,,pantheism ,by ,j4 ,,allanson ,,picton ,,religions ,,ancient ,,and ,,modern ,,pantheism ,its ,story and ,significance ,,religions3 ,,ancient ,,and ,,modern4 ,foolscap #hvo4 #as4 net per volume4 ,it is intended in this series to present to a large public the ,,salient ,,features1 first of the ,,great ,,religions1 secondly of the ,,great ,,philosophies1 and thirdly of the ,,great ,,literary and ,,artistic ,,reputations of the ,human ,race4 ,,pantheism3 ,,its ,,story ,,and ,,significance4 ,by ,j4 ,,allanson ,,picton1 ,m4,a4 ,author of ,the ,religion of the ,universe1 etc4 ,,religion ,,of ,,ancient ,,greece4 ,by ,miss ,,jane ,,harrison1 ,fellow of ,newnham ,college1 ,author of ,prolegomena to the ,study of ,greek ,religion1 etc4 ,,animism4 ,by ,,edward ,,clodd1 ,author of ,pioneers of ,evolution4 ,,religions ,,of ,,ancient ,,china4 ,by ,h4,a4 ,,giles1 ,m4,a41 ,,ll4,d4 7,aberd471 ,professor of ,chinese at ,cambridge ,university4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the following ,volumes are in preparation3 ,,islam4 ,mr4 ,t4,w4 ,,arnold1 ,assistant ,librarian1 ,india ,office4 ,,buddhism4 #b vols4 ,prof4 ,,rhys ,,davids1 ,,ll4,d4 ,,hinduism4 ,mr4 ,t4,w4 ,,arnold4 ,,fetishism ,,and ,,magic4 ,prof4 ,,alfred ,c4 ,,haddon1 ,f4,r4,s4 ,,the ,,mythology ,,of ,,ancient ,,britain4 ,mr4 ,,charles ,,squire4 ,,celtic ,,religion4 ,prof4 ,,anwyl4 ,,scandinavian ,,religion4 ,mr4 ,w4,a4 ,,craigie4 ,,the ,,religion ,,of ,,ancient ,,egypt4 ,prof4 ,,flinders ,,petrie4 ,f4,r4,s4 ,,the ,,religion ,,of ,,babylonia ,,and ,,assyria1 ,dr4 ,,theophilus ,g4 ,,pinches4 ,,pantheism ,its ,story and ,significance ,,by ,j4 ,,allanson ,,picton ,,london #aije ,,contents ,,chap4 ,,foreword ,i4 ,,pre-,,christian ,,pantheism ,,ii4 ,,post-,,christian ,,pantheism ,,iii4 ,,modern ,,pantheism ,,afterword ,,pantheism ,,foreword4 ,sidenote3 ,pantheism not ,sectarian or even ,racial4 ,pantheism differs from the systems of belief constituting the main religions of the world in being comparatively free from any limits of period1 climate1 or race4 ,for while what we roughly call the ,egyptian ,religion1 the ,vedic ,religion1 the ,greek ,religion1 ,buddhism1 and others of similar fame have been necessarily local and temporary1 ,pantheism has been1 for the most part1 a dimly discerned background1 an esoteric significance of many or all religions1 rather than a denomination by itself4 ,the best illustration of this characteristic of ,pantheism is the catholicity of its great prophet ,spinoza4 ,for he felt so little antagonism to any ,christian sect1 that he never urged any member of a church to leave it1 but rather encouraged his humbler friends1 who sought his advice1 to make full use of such spiritual privileges as they appreciated most4 ,he could not1 indeed1 content himself with the fragmentary forms of any sectarian creed4 ,but in the few writings which he made some effort to adapt to the popular understanding1 he seems to think it possible that the faith of ,pantheism might some day leaven all religions alike4 ,i shall endeavour briefly to sketch the story of that faith1 and to suggest its significance for the future4 ,but first we must know what it means4 ,sidenote3 ,meaning of ,pantheism4 ,sidenote3 ,god is ,all4 ,sidenote3 ,but not ,everything ,is ,god4 ,sidenote3 ,analogy of the ,human ,organism4 ,pantheism1 then1 being a term derived from two ,greek words signifying all and ,god1 suggests to a certain extent its own meaning4 ,thus1 if ,atheism be taken to mean a denial of the being of ,god1 ,pantheism is its extreme opposite2 because ,pantheism declares that there is nothing but ,god4 ,this1 however1 needs explanation4 ,for no ,pantheist has ever held that everything is ,god1 any more than a teacher of physiology1 in enforcing on his students the unity of the human organism1 would insist that every toe and finger is the man4 ,but such a teacher1 at least in these days1 would almost certainly warn his pupils against the notion that the man can be really divided into limbs1 or organs1 or faculties1 or even into soul and body4 ,indeed1 he might without affectation adopt the language of a much controverted creed1 so far as to pronounce that the reasonable soul and flesh is one man--one altogether4 ,in this view1 the man is the unity of all organs and faculties4 ,but it does not in the least follow that any of these organs or faculties1 or even a selection of them1 is the man4 ,sidenote3 ,the ,analogy ,imperfect but ,useful4 ,if ,i apply this analogy to an explanation of the above definition of ,pantheism as the theory that there is nothing but ,god1 it must not be supposed that ,i regard the parallelism as perfect4 ,in fact1 one purpose of the following exposition will be to show why and where all such analogies fail4 ,for ,pantheism does not regard man1 or any organism1 as a true unity4 ,in the view of ,pantheism the only real unity is ,god4 ,but without any inconsistency ,i may avail myself of common impressions to correct a common mis-impression4 ,thus1 those who hold that the reasonable soul and flesh is one man--one altogether--but at the same time deny that the toe or the finger1 or the stomach or the heart1 is the man1 are bound in consistency to recognise that if ,pantheism affirms ,god to be ,all in ,all1 it does not follow that ,pantheism must hold a man1 or a tree1 or a tiger to be ,god4 ,sidenote3 ,farther ,definition4 ,excluding1 then1 such an apparently plausible1 but really fallacious inversion of the ,pantheistic view of the ,universe1 ,i repeat that the latter is the precise opposite of ,atheism4 ,so far from tolerating any doubt as to the being of ,god1 it denies that there is anything else4 ,for all objects of sense and thought1 including individual consciousness1 whether directly observed in ourselves1 or inferred as existing in others1 are1 according to ,pantheism1 only facets of an infinite ,unity1 which is altogether one in a sense inapplicable to anything else4 ,because that ,unity is not merely the aggregate of all the finite objects which we observe or infer1 but is a living whole1 expressing itself in infinite variety4 ,of that infinite variety our gleams of consciousness are infinitesimal parts1 but not parts in a sense involving any real division4 ,the questions raised by such a view of the ,universe1 many of them unanswerable--as is also the case with questions raised by every other view of the ,universe--will be considered further on4 ,all that ,i am trying to secure in these preliminary observations is a general idea of the ,pantheistic view of the ,universe as distinguished from that of ,polytheism1 ,monotheism1 or ,atheism4 ,sidenote3 ,various ,forms of ,pantheism4 ,sidenote3 ,spurious ,forms4 ,sidenote3 ,exclusion of ,creation4 ,sidenote3 ,evolution and ,decay applicable only to ,parts1 not to the ,whole4 ,of course1 there have been different forms of ,pantheism1 as there have been also various phases of ,monotheism2 and in the brief historical review which will follow this introductory explanation of the name1 ,i shall note at least the most important of those forms4 ,but any which fail to conform1 to the general definition here given1 will not be recognised as ,pantheism at all1 though they may be worth some attention as approximations thereto4 ,for any view of the ,universe1 allowing the existence of anything outside the divine ,unity1 denies that ,god is ,all in ,all1 and1 therefore1 is obviously not ,pantheism4 ,whether we should recognise as true ,pantheism any theory involving the evolution of a finite world or worlds out of the divine substance at some definite epoch or epochs1 may be a debatable question1 provided that the eternity and inviolability of the divine oneness is absolutely guarded in thought4 ,yet ,i will anticipate so far as to say that1 in my view1 the question must be negatived4 ,at any rate1 we must exclude all creeds which tolerate the idea of a creation in the popular sense of the word1 or of a final catastrophe4 ,true1 the individual objects1 great or small1 from a galaxy to a moth1 which have to us apparently a separate existence1 have all been evolved out of preceding modes of being1 by a process which seems to us to involve a beginning1 and to ensure an end4 ,but in the view of ,pantheism1 properly so-called1 the transference of such a process to the whole ,universe is the result of an illusion suggested by false analogy4 ,for the processes called evolution1 though everywhere operative1 affect1 each of them1 only parts of the infinite whole of things2 and experience cannot possibly afford any justification for supposing that they affect the ,universe itself4 ,thus1 the matter or energy of which we think we consist1 was in existence1 every atom of it1 and every element of force1 before we were born1 and will survive our apparent death4 ,and the same thing1 at least on the ,pantheistic view1 is true of every other mode of apparently separate or finite existence4 ,therefore no birth of a new nebula ever added a grain of matter or an impulse of new energy to the ,universe4 ,and the final decease of our solar system1 if such an event be in prospect1 cannot make any difference whatever to the infinite balance of forces1 of which1 speaking in anthropomorphic and inadequate language1 we suppose the ,eternal ,all to consist4 ,sidenote3 ,limitation of ,scope4 ,these observations are not intended to be controversial1 but only to make clear the general sense in which the term ,pantheism is here used4 ,not that it would be possible at the outset to indicate all that is implicit in the definition4 ,i only wish to premise plainly that ,i am not concerned with any view of the world such as implies or admits that1 whether by process of creation1 or emanation1 or self-division1 or evolution1 the oneness of the ,eternal has ever been marred1 or anything other than the being of ,god has been or can be produced4 ,sidenote3 ,pantheism either ,philosophical or ,religious or both4 ,sidenote3 ,pantheism as a ,religion almost ,entirely ,modern4 ,sidenote3 ,mystics not necessarily ,pantheist4 ,but before passing on to the promised historical review1 it is1 perhaps1 necessary to refer again to a remark previously made1 that ,pantheism may be considered either from the point of view of philosophy1 or from that of religion4 ,not that the two points of view are mutually exclusive4 ,but1 as a matter of fact1 ,pantheism as a religion is1 with certain exceptions among ,indian saints and later ,neoplatonists1 almost entirely a modern development1 of which ,spinoza was the first distinct and devout teacher4 ,for this statement justification will be given hereafter4 ,meantime1 to deprecate adverse prejudice1 ,i may suggest that a careful study of the most ancient forms of ,pantheism seems to show that they were purely philosophical2 an endeavour to reach in thought the ultimate reality which polytheism travestied1 and which the senses disguised4 ,but little or no attempt was made to substitute the contemplation of the ,eternal for the worship of mediator divinities4 ,thus1 in the same spirit in which ,socrates ordered the sacrifice of a cock to ,aesculapius for his recovery from the disease of mortal life1 philosophical ,pantheists1 whether ,egyptian or ,greek1 or even ,indian1#a satisfied their religious instincts by hearty communion with the popular worship of traditional gods4 ,or1 if it is thought that the mediaeval mystics were religious ,pantheists1 a closer examination of their devout utterances will show that1 though they approximated to ,pantheism1 and even used language such as1 if interpreted logically1 must have implied it1 yet they carefully reserved articles of the ecclesiastical creed1 entirely inconsistent with the fundamental position that there is nothing but ,god4 ,indeed1 their favourite comparison of creature life to the ray of a candle is not really a ,pantheistic conception2 because to the true ,pantheist the creature is not an emanation external to ,god1 but a finite mode of infinite ,being4 ,still the mystics did much to prepare the devout for an acceptance of ,spinoza's teaching4 ,and although so amazing a transfiguration of religion rather dazzled than convinced the world at first2 nay1 though it must be acknowledged that one1 and perhaps more of ,spinoza's fundamental conceptions have increasingly repelled rather than attracted religious people1 yet it can hardly be disputed that he gave an impulse to contemplative religion1 of which the effect is only now beginning to be fully realised4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote #a3 ,if ,buddha occurs to the reader1 it should be remembered that he was not a ,pantheist at all4 ,his ultimate aim was the dissolution of personality in the ,nothing4 ,but that is not ,pantheism4 ,,chapter ,i ,,pre-,,christian ,,pantheism ,sidenote3 ,its ,origins ,doubtful and ,unimportant4 ,sidenote3 ,the ,secret of ,pantheism is ,within us4 ,it has been the customary and perhaps inevitable method of writers on ,pantheism to trace its main idea back to the dreams of ,vedic poets1 the musings of ,egyptian priests1 and the speculations of the ,greeks4 ,but though it is undeniable that the divine unity of all ,being was an almost necessary issue of earliest human thought upon the many and the one1 yet the above method of treating ,pantheism is to some extent misleading2 and therefore caution is needed in using it4 ,for the revival