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mastered, the other languages may be studied. (5) Everything without compulsion. Children cannot be whipped into learning or wishing to learn; by compulsion and blows they are so disgusted with their studies that study becomes hateful to them. Moreover, it is contrary to nature to flog children for not remembering what has been taught them. If they had been properly taught they would have remembered, and blows would have been unnecessary. Children should be taught to love and reverence - not to fear their teachers. (6) Nothing should be learned by rote. Learning by heart weakens the understanding. If a subject has been well developed, and has been impressed upon the mind by frequent repetition, the memory of it will follow without any pains. Frequent hours of recreation are advised; in fact, no two lessons should come immediately together. (7) A definite method (and a uniform method) for all studies. In the languages, arts, and sciences, there must be a conformity in the methods of teaching, text-books used, and precepts given. The German grammar, for instance, must agree with the Hebrew and the Greek as far as the idioms of the language will permit. (8) The thing itself should first be studied, and then whatever explains it. Study first the literature of a language and then its grammar. A basis of material

must first be laid in the mind before rules can be applied. He admits that many of the grammars furnish examples with the rules; but these examples "come together from all sorts of authors, like mixed fodder in a manger." (9) Everything must be learned by experience and examination. Nothing is to be taken on authority. It will be recalled that Ratke

visited England after the completion of his studies at Rostock; and it is altogether likely that while there he became a convert to induction and the philosophy of Bacon.

In most particulars Ratke and Comenius were in harmony. Both urged that the study of things should precede or be united with the study of words; that knowledge should be communicated through appeals to the senses; that all linguistic study should begin with the mother-tongue; that methods of teaching should be in accordance with the laws of nature; and that progress in studies should be based not on compulsion, but on the interest aroused in the pupils.

Campanella, Andreæ, and Bateus

Comenius derived many of his philosophic concepts from the Dominican reformer, Thomas Campanella, whose writings influenced him powerfully, at least, during his student years at Herborn and Heidelberg. The writings of Campanella convinced him of the unwisdom of the study of nature from the works of Aristotle. Books, Campanella had declared, are but dead copies of life, and are full of error and deception. We must ourselves explore nature and write down our own thoughts, the living mirror which shows the reflection of God's countenance. These protests against scholasticism found a responsive chord in the thoughts of the young Comenius.

In the preface to the Prodromus Comenius is unreserved in his expression of obligations to his predecessors. "Who, indeed, should have the first place," he says, "but John Valentine Andreæ, a man of nimble

and clear brain." The court preacher of Stuttgart had strongly impressed Comenius by his deep love for Christian ideals and his warm enthusiasm for their realization in practical life, as well as by his humorous polemics against the dead scholasticism of his day. Comenius incorporates in his Great didactic a brief by Andreæ on "the use of the art of teaching," in which he maintains (1) that parents up to this time have been uncertain how much to expect from their children; (2) that schoolmasters, the greater number of whom have been ignorant of their art, have exhausted their energies and worn themselves out in their efforts to fulfil their duty; (3) that students should master the sciences without difficulty, tedium, or blows, as if in sport and in merriment; (4) that schools should become places of amusement, houses of delight and attraction, and the work so adjusted that students of whatever capacity might attain a high standard of development; (5) that states should exist for the development of the young; (6) that schools should be so efficient that the Church may never lack learned doctors, and the learned doctors lack suitable hearers; and (7) that the schools may be so reformed that they may give a more exact and universal culture of the intellect, and that Christian youths may be more fervently stirred up to vigor of mind and love of heavenly things. "Let none, therefore," says Andreæ, "withdraw his thoughts, desires, strength, and resources from such a sacred undertaking. It is inglorious to despair of progress and wrong to despise the counsel of others."

The obligation of Comenius to William Bateus, the Irish Jesuit, was not great, although he makes free

acknowledgment of the same in the Janua. Indeed, the plan of the Janua was well formulated before he knew of the existence of the Jesuit father's book. He made known the plan of his Janua to some friends, who told him that Bateus had already published a similar work. He was not content until he had procured a copy of the book. "The idea," says Comenius, was better than the execution. Nevertheless, as he was the prime inventor, I thankfully acknowledge it, nor will I upbraid him for those errors he has committed." This willing recognition of his obligation to a wide range of educational writers is proof of the declaration he often made, "I care not whether I act the part of teacher or learner."

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CHAPTER III

BOYHOOD AND EARLY LIFE OF COMENIUS: 1592-1628

Ancestry of Comenius- Attends the village school at StrasnitzStudies Latin in the gymnasium at Prerau - Character of the Latin schools of his day - Enters the college at Herborn - Studies theology and philosophy-Inspired by the teachings of Alsted Makes the acquaintance of the writings of Ratke-Continues his studies at Heidelberg - Begins his career as a teacher at Prerau -Ordained as a clergyman-Installed as pastor and school superintendent at Fulneck-Persecution.

MANY of the facts concerning the early life of John Amos Comenius are shrouded in obscurity. It is certain, however, that he was born in the village of Nivnitz in Moravia (now a province of Austria) on the 28th day of March, in the year 1592. Nivnitz then, as now, was little more than a country market town and settled quite largely by members of the religious organization known as Moravian Brethren. The father and mother of Comenius, Martin and Anna Komensky, were influential members of the brotherhood, who had settled here some years previous with other followers of John Hus, the Bohemian reformer and martyr. The tradition that Martin Komensky was a miller by trade does not seem to be well authenticated. Besides John Amos, three daughters were born to Martin and Anna Komensky, — Ludmilla, Susanna, and Margaret, but the three girls died in early childhood.

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