other, it being the very nature
of a relative to be thinkable only through the conjunct thought of its
correlative." We comprehend nothing more completely than the infinite;
"for the idea of illimitation is as clear, precise, and intelligible as
the idea of limitability, which is its basis. The propositions "A is X"
"A is not X," are equally comprehensible; the conceptions A and X are in
both cases positive data of experience, while the affirmation and
negation consist solely in the copulative or disjunctive nature of the
predication. Consequently, if X is comprehensible, so is not--X; if the
finite is comprehensible, so is the infinite."[341]

Whilst denying that the infinite can by us be _known_, Hamilton tells us
he is "far from denying that it is, must, and ought to be
_believed_."[342] "We must believe in the infinity of God."
"Faith--belief--is the organ by which we apprehend what is beyond
knowledge."[343] We heartily assent to the doctrine that the Infinite
Being is the object of faith, but we earnestly deny that the Infinite
Being is not an object of knowledge. May not knowledge be grounded upon
faith, and does not faith imply knowledge? Can we not obtain knowledge
through faith? Is not the belief in the Infinite Being implied in our
knowledge of finite existence? If so, then God as the infinite and
perfect, God as the unconditioned Cause, is not absolutely "the
unknown."

[Footnote 340: Hamilton's "Logic," p. 73.]

[Footnote 341: North American Review, October, 1864, article
"Conditioned and the Unconditioned," pp. 441, 442.]

[Footnote 342: Letter to Calderwood, Appendix, vol. ii. p. 530.]

[Footnote 343: "Lectures on Metaphysics," vol. ii. p. 374.]

A full exposition of Sir William Hamilton's views of _Faith_ in its
connection with Philosophy would have been deeply interesting to us, and
it would have filled up a gap in the interpretation of his system. The
question naturally presents itself, how would he have discriminated
between faith and knowledge, so as to assign to each its province? If
our notion of the Infinite Being rests entirely upon faith, then upon
what ultimate ground does faith itself rest? On the authority of
Scripture, of the Church, or of reason? The only explicit statement of
his view which has fallen in our way is a note in his edition of
Reid.[344] "We _know_ what rests upon reason; we _believe_ what rests
upon authority. But reason itself must rest at last upon authority; for
th