CHAPTER XII

IT IS POSSIBLE TO REFORM SCHOOLS

1. To cure deep-seated maladies is difficult and often well-nigh impossible. But if any one offer an efficacious remedy, does the sick man reject his services? Does he not rather wish to obtain aid as quickly as possible, and especially if he think that the physician is guided not by mere opinion but by solid reason? We, at any rate, in this our undertaking, have reached the point at which we must make plain (1) what we actually promise, and (2) on what principles we intend to proceed.

2. We promise, then, such a system of education that

(i) All the young shall be educated (except those to whom God has denied understanding).

(ii) And in all those subjects which are able to make a man wise, virtuous, and pious.

(iii) That the process of education, being a preparation for life, shall be completed before maturity is reached.

(iv) That this education shall be conducted without blows, rigour, or compulsion, as gently and pleasantly as possible, and in the most natural manner (just as a living body increases in size without any straining or forcible extension of the limbs; since if food, care, and exercise are properly supplied, the body grows and becomes strong, gradually, imperceptibly, and of its own accord. In the same way I maintain that nutriment, care, and exercise, ​prudently supplied to the mind, lead it naturally to wisdom, virtue, and piety).

(v) That the education given shall be not false but real, not superficial but thorough; that is to say, that the rational animal, man, shall be guided, not by the intellects of other men, but by his own; shall not merely read the opinions of others and grasp their meaning or commit them to memory and repeat them, but shall himself penetrate to the root of things and acquire the habit of genuinely understanding and making use of what he learns. (vi) That this education shall be not laborious but very easy. The class instruction shall last only four hours each day, and shall be conducted in such a manner that one master may teach hundreds of pupils at the same time, with ten times as little trouble as is now expended on the teaching of one.

3. But who will have faith in these things before he see them? It is a well-known peculiarity of men that before a remarkable discovery is made they wonder how it can be possible, while after its achievement they are surprised that it was not discovered before. When Archimedes undertook for King Hiero to move down to the sea with one hand an immense ship that a hundred men were not able to stir, his proposal was received with laughter; but its accomplishment was viewed with stupefaction.

4. When Columbus suspected that there were new islands in the west, no one, with the exception of the King of Castille, was willing to hear him or give him any assistance towards making the experiment. It is related that his very companions on the voyage, in despair at their frequent disappointments, were within a little of throwing him into the sea and returning with their task unfulfilled. But, in spite of all, that vast new continent was discovered, and now we all wonder how it could have remained so long unknown. That well-known jest of Columbus illustrates the same point. For when, at a banquet, some Spaniards, who were envious that an Italian should have the glory of such a discovery, began to mock him, and ​tauntingly said that the other hemisphere had been discovered not by skill but by chance, and could have been just as easily discovered by anybody else, he proposed an elegant problem. “How,” he asked, “can a hen’s egg, unsupported, be made to stand on its end?” When all had tried in vain to do this, he tapped the shell gentlyupon the table, cracked it, and in this way made it stand. The others laughed, and exclaimed that they could do the same thing. “No doubt you can, now that you have seen how it can be done,” said he, “but how is it that no one could do it before me?”

5. I believe that the same thing would have happened if John Faust, the inventor of printing, had made it known that he possessed a method by which one man, within a week, could copy more books than ten of the fastest copyists could copy in a year in the ordinary way; that the books would be better written; that from beginning to end all the copies would be exactly similar; and that all would be absolutely free from errors provided that one copy had been corrected. Who would have believed him? Who would not have thought it a riddle, or a piece of vain and foolish boasting? And yet every child knows now that this is sober truth.

6. If Berthold Schwartz, the inventor of muskets, had addressed the archers with these words: “Your bows, your catapults, and your slings are of little worth. I will give you a weapon which, without any human force, by the agency of fire alone, will not only hurl forth stones and iron, but will propel them farther and with more certainty, so that they will strike, uproot, or lay low whatever comes in their way.” Which of them would not have received him with laughter? So much is it the custom to consider everything new as marvellous and incredible.

7. Nor could the American Indians comprehend how one man is able to communicate his thoughts to another without the use of speech, without a messenger, but by simply sending a sheet of paper. Yet with us a man of the meanest intelligence can understand this.

​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 chap. v., the seeds of knowledge, of virtue, and of piety exist in all men (with the exception of monstrosities), it follows of necessity that ​they need nothing but a gentle impulse and prudent guidance.

13. But, it is objected, it is not out of every piece of wood that a Mercury can be carved. I answer: But out of every human being, if he be not utterly corrupt, a man can be formed.

14. But our inner strength, some one will remark, has been weakened by the Fall. I reply, weakened, yes, but not extinguished. Even our bodily force, if it be in bad condition, can be restored to its natural vigour by walking, running, and artificial forms of exercise. For, although the first created were able to walk, speak, and think as soon as they came into existence, while we cannot do so unless taught by practice, it does not therefore follow that these things cannot be learned without perplexity, labour, and uncertainty. For, if we learn without very great difficulty to perform the functions of the body, such as eating, drinking, walking, and jumping, why should we not learn to perform those of the mind with similar ease, if the proper instruction be given? Again, in a few months a horse-trainer can teach a horse to trot, jump, run in a circle, and perform evolutions to signs given by a whip; a mere circus performer teaches a bear to dance, a hare to beat the drum, and a dog to plough, to wrestle, or to divine; a weak old woman can teach her parrot, her magpie, or her crow to imitate a human voice or a melody; and all these things can be taught in a short time, although they are contrary to nature. And shall not a man be easily taught those things to which nature, I will not say admits him, or leads him, but rather urges and impels him? The trainers of animals would laugh at any one who seriously brought forward this argument.

15. But it is objected that, owing to the difficulty of the subjects to be learned, all men cannot grasp them. I reply: What is that difficulty? Does there exist any body of such a dark colour that I cannot be reflected in a mirror, if placed conveniently in the light? Is there anything that cannot be painted on a canvas, provided that ​the man who paints has learned the art of painting? Is there any seed or root that the earth cannot receive and bring to germination by its warmth, if the gardener understand when, where, and how it should be sown? Moreover, there is in the world no rock or tower of such a height that it cannot be scaled by any man (provided he lack not feet) if ladders are placed in the proper position or steps are cut in the rock, made in the right place, and furnished with railings against the danger of falling over. It is true that very few scale the heights of wisdom, though many start gaily on the journey, and that those who get any distance do so at the cost of toil, loss of breath, weariness, and giddiness; this, however, does not prove that there is anything inaccessible to the human intellect, but only that the steps are not well disposed, or are insufficient, dangerous, and in bad repair in other words, that the method is complicated. It is an undoubted fact that any man can attain any height that he may desire by means of steps that are properly disposed, sufficient in number, solid, and safe.

16. It will be urged, Some men have such weak intellects that it is not possible for them to acquire knowledge. I answer, It is scarcely possible to find a mirror so dulled that it will not reflect images of some kind, or for a tablet to have such a rough surface that nothing can be inscribed on it. Again, if the mirror be soiled by dirt or by spots, it must first be cleaned; if the tablet be rough, it must be polished; both will then perform their functions. In the same way, if teachers take sufficient trouble, men will become polished, and finally all men will understand all things (I stand firmly by my watchword because my fundamental principles prove correct). There is naturally a difference in intellects, and while those who are slow may only be able to attain to one stage of knowledge, the more gifted advance higher and higher, from one object to another, and collect new observations which are of great utility. Finally, though there may be some intellects that do not admit of culture, just as knotty ​wood is unsuitable for carving, even then my assertion will hold good for men of ordinary capacity, of whom, through God’s grace, there is always a sufficiency. Indeed a man quite wanting in intellect is as rare a phenomenon as one who, from his birth, has lacked his full complement of limbs. For, in truth, blindness, deafness, lameness, and weakness seldom accompany a man from his cradle, but are caused by his own negligence; and thus it is with exceptional weakness of intellect.

17. A further objection is brought forward: With many not the capacity to learn but the inclination is lacking, and to compel these against their will is as unpleasant as it is useless. I answer: There is a story told of a philosopher who had two pupils, of whom one was idle and the other industrious. Both were sent away by their master; for one would not learn, though able to do so, while the other could not, though anxious to acquire knowledge. But how does the matter stand if it be shown that the teacher himself is the reason of the pupil’s aversion to learning? Truly did Aristotle say that all men are born anxious to acquire knowledge, and that this is so we have seen in chapters v. and xi. In practice, however, the tender indulgence of parents hinders the natural tendency of children, and later on frivolous society leads them into idle ways, while the various occupations of city and court life, and the external circumstances which surround them, turn them away from their real inclinations. Thus it comes to pass that they show no desire to investigate what is unknown, and cannot concentrate their thoughts with ease. (For just as the tongue, when permeated with one flavour, judges another with difficulty, so the mind, when occupied with one subject, finds it hard to give its attention to another.) In these cases the external distraction must first be removed; nature will then assert itself with its original vigour, and the desire for knowledge will once more be apparent. But how many of those who undertake to educate the young appreciate the necessity of first teaching them how to acquire knowledge? The turner ​shapes a block of wood with his axe before he turns it; the blacksmith heats iron before he hammers it; the clothweaver, before he spins his wool, first cleans, washes, cards, and fulls it; the shoemaker, before he sews the shoe, prepares, shapes, and smooths the leather; but who, I ask, lever thinks it necessary that the teacher, in the same way, should make his pupils anxious for information, capable of education, before he begins to place knowledge before them? Teachers almost invariably take their pupils as they find them; they turn them, beat them, card them, comb them, drill them into certain forms, and expect them to become a finished and polished product; and if the result does not come up to their expectations (and I ask you how could it?) they are indignant, angry, and furious. And yet we are surprised that some men shrink and recoil from such a system. Far more is it matter for surprise that any one can endure it at all.

18. This is a suitable place in which to make a few remarks about differences of character. Some men are sharp, others dull; some soft and yielding, others hard and unbending; some eager after knowledge, others more anxious to acquire mechanical skill. From these three pairs of contradictory characters we get in all six distinct divisions.

19. In the first division must be placed those who are sharp-witted, anxious to learn, and easily influenced. These, more than all others, are suited for instruction. There is no need to provide them with what we may term a nutritive diet of knowledge, for, like goodly trees, they grow in wisdom of themselves. Nothing is needed but foresight; for they should not be allowed to hurry on too fast and thus to tire themselves out and wither away before their time.

