Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/15

INTRODUCTION 3 than any of his writings how deeply he deplored the existing evils, and how zealously he worked to accom- plish a thorough reform in the whole Church, from the papal see down to the humblest monastery, without, however, the least detriment to the unity of its structure. ' Nicolaus of Cusa,' says the abbot Trithemius at the end of the century, ' appeared in Germany like an angel of light and peace in the midst of darkness and confu- sion ; he re-established the unity of the Church, strength- ened the authority of its visible head, and scattered abundant seeds of new life. Some of that seed, through the hardness of men's hearts, did not spring up ; some grew up, but, through sloth and indifference, soon withered away ; a goodly portion, however, nourished and bore fruit, which we to-day are still enjoying. He was a man of faith and love, an apostle of piety and of learning. His spirit compassed all fields of human wisdom, but ' God ' was the starting-point of all his knowledge — the glory of God and the bettering of man- kind the beginning and the end of all his wisdom. ' To know and to think,' writes Nicolaus himself, ' to see the truth with the eye of the mind, is always a joy. The older a man grows the greater is the plea- sure which it affords him, and the more he devotes himself to the search after truth the stronger grows his desire of possessing it. As love is the life of the heart, so is the endeavour after knowledge and truth the life of the mind. In the midst of the movements of time, of the daily work of life, of its perplexities and contradictions, we should lift our gaze fearlessly to the clear vault of heaven, and seek ever to obtain a firmer grasp of and keener insight into the origin B 2