of Eisleben and Magdeburg. He went to Nuremberg, and assisted in the
establishment of a gymnasium [high school] in that city; and in the
following spring he returned to Nuremberg, and formally opened the
school. He delivered an address in Latin, in which he dwelt upon the
importance of education, and the credit which the movers in this
enterprise deserved. He declared that ... ‘_the cause of true education
is the cause of God_.’”[126]
Both church schools and higher schools, those offering instruction for
students preparing for the universities, were organized by Melancthon.
[Sidenote: Changes were bitterly opposed]
This work was not allowed to proceed without some bitter attacks from the
schoolmen and representatives of papal education. For illustration of
this fact, we have the words of D’Aubigné: “The schools, which for five
centuries past had domineered over Christendom, far from giving way at
the first blow of the Reformer [Luther], rose up haughtily to crush the
man who dared pour out upon them the flood of his contempt.” “Doctor
Eck, the celebrated professor of Ingolstadt, ... was a doctor of the
schools and not of the Bible; well versed in the scholastic writings,
but not in the Word of God.... Eck represented the schoolmen.” “Eck was
a far more formidable adversary than Tetzel [the vender of indulgences],
Prierio, or Hochstraten; the more his work surpassed theirs in learning
and in subtlety, the more dangerous it was.”[127] Thus Luther’s most
bitter enemies were those who had once been his warm friends, and those
who offered the strongest opposition to his work were the teachers in the
universities of Germany. Luther was sometimes almost overcome in spirit
by the ingratitude shown, and of Doctor Eck he once wrote: “If I did not
know Satan’s thoughts, I should be astonished at the fury which has led
this man to break off so sweet and so new a friendship, and that, too,
without warning me, without writing to me, without saying a single word.”
[Sidenote: The Saxony school plan]
It was in order to meet the opposition offered by the schoolmen, and
to put the Reformation on a firm basis, that Luther and Melancthon
formulated the Saxony school plan, and reorganized the German schools.
Stump says: “In the year 1527, Melancthon took part with Luther in the
visitation of the schools and churches of Saxony. It was high time for
such a step. Affairs were in a wretched condition. In many places no
religious instruction was given at all, because there were either no
pastors and teachers stationed there, or those who were stationed there
were grossly ignorant themselves. The greatest disorder imaginable
reigned nearly everywhere.... The financial condition of many of the
churches was equally bad.... It was the object of the visitation to
bring order out of this chaos. Melancthon was charged with making a
beginning in Thuringia. The spiritual distress which he discovered rent
his heart, and he often went aside, and wept over what he saw.” “In 1528
Melancthon drew up the ‘Saxony school plan,’ which served as the basis of
organization for many schools throughout Germany.”
[Sidenote: Reforms advocated by this plan]
According to this plan, teachers were to avoid “burdening the children
with a _multiplicity of studies_ that were not only unfruitful, but even
hurtful.” Again, “The teacher should not burden the children with too
many books,” and “it is necessary that the children be divided into
classes.” “Three classes, or grades, are recommended,” and the subjects
taught should be adapted to the age and condition of the pupil. Thus,
avoid too many studies for children and youth; do not put too many books
into their hands; group them according to their ability. This “plan”
seems to resist the cramming system so universally followed to-day almost
as vigorously as it opposed the papal schools of the sixteenth century.
[Sidenote: Results, if Luther’s plans fulfilled]
A great work was set on foot,—a revolution which was to affect the ages
which followed. In the brief space of one man’s life, plans were laid,
_especially in the educational work_, which, if carried out by his
successors, would have placed Germany in a position to rule the world.
