And if the infinite be the opposed moment to the finite, a conciliating moment must be sought. For here we have distinct ideas contrasting and yet implying one another. At least, we say of the finite that it is an idea which implies, not the indefinite, but the infinite, of which it is the negation;1 and of the infinite that it is the negation of all limitation and finality.

As God is the plenitude of being, He is the plenitude of life without succession in it, and of thought universal. In Him how many ideas are there? But one, for there is in Him but one eternal act. But this idea necessarily contains all possibilities. It contains, therefore, the idea of the finite. All that is, and all that can be, existed eternally in the idea of God. And with Him eternity and instantaneity are one. Thus the idea of God contains eternally the infinite and the finite the infinite as essence, and the finite as effect.

Between the essential infinity and the realized finality there is opposition of natures; they are radically inverse. Nevertheless the finite is possible, because the infinite is. But how can the Infinite pass to the finite, the Absolute call the limited into actuality? Only through the Idea. True to our method, we must find the relation, not of the finite to the infinite, which is impossible, but of the infinite to the finite, or of the cause to the effect. But the effect can only be in reciprocal relation to the cause, on condition that it be equal to it, and that is impossible if creation be the sole effect. The equation is imperfect, how is it to be perfected? By the Word or Idea, who is Himself the relation balancing the equation, who is Himself the mediator between the infinite and the finite, without confusing either, but preserving the distinction by the very fact of His uniting them.

1 Cf. Descartes: Réponses aux cinquièmes objections (3m Med. sec. 4).

The Word, then, is the mediator between these antinomical factors. By Him the Infinite calls into existence the world of finalities, and the finite ascends towards God. It is not that in Christ, the two natures, the divine and the human, the infinite and the finite, are juxtaposed, so that in Him on one side is the man, and on the other side is the God, they are absolutely united so as to be indissolubly one without confusion of nature, any more than there is absorption of North pole and South pole, the axis of the earth uniting them. It unites by separating them.

Christ is not simply God and man, but is God-man indivisibly and simultaneously; that is to say, He is at once the infinite, or the idea of the divine personality, and the finite, or the idea of the created personality. In Him the two personalities are not only welded together, and brought into reciprocal communion, but are emphasized and distinguished at the same time. Without Him the Absolute could not have called the finite into existence, for there would be no mode of passage from the timeless and spaceless, the imponderable and immaterial Being to matter, subject to extension, duration, and gravitation; apart from Him man could not enter into relation with God, for he would be the finite dislocated from the infinite, without connecting bridge.

Thus the dogma of the Incarnation is a necessary consequence to those who rightly comprehend the finite and the infinite. Without it, there is no possible relation between them, the Incarnation is the only conceivable conciliation.

But that this notion of Christ should appear in its full grandeur, let the metaphysical idea be vivified by the contemplation of its application to living realities.

If we rise from the mathematical point, the sole possible expression of matter in its condition of absolute indivisibility,

to the immensity of the sidereal universe, from the ultimate chemical atom through all degrees of the mineral reign, from the first vegetable embryo to the most complete animal; if, passing onwards to man, we follow him from a whimpering babe to the conception of his unlimited personality in God through Christ, tracing the laborious stages of the progressive development of humanity in history, what does this magnificent panorama of creation exhibit to us but the marvellous ascension of the finite under the form of the indefinite towards God, the Infinite? Christ is to humanity not merely the Son of Mary, but the veritable Son of Man, resuming in Himself the entire creation, of which He is the protoplast and the archetype. Thus, this conception of the whole visible universe in its projection towards the infinite, from the atom and the germ to the Man-God, is the complete equation of the infinite; and from this point of view Christ is the Ideal of creation; whilst from the Divine point of view He is the Idea of the creation. By Him the Idea was realized in creation, and by Him creation is raised towards the Infinite.

God, the infinite Being, arrives at the finite only through the eternal Word, the mediating moment; the creature, or the finite, can only lift itself towards the infinite by means of the same mediator. He is their point of junction and communion; and this point of junction manifests itself by the association of the activities of the finite and the infinite for the reconciliation of the whole order, the things in heaven and the things in earth, all opposites wherever opposed, in one all-enfolding Idea.

God operates through the Word, and man reaches the Father through Christ. In Him the action of God and the action of man meet, are focussed as in a lens, and diverge orderly.

By the conception of Christ as the eternal equation of the finite and the infinite, one obtains a clear notion of the grandeur of the mystery of mediation. He is not merely the regenerator of man, He is the peacemaker between man and man, man and all nature, and man and God; the link between man and man, and man and nature, and man and God.

Private Judgment the basis of Certainty--Man accepts some truths by conviction, other truths on authority-Historical evidence always disputable evidence of an historical religion especially so-The evidence of miracles unsatisfactory-Prophecy no evidence to the divinity of Christ-Scriptural evidence weak-1. Scripture lays no claim to inspiration-2. It is full of inaccuracies-3. And of discrepancies-4. Uncertainty of authorship—Difficulty of proving from Scripture the Divinity of Christ-The weakness of Protestantism-The authority of the Church-The evidence of our own Nature-The legitimate position of the Bible.

A

S I have shewn in a former chapter, Certainty is based on Private Judgment; that is, man's reason is the measure of truth to himself. He is satisfied of the truth of a proposition only when it has been demonstrated to him, and that demonstration has taken hold of and convinced his reason.

But there are truths which are not absolutely certain,