of ,pantheism at the present day is much more a tangible resultant of action and reaction between ,science and ,religion than a ghost conjured up by speculation4 ,thus1 religious belief1 driven out from the darkness and the cloud of ,sinai1 takes refuge in the mystery of matter2 and if the glory passes from the ,mount of ,transfiguration1 it is because it expands to etherialise the whole world as the garment of ,god4 ,again1 the evanescence of the atom into galaxies of electrons destroys the only physical theory that ever threatened us with ,atheism2 and the infinitesimal electrons themselves open up an immeasurable perspective into the abyss of an ,unknowable in which all things live and move and have their being4 ,therefore it matters little to us1 except as a matter of antiquarian interest1 to know what the ,vedic singers may have dreamed2 or what ,thales or ,xenophanes or ,parmenides may have thought about the first principle of things1 or about the many and the one4 ,for our spiritual genealogy is not from them1 but from a nearer and double line of begetters1 including seers--in the true sense of the word--and saints1 for both are represented by ,kepler and ,hooker1 ,newton and ,jeremy ,taylor1 ,descartes and ,spinoza1 ,leibnitz and ,wesley1 ,spencer and ,newman4 ,and even these have authority not through any divine right of genius or acquired claim of learning1 but because they illumine and interpret obscure suggestions of our own thoughts4 ,indeed1 to the sacrament of historic communion with the past1 as well as to the chief rite of the ,church1 the apostolic injunction is applicable3 ,let a man examine himself2 and so let him eat of that bread4 ,sidenote3 ,suggestions of ,nature4 ,obeying that injunction1 any man possessing ordinary powers of observation and reflection may1 in the course of a summer day's walk1 find abundant reason for interest in the speculations of historic ,pantheism4 ,for the aspect of nature then presented to him is one both of movement and repose1 of variety and harmony1 of multiplicity and unity4 ,thus the slight breeze1 scarcely stirring the drowsy flowery the monotonous cadences of the stony brook1 and the gliding of feathery flecks of cloud across the blue1 create a peace far deeper than absolute stillness1 and suggest an infinite life in which activity and repose are one4 ,besides1 there is evident everywhere an interplay of forces acting and reacting so as mutually to help and fulfil one another4 ,for instance1 the falling leaves give back the carbon they gathered from the air1 and so repay the soil with interest for the subtler essences derived therefrom and dissolved in the sap4 ,the bees1 again1 humming among the flowers1 while actuated only by instincts of appetite and thrift1 fructify the blooms1 and become a connecting link between one vegetable generation and another4 ,the heat of the sun draws up water from ocean and river and lake1 while chilly currents of higher air return it here and there in rain4 ,so earth1 sea1 and air are for ever trafficking together2 and their interchange of riches and force is complicated ten thousandfold by the activities of innumerable living things1 all adapting themselves by some internal energy to the ever varying balance of heat and cold1 moisture and drought1 light and darkness1 chemical action and reaction4 ,and all this has been going on for untold millions of years2 nor is there any sign of weariness now4 ,sidenote3 ,sympathy thus awakened with the old ,pantheistic ,aspiration to find the ,one in the ,many4 ,in the mood engendered by such familiar experiences of a holiday saunter1 it may well occur to anyone to think with interest and sympathy of the poets and seers who1 thousands of years ago1 first dared to discern in this maze of existence the varied expression of one all-embracing and eternal ,life1 or ,power4 ,such contemplations and speculations were entirely uninfluenced by anything which the ,christian ,church1 recognises as revelation4#b ,yet we must not on that account suppose that they were without religion1 or pretended to explain anything without reference to superhuman beings called gods and demons4 ,on the contrary1 they1 for the most part1 shared1 subject to such modifications as were imperatively required by cultivated common sense1 the beliefs of their native land4 ,but the difference between these men and their unthinking contemporaries lay in this2 that the former conceived of one supreme and comprehensive divinity beyond the reach of common thought1 an ultimate and eternal ,being which included gods as well as nature within its unity4 ,so1 for them1 ,indra1 ,zeus1 or ,jove were mere modes of the one ,being also manifest in man and bird and tree4 ,sidenote3 ,the ,vedas and ,related ,literature4 ,every race possessing even the rudiments of culture has been impelled by a happy instinct1 which1 if we like1 we may call inspiration1 to record in more or less permanent form its experience of nature1 of life1 and of what seemed the mysteries of both4 ,to this inspiration we owe the sacred books of the ,jews4 ,but it is now generally recognised that an impulse not wholly dissimilar also moved prophetic or poetic minds among other races1 such1 for instance1 as the ,egyptians1 the ,chaldaeans1 and the ,aryan conquerors of ,india1 to inscribe on papyrus or stone1 or brick or palm-leaf1 the results of experience as interpreted by free imagination1 traditional habits of thought1 and limited knowledge4 ,of this ancient literature a considerable part is taken up by the mysteries apparently involved in life1 conduct1 and death4 ,most notably is this the case with the ancient ,indian literature called the ,vedas1 and such sequels as the ,upanishads1 ,sutras1 and--much later--the ,bhagavad ,gt4 ,this collection1 like our ,bible1 forms a library of writings issued at various dates extending over much more than a thousand years4 ,sidenote3 ,indian ,pantheism4 ,the forgotten singers and preachers of this prehistoric wisdom were as much haunted as we ourselves are with the harassing questions suggested by sin and sorrow1 by life and death1 and by aspirations after a higher state4 ,and many1 perhaps we may say most of them1 found comfort in the thought that essentially they belonged to an all comprehensive and infinite ,life1 in which1 if they acted purely and nobly1 their seeming personality might be merged and find peace4 ,their frame of mind was religious rather than philosophical4 ,but their philosophy was naturally conformed to it2 and in their contrast of the bewildering variety of finite visible things with the unity of the ,eternal ,being of which all are phases1 those ancients were in close sympathy with the thoughts of the modern meditative saunterer by field and river and wood4 ,sidenote3 ,differences between ,ancient and ,modern ,conditions of ,thought4 ,but the enormous interval of time separating us from those early ,indian thinkers necessarily involves very great differences in conditions of thought4 ,and we should not be surprised if amidst much in their writings that stirs our sympathy1 there is also a great deal which is to us incongruous and absurd4 ,therefore1 it may be well before quoting these writings to note one or two points marking an almost incommensurable difference between their mode and ours of regarding the world4 ,sidenote3 #a4 ,survival ,in their day of ,fetishistic and ,animistic ,ideas4 #a4 ,first1 they were much less removed than we are from the influence of fetishistic and animistic traditions4 ,even in the ,greek and ,roman classics the casual reader is often revolted by the grossly absurd stories told of gods and heroes4 ,and1 indeed1 it is impossible to conceive of the amours of ,zeus 7or ,jove71 for instance1 with ,leda1 ,europa or ,dana as having been first conceived during an age marked by the poetic genius and comparative culture evinced in the most ancient epics4 ,but the most probable solution of the puzzle is that the earliest civilization inherited a number of animal stories1 such as are characteristic of savagery in all parts of the world1 and that the first literary generations into whose poetic myths those stories were transferred1 being as much accustomed to them as to other surroundings of their childhood1 such as bloody sacrifices1 mystic expiations1 and fantastic initiations1 saw no incongruity in anything told them of the gods4 ,besides1 as those wild myths were associated with sacred rites1 the inveterate conservatism of religion1 which insisted on stone knives in sacrifices long after bronze and iron came in1 was likely enough to maintain the divine importance of those fables1 just as the historicity of ,balaam's ass and ,jonah's whale is in some churches piously upheld still4 ,sidenote3 #b4 ,ancient ,ignorance of ,natural ,order4 #b4 ,in the times from which the first known ,pantheistic teaching dates1 ideas of nature's order were incongruous and indeed incommensurable with ours4 ,not that the world was then regarded as a chaos4 ,but such order as existed was considered to be a kind of balance of power between various unseen beings1 some good1 some evil1 some indifferent4 ,true1 some ,indian prophets projected an idea of ,one ,eternal ,being including all such veiled ,principalities and ,powers4 ,but their ,pantheism was necessarily conditioned by their ignorance of natural phenomena4 ,in fact1 an irreducible inconsistency marred their view of the world4 ,for while their ,pantheism should have taught them to think of a universal life or energy as working within all things1 their theological habit of mind bound them to the incongruous notion of devils or deities moulding1 or at least ruling1 matter from without4 ,and1 indeed1 the nearest approach they made to the more genuine ,pantheism of modern times was the conception of a world emanating from and projected outside ,brahma1 to be re-merged in him after the lapse of ages4 ,now1 if ,i am right in my definition of ,pantheism as absolutely identifying ,god with the ,universe1#c so that1 in fact1 there cannot be anything but ,god1 the inconsistency here noted must be regarded as fatal to the genuineness of the ,indian or indeed of any other ancient ,pantheism4 ,for the defect proved during many centuries to be incurable1 and was not indeed fully removed until ,spinoza's time4 ,sidenote3 #c4 ,absence of ,definite ,creeds4 #c4 ,another difference between ancient ,pantheists and ourselves was the absence in their case of any religious creed1 sanctioned by supernatural authority and embodied in a definite form1 like that of the three ,anglican creeds1 or the ,westminster ,confession of ,faith4 ,not that those ancients supposed themselves to be without a revelation4 ,for the ,vedas1 at least1 were considered to be of divine authority1 and their words1 metres1 and grammar were regarded with a superstitious awe1 such as reminds us of what has been called the bibliolatry of the ,jewish ,rabbis4 ,but subject to this verbal veneration1 the ,rishis1 or learned divines1 used the utmost freedom in regard to the forced and fanciful interpretations extorted from the sacred text1 a freedom which again reminds us of the paradoxical caprice shown by some schools of ,jewish ,rabbis in their treatment of the volume they professed to regard with awe4 ,the various finite gods1 such as ,vishnu1 ,indra1 ,krishna1 ,marut1 or ,varuna1 were not the subjects of any church creed chanted every day1 and carefully stereotyped in the tender minds of children4 ,on the contrary1 various rles were assigned by successive generations to these divinities4 ,so that1 for instance1 ,varuna was at one time the god of the ocean1 and at another of the sky4 ,but the uniform tendency of all poets and ,rishis alike was to seek1 beyond all these gods1 one unbeginning1 unending1 and all comprehensive ,being1 from whom these devas emerged1 and into whom they must return4 ,not only so1 but it is clearly suggested in many passages1 of which an instance will presently be quoted1 that the ,eternal1 called ,brahma who was the true ,self of all gods1 was also the true ,self of man and bird and beast4 ,so that1 in fact1 notwithstanding the illogical emanation theory1 ,he was the only real ,being1 the ,all in ,all4 ,sidenote3 ,illustration from the ,upanishads4 ,sidenote3 ,monism4 ,thus1 one section of the ,khandogya ,upanishad#d consists entirely of instructions given by a father1 ,uddlaka1 to his son1 ,svetaketu1 who had gone through the ordinary courses of study in the ,vedas1 but who1 in the father's view1 had failed to reach the true significance of life4 ,accordingly1 ,uddlaka inquires3 ,have you ever asked for that instruction by which we hear what cannot be heard1 by which we perceive what cannot be perceived1 by which we know what cannot be known8#e ,the youth1 more accustomed than we are to teaching by paradox1 expresses no surprise at this mode of putting things1 but simply asks3 ,what is that instruction1 sir8 ,the father then proceeds to give an explanation of what in these days is called ,monism1 that is1 the absolute singleness of ultimate ,being1 and traces all that is1 or seems to be1 up to one ultimate ,essence4 ,now1 whether in the form given by ,uddlaka to his exposition1 his theory can properly be called ,pantheism1 according to the definition of it assumed above1 is perhaps questionable4 ,but that it was intended to be ,pantheism there can be no