THE ABSOLUTE. 575 
of thought ; while the Infinite is an object of thought... .. We admit to Sir William 
that the knowledge which we have been describing, and the knowledge of the Infinite, which 
we intend to describe at still greater length, is an indefinite knowledge. But it is an in- 
definite knowledge of what? Of this: It is an indefinite knowledge of an infinite object. 
It is not a knowledge of the finite, for we can find no limits; according to our own con- 
sciousness, and according to Sir William’s statement, it is an indefinite knowledge of 
something ; therefore it is an indefinite knowledge of the infinite. We profess nothing 
but an indefinite knowledge, but it must be a knowledge of something, and as not of the 
finite, it must be of the infinite. Sir William’s argument we consider valid, if viewed as 
a refutation of the assertion that we have a clear and definite knowledge of the Infinite. 
But, on the other hand, Sir William maintains for himself that we can have no knowledge 
of the Infinite. This conclusion we consider no more valid than the other, for it does not 
follow that, since we have not a clear and definite knowledge of the Infinite, therefore we 
can have no knowledge of it at all... .. While it is true that the finite mind cannot 
have infinite thoughts, we hold it equally true that the finite mind can have finite thoughts 
concerning an infinite object... . In so far as Sir William maintains that we cannot 
have a clear knowledge of the Infinite in all its extent; and in so far as M. Cousin main- 
tains that we can have some knowledge of the Infinite; we consider that they both are 
right.”* 
455. A limited idea may be a partial representation of an unlimited reality. ‘Time is* 
the image of eternity,” and in like manner the human Consciousness may be an image, 
though a faint one, of the Infinite Intelligence. In the variety of possible relations, each 
single relation may furnish the expression of a partial truth, and the greater the number 
of relations that is brought under our cognizance, the more nearly adequate will be our 
conception of the reality. 
456. Relation does not necessarily limit anything but conception, and the Absolute, 
though independent of all relation, may and does place itself in relation to finite intelli- 
gence, without detracting from its own infinite perfection. ‘The Infinite might, perhaps, 
even become self-limited, in certain directions, for the accomplishment of its own purposes ; 
—it certainly does not become us to deny such a possibility, when by making the denial, 
we attempt to make our own conceptions the limits of Divine power. 
457. Among the great controlling forces of the material universe, light, heat, electricity 
in its various forms, attraction, inertia, repulsion, there are many indications of unity.. And 
although the principles of correct philosophizing will not allow us to assume their essen- 
tial identity until it is more fully demonstrated, the same natural instinct of Reason that 
* Calderwood, pp. 77-79. 
VOL. XI1.—73 
