Morality and
Government, then the more logical the process by which they have been
deduced, the more certain will it be that there is some fundamental flaw
in the basis on which the whole superstructure is reared. In other
cases, it might be doubtful how far the consequences that may seem to be
deducible from a theory could be legitimately urged in argument,
especially when these consequences are disavowed by the author of it;
but, in the present case, the consequences are explicitly declared, not
less than the principles,--they are even exhibited as corollaries
rigorously deduced from them; and thus the very comprehensiveness of the
system, which gives it so much of the aspect of completeness, and which
has fascinated the minds of speculative men, always fond of bold and
sweeping generalizations, may be found to afford the most conclusive
proof of its inherent weakness, and to show that it comes into fatal
collision, at all points, not only with the doctrines of Natural and
Revealed Religion, but also with the practical duties and political
rights of mankind.

We may present, in brief compass, a comprehensive summary of the
doctrine of Spinoza. The fundamental principle of his whole theory is
contained in the assumption with which he sets out,--that the entire
system of Being consists only of _three_ elements, "Substance,
Attributes, and Modes," and in the _definitions_ which are given of
these terms respectively. With him, Substance is Being; not this or that
particular being, nor even being in general, considered in the abstract,
but absolute Being,--Being in its plentitude, which comprehends all
existences that can be conceived without requiring the concept of any
other thing, and without which no other thing can either exist or be
conceived.[121] By an "Attribute" he means, not substance, but a
manifestation of substance, yet such a manifestation as belongs to its
very essence; and, by a "Mode," he means an affection of substance, or
that which exists in another thing, and is conceived by means of that
thing. These are the three fundamental ideas of his system.[122]

The "Substance" of which he speaks is God, the infinite, self-existent,
eternal Being, whose essential nature is defined in terms which might
seem to be expressive of a great truth, for he says: "I understand by
God an absolutely infinite Being, that is to say, a Substance
constituted by an infinity of Attributes, each of which expresses an
eternal