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。