New-York tribune., 1890-08-31
CARDINAL NEWMAN.
HIS PLACE IN THE RELIGIOUS LIFE OF ENG
LAND AND IN ENGLISH LITERATURE.

he was not even that. His work was done long
ago. His influence survived, more as tradition
than as an active force. His books were read by
a minority: a minority really, | suspect, growing
less The man himself was never seen, or seen
only by those near 10 him and always about him
at the Oratory. His correspondence, al one time
incessant, had ceased almost entirely, for of late
years he had lost control over the muscles OF his
fingers and could hardly hold pen, or not with
out an effort. When he made the effort he could
still produce that clear, carefully formed hand-
writing, which to the last expressed the peculiar
precision of his mind. On the general world he
made claim. The art of self-advertisement
was not his, and in current affairs his interest
was Of late but dim. In many companies you
might mention Newman's name and elicit no re-
sponse-nothing to show clearly that people knew
whether he living notifying in this
world or another. as he would say. And yet, TO
the last, Cardinal Newman was great spiritual
force, and his death leaves void in the spiritual
life Of England, and perhaps elsewhere, not at all
likely to be filled. There is no second Newman, no
one who resembles or approaches him on the
ground where he was strongest.
The question is often asked how man with
great natural acuteness Of mind and logical
training can accept assertions for Which there is
no evidence, no sufficient evidence. Newman
On to this question. The question itself.
however, is modern, at least in this form. 1t is
a product of the scientific spirit If the demand
for evidence had arisen in the early stages of
the Church, the religious history of this planet
would have been something very different from
what it now is. Most of us have known men
whose minds worked with great power up TO a
certain point and there stopped, and beyond that
point did not work at all. They were like steam
engine; capable of developing ten. thousand
horsepower within the length of its piston stroke;
and thousandth part of an inch beyond, i'm
potent. OF such minds Newman's was the type,
and one of the most brilliant instances. Within
his own range he could do anything; no sophistry
could escape him; there was no armor in which
he could not find a joint if he wanted to. Out
side Of it, he was credulous as a child
What one would like most to know is whether
the dividing line between belief and scepticism
was drawn by an act of WILL or whether the
boundaries Of these two domains were settled for
him at the beginning. Faith said Pascal is an
act Of will. Ne remark in the history of the
religious world throws more light on the subject
Pascal's biographers have taken little note Of it,
though it goes farther than anything else toward
the solution Of the problem of Pascal's life
the union of belief and of scepticism which makes
his attitude TO many questions so perplexng, and
dispute. Newman, consciously or unconsciously,
seems to lave adopted the remprk of Pascal His
mirVi, like that Of the great Frenchman, was in
the beginning, and probably to the end. one
which craved exactness, which loved suspense
which, In its normal condition, accepted nothing
without proof, which was, in fact, mathematical
and scientific. CTedulity cannot have been his
natural disposition. But he deliberately re-
nounced the use Of his reason when he had r.
answer for himself the deepest questions of re-
hgion and of life.
One of the men who knew him best saws that
on such subjects as revelation, for example. New
man never had any doubts Reli2ion was with
him, not a resduum of probabilities but per
sonal matter between him and the Deity. That
is a subject l will not pursue further, but what
] wish to point out is that his natural subilcness
Of mind deserted him long before lie came TO the
more awful mysteries Turn to any Of Lhe books
in which he handles historical questions relating
TO Rome, or TO the early Church, or 10 miraculous
occurrences which lack altogether such outhost,
as may be deduced from Scriptural narrative
Newman accepts these latter without any real
evidence, without inquiry even.
Nothing could be more curious than the ex-
planation given by Mr.. Motley of the final step
which took him over to Rome Everybody but
Newman himself had long seen that he was going;
that his search for the via media had no bette
prospect of success than quest for the Holy
Grail. But Mr. Motley says that what turned
the scale was an article by DR.. Wiseman on the
Donatists; fact, if it be fact, which would
imply that up to this time the moral scandals
affecting the Church of Rome had been the chief
obstacle to his going over. He, or if not lie his
friends fully believed that the effect Of his going
would be to re-estab bsh the dominion of the Pope
orI . fho dang rprn
lutions in human affairs that can be conceived
Of And whether this convulsion should or not
occur was to be determined by the fact whether
particular view of the opinions held by sect of
the Church of North Africa in the fourth century
was or was not correct.
Neither such refnements as these, nor New
mans great attainments, nor even his genius, eX-
nlain his ascendency over the English mind, nor
his position in the Oxford movement He had.
indeed, an intellectual activity and range rare In
any age lie read and poured forth the results
of his reading copiously; perhaps too copiously.
lie was if not one Of the most learned one Of the
most various minds Of his time. He always
seemed. saws Mr. Froude, better informed on COM
mon topics Of conversation than any one else who
was present In theology he had great acquire
ments in history also, and in many other mauefS'
and he was such o master Of dialectics as Rome
herself must admire; rich as she has ever peen
in professors of casuistry. and OF mental gym
nastics Of every kind. These things and many
more were part of Ncwmans equipment for his
life campaign, But they do not explain him.
nor his influence, the unique reputation he
had in England. The secret lay not in gifts or
accomplishments, mainly. but in character
For those who did not know Newman. froudes
account of him is the best. There is nothing In
all the long biographies published since his dchth
which sets forth the man so vivldly as wn"C
Froude SAYS Of him in his letters on the OXFORD
Counter Reformation, written in 1ssl and pub
,;sbed in the Fourth Series of the Short Studies
ON Great Subjects" Froude, always taking his
own point of view. starts with parallel between
Newman and julius Caesar. The passage that
left the deepest impression on me when hrst
read it was this: