238 Education as a Factor iri Civilization. 



gathered oxit of books, biit by opening tljeir understanding 

 through things themselves." Thus was planted, almost 

 three hundred years ago, the germ of the idea which has 

 since found fruition in object-lessons. 



It is impossible to estimate the influence of the Jesuits 

 upon the world's civilization. These Epicureans of Chris- 

 tianity, as they have been named, controlled during two 

 hundred years over six hundred colleges and many universi- 

 ties, a power lasting till almost the end of the eighteenth 

 century. The order disdained history, science, and philos- 

 ophy, their labors being wholly directed to the propagation 

 of the Catholic faith, and the ability to write in Latin was 

 their idea of all excellence. A correct notion of the tenor 

 of their teaching can be gathered from the dictum, " "We must 

 be so attached to the Roman church as to hold for black any 

 object which she tells us is black even when it is white, 

 and if God should appoint for our master an animal de- 

 prived of reason we should not hesitate to render it obedi- 

 ence." It is only by a close study of the rules of this 

 order that it is possible to realize the cause and progress of 

 the terrible paralysis from which it has not yet recovered 

 thus suffered by human consciousness. 



A summary of the sixteenth century shows that the 

 effect produced upon education by the Beformation and the 

 Baconian philosophy was the subjection of matters of opin- 

 ion to reason, observation, and experience, and the estab- 

 lishment of universal instruction in order to make each 

 human soul responsible for its own salvation. Schools 

 were consequently multiplied and attendance made com- 

 pulsory, ignorance being regarded as an evil and a menace 

 to temporal as well as to sjjiritual safety. 



The vital spark of the intellectual fire which warms and 

 illumines our system of the present day was caught from 

 the devoted Pestalozzi, who, with tardy justice, is acknowl- 

 edged as the Father of tlie Common Schools. Pestalozzi, 

 largely un])ractical, failing as lawyer, minister, and farmer, 

 was possessed through his eighty years of life with an 

 affection for children which has made us his debtors for all 

 time. His sxiccess in his work with the little outcasts upon 

 whom he ex])erimented was remarkable. His attention 

 was directed to the training of cliildren as distinct from 

 mere instruction. The basis of his method was the devel- 

 opment of the observing and reasoning powers an exten- 