20. Others are sharp-witted, but inclined to be slow and lazy. These must be urged on.

21. In the third place we have those who are sharp-witted and anxious to learn, but who at the same time are ​perverse and refractory. These are usually a great source of difficulty in schools, and for the most part are given up in despair. If treated in the right way, however, they frequently develope into the greatest men. A good example of this type is Themistocles, the great Athenian general. As a youth he was very wild, so that his tutor said to him: “My boy, you will not develope into anything mediocre; you will be either of great use or of great harm to your country.” And later on, when people wondered at his strange character, he used to say, “Wild colts make the best horses, if only they are properly trained.” Indeed, this was the case with Bucephalus, the horse of Alexander the Great. For, when Alexander saw that his father Philip was about to give away this unruly animal, which would suffer no rider on his back, he said: “What a magnificent horse these people are spoiling. They are unskilled and do not know how to treat it!” He forthwith took the horse in hand, and with marvellous skill (for he never used blows) he got it into such a condition that not only then but ever afterwards it carried him well, and no horse more noble or more worthy of his great master could be found in the whole world. Plutarch, who tells us this anecdote, remarks: “This story reminds us that many men of good parts are ruined by their teachers, who, in their inability to rule or to guide free men, treat them not as horses but as asses.”

22. In the fourth place we have those who are flexible and anxious to learn, but who at the same time are slow and heavy. These can follow in the footsteps of the last-mentioned. But to render this possible the teacher must meet their weak natures half-way, must lay no heavy burden on them, must not demand anything excessive, but rather have patience, help them, strengthen them, and set them right, that they may not be disheartened. Though such pupils take longer to come to maturity, they will probably last all the better, like fruit that ripens late. And, just as the impression of a seal made in lead lasts a long time, though hard to make, so these men have more stable ​characters than those who are more gifted, and do not easily forget what they have once learned. At school, therefore, they should be given every opportunity.

23. The fifth type are those who are weak-minded and at the same time lazy and idle. With these also a great improvement can be made, provided they are not obstinate. But great skill and patience are necessary.

24. Finally, we have those whose intellects are weak, and whose dispositions are perverse and wicked as well. These seldom come to any good. But, as it is certain that nature always provides some antidote for pernicious things, and that barren trees can be rendered fruitful if properly transplanted, we ought not to give up all hope, but should see if the perverseness, at least, cannot be combated and got rid of. It is only when this proves impossible that the twisted and knotted piece of wood may be cast aside, since it is useless to attempt to carve a Mercury out of it. “Barren land,” says Cato, “should not be cultivated; nor even once ploughed.” But an intellect of this kind, amenable to no treatment, can scarcely be found in a thousand, and this is a great proof of God’s goodness.

25. The substance of these remarks is in harmony with the following saying of Plutarch: “For the characters of young children, no man is responsible; but it is in our power to make them virtuous by a proper training.” Mark this well; he says “in our power.” For the gardener can unfailingly train a struggling shoot into a tree, by using his skill in transplanting.

26. The four following reasons show that all the young, though of such different dispositions, may be instructed and educated by the same method.

27. Firstly: For all men the goal is the same, namely, knowledge, virtue, and piety.

28. Secondly: All men, though their dispositions may differ, possess the same human nature, and are endowed with the same organs of sense and of reason.

29. Thirdly: The differences of character are caused by nothing more than a superfluity or a lack of some of ​the elements in the natural harmony, just as bodily diseases are nothing but abnormal states of wetness or dryness, of heat or cold. For example, what is sharpness of intellect but the fineness and rapid motion of the vital spirit in the brain, which passes through the sensory lobes with very great speed, and rapidly apprehends external objects? But if no obstacle be put in the way of this rapid motion, it dissipates the intellect and leaves the brain either weak or sluggish. Hence it is that so many precocious boys either die young or become stupid.

On the other hand, what is stupidity but a clammy viscosity of the humours of the brain, which can only be set in motion by constant suggestion? What are insolence and intractability but an excess of spirit and stubbornness, which must be tempered by discipline? What is slackness but a great lack of spirit which must be made good? Just as, then, the best remedies for bodily diseases are not those which try to put one extreme to flight by another (for this only makes the struggle greater), but those which seek to moderate all extremes, so that there shall not be too little on one side and too much on the other; so the best remedy against the errors of the human mind is a didactic method of such a kind that by its means excess and defect may be neutralised in the natural disposition, and that all the mental principles may be brought into harmony and into a pleasant agreement. Our method, therefore, is intended for intellects in which no element exists in an extreme form (and indeed these are always the most common), so that neither reins may be wanting to restrain active minds (that they may not wear themselves out before their time) nor spurs and goads to urge on the laggards.

30. Finally: Every excess or defect of disposition can be counteracted as long as it is not of old standing. In warfare, recruits are mixed with old soldiers; the weak and the strong, the sluggish and the active, fight under the same standard and obey the same orders as long as the battle continues. But, when the victory is gained, each pursues ​the enemy as far as he is able, and takes as much booty as he wants. Thus it is in the camp of knowledge; the slow are mixed with the swift, the weak with the quick-witted, the obstinate with the yielding, and are guided by the same precepts and examples as long as guidance is necessary. But, when school-days are over, each one must finish the remainder of his studies with what speed he can.

31. When I talk of admixture of intellects, I refer not so much to the spot where the instruction takes place as to the additional assistance that can be given to the pupil. For instance, if the teacher observe that one boy is cleverer than the rest, he can give him two or three stupid boys to teach; if he perceive one more trustworthy than the others, he may allow him to watch and to control those who have less character. Both will gain great advantage from this, provided that the teacher keep his eye on them, to see that everything is conducted as reason prescribes. But it is now time to have done with preliminaries, and to deal with the real subject of this treatise.

CHAPTER XI

HITHERTO THERE HAVE BEEN NO PERFECT SCHOOLS

1. This confident heading may seem too presumptuous; but I challenge the facts themselves, and, while I constitute the reader as judge, will myself do nothing but summon witnesses. I call a school that fulfils its function perfectly, one which is a true forging-place of men; where the minds of those who learn are illuminated by the light of wisdom, so as to penetrate with ease all that is manifest and all that is secret (comp. Wisdom vii. 21), where the emotions and the desires are brought into harmony with virtue, and where the heart is filled with and permeated by divine love, so that all who are handed over to Christian schools to be imbued with true wisdom may be taught to live a heavenly life on earth; in a word, where all men are taught all things thoroughly.

2. But has any school either existed on this plane of perfection or held this goal in view; not to ask if any has ever reached it? Lest I should seem to chase Platonic ideas and to dream of perfection such as exists nowhere and cannot be hoped for in this life, I will point out by another argument that such schools ought to be and have never yet existed.

3. Dr. Luther, in his exhortation to towns of the empire on behalf of the erection of schools (A.D. 1525), asks for these two things, among others. Firstly, that schools may be founded in all cities, towns, and villages, ​for the instruction of all the young of both sexes (the necessity of which we proved in chap. ix.), so that even peasants and artisans may, for two hours daily, receive instruction in useful knowledge, in morality, and in religion. Secondly, that an easier method of instruction imay be introduced, so that students, instead of developing an antipathy towards learning, may be enticed by irresistible attractions, and that, as he says, boys may gain no less pleasure from study than from spending whole days in playing ball and amusing themselves. These are the views of Dr. Luther.

4. This is indeed a noble counsel, and worthy of such a man! But who does not see that matters have gone no farther than his wish? For where are those universal schools, where is that attractive method?

5. It is evident that nothing has been done, since in the smaller villages and hamlets no schools have been founded.

6. Where schools exist, they are not for the whole community, but only for the rich, since, owing to their cost, the poor cannot gain admission to them, except by some chance, such as pity on the part of some one. Among those excluded there are probably some excellent intellects, which are thus ruined and destroyed, to the great loss of the Church and of the state.

7. Further, the method used in instructing the young has generally been so severe that schools have been looked on as terrors for boys and shambles for their intellects, and the greater number of the students, having contracted a dislike for learning and for books, have hastened away to the workshops of artificers or to some other occupation.

8. On the other hand, those who remained at school (whether compelled to do so by parents and guardians, or influenced by the hope of obtaining some honourable position by means of their attainments, or drawn towards the liberal arts spontaneously and of their own nature) did not receive a serious or comprehensive education, but a preposterous and wretched one. For piety and virtue, ​which form the most important element in education, were neglected more than anything else. In all the schools (and even in the universities, which ought to embody the greatest advances of human culture) these subjects held only a secondary place, so that for the most part, instead of tractable lambs, fiery wild asses and restive mules were produced; and instead of characters moulded to virtue, nothing issued from the schools but a spurious veneer of morality, a fastidious and exotic clothing of culture, and eyes, hands, and feet trained to worldly vanities. How few of these mannikins, who had for so long been polished by such a training in the languages and in the arts, realised that to the rest of the world they ought to be an example of temperance, charity, humility, humanity, gravity, patience, and continence!

The reason of this evidently is that the question of “virtuous living” is never raised in the schools. This is shown by the wretched discipline in nearly all schools, by the dissolute morals of all classes, and by the never-ceasing complaints, sighs, and tears of pious men. Can any one defend the condition in which our schools have been? An hereditary disease, sprung from our first parents, pervades all classes, so that, shut out from the tree of life, we direct our desires inordinately towards the tree of knowledge, and our schools also, permeated by this insatiable appetite, have hitherto pursued nothing but intellectual progress.

9. But with what method or with what success have they done even this? In truth, the only result achieved was the following. For five, ten, or more years they detained the mind over matters that could be mastered in one. What could have been gently instilled into the intellect, was violently impressed upon it, nay rather stuffed and flogged into it. What might have been placed before the mind plainly and lucidly, was treated of obscurely, perplexedly, and intricately, as if it were a complicated riddle.

10. In addition, though for the present we will pass ​this over, the intellect was scarcely ever nourished by the actual facts, but was filled with the husks of words, with a windy and parrot-like loquacity, and with the chaff of opinions.

11. The study of the Latin language alone (to take this subject as an example), good heavens! how intricate, how complicated, and how prolix it was! Camp followers and military attendants, engaged in the kitchen and in other menial occupations, learn a tongue that differs from their own, sometimes two or three, quicker than the children in schools learn Latin only, though children have abundance of time, and devote all their energies to it. And with what unequal progress! The former gabble their languages after a few months, while the latter, after fifteen or twenty years, can only put a few sentences into Latin with the aid of grammars and of dictionaries, and cannot do even this without mistakes and hesitation. Such a disgraceful waste of time and of labour must assuredly arise from a faulty method.

12. On this subject the celebrated Eilhard Lubinus, professor in the University of Rostock, has with justice remarked: “When I consider the ordinary method of teaching boys in schools, it seems to me as if it had been laboriously devised with a view to make it impossible for teachers and pupils alike to lead or to be led to a knowledge of the Latin tongue, without great labour, great tedium, infinite trouble, and the greatest possible consumption of time. A state of things which I cannot think of without shuddering.” And a little farther on: “After frequent consideration of these matters I find myself always led to the conclusion, that the entire system must have been introduced into schools by some evil and envious genius, the enemy of the human race.” So says Lubinus, who is only one out of many authorities whom I could quote in my favour.

13. But what need is there of witnesses? How many of us there are who have left the schools and universities with scarcely a notion of true learning! I, unfortunate ​man that I am, am one of many thousands, who have miserably lost the sweetest spring-time of their whole life, and have wasted the fresh years of youth on scholastic trifles. Ah, how often, since my mind has been enlightened, has the thought of my wasted youth wrung sighs from my breast, drawn tears from my eyes, and filled my heart with sorrow! How often has my grief caused me to exclaim:

Oh that Jupiter could bring back to me the years that are past and gone!

14. But these prayers are in vain. Bygone days will never return. None of us who is advanced in years can grow young again, commence his career anew, and, furnished with a better method, pursue it more successfully. Of this there is no question. One thing alone does remain, and that is to give those who come after us such advice as we can. By showing how it was that our masters led us into error we shall be able to point out the way in which such errors may be avoided.

CHAPTER X

THE INSTRUCTION GIVEN IN SCHOOLS SHOULD BE UNIVERSAL

1. We have already shown that every one ought to receive a universal education, and this at school. But do not, therefore, imagine that we demand from all men a knowledge (that is to say, an exact or deep knowledge) of all the arts and sciences. This would neither be useful of itself, nor, on account of the shortness of life, can it be attained by any man. For we see that each science is so vast and so complicated (as are physics, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, or even agriculture and arboriculture) that it would occupy the lifetime of even the strongest intellects if they wished to master it thoroughly by investigation and experiment. Thus did Pythagoras devote himself to arithmetic, Archimedes to mechanics, Agricola to metallurgy,²¹ and Longolius²² (who spent his whole life in endeavouring to acquire a perfect Ciceronian style) to rhetoric. It is the principles, the causes, and the uses of all the most important things in existence that we wish all men to learn; all, that is to say, who are sent into the world to be actors as well as spectators. For we must take strong and vigorous measures that no man, in his journey through life, may encounter anything so unknown to him that he cannot pass sound judgment upon it and turn it to its proper use without serious error.

2. We must, therefore, concentrate our energies on ​obtaining that, throughout our whole lives, in schools and by the aid of schools: (i) our talents may be cultivated by study of the sciences and of the arts; (ii) languages may be learned; (iii) honest morals may be formed; (iv) God may be sincerely worshipped.

3. He spoke wisely who said that schools were the workshops of humanity, since it is undoubtedly through their agency that man really becomes man, that is to say (to refer to our previous analysis): (i) a rational creature; (ii) a creature which is lord over all creatures and also over himself; (iii) a creature which is the delight of his Creator. This will be the case if schools are able to produce men who are wise in mind, prudent in action, and pious in spirit.

4. These three principles, then, must be implanted in all the young in all schools, and this I shall prove, starting from the following fundamental points:―

(i) From the circumstances by which we are surrounded;

(ii) From ourselves;

(iii) From Christ the God-man, the most perfect example of our perfection.

5. Things themselves, as far as they concern us, can be divided into three classes only: (i) objects that we can observe, such as the heavens, the earth, and all that is in them; (ii) objects that we can imitate, such as the marvellous order which pervades all things, and which man ought to imitate in his actions; (iii) objects that we can enjoy, such as the grace of God and His manifold blessing here and for eternity. If man is to acquit himself creditably when brought into contact with this order of nature, he must be trained to know the things that are spread out for his observation in this marvellous amphitheatre, to do the things that it is right for him to do, and, finally, to enjoy those things of which the most benign Creator, treating him as a guest in His house, has, with liberal hand, given him the fruition.

6. If we consider ourselves, we see clearly that learning, virtue, and piety are of importance to all alike; whether we ​look at the essential being of the soul, or at the object of our creation and introduction into the world.

7. The soul in its essential elements consists of three potentialities, which recall the uncreated Trinity, and these are the intellect, the will, and the memory. The province of the intellect is to observe the differences between things, even down to the smallest details. The will concerns itself with choice that is to say, with the choice of things that are advantageous and the rejection of those which are not. The memory stores up for future use all the things with which the intellect and the will have been busied, and reminds the soul of its dependence on God and of its duty; in which aspect it is also called conscience.

In order, then, that these faculties may rightly fulfil their offices, it is necessary that they be furnished with such things as may illumine the intellect, direct the will, and stimulate the conscience, so that the intellect may be acute and penetrating, the will may choose without error, and the conscience may greedily refer all things to God. Therefore, just as these faculties (the intellect, the will, and the conscience) cannot be separated, since they constitute the same soul, so it is impossible to separate those three ornaments of the soul, erudition, virtue, and piety.

8. Now, if we consider why we have been sent into the world, it will be evident from two points of view that the object is threefold, namely, that we may serve God, His creatures, and ourselves, and that we may enjoy the pleasure to be derived from God, from His creatures, and from ourselves.

9. If we wish to serve God, our neighbours, and ourselves, it is necessary for us to possess, with respect to God, piety; with respect to our neighbours, virtue; and with respect to ourselves, knowledge. These principles, however, are intimately connected, and a man, for his own advantage, should be not only learned, but also virtuous and pious; for that of his neighbour, not only virtuous, but also learned and pious; and for the glory of God, not only pious, but also learned and virtuous.

​10. If we consider the happiness to which God has destined mankind, we find that He showed His intention clearly when creating man, since He introduced him into a world furnished with all good things; prepared for him, in addition, a paradise of delights; and, finally, arranged to make him a partner of His eternal happiness.

11. Now, by the term “happiness” we understand not the pleasures of the body (though these, since they consist of the vigour of good health, and of the enjoyment of food and of sleep, can only arise from the virtue of temperance), but those of the soul, which arise either out of the objects around us, or from ourselves, or, finally, from God.

12. The pleasure which arises out of things themselves, is the pleasure that a wise man experiences in speculation. For, wherever he betakes himself, whatever he observes, and whatever he considers, he finds everywhere such attractions, that often, as it were, snatched out of himself, he merges his identity in them. It is to this that the book of Wisdom refers: “The conversation of wisdom hath no bitterness; and to live with her hath no sorrow, but mirth and joy” (viii. 16). And a heathen philosopher says: “There is nothing in life more pleasant than to seek out wisdom.”

13. Pleasure in self is that very sweet delight which arises when a man, who is given over to virtue, rejoices in his own honest disposition, since he sees himself prompt to all things which the order of justice requires. This pleasure is far greater than the former one, according to the proverb “A good conscience is a perpetual feast.”

14. Delight in God is the highest point to which pleasure can attain in this life, and is found when a man, feeling that God is eternally gracious to him, exults in His fatherly and immutable favour to such a degree that his heart melts with the love of God. He desires to know or to do nothing further, but, overwhelmed by God’s mercy, he rests in peace and tastes the joys of eternal life. This is “the peace of God which passeth all understanding” (Phil. iv. 7), than which nothing more sublime can be desired or imagined.

​These three principles, therefore, learning, virtue, and piety, are the three founts from which all the streams of the most perfect pleasures flow.

15. Lastly, God Himself, manifest in the flesh (that He might exhibit in Himself the perfection of all things), has taught by His example that these three elements must exist in each individual. For the Evangelist testifies that He advanced not only in stature, but also in wisdom and favour with God and man (Luke ii. 52). Here can be seen the blessed Trinity that adorns us. For what is wisdom but the knowledge of things as they are? What is it that brings us favour with men, if not amiability of character? What procures us the grace of God, if not the fear of the Lord, that is to say, inward, serious, and fervid piety? Let us, therefore, realise in ourselves that which we have seen in Jesus Christ, the absolute ideal of all perfection, the standard set up for us to imitate.

16. For this reason He said, “Learn of me” (Matt. xi. 29). And since this same Christ has been given to the human race as the most learned teacher, as the most holy priest, and as the most powerful king, it is evident that Christians should be formed on His model and should be enlightened through their intellects, sanctified through their consciences, and made powerful through their deeds (each in his own calling). Our schools, therefore, will then at length be Christian schools when they make us as like to Christ as is possible.

17. It is, therefore, an unhallowed separation if these three elements be not bound together as if by an adamantine chain. How wretched is the teaching that does not lead to virtue and to piety! For what is literary skill without virtue? He who makes progress in knowledge but not in morality (says an old proverb), recedes rather than advances. And thus, what Solomon said of the beautiful but foolish woman, holds good of the learned man who possesses not virtue: “As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion” (Prov. xi. 22). For, just as gems are set not in ​lead but in gold, in which combination both are more beautiful, thus should knowledge be joined not to immorality but to virtue, when each will add adornment to the other. For the fear of the Lord, as it is the beginning and the end of wisdom, is also the coping-stone and crown of knowledge. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov. i. and elsewhere).

18. Since, therefore, a man’s whole life depends on the instruction that he has received during boyhood, every opportunity is lost unless the minds of all are then prepared for every emergency that may arise in life. Just as in his mother’s womb each man receives his full complement of limbs,—hands, feet, tongue, etc.—although all men are not to be artificers, runners, scribes, or orators; so at school all men should be taught whatever concerns man, though in after life some things will be of more use to one man, others to another.

CHAPTER IX

ALL THE YOUNG OF BOTH SEXES SHOULD BE SENT TO SCHOOL

1. The following reasons will establish that not the children of the rich or of the powerful only, but of all alike, boys and girls, both noble and ignoble, rich and poor, in all cities and towns, villages and hamlets, should be sent to school.

