Page:The Great Didactic of John Amos Comenius (1896).pdf/413

 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