contradiction of infinite power, because love and power restrain each other, both under the law of reason. The only way in which this can be made to seem plausible is, by confounding potential power with expressed force. Force in expression is limited by love, but not the potentiality from which it springs. The humane master who does not beat his servant has not, therefore, less power than the inhumane master who does beat him.

Similar considerations are applied to the word, absolute. By absolute we express the ultimate independence and completeness of God within Himself, that He is the unobstructed source of all things. Men no sooner begin to work than they find themselves limited by the material at hand. They suffer a double restriction, the feebleness of their own forces, the discordant nature of independent forces. They can only accomplish such results as their own strength and the material at hand will admit of, in their relation to each other. A system of actions and reactions is established and is expressed in the issue. It is this constant dependence that is meant by man's relative weakness. When it is said that God is absolute, it is meant that He puts forth His creative acts into a void, and is subject to no reactions that He has not contemplated and desired. The material used is not foreign to Him, nor is it feeble or refractory in His hand. The word must, indeed, be applied rationally and rationally restricted. Reason is a law unto itself, it does not thereby cease to be absolute. Its exaltation, its absoluteness are found in this very