But when we are told that the infinite transcends thought, we are entitled to demand that we should not be kept playing with an abstraction, and to ask, what is infinite? In what sense does it transcend thought? Does this mean that it is absolutely unthinkable; or only partially so; or that our conception of it is imperfect? Is it simply unknowable, or does it consist of something which we know, _plus_ something that has not come within the limits of our knowledge, but which something is of a similar character to the known? It will be at once seen that the determination of these questions is at the root of the whole controversy. If then by the infinite we mean something known _plus_ something unknown, to speak of God as unknowable and unthinkable is absurd. Our knowledge of Him may not be full, but yet real so far as it goes. When it is affirmed that God is a being who exists, but is unthinkable by man, the effect is to place Him beyond the bounds of human knowledge, and thereby free us from all necessity of troubling ourselves about Him. We know that He exists in the profundities of the unknown; and that is all. For the purposes of thought and of morality, He is thus made of less value than an algebraic _x_. When it is affirmed that the infinite is unknowable, I again ask, what infinite? The infinite as an abstract idea has no real existence; but something that is infinite. The conception itself is an essentially quantitative conception, and is only strictly applicable to number and extension. When I speak therefore of an infinite number, what do I mean? The only answer possible is, “The greatest number I can conceive, _plus_ all possible number without limit.” Does my adding on the latter factor invalidate the reality of my conception of the former? Is that which is added on anything else than number? Surely here I have a valid conception. The same is true when we speak of the infinity of space. I mean by it the greatest space I can conceive, _plus_ space without limit. Is the idea of space rendered unthinkable, because I add the conception of space without limit? Does it cease to be space? But space is conceivable. It follows therefore that neither infinite number nor infinite extension is absolutely unthinkable. We speak of the infinite divisibility of matter. Does matter, because it goes on to be divided for ever, cease to be matter? In the same manner we speak of God, and call Him infinite. It would be far more correct to speak of Him as a Being who has infinite attributes. Here, however, if accuracy of thought is to be preserved, a distinction must be made. Some attributes of God may be viewed as quantitative; others cannot. It is to the former only that the term infinite properly applies. A moral attribute cannot have a quantitative measure applied to it. It is therefore not infinite, but perfect.