Page:The Great Didactic of John Amos Comenius (1896).pdf/391

 are holy) (1 Cor. vii. 14) as a means of learning their A B C; for thus they would grow familiar with it. For as language is made up of the sounds and the symbols of letters, thus is the whole structure of religion and piety formed out of the elements of Holy Scripture.

21. (xii) Whatever is learned from Scripture should convey a lesson of faith, charity, and hope. These are the three noblest dispositions, and to these everything that God has seen good to reveal to us in His Word has reference. For He reveals some things to us that we may believe them, others He commands us that we may do them, and others again He promises that we may expect them from His mercy, both in this and in the future world. In the whole Bible nothing occurs that cannot be brought under one of these heads. All, therefore, should be taught to understand and to read intelligently what God has revealed.

22. (xiii) Faith, charity, and hope should be taught for practical use.

From the very beginning it is necessary to form practical and not theoretical Christians, if we wish to form true Christians at all. For religion is a real thing and not a reflection of reality, and should prove its reality by the practical results that it produces, just as a seed that is planted in good earth soon germinates. Hence the Scripture requires a “working faith” (Gal. v. 6), calls faith apart from works “barren” (James ii. 20), and asks for a “living hope” (1 Peter i. 3). Hence the constant injunction, that things are revealed from on high that we should do them. Christ also says: “If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them” (John xiii. 17).

23. (xiv) Faith, charity, and hope will be taught in a practical manner, if boys and all men are taught to believe implicitly in all that God reveals, to do all that He commands, and to expect all that He promises.

It should be carefully impressed on the young that, if they wish the Word of God to supply them with divine strength, they should bring to it a humble and devoted