Opening the text

Selections from the Prose Writings of John Henry Cardinal Newman: For the Use of SchoolsNewman, John Henry

Religion

Selections from the Prose Writings of John Henry Cardinal Newman: For the Use of Schools

Name: Selections from the Prose Writings of John Henry Cardinal Newman: For the Use of Schools
Author: Newman, John Henry

Newman, John Henry

English essays -- 19th century

Now came the time of his great popularity,                         10
  which was more than his head could bear; which
  dizzied him, took him off his legs, and whirled
  him to his destruction. I spoke in my foregoing
  Chapter of those three qualities of true wisdom,
  which a University, absolutely and nakedly                         15
  considered, apart from the safeguards which
  constitute its integrity, is sure to compromise.
  Wisdom, says the inspired writer, is _desursum_, is
  _pudica_, is _pacifica_, "from above, chaste,
  peaceable." We have already seen enough of Abelard's               20
  career to understand that his wisdom, instead of
  being "pacifica," was ambitious and contentious.
  An Apostle speaks of the tongue both as a blessing
  and as a curse. It may be the beginning of a fire,
  he says, a "Universitas iniquitatis;" and alas!                    25
  such did it become in the mouth of the gifted
  Abelard. His eloquence was wonderful; he
  dazzled his contemporaries, says Fulco, "by the
  brilliancy of his genius, the sweetness of his
  eloquence, the ready flow of his language, and the                 30
  subtlety of his knowledge." People came to
  him from all quarters--from Rome, in spite of
  mountains and robbers; from England, in spite
  of the sea; from Flanders and Germany; from
  Normandy, and the remote districts of France;
  from Angers and Poitiers; from Navarre by the                       5
  Pyrenees, and from Spain, besides the students
  of Paris itself; and among those, who sought his
  instructions now or afterwards, were the great
  luminaries of the schools in the next generation.
  Such were Peter of Poitiers, Peter Lombard, John                   10
  of Salisbury, Arnold of Brescia, Ivo, and Geoffrey
  of Auxerre. It was too much for a weak head
  and heart, weak in spite of intellectual power;
  for vanity will possess the head, and worldliness
  the heart, of the man, however gifted, whose                       15
  wisdom is not an effluence of the Eternal Light.

  True wisdom is not only "pacifica," it is
  "pudica;" chaste as well as peaceable. Alas for
  Abelard! a second disgrace, deeper than
  ambition, is his portion now. The strong man--the                  20
  Samson of the schools in the wildness of his course,
  the Solomon in the fascination of his
  genius--shivers and falls before the temptation which
  overcame that mighty pair, the most excelling
  in body and in mind.                                               25

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

Selections from the Prose Writings of John Henry Cardinal Newman: For the Use of SchoolsNewman, John Henry

Religion

Selections from the Prose Writings of John Henry Cardinal Newman: For the Use of Schools

Newman, John Henry

English essays -- 19th century

Now came the time of his great popularity,                         10
  which was more than his head could bear; which
  dizzied him, took him off his legs, and whirled
  him to his destruction. I spoke in my foregoing
  Chapter of those three qualities of true wisdom,
  which a University, absolutely and nakedly                         15
  considered, apart from the safeguards which
  constitute its integrity, is sure to compromise.
  Wisdom, says the inspired writer, is _desursum_, is
  _pudica_, is _pacifica_, "from above, chaste,
  peaceable." We have already seen enough of Abelard's               20
  career to understand that his wisdom, instead of
  being "pacifica," was ambitious and contentious.
  An Apostle speaks of the tongue both as a blessing
  and as a curse. It may be the beginning of a fire,
  he says, a "Universitas iniquitatis;" and alas!                    25
  such did it become in the mouth of the gifted
  Abelard. His eloquence was wonderful; he
  dazzled his contemporaries, says Fulco, "by the
  brilliancy of his genius, the sweetness of his
  eloquence, the ready flow of his language, and the                 30
  subtlety of his knowledge." People came to
  him from all quarters--from Rome, in spite of
  mountains and robbers; from England, in spite
  of the sea; from Flanders and Germany; from
  Normandy, and the remote districts of France;
  from Angers and Poitiers; from Navarre by the                       5
  Pyrenees, and from Spain, besides the students
  of Paris itself; and among those, who sought his
  instructions now or afterwards, were the great
  luminaries of the schools in the next generation.
  Such were Peter of Poitiers, Peter Lombard, John                   10
  of Salisbury, Arnold of Brescia, Ivo, and Geoffrey
  of Auxerre. It was too much for a weak head
  and heart, weak in spite of intellectual power;
  for vanity will possess the head, and worldliness
  the heart, of the man, however gifted, whose                       15
  wisdom is not an effluence of the Eternal Light.

  True wisdom is not only "pacifica," it is
  "pudica;" chaste as well as peaceable. Alas for
  Abelard! a second disgrace, deeper than
  ambition, is his portion now. The strong man--the                  20
  Samson of the schools in the wildness of his course,
  the Solomon in the fascination of his
  genius--shivers and falls before the temptation which
  overcame that mighty pair, the most excelling
  in body and in mind.                                               25

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Selections from the Prose Writings of John Henry Cardinal Newman: For the Use of Schools

Selections from the Prose Writings of John Henry Cardinal Newman: For the Use of Schools

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