I now pass on to explaining the results, which must
necessarily follow from the essence of God, or of the eternal and
infinite being ; not, indeed, all of them (for we proved in Part
i., Prop. xvi., that an infinite number must follow in an
infinite number of ways), but only those which are able to lead
us, as it were by the hand, to the knowledge of the human mind
and its highest blessedness.


DEFINITIONS

DEFINITION I. By body I mean a mode which expresses in a certain
determinate manner the essence of God, in so far as he is
considered as an extended thing. (See Pt. i., Prop. xxv.,
Coroll.)

DEFINITION II. I consider as belonging to the essence of a thing
that, which being given, the thing is necessarily given also,
and, which being removed, the thing is necessarily removed also ;
in other words, that without which the thing, and which itself
without the thing, can neither be nor be conceived.

DEFINITION III. By idea, I mean the mental conception which is
formed by the mind as a thinking thing.
Explanation.-I say conception rather than perception, because
the word perception seems to imply that the mind is passive in
respect to the object ; whereas conception seems to express an
activity of the mind.

DEFINITION IV. By an adequate idea, I mean an idea which, in so