'Ulillil'lllilU'U' S5 o = I I ^M's, BOOK card;:: ^"'•^ersity Research L/bro, cr CT cri CD r •ji P 'J? CO fKJ Co is / This book is DUE on the last date stamped belov ^ 2 I 1924 4 1939 • *^ (^ 1939 ? *> R 1939 21 194b 5m-12,'23 FP APR I 9 19lf|) DEC -^ 1 )m ^OV S ' 19S3 JUL 1 1 RECa 6 6 1958 AUG AUG h\m i A SHORT HISTORY OF FREETHOUGHT BY THE SAME AUTHOR. ESSAYS TOWARDS A CRITICAL METHOD. NEW ESSAYS TOWARDS A CRITICAL METHOD. MONTAIGNE AND SHAKSPERE. BUCKLE AND HIS CRITICS : a Sociological Study. THE SAXON AND THE CELT : a Sociological Study. MODERN HUMANISTS: Studies of Carlyle, Mill, Emer- son, Arnold, Ruskin, and Spencer. THE FALLACY OF SAVING : a Study in Economics. THE EIGHT HOURS QUESTION : a Study in Economics. THE DYNAMICS OF^'rELIGION : an Essay in English Culture-History. (By " M. W. Wiseman.") PATRIOTISM AND EMPIRE. STUDIES IN RELIGIOUS FALLACY. AN INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH POLITICS. WRECKING THE EMPIRE. CHRISTIANITY AND MYTHOLOGY. A SHORT HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. PAGAN CHRISTS. CRITICISMS. 2 vols. TENNYSON AND BROWNING AS TEACHERS. ESSAYS IN ETHICS. ESSAYS IN SOCIOLOGY. 2 vols. LETTERS ON REASONING. COURSES OF STUDY. CHAMBERLAIN : a Study. DID SHAKESPEARE WRITE "TITUS ANDRONICUS "? A SHORT HISTORY OF FREETHOUGHT ANCIENT AND MODERN BY JOHN M. ROBERTSON SECOND EDIT! OX, REWRITTEN AXD GREATLY ENLARGED ^0 do IN TWO VOLUMES Vol. II. New York : G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 27 & 29 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET 1906 ^^ ^ o CONTENTS VOLUME II. PAGE Chap. XIII.— The Rise ov Modern Freethought. § 1. The Italian Influence. The Sozzini. Unitarianism in Europe. Effects in Eng-land. Aconzio. The Catholic Reaction in Italy .... i § 2. France. Desperiers. Rabelais. Dolet. Montaigne. Charron ---... r §3. England. Charges of Atheism. Executions under Elizabeth. Hammond. Kett. Marlowe. Raleigh. Shakespeare. Executions under James. Bacon 23 § 4. Popular Thought in Europe. Callidius. Flade. Wier. Coornhert. Grotius. Gorlsus. Koerbagh. Beverland. Socinianism. The case of Spain. Cervantes ------ 49 § 5. Saientific Thought. Copernicus. Giordano Bruno. Vanini. Sanchez. Galileo. The Aristotelian strife. Vives. Ramus. Descartes. Gassendi 60 Chap. XIV. — British Freethought in the Seventeenth Century. § I. Lord Herbert of Cherbury. Hobbes. Selden - 85 § 2. The popular ferment : attempted suppression of heresy by Parliament. Lawrence Clarkson. The Levellers and Toleration. Forms of unbelief. The term "rationalist." Propaganda against atheism. Culverwel. Freethought at the Restoration. The protests of Howe, Stillingfleet, and Baxter. Freethought in Scotland. The argument of Mackenzie. English Apologetics of Casaubon, Ingelo, Temple, Wilkins, Tillotson, Cudworth, Boyle, and others. Martin Clifford. Emerg-ence of Deism. Avowals of Archdeacon Parker. Charles Blount. Leslie's polemic. Growth of apologetic literature. Toland. The Licensing Act ----- 92 § 3. Literary and academic developments. Sir Thomas Browne. Jeremj- Taylor. John Spencer. Joseph Glanvill. Cartesianism. Glisson. Influence of vi CONTENTS Gassendi. Unitarianism. Lord Falkland. Colonel Fry. Locke. The Marquis of Halifax. Newton. Penn. Tillotson. Firmin. Latitudinarianism. Dr. T. Burnet. Dr. B. Connor. John Craig. The "rationalists " ----- iio Chap, XV. — British Freethought in the Eighteenth Century. § I. Toland. Strifes among believers. Cudworth. Bishops Browne and Berkeley. Heresy in the Church. The Schools of Newton, Leibnitz, and Clarke. Hutchinson. Halley. Provincial deism. Whiston. Saunderson. Literary orthodoxy. Addison. Steele. Berkeley. Swift. New deism. Shaftesbury. Trenchard. Lhiitarianism. Asgill. Coward. Dodwell - - - - - 126 § 2. Anthony Collins. Bentley's attack. Mandeville. Woolston. Middleton. Deism at Oxford. Tindal. Elwall. Berkeley's polemic. Lady Mary Montagu. Pope. Deism and Atheism. Strutt. Parvish. Influence of Spinoza. William Pitt. Chubb. Morgan. Peter Annet. Dodwell the Younger. The work achieved by deism. The social situation. The intellectual success. Recent disparagements and German testimony. The arrest of English science. Effects of imperialism. Contrast with France - 134 § 3. Supposed "decay" of deism. Butler. William Law. Hume - - - - - '55 § 4. Freethought in Scotland. Execution of Thomas Aikenhead. Confiscation of innovating books. Legislation against deism. Halyburton's polemic. Strife over creeds. John Johnston. William Dudgeon. Hutcheson. Leechman. Forbes. Millar. Smith. Ferguson. Kames. Church riots. Freethought in Ireland. Lord Molesworth. Archbishop Synge. Bishop Clayton - - 158 § 5. Situation in England in 1750. Richardson's lament. Middleton. Deism among the clergy. Sykes. The deistic evolution. Materialism. La Mettrie. Shifting of the social centre : the industrial and political forces. Gray's avowal. Hume's estimate. Goldsmith's. The later deism. Bolingbroke. i Diderot's diagnosis. Influence oi Voltaire. Low state of popular culture. Prosecutions of poor freethinkers. Jacob Hive. Peter Annet. Later deistic literature. The Wesleyan revival. The contribution of Gibbon. Burke's miscalculation. CONTENTS vii PAGli The religion of the younger Pitt. Geology. Hutton. Cowper's anger. Paley's complaints. Commonness of unbelief. Erasmus Darwin. Panic and reaction after the French Revolution. New aristocratic orthodoxy. Thomas Paine. New democratic freethought ... 165 Chap. XVI. — European Freethought from Descartes to THE French Revolution. § I. France o)id Holland. 1. Influence of Montaigne and Charron. La Mothe le Vayer. Gui Patin. Naudt^. Richelieu - - - - - 181 2. Descartes's influence. Boileau. Malherbe. Jean Fontanier. Tht^ophile de Viau. Claude Petit. Corneille. Moli^re. Cyrano de Bergerac - - - - - 182 3. Pascal. Jansenism. Bossuet - - - 185 4. Huet. Le Vassor's complaint. Jesuit polemic 188 5. Gassendi - - - - - - 190 6. St. Evremond. Regnard. La Bruy^re. Fon- tenelle ------ 193 7. The Cartesian school. Regis. Desgabets. Malebranche - - - - - 194 8. Richard Simon. La Peyrire - - - 196 9. Influence of Descartes in Holland. Louis Meyer. Spinoza _ . - - igy 10. Dutch rationalism. Le Clerc. Spinozistic movements. Deurhoff. Bekker. Discus- sion on witchcraft. "Juan di Posos." Leenhoff'. Booms - - - - 201 1 1 . Bayle ------ 203 12. Bayle's influence. Passerano. Dutch literary conditions ----- 206 13. Spinozism in France. Abbadie's complaints. Decline in French intellectual prestige. Influence of Louis XIV". Boulainvilliers. Ft^nelon. Chevalier Ramsay. Huard. Marie Huber. Persecution of the //zZ/ow/Ar^ - 207 14. The 7>5-/aw^«^ of Jean Meslier - - - 212 15. Voltaire. Buckle's chronological error. Frederick the Great. Marchioness du Chatelet. Voltaire's influence - - 215 16. The EticyclopMie. The French intellectual evolution. Bibliographical outline. Burigny. Fr^ret. Dumarsais. Pr^montval - - 222 17. The orthodox defence. Bergier. English estimates and misconceptions - - 228 viii CONTENTS 232 234 236 239 18. The main body of deists. Raynal an excep- tion. Rousseau - . . . 19. The literary development. Montesquieu. Official toleration - . . . 20. La Mettrie. The scientific movement. Buffon. Maupertiiis. Robinet. Helvetius. Beccaria 236 21. Diderot ------ 22. D'Alembert. D'Holbach - - - 243 23. Situation at the Revolution. Volney. Dupuis. Condorcet ----- 244 24. The anti-deistic leg-end - - - - 245 [a) The leading- revolutionists deistic, not atheistic. The orthodox types : Gregore. Action of the clergy - 246 [b) Deistic measures. No new State cult. The alleged Cult of Reason. Free- thought among the priests. Reason and Deity. Hubert. Chaumette. Clootz ----- 248 [c) Robespierre. The Terror : its deistic associations. Salaville the atheist - 250 25. Origination of the legend. Rivarol. Influence of the " philosophic " schools. Frederick's estimate. The Revolution and Rousseau - 250 § II. Germany. 1. The Lutheran decadence. Orthodox apolo- gfetics. Alsted. The Thirt}- Years' War. The Peace of Westphalia. Traces of un- belief during the war. Resulting; skepticism. New apolog-etics. Knutzen and his move- ment ------ 254 2. Influence of Spinoza. Favour shown to him. Opposition. F. W. Stosch. Bibliographical sketch ------ 257 3. Leibnitz ------ 259 4. Influence of Leibnitz. Pietism. Rationalist reaction. The name Freigeist - - 261 5. Christian Thomasius. His influence - - 263 6. Dippel ------ 264 7. T. L. Lau ----- 265 8. Wolft" - - - - . - 266 9. New rationalism. J. L. Schmidt. Edelmann. J. F. W. Jerusalem - . - - 266 10. Eng-lish and French influences. Optimism and pessimism. Haller. Euler. The argument from ignorance. Decay of orthodoxy. Influence of the king . _ . 269 ir. Frederick . - . - - 272 CONTENTS ix PACK 12. Nicolai and his publications. Riem. Schade. Basedow. Eberhard. Spalding. Teller - 274 13. Clerical rationalism. Semler - - - 277 14. Balirdt ...... 278 15. Mendelssohn. Reimarus. Lessing- - - 281 16. \'og'ue of deism. Wieland. Isenbiehl. Further clerical rationalism. Schulz. Orthodox and official reaction. The Moroccan Letters. Mauvillon. The edict of repression. Herder 285 17. Goethe ------ 290 18. Schiller ------ 292 19. Kant ------ 293 20. Influence of Kant. The sequel. Fichte. Erhard. Hamann . . - - 300 21. Other philosophic movements. Crusius. Tetens. Platner. Pyrrhonism of Beau- sobre. Fichte's development. Strifes of the post-Kantians. Nugatoriness of the theistic constructions. Thought in Austria. Rule of the Jesuits. Jahn. Beethoven - 302 § III. The remaining European States. 1. The reformation in Denmark and Sweden. Gustavus Vasa. Christina. Puffendorf. Count Struensee . - - - 306 2. Poland. Liszinski. Russia. Peter the Great and the monks. Catherine - - - 308 3. Italy. Spanish misrule. Tuscany. The two Ferdinands. Naples under Carpi. Vico. His influence ----- 309 4. Beccaria and the economists - - - 312 5. Algarotti. Filangieri. Galiani. Genovesi. Alfieri. Bettinelli. Dandolo. Leopold of Tuscany. Fall of the Jesuits • - - 313 6. Spain. Aranda. The rule of Charles III. The Catholic reaction - - - 314 7. Portugal. Pombal - - - - 315 8. Switzerland ----- S'a Chap. XVH.— Early Freethought in the United States. 1. Deism of the revolutionary statesmen- - 317 2. First traces of unbelief Franklin - - 317 Jefferson. John Adams. Washington - 318 Thomas Paine ----- 320 Paine's treatment in America - - - 321 6. Palmer. Houston. Deism and Unitarianism 322 Chap. XVIII.— FreethougHt in the Nineteenth Century. General outline - - - - - 3^5 CONTENTS § I. Popular Propaganda. 1. The influence of Paine. Watson's Reply. Translations from the French. Houston. Wedderburn. Richard Carlile and his co- adjutors. Taylor. Southwell and his co- adjutors. Hetherington . . . ^27 2. Robert Owen and his movement. G. and A. Combe. G. J, Holyoake. Bradlaug-h and the Secularist movement. The Bradlaugh strug-gle. Trial of G. W. Foote. Results to freethought. Case of Mrs. Besant - 332 3. The United States: France. Movements of Fourier, Saint-Simon, and Comte. Other Catholic countries. Spain. Holland. Free thought journalism . - . . 336 4. Germany. Freethought after the war of Liberation. Religious reaction. The "Friends of Light. " Freethought in 1848. "Free-religious" societies. Organised freethought. German police laws. Marx, Bebel, and Liebknecht. German free- thought in the United States - - 338 5. " Free-religious " societies in America and England. Fox, Conway^ and South Place Chapel. The Ethical Societies. The Labour Churches - - - - 342 6. Unitarianism . _ . . - ^43 7. Academic freethinking in France. Opinion in 1830. Academic freethought in Switzer- land. The religious revolt. Decline of Swiss clericalism and orthodox}-. Critical thought in Holland. The Transvaal. Re- sults of the South African War - - 345 8. Popukir freethought in the Catholic countries. Belgium. Spain. Portugal. France. Italy. The South American Republics - - 348 9. Popular freethought in Sweden - - 349 Scholarly and other Biblical Criticism. 1. German rationalism. Schleiermacher. The evolution to Strauss. Persecution. Leeway in research. Unsuccessful new departures. Ghillany. Daumer . - - - 351 2. The German academic evolution. Decay of interest in theology - - - - 354 3. Progress in England and the L^nited States. Unitarianism. Hennell. Parker. F. W. Newman. R. W. Mackay. Greg. Thomas Scott. \y. R. Casscls' Si/per>iatii>-al PcligioH 356 CONTENTS xi 4. Rationalism in France. Larroque. D'Eichthal. Peyrat. Renan. Havet - - . 358 5. The hig'her criticism. Eichhorn's successors. Geddes. Colenso. Kuenen. W'ellhausen. Smith. Kalisch. New Testament criticism to Schmiedel. Unitarian propaganda - 358 6. Assyriology . - . . . 360 § III. The Natural Sciences. 1. Astronomy. Effects of the Copernican and Newtonian systems. Laplace's theory. Readjustment of theism. Miracles - 361 2. Biology. Lawrence . - - - 362 3. Geology. Werner and Hutlon. Hugh Miller 363 4. Zoology. Erasmus Darwin. Saint-Hilaire. Goethe. The Orthodox resistance - 365 5. Evolutio7iary Biology. Robert Chambers. Orthodox vilification - - - - 366 6. Dar7vitiis>n. C. Darwin and Wallace. The orthodox attack. Wilberforce and Huxley. Luthardt. Carlyle on Darwin - - 366 7. Collapse of deism. Developments of Darwin- ism. Haeckel . - - - 368 g IV. Abstract Philosophy and Ethics. 1. The German successors of Kant. Hegel and his school. Bruno Bauer. Schopenhauer. Hartmann. Nietzsche - - - 3^9 2. Feuerbach. Biichner - - - - 37' 3. Philosophy in France after the Revolution. Maine de Biran. De Maistre. Cousin. Jouffroy. Lamennais. Damiron - - 37^ 4. Auguste Comte. Taine - - - 374 5. Philosophy in Britain. Bentham. James Mill. George Grote. Influence of Utilitarianism 375 6. Hamilton. Mansel. Spencer. The Hegelians 376 7. Rationalism within the Church. Influence of Coleridge. Maurice. Parr - - - 377 8. Unitarianism. Emerson. Parker - - 37^ V. The Sociological Sciences. 1. Deism and sociology. Salverte. Charles Comte. Auguste Comte. Draper. Buckle. Spencer. Recent sociology - - - 379 2. Anthropology and mythology - - -380 3. Psychology. Phrenology - - - 381 VI. Poetry and Fin e Lette rs. 1. France after the Revolution. Chateaubriand and his school - - ' ' 382 xii CONTENTS 2. Later French literature. JVIichelet. The novelists - . . . . ^84 3. French poetry. Berang'er. De Musset. Hugo. Leconte de Lisle. Neurotic relig-ion - 385 4. Eng^lish poetry. Shelle}'. Coleridg-e. Scott. Byron. Southey. Keats - - . 386 5. Tennyson. Browning. Clough. Arnold. Swinburne. James Thomson - - 3S8 6. The case of Charles Lamb . . . 389 7. Carlyle. Emerson. Ruskin. Arnold - 391 8. The novelists. George Eliot. Recent fiction 392 9. The case of Richard Jefferies - - - 393 10. Belles Lcttres in the United States. Haw- thorne. Poe. Emerson. Thoreau. Whitman. Howells. H. James. Holmes. Higginson. Conway . - . 39^ 11. Itah'. Leopardi. Germany. Kleist. Heine. Auerbach. Heyse. Wagner - - 395 12. Russia. Bit^linsky. Granovsky. Tourguenief. Tolstoy. Gorky. The Scandinavian States 398 Chap. XIX. — The State of Thought in the Nations. § I. Britain and the United States. Conventional dissimulation. Romilly. Brougham. Carlyle. Mill. Fronde. Macaulay. Bain on Carlyle, IMacaulay, and Lyell. The economic pressure. Mr. Morley. Sir L. Stephen. Difficulties as to endowing rationalism. Position oi freethought lecturers. Optimistic miscalculations. Cases of reversion. Vogue of paralogism. Drummond. Rarity of best propagandist type. Clifford. Huxley. Pressures in the United States. Lincoln. Douglass. Grant. Ingersoll. Journalism. Clerical obscurantism. Conflicting forces in the churches. Politics and freethought. Neutral propaganda. The Free Church quarrel in Scotland. Stress of life in the United States. Australia and New Zealand. Unitarianism. Romanism and Ritualism. Welcome given to new works of apologetics. Intellect in the Church of England. Freethought among women. Harriet Martineau. George Eliot. Mrs. Besant. Frances Wright - 400 § 2. Tlie Catholic Countries. Sharp division between faith and rationalism. Revival of Italy. Leopardi. Mazzini. Garibaldi. Gubernatis. France. Gambetta. Paris Municipal Council. Position of women. Socialism - - - - 414 § 3. Germany. Bureaucratism and reaction. Virchow. CONTENTS xiii Catholicism. The theological chairs. Ten- dencies to reversion. Harnack. The Social Democrats. Influence ot" Marx, En^-els, and Bebel- - - - - - - 417 § 4. Russia and the Scandinavian States. The Scandi- navian conditions. Russia. Popular ignorance. The intelliguentia. Present prospects - - 419 § 5. Modern Jewry. Part played by Jews in freethougfht history. Jewish deism in eighteenth century. Rabbi Elijah. Krochmal. Present tendencies - 421 § 6. The Oriental Civilisations. Asiatic ignorance. The new birth of Japan. Popular religion there. Attitude of Fukuzawa. The social problem. Vogue of religion. Estimates of Japanese thought : Chamberlain, Griffis, Tracy, Dixon, Hearn, Gulick, Parker. Dependenceof rationalism on culture. lyeyasu. Transition from old to new. Thought in China. Freethought in Islam. Prospects in India. Buddhism in Burmah. Modern Brahmanism. Chaitanya. Nanak and the Sikhs. The Jainas. The Brahmo-Somaj movement. Turkey. Christian Greece. Con- clusion: preoccupations of social and intellectual problems - - - - 4^2 Chapter XIII. THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT § I. The Italian Influence. The negative bearing of the Reformation on freethought is made clear by the historic fact that the new currents of thought which broadly mark the beginning of the "modern spirit" arose in its despite, and derive originally from outside its sphere. It is to Italy, where the political and social conditions always tended to frustrate the Inquisition, that we trace the rise alike of modern deism, modern Unitarianism, modern pan- theism, modern physics, and the tendency to rational atheism. The deistic way of thinking, of course, prevailed long before it got that name ; and besides the vogue of Averroi'sm we have noted the virtual deism of More's Utopia (1515). The first explicit mention of i^ deism noted by Bayle, however, is in the epistle dedica- ,^ tory to the second and expanded edition of the Instruc- •^ tion Chretienne of the Swiss Protestant Viret (1563), , where professed deists are spoken of as a new species ^ bearing a new name. On the admission of Viret, who was the friend and bitter disciple of Calvin, they rejected all revealed religion, but called themselves deists by way of repudiating atheism ; some keeping a belief in immor- tality, some rejecting it. In the theological manner he goes on to call them all execrable atheists, and to say that he has added to his treatise on their account an exposition of natural religion grounded on the " Book of Nature "; stultifying himself by going on to say that he has also dealt with the professed atheists.' Of the deists ' Bayle, Dictionnaire, art. Viret, note D. I 2 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT he admits that among them were men of the highest repute for science and learning. Thus within ten years of the burning of Servetus we find privately avowed deism and atheism in the area of French-speaking Protestantism. Doubtless the spectacle of Protestant feuds and methods would ^o far to foster such unbelief; but though, as we have seen, there were aggressive Uni- tarians in Germany before 1530, who, being scholars, may or may not have drawn on Italian thought, there- after there is reason to look to Italy as the source of the propaganda. Thence came the two Sozzini, the founders of Socinianism, of whom Lelio, the uncle of Fausto, travelled much in northern Europe (including England) between 1546 and 1552.' Before Socinianism had taken form it was led up to, as we have seen, in the later writings of the ex-monk Bernardino Ochino (1487- 1564), who, in the closing years of a much chequered career, combined mystical and Unitarian tendencies with a leaning to polygamy and freedom of divorce.^ His influence was considerable among the Swiss Protes- tants, though they finally expelled him for his heresies. From Geneva or from France, in turn, apparently came some of the English freethought of the middle period of the sixteenth century ;-5 for in 1562 Speaker Williams in the House of Commons, in a list of misbelievers, speaks of " Pelagians, Libertines, Papists, and such others, leavinsf God's commandments to follow their own tradi- tions, affections, and minds "'^ — using theologically the foreign term, which never became naturalised in English ' Calvin, scenting' his heresy, warned him in 1552 (Bayle, art. Marianus Socin, the first, note B); but they remained on surprisingly good terms till Lelio's death in 1562. Cp. Stahelin, Johannes Calvin, ii, 321-8. - Cp. Bayle, art. Ochin ; Miss M. E. Lowndes, Michel de Montaigne, p. 266 ; Owen, Skeptics of the French Renaissance^ p. 588 ; Benrath, Bernardino Ochino of Siena, Eng". trans. 1876, pp. 268-272. McCrie mentions {Reformation in Italy, ed. 1856, p. 228, note) that Ochino's dialogue on polygamy has been translated and published in England " by the friends of that practice." 3 Above, vol. i, pp. 473-4. ■» D'Ewes, Journals of Parliament in the Reign of Elizabeth, 1682, p. 65. THE ITALIAN INFLUENCE in its foreign sense. It was about the year 1563, again, that Roger Ascham wrote his Schole?naster, wherein are angrily described, as a species new in England, men who, "where they dare," scorn both Protestant and Papist, rejecting scripture, and counting the Christian mysteries as fables."' He describes them as " aOtoi in doctrine"; adding, "this last word is no more unknowne now to plane Englishe men than the Person was unknown somtyme in England, untill some Englishe man took peines to fetch that develish opinion out of Italic."^ The whole tendency he connects in a general way with the issue of many new translations from the Italian, mentioning in particular Petrarch and Boccaccio. Among good Protestants his view was general ; and so Lord Burghley in his Advice to his Son writes : " Suffer not thy sons to pass the Alps, for they shall learn nothing there but pride, blasphemy, and atheism." As it happened, his grandson the second Earl of Exeter, and his great-grandson Lord Roos, went to Rome and became not atheists but Roman Catholics. Like the old Averroism, the new pietistic Unitarianism persisted in Italy and radiated thence afresh when it had flagged in other lands. The exploded Unitarian tradition^ runs that the doctrine arose in the year 1546 among a group of more than forty learned men who were wont to assemble in secret at Vicenza, near Venice. In point of fact, Melanchthon comments on Unitarianism at Venice in 1538 ;^ and Servetus, the alleged source of the earlier Venetian movement, after intercourse with Lutherans in Germany, had put forth his anti-trinitarian doctrines as early as 1531 and 1532. Claudius of Savoy, too, emphatically gave out his at Berne in 1534, after having been imprisoned at Strasburg and banished thence ;'" and Ochino and Lelio ' See above, vol. i, p. 474. " The Schole master, Arber's rep. p. 82. 3 See McCrie, Reformation in Italvycd. 1856, pp. 96-99. ^ Id. p. 96. 5 Trechsel, Die Protestantischen Antitrinitarier vor Faustus Socinus , \ (1839), 56; Mosheim, 16 Cent. 3rd sec. Pt. ii, ch. iv, § 3. 4 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT Sozzini left Italy in 1543. But there seems to have been a continuous evolution of Unitarian heresy in the south after the German movement had ceased. Giorgio Biandrata, whom we have seen flying to Poland from Geneva, had been seized by the Inquisition at Pavia for such opinion. Still it persisted. In 1562, Giulio Guirlando of Treviso, and in 1566 Francesco Saga of Rovigo, were burned at Venice for anti-Trinitarianism. Giacomo Aconzio, too, who dedicated his Stratagems of Satan (Basel, 1565) to -Queen Elizabeth, and who pleaded notably for the toleration of heresy,' was a decided latitudinarian.' It is remarkable that the whole ferment occurs in the period of the Catholic Reaction, the Council of Trent, and the subjection of Italy, when the Papacy was making its great effort to recover its ground. It would seem that in the compulsory peace which had now fallen on Italian life men's thoughts turned more than ever to mental problems, as had happened in Greece after the rise of Alexander's empire. The authority of the church was outwardly supreme ; the Jesuits had already begun to do great things for education ;3 the revived Inquisi- tion was everywhere in Italy; its prisons, as we have seen, were crowded with victims of all grades during a whole generation ; Pius V and the hierarchy every- where sought to enforce decorum in life ; the " pagan " academies formed on the Florentine model were dis- solved ; and classic culture rapidly decayed with the arts, while clerical learning flourished,^ and a new religious music began with Palestrina ; yet on the death of Paul IV the Roman populace burned the Office of the Inquisition to the ground and cast the Pope's statue into ' Hallam, Lit. of Europe, ii, 82. ^ Art. ACONTIUS, in Diet, of National Biog. Cp. J. J. Tayler, Retro- spect of the Religious Life of England, 2nd ed. pp. 205-6. As to the attack on latitudinarianism in the Thirty-nine Articles, see above, vol. i, p. 475. 3 Bacon, Advancement of Learning, B. i ; Filiim Labyrinthi, § 7 (Routledg-e's ed. pp. 50, 63, 209). ■t Cp. Zeller, Hist, de I'ltalie, pp. 400-412; Greene, Short Hist. ch. viii, § 2. FRANCE the Tiber ;' and in that age (1548) was born Giordano Bruno, one of the types of modern freethought. § 2. France. In the other countries influenced by ItaHan culture in the sixteenth century the rationalist spirit had various fortune. The true renascence of letters in France had begun before and gone on during the Reformation period ; and all along it showed a tincture of free- thought. From the midst of the group who laid the foundations of French Protestantism by translations of the Bible there comes forth the most articulate free- thinker of that age, Bonaventure Desperiers, author of the Cymhaliim Mundi {\>,^i). Early associated with Calvin and Olivetan in revising the translation of the Bible by Lefevre d'Etaples (rev. 1535), Desperiers turned away from the Protestant movement, as did Rabelais and Dolet, caring as little for the new presbyter as for the old priest ; and all three were duly accused by the Protestants of atheism and liber tinage.'' In the same year Desperiers aided Dolet to produce his much- praised Commentarii linguae latinae ; and within two years he had printed his own satire, Cymbaliun Mundi^'^ wherein, by way of pagan dialog'ues, are allegorically ridiculed the Christian scheme, its miracles, Bible con- tradictions, and the spirit of persecution, then in full fire in France against the Protestants. The allegory is not always clear to modern eyes ; but there was no question then about its general bearing ; and Desperiers, though groom of the chamber (after Clement Marot) to Mar- guerite of France (later of Navarre), had to fly for his ' McCrie, p. 164. It was said by Scaliger that " in the time of Pius IV [between Paul IV and Pius V] people talked very freely in Rome." Id. ib. note. ^ Notice of Bonaventure Desperiers, by Bibliophile Jacob, in 1841 ed. of Cyiiibahitu Mitndi, etc. 3 For a solution of the enig-ma of the title see the Clef oi Eloi Johan- neau in ed. cited, p. 83. The book is dedicated by Thomas Du Clevier a son ami Pierre Tyrocan, which is found to be, with one letter altered (perhaps by a printer's error), an anagram for Thomas Incrddule ii son ami Pierre Crovant, '■' Unbelieving- Thomas to his friend Believing Peter." Clef ci'ted, pp. 80-85. 6 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT life as Marot did before him. The first edition of his book, secretly printed at Paris, was seized and destroyed ; and the second (1538), printed for him at Lyons, whither he had taken his flight, seems to have had a similar fate. From that time he disappears, probably dying, whether or not by suicide is doubtful,' before 1544, when his miscellaneous works were published. They include his CEuvres Diverses — many of them graceful poems addressed to his royal mistress. Marguerite — which, with his verse translation of the Andria of Terence and his Discoiirs non plus Melancoliques que Divers, make up his small body of work. In the Discours may be seen applied to matters of history and scholarship the same critical spirit that utters itself in the Cymbalum, and the same literary gift ; but for orthodoxy his name became a hissing and a byword, and it is only in modern times that French scholarship has recognised in Desperiers the true literary comrade and potential equal of Rabelais and Marot.- The age of Francis was too inclement for such literature as his Cymbalum ; and it was much that it spared Gringoire (d. 1544), who, without touching doctrine, satirised in his verse both priests and Pro- testants. It is something of a marvel, further, that it spared Rabelais (? 1493-1553), whose enormous raillery so nearly fills up the literary vista of the age for modern retrospect. It has been said by a careful student that "the free and universal inquiry, the philosophic doubt, which were later to work the glory of Descartes, proceed from Rabelais ";3 and it is indeed an impression of boundless intellectual curiosity and wholly unfettered thinking that is set up by his entire career. Educated at a convent school, he had the luck to have for school- fellows the four famous brothers Du Bellay, so well able ' The readiness of piety in all ages to inv^ent frig-htful deaths for unbelievers must be remembered in connection with this and other records. Cp. Notice cited, p. xx, and note. = So Charles Nodier, cited in the Notice by Bibliophile Jacob, pp. xxiii- xxiv. 3 Perrens, Les Libertins en France au XVIIe sibcle, 1896, p. 41. FRANCE to protect him in later life ; and, forced to spend fifteen years of his young life (1509-24) as a Franciscan monk, he turned the time to account by acquiring an immense erudition, including a knowledge of Greek, then rare." Naturally the book-lover was not popular among his fellow-monks ; and his Greek books were actually confiscated by the chapter, who found in his cell certain writings of Erasmus. Thereafter, by the help of the friendly bishop of the diocese, Rabelais received papal permission to join the order of the Benedictines (1524) ; but soon after, though he was a fully-ordained priest, we find him broken loose, and living for some six years a life of wandering freedom, winning friends in high places by his learning and his gaiety, everywhere studying and observing. In 1530 he is found at Mont- pellier, extending his studies in medicine, in which he speedily won distinction, becoming a lecturer in the following year. He was esteemed one of the chief anatomists of his day, being one of the first to dissect the human body and to insist on the need of such training for physicians ;- and in 1532 he published at Lyons an edition of the Latin letters of the Ferrarese physician Mandard ; and his own commentaries on Galen and Hippocrates. ^ At Lyons he made the acquaintance of Dolet, Marot, and Desperiers ; and his letter (of the same year) to Erasmus, addressed as Bernard de Salignac, showed afresh how his intellectual sympathies went. In 1533 began his series of almanacks, continued till 1550, presumably as printer's hack-work. Only one of them seems to have been comic; and this, which alone has been preserved entire, passes hardy ridicule on astrology,"* one of the most popular superstitions of the ' Notice historiquc in Bibliophile Jacob's ed. of Rabelais^ 1841 ; Stapfer, Rabelais, pp. 6, 10. ^ Le Double, Rabelais ayiatomiste et physiologiste, 1889, pp. 12, 42^ ; and pref. by Professor Duval, p. xiii ; Stapfer, p. 42. 3 In the same year he was induced to publish what turned out to be two spurious documents purporting to be ancient Roman remains. See Heulhard, Rabelais legiste. ^ Stapfer, pp. 24-25. 8 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT day, among high and low ahke. Just before, he had begun to handle the famous names and figures of Pantagruel and Gargantua ; and almost immediately the Sorbonne was on his track, condemning his Panta- gruel \n 1533. A journey soon afterwards to Rome, in the company of his friend Bishop Jean du Bellay, the French ambassador, may have saved him some personal experience of persecution. Two years later, when the Bishop went to Rome to be made cardinal, Rabelais again accompanied him; and this time he obtained from Pope Clement VII an absolution for his breach of his monastic vows, with permission to practise medicine in a Benedictine monastery. Shortly before, his little son Theodule had died ;' and it may have been grief that inspired such a desire: in any case, the papal permission was never used,"" though the pardon was doubtless serviceable. Taking his degree as doctor at Mont- pelier in 1537, he recommenced a wandering life. In this period Rabelais had seen cause to modify a number of the hardier utterances in the original issues of the first two books of his Pantagruel, notably his many epithets aimed at the Sorbonne. ^ In the reprints there are substituted for Biblical names some drawn from heathen mythology ; expressions too strongly savouring of Calvinism are withdrawn ; and disrespectful allusions to the kings of France are elided. Calvin, who had once been his friend, had in his book De Scandalis angrily accused him of lihertinage, profanity, and atheism ; and henceforth, like Desperiers, he was as little in sympathy with Protestantism as with the zealots of Rome. In his concern to keep himself safe with the Sorbonne he even made a rather unworthy attack (1542) on his former friend Etienne Dolet for the mere ' Rathery, Notice biog. in edit. Firmin Didot, i, 71 ; Stapfer, pp. 42-43. ^ Stapfer, p. 53. 3 See the list in the avertissement of M. Burgaud des Marets to ^d. Firmin Didot. Cp. Stapfer, pp. 63, 64. For example, the " theolog^ian " who makes the ludicrous speech in Liv-. i, ch. 19, becomes (cc. 18 and 20) a "sophist"; and the sorbonistes, sorhonicoles, and sorbonagres of cc. 20 and 21 become mere mnistres, magistres, and sopliistes likewise. FRANCE oversight of reprinting one of his books without deleting passages which Rabelais had expunged ;' but no expur- gation could make his evaugile^ as he called it, a Christian treatise, or keep for him an orthodox reputa- tion ; and it was with much elation that he obtained in 1545 from King Francis — whose private reader was his friend Duchatel, Bishop of Tulle — a privilege to print the third book of Pantagntel, which he issued in 1546, signed for the first time with his name, and prefaced by a cry of jovial defiance to the " petticoated devils " of the Sorbonne. They at once sought to convict him of fresh blasphemies ; but even the thrice-repeated substi- tution of an 11 for an m in dme, making "ass" out of "soul," was carried off, by help of Bishop Duchatel, as a printer's error; and the king, having laughed like other readers, maintained the imprimatur. It was on the death of Francis in 1547 that Rabelais ran his greatest danger, having to fly to Metz, where for a time he acted as salaried physician of the city. In 1549, however, on the birth of a son to Henri II, his friend Cardinal Bellay returned to power, and Rabelais to court favour with him. The derider of astrology did not scruple to cast a prosperous horoscope for the infant prince — justifying by strictly false predictions his own estimate of the art, since the child died in the cradle. There was now eftected the dramatic scandal of the appointment of Rabelais in 1550 to two parish cures, one of which, Meudon, has given him his most familiar sobriquet. He seems to have left both to be served by vicars f but the wrath of the church was so great that early in 1552 he resigned them ;3 proceeding immediately " R. Christie, Afienne Dolef, pp. 369-372. Mr. Christie, in his vacil- lating way, severely blames Dolet, and then admits that the book may have been printed while Dolet was in prison, and that in any case there was no malice in the matter. This point, and the persistent Catholic calumnies ag-ainst Dolet, are examined by the author in art. "The Truth about Etienne Dolet," in National Refonner, June 2nd and 9th, 1889. - Jacob, Notice, p. Ixiii ; Stapfer, p. 76. 3 So Rathery, p. 60, and Stapfer, p. 78. Jacob, p. Ixii, says he resigned only one. Rathery makes the point clear by giving a copy of the act of resignation as to Meudon. lo THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT afterwards to publish the fourth book of Pantagruel, for which he had duly obtained official privilege. As usual, the Sorbonne rushed to the pursuit ; and the Parlement of Paris forbade the sale of the book despite the royal permission. That permission, however, was reaffirmed ; and this, the most audacious of all the writings of Rabelais, went forth freely throughout France. In the following year, his work done, he died. It is difficult to estimate the intellectual effect of his performance, which was probably much greater at the end of the century than during his life. His vast innuendoes by way of jests about the people of Ruach (the Spirit) who lived solely on wind ;' his quips about the "reverend fathers in devil," of the " diabological faculty";^ his narratives about the Papefigues and Papimanes ;^ and his gibes at the Decretals, ^ were doubtless enjoyed by many good Catholics, other- wise placated by his attacks on the "demoniacal Calvins, impostors of Geneva "i^ and so careful was he on matters of dogma that it remains impossible to say with confidence whether or not he finally believed in a future state. '^ That he was a deist or Unitarian seems the reasonable inference as to his general creed ;7 but there also he throws out no negations — even indicates a genial contempt for the philosophe ephectiqiie et pyj-rhonien^ who opposes a halting doubt to two contrary doctrines. In any case, he was anathema to the heresy-hunters of the Sorbonne, and only powerful protection could have saved him. Dolet was at least no more of an unbeliever than he ; but where Rabelais could with ultimate impunity ridicule the whole machinery of the church, ^ Dolet, after several iniquitous prosecutions, in which ' Liv. iv, ch. 43. ^ Liv, iii, ch. 23. 3 Liv. iv, ch. 45-48. '* Liv. iv, ch. 49 sq. 5 Liv. iv, ch. 32. * Professor Stapfer, Rabelais, sa personne, son g^nie, son oetivre, 1889, pp. 365-8. Cp. the Notice of Bibliophile Jacob, ed. 1841 of Rabelais, pp. Ivii-lviii ; and Perrens, Les Libertins, p. 39. In his youth he affirmed the doctrine. Stapfer, p. 23. 7 Cp. Rent^ Millet, Rabelais, 1892, pp. 172-180. Ramus, whom Rabelais had derided, accused him of atheism. Jacob, p. Ixx. ^ Liv. iii, ch. 36. ^ Cp. Voltaire, Lcttres sur Rabelais, etc., i. FRANCE 1 1 his jealous rivals in the printing business took part, was finally done to death in priestly revenge' for his youthful attack on the religion of inquisitorial Toulouse, where gross pagan superstition and gross orthodoxy went hand in hand.^ The second last attack on him was for publishing Protestant books and French translations of the Bible : the last was a hypocritical charge of mis- translating the dying speech of Socrates. Of the free- thought of such an age there could be no adequate record. Its tempestuous energy, however, implies not a little of private unbelief ; and at a time when in England, two generations behind France in point of literary evolution, there was, as we have seen, a measure of rationalism among religionists, there must have been at least as much in the land of Rabelais and Desperiers. The work of Guillaume Postell, De causis sen principiis et originihiis Nahirce contra Atheos, published in 1552, testifies to kinds of unbelief that outwent the doubt of Rabelais ; though Postell's general extravagance dis- counts all of his utterances. It is said of Guillaume Pellicier (1527-1568), Bishop of Montpellier, who first turned Protestant and afterwards atheist, that he would have been burned but for the fact of his consecration.-^ Among the eminent ones then surmised to lean some- what to unbelief was the sister of King Francis, Marguerite of Navarre, whom we have noted as a protectress of the pantheistic Libertini, denounced by Calvin. She is held to have been substantially skeptical until her forty-fifth year ;■* though her final religiousness seems also beyond doubt.^ In her youth she bravely protected the Protestants from the first persecution of 1523 onwards; and the strongly Protestant drift of her Miroir de Vanie pecheresse exasperated the Catholic theologians; but after the Protestant violences of 1546 ' Cp. author's art. above cited. ^ Christie, Eiienne Dolef, pp. 105-6. 3 Perrens, Les Lihertins, p. 43, citing- Patin, Lettres, i, 210. '' Ch. Nodier, quoted by Bibliophile Jacob in ed. of Cymbahim Muiidi, as cited, p. xviii. 5 Cp. Brantome, Des daittes illustres. CEuvres, ed. 1838, ii, 186. 12 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT she seems to have sided with her brother against the Reform.' The strange taste of the Heptameron, of which again her part-authorship seems certain,^ consti- tutes a moral paradox not to be solved save by recog- nising in her a woman of genius, whose alternate mysticism and bohemianism expressed a very ancient duality in human nature. A similar mixture will explain the intellectual life of the poet Ronsard. A persecutor of the Huguenots, ^^ he was denounced as an atheist by two of their ministers ;'^ and the pagan fashion in which he handled Christian things scandalised his own side, albeit he was hostile to Rabelais. But though the spirit of the French Renaissance, so eagerly expressed in the Defense et Illustration de la langiie frangoise of Joachim du Bellay (1549), is at its outset as emancipated as that of the Italian, we find Ronsard in his latter years edifying the pious. 5 Any ripe and consistent rationalism, indeed, was then impossible. One of the most powerful minds of the age was Bodin (1530-96), whose Republique is one of the most scientific treatises on government between Aristotle and our own age, and whose Colloquium Heptaplomeres^ is no less original an outline of a naturalist^ philosophy. It consists of six dialogues, in which seven men take part, setting forth the different religious standpoints of Jew, Christian, pagan, Lutheran, Calvinist, and Catholic, the whole leading up to a doctrine of tolerance and universalism. Bodin was repeatedly and emphatically accused of unbelief by ' Bayle, Dictiumiaire, art. MARGrERlTE DE Navarre (the First), notes F and G. - Bayle, note N. Cp. Nodier, as cited, p. xix, as to the collaboration of Desperiers and others. 3 Bayle, art. Ronsard, note D. "* Garasse, La Doctrine Curicusc des Beaux Esprits de cc Temps, 1623, pp. 126-7. Ronsard replied to the charge in his poem, Des miseres dii temps. 5 Bayle, art. Ronsard, note O. Cp. Perrens, Lcs Libertins, p. 43. * MS. 1588. First printed in 1841 by Guhrauer, again in 1857 bv L. Noack. 'J As before noted, he seems to have coined the word. Cp. Lechler, Geschichte des englischen Deismus, pp. 31, 455, notes. FRANCE 13 friends and foes ;' and his rationalism on some heads is beyond doubt ; yet he not only held by the belief in witchcraft, but wrote a furious treatise in support of it ;^ and he dismissed the system of Copernicus as too absurd for discussion. ' He also formally vetoes all discussion on faith, declaring it to be dangerous to religion ;■* and by these conformities he probably saved himself from ecclesiastical attack. s Nonetheless, he essentially stood for religious toleration : the new principle that was to change the face of intellectual life. A few liberal Catholics shared it with him to some extent^ long" before St. Bartholomew's Day ; eminent among them being L'Hopital,^ whose humanity, tolerance, and concern for practical morality and the reform of the church brought upon him the charge of atheism. He was, however, a believing Catholic.^ Deprived of power, his edict of tolerance repealed, he saw the long and ferocious struggle of Catholics and Huguenots renewed, and crowned by the massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day (1572). Broken-hearted, and haunted by that monstrous memory, he died within six months. Two years later there was put to death at Paris, by ' Bayle, art. Bodin, note O. Cp. Renan, Averroes, 36 edit. p. 424 ; and the Lettres de Giii Putin, iii, 679 (letter of 27 juillet, 1668), cited by Perrens, Les Libertins, p. 43. Leibnitz, in an early letter to Jac. Thomasius, speaks of the MS. of the Colloquium, then in circulation, as proving' its writer to be " the professed enemy of the Christian religion," adding': " Vanini's dialog'ues are a trifle in comparison." (Philosophisrhe Schriften, ed. Gerhardt, i, 26 ; Martineau, Sfudy of Spinoza, 1882, p. 77.) Carriere, however, notes (^Weltanschauung, p. 317) that in later years Leibnitz learned to prize Bodin's treatise hig'hly. ^ Cp. Lecky, Rationalism in Europe, ed. 1887, i, 66, 87-91. In the R^publique, too, he has a chapter on astrolog'y, to which he leans some- what. 3 R^publique, Liv. iv, ch. 2. ■* Id. Liv. iv, ch. 7. "Bodin iti this sophistry was undoubtedly insincere " (Hallam, Lit. of Europe, ii, 159). ^ Cp. Perrens, Les Libertins,^. 43. * Cp. Villemain, Vie de L'Hopital, in Etudes de I'histoire moderne, 1846, PP- 363-8, 428. 7 Buckle (3-V0I. ed. ii, 10; i vol. ed. p. 291) errs in representing L'Hopital as the only statesman of the time who dreamt of toleration. It is to be noted, on the other hand, that the Hugfuenots themselves pro- tested ag'ainst any toleration of atheists or Anabaptists ; and even the reputed freethinker Gabriel Naudt^, writing in 1639, defended the massacre on political g'rounds (Owen, Skeptics of the French Renaissance, p. 470, note). Bodin implicitly execrated it. Cp. Hallam, Lit. of Europe, ii, 162. '^ Villemain, p. 429. 14 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT hanging and burning, on the charge of atheism, Geoffroi Vallee, a man of good family in Orleans. Long before, at the age of sixteen, he had written a freethinking treatise entitled La Beatitude des Chretiens, OIL le fleau de la foy. He had been the associate of Ronsard, who renounced him, and helped, it is said, to bring him to execution.' It is not unlikely that a similar fate would have overtaken the famous Protestant scholar and lexicographer, Henri Estienne (1532-1598), had he not died unexpectedly. His repute of being " the prince of atheists "^ and the " Pantagruel of Geneva" was probably due in large part to his sufficiently audacious Apologie pour Herodote (1566) and to his having translated into Latin (1562) the Hypotyposes of Sextus Empiricus, a work which clearly made for freethink- ing. In that book he had spoken, either ignorantly or ironically, of the " detestable work of Bonaventure Desperiers,"^ but his own performance was nearly as well fitted to cause scandal. One literary movement towards better things had begun before the crowning infamy of the Massacre appalled men into questioning the creed of intolerance. Castalio, whom we have seen driven from Geneva by Calvin in 1544 for repugning to the doctrine of pre- destination, published pseudonymously, in 1554, in reply to Calvin's vindication of the slaying of Servetus, a tract, De Haereticis quomodo cum iis agendum sit variorum SententicE, in which he contrived to collect some passage from the Fathers and from modern writers in favour of toleration. To these he prefaced, by way of a letter to the Duke of Wirtemberg, an argument of his own, the starting-point of much subsequent propa- ganda.'* Aconzio, mentioned above, followed in his ' Garasse, Doctrine Ciirieitse, pp. 125-6 ; Mdmoires de Garasse, ed. Ch. Nisard, i860, pp. 77-78 ; Perrens, p. 43. * Bibliophile Jacob, Introd. to Beroalde de Verville. 3 Cymhaluni Miindi, ed. Bibliophile Jacob, pp. xx, 13. '' Bayle, Dictionnaire, art. Castalion ; Hallam, Lit. of Europe, ii, 81 ; Lecky, Rationalism in Europe, ii, 46-49. Hallam finds Castalio's letter to the Duke of Wirtemberg- "cautious"; but Mr. Lecky quotes some strong; expressions from what he describes as the preface of Martin FRANCE 15 Steps ; and later came Mino Celso of Siena, with his " long and elaborate argument against persecution," De Haereticis capitali siipplicio non ajjiciendis (1584).' Withal, Castalio died in beggary, ostracised alike by Protestants and Catholics, and befriended only by the Sozzini, whose sect was the first to earn collec- tively the praise of condemning persecution.^ But in the next generation there came to reinforce the cause of humanity a more puissant pen than any of these ; while at the same time the recoil from religious cruelty was setting many men secretly at utter variance with faith. In France in particular a generation of insane civil war for religion's sake must have gone far to build up unbelief. Already in 1552 we have seen Guillaume Postell publishing his book, Contra Atheos. Unbelief increasing, there is published in 1564 an Atheomachie by one De Bourgeville ; but the Massacre must have gone far to frustrate him. In 1581 appears another Atheomachie, on refutation des erreiirs et impietes des AtheisteSy Libertins, etc., issued at Geneva, but bearing much on French life ; and in the same year is issued the long-time popular work of Philippe de Mornay, De la verite de la religion Chrestienne, Contre les Athees, Epiciiriens, Payens, Jnifs, Mahiunedistes, et autres Inji deles. Published at Antwerp. It was reprinted in 1582, 1583, and 1590; translated into Latin in 1583, and frequently reprinted in that form ; translated into English in 1587, and in that form at least thrice reprinted. In both the Epistle Dedicatory (to Henry of Navarre) and the Preface the author speaks of the great multiplication of unbelief, the refutation of which he declares to be more needful among Christians than it ever had been among the heathen. But, like most of the writers against atheism in that age, he declares (Eng. trans, ed. 1604, p. 10) that there are no atheists save a few young fools and utterly bad men. Bellius (Castalio's pseudonym) to Gluten's De Haereticis persequendis, ed. 1610. Castalio died in 1563. As to his translations from the Bible, see Bayle's note. ' Hallam, ii, 83 ; McCrie, Ref. in Italy, ed. 1856, p. 231. ^ Even Stahelin {Johannes Calvin, ii, 303) condemns Calvin's action and tone towards Castalio, though he makes the significant remark that the latter "treated the Bible pretty much as any other book." i6 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT Yetagain, in 1586, Christophe Cheffontaines published his Epitome novce illustrationis Christiajiae Fidei adversus Impios, Libertinos et Atlieos ; and still skepticism gained ground, having found a new and potent mouthpiece. In the greatest French writer of that age, a professed Catholic, but in mature life averse alike to Catholic and to Protestant bigotry, the shock of the Massacre can be seen disintegrating once for all the spirit of faith. Mon- taigne typifies the pure skepticism produced in an unscientific age by the practical demonstration that religion can avail immeasurably more for evil than for good.' A few years before the Massacre he had trans- lated for his dying father' the old TJieologia Natiiralis of Raymond of Sebonde ; and we know from the later Apology in the Essays that freethinking contemporaries declared the argument oi Raymond to be wholly insuffi- cient. ^ It is clear from the same essay that Montaigne felt as much ; though the gist of his polemic is a vehement attack upon all forms of confident opinion, religious and anti-religious alike. " In replying to arguments of so opposite a tenour, Montaigne leaves Christianity, as well as Raimond Sebonde, without a leg to stand upon. He demolishes the arguments of Sebonde with the rest of human presumption, and allows Christianity, neither held by faith nor provable by reason, to fall between the two stools."^ The truth is that Montaigne's essays are the product of a mental evolution spread over at least twenty years. In his youth his vivid temperament kept him both credulous and fanatical, so much so that in 1562 he took the reck- less oath prescribed by the Catholic Parlement of Paris. "^ " Our religion," he writes, " is made to extirpate vices ; it protects, nourishes, and incites them " [Essais, B. ii, ch. 12 ; ed. Firmin-Didot, ii, 464). "There is no enmity so extreme as the Christian." - Mr. Owen was mistaken {Skeptics of the French Renaissance, 1893, p. 414) in supposing- that Montaig^ne spent several years over this trans- lation. It was done rapidly- Cp. Miss M. E. Lowndes' excellent monog^raph, Michel de Montaigne, 1898, pp. 103, 106. 3 Ed. Firmin-Didot, ii, 469. "t Miss Lowndes, as cited, p. 145. Cp. E. Champion, Introduction aux Essais de Montaigne, 1900. FRAXCE 17 Beginning to recoil from the ferocities and iniquities of the League, he remained for a time hotly anti-Protes- tant ; and it seems to have been his dislike of Protestant criticism that led him to run amuck against reason, at the cost of overthrowing the treatise he had set out to defend. The common end of such petulant skepticism is a plunge into uneasy yet unreasoning faith ; but, though Montaigne professed Catholicism to the end, the utter wickedness of the Catholic policy made it impossible for him to hold sincerely to the creed any more than to the cause.' It was the Massacre that above all made Montaigne renounce public life ;- it must have affected likewise his working philosophy. That philosophy was not, indeed, an original con- struction : he found it to his hand partly in the deism of his favourite Seneca ; partly in the Hypotyposcs of Sextus Empiricus, of which the Latin translation is known to have been among his books ; from which he took several of the mottoes inscribed on his library ceiling, 3 and from which he frequently quotes towards the end of his Apology. The body of ideas compacted on these bases cannot be called a system: it was not in Montaigne's nature to frame a logical scheme of thought ; and he was far from being the philosophic skeptic he set out to be^ by way of confounding at once the bigots and the atheists. As he put it in a passage added to the later editions of the Essais^^ he was a kind of metis, belonging neither to the camp of ignorant faith nor to that of philosophic conviction, whether believing or ' For a view of Montaigne's development see M. Champion's excellent Introduction — a work indispensable to a full understanding- of the Essais. - Cp. the Essais, B. iii, ch. i (ed. Firmin-Didot, ii, 208). Mr. Owen gives a somewhat misleading idea of the passage [French Skeptics, p. 486). 3 Miss Lowndes, Michel de Montaigne, p. 131. Cp. Mr. Owen, p. 444. •* He was consistent enough to doubt the new cosmology of Copernicus {Essais, as cited, i, 615) ; and he even made a childish attack on the reform of the Calendar (liv. iii. cc. x, xi) ; but he was a keen and con- vinced critic of the prevailing abuses in law and education. Mr. Owen's discussion of his opinions is illuminating ; but that of Champion makes a still more searching analysis as regards the conflicting tendencies in Montaigne. s Liv. i, ch. 54. VOL. II C 1 8 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT unbelieving. But on the other hand his whole habit of mind is perfectly fatal to orthodox religion ; and it is clear that, despite his professions oi conformity, he did not hold the ordinary Christian beliefs.' Whatever he might say in the Apology^ in the other essays he repeatedly reveals a radical unbelief. The essay on Custom strikes at the root of all orthodoxv, with its thrusts at " the gross imposture of religions, wherewith so many worthy and sufficient men have been besotted and drunken," and its terse avowal that "miracles are according to the ignorance w^ierein we are by nature, and not according to nature's essence."- Above all, he rejected the great superstition of the age, the belief in witchcraft. His function in literature was thus to set up a certain mental atmosphere,-^ and this the extraordinary vitality of his utterance enabled him to do to an incal- culable extent. He had the gift to disarm or at least to baffle hostility, to charm kings,"* to stand free between warring factions. No book ever written conveys more fully the sensation of a living voice ; and after three hundred years he has as friendly an audience as ever. Mr. Owen notes {Fre7ich Skeptics, p. 446 ; cp. Champion, pp. i68-t)) that, though the Papal curia requested him to alter certain passages in the Essays, " it cannot be shown that he erased or modified a single one of the points." Sainte-Beuve, indeed, has noted many safeguarding- clauses added to the later versions of the essay on Prayers (i, 56) ; but they really carry further the process of doubt. M. Champion has well shown how the profession of personal indecision and mere self-por- traiture served as a passport for utterances which would have brought instant punishment on an author who showed any clear purpose. As it was, nearly a century passed before the Essais were placed upon the Roman Index Librorum Prohibi- toriim (1676). The momentum of such an influence is seen in the ' Cp. the clerical protests of Sterling- (Lo?id. and Wesfiii. Revieiv, July, 1838, p. 346) and Dean Church {Oxfoi'd Essays, p. 279) with the judgment of M. Champion, pp. 159-173. ^ Liv. i, ch. 22. 3 Cp. citations in Buckle, 3-V0I. ed. ii, 18, note 42 (i-vol. ed. p. 296) ; Lecky, Rationalism, i, 92-5 ; and Perrens, Les Libertins, p. 44. "* .'\s to Henri IV see Perrens, p. 53. FRANCE 19 work of Charron (i 541-1603), Montaigne's friend and disciple. The Essais had first appeared in 1580 ; the expanded and revised issue in 158S ; and in 160 1 there appeared Charron's De la Sagesse, which gives methodic form and as far as was permissible a direct appHcation to Montaigne's naturalistic principles. Charron's is a curious case of mental evolution. First a lawyer, then a priest, he became a highly successful popular preacher and champion of the Catholic League ; and as such was favoured by the notorious Marguerite (the Second') of Navarre. Becoming the friend of Montaigne in 1586, he shows already in 1593, in his TJiree Truths, the influence of the essayist's skepticism,- though Charron's book was expressly framed to refute, first, the atheists ; second, the pagans, Jews, Mohammedans ; and third, the Christian heretics and schismatics. The IVisdom, published only eight years later, is a work of a very different cast, proving a mental change. Even in the first work " the growing teeth of the skeptic are discernible beneath the well-worn stumps of the believer ";3 but the second almost testifies to a new birth. Professedly orthodox, it was yet recognised at once by the devout as a " semi- nary of impiety, "4 and brought on its author a persecu- tion that lasted till his sudden death from apoplexy, which his critics pronounced to be a divine dispensation. In the second and rearranged edition, published a year after his death, there are some modifications ; but they are so far from essential ^ that Buckle found the book as it stands a kind of pioneer manual of rationalism." Its ' Not, as Mr. Owen states {French Skeptics, p. 569), the sister of P"rancis I, who died when Charron was eight years old, but thedaug'hter of Henri II, and first wife of Henri of Navarre, afterwards Henri IV. ^ Cp. Sainte-Beuve, as cited by Owen, p. 571, note, and Owen's own words, "p. 572. 3 Owen, p. 571. Cp. pp. 573, 574. ■* Bayle, art. Charron. "A brutal atheism" is the account ot Charron's doctrine g'iven by the Jesuit Garasse. Cp. Perrens, p. 57. 5 Mr. Owen (p. 570) comes to this conclusion after carefully collating' the editions. Cp. p. 587, note. The whole of the alterations, including those proposed by President Jeannin, will be found set forth in the edition of 1607, and the reprints of that. * "The first attempt made in a modern language to construct a system of morals without the aid of theology" {Introd. to Hist, of Civ. in England, 3-vol. ed. ii, 19 ; i-vol. ed. p. 296). 20 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT way of putting all religions on one level, as being alike grounded on bad evidence and held on prejudice, is only the formal statement of an old idea, found, like so many others of Charron's, in Montaigne ; but the didactic purpose and method turn the skeptic's shrug into a resolute propaganda. So with the formal and earnest insistence that true morality cannot be built on religious hopes and fears — a principle which Charron was the first to bring directly home to the modern intelligence,^ as he did the principle of development in religious systems. - Attempting as it does to construct a systematic practical philosophy of life, it puts aside so positively the claims of the theologians, 3 and so emphatically subordinates religion to the rule of natural reason, -^ that it constitutes a virtual revolution in public doctrine for Christendom. As Montaigne is the effective beginner of modern literature, so is Charron the beginner of modern secular teaching. He is a Naturalist, professing theism. It was only powerful protection that could save such a book from proscription ; but Charron and his book had the support at once of Henri IV and the President Jeannin — the former a proved indifferentist to religious forms ; the latter the author of the remark that a peace with two religions was better than a war which had none. Such a temper had become predominant even among professed Catholics, as may be gathered from the immense popularity of the Satyre Menippee (1594). Ridiculing as it did the insensate fanaticism of the Catholic League, it was naturally described as the work of atheists ; but there seems to have been no such element in the case, the authors being all Catholics of good standing, and some of them even having a record for zeal. 5 On the other hand, it is expressly testified by ' Cp. Owen, pp. 5S0-5. - Buckle, ii, 21 ; i-vol. ed. p. 297. 3 E.g., the preface to the first edition, ad init. '■ E.g., Liv. ii, ch. 28 of revised ed. (ed. 1609, p. 399). 5 See the biog-. pref. of M. Labitte to the Charpentier edition, p. xxv. The Satyre in its own turn freely charges atheism and incest on Leaguers ; e.g., the Harangue de M. de Lyon, ed. cited, pp. 78, 86. This was by Rapin, whom Garasse particularly accuses of libertinage. See the Doctrine Curieuse, as cited, p. 124. FRANCE 21 the Catholic historian De Thou that all the rich and the aristocracy held the Leag-ue in abomination.' In such an atmosphere rationalism must needs ^Terminate, especially when the king's acceptance of Catholicism dramatised the unreality of the grounds of strife. After the assassination of the king in i6io, the last of the bloody deeds which had kept France on the rack of uncertainty in religion's name for three generations, the spirit of rationalism naturally did not wane. In the Paris of the early seventeenth century, doubtless, the new emancipation came to be associated, as " libertinism," with license as well as with freethinking. In the nature of the case there could be no serious and free literary discussion of the new problems either of life or belief, save in so far as they had been handled by Montaigne and Charron ; and, inasmuch as the accounts preserved of the freethought of the age are almost invariably those of its worst enemies, it is chiefly their side of the case that has been presented. Thus in 1623 the Jesuit Father Francois Garasse published a thick quarto of over a thousand pages, entitled La Doctrine Ciirieuse des Beaux Esprits de ce temps, ou pretendii tels, in which he assails the "libertins" of the day with an infuriated industry. The eight books into which he divides his treatise proceed upon eight alleged maxims of the free- thinkers, which run as follows : — I. There are very few good wits \bons Esprits] in the world ; and the fools, that is to sa}-, the common run of men, are not capable of our doctrine ; therefore it will not do to speak freely, but in secret, and among trusting and cabalistic souls. II. Good wits [beaux Esprits] believe in God only by way of form, and as a matter of public policy {par Maxime iV Etat). III. A he! Esprit is free in his belief, and is not readily to be taken in by the quantity of nonsense that is propounded to the siinple populace. IV. All things are conducted and governed by Destiny, which is irrevocable, infallible, immovable, necessary, eternal, and inevitable to all men whomsoever. V. It is true that the book called the Bible, or the Holy ' Cited by Buckle. 22 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT Scripture, is a good book (iin gentil Uvre), and contains a lot of good things ; but that a hon esprit should be obliged to believe under pain of damnation all that is therein, down to the tail of Tobit's dog, does not follow. VI. There is no other divinity or sovereign power in the world but Nature, which must be satisfied in all things, with- out refusing anything to our body or senses that they desire of us in the exercise of their natural powers and faculties. VII. Supposing there be a God, as it is decorous to admit, so as not to be always at odds with the superstitious, it does not follow that there are creatures which are purely intellectual and separated from matter. All that is in Nature is composite, and therefore there are neither angels nor devils in the world, and it is not certain that the soul of man Is Immortal. VIII. It Is true that to live happily It Is necessary to extin- . guish and drown all scruples ; but all the same it does not do to appear impious and abandoned, for fear of offending the simple or losing the support of the superstitious. This is obviously neither candid' nor competent writing; and as it happens there remains proof, in the case of the life of La Mothe le Vayer, that " earnest freethought in the beginning oi the seventeenth century afforded a point d^ appiii {qx s^x\C)\\s-m\x\^^& men, which neither the corrupt Romanism nor the narrow Protestantism of the period could furnish."- Garasse's own doctrine was that " the true liberty of the mind consists in a simple and docile {sage) belief in all that the church propounds, indifferently and without distinction. "^ The later social history of Catholic France is the sufficient comment on the efficacy of such teaching to regulate life. In any case the new ideas steadily gained ground ; and on the heels of the treatise of Garasse appeared that of Marin Mersenne, Uimpiete des Deistes, Atliees et Libertins de ce temps combattite, avec la refutation des opinions de ' M. Labitte, himself a Catholic, speaks of Garasse's " forfanterie habituelle " and '• ton d 'insolence sincere qui dt^guise tant de mensonges " (Pref. cited, p. xxxi). - Owen, French Skeptics, p. 659. Cp. Lecky, Rationalism, i, 97, citing: Maury, as to the resistance of libertins to the superstition about witchcraft. 3 Doctri)ie Ciirieuse des Beaux Esprits, as cited, p. 208. This is one of the passages which fully explain the opinion of the orthodox of that ag-e that Garasse " helped rather than hindered atheism " (Reimmann, Hist. Atheismi, 1725, p. 408). ENGLAND 23 Charron, de Cardan^ de Jordan Bntn, et des quatraines du Deiste (1624). In a previous treatise, Qucestiones celehcrrimcB in Genesim in qno volumine Athei et Deisti impiignantur (1623), Mersenne set agoing- the often-quoted assertion that, while atheists abounded throughout Europe, they were so specially abundant in France that in Paris alone there were some fifty thousand. Even taking the term " atheist " in the loosest sense in which such writers used it, the statement was never credited by any contemporary ; but neither did anyone doubt that there was an unprecedented amount of unbelief. Such were the signs of the times when Pascal was in his cradle. Mersenne's statistical assertion was made in two sheets of the Qiicsstiones CelehernmiF, "qui ont ete supprime dans la plupart des exemplaires, a cause, sans doute, de leur exagg-^ra- tion " (Bouillier, Hist, dela philos. cartesienne, 1854, i, 28, where the passage is cited). The suppressed sheets included a list of the "atheists" of the time, occupying five folio columns. Julian Hibbert, Plutarchus and Theophrastus on Superstition, etc., 1828; App. Catal. of Works written against Atheism, p. 3 ; Prosper Marchand, Lettresurle Cynihahini Mnndi, in ed. Biblio- phile Jacob, 1841, p. 17, note. § 3. England. While France was thus passing from general fanati- cism to a large measure of freethought, England was passing by a less tempestuous path to a hardly less advanced stage of opinion. The comparative bloodless- ness of the strife between Protestant and Catholic under Mary and Elizabeth, the treatment of the Jesuit propa- ganda under the latter queen as a political rather than a doctrinal question, prevented any such vehemence of recoil from religious ideals as took place in France. Unbelief, as we have seen, however, there certainly was ; and it is recorded that Walter, Earl of Essex, on his deathbed at Dublin in 1576, murmured that among his countrymen neither Popery nor Protestantism pre- vailed : " there was nothing but infidelity, infidelity, 24 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT infidelity ; atheism, atheism ; no reliijion, no religion."' And when we turn aside from the beaten paths of Eliza- bethan literature we see clearly what is partly visible from those paths — a number of freethinking variations from the norm of faith. Ascham, as we saw, found some semblance of atheism shockingly common among the travelled upper class of his day; and the testimonies continue. Lyly, in his Euphues (1579), referring to England in general or Oxford in particular as Athens, asks : " Be there not many in Athens which think there is no God, no redemption, no resurrection?" Further, he complains that " it was openly reported of an old man in iMaples that there was more lightness in Athens than in all Italy more Papists, xwoxo. Atheists^ more sects, more schisms, than in all the monarchies in the world";- and he proceeds to frame an absurd dialogue of " Euphues and Atheos," in which the latter, "mon- strous, yet tractable to be persuaded, "^ is converted with a burlesque facility. Lyly, a commonplace pietist, is a poor witness as to the atheistic arguments current, but those he cites are so much better than his own, up to the point of terrified collapse on the atheist's part, that he had doubtless heard them. The 'atheist speaks as a pantheist, identifying deity with the universe ; and readily meets a simple appeal to Scripture with the reply that " whosoever denieth a godhead denieth also the Scriptures which testifie of him."'^ Evidently, then, such opinions were in some vogue, else they had not been handled in a book so essentially planned for the general reader. But however firmly held, they could not be published ; and fourteen years later, over thirty years after the outburst of Ascham, we still find only a sporadic and unwritten freethought, however abundant, going at times in fear of its life. V^ Froude, History of England, ed. 1875, ^'' '99' citing MSS. Ireland. ' Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit, Arber's reprint, pp. 140, 153. That the reference was mainly to Oxford is to be inferred from the address "To my verie g-ood friends the Gentlemen Schollers of Oxford, ' pre- fixed to the ed. of 1581. Id, p. 207. 3 Id. p. 158. ■» Id. pp. 161, 166. ENGLAND 25 Private discussion, indeed, tliere must have been, if there be any truth in Bacon's phrase that " atheists will ever be talking of that opinion, as if they would be glad to be strengthened by the consent of others "' — an argument which would make short work of the vast literature of apologetic theism — but even private talk had need be cautious, and there could be no publication of atheistic opinions. Printed rationalism could ^o no further than such a protest against superstition as Reginald Scot's Discoverie of Witclicraft (1584), which, however, is a sufficiently remarkable expression of reason in an age in which a Bodin held angrily by the delusion.- Elizabeth was herself substantially irre- ligious,-^ and preferred to keep the clergy few in number and subordinate in influence ;^ but her Ministers regarded the church as part of the State system, and punished all open or at least aggressive heresy in the manner of the Inquisition. A sect called the " Family of Love," deriving from Holland (already "a country fruitfull of heretics"), 5 went so far as to hold that "Christ doth not signify any one person, but a quality whereof many are partakers " — a doctrine which we have seen ascribed by Calvin to the liberiiiis of Geneva a generation before ;° but it does not appear ' Essay Of Atheism. ^ Lecky, Ratio)ialis)n, i, 103-4. Scot's book (now made accessible by a reprint, r886) had practically no influence in his own day ; and Kingf James, who wrote ag-ainst it, caused it to be burned by the hangfman in the next. Scot inserts the " intidelitie of atheists " in the list of intel- lectual evils on his title-page ; but save for an allusion to "■ the abhomination of idolatrie " all the others indicted are aspects of the black art. 3 " No woman ever lived who was so totally destitute of the sentiment of religion " (Green, Short History , ch. vii, § 3, p. 369). •* Cp. Soames, Elizabethan Religious History , 1S39, p. 225. Yet when Morris, the attorney of the Duchy of Lancaster, introduced in Parlia- ment a Bill to restrain the power of the ecclesiastical courts, she had him dismissed and imprisoned for life, being- determined that the control should remain in her own hands. Heylyn, Hist, of the Ref ed. 1849, pref. vol. i, pp. xiv-xv. 5 Camden, Annals of Elizabeth, sub. ann. 1580; 3rd ed. 1635, p. 218. '^ Hooker, Pref. to Ecclesiastical Polity, ch. iii, g 9, ed. 1850. Camden (p. 219) states that the Dutch teacher Henry Nichalai, whose works were translated for the sect, " gave out that he did partake of God, and God of his humanity." 26 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT that they were persecuted/ Some isolated propagan- dists, however, paid the last penalty. One Matthew Hamont or Hamond, a ploughwright, of Hetherset, was in 1579 tried by the Bishop and Consistory of Norwich " for that he denyed Christe," and, being found guilty, was burned, after having had his ears cut off " because he spake wordes of blasphemie against the Oueen's Maiistie and others of her Counsell."^ The victim would thus seem to have been given to violence of speech ; but the record o'f his negations, which suggest developments from the Anabaptist movement, is none the less notable. In Stow's wording, ^ they run : — "That the newe Testament and Gospell of Christe are but mere foolishnesse, a storie of menne, or rather a mere fable. " Item, that man is restored to e^race by the meere mercy of God, wythout tlie meane of Christ's bloud, death, and passion. " Item, that Christe is not God, nor the Saviour of the world, but a meere man, a sinfull man, and an abiiominable IdoU. " Item, that al they that worshippe him are abhominable Idolaters ; And that Christe did not rise agayne from death to life by the power of his Godhead, neither, that bee did ascende into Heaven. " Item, that the holy Ghoste is not God, neither, that there is any suche holy Ghoste. " Item, that Baptisme is not necessarie in the Churche of God, neither the use of the sacrament of the body and bloude of Christ." There is trace of a freethinker named Lewis, who appears to have been burned at the same place in the same year."^ Further one Peter Cole, an Ipswich tanner, was burned in 1587 (also at Norwich) for similar doctrine ; and Francis Kett, a young clergyman, ex-fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, was burned at the same ' See above, i, 474, as to a much more pronounced heresy in 1549, which also seems to have escaped punishment. Camden tells that the books of the '' Family of Love " were burnt in 1580, but mentions no other penalties. - May 13th, 1579. The burning- was on the 20th. 3 Stow's Chronicle^ 1580, pp. 1 194-5. '' David's Evidence, by William Burton, Preacher of Reading, 1592 (?), p. 125. ENGLAND 27 place in 1589 for heresy of the Unitarian order." Hamond and Cole seem, however, to have been in their own way religious men,' and Kett a devout mystic, with ideas of a Second Advent.^ All founded on the Bible. Most surprising- of all perhaps is the record of the trial of one John Hilton, clerk in holy orders, before the Upper House of Convocation on December 22nd, 1584, on the charge of having- "said in a sermon at St. Martin's-in-the-Fields that the Old and New Testaments are but fables." (Lansdowne MSS. British Museum, No. 982, fol. 46, cited by Professor Storojenko, Life of Robert Greene, Eng. trans, in Grosart's "Huth Library " ed. of Greene's Works, i, 39, note.) As Hilton confessed to the charge and made abjuration, it may be surmised that he had spoken under the influence of liquor. Even on that view, how- ever, such an episode tells of a considerable currency of un- believing criticism. Apart from constructive heresy, the perpetual religious dissensions of the time were sure to stimulate doubt ; and there appeared quite a number of treatises directed wholly or partly against explicit unbelief, as : "The Faith of the Church Militant," translated from the Latin of the Danish divine Hemming (1581), and addressed " to the confutation of the Jewes, Turks, Atheists, Papists, Hereticks, and all other adversaries of the truth whatsoever"; "The Touchstone of True Religion against the impietie of Atheists, Epicures, Libertines, Hippocrites, and Temporisours of these times" (1590); " An Enemie to Atheisme," translated by T. Rogers from the Latin of Avenar (1591) ; Henry Smith's "God's Arrow against Atheists" (1593); an English translation of the second volume of La Primaudaye's L' Academie Frangaise, containing a refutation of atheistic doctrine ; and no fewer than three "Treatises of the Nature of God" — two anonymous, the third by Bishop Thomas Morton — all appearing in the year 1599. All this smoke implies some fire; and the translator ' Burton, as cited. = Art. Matthew Hamond, in Diet, of Nat. Biog. 3 Art. Francis Kett, in Diet, of Nat. Biog. 28 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT of La Primaudaye, one " T. B.," declares in his dedica- tion that there has been a general growth of atheism in England and on the continent, which he traces to " that Monster Machiavell." Among English atheists of that school he ranks the dramatist Robert Greene, who had died in 1592 ; and it has been argued, not quite convinc- ingly, that it was to Machiavelli that Greene had pointed, in his death-bed recantation A Groatstvort/i of Wit (1592), as the atheistic instructor of his friend Marlowe,^ who introduces " Machiavel " as cynical prologist to his Jew of Malta. Greene's own " atheism " had been for the most part a matter of bluster and disorderly living ; and we find his friend Thomas Nash, in his Strange ]Ve%i)s (1592), calling the Puritan zealot who used the pseudonym of Martin Marprelate " a mighty platformer of atheism "; even as his own and Greene's enemy, Gabriel Harvey, called Nash an atheist.' But Nash in his Christ's Tears over Jerusalem (1592), though he speaks of the "atheistical Julian," discusses contem- porary atheism in a fashion descriptive of an actual growth of the opinion, concerning which he alleges that there is no "sect now in England so scattered \i.e.^ so widely spread] as atheisme." The "outward atheist," he declares, "establishes reason as his God"; and he offers some sufficiently primitive arguments by way of confutation. 3 There had arisen, in short, a ferment of rationalism which w^as henceforth never to disappear from English life. In 1593, indeed, we find atheism formally charged against two famous men, Christopher Marlowe and Sir Walter Raleigh, of whom the first is ' Professor Storojenko, Life of Greene , Engf. trans, in Grosart's " Huth Library" ed. of Greene's Works, i, 42-50. It is quite clear that !\Ialone and the critics who have followed him were wrongf in suppos- ing the unnamed instructor to be Francis Kett, who was a devout Uni- tarian. Professor Storojenko speaks of Kelt as having- been made an Arian at Norwich, after his return there in 1585, by the influence of Lewes and Haworth. Query Haniond ? - In Pierce's Supererogation, Collier's ed. p. 85, cited by Storojenko. 3 Rep. of Nash's Works in Grosart's '* Huth Library " ed. vol. iv, pp. 172, 173, 17S, 1S2, 183. ENGLAND 29 documentarily connected with Kett, and the second in turn with Marlowe. An official document,' preserved by some chance, reveals that Marlowe was given — whether or not over the wine-cup — ^to singularly audacious derision of the received beliefs ; and so explicit is the evidence that it is nearly certain he would have been executed for blasphemy had he not been privately killed (1593) while the proceedings were pending. The "atheism" imputed to him is not made out in any detail ; but many of the other utterances are notably in keeping with Marlowe's daring temper ; and thev amount to unbelief of a stringent kind. In Doctor Faiistus- he makes Mephistopheles affirm that " Hell \ hath no limits but where we are is hell" — a doctrine 1 which we have seen to be current before his time ; and-J in his private talk he had gone much further. Not only did he question, with Raleigh, the Biblical chronology : he affirmed " that Moyses was but a juggler, and that one Heriots " [z".^., Thomas Harriot, the astronomer, one of Raleigh's circle] " can do more than he "; and con- cerning Jesus he used language incomparably more offensive to orthodox feeling than that of Hamond and Kett. There is more in all this than a mere assimilation of Machiavelli ; though the further saying " that the first beginning of religion was only to keep men in awe" • — put also by Greene, with much force of versification, in the mouth of a villain-hero in the play of Selimus^^^ tells of that influence. Marlowe was indeed not the man to swear by any master without adding something of his own. Atheism, however, is not inferrible from any of his works : on the contrary, in the second part of his famous first play he makes his hero, described by the repentant Greene as the "atheist Tamburlaine," declaim ' MS. Harl. 6853, fol. 320. It is given in full in the appendix to the first issue of the selected plays of Marlowe in the Mermaid Series, edited by Mr. Havelock Ellis ; and, with omissions, in the editions of Cunning- ham, Dyce, and Bullen. ^ Act II, sc. i. 3 Grosart's ed. in "Temple Dramatists" series, 11. 246-371. There is plenty of " irreligion" in the passage, but not atheism, though there is a denial of a future state (365-70). 30 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT of deity with signal eloquence, though with a pantheistic cast of phrase. In another passage, a Moslem per- sonage claims to be on the side of a Christ who would punish perjury ; and in yet another the hero is made to trample under foot the pretensions of Moham- med.' It was probably his imputation of perjury to Christian rulers in particular that earned for Marlowe the malignant resentment which inspired the various edifying comments published after his unedifying death. Had he not perished as he did in a tavern brawl, he might have had the nobler fate of a martyr. Concerning Raleigh, again, there is no shadow of proof of atheism, though his circle, which included the Earls of Northumberland and Oxford, was called a " school of atheism " in a Latin pamphlet by the Jesuit Parsons, "" published at Rome in 1593 ; and at his trial he was called an atheist by the Chief Justice, and his friend Harriot a "devil. "3 It is matter of literary history, however, that he, like Montaigne, had been influenced by the Hypotyposes of Sextus Empiricus ;^ his short essay Tlie Sceptick being a naif exposition of the thesis that " the sceptick doth neither affirm neither deny any position ; but doubteth of it, and applyeth his Reason against that which is affirmed, or denied, to justifie his non-consenting. "5 The essay itself, nevertheless, pro- ceeds upon a set of wildly false propositions in natural history, concerning which the adventurous reasoner has no doubts whatever ; and altogether we may be sure that his artificial skepticism did not carry him far in philosophy. In Discovery of Guiana (1600) he declares that he is " resolved " of the truth of the stories of men whose heads grow beneath their shoulders. In other directions, however, he was less credulous. In his History of the World (1603-16) he pointed out, as ' Taiiibuilaiiie, Part II, Acts II, sc. ii, iii ; V, sc. i. - Writing as Andrew Philopater. See Bicf. of A'aL Biog., art. Robert Parsons, and Storojenko, as cited, i, 36, and nofe. 3 Edwards, Life of Sir Walter Raleigh, 1S68, i, 432, 436. ■* Translated into Latin by Henri Estienne in 1562. 5 Re>?iaiiisofSir Walter Raleigh, ed. 1657, p. 123. ENGLAND 31 Marlowe had done in talk, how incompatible was such a phenomenon as the mature civilisation of ancient Egypt in the days of Abraham with the orthodox chronology.' This, indeed, was heresy enough, then and later, seeing that not only did Bishop Pearson, in 1659, in a work on The Creed which has been circulated down to the nineteenth century, indignantly denounce ail who departed from the figures in the margin of the Bible ; but Coleridge, a century and a half later, took the very instance of Egyptian history as triumphantly establishing the accuracy of the Bible record against the French atheists.^ As regards Raleigh's philosophy, the evidence goes to show only that he was ready to read a Unitarian essay, presumably that already mentioned, supposed to be Kett's ; and that he had intercourse with Marlowe andothers(inparticular his secretary, Harriott) known to be freethinkers. A prosecution begun against him on this score, at the time of the inquiry concerning Marlowe (when Raleigh was in disgrace with the Queen), came to nothing. It had been led up to by a transla- tion of Parsons' pamphlet, which affirmed that his private group was known as " Sir Walter Rawley's school of Atheisme," and that therein " both Moyses and our Savior, the Old and the New Testaments, are jested at, and the scholars taught among other things to spell God backwards."^ This seems to have been idle gossip, though it tells of unbelief somewhere ; and Raleigh's own writings always indicate^ belief in the Bible ; though his dying speech and epitaph are noticeably deistic. That he was a deist, given to free discussion, seems the probable truth. ^ ' B. II, ch. i, sec. 7. ^ Essay on the Prometheus. j^3 Art. Raleigh, in Diet, of Nat. Biog. xlvii, 192. * Id. pp. 200-1. s It is asserted by Francis Osborn, who had known Raleigh, that he 1 g-ot his title of ^//it'/i-/ from Queen EHzabeth. See the preface {Author ' to Reader) to Osborn's Miscellany of Sundry Essays, etc., in 7th ed. of his Works, 1673. As to atheism at Elizabeth's court, see Taj-lor, Retro- spect of Relig. Life of England, 2nd ed. p. 198, and ref. Lyly makes one of his characters write of the ladies at court that •' they never jar ^ about matters of religion, because the}^ never mean to reason of them" {EupJiues, Arber's ed. p. 194). 2 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT The latest documentary evidence as to the case of Marlowe is produced by Mr. F. S. Boas in his article, " New Light on Marlowe and Kyd," in the Fortnightly Review, February, 1899, reproduced in his edition of the works of Thomas Kyd (Clarendon Press, 1901). In addition to the formerly known data as to Marlowe's " atheism," it is now established that Thomas Kyd, his fellow-dramatist, was arrested on the same charge, and that thei'e was found among his papers one containing "vile hereticall conceiptes denyinge the divinity of Jhesus Christe our Saviour." This Kyd declared he had had from Marlowe, denying all sympathy with its views. Nevertheless, he was put to the torture. The- paper, however, proves to be a vehement Unitarian argument on Scriptural grounds, and is much more likely to have been written by Francis Kett than by Marlowe. In the MSS. now brought to light, one Cholmeley, who "confessed that he was persuaded by Marlowe's reasons to become an Atheiste," is represented by a spy as speaking "all evil of the Counsell, saying that they are all Athelstes and Machiavillians, especially my Lord Admirall." The same " atheist," who imputes atheism to others as a vice, is described as regretting he had not killed the Lord Treasurer, " sayenge )/' that he could never have done God better service." For the rest, the same spy tells that Cholmeley believed Marlowe was " able to shewe more sound reasons for Atheisme than any devine in Englande is able to geve to prove devinitie, and that Marloe told him that he hath read the Atheist lecture to Sir Walter Raleigh and others." On the last point there is no further evidence, save that Sir Walter, his dependant Thomas Harriott, and Mr. Carewe Rawley, were on March 21st, 1593-4, charged upon sworn testimonies with holding " impious opinions concerning God and Providence." Harriott had pub- lished in 1588 a work on his travels in Virginia, at the close of which is a passage in the devoutest vein telling of his missionary labours (quoted by Mr. Boas, art. cited, p. 225). Yet by 1592 he had, with his master, a reputation for atheism ; and that it was not wholly on the strength of his great scientific know- ledge is suggested by the statement of Anthony a Wood that he "made a philosophical theology, wherein he cast off the Old Testament." Of this no trace remains ; but it is established that he was a highly accomplished mathematician, much admired by Kepler ; and that he " applied the telescope to celestial purposes almost simultaneously with Galileo " (art. Harriott In Diet, of Nat. Biog.). "Harriott was the first who dared to say A = B in the form A — B = 0, one of the greatest sources of progress ever opened in algebra " (Professor A. De Morgan, ENGLAND ZZ Neivton, his Friend and his Niece, 1885, p. 91). Further, he improved algebraic notation by the use of small italic letters in place of Roman capitals, and struck out the hypothesis of secondary planets as well as of stars invisible from their size and distance. " He was the first to verify the results of Galileo." Rev. Baden Powell, Hist, of Nat. Philos. 1834, pp. 126, 168. Cp. Rigaud, as cited by Powell ; Ellis's notes on Bacon, in Routledge's i-vol. ed. 1905, pp. 674-6 ; and Storojenko, as above cited, p. 38, note. The frequency of such traces of rationalism at this period is to be understood in the light of the financial and other scandals of the Reformation ; the bitter strifes of church and dissent ; and the horrors of the wars of religion in France, concerning which Bacon remarks in his essay Of Unity in Religion that the spectacle would have made Lucretius " seven times more Epicure and atheist than he was." The proceedings against Raleigh and Kyd, accordingly, did not check the spread or the private avowal of unbelief. A few years later we find Hooker, in the Fifth Book of his Ecclesiastical Polity (1597), bitterly avowing that the unbelievers in the higher tenets of religion are much strengthened by the strifes of believers;' and a dozen years earlier Bishop Pilkington tells of " young whelps " who " in corners make themselves merry with railing and scoffing at the holy scriptures. "- From Hooker's account it is clear that, at least with comparatively patient clerics like himself, the free- thinkers would at times deliberately press the question of theism, and avow the conviction that belief in God was " a kind of harmless error, bred and confirmed by the sleights of wiser men." He further notes with even greater bitterness that some — -an " execrable crew " — who were themselves unbelievers, would in the old pagan manner argue for the fostering of religion as a matter of State policy, herein conning the lesson of Machiavelli. For his own part Hooker was confessedly ill-prepared to ' B. v, ch. ii, §§ 1-4. Works, ed. 1850, i, 432-6. = Exposition upon Neliemiah (1585) in Parker Society's ed. of Works, 1842, p. 401. VOL. II D 34 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT debate with the atheists, and his attitude was not fitted to shake their opinions. His one resource is the inevitable plea that atheists are such for the sake of throwing off all moral restraint' — a theorem which could hardly be taken seriously by those who knew the history of the English and French aristocracies, Protestant and Catholic, for the past hundred years. Hooker's own measure of rationalism, though remarkable as compared with previous orthodoxy, went no further than the application of the argument of Pecock that reason must guide and control all resort to Scripture and authority ;^ and he came to it under stress of dispute, as a principle of accommodation for warring believers, not as an expression of any independent skepticism. The un- believers of his day were for him a frightful portent, menacing all his plans of orthodox toleration ; and he would have had them put down by force — a course which in some cases, as we have seen, had been actually taken, and was always apt to be resorted to in that age. But orthodoxy all the while had a sure support in the social and political conditions which made impossible the publication of rationalistic opinions. While the whole machinery of public doctrine remained in religious hands or under ecclesiastical control, the mass of men of all grades inevitably held by the traditional faith. What is remarkable is the amount of unbelief, either privately explicit or implicit in the higher literature, of which we have trace. Above all there remains the great illustration of the rationalistic spirit of the English literary renascence of the sixteenth century — the drama of Shakespeare. Of that it may confidently be said that every attempt to find for it a religious foundation has failed. ^ A clerical historian sums up concerning Shakespeare that "the ' Works, i, 432 ; ii, 762-3. - Ecdes. Pol. B. i, ch. 7 ; B. ii, ch. i, 7 ; B. iii, ch. 8 ; B. v, ch. 8 ; B. vii, ch. II ; B. viii, § 6 ( Works, i, 165, 231, 300,446 ; ii, 388, 537). See the citations in Buckle, 3-vol. ed. iii, 341-2; i-vol. ed. pp. 193-4- 3 Some typical attempts of the kind are discussed in the author's two lectures on The Religion of Shakespeare, 1887 (South Place Institute). ENGLAND 35 religious phrases which are thinly scattered over his work are little more than expressions of a distant and imaginative reverence. And on the deeper grounds of religious faith his silence is significant The riddle of life and death he leaves a riddle to the last, with- out heeding the common theological solutions around him."' The practical wisdom in which he rose above his rivals, no less than in dramatic and poetic genius, kept him prudently reticent on his opinions, as it set him upon building his worldly fortunes while the others with hardly an exception lived in shallows and miseries. As so often happens, it was among the ill-balanced types that there was found the heedless courage to cry aloud what others thought ; but Shakespeare's significant silence reminds us that the largest spirits of all could live in disregard of contemporary creeds. For, while there is no record of his having privately avowed unbelief, much less any explicit utterance of it in his plays, in no genuine work of his is there any conformity to current habits of religious speech. In Measure for Measure the Duke, counselling as a friar the condemned Claudio, discusses the ultimate issues of life and death without a hint of Christian credence. So silent is the dramatist on the ecclesiastical issues of his day that Protestants and Catholics are enabled to go on indefinitely claiming him as theirs; the latter dwelling on his generally kindly treatment of friars ; the former citing the fact that some Protestant preacher — evidently a protege of his daughter Susannah — was allowed lodg- ing at his house. But the preacher was not hospitably treated;'' and other clues fail. There is good reason to think that Shakespeare was much influenced by Mon- taigne's Essays, read by him in Florio's translation, which was issued when he was recasting the old Hamlet; and his whole treatment of life in the great tragedies and serious comedies produced by him from ' Green, Short History, ch. vii, § vii, end. Compare Ruskin's Sesame and Lilies, Lect. Ill, § 115. ^ The record is that the town paid for his bread and wine. 36 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT that time forward is even more definitely untheological than Montaigne's own doctrine/ Nor can he be supposed to have disregarded the current disputes as to fundamental beliefs, implicating as they did his fellow- dramatists Marlowe, Kyd, and Greene. The treatise of De Mornay, of which Sir Philip Sidney began and Golding finished the translation,^ was in his time widely circulated in England ; and its very inadequate argu- mentation might well strengthen in him the anti-theo- logical leaning. A serious misconception has been set up as to Shakespeare's cast of mind by the persistence of editors in including among his works without discrimination plays which are certainly not his, as the Henry VI group, to which he contributed little, and in particular the First Part, of which he wrote probably nothing. It is on the assumption that that play is Shakespeare's work that Mr. Leckv {Rationalism in Europe, ed. 18S7, i, 105-6) speaks of " that melancholy picture of Joan of Arc which is perhaps the darkest blot upon his genius." Now, whatever passages Shakespeare ma}^ have contributed to the Second and Third Parts, it is certain that he has barely a scene in the First, and that there is not a line from his hand in the La Pucelle scenes. Many students think that Dr. Furnivall has even gone too far in saying that " the only part of it to be put down to Shakespeare is the Temple Garden scene of the red and white roses " (Introd. to Leopold Shakespeare, p. xxxviii) ; so little is there to suggest even the juvenile Shakespeare there. But that any critical and qualified reader can still hold him to have written the worst of the play is unintelligible. The whole work would be a "blot on his genius " in respect of its literary weakness. The doubt was raised long before Mr. Lecky wrote, and was made good a generation ago. When Mr. Lecky further proceeds, with reference to the witches in Macbeth, to say [id. Jiote) that it is " probable that Shakespeare believed with an unfaltering faith in the reality of witchcraft," he strangely misreads that play. Nothing is clearer than that it grounds Macbeth's action from the first in Macbeth's own character and his wife's, em- ploying the witch machinery (already used by Middleton) to meet the popular taste, but never once making the witches really causal forces. An "unfaltering" believer in witchcraft ' Cp. the author's Montaigne and Shakespeare , pp. 136-155. - A Woorke concerning the tre-wnesse of tJie Christian Religion, 1587. Reprinted in 1592, 1604, and 1617. ENGLAND 37 who wrote for the stag^e would surely have turned it to serious account ill other tragedies. This Shakespeare never does. On Mr. Lecky's view, he is to be held as having believed in the fairy magic of the Midsummer NighVs Dream and the Tempest, and in the actuality of such episodes as that of the ghost in Macbeth. But who for a moment supposes him to have held any such belief? It is probable that the entire undertaking of Macbeth (1605 ?) and later of the Tempest (1610?) was due to a wish on the part of the theatre management to please King James (ace. 1603), whose belief in witchcraft and magic was notorious. Even the use of the Ghost in Hamlet is an old stage expedient, common to the pre-Shakespearean play and to others of Kyd's and Peele's. Shakespeare significantlyaltered the dying words of Hamlet from the " heaven receive my soul " of the old version to " the rest is silence." The bequest of his soul to the Deity in his will is merely the regulation testamentary formula of the time. In his sonnets, which hint his personal cast if anything does, there is no trace of religious creed. Nor is Shakespeare in this aspect abnormal among his colleagues. To say nothing of Marlowe and the weak though gifted Greene, the bulk of his dramatic rivals are similarly unconcerned with religion : indeed, the quarrelsome Nash, with his Christ's Tears over Jeru- salem., is almost the only pietistic type among them. Hence, in fact, the bitter hostility of the Puritans to the stage. Some of the Elizabethans do indeed take up matters of creed in their plays ; for instance, Peele, whose David and Bcthsahe is the first regular English drama on a Biblical subject, frequently writes as a Protestant zealot,' though his career was very much on the lines of those of Marlowe and Greene ; and perhaps Fletcher had a similar leaning, since it is clearly his hand that penned the part of Henry VIII in which occurs the Protestant tag, " In her [Elizabeth's] days God shall be truly known. "^ To the queen's reign, too, probably belongs The Atheist's Tragedy of ' The allusion to "popish ceremonies" in Titus Androniciis\s^roha.h\y from his hand. See the author s work, Did Shakespeare Write " Titus Andronicus" ? where it is argued that the play in question is substan- tially Peele's and Greene's. = As to the expert analysis of this play, which shows it to be in large part Fletcher's, see P'urnivall, as cited, pp. xciii-.^cvi. 38 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT Cyril Tourneur, first published in 1611, but evidently written in its author's early youth — a coarse and worth- less performance, full of extremely bad imitations of Shakspere.' To the age of Elizabeth also belongs, perhaps, the sententious tragedy of Mustapha by Fulke Greville, Lord Brooke, first surreptitiously published in 1609. A century and a half later the deists were fond of quoting^ the concluding Chorus Sacerdotiim, beginning: O wearisome condition of humanity, Born under one taw, to another bound ; Vainly begot, and yet forbidden vanity ; Created sick, commanded to be sound : If nature did not take delight in blood She would have made more easy ways to good. It is natural to suspect that the author of such lines was less orthodox than his own day had reputed him ; and yet the whole of his work shows him much pre-occupied with religion, though perhaps in a deistic spirit. But Brooke's introspective and undramatic poetry is an exception : the prevailing colour of the whole drama of the Shakesperean period is pre-Puritan and semi- pagan ; and the theological spirit of the next generation, intensified by King James, was recognised by cultured foreigners as a change for the worse. ^ Not that rationalism became extinct. The "Italianate" incredulity as to a future state, which Sir John Davies had sought to repel by his poem, Nosce Teipsiim (1599), can hardly have been overthrown even by that remark- able production ; and there were other forms of doubt. In 1602 appeared The Unmasking of the Politique Atheist, by J. H. [John Hull], Batchelor of Divinitie, which, however, is in the main a mere attempt to retort upon Catholics the charge of atheism laid by them against Protestants. Soon after, in 1605, we find ' Cp. Seccombe and Allen, The Age of Shakspere, 1903, ii, i8g. - See Alberti, Briefe betreffende den Zustand der Religion in Gross- Britannien, Hanover, 1752, ii, 429. Alberti reads "God " at the end of the passage ; but Dr. Grosart's edition is here followed. 3 Hallam, Lit. Hist, of Europe, ed. 1872, ii, 371, 376, and notes; Patti- son, Isaac Casaubo}i, 2nd ed. 1892, p. 286 sq. ENGLAND 39 Dr. John Dove producing a Confutation of Atheisme in the manner of previous continental treatises, making the word " atheism " cover many shades of theism ; and an essayist writing in 1608 asserts that, on account of the self-seeking and corruption so common among church- men, " prophane Atheisme hath taken footing in the hearts of ignorant and simple men."' Such assertions prove merely a frequent coolness towards religion, not a vogue of reasoned unbelief. But the existence of rationalising heresy is attested by the burning of two men, Bartholomew Legate and Edward Wightman, for avowing Unitarian views, in 161 2. These, the last execu- tions for heresy in England, were results of the theo- logical zeal of King James, stimulated by the Calvinistic fanaticism of Archbishop Abbot, the predecessor of Laud. A Dutch Arminian theologian of Socinian leanings, named Conrad Vorstius, professor at Stein- furth, had produced in 1606 a heretical treatise, De Deo, but had nevertheless been appointed in 1610 professor of theology at Leyden, in succession to Arminius. His opinions were "such as in our own day would certainly disqualify him from holding such an office in any Christian University ";- and James, worked upon by Abbot, went so far as to make the appointment of Vorstius a diplomatic question. The stadhouder Maurice and the bulk of the Dutch clergy being of his view, the more tolerant statesmen of Holland, and the mercantile aristocracy, yielded from motives of prudence, and Vorstius was dismissed in order to save the English alliance. As regarded his own dominions, James drew up with his own hands a catalogue of the heresies found by him in Vorstius' book, and caused it to be burned in London and at the two universities. ^ On the heels of this amazing episode came the cases of Wightman and Legate. Finding, in a personal ' Essaies Politicke and Morall, by D. T. Gent, 1608, fol. 9. ' Gardiner, History of England, i6oj-j6^, 4th ed. ii, 128. Cp. Bayle, art. Vorstius, Note i\. By his theolog'ical opponents and by James, Vorstius was of course called an atheist. 3 Bayle, art. cited, Note F. 40 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT conversation, that Legate had "ceased to pray to Christ," the king had him brought before the Bishop of London's Consistory Court, which sentenced the heretic to Newgate. Being shortly released, he had the imprudence to threaten an action for false imprisonment, whereupon he was re-arrested. Chief Justice Coke held that, technically, the Consistory Court could not sentence to burning ; but Hobart and Bacon, the law officers of the Crown, and other judges, were of opinion that it could. Legate, .accordingly, was duly tried, sentenced, and burned at Smithfield ; and Wightman a few days later was similarly disposed of at Lichheld.' Bacon's share in this matter is obscure, and has not been discussed by either his assailants or his vindicators. As for the general public, the historian records that " not a word was uttered against this horrible cruelty. As we read over the brief contemporary notices which have reached us, we look in vain for the slightest intimation that the death of these two men was regarded with any other feelings than those with which the writers were accustomed to hear of the execution of an ordinary murderer. If any remark was made it was in praise of James for the devotion which he showed to the cause of God."^ That might have been reckoned on. It was not twenty years since Hamond and Kett had been burned on similar grounds ; and there had been no outcry then. Little had gone on in the average intel- lectual life in the interim save religious discussion and Bibliolatry, and not from such culture could there come any growth of human kindness or any clearer concep- tion of the law of reciprocity. But whether by force of recoil from a revival of the fires of Smithfield or from a perception that mere cruelty did not avail to destroy heresy, the ultima ratio was never again resorted to on English ground. That rationalism persisted is clear from the Atheomastix of Bishop Fotherby (1622), which ^ Gardiner, pp. 129-130. ^ Gardiner, as cited. Fuller is quite acquiescent. ENGLAND 41 notes among other things that as a result of constant disputing " the Scriptures (with many) have lost their authority, and are thought onely fit for the ignorant and idiote."' And while the growing stress of the strife between the ecclesiasticism of the Crown and the forces of nonconformity more and more thrust to the front religio-political issues, there began alongside of those strifes the new and powerful propaganda of deism, which, beginning with the Latin treatise, De Veritate, of Lord Herbert of Cherbury (1624), was gradually to leaven English thought for over a century. Above all, there now came into play the, manifold influence of Francis Bacon, whose case illustrates perhaps more fully than any other the difficulties, alike external and internal, in the way of right thinking. Taken as a whole, his work is on account of those diffi- culties divided against itself, insisting as it does alter- nately on a strict critical method and on the subjection of reason to the authority of revelation. He sounds a trumpet call to a new and universal effort of free and circumspect intelligence ; and on the instant he stipulates for the prerogative of Scripture. Though only one of many who assailed alike the methodic tyranny of Aristo- telianism- and the methodless empiricism of the ordinary "scientific" thought of the past, he made his attack with a sustained and manifold force of insight and utterance which still entitles him to pre-eminence as the great critic of wrong methods and the herald of better. Yet he not only transgresses often his own principal precepts in his scientific reasoning : he falls below several of his contemporaries and predecessors in point of his formal insistence on the final supremacy of theology over reason, alike in physics and in ethics. Where Hooker is ostensibly seeking to widen the field of rational judgment on the side of creed, Bacon, the ' AtheoDiasfix, pref. ^ In \.\\Q Advancement of Learning, B. i. (RouUedge's i-vol. ed. p. 54), he himself notes how, long- before his time, the new learning had in part discredited the schoolmen. 42 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT very champion of mental emancipation in the abstract, declares the boundary to be fixed. Of those lapses from critical good faith, part of the explanation is to be found in the innate difficulty of vital innovation for all intelligences ; part in the special pressures of the religious environment. On the latter head Bacon makes such frequent and emphatic protest that we are bound to infer on his part a personal experi- ence in his own day of the religious hostility which long followed his memory. In the works which he wrote at the height of his powers, especially in his masterpiece, Xho^ Novum Organum (1620), where he comes closest to the problems of exact inquiry, he specifies again and again both popular superstition and orthodox theology as hindrances to scientific research, commenting on " those who out of faith and veneration mix their philo- sophy with theology and traditions,"' and declaring that of the drawbacks science had to contend with " the corruption of philosophy by superstition and an admix- ture of theology is far the more widely spread, and does the greatest harm, whether to entire systems or to their parts. For the human understanding is obnoxious to the influence of the imagination no less than to the influence of common notions."' In the same passage he exclaims at the " extreme levity " of those of the moderns who have attempted to " found a system of natural philosophy on the first chapter of Genesis, on the book of Job, and other parts of the sacred writings ";^ and yet again, coupling as obstinate adversaries of Natural Philosophy " superstition, and the blind and immoderate zeal of religion," he roundly affirms that " by the simpleness of certain divines access to any philosophy, however pure, is well nigh closed."-* These ' Novum Organum, B. i, Aph. 62 {Works, Routledge's i vol. ed. p. 271). = Id. Aph. 65. (Ed. cited, p. 272.) 3 Id. lb. Cp. the Advance»tent of Learning, B. ii, and the De Augmentis, B. ix, near end. (Ed. cited, pp. 173, 634.) ■* Id. Aph. 89. (Ed. cited, p. 285.) Compare Aph. 46, 49, 96; the Valerius Terminus, cap. 25 ; the EngHsh Filuin Lahyrinthi, % 7 ; and the De Principiis atque Originibus. (Ed. cited, pp. 204, 208, 265, 267, 288, 650.) ENGLAND 43 charges are repeatedly salved by such claims as that "true religion " puts no obstacles in the way of science ;^ that the book of Job runs much to natural philosophy ; ^ and, in particular, in the last book of the De Augmentis Scientiariim^ redacted after his disgrace, by the declara- tion — more emphatic than those of the earlier Advance- ment of Learning — that " Sacred Theology ought to be derived from the word and oracles of God, and not from the light of nature or the dictates of reason."^ In this mood he goes so far as to declare, with the thorough- going obscurantists, that "the more discordant and incredible the divine mystery is, the more honour is shown to God in believing it, and the nobler is the victory of faith." Yet even in the calculated extravagance of this last pronouncement there is a ground for question whether the fallen Chancellor, hoping to retrieve himself, and trying every device of his ripe sagacity to minimise opposition, was not straining his formal orthodoxy beyond his real intellectual habit. As against such wholesale affirmation we have his declarations that "certain it is that God worketh nothing in nature but by second causes," and that any pretence to the contrary "is mere imposture as it were in favour towards God, and nothing else but to offer to the author of truth the unclean sacrifice of a lie";^ his repeated objection to the discussion of Final Causes ;5 his attack on Plato and Aristotle for rejecting the atheistic scientific method of Democritus f his peremptory assertion that motion ^ Valerius Terminus, cap. i. (Ed. cited, p. 18S. ) ^ Id. p. 187 ; Fihiin Labyriiifhi, p. 209. 3 B. ix, ch. I. (Ed. cited, p. 631.) Compare Valerius Terminus, cap. i (p. 186), and De Aug. B. iii, ch. 2 (p. 456), as to the impossibility of knowing- the will and character of God from Nature, thoug-h {De Aug. last cit. ) it reveals his power and g^lory. •* Advancement of Learning, B. i. (Ed. cited, p. 45.) Cp. Valerius Terminus, cap. i (p. 187). s Advancement, B. ii ; De Augtnentis, B. iii, cc. 4 and 5 ; Valerius Terminus, cap. 25 ; Novum Organum, B. i, Aph. 48. B. ii, Aph. 2. (Ed. cited, pp. 96, 205, 266, 302, 471, 473.) ^ De Principiis atque Originibus. (Ed. cited, pp. 649-50. ) Elsewhere {De Aug. B. iii, ch. 4, p. 471) he expressly puts it that the system of 44 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT is a property of matter;' and his almost Democritean handling of the final problem, in which he insists that primal matter is, " next to God, the cause of causes, itself only without a cause."- Further, though he speaks of Scriptural miracles in a conventional way,^ he drily pronounces in one passage that, "as for narra- tions touching the prodigies and miracles of religions, they are either not true or not natural, and, therefore, impertinent for the story of nature. "+ Finally, as against the formal capitulation to theology at the close of the De Augmentis , he has left standing in the first book of the Latin version the ringing doctrine of the original Advancement of Learning (1605), that "there is no power on earth which setteth up a throne or chair in the spirits and souls of men, and in their cogitations, imaginations, opinions, and beliefs, but knowledge and learning ";5 and in his Wisdom of the Ancients^ he has contrived to turn a crude myth into a subtle allegory in behalf of toleration. Thus, despite his many resorts to and prostrations before the Scriptures, the general effect of his writings in this regard is to set up in the minds of his readers the old semi-rationalistic equivoque of a " two-fold truth"; reminding us as he does that he "did in the beginning separate the divine testimony from the human." When, therefore, he announces that " we know by faith " that "matter was created from nothing,"^ he has the air of juggling with his problem ; and his further suggestion as to the possibility of matter being endowed with a force of evolution, however cautiously put, is far removed from orthodoxy. Accordingly, the charge of atheism — which he notes as commonly brought against all who dwell Democritiis, which " removed God and mind from the structure of things," was more favourable to true science than the teleologfy and theolog-y of Plato and Aristotle. ' Id. pp. 651, 657. - Id. p. 648. 3 De Augmentis, B. iii, ch. 2 ; B. iv, ch. 2. (Ed. cited, pp. 456, 482.) ■* De At Essay 57, Of Anger. 46 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT upon ending " all inquisition of nature in metaphysical or theological discourse," and in charging the Turks with a special tendency to " ascribe ordinary effects to the immediate workings of God,"' he is playing not very scrupulously on the vanity of his co-religionists. As he was only too well aware, both tendencies ruled the Christian thought of his own day, and derive direct from the sacred books — not from " abuse," as he pretends. And on the metaphysical as on the common-sense side of his thought he is self-eontradictory, even as most men have been before and since, because judgment cannot easily fulfil the precepts it frames for itself in illuminated hours. Latter-day students have been impressed, as w^as Leibnitz, by the original insight wdth which Bacon negated the possibility of our forming any concrete con- ception of a prim.ary form of matter, and insisted on its necessary transcendence of our powers of knowledge. "" On the same principle he should have negated every modal conception of the still more recondite Something which he put as antecedent to matter, and called God.^ Yet in his normal thinking he seems to have been content with the commonplace formula given in his essay ow Atheism — that we cannot suppose the totality of things to be " without a mind." He has here endorsed in its essentials what he elsewhere calls "the heresy of the Anthropomorphites,"-^ failing to apply his own law in his philosophy, as elsewhere in his physics. When, however, we realise that similar inconsistency is fallen into after him by Spinoza, and wholly escaped perhaps by no thinker, we are in a way to understand that with all his deflections from his own higher law Bacon may have profoundly and fruitfully influenced the thought of the next generation, if not his own. The fact of this influence has been somewhat obscured ' Valerhis Terminus, ch. 25. ^ De Principiis, ed. cited, pp. 648-9. Cp. pp. 642-3. 3 Id. p. 64S. "• Valerius Terminus, cap. ii ; De Augmentis, B. v, ch. 4. Ed. cited, pp. 199, 517. ENGLAND 47 by the modern dispute as to whether he had any im- portant influence on scientific progress.' At first sight the old claim for him in that regard seems to be heavily discounted by the simple fact that he definitelyjrejected the Copernican system of astronomy.^ Though, how- ever, this gravely emphasises his fallibility, it does not cancel his services as a stimulator of scientific thoueht. At that time, only a few were yet intelligentlyjconvinced Copernicans ; and we have the record of how, in Bacon's day, Harvey lost heavily in credit and in his medical practice by propounding his discovery of the circulation of the blood, 3 which, it is said, no physician over forty years old at that time believed in. For men of that century it was thus no fatal shortcoming in Bacon to have failed to grasp the true scheme of sidereal motion,^ any more than it was one on Galileo's side to be wrong about the tides. They could realise that it was precisely in astronomy, for lack of special study and expert know- ledge, that Bacon was least qualified to judge. Intel- lectual influence on science is not necessarily dependent on actual scientific achievement, though that of course furthers and establishes it ; and the fact of Bacon's impact on the mind of the next age is abundantly proved by testimonies. For a time the explicit tributes came chiefly from ' Cp. Brewster, Life of Neivton, 1855, ii, 400-4 ; Draper, Intel. Devel. of Europe, ed. 1875, ii, 258-60 ; Dean Church, Bacon, pp. 180-201 ; Fowler, Bacon, ch. vi ; Professor Lodg-e, Pioneers of Science, ■^^. 145-151; Lan_o-e, Gesch. d. Mater, i, 197 sq. (Engf. trans, i, 236-7), and cit. from Liebig — as to whom, however, see Fowler, pp. 133, 157. - A^ovum Orgauuni, ii, 46 and 48, § 17 ; De Aug. iii, 4; Thema Coeli. Ed. cited, pp. 364, 375, 461, 705, 709. Whewell (vY/^/. of Induct. Sciences, 3rd ed. i, 296, 298) igfnores the second and third of these passag'es in denying- Hume's assertion that Bacon rejected the Copernican theory with " disdain." It is true, however, that Bacon had vacillated. The facts are fairly faced by Professor Fowler in his Bacon, 1881, pp. 151-2, and his ed. oi Novum Organum, Introd. pp. 30-36. See also the summing- up of Ellis in notes to passag'es above cited, and at p. 675. 3 Aubrey, Lives of Eminent Persons, ed. 1813, vol. ii, Pt. ii, p. 383. •* As Professor Masson points out (Poet. Works of Milton, 1874, Introd. i, 92 sq. ), not only does Milton seem uncertain to the last concerning- the truth of the "Copernican system, but his friends and literar\- asso- ciates, the " Smectymnuans," in their answer to Bishop Hall's Humble Remonstrance (1641), had pointed to the Copernican doctrine as an unquestioned instance of a supreme absurdity. 48 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT abroad ; though at all times, even in the first shock of his disgrace, there were Englishmen perfectly convinced of his greatness. To the winning of foreign favour he had specially addressed himself in his adversity. Grown wary in act as well as wise in theory, he deleted from the Latin De Augmentis a whole series of passages of the Advancement of Learning \\K\ch. disparaged Catholics and Catholicism;' and he had his reward in being appre- ciated by many Jesuit and other Catholic scholars." But Protestants such as Coraenius and Leibnitz were ere long more emphatic than any Catholics ;3 and at the time of the Restoration we find Bacon enthusiastically praised among the more open-minded and scientifically biassed thinkers of England, who included some zealous Christians.'* It was not that his special " method " enabled them to reach important results with any new facility : its impracticability is now insisted on by friends as well as foes.^ It was that he arraigned with extra- ordinary psychological insight and brilliance of phrase the mental vices which had made discoveries so rare ; the alternate self-complacency and despair of the average indolent mind; the "opinion of store " which was "cause of want " ; the timid or superstitious evasion of research. In all this he was using his own highest powers, his comprehension of human character and his genius for speech. And though his own scientific results were not to be compared with those of Galileo and Descartes, the ^ See notes in ed. cited, pp. 50, 53, 61, 63, 68, 75, 76, 84, no. ^ Fowler, ed. oi Nov. Org. § 14, pp. 101-4. 3 Fowler, ed. oi Nov. Org. § 14, p. 108; Ellis in ed. cited, p. 643. •' Rawley's Life, in ed. cited, p. 9 ; Osborn, as above cited ; Fowler, ed. of N^ov. Org. Introd. § 14 ; T. Martin, Character of Bacon, 1835, pp. 216, 227, 222-3. 5 Cp. Fowler, Bacon, pp. 139-141 ; Mill, System of Logic, B. vi, ch. v, § 5 ) Jevons, Principles of Scie?ice, i-vol. ed. p. 576 ; Tyndall, Scientific Use of the Imagination, 3rd ed. pp. 4, 8-9, 42-3 ; T. Akirtin, as cited, pp. 210-238; ^-Agehoi, Postulates of English Political Economy, ed. 1885, pp. 18-19 ! Ellis and Spedding-, in ed. cited, pp. x, xii, 22, 389. The notion of a dialectic method which should mechanically enable any man to make discoveries is an irredeemable fallacy, and must be abandoned. Bacon's own remarkable anticipation of modern scientific thought in the formula that heat is a mode of motion [Nozk Org. ii, 20) is not mechani- cally yielded by his own process, noteworthy and sug-gestive though that is. POPULAR THOUGHT IN EUROPE 49 wonderful range of his observation and his curiosity, the unwearying zest of his scrutiny of well-nigh all the known fields of Nature, must have been an inspiration to multitudes of students besides those who have recorded their debt to him. It is probable that but for his literary genius, which though little discussed is of a verv rare order, his influence would have been both narrower and less durable ; but, being one of the great writers of the modern world, he has swayed men down till our own day. § 4. Popular Tlioiight in Europe. Of popular freethought in the rest of Europe there is little to chronicle for a hundred and fifty years after the Reformation, The epoch-making work of Copernicus, published in 1543, had little or no immediate effect in Germany, where, as we have seen, physical and verbal strifes had begun with the ecclesiastical revolution, and were to continue to waste the nation's energy for a century. In 1546, all attempts at ecclesiastical recon- ciliation having failed, the emperor Charles V, in whom Melanchthon had seen a model monarch,' decided to put down the Protestant heresy by war. Luther had just died, apprehensive for his cause. Civil war now raged till the peace of Augsburg in 1555 ; whereafter Charles abdicated in favour of his son Philip. Here were in part the conditions which in France and elsewhere were later followed by a growth of rational unbelief ; and there are some traces even at this time of skepticism in high places in the German world, notably in the case of the Emperor Maximilian II, who, " grown up in the spirit of doubt,"- would never identify himself with either Protestants or Catholics.-^ But in Germany there was still too little intellectual light, too little brooding over experience, to permit of the spread of such a temper ; and the balance of forces amounted only to a ' Kohlrausch, Hist, of Germany^ Eng-. trans, p. 385. = Moritz Ritter, Geschichtc der dcutschen Union, 1867-73, ii, 55. 3 Menzel, Geschichte der Deittschen, 3te Aufl. Cap. 416. VOL. II E 50 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT deadlock between the ecclesiastical parties. Protes- tantism on the intellectual side, as already noted, had sunk into a bitter and barren polemic' among the reformers themselves ; and many who had joined the movement reverted to Catholicism." Meanwhile the teaching and preaching Jesuits were zealously at work, turning the dissensions of the enemy to account, and contrasting its schism upon schism with the unity of the church. But Protestantism was well welded to the financial interest of the many princes and others who had acquired the church lands confiscated at the Refor- mation ; since a return to Catholicism would mean the surrender of these. ^ Thus there wrought on the one side the organised spirit of anti-heresy^ and on the other the organised spirit of Bibliolatry, neither gaining ground ; and between the two intellectual life was paralysed. Protestantism saw no way of advance ; and the prevailing temper began to be that of the Dark Ages, expectant of the end of the world. ^ Superstition abounded, especially the belief in witchcraft, now acted on with frightful cruelty throughout the whole Christian world ;^ and in the nature of the case Catholicism counted for nothing on the opposite side. The only element of rationalism that one historian of culture can detect is the tendency of the German moralists of the time to turn the devil into an abstrac- tion by identifying him with the different aspects of human folly and vice.'' There was, as a matter of fact, a somewhat higher manifestation of the spirit of reason ' Cp. Gardiner, The Tliirty Years' War, 8th ed. pp. 12-13 > Kohlrausch, p. 438 ; Pusey, Histor. Enq. into German Rationalism, pp. 9-25 ; Hen- derson, Short History of Germany, i, oh. 16. - Kohlrausch, p. 439. A specially strong reaction set in about 1573. Ritter, Geschichte der deiitschen Union, \, 19. Cp. Menzel, Cap. 433. 3 Cp. Gardiner, The Tliirty Years War, pp. 16, 18, 21 ; Kohlrausch, P- 370- ■* As to this see Moritz Ritter, as cited, i, 9, 27 ; ii, 122 sq. ; Dunham, History of the Germanic Empire, iii, 186; Henderson, i, 411 sq. 5 Freytag, Bilder aus der deutschen Vergangenheit, Bd. ii, Abth. ii, 1883, p. 381 ; Bd. iii, ad init. ^ Cp. Lecky, Rationalism in Europe, small ed. i, 53-83. ^ Freytag, Bilder, Bd. ii, Abth. ii, p. 378. POPULAR THOUGHT IN EUROPE 51 in the shape of some new protests against the super- stition of sorcery. About 1560 a Catholic priest named CorneHus Loos Callidius was imprisoned by a papal nuncio for declaring that witches' confessions were merely the results of torture. Forced to retract, he was released; but again offended, and was again imprisoned, dying in time to escape the fate of a councillor of Treves, named Flade, who was burned alive for arguing, on the basis of an old canon (mistakenly named from the Council of Ancyra), that sorcery is an imaginary crime.' Then appeared the famous John Wier's treatise on witchcraft,^ a work which, though fully adhering to the belief in the devil and things demoniac, argued aeainst the notion that witches were conscious workers of evil. Wier^ was a physician, and saw the problem partly as one in pathology. Other laymen, and even priests, as we have seen, had reacted still more strongly against the prevailing insanity ; but it had the authority of Luther on its side, and with the common people the protests counted for little. Reactions against Protestant bigotry in Holland on other lines were not much more successful, and indeed were not numerous. One of the most interesting is that of Dirk Coornhert (1522-1590), who by his manifold literary activities* became one of the founders of Dutch prose. In his youth Coornhert had visited Spain and Portugal, and had there, it is said, seen an execution of victims of the Inquisition, ^ deriving thence the aversion to intolerance which stamped his whole life's work. It does ' The Pope and the CounciU Engf. trans, p. 260 ; French trans, p. 285. ^ De Praestigiis Daenioniim, 1563. See it described by Lecky, Rationalism, i, 85-7 ; Hallam, Lit. Hist, ii, 76. 3 By Dutch historians Wier is claimed as a Dutchman. He was born at Grave, in North Brabant, but studied medicine at Paris and Orleans, and after practising- physic at Arnheim in the Netheriands was called to Dusseldorf as physician to the Duke of Julich, to whom he dedi- cated his treatise. His ideas are probably traceable to his studies in France. •* His collected works (1632) amount to nearly 7,000 folio pages. J. Ten Brink, Kleine Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche Lettcren, 1S82, p. 91. 5 Ten Brink, p. 86. Jonckbloet {Beknopte Geschiede^iis der Nederl. Letterkunde, ed. 1880, p. 148) is less specific. 52 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT not appear, however, that any such peninsular experience was required, seeing that the Dutch Inquisition became abundantly active about the same period. Learning Latin at thirty, in order to read Augustine, he became a translator of Cicero and — singularly enough — of Boccaccio. An engraver to trade, he became first notary and later secretary to the burgomaster of Haarlem ; and, failing to steer clear of the strifes of the time, was arrested and imprisoned at the Hague in 1567. On his release he sought safety at Kleef in Santen, whence he returned after the capture of Brill to become secretary of the new national Government at Haarlem ; but he had again to take to flight, and lived at Kleef from 1572 to 1577. In 1578 he debated at Leyden with two preachers of Delft on predestination, which he declared to be unscriptural ; and was officially ordered to keep silence. Thereupon he published a protest, and got into fresh trouble by drawing up, as notary, an appeal to the Prince of Orange on behalf of his Catholic fellow-countrymen for freedom of worship, and by holding another debate at the Hague.' Always his master-ideal was that of toleration, in support of which he wrote strongly against Beza and Calvin (this in a Latin treatise published only after his death), declaring the persecution of heretics to be a crime in the kingdom of God ; and it was as a moralist that he gave the lead to Arminius on the question of predestination.^ " Against Protestant and Catholic sacerdotalism and scholastic he set forth humanist world-wisdom and Biblical ethic, "^ to that end publishing a translation of Boethius (1585), and composing his chief work on Zedekitnst (Ethics). Christianity, he insisted, lay not in profession or creed, but in practice. By way of restraining the ever-increasing malignity of theological strifes, he made the quaint proposal that the clergy should not be allowed to utter anything but the actual ' Ten Brink, pp. 89-90. - Hallain, Lit. of Europe, ii, 83.' 3 Ten Brink, p. 87. POPULAR THOUGHT IN EUROPE 53 words of the Scriptures, and that all works of theology should be sequestrated. For these and other heteroclite suggestions he was expelled from Delft (where he sought finally to settle, 1587) by the magistrates, at the instance of the preachers, but was allowed to die in peace at Gouda, where he wrote to the last.' All the while, though he drew for doctrine on Plutarch, Cicero, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius equally with the Bible, Coornhert habitually founded on the latter as the final authority.- On no other footing could any one in his age and country stand as a teacher. It was not till after generations of furious intolerance that a larger outlook was possible in the Netherlands ; and the first steps towards it were naturally taken independently of theology. Although Grotius figured for a century as one of the chief exponents of Christian evidences, it is certain that his great work on the Law of War and Peace (1625) made for a rationalistic concep- tion of society. " Modern historians of jurisprudence, like Lerminier and Bluntschli, represent it as the distinctive merit of Grotius that he freed the science from bondage to theology."^ The breach, indeed, is not direct, as theistic sanctions are paraded in the Prolegomena ; but along with these goes the avowal that natural ethic would be valid even were there no God, and — as against the formula of Horace, Utilitas justi mater — that " the mother of natural right is human nature itself."'^ Where Grotius, defender of the faith, figured as a heretic, unbelief could not speak out, though there are traces of its underground life. The charge of atheism was brought against the Excercitationes Philoso- phicae of Gorl^us, published in 1620 ; but the book ' Jonckbloet, Beknopte Geschiedenis, p. 149; Ten Brink, p. 91 ; Bayle, Dicfionnaire, art. Koornhert ; Punjer, Hist, of the Chr. Philos. of Religion, Eng. trans, p. 269 ; Dr. E. Gosse, art. on Dutch Literature in Encyc. Brit. 9th ed. xii, 93. - Ten Brink, p. 91. 3 Professor Flint, Vico, p. 142. •* De Jure Belli et Pads, proleg. §§ 11, i6. 54 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT being posthumous, conclusions could not be tried. Views far short of atheism, however, were dangerous to their holders ; for the merely Socinian work of Voelkel, published at Amsterdam in 1642, was burned by order of the authorities, and a second impression shared the same fate.' In 1653 the States of Holland forbade the publication of all Unitarian books and all Socinian worship ; and though the veto as to books was soon evaded, that on worship was enforced.'' Descartes, as we shall see, during his- stay in Holland was menaced by clerical fanaticism. Some fared worse. In the generation after Grotius, one Koerbagh, a doctor, for publishing (1668) a dictionary of definitions containing advanced ideas, had to fly from Amsterdam. At Culen- berg he translated a Unitarian work and began another ; but was betrayed, tried for blasphemy, and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment, to be followed by ten years' banishment. He compromised by dying in prison within the year. Even as late as 1678 Hadrian Bever- land (afterwards appointed, through Isaac Vossius, to a lay office under the Church of England) was imprisoned and struck oft' the rolls of Leyden University for his Peccatiim On'ginale, in which he speculated erotically as to the nature of the sin of Adam and Eve. The book was furi- ously answered, and publicly burned. ^ It was only after an age of such intolerance that Holland, at the end of the seventeenth century, began to become for England a model of freedom in opinion as formerly in trade. Unitarianism, which we have seen thus invading Holland somewhat persistently during half a century, was then as now impotent beyond a certain point by reason of its divided allegiance, though it has always had the support of some good minds. Its denial of the deity of Jesus could not be made out without a certain superposing of reason on Scripture ; and yet to Scrip- ture it always finally appealed. The majority of men ' Bayle, art. Voelkel. ' Schlegel's note on Mosheim, Reid's ed. p. 862. 3 Nic^ron, Mdmoires pour servir, etc. xiv(i73i), 34039. POPULAR THOUGHT IN EUROPE 55 accepting' such authority have always tended to believe more uncritically ; and the majority of men who are habitually critical will always repudiate the Scriptural jurisdiction. In Poland, accordingly, the movement, so flourishing in its earlier years, was soon arrested, as we have seen, by the perception that it drove many Pro- testants back to Catholicism ; among these being pre- sumably a number whose critical insight showed them that there was no firm standing-ground between Catholicism and Naturalism. Every new advance within the Unitarian pale terrified the main body, many of whom were mere Arians, holding by the term Trinity, and merely making the Son subordinate to the Father. Thus when one of their most learned ministers, Simon Budny, followed in the steps of Ferencz Davides (whom we have seen dying in prison in Transylvania in 1579) and represented Jesus as a "mere" man, he was condemned by a synod (1582) and deposed from his office (1584). He recanted, and was reinstated,' but his adherents seem to have been excommunicated. The sect thus formed were termed Semi-Judaizers by another heretic, Martin Czechowicz, who himself denied the pre-existence of Jesus, and made him only a species of demigod \'^ yet Fausto Sozzini, better known as Faustus Socinus, who also wrote against them, and who had worked with Biandrata to have Davides imprisoned, conceded that prayer to Christ was optional. 3 Faustus, who arrived in Poland in 1579, seems to have been moved to his strenuously " moderate " policy, which for a time unified the bulk of the party, mainly by a desire to keep on tolerable terms with Protestantism. That, however, did not serve him with the Catholics ; and when the reaction set in he suffered severely at their hands. His treatise, De Jesu Christit Servatore^ created bitter resentment; and in 1598 the Catholic rabble of Cracow, led " as usual by the students of the ' Krasinski, Ref. in Poland, 1840, ii, 363 ; Mosheim, 16 Cent. sec. iii, Pt. ii, ch. iv, § 22. Budny translated the Bible, with rationalistic notes. ^ Krasinski, p. 361. 3 Mosheim, last cit. § 23, note 4. 56 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT university," dragged him from his house. His life was saved only by the strenuous efforts of the rector and two professors of the university ; and his library was destroyed, with his manuscripts, whereof " he particu- larly regretted a treatise which he had composed against the atheists";^ though it is not recorded that the atheists had ever menaced either his life or his property. He seems to have been zealous against all heresy save his own, preaching passive obedience in politics as emphatically as any churchman, and condemning alike the rising of the Dutch against Spanish rule and the resistance of the French Protestants to their kino-.- This attitude may have had something to do with the better side of the ethical doctrines of the sect, which leant considerably to non-resistance. Czechowicz (who was deposed by his fellow-Socinians for schism) seems not only to have preached a patient endurance of injuries, but to have meant it y and to the Socinian sect belongs the main credit of setting up a humane compromise on the doctrine of eternal punishment.-^ The time, of course, had not come for any favourable reception of such a compromise in Christendom ; and it is noted of the German Socinian, Ernst Schoner (Sonerus), who wrote against the orthodox dogma, that his works are "exceedingly scarce.''^ Unitarianism as a whole, indeed, made little headway outside of Poland and Transylvania, In Spain, meantime, there was no recovery from the paralysis wrought by the combined tyranny of church and crown, incarnate in the Inquisition. The mon- strous multiplication of her clergy might alone have sufficed to set up stagnation in her mental life ; but, ' Krasinski, p. 367 ; Wallace, Antitrin. Biog. 1850, ii, 320. = Bayle, art. Fauste Socin. Krasinski, p. 374. 3 Krasinski, pp. 361-2. Fausto Sozzini also could apparenUy forg-ive everybody save those who believed less than he did. •* Cp. the inquiry as to Locke's Socinianism in J. Milner's Account of Mr. Lock's Rdigion out of his 07vn Writings, 1706, and Lessing-'s Zur Geschichte und Literatur, i, as to Leibnitz's criticism of Sonerus. 5 Enfield's History of Philosophy (an abstract of Brucker), ed. 1840 P- 537- POPULAR THOUGHT IN EUROPE 57 not content with the turning of a vast multitude' of men and women away from the ordinary work of life, her rulers set themselves to expatriate as many more on the score of heresy. A century after the expul- sion of the Jews came the turn of the Moors, whose last hold in Spain, Granada, had been overthrown in 1492. Within a generation they had been deprived of all exterior practice of their religion ;^ but that did not suffice, and the Inquisition never left them alone. Harried, persecuted, compulsorily baptised, deprived of their Arabic books, they repeatedly revolted, only to be beaten down. At length, in the opening years of the seventeenth century (1610-1613), under Philip III, on the score that the great Armada had failed because heretics were tolerated at home, it was decided to expel the whole race ; and now a million Moriscoes, among the most industrious inhabitants of Spain, were driven the way of the Jews. It is needless here to recall the ruinous effect upon the material life of Spain -J the aspect of the matter which specially con- cerns us is the consummation of the policy of killing out all intellectual variation. The Moriscoes mav have counted for little in positive culture ; but they were one of the last and most important factors of variation in the country ; and when Spain was thus successively denuded of precisely the most original and energetic types among the Jewish, the Spanish, and the Moorish stocks, her mental ruin was complete. To modern freethought, accordingly, she has till our own age contributed practically nothing. The brilliant dramatic literature of the reigns of the three Philips, which influenced the rising drama alike of France and ' In th^ dominions of Philip II there are said to have been 58 arch- bishops, 684 bishops, 1 1,400 abbeys, 23,000 religfious fraternities, 46,000 monasteries, 13,500 nunneries, 312,000 secular priests, 400,000 monks, 200,000 friars and other ecclesiastics. H. E. Watts, Miguel de Cer- vantes^ 1895, pp. 67-68. Spain alone had 9,088 monasteries. - Buckle, 3-V0I. ed. ii, 484 ; i-vol. ed. p. 564, and refs. 3 Cp. Buckle, 3-V0I. ed. ii, 497-9; i-vol. ed. pp. 572-3 ; La Rigfaudiire, Hist, des Persic. Relig. en Espagne, i860, pp. 220-6. 58 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT England, is notably unintellectual/ dealing endlessly in plot and adventure, but yielding no great study of character, and certainly doingr nothing to further ethics. Calderon was a thorough fanatic, and became a priest ;^ Lope de Vega found solace under bereavement in zealously performing the duties of an Inquisitor ; and was so utterly swayed by the atrocious creed of persecu- tion which was blighting Spain that he joined in the general exultation over the expulsion of the Moriscoes. Even the mind of Cervantes had not on this side deepened beyond the average of his race and time ;3 his old wrongs at Moorish hands perhaps warping his better judgment. His humorous and otherwise kindly spirit, so incongruously neighboured, must indeed have counted for much in keeping life Sweet in Spain in the succeeding centuries of bigotry and ignorance. But from the seventeenth century till the other day the brains were out, in the sense that genius was lacking. That species of variation had been too effectually extirpated during two centuries to assert itself until after a similar duration of normal conditions. The " immense advantage of religious unity," which even a modern Spanish historian-* has described as a gain balancing the economic loss from the expulsion of the Moriscoes, was precisely the condition of minimum intellectual activity — the unity of stagnation. It has been held bv one historian that at the death of Philip II there arose some such sense of relief through- out Spain as was felt later in France at the death of Louis XIV ; that "the Spaniards now ventured to sport with the chains which they had not the power to break"; and that Cervantes profited by the change in conceiving ' Cp. Lewes, Spanish Drama, passim. ^ " He inspires me only with horror for the faith which he professes. No one ever so far disfigured Christianity, no one ever assigned to it passions so ferocious, or morals so corrupt " (Sismondi, Lit. of South of Europe^ Bohn trans, ii, 379). 3 Ticknor, Hist, of Spanish Lit., 6th ed. ii, 501 ; Don Ouixote, Pt. II, ch. liv. ■• Lafuente, Historia de Espana, 1856, xvii, 340. It is not quite certain that Lafuente expressed his sincere opinion. POPULAR THOUGHT IN EUROPE 59 and writing' his Don Quixote.' But the same historian had before seen that " poetic freedom was circumscribed by the same shackles which fettered moral liberty. Thoughts which could not be expressed without fear of the dungeon and the stake were no longer materials for the poet to work on. His imagination, instead of improving them into poetic ideas had to be taught to reject them. But the eloquence of prose was more completely bowed down under the inquisitorial yoke than poetry, because it was more closely allied to truth, which of all things was the most dreaded."- Cervantes, Lope de Vega, and Calderon proved that within the iron wall of Catholic orthodoxy, in an age when conclusions were but slowly being tried between dogma and reason, there could be a vigorous play of imaginative genius on the field of human nature ; even as in Velasquez, sheltered by royal favour, the genius of portraiture could become incarnate. But after these have passed away, the laws of social progress are revealed in the defect of all further Spanish genius. Even of Cervantes it is recorded — on very doubtful authority, however — that he said " I could have made Don Quixote much more amusing if it were not for the Inquisition"; and it is matter of history that a passage in his book^ disparaging perfunctory works of charity was in 1619 ordered by the Holy Office to be expunged as impious and contrary to the faith.-* When the total intel- lectual life of a nation falls ever further in the rear of the world's movement, even the imaginative arts are stunted. Turkey excepted, the civilised nations of Europe which for two centuries have contributed the fewest great names to the world's bead-roll have been ' Boutervvek, Hist, of Spanish and Portuguese Literature, Eng^. trans. 1823, i, 331. - Id. p. le^i. 3 Part II, ch. xxxvi. ■* H. E. Watts, Miguel de Cervantes, p. 167. Don Quixote -was "always under suspicion of the orthodox " Id. p. 166. Mr. Watts, saying- nothing- of Cervantes' approval of the expulsion of the Moriscoes, claims that his "head was clear of the follies and extravagances of the reigning superstition" (Id. p. 231). 6o THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT — - •» Spain, Austria, Portugal, Belgium, and Greece, all noted for their " religious unity." And of all of these Spain is the supreme instance of positive decadence, she having exhibited in the sixteenth century a greater complex of energy than any of the others/ The lesson is monumental. § 5. Scientific Thought. It remains to trace briefly the movement of scientific and speculative thought -which constituted the transition between the Scholastic and the modern philosophy. It may be compendiously noted under the names of Coper- nicus, Bruno, Vanini, Sanchez, Galileo, Ramus, Gassendi, Bacon, and Descartes. The great performance of Copernicus, given to the world with an editor's treacherous preface as he lay or\. his deathbed in 1543, did not become a general posses- sion for over a hundred years. It was, in fact, the most momentous challenge that had been offered in the modern world to established beliefs, alike theological and lay, for ft seemed to flout " common sense " as com- pletely as it did the cosmogony of the sacred books. Its gradual victory, therefore, is the first great instance of a triumph of reason over spontaneous and instilled prejudice ; and Galileo's account of his reception of it should be a classic document in the history of rationalism. It was when he was a student in his teens that there came to Pisa one Christianus Urstitius of Rostock, a follower of Copernicus, to lecture on the new doctrine. The young Galileo, being satisfied that "that opinion could be no other than a solemn mad- ness," did not attend ; and those of his acquaintance who did made a jest of the matter, all save one, " very intelligent and wary," who told him that " the business ' Bouterwek, whose sociolog"y, though meritorious, is ill-clarified, argfues that the Inquisition was in a manner congenital to Spain because before its establishment the suspicion of heresy was already " more deg-rading- in Spain than the most odious crimes in other countries." But the same might have been said of the other countries also. As to earlier Spanish heresy see above, vol. i, p. 382 sq. SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT 6i was not altogether to be laughed at." Thenceforth he began to inquire of Copernicans, with the result inevitable to such a mind as his. " Of as many as I examined I found not so much as one who told me not that he had been a long time of the contrary opinion, but to have changed it for this, as convinced by the strength of the reasons proving the same ; and afterwards questioning them one by one, to see whether they were well possessed of the reasons of the other side, I found them all to be very ready and perfect in them, so that I could not truly say that they took this opinion out of ignorance, vanity, or to show the acuteness of their wits." On the other hand, the opposing Aristotelians and Ptolomeans had seldom even superficially studied the Copernican system, and had in no case been con- verted from it. " Whereupon, considering that there was no man who followed the opinion of Copernicus that had not been first on the contrary side, and that was not very well acquainted with the reasons of Aristotle and Ptolemy, while, on the contrary, there was not one of the followers of Ptolemy that had ever been of the judg- ment of Copernicus, and had left that to embrace this of Aristotle," he began to realise how strong must be the reasons that thus drew men away from beliefs " imbibed with their milk."' We can divine how slow would be the progress of a doctrine which could only thus begin to find its way into one of the most gifted scientific minds of the modern world. It was only the elite of the intellectual life who could at first receive it. The doctrine of the earth's two-fold motion, as we have seen, had actually been taught in the fifteenth century by Nicolaus of Cusa (1401-64), who, instead of being prosecuted, was made a cardinal, so little was the question then con- sidered (Ueberweg', ii, 23-24). See above, vol. i, p. 358, as to Pulci. Only very slowly did the work even of Copernicus make its impression. Mr. Green {Short History, ed. 1881, p. 297) makes first the blunder of stating that it influenced thought in the fifteenth century, and then the further mistake of saying that it was brought home to the general intelligence by Galileo ' Galileo, Dialogi sui Sistcmi del Hondo, ii {Operc, ed. iSii, xi, 303-4). 62 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT and Kepler in the later years of the sixteenth century {Id. p. 412). Galileo's European notoriety dates from 1616 ; his Dialogues of the Tivo Systems of the World appeared only in 1632; and his Dialogues of the New Sciences in 1638. Kepler's indecisive Mysterium Cosmographicum appeared only in 1597 ; his treatise on the motions of the planet Mars not till 1609. One of the first to bring the new cosmological con- ception to bear on philosophic thought was Giordano Bruno (i 548-1 600), whose life and death of lonely- chivalry have won him his place as the typical martyr of modern freethought.' He may be conceived as a blending of the pantheistic and naturalistic lore of ancient Greece,- assimilated through the Florentine Platonists, with the spirit of modern science (itself a revival of the Greek) as it first takes firm form in Copernicus, whose doctrine Bruno early and ardently embraced. Baptised Filippo, he took Giordano as his cloister-name when he entered the great convent of S. Domenico Maggiore at Naples in 1563, in his fifteenth year. No human being was ever more unfitly placed among the Dominicans, punningly named the "hounds of the Lord " {domini canes) for their work as the corps of the Inquisition ; and very early in his cloister life he came near being formally proceeded against for showing disregard of sacred images, and making light of the ' A g-ood study of Bruno is supplied by Mr. Owen in his Skeptics (f the Italian Renaissance. He has, however, omitted to embody the later discoveries of Dufour and Berti, and has some wrong- dates. Mrs. Frith's Life of Giordano Bruno {1887) g-ives all the data, but is uncritical on the philosophic side. A competent estimate is given in the late Professor Adamson's lectures on The Development of Modern Philo- sophy, etc., 1903, vol. ii, p. 23 sq. ; also in his art. in Encyc. Brit. For a hostile view see Hallam, Lit. of Europe, as cited, ii, 105-1 1 1. The biogfraphy of M. Bartholmess, fordano Bru7io, 1846, is extremely full and sympathetic, but unavoidably loose as to dates. Much new matter has since been collected, for which see the Vita di Giordano Bruno of Domenico Berti, rev. and enlarged ed. 1889, and the doctoral treatise of C. Sigwart, Die Lebensgeschichte Giordano Brunos, Tubingen, 1880. For otlier authorities see Mr. Owen's and Mrs. Frith's lists, and the final Literaturnachweis in Gustav Louis's Giordano Bruno, seine Weltanschauung unci Lebensverfassung, Berlin, 1900. The study of Bruno has been carried further in Germany than in England; but Mr. Whittaker {Essays and Notices, 1895) makes up much leeway. ^ Cp. Bartholmess, i, 49-53 ; Lange, Gesch. des Mater, i, 191-4 (Eng-. trans, i, 232); Gustav Louis, as cited, pp. 11, 88. SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT 63 sanctity of the Virgin.' He passed his novitiate, how- ever, without further trouble, and was fully ordained a priest in 1572, in his twenty-fourth year. Passing then though several Neapolitan monasteries during a period of three years, he seems to have become not a little of a freethinker on his return to his first cloister, as he had already reached Arian opinions in regard to Christ, and soon proceeded to substitute a mystical and Pytha- gorean for the orthodox view of the Trinity. "" For the second time a " process " was begun against him, and he took flight to Rome (1576), presenting himself at a convent of his Order. News speedily came from Naples of the process against him, and of the discovery that he had possessed a volume of the works of Chrysostom and Jerome with the scholia of Erasmus — a prohibited thing. Only a few months before Bartolomeo Carranza, Bishop of Toledo, who had won the praise of the Council of Trent for his index of prohibited books, had been condemned to abjure for the doctrine that "the worship of the relics of the saints is of human insti- tution," and had died in the same year at the convent to which Brunohad nowgone. Thusdoubly warned, he threw off his priestly habit, and fled to the Genoese territory, ^ where, in the commune of Noli, he taught grammar and astronomy. In 1578 he visited successively Turin, Venice, Padua, Bergamo, and Milan, resuming at the last-named town his monk's habit. Thereafter he again returned to Turin, passing thence to Chambery at the end of 1578, and thence to Geneva early in 1579.'* His wish, he said, was " to live in liberty and security," but for that he must first renounce his Dominican habit, other Italian refugees, of whom there were many at Geneva, helping him to a layman's suit. Becoming a corrector of the press, he seems to have conformed externally to ' Berti, Vita di Giorda>io Bruno, 1889, pp. 40-41, 420. Bruno gives the facts in his own narrative before the Inquisitors at Venice. = Id. pp. 42-43, 47 ; Owen, p. 265. 3 Not to Genoa, as Berti stated in his first ed. See ed. 1889, pp. 54, 392. •* Berti, p. 65. Mr. Owen has the uncorrected date, 1576. 64 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT Calvinism ; but after a stay of two and a half months he published a short diatribe against one Antonio de La Faye, who professed philosophy at the Academy ; and for this he was arrested and sentenced to excommunica- tion, while his bookseller was subjected to one day's imprisonment and a fine.' After three weeks the excom- munication was raised ; but he nevertheless left Geneva, and afterwards spoke of Calvinism as the "Reformed religion." After a few weeks' sojourn at Lyons he went to Toulouse, the very centre of inquisitional orthodoxy, and there, strangely enough, he was able to stay for more than a year,^ taking his degree as Master of Arts, and becoming professor of astronomy. But the civil wars made Toulouse unsafe ; and at length, probably in 1581 or 1582, he reached Paris, where for a time he lectured as professor extraordinary.^ In 1583 he reached England, where he remained till 1585, lecturing, debating at Oxford on the Copernican theory, and publishing a number of his works, four of them dedicated to his patron Castelnau, the French ambas- sador. He had met Sir Philip Sidney at Milan in 1578; and his dialogue, C^-w^ de le Ceneri, gives a vivid account of a discussion in which he took a leading part at a banquet given by Sir Fulke Greville. His picture of " Oxford ignorance and English ill-manners "-^ is not lenient ; and there is no reason to suppose that his doctrine was then assimilated by many ;5 but his stay in the household of Castlenau was one of the happiest periods of his chequered life. While in England he wrote no fewer than seven works, four of them dedicated ' Dufour, Giordano Bruno a Geneve: Documents Inedits, 1884; Berti, pp. 95-97 ; Gustav Louis, Giordano Bruno, pp. 73-75- Mr. Owen (p. 269) has overlooked these facts, set forth by Dufour in 1884. The documents are given in full in Mrs. Frith's Zz/t', 1887, p. 60 sq. 2 The dates are in doubt. Cp. Berti, p. 115, and Mrs. Frith, p. 65. 3 See his own narrative before the Inquisitors in 1592. Berti, p. 394. 4 Mrs. Frith's Life, p. 121, and refs. ; Owen, p. 275; Bartholmess, Jordano Bruno, \, 136-8. s Cp. Hallam, Lit. of Europe, ii, iii, note. As to Bruno's supposed influence on Bacon and Shakspere, cp. Bartholmess, i, 134-5 '■> Mrs. Frith's Life, pp. 104-8 ; and the author's Montaigne and Shakspere, pp. 82-7. SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT 6 D to Castlenau, and two — -the Heroic Fervours and the Ex- pulsion of the Triumphant Beast — to Sir Philip Sidney. Returning to Paris on the recall of Castlenau in 1585, he made an attempt to reconcile himself to the church, but it was fruitless; and thereafter he went his own way. After a public disputation at the university in 1586, he set out on a new peregrination, visiting first Mayence, Marburg, and Wittemberg. At Marburg he was refused leave to debate ; and at Wittemberg he seems to have been carefully conciliatory, as he not only matricu- lated, but taught for over a year (1586-88), till the Calvinist party carried the day over the Lutheran.' Thereafter he reached Prague, Helmstadt, Frankfort, and Zurich. At length, on the fatal invitation of the Venetian youth Mocenigo, he re-entered Italian territory, where, in Venice, he was betrayed to the Inquisition by his treacherous and worthless pupil. What had been done for freethought by Bruno in his fourteen years of wandering, debating, and teaching through Europe it is impossible to estimate ; but it is safe to say that he was one of the most powerful antagonists to orthodox unreason that had yet appeared. Of all men of his time he had perhaps the least affinity with the Christian creed, which was repellent to him alike in the Catholic and the Protestant versions. The attempt to prove him a believer on the strength of a non-autograph manuscript- is idle. In the Spaccio delta bestia trion- fante he derides the notion of a union of divine and human natures, and substantially proclaims a natural (theistic) religion, negating all " revealed " religions alike. Where Boccaccio had accredited all the three leading religions, Bruno disallows all with paganism, though he puts that above Christianity. ^ And his ' His praise of Luther, and his conipHments to the Lutherans, are in notable contrast to his verdict on Calvinism. What happened was that at Wittemberg- he was on his best behaviour, and was well treated accordingly. - Noroff, as cited by Mrs. Frith, p. 345. 3 Cp. Berti, pp. 187-8; Whittaker, Essays and Notices, 1895, p. 89; and Louis's section, Stellung zu Christent]ium und Kirche. VOL. II F 66 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT disbelief grew more stringent with his years. Among the heretical propositions charged against him by the Inquisition were these : that there is transmigra- tion of souls ; that magic is right and proper ; that the Holy Spirit is the same thing as the soul of the world ; that the world is eternal ; that Moses, like the Egyp- tians, wrought miracles by magic ; that the sacred writings are but a romance {sogiio) ; that the devil will be saved ; that only the Hebrews are descended from Adam, other men having descended from progenitors created by God before Adam ; that Christ was not God, but was a notorious sovcqvqt {insigiie mago), who, having deceived men, was deservedly hanged, not crucified ; that the prophets and the apostles were bad men and sorcerers, and that many of them were hanged as such. A number of these propositions are professedly drawn, always, of course, by forcing his language, but not with- out some colourable pretext, from his two "poems," De triplice, miiiimo, et meiisura, and De moiiade, numero et figiiya^ published at Frankfort in 1591, in the last year of his freedom.' Alike in the details of his propaganda and the temper of his utterance, he expresses from first to last the spirit of freethought and free speech. Libertas philosophica'^ is the breath of his nostrils ; and by his life and his death alike he upholds the ideal for men as no other before him did. The wariness of Rabelais and the non- committal skepticism of Montaigne are alike alien to him ; he is too lacking in reticence, too explosive, to pfive due heed even to the common-sense amenities of life, much more to hedge his meaning with safeguarding qualifications. And it was doubtless as much by the contagion of his mood as by his lore that he impressed men. ' Berti, pp. 297-8. It takes much searchingf in the two poems to find the ideas in question, and Berti has attempted no collation ; but, allow- ing for distortions, the Inquisition has sufficient ground for outcry. ^ In the treatise De Lampade combinatorin LulUana (1587). Accord- ing- to Berti (p. 220) he is the first to employ this phrase, which becomes the watchword of Spinoza {lihcrtas philosophaiidi) a century later. SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT 67 His personal and literary influence was probably most powerful in respect of his eager propaganda of the Copernican doctrine, which he of his own force vitally expanded and made part of a pantheistic conception of the universe.' Where Copernicus adhered by implica- tion to the idea of an external and limitary sphere — the last of the eight of the Ptolemaic theory — Bruno reverted boldly to the doctrine of Anaxarchos, and declared firmly for the infinity of space and of the series of the worlds. In regard to biology he makes an equivalent advance, starting from the thought of Empedocles and Lucretius, and substituting an idea of natural selection for that of creative providence.- The conception is definitely thought out, and marks him as one of the renovators of scientific no less than of philosophic thought for the modern world ; though the special paralysis of science under Christian theology kept his ideas on this side pretty much a dead letter for his own day. And indeed it was to the universal and not the particular that his thought chiefly and most enthusiastically turned. A philosophic poet rather than a philosopher or man of science, he yet set abroad for the modern Avorld that conception of the physical infinity of the universe which, once psychologically assimilated, makes an end of the medieval theory of things. On this head he was eagerly aflirmative ; and the merely Pyrrhonic skeptics he assailed as he did the "asinine" orthodox, though he insisted on doubt as the beginning of wisdom. Of his extensive literary output not much is stamped with lasting scientific fitness or literary charm ; and some of his treatises, as those on mnemonics, have no more value than the product of his didactic model, Raymond Lully. As a writer he is at his best in the ' Berti. cap. iv ; Owen, p. 249 ; Ueberweg, ii, 27 ; Piinjer, p. 93 sq. ; Whittaker, Essays and Notices, 1895, p. 66. As to Bruno's debt to Nicolaus of Cusa cp. Gustav Louis, as cited, p. 11; Piinjer, as cited ; Carriere, Die philosophische Weltanschauung der Reformationsseit, p. 25 ; and Whittaker, p. 68. The argument of Carriere's second edition is analysed and rebutted by Mr. Whittaker, p. 253 sq. - De Iminenso, vii, c. 18, cited by Whittaker, Essays and Notices, p. 70. 68 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOVGHT sweeping expatiation of his more general philosophic treatises, where he attains a lifting ardour of inspiration, a fervour of soaring outlook, that puts him in the front rank of the thinkers of his age. And if his literary- character is at times open to severe criticism in respect of his lack of balance, sobriety, and self-command, his final courage atones for such shortcomings. His case, indeed, serves to remind us that at certain junctures it is only the unbalanced types that aid humanity's advance. The perfectly prudent and self- sufficing man does not achieve revolutions, does not revolt against tyrannies : he wisely adapts himself and subsists, letting the evil prevail as it may. It is the more impatient and unreticent, the eager and hot- brained — in a word, the faulty — who clash with oppression and break a way for quieter spirits through the hedges of enthroned authority. The serenely contemplative spirit is rather a possession than a possessor for his fellows : he may inform and enlighten, but is not in himself a countering or inspiriting force : a Shelley avails more than a Goethe against tyrannous power. And it may be that the battling enthusiast in his own way wins liberation for himself from "fear of fortune and death," as he wins for others liberty of action.' Even such a liberator, bearing other men's griefs and taking stripes that they might be kept whole, was Bruno. And when the end came he vindicated human nature as worthily as could any quietist. Charged on the traitor's testimony with many " blasphemies," he denied them all,- but stood to his published writings'' and vividlyjexpounded his theories, •♦ professing in the usual manner to believe in conformity with the church's teachings, whatever he might write on philosophy. It is impossible to trust the Inquisition records as to his ' As to Bruno's own claim in the Eroici Furori, cp. Whittaker, Essays and Notices, p. 90. ^ Documents in Berti, pp. 407-418. 3 See the document in Berti, p. 398 sq. ; Mrs. Frith's Life, pp. 270-281. ■• Berti, p. 400 sq. SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT 69 words of self-humiliation;' though on the other hand no blame can rationally attach to anyone who, in his place, should try to deceive such enemies, morally on a level with hostile savages seeking one's life. It is certain that the Inquisitors frequently wrung recantations by torture. - What is historically certain is that Bruno was not released, but sent on to Rome, and was kept there in prison for seven years. He was not the sort of heretic likely to be released ; though the fact of his being a Dominican, and the desire to maintain the church's intellectual credit, delayed so long his execution. Certainly not an atheist (he called himself in several of his book-titles Philotheits ; and his quasi-pantheism or monism often lapses into theistic modes), ^ he yet was from first to last essentially though not professedly anti- Christian in his view of the universe. If the Church had cause to fear any philosophic teaching, it was his, preached with the ardour of a prophet and the eloquence of a poet. His doctrine that the worlds in space are innumerable was as offensive to orthodox ears as his specific negations of Christian dogma, outgoing as it did the later idea of Kepler and Galileo. He had, moreover, finally refused to make any fresh recantation ; and the only detailed document extant concerning his final trial describes him as saying to his judges : '' With more fear, perchance, do you pass sentence on me than I receive it." According to all accessible records, he was burned alive at Rome in February, 1600, in the Field of Flowers, near where his statue now stands. An attempt has been made by Professor Desdouits in a pamphlet (Za legende tragique de Jordano Bruno: Paris, 1885) ' See Berti, p. 396; Owen, pp. 285-6; Mrs. Frith, pp. 282-3. - The controversy as to whether GaHleo was tortured leaves it clear that torture was common. See Dr. Parchappe, Galilee, sa vie, etc., 1866, Ptie. ii, ch. 7. 3 Professor Carriere has contended that a transition from pantheism to theism marks the growth of his thoug-ht ; but, as is shown by Mr. Whittaker, he is markedly pantheistic in his latest work of all, thoug-h his pantheism is not merelv naturalistic. Essays and Notices, pp. 72, 253-8. 70 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT to show that there is wo evidence that Bruno was burned ; and an anonymous writer in the Scottish Review (October, 1888, Art. II), rabidly hostile to Bruno, has maintained the same proposition. Doubt on the subject dates from Bayle. Its main g^round is the fewness of the documentary records, of which, further, the genuineness is now called in question. But no good reason is shown for doubting' them. They are three in number. 1. The Latin letter of Caspar Schopp (Scioppius), dated February 17, 1600, is an eye-witness's account of the sentencing and burning of Bruno at that date. (See it in full, in the original Latin, in Berti, p. 461 sq. and in App. V to Mrs. Frith's Life of Bruno, and partly translated in Professor Adam- son's lectures, as cited.) It was not printed till 1621, but the grounds urged for its rejection are totally inadequate, and involve assumptions, which are themselves entirely unproved, as to what Scioppius was likely to do. Finally, no intelligible reason is suggested for the forging of such a document. The remarks of Professor Desdouits on this head have no force whatever. The writer in the Scottish Revicu' (p. 263, and note) suggests as "at least as possible an hypothesis as any other that he [Bruno] was the author of the forged accounts of his own death." Such are the conceptions offered as substitutes for the existing view. 2. There are preserved two extracts from a Roman news- letter {Avvisa) of the time ; one, dated February 12th, 1600, commenting on the case ; the other, dated February 19th, relating the execution on tlie 17th. (See both in S. R. pp. 264-5. They were first printed by Signor Berti in Dociimcnti intomo a Giordano Bruno, Rome, 1880, and are reprinted in his Vita, ed. i88g, cap. xix.) Against these testimonies the sole plea is that they mis-state Bruno's opinions and the duration of his imprisonment — a test which would reduce to mythology the contents of most newspapers in our own day. The writer in the Scottish Review makes the suicidal suggestion that, inas- much as the errors as to dates occur in Schopp's letter, " the so-called Schopp was fabricated from these notices, or they from Schopp " — thus admitting that one ranked as a historical document. 3. There has been found, by a Catholic investigator, a double entry in the books of the Lay Brotherhood of San Giovanni DecoUato, whose function was to minister to prisoners under capital sentence, giving a circumstantial account of Bruno's execution. (See it in S. R. pp. 266, 269, 270.) In this case, the main entry being dated " 1600. Thursday. February i6th," the anonymous writer argues that " the whole SCIEXTIFIC THOUGHT 71 tliini^ resolves itself into a make-up," because February i6th was the Wednesday. The entry refers to the procedure of the Wednesday nig-ht and the Thursday morning ; and such an error could easily occur in any case. Whatever may be one day proved, the cavils thus far count for nothing. All the while, the records as to Bruno remain in the hands of the Catholic authorities ; but, despite the discredit constantly cast on the church on the score of Bruno's execution, they offer no official denial of the common statement ; while they do officially admit {S. J\. p. 252) that on February 8th Bruno was sentenced as an "obstinate heretic," and "given over to the Secular Court." On the other hand, the episode is well vouched ; and the argument from the silence of ambassadors' letters is so far void. No pretence is made of tracing Bruno anywhere after February, iboo. Since the foregoing note appeared in the first edition I have met with the essay of Mr. R. Copley Christie, "Was Giordano Bruno Reallv Burned ?" {MacmiUan^s Mag-aaine, October, 1885 ; rep. in Mr. Christie's Selected Essays a7id Papers, 1902)'. This is a crushing answer to the thesis of M. Desdouits, showing as it does clear grounds not only for affirming the genuineness of the letter of Scioppius, but for doubting the diligence of M. Desdouits. Mr. Christie points out (i) that in his book Ecclesiasticus, printed in 1612, Scioppius refers to the burning of Bruno almost in the words of his letter of 1600 ; (2) that in 1607 Kepler wrote to a correspondent of the burning of Bruno, giving as his authority}. M. Wacker, who in 1600 was living at Rome as the imperial ambassador ; and (3) that the tract Machiavellatio, 1621, in which the letter of Scioppius was first printed, was well known in its day, being placed on the Index, and answered by two writers without eliciting any repudiation from Scioppius, who lived till 1649. x\s M. Desdouits staked his case on the absence of allusions to the subject before 1661 (overlooking even the allusion by Mersenne, in 1624, cited by Bayle), his theory may be regarded as utterly exploded. Bruno has been zealously blackened by Catholic writers for the obscenity of some of his writing' and the alleged freedom of his life — piquant charges, when we remember the life of the Papal Italy in which he was born. LuciLio Vanini (otherwise Julius Caesar Vanini), the next martyr of freethought, also an Italian (b. at Taurisano, 1585), is open to the more relevant charges of an inordinate vanity and some duplicity. Figuring ' Notably his comedy // Candclaio. 72 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT as a Carmelite friar, which he was not, he came to England (1612) and deceitfully professed to abjure Catholicism,' gaining, however, nothing by the step, and contriving to be reconciled to the church. Previously he had figured, like Bruno, as a wandering scholar at Amsterdam, Brussels, Cologne, Geneva, and Lyons ; and afterwards he taught natural philosophy for a year at Genoa. His treatise, Ampliitlieatrum u.^ternce Provi- dentice (Lyons, 1615), is professedly directed against " Atheists, Epicureans, Peripatetics, and Stoics," and is ostensibly quite orthodox.- As usual, it leaves us in doubt as to the amount of real atheism current at the time. The preface asserts that " 'A0£orr/ro aittem secta pestilentissima qitotidie^ latins et latins vires acquirit eundo,'' and there are various allusions to atheists in the te'xt ;3 but their arguments are such as might be brought by deists against miracles and the Christian doctrine of sin ; and there is an allusion of the customary kind to '' Nicolaus Machiavelliis Atheonim facile princeps,'"'^ which puts all in doubt. The later Dialogues, while discussing many questions of creed and science in a free fashion, no less profess orthodoxy ; and, while one passage is pantheistic, ^ they also denounce atheism, and profess faith in immortality.^ Other passages imply doubt ;7 but it is to be remembered that the Dialogues were penned not by Vanini, but by his disciples at Paris, he only tardily giving his consent to their publication,^ And whereas one passage does avow that the author in his Ampliitlieatrum had said ' Owen, Skeptics of the Italian Renaissance, p. 357. A full narrative, from the documents, is given in R. C. Christie's essay, "Vanini in England," in the English ^Historical Revieiv of April, 1895, reprinted in his Selected Essays and Papers, 1902. = See it analysed by Owen, pp. 361-8, and by Carriere, Weltaii- schaiiung, pp. 496-504. 3 Amphitheatntm, ed. 1615, pp. 72, 73, 113, etc. '' P- 35- 5 See Rousselot's French trans. 1842, p. 227. *> /a', pp. 219-221. ' E.g., pp. 347-8. ^ Owen, pp. 369, 370. It is thus possible that the passages on the score of which Vanini is charged with wild conceit were not written by him at all. SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT 73 many things he did not believe, the context clearly suggests that the reference was not to the main argument, but to some of its dubious facts.' In any case, Vanini cannot be shown to be an atheist ;" and the attacks upon him as an immoral writer are not any better supported. ^ The publication of the work was in fact formally authorised by the Sorbonne, and it does not even appear that when he was charged with atheism and blasphemy at Toulouse that work was at all founded on.-* The charges rested on the testimony of a treacherous associate as to his private conversation ; and if true, it only amounted to proving his pantheism, expressed in his use of the word "Nature." At his trial he expressly avowed and argued for theism. Yet he was convicted, 5 and burned alive (February 9th, 1619) on the day of his sentence. Drawn on a hurdle, in his shirt, with a placard on his shoulders inscribed "Atheist and Blasphemer of the name of God," he went to his death with a high heart, rejoicing, as he cried in Italian, to die like a philosopher.'' A Catholic historian,^ who was present, says he hardily declared that "Jesus facing death sweated with fear: I die undaunted." But before burning him they tore out his tongue by the roots ; and the Christian historian is humorous over the victim's long cry of agony.^ No martyr ever faced death with a more dauntless courage than this ' Cp. the passages cited by Hallam, Lit. Hist, ii, 461, with Mr. Owen's defence, p. 368, note. - Cp. Carriere's analysis of the Dialogfues, pp. 505-9. 3 See Mr. Owen's vindication, pp. 371-4. Renan's criticism {Averroks, pp. 420-3) is not quite judicial. See many others cited by Carriere, p. 516. ■» Owen, p. 395. 5 Personal enmity on the part of the prosecuting official was commonly held to explain the trial. Owen, p. 393 ; Carriere, p. 521. * Mercure Fran^ais, 1619, tom. v. p. 64. 7 Gramond (Barthelemi de Grammont), Historia Gallics ab excessii Henri IV, 1643, p. 209. Carriere translates the passage in full, pp. 500-12, 515. ^ Gramond, p. 210. Of Vanini, as of Bruno, it is recorded that at the stake he repelled the proffered crucifix. Mr. Owen and other writers, who justly remark that he well might, overlook the once received belief that it was the official practice, with obstinate heretics, to proffer a red-hot crucifix, so that the victim should be sure to spurn it with open anger. 74 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT Lonely antagonist of Destiny That went down scornful before many spears ;' and if the man had all the faults falsely imputed to him^ his death might shame his accusers. Contemporary with Bruno and Vanini was Sanchez, a physician of Portuguese-Jewish descent, settled as a Professor at Toulouse, who contrived to publish a treatise (written 1576, printed 1581) affirming "That Nothing is Known " [Quod Nihil Scitiir) without suffering any molestation. It is a formal putting of the Pyrrhonist skepticism of Montaigne, which is thus seen to have been to some extent current before he wrote ; but there is no sign that Sanchez' formal statement had any philosophic influence, save perhaps on Descartes in the next generation. ^ His most important aspect is as a thinker on natural science ; and here he is really corrective and constructive rather than Pyrrhonist ; his poem on the comet of 1577 being one of the earliest rational utterances on the subject in the Christian period.-* But it was with Galileo that there began the practical application of the Copernican theory to astronomy, and, indeed, the decisive demonstration of its truth. With him, accordingly, began the positive rejection of the Copernican theory by the church ; for thus far it had never been officially vetoed. Almost immediately after the publication of Galileo's Sidereus Nunc ins (16 10) his name is found in the papers of the Inquisition, with that ^ Stephen Phillips, Marpessa. - Cp. Owen, pp. 389, 391, and Carriere, pp. 512-13, as to the worst calumnies. It is significant that Vanini was tried solely for blasphemy and atheism. What is proved against him is that he and an associate practised a rather gross fraud on the English ecclesiastical authorities, having apparently no higher motive than gain and a free life. Mr. Christie notes, however, that \^anini in his writings always speaks very kindlj' of England and the English, and so did not add ingratitude to his act of imposture. 3 Cp. Bartholm^ss, Hist. crit. des doctr. rdig. de la philos. nioderne, 1855, i, 21-22. ■* See Owen, Skeptics of the French Renaissance, pp. 631-6 — a fairer and more careful estimate than that of Hallam, Lit. Hist, of Europe, ii, 1 1 1- 1 13. SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT 75 of Cremonini of Padua, as a subject of investigation/ The juxtaposition is noteworthy. Cremonini was an Aristotelian, with Averroist leanings, and reputed an atheist ;"" and it was presumably on this score that the Inquisition was looking into his case. At the same time, as an Aristotelian he was strongly opposed to Galileo, and is said to have been one of those who refused to look through Galileo's telescope.^ Galileo, on the other hand, was ostensibly a good Catholic ; but his discovery of the moons of Jupiter was a signal confirmation of the Copsrnican theory, and the new status at once given to that made a corresponding commotion in the church. Thus he had against him both the unbelieving pedants of the schools and the priests. The fashion in which Galileo's sidereal discoveries were met is indeed typical of the whole history of free- thought : the clergy pointed to the story of Joshua stopping the sun and moon ; some schoolmen insisted that "the heavens are unchangeable," and that there was no authority in Aristotle for the new assertions ; with such minds the man of science had to argue, and in deference to such he had at length to affect to doubt his own demonstrations.^ The Catholic Reaction had finally created as bitter a spirit of hostility to free science in the church as existed among the Protestants ; and in Italy even those who saw the moons of Jupiter through his telescope dared not avow what they had seen.^ It was therefore an unfortunate step on his part to go from Padua, which was under the rule of Venice, then anti- papal,^ to Tuscany, on the invitation of the Grand Duke. ' Karl von Gebler, Galileo Galilei and the Roman Curia, Engf. trans. 1S79, pp. 36-37. - This appears from the letters of Sagredo to Galileo. Gebler, p 37. Cp. Bayle, art. Cremonin, notes C and D ; and Renan, Averroes, 30 ^dit. pp. 408-413. 3 Lange, Geschichte des Mafcrialisntiis, i, 1S3 (Eng. trans, i, 220); Gebler, p. 25. ■• Gebler, pp. 54, 129, and passim ; The Private Life of Galileo, Boston, 1870, pp. 67-72. = Galileo's letter to Kepler, cited by Gebler, p. 26. ' The Jesuits had been expelled from Venice in 1616, in retaliation for a papal interdict. 76 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT When in 1613 he published his treatise on the solar spots, definitely upholding Copernicus against Jesuits and Aristotelians, trouble became inevitable ; and his letter to his pupil, Father Castelli, professor of mathe- matics at Pisa, discussing the Biblical argument with which they had both been met, at once evoked a general explosion. An outcry of ignorant Dominican monks' sufficed to set at work the machinery of the Index, the first result of which (1616) was to put on the list of condemned books the great treatise of Copernicus, published seventy-three years before. Galileo person- ally escaped for the present through the friendly inter- vention of the Pope, Paul V, on the appeal of his patron, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, apparently on the ground that he had not publicly taught the Copernican theory. It would seem as if some of the heads of the church were at heart Copernicans,'' but were obliged to disown a doctrine felt by so many others to be subversive of the church's authority. See the details of the procedure in Domenico Berti, // Processo OriginaJe de Galileo Galilei, ed. 1878, cap. iv, and in Gebler, ch. vi. The latter writer claims to show that, of two records of the "admonition" to Galileo, one, the more stringent in its terms, was false, though made at the date it bears, to permit of subsequent proceedings against Galileo. But the whole thesis is otiose. It is admitted (Gebler, p. 89) that Galileo was admonished "not to defend or hold the Copernican doctrine." Gebler contends, however, that this was not a command to keep "entire silence," and that there- fore Galileo is not justly to be charged with having disobeyed the injunction of the Inquisition when, in his Dialogues on the Two Pri^icipal Systems of the World, the Ptolemaic and Coper- nican (1632), he dealt dialectically with the subject, neither affirming nor denying, but treating both theories as hypotheses. But the real issue is not Galileo's cautious disobedience (see ' The measure of reverence with which the orthodox handled the matter may be inferred from the fact that the Dominican Caccini, who preached against Galileo in Florence, took as one of his texts the V'Crse in Acts i: '^Viri Galilaei, quid stntis aspicientes in ccelum," making- a pun on the Scripture. - See Tlie Private Life of Galileo, Boston, 1870, pp. 86-7, 91, 99; Gebler, p. 44 ; Berti, II Processo Originate de Galileo Galilei, 1878, p. 53. SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT 77 Gebler's own admissions, p. 149) to an irrational decree, but the crime of the church in silencing him. It is not likely that the "enemies" of Galileo, as Gebler supposes (pp. 90, 338), anticipated his later dialectical handling- of the subject, and so falsified the decision of the Inquisition against him in 1616. Gebler had at first adopted the German theory that the absolute command to silence was forged in 1632 ; and, finding the document certainly belonged to 1616, framed the new theory, quite unnecessarily, to save Galileo's credit. The two records are quite in the spirit and manner of Inquisitorial diplomac}'. As Berti remarks, " the Holy Office proceeded with much heedlessness (Jegereszd) and much confusion" in 1616. Its first judgment, in either form, merely emphasises the guilt of the second. Thus officially " admonished " for his heresy, but not punished, in 1616, Galileo kept silence for some years, till in 1618 he published his (erroneous) theory of the tides, which he sent with an ironical epistle to the friendly Archduke Leopold of Austria, professing to be propounding a mere dream, disallowed by the official veto on Copernicus.' This, however, did him less harm than his essay // Saggiatore (" The Scales "), in which he confuted the Jesuit Grassi on the question of comets. Receiving the imprimatur in 1623, it was dedicated to the new pope. Urban VIII, who, as the Cardinal Maffeo Barberini, had been Galileo's friend. The latter could now hope for freedom of speech, as he had all along had a number of friends at the papal court, besides many priests, among his admirers and disciples. But the enmity of the Jesuits countervailed all. They did not succeed in procuring a censure of the Saggiatore, though that subtly vindicates the Copernican system while pro- fessing to hold it disproved by the fiat of the church;- but when, venturing further, he after another lapse of years produced his Dialogues on the Two Systems, for which he obtained the papal imprimatur in 1632, they caught him in their net. Having constant access to the Pope, they contrived to make him believe that Galileo had ' Gebler (p. loi) solemnly comments on this letter as a lapse into "servility" on Copernicus' part. - Gebler, pp. 112-113. 78 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT ridiculed him in one of the personages of his Dialogues. It was quite false ; but one of the Pope's anti-Copernican arguments was there unconsciously made light of; and his wounded vanity was probably a main factor in the impeachment which followed.' His Holiness professed to have been deceived into granting the imprimatur ;^ a Special Commission was set on foot; the proceedings of 1616 were raked up ; and Galileo was again sum- moned to Rome. He was old and frail, and sent medical certificates of his unfitness for such travel ; but it was insisted on, and as under the papal tyranny there was no help, he accordingly made the journey. After many delays he was tried, and, on his formal abjuration, sentenced to formal imprisonment (1633) for teaching the "absurd" and "false doctrine" of the motion of the earth and the non-motion of the sun from east to west. In this case the Pope, whatever were his motives, acted as a hot anti-Copernican, expressing his personal opinion on the question again and again, and always in an anti-Copernican sense. In both cases, however, the Popes, while agreeing to the verdict, abstained from officially ratifying it,3 so that, in proceed- ing to force Galileo to abjure his doctrine, the Inquisi- tion technically exceeded its powers — a circumstance in which some Catholics appear to find comfort. Seeing that three of the ten cardinals named in the preamble to the sentence did not sign, it has been inferred that they dissented ; but there is no good reason to suppose that either the Pope or they wilfully abstained from signing. They had gained their point — the humiliation of the oi'reat discoverer. Compare Gebler, p. 241 ; Private Life, p. 257, quoting- Tiraboschi. For an exposure of the many perversions of the facts as to Galileo by Catholic writers see Parchappe, Galilee, sa vie, etc., 2e Partie. To such straits has the Catholic Church been reduced in this matter that part of its defence of the treatment of Galileo is the plea that he unwarrantably ' Private Life, pp. 216-218; Gebler, pp. 157-162. ' Berti, pp. 61-64; Private Life, pp. 212-213; Gebler, p. 162. 3 Gebler, p. 239 ; Private Life, p. 256. SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT 79 asserted tliat the fixity of the sun and the motion of the earth were taught in the Scriptures. (See Galileo e /' Inquisizione, by INlonsig-nor Marini, Roma, 1850, pp. i, 53-4, etc.) Had he really done so he would only have been assenting to what his priestlv opponents constantly dinned in his ears. But in point of fact he had not so assented ; for in his letter to Castelli (see Gebler, pp. 46-50) he had earnestly deprecated the argument from the Bible, urging that though Scripture could not err its interpreters might misunderstand it ; and even going so far as to argue, with much ingenuity, that the story of Joshua, literally interpreted, could be made to harmonise with the Copernican theory, but not at all with the Ptolemaic. The thesis of Monsignor Marini deserves to rank as the highest flight of absurdity and effrontery in the entire discussion. Every step in both procedures of the Inquisition insists on the falsity and the anti-scriptural character of the doctrine that the earth moves round the sun (see Berti, // Processo, p. 115 sq. ; Gebler, pp. 76-7, 230-4) ; and never once is it hinted that Galileo's error lay in ascribing to the Bible the doctrine of the earth's fixity. The stories of his being tortured and bhnded, and saying "Still it moves," are indeed myths.' The broken- spirited old man was in no mood so to speak ; he was, moreover, in all respects save his science, an orthodox Catholic,^ and as such not likely to defy the Church to its face. In reality he was formally in the custody of the Inquisition — and this not in a cell, but in the house of an official — for only twenty-two days. After the sentence he was again formally detained for some seven- teen davs in the Villa Medici, but was then allowed to return to his own rural home at Acatri,^ on condition that he lived in solitude, receiving no visitors. He was thus much more truly a prisoner than the so-called *' prisoner of the Vatican " in our own day. The worst part of the sentence, however, was the placing of all his ' Gebler, pp. 249-263 ; Private Life, pp. 255-6 ; Marini, pp. 55-57. The " e pur si muove " story is first heard of in 1774. As to the torture, it is to be remembered thai Galileo recanted under threat of it. See Berti, pp. 93-101 ; Marini, p. 59; Professor Lodg^e, Pioneers of Science, 1893, pp. 128-131. Berti argues that only the special humanity of the Commissary-General, Macolano, saved him from the torture. Cp. Gebler, p. 259, note. ^ Gebler, p. 281. 3 Private Life, pp. 255-260, 268 ; Gebler, p. 252. 8o THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT works, published and unpublished, on the Index Expur- gatoriiis, and the gag thus laid on all utterance of rational scientific thought in Italy — an evil of incalculable influence. " The lack of liberty and speculation," writes a careful Italian student, "was the cause of the death first of the Accademia dei Lincei, an institution unique in its time ; then of the Accademia del Cimento. Thus Italy, after the marvellous period of vigorous native civilisation in the thirteenth century, after a second period of civilisation less native but still its own, as being Latin, saw itself arrested on the threshold of a third and not less splendid period. Vexations and pro- hibitions expelled courage, spontaneity, and universality from the national mind ; literary style became uncertain, indeterminate ; and, forbidden to treat of government, science, or religion, turned to things frivolous and fruitless. For the great academies, instituted to renovate and further the study of natural philosophy, were substituted small ones without any such aim. Intellectual energy, the love of research and of objective truth, great- ness of feeling and nobility of character, all suffered. Nothing so injures a people as the compulsion to express or conceal its thought solely from motives of fear. The nation in which those conditions were set up became intellectually inferior to those in which it was possible to pass freely in the vast regions of knowledge. Her culture grew restricted, devoid of originality, vaporous, umbratile ; there arose habits of servility and dissimula- tion ; great books, great men, great purposes were denaturalised."' It was thus in the other countries of Europe that Galileo's teaching bore its fruit, for he speedily got his condemned Dialogues published in Latin by the Elzevirs ; and in 1638, also at the hands of the Elzevirs, appeared his Dialogues of the New Sciences [i.e., of mechanics and motion], the " foundation of mechanical physics." By this time he was totally blind, and then ' Berti, II Processo di Galileo, ed. 1878, pp. ni-112. SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT 8i only, when physicians could not help him save by prolonging his life, was he allowed to live under strict surveillance in Florence, needing a special indulgence from the Inquisition to permit him even to go to church at Easter. The desire of his last blind days, to have with him his best-beloved pupil. Father Castelli, was granted only under rigid limitation and supervision, though even the Papacy could not keep from him the plaudits of the thinkers of Europe. Finally he passed away in his rural "prison " — after five years of blindness — in 1642, the year of Newton's birth. Not till 1757 did the Papacy permit other books teaching his system ; not until 1820 was permission given to treat it as true ; and not until 1835 was it withdrawn from the Index Expurgatoyius. ' While modern science was thus being placed on its special basis, a continuous resistance was being made in the schools to the dogmatism which held the mutilated lore of Aristotle as the sum of human wisdom. Like the ecclesiastical revolution, this had been protracted through centuries. Aristotelianism, whether theistic or pantheistic, whether orthodox or heterodox,' had become a dogmatism like another, a code that vetoed revision, a fetter laid on the mind. Even as a negation of Christian superstition it had become impotent, for the Peripatetics were not only ready to make common cause with the Jesuits against Galileo, as we have seen ; some of them were content even to join in the appeal to the Bible. 3 The result of such uncritical partisanship was that the immense service of Aristotle to mental life — ' Gebler, pp. 312-315. ^ See Uebervveg, ii, 12, as to the conflicting types. In addition to Cremonini, several leading- Aristotelians in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were accused of atheism (Hallam, Lit. Hist, ii, 101-2), the old charge against the Peripatetic school. Hallam (p. 102) complains that Cesalpini of Pisa "substitutes the barren unity of pantheism for religion." Cp. Ueberweg, ii, 14; Renan, Averroes, 3e edit. p. 417. An Averroist on some points, he believed in separate immortality. 3 Gebler, pp. 37, 45. Gebler appears to surmise that Cremonini may have escaped the attack upon himself by turning suspicion upon Galileo, but as to this there is no evidence. VOL. II G 82 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT the comprehensive grasp which gave him his long supremacy as against rival system-makers, and makes him still so much more important than any of the thinkers who in the sixteenth century revolted against him — was by opponents disregarded and denied, though the range and depth of his influence is apparent in all the polemic against him, notably in that of Bacon, who is constantly citing him, and relates his reasoning to him, however antagonistically, at every turn. Naturally, the less sacrosanct dogmatism was the more freely assailed ; and in the sixteenth century the attacks became numerous and vehement. Luther was a furious anti-Aristotelian,' as were also some Calvinists ; but in 1570 we find Beza declaring to Ramus^ that "the Genevese have decreed, once and for ever, that they will never, neither in logic nor in any other branch of learning, turn away from the teaching of Aristotle." In Italv, Telesio, who notably anticipates the tone of Bacon as to natural science, and is largely followed by him, influenced Bruno in the anti-Aristotelian direction, ^ though it was in a long line from Aristotle that he got his principle of the eternity of the universe. The Spaniard Ludovicus Vives, too (1492-1540), pronounced by Lange one of the clearest heads of his age, had insisted on progress beyond Aristotle in the spirit of naturalist science.