Instead of returning to the pit from which she had been dug, her schools
and universities might have been models worthy of imitation throughout
Europe and in America. Luther died, and Melancthon, his co-laborer,
was unable to carry forward the work. Theologians, pastors, ministers,
into whose hands the work of the Reformation rightfully fell, _instead
of multiplying Christian schools_, and carrying to perfection the
methods of instruction introduced by Luther and Melancthon, _passed by
the greatest work of the age_, and by internal strifes and theological
disputes lost the hard-won battle. The seeds of truth had been sown in
_republicanism_ and _Protestantism_, and these two institutions should
have been held in Germany. _Education_—CHRISTIAN EDUCATION—alone could
hold them there. This was neglected; and as lost children, the two went
hand in hand to the Netherlands, to England, and finally to America, in
search of a fostering mother,—a pure system of education. The spirit
and life so manifest in the teaching of the great Reformers, passed on,
leaving Europe with the _form_. A house empty, swept, and garnished does
not long so remain. The form was occupied by the spirit of the papacy,
and Europe relapsed into a position from which she can be reclaimed only
by a renewal of the plans of the sixteenth-century Reformers—a system of
CHRISTIAN EDUCATION.
XIII
THE REACTION AFTER THE EDUCATIONAL REFORMATION
[Sidenote: Widespread effects of the Reformation]
The most momentous event of the world’s history, excepting alone the
birth of the Redeemer, was the Reformation of the sixteenth century.
Great religious movements have occurred before and since, but they are
eclipsed by the brilliancy and far-reaching results of this one. More
men have been reached, more lives revolutionized, than by the combined
forces of all changes in civil and domestic circles since that time. The
fact is, that when the causes of political changes in the modern world
are considered, it must be acknowledged by every candid thinker that
these changes are due in one way or another to the attitude assumed by
the people concerned toward that one Reformation which was set in motion
by the Wittemberg monk. Christ had been forgotten, and He came before the
world again in the days of Luther.
A few quotations from Ranke show how far the Reformation extended in the
brief space of forty years; and since we are dealing with the causes of
this rapid spread, it is gratifying to see that this author gives in the
most natural way due credit to the influence of the schools. Two things,
then, should be noticed in reading these selections; first, the extent of
territory covered by Protestant principles; second, the part played by
schools and teachers in the conversion of nations. It is about the year
1563.
“In the _Scandinavian realms_ they [the Protestants] had established
themselves the more impregnably, because there their introduction was
coincident with the establishment of new dynasties, and the remodeling
of all political institutions. From the very first they were hailed with
joy, as though there was in their nature a primitive affinity to the
national feelings.”
“In the year 1552, the last representatives of Catholicism in _Iceland_
succumbed.”
“On the southern shores, too, of the _Baltic_ Lutheranism had achieved
complete predominance, at least among the population of German tongue.”
In _Poland_ it was said, “A Polish nobleman is not subject to the king;
is he to be so to the pope?”
In _Hungary_, “Ferdinand I could never force the diet to any resolutions
unfavorable to Protestantism.”
“Protestantism not only reigned paramount in _northern Germany_, where
it had originated, and in those districts of upper Germany where it had
always maintained itself, but its grasp had been extended much more
widely in every direction.”
“In _Wurzburg and Bamberg_ by far the greater part of the nobility
and the episcopal functionaries, the magistrates and the burghers of
the towns, at least the majority of them, and the bulk of the rural
population, had passed over to the reforming party.”
In _Bavaria_ “the great majority of the nobility had adopted the
Protestant doctrine, and a considerable portion of the towns was
decidedly inclined to it.”
“Far more than this, however, had been done in _Austria_. The _nobility
of that country studied in Wittemberg; all the colleges of the land were
filled with Protestants_.”
We are not surprised, therefore, to read that “it was said to be
ascertained that not more, perhaps, than the thirtieth part of the
population remained Catholic: _step by step, a national constitution
unfolded itself, formed upon the principles of Protestantism_.” “In the
_Rauris_, and the _Gastein_, in _St. Veit_, _Tamsweg_, and _Radstadt_,
the inhabitants loudly demanded the sacramental cup, and this being
refused [in order to compel them to remain Catholic], they ceased
altogether to attend the sacrament. _They withheld their children, too,
from the_ [Catholic] _schools_.”