2. In the first place, all who have been born to man’s estate have been born with the same end in view, namely, that they may be men, that is to say, rational creatures, the lords of other creatures, and the images of their Creator. All, therefore, must be brought on to a point at which, being properly imbued with wisdom, virtue, and piety, they may usefully employ the present life and be worthily prepared for that to come. God Himself has frequently asserted that with Him there is no respect of persons, so that, if, while we admit some to the culture of the intellect, we exclude others, we commit an injury not only against those who share the same nature as ourselves, but against God Himself, who wishes to be acknowledged, to be loved, and to be praised by all upon whom He has impressed His image. In this respect the fervour of all men will increase in proportion to the flame of knowledge that has been kindled. For our love is in direct ratio to our knowledge.

3. Now we do not know to what uses divine providence has destined this or that man; but this is certain, that out ​of the poorest, the most abject, and the most obscure, He has produced instruments for His glory. Let us, therefore, imitate the sun in the heavens, which lights, warms, and vivifies the whole earth, so that whatever is able to live, to flourish, and to blossom, may do so.

4. Nor is it any obstacle that some seem to be naturally dull and stupid, for this renders more imperative the universal culture of such intellects. The slower and the weaker the disposition of any man, the more he needs assistance, that he may throw off his brutish dulness and stupidity as much as possible. Nor can any man be found whose intellect is so weak that it cannot be improved by culture. A sieve, if you continually pour water through it, grows cleaner and cleaner, although it cannot retain the liquid; and, in the same way, the dull and the weak-minded, though they may make no advance in letters, become softer in disposition and learn to obey the civil magistrates and the ministers of the Church. There have, besides, been many instances in which those who are naturally stupid have gained such a grasp of the sciences as to excel those who were more gifted. As the poet truly says: “Industry overcomes all obstacles.” Again, just as some men are strong as children, but afterwards grow sick and ailing, while others, whose bodies are sickly and undersized in youth, develope into robust and tall men; so it is with intellects. Some develope early, but soon wear out and grow dull, while others, originally stupid, become sharp and penetrating. In our orchards we like to have not only trees that bring forth early fruit, but also those that are late-bearing; for each thing, as says the son of Sirach, finds praise in its season, and at length, though late, shows that it has not existed in vain. Why, therefore, should we wish that in the garden of letters only one class of intellects, the forward and active, should be tolerated? Let none be excluded unless God has denied him sense and intelligence.

5. Nor can any sufficient reason be given why the weaker sex (to give a word of advice on this point in particular) should be altogether excluded from the pursuit ​of knowledge (whether in Latin or in their mother-tongue). They also are formed in the image of God, and share in His grace and in the kingdom of the world to come. They are endowed with equal sharpness of mind and capacity for knowledge (often with more than the opposite sex), and they are able to attain the highest positions, since they have often been called by God Himself to rule over nations, to give sound advice to kings and princes, to the study of medicine and of other things which benefit the human race, even to the office of prophesying and of inveighing against priests and bishops. Why, therefore, should we admit them to the alphabet, and afterwards drive them away from books? Do we fear their folly? The more we occupy their thoughts, so much the less will the folly that arises from emptiness of mind find a place.

6. But let not all books be given to them indiscriminately, as they have been given to the young of the other sex (and indeed it is greatly to be deplored that more caution has not been displayed in this matter); but only those from which, by the due observation of God and of His works, true virtue and true piety can be learned.

7. And let none cast in my teeth that saying of the Apostle: “I permit not a woman to teach” (1 Tim. ii. 12), or that of Juvenal in the sixth satire: “See that thy lawful wife be not a chatterbox, that she express not the simplest matter in involved language, nor be deeply versed in history,” or the remark of Hippolytus in Euripides: “I detest a bluestocking. May there never be a woman in my house who knows more than is fitting for a woman to know. For ’tis in the wise especially that Cypris engenders the desire for evil.” These opinions, I opine, stand in no true opposition to our demand. For we are not advising that women be educated in such a way that their tendency to curiosity shall be developed, but so that their sincerity and contentedness may be increased, and this chiefly in those things which it becomes a woman to know and to do; that is to say, all that enables her to look after her household and to promote the welfare of her husband and her family.

​8. If any ask, “What will be the result if artisans, rustics, porters, and even women become lettered?” I answer, If this universal instruction of youth be brought about by the proper means, none of these will lack the material for thinking, choosing, following, and doing good things. All will know how the actions and endeavours of life should be regulated, within what limits we must progress, and how each man can protect his own position. Not only this, but all will regale themselves, even in the midst of their work and toil, by meditation on the words and works of God, and, by the constant reading of the Bible and other good books, will avoid that idleness which is so dangerous to flesh and blood. To sum up, they will learn to see, to praise, and to recognise God everywhere, and, in this way, to go through this life of care with enjoyment, and to look for the life to come with increased desire and hope. Does not such a condition of the Church represent to us the only paradise that it is possible to realise on this earth?

CHAPTER VIII

THE YOUNG MUST BE EDUCATED IN COMMON, AND FOR THIS SCHOOLS ARE NECESSARY

1. Having shown that those plants of Paradise, Christian children, cannot grow up like a forest, but need tending, we must now see on whom this care should fall. It is indeed the most natural duty of parents to see that the lives for which they are responsible shall be rational, virtuous, and pious. God Himself bears witness that this was Abraham’s custom, when He says: “For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment” (Gen. xviii. 19). He demands it from parents in general, with this command: “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shall talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up” (Deut. vi. 7). By the Apostle also He says: “And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but nurture them in the chastening and admonition of the Lord” (Ephes. vi. 4).

2. But, since human occupations as well as human beings have multiplied, it is rare to find men who have either sufficient knowledge or sufficient leisure to instruct their children. The wise habit has therefore arisen of giving ​over children, for their common education, to select persons, conspicuous for their knowledge of affairs and their soberness of morals. To such instructors of the young the name of preceptor, master, schoolmaster, or professor has been applied, while the places destined for this common instruction have been named schools, elementary schools, lecture-rooms, colleges, public schools, and universities.

3. On the authority of Josephus we learn that the patriarch Shem opened the first school, just after the flood. Later, this was called the Hebrew school. Who does not know that in Chaldæa, especially in Babylon, there were many schools, in which the arts, including astronomy, were cultivated? since, later on (in the time of Nebuchadnezzar), Daniel and his companions were instructed in the wisdom of the Chaldæans (Dan. i. 20), as was also the case with Moses in Egypt (Acts vii. 22). By the command of God, schools were set up in all the towns of the children of Israel; they were called synagogues, and in them the Levites used to teach the law. These lasted till the coming of Christ, and became renowned through His teaching and that of His Apostles. The custom of erecting schools was borrowed by the Romans from the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Jews, and from the Romans it spread throughout their whole empire, especially when the religion of Christ became universal through the care of pious princes and bishops. History relates that Charlemagne, whenever he subjected any heathen race, forthwith ordained for it bishops and learned men, and erected churches and schools; and after him the other Christian emperors, kings, nobles, and magistrates have increased the number of schools so much that they are innumerable.

4. It is to the interest of the whole Christian republic that this Godly custom be not only retained but increasedas well, and that in every well-ordered habitation of man (whether a city, a town, or a village), a school or place ofeducation for the young be erected. This is demanded:—

​5. (i) By the admirable method of transacting business which is in common use. For, as the head of a household makes use of various craftsmen when he has no leisure time to prepare what is necessary for his household economy, why should he make any difference in the case of education? When he needs flour, he goes to the miller; when flesh, to the butcher; when drink, to the inn-keeper; when clothing, to the tailor; when shoes, to the cobbler; when a house, a ploughshare, or a key, to the builder, the smith, or the locksmith. Again, we have churches for religious instruction, and law courts and assembly rooms in which to discuss the causes of litigants and make weighty announcements to the assembled people; why not schools also for the young? Farmers do not feed their own pigs and cows, but keep hired herdsmen who feed them all at one time, while their masters, free from distraction, transact their own business. For this is a marvellous saving of labour, when one man, undisturbed by other claims on his attention, confines himself to one thing; in this way one man can be of use to many, and many to one man.

6. (ii) By necessity, because it is very seldom that parents have sufficient ability or sufficient leisure to teach their children. The consequence is that there has arisen a class of men who do this one thing alone, as a profession, and that by this means the advantage of the whole community is attained.

7. (iii) And although there might be parents with leisure to educate their own children, it is nevertheless better that the young should be taught together and in large classes, since better results and more pleasure are to be obtained when one pupil serves as an example and a stimulus for another. For to do what we see others do, to go where others go, to follow those who are ahead of us, and to keep in front of those who are behind us, is the course of action to which we are all most naturally inclined.

It is when the steed has rivals to surpass or leaders to follow,
That he runs his best.

​Young children, especially, are always more easily led and ruled by example than by precept. If you give them a precept, it makes but little impression; if you point out that others are doing something, they imitate without being told to do so.

8. (iv) Again, nature is always showing us by examples that whatever is to be produced in abundance must be produced in some one place. Thus, for instance, wood is produced in quantities in forests, grass in fields, fish in lakes, and metals in the bowels of the earth.

Specialisation, too, is carried to such an extent, that the forest which produces pines, cedars, or oaks, produces them in abundance, although other kinds of trees may be unable to grow there; and, in the same way, land that produces gold does not produce other metals in like quantity. This truth can be seen much more plainly in our own bodies. It is very important that each limb share in the nourishment that is assimilated by the body. Its share, however, is not transmitted to each in its raw state, to be there digested and adapted; but there are certain fixed members, designed as workshops for the performance of this function, namely, to receive food for the use of the whole body, to heat it, to digest it, and, at length, to distribute nourishment to the other members. Thus, chyle is produced by the stomach, blood by the liver, vital spirit by the heart, and mental spirit by the brain and these elements, when prepared, are properly diffused throughout all the limbs and preserve life in the whole body. And therefore, as workshops supply manufactured goods, churches supply piety, and law courts justice, why should not schools produce, purify, and multiply the light of wisdom, and distribute it to the whole body of the human community?

9. (v) And, finally, we see the same tendency in the arts, if a rational procedure be used. When a tree cultivator, in his walks through woods and thickets, finds a sapling suitable for transplanting, he does not plant it in the same place where he finds it, but digs it out and places it in an orchard, where he cares for it in company with a hundred ​others. And thus also, the man who breeds fishes for the kitchen, digs fish-ponds and allows thousands to multiply together. In these cases the larger the orchard the better grow the trees, and the larger the fish-pond the larger grow the fish. And therefore, as fish-ponds are dug for fish and orchards are laid out for fruit-trees, so also should schools be erected for the young.