^ But the typical anti-Aristotelian of the century was Ramus (Pierre de la Ramee, 1515-72), whose long and strenuous battle against the ruling school at Paris brought him to his death in the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, 5 and who hardily laid it down that " there is no authority over reason, but reason ought to ^ Ueberwegf, ii, 17. ^ Epist. 36. 3 Bartholm^ss, Jordano Bruno, i, 49. •♦ Lange, Gesch. des Materialismus, i, 189-190 (Eng-. trans, i, 228). Born in V^alencia and trained at Paris, \'ives became a humanist teacher at Louvain, and was called to England (1523) to be tutor to the Princess Mary, and taught at Oxford. Being- opposed to the divorce of Henry VIII, he was imprisoned for a time, afterwards living at Bruges. 5 See the copious monograph. Ramus, sa vie, ses Serifs, ef ses opinions, par Ch. Waddington, 1855. Mr. Owen has a good account of Ramus in his French Skeptics of the Renaissance. SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT 83 be queen and ruler over authority."' Such a message was of more value than his imperfect attempt to supersede the Aristotelian logic. Bacon, who carried on in England the warfare against the Aristotelian tradi- tion, never ventured so to express himself as against the theological tyranny, though, as we have seen, the general energy and vividness of his argumentation gave him an influence which undermined the orthodoxies to which he professed to conform. On the other hand, he did no such service to exact science as was rendered in his day by Kepler and Galileo and their English emulators ; and his full didactic influence came much later into play. Like fallacies to Bacon's maybe found in Descartes; but he in turn, next to Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo,^ unquestionably laid a good part of the foundation of modern philosophy and science, ^ Gassendi largely aiding. Though he never does justice to Galileo, from his fear of provoking the church, it can hardly be doubted that he owes to him in large part the early determination of his mind to scientific methods; for it is difficult to believe that the account he gives of his mental development in the Discoiws de la Methode (1637) is biographically true. It is rather the schemed statement, by a ripened mind, of how it might best have been developed. Nor did Descartes, any more than Bacon, live up to the intellectual idea he had framed. All through his life he anxiously sought to propitiate the church ;+ Gassendi was a priest ; and both were unmenaced in France under Richelieu and ' Scholce math. 1. iii, p. 78, cited by Wadding-ton, p. 343. - •• In many respects Galileo deserves to be ranked with Descartes as inaugurating- modern philosophy." Professor Adamson, The Develop- ment of Modern Philosop/iv, 1903, i, 5. " We may compare his [Hobbes's] thought with Descartes's, but the impulse came to him from the physical reasonings of Galileo." Professor Croom Robertson, Hobbes, 1886, p. 42. 3 Buckle, i-vol. ed. pp. 3-27-336; 3-vol. ed. ii, 77-85. Cp. Lang-e (Eng-. trans, i, 248, note) ; Adamson, The Philosophy of Kant, 1879, p. 194. •* Cp. Lang-e, i, 425 (Eng. trans, i, 248-9, note); Bouillier, Hist, de la philos. cartdsienne, 1854, i, 40-47, 185-6 ; Bartholmiss, Jordano Bruno, i, 354-5 ; Memoir in Garnier ed. of CEuvres Choisies, p. v, also pp. 6, 17, 19, 21. Bossuet pronounced his precautions excessive. But cp. Dr. Land's notes in Spinosa : Four Essays, 1882, p. 55. 84 THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOVGHT Mazarin ; but the unusual rationalism of Descartes's method, avowedly aiming at the uprooting of all his own prejudices' as a first step to truth, displeased the Jesuits, and could not escape the hostile attention of the Protestant theologians of Holland, where Descartes passed so many years of his life. Despite his constant theism, accordingly, he had at length to withdraw.^ A Jesuit, Pere Bourdin, sought to have the Discours de la Methode condemned by the French clergy, but the attempt failed. France was for the time, in fact, the most freethinking part of Europe ;3 and Descartes, though not so unsparing with his prejudices as he set out to be, was the greatest innovator in philosophy that had arisen in the Christian era. He made real scientific discoveries where Bacon only inspired an approach and schemed a wandering road to them ; and, though his timorous conformities deprive him of any heroic status, it is perhaps not too much to pronounce him "the great reformer and liberator of the European intellect."'* One not given to warm sympathy with free- thought has avowed that " the common root of modern philosophy is the doubt which is alike Baconian and Cartesian. "5 From Descartes, then, as regards philo- sophy, more than from any professed thinker of his day, but also from the other thinkers we have noted, from the reactions of scientific discovery, from the terrible experi- ence of the potency of religion as a breeder of strife and its impotence as a curber of evil, and from the practical freethinking of the more open-minded of that age in general, derives the great rationalistic movement which, taking clear literary form first in the seventeenth century, has with some fluctuations broadened and deepened down to our own day. ' Discours de la Mdthode, pties. i, ii, iii, iv {CEuvres Choisies, pp. 8, lo, II, 22, 24); ISIeditation I (id. pp. 73-74). ^ Full details in Kuno Fischer's Descartes and his School, Eng. trans. 1890, B. i, ch. 6 ; Bouillier, i, cc. xii, xiii. 3 Buckle, i-vol. ed. pp. 337-9 ; 3-vol. ed. ii, 94, 97. ■* Buckle, p. 330 ; ii, 82. 5 Kuno Fischer, Francis Bacon, Eng. trans. 1857, p, 74. Chapter XIV. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE SEVEN- TEENTH CENTURY The propagandist literature of deism begins with an English diplomatist, Lord Herbert of Cherbury, the friend of Bacon, who stood in the full stream of the current freethought of England and France' in the first quarter of the seventeenth century. English deism, as literature, is thus at its very outset affiliated with French; all of its elements, critical and ethical, are germinal in Bodin, Montaigne, and Charron, each and all of whom had a direct influence on English thought ; and we shall find later French thought, as in the cases of Gassendi, Bayle, Simon, St. Evremond, and Voltaire, alternately influenced by and reacting on English. But, apart from the undeveloped rationalism of the Elizabethan period, which never found literary expression, the French ferment seems to have given the first effective impulse. We have seen the state of upper-class and middle-class opinion in France about 1624. It was in Paris in that year that Herbert published his De Veritate^ after acting for many years as the English ambassador at the French court. Hitherto deism had been represented by unpub- lished arguments disingenuously dealt with in published answers ; henceforth there slowly grows up a deistic literature. Herbert was a powerful and audacious noble- man, with a weak king ; and he could venture on a publication which would have cost an ordinary man dear. Yet even he saw fit to publish in Latin ; and he ' Jenkiii Thomasius in his Historia Atheismi (1709) joins Herbert with Bodin as having- five points in common with him (ch. ix, § 2, pp. 76-77). S5 86 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE i^th CENTURY avowed hesitations.' His work has two aspects, a philosophical and a political, and in both it is remark- able.- Rejecting tacitly the theological basis of current philosophy, he divides the human mind into four faculties— Natural Instinct, Internal Sense, External Sense, and the Discursive faculty — through one or other of which all our knowledge emerges. Of course, he makes the first the verification of his idea of God, pronouncing that to be primary, independent, and universally entertained, and therefore not lawfully to be disputed (already a contradiction in terms) ; but, inas- much as scriptural revelation has no place in the process, the position is conspicuously more advanced than that of Bacon in the De Augmentis, published the year before, and even than that of Locke, sixty years later. On the question of concrete religion Herbert is still more aggressive. His argument^ is, in brief, that no professed revelation can have a decisive claim to rational acceptance ; that none escapes sectarian dispute in its own field ; that as each one misses most of the human race none seems to be divine ; and that human reason can do for morals all that any one of them does. The negative generalities of Montaigne here pass into a positive anti-Christian argument ; for Herbert goes on to pronounce the doctrine of forgiveness for faith immoral. Like all pioneers, Herbert falls into some inconsistencies on his own part ; the most flagrant being his claim to have had a sign from heaven — that is, a private and special revelation — encouraging him to publish his book.* But his criticism is none the less telling and persuasive so far as it goes, and remains ' The book was reprinted at Paris in Latin in 1633, and agfain at London in 1645. It was translated and published in French in 1639, but never in Eng-lish. - Compare the verdict of Hamilton in his ed. oi Reid, Note A, § 6, 35 (P- 781)- 3 For a g-ood analysis see Punjer, Hist, of the Christ. Philos. of Reli- gion, Eng. trans. 1887, pp. 292-9 ; also Noack, Die Frcidenker in der Reli- gion, Bern, 1853, i, 17-40; and Lechler, Gescliichte des englischen Deisnius, PP- 36-54- ■* See his Autobiography, Murray's reprint, p. 93. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE 17th CENTURY 87 valid to this day. Nor do his later and posthumous works' add to it in essentials, though they do much to construct the deistic case on historical lines. The De religione gentiUum in particular is a noteworthy study of pre-Christian religions, apparently motived by doubt or challenp"e as to his theorem of the universality of the God-idea. It proves only racial universality without agreement ; but it is so far a scholarly beginning of rational hierology. The next great freethinking figure in England is Thomas Hobbes (i 588-1679), the most important thinker of his age, after Descartes, and hardly less influential. But the purpose of Hobbes being always substantially political and regulative, his unfaith in the current religion is only incidentally revealed in the writings in which he seeks to show the need for keeping it under monarchic control.^ Hobbes is in fact the anti- Presbyterian or anti-Puritan philosopher ; and to discredit anarchic religion in the eyes of the majority he is obliged to speak as a judicial churchman. Yet nothing is more certain than that he was no orthodox Christian ; and even his professed theism resolves itself somewhat easily into virtual agnosticism on logical pressure. No thought of prudence could withhold him from showing, in a discussion on words, that he held the doctrine of the Logos to be meaningless. ^ Of atheism he was repeatedly accused^ by both royalists and rebels ; and his answer was forensic rather than fervent, alike as to his scripturalism, his Christianity, and his impersonal conception of Deity. ^ In affirming " one God eternal" ' De caiisis crrorum. una cum tractate de religio7ie laid et appendice ad sacerdotcs (16^^) ; De religione geiitiliiiin (iGGt,). The latter was trans- lated into English in 1705. The former are short appendices to the De Veritate. - It is to be remembered that the doctrine of the supremacy of the civil power in religious matters (Erastianism) was maintained by some of the ablest men on the Parliamentary side, in particular Selden. 3 Leviathan, ch. iv. Morley's ed. p. 26. •* Reviving as he did the ancient rationalistic doctrine of the eternity of the world {De Corpore, Pt. ii, ch. viii, § 20), he gave a clear footing for atheism as against the Jud^eo-Christian view. 5 Cp. his letter to an opponent, Considerations upon the Reputation, 88 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IX THE ijth CENTURY of whom men "cannot have any idea in their mind, answerable to his nature," he was negating all creeds. He expressly contends, it is true, for the principle of a Providence ; but it is hard to believe that he laid any store by prayer, public or private ; and it would appear that whatever thoughtful atheism there was in England in tlie latter part of the century looked to him as its philosopher, in so far as it did not derive from Spinoza.' Nor could the Naturalist school of that day desire a better, terser, or more -drastic scientific definition of religion than Hobbes gave them : " Fear of power invisible, feigned by the mind or imagined from tales publicly allowed, Religion; not alloived. Supersti- tion."^ As the churchmen readily saw, his insistence on identifying the religion of a country with its law plainly implied that no religion is any more " revealed " than another. With him too begins (1651) the public criticism of the Bible on literary or documentary grounds ;3 though, as we have seen, this had already gone far in private ;+ and he gave a new lead, partly as against Descartes, to a materialistic philosophy. 5 He was, in fact, in a special and peculiar degree for his age, a freethinker ; and so deep was his intellectual hostility to the clergy of all species that he could not forego enraging those of his own political side by his sarcasms.^ Here he is in marked contrast with Descartes, who dissembled his opinion about Coper- nicus and Galileo for peace' sake ;7 and was always the etc., of Thomas Hobbes, 1680, with cc. xi and xii of Leviathati, and De Cor pore Politico, Pt. ii, ch. 6. One of his most explicit declarations for theism is in the De Hoiiiiiie, ch. i, where he employs the design argu- ment, declaring that he who will not see that the bodily organs are a mente aliqua conditas ordinatasque ad sua qiiasqzie officia miist'be himself without mind. This ascription of "mind," however, he tacitly negates in Leviathan, ch. xi, and De Corpore Politico, Pt. ii, ch. 6. ' Cp. Bentley's letter to Bernard, 1692, cited in the author's Dynamics of Religion, pp. 82-3. - Leviathan, Pt. i, ch. 6. Morley's ed. p. 34. ^Leviathan, Pt. iii, ch. t,2>- •♦ Above, p. 41. 5 On this see Lange, Hist, of Materialism, sec. iii, ch. ii. •^ E.g., Leviathan, Pt. iv, ch. 47. ^ Kuno Fischer, Descartes a)id Iiis School, pp. 232-1;. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IX THE ijth CENTURY 89 close friend of the orthodox champion Mersenne down to his death.' With the partial exception of the more refined and graceful Pecock, Hobbes has of all English thinkers down to his period the clearest and hardest head for all purposes of reasoning, save in the single field of mathematics, where he meddled without mastery ; and against the theologians of his time his argumentation is as a two-edged sword. That such a man should have been resolutely on the side of the king in the Civil War is one of the proofs of the essential fanaticism and arbi- trariness of the orthodox Puritans, who plotted more harm to the heresies they disliked than was ever wreaked on themselves. Hobbes came near enough being clerically ostracised among the Royalists ; but among the earlier Puritans, or under an Independent Puritan Parliament at any time, he would have stood a fair chance of execution. It was doubtless largely due to the anti-persecuting influence of Cromwell, as well as to his having ostensibly deserted the royalists, that Hobbes was allowed to settle quietly in England after making his submission to the Rump Parliament in 165 1. In 1666 his Leviathan and De Cive were together con- demned by the Restoration Parliament in its grotesque panic of piety after the Great Fire of London ; but Charles II protected and pensioned him, though he was forbidden to publish anything further on burning ques- tions, and Leviathan was not permitted in his lifetime to be republished in English.- He was thus for his genera- tion the typical "infidel," the royalist clergy being perhaps his bitterest enemies. His spontaneous hostility to fanaticism shaped his literary career, which ' Hobbes also was of Mersenne's acquaintance, but only as a man of science. When, in 1647, Hobbes was believed to be dying, Mersenne for the first time sought to discuss theology with him ; but the sick man instantly changed the subject. In 1648 Mersenne died. He thus did not live to meet the strain of Hobbes's Leviathan (1651), which enraged the French no less than the English clergy. See Professor Croom Robertson's Hobbes, pp. 63-65. ^ Croom Robertson, Hobbes, p. 196 ; Pepys's Diary, Sept. 3rd, 166S. 90 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE lyth CENTURY began in 1628 with a translation of Thucydides, under- taken by way of showing the dangers of democracy. Next came the De Cive (Paris, 1642), written when he was already an elderly man ; and thenceforth the Civil War tinges his whole temper. It is in fact by way of a revolt against all theological ethic, as demonstrably a source of civil anarchy, that Hobbes formulates a strictly civic or legalist ethic, deny- ing the supremacy of an abstract or a priori natural moral law (though he founded on natural law), as well as rejecting all supernatural illumination of the conscience.' In the Church of Rome itself there had inevitably arisen the practice of Casuistry, in which to a certain extent ethics had to be rationally studied ; and early Protestant Casuistry, repudiating the authority of the priest, had to rely still more on reason. Compare Whewell, Lectures on the History of Moral Philo- sophy, ed. 1862, pp. 25-38, where it is affirmed that, after the Reformation, "Since the assertions of the teacher had no inherent autliority, he was obliged to give his proofs as well as his results," and "the determination of cases v;?^^ replaced by the discipline of conscience'''' {\>. 2<:)). There is an interesting" progression in English Protestant casuistry from VV. Perkins (1558-1602) and W. Ames (pub. 1630), through Bishops Hall and Sanderson, to Jeremy Taylor. Mosheim (17 Cent. sec. ii, Pt. ii, § 9) pronounces Ames "the first among the Reformed who attempted to elucidate and arrange the science of morals as distinct from that of dogmatics." See biog. notes on Perkins and Ames in Whewell, pp. 27-29, and Reid's Mosheim, p. b8i. But Hobbes passed in two strides to the position that natural morality is a set of demonstrable inferences as to what adjustments promote general well-being; and further that there is no practical code of right and wrong apart from positive social law.- He thus practically introduced once for all into modern Christendom the fundamental dilemma of rationalistic ethics, not only ' Leviathan, ch. ii : Morley's ed. p. 19; cc. xiv, xv, pp. 66, 71, 72, 78; ch. xxix, pp. 148, 149. ^ Leviathan, cc. xv, xvii, xviii. Morley's ed. pp. 72, ^2, 83, 85. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE ijth CENTURY 91 positing the problem for his own generation,' but anticipating it as handled in later times. ~ How far his rationalism was ahead of that of his age may be realised by comparing his positions with those of John Selden, the most learned and, outside of philosophy, one of the shrewdest of the men of that generation, Selden was sometimes spoken of by the Hobbists as a freethinker ; and his Table Talk contains some sallies which would startle the orthodox if publicly delivered ;3 but not only is there explicit testimony by his associates as to his orthodoxy :•* his own treatise, De Jure Naturali et Gentium juxta disciplinam Ebrceorum, maintains the ground that the " Law of Nature " which underlies the variants of the Laws of Nations is limited to the precepts and traditions set forth in the Talmud as delivered by Noah to his posterity. ^ Le Clerc said of the work, justly enough, that in it "Selden only copies the Rabbins, and scarcely ever reasons." He illustrates, in fact, the extent to which a scholar could in that day be anti-clerical without being rationalistic. Like the bulk of the Parliamentarians, though without their fanaticism, he was thoroughly opposed to the political pretensions of the church,*^ desiring, however, to leave episcopacy alone, as a matter outside of legislation, when the House of Commons abolished it. Yet he spoke of the name of Puritan as one which he " trusted he was not either mad enough or foolish enough to deserve."^ There were thus in the Parliamentary party men of very different shades of opinion. The largest party, perhaps, was that of the fanatics who, as Mrs. ' " For two generations the effort to construct morality on a philoso- phical basis takes more or less the form of answers to Hobbes " (Sidg-wick, Outlines of the History of Ethics, 3rd ed. p. 169). - As when he presents the law of Nature as " dictating- peace, for a means of the conservation of men in multitudes" (Leviathan, ch. xv. Morley's ed. p. 77). 3 See the headings, COUNCIL, Religion, etc. ■» G. W. Johnson, Memoirs of John Selden, 1835, pp. 348, 362. 5 Id. p. 264. *" Id. pp. 258, 302. 7 Id. p. 302. Cp. in the Table Talk, art. Trinity, his view of the Roundheads. 92 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE ijth CENTURY Hutchinson — herself fanatical enough — tells concerning her husband, " would not allow him to be religious because his hair was not in their cut."' Next in strength were the more or less devout and anti-clerical but less pious Scripturalists, of whom Selden was the most illustrious. By far the smallest group of all were the freethinkers, men of their type being as often repelled by the zealotry of the Puritans as by the sacerdotalism of the State clergy. The Rebellion, in short, though it evoked rationalism, was-not evoked by it. When, however, we turn from the higher literary propaganda to the verbal and other transitory debates of the period of the Rebellion, we realise how much partial rationalism had hitherto subsisted without notice. In that immense ferment some very advanced opinions, such as quasi-Anarchism in politics- and anti-Scrip- turalism in religion, were more or less directly professed. In 1645-6 the authorities of the City of London, alarmed at the unheard-of amount of discussion, petitioned Parliament to put down all private meetings \^ and on February 6th, 1646 (n.s.), a solemn fast, or "day of publique humiliation," was proclaimed on the score of the increase of "errors, heresies, and blasphemies." On the same grounds, the Presbyterian party in Parlia- ment pressed an " Ordinance for the suppression of Blasphemies and Heresies," which, long held back by Vane and Cromwell, was carried in their despite in 1648, by large majorities, when the royalists renewed hostilities. It enacted the death penalty against all who should deny the doctrine of the Trinity, the divinity of ' Memoirs of Colonel Hutchi)iso>i, ed. 1810, i, 181. Cp. i, 292; ii. 44. - Cp. Overton's pamphlet, An Arroiv against all Tyrants and Tyranny (1646), cited in the History of Passive Obedience since the Reformation, 1689, i, 59; Pt. ii of Thomas Edwards' Gangrcena, 1646, p. 179; and Pt. iii, pp. 14-17. 3 Lords Journals, January i6th, 1645-6 ; cp. Gardiner, Hist, of the Civil War, ed. 1893, iii, 11. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE 17th CENTURY 93 Christ, the inspiration of the Bible, a day of judgment, or a future state ; and prescribed imprisonment for Arminianism, rejection of infant baptism, anti-Sabba- tarianism, anti-Presbyterianism, or defence of the doctrine of Purgatory or the use of images/ And of aggressive heresy there are some noteworthy traces. In a pamphlet entitled " Hell Broke Loose : a Catalogue of the many spreading Errors, Heresies, and Blas- phemies of these Times, for which we are to be humbled " (March 9th, 1646, n.s.), the first entry is a citation of the notable thesis, " That the Scripture, whether a true manuscript or no, whether Hebrew, Greek, or English, is but humane, and not able to discover a divine God." This is cited from " Pilgrim of Saints, by Clarkson," presumably the Lawrence Clarkson who for his book The Single Eye was sen- tenced by resolution of Parliament on September 27th, 1650, to be imprisoned, the book being burned by the common hangman. He is further cited as teaching that even unbaptised persons may preach and baptise. Of the other heresies cited the principal is the old denial of a future life. Against the furious intolerance of the Puritan legisla- ture some pleaded with new zeal for tolerance all round. Notable among the new parties were the Levellers, who insisted that the State should leave religion entirely alone, tolerating all creeds, including even atheism ; and who put forward a new and striking ethic, grounding on " universal reason " the right of all men to the soil.- In the strictly theological field, the most striking innova- tion, apart from simple Unitarianism, is the denial of the eternity or even the existence of future torments — a position first taken up, as we have seen, either by the continental Socinians or by the unnamed English heretics of the Tudor period, who passed on their heresy ' Green, Short History, ch. viii, § 8, pp. 551-2 ; Gardiner, Hist, of the Civil War, ed. 1893, iv, 22. - See G. P. Gooch's History of Democratic Ideas in England in the Seventeenth Century, 1898, ch. vi. 94 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE ijth CENTURY to the time of Marlowe.' In this connection the learned booklet- entitled Of the Torments of Hell : the founda- tions and pillars thereof discovered, searched, shaken, and removed (1658) was rightly thought worth translating into French by d'Holbach over a century later.' Humane feeling of this kind counted for much in the ferment. The Presbyterian Thomas Edwards, writing about the same time, speaks of " monsters " unheard-of theretofore, " now common among us — as denying the Scriptures, pleading for-a toleration of all religions and worships, yea, for blasphemy, and denying there is a God."^ Among the 180 sects named by him^ there were "Libertines," " Antiscripturists," "Skeptics and Oues- tionists,"*" who held nothing save the doctrine of free speech and liberty of conscience \^ as well as Socinians, Arians, and Anti-trinitarians ; and he speaks of serious men who had not only abandoned their religious beliefs, but sought to persuade others to do the same.^ Under the rule of Cromwell, tolerant as he was of Christian sectarianism, and even of Unitarianism as represented by Biddle, the more advanced heresies would get small liberty. It was only privately that such men as Henry Marten and Thomas Chaloner, the regicides, could avow themselves to be of "the natural religion." The state- ment of Bishop Burnet, following Clarendon, that "many of the republicans began to profess deism," cannot be taken literally, though it is broadly intelligible that "almost all of them were for destroying all clergymen and for leaving religion free, as they called it, without either encouragement or restraint." ' Above, pp. 26-29. - In the British Museum copy the name Richardson is penned, not in a contemporary hand, at the end oi the preface. 3 The fourth English edition appeared in 1754. * Gangrcena, 1645 (or 1646), ep. ded. (p. 5). Cp. Second Part of Gan- grcena, 1646, pp. 178-9, and BaiHe's Letters, ed. 1841, ii, 234-7 '■> ''•' 393- s Gaiigrcena^ pp. iS-36. ^ Id. p. 15. As to other sects mentioned by him, cp. Tayler, p. 194. ^ On the intense aversion of most of the Presbyterians to toleration, see Tayler, Retrospect of Relig. Life of Eng. p. 136. They insisted, rightly enough, that the principle was never recognised in the Bible. * See the citations in Buckle, 3-V0I. ed. i, 347 ; i-vol. ed. p. 196. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE ijlh CENTURY 95 See Burnet's History of His Oii'n Time, B. I, ed. 1838, p. 43. The phrase, "They were for pulling- down the churclies," aijain, cannot be taken literally. Of those who " pretended to little or no religion and acted only upon the principles of civil liberty," Burnet goes on to name Sidney, Henry Nevill, Marten, Wild- man, and Harrington. The last was certainly of Hobbes's way of thinking- in philosophy (Croom Robertson, Hobbes, p. 223, note); but Wildman was one of the signers of the Anabaptist petition to Charles H in 1658 (Clarendon, Hist, of the Rebellion, B. xv, ed. 1843, p. 855). As to Marten and Challoner, see Carlyle's Cromwell, iii, 194 ; and articles in Nat. Diet, of Biog. Vaug'han {Hist, of England, 1840, ii, 477, note) speaks of Walwyn and Overton as " among the freethinkers of the times of the Commonwealth." They were, however, Biblicists, not unbelievers. Professor Gardiner {History of the Commonwealth and Protectorate , ii, 253, citing- a News-letter in the Clarendon MSS.) finds record in 1653 of "a man [who] preached flat atheism in Westminster Hall, uninterrupted by the soldiers of the guard "j but this obviously counts for little. But between the advance in spectilation forced on by the disputes themselves, and the usual revolt against the theological spirit after a long and ferocious display of it, there spread even under the Commonwealth a new temper of secularity. On the one hand, the tempera- mental distaste for theology, antinomian or other, took form in the private associations for scientific research which were the antecedents of the Royal Society. On the other hand, the spirit of religious doubt spread widely in the middle and upper classes ; and it is note- worthy that the term "rationalist" emerges as the label of a sect of Independents or Presbyterians who declare that " What their reason dictates to them in church or State stands for good, until they be convinced with better.'" The " rationalism," so-called, of that genera- tion remained ostensibly scriptural ; but on other lines thought went further. Of atheism there are at this stage only dubious biographical and controversial traces, such as Mrs. Hutchinson's characterisation of a Nottingham physician, possibly a deist, as a " horrible atheist,"" and the Rev. John Dove's Confutation of ' See above, vol. i, p. 5. ^ Memoirs of Colotiel Hutchinson, 3rd ed. i, 200. 96 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE lyth CENTURY Atheism (1640), which does not bear out its title. Ephraim Pagitt, in his Heresiography (1644), speaks loosely of an " atheistical sect who affirm that men's soules sleep with them until the day of judgment'''' ; and tells of some alleged atheist merely that he " mocked and jeared at Christ's Incarnation."' Similarly a work, entitled Dispute betzvixt an Atheist and a Christian (1646), shows the existence not of atheists, but of deists, and the deist in the dialogue is a Fleming. More trustworthy is the allusion in Nathaniel Culverwel's Discourse of the Light of Nature (written in 1646, published posthumously in 1652) to "those lumps and dunghills of all sects that young and upstart generation of gross anti-scripturalists, that have a powder-plot against the Gospel, that would very com- pendiously behead all Christian religion at one blow, a device which old and ordinary heretics were never acquainted withal."- The reference is presumably to the followers of Lawrence Clarkson. Yet even here we have no mention of atheism, which is treated as some- thing almost impossible. Indeed, the very course of arguing in favour of a " Light of Nature" seems to have brought suspicion on Culverwel himself, who shows a noticeable liking for Herbert of Cherbury.^ He is, however, as may be inferred from his angry tone towards anti-scripturalists, substantially orthodox, and not very important. t It is contended for Culverwel by modern admirers (ed. cited, p. xxi) that he deserves the praise given by Hallam to the later Bishop Cumberland as "the first Christian writer who sought to establish systematically the principle of moral right indepen- dent of revelation." [See above, p. go, the similar tribute of Mosheim to Ames.] But Culverwel does not really make this attempt. His proposition is that reason, "the candle of the Lord," discovers " that all the moral law is founded in natural and common light, in the light of reason, and that there is ' Heresiography : Tlie Heretics and Sectaries of these Ti)iies, 1644, Epistle Dedicatory. ^ Discourse, ed. 1857, p. 226. 3 Dr. J, Brown's pref. to ed. of 1857, p. xxii. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE 17th CENTURY 97 nothing in the mysteries of the Gospel contrary to the light of reason " (Introd. end) ; yet he contends not only that faith transcends reason, but that Abraham's attempt to slay his son was a dutiful obeying of "the God of nature" (pp. 225-6). He does not achieve the simple step of noting that the recogni- tion of revelation as such must be performed by reason, and thus makes no advance on the position of Bacon, much less on those of Pecock and Hooker. His object, indeed, was not to justifv orthodoxy by reason against rationalistic unbelief, but to make a case for reason in theology against the Lutherans and others who, "because Socinus has burnt his wings at this candle of the Lord," scouted all use of it (Introd.). Culverwel, however, was one of the learned group in Emanuel College, Cambridge, whose tradition developed in the next generation into Latitudinarianism ; and he may be taken as a learned type of a number of the clergy who were led by the abundant discussion all around them into professing and encouraging a ratiocinative habit of mind. Thus we find Dean Stuart, Clerk of the Closet to Charles I, devoting one of his short homilies to Jerome's text, Tcnfemus animas qjcae deficiunt a fide naturalilnis rationihus adjtirare. "It is not enough," he writes, " for you to rest in an imaginary faith, and easiness in beleeving, except yee know also what and why and how you come to that beleef. Implicite beleevers, ignorant beleevers, the adversary may swallow, but the understanding beleever hee must chaw, and pick bones before hee come to assimilate him, and make him like himself. The implicite beleever stands in an open field, and the enemy will ride over him easily : the understanding beleever is in a fenced town." {Catholique Divinity^ 1657, pp. 133-4 — ^ work written man\' years earlier.) The discourse on Atheism, again, in the posthumous works of John Smith of Cambridge (d. 1652) is entirely retrospective ; but soon another note is sounded. As early as 1652, the year after the issue of Hobbes's Leviathan, the prolific Walter Charleton, who had been physician to the king, published a book entitled The Darkness of Atheism expelled hy the Light of Nature, wherein he asserted that England " hath of late pro- duced and doth foster more swarms of atheistical monsters than any age, than any Nation hath been infested withal." In the following year Henry More, the Cambridge Platonist, published his Antidote against Atheism, which assumes that the atheistic VOL. II H 98 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE lyfh CENTURY way of thinking had lately become rather fashionable. In 1654, again, there is noted' a treatise called Atheismiis Vapidans, by William Towers, whose message can in part be inferred from his title ;- and in 1657 Charleton issued his Immortality of the Human Soul demonstrated by the Light of Nature, wherein the argument, which says nothing of revelation, is so singularly unconfident, and so much broken in upon by excursus, as to leave it doubtful whether the author was more lacking in dialectic skill or in conviction. And traces of unbelief multiply. Baxter and Howe were agreed, in 1658, that there were both " infidels and papists " at work around them ; and in 1659 Howe writes : " I know some leading men are not Christians."^ "Seekers, Vanists, and Behmenists " are specified as groups to which both infidels and papists attach themselves. And Howe, recognising how religious strifes promote unbelief, calls his hearers to witness " What a cloudy, wavering, uncertain, lank, spiritless thing is the faith of Christians in this age become! Most content themselves to profess it only as the religion of their country. "•♦ From the Origines Sacrce (1662) of Stillingfleet, further, it would appear that both deism and atheism were becoming more and more common. ^ He states ' Fabricius, Delectus Argumentorum et Syllabus Scriptoruni, 1725, P- 341- ^ No copy in British Museum. 3 Urwick, Life of John Hoive, with 1846 ed. of Howe's Select Works, pp. xiii, xix. Urwick, a learned evangelical, fully admits the presence of "infidels " on both sides in the politics of the time. ■* Discourse Concerning Union Ajnong Protestants, ed. cited, pp. 146, 156, 158. In the preface to his treatise, The Redeemer's Tears Wept over Lost Soi/ls, Howe complains of " the atheism of some, the avowed mere theism of others," and of a fashionable habit of ridiculing- relig-ion. This sermon, however, appears to have been first published in 1584 ; and the date of its application is uncertain. 5 The preface begins : " It is neither to satisfie the importunity of friends, nor to prevent false copies (which and such like excuses I know are expected in usual prefaces), that I have adventured abroad this following- treatise : but it is out of a just resentment of the affronts and indignities which have been cast on religion, by such who account it a matter of judgment to disbelieve the Scriptures, and a piece of wit to dispute themselves out of the possibihty of being happy in another world." BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE lyih CENTURY 99 that " the most popular pretences of the atheists of our age have been the irreconcilableness of the account of times in Scripture with that of the learned and ancient heathen nations, the inconsistency of the belief of the Scriptures with the principles of reason ; and the account which may be given of the origin of things from the principles of philosophy without the Scriptures." These positions are at least as natural to deists as to atheists ; and Stillingfleet is later found protesting against the policy of some professed Christians who give up the argument from miracles as valueless.' His whole treatise, in short, assumes the need for meeting a very widespread unbelief in the Bible, though it rarely deals with the atheism of which it so constantly speaks. After the Restoration, naturally, all the new tendencies were greatly reinforced," alike by the attitude of the king and his companions, all influenced by French culture, and by the general reaction against Puritanism. What- ever ways of thought had been characteristic of the Puritans were now in more or less complete disfavour; the belief in witchcraft was scouted as much on this ground as on any other ;3 and the deistic doctrines found a ready audience among royalists,"* whose enemies had been above all things Bibliolaters. We gather this, however, still from the apologetic treatises and the historians, not from new deistic literature ; for in virtue of the Press Licensing Act, passed on behalf of the church in 1662, no heretical book could be printed ; so that Herbert was thus far the only professed deistic writer in the field, and Hobbes the only other of similar influence. Baxter, writing in 1655 on The Unreasonableness of Infidelity^ handles chiefly Anabaptists ; and in his Reformed Pastor (1656), ' See B. ii, ch. 10. P. 338, 3rd ed. 1666. ^ Cp. Glanvill, pref. Address to his Scepsis Scientifica, Owen's ed. 1S85, pp. Iv-lvii ; and Henry Mora's Divine Dialogues, Dial, i, ch. 32. 3 Cp. Lecky, Rationalism in Europe, i, 109. ^ There is evidence that Charles II, at least up to the time of his becoming- a Catholic, was himself at heart a deist. See Burnet's History of his O'ii'n Time, ed. 1838, pp. 61, 175, and notes ; and cp. rets, in Buckle, 3-V0I. ed. i, 362, note ; i-vol. ed. p. 205. loo BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE ijth CENTURY though he avows that " the common ignorant people," seeing the endless strifes of the clergy, "are hardened by us against all religion," the only specific unbelief he mentions is that of " the devil's own agents, the unhappy Socinians," who had written "so many treatises for unity and peace."' But in \{\s Reasons of the Christian Religion^ issued in 1667, he thinks fit to prove the existence of God and a future state, and the truth and the supernatural character of the Christian religion. Any deist or "atheist who took the trouble to read through it would have been rewarded by the discovery that the learned author has annihilated his own case. In his first part he affirms: "If there were no life of Retribution after this, Obedience to God would be finally men's loss and ruine : But Obedience to God shall not be finally men's loss and ruine : Ergo, there is another life."- In the second part he writes that " Man's personal interest is an unfit rule and measure of God's goodness ";3 and, going ox\ to meet the new argument against Christianity based on the inference that an infinity of stars are inhabited, he writes : — Ask Tany man who knoweth these thuigs whether all this earth be any more in comparison of the whole creation than one Prison is to a Kingdom or Empire, or the paring of one nail in comparison of the whole body. And if God should cast off all this earth, and use all the sinners in it as they deserve, it is no more sign of a want of benignity or mere}' in him than it is for a King to cast one subject of a inillio7i into a jail or than it is to pare a inan''s nails, or cut off a wart, or a hair, or to pull out a rotten aking tooth.'' Thus the second part absolutely destroys one of the fundamental positions of the first. No semblance of levity on the part of the freethinkers could compare with the profound intellectual insincerity of such a propa- ganda as this ; and that deism and atheism continued to gain ground is proved by the multitude of apologetic * The Reformed Pastor, abr. ed. 1826, pp. 236, 239. ^ Work cited, ed. 1667, p. 136. The proposition is reiterated. 3 Id. p. 388. 4 Jd. pp. 388-9. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE lyth CENTURY loi treatises. Even in church-ridden Scotland they were found necessary ; at least the young advocate George Mackenzie, afterwards to be famous as the " bloody Mackenzie " of the time of persecution, thought it expedient to make his first appearance in literature with a Religio Stoici {i66t^)^ wherein he sets out with a refuta- tion of atheism. It is difficult to believe that his counsel to Christians to watch the " horror-creating beds of dying atheists"' — a false pretence as it stands — repre- sented any knowledge whatever of professed atheism in his own country ; and his discussion of the subject is wholly on the conventional lines — notably so when he uses the customary plea that the theist runs no risk even if there is no future life, whereas the atheist runs a tremendous risk if there is one;"" but when he writes of " that mystery why the greatest wits are most frequently the greatest atheists, "^ he must be presumed to refer at least to deists. And other passages show that he had listened to freethinking arguments. Thus he speaks^ of those who " detract from Scripture by attributing the production of miracles to natural causes "; and again 5 of those who " contend that the Scriptures are written in a mean and low style ; are in some places too mysterious, in others too obscure ; contain many things incredible, many repetitions, and many contradictions." His own answers are conspicuously weak. In the latter passage he continues : " But those miscreants should consider that much of the Scripture's native splendour is impaired by its translators"; and as to miracles he makes the inept answer that if secondary causes were in operation they acted by God's will ; going on later to suggest on his own part that prophecy may be not a miraculous gift, but " a natural (though the highest) perfection of our human nature. "° Apart from his weak dialectic, he writes in general with cleverness and literary finish, but ' Religio Stoici, Edinbiirg:h, 1663, p. 19. The essay was reprinted in London in 1693 under the title of The Religious Stoic. =* Id. p. 1 8. 3 Id. p. 124. •* Id. p. 76. 5 Id. p. 69. ^ Id. p. 1 16. I02 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE lytJi CENTURY without any note of sincerity ; and his profession of concern that reason should be respected in theology^ is as little acted on in his later life as his protest against persecution." The inference from the whole essay is that in Scotland, as in England, the civil war had brought up a considerable crop of reasoned unbelief; and that Mackenzie, professed defender of the faith as he was at twenty-five, and official persecutor of noncon- formists as he afterwards became, met with a good deal of it in his cultured circle-. When such thought could subsist in the ecclesiastical climate of Puritan Scotland, it must needs flourish in England. In 1667 appeared A Pliilosophicall Essay towards an eviction of the Being and Attributes of God, etc., of which the preface proclaims "the bold and horrid pride of Atheists and Epicures" who "have laboured to introduce into the world a general Atheism, or at least a doubtful Skepticisme in matters of Religion." In 1668 was published Meric Casaubon's treatise. Of Credulity and Incredulity in things Natural, Civil, and Divine, assailing not only " the Sadducism of these times in denying spirits, witches," etc., but "Epicurus and the juggling and false dealing lately used to bring Atheism into Credit" — a thrust at Gassendi. A similar polemic is entombed in a ponderous folio " romance " entitled Bentivolio and Urania, by Nathaniel Ingelo, D.D., a fellow first of Emanuel College, and afterwards of Queen's College, Cambridge (1660 ; 4th ed. amended, 1682). The second part, edifyingly dedicated to the Earl of Lauderdale, one of the worst men of his day, undertakes to handle the " Atheists, Epicureans, and Skepticks "; and in the preface the atheists are duly vituperated; while Epicurus ' Religio Stoici, p. 122. - This last is interesting' as a probable echo of opinions he had heard from some of his older contemporaries : "Opinion kept within its proper bounds is an [ = the Scottish "ane"] pure act of the mind ; and so it would appear that to punish the body for that which is a g'uilt of the soul is as unjust as to punish one relation for another" (pref. pp. lo-ii). He adds that " the Almighty hath left no warrand upon holy record for persecuting such as dissent from us." BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE lyth CENTURY 103 is decribed as a gross sensualist, in terms of the legend, and the skeptics as "resigned to the slavery of vice." In the sixth book the atheists are allowed a momentary hearing in defence of their "horrid absurdities," from which it appears that there were current arguments alike anthropological and metaphysical against theism. The most competent part of the author's own argument, which is unlimited as to space, is that which controverts the thesis of the invention of religious beliefs by " politicians "' — a notion first put in currency, as we have seen, by those who insisted on the expediency and value of such inventions ; as, Polybius among the ancients, and Machiavelli among the moderns. Dr. Ingelo's folio seems to have had readers ; but he avowedly did not look for converts ; and defences of the faith on a less formidable scale were multiplied. A "Person of Honour"- produced in 1669 an essay on The Unreasonableness of Atheism made Manifest, which, without supplying any valid arguments, gives some explanation of the growth of unbelief in terms of the political and other antecedents y ^"d in 1670 appeared Richard Barthogge's Divine Goodness Expli- cated and Vindicated from the Exceptions of the Atheists. Baxter in 1671-* complains that " infidels are grown so numerous and so audacious, and look so big and talk so loud"; and still the process continues. In 1672 Sir William Temple writes indignantly of " those who would pass for wits in our age by saying things which, David tells us, the fool said in his heart. "^ In the same year appeared The Atheist Silenced^ by one J. M. ; in 1674, Dr. Thomas Good's Firmianus et Dubitantius, or Dialogues concerning Atheism, Infidelity , and Popery; ' Work cited, 2nd ed. Pt. ii, pp. 106-115. ^ Said to be Sir Charles Wolseley. 3 Cp. Dynamics of Religion, pp. 86-7, 89-90. This explanation is also given by Bishop Wilkins in his treatise on Natural Religion, 7th ed. p. 354. ■* Replying to Herbert's De Veritate, which he seems not to have read before. 5 Pref. to Observations upon the United Provinces of the Netherlands, in Works, ed. 1814, i. 36. 104 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE lylJi CENTURY in 1675, the posthumous treatise of Bishop Wilkins (d. 1672), Of the Principles and Duties of Natural Religion, with a preface by Tillotson ; and a Brevis Demonstration with the modest sub-title, " The Truth of Christian ReHgion Demonstrated by Reasons the best that have yet been out in EngHsh "; in 1677, Bishop StiUingfleet's Letter to a Deist ; and in 1678 the massive work of Cudworth on The True Intellectual System of the Universe, attacking atheism (not deism) on philo- sophic lines which sadly compromised the learned author.' English dialectic being found insufficient, there was even produced in 1679 a translation by the Rev. Joshua Bonhome of the French L' Atheisme Con- vaincuoi David Dersdon, published twenty years before. All of these works explicitly avow the abundance of unbelief; Tillotson, himself accused of it, pronounces the age " miserably overrun with Skepticism and Infi- delity"; and Wilkins, avowing that these tendencies are common "not only among sensual men of the vulgar sort, but even among those who pretend to a more than ordinary measure of wit and learning," attempts to meet them by a purely deistic argument, with a claim for Christianity appended, as if he were concerned chiefly to rebut atheism, and held his own Christianity on a very rationalistic tenure. The fact was that the orthodox clergy were as hard put to it to repel religious antinomianism on the one hand as to repel atheism on the other ; and no small part of the deistic movement seems to have been set up by the reaction against pious lawlessness. "" Thus we have Tillotson, writing as Dean of Canterbury, driven to plead in his preface to the work of Wilkins that " it is a great mistake" to think the obligation of moral duties "doth solely depend upon the revelation of God's will made to us in the Holy Scriptures." It was such reasoning that brought upon him the charge of freethinking. ' Cp. Dy7iamics of Religion, pp. 87, 94-98, iii, 112. - As to the religious immoralism, see Mosheim, 17 Cent. sec. ii, Pt. ii, ch. ii, § 23, and Murdock's notes. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE ijth CENTURY 105 All the while, the censorship of the press, which was one of the means by which the clerical party under Charles combated heresy, prevented any new and out- spoken writing on the deistic side. The Treatise of Humane Reason (1674) of Martin Clifford, a scholarly man-about-town, who was made Master of the Charter- house, went indeed to the bottom of the question of authority by showing, as Spinoza had done shortly before,' that the acceptance of authority is itself in the last resort grounded in reason, and pointed out that many modern wars had been on subjects of religion. Still, it was sufficiently guarded concerning creed to allow of his putting his name to the second edition. But the tendency of such claims was obvious enough to inspire Boyle's Discourse of Things above Reason (1681), an attempt which anticipates Berkeley's argument against freethinking mathematicians. "" The stress of new dis- cussion is further to be gathered from the work of Howe, On the Reconcilahleness of God's Prescience of the Sins of Men with the Wisdom and Sincerity of his Counsels and Exhortations, produced in 1677 at Boyle's request. As a modern admirer admits that the thesis was a hopeless one,^ it is not to be supposed that it did anything to lessen doubt in its own day. The preface to Stillingfleet's Letter to a Deist (1677), which for the first time brings that appellation into prominence in English controversy, tacitly abandoning the usual ascription of atheism to all unbelievers, avows that "a mean esteem of the Scriptures and the Christian Religion" has become very common "among the Skepticks of this Age," and complains very much, as Butler did sixty years later, of the spirit of " Raillery and Buffoonery" in which the matter was too commonly approached. The " Letter " shows that a multitude of the inconsistencies and other blemishes of the Old Testa- ment were being eagerly discussed on all hands ; and it ' Tract. Theol. Polit. c. 15. ' Work cited, pp. 10, 14, 30, 55. 3 Dr. Urwick, Life of H owe, as cited, p. xxxii. io6 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE 17th CENTURY cannot be said that the Bishop's vindication was well calculated to check the tendency. Indeed, we have the angry and reiterated declaration of Archdeacon Parker, writing in 1681, that "the ignorant and the unlearned among ourselves are become the greatest pretenders to skepticism ; and it is the common people that nowadays set up for Skepticism and Infidelity"; that "Atheism and Irreligion are at length become as common as Vice and Debauchery"; and that " Plebeans and Mechanicks have philosophised themselves into Prin- ciples of Impiety, and read their Lectures of Atheism in the Streets and Highways. And they are able to demonstrate out of the Leviathan that there is no God nor Providence," and so on.' As the Archdeacon's method of refutation consists mainly in abuse, he doubt- less had the usual measure of success. Meanwhile, during an accidental lapse of the press laws, the deist Charles Blount^ produced his Anima 3Iitndi {i6-j(^), in which there is set forth a measure of cautious unbelief: following it up (1680) by his much more pronounced essay. Great is Diana of the Ephesiaiis^ a keen attack on the principle of revelation and clericalism in general, and his translation of Philo- stratus' Life of Apollonius of Tyana, so annotated as to be an ingfenious counterblast to the Christian claims. The book was condemned to be burnt ; and only the influence of Blount's family,^ probably, prevented his ^ A Demonstration of the Divine Authority of the Laiv of Nature and of the CIiristia)i Religion, by Samuel Parker, D. D., 1681, pref. The first part of this treatise is avowedly a popularisation of the argument of Cumberland's Disquisitio de Legibus NaturcE, 1672. Parker had pre- viously published in Latin a Disputatio de Deo et Providentia Divina, in which he raised the question An Philosophoruni ulli, et qninam Athei fuernnt (1678). ^ Concerning whom see Macaulay's History, ch. xix, ed. 1877, ii, 411- 412 — a grossly prejudiced account. Blount is there spoken of as "one of the most unscrupulous plagiaries that ever lived," and as having " stolen " from Milton, because he issued a pamphlet " By Philopatris," largely made up from the Areopagitica. Compare Macaulay's treat- ment of Locke, who adopted Dudley North's currency scheme (ch. xxi, vol. ii, p. 547). 3 As to these, see the Diet, of Nat. Biog. The statements of Anthony Wood as to the writings of Blount's father, relied on in the author's Dynamics of Religion, appear to be erroneous. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE ijth CENTURY 107 being prosecuted. The propaganda, however, was resumed by Blount and his friends in small tracts, and after his suicide' in 1693 these were collected as the Oracles of Reason (1693), his collected works (without the Apollonius) appearing in 1695. By this time the political tension of the Revolution of 1688 was over ; Le Clerc'swork on the inspiration of the Old Testament, raising many doubts as to the authorship of the Penta- teuch, had been translated in 1690 ; Spinoza's Tractatus Theologico- Politic us (1670) had been translated into English in 1689, and had impressed in a similar sense a number of scholars ; his Ethica had given a new direction to the theistic controversy ; the Boyle Lecture had been established for the confutation of unbelievers ; and after the political convulsion of 1688 has subsided it rains refutations. Much account was made of one of the most com- pendious, the Short and Easy Method with the Deists (1697), by the nonjuror Charles Leslie ; but this handy argument (which is really adopted without acknowledg- ment from an apologetic treatise by a French Protestant refugee, published in 1 688-) was not only much bantered by deists, but was sharply censured as incompetent by the French Protestant Le Clerc ;3 and many other dis- putants had to come to the rescue. A partial list will suffice to show the rate of increase of the ferment : — 1683. Dr. Rust, Discourse on the Use of Reason in Religiony against Enthusiasts and Deists. 1685. Duke of Buckingham, A Short Discourse upon the Reason- ab/eness of men's having a religion or worship of God. ,, The Atheist UnmasU'd. By a Person of Honour. 1688. Peter Allix, D.D. 7?t^/7fA-zo;ix, etc., as above cited. 1691. Archbishop Tenison, The Folly of Atheism. ,, Discourse of Natural and Revealed Religion. ' All that is known of this tragedy is that Blount loved his deceased wife's sister and wished to marry her ; but she held it unlawful, and he was in despair. An overstrungf nervous system may be diagnosed from much of his writing. " Reflexions upo)i the Books of the Holy Scriptures to establish the Truth of the Christian Religion, by Peter Allix, D. D., i688, i, 6-7. 3 As cited by Leslie, Truth of Christianity Demonstrated, 171 1, pp. 17-21. io8 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE ijtli CENTURY i6gi. John Ray, Wisdom of God manifested in the Works of the Creation. (Many reprints.) 1692. C. Ellis, The Folly of Atheism Demonstrated. ,, Bentley's Sermons on Atheism. (First Boyle Lectures.) 1693. Archbishop Davies, An Anatomy of Atheism. A poem. ,, A Conference between an Atheist and his Friend. 1694. J. Goodman, A Wititer Evening Conference between Neigh- bours. ,, Bishop Kidder, A Demonstration of the Messias. (Boyle Lect.) i'^^*95- John Locke, The Reasonableness of Christianity. ,, John Edwards, B.D., Some Thonghts concerning the Several Causes and occasions of Atheism. (Directed against Locke.) 1696. A71 Accotcnt of the Growth of Deism in England. ,, Reflections on a Pamphlet, etc. (the last named). ,, Sir Charles Wolseley, The Unreasonableness of Atheism Demonstrated. (Reprint.) ,, Dr. Nichols' Conference with a Theist. Pt. L (Answer to Blount.) ,, J. Edwards, D.D., A Demonstration of the Evidence and Providence of God. ,, E. Felling, Discourse oft the Existence of God (Vi. II in 1705)- 1697. Stephen Eye, A Discourse concerning Natural and Revealed Religion. ,, Bishop Gastrell, The Certainty and Necessity of Religion. (Boyle Lect.) ,, H. Prideaux, Discourse vindicating Christianity, etc. ,, C. Leslie, A Short and Easy Method with the Deists. 1698. Dr. J. Harris, A Refutation of Atheistical Objections. (Boyle Lect.) ,, Thos. Emes, The Atheist turned Deist, and the Deist turned Christian. 1699. C. U\dgou\d, Proclamation against Atheism, etc. ,, J. Bradley, An Impartial View of the Truth of Christianity. (.Answer to Blount.) 1700. Bishop Bradford, The Credibility of the Christian Revelation' (Boyle Lect.) ,, Rev. P. Berault, Discourses on the Trinity, Atheism, etc. 1 70 1. T. Knaggs, Against Atheism. ,, W. Scot, Discourses concerning the zvisdom and goodness of God. 1702. A Confutation of Atheism. ,, Dr. Stanhope, The Truth and Excellency of the Christian Religion. (Boyle Lect.) BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE 17th CENTURY 109 1704. An Antidote of Atheism (? Reprint of More). 1705. Translation of Herbert's Ancient Religion of the Gentiles. ,, Charles Gildon, The Deist's Manual (a recantation). ,, Ed. Pelling-, Discourse concerning the existence of God. Part II. ,, Dr. Samuel Clarke, A Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God, etc. (Boyle Lect. of 1704.) 1706. A Preseivative against Atheism and Infidelity. ,, Th. Wise, B.D., A Confutation of the Reason and Philosophy of Atheism (recast and abridgment of Cudworth). ,, T. Oldfield, Mille Testes ; against the Atheists, Deists, and Skepticks. ,, The Case of Deisin ficlly and fairly stated, with Dialogue , eic, 1707. Dr. John Hancock, Arguments to prove the Being of a God. (Boyle Lect.) Still there was no new deistic literature apart from Toland's Christianity not Mysterious (1696) and his unauthorised issue (of course without his name) of Shaftesbury's Inquiry Concerning Virtue in 1699 ; and in that there is little direct conflict with orthodoxy, though it plainly enough implied that scripturalism would injuriously affect morals. It seems at that date, perhaps through the author's objection to its circulation, to have attracted little attention ; but he tells that it incurred hostility.' Blount's famous stratagem of 1693"^ had led to the dropping of the official censorship of the press, the Licensing Act having been renewed for only two years in 1693 and dropped in 1695 ; but after the prompt issue of Blount's collected works in that year, and the appearance of Toland's Christianity not Mysterious in the next, the new Blasphemy Law of 1698 served sufficiently to terrorise writers and printers in ' Characteristics, ii, 263 [Moralists, Pt. ii, § 3). One of its most dang-erous positions from the orthodox point of view would be the thesis that while religion could do either great good or great harm to morals, atheism could do neither. (B. I, Pt. iii, §1.) Cp. Bacon's Essay, Of Atheism. ^ Blount, after assailing' in anonymous pamphlets Bohun the licenser, induced him to license a work entitled King William and Queen Mary Conquerors, wYnch infuriated the nation. Macaulay calls the device " a base and wicked scheme." It was almost innocent in comparison with Blount's promotion of the " Popish plot " mania. See Who Killed Sir Edmund Godfrey Berry? by Alfred Marks, 1905, pp. 133-5, 150. no BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE ijth CENTURY that regard for the time being.' Bare denial of the Trinity, of the truth of the Christian religion, or of the divine authority of the Scriptures, was made punishable by disability for any civil office ; and on a second offence by three years' imprisonment, with withdrawal of all legal rights. The first clear gain from the freedom of the press was thus simply a cheapening of books in general. By the Licensing Act of Charles II, and by a separate patent, the Stationers' Company had a monopoly of printing and selling all classical authors ; and while their editions were disgracefully bad, the importers of the excellent editions printed in Holland had to pay them a penalty of 6s. 8d. on each copy. By the same Act, passed under clerical' influence, the number even of master printers and letter-founders had been reduced, and the number of presses and apprentices strictly limited ; and the total effect of the monopolies was that when Dutch-printed books were imported in exchange for English, the latter sold more cheaply at Amsterdam than they did in London, the English consumer, of course, bearing the burden. "" The imme- diate effect, therefore, of the lapse of the Licensing Act must have been to cheapen greatly all foreign books by removal of duties, and at the same time to cheapen English books by leaving printing free. It will be seen above that the output of treatises against freethought at once increases in 1696. But the revolution of 1688, like the Great Rebellion, had doubtless given a new stimulus to freethinking ; and the total effect of freer trade in books, even with a veto on "blasphemy," could only be to further it. This was ere long to be made plain. Alongside of the more popular and native influences, there were at work others, foreign and more academic ; ^ The Act of 1698 had been preceded by a proclamation of the king-, dated February 24th, 1697. ^ See Locke's notes on the Licensing- Act in Lord King-'s Life of Lode, 1829, pp. 203-6; Fox Bourne's Life of Locke, .ii, 313-4; Macaulay's History, Student's ed. ii, 504. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE ijth CENTURY in and even in professedly orthodox writers there are signs of the influence of deistic thought. Thus Sir Thomas Browne's i^^-Z/^/b Medici {wviitQw about 1634, published 1642) has been repeatedly characterised' as tending to promote deism by its tone and method ; and there can be no question that it assumes a great prevalence of critical unbelief, to which its attitude is an odd combina- tion of humorous cynicism and tranquil dogmatism, often recalling Montaigne,^ and at times anticipating Emerson. There is little savour of confident belief in the smiling maxim that " to confirm and establish our belief 'tis best to argue with judgments below our own "; or in the avowal, " in divinity I love to keep the road ; and though not in an implicit yet an humble faith, follow the great wheel of the church, by which I move."^ The pose of the typical believer : " I can answer all the objections of vSatan and my rebellious reason with that odd resolution I learned of Tertullian, Certiun est quia impossibile est,'"'' tells in his case of no anxious hours ; and such smiling incuriousness is not promotive of con- viction in others, especially when followed by a recital of some of the many insoluble dilemmas of Scripture. When he reasons he is merely self-subversive, as in the saying, " 'Tis not a ridiculous devotion to say a prayer before a game at tables ; for even in sortileges and matters of greatest uncertainty there is a settled and^re- ordered course of effects ";5 and after remarking that the notions of Fortune and astral influence " have perverted the devotion of many into atheism," he proceeds to avow that his many doubts never inclined him " to any point of ' Tr'm'ms, Fnydenker-Lexicoii, 1759, p. 120; Piinjer, i, 291, 300-1. Mr. A. H. BuUeii, in his introduction to his ed. of Marlowe (1885, vol. i, p. Iviii), remarks that Browne, who "kept the road" in divinity, "exposed the vulnerable points in the Scriptural narratives with more acumen and gusto than the whole army of freethinkers, from Anthony Collins down- wards." This is of course an extravagfance, but, as Mr. Bullen remarks in the Diet, of Nat. Biog. vii, 66, Browne discusses " with evident relish" the "seeming' absurdities in the Scriptural narrative." ^ Browne's Annotator points to the derivation of his skepticism from "that excellent French writer Monsieur Mountaign, in whom I often • trace him" (Sayle's ed. 1904, i, p. xviii.). 