New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-04-14

| the dark IT, then. can only know the world
| through experience then is all science turned 10
| fooshness and evolution stands confessed as
| mere Pigment Of the imagination. The ego not
| merely becomes the centre Of the world. but De-
yond it, and the ideas that ii produces through
| neural action there Is either nothing or nothing
| that can be known
| Mr.. Balfour closes this brilliant attack on natu-
| ralism with the following significant passage
| That II empirical philosophy should develop
| into naturasm. and then, on the strength OF Ia
| bors which II has not endured, of victories wncn
| II has net won and Of scientific triumphs In wnch
it has no right to share. presume, in despite OF us
speculative insufciency, to dictate terms OF sur
render to every other system Of belief, Is aito-
gether intOlerable. Who would pay the shgntest
attention to naturalsm II 1t did not force i'seii
into the retnue OF science, assume her livery ana
claim as kind Of poor relation, In some sort 10
represent her authority. and to speak WIN her
voice? OF itself It is nothing. 1t neither ministers
TO the needs of mankind. nor does II satisfy Iheir
reason
We have but little space for review OF MT BAL
tours positive conclusions. He has small patience
with nationalist orthodoxy. which tries to mar
monize experimentation and naturalism by sup
posing that there two kinds Of tteology-natu-
raj and revealed-or. looking at the matter from
another point of view. two Kingdoms. the natural
and the spiritual. entirely distinct from each
other. Such n patchwork conception OF the uni
verse cOnradicts the principle Of unity that seems
10 be a necessary postulate Of all sane thought
concerning existence. AT best II Is only a tempo
rarv shelter. in which men may rest during the
night Of doubt that always follows the garish day
Of Credulity and precedes the sunlit morning OF
science What IL needed Is a philosophy. scheme
OF knowledge. that shall give rational unity TO an
adequate creed. The difficulty Of finding such a
unifying principle is almost insuperable. For
every theory of things that can be constructed is
hcdged bout by contradictions But since that is
true Of all explanations Of the universe Mr.. Bal
four properly holds that it should not be used by
the adhercnts Of any one theory 70 the discredit
Of other theories We are all In the same boat,
s,Iperna turasts and naturalists alike. After all.
It is not gertrude but authority on which the be-
efs Of man are founded Bur what the source OF
authority Is we know not In the sphere Of science,
just as truly as in the sphere Of theology, its
source is hidden in the mystery of the unknowa-
Bile. We think are free To believe or not, as We
choose: bu; such is not the case. We are EMBODIED
in the giant arms Of authority which creates
around us a psychological atmosphere or climate
that Is favorable a. certain beliefs AMI fatal to
others And. In fact. it is from authority that
reason Itself draws It's most important premises.
Here then the author leaves the question. The
beliefs II religion and the beliefs If science stand
on the same footing The difficulties which they
have to solve I'm common far more formidable
rhan those which divide them from each other
But IN the whole there is much less To explain II
We accept tho thcory that the world was made by
a rational Being who made il ineligible and AT
the same time made MS able 10 understand H.
How He created II. and how He sustains II, are
mysteries that cannot fathom. For We see
through a glass darkiy" But that God created
the world and that lie sustains H. We arc driven
a. believe