42 ULTIMATE RELIGIOUS IDEAS. 



former case, the object depends upon the subject, and the: 

 subject alone is the true absolute. In the latter case, the 

 subject depends upon the object, and the object alone is the 

 true absolute. Or if we attempt a third hypothesis, and 

 maintain that each exists independently of the other, we 

 have no absolute at all, but only a pair of relatives; for co- 

 existence, whether in consciousness or not, is itself a re- 

 lation." 



" The corollary from this reasoning is obvious. Xot 

 only is the Absolute, as conceived, incapable of a necessary 

 relation to anything else; but it is also incapable of con- 

 taining, by the constitution of its own nature, an essential 

 relation within itself; as a whole, for instance, composed of 

 parts, or as a substance consisting of attributes, or as a con- 

 scious subject in antithesis to an object. For if there is in 

 the absolute any principle of unity, distinct from the mere 

 accumulation of parts or attributes, this principle alone is 

 the true absolute. If, on the other hand, there is no such 

 principle, then there is no absolute at all, but only a plural- 

 ity of relatives. The almost unanimous voice of philosophy, 

 in pronouncing that the absolute is both one and simple, 

 must be accepted as the voice of reason also, so far as reason 

 has any voice in the matter. But this absolute unity, as in- 

 different and containing no attributes, can neither be distin- 

 guished from the multiplicity of finite beings by any char- 

 acteristic feature, nor be identified with them in their multi- 

 plicity. Thus we are landed in an inextricable dilemma. 

 The Absolute cannot be conceived as conscious, neither can 

 it be conceived as unconscious: it cannot be conceived as 

 complex, neither can it be conceived as simple : it cannot be 

 conceived by difference, neither can it be conceived by .the 

 absence of difference: it cannot be identified with the uni- 

 verse, neither can it be distinguished from it. The One and 

 the Many, regarded as the beginning of existence, are thus 

 alike incomprehensible." 



" The fundamental conceptions of Rational Theology 



