occur in combination. If we wish to poison any one, we do not give him poison alone, but mix it with some pleasant drink, the presence of which does not interfere with the action of the poison. This is precisely the way in which these men-destroyers of old mixed their hellish poisons with cunning inventions and with elegance of style; and are we to remain conscious of their devices and not strike the potion from their hands?
Some one else may object: “They are not all lascivious writers. Cicero, Virgil, Horace, and others are serious and earnest.” I answer: None the less they are blind pagans, and turn the minds of their readers from the true God to other gods and goddesses (Jove, Mars, Neptune, Venus, Fortune, etc.), though God has said to His people: “Make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth” (Exodus xxiii. 13). Then what a chaos of superstitions, of false opinions, of earthly desires at variance with one another, is to be found in these writers! The spirit with which they fill their readers must be very different from that of Christ. Christ calls us from the world, they plunge us into the world. Christ teaches self-abnegation, they teach self-love. Christ teaches us to be humble, they to be magnanimous. Christ demands meekness, they inculcate self-assertion. Christ bids us be simple as doves, they show us how to turn an argument in a thousand different ways. Christ urges us to modesty, they spend their time in mocking others. Christ loves those who believe easily, they prefer those who are suspicious, argumentative, and obstinate. To conclude briefly and in the words of the Apostle: “What communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what portion hath a believer with an unbeliever?” (2 Cor. vi. 15). Rightly does Erasmus say: “Bees avoid withered flowers; and no book, the contents of which are impure, should be opened.” And again: “It is safest to sleep on clover, for it is said that no serpents lurk in it, and on the same principle we should confine ourselves to those books in which no poison is to be feared.”
20. Moreover, what attraction have these pagan authors that is not to be found in our sacred writers? Are they the only people who understand the elegances of style? The most perfect master of language is he who gave it to us, the Holy Spirit. His words are sweeter than honey and more piercing than a two-edged sword; more active than the fire that liquefies metals, and weightier than a hammer which grinds rocks to powder, for they tell us of God. Is it heathen writers alone who relate marvellous events? Our Scriptures are full of events that are truer and far more wonderful. Are they the only authors who can fashion figures of speech, and riddling sayings, or write passages that are forcible and pithy? Our Scriptures are full of such passages. Leprous is his imagination who prefers Abana and Pharphar, rivers of Damascus, to Jordan and the waters of Israel (2 Kings v. 12). Blind is the eye to which Olympus, Helicon, and Parnassus seem more beautiful than Sinai, Sion, Hermon, Tabor, and Olivet. Deaf is the ear to which the lyre of Orpheus; of Homer, or of Virgil sounds sweeter than David’s lute. Corrupt is the palate to which Nectar, Ambrosia, and the Castalian springs taste better than celestial Manna and the fountains of Israel. Perverse is the heart that finds more pleasure in the names of the gods, the goddesses, the muses, and the graces than in the adorable names of Jehovah, of Christ the Saviour, and of the Holy Ghost. Blind is the hope that wanders through the Elysian fields in preference to the gardens of Paradise. With them all is romance, a mere shadow of truth, while with us all is reality and the very essence of truth.
21. But it will be said: These writers contain elegances of speech and moral sentiments that are worthy of our adoption. Is not this a sufficient reason for sending our children to them? Should we not spoil the Egyptians and strip them of their raiment ? Does not God bid us do so? (Exodus iii. 22). It is the right of the Church to usurp all the possessions of the heathen. I answer: When Manasseh and Ephraim wished to seize the land of the heathen, the men alone advanced; the women and children stayed behind in safety (Joshua i. 14). We should do the same. Men of wisdom and judgment, steadfast in the faith, should go forward and disarm these pagan writers; the young should not be exposed to danger. What if our youths were killed or wounded or taken prisoner? How many, alas, has pagan philosophy already drawn away from Christ and given over to Atheism! The safest plan, therefore, is to send armed men to deprive those accursed by heaven of their gold, silver, and precious things, and to distribute them among the heirs of God. O that God would stir up some heroic spirit to cull those flowers of elegance from the vast deserts in which they grow, and plant them in the garden of Christian philosophy, that nothing be lacking there.
22. Finally, if any pagan writers are to be countenanced, let them be Seneca, Epictetus, Plato, and similar teachers of virtue and honesty; since in these comparatively little error and superstition are to be found. This was the opinion of the great Erasmus, who advised that the Christian youth be brought up on the Holy Scriptures, but added: “If they have anything to do with profane literature, let it be with those books that approximate most closely to the Scriptures” (Compendium of Theology). But even these books should not be given to the young until their Christian faith is well assured; and in any case careful editions should be issued in which the names of the gods and the general tone of superstition should be removed. For it is on the condition that their heads be shaved and their nails pared, that God allows heathen maidens to be taken to wife (Deut. xxi. 12). Let there be no misunderstanding. We do not absolutely prohibit Christians from reading heathen writings, since to those who believe Christ has given the power of taking up serpents, and drinking deadly things with impunity (Mark xvi. 18); but the sons of God, whose faith is yet weak, should not be exposed to these serpents, and to give them the opportunity of drinking such poison would indeed be rash. Great caution should therefore be used, and this is what we urge. The Spirit of Christ has said that the children of God should be nourished by the spiritual milk that is without guile (1 Peter ii. 2; 2 Tim. iii. 15).