“The _Rhenish nobility_ had early embraced Protestantism.... In all the
towns there existed already a Protestant party.... _The inhabitants
of Mainz, too, did not hesitate to send their children_ to Protestant
schools. In short, from west to east, and from north to south, throughout
all Germany, Protestantism had unquestionably the preponderance.”
[Sidenote: Accomplished by education]
“The Protestant notions extended their vivifying energies to the most
remote and most forgotten corners of Europe. What an immense domain
had they conquered within the space of forty years! From Iceland to
the Pyrenees, from Finland to the heights of the Italian Alps. Even
beyond the latter mountains opinions analogous had once, as we are
aware, prevailed. _Protestantism embraced the whole range of the Latin
church._ It had laid hold of a vast majority of the higher classes, and
of the minds that took part in public life; whole nations clung to it
with enthusiasm, and states had been remodeled by it. This is the more
deserving of our wonder, inasmuch as Protestantism was by no means a
mere antithesis, a negation of the papacy, or an emancipation from its
rule; it was in the highest degree positive, a renovation of Christian
notions and principles, that sway human life even to the profoundest
mysteries of the soul.”[128] Notice again that this was due to the
educational ideas propagated by Protestants, and the reason why the
papacy was so fast losing its foothold was because it had not yet learned
that this Reformation, _which began in schools, and was carried forward
by Christian schools, must be defeated in schools and by teachers_.
For forty years Protestants had the right of way in education, and the
results were stupendous.
[Sidenote: Protestant schools winning everywhere]
Ranke says: “Protestant opinions had triumphed in the universities and
educational establishments. Those old champions of Catholicism [the
teachers] who had withstood Luther were dead, or in advanced years:
young men capable of supplying their places had not yet arisen. Twenty
years had elapsed in Vienna _since a single student of the university_
had taken priest’s orders. Even in Ingoldstadt, pre-eminently Catholic
as it was, _no competent candidates of the faculty of theology presented
themselves to fill the places that had hitherto been always occupied by
ecclesiastics_. The city of Cologne founded an endowed school; but when
all the arrangements for it had been made, it was found that the regent
was a Protestant. Cardinal Otto Truchess established a new university in
his city of Dillingen, _with the express design of resisting the progress
of Protestantism_. The credit of this institution was maintained for some
years by a few distinguished Spanish theologians; but as soon as these
left it, NOT A SINGLE SCHOLAR COULD BE FOUND IN ALL GERMANY TO SUCCEED
TO THEIR PLACES, and even these were likewise filled with Protestants.
ABOUT THIS PERIOD THE TEACHERS IN GERMANY WERE ALL, almost without
exception, Protestants. THE WHOLE BODY OF THE RISING GENERATION SAT AT
THEIR FEET, and imbibed a hatred of the pope with the first rudiments of
learning.”[129]
[Sidenote: Success of Reformation due to schools]
Stress is not laid on their hatred of the pope, but on the fact that
the rising generation sat at the feet of Protestant teachers throughout
Germany; that parents withheld their children from the papal school, even
though it might be necessary in so doing to send them from home to be
educated; and finally, that the papacy was dying, and Protestantism was
spreading through the work of the schools. Would that those schools might
have retained their pristine purity and simplicity. No power on earth
could then have retarded the progress of Protestantism, and instead of
only modifying the history of many countries, it would eventually have
swept from the earth all forms of tyranny, both civil and religious, for
it breathed the freedom of the gospel, and no oppression could stand
before it. It is as impossible to withstand pure Christian education as
it is to withstand Christ, whose power is its life and strength.
[Sidenote: Protestants failed to recognize its strength]
It is with a pang that one is forced to trace in this movement that
oft-repeated chapter in the history of mankind. As the leader of Israel
was allowed to view the promised land from the top of Pisgah, but must
there lay aside his armor and sleep the sleep of death because of a
departure from right principles, so Protestantism, through its schools,
looked across Jordan, but failed to maintain the principle of faith which
could at the crucial moment command the waters to part.
