IV. The material world can not possibly be the first and ori- ginal being, uncreated, independent, and of itself eternal ; because it involves no contradiction to conceive of the world, as to the matter, form, measure, or motion of it, either not to be at all, or to be different from what it is, pp. 22, 23.
V. But since something does now exist, it is a contradiction not to conceive of something as necessarily self-existent from eter- nity ; and besides infinite space and eternal duration can not be thought not to exist without a contradiction. They are therefore necessarily self-existent, and therefore also the essence of God, of which infinite space and eternal duration are the essential proper- ties or attributes, must be self-existent also. For space and time are not substances but properties, which necessarily imply a com- mensurate substance to which they belong, p. 16.
He thence proceeds by a similar process to prove that God is infinitely wise, free, powerful and good, etc.
13. What are the objections to this argument ?
This argument, as employed by Dr. Clarke, is consummately able, and if not of itself conclusive, has been of the greatest use in confronting the ontological Pantheists on their own ground. The recent fashionable objections to all a priori reasoning on this sub- ject have been carried too far. I. Because every a priori system of proof is partly d posteriori, starting from the experience which consciousness affords us of dependent existence. II. Because every a posteriori system of proof embraces of necessity an a priori element, thus the principles that every effect must have a cause, and that design argues intelligence, are a priori judgments. The special objections that lie against Dr. Clarke's argument are, 1, It confounds logical necessity of thought upon the part of man with physical necessity of being upon the part of God, making the power of man to conceive or not to conceive the measure of real existence, and II. It makes space and time, which are to us necessary abstract conceptions, and conditions of all thinking prop- erties of God. God is omnipresent and eternal, but in any other sense it is absurd to regard space and time as properties of which he is the substance. They are the conditions of all being, and are occupied by all existences in infinitely various proportions and relations.
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18 THE BEING OF GOD.
14. What is the argument of Descartes and others, derived from the fact that ice possess the idea of God ?
Descartes, founding all knowledge upon the truth of human consciousness, maintained that in proportion to the clearness of an idea is the evidence that it actually represents an objective reality. But one of the clearest and most prominent ideas actually possessed by man is the idea of one infinitely perfect being. This idea could not spring from " any finite source, since the finite and imperfect could not give me the idea of the infinite and perfect. Hence, if I have an incontestibly clear idea of God, a God must necessarily exist/'
He also argued that the existence of God is implied in the nature of the idea we have of him, just as the existence of a triangle is implied in the conception which we form of a triangle. Self-existence and necessary existence are essential elements of an infinitely perfect being. But as we have an idea of an infinitely perfect being, including his self-existence, it is a contradiction in terms to conceive of him as not existing. Therefore he must exist. — See Morell's History of Modern Philosophy, vol. i., p. 172.
15. What are the objections to that argument 1
While we must ever regard this and all other & priori argu- ments for the existence of God as of value in the way of demon- strating the fact, that although the idea of God cannot be strictly said to be innate, yet it is complimentary to reason, i. e., when once presented, always afterwards felt to be necessary to satisfy the de- mands of reason, nevertheless we cannot regard this argument as being, when standing alone, a valid demonstration of the ex- istence of God. The conceptions of the human mind, whether clear or vague, can not be held as the certain measure of real objective existence. They can only form the ground of a ra- tional probability, and thus enhance the credibility of other argu- ments.
16. On what grounds do the German transcendental philoso- phers found their belief in the being of a God ?
Schleiermacher, and his German and English followers, as Coleridge, Morell, and others, place the foundation of this divine
CAN IT BE LOGICALLY DEMONSTRATED ? 19