The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-06-11
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

4ney tried to shove EnglandS great man who spoke recently Defore Con gress out of Ehg~ssn public life, by saying he was academic and mere theorist.
 This was the charge against WoodA row Wilson when he. aspired to the presidency.
 Years proved that Balfour was one of Englands greatest statesmen, just as time has shown that Wilson is Americas great man. It's hard to realize that Balfour came to this country on British mis- sion of such magnitude.
 Balfour in many ways is truly re- markable man. Had he confined him. self to philosophy he might have spent his years in some great university. | It was many years ago when a stu dent abroad taking a philosophical course that I picked up one of his books to find that I had come in con | tact with master mind. | Balfour's appearance as theologian Gin the Foundations of Belief; being notes introductory to the Study of Theology), was the sensation of the hour among the theologians of Eng land and of great interest among phil osophers, men of science, and men of the world.
 1 A sympathetic critic described it as a new religion on the ruins of the new philosophy. It could not be put aside, either by metaphysics or theologians. It was a serious and worthy contribu- tion to the thought of the time on the most important and difficult problems of all time.
 One of his admirers has pointed out that long before Balfour made name | in politics or led party or sradu- ated as a statesman, he was known to his friends and to a few readers or Iunusual books as an acute and daring tbinlxer trained in severe school of dialectic.
 | Tn "The Foundation of Belief" the book that made many students sit up and take notice, Balfour shrank throughout from anything like a deh- nite statement of belief He offered only provisional solution of existing diff faculties.
 He first became known in the world of letters by his work in Defense of Philosophic Doubt" His intellectual sublety and literary capacity suggesting that he might make reputation as speculative thinker.
 All who studied 1t closely has this to say of it: While Balfour rejects the nbilosophy of the senses, he declares the assumption of the existence Of l God more defensible as scientific grounds than the proposition Of science that there is an independent material world
 l This book, which was of such great interest in the United States as 10 be reviewed by cable, did not satisfy the ultra orthodox, but it was thought to he one of the best antidotes against the wave of agnosticism that was sweeping many off of their feet in England and America. | Balfour's thesis was that the theory l of the origin of the world must be sought in the resupposition of ration al being. Yet many feared that his sneculations supplied a foundation for scepticism rather than foundation l for belief.
 SmalIey. from whom I get the best insight of Balfour, however, Is at pains l to use the word sceptic in connection l with him in a high sense; such scep- l tic. that is as Montaigne was, as Pas l chal was
 The new religion spoken of by Bal l four was to contain good deal less of dogmatic theology and much more of spiritual insight, as well as of that unflinching effort toward truth to which the intellect and reason have more to say than mere unaided truth.
 
 In the conflict between religion and science he boldly attacks rationalism and materialism. which he. according to Smalley. deems an ethical nihilism the inevitable outcome.
 |
 He unhesitatingly declares the exis- tence of God more defensible on scientific grounds than the proposition of science that there is an independent material world.
 Balfour's recent presence in America and Smalley's appreciation of him as philosopher and thinker. published more than a score of years ago, brings to me very wildly as I write this, a student friend with whom I used to discuss frequently the foundation of belief on it's appearance.
 You may recall the keen thrust ad- ministered to the pedantic Southey by Madame de Stael. the brilliant French woman, who also gave the great Ma poleon some bad quarters of hours
 Southey, the pompous Englishman,
 was boasting about the valuable way
 in which he distributed his time. So
 many hours of reading before break
 fast on one subject and so many hours