The San Francisco call., 1906-06-10

which the world will never learn. So
do not fear that his Apologize" lack
ing as II does elements of the luxur-
ious sins OF theatric climaxes. Is de-
void of other higher and more fearful
rombats. Professor William James. in
ais memorable Varieties of Religious
Experience" speaks afirmatively OF
the phenomena OF conversion. This
sudden food, this interior light which
Paul. which Newman. which Pere
Ratisbonne and myriad others have
testified to is not the result of an
epileptic seizure. as Lombroso would
have US believe. Even the unhappy
\ Dostoreoski, an epileptoid. deeply
religious temperament, has testified 10
/ the difference. Newman, a mystic and
with the cool. hard sense Of the gen.
uine mystic, has told US of his con-
version in matchless language
His own i1lative faculty wide his
Grammar of Assent'D is but logical
instrument for the apprehension Of the
higher forms of thought-the surcroy-
ance to use Professor James words
the logic of belief. the other side OF
reason. the sixth sense of the mystic.
Yet this thinker possessed the brain
of a scholarly Englishnan. trained.
calm. above all welded TO the concrete
(another Jewish trait. says Barry) II
is noteworthy that his style. sober,
luminous and sinewy. seldom swerves
from the reality. Reality was the
watchword of this dreamer. His arsenal
OF poIemics is filled with illustra-
tions borrowed from the visible world
Not a rhetorician, as was Bossuet. he
prefers the simplest Saxon charged
with the simplest images.
The genesis of the Apologize" was
this. Canon Charles Kingsley. possi-
bly, prompted by James Anthony
Froude. openly accused Newman of in
sincerity; worse. of untruthfulness.
Truth for it's own sake had never
been virtue with the Roman clergy.
Further. Newman informs US that il
need not, and, on the whole. ought not
to be-" etc.
Newman always proved his lighting
| blood when face to face with the
enemy. and his denial was so strong
that Kingsley publicly apoIogized.
| But Newman was not placated. Be-
tween April 21 and June he put forth
he seven parts of his apology. and the
| book was like tropical thunderstorm
n a murky night 1t cleared the air.
II also drove to the wall his opponents.
! The hard logic, the modest and inti-
nate revelations of a soul in the max
| ing, the magnificent marshaling OF
proofs and the inexpugnable summing
up discovered another Newman to the
\ eyes Of his eountrymen. After that
there was little talk of Newman the
/ Jesuit"
or his style there is nothing new to
be said. IL is the most flexible, flowing
and exquisite in English literature. His
| is the still. small voice" of our master
| tongue Out Of his writings nine
volumes merely will endure by their
\ ~ fvla In, ffa oil a-fkw =
prose makes Carlyle's fuliginous; even
Ruskin seems strange and exotic. The
nearest approach to IL. though without
the intense spiritual life of Newman.
is Thackeray-Thackeray of whom il
is the fashion in these days when Eng
lish prose has become strident or
chestra. to call colorless and iabbyi
Newman's prose is the perfection OF
grace; 1t is finely hbred and rhythmic.
as only a delicate musician can be
rhythmic.
1t must not be forgotten that Car
dinal Newman was a violin player OF
merit and his life long an excellent
musician and a cultivator OF that spe-
cial form. the string quartet.
In the domain of poetry 1t is only
necessary to mention his Dream OF
Gerontius" QS65), a poetic drama, a
battlefield OF the human soul. an in
terror" drama. written when Maeter-
linck was in the cradle. Its lofty i'm
aginative qualities, its musical verse
are subordinated to the idea, a mystic
idea worthy of Dante. New York has
heard the setting of this true mystery
play by SIR Edward Elgar. whose
music, while it betrays leaning to
Liszt and Richard Strauss. has it's
flashes OF insight and originality.
Newman was made Cardinal OF ST.
George by Leo XIII May II, 1879 He
al
maginibus in veritatem" is his own Sc
iected epltaph ("coming out OF shadows
into realities')- The answer to his
Lead Thou Me On had been made
He died in peace with his soul. the one
victory in this vale OF unrest worth the
accomplishment Has he not said that
fo- HIM there was rest in the thought
of two. ard two only. absolute and
luminous self-evidsnt beingL mysslf
and my Creator?'