The sun., 1918-09-15
Blatchford and Chesterton.

ION letter To-Day VIII Understand the
allusion he makes to an earlier controversy with
Mr.. ROBERT BIATcnFoRD. Some of that contro-
versy ought TO be given here; and we purpose to
quote rather at length from the fourth chapter Of
Gilbert h. Chestertom: 4 Criticism, published in
1909 by the John Lane Company. The book is
anonymous, but none the less a competent author
ity: it was probably written by Mr.. CHEsTERToN's
brother, CECIL CHEsTERToN, or less probably by his
friend and guide HILAIRE BEIAoc
Mr.. BI.ArcHFoRp, as editor of the Clarion, had
suddenly attacked the Christian religion:
Mr.. BLATcHFoRD a consummate master
of all the weapons of popular controversy. He
could put his ease whatever it might be, forcibly
yet iii language simple that the most ignorant
workman could understand it. He had also at his
command certain strong colloquial eloquenee and
could make his plain English ring suddenly like
sword Oh an anvil His Socialist tracts and PAM
phlets were incomparably the best work of their
kind that had been done and have contributed in
calculably TO the spread of Socialism in this coun-
try. He undoubtedly less we'll qualified for
philosophical than for economic discussion. He did
not know his facts so well. He sometimes displayed
quite startling absence of familiarity with older
controversies the subject, as when he seemed to
claim that the obvious argument against Free Will
that it is inconsistent with the omnipotcnce Of GoD
was his own discovery. His SCIENCE was rather
crude, and there undoubtedly plenty of weak
points which skilful adversary might find in his
But skilful adversary was not so easy to
find.
a Champion and Catechism.
''InLeed, the response TO Mr.. BLATcHFoRD did.
little credit to the intellectual equipment of mod
ern Christianity. Half its defenders called Mr..
BLNTCHFORD blasphemer; the other half, with
much greater impertinence, called him a Christian
On the questions in regard TO which Mr.. BI.ATCH
FORD somewhat at they showed themselves
more at sea, while their replies lacked altogether
the lucidity and holiness in which Mr.. BIATcH-
FORD never failed Their controversial strategy
was infantile. They gave up without struggle
strong positions which could easily have been de-
Tended. They put forward weak hypothesis in
vented by themselves, and then defended them as if
they were of the of Christianity. Of all
those who took prominent part on the Christian
side only two put up an effective fght-the Rev.
CHARLES MARsoN and G. X. CHEsTERToN.
''The principal interest for us of the Clarion
controversy lies in the fact that it led Mr.. CHESTER
TON to make his first public declaration of faith in
the orthodox system of Christian dogma. Mr.
BLATcHFoRD had put series of questions to his
Christian antagonists. Here they are, together
with Mr.. CHEsTERToN' S answer:
"'U Are you a Christian Certainly.
"'(2) What do you mean by the word Christian
ityf-The belief that a certain human being whom
we call CHRIST stood to a certain superhuman Be-
ing whom We call COP in a certain unique trans
cendental relation which call sonship.
"'(3l What do you believe!-A considerable
number of things. That Mr.. BLATcHFoRD is an
honest man, for instance, and Though less firmly
that there is place called Japan. If he means,
what do believe in religious matters, believe the
above statement (answer No. q and large num-
Der of other mystical dogmas ranging from the
mystical dogma that man is the image of COP to
the mystical dogma that all men equal, and that
babies should not be strangled.
go Why do you believe it because per-
ceive life to be logical and workable with these be-
liefs and illogical and unavoidable without them