Page:The Great Didactic of John Amos Comenius (1896).pdf/50

 that any system of education, apart from the mere inculcation of facts, must rest, and this is the truth that Comenius brings out most strongly in his Pansophic writings. It is towards this “Universal Wisdom” that all his didactic efforts tend. The student is led from one fact to another, and, as these facts are arranged in their natural order, he is thus placed in touch with the actual cosmic processes, can follow up the train of thought, and enlarge the circle of knowledge by working on the lines indicated by the operations of nature. As result, the mature student is no pedant, crammed to overflowing with dry and uncoördinated facts, but a man whose faculty of original thought has been developed and whose training fits him to be an independent investigator of the universe. The boldness of the scheme excites admiration; but the enthusiasm evinced by Hartlib and his friends can only suggest the thought that these gentlemen had failed to appreciate that the one important point in the Baconian philosophy was the insistence on experiment and verification as a basis for sound induction.

It must not be imagined that this excursion into the realm of first principles and philosophic abstractions impeded Comenius in the performance of his practical duties as a teacher. During these years (1635–1640) his activity in school-organisation was as great as ever, and the leading position that he now took in the Moravian Fraternity laid an extra burden on his shoulders. In 1635 the Synod asked him to bring out a Latin-Bohemian edition of the Vestibulum and of the Janua, and expressed its satisfaction at hearing that the learned David Bechner was working at a Viridarium Lingua Latina, an amplification of the Janua. Additional labour was given by the reorganisation of the Gymnasium in accordance with the plans of Comenius, and we accordingly find him drawing up The rules of the renowned Gymnasium at Lissa. These are of an eminently practical character. Especial stress is laid on the need of a spirit of piety throughout the