doubt4 ,in the beginning1 says ,uddlaka1 there was that only which is 7,greek3 to hon72 one only1 without a second4 ,others say1 in the beginning there was that only which is not 7,greek3 to mae hon72 one only1 without a second2 and from that which is not1 that which is was born4 ,but ,uddlaka rejects this latter doctrine as unthinkable--which1 indeed1 many explorers of ,hegel have found with pain and anguish of mind4 ,and then the father traces all the multiformity of the ,universe to the desire or will of the original ,one1 that which is4 ,sidenote3 ,evolution from the ,one through ,desire4 ,it thought1 'may ,i be many2 may ,i grow forth4' ,it sent forth fire4 ,my limits do not allow me to quote further the fantastic account given of the farther process by which water and earth1 plants1 animals1 and men sprang out of that desire of the ,one3 ,may ,i become many2 may ,i grow forth4 ,for our purpose it is more important to show that in the view of ,uddlaka--however inconsistently he may express himself--the original ,one was never really divided1 but remains the true ,self of every finite being1 however apparently separate4 ,thus1 consider the following dialogue1 the first words being a direction of the father1 ,uddlaka3-- ,fetch me from thence a fruit of the ,nyagrodha tree4 ,here is one1 sir4 ,break it4 ,it is broken1 sir4 ,what do you see there8 ,these seeds1 almost infinitesimal4 ,break one of them4 ,it is broken1 sir4 ,what do you see there8 ,not anything1 sir4 ,the father said3 ,my son1 that subtile essence which you do not perceive there1 of that very essence this great ,nyagrodha tree exists4 ,believe it1 my son4 ,that which is the subtile essence1 in it all that exists has itself4 ,it is the ,true4 ,it is the ,self2 and thou1 ,o ,svetaketu1 art it4 ,here we are clearly taught that the self1 or inmost reality of every person and thing is the ,eternal ,one1 or ,brahma1 or ,god4 ,sidenote3 ,illustration from the ,bhagavad ,gt4 ,the same doctrine is taught in a more advanced form by the poem called the ,bhagavad ,gt1 the date of which is probably more than a thousand years later than that of the ,upanishad just quoted4 ,in this poem1 ,krishna1 incarnate for the nonce as ,arjuna's charioteer1 reveals for a special purpose his identity with ,brahma1 the ,eternal ,all2 and ,arjuna1 when sufficiently instructed adores him thus3-- ,o infinite ,lord of ,gods6 the world's abode1 ,thou undivided art1 o'er all supreme4 ,thou art the first of ,gods1 the ancient ,sire1 ,the treasure-house supreme of all the worlds4 ,the ,knowing and the ,known1 the highest seat4 ,from ,thee the ,all has sprung1 ,o boundless ,form6 ,varuna1 ,vayu1 ,agni1 ,yama thou1#f ,the ,moon2 the ,sire and ,grandsire too of men4 ,the ,infinite in power1 of boundless force1 ,the ,all thou dost embrace2 the ,thou art ,all4#g ,sidenote3 ,omission of ,buddhism4 ,these illustrations must suffice for ,indian ,pantheism4 ,because1 with ,buddhism we have nothing to do4 ,for1 according to its ablest ,european exponent 7,professor ,t4,w4 ,rhys ,davids71 that system of religion simply ignored the conception of an ,all in ,all4 ,and this not at all on philosophical grounds1 but because its aims were entirely practical4 ,for the aim of its founder was to show men how by a virtuous life1 or lives1 they might at last attain annihilation--or1 at any rate1 the extinction of the individual self1 the apparent separateness of which was1 in his view1 the source of all misery4 ,and if he could teach his followers to attain that salvation1 he was entirely indifferent as to the opinions they might hold about the ultimate nature of the world1 provided only that they did not fall into any heresy which proclaimed an immortal soul4#h ,sidenote3 ,persian ,religions1 not strictly ,pantheistic4 ,sidenote3 ,a ,world ,drama or ,process is a ,human1 not a ,divine ,aspect of ,things4 ,the accounts given to us by the best authorities on ,zoroaster and ,parseeism scarcely justify us in thinking the religion of the ,zendavesta to be ,pantheistic in our sense of the term4 ,for though it would appear that ,ormuzd 7or ,ahuramazda71 the ,god of light and goodness1 originated in1 or was born from and one with a nameless impersonal ,unity1 such as may answer to ,herbert ,spencer's ,unknowable1 it cannot be accurately said that1 according to the ,persian view of the world1 there is nothing but ,god4 ,for1 to say nothing of the apparently independent existence of the principle of darkness and evil called ,ahriman1 the relation of the ,amshaspands1 or supreme spirits1 and of the ,izeds1 or secondary spirits1 as well as of the ,fereurs1 or divine ideas to the impersonal ,unity1 seems to be rather that of emanations1 than parts of a ,whole4 ,again1 if it be true that1 according to the ,zend ,avesta1 the conflict of light and darkness will ultimately cease1 and ,ahriman with his demons be annihilated1 it is obvious that this implies a beginning and an end1 with a process originating in the one1 and consummated in the other4 ,but such a process1 though most actual on the finite scale1 and joyfully or painfully real to us1 contemplating1 as we do only infinitesimal parts of the ,universe1 and always under the forms of time and space1 is yet incongruous and incommensurate with the thought of one ,all in ,all1 unlimited by time or space1 and whose lifetime is an ,eternal ,now4 ,thus true ,pantheism takes the ,universe1 as it is1 in its infinity2 regards it as without beginning or end2 and worships it4 ,not that ,pantheism denies the existence of evil or is unmoved by the struggle between evil and good1 or is uninspired by faith in the reiterated triumph of good wherever the local conflict arises4 ,but it insists that evil is relative to the finite parts of the ,universe in their supposed isolation1 and cannot possibly affect the ,eternal ,all4 ,it allows of no creation or emanation which would put any part of the wondrous ,whole in opposition to1 or separation from1 the ,eternal4 ,but from its point of view all change1 evolution1 progress retrogression1 sin1 pain1 or any other good or evil is local1 finite1 partial2 while the infinite coordination of such infinitesimal movements make one eternal peace4 ,sidenote3 ,pantheism in ,ancient ,egypt ,sidenote3 ,permanent ,effects of ,prehistoric ,animism4 ,sidenote3 ,isis1 according to ,plutarch4 ,egyptian ,religion need not detain us4 ,for though1 there are clear traces of ,pantheistic speculation among the ,priests1 it can scarcely be contended that such speculations had the same influence on the cultured laity as the teaching of the ,rishis had in ancient ,india4 ,but the truth seems to be that the oldest popular theology of ,egypt was only a variety of ,negro animism and fetishism4#i ,yet these grovelling superstitions1 as is often the case1 evolved in unbroken continuity a higher faith4 ,for1 in the attempt made to adapt this savage cult to the religious needs of various districts1 all alike gradually advancing in culture1 the number and variety of divinities became so bewildering to the priests1 that the latter almost inevitably adopted the device of recognising in parochial gods only so many hints of one all-comprehensive divine energy4 ,not that they ever embraced monotheism--or the belief in one personal ,god distinct from the ,universe4 ,but if ,plutarch be accurate--as there seems no reason to doubt1 in his record of an inscription in a temple of ,isis--they1 or at least the most spiritual of them1 found refuge in ,pantheism4 ,for the transfigured and glorified goddess was not regarded as the maker of the ,universe1 but as identical with it1 and therefore unknowable1 ,i am all that hath been1 is1 or shall be2 and no mortal has lifted my veil4 ,the prevalence of such ,pantheism1 at least among the learned and spiritual of ancient ,egypt1 is1 to a considerable extent1 confirmed by other ,greek writers besides ,plutarch4 ,but the inscription noted by ,plutarch gives the sum and substance of what they tell us4 ,sidenote3 ,greek ,pantheism ,sidenote3 ,evolved from ,polytheism ,before considering the classical and ,neo-platonic ,greek speculations commonly regarded as ,pantheistic1 we may do well to recall to mind the immense difference between the established habit of theological thought in our day1 and the vague1 or at best1 poetically vivid ideas of the ancients4 ,for the long tradition of nearly two thousand years1 which has made monotheism to us almost as fixed an assumption as that of our own individuality1 was entirely wanting in this case4 ,not that the idea of one supreme ,god had never been suggested4 ,but it was not the ,hebrew or ,christian idea that was occasionally propounded2 for in the ethnic mind it was rarely1 if ever1 regarded as inconsistent with polytheism2 and consequently it verged on ,pantheism4 ,consequently1 ,i say1 because such monotheism as existed had necessarily to explain the innumerable minor deities as emanations from1 or manifestations of the supreme ,god4 ,and though such conscious attempts at reconciliation of beliefs in many gods and in one ,supreme were confined to a small minority of meditative priests and speculative philosophers1 yet really1 the combination was implicit in the sort of polytheistic religion which possessed the family affections and patriotic associations of the early ,greek world4 ,sidenote3 ,not the ,material ,figure but the ,divinity ,suggested was the ,object of ,worship4 ,for though we may find a difficulty in ridding ourselves of a prejudice wrought into the tissue of our early faith by the nursery lessons of childhood1 it was not the graven or molten image which was really worshipped by the devout1 but that form of superhuman power which1 by local accident1 had been identified with the idol4 ,if1 indeed1 we supposed every idolator to have received definite religious teaching1 analogous to that with which we ourselves were imbued in youth1 we might well find his attitude inconceivable4 ,but he had nothing of the kind4 ,he only knew that in war1 in hunting1 in fishing1 in farming1 he was confronted with powers which passed his comprehension2 and tradition permeated him with the expectation that such powers would be propitiated by his worship of the images set up in their names4 ,there was therefore no reasoned creed1 such as those of the ,catholic and ,reformed ,churches1 but only a vague sentiment brought to a focus by the associations of the shrine4 ,from such a view of polytheism it is easy to understand how most1 if not all1 of the old speculative philosophers could allow the existence of the traditional gods1 even while in reasoned contemplation they saw that all deities were subordinate to and merged in one universal ,god4 ,sidenote3 ,possible ,influence of ,oriental ,pantheism4 ,how far this unstable religious position was subject to the influence of the oriental mysticism at which we have glanced already1 is1 at any rate1 so far as concerns the classical age of ,greek philosophy1 a matter of conjecture4 ,but the resurrection of a prehistoric and almost forgotten civilization from the buried cities of ,crete has brought to light many evidences of frequent intercourse1 two or three thousand years before the ,christian era1 between ,european and ,egyptian1 or ,asiatic1 centres of life4 ,therefore1 we may well believe that during the earliest stages of the evolution of thought in ,east and ,west1 it was as impossible as at the present time for any local school of thinkers to be absolutely original or independent4 ,thus1 later ,greek philosophers1 whether themselves within sound of the echoes of ,hindoo teaching or not1 may very well have grown up in an atmosphere impregnated with mythic germs1 whose origin they did not know4 ,but however that may be1 ,greek ,pantheism1 while it had many points of contact with ,eastern speculation1 was more purely intellectual and less essentially religious than the ,pantheism of the ,vedas1 or the solemn dream that haunted ,egyptian temples4 ,for while the aspiration of ,hindoo ,pantheists was to find and assume the right attitude toward the glory of the sum of things1 the ,greeks1 as ,st4 ,paul long afterward said1 sought after wisdom1 and were fascinated by the idea of tracing all the bewildering variety of ,nature up to some one principle 7,greek3 arch71 beginning1 origin4 ,sidenote3 ,thales1 about #fdj ,b4,c4 ,thus ,thales of ,miletus1 during the late seventh and early sixth century ,b4,c41 is said to have been satisfied when he found in water--or moisture--the ultimate principle out of which all things and all life1 including gods and men1 were evolved4 ,with such a speculation of infant philosophy we are here not concerned1 except to say that it was not ,pantheism as understood in modern times4 ,for while his ablest exponents admit that no sufficient evidence is left to show very clearly what he meant1 there seems no reason for supposing that to him the ,universe was a ,living ,god4 ,sidenote3 ,successors of ,thales4 ,it would be fruitless to relate how successors of ,thales varied his theory of an ultimate principle1 by substituting air or fire for water4 ,but it is worth while to note that another citizen of ,miletus1 ,anaximander1 after an interval of some forty years1 pronounced that the beginning1 the first principle1 the origin of all things1 was neither water1 nor air1 nor fire1 but the ,infinite 7,greek3 to apeae on74 ,and