as
being a much misused, misrepresented, and entirely useless word, yet we
must be very careful, when we find another man using the word, to get
his precise definition, and not to use any-other ourselves while in his
company.

Spinoza, when asked "What name do you attach to infinite substance?"
says, "God."--If he had said any other word we could not have quarrelled
with him so long as he defined the word, and adhered strictly to the
terms of his definition, although we might regret that he had not either
coined a word for himself, or used one less maltreated by the mass.
Spinoza said, "I can only take cognizance of one substance (of which
I am part) having infinite attributes of extension and thought. I
take cognizance of substance by its modes, and in my consciousness of
existence. Every thing is a mode of the attribute of extension, every
thought, wish, or feeling, a mode of the attribute of thought. I call
this, substance, with infinite attributes, God." Spinoza, like all other
thinkers, found himself overpowered by the illimitable vastness of the
infinite when attempting to grasp it by his mental powers, but unlike
other men he did not endeavor to relieve himself by separating himself
from that infinite; but, knowing he was a part of the whole, not
divisible from the remainder, he was content to aim at perfecting his
knowledge of existence rather than at dogmatising upon an indefinable
word, which, if it represented anything, professed to represent an
incomprehensible existence far beyond his reach.

We ought not to wonder that in many parts of Spinoza's writings we find
the word "God" treated in a less coherent manner than would be
possible under the definition given in his "Ethics," and for these
reasons:--Spinoza, from his cradle upwards, had been surrounded with
books and traditions sanctified by the past, and impressed on his
willing mind by his family, his tutors, and the heads of his church; a
mind like his gathered all that was given, even more quickly than it was
offered, still craving for more--"more light"--"more light"--and at last
light came bursting on the young thinker like a lightning flash at dark
midnight, revealing his mind in chains, which had been cast round him in
his nursery, his school, his college, his synagogue. By a mighty
effort he burst these chains, and walked forth a free man, despite the
entreaties of his family, the reasonings of the rabbis, the knife of the
fanatic, the curse of