But he knew that rules and prohibitions would not suffice. He was acquainted with that saying of the wise man of Israel, ‘Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.’[132] Thus say the _Ordinances_—‘At noon on Sundays let there be a catechizing, that is to say, instruction of young children in all the three churches. Let all citizens and inhabitants be under obligation to bring or send their children to it. Let a certain formulary be provided as a basis of this instruction; that while doctrine is imparted to them, they may be questioned about what has been said, to see if they have really understood and retained it. When a child is sufficiently instructed to dispense with the catechism, let him solemnly repeat the substance of its contents, and thus make a sort of profession of Christianity in the presence of the church.’[133] Calvin knew and taught that ‘when little children are presented to the Lord, he receives them humanely and with great gentleness,’ and he added ‘that it would be a too cruel thing to exclude (_forclorre_) from the grace of God those who are of this age.’ He wishes ‘the elders _to have an eye to them_, that they may watch over them.’[134] He thus says in his _Ordinances_, what a great poet has repeated in his verses: O vous, sur ces enfants, si chers, si précieux, Ministres du Seigneur, ayez toujours les yeux.[135] [Sidenote: Schools And Charities.] It is not with children alone that he concerns himself, it is with all the weak. He thinks of the sick. He fear that many neglect to find consolation in God by His word, and die without the doctrine which would then be to them more salutary than ever; and he requires that no one should be sick more than three days without sending for a minister. He takes thought for the poor, and will have the deacons receive and dispense ‘as well the daily alms as possessions, annuities, and pensions.’[136] He does not forget the sick poor, and will have ‘them cared for and their wounds dressed.’ He demands for the town hospital a paid physician and surgeon, who shall also visit the other poor. He thinks also of foreigners. Many came to Geneva to escape persecution. He therefore founds a hospital for wayfarers.[137] He demands a separate hospital for the plague. But with regard to beggary, he declares it contrary to good police, and wishes that ‘officers should be appointed to remove from the place the beggars who would offer resistance (_belistrer_); and if they were rude and insolent (_qu’ils se rebecquassent_)’ he demands that they should be brought before one of the syndics.[138] With respect to the last class of the unfortunate, prisoners, he wishes that every Saturday afternoon they should be assembled for admonition and exhortation, and that if any of them should be in chains (_aux ceps_) and it is not thought advisable to remove them, admission should be granted to some minister to console them; for