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which we designate by the Infinite the Absolute. God is thus lifted above the reflex action of causes, as well as above their antecedent action. Not only is nothing back of Him, there is nothing before Him, giving condition and law ab extra to His nature. God as infinite is not limited in action; as absolute, he is not straitened by any reaction. The material with which man works, limits the work; no limitations reach the labors of God save those contemplated and established in his creative thought. The infinite in this form, in these its various applications, we must defend as a positive, intuitive idea indeed, if it be an idea at all, it must be an intuitive idea.

The first objections against the positive, valid character of this notion which we shall consider, are those of Sir William Hamilton, presented under what he terms, The Law of the Conditioned, It is claimed, that this impression, like that of causality, arises from the powerlessness of the mind, not from its insight. The line of argument is much the same as in the case of causation. The following with omissions, is his presentation of the subject. It is found in the Lectures on Metaphysics, p. 527.

"We are altogether unable to conceive space as bounded, as finite; that is as a whole beyond which there is no farther space. On the other hand, we are equally powerless to realize in thought the possibility of the opposite contradictory; we cannot conceive space as infinite, as without limits. You may launch out in thought beyond the solar walk, you may transcend in fancy even the universe of matter, and rise from sphere to sphere in the region of empty space until imagination sinks exhausted; with all this, what have you done? You have never gone beyond the finite. Now then, both contradictions are equally inconceivable, both are equally incomprehensible; and yet, though unable to view either as possible, we are forced by a higher