Both must remain, and
both in full brilliance, the virgin white and the passionate blood-red
ring.
In the present age of reason, the cry is all for tolerance, and for
redefinition which will remove sharp contrasts and prove that everything
means the same as everything else. In such an age a doctrine like this
seems to have a certain barbaric splendour about it, as of a crusader
risen from the dead. But Mr. Chesterton is not afraid of the
consequences of his opinions. If rationalism opposes his presentation of
Christianity, he will ride full tilt against reason. In recent years,
from the time of Newman until now, there has been a recurring habit of
discounting reason in favour of some other way of approach to truth and
life. Certainly Mr. Chesterton's attack on reason is as interesting as
any that have gone before it, and it is even more direct. Even on such a
question as the problem of poverty he frankly prefers imagination to
study. In art he demands instinctiveness, and has a profound suspicion
of anybody who is conscious of possessing the artistic temperament. As a
guide to truth he always would follow poetry in preference to logic.
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