The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-05-06


distinguished parliamentary talents,
the rising hope of the stern and un-
bending Tories and his book, "The
Foundations of Belief" Is of interest,
chiefly. to metaphysicians and theolog-
ians. Its Technology Is not within easy
range of ordinary readers, but 1t con-
tains no sentence more difficult TO un-
derstand than sentence uttered some
years ago by one of Mr.. Balfours 8
critics.
When President Fairbairn was pas
tor In Scotland, he preached fine
series of sermons. on of which was on
the "Person of Christ" Warming up
to his subject he fired at, or over, the
heads of plain Scotch congregation
in the city of Aberdeen. the sentence,
'It Uhe Person of Christi was too
transcendent a product to be the work
of mere empirical factor, and finds
its material cause in the living Person,
though its formal In the conditions,
under which he lived" If such lam
guage be appropriate In the pulpits
either of the Scotland or of the United
States, there Is no reason why church
going people, generally, should not read
and understand "The Foundations OF
| Belief"
Attack on NaturnlisIn.
Mr. Bafours attack an naturalism Is
both vigorous and effective. His ar
rows are sharp, and they do not miss
the mark He does not mince matters
and he calls things by their right name
His plan of attack does not please Pro-
fessor Huxley. and the old agnostic-
warrior lost no time i'm putting on his
opinion armor and rushing to the de-
fense of his citadel He will not per-
init Mr.. Balfour to use naturalism az n
synonym for agnosticism. on the con-
trary he is told to affirm "in the inter
ests of agnoticism, that 1t has not
necessarily anything to do with natur-
alism properly so-called." Strictly
speaking, perhaps, Professor Huxley is
right. At all events the picture of
agnosticism which Mr.. Balfour has
painted is SO unlike the one that hangs
in Professor HuXlcyS mental gallery
that he wholly repudiates It," and this,
, of course, he has an undoubted right TO
do.
But If Mr.. Balfour can prove that
naturalism Is a fiction, he will not have
much difficulty in proving that agno-
ticism cannot be fact. If once the ex-
istence of the supernatural he conced-
ed, then the citadel of agnoticism has
been captured.
Criticisms of Herbert Spencer
In the chapter on "Naturalism and
Reason" Mr.. Balfour pays his respects
to Mr.. Spencer in Il noteworthy passage
in which he says: Mr. Spencer, who
pictures the future with a surer gaze
than ] can make the least pretence TO,
looks confidently forward to the time
when the relation of man to his sur
roundings will be 50 happily contrived
that the reign of absolute righteous
ness will prevail: conscience, grown un-
necessary, will be dispensed with; the
| path of virtue, and not the broad but
the narrow way will lead to destruc-
| ton" These excellent consequences,
continues Mr.. Balfour, "seems to me to
flow smoothly and satisfactorily from
Mr.. Spencer's particular doctrine of
evolution, combined with his particu-
| lar doctrine of morals But | confess
that my own personal qualification at
the present is somewhat dimmed by
! the reflection that the same kind of
causes which makes conscience super
fiuous, will relieve us from the necessity
of intellectual effort and that by the
time we are all perfectly good we shall
also be all perfectly idiotic.
DIR. Mcleod then discussed the chap
ter on ultimate Scientific Ideas" and
the criticisms of Mr.. Spencer, after
which he discussed in the most inter-
esting manner the chapter on Author
ity and Reason" and closed his ex-
cellent sermon by the following re-
marks:
Description OF Mr.. BaIfour.
Mr.. Bafour is a Theist and Chris
| tian. He is loyal both to revelation and
to inspiration, and he makes it plain
that, of all creeds, materialism is the
one which looked at from the inside
from the point of view of knowledge.
and the neutrality-suspicious. least cap
able of being philosophically defended,
or even coherently stated" But not so
the doctrine of revelation. They who
worship the true God worship one who
| is no remote contriver of universe to
whose ills He is Indifferent If they
suffer did not He, on their account. also
suffer? If suffering does not always
fall upon the most guilty was He not
| innocent" He makes a forcible ap-
peal to those who have need to have
| brought home to them the fact that, in
the sight of God, the stability of the
| heavens Is of less Importance than the
moral growth of a human spirit. To
all such he says, Il know not how this
end could be more completely obtained
than by the Christian doctrine of the
| incarnation"
Mr.. Balfour has been called scepti-
cal philosopher and an amateur theo-
logian" But he is neither the one nor
the other. He meets the sceptic on his
own grounds, and he lays the founda-
ton for sound theology. Deists.
Materialists and Agnostics will try to
belittle THE Foundations of Belief"
but Christian teachers may well bid
welcome to such a stalwart ally. The
book Is by no means faultless, but 1t is
book of real merit
DIR. Mcleod concluded by reading the
opinion of DR.. Bruce on 1.-The Founda-
| ton of Belief"
SUBJECT WAS CONFESSION.