23. But those who thus incautiously aid the cause of Satan and oppose that of Christ have yet another argument. “The Holy Scriptures,” they say, “are too hard for the young, and therefore some other books must be given them to read until their judgment is mature.”
I answer: This is the language of those who err and know not the Scriptures nor the power of God, as I will show in three ways: firstly, there is a well-known story told of Timotheus the celebrated musician, that whenever he took a fresh pupil he asked him if he had already learned the rudiments with another master. If he answered in the negative he took him at a moderate price; if in the affirmative he charged twice as much. For he said that those who had already learned give him twice as much trouble, as he had first to cure them of their bad habits, and then to teach them the right way to play. Now, our master, and that of the human race, is Jesus Christ, and we are forbidden to go to any other (Matt. xvii. 5, and xxiii. 8). He it was who said: “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not” (Mark x. 14), and shall we, contrary to His will, lead them elsewhere? Are we afraid that Christ’s task will be too light, and that He will teach them His ways too easily? And are we therefore to take them through the cook-shops and taverns, and give them to Christ to reform when thoroughly corrupt? This is a terrible proposal for the unhappy and innocent boys; for either they will have to spend their whole lives in laboriously getting rid of the habits they have acquired, or they will be altogether rejected by Christ, and given over to the tuition of Satan. Is not that which has been consecrated to Moloch an abomination to God? Let the Christian magistrates and the heads of the Churches—by God’s mercy I implore it—take steps to prevent Christian boys, born in Christ and consecrated through baptism, from being offered up to Moloch.
24. The cry that the Scriptures are too difficult to be understood by children, is altogether false. Does God not know how to suit His Word to our understanding? (Deut. xxxi. 11, 12, 13). Does not David say that the law of the Lord gives wisdom to little ones (N.B. to little ones)? Does not Peter say that the Word of God is milk for the newborn babes of God, given to them that they may grow thereby unto salvation (1 Peter ii. 2)? The Word of God, therefore, is the sweetest and best milk for the new-born children of God. Why oppose God on this point? Especially since pagan learning needs teeth to masticate it; yes, and often breaks them. Therefore the Holy Spirit, through David, invites the little ones into His school: “Come, ye children, hearken unto me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord” (Psalm xxxiv. 11).
25. Lastly, that the Scriptures contain passages of great profundity is perfectly true; but they are of such a kind that, while elephants sink to the bottom, lambs can swim with ease in them, to quote the words of St. Augustine when he wished to lay stress on the difference between the wise of the world who rush into Scriptural criticism presumptuously and Christ’s little ones who approach God’s Word in a humble and meek spirit. Besides, what need is there to begin with difficult passages? We can proceed step by step. First, we should embark upon the Catechism, and then keep in shallow water by teaching Scripture history, moral sentences, and the like, that can be easily understood, but which at the same time lead to the weightier matters that follow. And finally, when our pupils are fit for it, we can introduce them to the mysteries of the Faith. Thus, knowing the sacred writings from their infancy, they will be the more easily preserved from worldly corruption, and will be made wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. iii. 15). For, if a man give himself up to God, sit at the feet of Christ, and listen to the wisdom that comes from on high, it is impossible that the Spirit of Grace should not fill him, kindle within him the light of true reason, and point out the true path of salvation.
26. I pass over the fact that those authors who are placed before Christian boys instead of the Bible (Terence, Cicero, Virgil, etc.), possess the very defects that are attributed to the Scriptures, since they are difficult and not suited to the young. It was not for boys that they wrote, but for men of mature judgment, accustomed to the theatre and the law-courts, and it therefore goes without saying that they can be of no advantage to any one else. One thing at any rate is certain, that he who has reached man’s estate will derive more profit from reading Cicero once than if he had learned his entire works off by heart when a boy, and that such studies should therefore be deferred to a suitable season, and then only approached by those to whom they will be of use, if indeed they are of use to any one.
Of far greater importance is the point that has already been mentioned, namely, that the task of Christian schools is to form citizens, not for the world, but for heaven, and that they should accordingly be supplied with masters who are better acquainted with heavenly than with earthly things.
27. Let us conclude, therefore, with the angelic words: “In the place wherein the highest beginneth to show his city, there can no man’s building be able to stand” (2 Esdras x. 54). As God wishes us to be trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified (Isaiah lxi. 3), we should not allow our children to be shrubs in the plantation of Aristotle, or of Plato, or of Plautus, or of Cicero, or of any author whose works they may chance to read: “Every plant, which my heavenly Father planted not, shall be rooted up” (Matt. xv. 13); “Tremble therefore, ye who cease not to murmur, and to exalt yourselves against the knowledge of God” (2 Cor. x. 5).