3 Religio Medici, i, 6. •* Id. i, 9. 5 Id. i, 18. 112 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE 17th CENTURY infidelity or desperate positions of atheism ; for I have been these many years of opinion there never was any."' The broad fact remains that he avows " reason is a rebel unto faith"; and in his later treatise on Vulgar Errors (1645) he shows much of the practical play of the new skepticism.- Yet it is on record that in 1664, on the trial of two women for witchcraft, Browne declared that the fits suffered from by the children said to have been bewitched "were natural, but heightened by the devil's cooperating with the malice of the witches, at whose instance he did the villainies. "^ This amazing deliver- ance is believed to have " turned the scale " in the minds of the jury against the poor women, and they were sentenced by the sitting judge, Sir Matthew Hale, to be hanged. It would seem that in Browne's latter years the irrational element in him overpowered the rational. In other men, happily, the progression was different. The opening even of Jeremy Taylor's Diictor Diihitantium, so far as it goes, falls little short of the deistic position.'^ A new vein of rationalism, too, is opened in the theological field by the great Cambridge scholar John Spencer, whose Discourse concerning Prodigies (1663 ; 2nd ed. 1665), though quite orthodox in its main positions, has in part the effect of a plea for naturalism as against supernaturalism ; and whose great work, De legibus Hehrceorum (1685), is, apart from Spinoza, the most scientific view of Hebrew institu- tions produced before the rise of German theological rationalism in the latter part of the eighteenth century. Holding most of the Jewish rites to have been planned by the deity as substitutes for or safeguards against ' Reh'gio Medici, i, 20. - By an odd error of the press, Browne is made in Mr. Sayle's excel- lent reprint (p. 108) to begin a sentence : " I do confess I am an Atheist. I cannot persuade myself to honour that the world adores." The passage should obviously read : "to that subterraneous Idol [avarice] and God of the Earth I do confess I am an Atheist," etc. 3 Hutchinson, Historical Essay Concerning Witchcraft, 1718, p. 118; 2nd ed. 1720, p. 151. " Cp. Whewell, Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy, ed. 1862, P- ZZ- BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE 17th CENTURY 113 those of the Gentiles which they resembled, he uncon- sciously laid, with Herbert, the foundations of com- parative hierology, bringing to the work a learning which is still serviceable to scholars.' And there were yet other new departures by clerical writers, who of course exhibit the difficulty of attaining a consistent rationalism. One clergyman, Joseph Glanvill, is found publishing a treatise on The Vanity of Dogmatising (1661 ; amended in 1665 under the title Scepsis Scien- tijica), wherein, with careful reservation of religion, the spirit of critical science is applied to the ordinary pro- cesses of opinion with much energy, and the "mechanical philosophy " of Descartes is embraced with zeal. Following Hobbes,'' Glanvill also states clearly the positive view of causation^ afterwards fully developed by Hume.-^ Yet he not only vetoed all innovation in "divinity," but held stoutly by the belief in witchcraft, and was its chief English champion in his day against rational disbelief. ^ Apart from the influence of Hobbes, who, like Descartes, shaped his thinking from the starting-point of Galileo, the Cartesian philosophy played in England a great transitional part. At the university of Cam- bridge it was already naturalised f and the influence of Glanvill, who was an active member of the Royal Society, must have carried it further. The remarkable treatise of the anatomist Glisson,^ De natura substantice ' See Professor Robertson Smith, The Religion of the Semites, 1889, pref. p. vi. " See the Humane Nature (1640), ch. iv, §§ 7-9, 3 Scepsis Scientifica , ch. xxiii, § i. * See the passages compared by Lewes, History of Philosophy, 4th ed. ii, 338. 5 In his Bloiv at Modern Sadducism (4th ed. 1668), Saddiicisi/ius Trimnphatus (1681 ; 3rd ed. 1689), and A Whip to the Droll, Fidler to the Atheist (166S — a letter to Henry More, who was zealous on the same lines). These works seem to have been much more widely circulated than the Scepsis Scientifca. * Owen, pref. to ed. of Scepsis Scientifca, p. ix. ' Of whom, however, a hig'h medical authority declares that "as a physiologist he was sunk in realism" (that is, metaphysical apriorism). Professor T. Clifford Allbutt, Harveian Oration on Science and Medieval Thought, 1901, p. 44. VOL. II I 114 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE ijth CENTURY energetica (1672), suggests the influence of either Descartes or Gassendi ; and it is remarkable that the clerical moralist Cumberland, writing his Disquisitio de legibus NaturcE (1672) in reply to Hobbes, not only- takes up a utilitarian position akin to Hobbes's own, and expressly avoids any appeal to the theological doctrine of future punishments, but introduces physiology into his ethic to the extent of partially figuring as an ethical materialist.' In regard to Gassendi's direct influence it has to be noted that in 1659 there appeared The Vanity of Judiciary Astrology^ translated by " A Person of Quality," from P. Gassendus ; and further that, as is remarked by Reid, Locke borrowed more from Gassendi than from any other writer.^ It is stated by Sir Leslie Stephen {English Thought in the Eighteenth Century, 2nd ed. i, 32) that in England the philo- sophy of Descartes made no distinguished disciples ; and that John Norris " seems to be the only exception to the general indifference." This overlooks (1) Glanvill, who constantly cites and applauds Descartes {Scepsis Scientifica, Owen's ed. pp. 20, 28, 30, 38, 43, 46, 64, 70, etc.). (2) In Henry More's Divine Dialogues, again (1668), one of the disputants is made to speak {Dial, i, ch. 24) of "that admired wit Descartes." More had been one of the admirers in his youth, but changed his view ; and his Enchiridion Metaphysicuni (1671) is an attack on the Cartesian system as tending to atheism. (3) The continual objections to Descartes on the same score throughout Cud- worth's True Intellectual System, further, imply anything but "general indifference"; and (4) Barrow's tone in venturing to oppose him (cit. in VVhewell's Philosophy of Discovery, i860, p. 179) pays tribute to his great influence. (5) Maxwell, in a note to his translation (1727) of Bishop Cumberland's Disquisitio de legibus Nature^, remarks that the doctrine of a universal ^/t'/« Id. p. 388. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE 17th CENTURY 123 The arg'umenl of his Short Scheme of True Religioii brackets atheism with idolatry, and .u'oes on : " Atheism is so senseless and odious to mankind that it never had many professors. Can it be by accident that all birds, beasts, and men have their rig-ht side and left side alike shaped (except in their bowels), and just two eyes, and no more, on either side of the face?" etc. (Brewster, ii, 347). The logical implication is that a monstrous organism, with the sides unlike, represents "accident," and that in that case there has either been no causation or no "purpose" by Omnipotence. It is only fair to remember that no avowedly "atheistic " argument could in Newton's day find publication ; but his remarks are those of a man who had never contemplated philosophically the negation of his own religious sentiment at the point in question. Brewster, whose judgment and good faith are alike precarious, writes that "When Voltaire asserted that Sir Isaac explained the prophecies in the same manner as those who went before him, he only exhibited his ignorance of what Newton wrote, and what others had written " (ii, 331, note ; 355). The writer did not understand what he censured. Voltaire meant that Newton's treatment of prophecy is on the same plane of unscientific credulity as that of his orthodox predecessors. Other distinguished men of the period were more overt in their dissent from orthodoxy. Wilham Penn, the Quaker, held a Unitarian attitude ;' and in the Church itself sad confusion arose on the attempt being made to define the orthodox view" in opposition to a widely-circulated anti-Trinitarian treatise. ^ Archbishop Tillotson (d. 1694) w-as often accused of Socinianism ; and in the next generation was smilingly spoken of by Anthony Collins as a leading Freethinker. Positive Unitarianism all the while was being pushed by a number of tracts which escaped prosecution, being prudently handled by Locke's friend, Thomas Firmin ;^ and the heresy must have been encouraged even within the Church by the scandal which broke out when Dean Sherlock's Vindication of the Trinity (1693) was attacked ' Tayler, Retrospect, p. 226; Wallace, Antitrin. Biog. i, 160-9. - Tayler, p. 227; Dynamics, pp. 113-115. 3 This was by William Freeke, who was prosecuted and fined £}f>o. The book was burnt by the hang-man (1693). Wallace, Art. 354. •» Fox Bourne, ii, 405 ; Wallace, Art. 353. 124 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE 17th CENTURY by Dean South' as the work of a Tritheist. The plea of Dr. Wallis, Locke's old teacher, that a doctrine of "three somewhats" — he objected to the term "persons" — in one God was as reasonable as the concept of three dimen- sions,'' was of course only a heresy the more. The fray waxed so furious, and the discredit cast on orthodoxy was so serious. 3 that in the year 1700 an Act of Parlia- ment was passed forbidding the publication of any more works on the subject. Meanwhile the so-called Latitudinarians,^all the while aiming as they did at a non-dogmatic Christianity, served as a connecting medium for the different forms of liberal thought ; and a new element of critical disin- tegration was introduced by a speculative treatment of Genesis in the Archceologia (1692) of Dr. T. Burnet, a professedly orthodox scholar, who nevertheless treated the Creation story as an allegory, and threw doubt on the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch. His ideas were partly popularised through Blount's Oracles of Reason. Much more remarkable, but outside of popular discussion, were the Evangelium medici (1697) of Dr. B. Connor, wherein the Gospel miracles were explained away, on lines later associated with German rationalism, as natural phenomena; and the curious treatise of Newton's friend, John Craig, ^ TJicologice christiancE principia mathematica (1699), wherein it is argued that all evidence grows progressively less valid in course of time f and that accordingly the Christian religion will ' " Locke's ribald schoolfellow of nearly fifty years ago" (Fox Bourne, last cit.). = Id. ib. 3 Cp. Dynamics of Religion^ pp. 113-115. *• As to whom see Tayler, Retrospect, ch. v, § 4. They are spoken of as "the new sect of Latitude-Men" in 1662 ; and in 1708 are said to be •' at this day Low Churchmen." See A Brief Account of the Ne".v Sect of Latitude-Men by " S. P." of Cambridge, 1662, reprinted in The Phcenix, vol. ii, 170S, and pref. to that vol. From S. P. 's account it is clear that they connected with the new scientific movment, and leant to Car- tesianism. As above noted, they included such prelates as Wilkins and Tillotson. 5 See Brewster's Memoirs of Neivton, 1855, i', 315-316, for a letter indicating his religious attitude. ° See the note of Pope and Warburton on the Dunciad, iv, 462. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE ijth CENTURY 125 cease to be believed about the year 3144, when probably will occur the Second Coming. Connor, when attacked, protested his orthodoxy; Craig held successively two prebends of the Church of England ;' and both lived and died unmolested, probably because they had the prudence to write in Latin. About this time, further, the title of" Rationalist" made some fresh headway as a designation, not of unbelievers, but of believers who sought to ground themselves on reason. Such books as those of Clifford and Boyle tell of much discussion as to the efficacy of " reason " in religious things, and in 1686 there appears A Rational Catechism,'' a substantially deistic or Unitarian production, notable for its aloofness from evangelical feeling, despite its many references to Biblical texts in support of its propositions. In the Essays Moral and Divine of the Scotch judge, Sir William Anstruther, published in 1701, there is a reference to "those who arrogantly term themselves Rationalists "mu the sense of claiming to find Chris- tianity not only, as Locke put it, a reasonable religion, but one making no strain upon faith. Already the term had become potentially one of vituperation, and it is applied by the learned judge to "the wicked reprehended by the Psalmist. "-^ Forty years later, however, it was still applied rather to the Christian who claimed to believe upon rational grounds than to the deist or unbeliever.5 ' See arts, in Diet, of Nat. Biog. ^ Reprinted at Amsterdam, 171 2. 3 Essays as cited, p. 84. ■* Id. p. 30. s See Christianity not Founded on Argument (by Henry Dodwell, jr.), 1741, pp. 11,34. Waterland, as cited by Bishop Hurst, treats the terms Reasonist and Rationalist as labels or nicknames of those who untruly profess to reason more scrupulously than other people. The former term may, however, have been set up as a result of Le Clerc's rendering of " the Logos," in John i, i, by " Reason " — an argument to which Water- land repeatedly refers. Chapter XV. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY -§ I- It appears from the last chapter that the " deistic movement," commonly assigned to the eighteenth century, had been abundantly prepared for in the seventeenth, which, in turn, was but developing ideas current in the sixteenth. When, in 1696, John Toland published his Christianity Not Mysterious^ the sensation it made was due not so much to any unheard-of boldness in its thought as to the simple fact that deistic ideas had thus found their way into print.' So far the deistic position was represented in English literature only by the works of Herbert, Hobbes, and Blount ; and of these only the first (who wrote in Latin) and the third had put the case at any length. Against the deists or atheists of the school of Hobbes, and the Scriptural Unitarians who thought with Newton and Locke, there stood arrayed the great mass of orthodox intolerance which clamoured for the violent suppression of every sort of "infidelity." It was this feeling, of which the army of ignorant rural clergy were the spokesmen, that found vent in the Blasphemy Act of 1697. The new literary growth dating from the time of Toland is the evidence of the richness of the rationalistic soil already created. Thinking men craved a new atmosphere. Locke's Reasonableness of Christianity is an unsuccess- ful compromise : Toland's book begins a new propa- gandist era. ' As Voltaire noted, Toland was persecuted in Ireland for his circum- spect and cautious first book, and left unmolested in England when he grew much more aggressive. 126 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE iSth CENTURY 127 Toland's treatise,' heretical as it was, professedly founded on Locke's anonymous Reasonableness of Christianiiy, its young author being" on terms of acquaintance with the philosopher.- Toland, however, lacked alike the timidity and the prudence which so safely guided Locke in his latter years ; and though his argument was only a logical and outspoken extension of Locke's position, to the end of showing that there was nothing supernatural in Christianity of Locke's type, it separated him from " respectable " society in England and Ireland for the rest of his life. The book was " presented " by the Grand Juries of Middlesex and Dublin ;-^ the dissenters in Dublin being chiefly active in denouncing it — with or without knowledge of its contents ;^ half-a-dozen answers appeared immediately ; and when in 1698 he produced another, entitled Aniyntor, showing the infirm foundation of the Christian canon, there was again a speedy crop of replies. Despite the oversights inevitable to such pioneer work, it opens, from the side of freethought, the era of documentary criticism of the New Testament ; and in some of his later freethinking books, as the Nazarenus (17 18) and the Pantheisticon (1720), he continues to show himself in advance of his time in "opening new windows" for his mind. 5 The latter work represents in particular the influence of Spinoza, whom he had formerly criticised somewhat forcibly*" for his failure to recognise that motion is inherent in matter. On that head he lays down^ the doctrine that " motion is but matter under a certain consideration" — an essentially "materialist" ' First ed. anonymous. Second ed. , of same year, gives author's name. Another ed. in 1702. - Cp. D_ynaiiiics of Rcligiouy p. 129. 3 As late as 1701 a vote for its prosecution was passed in the Lower House of Convocation. Farrar, Crit. Hist, of Freethought, p. iSo. •* Molyneux, in Familiar Letters of Locke, etc., p. 228. 5 No credit for this is given in Sir Leslie Stephen's notice of Toland in English Thought in the Eighteentli Century, i, 101-112. Compare the estimate of Lange, Gesch. des Materialismus, i, 272-6 (Eng. trans, i, 324-330). Lange perhaps idealises his subject somewhat. * Li two letters published along with the Letters to Serena, 1704. 7 Letters to Serena, etc., 1704, pref. 128 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE i8th CENTURY position, deriving from the pre-Socratic Greeks, and incidentally affirmed by Bacon.' He was not exactly an industrious student or writer ; but he had scholarly knowledge and instinct, and several of his works show close study of Bayle. As regards his more original views on Christian origins, he is not impressive to the modern reader ; but theses which to-day stand for little were in their own day important. Thus in his Hodegus (Part I of the Tetradymus^ 1720) it is - elaborately argued that the " pillar of fire by night and of cloud by day " was no miracle, but the regular procedure of guides in deserts, where night marches are the rule ; the " cloud " being simply the smoke of the vanguard's fire. Later criticism decides that the whole narrative of the Exodus is myth. Toland's method, however, was relatively so advanced that it had not been abandoned by theological " ration- alists " a century later. Of that movement he must be ranked an energetic pioneer ; though he lacked some- what the strength of character that in his day was peculiarly needed to sustain a freethinker. Much of his later life was spent abroad ; and his Letters to Serena (1704) show him permitted to discourse to the Queen of Prussia on such topics as the origin and force of prejudice, the history of the doctrine of immortality, and the origin of idolatry. He pays his correspondent the compliment of treating his topics with much learning ; and his manner of assuming her own orthodoxy in regard to revelation could have served as a model to Gibbon.^ But, despite such distinguished patronage, his life was largely passed in poverty, cheerfully endured,^ with only chronic help from well-to-do sympathisers, such as Shaftesbury, who was not over-sympathetic. When it ' De Principiis atqiie Originibus (Routledgfe's t-vol. ed. pp. 651, 667). - Work cited, pp. 19, 67. 3 Sir Henry Craik (cited by Temple Scott, Bohn ed. of Swift's Works, iii, 9) speaks of Toland as "a man of utterly worthless character." This is mere malignant abuse. Toland is described by Pope in a note to the Dunciad (ii, 399) as a spy to Lord Oxford. There could hardly be a worse authority for such a charge. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE iSth CENTURY 129 is noted that down to 1761 there had appeared no fewer than fifty-four answers to his first book,' his importance as an intellectual influence may be realised. A certain amount of evasion was forced upon Toland by the Blasphemy Law of 1697 ; inferentially, however, he was a thorough deist until he became pantheist ; and the discussion over his books showed that views essen- tially deistic were held even among his antagonists. One, an Irish bishop, got into trouble by setting forth a notion of deity which squared with that of Hobbes.^ The whole of our present subject, indeed, is much com- plicated by the distribution of heretical views among the nominally orthodox, and of orthodox views among heretics. 3 Thus the school of Cudworth, zealous against atheism, was less truly theistic than that of Blount,'* who, following Hobbes, pointed out that to deny to God a continual personal and providential control of human affairs was to hold to atheism under the name of theism ;5 whereas Cudworth, the champion of theism against the atheists, entangled himself hopelessly*" in a theory which made deity endow Nature with " plastic " powers and leave it to its own evolution. The position was serenely demolished by Bayle,^ as against Le Clerc, who sought to defend it ; and in England the clerical outcry was so general that Cudworth gave up authorship.^ Over the same crux, in Ireland, Bishop Browne and Bishop Berkeley accused each other of promoting atheism ; and Archbishop King was embroiled in the dispute.'^ On the other hand, the theistic Descartes had laid down a ' Gostwick, Geniian Culture and Christianity, 1882, p. 26. - Cp. Stephen, as cited, p. 1 15. 3 "The Christianity of many writers consisted simply in expressing deist opinions in the old-fashioned phraseology" (Stephen, i, 91). * Cp. Piinjer, Christ. Philos. of Religion, pp. 289-290 ; and Dynamics of Religion, pp. 94-98. Mr. Morley's reference to "the godless deism of the English school " ( Voltaire, 4th ed. p. 69) is puzzling. 3 Macaulay's description of Blount as an atheist is therefore doubl}- unwarranted. " Cp. Dynamics of Religio?i, pp. 94-98. '' Continuation des Pe?isbes Diverses a I'occasion de la Coniete de 1O80, Amsterdam, 1705, i, 91. - „. ., ,. ^ Warburton, Diinne Legation, vol. ii, preface. 5 Stephen, English Thought, \, 11 4- 11 8. VOL. II K I30 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE i8th CENTURY "mechanical" theory of the universe which perfectly comported with atheism, and partly promoted that way of thinking ;' and a selection from Gassendi's ethical writings, translated into English- (1699), wrought in the same direction. The Church itself contained Cartesians and Cudworthians, Socinians and deists. ^ Each group, further, had inner differences as to free-will+ and Provi- dence ; and the theistic schools of Newton, Clarke, and Leibnitz rejected each other's philosophies as well as that of Descartes. Leibnitz complained grimly that Newton and his followers had " a very odd opinion concerning the Work of God," making the universe an imperfect machine, which the deity had frequently to mend ; and treating space as an organ by which God perceives things, which are thus regarded as not produced or maintained by him. 5 Newton's principles of explanation, he insisted, were those of the materialists.^ John Hutchinson, a professor at Cambridge, in his Treatise of Power, Essential and Mechanical, also bitterly assailed Newton as a deistical and anti-scriptural sophist.'' Clarke, on the other hand, declared that the philosophy of Leibnitz was "tending to banish God from the world. "^ Along- side of such internecine strife, it was not surprising that the great astronomer Halley, who accepted Newton's principles in physics, was commonly reputed an atheist; ' This, according- to John Craig-, was Newton's opinion. "Tlie reason of his [Newton's] showing the errors of Cartes's philosophy was because he tliouj^ht it made on purpose to be the foundation of infidehty." Letter to Conduitt, April 7th, 1727, in Brewster's Memoirs of Neivton, ii, 315. Clarke, in his Answer to Butler's Fifth Letter, expresses a similar view. ^ " Three Discourses 0/ Happiness, Virtue, and Liberty, Collected from the Works of the Learn'd Gassendi by Monsieur Bernier. Translated out of the French, 1699." 3 Cp. W. Sichel, Bolinghroke and His Times, 1901, i, 175. •* Sir Leslie Stephen (i, t,T)) makes the surprising- statement that a " dog-matic assertion of free-will became a mark of the whole deist and semi-deist school." On the contrary, Hobbes and Anthony Collins, not to speak of Locke, wrote with uncommon power against the concep- tion of free-will, and had many disciples on that head. s Letter to the Princess of Wales, November 1715, in Brewster, ii, 284-5. * Second Letter to Clarke, par. i. 7 Abstract from the Works of John Hutchinson, 1755, pp. 149-163. ^ Clarke's Answer to Leibnitz's First Letter, end. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE iS/h CENTURY 131 and that the freethinkers pitted his name in that connec- tion against Newton's.' It can hardly be doubted that if intellectual England could have been polled in 1710, under no restraints from economic, social, and legal pressure, some form of rationalism inconsistent with Christianity would have been found to be fully as common as orthodoxy. In outlying provinces, in Devon and Cornwall, in Ulster, in Edinburgh and Glasgow, as well as in the metropolis, the pressure of deism on the popular creed evoked expressions of Arian and Socinian thought among the clergy.- It was, in fact, the various pressures under notice that determined the outward fortunes of belief and unbelief, and have substantially determined them since. When the devout Whiston was deposed from his professorship for his Arianism, and the unbelieving Saunderson was put in his place, ^ and when Simson was suspended from his ministerial func- tions in Glasgow,^ the lesson was learned that outward conformity was the sufficient way to income. ^ Hard as it was, however, to kick against the pricks of law and prejudice, it is clear that many in the upper and middle classes privately did so. The clerical and the new popular literature of the time prove this abundantly. In the 7rt//6^r and its successors, •" the decorous Addison ' Berkeley, Defence of Freethinking in Mathematics, par. vii ; and Stock's iNIemoir of Berkeley. Cp. Brewster, Memoirs of N^e^vton, ii, 408. - Lecky, Hist, of Engl, in the Eighteenth Cent. ed. 1892, iii, 22-24. 3 The tradition of Saunderson's unbelief is constant. In the memoir prefixed to his Elements of Algebra (1740) no word is said of his creed, though at death he received the sacrament. ■* See The State of the Process depending Against Mr. John Simson, Edinburg'h, 1728. Simson always expressed himself piously, but had thrown out such expressions as Ratio est principiiim et fundamentiim theologice, which "contravened the Act of Assembly, 1717" (vol. cited, p. 316). The "process" against him began in 1714, and dragged on for nearly twenty years, with the result of his resigning his professorship of theology at Glasgow in 1729, and seceding from the Associate Presb3'tery in 1733. Burton, History of Scotland, viii, 399-400. 5 Cp. the pamphlet by "A Presbyter of the Church of England," attributed to Bishop Hare, cited in Dynamics of Religion, pp. 177-8, and by Lecky, iii, 25. * Taller, Nos. 12, in, 135 ; Spectator, Nos. 234, 381, 389, 599; Guardian, Nos. 3, 9, 27, 35, 39, 55, 62, 70, 77, 83, 88, 126, 130, 169. Most of the Guardian papers cited are by Berkeley. They are extremely virulent ; but Steele's run them hard. 132 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE iSth CENTURY and the indecorous Steele, neither of them a competent thinker, frigidly or furiously asperse the new tribe of freethinkers ; the evang-elically pious Berkeley and the extremely unevangelical Swift rival each other in the malice of their attacks on those who rejected their creed. Berkeley, a man of philosophic genius but intense pre- possessions, maintained Christianity on grounds which are the negation of philosophy." Swift, the genius of neurotic misanthropy, who, in the words of Macaulay, " though he had no religion, had a great deal of pro- fessional spirit,"^ fought venomously for the creed of salvation. And still the deists multiplied. In the Earl of Shaftesbury 3 they had a satirist with a finer and keener weapon than was wielded by either Steele or Addison, and a much better temper than was owned by Swift or Berkeley. He did not venture to parade his unbelief : to do so was positively dangerous ; but his thrusts at faith left little doubt as to his theory. He was at once dealt with by the orthodox as an enemy, and as promptly adopted by the deists as a champion, important no less for his ability than for his rank. Nor, indeed, is he lacking in boldness in comparison with contem- porary writers. The anonymous pamphlet entitled The Natural History of Superstition, by the deist, John Trenchard, M.P. (1709), does not venture on overt heresy. But Shaftesbury's Letter Concerning Entliiisiasm (1708), his Essay on the Freedom of Wit and Humour (1709), and his treatise, The Moralists (1709), had need be anonymous because of their essential hostility to the reigning religious ethic. Such writing marks a new stage in rationalistic pro- paganda. Swift, writing in 1709, angrily proposes to " prevent the publishing of such pernicious works as ' Analyst, Queries 60 and 62 : Defence of Freethinking in Mathematics, §§ 5' 6, 50. Cp. Dynamics of Religion, pp. 141-2. "^ Letter in De Morgan's Neivton : his Friend : and his Niece, 1885, p. 6g. 3 The essays in the Characteristics (excepting the Inquiry Concerning Virtue and Merit, which was published by Toland, without permission, in 1699) appeared between 1708 and 1711, being- collected in the latter year. Shaftesbury died in 1 713, in which year appeared his paper on The Judgment of Hercules. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE iSth CENTURY 133 under pretence of freethinking endeavour to overthrow those tenets in religion which have been held inviolable in almost all ages."' But his further protest that "the doctrine of the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, the immortality of the soul, and even the truth of all revelation, are daily exploded and denied in books openly printed," points mainly to the Unitarian pro- paganda. Among freethinkers he names, in his Argu- ment Against Abolishing Christianity (1708), Asgill, Coward, Toland, and Tindal. But the first was an ultra-Christian ; the second was a Christian upholder of the thesis that spirit is not immaterial ; and the last, at that date, had published only his Four Discourses (collected in 1709) and his Rights of the Christian Church, which are anti-clerical, but not anti-Christian. Professor Henry Dodwell, who in 1706 published an Epistolary Discourse Concerning the SouVs Natural Mortality, maintaining the doctrine of conditional immortality, - which he made dependent on baptism in the apostolical succession, was a devout Christian ; and no writer of that date went further. It would appear that Swift spoke mainly from hearsay, and on the strength of the conversational freethinking so common in society.^ But the anonymous essays of Shaftesbury which were issued in 1709 might be the immediate provocation of his outbreak.^ ' A Project for the Advayi'cement of Religion. Bohn ed. of Works, Hi, 44. In this paper Swift reveals his moral standards by the avowal (p. 40) that " hypocrisy is much more eligfible than open infidelity and vice : it wears the livery of relig'ion and is cautious of giving scandal." - Sir Leslie Stephen {English Thought, i, 283) speaks of Dodwell's thesis as deserving- only " pity or contempt." Cp. Macaulay, Student's ed. ii, 107-8. But a doctrine of conditional immortality had been explicitly put by Locke in his Reasonableness of Christianity, 1695, p. 13, Cp. Professor Eraser's Locke, 1890, pp. 259-260, and Fox Bourne's Life of Locke, ii, 287. The difference was that Dodwell elaborately gave his reasons, which, as Dr. Clarke put it, made "all good men sorry, and all profane men rejoice." 3 Compare his ironical Argument Against Abolishing Christianity, 1708. ■• He had, however, hailed the anonymous Letter Concerning Enthu- siasm as " very well writ," believing it to be by a friend of his own. "Enthusiasm," as meaning "popular fanaticism," was of course as repellent to a churchman as to the deists. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE iSth CENTURY Deism had been thus made in a manner fashionable^ when, in 17 13, Anthony Collins began a new deve- lopment by his Discourse of Freethinking. He had previously published a notably freethinking Essay Con- cerning the Use of Reason (1707) ; carried on a discussion with Clarke on the question of the immateriality of the soul ; and issued treatises entitled Priestcraft in Perfec- tion (1709, dealing with the history of the Thirty-nine Articles)' and A Vindication of the Divine Attributes (17 10), exposing the Hobbesian theism of Archbishop King on lines followed twenty years later by Berkeley in his Minute Philosopher. But none of these works aroused such a tumult as the Discourse of Freethinking^ which may be said to sum up and unify the drift not only of previous English freethinking, but of the great contribution of Bayle, whose learning and temper influence all English deism from Shaftesbury onwards. ^ Collins's book, however, was unique in its outspoken- ness. To the reader of to-day, indeed, it is no very aggressive performance : the writer was a man of imper- turbable amenity and genuine kindliness of nature ; and his style is the completest possible contrast to that of the furious replies it elicited. It was to Collins that Locke wrote, in 1703: "Believe it, my good friend, to love truth for truth's sake is the principal part of human perfection in this world, and the seed-plot of all other virtues ; and, if I mistake not, you have as much of it as I ever met with in anybody." The Discourse does no ' Dr. E. Syno^e, of Dublin (afterwards Archbishop of Tuam), in his Religion Tryed by the Test of Sober and Impartial Reason, published in 1713, seems to be writing- before the issue of Collins's book when he says {Dedication, p. ii) that the spread of the "disease not only of Heterodoxy but of Infidelity" is "too plain to be either denied or dissembled." - Leslie affirms in his Truth of Christianity Demo7istrated {I'jw, p. 14) that the satirical Detection of his Short Method ivith the Deists, to which the Truth is a reply, was by the author of Priestcraft in Perfection ; but, while the Detection has some of Collins's humour, it lacks his amenity, and is evidently not by him. 3 An English translation of the Dictionary, in 5 vols, folio, with "many passag-es restored," appeared in 1734. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE uSth CENTURY 135 discredit to this uncommon encomium, being' a luminous and learned plea for the conditions under which alone truth can be prosperously studied, and the habits of mind which alone can attain it. Of the many replies, the most notorious is that of Bentley writing as Phil- eleutheriis Ltpsieiisis, a performance which, on the strength of its author's reputation for scholarship, has been uncritically applauded by not a few critics of whom some of the most eminent do not appear to have read CoUins's treatise.' Bentley's is in reality pre-eminent only for insolence and bad faith, the latter quality being sometimes complicated by lapses of scholarship hardly credible on its author's part." One mistranslation which was either a joke or a printer's error, and one mis- spelling of a Greek name, are the only heads on which Bentley confutes his author. He had, in fact, neither the kind of knowledge nor the candour that could fit him to handle the problems raised. It was Bentley's cue to represent Collins as an atheist, though he was a very pronounced deist ;^ and in the first uproar Collins had to fly to Holland to avoid arrest.^ But deism was too general to permit of such a representative being exiled ; and he returned to study quietly, leaving Bentley's vituperation and prevarication unanswered, with the other attacks made upon him. In 17 15 he published his brief but masterly Inquiry Concerning Human Liberty — anonvmous, like all his works — which remains unsurpassed in its essentials as a statement of the case for Determinism. ^ ' The worst case is that of Mark Pattison, who calls Collins's book of 178 pages a " small tract." * See the details in Dynamics of Religion^ ch. vii. 3 " I.tfiiorance," Collins writes, "is the foundation of Atheism, and Freethinking- the cure of it" {Discourse of Freethinhing^ p. 105). Like Newton, he contemplated only an impossible atheism, never formulated by any writer. •» Mr. Templ{* Scott, in his Bohn ed. of Swift's Works (iii, 166), asserts that Swift's satire " frig:htened Collins into Holland. " For this statement there is no evidence whatever, and as it stands it is unintelligible. 5 Second ed. 171 7. Another writer, William Lyons, was on the same track, publishing Tlie Infallibility of Htnna)i Judgment, its Dignity and Excellence (2nd ed. 1720), and A Discourse of the Necessity of Human Actions (1730). 136 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE 18 th CENTURY Not till 1723 did he publish his next work, A Discourse of the Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion, a weighty attack on the argument from prophecy, to which the replies numbered thirty-five ; on which followed in 1727 his Scheme of Literal Prophecy Considered, a reply to criticisms. The former work was pronounced by War- burton one of the most plausible ever written against Christianity, and the replies might have been left to confute each other. The movement was now in full flood, the acute Mandeville' having issued in 1720 his Free Thoughts on Religion, and in 1 723 a freshly expanded edition of his very anti-theological Fable of the Bees ; while the half-deranged ex-clergyman, Thomas Wool- STON, contributed in 1726-28 his x2X\\qx x\h2i\<\ Discourses on Miracles, of which Voltaire, who was in England in 1728, tells that thirty thousand copies were sold ;' while sixty pamphlets were written in opposition. It was in the middle of the debate that Conyers Middleton, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, produced his Letter from Rome (1729), wherein the part of paganism in Christianity is so set forth as to carry inference further than the argument ostensibly goes. In that year the heads of Oxford University publicly lamented the spread of open deism among the students ; and the proclama- tion did nothing to check the contagion. In Fogg's Weekly Journal of July 4th, 1730, it is announced that " one of the principal colleges in Oxford has of late been infested with deists ; and that three deistical students have been expelled ; and a fourth has had his dep-ree o As to whose positions see a paper in the writer's Essays Towards a Critical Method, 1889. ^ There were six separate Discourses. Voltaire speaks of "three editions coup sur coup of ten thousand each " {Lettre sur les auteurs Auglais—\x\ CEuvres, ed. 1792, Ixviii, 359). This seems extremely unlikely as to any one Discourse ; and even 5,000 copies of each Discourse is a hardly credible sale. In any case, Woolston's Discourses are now much seldomer met with than Collins's Discourse of Freethiuking. Alberti (Briefe betreffend den Zustatid der Religion in Gross-Brittannien) writes in 1752 that the Discourses are in that day somewhat rare, and seldom found tog-ether. Many copies were probably destroyed by the ortho- dox, and many would doubtless be thrown away, as tracts so often arp. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE iSth CENTURY 137 deferred two years, during which he is to be closely con- fined in college ; and, among other things, is to translate Leslie's Short and Easy Method ivit/i the Deists.''' It is not hard to divine the effect of such apologetic methods. In 1731, the author of an apologetic pamphlet in reply to Woolston laments that even at the universities young men "too often " become tainted with " infidelity"; and, on the other hand, directing his battery against those who " causelessly profess to build their skeptical notions " on the writings of Locke, he complains of Dr. Holdsworth and other academic polemists who had sought to rob orthodoxy of the credit of such a champion as Locke by " consigning him over to that class of freethinkers and skeptics to which he was an adversary."^ With Matthew Tindal's Christianity as Old as Creation (1730) the excitement seems to have reached high-water mark, that work eliciting from first to last over a hundred and fifty replies, at home and abroad. Its directness and simplicity of appeal to what passed for theistic common-sense were indeed fitted to give it the widest audience yet won by any deist ; and its anti-clericalism would carry it far among his fellow Whigs to begin with.^ One tract of the period, dedi- cated to the Queen Regent, complains that " the present raging infidelity threatens an universal infec- tion," and that it is not confined to the capital, but " is disseminated even to the confines of your king- dom."'* Tindal, like Collins, wrote anonymously, and so escaped prosecution, dying in 1733, when the second part of his book, left ready for publica- tion, was deliberately destroyed by Bishop Gibson, into whose hands it came. In 1736 he and Shaftesbury are described by an orthodox apologist as the " two oracles of deism. "5 Woolston, who put his name to his books, ' Tyerman's Life of Wesley, ed. 1871, i, 65-66. ^ The Infidel Convicted, 1731, pp. 2,2,, 62. 3 Tindal (Voltaire tells) regarded Pope as devoid of genius and imag-ination, and so trebly earned his place in the Ditnciad. * A Layman's Faith " By a Freethinker and a Christian," 1732. 5 Title-pag-e of Rev. Elisha Smith's Cicre of Deism, ist ed. 1736; 3rd ed. 1 740. 1 38 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE iSth CENTURY is commonly said to have paid the penalty of imprison- ment for the rest of his life (d. 1733), being unable to pay a fine of ;^ioo ; but Voltaire positively asserts that " nothing is more false " than the statement that he died in prison ; adding : " Several of my friends have seen him in his house: he died there, at liberty."' In any case, he was sentenced ; and the punishment was the measure of the anger felt at the continuous advance of deistic opinions, or at least against hostile criticism of the Scriptures. Unitariafiism, formerly a hated heresy, was now in comparison leniently treated, because of its deference to Scriptural authority. Thus the Unitarian Edward Elwall, who had published a book called A True Testimony for God and his Sacred Law (1724), for which he was prosecuted at Stafford in 1726, was allowed by the judge to argue his cause fully, and was uncondi- tionally acquitted, to the displeasure of the clergy. Anti-scriptural writers could not hope for such toleration, being doubly odious to the church, Berkeley, in 1721, had complained bitterly- of the general indifference to religion, which his writings had done nothing to alter; and in 1736 he angrily demanded that blasphemy should be punished like high treason. ^ W\s Minute Philosopher (1732) betrays throughout his angry consciousness of the vogue of freethinking after twenty years of resistance from his profession ; and that performance is singularly ill fitted to alter the opinions of unbelievers. In his earlier papers attacking them he had put a stress of malice that, in a mind of his calibre, is startling even to the student of religious historv."* It reveals him as no less possessed by the passion of creed than the most ignorant priest of his church. For him all freethinkers were detested disturbers of his emotional life ; and of the best of them, as Collins, Shaftesbury, and Spinoza, he ' Lettre sur les auteurs Anfflais, as cited. Voltaire tells that, when a she-big'ot one day spat in Woolston's face, he calmly remarked : " It was so that the Jews treated your God." * Essay Toivards Preventing the Ruin of Great Britain. 3 Discourse to Magistrates. ■* Guardian, Nos. 3, 55, 88. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE i8th CENTURY 139 Speaks with positive fury. In the Minute Philosopher, half-conscious of the wrongness of his temper, he sets himself to make the unbelievers fig^ure in dialoefue as ignorant, pretentious, and coarse-natured, while his own mouthpieces are meant to be benign, urbane, wise, and persuasive. Yet in the very pages so planned he unwittingly reveals that the freethinkers whom he goes about to caricature were commonly good-natured in tone, while he becomes as virulent as ever in his eager- ness to discredit them. Not a paragraph in the book attains to the spirit of judgment or fairness : all is special pleading, overstrained and embittered sarcasm, rankling animus. No man was less qualified to write a well-balanced dialogue as between his own side and its opponents ; unless it be in the sense that his passion recoils on his own case. Even while setting up nine- pins of ill-put "infidel" argument to knock down, he elaborates futilities of rebuttal, indicating to every atten- tive reader the slightness of his rational basis. On the strength of this performance he might fitly be termed the most ill-conditioned sophist of his age, were it not for the perception that religious feeling in him has become a pathological phase, and that he suffers incomparably more from his own passions than he can cause his enemies to suffer by his eager thrusts at them. More than almost any gifted pietist of modern times he sets us wondering at the power of creed in certain cases to overgrow judgment and turn to naught the rarest faculties. No man in Berkeley's day had a finer natural lucidity and suppleness of intelligence ; yet perhaps no polemist on his side did less either to make converts or to establish a sound intellectual practice. Plain men on the freethinking side he must either have bewildered by his metaphysic or revolted by his spite : while to the more efficient minds he stood revealed as a kind of inspired child, rapt in the construction and manipulation of a set of brilliant sophisms which availed as much for any other creed as for his own. To the armoury of Christian apologetic now growing up he contributed a I40 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE iSth CENTURY special form of the sceptical arg-ument: freethinkers, he declared, made certain arbitrary or irrational assump- tions in accepting Newton's doctrine of fluxions, and it was only their prejudice that prevented them from being similarly accommodating- to Christian mysteries.' It is a kind of argument dear to minds pre-convinced and incapable of a logical revision, but worse than inept as against opponents. To theosophy, indeed, Berkeley rendered a more successful service in presenting it with the no better formula of " existence dependent upon consciousness " — a verbalism which has served the purposes of theology in the philosophic schools down till our own day. For his, however, the popular polemic value of such a theorem must have been suffi- ciently countervailed by his vehement championship of the doctrine of passive obedience in its most extreme form — "that loyalty is a virtue or moral duty ; and dis- loyalty or rebellion, in the most strict and proper sense, a vice or crime against the law of nature."" It belonged to the overstrung temperament of Berkeley that, like a nervous artist, he should figure to himself all his freethinking antagonists as personally odious, himself growing odious under the obsession ; and he solemnly asserts, in \{\^ Discourse to Magistrates^ that there had been " lately set up within this city of Dublin" an "execrable fraternity of blasphemers," calling themselves " blasters," and forming " a distinct society, whereof the proper and avowed business shall be to shock all serious Christians by the most impious and horrid blasphemies, uttered in the most public manner."^ There appears to be not a grain of truth in this astonishing assertion, to which no subsequent historian has paid the slightest attention. In a period in which freethinking books had been again and again burned in Dublin by the public hangman, such a society could be projected only in a nightmare ; and Berkeley's ' The Analyst, Queries 55-67. ^ Discourse of Passive Obedience, § 26. 3 Works, ed. 1837, p. 352. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE iSth CENTURY 141 hallucination may serve as a sign of the extent to which his judgment had been deranged by his passions.' When educated Christians could be so habitually envenomed as was Berkeley, there was doubtless a measure of contrary heat among English unbelievers ; but, apart altogether from what could be described as blasphemy, unbelief abounded in the most cultured society of the day. Bolingbroke's rationalism had been privately well known ; and so distinguished a personage as the brilliant and scholarly Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, hated by Pope, is one of the reputed freethinkers of her time.^ In the very year of the publication of Berkeley's Minute Philosopher, the first two epistles of the Essay on Man of his own friend and admirer, Pope, gave a new currency to the form of optimistic deism created by Shaftesbury, and later elaborated by Bolingbroke. Pope was always anxiously hostile in his allusions to the professed freethinkers ^ — among whom Bolingbroke only posthumously enrolled himself — and in private he specially aspersed Shaftesbury, from whom he had taken so much ;* but his prudential tactic gave all the more currency to the virtual deism he enunciated. Given out without any critical allusion to Christianity, and put forward as a vindication of the ways of God to men, it gave to heresy the status of a well-bred piety. A good authority pronounces that " the Essay on Mail ^ See the whole context, which palpitates with excitement. ^ Mr. Walter Sichel (Bolingbroke and his Times, 1901, i, 175) thinks fit to dispose of her attitude as " her aversion to the church and to every- thing- that transcended her own faculties. " So far as the evidence goes, her faculties were much superior to those of most of her orthodox con- temporaries. For her tone see her letters. 3 E.g., Dunciad, ii, 399 ; iii, 212 ; iv, 492. * Voltaire commented pointedly on Pope's omission to make any reference to Shaftesbury, while vending- his doctrine. {Lettres Aiigiaises, xxii.) As a matter of fact Pope does in the Dunciad (iv, 488) refer maliciously to the Theocles of Shaftesbury's Aloralists as maintain- ing a Lucretian theism or virtual atheism. The explanation is that Shaftesbury had sharply criticised the political course of Bolingbroke, who in turn ignored him as a thinker. See the present writer's introd. to Shaftesbury's Characteristics, ed. 1900 ; and cp. W. R. Scott, Francis Hutcheson, 1900, p. loi. 142 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE i8th CENTURY did more to spread English deism in France than all the works of Shaftesbury."' The line of the Essay which now reads The soul, uneasy and confined /Vo?;; home, originally ran "at home "; but, says Warton, " this expression seeming to exclude a future existence, as, to speak the plain truth, it 7vas intended to do, it was altered " — presumably by Warburton. (Warton's Essay on Pope, 4th ed. ii, 67.) The Spinozistic or pantheistic character of much of the Essay on Man was noted by various critics, in particular by the French Academician De CrousuziExamen de P Essay de M. Pope sur PHoinme, 1748). When the younger Racine, writing to the Chevalier Ramsay in 1742, charged the Essay with irreligion. Pope wrote him repudiating alike Spinoza and Leibnitz. {Warton, ii, 121.) In 1755, however, the Abbe Gauchat renewed the attack, declaring that the Essay was "neither Christian nor philosophic " {Lettres Critiques, i, 346). War- burton at first charged the poem with rank atheism, and after- wards vindicated it in his manner. (Warton, i, 125.) But in Germany, in the youth of Goethe, we find the Essay regarded by Christians as an unequivocally deistic poem. (Goethe's Wahrheit und Dichtxmg, Th. II, B. vii : Werke, ed. 1866, xi, 263.) And by a modern Christian polemist the Essay Is described as " the best positive result of English deism in the eighteenth century " (Gostwick, German Culture and Chris- tianity, 1882, p. 31). In point of fact, though Voltaire testifies from personal knowledge that there were in England in his day many principled atheists,- there was little overt atheism, 3 whether by reason of the special odium attach- ing to that way of thinking, or of a real production of theistic belief by the concurrence of the deistic propa- ganda on this head with that of the clergy, themselves in so many cases deists."^ Collins observed that nobody '■ Texte, Rousseau and the Cosmopolitan Spirit in Literature, Eng. trans, pp. 117-118. - Diet. Philos. art. Athee, § 2. 3 Wise, in his adaptation of Cudworth, A Confutation of the Reason and Pliilosophy of Atheism (1706), writes that " the philosophical atheists are but few in number," and their objections so weak "as that they deserve not a hearing: but rather neglect"; but goes on to admit that *' one or two broachers of 'em may be thought able to infect a whole nation, as sad experience tells us" (work cited, i, 5). ■* Complaint to this effect was made by orthodox writers. The Scotch Professor Halyburton, for instance, complains tliat in many sermons in BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IX THE iSth CENTURY 143 had doubted the existence of God until the Boyle lecturers began to prove it ; and Clarke had more than justified the jest by arguing, in his Boyle Lectures for 1705, that all deism logically leads to atheism. But though the apologists roused much discussion on the theistic issue, the stress of the apologetic literature passed from the theme of atheism to that of deism. Shaftesbury's early Inquiry Concerning Virtue had assumed the existence of a good deal of atheism ; but his later writings, and those of his school, do not indicate any great atheistic opposition.' Even the discussion on the immateriality and immortality of the soul — which began with the Grand Essay of Dr. William Coward, ^ in 1704, and was taken up, as we have seen, by the non-juror DodwelP — was conducted on either orthodox or deistic lines. Coward wrote as a professed Christian, •♦ to maintain, "against impostures of philosophy," that "matter and motion must be the foundation of thought in men and brutes." Collins maintained against Clarke the proposition that matter is capable of thought; and Samuel Strutt ("of the Temple"), whose Philosophical Inquiry into the Physical Spring of Human Actions, and the Immediate Cause of Tliinking (1732), is a most tersely cogent sequence of materialistic argument, never raises any question of deity. The result was that the problem of "materialism" was virtually dropped, Strutt's essay in particular passing into general oblivion. his day " Heathen Morality has been substituted in the room of Gospel Holiness. And Ethicks by some have been preached instead of the Gospels of Christ." Natural Religion Insufficient (Edinburgfh), 1714, p. 25. Cp. pp. 23, 26-27, 59' etc. ' The Moralists deals rather with strict skepticism than with substan- tive atheism. ' The Grand Essay ; or, a Vindication of Reason and Religion Against Impostures 0/ Philosophy. The book was condemned to be burned by the House of Commons. 3 Above, p. 133. ^ Mr. Herbert Paul, in his essay on Swi[t(Men and Letters, 1901, p. 267), lumps as deists the four writers named by Swift in his Argument. Not having: read them, he thinks fit to asperse all four as bad writers. Asyill, as was noted by Coleridg-e, was one of the best writers of his time. He was, in fact, a master of the staccato style, practised by Mr. Paul with less success. 144 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE iSfh CENTURY It was replied to, however, with the Inquiry of Collins, as late as 1760, by a Christian controversialist who admits Strutt to have been "a gentleman of an excellent genius for philoso- phical inquiries, and a close reasoner from those principles he laid down " {An Essay towards demonstrating the Immateriality and Free Agency of the Soul, 1760, p. 94). The Rev. Mr. Monk, in his Life of Bentley {2nd ed. 1833, ii, 391), absurdly speaks of Strutt as having " dressed up the arguments of Lord Herbert of Cherbury and other enemies of religion in a new shape." The reverend gentleman cannot have paid any atten- tion to the arguments either of Herbert or of Strutt, which have no more in common than those of Toland and Hume. Strutt's book was much too closely I'easoned to be popular. His name was for the time, however, associated with a famous scandal at Cambridge University. When in 1739 proceedings were taken against what was described as an "atheistical society" there, Strutt was spoken of as its "oracle." One of the members was Paul Whitehead, satirised by Pope. Another, Tinkler Ducket, a Fellow of Caius College, in holy orders, was prosecuted in the Vice-Chancellor's Court on the twofold charge of proselytising for atheism and of attempting to seduce a " female." In his defence he explained that he had been for some time "once more a believer in God and Christianity"; but was nevertheless expelled. See Monk's Life of Bentley, as cited, ii, 391 sq. No less marked is the failure to develop the "higher criticism" from the notable start made in 1739 in the very remarkable Inqidry into the Jewish and Christian Revelations by Samuel Parvish, who made the vital discovery that Deuteronomy is a product of the seventh century B.C.' His book, which is in the form of a dialogue between a Christian and a Japanese, went into a second edition (1746), but his idea struck too deep for the critical faculty of that age ; and not till the nine- teenth century was the clue found again by De Wette, in Germany.^ Parvish came at the end of the main deistic movement,^ and by that time the more open- ' Work cited, p. 324. = Cp. Cheyne, Founders of Old Testattient Criticism, 1893, p. 2. 3 Dr. Cheyne expresses surprise that a " theolog:ical writer" who got so far should not have been " prompted by his g-ood genius to follow up his advantage." It is, however, rather remarkable that Parvish, who was a bookseller at Guildford (Alberti, Bricfe, p. 426), should have achieved what he did. It was through not being a theological writer that he went so far, no theologian of his day following him. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE i8th CENTURY 145 minded men had come to a point of view from which it did not greatly matter when Deuteronomy was written, or precisely how a cultus was built up ; while orthodoxy could not dream of abandoning its view of inspiration. There was thus an arrest alike of historical criticism and of the higher philosophic thought under the stress of the concrete disputes over ethics, miracles, prophecy, and politics ; and a habit of taking deity for granted became normal, with the result that when the weak point was pressed upon by Law and Butler there was a sense of blankness on both sides. But among men theistically inclined, the argument of Tindal against revelationism was extremely telling, and it had more literary impressiveness than any writing on the orthodox side before Butler. By this time the philosophic influence of Spinoza — seen as early as 1699 in Shaftesbury's Inquiry Concerning Virtue,"^ and avowed by Clarke when he addressed his Demonstration (1705) "more particularly in answer to Mr. Hobbs, Spinoza, and their followers" — had spread among the studious class, greatly reinforcing the deistic movement ; so that in 1732 Berkeley, who ranked him among "weak and wicked writers," described him as "the erreat leader of our modern infidels." fc>' See the Minute Philosopher, Dial, vii, § 29. Similarly Leland, in the Supplement (1756) to his VieTV of the Deistical Writers (afterwards incorporated as Letter VI), speaks of Spinoza as "the most applauded doctor of modern atheism." Sir Leslie Stephen's opinion {English Thotight, i, 33), that "few of the deists, probably," read Spinoza, seems to be thus out- weighed. If they did not in great numbers read the Ethica, they certainly read the Tractatiis and the letters. As early as 1677 we find Stillingfleet, in the preface to his Letter to a Deist, speaking of Spinoza as "a late author [who] I hear is mightily in vogue among many who cry up anything on the atheistical side, though never so weak and trifling"; and further of a mooted proposal to translate the Tractatiis Theologico-Politicns into English. A translation was published in 16S9. In Gildon's work of recantation, The Deist'' s Manual {lyoc^, p. 192), the indifferent Pleonexus, who "took more delight in bags ^ See the author's introduction to ed. of the Characteristics, 1900. VOL. II L O 146 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE iSth CENTURY than in books," and demurs to accumulating; the latter, avows that he has a few, among" them being" Hobbes and Spinoza. Evelyn, writing' about 1680-90, speaks of " that infamous book, the Tractatus Theohgico-PoUticus,''^ as "a wretched obstacle to the searchers of holy truth" {The History of Religion, 1850, p. xxvii). Cp. Halyburton, Natural Religion Insufficient, Edinburg^h, 1714, p. 31, as to the "great vogue arnong our young Gentry and Students " of Hobbes, Spinoza, and others. Among the deists of the upper classes was the young William Pitt, afterwards Lord Chatham, if, as has been alleged, it was he who in 1733, two years before he entered Parliament, contributed to the London Journal a "Letter on Superstition," the work of a pronounced freethinker.' On the other hand, such deistic writing as that of Thomas Chubb, an energetic tallow-chandler of Salisbury (d. 1747), in a multitude of tracts brought an ethical " Christian rationalism " within the range of the imscholarly many ; while Thomas Morgan (d. 1741), a physician, began in the Mora/ P/u7osop/ier, 1739-1740,^ to sketch a rationalistic theory of Christian origins, besides putting the critical case with new completeness. At the same time Peter Annet (1693-1769), a school- master and inventor of a system of shorthand, widened the propaganda in other directions. He seems to have been the first freethought lecturer, for his first pamphlet, Judging for Ourselves : or, Freethinking the Great Duty of Religion, " By P. A., Minister of the Gospel " (1739), consists of " Two Lectures delivered at Plaisterer's Hall." Through all his propaganda, of which the more notable portions are his Supernaturals Examined and a series of controversies on the Resurrection, there runs a train of shrewd critical sense, put forth in crisp and vivacious English, which made him a popular force. At length, when in 1761 he issued nine numbers of The Free Inquirer, in which he attached the Penta- teuch with much insight and cogency, but with a ' The question remains obscure. Cp. the Letter cited, reprinted at end of Carver's i83wed. oi Paine's Works (New York); F. Thackeray's Life of Cliatliam, ii, 405 ; and Chatham's '' scalpintf -knife " speech. ^ A V indication of the Moral Philosopher appeared in 1741. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE iSth CENTURY 147 certain want of rational balance (shown also in his treatise, Social Bliss Considered, 1749), he was made a victim of the then strengthened spirit of persecution, being sentenced to stand thrice in the pillory with the label "For Blasphemy," and to suffer a year's hard labour. Nevertheless, he was popular enough to start a school on his release. Such popularity, of course, was alien to the literary and social traditions of the century, and from the literary point of view the main line of deistic propaganda, as apart from the essays and treatises of Hume and the posthumous works of Bolingbroke, ends with the younger Henry Dodwell's (anonymous) ironical essay, Christianity not Founded on Argument (1741). So rigorously congruous is the reasoning of that brilliant treatise that some have not quite unjustifiably taken it for the work of a dogmatic believer, standing at some such position as that taken up before him by Huet, and in recent times by Cardinal Newman.' He argues, for instance, not merely that reason can yield none of the confidence which belongs to true faith, but that it cannot duly strengthen the moral will against temptations.- But it at once elicited a number of replies, all treating it unhesitatingly as an anti-Christian work ; and Leland handles it as bitterly as he does any openly freethinking treatise. ^ Its thesis might have been seriously supported by reference to the intellectual history of the preceding thirty years, wherein much argument had certainly failed to establish the reigning creed or to discredit the unbelievers. Of the work done by English deism thus far, it may suffice to say that within two generations it had more profoundly altered the intellectual temper of educated men than any religious movement had ever done in the same time. This appears above all from the literature produced by orthodoxy in reply, where the mere ' Cp. Cairns, Unbelief in the Eighteenth Century, 1881, p. loi. = Ed. 1741, p. 30 sq. 3 Vieiv of the Deist ical Writers, Letter XI (X in 1st ed. ). 148 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE 18th CENTURY defensive resort to reasoning, apart from the accounts of current rationalism, outgoes anything in the previous history of literature. Could the discussion have been continuous — could England have remained what she was in the main deistic period, a workshop of investiga- tion and a battleground of ideas — all European develop- ment might have been indefinitely hastened. But the deists, for the most part educated men appealing to educated men or to the shrewdest readers among the artisans, had not learned to reckon with the greater social forces ; and beyond a certain point they could not affect England's intellectual destinies. The clergy, who could not argue them down in the court of culture, had in their own jurisdiction the great mass of the uneducated lower classes, and the great mass of the women of all classes, whom the ideals of the age kept uneducated with a difference. With the multitude remaining a ready hotbed for new "enthusiasm," and the women of the middle and upper orders no less ready nurturers of new generations of young believers, the work of emanci- pation was but begun when deism was made " fashion- able." And with England on the way to a new era at once of industrial and imperial expansion, in which the energies that for a generation had made her a leader of European thought were diverted to arms and to com- merce, the critical and rationalising work of the deistical generation could not ^o on as it had begun. That generation left its specific mark on the statute- book in a complete repeal of the old laws relating to witchcraft;' on literature in a whole library of propa- ganda and apology ; on moral and historic science in a new movement of humanism, which was to culminate in the French Revolution. But for reasons lying in the environment as well as in its own standpoint, deism was not destined to rise on continuous stepping-stones to social dominion. Currency has been given to a misconception of intellectual ' Act 9th Geo. II (1736), ch. 5. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE iSth CENTURY 149 history by the authoritative statement that in the deistic con- trovers)' "all that was intellectually venerable in Ent^land " appeared "on the side of Christianity" (Sir Leslie Stephen, English Thotight in the Eighteenth Century, i, 86). The propo- sition seems to be an echo of orthodox historiography, as Buckle had before written in his note-book: "In Eni^land skepticism made no head. Such men as Toland and Tindal, Collins, Shaftesbury, Woolston, were no match for Clarke, Warburton, and Lardner. They could make no head till the time of Middleton " {Misc. Works, abridged ed. i, 321) — a strain of assertion which clearly proceeds on no study of the period. In the first place, all the writing on the freethinking side was done under peril of Blasphemy Laws, and under menace of all the calumny and ostracism that in Christian society follow on advanced heresy ; while the orthodox side could draw on the entire clerical profession, over ten thousand strong, and trained for and pledged to defence of the faith. Yet, when all is said, the ordinary list of deists amply suffices to disprove Sir L. Stephen's phrase. His " intellectually vener- able" list runs : Bentley, Locke, Berkeley, Clarke, Butler, Water- land, Warburton, Sherlock, Gibson, Conybeare, Smalbroke, Leslie, Law, Leland, Lardner, Foster, Doddridge, Lyttelton, Barrlngton, Addison, Pope, Swift. He might have added Newton and Boyle. Sykes,' Balguy, Stebbing, and a " host of others," he declares to be " now for the most part as much forgotten as their victims " ; Young and Blackmore he admits to be in similar case. All told, the list includes only three or four men of any permanent interest as thinkers, apart froin Newton ; and only three or four more Important as writers. To speak of Waterland,- Warburton,^ Smalbroke,'* Sherlock, Leslie, and half-a-dozen more as "intellectually venerable" seems grotesque ; even Bentley is a strange subject for veneration. On the other hand, the list of " the despised deists," who ' Really an abler man than half the others in the list, but himself a good deal of a heretic. - Whose doctrine Sir Leslie Stephen elsewhere (p. 258) pronounces a "brutal theology which gloried in trampling on the best instincts of its opponents," and a "most unlovely product of eighteenth-century speculation." 3 Of Warburton Sir Leslie writes elsewhere (p. 353) that " this colossus was built up of rubbish." See p. 352 for samples. Again he speaks (p. 368) of the bishop's pretensions as "colossal impudence." It should be noted, further, that Warburton's teaching in the Divine Legation was a gross heresy in the eyes of William Law, who in his Sliort but Sufficient Confutation pronounced its main thesis a " most horrible doctrine." Ed. 1768, as cited, i, 217. ■» As to whose " senile incompetence " see same vol. p. 234. 150 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE i8th CENTURY "make but a poor show when compared with this imposing list," runs thus : Herbert, Hobbes, Blount, Halley (well known to be an unbeliever, though he did not write on the subject), Toland, Shaftesbury, Collins, Mandeville, Tindal, Chubb, Morgan, Dodwell, Middleton, Hume, Bolingbroke, Gibbon. It would be interesting to know on what principles this group is excluded from the intellectual veneration so liberally allotted to the other. It is nothing to the purpose that Shaftesbury and Mandeville wrote "covertly" and " in- directl}'." The law and the conditions compelled them to do so. It is still more beside the case to say that " Hume can scarcely be reckoned among the deists. He is already [when ?] emerging into a higher atmosphere." Hume wrote explicitly as a deist ; and only in his posthumous Dialogues did he pass on to the atheistic position. At no time, moreover, was he " on the side of Christianity." 0\\ the other hand, Locke and Clarke and Pope were clearly "emerging into a higher atmosphere" than Christianity, since Locke is commonly reckoned by the culture-historians, and even by Sir Leslie Stephen, as making for deism ; Pope was the pupil of Bolingbroke, and wrote as such-; and Clarke was shunned as an Arian. Newton, again, was a Unitarian, and Leibnitz accused his system of making for irreligion. It would be hard to show, further, who are the "forgotten victims "of Balguy and the rest. Balgu}' criticised Shaftesbury, whose name Is still a good deal better known than Balguy's. The main line of deists is pretty well remembered. And If we pair off Hume against Berkeley, Hobbes against Locke, Middleton (as historical critic) against Bentley, Shaftes- bury against Addison, Mandeville against Swift, Bolingbroke against Butler, Collins against Clarke, Herbert against Lyttel- ton, TIndal against Waterland, and Gibbon against — shall we say? — Warburton, it hardly appears that the overplus of merit goes so overwhelmingly as Sir Leslie Stephen alleges, even If we leave Newton, with brain unhinged, standing against Halley. The statement that the deists "are but a ragged regiment," and that " in speculative ability most of them were children by the side of their ablest antagonists," Is simply unintelligible unless the names of all the ablest deists are left out. Locke, be it remembered, did not live to meet the main delstic attack on Christianity ; and Sir Leslie admits the weak- ness of his pro-Christian performance. The bases of Sir Leslie Stephen's verdict may be tested by his remarks that ' ' Collins, a respectable country gentleman, showed considerable acuteness ; Toland, a poor denizen of Gnib Street, and TIndal, a Fellow of All Souls, made a certain display of learning, and succeeded In planting some effective arguments." BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE iSth CENTURY 151 Elsewhere (pp. 217-227) Sir Leslie admits that Collins had the best of the argument against his "venerable" opponents on Prophecy ; and Professor Huxley credits him with equal success in the argument with Clarke. The work of Collins on Human Liberty, praised by a whole series of students and experts, and entirely above the capacity of Bentley, is philo- sophically as durable as any portion of Locke, who made Collins his chosen friend and trustee, and who did not live to meet his imti-Biblical arguments. Tindal, who had also won Locke's high praise by his political essays, profoundly influenced such a student as Laukhard (Lechler, p. 451). And Toland, whom even Mr. Farrar (Bampton Lectures, p. 179) admitted to possess " much originality and learning," has struck Lange as a notable thinker, though he zvas a poor man. Leibnitz, who answered him, praises his acuteness, as does Pusey, who further admits the uncommon ability of Morgan and Collins {Historical Knqiiirv into German Rationalism, 1828, p. 12b). It is time that the conventional English standards in these matters should be rectified. The unfortunate effect of Sir Leslie Stephen's dictum is seen in the assertion of Professor Hoffding {Hist, of Modern Philos. Eng-. trans. 1900, i, 403), that Sir Leslie "rightly remarks of the English deists that they were altogether inferior to their adversaries"; and further (p. 405), that by the later deists, "Collins, Tindal, Morgan, etc., the dispute as to miracles was carried on with great violence." It is here evident that Professor Hoffding has not read the writers he depreciates, for those he names were far from being violent. Had he known the literature, he would have named Woolston, not Collins and Tindal and Morgan. He is merely echoing', without inquiring" for himself, a judgment which he regards as authoritative. In the same passage he declares that " only one of all the men formerly known as the ' English deists ' [Tolandj has rendered contributions of any value to the history of thought." If this is said with a knowledge of the works of Collins, Shaftes- bury, and Middleton, it argues a sad lack of critical judgment. But there is reason to infer here also that Professor Hoffding writes in ignorance of the literature he discusses. While some professed rationalists thus belittle a series of pioneers who did so much to make later rationalism possible, some eminent theologians do them justice. Thus does Pro- fessor Cheyne begin his series of lectures on Founders of Old Testament Criticism (1893): "A well-known and honoured representative of progressive German orthodoxy (J. A. Dorner) has set a fine example of historical candour by admitting the obligations of his country to a much-disliked form of English 152 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE i8th CENTURY heterodoxy. He says that English deism, which found so many apt disciples in Germany, ' by clearing- away dead matter, prepared the way for a reconstruction of theology from the very depths of the heart's beliefs, and also subjected man's nature to stricter observation.'' This, however, as it appears to me, is a vefy inadequate description of the facts. It was not merely a new constructive stage of German theoretic theology, and a keener psychological investigation, for which deism helped to prepare the way, but also a great movement, which has in our own day become in a strict sense international, concerned with the literary and historical criticism of the Scriptures. Beyond all dDubt, the Biblical discussions which abound in the works of the deists and their opponents contri- buted in no slight degree to the development of that semi- apologetic criticism of the Old Testament of which J. D. Michaelis, and in some degree even Eichhorn, were leading- representatives It is indeed singular that deism should have passed away in England without having produced a great critical movement among ourselves." Not quite so singular, perhaps, when we note that in our own day Sir Leslie Stephen and Professor Hoft'ding could sum up the work of the deists without a glance at what it did for Biblical criticism. If we were to set up a theory of intellectual possi- bilities from what has actually taken place in the history of thought, and without regard to the economic and political conditions above mentioned, we might reason that deism failed permanently to overthrow the current creed because it was not properly preceded by discipline in natural science. There might well be stagnation in the higher criticism of the Hebrew Scriptures when all natural science was still coloured by them. In nothing, perhaps, is the danger of Sacred Books more fully exemplified than in their influence for the suppression of true scientific thought. A thousandfold more potently than the faiths of ancient Greece has that of Christendom blocked the way to all intellectually vital discovery. If even the fame and the pietism of Newton could not save hirn from the charge of promoting atheism, much less could obscure men hope to set up any view of natural ' History of Protestant Theology, Eng. trans, ii, 77. For the influence of deism on Germany, see Tholiick {Vertm'scJite ScJiriften, Bd. ii) and Lechler {Gesch. des englischen Deismus). — Ahte by Dr. Cheyiie. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE iSth CENTURY 153 things which clashed with pulpit prejudice. But the harm lay deeper, inasmuch as the ground was pre- occupied by pseudo-scientific theories which were at best fanciful modifications of the myths of Genesis. Types of these performances are the treatise of Sir Matthew Hale on The Primitive Origination of Mankind {\^'^^ ; Dr. Thomas Burnet's Sacred Theory of the Earth (1680- 89) ; and Whiston's New Theory of the Earth (1696) — all devoid of scientific value ; Hale's work being pre- Newtonian ; Burnet's anti-Newtonian, though partly critical as regards the sources of the Pentateuch ; and Whiston's a combination of Newton and myth with his own quaint speculations. Even the Natural History of the Eartli of Professor John Woodward (1695), after recognising that fossils were really prehistoric remains, decided that they were deposited by the Deluge.' Beyond this, science made little advance for many years. Moral and historical criticism, then, as regards some main issues, had gone further than scientific ; and men's thinking on certain problems of cosmic philo- sophy was thus arrested for lack of a basis in expe- riential science. But the true reason of the arrest of exact Biblical criticism in the eighteenth century is that which explains also the arrest of the sciences. English energy, broadly speaking, was diverted into other channels. In the age of Chatham it became more and more military and industrial, imperialist and commercial ; and the scientific work of Newton was considerably less developed by English hands than was the critical work of the first deists. Long before the French Revolution, mathematical and astronomical science were being advanced by French hands, the English doing nothing. Lagrange and Euler, Clairaut and D'Alembert, carried on the work, till Laplace consummated it in his great theory, which is to Newton's what Newton's was to that of Copernicus. It was Frenchmen, freethinkers to a man, who built up the new astronomy, while England ' White, Warfare of Science ivith Theology, i, 227. 154 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE i8th CENTURY was producing only eulogies of Newton's greatness. " No British name is ever mentioned in the list of mathematicians who followed Newton in his brilliant career and completed the magnificent edifice of which he laid the foundation."' "Scotland contributed her Maclaurin, but England no European name."^ Throughout the latter half of the eighteenth century " there was hardly an individual in this country who possessed an intimate acquaintance with the methods of investigation which had conducted the foreign mathe- maticians to so many sublime results."^ " The English mathematicians seem to have been so dazzled with the splendour of Newton's discoveries that they never conceived them capable of being extended or improved upon ";4 and Newton's name was all the while vaunted, unwarrantably enough, as being on the side of Christian orthodoxy. There was nothing specially incidental to deism, then, in the non-development of the higher criticism in England after Collins and Parvish, or in the lull of critical speculation in the latter half of the century. It was part of a general social readjustment in which English attention was turned from the mental life to the physical, from intension of thought to extension of empire. Playfair (as cited, p. 39 ; Brewster, p. 348, note) puts forward the theory that the progress of the higher science in France was due to the " small pensions and great lionours " bestowed on scientific men by the Academy of Sciences. The lack of such an institution in England he traces to " mercantile prejudices," without explaining these in their turn. They are to be under- stood as the consequences of the special expansion of com- mercial and industrial life in England in the eighteenth century, when France, on the contrary, losing India and North America, had her energies in a proportional degree thrown back on the life of the mind. French freethought, it will be observed, expanded with science, while in England there ' Playfair, in the Edinburgh Revic7v,'^&x\wa.ry, 1808, cited by Brewster, Memoirs of Ne7vton, 1855, 1,347. ^ Brewster, as cited. 3 Grant, History of Physical Astronoviv, i8:;2, p. 108. " Baden Powell, Hist, of Nat. Philos. '1834," p. 363. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE iSth CENTURY 155 occurred, not a spontaneous reversion to orthodoxy any more than a surrender of the doctrine of Newton, but a general turning- of attention in other directions. It is significant that the most important names in the Hterature of deism after 1740 are those of Hume and Smith, late products of the intellectual atmosphere of pre-industrial Scotland ; of Bolingbroke, an aristocrat of the deistic generation, long an exile in France, who left his works to be published after his death ; and of Gibbon, who also breathed the intellectual air of France. / , . ' ^ ^^.- ^ 3. It is commonly assumed that after Chubb and Morgan the deistic movement in England "decayed," or "jDassed into skepticism " with Hume ; and that the decay was mainly owing to the persuasive effect of Bishop Butler's Analogy (1736).' This appears to be a complete mis- conception, arising out of the habit of looking to the succession of books without considering the accom- panying social conditions. Butler's book had very little influence till long after his death, "" being indeed very ill-fitted to turn contemporary deists to Christianity. It does but develop one form of the skeptical argument for faith, as Berkeley had developed another ; and that form of reasoning never does attain to anything better than a success of despair. The main argument being that natural religion is open to the same objections as revealed, on the score (i) of the inconsistency of Nature with divine benevolence, and (2) that we must be guided in opinion as in conduct by probability, a Mohammedan could as well use the theorem for the Koran as could a Christian for the Bible ; and the argument against the justice of Nature tended logically to atheism. But the deists had left to them the resource of our modern theists — that of surmising a beneficence above human compre- hension ; and it is clear that if Butler made anv converts they must have been of a very unenthusiastic kind. It is therefore safe to say with Pattison that " To whatever ' Sir James Stephen, Hora Sabbaticcc, ii, 281 ; Lechler, p. 451. " See details in Dynamics of Religion, ch. viii. 156 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE i8th CENTURY causes is to be attributed the decline of deism from 1750 onwards, the books polemically written against it cannot be reckoned among them."' On the other hand, even deists who were affected by the plea that the Bible need not be more consistent and satisfactory than Nature, could find refuge in Unita- rianism, a creed which, as industriously propounded by Priestley^ towards the end of the century, made a numerical progress out of all proportion to that of orthodoxy. The argument of William Law,^ again, which insisted on the irreconcilability of the course of things with human reason, and called for an abject sub- mission to revelation, could appeal only to minds already thus prostrate. Both his and Butler's methods, in fact, prepared the way for Hume. And in the year 1741, five years after the issue of the Analogy, and seven before the issue of Hume's Essay on Miracles, we find the thesis of that essay tersely affirmed in a note to Book n of an anonymous translation (ascribed to T. Francklin) of Cicero's De Natiira Deoriun. The passage Is worth comparing with Hume : " Hence we see what httle credit ought to be paid to facts said to be done out of tlie ordinary course of nature. These miracles [cutting the whetstone, etc., told by Cicero, De Div. i, c. xvii] are well attested. They were recorded In the annals of a great people, believed by many learned and otherwise sagacious persons, and received as religious truths by the populace ; but the testimonies of ancient records, the credulity of some learned men, and the Implicit faith of the vulgar, can never prove that ' Essay on -'Tendencies of Relig-ious Thougfht in Eng-land : 1688- 1750," in Essays and Revie7vs, 9th ed. p. 304. = In criticising- whom Sir Leslie Stephen barely notices his scientific work, but dwells much on his relig-ious fallacies, a course which would make short work of the fame of Newton. ' In his Case of Reason : or, N^afiiml Religion Fully and Fairly Stated, in answer to Tindal (1732). See the arg-ument set forth by Sir Leslie Stephen, i, 158-163. It is noteworthy, however, that in his Spirit of Prayer (1750) Part II, Dial, i, Law expressly arg-ues that '• No other religfion can be rig-ht but that which has its foundation in Nature. For ' the God of Nature can require nothing- of his creatures but what the state of their nature calls them to." LiJce Baxter, Berkeley, Butler, and so many other orthodox polemists, Law uses the argfument from igno- rance when it suits him, and ignores or rejects it when used by others. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE iSth CENTURY 157 to have been, which is impossible in the nature of thinjai's ever to be." M. Tullius Cicero Of the Nature of the Gods with Notes, London, 1741, p. 85. What Hume did was to elaborate the skeptical argument with a power and fulness which forced attention once for all, alike in England and on the Continent. It is not to be supposed, however, that Hume's philosophy, in so far as it was strictly skeptical — that is, suspensory — drew away deists from their former attitude of con- fidence to one of absolute doubt. Nor did Hume ever aim at such a result. What he did was to countermine the mines of Berkeley and others, who, finding their supra-rational dogmas set aside by rationalism, deistic or atheistic, sought to discredit at once deistic and atheistic philosophies based on study of the external world, and to establish their creed anew on the basis of their subjective consciousness." As against that method, Hume showed the futility of all apriorism alike, destroy- ing the sham skepticism of the Christian theists by forcing their method to its conclusions ; but, knowing that strict skepticism is practically null in life, he counted on leaving the ground cleared for experiential rational- ism. And he did, in so far as he was read. His essay, Of Miracles (with the rest of the Inquiries of 1748-51, which recast his early Treatise of Human Nature, 1739), posits a principle valid against all supernaturalism whatever ; while his Natural History of Religion (1757), though affirming deism, rejected the theory of a primor- dial monotheism, and laid the basis of the science of Comparative Hierology.' Finally, his posthumous Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779) admit, though indirectly, the untenableness of deism, and fall back decisively upon the atheistic or agnostic position. Like Descartes, he lacked the heroic fibre ; but like him ' The general reader should take note that in A. Murray's issue of Hume's Essays (now or lately published by Ward, Lock, & Co.), which omits altogether the essays on Miracles and a Future State, the Natural History of Religion is much mutilated, though the book professes to be a verbatim reprint. 1 58 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE iSfh CENTURY he recast philosophy for modern Europe ; and its subsequent course is but a development of or a reaction against his work. §4- It is remarkable that this development of opinion took place in that part of the British Islands where religious fanaticism had gone furthest, and speech and thought were socially least free. Freethought in Scotland before the middle of the seventeenth century can have existed only as a thing furtive and accursed ; and though, as we have seen from the Religio Stoici of Sir George Mackenzie, unbelief had emerged in some abundance at or before the Restoration, only wealthy men could dare openly to avow their deism.' In 1697 the clergy had actually succeeded in getting a lad of eighteen, Thomas Aikenhead, hanged for professing deism in general, and in particular for calling the Old Testament " Ezra's Fables," and denying the divinity of Jesus, though he broke down and pleaded penitence.^ At this date the clergy were hounding on the Privy Council to new activity in trying witches ; and all works of supposed heretical tendency imported from England were confis- cated in the Edinburgh shops, among them being Thomas Burnet's Sacred Tlieoiy of the Earth.-' Scottish intellectual development had in fact been arrested by the Reformation, so that, save for NapiQr's Logarithms (1614) and such a political treatise as Rutherford's Lex Rex (1644), the nation of Dunbar and Lyndsay produced for two centuries no secular literature of the least value, and not even a theology of any enduring interest. Deism, accordingly, seems in the latter half of the seventeenth and the early part of the eighteenth century ' See Burton, Hist, of Scotland, viii, 549-50, as to the case of Pitcairne. - Macaulay, History, c\\. xxii ; student's ed. ii. 620-1 ; Burton, History of Scotland, viii, 76-77. Aikenhead seems to have been a boy of unusual capacity, ev'en by the bullying account of Macaulay. See his arguments on the bases of ethics, set forth in his ■' dying speech," as cited by Halyburton, Natural Religion Insufficient, 1714, pp. 119-123, 131. ■3 Macaulav, as cited. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE iSth CENTURY 159 to have made fully as much progress in Scotland as in England ; and the bigoted clergy could offer little intellectual resistance. As early as 1696 the Scottish Parliament passed an Act "ag^ainst the Atheistical opinions of the Deists." (Macaulay, ch. xxii ; Cunningham, Hist, of the Ch. of Scotland, il, 313.) Sir W. Anstruther (a judge In the Court of Session), in the preface to his Essays Moral and Divine, Edinburgh, 1710, speaks of " the spreading contagion oi atheism, whicli threatens the ruin of our excellent and hoi}- religion." To atheism he devotes two essays ; and neither in these nor in one on the Incarnation does he discuss deism, the arguments he handles being really atheistic. Scottish freethought seems thus to have gone further than English at the period in question. i\s to the prevalence of deism, however, see the posthumous work of Professor Halyburton, of St. Andrews, Natural Religion htsnffi- ^:iV«/ (Edinburgh, 1714), Epist. of Recom.; pref. pp. 25, 27, and pp. 8, 15, 19, 2^, 31, etc. Halyburton's treatise Is interesting as showing the psychological state of argumentative Scotch orthodoxy in his day. He professes to repel the deistical argument throughout by reason ; he follows Huet and concurs with Berkelev In contending that mathematics Involves antl- ratlonal assumptions ; and he takes entire satisfaction in the execution of the lad Aikenhead for deism. Yet In a second treatise. An Essay Concerning the Nature of Faith, he contends, as against Locke and the " Rationalists," that the power to believe In the word of God is "expressly deny'd to man In his natural estiite," and is a supernatural gift. Thus the Calvlnlsts, like Baxter, were at bottoin absolutely Insincere In their pro- fession to act upon reason, while insolently charging insincerity on others. Even apart from deism there had arisen a widespread aversion to dogmatic theology and formal creeds, so that an apologist of 17 15 speaks of his day as "a time when creeds and Confessions of Faith are so generally decried, and not only exposed to contempt, as useless inventions but are loaded by many writers of distinguished wit and learning with the most fatal and dangerous con- sequences."' This writer admits the intense bitterness ' A Full Account of the Several Ends and Uses of Confessions of Faith, first published in 1719 as a preface to a Collection of Confessions of Faith, by Professor W. Dunbar, of Edinburgh University, 3rd ed. 1775, p. 1. ' i6o BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE i8th CENTURY of the theological disputes of the time ;' and he speaks, on the other hand, of seeing " the most sacred mysteries of godliness impudently denied and impugned " by some, while the " distinguishing doctrines of Chris- tianity are by others treacherously undermined, sub- tilised into an airy phantom, or at least doubted, if not disclaimed."- His references are probably to works published in England, notably those of Locke, Toland, Shaftesbury, and Collins, since in Scotland no such literature could be published ; but he doubtless has an eye to Scottish opinion. While, however, the rationalism of the time could not take book form, there are clear traces of its existence among educated men, even apart from the general com- plaints of the apologists. Thus the Professor of Medicine at Glasgow University in the opening years of the eighteenth century, John Johnston, was a known free- thinker.3 In the way of moderate or Christian rationalism, the teaching of the prosecuted Simson seems to have counted for something, seeing that Francis Hutcheson at least imbibed from him " liberal " views about future punishment and the salvation of the heathen, which gave much offence in the Presbyterian pulpit in Ulster. '^ And Hutcheson's later vindication of the ethical system of Shaftesbury in his Inquiry Concerning the Ideas of Beauty and Virtue (1725) must have tended to attract attention in Scotland to the Cliaracteristics after his instalment as a Professor at Glasgow. In an English pamphlet, in 1732, he was satirised as introducing Shaftesbury's system into a University, ^ and it is from the Shaftesbury camp that the first literary expression of freethought in Scotland was sent forth. A young Scotch deist of that school, William Dudgeon, published ' Work cited, p. 48. ^ Id. p. 198. 3 Scotland and Scotsmen in the Eighteenth Century. From the MSS. of John Ramsay, of Ochtertyre, 1888, i, 277. Ramsay describes Johnston as a "joyous, manly, honourable man," of whom Kames " was exceed- ingly fond " (p. 278). ■* W. R. Scott, Francis Hutcheson, 1900, pp. 15, 20-21, s Id. p. 52. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE iSth CENTURY i6i in 1732 a dialogue entitled The State of the Moral World Considered, wherein the optimistic position was taken up with uncommon explicitness ; and in 1739 the same writer printed A Catechism Founded upon Expe- rience and Reason, prefaced by an Introductory Letter on Natural Religion, which takes a distinctly anti-clerical attitude. The Catechism answers to its title, save in so far as it is a priori in its theism and optimistic in its ethic, as is another work of its author in the same year, A View of the Necessarian or Best Scheme^ defending the Shaftesburyan doctrine against the criticism of Crousaz on Pope's Essay. Still more heterodox is his little volume of Philosophical Letters Concerning the Being and Attributes of God (1737), where the doctrine goes far towards pantheism. All this propaganda seems to have elicited only one printed reply — an attack on his first treatise in 1732. In the letter prefaced to his Catechism, however, he tells that "the bare suspicion of my not believing the opinions in fashion in our country hath already caused me sufficient trouble."' His case had in fact been raised in the church courts, the pro- ceedings going through many stages in the years 1732-6 ; but in the end no decision was taken, ^ and the special stress of his rationalism in 1739 doubtless owes some- thing alike to the prosecution and to its collapse. Despite such hostility, he must privately have had fair support.3 The prosecution of Hutcheson before the Glasgow Presbytery in 1738 reveals vividly the theological temper of the time. He was indicted for teaching to his students " the following two false and dangerous doctrines : first, that the standard of moral goodness was the promotion of the happiness of others ; and, ' Cp. Albert! , Brief e hetreffend den Zustand der Religion in Gross- Brittannien, 1752, pp. 430-1. - See Dr. McCosh's Scottish Philosophy, 1875, pp. 1 1 i-i 13. Dr. McCosh notes that at some points Dudgeon anticipated Hume. 3 Dr. JMcCosh, however, admits that the absence of the printer's name on the 1765 edition of Dudgeon's works shows that there was then no thoroug-h freedom of thought in Scotland. VOL. II M 1 62 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE iStli CENTURY second, that we could have a knowledge of good and evil without and prior to a knowledge of God."' There has been a natural disposition on the orthodox side to suppress the fact that such teachings were ever ecclesias- tically denounced as false, dangerous, and irreligious; and the prosecution seems to have had no effect beyond intensifying the devotion of Hutcheson's students, among whom was Adam Smith. Another prosecution soon afterwards showed that the new influences were vitally affecting thought within the church itself. Hutcheson's friend Leechman, whom he and his party contrived to elect as professor of theology in Glasgow University, was in turn prosecuted (1743-4) for a published sermon on Prayer, which Hutcheson and his sympathisers pronounced " noble,"' but which " resolved the efficacy of prayer into its reflex influence on the mind of the worshipper "^ — a theorem which has chroni- cally made its appearance in the Scottish church ever since, still ranking as a heresy, after having brought a clerical prosecution in the last generation on at least one divine. Professor William Knight, and rousing a scandal against another, the late Dr. Robert Wallace.^ Leechman in turn held his ground, and later became Principal of his University ; but still the orthodox in Scotland fought bitterly against every semblance of rationalism. Even the anti-deistic essays of Lord- President Forbes of Culloden, head of the Court of Session, when collected and published after his death in 1747, were offensive to the church as laying undue stress on reason ; as accepting the heterodox Biblical theories of Dr. John Hutchinson ; and as making the awkward admission that " the freethinkers, with all their ' Rae, Life of Adam Smith, 1895, p. 13. Professor Fowler shows no knowledge of this prosecution in his monogfraph on Hutcheson (Shaftesbury and Hutcheson, 1882) ; and Mr. W. R. Scott, in his, seems to rely for the wording of the indictment solely on Mr. Rae, who gives no references. ^ Scott, as cited, p. 87. 3 Dr. James Orr, David Hume and his Influence on Philosophy and Theology, 1903, pp. 36-37. '' Also for a time a theological professor in Edinburgh University. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE i8th CENTURY 163 perversity, generally are sensible of the social duties, and act up to them better than others do who in other respects think more justly than they."' Such an utterance from such a dignitary told of a profound change ; and, largely through the influence of Hutcheson and Leechman on a generation of students, the educated Scotland of the latter half of the eighteenth century was in large part either " Moderate" or deistic. After generations of barren controversy,^ the very aridity of the Presbyterian life intensified the recoil among the educated classes to philosophical and historical interests, leading to the performances of Hume, Smith, Robertson, Millar, Ferguson, and yet others, all rationalists in method and sociologists in their interests. Of these, Millar was known to be skeptical in a high degree ;3 while Smith and Ferguson were certainly deists, as was Henry Home (the judge. Lord Kames), who had the distinction of being attacked along with his friend Hume in the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1755-56. Home wrote expressly to con- trovert Hume, alike as to utilitarianism and the idea of causation ; but his book, Essays on Morality and Natural Religion (published anonymously, i750» handled the thorny question of freewill in such fashion as to efive no less offence than Hume had done ; and the orthodox bracketed him with the subject of his criticism. His doctrine was indeed singular, its purport being that there can be no freewill, but that the deity has for wise purposes implanted in men the feeling that their wills are free. The fact of his having been made a judge of the Court of Session since writing his book had probably something to do with the rejection of the whole subject by the General Assembly, ' Reflections on Incredulity, in Works, I747> "> i4i~2. - As to which see A Sober Enquiry into the Grounds of the Present Differences in the Church of Scotland, 1723. 3 See the Autobiograpliy of tlie Rev. Dr. A. Carlyle, i860, pp. 492-3. Millar's Historical Vieiv of the English Govenunoit (censured by Hallam) was once much esteemed ; and his Origin of Ranks is still worth the attention of sociologists. 1 64 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE iSth CENTURY and afterwards by the Edinburgh Presbytery ; but there had evidently arisen a certain diffidence in the church, which would be assiduously promoted by " moderates " such as Principal Robertson, the historian. It is note- worthy that while Home and Hume thus escaped, the other Home, John, who wrote the then admired tragedy of Douglas, was soon after forced to resign his position as a minister of the church for that authorship, deism having apparently more friends in the fold than drama.' While the theatre was thus being treated as a place of sin, many of the churches in Scotland were the scenes of repeated Sunday riots. A new manner of psalm- singing had been introduced, and it frequently happened that the congregations divided into two parties, each singing in its own way, till they came to blows. According to one of Hume's biographers, unbelievers were at this period wont to go to church to see the fun.^ Naturally orthodoxy did not gain ground. In Ireland, at least in Dublin, during the earlier part of the century, there occurred, on a smaller scale, a similar movement of rationalism, also largely associated with Shaftesbury. In Dublin towards the close of the seventeenth century we have seen Molyneux, the friend and correspondent of Locke, interested in "freethought," albeit much scared by the imprudence of Toland. In the next generation we find in the same city a coterie of Shaftesburyans, centring around Lord Molesworth, the friend of Hutcheson, a man of affairs devoted to intel- lectual interests. It was within a few years of his meeting Molesworth that Hutcheson produced his Inquiry, championing Shaftesbury's ideas ;3 and other literary men were similarly influenced. It is even suggested that Hutcheson's clerical friend Synge, whom we have seen'* in 17 13 attempting a ratiocinative answer ' Ritchie's Account of the Life and Writings of David Hume, 1807, pp. 52-81 ; Tytler's Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Lord Karnes, 2nd ed. 1814, vol. i, ch. 5; Burton's Life of David Hume, 1846, i, 425- 430. ^ Ritchie, as cited, p. 57. 3 W. R. Scott, Francis Hutcheson, p. 31. •* Above, p. 134, note. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE i8th CENTURY 165 to the unbelief he declared to be abundant around him, was not only influenced by Shaftesbury through Moles- worth, but latterly " avoided publication lest his opinions should prejudice his career in the Church."' After the death of Molesworth, in 1725, the movement he set up seems to have languished ;- but, as we have seen, there were among the Irish bishops men given to philosophic controversy, and the influence of Berkeley cannot have been wholly obscurantist. When in 1756 we read of the Arian Bishop Clayton-^ proposing in the Irish House of Lords to drop the Nicene and Athanasian creeds, we realise that in Ireland thought was far from stagnant. The heretic bishop, however, died (February, 1758) just as he was about to be prosecuted for the heresies of his Vindication of the Old and New Testa- vients (2nd ed. 1757) ; and thenceforth Ireland plays no noticeable part in the development of rationalism, political interests soon taking the place of religious, with the result that orthodoxy recovered its ground. 8 5- In England, meanwhile, there was beginning a redistribution of energies which can be seen to have prepared for the intellectual and political reaction of the end of the century. There had been no such victory of ' Scott, pp. 2S-29, 35-36. The suggestion is not quite convincing-. Synge, after becoming xXrchbishop of Tuam, continued to publish his propagandist tracts, among them A n Essay towards Making the Knowledge of Religion Easy to the Meanest Capacity (Gih ed. 1734), which is quite orthodox, and which argues (p. 3) that the doctrine of the Trinity is to be believed and not pried into, " because it is above our understanding to comprehend." All the while there was being sold also his early treatise, "^ Gentleman's Religion : in Three Parts with an Appendix, wherein it is proved that nothing contrary to our Reason can possibly be the object of our belief, but that it is no just exception against some of the doctrines of Christianity that they are above our reason." - Scott, p. 36. 3 All that is told of this prelate by Mr. l^ecViy (Hist, of Ireland in the i8th Cent. 1892, i, 207) is that at Killala he patronised horse-races. He was industrious on more episcopal lines. He wrote an Introduction to the History of the Jews ; a V^indication of Biblical Chronology ; two treatises on prophecy; an "Essay on Spirit" (1751), which aroused much controversy; two volumes in answer to Bolingbroke (1752-54), which led to his being prosecuted ; and other works. 1 66 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE i8th CENTURY faith as is supposed to have been wrought by the forensic theorem of Butler. An orthodox German observer, making- a close inquest about 1750, cites the British Magazine as stating in 1749 that half the educated people were then deists ; and he, after full inquiry, agrees.' In the same year, Richardson speaks tragically in the Postscriptum to Clarissa Harlowe of seeing " skepticism and infidelity openly avowed and even endeavoured to be propagated from the press ; the great doctrines of the gospel brought into question ;" and he describes himself as "seeking to steal in with a dis- guised plea for religion." Instead of being destroyed by the clerical defence, the deistic movement had really penetrated the church, which was become as rationalistic in its methods as its function would permit, and the educated classes, which had arrived at a state of com- promise. The academic Conyers Middleton, whose Letter from Rome had told so heavily against Chris- tianity in exposing the pagan derivations of much of Catholicism, had further damaged the doctrine of inspi- ration in his anonymous Letter to Dr. Waterland (1731), while professing to refute Tindal ; and in his famous Free Lnquiry into the miracles of post-apostolic Chris- tianity (1749), again professing to strike at Rome, he had laid the foundations of a new structure of compara- tive criticism, and had given fresh grounds for rejecting the miracles of the sacred books. In short, the deistic movement had done what it lay in it to do. The old evangelical or pietistic view of life was discredited among instructed people, and in this sense it was Christianity that had "decayed." Thus Skelton writes in 1751 that " our modern apolog-ists for Christianlty often defend it on deistical principles " {Deism Revealed, pref. p. xii). Cp. vol. ii, pp. 234, 237. Also Sir Leslie Stephen as cited above, p. 129, note ; and Gostwick, German Culture and Christianity , 1882, pp. 33-36. An interesting instance of liberalising orthodoxy is furnished ' Dr. G. W. Alberti, Briefe betreffende den Zustand der Religion in Gross-Brittannien, Hannover, 1752, p. 440. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE i8th CENTURY 167 by the Rev. Arthur Ashley Sykes, who contributed many volumes to the general deistic discussion, some of them anonymously. In the preface to \\\s Essay on the Truth of the Christian Religion (1732 ; 2nd cd. enlari^ed, 1755) Sykes remarks that "since systematical opinions have been received and embraced in such a manner that it has not been safe to contradict them, the burden of vindicating Christianity has been very much increased. Its friends have been much embarrassed through fear of speak- ing against local truths ; and its adversaries have so successfully attacked those weaknesses that Christianity itself has been deemed indefensible, when in reality the follies of Christians alone have been so." Were Christians left to the simple doctrines of Christ and the Apostles, he contends, Infidelity could niake no converts. And at the close of the book he writes : " Would to God that Christians would be content with the plainness and simplicity of the gospel That they would not vend under the name of evangelical truth the absurd and contradictory schemes of ignorant or wicked men ! That they would part with that load of rubbish which makes thinking men almost sink under the weight, and gives too great a handle for Infidelity !" Such writing could not give satisfaction to the ecclesiastical authorities ; and as little could Sykes's remarkable admission (The Principles and Connection of Nattiral and Revealed Religion, 1740, p. 242): "When the advantages of revelation are to be specified, I cannot conceive that it should be maintained as necessary to fix a rule of morality. For what one principle of morality is there which the heathen moralists had not asserted or maintained ? Before ever any revelation is offered to mankind they are supposed to be so well acquainted with moral truths as from them to judge of the truth of the revelation itself." Again he writes : — " Nor can revelation be necessary to ascertain religion. For religion consisting in nothing but doing our duties from a sense of the being of God, revelation is not necessary to this end, unless it be said that we cannot know that there is a God, and what our duties are, without it. Reason will teach us that there is a God that we are to be just and charitable to our neighbours ; that we are to be temperate and sober in our- selves " {Id. p. 244). This is simple Shaftesburyan deism, and all that the apolo- gist goes on to contend for is that revelation "contains motives and reaso7is for the practice of what is right, more and different from what natural reason without this help can suggest." He seems, however, to have believed In miracles, though an anony- mous Essay on the Nature, Design, and Origin of Sacrifices (1748), which is ascribed to him quietly undermines the whole 1 68 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE i8th CENTURY evangelical doctrine. Throughout, he is remarkable for the amenity of his tone towards " infidels." The next intellectual step in natural course would have been a revision of the deistic assumptions, in so far, that is, as certain positive assumptions were common to the deists. But, as we have seen, certain fresh issues were raised as among the deists themselves. In addition to those above noted, there was the profoundly important one as to ethics. Shaftesbury, who rejected the religious basis, held a creed of optimism ; and this optimism was assailed by Mandeville, who in consequence was opposed as warmly by the deist Hutcheson and others as by Law and Berkeley. To grapple with this problem, and with the underlying cosmic problem, there was needed at least as much general mental activity as went to the antecedent discussion ; and the main activity of the nation was now being otherwise directed. The negative process, the impeachment of Christian supernaturalism, had been accomplished so far as the current arguments went. Toland and Collins had fought the battle of free discussion, forcing ratiocination on the church ; Collins had shaken the creed of prophecy ; Shaftesbury had impugned the religious conception of morals ; and Mandeville had done so more profoundly, laying the foundations of scientific utilitarianism.' So effective had been the utilitarian propaganda in general that the orthodox Brown (author of the once famous Estimate of the life of his countrymen), in his criticism of Shaftes- bury (1751), wrote as a pure utilitarian against an inconsistent one, and defended Christianity on strictly utilitarian lines. Woolston, following up Collins, had shaken the faith in New Testament miracles ; Middleton had done it afresh with all the decorum that Woolston lacked ; and Hume had laid down with masterly clear- ness the philosophic principle which rebuts all attempts to prove miracles as such.^ Tindal had clinched the ' Cp. essay'on The Fable of the Bees in the author's Essays fo7vards a Critical Method, 1889. ^ As against the objections of Mr. Lang-, see the author's paper in Studies in Religious Fallacy. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IX THE iSlh CENTURY 169 case for " natural " theism as against revelationism ; and the later deists, notably Morgan, had to some extent combined these results.' This literature was generally distributed ; and so far the case had been thrashed out. To carry intellectual progress much further there was needed a general movement of scientific study and a reform in education. The translation of La Mettrie's Man a Machine (1750) found a public no better prepared for the problems he raised than that addressed by Strutt eighteen years before ; and his reply to himself, Alan More than a Machine, of which the translator (1752) declared in his preface that " religion and infidelity over- spread the land," probably satisfied what appetite there was for such a discussion. There had begun a change in the prevailing mental life, a diversion of interest from ideas as such to political and mercantile interests. The middle and latter part of the eighteenth century is the period of the rise of (i) the new machine industries, and (2) the new imperialistic policy of Chatham. = Both alike withdrew men from problems of mere belief, whether theological or scientific. That the reaction was not one o£ mere fatigue over deism we have already seen. It. was a general diversion of energy, analogous to what . had previously taken place in France in the reign of Louis XIV. As the poet Gray, himself orthodox, put the case in 1754, "the mode of freethinking has given place to the mode of not thinking at all."^ In Hume's opinion the general pitch of national intelligence south of the Tweed was lowered. ■* This state of things of course was favourable to religious revival ; but what took place was rather a new growth of emotional pietism in the new industrial masses (the population being now " Cp. the summary of Farrar, Critical History of Fj-ccfJioiighf, 1862, pp. 177-8, which is founded on that of Pusey's eii.r\y Historical Enquiry concerning; the causes of German RationaHsm, pp. 124-126.. ^ The point is further discussed in Dynamics of Religion, pp. 175-6. 3 Letter xxxi, in Mason's Memoir. '' Letters to Smith, ElHot, and Gibbon. Hill Burton's Life of Hume, >i> 433. 434. 484-5. 487- I70 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE iSth CENTURY on a rapid increase), under the ministry of the Wesleys and Whitfield, and a further growth of similar religion in the new provincial middle-class that grew up on the industrial basis. The universities all the while were at the lowest ebb of culture, but officially rabid against philosophic freethinking.' It would be a great mistake, however, to suppose that all this meant a dying out of deism among the educated classes. The statement of Goldsmith, about 1760, that deists in general '• have been driven into a confession of the necessity of revelation, or an open avowal of atheism,"^ is not to be taken seriously. Goldsmith, whose own orthodoxy is very doubtful, had a whimsical theory that skepticism, though it might not injure morals, has a " manifest tendency to subvert the literary merits" of any country ;3 and argued accordingly. Deism, remaining fashionable, did but fall partly into the background of living interests, the more concrete issues of politics and the new imaginative literature occupying the foreground. The literary status of deism after 1750 was really higher than ever. It was now represented by Hume; by Adam Smith {Moral Sentiments^ i759); by the scholarship of Conyers Middleton ; and by the posthumous works (1754) of Lord BoLiXGBROKE, who, albeit more of a debater than a thinker, debated with masterly power, in a style unmatched for harmony and energetic grace, which had already won him a great literary prestige, though the visible insincerity of his character always countervailed his charm. His influence, commonly belittled, was much greater than writers like Johnson would admit ; and it ' Compare the verdicts of Gibbon in his Autobiography, and of Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, B. v, ch. i, art. 2 ; and see the memoir of Smith in 1831 ed. and McCulloch's ed., and Rae's Life of Adam Smith, 1895, p. 24. It appears that about 1764 many Eng-lish people sent their sons to Edinburg;h University on accoimt of the better education there. Letter of Blair, in Hill Burton's Life of Hume, ii, 229. - Essays, iv, end. 3 Present State of Polite Learning, 1765, ch. vi. His story of how the father of St. Foix cured the youth of the desire to rationalise his creed is not sug-g-estive of conviction. The father pointed to a crucifix, saying-, " Behold the fate of a reformer." The story has been often plagiarised since — e.g., in Gait's Anna/s of the Parish. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE iSfh CENTURY 171 went deep. Voltaire tells' that he had known some young pupils of Bolingbroke who altogether denied the historic actuality of the Gospel Jesus — a stretch of criticism beyond the assimilative power of that age. In his lifetime, however, BoUngbroke had been extremely careful to avoid compromising himself. Mr. Arthur Hassall, in his generally excellent monograph on Bolingbroke (Statesmen Series: Allen & Co. i88q, p. 226), writes, in answer to the attack of Johnson, that "Bolingbroke, during his lifetime, had never scrupled to publish criticisms, remarkable for their freedom, on religious subjects." I cannot gather to what he refers ; and Mr. Walter Sichel, in his copious biography (2 vols. 1901-2), indicates no such publications. In his letter to Swift of September 12th, 1724 (Sunff's Works, Scott's ed. 1824, xvi. 448-9), Bolingbroke angrily repudiates the title of esprit fori, declaring, in the very temper in which pious posterity has aspersed himself, that "such are the pests of society, because they endeavour to loosen the bands of it I therefore not only disown, but I detest, this character." In this letter he even affects to believe in " the truth of the divine revelation of Chris- tianit}'." He began to write his essays, it is true, before his withdrawal to France in 1735, but with no intention of speedily publishing them. In his Letter to Mr. Pope (published with the Letter to IVjiidham, 1753), p. 481, he writes : " I have been a martyr of faction in politics, and have no vocation to be so in philosophy." Cp. pp. 4S5-6. It is thus a complete blunder on the part of Bagehot to sny (Literary Studies, Button's ed. iii, 137) that Butlev's A ua/ojt>-v, published in 1736, was "designed as a confutation of Shaftesbury atid Bolingbroke.'''' It is even said (Warton, Essay on Pope, 4th ed. ii, 294-5) that Pope did not know Bolingbroke's real opinions ; but Pope's untruthfulness was such as to discredit such a statement. Cp. Bolingbroke's Letter as cited, p. 521, and his Philosophical Works, 8vo-ed. 1754, ii, 405. In seeking to estimate Bolingbroke's posthumous influence we have to remember that after the publication of his works the orthodox members of his own party, who otherwise would have forgiven him all his vices and insincerities, have held him up to hatred. Scott, for instance, founding on Bolingbroke's own dishonest denunciation of freethinkers as men seeking to loosen the bands of society, pronounced his arrangement for the posthumous issue of his works "an act of wickedness more purely diabolical than any hitherto upon record in the history of any age or nation " (Note to Bolingbroke's letter above cited in ' Dieu et les Honimes, ch. 39. 172 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE i8th CENTURY Swiffs Works, xvi, 450). It would be an error, on the other hand, to class him among either the great sociologists or the great philosophers. Mr. Sichel undertakes to show (vol. ii, ch.x)that Bolingbroke had stimulated Gibbon to a considerable extent in his treatment of early Christianity. This is in itself quite probable, and some of the parallels cited are noteworthy ; but Mr. Sichel, who always writes as a panegyrist, makes no attempt to trace the common French sources for both. He does show that Voltaire manipulated Bolingbroke's opinions in reproducing them. But he does not critically recognise the incoherence of Bolingbroke's eloquent treatises. Mr. Hassall's summary is nearer the truth ; but that in turn does not note how well fitted was Bolingbroke's swift and graceful declamation to do its work with the general public, which (if it accepted him at all) would make small account of self-contradiction. In view of such a reinforcement of its propag-anda, deism could not be regarded as in the least degree written down. In 1765, accordingly, we find Diderot recounting, on the "authority of d'Holbach, who had just returned from a visit to this country, that "the. Christian religion is nearly extinct in England. The deists are innumerable ; there are almost no atheists ; those who are so, conceal it. An atheist and a scoundrel 'are almost synonymous terms for them."' Nor did the output of deistic literature end with the posthumous works of Bolingbroke. These were followed by trans- lations of the new writings of Voltaire,^ who had assimilated the whole propaganda of English deism, and gave it out anew with a wit and brilliancy hitherto unknown in argumentative and critical literature. The freethinking of the third quarter of the century, though kept secondary to more pressing questions, was thus at least as deeply rooted and as convinced as that of the first quarter. What was lacking to it, once more, was a social foundation on which it could not only endure but develop. In a nation of which the majority had no intellectual culture, such a foundation could not exist. ' Mdmoires de Diderot, 1841, ii, 25. - These had begun as early as 1753 {Micromdgas). BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE i8ih CENTURY 173 Green exaggerates' when he writes that "schools there were none, save the grammar schools of Edward and Elizabeth ";- but by another account only twelve public schools were founded in the long reign of George III ;3 and, as a result of the indifference of two generations, masses of the people " were ignorant and brutal to a degree which it is hard to conceive."* A great increase of population had followed on the growth of towns and the development of commerce and manufactures even between 1700 and 1760 ;s and thereafter the multiplica- tion was still more rapid. There was thus a positive fall in the culture standards of the majority of the people. According to Massey, " hardly any tradesman in 1760 had more instruction than qualified him to add up a bill"; and "a labourer, mechanic, or domestic servant who could read or write possessed a rare accom- plishment."*^ As for the Charity Schools established between 1700 and 1750, their express object was to rear humble tradesmen and domestics, not to educate in the proper sense of the term. In the view of life which accepted this state of things the educated deists seem to have shared ; at least, there is no record of any agitation by them for betterment. The state of political thought was typified in the struggle over "Wilkes and Liberty," from which con- servative temperaments like Hume's turned away in contempt ; and it is significant that poor men were persecuted for freethinking while the better-placed went ' I here extract a few sentences from my paper on The Church and Education, 1903. - Short History, ed. 1881, p. 717. The Concise Description of the Endoived Grammar Schools, by Nicholas CarHsle, 1818, shows that schools were founded in all parts of the country by private bequest or public action in all periods since the seventeenth century. 3 Collis, in Transactions of the Social Science Association, 1857, p. 126. According- to Collis, 48 had been founded by James I, 28 under Charles I, 16 under the Commonwealth, 36 under Charles 11, 4 under James II, 7 under William and Mary, 11 under Anne, 17 under George I, and 7 under George II. He does not indicate their size. ^ Green, as last cited. 5 Gibbins, Industrial History of England, 1894, p. 151. * Hist, of England under George III, ed. 1865, ii, 83. 174 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE iSth CENTURY free. Jacob Ilive, for denying in a pamphlet (1753) the truth of revelation, was pilloried thrice, and sent to hard labour for three years. In 1754 the Grand Jury of Middlesex "presented" the editor and publisher of Bolingbroke's posthumous works' — a distinction that in the previous generation had been bestowed on Mande- ville's Fable of the Bees ; and in 1 761, as before noted, Peter Annet, aged seventy, was pilloried twice and sent to prison for discrediting the Pentateuch. The personal influence of George III, further, told everywhere against freethinking ; and the revival of penalties would have checked publishing even if there had been no withdrawal of interest to politics. Yet freethinking treatises did appear at intervals in addition to tlie works of the better-known writers, such as Bolingbroke and Hume, after the period commonly marked as that of the "decline of deism." Like a number of the earlier works above mentioned, the following (save Evanson) are overlooked in Sir Leslie Stephen's survey : — 1746. Essay on Natural Religion. Attributed to Dryden. 1746. Deism fairly stated and fullv vindicated, etc. Anon. 1749. Cooper, J. G. Life of Socrates. 1750. Dove, John. A Creed founded on Truth and Common Sense. The British Oracle. Two numbers only. 1 752. The Pillars of Priestcraft and Orthodoxy Shaken. Four \ols. of freethinking pamphlets, collected (and some written) by Thomas Gordon, formerly secretary' to Trenchard. Edited by R. Barron. (Reprinted 1768.) 1765. Dudgeon, W. Philosophical IVorks (reprints of those of 1732,-4,-7,-9, above mentioned). Privately printed — at Glasgow ? 1772. Evanson, E. The Doctrines of a Tri)iity and the Incarnation. 1777. ,, ,, Letter to Bishop Hurd. 1781. Nicholson, W. The Doubts of the Infidels. Republished by Carlile. 1782. Turner, W. Answer to Dr. Priestley's Letters to a Philoso- phical Unbeliever. 1785. Toulmin, Dr. Joshua.^ The Antiquitv and Diiration of the World. ■ The document is g-iven in Ritchie's Life of Hume, 1807, pp. 53-55. - Toulmin was a Unitarian and a biographer of Socinus. He was much molested in 1791. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE i8th CENTURY 175 1789. Toulmin, Dr. Joshua. The Eternity of the Universe. 1789. Cooper, Dr. T. Tracts, Ethical, Theological, and Political. 1792. Evunson, E. Tlie Dissonance of the Four Evangelists. 1795. O'Keefe, Dr. J. A. On the Progress of the Human Under- standing. 1797. Davies, J. C. TJie Script 11 rian''s Creed. Prosecuted and imprisoned. On the other hand, apart from the revival of popular religion under Whitefield and Wesley, which won multitudes of the people whom no higher culture could reach, there was no recovery of educated belief upon intellectual lines ; though there was a steady detach- ment of energy to the new activities of conquest and commerce which mark the second half of the eiirhteenth century in England. On this state of things super- vened the massive performance of the greatest historical writer England had yet produced. Gibbon, educated not by Oxford but by the recent scholarly literature of France, had as a mere boy seen, on reading Bossuet, the theoretic weakness of Protestantism, and had straightway professed Romanism. Shaken as to that by a skilled Swiss Protestant, he speedily became a rationalist pure and simple, with as little of the dregs of deism in him as any writer of his age ; and his great work begins, or rather signalises (since Hume and Robertson preceded him), a new era of historical writing, not merely by its sociological treatment of the rise of Christianity, but by its absolutely anti-theological handling of all things. The importance of the new approach may be at once measured by the zeal of the opposition. In no case, perhaps, has the essentially passional character of religious resistance to new thought been more vividly shown than in that of the contemporary attacks upon Gibbon's History, By the admission of Macaulay, who thought Gibbon " most unfair " to religion, the whole troop of his assailants are now " utterly forgotten "; and those orthodox commentators who later sought to improve on their criticism have in turn, with a notable 176 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE i8th CENTURY uniformity, been rebutted by their successors ; till Gibbon's critical section ranks as the first systematically scientific handling of the problem of the rise of Chris- tianity. He can be seen to have profited by all the relevant deistic work done before him, learning alike from Toland, from Middleton, and from Bolingbroke ; though his acknowledgments are mostly paid to respectable Protestants and Catholics, as Basnage, Beausobre, Lardner, Mosheim, and Tillemont ; and the sheer solidity of the work has sustained it against a hundred years of hostile comment. While Gibbon was thus earning for his country a new literary distinction, the orthodox interest was concerned above all things to convict him of ignorance, incompetence, and dishonesty; and Davis, the one of his assailants who most fully manifested all of these qualities, and who will long be remembered solely from Gibbon's deadly exposure, was rewarded with a royal pension. Another, Apthorp, received an archiepiscopal living; while Chelsum, the one who almost alone wrote against him like a gentle- man, got nothing. But no cabal could avail to prevent the instant recognition, at home and abroad, of the advent of a new master in history ; and in the worst times of reaction which followed, the History of the Decline and Fall of' the Roman Empire impassively defied the claims of the ruling creed. In a world which was eagerly reading Gibbon' and Voltaire,- there was a peculiar absurdity in Burke's famous question (1790) as to " Who now reads Boling- broke " and the rest of the older deists. ^ The fashionable world was actually reading Bolingbroke even then ;"* and the work of the older deists was being done with ' Cp. Bishop Watson's Apology for Christianity (1776) as to the vogue of unbelief at that date. [Tiao Apologies, ed. 1806, p. 121. Cp. pp. 179, 399. ) = The panegyric on Voltaire delivered at his death by Frederick the Great (November 26th, 1778) was promptly translated into English (1779). 3 Reflections on the French Revolution, T790, p. 131. 4 See Hannah More's letter of April, 1777, in her Life, abridged i6mo- ed. p. 36. An edition of Shaftesbury, apparently, appeared in 1773, and another in 1790. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE i8th CENTURY 177 new incisiveness and thoroughness by their successors.' Beside Burke in ParHament, all the while, was the Prime Minister, William Pitt the younger, an agnostic deist. Whether or not the elder Pitt was a deist, the younger g-ave very plain signs of being at least no more. Mr. Gladstone [Studies subsidiary to the Works of Bishop Butler, ed. 1896, pp. 30-33) has sought to discredit the recorded testimony of Wilberforce {Life of IVilberforce, 1838, i, 98) that Pitt told him " Bishop Butler's work raised in his mind more doubts than it had answered." Mr. Gladstone points to another passage in Wilberforce's diary which states that Pitt "commended Butler's Analogy'" {Life, \, 90). But the context shows that Pitt had commended the book for the express purpose of turning Wilberforce's mind from its evangelical bias. Wilber- force was never a deist, and the purpose accordingly could not have been to make him orthodox. The two testimonies are thus perfectly consistent ; especially when we note the further statement credibly reported to have been made by Wilberforce {Life, i, 95), that Pitt later " tried to reason vie out oj my con- victiojis.'" We have yet further the emphatic declaration of Pitt's niece, Lady Hester Stanhope, that he "never went to church in his life never even talked about religion" {Memoirs of Lady Hester Stanhope, 1845, iii, 166-7). This was said in emphatic denial of the genuineness of the unctuous death-bed speech put in Pitt's mouth by Gifford. Lady Hester's high veracity is accredited by her physician {Travels of Lady Hester Stanhope, 1846, i, pref. p. 11). No such character can be given to the conventional English biography of the period. We have further to note the circumstantial account by Wilberforce in his letter to the Rev. S. Gisborne immediately after Pitt's death {Correspondence, 1840, ii, 69-70), giving the details he had had in confidence from the Bishop of Lincoln. They are to the effect that, after some demur on Pitt's part ("that he was not worthy to offer up any prayer, or was too weak "), the Bishop prayed with him once. Wilberforce adds his "fear" that "no further religious intercourse took place before or after, and I own I thought 7vhat was inserted in the papers impossible to be true." ' The essays of Hume, including' the Dialogues concerning Natural Religion (1779), were now circulated in repeated editions. Mr. Rae, in his valuable Life of Adam Smith, p. 311, cites a German observer, Wendeborn, as writing in 1785 that the Dialogues, though a good deal discussed in Germany, had made no sensation in England, and were at that date entirely forgotten. But a second edition had been called for in 1779, and they were added to a fresh edition of the essays in 1788. Any "forgetting" is to be set down to pre-occupation with other interests. VOL. II N 178 BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IX THE iSth CENTURY Among thinking men, too, the nascent science of geology was setting up a new criticism of " revelation " — this twenty years before the issue of the epoch-making works of Hutton/ The new phase of "infidelity" was of course furiously denounced, one of the most angry and most absurd of its opponents being the poet Cowper.^ Still rationalism persisted. Paley, writing in 1786, protests that "Infidelity is now served up in every shape that is likely to allure, surprise, or beguile the imagination, in a fable, a tale, a novel, or a poem, in interspersed or broken hints, remote and oblique surmises, in books of travel, of philosophy, of natural history — in a word, in any form rather than that of a professed and regular disquisition. "^ The orthodox Dr. J. Ogilvie, in the introduction to his Inquiry into the Causes of the Infidelity and Skepticism of the Times (1783), begins: "That the opinions of the deists and skeptics have spread more universally during a part of the last century and in the present than at any former aera since the resurrection of letters, is a truth to which the friends and the enemies of religion will give their suffrage without hesitation." In short, until the general reversal of all progress which followed on the French Revolution, there had been no such change of opinion as Burke alleged. One of the most popular writers of the day was Erasmus Darwin, a deist, whose Zoononiia (1794) brought on him the charge of atheism. Even in rural Scotland, the vogue of the poetry of BuRXS, who was substantially a deist, told of germinal doubt. With the infehcity in prediction which is so much commoner with him than the "prescience" for which he is praised, Burke announces that the whole deist school "repose in lasting' oblivion." The proposition would be much more true of 999 out of everj- thousand writers on behalf of Chris- tianity. It is characteristic of Burke, however, that he does ^ See a letter in Bishop Watson's Life, i, 402 ; and cp. Buckle, ch. vii, note, 218. - See his Task, B. iii, 150-190 (1783-4), for the prevailing- religious tone. 3 Principles of Moral Philosophy, B. v, ch. 9. The whole chapter tells of widespread freethinking'. BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE iSth CENTURY 179 not name Shaftesbury, a Whi^ peer of the sacred period. Mr. Lecky, writuig \w 1865, and advancini^ on Burke, has said of the whole school, including- Siiaflesbury, that "the shadow of the tomb rests on all : a deep, unbroken silence, the chill of death, surrounds them. They have long ceased to wake any interest^' {Rafio>m/tsin in Europe, i, 116). As a matter of fact, they had been discussed by Tayler in 1853 ; by Pattison in i860; and by Farrar in 1862; and they have since been dis- cussed at length by Dr. Hunt, by Cairns, by Lange, and by Sir Leslie Stephen. A seeming justice was given to Burke's phrase by the undoubted reaction which took place immediately after- wards. In the vast panic which followed on the French Revolution, the multitude of mediocre minds in the middle and upper classes, formerly deistic or indifferent, took fright at unbelief as something now visibly con- nected with democracy and regicide ; and orthodoxy became fashionable on political grounds just as skepti- cism had become fashionable at the Restoration. Class interest and political prejudice wrought much in both cases ; only in opposite directions. Democracy was no longer Bibliolatrous, therefore aristocracy was fain to become so, or at least to grow respectful towards the Church as a means of social control. Gibbon, in his closing years, went with the stream. And as religious wars have always tended to discredit religion, so a war partly associated with the freethinking of the French revo- lutionists tended to discredit freethought. But even in the height of the revolutionary tumult, and while Burke was blustering about the disappearance of unbelief, Thomas Paine was laying deep and wide the English foundations of a new democratic freethought ; and the upper-class reaction in the nature of the case was doomed to impermanency, though it was to arrest English intellectual progress for over a generation. The French Revolution had re-introduced freethought as a vital issue, even in causing it to be banned as a dangrer. ta' That freethought at the end of the century was rather driven inwards and downwards than expelled is made clear by the multitude of fresh treatises on Christian evidences. i8o BRITISH FREETHOUGHT IN THE iSth CENTURY Growing numerous after 1790, they positively swarm for a generation after Paley (1794). Cp. Essays on the Evidence a7id Influence of Christianity, Bath, 1790, pref. ; Andrew Fuller, The Gospel its own Witness, 1799, pref. and concluding address to deists ; Watson's sermon of 1795, in Two Apologies, ed. 1806, p. 399; Priestley's Memoirs (vixxXiQW in 1795), 1806, pp. 127-8; Wilberforce's Practical View, 1797, passim {e.g., pp. 366-9, 8th ed. 1841) ; Rev. D. Simpson, A Plea for Religio)i addressed to the Disciples of Thomas Paine, 1797. The latter writer states (2nd ed. p. 126) that " infidelity is at this moment running like wildfire among the common people "; and Fuller (2nd ed. p. 128) speaks of the Monthly Magazine as "pretty evidently devoted to the cause of infidelity." A pamphlet o\\ The Rise and Dissohition of the Infidel Societies in this Metropolis (London, 1800), by W. Hamilton Reid, describes the period as the first " in which the doctrines of infidelity have been exten- sively circulated among the lower orders "; and a Summary of Christian Evidences, by Bishop Porteous (1800 ; i6th ed. 1826), afilirms, in agreement with the 1799 Report of the Lords' Com- mittee on Treasonable Societies, that " new compendiums of infidelity, and new libels on Christianity, are dispersed continu- ally, with indefatigable industry, through every part of the kingdom, and every class of the community." Freethought, in short, was becoming democratised. Chapter XVI. EUROPEAN FREETHOUGHT, FROM DES- CARTES TO THE FRENCH REVOLUTION § I. France and Holland. I. We have seen France, in the first quarter of the seventeenth century, pervaded in its upper classes by a freethought partly born of the knowledge that religion counted for little but harm in public affairs, partly the result of such argumentation as had been thrown out by Montaip:ne and codified bv Charron. That it was not the freethinking of mere idle men of the world is clear when we note the names and writings of La Mothe le Vayer, Gui Patin, and Gabriel Naude, all scholars, all heretics of the skeptical and rationalistic order. The first, one of the early members of the new Academy founded by Richelieu, is an interesting figure' in the history of culture, being a skeptic of the school of Sextus Empiricus, but practically a great friend of tolerance. Standing in favour with Richelieu, he wrote at that statesman's suggestion a treatise On the Virtue of the Heathen^ justifying toleration by pagan example — a course which raises the question whether Richelieu himself was not strongly touched by the rationalism of his age. If it be true that the great Cardinal " believed as all the world did in his time,"- there is little more to be said, for unbelief, as we have seen, was already abun- dant, and even somewhat fashionable. Certainly no ecclesiastic in high power ever followed a less eccle- siastical policy ;3 and from the date of his appointment as Minister to Louis XIII (1624), for forty years, there ' See the notices of him in Owen's Skeptics of the French Renaissance ; and in Sainte-Beuve, Port Royal, iii, 180, etc. ~ Hanotaux, Hist, du Cardinal de Richelieu, 1893, i, pref. p. 7. 2 Cp. Buckle, ch. viii, i-vol. ed. pp. 305-10, 325-8. 181 i82 MODERN EUROPEAN FREETHOUGHT was no burning of heretics or unbelievers in France. If he was orthodox, it was very passively.' Le Vayer's Dialogues of Orashts Tubero (1633) is philosophically his most important work f but its tranquil Pyrrhonism was not calculated to affect greatly the current thought of his day ; and he ranked rather as a man of all-round learning^ than as a polemist, being reputed " a little contradictory, but in no way bigoted or obstinate, all opinions being to him nearly indifferent, excepting those of which faith does not permit us to doubt. "+ The last phrase tells of the fact that it affects to negate : Le Vayer's skepticism was well known. He was not indeed an original thinker, most of his ideas being echoes from the skeptics of antiquity ;5 and it has been not unjustly said of him that he is rather of the sixteenth century than of the seventeenth or the eighteenth.'' 2. Between this negative development of the doctrine of Montaigne and the vogue of upper-class deism, the philosophy of Descartes, with its careful profession of submission to the Church, had an easy reception ; and on the appearance of the Discours de la Methode (1637) it speedily affected the whole thought of France, the women of the leisured class, now much given to literature, being among its students. ^ From the first, the Jansenists, who were the most serious religious thinkers of the time, accepted the Cartesian system as in the main soundly Christian ; and its founder's authority has some such influence in keeping up the prestige of orthodoxy as had ' See the good criticism of M. Hanotaux in Perrons, Les Libertius en France au xvii. si^cle, p. 95 sq. - He wrote very many, the final collection fillingf three volumes folio, and fifteen in duodecimo. 3 "On le regarde comme le Plutarque de notre si^cle " (Perrault, Les Homtnes Illusfres du XVIIe Steele, t^d. 1701, ii, 131). •* Perrault, ii, 132. 5 M. Perrens, ■who endorses this criticism, does not note that some passages he quotes from the Dialogues, as to atheism being less disturb- ing to States than superstition, are borrowed from Bacon's essay Of Atheism, of which Le Vayer would read the Latin version. ^ Perrens, p. 132. 7 Lanson, Hist, de la litt. fraiigaise, 56 ^dit. p. 396 ; Bruneti^re, Etudes Critiques, 36 s^rle, p. 2 ; Buckle, i-vol. ed. p. 338. FRANCE AND HOLLAND 183 that of Locke later in England. Boileau is named among those whom he so influenced.' But a merely external influence of this kind could not counteract the whole social and intellectual tendency towards a secular view of life, a tendency revealed on the one hand by the series of treatises from eminent churchmen, defending the faith against unpublished attacks, and on the other hand by the prevailing tone in belles lettres. Malherbe, the literary dictator of the first quarter of the century, had died in 1628 with the character of a scoffer ;- and the fashion now lasted till the latter half of the reign of Louis XIV. Two years after the burning of Vanini, a young man named Jean Fontanier had been burned alive on the Place de Greve at Paris, apparently for the doctrines laid down by him in a manuscript entitled Le Tresor Inestimable, written on deistic and anti-Catholic lines. ^ But the cases of the poet Theophile de Viau, who about 1623 suffered prosecution on a charge of impiety,^ and of his companions Berthelot and Colletet — who like him were condemned but set free by royal favour — appear to be the only others of the kind for over a generation. Frivolity of tone sufficed to ward off legal pursuit. It was in 1665, some years after the death of Mazarin, who had maintained Richelieu's policy of tolerance, that Claude Petit was burnt at Paris for "impious pieces ";5 and even then there was no general reversion to ortho- doxy, the upper-class tone remaining, as in the age of Richelieu and Mazarin, more or less unbelieving. When Corneille had introduced a touch of Christian zeal into his Polyeitcte (1643) he had given general offence to the dilettants of both sexes. ^ Moliere, again, the disciple ' Lanson, p. 397. - Perrens, pp. 84-85. 3 Cp. Perrens, pp. 68-69, ^.iid refs. ■* See Duvernet, Vie de Voltaire, ch. i, and note i ; and Perrens, pp. 74-80. 3 For all that is known of Petit see the Avertissement to Bibliophile ^BLcdh'^ ig, 1888. = Ec. Hist. 17 Cent. Sect, ii, Pt. ii, ch. i, § 14. GERMANY 265 freethinkers."' The son of a preacher, he yet "exhibited in his ninth year strong doubts as to the catechism." After a tolerably free life as a student he turned Pietist at Strasburg, lectured on astrology and palmistry, preached, and got into trouble with the police. In i6g8 he published under the pen-name of " Christianus Democritus" his book, Gestciiiptes Papstthiim der Protes- tirenden ("The Popery of the Protestantisers Whipped "), in which he so attacked the current Christian ethic of salvation as to exasperate both churches.'' The stress of his criticism fell firstly on the unthinking Scripturalism of the average Protestant, who, he said, while reproach- ing the Catholic with setting up in the crucifix a God of wood, was apt to make for himself a God of paper.^ In his repudiation of the "bargain" or "redemption" doctrine of the historic church he took up positions which were one day to become respectable ; but in his own life he was much of an Ishmaelite, with wild notions of alchemy and gold-making ; and after predicting that he should live till 1808, he died suddenly in 1734, leaving a doctrine which appealed only to those constitutionally inclined, on the lines of the earlier English Quakers, to set the inner light above Scripture.-* 7. Among the pupils of Thomasius at Halle was Theodore Louis Lau, who, born of an aristocratic family, became Minister of Finances to the Duke of Courland, and after leaving that post held a high place in the service of the Elector Palatine. While holding that office Lau published a small Latin volume of pensees entitled Meditationes TheologiccB-Physicce, notably deistic in tone. This gave rise to such an outcry among the clergy that he had to leave Frankfort, only, however, to be summoned before the consistory of Konigsberg, ' Hag-enbach, Kirchengeschichte des 18. nnd ig. Jahrh. 2te Aufl. i, 164. (This matter is not in the abridg-ed translation.) ^ See the furious account of him by Mosheim, 17 Cent. sec. ii, Pt. ii, ch. i, § 2,2,- 3 Id. p. 169. ■* Noack, Die Freidenker in der Religion, Th. iii, Kap. i; Bruno Bauer, Einfluss des englischen Oudkerthunis auf die deutsche Cultur und auf das englisch-russische Projekt einer Weltkirche, 1878, pp. 41-44. 266 MODERN EUROPEAN FREETHOUGHT his native town, and charged with atheism (17 19). He thereupon retired to Altona, where he had freedom enough to pubHsh a reply to his clerical persecutors.' 8. While Thomasius was still at work, a new force arose of a more distinctly academic cast. This was the adaptation of the Leibnitzian system made by Wolff, who first came into prominence by a rectorial address at Halle (1722) in which he warmly praised the ethics of Confucius. Such praise was naturally held to imply disparagement of Christianity ; and as a result of the pietist outcry Wolff was condemned by the king to exile from Prussia, under penalty of death, "" all "atheistical" writings being at the same time forbidden. Wolff's system, however, prevailed, though he refused to return on any invitation till the accession (1740) of Frederick the Great ; and his teaching, which for the first time popularised philosophy in the German language, in turn helped to promote the rationalistic temper,-"^ though orthodox enough from the modern point of view. Under the new reign, however, pietism and Wolffism alike lost prestige, •♦ and the age of anti-Christian and Christian rationalism began. 9. Even before the generation of active pressure from English and French deism there were clear signs that rationalism had taken root in German life. In the so-called Wertheim Bible (1735) Johann Lorenz Schmidt, in the spirit of the Leibnitz- Wolffian theology, " undertook to translate the Bible, and to explain it according to the principle that in revelation only that can be accepted as true which does not contradict the reason."^ To the same period belong the first activities of Johann Christian Edelmann (1698-1767), one of the most energetic freethinkers of his age. Trained philosophically at Jena under the theologian Budde, a ' Pref. to French trans, of the Meditationes, 1770, pp. xii-xvii. Lau died in 1740. - Hagenbach, trans, pp. 35-36 ; Saintes, p. 61. 3 Cairns, Unbelief in the Eighteenth Century, 1881, p. 173 ; Pusey pp. 115-119; PiJnjer, p. 529; Lechler, pp. 448-9. •t Hagenbach, pp. 37-39. s PUnjer, i, 544. GERMANY 267 bitter opponent of Wolff, and theologically in the school of the Pietists, he was strongly influenced against official orthodoxy through reading the "Impartial History of the Church and of Heretics," by Godfrey Arnold, an eminently anti-clerical work, which nearly always takes the side of the heretics.' In the same heterodox direction he was swayed by the works of Dippel, At this stage Edelmann produced his Unschuldige Wahrheiten ("Innocent Truths"), in which he takes up a pro- nouncedly rationalist and latitudinarian position, but without rejecting "revelation"; and in 1736 he went to Berleburg, where he worked on the Berleburg trans- lation of the Bible, a Pietist undertaking, somewhat on the lines of Dippel's mystical doctrine, in which a variety of incredible Scriptural narratives, from the six days* creation onwards, are turned to mystical purpose.- In this occupation Edelmann seems to have passed some years. Gradually, however, he came more and more under the influence of the English deists ; and he at length withdrew from the Pietist camp, attacking his former associates for the fanaticism into which their thought was degenerating. It was under the influence of Spinoza, however, that he took his most important steps. A few months after meeting with the Tractatus he began (1740) the first part of his treatise Moses mit aufgedecktem Angesichte (" Moses with unveiled face"), an attack at once on the doctrine of inspiration and on that of the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch. The book was intended to consist of twelve parts ; but after the appearance of three it was prohibited by the imperial fisc, and the published parts burned by the hangman at ' Unpartheyisclie Kirchen- unci KetzerhistoriL\ 1699-1700, 2 torn. fol. — fuller ed. 3 torn. fol. 1740. Compare Mosheim's angry account of it with Murdock's note in defence : Reid's ed. p. 804. Bruno Bauer describes it as epoch-making- {Einfiuss des englischen Oiicikerthums, p. 42). This history had a g^reat influence on Goethe in his teens, leading him, he says, to the conviction that he like so many other men should have a religion of his own, which he goes on to describe. It was a re-hash of Gnosticism. ( Wahrheit und Dichtung, B. viii : Werke, ed. 1866, xi, 344 sq.) - Cp. Hagenbach, Kirchengeschichte, i, 171 ; Piinjer, i, 279. 268 MODERN EUROPEAN FREETHOUGHT Hamburg and elsewhere. Nonetheless, Edelmann con- tinued his propaganda, publishing in 1741 or 1742 Die Gottlichkeit der Vernnnft (" The Divinity of Reason "), and in 1741 Christ and Belial. In 1749 or 1750 his works were again publicly burned at Frankfurt by order of the imperial authorities ; and he had much ado to find any- where in Germany safe harbourage, till he found protec- tion under Frederick at Berlin, where he died in 1767. Edelmann's teaching was essentially Spinozist and pantheistic,' with a leaning to the doctrine of metem- psychosis. As a pantheist he of course entirely rejected the divinity of Jesus, pronouncing inspiration the appanage of all ; and the Gospels were by him dismissed as late fabrications, from which the true teachings of the founder could not be learned ; though, like all the freethinkers of that age, he estimated Jesus highly. A German theologian complains, nevertheless, that he was " more just toward heathenism than toward Judaism ; and more just toward Judaism than toward Christianity"; adding: "What he taught had been thoroughly and ingeniously said in France and England ; but from a German theologian, and that with such eloquent coarseness, such mastery in expatiating in blasphemy, such things were unheard of."^ Even from decorous and official exponents of religion, however, there came " naturalistic " and semi-ration- alistic teaching, as in the Reflections on the most important truths of religion^' (1744) of J. F. W. Jerusalem, Abbot of Marienthal in Brunswick, and later of Riddagshausen (i 709-1 789). Though really written ' Noack, Th. iii, Kap. 2 ; Saintes, pp. 85-86 ; Piinjer, p. 442. ' Kahnis, cited by Bishop Hurst, Hist, of Rationalism, e.6.. 1867, p. 118; ed. 1901, pp. 138-9. A collection of extracts from Edelmann's works, entitled Der neii eriiffnete Edelmann, was published at Bern in 1847 ; and the Unschiddige Wahrheiten was reprinted in 1846. His Auto- biography, written in 1752, was published in 1849. 3 Betrachtungen iiber die vornehmsien Wahrlieiten der Religion. Another apologetic work of the period marked by rational moderation and tolerance was the Vertheidigten Glauben der Christen of A. W. F. Sack (1754). GERMANY 269 by way of defending Christianity against the free- thinkers, in particular against Bolingbroke and Voltaire/ the very title of the book is suggestive of a process of disintegration ; and in it certain unedifying Scriptural miracles are actually rejected.- It was probably this measure of adaptation to new needs that gave it its great popularity in Germany, and secured its translation into several other languages. Jerusalem was, however, at most a semi-rationalist, taking a view of the fundamental Christian dogmas which approached closely to that of Locke. 3 It was, as Goethe said later, the epoch of common sense ; and the very theologians tended to a " religion of nature. ""* 10. Alongside of home-made heresy there had come into play a new initiative force in the literature of English deism, which began to be translated after 1740,^ and was widely circulated till, in the last third of the century, it was superseded by the French. The English answers to the deists were frequently translated likewise, and notoriously helped to promote deism ^ — another proof that it was not their influence that had changed the balance of activity in England. Under a freethinking king, even clergymen began guardedly to accept the deistic methods ; and the optimism of Shaftesbury began to overlay the optimism of Leibnitz ;7 while a French scientific influence began with La Mettrie,^ Maupertuis, and Robinet. Even the Leibnitzian school, proceeding on the principle of immortal monads, ' Hagfenbach, KirchengeschicJite, i, 355. - Piinjer, i, 542. 3 Cp. Hagenbach, i, 353 ; trans, p. 120. Jerusalem was the father of the youth whose fate moved Goethe to write The Sorrows of Werther. He had considerable influence in purifying German style. Cp. Goethe, Wahrheit und Dichtung, Th. II, B. vii ; Werke, ed. 1866, xi, 272. * Id. pp. 268-9. 5 Lechler, Gesch. des englischen Deism us, pp. 447-452. The transla- tions began with that of Tindal (1741), which made a great sensation. ^ Pusey, pp. 125, 127, citing Twesten ; Gostwick, German Culture and Christianity, p. 36, citing Ernesti. Thorschmid's Freidenker Bihliothek, issued in 1765-67, collected both translations and refutations. Lechler, p. 451. 7 Lange, Gesch. des Mater ialismus, i, 405 (Eng. trans, ii, 146-7). 8 Lange, i, 347, 399 (Eng. trans, ii, 76, 137). 2-jo MODERN EUROPEAN FREETHOUGHT developed a doctrine of the immortality of the souls of animals' — a position not helpful to orthodoxy. There was thus a general stirring of doubt among educated people, "" and we find mention in Goethe's Autobiography of an old gentleman of Frankfort who avowed, as against the optimists, " Even in God I find defects {Fehlery^ On the other hand, there were instances in Germany of the phenomenon, already seen in England in Newton and Boyle, of men of science devoting themselves to the defence of the faith. The most notable cases were those of the mathematician Euler and the biologist von Haller. The latter wrote Letters (to his Daughter) On the Truth of the Christian Religion (1772)'* and other apologetic works. Euler in 1747 published at Berlin, where he was professor, his Defence of Revelation against the Reproaches of Freethinkers ;^ and in 1769 his Letters to a German Princess, of which the argu- ment notably coincides with part of that of Berkeley against the freethinking mathematicians. Haller's posi- tion comes to the same thing. All three men, in fact, grasped at the argument of despair — the inadequacy of the human faculties to sound the mystery of things ; and all alike were entirely unable to see that it logically cancelled their own judgments. Even a theologian, contemplating Haller's theorem of an in- comprehensible omnipotence countered in its merciful plan of salvation by the set of worms it sought to save, comments on the childishness of the philosophy which confidently described the plans of deity in terms of what it declared to be the blank ignorance of the worms in question. *" Euler and von Haller, like some later men of ' Lange, i, 396-7 (ii, 134-5). ^ Goethe tells of having seen in his boyhood, at Frankfurt, an irre- ligious French romance publicly burned, and of having his interest in the book thereby awakened. But this seems to have been during the French occupation. {Wahrheii und Dichtiing, B. iv ; Werke, xi, 146.) 3 Id. B. iv, end. * Translated into English as Letters against the Freethinkers. 5 Rettung der Offenbarung gegen die EinwUrfe der Freigeister. ^ Baur, Gesch. der christl. Kirche, iv, 599. GERMANY 271 science, kept their scientific method for the mechanical or physical problems of their scientific work, and brought to the deepest problems of all the self-will, the emotionalism, and the irresponsibility of the ignorant average man. Each did but express in his own way the resentment of the undisciplined mind at attacks upon its prejudices ; and Haller's resort to poetry as a vehicle for his religion gives the measure of his powers on that side. Thus in Germany as in England the " answer " to the freethinkers was a failure. Men of science play- ing at theology and theologians playing at science alike failed to turn the tide of opinion, now socially favoured by the known deism of the king. German orthodoxy, says a recent Christian apologist, fell " with a rapidity reminding one of the capture of Jericho."' Goethe, writing of the general attitude to Christianity about 1768, sums up that "the Christian religion wavered between its own historic-positive base and a pure deism, which, grounded on morality, was in turn to re-establish ethics. "= Frederick's attitude, said an early Kantian, had had "an ahnost magical influence " on popular opinion (Willich, Elements of the Critical Philosophy, 1798, p. 2). With this his French teachers must have had much to do. Mr. Morley pronounces (^Voltaire, 4th ed. p. 123) that French deism " never made any impression on Germany," and that " the teaching of Leibnitz and Wolff" stood like a fortified wall against the French invasion." This is contradicted by much German testimony ; in particular by Lange's (Gesch. des Mater, i, 318), though he notes that French materialism could not get the upper hand. Baur, even in speaking disparagingly of the French as com- pared with the English influence, admits {Lehi-biich der Dogmengeschichte , 2te Aufl. p. 347) that the former told upon Germany. Cp. Tennemann, Bohn. trans, pp. 385, 38S. Hagenhach shows great ignorance of English deism, but he must have known something of German ; and he writes (trans, p. 57) that " the imported deism soon swept through the rifts of the church and gained supreme control of literature." Cp. pp. 67-8. And see Professor Croom Robertson's Hohhes, pp. 225-6, as to the persistence of a succession of Hobbes and ' Gostwick, p. 15. - Wahrheit iind Dichtung, B. viii : Werke, xi, 329. 272 MODERN EUROPEAN FREETHOUGHT Locke in Germany in the teeth of the Wolffian school. It is further noteworthy that Brucker's copious Historia Critica Philosophies (1742-44), which as a mere learned record has great merit, and was long- the standard authority in Germany, gives great praise to Locke and little space to Wolff. (See Enfield's abstract, pp. 614, 619 sq.) The Wolffian philosophy, too, had been rejected and disparaged by both Herder and Kant — who were alike deeply influenced by Rousseau — in the third quarter of the century ; and was generally discredited, save in the schools, when Kant produced the Critique of Pure Reason. See below, pp. 293, 302. II. Frederick, though a Voltairean freethinker from his youth, showed himself at first disposed to act on the old maxim that freethought is bad for the common people. In 1743-4 he caused to be suppressed two German treatises by one Gebhardt, attacking the Biblical miracles ; and in 1748 he sent a young man named Riidiger to Spandau for six months' confinement for printing an anti-Christian work by one Dr. Pott.' But as he grew more confident in his own methods he extended to men of his own way of thinking the tolera- tion he allowed to all religionists, save insofar as he vetoed the mutual vituperation of the sects, and such proselytising as tended to create strife. With an even hand he protected Catholics, Greek Christians, and Unitarians, letting them have churches where they would •,'^ and when, after the battle of Striegau, a body of Protestant peasantry asked his permission to slay all the Catholics they could find, he answered with the Gospel precept, "Love your enemies."^ Beyond the toleration of all forms of religion, however, he never went ; and he himself, chiefly by way of French verses, added to the literature of deism. Bayle was his favourite study ; and as the then crude German literature had no attraction for him, he drew to his court many distin- guished Frenchmen, including La Mettrie, Maupertuis, D'Alembert, D'Argens, and above all Voltaire, between ' Schlosser, Hist, of the Eighteenth Century, Eng. trans. 1843, i, 150; Hagenbach, trans, p. 66. ^ Hag-enbach, trans, p. 63. 3 Id., Kirchengeschichte, i, 232. GERMANY 273 whom and him there was an incurable incompatibiHty of temper and character, which left them admiring without respecting each other, and unable to abstain from mutual vituperation. Under Frederick's vigorous rule all speech was free save such as he considered personally offensive, as Voltaire's attack on Maupertuis ; and after a stormy reign he could say, when asked by Prince William of Brunswick whether he did not think religion one of the best supports of a king's authority, " I find order and the laws sufficient Depend upon it, countries have been admirably governed when your religion had no existence."' As the first modern freethinking- king-, Frederick is some- thing of a test case. Son of a man of narrow mind and odious character, he was himseU" no admirable type, being- neither benevolent nor considerate, neither truthful nor generous ; and in international politics he plaj-ed the old game of unscrupulous aggression. Yet he was not only the most competent, but, as regards home administration, the most conscientious king of his time. To find a rival we must go back to the pagan Antonines and Julian, or at least to St. Louis of France, who, however, was rather worsened than bettered by his creed (cp. the argument of Faure, Hist, de Saint Louis, 1866, i, 242-3 ; ii. 597)- The effect of Frederick's training is seen in his final attitude to the advanced criticism of the school of d'Holbach, which assailed governments and creeds with the same unsparing severity of logic and moral reprobation. Stung by the uncom- promising attack, Frederick retorts by attacking the rashness which would plunge nations into civil strife because kings miscarry where no human wisdom could avoid miscarriage. He who had wantonly plunged all Germany into a hell of war for his sole ambition, bringing myriads to misery, thousands to violent death, and hundreds of his own soldiers to suicide, could be virtuously indignant at the irresponsible audacity of writers who indicted the whole existing system for its imbecility and injustice. But he did reason on the criticism ; he did ponder it ; he did feel bound to meet argument with argument ; and he gave his arguments to the world. The advance on previous regal practice is enormous : the whole problem of ' Thii^bault, Mes Souvenirs de Vingt Ans de Sdjour a Berlin, 1S04, i, 77-79. See ii, 78-80, as to the baselessness of the stories {e.g., Pusey, Histor. Inquiry into German Rationalism, p. 123) that Frederick chang-ed his views in old age. VOL. II J 274 MODERN EUROPEAN FREETHOUGHT politics is at once brought to the test of judgment and per- suasion. Beside the Christian Georges and the Louis's of his century, and beside his Cliristian father, liis superiority in judg- ment and even in character is signal. Such was the great deist king of the deist age ; a deist of the least religious temper and of no very fine moral material to begin with. The one contemporar}- monarch who in any way compares with him in enlightenment, Joseph II of Austria, belonged to the same school. The main charge against Frederick as a ruler is that he did not act up to the ideals of the school of Voltaire. In reply to the demand of the French deists for an abolition of all superstitious teaching, he observed that among the 16,000,000 inhabitants of France at most 200,000 were capable of philosophic views, and that the remaining 15,800,000 were held to their opinions by "insurmountable obstacles." Such an answer meant that he had no idea of so spreading instruction that all men should have a chance of reaching rational beliefs. {Examen de VEssai surles prepiges, 1769. See the passage in Levy-Bruhl, L^AUemagne depicts Leibniz, p. 89.) This attitude was his inheritance from the past. Yet it was under him that Germany began to figure as a first-rate culture force in Europe. 12. The most systematic propaganda of the new ideas was that carried on in the periodical published by F. NicoLAi under the title of The General German Library (founded 1765), which began with fifty contri- butors, and at the height of its power had a hundred and thirty, among them being Lessing, Eberhard, and Moses Mendelssohn. To Nicolai is fully due the genial tribute paid to him by Heine,' were it only for the national service of his "Library." Its many transla- tions from the English and French freethinkers, older and newer, concurred with native work to spread a deistic rationalism, now known as Aitfklaruug, or enlightenment, through the whole middle class of Germany. "^ Native writers in independent works added to the propaganda. Andreas Riem (1749-1807), a Berlin preacher, appointed by Frederick a hospital i ' Zttr Gesch. der Relig. und Philos. in Deufschland — Werke, ed. 1876, ill, 63-64. Goethe's blame (IF. loid D., B. vii) is passed on purely literary grounds. - Hag-enbach, trans, pp. 103-4; Cairns, p. 177. GERMANY 275 chaplain/ wrote anonymously against priestcraft as no other priest had yet done. "No class of men," he declared, " has ever been so pernicious to the world as the priesthood. There were laws at all times against murderers and bandits, but not against the assassin in the priestly garb. War was repelled by war, and it came to an end. The war of the priesthood against reason has lasted for thousands of years, and it still goes on without ceasing."^ Georg Schade (1712-1795), who appears to have been one of the believers in the immortality of animals, and who in 1770 was imprisoned for his opinions in the island of Christiansoe, was no less emphatic, declaring, in a work on Natural Religion on the lines of Tindal (1760), that "all who assert a supernatural religion are godless impostors."^ Con- structive work of great importance, again, was done by J. B. Basedow (1723-1790), who early became an active deist, but distinguished himself chiefly as an educational reformer, on the inspiration of Rousseau's Emile,'' setting up a system which "tore education away from the Christian basis, "^ and becoming in virtue of that one of the most popular writers of his day. It is latterly admitted even by orthodoxy that school educa- tion in Germany had in the seventeenth century become a matter of learning by rote, and that such reforms as had been set up in some of the schools of the Pietists had in Basedow's day come to nothing.^ As Basedow was the first to set up vigorous reforms, it is not too much to call him an instaurator of rational education, whose chief fault was to be too far ahead of his age. This, rather than any personal defect, was the cause of the failure of his " Philanthropic Institute," established in 1771, on the invitation of the Prince of Dessau, to ' This post he left to become secretary of the Academy of Painting-. ^ Cited bv Piinjer, i, 545-6. 3 Id. p. 546. •» Hag-enbach, trans, pp. 100-3 ; Saintes, pp. 91-92 ; Piinjer, p. 536 ; Noack, Th. iii, Kap. 7. 5 Hagenbach, Kirchengeschichte, i, 298, 351. ^ Id. i, 294 sq. 276 MODERN EUROPEAN FREETHOUGHT carry out his educational ideals. Quite a number of other institutions, similarly planned, after his lead, by men of the same way of thinking, as Canope and Salzmann, in the same period, had no better success. Goethe, who was clearly much impressed by Basedow, and travelled with him, draws a somewhat antagonistic picture of him on retrospect ( Wahrheit unci Dichtung, B. xiv). He accuses him in particular of always obtruding' his anti-orthodox opinions ; not choosing to admit that religious opinions were being constantly obtruded on Basedow. Praising Lavater for his more amiable nature, Goethe reveals that Lavater was constantly obtruding his orthodoxy. Goethe, in fine, was always lenient to pietism, in which he had been brought up, and to which he was wont to make sentimental concessions. Hagenbach notes (i, 298, note), without any deprecation, that after Basedow had published in 1763-4 his Philalethie, a perfectly serious treatise on natural as against revealed religion, one of the many orthodox answers, that by Pastor Goeze, so inflamed against him the people of his native town of Hamburg that he could not show himself there without danger. And this is the man accused of " obtruding his views." Baur is driven, by way of disparagement of Basedow and his school, to censure their self-confidence — precisely the quality which, in religious teachers with whom he agreed, he as a theologian would treat as a mark of superiority. Baur's attack on the moral utili- tarianism of the school is still less worthy of him. {Gesch. der christlichen Ktrche, iv, 595-6.) Yet another influential deist was Johann August Eberhard ( 1 739-1809), for a time a preacher at Charlottenburg, but driven out of the church for the heresy of his New Apology of Sokrates ; or the Final Salvation of the Heathen (1772). The work in effect placed Sokrates on a level with Jesus,' which was blasphemy.- But the outcry attracted the attention of Frederick, who made Eberhard a Professor of Philo- sophy at Halle, where, later, he opposed the idealism of both Kant and Fichte. Substantially of the same school was the less pronouncedly deistic cleric Stein- BART,3 author of a utilitarian System of Pure Pliilosophy, ' Hag-enbach, trans, p. 109. - Eberhard, however, is respectfully treated by Lessing in his dis- cussion on Leibnitz's view as to eternal punishment. 3 Noack, Th. iii, Kap. 8. GERMANY 277 or Christian doctrine of Happiness^ now forgotten, who had been variously influenced by Locke and Voltaire.' Among the less heterodox but still rationalising clergy of the period were J. J. Spalding, author of a work on The Utility of the Preacher's Office^ a man of the type labelled "Moderate" in the Scotland of the same period, and as such antipathetic to emotional pietists ;- and Zollikofer, of the same school — both inferribly influenced by the deism of their day. Considerably more of a rationalist than these was the clergyman W. A. Teller (i 734-1804), author of a New Testament Lexicon, who reached a position virtually deistic, and intimated to the Jews of Berlin that he would receive them into his church on their making a deistic profession of faith. 3 13. If it be true that even the rationalising defenders of Christianity led men on the whole towards deism,"* much more must this hold true of the new school who applied rationalistic methods to religious questions in their capacity as theologians. Of this school the founder was Johann Salomo Semler (1725-1791), who, trained as a Pietist at Halle, early thought himself into a more critical attitude, ^ albeit remaining a theo- logical teacher. As early as 1750, in a Treatise on the Canon of Scripture, he set forth the view, developed a century later by Baur, that the early Christian Church contained a Pauline and a Petrine party, mutually hostile. The merit of his research won him a professor- ship at Halle ; and this position he held till his death, despite such heresy as his rejection from the canon of the books of Ruth, Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah, the Song ' Saintes, pp. 92-3. ^ Cp. Hagenbach, Kirchengeschichte, i, 348, 363. 3 Id. i, 367; trans, pp. 124-5; Saintes, p. 94. Pusey (150-1, note) speaks of Teller and Spaldingf as belonging, with Nicolai, Mendelssohn, and others, to a " secret institute, whose object was to remodel religion and alter the form of government." This seems to be a fantasy. * So Steffens, cited by Hagenbach, trans, p. 124. s See Pusey, 140-1, >iote, for Semler's account of the rigid and un- reasoning orthodoxy against which he reacted. (Citing Semler's Auto- biography, Th. ii, pp. i2i-i6i.) 278 MODERN EUROPEAN FREETHOUGHT of Solomon, the two books of Chronicles, and the Apocalypse, in \{\sFreie Untersiichung des Canons (1771) — a work apparently inspired by the earlier performance of Richard Simon.' His intellectual life was a long advance, always in the direction of a more rationalistic comprehension of religious history ; and he reached, for his day, a remarkably critical view of the mythical element in the Old Testament. "" Thus he recognised the mythical character of the story of Samson, and was at least on the way towards a scientific handling of the New Testament.3 But in his period and environment a systematic rationalism was impossible; and his powers were expended in an immense number of works, ^ which failed to yield any orderly system, while setting up a great general stimulus. In his latter days he strongly opposed and condemned the more radical rationalism of his pupil Bahrdt, and of the posthumous work of Reimarus ; but his own influence in promoting rationalism is obvious and unquestioned, ^ and he is rightly to be reckoned the main founder of " German rationalism" — that is, academic rationalism on theo- logical lines. 14. Much more notorious than any other German deist of his time was Carl Friedrich Bahrdt (1741- 1792), a kind of Teutonic Voltaire, and the most popularly influential German freethinker of his age. In all he is said to have published a hundred and twenty-six books and tracts,^ thus approximating to Voltaire in quantity if not in quality. Theological hatred has so pursued him that it is hard to form a fair opinion as to his character ; but the record runs that he led a somewhat Bohemian and disorderly life, though a very industrious one. While a preacher in Leipzig in 1768 he first got into trouble — " persecution," by his own ' Cp. Saintes, pp. 1 29-131. ' Cp. Gostwick, p. 51 ; Piinjer, i, 561. 3 Cp. Saintes, p. 132 sq. ■t A hundred and seventy-four in all. Piinjer, i, 560. 5 Pusey, p. 142 ; A. S. Farrar, Crit. Hist, of Freethought, p. 313. * Gostwick, p. 53 ; Piinjer, i, 546, note. GERMANY 279 account; "disgrace for licentious conduct," by that of his enemies. That there was no serious disgrace is suggested by the fact that he was appointed Professor of Biblical Antiquities at Erfurt ; and soon afterwards, on the recommendation of Semler and Ernesti, at Giessen (1771). While holding that post he published his translation of the New Testament, done from the point of view of belief in revelation, following it up by his Ne'w Revelations of God in Letters and Tales (1773), which aroused Protestant hostility. After teach- ing for a time in a new Swiss " Philanthropin " — an educational institution on Basedow's lines — he obtained a post as a district ecclesiastical superintendent in Tiirkheim ; whereafter he was enabled to set up a " Philanthropin " of his own in the castle of Heiden- heim, near Worms. The second edition of his transla- tion of the New Testament, however, aroused Catholic hostility in the district ; the edition was confiscated, and he found it prudent to make a tour in Holland and England, only to receive, on his return, a missive from the imperial consistory declaring him disabled for any spiritual office in the Holy German Empire. Seeking refuge in Halle, he found Semler grown hostile ; but made the acquaintance of Eberhard, with the result of abandoning the remains of his orthodox faith. Hence- forth he regarded Jesus, albeit with admiration, as simply a great teacher, like Moses, Confucius, Sokrates, Semler, Luther ; and to this view he gave effect in the third edition of his New Testament translation, which was followed in 1782 by his Letters on the Bible in Popular Style {Volkston). More and more fiercely antagonised, he duly retaliated on the clergy in his Church and Heretic Almanack (1781) ; and after for a time keeping a tavern, ended not very happily his troublous life in Halle in 1792. The weakest part of Bahrdt's performance is now seen to be his application of the empirical method of the early rationalists, who were wont to take every Biblical prodigy as a merely perverted account of an incident 28o MODERN EUROPEAN FREETHOUGHT which certainly happened. That method — which is not yet discarded by rationalising theologians — is reduced to open absurdity in his hands, as when he makes Moses employ fireworks on Mount Sinai, and Jesus feed the five thousand by stratagem, without miracle. But it was not by such extravagances that he won and kept a hearing throughout his life. It is easy to see on retrospect that the source of his influence lay above all things in his healthy ethic, his own mode of progres- sion being by way of simple common sense and natural feeling, not of critical research. His first step in rationalism was to ask himself " how Three Persons could be One God" — this while believing devoutly in revelation, miracles, the divinity of Jesus, and the Atonement. Under the influence of a naturalist travelling in his district, he gave up the orthodox doctrine of the Atonement, feeling himself "as if new- born " in being freed of what he had learned to see as a " pernicious and damnable error."' It was for such writing that he was hated and persecuted, despite his habitual eulogy of Christ as " the greatest and most venerable of mortals." His offence was not against morals, but against theology. Bahrdt's real power may be inferred from the fury of some of his opponents. "The wretched Bahrdt " is Dr. Pusey's Christian account of him. The American translators of Hagen- bach, Messrs. Gage and Stuckenberg, have thought fit to insert in their chapter-heading the phrase " Bahrdt, the Theodore Parker of Germany." As Hagenbach has spoken of Bahrdt with special contempt, the intention can be appreciated ; but the intended insult may now serve as a certificate of merit to Bahrdt. Bishop Hurst solemnly affirms that "What Jeffreys is to the judicial history of England, Bahrdt is to the religious history of German Protestantism. Whatever he touched was disgraced by the vileness of his heart and the Satanic daring of his mind " {History of Rationalism, ed. 1867, p. 119; ed. 1901, p. 139). This concerning doctrines of an invariable moral soundness, which to-day would be almost universally received with approbation. Piinjer, who cannot at any point indict the doctrines, falls back on the professional ' Geschichte seines Lehens. GERMANY 281 device of classing them with the "platitudes" of the Atif- klaruiiif; and, finding this insufficient to convey a disparaging impression to the general reader, intimates that Bahrdt, con- necting ethic with rational sanitation, "does not shrink from the coarseness of laying down " a rule for bodily health, wliich Piinjer does not shrink from quoting (pp. 549-50). Finally Bahrdt is dismissed as " the theological public-house-keeper of Halle." So hard is it for men clerically trained to attain to a manly rectitude in their criticism of anti-clericals. Bahrdt was a great admirer of the Gospel Jesus ; so Cairns (p. 178) takes a lenient view of his life. On that and his doctrine cp. Hagen- bach, pp. 107-110; Piinjer, i, 546-550; Noack, Th. iii, Kap. 5. Goethe satirised him in a youthful Prolog, but speaks of him not unkindly in the IVahrheit und Dichtting. 15. Alongside of these propagators of popular ration- alism stood a group of companion deists usually- considered together — Lessing, Hermann Samuel Reimarus, and Moses Mendelssohn. The last- named, a Jew, " lived entirely in the sphere of deism and of natural religion,"' and sought, like the deists in general, to give religion an ethical structure ; but he was popular chiefly as a constructive theist and a defender of the doctrine of immortality on non-Christian lines. His Phcedoii (1767), setting forth that view, had a great vogue. "" One of his more notable teachings was an earnest declaration against any connection between Church and State ; but like Locke and Rousseau he so far sank below his own ideals as to agree in arguing for a State enforcement of a profession of belief in a God^ — a negation of his own plea. With much contemporary popularity, he had no permanent influence ; and he seems to have been finally broken-hearted by Jacobi's disclosure of the pantheism of Lessing. See the monograph of Rabbi Schreiber, of Bonn, Moses Mendelssohn'' s Verdienste um die deutsche Nation (Zurich, 1880), pp. 41-42. The strongest claim made for Mendelssohn by ' Baur, Gesch. der chr. Kirche, iv, 597. - Translated into English in 17S9. 3 'is\enA&\%<,o\-\\\, Jerusalem, Abschn. I — Werke, 1838, p. 239 (Eng. trans. 1S38, pp. 50-51); Rousseau, Conirat Social, liv. iv, ch. viii, near end ; Locke, as cited above, p. 117. Cp. Bartholm^ss, Hist. crit. des doctr. relig. de la pliilos. moderne, 1855, i, 145 ; Baur, as last cited. 282 MODERN EUROPEAN FREETHOUGHT Rabbi Schreiber is that he, a Jew, was much more of a German patriot tiian Goethe, Schiller, or Lessing. Heine, however, pro- nounces that "As Luther against the Papacy, so Mendelssohn rebelled against tlie Talmud " {Zur Gesch. der Relig. und Philos. hi DetitschJand : Werke, ed. 1876. iii, 65). Lessing, on the other hand, is one of the outstanding figures in the history of Biblical criticism, as well as of German literature in general. The son of a Lutheran pastor, Lessing became in a considerable measure a rationalist, while constantly resenting, as did Goethe, the treatment of religion in the fashion in which he himself treated non-religious opinions with which he did not agree.' It is clear that already in his student days he had become an unbeliever, and that it was on this as well as other grounds that he refused to become a clergyman. "" Nor was he unready to jeer at the bigots when they chanced to hate where he was sym pathetic. ^ But when the rationalism of the day seriously or other- wise assailed the creed of his parents, whom he loved and honoured, sympathy in his case as in Goethe's always predetermined his attitude ; and it is not untruly said of him that he " did prefer the orthodox to the heterodox party, like Gibbon, "-^ inasmuch as "the balance of learning which attracted his esteem was [then] on that side." We thus find him rather nervously rejecting alike the popular freethought,^ represented by ' See his Werke, ed. 1866, v, 317 — Aus dcm B?-iefe,die neiieste Literatur betreffeJid, 49ter Brief. - If Lessing's life were sketched in the spirit in which orthodoxy has handled that of Bahrdt, it could be made unedif^ing- enough. Even Goethe remarks that Lessing' " enjoyed himself in a disorderly tavern life" (Wahrheit mid Dichtung, B. vii) ; and all that Hagenbach mali- ciously charges against Basedow in the way of irregularity of study is true of him. 0\\ that and other points, usually g-losed over, see the sketch in Taylor's Historic Survey of German Poetry, 1830, i, 332-7. All the while, Lessing is an essentially sound-hearted and estimable per- sonality ; and he would probably have been the last man to echo the tone of the orthodox towards the personal life of the freethinkers who went further than he. 3 E.g. his fable The Bull and the Calf {Fabeln, ii, 5), apropos of the clergy and Bayle. •* Taylor, as cited, p. 361. 5 See his rather crude comedy, Der Freigeist, and Sime's Life ofLessitigy i, 41-2. GERMANY ■ 283 his friend Mylius,' and the attempts of the rationalising clergy to put religion on a common-sense basis. For himself, he framed (or perhaps adopted)- a theory of the Education of the Human Race (1780), which has served the semi-rationalistic clergy of our own day in good stead ; and adapted Rousseau's catching doctrine that the true test of religion lies in feeling and not in argu- ment. ^ Neither doctrine has a whit more philosophical value than the other " popular philosophy " of the time, and neither was fitted to have much immediate influence; but both pointed a way to the more philosophic apolo- gists of religion, while baulking the orthodox.^ " Chris- tianity " he made out to be a "universal principle," independent of its pseudo-historical setting ; thus giving to the totality of the admittedly false tradition the credit of an ethic which in the terms of the case is simply human, and in all essentials demonstrably pre-Christian. Lessing, in short, bore himself from first to last as the son of a pastor, always finding for the errors of his own people defences of a kind which he would never have tolerated in a discussion on any other issue. Nonethe- less, he must be credited with some measure of science, and a large measure of courage, for going so far as he did. As the orthodox historian of rationalism has it, " Though he did not array himself as a champion of rationalism, he proved himself one of the strongest pro- moters of its reign. "5 It was by him that there were published the " Anony- mous Fragments" known as the " Wolfenblittel Frag- ments " (1774-1778), wherein the methods of the English and French deists are applied with a new severity to ' Mylius for a short time ran in Leipzig a journal called the Freethinker. - As to the authorship, see Saintes, pp. 101-2 ; and Sime's Life of Lessing, i, 261-2, where the counter-claim is rejected. 3 Ziir Geschichfe und Literatur, aus dem 4ten Beitr. — Werhe, vi, 142 sq. See also in his Theologische Streitschriften the Axiomata written against Pastor Goeze. Cp. Schwarz, Lessing als Theologe, pp. 146, 151 ; and Pusey, as cited, p. 51, note. t Compare the regrets of Pusey (pp. 51, 155), Cairns (p. 195), Hagen- bach (pp. 89-97), ''•"'^ Saintes (p. 100). 5 Hurst, History of Rationalism, 3rd ed. p. 130. 284 MODERN EUROPEAN FREETHOUGHT both the Old and the New Testament narratives. It is now put beyond doubt that they were the work of Reimarus/ who had in 1755 published a defence of " Natural Religion " — that is, of the theory of a Provi- dence — against La Mettrie, Maupertuis, and older materialists, which had a great success in its day."* At his death, accordingly, Reimarus ranked as an admired defender of theism and of the belief in immor- tality.'' He was the son-in-law of the famous scholar Fabricius, and was for many years Professor of Oriental Languages in the Hamburg Academy. The famous research which preserves his memory was begun by him at the age of fifty, for his own satisfaction, and was elaborated by him during twenty years, while he silently endured the regimen of the intolerant Lutheranism of his day.* As he left the book, it was a complete treatise, entitled An Apology for the Rational Worshipper of God; but the friends to whom he left the MS., of whom Lessing was the accepted representative, ventured only to publish certain " Fragments "^ dealing with the prob- lems of the gospel history and of revelation in general. These, however, constituted the most serious attack yet made in Germany on the current creed, though its theory of the true manner of the gospel history of course smacks of the pre-scientific period. A generation later, how- ever, they were still " the radical book of the anti- supernaturalists " in Germany.^ The method is, to accept as real occurrences all the non- ' Stahr, Lessiiig, sein Leben und seine Werke, yte Aufl. ii, 243. Lessingf said the report to this effect was a lie ; but this and other mystifications appear to have been by way of fulfilling; his promise of secresy to the Reimarus family. Cairns, pp. 203, 209. Cp. Farrar, Crit. Hist, of Free- thought, note 29. - See it analysed by Bartholm^ss, Hist. crit. des doctr. relig. dc la philos. nioderne, i, 147-167. 3 Gostwick, p. 47 ; Bartholm^ss, i, 166. His book was translated into Eng-lish (The Principal Truths of Natural Religion Defended and Illus- trated) in 1766; into Dutch in 1758; in part into French in 1768; and seven editions of the original had appeared by 1798. '' Stahr, ii, 241-4. 5 These were republished separately with the title Von de^n Zivecke Jesus und seiner Jiinger, Braunschweig", 1778. ^ W. Taylor, Historic Survey of German Poetry, 1830, i, 365. GERMANY *-°3 miraculous episodes, and to explain them by a general theory. Thus the appointment of tlie seventy apostles — a palpable myth — is taken as a fact, and explained as part of a scheme by Jesus to obtain temporal power ; and the scourging of the money-changers from the Temple, improbable enough as it stands, is made still more so by supposing it to be part of a scheme of insurrection. See the sketch in Cairns, p. 197 sq., which indicates the portions of the treatise produced later by Strauss. Cp. Piinjer, i, 550-7 ; Noack, Th. iii, Kap. 4. It is but fair to say that Reimarus' fallacy of method has not yet disappeared from criticism. Though Lessing- professed to combat the positions of the Fragments, he was led into a fiery controversy over them, and the series was finally stopped by authority. There can now be no doubt that Lessing at heart agreed with Reimarus on most points of negative criticism/ while reaching a different emotional estimate and attitude. Thereafter, as a final check to his opponents, he produced his famous drama Nathan the Wise, which embodies Boccaccio's story of The Three Rings, and has ever since served as a popular lesson of tolerance in Germany.- In the end, he seems to have become to some extent a pantheist ;^ but he never expounded any coherent and comprehensive set of opinions, preferring, as he put it in an oft-quoted sentence, the state of search for truth to any consciousness of possessing it, 16. Deism was now as prevalent in educated Germany as in France or England ; and, according to a contem- porary preacher, " Berliner" was about 1777 a synonym for " rationalist."-* Wieland, one of the foremost ' Stahr, ii, 254. - Cp. Introd. to Willis's trans, oi Nathan. 3 See Cairns, Apperidix, Note I, and Willis, Spinoza, pp. 149-162, giving- the testimony of Jacobi. Cp. Piinjer, i, 564-585. But Heine laughingly adjures IMoses Mendelssohn, who grieved so intensely over Lessing's Spinozism, to rest quiet in his grave : " Thy Lessing was indeed on the way to that terrible error but the Highest, the Father in Heaven, saved him in time by death. He died a good deist, like thee and Nicolai and Teller and the Universal German Library " (Zur Gesch. der Rel. und Philos. in Deutschland, B. ii, near exxA.— Werke, ed. 1876, iii, 69). ■» Cited by Hurst, Hist, of Rationalism, 3rd ed. p. 125. Outside Berlin, however, matters went otherwise till late in the century. Kurz tells {Gesch. der deutschen Literatur, ii, 461 6) that "the indifference of the 286 MODERN EUROPEAN FREETHOUGHT German men of letters of his time, is known to have been a deist of the school of Shaftesbury ;' and in the leading journal of the day he wrote on the free use of reason in matters of faith.-' Some acts of persecution by the church show how far the movement had gone. In 1774 we find a Catholic professor at Mayence, Lorenzo Isenbiehl, deposed and sent back to the seminary for two years on the score of " deficient theological know- ledge," because he argued that the text Isaiah vii, 14 applied not to the mother of Jesus but to a contemporary of the prophet ; and when, four years later, he published a book on the same thesis, in Latin, he was imprisoned. Three years later still, a young Jesuit of Salzburg, named Steinbuhler, was actually condemned to death for writing some satires on Roman Catholic ceremonies, and, though afterwards pardoned, died of the ill-usage he had under- gone in prison. 3 The spirit of rationalism, however, was now so prevalent that it began to dominate the work of the more intelligent theologians, to whose consequent attempts to strain out by the most dubious means the supernatural elements from the Bible narratives^ the name of " rationalism " came to be specially applied, that being the kind of criticism naturally most discussed among the clergy. Taking rise broadly in the work of Semler, reinforced by that of the English and French deists and that of Reimarus, the method led stage by stage to the scientific performance of Strauss and Baur, and the recent " higher criticism " of the Old and New Testaments. Noteworthy at its outset as exhibiting the learned towards nativ'e literature was so great that even in the year 1761 Abbt could write that in Rinteln there was nobody who knew the names of Moses Mendelssohn and Lessing." ' Karl Hillebrand, Six Lectures on the History of Germati Thought, 1880, p. 109. - Deutsche Merkur, January and March, 1788 ( Werke, ed. 1797, vol. xxix, pp. 1-144 : cited by Staudlin, Gesch. der Rationalis7nus und Supernatui-alis?Hus, 1826, p. 233). 3 Kurtz, Hist, of the Chr. Church, Engf. trans. 1864, ii, 224. •• The method had been broached in the modern period in the Evan- geliuin medici of Connor. See above, p. 124. But see also vol. i, p. 368, as to its earlier employment by Pomponazzi. GERMANY 287 tendency of official believers to make men, in the words of Lessing, irrational philosophers by way of making them rational Christians/ this order of " rationalism " in its intermediate stages belongs rather to the history of Biblical scholarship than to that of freethought, since more radical work was being done by unprofessional writers outside, and deeper problems were raised by the new systems of philosophy. Within the Lutheran pale, however, there were some hardy thinkers. A striking figure of the time, in respect of his courage and thoroughness, is the Lutheran pastor Schulz," who so strongly combated the compromises of the Semler school in regard to the Pentateuch, and argued so plainly for a severance of morals from religion, as to bring about his own dismissal (i792).3 This appears to have been the only juridical result of the orthodox edict (1788) of the new king, Frederick William, the brother of Frederick, who succeeded in 1786. It announced him as the champion of religion and the enemy of freethinking ; forbade all prosely- tising, and menaced with penalties all forms of heresy,"* while professing to maintain freedom of conscience. The edict seems to have been specially provoked by fresh literature of a pronouncedly freethinking stamp. In 1785 appeared the anonymous Moroccan Letters,^ wherein, after the model of the Persian Letters and others, the life and creeds of Germany are handled in a quite Voltairean fashion. The writer is evidently familiar with French and English deistic literature, and draws freely on both, making no pretence of systematic treatment. Such writing, quietly turning a disenchant- ing light of common sense on Scriptural incredibilities ' Letter to his brother, February 2nd, 1774. ^ Known as Zopf-Schulz from his wearing a pigftail in the fashion then common among- the laity. 