CHAPTER VII

A MAN CAN MOST EASILY BE FORMED IN EARLY YOUTH, AND CANNOT BE FORMED PROPERLY EXCEPT AT THIS AGE

1. From what has been said it is evident that the circumstances of men and of trees are similar. For, as a fruit tree (an apple, a pear, a fig, or a vine) is able to grow from its own stock and of its own accord, while a wild tree will not bring forth sweet fruits until it be planted, watered, and pruned by a skilled gardener, so does a man grow of his own accord into a human semblance (just as any brute resembles others of his own class), but is unable to develope into a rational, wise, virtuous, and pious creature, unless virtue and piety are first engrafted in him. We will now show that this must take place while the plants are young.

2. From the human point of view there are six reasons for this. First, the uncertainty of our present life. For that we must leave it is certain, but when and how is uncertain. And that any should be snatched away unprepared is a danger greatly to be dreaded, since a man is thus doomed eternally. For, just as a man must go through life without a limb if he leave his mother’s womb bereft of it, so, if, when we leave this world, our minds have not been moulded to the knowledge of and participation in God, there will be no further opportunity given us. And therefore, as the matter is of such importance, the greatest haste is necessary, lest any man be lost.

​3. And although death be far off and a long life be assured, the formation of character should none the less begin early, because life must be spent not in learning but in acting. We should therefore be prepared for the actions of life as soon as possible, since we may be compelled to desist from action before we have learned our lesson properly. Indeed, if any wish to devote his life to learning, the multitude of objects which the Creator has placed before his happy gaze is infinite, and, if he chance to have a life like Nestor’s, he will find his most useful occupation in discerning the treasures of divine wisdom that the Creator has provided, and in thus preparing for himself the bulwarks of a happy life. Man’s senses, therefore, must be early brought to bear on the world that surrounds him, since throughout his whole life he has much to learn, to experience, and to accomplish.

4. It is the nature of everything that comes into being, that while tender it is easily bent and formed, but that, when it has grown hard, it is not easy to alter. Wax, when soft, can be easily fashioned and shaped; when hard it cracks readily. A young plant can be planted, transplanted, pruned, and bent this way or that. When it has become a tree these processes are impossible. New-laid eggs, when placed under a hen, grow warm quickly and produce chickens; when they are old they will not do so. If a rider wish to train a horse, a ploughman an ox, a huntsman a dog or a hawk, a bear-leader a bear for dancing, or an old woman a magpie, a raven, or a crow, to imitate the human voice, they must choose them for the purpose when quite young; otherwise their labour is wasted.

5. It is evident that this holds good with man himself. His brain, which we have already compared to wax, because it receives the images of external objects that present themselves to its organs of sense, is, in the years of childhood, quite wet and soft, and fit for receiving all images that come to it. Later on, as we find by experience, it grows hard and dry by degrees, so that things are less readily ​impressed or engraved upon it. Hence Cicero’s remark, “Boys pick up countless things with rapidity.” In the same way it is only in the years of boyhood, when the muscles are still capable of being trained, that the hands and the other members can be trained to produce skilled work. If a man is to become a good writer, painter, tailor, smith, cabinet-maker, or musician, he must apply himself to the art from his early youth, when the imagination is active and the fingers flexible: otherwise he will never produce anything. If piety is to take root in any man’s heart, it must be engrafted while he is still young; if we wish any one to be virtuous, we must train him in early youth; if we wish him to make great progress in the pursuit of wisdom, we must direct his faculties towards it in infancy, when desire burns, when thought is swift, and when memory is tenacious. “An old man who has still to learn his lessons is a shameful and ridiculous object; training and preparation are for the young, action for the old” (Seneca, Epist. 36).

6. In order that man may be fashioned to humanity, God has granted him the years of youth, which are unsuitable for everything but education. While the horse, the ox, the elephant, and other beasts, mere animated masses, come to maturity in a few years, man alone scarcely does so in twenty or thirty. Now, if any imagine that this arises from chance or from some accidental cause or other, he surely betrays his folly. To all other things, forsooth, God has meted out their periods, while in the case of man alone, the lord of all, He allows them to be fixed by chance! Or are we to suppose that nature finds it easier to complete the formation of man by slow processes? Nature, who with no trouble can produce vaster bodies in a few months. We can only suppose, therefore, that the Creator, of deliberate intent, interposed the delay of youth, in order that our period of training might be longer; and ordained that for some time we should take no part in the action of life, that, for the rest of our lives, and for eternity, we might be the more fitted to do so.

7. In man, that alone is lasting which has been imbibed ​in early youth, as is clear from the same examples. A jar, even though broken, preserves the odour with which it was imbued when new. When a tree is young its branches spread out all round it, and remain in this position for hundreds of years, until it is cut down. Wool is so tenacious of the colour with which it is first dyed, that it cannot be bleached. The wooden hoop of a wheel, which has been bent into a curve, will break into a thousand pieces rather than return to straightness. And similarly, in a man, first impressions cling so fast that nothing but a miracle can remove them. It is therefore most prudent that men be shaped to the standard of wisdom in early youth.

8. Finally, it is most dangerous if a man be not imbued with the cleanly precepts of life from his very cradle. For, when the external senses begin to fulfil their functions, the mind of man cannot remain at rest, and, if not engaged with what is useful, it occupies itself with the vainest and even with harmful things (a process which is assisted by the evil examples of a corrupt age), while later on, if it wish to unlearn what it has acquired, it finds this impossible or very difficult; as we have already shown. Hence the world is full of enormities which neither the civil magistrates nor the ministers of the Church are able to quell, since no serious attention is given to the source from which the evil flows.

9. If, then, each man have the welfare of his own children at heart, and if that of the human race be dear to the civil and ecclesiastical guardians of human affairs, let them hasten to make provision for the timely planting, pruning, and watering of the plants of heaven, that these may be prudently formed to make prosperous advances in letters, virtue, and piety.

CHAPTER VI

IF A MAN IS TO BE PRODUCED, IT IS NECESSARY THAT HE BE FORMED BY EDUCATION

1. The seeds of knowledge, of virtue, and of piety are, as we have seen, naturally implanted in us; but the actual knowledge, virtue, and piety are not so given. These must be acquired by prayer, by education, and by action. He gave no bad definition who said that man was a “teachable animal.” And indeed it is only by a proper education that he can become a man.

2. For, if we consider knowledge, we see that it is the peculiar attribute of God to know all things by a single and simple intuition, without beginning, without progress, and without end. For man and for angels this is impossible, because they do not possess infinity and eternity, that is to say, divinity. It is enough for them to have received sufficient keenness of intellect to comprehend the works of God, and to gather a wealth of knowledge from them. As regards angels, it is certain that they also learn by perception (1 Peter i. 12; Ephes. iii. 10; 1 Kings xxii. 20; Job i. 6), and that their knowledge, like our own, is derived from experience.

3. Let none believe, therefore, that any can really be a man, unless he have learned to act like one, that is, have been trained in those elements which constitute a man. This is evident from the example of all things created, which, although destined for man, do not suit his uses until ​fitted for them by his hands. For example, stones have been given to us as material with which to build houses, towers, walls, pillars, etc.; but they are of no use until they are cut and laid in their place by us. Pearls and precious stones destined to adorn man must be cut, ground, and polished. The metals, which are of vital use in daily life, have to be dug out, melted, refined, and variously cast and hammered. Till this is done they are of less use to us than common earth.

From plants we derive food, drink, and medicines; but first the herbs and grains have to be sown, hoed, gathered, winnowed, and ground; trees have to be planted, pruned, and manured, while their fruits must be plucked off and dried; and if any of these things are required for medicine, or for building purposes, much more preparation is needed. Animals, whose essential characteristics are life and motion, seem to be self-sufficing, but if you wish to use them for the purposes for which they are suitable, some training is necessary. For example, the horse is naturally suited for use in war, the ox for drawing, the ass for carrying burdens, the dog for guarding and hunting, the falcon and hawk for fowling; but they are all of little use until we accustom them to their work by training.

4. Man, as far as his body is concerned, is born to labour; and yet we see that nothing but the bare aptitude is born in him. He needs instruction before he can sit, stand, walk, or use his hands. Why, therefore, should it be claimed for our mind that, of itself, it can exist in its full development, and without any previous preparation; since it is the law of all things created that they take their origin from nothing and develope themselves gradually, in respect both of their material and of the process of development? For it is well known, and we showed in our last chapter, that the angels, whose perfection comes very near to that of the Almighty, are not omniscient, but make gradual advances in their knowledge of the marvellous wisdom of God.

5. It is evident, too, that even before the Fall, a school ​in which he might make gradual progress was opened for man in Paradise. For, although the first created, as soon as they came into being, lacked neither the power of walking erect, nor speech, nor reason, it is manifest, from the conversation of Eve with the serpent, that the knowledge of things which is derived from experience was entirely wanting. For Eve, had she had more experience, would have known that the serpent is unable to speak, and that there must therefore be some deceit.

Much more, therefore, in this state of corruption must it be necessary to learn by experience, since the understanding which we bring with us is an empty form, like a bare tablet, and since we are unskilled to do, speak, or know anything; for all these faculties do but exist potentially and need development. And indeed this is much more difficult now than it can have been in the state of perfection, since not only are things obscure, but tongues also are confused (so that instead of one, many must now be learned, if a man for the sake of learning wish to hold communion with divers people, living and dead). The vernacular tongues also have become more complex, and no knowledge of them is born with us.

6. Examples show that those who in their infancy have been seized by wild animals, and have been brought up among them, have not risen above the level of brutes in intellect, and would not have been able to make more use of their tongues, their hands, and their feet than beasts can, had they not once more come into the society of men. I will give several instances. About the year 1540, in a village called Hassia, situated in the middle of a forest, a boy three years of age was lost, through the carelessness of his parents. Some years afterwards the country people saw a strange animal running about with the wolves, of a different shape, four-footed, but with a man’s face. Rumour of this spread through the district, and the governor asked the peasants to try to catch it alive and bring it to him. This they did, and finally the creature was conveyed to the Landgrave at Cassel.

