68 EVIDENCE AND EXAMPLES. 



means of reason that reason is inadequate and mis- 

 leading. Carlyle said of another of the conservative 

 immortals, Dr. Johnson, that " he aimed at the im- 

 possible task of stemming the eternal tide of progress, 

 of clutching all things, anchoring them down and 

 bidding them move not." Newman's conservatism 

 was deeper still : he would have rolled back " the 

 eternal tide/' and have clutched all things down 

 to some (to him) beautiful long-past pre-Reformation 

 era. 



The name of our first churchman (I do not say our 

 first theologian or our first scholar) brings to mind the 

 names of two other great churchmen, Becket and Laud. 

 None of these men were of the strictly contemplative 

 order. They were apostles of authority, and thought 

 undermines authority. They were men, too, who were 

 supremely confident oi the importance of their mission, 

 their church, and of themselves as defenders of their 

 church. Supreme confidence forbids aimless, useless, 

 and drifting contemplation. Their acute intellects, 

 especially Becket's and Newman's, saw quickly and 

 vividly their own strong points and the vulnerable points 

 of the enemy. They were truthful and truth-loving men, 

 but their first aim was not the desire for truth. They 

 were above all champions of causes. Truth-seeking is 

 based on doubt; while championship is based on 

 belief. 



We can best judge of Newman's greatness by con- 

 trast. But before we compa.re him with other religious 

 teachers, it may be well to ask what constitutes a 

 great man. May he not be briefly described thus? 

 A great man is one whose impress is of the deepest, 

 whose impress is made on the most capable minds, 

 whose impress is therefore the most enduring. The 



