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andthisisan’absolute’whichisperfectlycompatiblewithanycomplexityofrelations。Theclueisgivenbygettingholdofanybitwhateveroftheactualweb，notbygettingintosometranscendentalworldbeyond。Theerrorofsupposingthatwemustfindan’Absolute’somewhere，andthatwecannotfinditinanypartofourexperience，isthesameaswouldbetheerrorofsupposingthatbecausewecannotfixapointinabsolutespace，wecannotgetanyvalidspacemeasures。ThecentreofthesunorGreenwichobservatorywilldoequallywell，thoughwecannotevenspeakintelligiblyoftheirabsolutepositionintheuniverse。Togiveascientificaccountofastronomywedonotrequireanabsolutecentreofspace。ThisiswhatItaketobeimpliedinKant’sargumentabouttheideaofGod。Wecannotgettoan’absolute’Beingoutsideoftheuniverse，butthewholemustberegardedasasingleandself-supportingsystem。ThisargumentisdistortedintheelaborateargumentationsofHamiltonandManselagainsttheattemptstogettoanabsoluteBeingoutsideofthingsingeneral。Suchanabsoluteastheyattackisdoubtlessanabsurdity；butneitherarewe，astheyurge，compelledtobelieveinit。Ifwestillusetheologicallanguage，wemustsaythatGodisnotaBeingapartfromtheuniverse，butimpliedintheuniverse；thegroundofallthings，theimmanentprinciplewhose’livingraimentistheworld。’Millofcourseholdsthatwemustabandon’transcendentalism’orthesearchfor’thingsinthemselves’outsideofthephenomenalworld。Manseloftenseemstoagree。Philosopherswhoindulgeinthesefreakstry，hesays，toliftupthecurtainoftheirownbeingtoviewthepicturewhichitconceals。’Likethepainterofold，theyknewnotthatthecurtainisthepicture。’(99*)Thatsoundslikegoodpositivismorphenomenalism。Itshouldgivethedeathblowtoall’ontology。’Heassuresusoverandoveragainthatthe’Infinite’

isa’merenegationofthought’；(100*)thatcontradictionsarisewheneverweattempttotranscendthelimitsofexperience；thathumanreasonissofarfrombringabletoconstructa’ScientificTheology，independentofandsuperiortoRevelation，thatitcannotevenreadthealphabetoutofwhichthatTheologymustbeframed。’(101*)Wecanknowthelawsofnatureorthephenomena，butwecanknownothingofthesubstanceornoumenonwhichliesbehindthem。Then，isthenaturalquery，whynotleaveitoutofaccountaltogether？Whyventureintothisregion，where，asManseladmits，wefindonly’antinomies’or，’contradictoryinconceivables’？Whynot，inshort，beagnosticslikeMrHerbertSpencer，whobasedhisFirstPrinciplesontheHamilton-Manseldoctrine？Thisgivesthesecretofthewholeprocedure。

’Thecardinalpoint，’saysMansel，’ofSirW。Hamilton’sphilosophy……istheabsolutenecessity，underanysystemofphilosophywhatever，ofacknowledgingtheexistenceofasphereofbelief，beyondthelimitsofthesphereofthought。’(102*)

Faith，then，remainswhenreasondisappears，thoughfaithcannotsolvethedoubtssuggestedbyreason。(103*)What’faith’tellsus，infact，isthatwemustbelieveoneoftwopropositions，thoughwecannotconceivethepossibilityofeither。Canitpossibly，weask，muchmatterwhetherwebelievethatthereisorisnotanXofwhomnothingmorecanbeintelligiblysaid？A

beliefwhichextendsbeyond’thesphereofthought’isabeliefwhichwecanaffordtoleavetoitself。ButManselhastodeclarethatweareforcedtobelievewherewecannotevenproperlythink。’WearecompelledbytheconstitutionofourmindstobelieveintheexistenceofanabsoluteandinfiniteBeing，’(104*)though，aswelearn，to’thinkoftheinfinite’isreallyanegationofthought。Adecisiontoacceptoneofthecontradictorybeliefsisyetofthehighestpracticalimportance。

TheschemesofFreeWillandFatalism，saysHamilton，(105*)are’theoreticallybalanced，’thoughthefatalistinconceivabilityisthe’lessobtrusiv