e charm for him, nor did he set much store by the graces. The most
conspicuous illustration of the absence of all idea of art in Comenius
is to be found in his school drama. The unprofitable dreariness of that
production would make a reader sick were he not relieved by a feeling of
its absurdity.

The educational spirit of the Reformers, the conviction that all--even
the humblest--must be taught to know God, and Jesus Christ whom he has
sent, was inherited by Comenius in its completeness. In this way, and in
this way only, could the ills of Europe be remedied and the progress of
humanity assured. While, therefore, he sums up the educational aim
under the three-fold heads of Knowledge, Virtue, and Piety or Godliness,
he in truth has mainly in view the last two. Knowledge is of value only
in so far as it forms the only sound basis, in the eyes of a Protestant
theologian, of virtue and godliness. We have to train for a hereafter.

In virtue and godliness Comenius did not propose to teach anything save
what the Reformed religion taught. His characteristic merits in this
department of instruction were:

1. Morality and godliness were to be taught from the first. Parents and
teachers were to begin to train at the beginning of the child's
conscious life.

2. Parents and teachers were to give milk to babes, and reserve the
stronger meat for the adolescent and adult mind. They were to be content
to proceed gradually, step by step.

3. The method of procedure was not only to be adapted to the growing
mind, but the mode of enforcement was to be mild, and the manner of it
kind and patient.

Had Comenius done nothing more than put forth and press home these
truths he would have deserved our gratitude as an educationalist.

But he did more than this. He related virtue and godliness to knowledge.
By knowledge Comenius meant knowledge of nature and of man's relation to
nature. It is this important characteristic of Comenius' educational
system that reveals the direct influence of Bacon and his school. To the
great Verulam he pays reverence for what he owed him, but he owed him
even more than he knew.

In this field of knowledge, the leading characteristic of the
educational system of Comenius is his realism. We have pointed out, in
contradiction of the assumptions of the modern sensationalist school,
that the humanists were in truth realists, and it may be safely said
that there can be no question among competent judges as to