But these seemingly transcendental propositions are not left
without practical application. The intellectual love, being a .J

quality of the mind " inasmuch as it is regarded as an eternal
truth depending on the nature of God," is indestructible. And
the greater is the activity in a particular mind of the clear under-
standing described as the second and third kinds of knowledge,
the more does the man partake of eternity, the less is he exposed
to evil passions, and the less does he fear death (Pr. 38, 39). And
then there is a sudden return to the physical aspect of things, as if
to show that it has never been forgotten. " He that hath a body
of most various capacities hath also a mind whose greatest part is



284 SPINOZA : HIS LIFE AND PHILOSOPHY

eternal " (Prop. 39). For the " power of ordering and connecting
the affections of the body according to the intellectual order " is a
perfection of the body. Naturally the body includes the special
organs of thought and reflexion ; the outward and apparent
excellence of the human body is not asserted to be the necessary
index of contemplative power. At the same time Spinoza would
no doubt have said that, other things being equal, the commonly
recognized qualities of health, strength, comeliness, activity, and
the like, are all in themselves good and desirable ; and that what-
ever makes for the health of the body must in some degree make
for the health of the mind. In this place his meaning is defined
by himself in a SchoHum.