though the best authorities confess that they cannot be sure of his meaning1 this may very well be because he anticipated ,herbert ,spencer by two and a half millenniums1 in acknowledging that all things merge in one and the same ,unknowable4 ,but1 so far as our evidence goes1 he made no such attempt as the modern philosopher did1 to persuade the religious instinct that this ,unknowable could supply the place of all the gods4 ,sidenote3 ,xenophanes of ,elea1 about #egj to #dhj ,b4,c4 ,sidenote3 ,his ,pantheism ,disputed but well ,established4 ,sidenote3 ,his ,religion4 ,the position of ,xenophanes1 who1 toward the latter part of the sixth century ,b4,c4 migrated1 apparently for political reasons1 in fear of ,persian imperialism1 from ,colophon in ,asia ,minor to ,elea in ,italy1 was a little different1 and1 for our purpose1 more interesting4 ,for the few fragments which are unfortunately all that is left to us of his philosophical poetry1 are strongly suggestive of ,pantheism1 and the interpretation put upon them by later classical and sub-classical writers1 who had his works before them1 would appear decisive4 ,true1 the distinguished and enlightened scholar1 ,simon ,karsten1 who1 in the first quarter of the nineteenth century1 found a labour of love in collecting and editing the remains of early ,greek philosophers1 deprecated such a judgment4 ,yet1 while the motives for his special pleading were honourable1 seeing the odious misrepresentations of ,pantheism still prevalent in the ,dutch scholar's native land1--misrepresentations undissipated even by the splendour of ,spinoza1--his protest remains special pleading still4 ,and he himself candidly quotes at large from an alleged work of ,aristotle--possibly1 only a student's notes of the latter's lectures--and also from ,simplicius1 as reported by ,theophrastus in a comment on ,aristotle's ,physics1 sentences which describe the system of ,xenophanos as unquestionably ,pantheistic4 ,from1 which description ,i gather that the devout philosopher regarded ,god as the only real ,being1 including all that in human language has been1 is1 and will be1 without beginning or end1 living and perceiving equally everywhere throughout ,his infinite essence4 ,and if that essence is compared by ,xenophanes to a sphere1 neither bounded nor boundless1 neither moving nor immovable1 this is only because few1 if any1 in that age of the world1 could content themselves with loyally accepting the limits imposed on man by the very nature of things1 limits which now compel us to own that1 while the ,eternal is more real than ourselves1 yet1 in the strict sense of knowing1 ,he is1 from an intellectual standpoint1 the ,unknowable4 ,sidenote3 ,extent of his ,sympathy with ,popular ,religion4 ,sidenote3 ,a ,pantheistic ,communion ,feast4 ,this ,pantheism did not generate in ,xenophanes any arrogant disdain for the religion of his time4 ,for1 though he condemned1 in words often quoted1 the folly which supposed the gods to have the human form1 senses1 passions and appetites1 he was yet glad to worship the divine ,all as partially manifested in finite beings--perhaps personified powers of nature4 ,thus among the fragments of his poetry fortunately preserved1 is one exquisite gem1 a description of a festive repast in the open air4 ,there purity comes first1 symbolised by clear floor1 clean hands1 and spotless dishes4 ,upon purity waits beauty1 not in the forms desired by sensuous passion1 but in garlands of flowers and in delicate scents4 ,the wine is unstinted1 yet tempered with sparkling water4 ,but1 lest the plentifulness of bread and honey and cheese upon the lordly table should eclipse the highest sanctions of human joy1 an altar prominent in the festive scene is heaped with offerings of flowers4 ,then the first note of music is the praise of ,god1 a praise taking form in blameless poetic myths and holy thoughts4 ,in such a feast the minds of the guests are kindled with a desire to be capable of doing right4 ,there is no harm in drinking with reasonable moderation#aj2 and we may honour the guest who1 warmed by wine1 talks of such noble deeds and instances of virtue as his memory may suggest4 ,but let him not tell of ,titan battles1 or those of the giants or centaurs1 the fictions of bygone days1 nor yet of factious quarrels1 nor gossip1 that can serve no good end4 ,rather let us ever keep a good conscience towards the gods4#aa ,sidenote3 ,empedocles1 ,middle of ,fifth ,century ,b4,c4 ,sidenote3 ,not ,properly a ,pantheist ,having given so much space to an ancient who seems to me specially interesting as a prophet of the ultimate apotheosis of earthly religions1 ,i must be content to indicate1 in a very few lines1 the course of the ,pantheistic tradition among the ,greeks after his day4 ,the arithmetical mysticism of ,pythagoras has no bearing upon our subject4 ,empedocles of ,agrigentum1 living about the middle of the fifth century ,b4,c41 and thus1 perhaps1 in the second generation after ,xenophanes1 was1 in many respects1 a much more imposing figure--clothed in purple1 wielding political power1 possessing medical skill1 and even working miraculous cures1 such as are apparently easy to men of personal impressiveness1 sympathy1 and magnetism4 ,but he does not appear to have so nearly anticipated modern ,pantheism as did his humbler predecessor4 ,for though the fragments of ,empedocles1 much larger in volume than those of ,xenophanes1 certainly hint at some kind of everlasting oneness in things1 and expressly tell us that there is no creation nor annihilation1 but only perpetual changes of arrangement1 yet they present other phases of thought1 apparently irreconcileable with the doctrine that there is nothing other than ,god4 ,thus he teaches that there are four elements--earth1 air1 water and fire--out of which all things are generated4 ,he also anticipates ,lucretius in his pessimistic view of humanity's lot2 and insists on the apparently independent existence of a principle of discord or strife in the ,universe4 ,it would be a forced interpretation to suppose him to have set forth precociously the ,darwinian theory of the struggle for life4 ,for his notion seems much more akin to the ,zoroastrian imagination of ,ahriman4 ,again1 he sings melodiously1 but most unphilosophically1 of a former golden age1 in which the lion and the lamb would seem to have lain down together in peace2 and trees yielded fruit all the year round4 ,at that time the only deity was ,venus1 who was worshipped with bloodless offerings alone4 ,still1 it must be remembered that1 whether consistently or not1 ,empedocles produced an elaborate work on the ,nature of ,things1 to which ,lucretius makes eloquent and earnest acknowledgments4 ,but that very approval of ,lucretius forbids us to regard the older poet as a ,pantheist in our sense of the term4 ,for certainly to him the ,universe cannot have been a living ,god4 ,sidenote3 ,genesis of ,modern ,religious ,pantheism4 ,between this philosophical idea of a ,oneness1 not thought of as ,god1 and the spiritual contemplation of a universal ,life of which all things are modes1 the highest thoughts of men hovered during the process by which1 in some measure under extraneous influences1 ,greek speculation finally produced ,neo-platonism--or1 as we might say in the current phraseology of our time--a restatement of ,plato's teaching4 ,of this school1 arising in the early ,christian centuries1 some leaders were undoubtedly ,pantheists4 ,but we cannot say this of ,plato himself1 nor of his master ,socrates4 ,for though these great men were more profoundly interested in the moral order of the world than in any questions of physical nature1 or even of metaphysical subtleties1 they were never given to the kind of contemplation suggested above in extracts from the ,classical ,books of the ,east1 the contemplation which educes the moral ideal from unreserved subordination of self to the ,universe as of the part to the ,whole4 ,doubtless the inspiration imparted by ,socrates to a disciple in mere intellect his superior1 and the resulting moral and religious suggestions abounding in the ,dialogues1 did much to impel the current of religious evolution toward that spiritual aspect of the ,infinite ,all which fascinated some of the ,neo-,platonists1 and received its most splendid exposition from ,spinoza4 ,but the conditions imposed by necessary brevity compel me to pass by those classic names with this acknowledgment1 and to hasten toward the fuller revelation of ,pantheism as a religion4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote #b3 ,some scholars think they can trace ,christian1 influences in the exceptionally late ,bhagavad ,gt1 hereafter quoted4 ,but it is a disputed point2 and certainly in the case of the ,vedas and pre-,christian literature arising out of them even ,jewish influence was impossible4 ,footnote #c3 ,as imperious brevity excludes full explanation1 ,i must content myself with a reference to ,the ,religion of the ,universe1 pp4 #aeb-e4 ,london3 ,macmillan ,co4 ,footnote #d3 ,according to the late ,max ,mller1 with whom ,prof4 ,t4,w4 ,rhys ,davids agrees1 the word ,upanishad is equivalent to our word sitting or session2 only that it is usually confined to a sitting of master and pupil4 ,footnote #e3 ,sacred ,books of the ,east1 vol4 i4 p4 #ib4 ,the immediately following quotations are from the same ,upanishad4 ,footnote #f3 ,the gods of ocean1 air and fire1 and the judge of the lower regions respectively 7,rev4 ,john ,davies74 ,footnote #g3 ,the ,bhagavad ,gt1 translated by the ,rev4 ,j4 ,davies1 ,m4,a4 ,footnote #h3 ,the ,karma was not a soul4 ,what it was is1 according to our authorities1 very difficult for the ,western mind to conceive4 ,but its practical effect was1 that on the death of the imperfect man1 another finite existence of some sort necessarily took his place4 ,but this new finite existence was not the former man4 ,it is only on the death of him who has attained ,nirvana that ,karma ceases to act1 and no new finite existence takes his place4 ,footnote #i3 ,see ,prof4 ,w4 ,max ,muller1 on ,egypt1 in the ,encyc4 ,biblica4 ,footnote #aj3 ,capability of walking home without help1 is the limit quaintly fixed by the poet4 ,to our modern feeling it seems rather wide4 ,yet1 practically1 it is the limit professedly observed by our publicans in serving their customers4 ,footnote #aa3 ,karsten1 ,xenophanis ,reliquiae1 p4 #fh 7,amsterdam1 #ahcj74 ,both the paraphrase and occasional translations which ,i give are of course free2 but ,i think the spirit and meaning are preserved4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,post-,,christian ,,pantheism4 ,in speaking of ,neo-,platonism ,i incidentally mentioned its apparent subjection to extraneous influences1 ,these1 of course1 included the rising power of ,christianity and its ,jewish traditions4 ,sidenote3 ,the ,hebrew ,tradition4 ,even before the advent of the new revelation1 the ,jewish settlements existing in all great cities of the ,graeco-,roman world excited interest at any rate among sentimentalists touched by the fascination at that time beginning to be exerted by oriental religions4 ,and this influence of ,jewish traditions was much facilitated by the existence of a ,greek translation of the ,hebrew scriptures4 ,sidenote3 ,its ,influence on ,greek ,philosophy4 ,sidenote3 ,to ,inspire ,devotion1 ,not ,solve ,problems4 ,now1 what the ,hebrew tradition did for ,greek philosophy was1 of course1 not to favour its ,pantheistic trend1 where that existed1 but much more to convert such semi-,pantheism from a mere intellectual speculation to contemplative devotion4 ,for ,hebraism itself had become almost as intensely monotheistic as the later ,islam4 ,and1 though monotheism may be a stage in the progress of religion from ,animism to ,pantheism1 it may1 also1 by the peculiar intensity of the personal devotion it sometimes inspires1 cause the very idea of any farther expansion of faith to be counted a sin4 ,sidenote3 ,philo1 the ,jew of ,alexandria4 ,perhaps the influence of ,hebraism on ,hellenism may be illustrated by the ,alexandrian ,philo's pathetic endeavour not only to trace the wisdom of the ,greeks to ,moses1 but to show that this derived lore is much mightier for good when re-invested with the spiritual power and ardent devotion of the ,jewish faith4 ,if any one will speak plainly1 he writes1#ab he might say that the intelligible world is nothing other than the word 7se4 ,greek3 logos1 reason7 of the world-making ,god4 ,for neither is the intelligible city anything other than the thought ,greek3 logismos of the architect already intending to build the city4 ,this is the teaching of ,moses1 not mine4 ,at any rate in what follows1 when he records the origin of man1 he declares outright that man was made in the image of ,god4 ,but if a part 7of creation7 reflects the type1 so also must the entire manifestation1 this intelligible ordered world1 which is a reproduction of the divine image on a larger scale than that of man4#ac ,sidenote3 ,motives ,underlying his ,distortion of ,hebraism4 ,sidenote3 ,not ,pantheistic4 ,how ,philo managed to extort this out of the ,pentateuch is a question of interest1 but one on which ,i cannot delay4 ,suffice it1 that while he thus showed his reverence for the traditions of his race1 his whole aim is to fire philosophy with religious devotion4 ,but he