Page:The Great Didactic of John Amos Comenius (1896).pdf/250

 Thus do the perplexities of one age afford amusement to the next.

8. I can easily see that this will happen to my new undertaking; in fact, I have already experienced it. Some people are certain to be indignant that there are men who find imperfections in the schools, books, and methods in use, and who dare to promise something unusual and extraordinary.

9. It would be easy for me to appeal to results as the most trustworthy witnesses (such confidence do I place in my God). But since I am writing this, not for the unlearned crowd, but for men of education, I must give demonstrative proof that it is possible to imbue all the young with knowledge, virtue, and piety, and to do so without that unpleasantness and difficulty continually experienced by the teachers, no less than by the learners, under the old system.

10. The one and sufficient demonstration is this: That each individual creature not only suffers itself to be easily led in the direction which its nature finds congenial, but is actually impelled towards the desired goal, and suffers pain if any obstacle be interposed.

11. A bird learns to fly, a fish to swim, and a beast to run without any compulsion. They do these things of their own accord as soon as they feel that their limbs are sufficiently strong. Water runs downhill of its own accord, and, in the same way, fire burns when fuel and a current of air are supplied; a round stone rolls down hill, while a square stone remains stationary; the eye and a mirror receive the impression of an object when there is sufficient light, and seeds sprout when their surroundings are suitably warm and damp. In fact, each of these things strives to fulfil the function for which it is naturally fitted, and does this more perfectly when assisted, no matter how slight the assistance may be.

12. Since then, as we saw in, the seeds of knowledge, of virtue, and of piety exist in all men (with the exception of monstrosities), it follows of necessity that