22 From Matter to Man. 



to idealise them ; the habit in both cases purely con- 

 stitutional. 



Section 3. The Infinite and the Supernatural as a 

 First Cause: — 



" He who proclaims the existence of the infinite — 

 and no man can escape it — comprehends in that 

 assertion more of the supernatural than there is in all 

 the miracles of all the religions, for the conception of 

 the infinite has the twofold character that is irresistible 

 and incomprehensible." * 



These sententious words by a gifted Frenchman 

 obviously imply an argument for a supernatural 

 Being, or a metaphysical First Cause. But the 

 fallacy of the conception arises from the erroneous 

 definition of the word infinite. Thus the infinite 

 neither is nor can be supernatural, but only an exten- 

 sion of the natural, hence is part of the natural. 

 There is, in fact, no supernatural. Supernatural 

 implies supemature, or something above, outside of, 

 or beyond nature. But as nature is only a synonym 

 for existence (which, as present existence indefinitely 

 extended, is necessarily infinite in extension), super- 

 natural actually implies a ■ super-existence : hence, 

 this in turn involves something still more nonsensical 

 — a super-infinite. 



Again, the infinite is not incomprehensible, for, as 

 cyclic or working in cycles, it is comprehensible to 

 any intelligent mind. The infinite could not be 

 * Pasteur on his election to the French Academy, 1882. 