[Sidenote: Education by faith lost]
One reason for the decline is thus stated by Painter: “In their efforts
to give Christian doctrine a scientific form [that is, to formulate
it], _they lost its spirit_. _LOSING ITS EARLY FREEDOM AND LIFE,
Protestantism degenerated in a large measure into what has been called
‘DEAD ORTHODOXY._’ ... _Christian life_ counted for little, and the
Protestant world broke up into opposing factions. Says Kurtz, who
is disposed to apologize for this period as far as possible: ‘Like
medieval scholasticism, in its concern for logic, theology almost lost
vitality. Orthodoxy degenerated into orthodoxism; _externally_, not
only discerning essential diversities, but disregarding the broad basis
of a common faith, and running into odious and unrestrained controversy;
_internally, holding to the form_ of pure doctrine, but neglecting
cordially to embrace it and to live consistently with it.’”[130]
[Sidenote: Scholasticism killed Protestant schools]
How narrow the line between truth and error! How easy for those who had
been given to eat of the tree of life to turn to the tree of knowledge
of good and evil! What a pity that Protestant educators could not remain
true to their trust! When on the eve of success, they turned to the old
paths, and “called into existence a dialectic scholasticism which was
in no way inferior to that of the most flourishing period of the Middle
Ages.”[131] Papal principles are papal, whether advocated by Catholics or
Protestants; having left the fountain of the pure waters of faith, they
turned to the only other accessible source of knowledge—the pagan world.
That system of education introduced by Luther and Melancthon, founded
upon the _Holy Scriptures_, and through them viewing the sciences,
mathematics, and literature, using the latter only as a means of
illustrating God’s Word, was replaced by the _scholasticism of the Middle
Ages_. One involuntarily asks, “How many times, O Israel, wilt thou
return into Egypt?”
[Sidenote: Form took the place of life]
This decline is described in the following quotations taken from Painter,
and they need no comment: “During the period extending from the middle of
the sixteenth to the beginning of the eighteenth century, three leading
tendencies are apparent in education. These may be characterized as the
theological, the humanistic, and the practical.... A large share of the
intellectual strength of the age was turned to theology. Every phase of
religious truth, particularly in its doctrinal and speculative aspects,
was brought under investigation. Theology was elevated to a science, and
doctrinal systems were developed with logical precision, and _extended to
trifling subtilities_.”[132]
In the figure of the Bible they strained for gnats, meanwhile swallowing
the camel. The life was thus lost in the pulpit and in the theological
schools. It was again the “teaching for doctrines the commandments of
men.”
[Sidenote: Further return to papal methods]
Painter further says: “The schools, which stand in close relation to
religion, were naturally influenced in a large measure by the theological
tendencies of the age. Theological interests imposed upon the schools
_a narrow range of subjects, a mechanical method of instruction_, and
a cruel discipline. The principle of authority, _exacting_ a blind
submission of the pupil, prevailed in the schools of every grade. The
young were regarded not as tender plants to be carefully nurtured and
developed, but as untamed animals to be repressed or broken.”[133]
Notice the creeping in of those very characteristics of papal education
so often referred to heretofore: 1, narrow range of subjects; 2,
mechanical instruction,—memory work devoid of understanding; 3, arbitrary
government, as seen in the matter of discipline. To this we must add that
which is the natural accompaniment in papal instruction—the teaching
of Latin. Says Painter, quoting Dittes: “‘In the higher institutions,
and even in the wretched town schools, LATIN WAS THE MOLOCH to which
countless minds fell an offering in return for the blessing granted to
a few. _A dead knowledge of words took the place of a living knowledge
of things._ Latin schoolbooks supplanted the book of nature, the book of
life, the book of mankind. And in the popular schools youthful minds were
tortured over the spelling book and catechism. The method of teaching
was almost everywhere, in the primary as well as in the higher schools,
a mechanical and compulsory drill in unintelligible formulas. The pupils
were obliged to learn, _but they were not educated to see and hear, to
think and prove_, and were not led to a true independence and personal
perfection. THE TEACHERS FOUND THEIR FUNCTION IN TEACHING THE PRESCRIBED
TEXT, not in harmoniously developing the young human being according
to the laws of nature—a process, moreover, that lay under the ban of
ecclesiastical orthodoxy.’”[134]
[Sidenote: Cramming system and memory work]
That there was a cramming process followed equal to any twentieth-century
school, is evident. “The discipline answered to the content and spirit
of the instruction.... The principle was to tame the pupils, not to
educate them. They were to hold themselves motionless, that the school
exercises might not be disturbed. What took place in their minds, and how
their several characters were constituted, the school pedants did not
understand and appreciate.”
