Page:The Great Didactic of John Amos Comenius (1896).pdf/406

 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, 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