________________
Clearing up the difficulties.
another and as an infinite regress of of finite beings related as cause and effect is unthinkable, mind is compelled to stop short and place at the head of the series-a First Cause, a Being which is Its own cause or which exists in and by Itself unconditionally or necessarily.
This is in short the argument often forwarded to prove that the world was created at a certain point of time. But when we attempt to translate this experience into the language of formal reasoning or if we take it to be a syllogism proving the existence of God as the First Creator, our argument becomes open to serious objections. In short, we will find that this sort of argument is not at all tenable. The first objection which may be urged is that the result it gives is purely negative. You cannot in a syllogistic demonstration put more into the conclusion than what the premises contain. Beginning or assuming an Absolute or Infinite Cause you might conclude to finite effects; but you cannot revert the processes. All that from a finite or contingent effect, you can infer is a finite or contingent
180
