APPLICATION OF CATEGORIES,—SPACE, TIME, AND POSITION. 563 
infinite concluded, of an infinite commencing, and of two infinites, not exclusive of each 
other,” is no contradiction, if we consider that each of the infinites is relative, and that if 
due regard is paid to their relations, they are in no respect antagonistic or contradictory. 
409. No one can set up his own conceptions as an infallible standard for others, but 
each may contribute to the common treasury of knowledge, his own perceptions of truth. 
Among the clearest of those perceptions in my mind,—as evident as the simplest axioms 
of mathematics,—are the infinite extent of space in all possible directions, the infinite 
duration of eternity, without beginning and without end, and the infinite possibility of 
position, both in space and time. No truth, no necessary idea has ever been adduced to 
contradict these conceptions, but the contrary suppositions,—that space is bounded, that 
duration is transitory, and that position is limited,—lead to countless contradictions and 
absurdities. 
410. We will, therefore, assume as sufficiently established, the three great necessary 
and infinite Forms,—forms of things, as well as forms of thought,—that correspond to our 
three forms of Intelligence, and are therefore the only necessary realities of which we can 
frame any conception. We might, perhaps, imagine a universe, in which there should 
have been no Being, either material or spiritual, but even in such a universe, in Eternal 
Silence, Space, Time, and Position would still remain, stern and immovable, ready to be 
cognized if there were only an intelligence to perceive them. 
411. “Space, as containing all things, was by Philo and others, identified with the In- 
finite. And the text (Acts xvii, 28), which says that ‘in God we live, and move, and 
have our being,’ was interpreted to mean that space is an affection or property of the 
Deity. Sir Isaac Newton maintained that God by existing constitutes time and space. . . 
412. “ As space is a necessary conception of the human mind, as it is conceived of as 
infinite, and as an infinite quality, Dr. Clarke thought that from these views, we may 
argue the existence of an infinite substance, to which this quality belongs.” He “main- 
tained that space is an attribute or property of the Infinite Deity.”"* These opinions, as 
well as similar views with regard to time and position, find a weighty support in the 
apparently identical character of the objective properties and our subjective ideas of the 
three essential forms. If that identity is so marked in our finite imtelligence, as to lead 
many to deny them any other than a subjective reality, it seems probable that the Infinite 
Intelligence may perceive them merely as attributes of His own Infinite and Eternal 
Being. Our perception of the necessary-existence of the attributes, would then be an 
evidence of the equally necessary existence of the Being to whom the attributes belong. 
* Fleming, p. 481. 
