II PSEUDO-SCIENTIFIC REALISM 65 



The men of the middle ages believed that 

 through the Scriptures, the traditions of the 

 Fathers, and the authority of the Church, they 

 were in possession of far more, and more trust- 

 worthy, information with respect to the nature 

 and order of things in the theological world than 

 they had in regard to the nature and order of 

 things in the sensible world. And, if the two 

 sources of information came into conflict, so much 

 the worse for the sensible world, which, after all, 

 was more or less under the dominion of Satan. 

 Let us suppose that a telescope powerful enough 

 to show us what is going on in the nebula of the 

 sword of Orion, should reveal a world in which 

 stones fell upwards, parallel lines met, and the 

 fourth dimension of space was quite obvious. Men 

 of science would have only two alternatives before 

 them. Either the terrestrial and the nebular facts 

 must be brought into harmony by such feats of 

 subtle sophistry as the human mind is always 



vadit, quo vult Deus. ... Si insederit Satan, vult et vadit, 

 quo vult Satan ; nee est in ejus arbitrio ad utrun. sessorem. 

 currere, ant eum quaerere, sed ipsi sessores certant ob ipsum 

 obtinendum et possidendum " (De Servo Arbttrio, M. Lutheri 

 Opera, ed. 1546, t. ii. p. 468). One may hear substantially the 

 same doctrine preached in the parks and at street-corners by 

 zealous volunteer missionaries of Evangelicism, any Sunday, in 

 modern London. Why these doctrines, which are conspicuous 

 by their absence in the four Gospels, should arrogate to them- 

 selves the title of Evangelical, in contradistinction to Catholic, 

 Christianity, may well perplex the impartial inquirer, who, if 

 he were obliged to choose between the two, might naturally 

 prefer that which leaves the poor beast of burden a little freedom 

 of choice. 



