Page:The Great Didactic of John Amos Comenius (1896).pdf/402

 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