Sir William Hamilton's Philosophy of the Conditioned [pp. 472-510]

Sir William Hamilton's
which has been decided, after a full and careful examination,
by our whole church, and by such large majorities, may be
considered as settled, and that it will not be made a subject of
further agitation."
The question, therefore, which theory of the eldership is the
Presbyterian system, according to the deliberate and almost
unanimous judgment of our church, against the ablest opposition, and during three successive years of agitation, is no
longer an open question, nor one of doubtful disputation.
The positions here affirmed have to this day never been
assailed. If the new theory of the protestors is the Presby-
terian system, let the proof be given.
In another and closing article we will examine the grounds
assumed as the basis of the new theory, and after proving that
it has no foundation in Scripture, exhibit its tendency to destroy Presbyterianism, the ministry, the eldership, and the
deaconship.
ART. IV.-Beid's Collected Writings. Preface, Notes, and
Supplementary Dissertations by SIR WILLIAM HAMILTON,
Bart., Professor of Logic and Metaphysics in the University
of Edinburgh, &c. &c. Third edition. Edinburgh, 1852.
(Referred to in the following article by R. and the page.)
)Discussions on Philosophy, ~c. By SIR WILLIAM HAMILTON,
Bart., &c. &c. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1853. (Re ferred to by Dis. and the page.)
Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic. By SIR WILLIAM HAMIL TON, Bart., &c. &c. Vol. I., Metaphysics. Boston: Gould
& Lincoln, 1859. (Referred to by Lect. and the page.)
HAMILTON'S doctrine of the Conditioned is a modification of
Kant's Critique of the Reason. Kant's Critique is a development of the doctrine of Hume. To explain Hume, we wish to
say a few words of Locke.
In the epistle to the reader which Locke prefixed to his
Essay on the Understanding, he says, "five or six friends
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