​When it was taken into the castle it tore itself away, fled, and hid beneath a bench, where it glared fiercely at its pursuers and howled horribly. The prince had him educated and kept him continually in men’s society, and under this influence his savage habits grew gentler by degrees; he began to raise himself up on his hind-legs and walk like a biped, and at last to speak intelligently and behave like a man. Then he related to the best of his ability how he had been seized and nurtured by the wolves and had been accustomed to go hunting with them. The story is found in M. Dresser’s¹⁸ work on Ancient and Modern Education, and Camerarius,¹⁹ in his Hours, mentions the same case, and another one of a similar nature (bk. i. ch. 75).

Gulartius²⁰ also (in Marvels of our Age) says that the following occurred in France in 1563. Some nobles went hunting, and, after they had killed twelve wolves, at last caught in their nets something like a naked boy, about seven years old, with a yellow skin and curly hair. His nails were hooked like an eagle’s, he was unable to speak, and could only utter wild shrieks. When he was brought into the castle he struggled so fiercely that fetters could scarce be placed on him; but after a few days of starvation he grew gentler, and within seven months had commenced to speak. He was taken round to various towns and exhibited, and his masters made much money out of him. At length a certain poor woman acknowledged him as her son. So true is Plato’s remark (Laws, i. 6): “Man is the gentlest and most divine being, if he have been made so by true education; but if he have been subjected to none or to a false one he is the most intractable thing in the world.”

7. Education is indeed necessary for all, and this is evident if we consider the different degrees of ability. No one doubts that those who are stupid need instruction, that they may shake off their natural dulness. But in reality those who are clever need it far more, since an active mind, if not occupied with useful things, will busy itself with what is useless, curious, and pernicious; and, ​just as the more fertile a field is, the richer the crop of thorns and of thistles that it can produce, so an excellent intelligence becomes filled with fanciful notions, if it be not sown with the seeds of wisdom and of virtue; and, just as a mill-stone grinds itself away with noise and grating, and often cracks and breaks, if wheat, the raw material of flour, be not supplied to it, so an active mind, if void of serious things, entangles itself utterly with vain, curious, and noxious thoughts, and becomes the cause of its own destruction.

8. What are the rich without wisdom but pigs stuffed with bran? What are the poor who have no understanding of affairs but asses laden with burdens? What is a handsome though ignorant man but a parrot adorned with feathers, or, as has been said, a golden sheath in which there is a leaden dagger?

9. For those who are in any position of authority, for kings, princes, magistrates, pastors of churches, and doctors, it is as necessary to be imbued with wisdom as it is for a guide to have eyes, an interpreter to have speech, a trumpet to be filled with sound, or a sword to have an edge. Similarly, those in subordinate positions should be educated that they may know how to obey their superiors wisely and prudently, not under compulsion, with the obedience of an ass, but of their own free will and from love of order. For a rational creature should be led, not by shouts, imprisonment, and blows, but by reason. Any other method is an insult to God, in whose image all men are made, and fills human affairs with violence and unrest.

10. We see then that all who are born to man’s estate have need of instruction, since it is necessary that, being men, they should not be wild beasts, savage brutes, or inert logs. It follows also that one man excels another in exact proportion as he has received more instruction. We may conclude this chapter with the words of the “Wise Man.” “He who deems wisdom and discipline of no avail is wretched; his hopes (of attaining his desire) are vain, his labour is fruitless, and his work idle” (Wisdom iii. 11).

CHAPTER V

THE SEEDS OF THESE THREE (LEARNING, VIRTUE, AND PIETY) ARE NATURALLY IMPLANTED IN US

1. By the word nature we mean, not the corruption which has laid hold of all men since the Fall (on which account we are naturally called the children of wrath, unable of ourselves to have any good thoughts), but our first and original condition, to which, as to a starting-point, we must be recalled. It was in this sense that Ludovicus Vives¹⁵ said, “What else is a Christian but a man restored to his own nature, and, as it were, brought back to the starting-point from which the devil has thrown him?” (Lib. i. De Concordia et Discordia). In this sense, too, must we take the words of Seneca, “This is wisdom, to return to nature and to the position from which universal error (that is to say, the error of the human race, originated by the first men) has driven us,” and again, “Man is not good but becomes so, as, mindful of his origin, he strives toward equality with God. No man who is viciously inclined ventures the ascent towards the place whence he descended” (Epist. 93).

2. By the voice of nature we understand the universal Providence of God or the influence of Divine Goodness which never ceases to work all in all things; that is to say, which continually developes each creature for the end to which it has been destined. For it is a sign of the divine wisdom to do nothing in vain, that is to say, without a definite end or without means proportionate to that end. ​Whatever exists, therefore, exists for some end, and has been provided with the organs and appliances necessary to attain to it. It has also been gifted with a certain inclination, that nothing may be borne towards its end unwillingly and reluctantly, but rather promptly and pleasantly, by the natural instinct that pain and death will ensue if any obstacle be placed in the way. And so it is certain that man also is naturally fitted for the understanding of facts, for existence in harmony with the moral law, and above all things for the love of God (since for these we have already seen that he is destined), and that the roots of these three principles are as firmly planted in him as are the roots of any tree in the earth beneath it.

3. In order, therefore, that we may thoroughly understand the saying of the son of Sirach, that Wisdom has placed everlasting foundations in man (Ecclesiasticus i. 14), let us examine the foundations of Wisdom, of Virtue, and of Piety, which have been laid in us, that we may see what a marvellous instrument of wisdom man is.

4. It is evident that man is naturally capable of acquiring a knowledge of all things, since, in the first place, he is the image of God. For an image, if it be accurate, necessarily reproduces the outlines of its archetype, as otherwise it will not be an image. Now omniscience is chief among the properties of God, and it follows that the image of this must be reflected in man. And why not? Man, in truth, stands in the centre of the works of God and possesses a lucid mind, which, like a spherical mirror suspended in a room, reflects images of all things that are around it. All things that are around it, we say; for our mind not only seizes on things that are close at hand, but also on things that are far off, whether in space or in time; it masters difficulties, hunts out what is concealed, uncovers what is veiled, and wears itself out in examining what is inscrutable; so infinite and so unbounded is its power. If a thousand years were granted to man, in which, by grasping one thing after another, he might continually learn something fresh, he would still find some spot from which ​the understanding might gain fresh objects of knowledge.

So unlimited is the capacity of the mind that in the process of perception it resembles an abyss. The body is enclosed by small boundaries; the voice roams within wider limits; the sight is bounded only by the vault of heaven; but for the mind, neither in heaven nor anywhere outside heaven, can a boundary be fixed. It ascends as far over the heavens above as below the depths beneath, and would do so if they were even a thousand times more vast than they are; for it penetrates through space with incredible speed. Shall we then deny that it can fathom and grasp all things?

5. Philosophers have called man a Microcosm or Epitome of the Universe, since he inwardly comprehends all the elements that are spread far and wide through the Macrocosm, or world at large; a statement the truth of which is shown elsewhere. The mind, therefore, of a man who enters this world is very justly compared to a seed or to a kernel in which the plant or tree really does exist, although its image cannot actually be seen. This is evident; since the seed, if placed in the ground, puts forth roots beneath it and shoots above it, and these, later on, by their innate force, spread into branches and leaves, are covered with foliage, and adorned with flowers and fruit. It is not necessary, therefore, that anything be brought to a man from without, but only that that which he possesses rolled up within himself be unfolded and disclosed, and that stress be laid on each separate element. Thus Pythagoras used to say that was so natural for a man to be possessed of all knowledge, that a boy of seven years old, if prudently questioned on all the problems of philosophy, ought to be able to give a correct answer to each interrogation; since the light of Reason is a sufficient standard and measure of all things. Still it is true that, since the Fall, Reason has become obscure and involved, and does not know how to set itself free; while those who ought to have done so have rather entangled it the more.

​6. To the rational soul, that dwells within us, organs of sense have been supplied, which may be compared to emissaries and scouts, and by the aid of these it compasses all that lies without. These are sight, hearing, smell, sound, and touch, and there is nothing whatever that can escape their notice. For, since there is nothing in the visible universe which cannot be seen, heard, smelt, tasted, or touched, and the kind and quality of which cannot in this way be discerned, it follows that there is nothing in the universe which cannot be compassed by a man endowed with sense and reason.

7. In addition to the desire for knowledge that is implanted in him, man is imbued not merely with a tolerance of but with an actual appetite for toil. This is evident in earliest childhood, and accompanies us throughout life. For who is there that does not always desire to see, hear, or handle something new? To whom is it not a pleasure to go to some new place daily, to converse with some one, to narrate something, or have some fresh experience? In a word, the eyes, the ears, the sense of touch, the mind itself, are, in their search for food, ever carried beyond themselves; for to an active nature nothing is so intolerable as ease and sloth. Even the fact that the ignorant admire learned men is but a sign that they feel the promptings of a certain natural desire. For they would wish themselves to be partakers of this wisdom, could they deem it possible. But, since they despair, they only sigh, and marvel at those whom they see in advance of them.

8. The examples of those who are self-taught show us most plainly that man, under the guidance of nature, can penetrate to a knowledge of all things. Many have made greater progress under their own tuition, or (as Bernard¹⁶ says) with oaks and beeches for their teachers, than others have done under the irksome instruction of tutors. Does not this teach us that, in very truth, all things exist in man; that the lamp, the oil, the tinder, and all the appliances are there, and that if only he be sufficiently skilled to strike sparks, to catch them, and to kindle the ​lamp, he can forthwith see and can reap the fullest enjoyment of the marvellous treasures of God’s wisdom, both in himself and in the larger world; that is to say, can appreciate the numerical and proportional arrangement of the whole creation. Now, when the internal lamp is not lit, but the torches of strange opinions are carried round without, the effect must be as if lights were carried round a man shut up in a dark dungeon; the rays indeed penetrate the chinks, but the full light is unable to enter. Thus, as Seneca says: “The seeds of all arts are implanted in us, and God the master brings forth intellect from the darkness.”

9. The things to which our minds may be likened teach the same lesson. For the earth (with which the Scriptures often compare our heart) receives seeds of every description. One and the same garden can be sown with herbs, with flowers, and with aromatic plants of every kind, if only the gardener lack not prudence and industry. And the greater the variety, the pleasanter the sight to the eyes, the sweeter the attraction to the nose, and the more potent the refreshment to the heart. Aristotle compared the mind of man to a blank tablet on which nothing was written, but on which all things could be engraved. And, just as a writer can write or a painter paint whatever he wishes on a bare tablet, if he be not ignorant of his art, thus it is easy for one who is not ignorant of the art of teaching to depict all things on the human mind. If the result be not successful, it is more than certain that this is not the fault of the tablet (unless it have some inherent defect), but arises from ignorance on the part of the writer or painter. There is, however, this difference, that on the tablet the writing is limited by space, while, in the case of the mind, you may continually go on writing and engraving without finding any boundary, because, as has already been shown, the mind is without limit.

