We now state brieflj' tlie relations of Gerson to the Church, to theolog}', and to philosophy. (1.) As to the Church, his whole life was spent in mourning over its abuses and corruptions, and in struggles for reforma- tion. Full of respect for the papacy, which he consid- ered necessary to the existence of the Church, he nev- ertheless opposed both its spiritual and temporal en- croachments. He looked upon the dogma of the in- fallibility and consequent inviolabilitj' of the popes as a remnant of superstition which could not be extir- pated too soon. To the whole mass of the faithful, as- sembled in general council, he attributed alone infalli- bility, the power of binding and loosing, the right of deciding, without appeal, all matters pertaining to faith and discipline, and that of judging the pope him- self, whom his high position does not render impeccable. "Lot the ecclesiastical power," said he, "so restrict itself within its natural limits as to remember that secular authority, even among the heathen, has its dis- tinct rights, its laws, its verdicts, on which the spiritu- al power must guard from encroaching, lest the secular power migl't also encroach on the faith and lawful rights of the Church." By his settled doctrine of the relation existing between the papacy and the general councils on the one hand, and between the spiritual au- thorit}- and the temporal power on the other, Gerson may be considered as one of the originators of Galli- canisni (q. v.), and tlie forerunner of Bossuet (q. v.). The spirit of the famous " four propositions" of 1682 breathes in ever}' page of the writings of the chancel- lor of the university. (2.) There are two elements to be distinguished in Gerson's philosophy : tlie outward scholastic element, with its pedantic divisions and subtle distinctions, and the mystical element, which lifted his soul, thirsting for God, above the dry forms of the schools into the superior sphere of ineffable love. Gerson distinguishes in the nature of the soul a double set of faculties, whose highest degree is the simple un- derstanding, and whose highest effort is the instructive perception of spiritual truths ; and tlie affective facul- ties, which, in their highest flights, attain to a state of ecstatic enjoyment, whose proper object is God. (3.) His theology is that of love. Faith and penitence are the wings on which divine love rises and attains to the possession of the Infinite Being. This possession is naturally imperfect ; here below none can see God face to face, " for there shall no man see it and live ;" but it produces peace in the heart ; the ignorant and the lowly can attain to it, and it is much superior to that which results from speculative theories, with their at-
GERSON
838
GERVASE
tending abstractions and syllogism, and the uncertain- ty and the agonizing doulits which often accompany tlicm. Gerson's is a mild form of mysticism, based on the nicest analysis : it does not lead to the absorption of the personality into the bosom of the Infinite Being, nor exclude tlie normal exercise of the function of the intellect and volition. Gerson was a determined ene- my of scholasticism. He signalized, as the origin of all the evils of theology, that vain curiosity which leads to the disregard of the most reliable authorities, the dangerous taste for novelty in things and in words, the love of argument, and the mixing up of the differ- ent sciences. Revelation, with him, is the limit of the- ology, and to endeavor to carr^i' it farther by human reasonings is to lead it astray. " If the Scriptures are insufficient as a means of arriving at God, where shall we find anything to lead us higher ? Let us then guard against attempting to help theologj^ by an admixture with other sciences, and against introducing into it the exercises of the schools." As to practical religion, as we have already said, Gerson was of the moderate mystical school. In his view all the moral and intel- lectual powers of man were originally in harmony with each other, and directed to God ; but sin destroj^ed this harmony, and it is the oliject of mystic theology to re- store it. But, in order to effect this, it must first know the nature of the powers of the mind, and the manner of acting upon them. Following Richard de St. Victor (de Contemplafione), Gerson distinguishes in the opera- tions of the two orders of faculties three different de- grees : in the vis corjnitiva, 1. the cogitdtio, involuntarj' tendency of the soul to moral consideration ; 2. the medltatio, voluntarj' effort to learn the truth ; 3. con- templatio, the voluntary inquiry into spiritual, and es- pecially divine subjects ; in them- aff'cciiva, 1. the de- sire, libido ; 2. pietj', dtvotio ; 3. loving aspirations, di- lecdo ecstaiica, and anagogica, inseparably connected with the contemplatio : these are only f cparately or the- oreticallj' considered. In this union of love with con- templation resides the true essence of mystic theol- ogy, which is essentially a theology of love. Gerson designated it as fheologia qffec/ira, in contradistinction from scholastic theolog}', which he called fheologia speculativa. Love consists only in an ^'■expcrimental/g I)ei perceptio," from which, however, Gerson abstracts all that is material or figurative. In his definition of it, he saj'S : "Bj' love is the eternal Word born in the soul, and the unity with God achieved." That wonder- ful book, Be Imitatione Christi, is attributed by many of the best critics to Gerson. On this question, see Kempis.