XXIII. Swedenhorg. " It is at this day a pre-

vailing opinion that the omnipotence of God is like the absolute power of a king in the world, who can at his pleasure do what he wills," &c. [and this opinion Swe- denhorg very severely condemns.] T. G. B. page 48.
Spinoza. " The vulgar understand by the omnipo- tence of God, the free will of God, and his right or au- thority over all things which exist, and which are there- fore generally regarded as contingent. Moreover, they often compare the powerof God with the power of kings. But we have refuted this in Corollaries, 1st and 2d, prop. 32, part 1."
Here it will be seen that the same illustration is taken by each writer, and the popular opinion equally condemned.
XXIY. Swedenborg's doctrine of space and time is the same with that of Spinoza. Each author denies that these terms apply to God. " The sun itself," says Swe- denhorg, " would be near the eye unless intermediate objects discovered that it is so distant ; " and Spinoza,
Ch. xil] a hermetic philosopher. 299
in the schol. to prop. 35, part 2, had already taken the same example, the sun, to illustrate the same princi- ple.
XXY. Swedenhorg. " * * * They acknowl- edged that there is a God, and that nature was created to be subservient to the Life which was from God ; and that nature in itself was dead, and that thus, it does nothing from itself, but is actuated by Life," [i. e. by God.] True G. R. page 65.
Spinoza. " A thing which has been determined (mo- ved) to act has necessarily been so determined by God, and what is not determined to act by God cannot deter- mine itself." Ethics, prop. 26, part 1.
Spinoza makes a distinction between nature active and nature passive. The first is nature re- garded as absolute^ and is always active ; the second regards nature as relative, in which sense one thing is acted upon by another. Every sin- gle tiling partakes of each ; it has a certain pow- er of action, but from the active power of other things it may be acted upon. But God is regard- ed as the really acting cause in both cases, or as the only activity.