Selections from the Prose Writings of John Henry Cardinal Newman

The instruments raised up by Almighty God

for the accomplishment of His purposes are of

two kinds, equally gifted with faith and piety,

but from natural temper and talent, education,

or other circumstances, differing in the means by{5}

which they promote their sacred cause. The

first of these are men of acute and ready mind,

with accurate knowledge of human nature, and

large plans, and persuasive and attractive

bearing, genial, sociable, and popular, endued with{10}

prudence, patience, instinctive tact and decision

in conducting matters, as well as boldness and

zeal. Such in a measure we may imagine the

single-minded, the intrepid, the much-enduring

Hildebrand, who, at a time when society was{15}

forming itself anew, was the Saviour, humanly

speaking, of the City of God. Such, in an earlier age,

was the majestic Ambrose; such the

never-wearied Athanasius. These last-named

luminaries of the Church came into public life early,{20}

and thus learned how to cope with the various

tempers, views, and measures of the men they

encountered there. Athanasius was but

twenty-seven when he went with Alexander to the Nicene

Council, and the year after he was Bishop of

Alexandria. Ambrose was consecrated soon after{5}

the age of thirty.

Again, there is an instrument in the hand of

Providence, of less elaborate and splendid

workmanship, less rich in its political endowments,

so to call them, yet not less beautiful in its{10}

texture, nor less precious in its material. Such is

the retired and thoughtful student, who remains

years and years in the solitude of a college or a

monastery, chastening his soul in secret, raising

it to high thought and single-minded purpose,{15}

and when at length called into active life,

conducting himself with firmness, guilelessness, zeal

like a flaming fire, and all the sweetness of purity

and integrity. Such an one is often unsuccessful

in his own day; he is too artless to persuade, too{20}

severe to please; unskilled in the weaknesses of

human nature, unfurnished in the resources of

ready wit, negligent of men's applause,

unsuspicious, open-hearted, he does his work, and so

leaves it; and it seems to die; but in the{25}

generation after him it lives again, and on the long run

it is difficult to say which of the two classes of

men has served the cause of truth the more

effectually. Such, perhaps, was Basil, who issued

from the solitudes of Pontus to rule like a king,{30}

and minister like the lowest in the kingdom; yet

to meet little but disappointment, and to quit

life prematurely in pain and sorrow. Such was

his friend, the accomplished Gregory, however

different in other respects from him, who left his

father's roof for an heretical city, raised a church{5}

there, and was driven back into retirement by

his own people, as soon as his triumph over the

false creed was secured. Such, perhaps, St. Peter

Damiani in the middle age; such St. Anselm,

such St. Edmund. No comparison is, of course,{10}

attempted here between the religious excellence

of the two descriptions of men; each of them

serves God according to the peculiar gifts given

to him. If we might continue our instances

by way of comparison, we should say that St.{15}

Paul reminds us of the former, and Jeremiah of

the latter....

It often happens that men of very dissimilar

talents and tastes are attracted together by their

very dissimilitude. They live in intimacy for a{20}

time, perhaps a long time, till their circumstances

alter, or some sudden event comes, to try them.

Then the peculiarities of their respective minds

are brought out into action; and quarrels ensue,

which end in coolness or separation. It would{25}

not be right or true to say that this is exemplified

in the instance of the two blessed Apostles, whose

"sharp contention" is related in the Book of

Acts; for they had been united in spirit once for

all by a Divine gift; and yet their strife reminds{30}

us of what takes place in life continually. And it

so far resembled the everyday quarrels of friends,

in that it arose from difference of temper and

character in those favored servants of God.

The zealous heart of the Apostle of the Gentiles

endured not the presence of one who had swerved{5}

in his course; the indulgent spirit of Barnabas

felt that a first fault ought not to be a last trial.

Such are the two main characters which are found

in the Church,-high energy, and sweetness of

temper; far from incompatible, of course, united{10}

in Apostles, though in different relative

proportions, yet only partially combined in ordinary

Christians, and often altogether parted from each

other.

This contrast of character, leading, first, to{15}

intimacy, then to differences, is interestingly

displayed, though painfully, in one passage of the

history of Basil and Gregory: Gregory the

affectionate, the tender-hearted, the man of quick

feelings, the accomplished, the eloquent{20}

preacher,-and Basil, the man of firm resolve and hard

deeds, the high-minded ruler of Christ's flock,

the diligent laborer in the field of ecclesiastical

politics. Thus they differed; yet not as if they

had not much in common still; both had the{25}

blessing and the discomfort of a sensitive mind;

both were devoted to an ascetic life; both were

men of classical tastes; both were special

champions of the Catholic creed; both were skilled

in argument, and successful in their use of it;{30}

both were in highest place in the Church, the one

Exarch of C?sarea, the other Patriarch of

Constantinople. I will now attempt to sketch the

history of their intimacy.