was not1 in any strict sense of the word1 a ,pantheist1 though he regarded the ,logos as an emanation from the ,eternal1 and the kosmos1 the ordered world1 as in some way emanating from the ,logos4 ,perhaps1 indeed1 if we could exclude from emanation the idea of time1 as ,christians are supposed to do when they speak of the eternal generation of the ,divine ,son or the procession of the ,holy ,ghost1 we might regard ,philo1 with the succeeding ,neo-,platonists and some of the ,gnostics1 as approximately ,pantheistic4 ,but his vagueness and uncertainty about matter forbid such a conclusion4 ,for whether he regarded matter as eternally existing apart from the divine substance1 or whether he looked upon it as the opposite of ,being1 as a sort of positive nothing1 in either case1 it cannot be said that for him the whole ,universe was ,god1 and nothing but ,god4 ,sidenote3 ,neo-,platonism4 ,sidenote3 ,resultant of ,contact between ,east and ,west4 ,if ,i have given more space to the great ,alexandrian ,jew than my narrow limits ought to afford1 it is because ,i think ,i may thus avoid the necessity of saying much about the philosophic schemes of the ,neo-,platonists1 the phantasies of the ,gnostics1 or the occasionally daring speculations of the ,christian ,fathers4 ,for whether the works of ,philo were much studied by the ,greeks or not1 they certainly described the spiritual resultant--so to speak--emerging from the mutual impact of ,western and ,oriental1 especially ,jewish1 ideas4 ,which resultant was in the air from the first century of the ,christian age2 and the later epistles ascribed to ,st4 ,paul1 as well as the ,fourth ,gospel1 show clear traces of it4#ad ,sidenote3 ,its ,religious ,inspiration4 ,sidenote3 ,suggestive of ,pantheism1 but not such in ,spinoza's ,sense4 ,but the inspiration of the time-spirit was not confined to the ,christian ,church4 ,for the city of ,alexandria1 where that spirit seems to have been peculiarly potent as shown in the transfigured ,judaism of ,philo1 was the birthplace of the ,neo-,platonic school already mentioned above4 ,and among its greatest members1 such as ,plotinus1 ,porphyry1 ,proclus1 the religious influence of the ,east was distinctly apparent4 ,true1 they followed ,socrates and ,plato in reverence for knowledge as the unfailing begetter of virtue4 ,but their speculations about the divine ,being were touched by ,oriental emotion4 ,and we may with some confidence believe that their development of the ,platonic ,trinity owed a good deal to the rapid spread of ,christianity4 ,thus the sentiment1 the fervour1 the yearning for salvation1 the worship and devotion taught by the best of the ,neo-,platonists were not so much1 from ,athens as from ,sinai and ,galilee4 ,yet1 though there were in their world-conception many anticipations of the gospel of the ,god-intoxicated man1 whom the counsels of the ,eternal reserved for the fulness of times1 it would scarcely be accurate to describe the system of any of them as strictly ,pantheistic4 ,for they were always troubled about matter as an anomalous thing in a divine universe1 and in treating of it they hesitated between the notion of an eternal nuisance which the ,demiurgus1 or acting ,god1 could only modify1 not destroy1 and1 on the other hand1 a strained theory of an evil nothing1 which is yet something4 ,again1 so far from realising ,spinoza's faith in ,god as so literally ,all in ,all that there is nothing else but ,he1 they would not tolerate the contact of the ,infinite with the finite1 of ,god with the world4 ,consistently with such prepossessions1 they held obstinately to the notion of some beginning1 and therefore some ending of the ordered world4 ,and this beginning was effected by emanations such as the ,logos1 or1 as others had it1 the world-soul and other divine energies1 between the ,eternal and creation2 a phantasy which1 however poetically wrought out1 is not really consistent with ,pantheism4 ,sidenote3 ,the ,gnostics4 ,such ideas of a hierarchy of subordinate emanations to fill the supposed abyss between the ,infinite and the ,finite were eagerly adopted and developed by the pseudo-philosophers called ,gnostics1 on both sides of the boundary between the ,church and the ,world4 ,suffice it that1 like most1 though by no means all of their predecessors1 they regarded the world of earth1 sun1 planet1 stars1 and animated nature with man at its head1 as the whole ,universe2 and1 assuming that it must have had a beginning1 they vexed their souls with futile attempts to frame some gradual transition from the uncreated to the created1 from the eternal to the mortal4 ,the grotesque chimaeras engendered thus are remembered now only as illustrations of the facile transition from the sublime to the ridiculous and from philosophy to folly4 ,sidenote3 ,the ,church ,fathers4 ,sidenote3 ,augustine4 ,the orthodox ,christian fathers were not less conscious than the ,neo-,platonists or ,gnostics of the perennial problem of the ,many and the ,one4 ,but they were restrained1 perhaps1 by the faith that comes of self-control1 perhaps by mere common sense1 from indulging in attempts to connect the ,infinite with the ,finite by vain genealogies4 ,indeed1 for the most part they confessed that whatever light the ,gospel might shed on moral issues1 it left untouched the ultimate question of the relation of the ,infinite to the ,finite4 ,and the only aspect of their most venturesome speculations which ,i need recall is their insistence1 even when apparently verging toward ,pantheism1 on a transcendent as well as an immanent ,god1 that is on a ,creator existing1 so to speak1 outside the ,universe and apart from it as well as permeating every part4 ,thus1 for example1 ,augustine would seem to deny to the world any separate creature existence when he says1 that but for the divinity everywhere in it1 creation would cease to be4 ,but in his insistence on the creation of the world from nothing1 he directly contradicts ,pantheism1 because he must necessarily be taken to mean that there is now something other than ,god4 ,that there have been devout ,christians whose mystic speculations on the relations of the soul to the ,eternal logically involved ,pantheism--if logic in such a case had any function--there can be no doubt4 ,but for most of them ,god's word written seemed to confirm ,god's word in heaven and earth as known to them1 proclaiming that there had been a beginning and there must be an end4 ,therefore1 whatever might be the immanence of the ,creator in ,his works1 ,god could not1 in their minds1 be identified with the fashion of this world which passeth away4 ,yet the time was coming when the ,divine word both in ,scripture and in ,nature was to be otherwise read4 ,for men began to learn that the ,bible was other than they had supposed and the ,universe immeasurably greater than they had conceived4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote #ab3 ,de ,mundi ,opificio1 p4 #e;,b4 ,i take him to mean by ,greek3 kosmos notos--the world as apperceived--realised in our consciousness4 ,footnote #ac3 ,it should be noted that ,philo1 who was contemporary with ,jesus1 often uses the title the ,father ,greek3 ho ,pataer as a sufficient designation of the ,eternal4 ,it was not very usual1 and is suggestive of certain spiritual sympathies amidst enormous intellectual divergencies between the ,alexandrian philosopher and the ,galilean prophet4 ,footnote #ad3 ,see ,col4 i4 #ae-ag and refs4 ,john i4 #a-c2 iii4 #ac2 viii4 #eh4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,modern ,,pantheism4 ,sidenote3 ,spinoza4 ,sidenote3 ,a ,pantheistic ,prophet4 ,sidenote3 ,the ,main ,subject here ,is his ,religion and not his ,philosophy4 ,modern ,pantheism as a religion begins with ,spinoza4 ,whether it ended with him is a question which the future will have to decide4 ,but the signs of the times are1 at least in my view1 very clearly against such a conclusion4 ,and amongst the omens which portend immortality1 not necessarily for the philosophical scheme1 but for the ,god-intoxicated devoutness of his ,pantheism1 is the desire1 or rather the imperious need increasingly realized1 for a religion emancipated from theories of creation or teleology1 intolerant of any miracle1 save indeed the wonders of the spiritual life1 and satisfying the heart with an ever present ,god4 ,for it is to be remembered that ,spinoza was the first ,pantheist who was also a prophet1 in the sense of speaking out the divine voice of the infinite ,universe to its human constituent parts4 ,not that ,i would minimize the religious fervour of the ,neo-,platonists3 it is their ,pantheism that seems to have been imperfect4 ,but in ,spinoza we have a man who1 inheriting by birth the tradition--,i might even say the apostolic succession--of the ,jewish prophets1 and gifted with an insight into the consummation of that tradition in ,jesus ,christ1 was driven by a commanding intellect to divorce the spiritual life he prized from creeds that had become to him ,impossible1 and to enshrine it in the worthier temple of an eternal ,universe identical with ,god4 ,it is not1 then1 with his philosophy that ,i am so much concerned as with his religion4#ae ,sidenote3 ,his ,originality4 ,sidenote3 ,relation to ,descartes4 ,it is given to no man to be absolutely original in the sense of creating ideas of which no germs existed before his day4 ,but short of such an impossible independence of the past1 ,benedict de ,spinoza had perhaps as much originality as any man who ever lived4 ,yet with a modesty ever characteristic of moral greatness1 he himself was disposed1 at any rate during his earlier philosophical development1 to exaggerate his indebtedness to the philosopher ,descartes1 whose system he laboriously abridged in the inappropriate form of a series of propositions supposed to be demonstrated after the fashion of ,euclid4 ,sidenote3 ,fundamental ,differences4 ,sidenote3 ,spinoza ,discards ,creator and ,creation1 ,sidenote3 ,beginning and ,end4 ,sidenote3 ,takes the ,universe as it ,is4 ,sidenote3 ,and ,worships the ,static ,whole as ,god4 ,but whatever may have been the esoteric belief of ,descartes about creation out of nothing and the theological dogmas connected therewith1 he attached too much importance to the social and political functions of established ecclesiastical institutions to declare himself independent of them4 ,and though his submission1 signalised on his death-bed1 did not interfere with the freest working of his brilliant intellect within limits permitted to the former ecclesiastical schoolmen1 it did prevent his frank realization of the eternal oneness of all being4 ,for it compelled him to retain belief in a ,creator distinct in essence from ,creation4 ,such a belief ,spinoza entirely rejected4 ,for though his ,natura ,naturans1 or ,nature ,active1 may in a manner be called the ,creator of his ,natura ,naturata1 or ,nature ,passive1 these are consubstantial and co-eternal1 neither being before or after the other4 ,thus for him there was no beginning of the ,universe and there could be no end4 ,there was no creation out of nothing1 nor any omen of weariness1 decay1 or death in the eternal order4 ,he teaches us in effect to take the ,universe as it is1 and to pry into no supposed secrets of origin or end1 an entirely gratuitous labour1 imposed by illusions arising out of the continuous redistribution of parts of the ,whole4 ,instead of thus spending our mental energy for nought1 he would have us regard the whole of ,being as one ,substance characterized by innumerable attributes1 of which ,extension and ,thought alone come within our human cognizance2 while each ,attribute is subject to infinite ,modes or modifications1 which1 in their effect on the two attributes known to us--extension and thought--constitute the universe of our experience4 ,that infinite and eternal ,substance revealed by ,attributes and their ,modes is ,god1 absolute in ,his perfections if ,he could be fully conceived and known in all ,his activities4 ,and even to our ignorance ,he is entrancing in ,his gradual self-revelation1 as with our inadequate ideas we pursue the unattainable from glory to glory4 ,sidenote3 ,this ,view of the ,universe applied to ,psalm civ4 ,this1 then1 is the first note we make of the gospel of ,spinoza4 ,but if any one thinks that the sacred word gospel is here misused1 and that such teaching is fatal to piety1 let him turn to the #ajdth ,psalm and read1 from ,spinoza's point of view1 the cosmic vision of the ,hebrew seer4 ,true1 we can think no longer of the supernatural carpenter who works on the beams of his chambers above1 or of the mythical engineer who digs deep in the darkness to lay the foundations of the earth4 ,for that is poetry1 appealing by concrete images to the emotions4 ,but it does not bind the intellect to a literal interpretation2 and we are no longer tormented by vain efforts to reconcile with infinite impossibilities the half-human personality presented in poetic guise4 ,so that the vision of the seer is now the suggestion to us of an infinite and eternal ,being1 whose attributes by modification take the innumerable shapes of sun1 moon1 and stars1 and mountains and river1 and tree and flower1 and bird and beast1 and man4 ,and the winds that sweep and the floods that roll1 and the rocky barriers that stand fast1 and the rivers that wind