an account of the author and his works, in the Cabinet Library of Scarce and Celebrated Tracts (1836). I reproduce the abstract which Dr Smith gave of this ingenious argument in his 'First Lines of Christian Theology:'"1. Positive existence is possible, for it involves no contradiction. 2. All possible existence is either necessary, which must be, and in its own nature cannot but be; or contingent, which may be or not be, for in neither case is a contradiction involved. 3. Some existence is necessary: for, if all existence were contingent, all existence might not be as well as might be; and that thing which might not be never could be without some other thing as the prior cause of its existence, since every effect must have a cause. If, therefore, all possible existence were contingent, all existence would be impossible; because the idea or conception of it would be that of an effect without a cause, which involves a contradiction. 4. Necessary existence must be actual existence for necessary existence is that which must be and cannot but be—that is, it is such existence as arises from the nature of the thing in itself; and it is an evident contradiction to affirm that necessary existence might not be. 5. Necessary existence being such as must be and cannot but be, it must be always and cannot but be always; for to suppose that necessary existence could begin to be, or could cease to be—that is, that a time might be in which necessary existence would not be involves a contradiction. Therefore, necessary existence is without beginning and without end—that is, it is eternal. 6. Necessary existence must be wherever any existence is possible: for all existence is either contingent or necessary; all contingent existence is impossible without necessary existence being previously as its

cause, and wherever existence is possible it must be either of a necessary or a contingent being. Therefore, necessary existence must be wherever existence is possible—that is, it must be infinite. 7. There can be but one necessarily existent being; for two necessarily existent beings could in no respect whatever differ from each other—that is, they would be one and the same being. 8. The one necessarily existent being must have all possible perfections: for all possible perfections must be the perfections of some existence; all existence is either necessary or contingent; all contingent existence is dependent upon necessary existence; consequently, all possible perfections must belong either to necessary existence or to contingent existence-that is, to contingent beings, which are caused by and are dependent upon necessary being. Therefore, since there can be but one necessarily existent being, that being must have all possible perfections. 9. The one necessarily existent being must be a free agent: for contingent existence is possible, as the conception of it involves no contradiction; but necessary existence must be the cause or producing agent of contingent existence, otherwise contingent existence would be impossible, as an effect without a cause; and necessary existence as the cause of contingent existence does not act necessarily, for then contingent existence would itself be necessary, which is absurd as involving a contradiction. Therefore necessary existence, as the cause of contingent existence, acts not necessarily but freely-that is, is a free agent, which is the same thing as being an intelligent agent. 10. Therefore, there is one necessarily existent being, the cause of all contingent existence-that is, of all other existences besides himself; and this being is eternal, infinite,

possessed of all possible perfections, and is an intelligent free agent-that is, this Being is God."

The demonstration of the Divine existence given by the Chevalier Ramsay is contained in the First Book of his 'Philosophical Principles of Natural and Revealed Religion' (1748). It is as elaborately mathematical in form as the reasoning in Spinoza's 'Ethics,' and has continuous reference to that reasoning. It is impossible to give any distinct conception of its nature by a brief description.

The argument of Dr Hamilton, Dean of Armagh, is fully set forth in his 'Attempt to prove the Existence and Absolute Perfection of the Supreme Unoriginated Being, in a Demonstrative Manner' (1785). It assumes the "axiom" that "whatever is contingent, or might possibly have been otherwise than it is, had some cause which determined it to be what it is. Or in other words: if two different or contrary things were each of them possible, whichever of them took place, or came to pass, it must have done so in consequence of some cause which determined that it, and not the other, should take the place." The propositions which he endeavours to demonstrate are these: I. There must be in the universe some one being, at least, whose non-existence is impossible-whose existence had no cause, no beginning, and can have no end. II. The whole nature of the unoriginated being, or the aggregrate of his attribute, is uncaused, and must be necessarily and immutably what it is; so that he cannot have any attribute or modification of his attributes but such as were the eternal and necessary concomitants of his existence. III. Whatever are the attributes of the unoriginated being, he must possess each of them unlimitedly, or in its whole extent, such as

it is when considered in the abstract. IV. In whatever manner the unoriginated being exists or is present anywhere, he must in the like manner exist or be present everywhere. V. The unoriginated being is one individual uncompounded substance identically the same everywhere, and to which our ideas of whole and parts, magnitude or quantity, are not applicable. VI. The unoriginated being must necessarily possess intelligence and power unlimited, and all other natural attributes that are in themselves absolute perfections. VII. There is in the universe but one unoriginated being, who must therefore be the original fountain of all existence, and the first cause of all things. VIII. All things owe their existence ultimately to the power of the first cause operating according to his free will. IX. Almighty God, the first cause and author of all things, must be a Being of infinite goodness, wisdom, mercy, justice, and truth, and all other moral perfections, such as become the supreme author and governor of the universe.

The most remarkable recent attempt of a similar kind is, perhaps, that of the late Mr W. H. Gillespie of Torbanehill. The bases on which he rests his reasoning are that infinity of extension and infinity of duration are necessarily existing, and imply the necessary existence of an infinite and eternal Being. The argument was first presented in 1833, and, notwithstanding its abstruse character, has attracted considerable attention. It is only to be found in a complete form in the fifth edition of 'The Argument, A Priori, for the Being and the Attributes of the Absolute One' (1871). See also Mr Gillespie's 'Necessary Existence of Deity. An Examination of Antitheos's "Refutation (1840). There is an interesting review of the argument in its earliest form

in the Papers on Literary and Philosophical Subjects' of Professor P. C. Macdougall.

NOTE XXXIX., page 301.

RECENT SPECULATIVE THOUGHT AND THEISTIC PROOF.

Kant supposed that his critical researches into the nature and limits of knowledge would deter reason from speculative adventures. They had just the opposite effect; they excited it to an extraordinary activity, and even audacity. Nowhere and never have attempts speculatively to construe and explain the universe of existence and thought been more prevalent than in Germany in the nineteenth century. Hence it would require at least a volume to trace in an adequate manner how the speculative philosophy and speculative theology of Germany dealt, during the period specified, with the idea of God. The philosophies of Schelling and Hegel, of Baader and Krause, had their whole characters determined by this idea. It is the central thought in these systems, and the key to the right understanding of them. Among those who have laboured most earnestly to elucidate this greatest of all ideas, J. H. Fichte, K. P. Fischer, Weisse, Sengler, Wirth, Hanne, Ulrici, Rothe, and Dorner may be named. In the present work I have not found that I could judiciously make much use of the profound theories of these authors. It must be otherwise if I am ever permitted to attempt a general positive exposition of the doctrine of the Divine nature and attributes.

The main current of speculative thought in Italy