66 PHILOSOPHIC SCIENCES. 



This great doctor was not attacked by the Sorbonne, though he had many 

 formidable adversaries, but his attitude towards the Papacy, with reference to 

 the dispute between Philippe le Bel and Boniface VIII., marked him out for 

 the resentment and vengeance of the Court of Rome. lie had sided with 

 the French king, and was well seconded by Michael de Ceseiie, General of the 

 Franciscans, when he continued his aggressive attacks against John XXII. 

 and the Papal power. The Pope resented the attack, not so much in his 

 individual capacity as in that of Vicar of Christ, and he summoned William 

 of Ockham and Michael de Cesene to Avignon, where the Holy See had fixed 

 its residence during the establishment of an antipope at Rome. The two 

 Franciscans, having obeyed the order, were cast into prison, and their trial bid 

 fair to result in summary punishment ; but they managed to escape to Aigues- 

 Mprtes, where they were received on board a vessel belonging to Louis of Bavaria. 

 Welcomed by him, they ended their days in obscurity within his dominions. 



The doctrine of AVilliam of Ockham survived him in the schools, and the 

 doctors who endeavoured to oppose it had few followers. Walter Burleigh 

 himself, notwithstanding his courageous endeavours to revive the cause of 

 realism, could not secure any attention. The nominalists were everywhere 

 the most numerous and the most zealous. Their masters were esteemed doctors, 

 doughty dialecticians, evangelic and zealous party leaders ; such as Robert 

 Holcot, Thomas of Strasburg, Jean Buridan, and Pierre d'Ailly. Most of 

 them were professors, and their teaching acquired them influence and renown. 



Above all these discordant doctrines there rose the venerable voice of 

 Jean Charlier de Gerson, Chancellor of the University of Paris, who, pro- 

 testing against the abuses of dialectics, said, " Let us put an end to frivolous 

 disputes ; let us make use of Reason solely in order to arrive at the truth, 

 which it cannot do without the aid of Faith. It is the rule of Faith that we 

 need follow, and if some refractory or stubborn minds still cling to the 

 quibbles of philosophy, let us deplore their being led astray, and humbly seek 

 in the bosom of the Church, far from the schools, peace, light, and life." 

 This touching appeal, by one who well deserved the title of Evangelical and 

 Very Christian Doctor, for a return to mystic theology (Fig. 49) did not find 

 an echo in many minds ; it did not prevent the young from being led away in 

 the heat of dialectics, and siding with the philosophers of logic. 



But all these systems, springing from logic pursued to its final limits, 

 were destined to fall of themselves, involving in their ruin that of nearly all 



