receive its modifications. All things, I repeat, are in God, and
all things which come to pass, come to pass solely through the
laws of the infinite nature of God, and follow (as I will shortly
show) from the necessity of his essence. Wherefore it can in
nowise be said, that God is passive in respect to anything other
than himself, or that extended substance is unworthy of the
Divine nature, even if it be supposed divisible, so long as it is
granted to be infinite and eternal. But enough of this for the
present.

PROP. XVI. From the necessity of the divine nature must follow
an infinite number of things in infinite ways-that is, all things
which can fall within the sphere of infinite intellect.
Proof.-This proposition will be clear to everyone, who
remembers that from the given definition of any thing the
intellect infers several properties, which really necessarily
follow therefrom (that is, from the actual essence of the thing
defined) ; and it infers more properties in proportion as the
definition of the thing expresses more reality, that is, in
proportion as the essence of the thing defined involves more
reality. Now, as the divine nature has absolutely infinite
attributes (by Def. vi.), of which each expresses infinite
essence after its kind, it follows that from the necessity of its
nature an infinite number of things (that is, everything which
can fall within the sphere of an infinite intellect) must
necessarily follow. Q.E.D.
Corollary I.-Hence it follows, that God is the efficient
cause of all that can fall within the sphere of an infinite
intellect.
Corollary II.-It also follows that God is a cause in himself,