lives; to eschew as far as possible worldly honours; to obey, rather than to command; in short, to conform as closely as they could to the ways of the first disciples and followers of Christ. Leaving all doctrinal considerations aside, it cannot be denied that this was a lofty ideal.
On controversial matters, Komensky, in the "Labyrinth," is significantly silent. As Dr. von Criegern writes, even the questions of free will and predestination that divided the Lutherans and Calvinists, to which communities the brethren were closely related, though they belonged to neither, Komensky devoted little attention. There are, however, several passages in the last chapters of the "Labyrinth" (the "Paradise of the Heart") that afford some evidence in favour of the author's belief in predestination. I have already referred to the mysticism of the "Labyrinth." The mystic conception of light is very prominent in the book, and is occasionally rather puzzling to the reader, as the word appears sometimes in its ordinary, sometimes in its allegorical, signification. The conception of Christ as "the centre of all things" is also common to many mystics, as is the great stress laid on various odours, as the reader will find in many passages of the "Labyrinth." M. Nordau would, no doubt, on the strength of this peculiarity, enrol Komensky among the "Entartete"; it is, however, true that mysticism itself is degeneracy, according to M. Nordau.
I have already written much on Komensky's
