200 CLARKE AND SPINOZA. [CHAP. XIII. 



Eliminating y and z, we have 



x = 0. 



Whence, There do not exist two necessary and independent beings. 



1 1 . To the premises upon which the two previous propositions 

 rest, it is well known that Bishop Butler, who at the time of the 

 publication of the " Demonstration," was a student in a non- 

 conformist academy, made objection in some celebrated letters, 

 which, together with Dr. Clarke's replies to them, are usually 

 appended to editions of the work. The real question at issue is 

 the validity of the principle, that " whatsoever is absolutely ne- 

 cessary at all is absolutely necessary in every part of space, and 

 in every point of duration," a principle assumed in Dr. Clarke's 

 reasoning, and explicitly stated in his reply to Butler's first let- 

 ter. In his second communication Butler says : " I do not con- 

 ceive that the idea of ubiquity is contained in the idea of self- 

 existence, or directly follows from it, any otherwise than as what- 

 ever exists must exist somewhere." That is to say, necessary 

 existence implies existence in some part of space, but not in 

 every part. It does not appear that Dr. Clarke was ever able to 

 dispose effectually of this objection. The whole of the corres- 

 pondence is extremely curious and interesting. The objections 

 of Butler are precisely those which would occur to an acute mind 

 impressed with the conviction, that upon the sifting of first prin- 

 ciples, rather than upon any mechanical dexterity of reasoning, 

 the successful investigation of truth mainly depends. And the 

 replies of Dr. Clarke, although they cannot be admitted as satis- 

 factory, evince, in a remarkable degree, that peculiar intellectual 

 power which is manifest in the work from which the discussion 

 arose. 



12. In Prop. vin. it is argued that the self-existent and ori- 

 ginal cause of all things must be an Intelligent Being. 



The main argument adduced in support of this proposition is, 

 that as the cause is more excellent than the effect, the self- 

 existent being, as the cause and original of all things, must con- 

 tain in itself the perfections of all things ; and that Intelligence 

 is one of the perfections manifested in a part of the creation. It 

 is further argued that this perfection is not a modification of 