among the hills1 and the trees that flourish and the living societies that gather in fruitful places1 the labourer in his vineyard1 the sailor in his ship1 all are in and of the one ,eternal ,being4 ,yet we echo not with less1 but perhaps with more reverence1 than the believers in a divine artisan1 the words of the ,psalmist3 ,o ,lord1 how manifold are ,thy works6 in wisdom hast ,thou made them all3 the earth is full of ,thy riches4 ,but if the thunder and the flaming fire and the sweeping flood seem discordant1 they existed for the ,psalmist as well as for us1 and they do not seem to have troubled him4 ,at this point1 therefore1 we need only say that ,spinoza's religion of one divine ,substance1 whose unity in variety is holy1 ought to stir within us with not less fervour1 at least the spirit of the ,psalmist's concluding prayer3 ,let the sinners be consumed out of the earth and let the wicked be no more4 ,sidenote3 ,spinoza no ,materialist1 ,sidenote3 ,notwithstanding his ,attribution of ,extension to ,god4 ,sidenote3 ,criticism by ,sir ,f4 ,pollock4 ,sidenote3 ,changes ,in ,theories of ,matter since ,spinoza's time4 ,spinoza's maintenance of extension as one of the two infinite divine attributes cognizable by us has1 with a certain amount of plausibility1 been urged as a note of materialism4 ,and this reproach has been supported by reference to his insistence that in man the body and the soul are only two different aspects of the same thing2 for to him the body is a finite ,mode of ,god's infinite attribute of extension and the soul a finite ,mode of ,god's infinite attribute of thought1 while both are manifestations of the one eternal divine ,substance4 ,still1 if in any way we are to regard ,god as extended1 it seems impossible to avoid the inference that we regard ,him as identified with matter1 or at least the possibility of matter4 ,sir ,frederick ,pollock has admitted that this is a weak point in ,spinoza's philosophy1#af and mars its symmetry4 ,but1 being more concerned with1 his religion1 ,i am content to point out that such an objection was much more effective in ,spinoza's time than it is to-day4 ,for the whole trend of philosophy during the nineteenth century was towards a view of ,extension itself as a mode of ,thought1 and therefore toward the absorption of one of ,spinoza's theoretical divine attributes in the other4 ,sidenote3 ,their ,effect on his ,system4 ,now if this should prove to be the permanent tendency of the most influential thinkers--as indeed seems most likely--it will probably be held that ,spinoza was wrong in attributing extension to the ,eternal as one of the qualities of ,his substance1 except in so far as extension is1 if not a necessary1 at any rate an actual1 and so far as we know1 a universal mode of thought4 ,but though1 as ,sir ,frederick ,pollock has pointed out1 ,spinoza has in a manner counted thought twice over while treating of the only two infinite attributes cognizable to us1 we need not1 on that account1 surrender his luminous idea of ,god as a ,being absolutely infinite1 that is1 ,substance consisting of infinite ,attributes1 whereof each one expresses eternal and infinite being4 ,nor need we abandon his supplementary but essential idea of ,modes or modifications which mould the attributes into the varieties of finite worlds1 known and unknown4 ,thus it may be that1 in ,spinoza's sense of the word ,attribute1 we shall have to confess that only one comes within our human ken1 that of ,thought in a sense which includes feeling4 ,but if the late ,herbert ,spencer1 apart from his synthetic philosophy of phenomena1 has left any permanent mark on the religions consciousness1 it has been by a consecration of the mystery of the ultimate ,unknowable4#ag ,and in the spirit of reverence thus taught by him we may still hold with ,spinoza that the ,eternal has an infinity of other attributes with their infinite modifications not within our cognizance4 ,this would only be an enlarged application of ,hamlet's words3 ,there are more things in ,heaven and ,earth1 ,horatio1 ,than are dreamt of in your philosophy4 ,or1 to put it in another way1 the ,universe perceptible to us is only one of an infinity of ,universes4 ,by which is not meant an infinite extension of galaxies in space1 but the co-existence and1 so to speak1 interpenetration of an infinity of modes of existence imperceptible to us4 ,sidenote3 ,god ,is ,identical with the ,whole of ,being4 ,to ,spinoza1 then1 ,god is the totality of ,being4 ,but it is not to be inferred that he identified ,god with the visible1 or with any conceivable ,universe4 ,for either of these must fall far short of infinity1 and the ,being of ,god is infinite4 ,all ,i mean1 when ,i say that ,spinoza identifies ,god with the totality of existence1 is that he regards the deity as that ,perfect ,being without beginning or end1 whose essence it is to be1 and of whom all that exists1 whether known to us or not1 is separately a partial1 and comprehensively a perfect expression4 ,sidenote3 ,his ,doctrine of ,man4 ,of more practical interest to us perhaps is ,spinoza's doctrine of man1 though it would have been impossible to explain that without first indicating his idea of ,god4 ,in his view1 then1 man is a finite mode of the two divine attributes1 extension and thought4 ,thus both the extended body and the conscious mind have their substance and reality in ,god4#ah ,but the essence of man does not necessarily involve his separate existence as the essence of ,god implies ,being4 ,of course the substance of man is imperishable because it is of ,god's substance4 ,nay1 there is a sense in which each man1 being an eternal thought of ,god1 has an aspect towards eternity or exists sub specie eternitatis4 ,but that is a truth transcending the finite practical world with which we have to do4 ,sidenote3 ,illustration by the ,vortex ,theory4 ,sidenote3 ,distinction between ,man and ,beast4 ,according to ,spinoza1 what constitutes the real essence of the human mind is the 7divine7 idea of a certain individual creature actually existing4#ai ,here1 perhaps1 modern speculations about the constitution of matter may help us--if we use them with due reserve--to grasp ,spinoza's notion of a res singularis in actu--or as it might be rendered freely1 a creature of individual functions1 for what is called the vortex theory1 though as old as ,cartesian philosophy1 has recently flashed into sudden prominence4 ,and whether or no the speculation be only a passing phase of human thought about the ,unknowable1 it equally answers the purpose of illustration4 ,thus the so-called ether is supposed to fill all space2 and within it there are imagined or inferred innumerable tourbillons or vortices1 which1 though parts of the indefinitely extended ether1 form by their self-contained motion little worlds in themselves4 ,these little worlds are by some regarded as the atoms which1 by composition1 and differentiation1 build up our palpable universe4 ,with the possibilities of such a theory ,i have nothing to do4 ,but the notion of the vortex in the ether may perhaps help us to a glimpse of ,spinoza's notion when he speaks of a res singularis in actu a creature of individual functions4 ,for to him man was1 as it were1 an infinitesimal vortex in a phase or attribute of the divine ,substance4 ,the analogy1 like all other analogies1 would not bear being pressed4 ,but it does suggest to us a picture of finite individuality in action or function1 subordinated to unity with infinite ,substance4 ,if it be said that such an explanation would necessarily include the conscious life of beasts and birds1 the answer would seem to be1 that admitting this to be the case1 yet in man the divine idea of individuality is more fully expressed and has more of reality than in any lower creature4 ,sidenote3 ,moral ,difficulties4 ,man1 then1 according to ,spinoza1 is in ,god and of ,god4 ,but what are we to say of bad men1 the vile1 the base1 the liar1 the murderer8 ,are they also in ,god and of ,god8 ,spinoza does not blench4 ,yes1 they are4 ,but here comes in his doctrine of adequate and inadequate ideas4 ,thus1 if you see the colour red it completely expresses itself4 ,it cannot be defined and needs no explanation4#bj ,as it is in the ,infinite ,thought so it is in ours4 ,we have an adequate idea of it4 ,but now if you see on an artist's canvas a splotch of red and blue and yellow1 part of a work only begun1 it gives you no adequate idea4 ,true1 you have an adequate idea of each several colour1 but not of their relations to the work conceived4 ,to get that you would have to enter into the mind of the artist and see as he sees4 ,then the splotch of colour would take its place as part of a harmonious whole2 and would give you an adequate idea just as it does to the artist4 ,sidenote3 ,but the ,universe ,is ,not an ,unfinished ,picture4 ,sidenote3 ,it is an ,eternal ,whole1 of which a ,partial consideration is ,misleading4 ,now1 according to ,spinoza1 when we see things as they appear in ,infinite ,thought we have an adequate idea4 ,but if we see only a component element in an idea--let us say--of the divine ,artist1 then our idea is inadequate4#ba ,hence we misjudge things4 ,and of the part played by bad men in the divine ,whole we certainly have no adequate idea4 ,but here again we must be on our guard against the abuse of illustrations4 ,for it is not to be inferred that ,spinoza regards the ,universe as an unfinished picture1 of which1 the completion will justify the beginning4 ,on the contrary1 the ,universe is to him eternal1 the necessary expression of the infinite attributes of eternal ,being4 ,still the analogy may help us4 ,for the concentration of attention on a single part of an ordered whole may1 quite as certainly as a glance at an unfinished work1 be the occasion of an inadequate idea4 ,in effect1 the suggestion is that if we1 like ,god1 could contemplate the infinite ,universe all at once1 and have an adequate idea thereof1 in other words if we could ascend to the self contemplation of the ,eternal1 we should have the bliss associated by long habit with the words of the ,psalmist3 ,i shall be satisfied when ,i awake1 with thy likeness4 ,such bliss1 however1 is only approximately attainable in moments of mystic transport4 ,and when1 as in so many experiences1 we see only in part1 and have inadequate ideas1 faith in the ,eternal ,whole is needed to keep us from blasphemy4 ,sidenote3 ,doctrine of ,man ,resumed4 ,sidenote3 ,final ,cause ,replaced by ,idea4 ,sidenote3 ,freedom1 ,purity1 ,love4 ,with such necessarily brief hints as to ,spinoza's attitude towards evil1 ,i resume his doctrine of man--the individual creature as a centre of action4 ,of final causes ,spinoza will not hear4 ,but if instead of asking what is the chief end of man1 we ask what is the idea of man1 ,spinoza answers that it is the realization of a mode of the divine attributes1 extension and thought4 ,and if this should seem unsatisfying1 let it be remembered that to this devout ,pantheist the divine attributes and their modes were the expression of the very substance and life of ,god4 ,now with extension1 for reasons already given1 we need not trouble ourselves except to say that at least ,spinoza's teaching would suggest the idea of mens sana in corpore sano4 ,because to him the mind was the idea of the body1 and the body the object--not quite in the modern sense--of the mind4 ,but as regards the human mode of the divine attribute of thought1 ,spinoza makes its ideal to be a life absorbed in such contemplation of the ,blessed ,god1 the infinite ,whole1 as shall react on the creature in inspirations of freedom1 purity and love4 ,sidenote3 ,idea of ,freedom4 ,and first as to freedom1 ,spinoza means by this not caprice1 nor the monstrous miracle of causeless action1 but independence of external force or of any disproportionate and illegitimate passion4 ,the freedom to which he aspires is the freedom of ,god1 who eternally acts in accordance with the mutual harmony of the whole attributes of ,his nature1 not one of which clashes with another4 ,so ,spinoza's free man is one in whom all aspirations and energies1 converging in one resultant1 the expression of the divine idea1 move him in harmony with the ,universe4 ,from such a point of view the quibbles about free will1 in the sense of causeless action1 cease to have any meaning4 ,for if the good man says ,i could have done otherwise if ,i had liked1 the obvious reply is1 ,yes1 but you would not have liked4 ,because the will is not a separate faculty1 but the expression of the whole nature1 as that exists at the moment of willing4 ,and the only real freedom is the unimpeded conglomerate impulse to do right4 ,but should it be asked what if the resultant impulse of the whole nature is toward wrong8 the answer is1 in that case there is no freedom1 but a slavery to some external influence or to a disturbed balance of the passions4 ,or if it be asked what is right8 that is a far reaching question to the solution of which ,spinoza bends all his splendid powers4 ,but limits of space preclude me from saying more than1 that his ideal of right will be found conformable to the highest standards of the most spiritual religions4 ,sidenote3 ,purity4 ,this ideal ,i ventured to symbolize rather than define as purity4 ,for after all the philosophic reasoning with which it is no less