[Sidenote: Sturm’s school a compromise]
In order to appreciate the rapidity with which the relapse took place
from the educational system introduced by Luther to the medieval
principles and methods, our attention is directed to the school of
John Sturm. This man, “regarded as the greatest educator that the
Reformed Church produced during this period,” died in 1589, less than
seventy years after the Diet of Worms; hence his work fell within the
half century following those forty years of unusual prosperity for
Protestantism which has already been noticed. His work is contemporary
with the first Jesuit school of Germany. The decline is visible in every
feature of his work.
_John Sturm_ presided for forty years over the gymnasium of Strasburg,
and his boast was that his institution “reproduced the best periods of
Athens and Rome; and, in fact, he succeeded in giving to his adopted city
the name of New Athens.” Sturm’s school stood as a halfway mark between
the Christian schools and the purely papal schools of the Jesuits, but
since compromise always places a person or institution on the side of
wrong, in weighing the worth of his school the balances necessarily tip
in favor of the papacy.
[Sidenote: Course of study in Sturm’s school]
That his was a mixture of the medieval classical literature with a thin
slice of Scripture sandwiched in for effect, is seen in the course of
study as outlined by Painter. The school was divided into ten classes
covering ten years, but only so much is given as is necessary to show the
character of the studies: “Tenth class—The alphabet, reading, writing,
Latin declensions and conjugations, German or Latin catechism.” “Ninth
class—Latin declensions and conjugations continued. Memorizing of Latin
words.” The eighth and the seventh classes are about the same. In the
sixth, Greek is begun. The fifth class is as follows: “Study of words,
... versification, mythology, Cicero, and Virgil’s eclogues, Greek
vocabulary.... On Saturday and Sunday, one of Paul’s epistles.”[135] The
remaining four classes have much “learning by heart,” rhetoric, Paul’s
epistles, orations of Demosthenes, the Iliad of Odyssey; memorizing
and recitation of the Epistle to the Romans, dialectics, and rhetoric
continued; Virgil, Horace, Homer, Thucidides, Sallust, weekly dramatic
entertainments, and again a reading of Paul’s epistles.
Such a course of instruction was well fitted to bridge the gulf between
the papacy and Protestantism. It was imbibing perhaps unconsciously the
spirit of the new papal schools. “History, mathematics, natural science,
and the mother tongue are ignored. A great gap is left between the
gymnasium and life—a gap that could not be filled even by the university.
In aiming to reproduce Greece and Rome in the midst of modern Christian
civilization, Sturm’s scheme involves a _vast anachronism_.”[136]
[Sidenote: Influence of Sturm’s school]
The Strasburg gymnasium at one time numbered several thousand pupils
representing Denmark, Poland, Portugal, France, and England. “Sturm’s
influence extended to _England, and thence to America_.” An English
writer says: “No one who is acquainted with the education given at our
principal classical schools, _Eaton_, _Winchester_, and _Westminster_,
forty years ago, can fail to see that their curriculum was framed in a
great degree on Sturm’s model.”[137] And yet it is acknowledged that his
“scheme involves a _vast anachronism_.”
[Sidenote: Modern schools follow Sturm]
To show that Sturm is the father of much of the instruction now given
in our high schools and universities, Rosenkranz says: “John Sturm, of
Strasburg, long before Comenius, had laid the foundation of what has
become the _traditional course of instruction and methods of study in the
classical schools for preparation for college_.”[138]
[Sidenote: Reaction as seen in discipline]