History of English Literature from "Beowulf" to SwinburneLang, Andrew
History
History of English Literature from "Beowulf" to Swinburne
Lang, Andrew
English literature -- History and criticism
who, in counting up money, touched it with a stick, not with the hand,
are certainly even more sophistical than ingenious.
He wrote many pamphlets still in manuscript; the "Repressor" is of
1455, and is a most remarkable book in all ways. Pecock became vastly
unpopular, because he was too clever, and, in his dislike of religious
persecution, as well as in the nature of his arguments, was in advance,
not only of his own age, but of the age of the Reformation. He was
thought to give far too high authority to reason, and to the natural
faculties of man in the way of developing unrevealed morality and
unrevealed religion. "No virtue or governance or truth into which the
judgment of man's reason may sufficiently ascend or come to, to find,
learn, and know it without revelation from God, is grounded on Holy
Scripture."
This conclusion arrives at the end of a sentence of thirty lines, a
fair example of Pecock's logical and legal style, by him first used in
English. It is not possible, here, to discuss Pecock's ideas, which are
concerned with questions that still divide the Church and the world,
Anglicans, Catholics, Nonconformists, and Agnostics. The "Repressor"
has been described as "the earliest piece of good philosophical
disquisition of which our English prose literature can boast"; it may
still be read with interest, especially by students of the Reformation.
Pecock was opposed to the unjust and brutal war of conquest and of
disaster waged by England in France.
In 1450 he became Bishop of Chichester, and shared the unpopularity
of the Duke of Suffolk, who was blamed for the disasters in France.
His "Book of Faith" (1456) practically abandoned the infallibility of
the Church in 1457; he was as unpopular with the clergy as with the
mob; twenty-four doctors reported unfavourably on his works: he was a
defender of "drowsy reason" and of "unrevealed morality": he was found
guilty of heresies which were no heresies, and, with no choice except
that of being burned alive, he signed a confession and abjuration of
sins which he had not committed: he was consigned to close confinement
in the Abbey of Thorney, was deprived of his bishopric--and of writing
materials--and died obscurely.
The source of his misfortunes was this: he was not only clever but he
knew it, and wrote that whatsoever man did not agree with an argument
of his "is duller than any man ought to be". As few agreed, most were
dull, and they did not like to be told it.
Capgrave.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account