lucidly than laboriously worked out in the final book of his ,ethica1 ,concerning ,human4 ,freedom--the moral result of all this intellectual effort is that same cleansing of the soul from vain desire and that subordination of the earthly self to its divine idea which we are taught in the ,sermon on the ,mount4 ,and while surely every one but a fanatical anti-,christian must allow the greater prophetic worth of the ,galilean1 who could teach these sublime lessons so that the common people heard him gladly1 it seems difficult to deny to the heretic ,jew of the ,hague the second rank among the teachers given to the world by that strangely gifted race4 ,for though he could not speak to the common people1 he left as his legacy to mankind1 not so much a system of philosophy1 as an impregnable foundation for morals and religion1 available for the time now coming upon us--such a time as that suggested by the writer of the ,epistle to the ,hebrews1 when he spoke of the removing of those things that are shaken1 as of things that are made1 that those things which cannot be shaken may remain4 ,no doubt ,sir ,frederic ,pollock is quite right in declaring that ,spinoza would have been the very last man to desire any one to become a ,spinozist4 ,but that is quite consistent with the inspired ,pantheist's infinite longing to see all men blessed by that inward peace which he proved1 by his own heroic experience1 to be identical with the self-control conferred and maintained by devout contemplation of ,god's all-comprehensive ,being and our place therein4 ,if1 then1 ,i regard purity as the best symbol of such a moral ideal1 it is because the word connotes1 together with freedom from discordant passion1 a frankly unconstrained recognition of the simplicity of our relation to ,god4 ,for surely when once the self has made the great surrender1 and becomes content to be nothing1 that in ,st4 ,paul's words1 ,god may be all in all1 the whole problem of life is infinitely simplified1 in the sense that no farther degree of simplification is possible4 ,because all contradictions of pain and evil and sorrow are dissolved in that act of surrender4 ,we must1 indeed1 recognize that to our inadequate ideas the time often seems out of joint4 ,but we need not1 with ,hamlet1 cry out on an impossible spite4 ,for when once it is heartily and loyally realized that not our partial likings1 but the eternal harmony of the ,whole1 is the glory of ,god1 we already anticipate the peace of absorption in the ,infinite4 ,sidenote3 ,love4 ,nor is this moral ideal without a sacred passion2 at least to ordinary men2 though it must be confessed that ,spinoza1 in the stillness of his sacred peace1 ignored the word4 ,but he still held that the larger our view of the ,universe and of our communion therewith1 the more we have of ,god in us and the more do we realize an intellectual love towards ,him4 ,that this in his case was no barren sentiment1 but a genuine moral inspiration1 was proved by his life2 for truly he endured as seeing ,him who is invisible4 ,and it was not by faculties wholly wanting to smaller men that he did this4 ,for though his intellect was in some respects almost beyond compare1 it was rather by his self-subordinating contemplation that he was kept at peace4 ,indeed1 he knew far less of the extended universe than our men of science do1 and his doctrines of mind and thought are1 by indisputable authorities1 regarded as imperfect4 ,but imagining what ,god must be1 could we have an adequate idea not only of ,his ,being--which ,spinoza thought he had--but of ,his infinite attributes and their modes--which ,spinoza recognized that he had not--he declared that love toward ,god was the very highest good4 ,and it was supremely blessed in this1 that it could engender no jealousy nor selfishness1 nor sectarian zeal1 but rather a large-hearted charity which would gather all mankind into the present heaven of that love4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote #ae3 ,it is not within the scope of the present essay to give a life of ,barach 7or ,benedict7 de ,spinoza4 ,but for the sake of those to whom the work of ,sir ,frederick ,pollock is not easily accessible1 the following particulars may be given4 ,spinoza was born in ,amsterdam1 ,november1 #afcb1 of a fairly prosperous ,jewish family1 originally from ,portugal4 ,he received thorough instruction in the language and literature of the ,hebrews1 and in addition became a good ,latin scholar1 so far as to write and correspond in that language4 ,he was early interested in philosophy1 and especially attracted for a time by the writings of ,descartes4 ,by the time he was twenty-three years old he was suspected of heresy1 and in his twenty-fourth year 7#afee7 was cut off from the ,synagogue with a frightful curse4 ,his family disowned him1 and for his maintenance he turned to the polishing of lenses1 a trade already learned in accordance with the ,jewish custom that every boy must have a handicraft4 ,what he earned would hardly be considered a living wage in these days4 ,but according to ,colerus1 his first biographer1 who enquired of the householders with whom ,spinoza lodged1 his day's maintenance of often cost no more than #d-a_/b;d4 ,various incidents proved his total indifference to money1 except as far as needed to provide things honest in the sight of all men4 ,though of an amiable and sociable disposition he lived a solitary life1 while not indisposed to kindly talk with his humbler neighbours4 ,he had some of the greatest scholars of the day among his correspondents4 ,he published but little during his life1 leaving his greatest work as a legacy to the world on his early death1 at the ,hague1 from consumption1 in #afgg4 ,footnote #af3 ,it is to be observed that1 inasmuch as ,attribute is defined by reference to intellect1 and ,thought itself is an attribute1 ,thought appears to be in a manner1 counted twice over4--,spinoza3 ,his ,life and ,philosophy1 by ,sir ,frederick ,pollock4 ,second edition1 #ahii1 p4 #aec4 ,footnote #ag3 ,it is of course true that ,spinoza considered himself to have a clear and adequate conception of ,god4 ,but by this he meant only that1 as a philosopher1 he had an intuitive certainty of eternal and infinite ,being4 ,so have all of us humbler mortals1 though we should not have been able to express it for ourselves4 ,no one supposes that for an indefinite space of time or eternity there was nothing1 and then suddenly there was something4 ,but1 if not1 then everyone recognises with ,spinoza the fact of eternal ,being1 though1 of course1 he saw what this recognition meant1 as the many do not4 ,but when it comes to the facts of mortal imperfections and ignorance1 ,spinoza1 with his theory of inadequate ideas1 is as ready as ,spencer to acknowledge the ,unknowable4 ,footnote #ah3 ,i do not think it necessary in an essay of this kind to discuss ,spinoza's theory of the body as object of the mind1 and the mind as idea of the body1 both being different aspects of the same thing4 ,footnote #ai3 ,rei alicujus singularis actu existentis4 ,the word divine does not occur in ,prop4 xi4 ,ethices ,,ii41 from which ,i quote4 ,but it is implied2 because the mind is only a mode or modification of the infinite attribute of thought1 which again expresses the eternal ,substance in ,god4 ,i venture a doubt whether actually existing1 though adopted by such authorities as ,sir ,f4 ,pollock gives1 with any distinctness1 ,spinoza's meaning4 ,i may be wrong1 but ,i suspect that one of the later uses of actus1 as quoted in ,ducange1 affected ,spinoza's ,latinity4 ,thus several ecclesiastical writers are quoted as using the word in the sense of office1 or function4 ,surely this would suit ,spinoza's definition of the mind4 ,for he treats it as a centre of phenomenal activity amidst the infinite modes of the divine attribute4 ,its apparent individuality is a consequence of its spontaneity as a centre of action--always understood that the spontaneity is consistent with the absolute eternal order assumed throughout the work4 ,footnote #bj3 ,of course the professor of optics can tell us how many vibrations in a second go to produce the particular shade of colour4 ,but these cannot by any means be identified with conscious perception2 and it is with this only that we are concerned4 ,footnote #ba3 ,ethices ,pars ,,ii41 ,prop4 xi4 ,corollarium4 ,hence it follows that the human mind is part of the infinite intellect 7thought7 of ,god2 and accordingly1 when we say that the human mind perceives this or that1 we only say that ,god--not in ,his infinity1 but so far as ,he is expressed by the nature of the human mind1 or1 so far as ,he constitutes the essence of the human mind--has this or that idea4 ,and when1 we say that ,god has this or that idea1 not only so far as ,he constitutes the nature of the human mind1 but so far as ,he has the idea also of some other thing together with the human mind1 then we say that the human mind perceives the thing in part1 or inadequately4 ,e4,g4 all races have naturally supposed earthquakes and storm1 battle1 murder and sudden death to present ideas identical in the minds of their gods and of themselves4 ,but ,spinoza's suggestion1 as ,i interpret it1 is that the true ,god has the idea of such things1 not only so far as ,he constitutes the human mind1 but as ,he includes the ideas of some correlated things to us inconceivable4 ,our idea is therefore inadequate4 ,,afterword4 ,sidenote3 ,spinoza's ,apparent ,failure4 ,sidenote3 ,power of ,ecclesiasticism4 ,sidenote3 ,identification of ,moral ,interests with ,conventional ,beliefs4 ,notwithstanding the admiration1 and even reverence1 with1 which ,spinoza was regarded by a few scholars during his life-time1 it cannot be said that during the century following his death1 in #afgg1 there was any wide acceptance of his ideas4 ,the times were not favourable4 ,for the political and social power of ecclesiasticism1 whether established1 or unestablished1 compelled men of science and philosophers to treat dominant creeds as consecrated ground1 on which ordinary methods of research1 reasoning or criticism could not be pursued4 ,in saying this1 ,i am far from accusing those illustrious men of insincerity4 ,some few of them1 indeed1 used a sort of cryptic satire to excuse to themselves an unwilling conformity4 ,but1 for the most part1 the moral pressure of tradition and education compelled enlightened men to identify the doctrines of a personal ,god1 ,creation1 ,fall1 ,redemption and ,immortality with moral interests vitally essential to human welfare4 ,under such circumstances a prudent conservatism was inevitable4 ,sidenote3 ,gradual ,spread of ,spinoza's ,influence4 ,sidenote3 ,fichte4 ,sidenote3 ,hegel4 ,yet1 notwithstanding these restraining influences1 the thoughts breathed forth by the lonely thinker were as living seed wafted abroad1 and falling here and there on good ground1 germinated and brought forth fruit4 ,sometimes his influence was acknowledged1 sometimes it was repudiated2 but it was there1 nevertheless4 ,it is doubtful whether ,fichte's idealism could have taken the form it did had not ,spinoza preceded him4 ,hegel1 setting out on his great intellectual career with a resolve to defend the faith once delivered to the saints1 yet traces its roots to a philosophy of ,being which1 at any rate1 looks very like ,pantheism4 ,this is perhaps delicate ground to tread4 ,for if one is asked whether one understands ,hegel1 one is tempted to answer1 like the pious ,scotch lady when her friends enquired whether she had understood the minister's sermon1 ,hech1 sirs1 d'ye think ,i'd presume8 ,still1 not my own reading of him only1 but ,mr4 ,haldane's profoundly interesting interpretations given in his ,gifford ,lectures1 make the impression that ,hegel's eternal process is always a projection of subject as object and re-integration of the two4 ,and this goes on1 not only on the infinite1 but on the finite scale1 amidst the infinite number of processes which constitute the ,whole of ,being4 ,but this seems to leave no room for creation out of nothing1 and it is to that extent pantheistic4 ,there are doubtless saving interpretations1 but it is difficult to follow them2 and they cannot cancel the initial postulate of one eternal process1 consisting in the relations of infinite subject1 object and reunion4 ,on such a system ,i do not see how there can be anything but ,god1 and1 therefore1 notwithstanding his aversion to the name1 count ,hegel a ,pantheist4 ,sidenote3 ,goethe and ,wordsworth4 ,goethe and ,wordsworth1 in many inspired passages of their poetry1 echo the faith of ,spinoza4 ,wordsworth1 of course1 in the reaction from his first expectations of the new order that he hoped to see arise out of the ,french ,revolution1 was ,inclined to magnify the ,importance of established religious ceremonies and creeds4 ,but we cannot suppose that he ever repented of his reverence for ,nature as a divine revelation4 ,and we may believe that he continued to regard his practically pantheistic visions as an insight into the eternal reality from which the detailed schemes of orthodox theology were projected4 ,sidenote3 ,schleiermacher4 ,that ,schleiermacher was much indebted to ,spinoza is abundantly evident from his own words4 ,he spoke of the holy repudiated ,spinoza4 ,he declared that the high world-spirit penetrated him2 the ,infinite was his beginning and his end2 the universe his only and eternal love4 ,in holy innocence and lowliness1 he mirrored himself in the eternal world1 and saw himself as its most love-worthy image4 ,he was full of religion and of the ,holy ,spirit2 and therefore he stands alone and unreachable1 master in his art above the profane multitude1 without disciples and without citizenship4#bb ,sidenote3 ,anglican ,broad ,churchmen4 ,coming down to ,anglican ,broad ,churchmen1 it would scarcely be fair to quote isolated utterances as proofs of their ,pantheism4 ,and yet when ,frederick ,robertson asked1 ,what is this world itself but the form of ,deity whereby the manifoldness and beauty of ,his mind manifests itself8 and still farther1 when he quotes with approval ,channing's word1 that perhaps matter is but a mode of thought1 the most earnest ,pantheist would hardly desire more4 ,for the conception of the ,universe involved must surely exclude the real being1 or even the real existence1 of anything but ,god4 ,matthew ,arnold never committed himself to ,pantheism1 nor1 indeed1 to any other theory of the ,universe4 ,for his delicate humour and lambent satire always had in view simply the practical object of clearing a plain way for the good life through the ,aberglaube of theology4 ,his description of ,god as the ,power not ourselves which makes for righteousness1 might seem1 in fact1 the negation of ,pantheism1 because1 if ,god is not ourselves1 there is something other than ,god4 ,but the man who deliberately justified the loose phraseology of the ,bible about infinite ,being1 by the plea that it was language thrown out at an object infinitely transcending linguistic expression1 ought not himself to be pinned to the implications logically deducible from his own words thrown out at the same transcendant object4 ,and1 though ,matthew ,arnold was too literary to be a ,pantheist1 that is1 though he thought more of forms of expression than of ultimate reality1 his satirical disintegration of the creeds1 wherever it is effective1 makes ,pantheism the only religious alternative4 ,so-called secular and godless alternatives may be offered2 but their incongruity with the whole evolution of humanity from prehistoric animism to the higher ,pantheism will make their doom short and sure4 ,sidenote3 ,why ,pantheism as a ,religion was called ,modern4 ,in the earlier part of this essay ,i made the remark that ,pantheism as a religion is almost entirely modern4 ,the context1 however1 clearly showed what was meant2 for several pages have been occupied with indications of the ideas and teaching of individual ,pantheists from ,xenophanes to ,spinoza4 ,but we do not usually take much note of a religion that is confined to one or two men in an age4 ,if it dies out we treat it merely as a curiosity1 or an intellectual puzzle1 like the dreams of ,jacob ,boehme1 or the atheistic ecclesiasticism of ,comte4 ,but1 if it afterwards shows symptoms of unexpected adaptation to the mental and moral conditions of a newer world1 and if1 on account of this adaptation1 it gains a hold on men who are neither philosophers nor metaphysicians1 but only religious1 it demands our consideration on far other grounds than those of intellectual curiosity4 ,sidenote3 ,pantheistic ,tendencies of ,contemporary ,thought ,now it has only been during the second half of the last century that ,pantheism has been able to claim attention as a religion in such a sense as this4 ,as to the fact there can hardly be any dispute4 ,for not only has it become ever a more prominent motive in the music of the poets1 and not only are all rationalizations of ,christianity more or less transparent disguises of ,pantheism1 but ,i may safely appeal to those ordinary members of intelligent society who are neither poets1 nor divines1 nor philosophers1 whether the freest and most confidential interchange of religious thought does not continually verge on a faith which merges everything in ,god4 ,sidenote3 ,caused by the ,mutual ,pressure of ,science and ,faith4 ,sidenote3 ,the ,nebular ,hypothesis taken alone ,involves ,absurdity4 ,nor are the reasons of this tendency far to seek4 ,indeed1 they are palpable and conspicuous in the mutual pressure of science and faith4 ,for1 on the one hand science has made unthinkable the old-world conception of a three-storeyed ,universe1 constructed by an artificer ,god1 who suddenly awoke from an eternity of idleness to make ,heaven1 ,earth1 and ,hell--a conception involving a ,king of kings1 enthroned like an eastern monarch1 and sending forth ,his ministering spirits1 or appointing ,his angel deputies to direct and govern at ,his beck4 ,or if it be said that never1 except in the ages of primeval simplicity1 or amongst later generations living under primeval conditions8 has such a conception been entertained1 it would be difficult for the broadest ,churchman to say what has been1 put in its place4 ,it is vain to remind us how later ,christianity has patronised nebular hypotheses and the doctrine of evolution4 ,for these give no definite substitute whatever for the old story1 that ,elohim spoke1 and it was done--he commanded1 and it stood fast4 ,whence the fiery mists by the rotation and cooling of which the worlds were slowly evolved8 ,we are told that the same process is going on now within the ken of astronomers4 ,but does any one suppose that in those realms of space ,god is evoking something out of nothing1 or saying be1 and there is8 ,no2 we are assured that these fiery mists are formed by the collision of misguided orbs2 and we are even asked--or1 at least we were asked--to believe that this process must go on until all systems are agglomerated in one orb1 to be ultimately congealed into stone4 ,what1 then1 is the office of the ,creator according to this scheme1 as repulsive as it is absurd8 ,it would appear that1 at some moment in a vacuous eternity1 ,he calls matter out of nothing1 whirls it into fiery vortices1 and then lets it cool down to the absolute zero wherein death reigns for ever4 ,sidenote3 ,the ,protest of ,faith4 ,sidenote3 ,sustained by ,latest ,science4 ,sidenote3 ,which ,suggests an ,infinite ,unity4 ,but1 after all1 there is a spirit in man1 and the inspiration of the ,almighty1 of the ,eternal1 of the glorious ,whole to which we belong1 stirs in us a protest against this blasphemy of ignorance4 ,ignorance1 ,i say1 for it was not the knowledge of our wise men that whispered such things1 but their sense of the vacuity beyond their knowledge4 ,up to certain bounds1 their grasp of facts1 their insight into physical order1 their mathematical skill1 were beyond all praise4 ,but beyond that bound1 aye1 and within it1 in every inconceivable mode of the action of force1 as1 for example1 in gravitation1 brooded the ,unknowable4 ,and it was not their knowledge1 but their ignorance that entailed absurd issues4 ,already there are signs that even celestial physics and mathematics will refuse to endorse as final so revolting a scheme of material evolution and devolution1 ending only in universal death4#bc ,and when once the re-birth of new order out of the old is seen to be everywhere and eternally taking place1 then all the hints given us by science of the ultimate oneness of all things1 converge in the faith that ,all is ,god1 and ,god is ,all4 ,for certainly1 the latest observations on ,matter suggest that all forms of it are variations of one ultimate ,substance4 ,and the convertibility of forces1 as well as the conservation of force1 point to one eternal energy4 ,nor is the duality thus suggested any final conclusion4 ,for few1 ,i imagine1 would now contend that1 in the last result ,matter and ,force are fundamentally different things4 ,in fact1 ,monism holds the field2 and though the evolution of human opinion is very slow1 it appears safe to predict that the triumph of that world theory is assured4 ,sidenote3 ,idea of ,creation ,incongruous with ,modern ,knowledge4 ,this result ,is additionally secured by the increasing incongruity felt between the immeasurable vastness of the ,universe1 even as known1 and the idea of creation out of nothing4 ,when the ,almighty could be seriously pictured as constructing chambers for ,himself and ,his heavenly host above1 the middle floor of earth for the children of men1 and the abyss for ghosts and devils1 the notion that ,his word evoked that puny structure from nothing might be invested by poets and prophets with a certain grandeur4 ,each part of the work had an object as conceivable as that of each floor in a house2 and1 according to petty human notions of utility1 nothing was wasted4 ,but now1 when our astronomers confront us with countless millions of orbs1 to whose extension ,in space no bound can be proved1 while some of them tell us that the whole immensity is a desert of alternate fire and darkness1 with no spark of finite intellect except in our tiny earth1 some of us1 at least1 cannot help feeling that the notion of a personal divine worker calling this huge enigma out of blank eternal nothing1 is enormously and utterly incongruous both with reverence and common sense4 ,and if the ,pantheist in these days be asked1 ,what interpretation then do you propose8 his answer is1 ,i propose none4 ,i take things as they are4 ,in their totality they are unknowable1 as1 indeed1 even science finds they are in their infinitesimal parts4 ,but we need not on this account lose the divinity that shapes our ends4 ,sidenote3 ,pantheistic ,morality4 ,sidenote3 ,the ,law of the ,whole4 ,for1 between the infinite and the infinitesimal the human experience realizes itself in surroundings which1 when observed and reflected on1 make the impression of ordered relations of parts4 ,by a necessity of our finite and individual existence as centres of action--a necessity of which we can give no account--we present those relations to ourselves in forms of time and space4 ,then1 when our experience is large enough and ripe enough1 being enriched and stimulated by the stored-up experience of humanity1 as recorded in tradition1 custom1 ,bibles1 and ,epics1 we attain to the moral sense1 and realize that we are bound to be loyal to something greater than self4 ,that greater may be the tribe1 the nation1 humanity or ,god4 ,but in far the larger number of cases in which this sense of willing loyalty is aroused1 its cause is the appeal to us of some whole of which we form a part4 ,certainly this is so with the patriot and the philanthropist4 ,indeed1 it would be difficult1 or impossible1 to find any human relationship1 from the family upwards1 through the wider circles of school1 club1 municipality1 nationality1 in which this sense of loyalty or devotion to the law of the whole is not the best incentive to devotion4 ,sidenote3 ,of that ,law of the ,whole ,loyalty to ,god in the ,supreme ,application4 ,yet1 when we come to contemplate the final and supreme object of devotion1 the ,eternal ,himself1 it has been almost the universal custom to make a surprising exception1 and to regard religion as maintainable only by recognition of a tremendous outward authority1 to which only such loyalty is possible as in barbarous times was fostered towards a personal chieftain1 or feudal king4 ,now ,pantheism holds this to be an error1 and regards obedience and devotion to ,god as the ultimate and most inspiring application of that principle of the loyalty of the part to the whole which runs through all morality4 ,sidenote3 ,conclusion4 ,why should we be supposed to be without ,god because we acknowledge ,him to be superpersonal1 and past finding out8 ,or why should we be suspected of denying the divinity of evolution because we do not believe the ,eternal ,all to be subject to it8 ,this instinct of loyalty1 in the sense of self-subordination to any greater ,whole of which we are part1 the distinction of right and wrong thence arising1 and the aspiration after a moral ideal1 are not of man's invention4 ,speaking1 as we cannot help doing1 in terms of time1 ,i hold that the germs of this higher creature-life were always in the divine unity out of which man is evolved4 ,and in pursuing the inspirations of that higher life1 as experience suggests them1 humanity has always had a guide and a saviour in the ,living ,god1 of whom the race life-time of man is an infinitesimal phase4 ,in such an interpretation of man's relations to ,god there is nothing necessarily hostile to any form of genuine religion4#bd ,true1 there are in the creeds many statements which we cannot accept in the letter4 ,but there are few which have not some spiritual suggestion for us4 ,and if we can attain to that intellectual love of ,god in which ,spinoza was absorbed1 we have no quarrel with any mode of sincere devotion4 ,pious ,catholic1 ,protestant1 ,vedantist1 ,mohammedan--all1 by the implicit1 though unrecognised necessities of their faith1 worship the same ,god as ourselves4 ,but the wrangles of sectarian zeal no longer concern us3 for we have passed ,to where beyond those voices there is peace4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote #bb3 ,quoted by ,dr4 ,j4 ,hunt1 in his ,essay on ,pantheism1 p4 #cab4 ,footnote #bc3 ,see ,the ,religion of the ,universe1 pp4 #abh-cj4 ,footnote #bd3 ,limitations of space must be my apology for reference to an enlargement of this topic in ,a ,pantheistic ,sermon at the end of ,the ,religion of the ,universe4