10. Again, the comparison of our brain, the workshop of thought, to wax which either receives the impress of a seal, or furnishes the material for small images, is an apt one. For just as wax, taking every form, allows itself to be ​modelled and remodelled in any desired way, so the brain, receiving the images of all things, takes into itself whatever is contained in the whole universe. This comparison throws a remarkable light on the true nature of thought and of knowledge. Whatever makes an impression on my organ of sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch, stands to me in the relation of a seal by which the image of the object is impressed upon my brain. So true is this simile that when the object is removed from my eyes, my ears, my nostrils, or my hand, its image still remains before me; nor is it possible that it should not remain, unless my attention has wandered and the impression has been a weak one. For example, if I have seen or spoken to any one; if, when taking a journey, I have seen a mountain, a river, a field, a wood, or a town, or if I have read anything attentively in some author, all these things are imprinted on the brain, so that, as often as the recollection of them comes into my mind, the effect is the same as if I were actually seeing them with my eyes, hearing them with my ears, tasting them, or feeling them. And although of these impressions the brain places one before the other or receives some more distinctly and vividly than others, it still, in some way or other, receives, represents, and retains them all.

11. Here we have mirrored before us the marvellous wisdom of God, who was able to arrange that the small mass of our brains should be sufficient to receive so many thousands of images. For, if the particulars can be remembered of anything that any of us (and this applies particularly to men of learning) have, many years before, seen, heard, tasted, read, or collected by experience or by reasoning, it is evident that these details must be carried in the brain. Yet it is a fact that images of objects formerly seen, heard, or read of, of which thousands of thousands and many more exist, and which are daily multiplied as we daily see, hear, read, or experience something new, are all carefully stored up. What inscrutable wisdom and power of God lies here? Solomon wonders that all rivers ​run into the sea, and that yet the sea is not full (Eccles. i. 7), and who will not marvel at this abyss of memory which exhausts all things, which gives all back again, and yet is never overfull or too void? In truth our mind is greater than the universe, since that which contains is necessarily greater than that which is contained.

12. Finally, the eye (or a mirror) resembles the mind in many ways. If you hold anything before it, of whatever shape or colour, it will soon display a similar image in itself. That is to say, unless you are in the dark, or turn your back, or are too far off, at a distance greater than is fitting, or hinder the impression, or confuse it by movement; for in these cases it must be confessed that the result will be failure. I speak, therefore, of what takes place naturally, when light is present and the object is suitably placed. Just as, then, there is no need for the eye to be compelled to open and look at any object, since, naturally thirsting for light, it rejoices to be fed by gazing, and suffices for all objects (provided that it be not confused by too many at once), and just as it can never be satiated by seeing, so does the mind thirst for objects, ever longs and yearns to observe, grasps at, nay, seizes on all information, and is indefatigable, provided that it be not surfeited with an excess of objects, and that they be presented to its observation one after the other, and in the proper order.

13. Even the heathen philosophers saw that a harmony of morals was necessary for man, although, being ignorant of that other light granted by heaven, which is the most certain guide to eternal life, they set up these sparks as torches; a vain endeavour. Thus Cicero says: “The seeds of virtue are sown in our dispositions, and, if they were allowed to develope, nature herself would lead us to the life of the blest.” This goes rather too far! “Now, however, from the time when we are brought forth to the light of day, we continually move in all wickedness, so that we almost seem to suck in faults with our nurse’s milk” (Tuscul. iii.) Thus the truth of the statement that the seeds of virtue are born with man is bound up with this two​fold argument: (1) every man delights in harmony; (2) man himself, externally and internally, is nothing but a harmony.

14. That man delights in harmony and pursues it greedily, is obvious. For who does not take pleasure in a well-made man, an elegant horse, a beautiful portrait, or a charming picture? And what is the reason of this if not that the proportion of the parts and of the colours is a source of enjoyment? This pleasure of the eye is very natural. Again, who is not affected by music? and why? Because a harmony of voices makes a pleasing consonance. To whom does well-flavoured food not taste good? For the proper mixing of the flavours tickles the palate. Every man rejoices in moderate heat, in moderate cold, in the moderate inactivity or motion of the limbs. Why? if not because everything that is harmonised is congenial and lifegiving to nature, while everything that lacks moderation is hostile and harmful to her.

Even the virtues of others are a source of admiration to some people (for those devoid of them like them in others; though they may not imitate them, thinking good habits impossible to acquire when once vice has got the upper hand). Why then should not each man like them in himself? Surely we are blind if we do not recognise that we all have within us the roots of harmony.

15. Indeed, man is nothing but a harmony, both in respect of his body and of his mind. For, just as the great world itself is like an immense piece of clockwork put together with many wheels and bells, and arranged with such art that throughout the whole structure one part depends on the other, and the movements are perpetuated and harmonised; thus it is with man. The body is indeed constructed with wonderful skill. First of all comes the heart, the source of all life and action, from which the other members receive motion and the measurement of motion. The weight, the efficient cause of motion, is the brain, which by the help of the nerves, as of ropes, attracts and repels the other wheels or limbs, while the ​variety of operations within and without depends on the commensurate proportion of the movements.

16. In the movements of the soul the most important wheel is the will; while the weights are the desires and affections which incline the will this way or that. The escapement is the reason, which measures and determines what, where, and how far anything should be sought after or avoided. The other movements of the soul resemble the less important wheels which depend on the principal one. Wherefore, if too much weight be not given to the desires and affections, and if the escapement, reason, select and exclude properly, it is impossible that the harmony and agreement of virtues should not follow, and this evidently consists of a proper blending of the active and the passive elements.

17. Man, then, is in himself nothing but a harmony, and, as in the case of a clock or of a musical instrument which a skilled artificer has constructed, we do not forthwith pronounce it to be of no further use if it become disorganised and corrupt (for it can be put to rights); thus, with regard to man, we may say that, no matter how disorganised by his fall into sin, he can, through the grace of God and by certain methods, be restored again to harmony.

18. That the roots of piety are present in man is shown by the fact that he is the image of God. For an image implies likeness, and that like rejoices in like, is an immutable law of nature (Eccles. xii. 7). Since, then, man’s only equal is He in whose image he has been made, it follows that there is no direction in which he can be more easily carried by his desires than towards the fountain whence he took his origin; provided that he clearly understand the conditions of his existence.

19. The same thing is shown by the example of the moral philosophers, who, instructed by no word of God, but led by the blind instinct of nature, both acknowledged the Deity, venerated Him, and called upon His name, though they erred in the manner in which they put their ​religion into practice. “All men have some conception of the gods, and all assign the highest place to a divine being,” writes Aristotle (De Cælo, i. 3). Seneca also says: “The worship of the gods consists first in believing in them; then in acknowledging their majesty and their goodness, without which no majesty exists; then in recognising that it is they who preside over the world, include everything under their dominion, and act as guardians of the human race” (Epist. 96). How closely this resembles what the Apostle says (Hebrews xi. 6): “He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek after him.”

20. Plato also says: “God is the highest good, elevated high above all existence and above nature; towards which all creation strives” (Timaeus). And this is so true (that God is the highest good, which all things seek) that Cicero was able to say: “The first to teach us piety is nature” (De Natura Deorum, i.) And this is because (as Lactantius¹⁷ writes, bk. iv. ch. 28): “We receive pardon on condition that we give just and due worship to the God who produced us. Him alone let us know and follow. By this chain of piety we have been bound and linked to God, and it is from this fact that religion derives its name.”

21. It must be confessed that the natural desire for God, as the highest good, has been corrupted by the Fall, and has gone astray, so that no man, of his strength alone, could return to the right way. But in those whom God illumines by the Word and by His Spirit it is so renewed, that we find David exclaiming: “Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none on earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever” (Psalm lxxiii. 25, 26).

22. Therefore, while we are seeking for the remedies of corruption, let none cast corruption in our teeth. For God will remove it through His Holy Ghost and by the intervention of natural means. For as Nebuchadnezzar, when human reason was taken from him and the soul of a ​beast was his, yet retained the hope of returning to his senses, and to his royal dignity as well, as soon as he acknowledged that heaven was his superior (Daniel iv. 25), so to us, who are trees rooted out of God’s Paradise, the roots are left, and these can germinate afresh when the rain and the sun of God’s grace are shed upon them. Did not God, soon after the Fall, and after the exile threatened to us (the penalty of death), sow in our hearts the seeds of fresh grace (by the promise of His blessed offspring)? Did He not send His Son to restore us to our former estate?

23. It is base, wicked, and an evident sign of ingratitude, that we continually complain of our corrupt state, but make no effort to reform it; that we bring forward what the old Adam can work in us, but never experience what the new Adam, Christ, can do. The Apostle says in his own name and in that of his Redeemer: “I can do all things through him that strengtheneth me” (Phil. iv. 13). If it be possible for a shoot grafted on a willow, on a thorn, or on any other shrub, to germinate and bear fruit, what would it not do if grafted on a stock similar to itself? See the argument of the Apostle (Romans xi. 24). In addition, if God is able from these stones to raise up children unto Abraham (Matthew iii. 9), why should He not be able to excite to good works man, the son of God from the first creation, adopted anew through Christ, and born again through the Spirit of grace?

24. Ah! let us beware lest we neglect the grace of God, which He is prepared to pour most liberally upon us. For if we, who are made one with Christ through faith, and dedicated to Him through the spirit of adoption, if we, I say, deny that we, with our offspring, are fit for those things which are of the kingdom of God, how was it that Christ said of children that theirs was the kingdom of heaven? or how can He refer us to them, bidding us to become as little children, if we wish to enter into the kingdom of heaven? (Matthew xviii. 3).

