And, indeed, with regard to these common notions, it is not to be
doubted that they can be clearly and distinctly known, for otherwise
they would not merit this appellation: as, in truth, some of them
are not, with respect to all men, equally deserving of the name,
because they are not equally admitted by all: not, however, from
this reason, as I think, that the faculty of knowledge of one man
extends farther than that of another, but rather because these
common notions are opposed to the prejudices of some, who, on this
account, are not able readily to embrace them, even although others,
who are free from those prejudices, apprehend them with the greatest
clearness.
LI. What substance is, and that the term is not applicable to God
and the creatures in the same sense.
But with regard to what we consider as things or the modes of
things, it is worth while to examine each of them by itself. By
substance we can conceive nothing else than a thing which exists in
such a way as to stand in need of nothing beyond itself in order to
its existence. And, in truth, there can be conceived but one
substance which is absolutely independent, and that is God.
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