I have often noted before, That that very Thing which is _evidenc’d_ by _Reason_, as also whatever else is perceived by any other Means, is Called by Me an _Idea_. And I have sufficiently explain’d How _Reality_ may be _Encreas’d_ or _Diminish’d_, in the same manner (to wit) as _Substance_ is _More_ a _Thing_, then A _Mode_; and if there be any such things as _Real Qualities_, or _Incomplete Substances_, these are _More Things_ then _Modes_, and _Less Things_ then _Complete Substances_: and Lastly if there be an _Infinite Independent Substance_ this is _More_ a _Thing_, then a _Finite, Dependent Substance_. And all this is self-evident. OBJECT. X. * _Wherefore There only Remains the Idea of God; Wherein I must consider whether there be not something Included, which cannot Possibly have its Original from me. By the Word, God, I mean a certain Infinite Substance, Independent, Omniscient, Almighty, by whom both I my self and every thing Else That Is (if any thing do actually exist) was Created; All which attributes are of such an High Nature That the more attentively I consider them, the Less I Conceive my self alone possible to be the Author of these notions; from what therefore has been said I must Conclude there is a God._ Considering the _Attributes_ of _God_, that from thence we may gather an _Idea_ of _God_, and that we may enquire whether there be not something in that _Idea_ which cannot Possibly Proceed from our selves, I discover (if I am not Deceived) that what we think off at the _Venerable name_ of _God_ proceeds neither from our selves, neither is it Necessary that they should have any other _Original_ then from _Outward Objects_. For by the Name of _God_ I understand a ~Substance~, that is, I understand that _God_ Exists (not by an _Idea_, but by Reasoning) ~Infinite~ (that is, I cannot conceive or Imagine Terms or Parts in him so Extream, but I can Imagine others Farther) from whence it follows, that not an _Idea_ of _Gods Infinity_ but of my Own bounds and Limits presents it self at the Word _Infinite_. ~Independent~, That is, I do not conceive any _Cause_ from which _God_ may proceed; from whence ’tis evident that I have no other _Idea_ at the word _Independent_, but the memory of my own _Ideas_ which at Different Times have _Different Beginnings_, and Consequently they must be _Dependent_. Wherefore, to say that God is _Independent_, is only to say That _God_ is in the Number of those things, the _Original_ whereof I do not Imagine: and so to say that _God_ is _Infinite_, is the same as if we say That He is in the Number of Those Things whose _Bounds_ we do not Conceive: And thus any _Idea_ of _God_ is Exploded, for What _Idea_ can we have without _Beginning_ or _Ending_?