How is it that the Apostle pronounces the children of Christians to be sacred (even where one only of the ​parents is faithful), and says that they are not unclean (1 Cor. vii. 14). Even of those who have been implicated in the gravest crimes the Apostle dares to affirm: “Such were some of you; but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God” (1. Cor. vi. 11). Can it therefore appear impracticable to any one, when we demand that the children of Christians (not the offspring of the old Adam but of the new, the sons of God, the little brothers and sisters of Christ) may be carefully trained, and declare that they are to receive in their hearts the seeds of eternity? We do not indeed demand fruit from a wild olive, but we come to the assistance of grafts freshly grafted on the tree of life, and help them to bear fruit.

25. We see, then, that it is more natural, and, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, easier for a man to become wise, honest, and righteous, than for his progress to be hindered by incidental depravity. For everything returns easily to its own nature, and this it is that the Scriptures say: “Truth is easily seen by those who love her, and can readily be found by those who seek her. She grants herself to the understanding, and those who wait before her door obtain her without trouble” (Wisdom vi. 13, 15). As the poet of Venusia says:

No one is so wild that he cannot be tamed,
If he patiently turn his ear to instruction and knowledge.

CHAPTER IV

THERE ARE THREE STAGES IN THE PREPARATION FOR ETERNITY: TO KNOW ONESELF (AND WITH ONESELF ALL THINGS); TO RULE ONESELF; AND TO DIRECT ONESELF TO GOD.

1. It is evident, then, that the ultimate end of man is eternal happiness with God. The subordinate ends, also, at which we aim in this transitory life, are evident from the words of the divine soliloquy which the Creator uttered when about to make man. “Let us make man,” He said, “in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth” (Gen. i. 26).

2. From which it is plain that man is situated among visible creatures so as to be

(i) A rational creature.

(ii) The Lord of all creatures.

(iii) A creature which is the image and the joy of its Creator.

These three aspects are so joined together that they cannot be separated, for in them is laid the basis of the future and of the present life.

3. To be a rational creature is to name all things, and to speculate and reason about everything that the world contains, as we find it in Gen. ii. 19, or, in the words of ​Solomon (Wisdom vii. 17), to know how the world was made and the operation of the elements; the beginning, ending, and midst of the times; the alterations of the turning of the sun, and the change of seasons; the circuits of years and the positions of stars; the natures of living things and the furies of wild beasts; the violence of winds and the reasonings of men; the diversities of plants and the virtues of roots; in a word, everything that is secret and that is manifest. To man belong the knowledge of handicrafts and the art of speaking, lest (as says the son of Sirach) anything should remain unknown, be it small or great, in any department of knowledge (Eccles. v. 12). For thus, if he know the properties of all things, will he be able to justify his title of “rational being.”

4. To be the lord of all creatures consists in subjecting everything to his own use by contriving that its legitimate end be suitably fulfilled; in conducting himself royally, that is, gravely and righteously, among creatures (adoring only one above him, his Creator; recognising God’s angels, man’s fellow-servants, as his equals, and considering all other things as far beneath him). Thus will he preserve the dignity which has been granted to him. He should enslave himself to no creature, not even to his own flesh and blood; but should use all freely in his service, and not be ignorant where, when, how, and to what extent each may prudently be used, how far the body should be gratified, and how far our neighbour’s interests should be consulted. In a word, he should be able to control with prudence his own movements and actions, external and internal, as well as those of others.

5. Finally, to be the image of God is to represent the perfection of his Archetype, who says Himself “Ye shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy” (Lev. xix. 2).

6. From this it follows that man is naturally required to be: (1) acquainted with all things; (2) endowed with power over all things and over himself; (3) to refer himself and all things to God, the source of all.

​Now, if we wish to express these three things by three well-known words, these will be:

(i) Erudition.

(ii) Virtue or seemly morals.

(iii) Religion or piety.

Under Erudition we comprehend the knowledge of all things, arts, and tongues; under Virtue, not only external decorum, but the whole disposition of our movements, internal and external; while by Religion we understand that inner veneration by which the mind of man attaches and binds itself to the supreme Godhead.

7. In these three things is situated the whole excellence of man, for they alone are the foundation of the present and of the future life. All other things (health, strength, beauty, riches, honour, friendship, good-fortune, long life) are as nothing, if God grant them to any, but extrinsic ornaments of life, and if a man greedily gape after them, engross himself in their pursuit, occupy and overwhelm himself with them to the neglect of those more important matters, then they become superfluous vanities and harmful obstructions.

8. To illustrate the matter by an example. The timepiece (either the sun-dial or the mechanical clock) is an elegant and very necessary instrument for measuring time, and its essential excellence depends on the accurate joining together of all its parts. The case which is added, the chasings, the engravings, and the gildings are accessories which add something to its external appearance, but nothing to its utility. Were any to prefer a handsome clock to a good one, men would laugh at him for not realising in what the essential excellence of the object consisted. In the same way, the value of a horse consists in its strength, combined with spirit, speed, and promptness in obeying its rider’s wishes. A flowing tail or one tied in a knot, hair combed and standing erect, gilded bits, gay coverings, and trappings of whatever kind, add decorative beauty, it is true, yet we call a man a fool if we see that he measures a horse’s excellence by them.

​Finally, a sound condition of health depends on the proper cooking of food, and on our digestive organs being in good order. To sleep softly, to dress well, and to fare delicately, add nothing to our health, but rather detract from it, and therefore a man is a fool who prefers dainties to wholesome viands. But much more, and to his own damnation, is that man a fool who, wishing to be a man, gives more heed to the ornaments than to the essentials of human existence. The Preacher, therefore, pronounces those ignorant and impious who think that our life is a pastime or a simple pursuit of wealth, and says that the praise and the blessing of God is very far from them (Wisdom xv. 12, 19).

9. It follows, therefore, that we advance towards our ultimate end in proportion as we pursue Learning, Virtue, and Piety in this world. These three are undoubtedly the main issues of our life; all else are side channels, hindrances, or ornamentations.

CHAPTER III

THIS LIFE IS BUT A PREPARATION FOR ETERNITY

1. That this life, since its destination is elsewhere, is not (properly speaking) a life at all, but only the prelude to a real and everlasting existence, will be evident, firstly, from the witness of our own selves, secondly, from the world, and, thirdly, from the Holy Scriptures.

2. If we examine ourselves, we see that our faculties grow in such a manner that what goes before paves the way for what comes after. For example, our first life is in our mother’s womb. But for the sake of what does it exist? of the life itself? Not at all. The process that here takes place is intended to form the embryo into the suitable abiding-place and instrument of the soul, for convenient use in the life on earth which follows. As soon as this preparation is finished we burst forth into the light because in this stage no further development is possible. In the same way, this life on earth is nothing but a preparation for eternity, and exists in order that the soul, through the agency of the body, may prepare for itself those things which will be of use in the future life. As soon as this is accomplished we go hence, because further undertakings are of no avail. Many of us, also, are snatched away unprepared or are hurled to destruction, just as abortive embryos are produced from the womb, destined not for life but for death. In each of which cases God, ​it is true, gives His permission, but man is the guilty cause.

3. The visible world itself, from whatever point of view we regard it, bears witness that it has been created for no other end than that it may serve for the progeneration, the nutrition, and the training of the human race. For as it pleased God not to create all men at the same moment, as was done with the angels, but only a male and a female who should increase by generation; and, as a sufficient length of time was necessary for this purpose, He granted some thousands of yea And in order that this period might not be confused, silent, and dark, He spread forth the heavens and placed in them the sun, the moon, and the stars, and commanded these, by circling round, to measure out the hours, the days, the months, and the years. Further, because the beings whose birth was contemplated were corporeal and needed a place to dwell in, space to breathe and move in, food to nourish them, and clothing to adorn them, He constructed in the lowest part of the firmament a solid substratum, the earth. Around this He poured the air, He irrigated it with waters, and bade plants and animals of various kinds to spring forth; and this not only to supply necessary wants, but also to promote enjoyment. And because He had made man in His own image and had given him a mind, in order that its proper nutrition might not be wanting to that mind, He divided each class of creatures into many species, that this visible universe might be a continual mirror of the infinite power, wisdom, and goodness of God, and that by its contemplation man might be compelled to marvel at the Creator, moved to recognise Him, and enticed to love Him, when the might, the beauty, and the sweetness that lie invisible in the abyss of eternity shone out on all sides through these visible manifestations, and suffered themselves to be handled, seen, and tasted. Thus the world is nothing but our nursery, our nurturing place, and our school, and there is, therefore, a place beyond, whither we shall be transferred when we are ​dismissed from the classes of this school and are sent to that university which is everlasting. Reason alone makes this truth manifest, but it is more plainly visible in the divine oracles.

4. God Himself testifies in Hosea that the heavens exist for the sake of the earth, the earth that it may produce corn, wine, and oil, and these in turn for man (Hosea ii. 21, 22). All things therefore, even time itself, exist for the sake of man. For no longer a duration of time will be granted than is necessary to fill up the number of the elect (Rev. vi. 11). As soon as this is accomplished the heavens and the earth will pass away and the place shall know them no more (Rev. xi. 1). For a new heaven and a new earth will appear, in which justice shall dwell (Rev. xxi. 1; 2 Peter iii. 13). And finally, the way in which the Scriptures speak of this life show that it is nothing but the preparation for that to come. For they call it a way, a progress, a gate, and an expectation, while us they call pilgrims, newcomers, sojourners, and lookers forward to another and lasting state (Gen. xlvii. 9; Psalm xxxix. 12; Job vii. 10; Luke xii. 33).

5. Now this we are taught by the facts themselves and by the manifest condition of all men. For what mortal has ever existed who, having been born, has not disappeared again from the earth, since we have been destined for eternity. This being the case, it follows that our state here is one of transition. Whence Christ says, “Therefore be ye so ready, for in an hour that ye think not the Son of Man cometh” (Matt. xxiv. 44). And this is the reason (as we learn from Scripture) that God calls some hence in early youth; for He sees that they are ready, as was Enoch (Gen. v. 24; Wisdom iv. 14). Why, on the other hand, does He show such long-suffering toward the wicked? Because He does not wish that any should be overtaken unprepared, but that he should repent (2 Peter iii. 9). If, however, any man abuse the patience of God, He bids him be snatched away.

6. As, then, it is certain that our sojourn in our mother’s ​womb is a preparation for the life in the body, so certain is it that our sojourn in the body is a preparation for the life which shall follow this one, and shall endure for ever. Happy is he who leaves his mother’s womb with limbs well formed! Happier a thousand times is the man who shall bear his soul hence in purity and cleanliness.