On January 29, 1868
Venerable John Henry Newman, C.O. wrote the following. It was (relatively) soon after the Apologia Pro Vita Sua had restored much of his reputation and influence- though not with everyone, as the letter itself shows.
"Our Lord has said: "Vae cum benedixerint vobis homines" (Luc. vi. 26), [alos humas eiposi], and I seem to be in this danger as regards the Protestant world. A reaction has set in, nor does one know what will be its limits. Just now, my Verses, which I have collected and published, have both stimulated and manifested it. I feel as if a Nemesis would come, if I am not careful and am reminded of the ring of Polycrates. Friends and well-wishers out of kindness are writing favourable reviews of my small book, and I am obliged to read out of gratitude what they say of me so generously. I have said: 'the Protestant world'—but it extends to the great mass of (English speaking) Catholics also; till the 'Apologia' I was thought 'passé'and forgotten. The controversy which occasioned it, and then the Oxford matter and the 'Dream of Gerontius' have brought me out, and now I should be hard indeed to please, and very ungrateful to them, and to God, if I did not duly appreciate this thought of me.
Then comes the question: what use can I make of these fresh mercies? Not from any supernatural principle, but from mere natural temper, I keep saying, what is the good of all this? what comes of it? 'Vanitas Vanitatum,' if it is but empty praise. What use can I make of it? for what is it given me? And then, too, on the other hand, when I am well thought of, and the world is in good humour with me, I am led to say to myself: "Let well alone; do not hazard by any fresh act the loss of that, which you have been so long without, and found such difficulty in getting. Enjoy the 'otium cum dignitate.'
'Otium cum dignitate' reminds me of 'Otium cum indignitate'; yes, as far as Propaganda goes, and that English party of which Archbishop Manning and Ward are the support, I have been dismissed not simply as 'inglorious,' but to 'dishonoured ease.' And this would certainly serve as the ring of Polycrates, did I feel it—but I don't feel it. And, as I had said on some former page, I should be so out of my element if I were without that cold shade on the side of ecclesiastical authority, in which I have dwelt nearly all my life, my eyes would be so dazed, and my limbs so relaxed, were I brought out to bask in the full sun of ecclesiastical favour, that I should not know how to act and should make a fool of myself.
As my Lord had some purpose in letting me be so long forgotten and calumniated, as He has had some purpose in leaving me, as regards ecclesiastical authorities, under that cloud which He has lately removed from me as regards Catholics and Protestants generally, so now He has some purpose in that late removal—if I could know what it is...."
Venerable John Henry Newman, C.O. wrote the following. It was (relatively) soon after the Apologia Pro Vita Sua had restored much of his reputation and influence- though not with everyone, as the letter itself shows.
"Our Lord has said: "Vae cum benedixerint vobis homines" (Luc. vi. 26), [alos humas eiposi], and I seem to be in this danger as regards the Protestant world. A reaction has set in, nor does one know what will be its limits. Just now, my Verses, which I have collected and published, have both stimulated and manifested it. I feel as if a Nemesis would come, if I am not careful and am reminded of the ring of Polycrates. Friends and well-wishers out of kindness are writing favourable reviews of my small book, and I am obliged to read out of gratitude what they say of me so generously. I have said: 'the Protestant world'—but it extends to the great mass of (English speaking) Catholics also; till the 'Apologia' I was thought 'passé'and forgotten. The controversy which occasioned it, and then the Oxford matter and the 'Dream of Gerontius' have brought me out, and now I should be hard indeed to please, and very ungrateful to them, and to God, if I did not duly appreciate this thought of me.
Then comes the question: what use can I make of these fresh mercies? Not from any supernatural principle, but from mere natural temper, I keep saying, what is the good of all this? what comes of it? 'Vanitas Vanitatum,' if it is but empty praise. What use can I make of it? for what is it given me? And then, too, on the other hand, when I am well thought of, and the world is in good humour with me, I am led to say to myself: "Let well alone; do not hazard by any fresh act the loss of that, which you have been so long without, and found such difficulty in getting. Enjoy the 'otium cum dignitate.'
'Otium cum dignitate' reminds me of 'Otium cum indignitate'; yes, as far as Propaganda goes, and that English party of which Archbishop Manning and Ward are the support, I have been dismissed not simply as 'inglorious,' but to 'dishonoured ease.' And this would certainly serve as the ring of Polycrates, did I feel it—but I don't feel it. And, as I had said on some former page, I should be so out of my element if I were without that cold shade on the side of ecclesiastical authority, in which I have dwelt nearly all my life, my eyes would be so dazed, and my limbs so relaxed, were I brought out to bask in the full sun of ecclesiastical favour, that I should not know how to act and should make a fool of myself.
As my Lord had some purpose in letting me be so long forgotten and calumniated, as He has had some purpose in leaving me, as regards ecclesiastical authorities, under that cloud which He has lately removed from me as regards Catholics and Protestants generally, so now He has some purpose in that late removal—if I could know what it is...."
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