A Sketch of Universal Wisdom

history, sacred and profane, sees. For all things have come forth as if out of darkness into the light, one thing after another: and each thing was in its beginnings something raw and unpolished, gradually receiving more distinct forms and perfection: and finally every Discovery passed from its Inventor to others—to men and peoples, one after another—by successive imitation.

XXIV. What, then, forbids us to hope that one day those things which have grown in parts might coalesce into a whole? And those things which have been gradually polished might at last exist in a most perfect form? And those things which previously belonged to this or that individual (man or nation, language or sect) might become common to the human race? Certainly, that which has stages must necessarily have a highest stage. And if Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BC), the Roman statesman and philosopher. Comenius frequently cites classical authorities to bridge the gap between secular wisdom and Christian reform. truly said: “Time wipes out the fictions of opinions” original: "Opinionum commenta delet dies" (from Cicero's On the Nature of the Gods). It suggests that while truth is permanent, human inventions and errors eventually fade.—and why not? Truth surely, the daughter of time, is alone solid; why shouldn't the smoke of opinions be dissipatable?—why do we not hope that it will come to pass, that the fictions and errors of so many centuries, or the [passing] of centuries...