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J.H. Newman
John Henry Newman (1801–1890) was an English preacher, theologian, and cardinal whose spiritual journey from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism profoundly shaped 19th-century religious thought. Born in London to John Newman, a banker, and Jemima Fourdrinier, of Huguenot descent, he was the eldest of six children in a devout Church of England family. Converted at 15 in 1816 through an evangelical awakening at Great Ealing School, he studied at Trinity College, Oxford, earning a BA in 1820, and became a fellow at Oriel College in 1822. Ordained an Anglican priest in 1825, he served as vicar of St. Mary’s University Church, Oxford, where his compelling sermons ignited the Oxford Movement, seeking to revive Catholic traditions within Anglicanism. In 1821, he faced personal loss with his sister Mary’s death, and he remained unmarried throughout his life. Newman’s ministry took a dramatic turn in 1845 when, after years of studying the Church Fathers and questioning Anglican authority, he converted to Roman Catholicism, a decision that severed ties with Oxford and many friends. Ordained a Catholic priest in 1847, he founded the Birmingham Oratory and served as rector of the Catholic University of Ireland from 1854 to 1858, emphasizing education’s role in faith. His preaching, marked by intellectual rigor and emotional depth, continued through works like The Idea of a University and Apologia Pro Vita Sua (1864), a defense of his conversion. Elevated to cardinal by Pope Leo XIII in 1879, Newman died in 1890 at the Oratory in Edgbaston, leaving a legacy as a preacher whose eloquence and integrity bridged traditions, earning sainthood in 2019 for his enduring influence on Christianity.
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John Henry Newman preaches about the importance of not just knowing the teachings of the Gospel, but also actively living them out. He emphasizes that those who are sincere and earnest in their desire to change and follow God's will will find peace and hope in the Gospel. Newman challenges individuals to truly examine their hearts, to reject the love of the world and its pleasures, and to submit to God's transformative discipline in order to become better versions of themselves.
Sincerity of Heart
"If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them" (John 13:17). Every thing is plain and easy to the earnest; it is the doubleminded who find difficulties. If you hate your own corruption in sincerity and truth, if you are really pierced to the heart that you do not do what you know you should do, if you would love God if you could, then the Gospel speaks to you words of peace and hope. It is a very different thing indolently to say, I would I were a different man," and to close with God's offer to make you different, when it is put before you. Here is the test between earnestness and insincerity. You say you wish to be a different man; Christ takes you at your word, so to speak; He offers to make you different. He says, "I will take away from you the heart of stone, the love of this world and its pleasures, if you will submit to My discipline." Here a man draws back. No; he cannot bear to lose the love of the world, to part with his present desires and tastes; he cannot consent to be changed. After all he is well satisfied at the bottom of his heart to remain as he is, only he wants his conscience taken out of the way. Did Christ offer to do this for him, if He would but make bitter sweet and sweet bitter, darkness fight and light darkness, then he would hail the glad tidings of peace;--till then he needs Him not. But if a man is in earnest in wishing to get at the depths of his own heart, to expel the evil, to purify the good, and to gain power over himself, so as to do as well as know the Truth, what is the difficulty?--a matter of time indeed, but not of uncertainty is the recovery of such a man.
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John Henry Newman (1801–1890) was an English preacher, theologian, and cardinal whose spiritual journey from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism profoundly shaped 19th-century religious thought. Born in London to John Newman, a banker, and Jemima Fourdrinier, of Huguenot descent, he was the eldest of six children in a devout Church of England family. Converted at 15 in 1816 through an evangelical awakening at Great Ealing School, he studied at Trinity College, Oxford, earning a BA in 1820, and became a fellow at Oriel College in 1822. Ordained an Anglican priest in 1825, he served as vicar of St. Mary’s University Church, Oxford, where his compelling sermons ignited the Oxford Movement, seeking to revive Catholic traditions within Anglicanism. In 1821, he faced personal loss with his sister Mary’s death, and he remained unmarried throughout his life. Newman’s ministry took a dramatic turn in 1845 when, after years of studying the Church Fathers and questioning Anglican authority, he converted to Roman Catholicism, a decision that severed ties with Oxford and many friends. Ordained a Catholic priest in 1847, he founded the Birmingham Oratory and served as rector of the Catholic University of Ireland from 1854 to 1858, emphasizing education’s role in faith. His preaching, marked by intellectual rigor and emotional depth, continued through works like The Idea of a University and Apologia Pro Vita Sua (1864), a defense of his conversion. Elevated to cardinal by Pope Leo XIII in 1879, Newman died in 1890 at the Oratory in Edgbaston, leaving a legacy as a preacher whose eloquence and integrity bridged traditions, earning sainthood in 2019 for his enduring influence on Christianity.