[We must not, I say, make any such allegations because]
although it is not necessary that I should at any time
entertain the notion of God, nevertheless whenever it happens
that I think of a first and a sovereign Being, and, so to
speak, derive the idea of Him from the storehouse of my mind,
it is necessary that I should attribute to Him every sort of
perfection, although I do not get so far as to enumerate them
all, or to apply my mind to each one in particular. And this
necessity suffices to make me conclude (after having
recognised that existence is a perfection) that this first and
sovereign Being really exists; just as though it is not
necessary for me ever to imagine any triangle, yet, whenever I
wish to consider a rectilinear figure composed only of three
angles, it is absolutely essential that I should attribute to
it all those properties which serve to bring about the
conclusion that its three angles are not greater than two
right angles, even although I may not then be considering this
point in particular. But when I consider which figures are
capable of being inscribed in the circle, it is in no wise
necessary that I should think that all quadrilateral figures
are of this number; on the contrary, I cannot even pretend
that this is the case, so long as I do not desire to accept
anything which I cannot conceive clearly and distinctly.
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