3 Hagenbach, Kirchengeschichte, i, 372 ; Gostwick, pp. 52, 54. •♦ See the details in Hagenbach, Kirchengeschichte, i, 368-372. 5 Marokka>iische Briefe. Aus dem Arabischen. Frankfurt and Leipzig, 1785. The Letters purport to have been written by one of the Moroccan embassy at Vienna in 1783. 288 MODERN EUROPEAN FREETHOUGHT and Christian historical scandals, without a trace of polemical zeal, illustrated at once the futility of Kant's claim, in the second edition of his Critique of Pure Reason^ to counteract " freethinking unbelief" by trans- cendental philosophy. And though the writer is careful to point to the frequent association of Christian fanaticism with regicide, his very explicit appeal for a unification of Germany,' his account of the German Protestant peasant and labourer as the most dismal figure in Germany, Holland, and Switzerland,- and his charge against Germans of degrading their women, ^ would not enlist the favour of the authorities for his work. Within two years (1787) appeared an even more strongly anti-Christian and anti-clerical work, The Only True System of the Christian Religion^'' ascribed to Jakob von Mauvillon^ (i 743-1 794), a historian and economist, and also an officer in the service of the Duke of Brunswick, who nevertheless became a great admirer of the French Revolution. To such propaganda the edict of repression was the official answer. It naturally roused a strong opposition ;° but though it ultimately failed, through the general breakdown of European despotisms, it was not without injurious effect. The first edict was followed in a few months by one which placed the press and all literature, native and foreign, under censorship. This policy, which was chiefly inspired by the new king's Minister of Religion, Woellner, was followed up in 1791 by the appointment of a committee of three reactionaries — Hermes, Hilmer, and Woltersdorf — Avho not only saw to the execution of the edicts, but supervised the schools and churches. Such a regimen, aided by the reaction against the Revolution, for a time prevented any open propaganda ' Briefe, xxi. - P. 49. 3 p. 232. ■♦ Das einzig ivahre System der christlichen Religion. It was at first composed under the title False Reasonings of the Christian Religion. 5 Noack, Th. Ill, Kap. 9, p. 194. ^ It was a test of the depth of the freethinking- spirit in the men of the day. Semler justified the edict ; Bahrdt vehemently denounced it. Hagenbach, i, 372. GERMANY 289 on the part of men officially placed ; and we shall see it hampering and humiliating Kant ; but it left the leaven of anti-supernaturalism to work all the more effectively among the increasing crowd of university students. Many minds of the period, doubtless, are typified by Herder, who, though a practising clergyman, was clearly a Spinozistic theist, accommodating himself to popular Christianity in a genially latitudinarian spirit.^ When in his youth he published an essay discussing Genesis as a piece of oriental poetry, not to be treated as science or theology, he evoked an amount of hostility which startled him.^ Learning his lesson, he was for the future guarded enough to escape persecution. He was led by his own temperamental bias, however, to a transcendental position in philosophy. Originally in agreement with Kant,^ as against the current meta- physic, in the period before the issue of the latter's Critique of Pure Reason^ he nourished his religious instincts by a discursive reading of history, which he handled in a comparatively scientific yet above all poetic or theosophic spirit, while Kant, who had little or no interest in history, developed his thought on the side of physical science.** The philosophic methods of the two men thus became opposed ; and when Herder found Kant's philosophy producing a strongly rationalistic cast of thought among the divinity students who came before him for examination, he directly and sharply antagonised it^ in a theistic sense. Yet his own influence on his age was on the whole latitudinarian and anti-theological. ' Cp. Crabb Robinson's Diary, iii, 48 ; Martineau, Study of Spinoza, p. 328 ; Willis, Spinoza, pp. 162-8. Bishop Hurst laments {Hist, of Rationalism, 3rd ed. p. 145) that Herder's early views as to the mission of Christ " were, in common with many other evangelical views, doomed to an unhappy obscuration upon the advance of his later years by frequent intercourse with more skeptical minds." - 0\\ the clerical opposition to him at Weimar on this score see Diintzer, Life of Goethe, Eng-. trans. 1883, i, 317. 3 Cp. Dr. Moritz Kronenberg, Herder's Philosophic nach ihrem En tiv ickelu ngsga ng, 1 889. ■» Kronenberg, p. 90. 5 Stuckenberg, Life of I mmanuel Kant , 1882, pp. 381-7 ; Kronenberg, Herder s Philosophie, pp. 91, 103. VOL. II U 290 MODERN EUROPEAN FREETHOUGHT 17. Meanwhile, the drift of the age of Aufkl'drung was apparent in the practically freethinking attitude of the two foremost men of letters in the new Germany — Goethe and Schiller. Of the former, despite the bluster of Carlyle, and despite the aesthetic favour shown to Christianity in Wilhelm Meister, no religious ingenuity can make more than a pantheist,^ who, in so far as he touched on Biblical questions, copied the half-grown rationalism of the school of Semler.^ "The great Pagan " was his common label among his orthodox or conformist contemporaries.^ He has told how, when Lavater insisted that he must choose between orthodox Christianity and atheism, he answered that, if he were not free to be a Christian in his own way {zvie ich es bisher gehegt hdtie)^ he would as soon turn atheist as Christian, the more so as he saw that nobody knew very well what either signified.-* Nor did he ever yield to the Christian creed more than a Platonic amity ; so that much of the peculiar hostility that was long felt for his poetry and was long shown to his memory in Germany is to be explained as an expression of the normal malice of pietism against unbelievers. ^ To-day belief is glad to claim Goethe as a friend in respect of his many concessions to it, as well as of his occasional flings at more consistent freethinkers. But a " great ' The chief sample passagfes in his works are the poem Das Gottliche and the speech oi Faust in reply to Gretchen in the garden scene. It was the surmised pantheism of Goethe's poem Prometheus that, accord- ing' to Jacobi, drew from Lessing- his avowal of a pantheistic leaning-. Tlie poem has even an atheistic ring ; but we have Goethe's own account of the influence of Spinoza on him from his youth onwards ( Wahrheit unci Diditung, Th. Ill, B. xiv ; Th. IV, B. xvi). See also his remarks on the " natural " religion of " conviction " or rational inference, and that of "faith" {Glaube) or revelationism, in B. iv {Werke, ed. 1866, xi, 134) ; also Kestner's account of his opinions at twenty-three, in Duntzer's Life, Eng. trans, i, 185 ; and again his letter to Jacobi, January 6th, 1813, quoted by Diintzer, ii, 290. ^ See the Alt-Testamentliches Appendix to the West-Oestlicher Divan. 3 Heine, Zur Gesch. der Rel. u. Phil, in Deutschland {Werke, ed. 1876, iii, 92). 4 Wahrheit und Dichtimg, Th. Ill, B. xiv, par. 20 ( Werke, ed. 1886, xii, 159). 5 Compare, as to the kinds of hostility he aroused, Diintzer's Life, i, 152, 317' 329 30. 451 ; •'' 291 «o/f,455, 461 ; and Heine, last cit. p. 93. GERMANY 291 pagan" he remains for the student. In the opinion of later orthodoxy his " influence on religion was very- pernicious."' He indeed showed small concern for religious susceptibilities when he humorously wrote that from his youth up he believed himself to stand so well with his God as to fancy that he might even "have something to forgive Him."^ One passage in Goethe's essay on the Pentateuch, appended to the West-OestUcher Divan, is worth noting here as illustrating the ability of genius to cherish and propagate historical falla- cies. It runs : "The peculiar, unique, and deepest theme of the history of the world and man, to which all others are subordinate, is always the conflict of belief and unbelief. All epochs in which belief rules, under whatever form, are illus- trious, inspiriting, and fruitful for that time and the future. All epochs, on the other hand, in which unbelief, in whatever form, secures a miserable victory, even though for a moment they may flaunt it proudly, disappear for posterity, because no man willingly troubles himself with knowledge of the unfruitful" (First ed. pp. 424-5). Goethe goes on to speak of the four latter books of Moses as occupied with the theme oi unbelief, and of the first as occupied with belief. Thus his formula was based, to begin with, on purely fabulous history, into the nature of which his poetic faculty gave him wo true insight. (See his idyllic recast of the patriarchal history in B. iv of the Wahrheit und Dichtung.') Applied to real history, his formula has no validity save on a definition which implies either an equivoque or an argument in a circle. If it refer, in the natural sense, to epochs in which any given religion is widely rejected and assailed, it is palpably false. The Renaissance and Goethe's own century were ages of such unbelief; and they remain much more deeply interesting than the Ages of Faith. St. Peter's at Rome is the work of a reputedly unbelieving Pope. If on the other hand his formula be meant to apply to belief in the sense of energy and enthusiasm, it is still fallacious. The crusades were manifestations of energy and enthusiasm ; but they were profoundly "unfruitful," and they are not deeply interesting. The only sense in which Goethe's formula could stand would be one In which it is recognised that all vigorous intellectual life stands for "belief" — that is to say, that Lucretius and Voltaire, Paine and d'Holbach, stand for ■" belief " when confidently attacking beliefs. The formula is ' Hurst, Hist, of Rationalism, 3rd ed. p. 150. ^ Wahrheit und Diclitung, B. viii ; Werke, xi, 334. 292 MODERN EUROPEAN FREETHOUGHT thus true only in a strained and non-natural sense ; whereas it is sure to be read and to be believed, by thoughtless admirers, In its natural and false sense, though the whole history of Byzantium and modern Islam is a history of stagnant and unfruitful belief, and that of modern Europe a history of fruitful doubt, disbelief, and denial, involving new affirmations. Goethe's own mind on the subject was in a state of verbalising confusion, the result or expression of his temperamental aversion to clear analytical thought (" Above all," he boasts, "I never thought about thinking") and his habit of poetic allegory and apriorism. Where he himself doubted and denied current creeds, as in his work in natural science, he was most fruitful (though he was not always right — e.g., his polemic against Newton's theory of colour) ; and the permanently interesting teaching of his Faust is precisely that which artistically utters the doubt through which he passed to a pantheistic Naturalism. i8. No less certain is the unbelief of Schiller (1759- 1805), whom Hagenbach even takes as " the represen- tative of the rationalism of his age." In his juvenile Robbers, indeed, he makes his worst villains free- thinkers ; and in the preface he stoutly champions religion against all assailants; but hardly ever after that piece does he give a favourable portrait of a priest.' He himself soon joined the Aufkldrung ; and all his aesthetic appreciation of Christianity never carried him beyond the position that it virtually had the tendency (Anlage) to the highest and noblest, though that was in general tastelessly and repulsively represented by Christians. He added that in a certain sense it is the only aesthetic religion, whence it is that it gives such pleasure to the feminine nature, and that only among women is it to be met with in a tolerable form.^ Like Goethe, he sought to reduce the Biblical supernatural to the plane of possibility, ^ in the manner of the liberal theologians of the period ; and like him he often writes as a deist, "^ though professedly for a time a Kantist. On the other hand, he does not hesitate to say that a healthy nature (which Goethe had said needed no ' Remarked by Hagenbach, trans, p. 238. ^ Letter to Goethe, August 17th, 1795 (Brie/kvechsel, No. 87). The passage is given in Carlyle's essay on Schiller. 3 In Die Sendu?ig Moses. * See the PhilosophiscJie Briefe. GERMANY 293 Morality, no Natiir-recht,'^ and no political metaphysic) required neither Deity nor Immortality to sustain it."" 19. The critical philosophy of Kant may be said to represent most comprehensively the outcome in German intelligence of the higher freethought of the age, in so far as its results could be at all widely assimilated. In its most truly critical part, the analytic treatment of previous theistic systems in the Critique of Pure Reason (1781), he is fundamentally anti-theological ; the effect of the argument being to negate all previously current proofs of the existence and cognisableness of a " supreme power " or deity. Already the metaphysics of the Leibnitz- Wolff school were discredited ;^ and so far Kant could count on a fair hearing for a system which rejected that of the schools. Certainly he meant his book to be an antidote to the prevailing religious credulity. " Henceforth there were to be no more dreams of ghost- seers, metaphysicians, and enthusiasts."^ On his own part, however, no doubt in sympathy with the attitude of many of his readers, there followed a species of intuitional reaction ; and in the Critique of Practical Reason (1788) he makes an almost avowedly unscientific attempt to restore the reign of theism on a basis of a mere emotional and ethical necessity assumed to exist in human nature — a necessity which he never even attempts to demonstrate. With the magic wand of the Practical Reason, as Heine has it, be reanimated the corpse of theism, which the Theoretic Reason had slain. s In ' Carlyle translates, " No Rights of Man," which was probably the implication. = Letter to Goethe, July gth, 1706 {Briefivechsel, No. 188). "It is evident that he was estrang-ed not only from the church but from the fundamental truths of Christianity " (Rev. W. Baur, Religious Life of Gerniajiv, Eng. trans. 1872, p. 22). 3 Cp. Tieftrunk, as cited by Stuckenberg, Life of Liuitantiel Kant, 1882, p. 225. ' Id. p. 376. 5 For an able argument vindicating the unity of Kant's system, how- ever, see Professor Adamson, The Philosophy of Kant, 1879, p. 21 sq. as against Lange. With the verdict in the text compare that of Heine, Zur Gesch. der Relig. u. Philos. in Deiitschland, B. iii ( Werke, as cited, iii, 81-82), and that of Professor G. Santayana, The Life of Reason, vol. i, 1905, p. 94 sq. 294 MODERN EUROPEAN FREETHOUGHT this adjustment he was perhaps consciously copying- Rousseau, who had greatly influenced him/ and whose theism is an avowedly subjectivist predication. But the same attitude to the problem had been substantially adopted by Lessing / and indeed the process is at bottom identical with that of the quasi-skeptics, Pascal, Huet, Berkeley, and the rest, who at once impugn and employ the rational process, reasoning that reason is not reasonable. Kant did but set up the "practical" against the "pure" reason, as other theists before him had setup faith against science, or the " heart" against the "head," and as theists to-day exalt the " will " against " know- ledge," the emotional nature against the logical. It is tolerably clear that Kant's motive at this stage was an unphilosophic fear that Naturalism would work moral harm^ — a fear shared by him with the mass of the average minds of his age. The process of Kant's adjustment of his philosophy to social needs as he regarded them is to be understood by following the chronology and the vogue of his writings. The first edition of the Critique of Pure Reason "excited little attention" (Stuckenberg, The Life of Immamtel Kant, 1882, p. 368) ; but in 1787 appeared the second and modified edition, with a new preface, clearly written with a propitiatory eye to the orthodox reaction. " All at once the work now became popular, and the praise was as loud and as fulsome as at first the silence had been profound. The literature of the day began to teem with Kantian ideas, with discussions of the new philosophy, and with the praises of its author High officials in Berlin would lay aside the weighty affairs of State to consider the Kritik, and among them were found warm admirers of the work and its author." Id. p. 369. Cp. Heine, Rel. nnd Phil, in Deutsch- land, B. w—Werke, iii, 75, 82. This popularity becomes intelligible in the light of the new edition and its preface. To say nothing of the alterations in the text, pronounced by Schopenhauer to be cowardly accom- modations (as to which question see Adamson, as cited, and Stuckenberg, p. 461, note 94), Kant writes in the preface that ' Stuckenberg-, pp. 225, 332. = Cp. Haym's Herder nach seinem Lchen dnrgestellt, 1877, i, 33,48; Kronenberg, Herder's Philosophie, 1889, p. 10. 3 Cp. Hagenbach, Eng. trans, p. 223. GERMANY 295 he had been "obliged to destroy knowledge in order to make room for faith"; and, again, that " only through criticism can the roots be cut of materialism, fatalism, atheism, freethinking unbelief ( freigeisterischen UngJaubeti), fanaticism and super- stition, which may become universally injurious ; also of idealism and scepticism, which are dangerous rather to the Schools, and can hardly reach the general public." (Meikle- john mistranslates: "which are universally injurious " — Bohn ed. p. xxxvii.) This passage virtually puts the popular religion and all philosophies save Kant's own on one level of moral dubiety. It is, however, distinctly uncandid as regards the " freethinking unbelief," for Kant himself was certainly an unbeliever in Christian miracles and dogmas. His want of philosophic candour, or at least his readiness to make an appeal to prejudice, again appears in the second Critique when he asks : " Whence does the freethinker derive his knowledge that there is, for instance, no Supreme Being?" {Kritik der reinen Vemunft, Transc. Methodenlehre, i H. 2 Absch., ed. Kirchmann, 1879, p. 587 ; Bohn trans, p. 458.) He had just before professed to be dealing with denial of the "existence of God " — a proposition of no significance whatever unless " God" be defined. He now without warning substitutes the undefined expression "Supreme Being" for "God," thus imputing a proposition probably never sustained with clear verbal purpose by any human being. Either, then, Kant's ovi'n proposition was the entirely vacuous one that nobody can demonstrate the impossibility of an alleged undefined existence, or he was virtually asserting that no one can disprove any alleged super- natural existence — witch, demon, Moloch, Krishna, Bel, Siva, Aphrodite, or Isis and Osiris. In the latter case he would be absolutely stultifying his own claim to cut the roots of " super- stition " and "fanaticism" as well as of freethinking and materialism ; for, if the freethinker cannot disprove Jehovah, neither can the Kantist disprove Allah and Satan ; and Kant had no basis for denying, as he did with Spinoza, the existence of ghosts or spirits. From this dilemma Kant's argument cannot be delivered. And as he finally introduces Deity as a psychologically and morally necessary regulative idea, howbeit indemonstrable, he leaves every species of superstition exactly where it stood before — every superstition being practically held, as against " freethinking unbelief," on just such a tenure. Concerning the age-long opposition between rationalism [Versfajidesaufkliirung') and intuitionism or emotionalism (Gefiihhphilosophie), it is claimed by modern transcendentalists that Kant, or Herder, or another, has effected a solution on a plane higher than either. {E.g., }s.ronenh&rg_, Herder's Philo- sophie nach ihrem Entwickelungsgang und Hirer historischen 296 MODERN EUROPEAN FREETHOUGHT Stellung, 1889, p. 6.) The true solution certainly must account for both points of view ; but no solution is really attained by either of these writers. Kant alternately stood at the two positions ; and his unhistorical mind did not seek to unify them in a study of human evolution. Herder, recognisant of evolu- tion, would not follow out any rational analysis. All the while, however, Kant's theism was radically irreconcilable with the prevailing religion. As appears from his cordial hostility to the belief in ghosts, he really lacked the religious temperament. " He himself," says a recent biographer, "was too suspicious of the emotions to desire to inspire any enthusiasm with reference to his own heart.'" This misstates the fact that his "Practical Reason " was but an abstraction of his own emotional predilection ; but it remains true that that predilection was nearly free from the commoner forms of pious psychosis ; and typical Christians have never found him satisfactory. " From my heart," writes one of his first biographers, " I wish that Kant had not regarded the Christian religion merely as a necessity for the State, or as an institution to be tolerated for the sake of the weak (which now so many, following his example, do even in the pulpit), but had known that which is positive, improving, and blessed in Christianity."- He had in fact never kept up any theological study ;3 and his plan of compromise had thus, like those of Spencer and Mill in a later day, a fatal unreality for all men who have discarded theology with a full knowledge of its structure, though it appeals very conveniently to those disposed to retain it as a means of popular influence. All his adaptations, therefore, failed to conciliate the mass of the orthodox ; and even after the issue of the second Critique he had been the subject of discussion among the reactionists."^ But that Critique^ and the preface to the second edition of the first, were at bottom only pleas for a revised ethic, ' Stuckenberg-, Life of Immanuel Kant, p. 329. ^ Borowski, Darstellung des Lebens u?id Charakters Immatiuel Kant's, 1804, cited by Stuckenberg-, p. 357. 3 Stuckenberg, pp. 359-60. ■* Id, p. 361. GERMANY 297 Kant's concern with current religion being solely ethical ; and the force of that concern led him at length, in what was schemed as a series of magazine articles,' to expound his notion of religion in relation to morals. When he did so he aroused a resentment much more energetic than that felt by the older academics against his philosophy. The title of his treatise on Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason^ (1792-94) is obviously framed to parry criticism ; yet so drastic is its treatment of its problems that the College of Censors at Berlin under the new theological regime vetoed the second part. By the terms of the law as to the censor- ship, the publisher was entitled to know the reason for the decision ; but on his asking for it he was informed that " another instruction was on hand, which the censor followed as his law, but whose contents he refused to make known. "^ Greatly incensed, Kant submitted the rejected article with the rest of his book to the theological faculty of hisown university of Konigsberg, asking them to decide in which faculty the censorship was properly vested. They referred the decision to the philosophical faculty, which duly proceeded to license the book (1793). As completed, it contained an article markedly hostile to the church. His opponents in turn were now so enraged that they procured a royal cabinet order (October, 1794) charging him with "distorting and degrading many of the chief and fundamental doctrines of the Holy Scriptures and of Christianity," and ordering all the instructors at the university not to lecture on the book.^ Such was the reward for a capitulation of philo- sophy to the philosophic ideals of the police. Kant, called upon to render an account of his conduct to the Government, formally defended it, but in conclu- sion decorously said : " I think it safest, in order to obviate the least suspicion in this respect, as your ' The first, on " Radical Evils," appeared in a Berlin monthly in April, 1792, and was then reprinted separately. - Religion innerhalb der Greyiseti der blossen Vernunft. 3 Stuckenbergf, p. 361. ■♦ Ueberweg-, ii, 141 ; Stuckenberg-, p. 363. 298 MODERN EUROPEAN FREETHOUGHT Royal Majesty's most faithful subject, to declare solemnly that henceforth I will refrain altogether from all public discussion of religion, whether natural or revealed, both in lectures and in writings." After the death of Frederick William, Kant held himself free to speak out again, and published (1798) an essay on " The Strife of the [University] Faculties," wherein he argued that philosophers should be free to discuss all ques- tions of religion so long as they did not handle Biblical theology as such. The belated protest, however, led to nothing. By this time the philosopher was incapable of further efficient work ; and when he died in 1804 the chief manuscript he left, planned as a synthesis of his philosophic teaching, was found to be hopelessly confused.' The attitude in which Kant stood to the reigning religion in his latter years was thus substantially hostile. Religion was for him essentially ethic ; and there is no reconciling the process of propitiation of deity, in the Christian or any other cult, with his express declaration that all attempts to win God's favour save by simple right-living are sheer fetichism.- He thus ends practi- cally at the point of view of the deists, whose influence on him in early life is seen in his work on cosmogony. ^ He had, moreover, long ceased to go to church or follow any religious usage, even refusing to attend the services on the installation of a new university rector, save when he himself held the office. " He did not like the singing in the churches, and pronounced it mere bawling. In prayer, whether public or private, he had not the least faith ; and in his conversation as well as his writings he treated it as a superstition, holding that to address anything unseen would open the way for fanaticism. Not only did he argue against prayer : he also ridiculed it, and declared that a man would be ashamed to be caught by another in the attitude of ' Stuckenberg, pp. 304-9. - Religion innerhnlh der Grenzen der hlosscn Vcniunff, B. iv, c. 2. 3 Cp. Stuckenberg-, p. 332. GERMANY 299 prayer." One of his maxims was that "To kneel or prostrate himself on the earth, even for the purpose of symbolising to himself reverence for a heavenly object, is unworthy of man."' So too he held that the doctrine of the Trinity had no practical value, and had a " low opinion " of the Old Testament. Yet his effort at compromise had carried him to positions which are the negation of some of his own most emphatic ethical teachings. While he carries his "categorical imperative," or a priori conception of duty, so extravagantly far as to argue that it is wrong even to tell a falsehood to a would-be murderer in order to mislead him, he approves of the systematic employment of the pulpit function by men who do not believe in the creed they there expound. The priest, with Kant's encouragement, is to " draw all the practical lessons for his congregation from dogmas which he himself cannot subscribe with a full conviction of their truth, but which he can teach, since it is not altogether impossible that truth maybe concealed therein," while he remains free as a scholar to write in a contrary sense in his own name. And this doctrine, set forth in the censured work of 1793, is repeated in the moralist's last treatise (1798), w^herein he explains that the preacher, when speaking doctrinally, " can put into the passage under consideration his own rational views, whether found there or not." Kant thus ended by reviving for the convenience of churchmen the medieval principle of a "twofold truth." So little efficacy is there in a transcendental ethic for any of the actual emergencies of life. On this question compare Kant's Religion innerhalb der Grensen der blossen Vernunft, B. iii, Apotome i, Sect. 6 ; B. iv, Apot. ii, preamble and Sect, i, 3 and 4 ; with the essay in reply to Constant in App. to Rosenkranz's ed. of Werke, vii, 295 — given by T. K. Abbott in his trans, of the Critique of Jtcdgment. See also Stuckenberg-, pp. 341-5, and the general comment of Baur, Kirchengeschichte des igten Jahrhtaiderts, 1862, p. 65. " Kant's recognition of Scripture is purely a matter of ' Stuckenberg:, pp. 340, 346, 354, 468. 300 MODERN E UROPEA N FREETHO UGHT expedience. The State needs the Bible to control the people ; the masses need it in order that they, having- weak consciences, may recognise their duty ; and the philosopher finds it a conve- nient vehicle for conveying- to the people the faith of reason. Were it rejected it might be difficult, if not impossible, to put In its place another book which would inspire as much confi- dence." All the while " Kant's principles of course led him to deny that the Bible is authoritative in matters of religion, or that it is of itself a safe guide in morals Its value consists in the fact that, owing to the confidence of the people in it, reason can use it to interpret into Scripture its own doctrines, and can thus make it the means of popularising- rational faith. If anyone imagines that the aim of the interpretation is to obtain the real meaning- of Scripture, he is no Kantian on this point" (Stuckenberg-, p. 341). 20. The total performance of Kant thus left Germany with a powerful lead on the one hand towards that unbelief in religion which in the last reign had been fashionable, and on the other hand a series of prescrip- tions for compromise ; the monarchy all the while throwing its weight against all innovation in doctrine and practice. In 1799 Fichte is found expressing the utmost alarm at the combination of the European despotisms to " root out freethought " ; ' and so strong did the official reaction become that in the opinion of Heine all the German philosophers and their ideas would have been suppressed by wheel and gallows but for Napoleon,^ who intervened in the year 1805. The Prussian despotism being thus weakened, what actually happened was an adaptation of Kant's teaching to the needs alike of religion and of rationalism. The religious world was assured by it that, though all previous argu- ments for theism were philosophically worthless, theism was now safe on the fluid basis of feeling. On the other hand, rationalism alike in ethics and in historical criticism was visibly reinforced on all sides. Herder, as before noted, found divinity students grounding their unbelief on Kant's teaching. Stalidlin begins the ' Letter of May 22nd, 1799, reproduced by Heine. - Zur Gesch. der Rel. u. Philos. in Deutschland, Werke, as cited, iii, 96, 98. GERMANY 301 preface to his History and Spirit of Skepticism (1794) with the remark that *' Skepticism begins to be a disease of the age " ; and Kant is the last in his list of skeptics. At the close of the century " the number of Kantian theologians was legion," and it was through the Kantian influence that "the various anti-orthodox tendencies which flourished during the period of Illumination were concentrated in Rationalism'"- — in the tendency, that is, to bring rational criticism to bear alike on history, dogma, and philosophy. Borowski in 1804 complains that " beardless youths and idle babblers " devoid of knowledge " appeal to Kant's views respecting Chris- tianity."'' These views were partly accommodating, partly subversive in the extreme. Kant regards Jesus as an edifying ideal of perfect manhood, "belief" in whom as such makes a man acceptable to God, because of following a good model. " While he thus treats the historical account of Jesus as of no significance, except as a shell into which the practical reason puts the kernel, his whole argument tends to destroy faith in the historic person of Jesus as given in the Gospel, treating the account itself as something whose truthfulness it is not worth while to investigate. "^ In point of fact we find his devoted disciple Erhard declaring : " I regard Christian morality as something which has been falsely imputed to Christianity ; and the existence of Christ does not at all seem to me to be a probable historical fact " — this while declaring that Kant had given him "the indescrib- able comfort of being able to call himself openly, and with a good conscience, a Christian. " + While therefore a multitude of preachers availed themselves of Kant's philosophic license to rationalise in the pulpit and out of it as occasion offered, and yet ' Stuckenberg-, p. 311. = Id. p. 357. 3 Stuckenberg-, p. 351. " It is only necessary," adds Dr. Stucken- berg (p. 468, note 142), "to develop Kant's hints in order to get the views of Strauss in his Lebeit Jestt." * Id. p. 375. Erhard also stated that Pestalozzi shared his views on the ethics of Christianity. 302 MODERN EUROPEAN FREETHOUGHT Others opposed them only on the score that all diver- gence from orthodoxy should be avowed, the dissolution of orthodoxy in Germany was rapid and general ; and the anti-supernaturalist handling of Scripture, prepared for as we have seen, went on continuously. Even the positive disparagement of Christianity was carried on by Kantian students; and Hamann, dubbed "the Magician of the North " for his alluring exposition of emotional theism, caused one of them, a tutor, to be brought before a clerical consistory for having taught his pupil to throw all specifically Christian doctrines aside. The tutor admitted the charge, and with four others signed a declaration " that neither morality nor sound reason nor public welfare could exist in connection with Christianity."' 21. Against the intellectual influence thus set up there was none in contemporary Germany capable of resis- tance. Philosophy for the most part went in Kant's direction, having indeed been so tending before his day. Rationalism of a kind had already had a representative in Crusius (17 12-1775), v/ho in treatises on logic and metaphysics opposed alike Leibnitz and Wolff, and taught for his own part a kind of Epicureanism, nominally Christianised. To his school belonged Platner (much admired by Jean Paul Richter, his pupil) and Tetens, " the German Locke," who attempted a common-sense answer to Hume. His ideal was a philosophy " at once intelligible and religious, agreeable to God and accessible to the people."- Platner on the other hand, leaning strongly towards a psychological and anthropological view of human problems, ^ opposed alike to atheism* and to Kantian theism^ a moderate ' Stuckenberg-, p. 358. ^ Bartholm^ss, Hist. crit. des doctr. relig. de la philos. inoderne, 1855, i, 136-140. 3 In demanding: a "history of the human conscience" {Neue Anthro- pologies, 1790) Platner seems to have anticipated the modern scientific approach to relig'ion. ■* Gesprdche iiber den Atheis?nus, 1781. 3 Lehrbuch der Logik nnd Metaphysik, lyg^. GERMANY 303 Pyrrhonic skepticism ; here following a remarkable lead from the younger Beausobre, who in 1755 had published in French, at Berlin, a treatise entitled Le Pyrrhonisme Raisonnable, taking up the position, among others, that while it is hard to prove the existence of God by reason it is impossible to disprove it. This was virtually the position of Kant a generation later ; and it is clear that thus early the dogmatic position was discredited. Some philosophic opposition there was to Kant, alike on intuitionist grounds, as in the cases of Hamann and Herder, and on grounds of academic prejudice, as in the case of Kraus ; but the more important thinkers who followed him were all as heterodox as he. In particular, Fichte, who began by being a Kantian zealot, gave even greater scandal than the Master had done. Passing rapidly, under Spinoza's influence, to pantheism, he rejected Kant's anti-rational ground for affirming a God not immanent in things, and claimed, as did his con- temporaries Schelling and Hegel, to establish theism on rational grounds. Rejecting Kant's reiterated doctrine that religion is ethic, Fichte ultimately insisted that, on the contrary, religion is knowledge, and that " it is only a corrupt society that has to use religion as an impulse to moral action." But alike in his Kantian youth and later, he was definitely anti-revelationist. In his Essay towards a Critique of all Revelation, published with some difficulty, Kant helping (1792), he in effect negates the orthodox assumption, and, in the spirit of Kant and Lessing, but with more directness than they had shown, concludes that belief in revelation "is an element, and an important element, in the moral education of humanity, but it is not a final stage for human thought.'" In Kant's fashion, he had professed^ to "silence the opponents of positive religion not less than its dogmatical defenders"; but that result did not ^i=>' ' Professor Adainson, Fichte, 18S1, \^. t,2\ W. Smiih, Memoir of Fichte, 2nd ed. pp. 64-65. - Letter to Kant, cited by Smith, p. 63. 304 MODERN EUROPEAN FREETHOUGHT follow on either side ; and ere long he was figuring as one of the most aggressive of the opponents. It does not appear to be true that he ever told his students at Jena : " In five years there will be no more Christian religion : reason is our religion ";' and the charges alike of subverting Christianity and of teaching atheism, brought against him soon after his appoint- ment to the Jena chair, seem to have been unjustified at that time.^ On the provocation given, however, by his lecturing on Sunday to his students, those charges were furiously pressed against him ; opinion running so high that he was personally maltreated, and his wife insulted in the streets. Leaving Jena, despite an official vindi- cation, he found harbourage at Berlin, Erlangen, and Konigsberg ; but his philosophy was in no way modified, becoming more definitely pantheistic and non-Christian as it developed. ^ Thus Fichte's final pantheism is even more fundamentally atheistic than that of Spinoza. In one of his minor essays^ he says in so many words that " the living and active moral order is itself God : we need no other God, and can make no other." And that he was conscious of a vital sunder- ance between his thought and that of the past is made clear by his answer, in 1805, to the complaint that the people had lost their " religious feeling " {Religiositdt). His retort is that a new religious feeling has taken the place of the old ;s and that was the position taken up by the generation which swore by him, in the German manner, as the last had sworn by Kant. But the successive philosophies of Kant, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel, all rising out of the " Illumi- nation " of the eighteenth century, have been alike ' Asserted by Stuckenberg-, Life of Kant , p. 386. = Cp. Robins, A Defence of the Faith, 1862, Pt. i, pp. 132-3; Professor Adamson, Fichte, pp. 50-67 ; W. Smith, Memoir of Fichte, pp. 106-7. 3 Compare the complaints of Hurst, Hist, of Rationalism, 3rd ed. pp. 136-7. ^ Summarised by Baur, Kirchengeschichte des igten Jahrh. pp. 66-67. Heine insists that Fichte's Idealism is " more Godless than the crassest Materialism " (as last cited, p. 75). s Grundziige des gegenwdrtigen Zeitalters, 1805-6, i6te Vorlesung. GERMANY 305 impermanent. Nothing is more remarkable in the history of thought than the internecine strife of the systems which insisted on " putting something in the place " of the untenable systems of the past. They have been but so many " toppling spires of cloud." Fichte, like Herder, broke away from the doctrine of Kant ; and later became bitterly opposed to that of his former friend Schelling, as did Hegel in his turn. Schleiermacher, hostile to Kant, was still more hostile to Fichte ; and Hegel, developing Fichte, gave rise to schools arrayed against each other. All that is permanent in the product of the age of German Rationalism is the fundamental principle upon which it proceeded, the confutation of the dogmas and legends of the past, and the concrete results of the historical, critical, and physical research to which the principle and the confutation led. The emancipation, too, was but partial in the German- speaking world. In Austria, despite a certain amount of French culture, the rule of the Jesuits in the eighteenth century was too effective to permit of any intellectual developments. Maria Theresa, who knew too well that the boundless sexual licence against which she fought had nothing to do with innovating ideas, had to issue a special order to permit the importation of Montesquieu's Esprit des Lois ; and works of more subversive doctrine could not openly pass the frontiers at all. An attempt to bring Lessing to Vienna in 1774, with a view to founding a new literary Academy, collapsed before the opposition ; and when Professor Jahn, of the Vienna University — described as " free- thinking, latitudinarian, supernaturalistic " — developed somewhat anti-clerical tendencies in his teaching and writing, he was forced to resign, and died a simple Canon.' "Austria, in a time of universal effervescence, produced only musicians, and showed zest only for pleasure."- Yet among the music-makers was the ' Kurtz, Hist, of the Chr. Church, Eng. trans. 1864, ii, 225. ^ A. Sorel, L' Europe et la revolution frangaise, i (1885), p. 458. VOL. II X 3o6 MODERN EUROPEAN FREETHOUGHT German-born Beethoven, the greatest master of his age. Kindred in spirit to Goethe, and much more of a revolutionist than he in all things, Beethoven spent the creative part of his life at Vienna without ceasing to be a freethinker.' § III. The remaining Eit-ropean States. I. Traces of new rationalistic life are to be seen in the Scandinavian countries at least as early as the time of Descartes. There, as elsewhere, the Reformation had been substantially a fiscal or economic revolution, pro- ceeding on various lines. In Denmark the movement, favoured by the king, began among the people ; the nobility rapidly following, to their own great profit ; and finally Christian III, who ruled both Denmark and Norway, acting with the nobles, suppressed Catholic worship, and confiscated to the crown the " castles, fortresses, and vast domains of the prelates.'"' In Sweden the king, Gustavus Vasa, took the initiative, moved by sore need of funds, and a thoroughly anti- ecclesiastical temper,^ the clergy having supported the Danish rule which he threw off. The burghers and peasants promptly joined him against the clergy and nobles, enabling him to confiscate the bishops' castles and estates, as was done in Denmark ; and he finally secured himself with the nobles by letting them reclaim lands granted by their ancestors to monasteries.^ His anti-feudal reforms having stimulated new life in many ways, further evolution followed. Towards the middle of the seventeenth century there are increasing traces of rationalism at the court of the ' See articles on Beethoven by Macfarren in Diet, of Univ. Biog., and by Grove in the Diet, of Music and Musicians. ^ Koch, Histor. View of the European Nations, Eng. trans. 3rd ed. p. 103. Cp. Crichton and Wheaton, Scandinavia, 1837, i, 383-396 ; Ott«^, Scandinavian History, 1874, pp. 222-4 ; Villiers, Essay on the Reforma- tion, Engf. trans. 1836, p. 105. But cp. Allen, Histoire de Danemark, Fr. trans, i, 298-300. 3 Ott^, pp. 232-6 ; Crichton and Wheaton, i, 398-400 ; Geijer, History of the Swedes, Engf. trans, i, 125. •* Koch, p. 104; Geijer, i, 129. THE REMAINING EUROPEAN STATES 307 famous Christina, who already in her youth is found much interested in the objections of "Jews, heathens, and philosophers against Christian doctrine ";' and her invitation of Descartes to her court (1649) suggests that Sweden had been not a little affected by the revulsion of popular thought which followed on the Thirty Years' War in Germany. In the course of a few years, the new spirit had gone so far as to make church-going matter for open scoffing at the Swedish court f and the Queen's adoption of Romanism soon after her abdication appears to have been by way of revulsion from a state of mind approaching atheism, to which she had been led by her freethinking French physician, Bourdelot, after Descartes's death. ^ It is confidently asserted, how- ever, that she really cared for neither creed, and embraced Catholicism only by way of conformity for social pur- poses, retaining her freethinking views.* No important literary results, however, could follow in the then state of Swedish culture, when the studies at even the new colleges were mainly confined to Latin and theology.^ Puffendorf, indeed, by his great treatise On the Law of Nature and Nations (published at Lund, 1672), did much to establish the utilitarian and naturalistic ten- dency in ethics which was promoted at the same time by Bishop Cumberland in England f but his latent deism had no great direct influence, his Scripture-citing ortho- doxy countervailing it, although he argued strongly for a separation of Church and State. ^ Such being the culture conditions, the Scandinavian countries all round, though strongly affected like the Russian aristocracy by the French freethinking influence in the eighteenth century,^ have only in our own age begun to contribute weightily to the serious thought of Europe. ' Geijer, i, 324. - Id. p. 343 ; Otte, p. 292. _ 3 Geijer, i, 342. "• Crichton and Wheaton, ii, 88-9, and refs. ' 5 Geijer, i, 342. * Cp. Hallam, Lit. of Europe, iv, 171-8. 7 See his treatise, Of the Nature mid Qualification of Religion in Refer- ence to Civil Society, Eng-. trans, by Crull, 1698. ® Schweitzer, Geschichte der skandinavischen Literatur, ii, 175, 225 ; C.-F. Allen, Histoire de Dajiemark, Fr. trans, ii, 190-1. 3o8 MODERN EUROPEAN FREETHOUGHT The most celebrated northern unbeliever of the French period was Count Struensee, who for some years (1770-2) virtually ruled Denmark as the favourite of the queen, the king being half-witted. Struensee was an energetic and capable reformer : he abolished torture ; emanci- pated the enslaved peasantry ; secured toleration for all sects ; encouraged the arts and industry ; established freedom of the press ; and reformed the finances, the police, the law courts, and sanitation.' His very reforms made his position untenable, and his enemies soon effected his downfall and death. There is an elaborate account of his conversion to Christianity in prison by the German Dr. Munter,^ which makes him out by his own confession an excessive voluptuary. It is an extremely suspicious document, exhibiting strong political bias, and giving Struensee no credit for reforms ; the apparent assumption being that the con- version of a reprobate was of more evidential value than that of a reputable and reflective type. 2. In Poland, where, as we saw. Unitarian heresy had spread considerably in the sixteenth century, positive atheism is heard of in 1688-9, when Count Liszinski (or Lyszczynski), among whose papers, it was said, had been found the written statement that there is no God, or that man had made God out of nothing, was denounced by the bishops of Posen and Kioff, tried, beheaded (his tongue being first torn out), and then burned, his ashes being scattered from a cannon. ^ But even had a less murderous treatment been meted out to such heresy, anarchic Poland, ridden by Jesuits, was in no state to ' Crichton and Wheaton, ii, 190; Otte, p. 322 ; C.-F. Allen, as cited, ii, 194-201. ^ Trans, from the German, 1774; 2nd ed. 1825. See it also in the work, Converts from Infidelity, by Andrew Crichton ; vols, vi and vii ot Constable's Miscellany, 1827. This singular compilation includes lives of Boyle, Bunyan, Haller, and others, who were never " infidels." 3 He claimed that certain remarks penned by him in an anti-atheistic work, challenging its argument, represented not unbelief but the demand for a better proof, which he undertook to produce. See Krasinski, Sketch of the Religions History of the Slavonic Nations, 1851, pp. 224-5. It is remarkable that the Pope, Innocent XI, bitterly censured the execution. THE REMAINING EUROPEAN STATES 309 develop a rationalistic literature. In Russia, again, though in the fourteenth century the Strigolniks, who abounded at Novgorod, had held strongly by anti- ecclesiastical doctrines of the Paulician and Lollard type,' literature and culture, as distinguished from folk- lore and monastic writing, begin only in the sixteenth century. At this stage we find the usual symptom of criticism of the lives of the monks.- But the culture was almost wholly ecclesiastical, and in the seventeenth century the effort of the Patriarch Nicon to correct the sacred texts was furiously resisted. ^ Gradually there arose a new secular fiction, under western influence ; and Peter the Great, who promoted printing and literature as he did every other new activity, took the singular step of actually withdrawing writing materials from the monks, whose influence he held to be wholly reactionary. Now began the era of translations from the French ; and in the day of the great Catherine the ideas of the philosophes were the ruling ones at her court, ^ till the outbreak of the Revolution put the whole school in disgrace with her. This did not alter the tone of thought of the educated classes ; but in Russia as in the Scandinavian States it was not till the nineteenth century that original serious literature began. 3. Returning to Italy, no longer the leader of Euro- pean thought, but still full of veiled freethinking, we find in the seventeenth century the proof that no amount of such predisposition can countervail thoroughly bad political conditions. Ground down by the matchless misrule of Spain, from which the conspiracy of the monk Campanella vainly sought to free her, and by the kindred tyranny of the Papacy, Italy could produce in its educated class, save for the students of economics, ' Hardwick, Church History: Middle Age, 1853, pp. 386-7. = L. Sichler, Hist, de la litt. Russe, 1887, pp. S8-9, 139. Cp. Rambaud, History of Russia, Eng-. trans. 1879, i, 309, 321, 328. 3 Rambaud, i, 414-417. The struggle (1654) elicited old forms of heresy, going back to Manicheism and Gnosticism. •» She bought the library of Diderot when he was in need, constituted him its salaried keeper, and actually had him for a time at her court. 3 1 o MODERN EUROPEAN FREETHO UGHT only triflers, whose unbelief was of a piece with their cynicism. While Naples and the south decayed, mental energy had for a time flourished in Tuscany, where, under the grand dukes from Ferdinando I onwards, industry and commerce had revived ; and even after a time of retrogression Ferdinando II encouraged science, now made newly glorious by the names of Galileo and Torricelli. But again there was a relapse ; and at the end of the century, under a bigoted duke, Florence was priest-ridden and, at least in outward seeming, gloomily superstitious ; while, save for the better conditions secured at Naples under the viceroyalty of the Marquis of Carpi,' the rest of Italy was cynically corrupt and intellectually superficial.'' Yet it only needed the breathing time and the improved conditions under the Bourbon rule in the eighteenth century to set up a wonderful intellectual revival. First came the great work of Vico, the Principles of a New Science {I'jz^)^ whereof the originality and the depth — qualities in which, despite its incoherences, it on the whole excels Montes- quieu's Spirit of La%i)s — ^place him among the great free- thinkers in philosophy. It was significant of much that Vico's book, while constantly using the vocabulary of faith, grappled with the science of human development in an essentially secular and scientific spirit. This is the note of the whole eighteenth century in Italy. 3 Vico posits Deity and Providence, but proceeds never- theless to study the laws of civilisation inductively from its phenomena. He permanently obscured his case, indeed, by insisting on putting it theologically, and ' See Bishop Burnet's Letters, iv, ed. Rotterdam, 1686, pp. 187-191. Burnet observes that " there are societies of men at Naples of freer thoughts than can be found in any other place of Italy " ; and he admits a general tendency of intelligent Italians to recoil from Christianity by reason of Catholic corruption. But at the same time he insists that, though the laity speak with scorn of the clergy, " yet they are masters of the spirits of the people" (Id. pp. 195-7). - Zeller, Histoire d' Italic, pp. 426-432, 450 ; Procter, History of Italy, 2nd ed. pp. 240, 268. 3 Professor Flint, who insists on the deep piety of Vico, notes that he " appears to have had strangely little interest in Christian systematic theology" (Vico, 1884, p. 70). THE REM A INING E UROPEA N S TA TES 3 1 1 condemning Grotius and others for separating the idea of law from that of religion. Only in a pantheistic sense has Vico's formula any validity ; and he never avows a pantheistic view, refusing even to go with Grotius in allowing that Hebrew law was akin to that of other nations. But a rationalistic view, had he held it, would have been barred. The wonder is, in the circum- stances, not that he makes so much parade of religion, but that he could venture to undermine so vitally its pretensions, especially after he had found it prudent to renounce the project of annotating the great work of Grotius, De Jure Belli ac Pads, on the score that (as he puts it in his Autobiography) a good Catholic must not endorse a heretic. It is noteworthy, indeed, that the " New Science," as Vico boasted, arose in the Catholic and not in the Protestant world. The reason probably was that the energy which elsewhere ran to criticism of religion as such had in Catholic Italy to take other channels. As it was, Vico's sociology aroused on the one hand new rationalistic speculation as to the origin of civilisation, and on the other orthodox protest on the score of its fundamentally anti-Biblical character. It was thus attacked in 1749 by Damiano Romano, and later by Finetti, a professor at Padua, apropos of the propaganda raised by Vico's followers as to the animal origin of the human race. This began with Vico's disciple, Emmanuele Duni, a professor at Rome, who published a series of sociological essays in 1763. Thenceforth for many years there raged, " under the eyes of Pope and cardinals," an Italian debate between the Fermi and Antiferini, the afifirmers and deniers of the animal origin of man, the latter of course taking up their ground on the Bible, from which Finetti drew twenty-three objections to Vico.' Duni found it prudent to declare that he had " no intention of discussing the origin of the world, still less that of the Hebrew nation, but solely that of the Gentile nations "; but even when ' Professor Sicilian!, Sul Rimiovatnento della filosofia positiva in Italia, 1 87 1, pp. 37-41. 312 MODERN EUROPEAN FREETHOUGHT thus limited the debate set up far-reaching disturbance. At this stage Italian sociology doubtless owed some- thing to Montesquieu and Rousseau ; but the fact remains that the Scienza Nuova was a book " truly Italian ; lta.\ia.n par excellence.'"'^ It was Vico, too, who led the way in the critical handling of early Roman history, taken up later by Beaufort, and still later by Niebuhr ; and it was he who began the scientific analysis of Homer, followed up later by Wolf.^ In the same aee Muratori and Giannone amassed their unequalled historical learning ; and a whole series of Italian writers broke new ground on the field of social science, Italy having led the way in this as formerly in philosophy and physics. ^ The Hanoverian Dr. G. W. Alberti, of Italian descent, writes in 1752 that "Italy is full of atheists. "4 4. Between 1737 and 1798 may be counted twenty- eight Italian writers on political economy ; and among them was one, Cesare Beccaria, who on another theme produced perhaps the most practically influential single book of the eighteenth century, s the treatise on Crimes and Punishments (1764), which affected penal methods for the better throughout the whole of Europe. Even were he not known to be a deist, his strictly secular and rationalist method would have brought upon him priestly suspicion ; and he had in fact to defend himself against pertinacious and unscrupulous attacks, *" though he had ' Sicilian!, p. 36. = Introduction (by Mignet?) to the Princess Belgiojoso's trans. La Science Nouvelle, 1844, p. cxiii. Cp. Flint, Vico, p. 231. 3 See the Storia della economia pubblica in Italia of G. Pecchio, 1829, p. 61 sq., as to the claim of Antonio Serra (Breve trattato^ etc., 1613) to be the pioneer of modern political economy. Cp. Hallam, Lit. of Europe, iii, 164-6. Buckle (i-vol. ed. p. 122, tiote) has perhaps with more justice claimed the title for William Stafford, whose Compendious or briefe Examination of certain ordinary Complaints (otherwise called A Briefe Conceipt of Entrlish Policy) appeared in 1581. But cp. Ingram [Hist, of Pol. Econ. 1888, pp. 43-45) as to the prior claims of Bodin. '' Briefe, as before cited, p. 408. 5 The /?£■/ delitti e delle pene was translated into twenty-two languages. Pecchio, p. 144. ^ See in the 6th ed. of the Dei delitti (Harlem, 1766) the appended Risposta ad uno scritto, etc., Parte prima, Accuse d' empieta. THE REMAINING EUROPEAN STATES 313 sought in his book to guard himself by occasionally "veiling the truth in clouds."' As we have seen, Beccaria owed his intellectual awakening first to Mon- tesquieu and above all to Helvetius — another testimony to the reformative virtue of all freethought. 5. Of the aforesaid eight-and-twenty writers on economics, probably the majority were freethinkers. Among them, at all events, were Algarotti, the dis- tinguished £esthetician, one of the group round Frederick at Berlin ; Filangieri, whose work on legislation (put on the Index by the Papacy) won the high praise of Franklin ; Galiani, one of the brightest and soundest wits in the circle of the French philosophes ; Genovesi, the "redeemer of the Italian mind, "^ and the chief estab- lisher of economic science for modern Italy. To these names may be added those of Alfieri, one of the strongest anti-clericalists of his age ; Bettinelli, the correspondent of Voltaire and author of The Resurrection of Italy (1775); Count Dandolo, author of a French work on The New Men (1799); and the learned Gian- NONE, author of the great anti-papal History of the Kingdom of Naples (1723), who, after more than one narrow escape, was thrown in prison by the King of Sardinia, and died there (1748) after twelve years' con- finement. Italy had done her full share, considering her heritage of burdens and hindrances, in the intel- lectual work of the century ; and in the names of Galvani and Volta stands the record of one more of her great contributions to human enlightenment. Under Duke Leopold of Tuscany, the Papacy was so far defied that books put on the Index were produced for him under the imprint of London \^ and the papacy itself at length gave way to the spirit of reform, Clement XIV consenting among other things to abolish the Order of Jesuits (1773), after his predecessor had died of grief ' See his letter to the Abb^ Morellet, cited by Mr. Farrer in ch. i of his ed. of Crimes and Punishments, 1880, p. 5. It describes the Milanese as deeply sunk in prejudices. ^ Pecchio, p. 123. 3 Zeller, p. 473. 314 MODERN EUROPEAN FREETHOUGHT over his proved impotence to resist the secular policy of the States around him.' Such was the dawn of the new Italian day that has since slowly but steadily broadened, albeit under many a cloud. 6. For the rest of Europe during the eighteenth century, we have to note only traces of receptive thought. Spain under Bourbon rule, as already noted, experienced an administrative renascence. Such men as Count Aranda (1718-99) and Aszo y del Rio (1742- 1814) wrought to cut the claws of the Inquisition and to put down the Jesuits ; but not yet, after the long work of destruction accomplished by the church in the past, could Spain produce a fresh literature of any far-reaching power. When Aranda was about to be appointed in 1766, his friends the ¥ ve,v\ch. Encyclopedistes prematurely proclaimed their exultation in the reforms he was to accomplish ; and he sadly protested that they had thereby limited his possibilities.^ None the less he wrought much, the power of the Inquisition being already on the wane. Between 1746 and 1759 it had burned only ten persons ; from 1759 until 1781 it burned only four ; thereafter none,^ the last case having pro- voked an amount of comment which testified to the moral change wrought in Europe by a generation of freethought. The trouble was that the enlightened administration of Charles III in Spain did not build up a valid popular education, the sole security for durable rationalism. Its school policy, though not without zeal, was undemocratic, and so left the priests in control of the mind of the multitude ; and throughout the reign the ecclesiastical revenues had been allowed to increase greatly from private sources,-* When, accordingly, the weak and pious Charles IV succeeded in 1788, three of ' Zeller, pp. 478-9. - Coxe, Memoirs of the Boiirhon Kings of Spain, ed. 1815, iv, 408. 3 Buckle, iii, 547-S (i-vol. ed. 599-600). The last victim seems to have been a woman accused of witchcraft. Her nose was cut off before her execution. See the Marokkanische Briefe, 1785, p. 36; and Buckle's note 272. •» Buckle, p. 618. THE REMAINING EUROPEAN STATES 315 the anti-clerical Ministers of his predecessor, including Aranda, were put under arrest,' and clericalism resumed full sway, to the extent even of vetoing the study of moral philosophy in the universities.- Mentally and materially alike, Spain relapsed to her former state of indigence ; and the struggle for national existence against Napoleon evoked rather traditionalist sentiment than the spirit of innovation. 7. Portugal in the same period, despite the anti- clerical policy of the famous Marquis of Pombal, made no noticeable intellectual progress. Though that powerful statesman in 1761 abolished slavery in the kingdom, ^ he too failed to see the need for popular education, while promoting that of the upper classes. + His expul- sion of the Jesuits, accordingly, did but raise up against him a new set of enemies in the shape of the Jacobeos, " the Blessed," a species of Catholic Puritan, who accused him of impiety. His somewhat forensic defence^ leaves the impression that he was in reality a deist ; but though he fought the fanatics by imprisoning the Bishop of Coimbra, their leader, and by causing Moliere's Tartufe to be translated and performed, he does not seem to have shown any favour to the deistical literature of which the Bishop had composed a local Index Expurgatorius.^ In Portugal, as later in Spain, accordingly, a complete reaction set in with the death of the enlightened king. Dom Joseph died in 1777, and Pombal was at once disgraced and his enemies released, the pious Queen Maria and her Ministers subjecting him to persecution for some years. In 1783, the Queen, who became a religious maniac, and died insane,^ is found establishing new nunneries, and so adding to one of the main factors in the impoverishment, moral and financial, of Portugal. 8. During the period we have been surveying, up to the French Revolution, Switzerland, which owed much ' Buckle, p. 612. - Id. p. 613. 3 Carnota, The Marquis of Pombal, 2nd ed. 1871, p. 242. '* Id. p. 240. 5 Id. pp. 261-2. '' Id. p. 262. 7 Id. p. 375. 31 6 MODERN EUROPEAN FREETHOUGHT of new intellectual life to the influx of French Protestants at the revocation of the Edict of Nantes/ contributed to the European movement some names, of which by far the most famous is Rousseau ; and the potent presence of Voltaire cannot have failed to affect Swiss culture. The chief native service to intellectual progress thus far, however, was rendered in the field of the natural sciences, Swiss religious opinion being only passively liberalised, mainly in a Unitarian direction. ' P. Godet, Hist. lift, de la Suisse fran^aise, 1900. Chapter XVII. EARLY FREETHOUGHT IN THE UNITED STATES I. Perhaps the most signal of all the proofs of the change wrought in the opinion of the civilised world in the eighteenth century is the fact that at the time of the War of Independence the leading statesmen of the American colonies were deists. Such were Benjamin Franklin, the diplomatist of the Revolution ; Thomas Paine, its prophet and inspirer ; Washington, its commander ; and Jefferson, its typical legislator. But for these four men the American Revolution probably could not have been accomplished in that age ; and they thus represent in a peculiar degree the power of new ideas, in fit conditions, to transform societies, at least politically. On the other hand, the fashion in which their relation to the creeds of their time has been garbled, alike in American and English histories, proves how completely they were in advance of the average thought of their day : and also how effectively the mere institutional influence of creeds can arrest a nation's mental development. It is still one of the stock doctrines of religious sociology in England and America that deism, miscalled atheism, wrought the Reign of Terror in the French Revolution ; when as a matter of fact the same deism was at the head of affairs in the American. 2. The rise of rationalism in the colonies must be traced in the main to the imported English literature of the eighteenth century ; for the first Puritan settlements had contained at most only a fraction of freethought ; and the conditions, so deadly for all manner even of 317 3i8 EARLY FREETHOUGHT IN THE UNITED STATES devout heresy, made avowed unbelief impossible. The superstitions and cruelties of the Puritan clergy, how- ever, must have bred a silent reaction, which prepared a soil for the deism of the next age/ "The perusal of Shaftes- bury and Collins," writes Franklin with reference to his early youth, "had made me a sceptic," after being "previously so as to many doctrines of Christianity."^ This was in his seventeenth or eighteenth year, about 1720, so that the importation of deism had been prompt.^ Throughout life he held to the same opinion, conforming sufficiently to keep on fair terms with his neighbours, ■♦ and avoiding anything like critical propaganda; though on challenge, in the last year of his life, he avowed his negatively deistic position. ^ 3. Similarly prudent was Jef"ferson, who, like Franklin and Paine, extolled the Gospel Jesus and his teachings, but rejected the notion of supernatural revelation.^ In a letter written so late as 1822 to a Unitarian correspondent, while refusing to publish another of similar tone, on the score that he was too old for strife, he declared that he " should as soon undertake to bring the crazy skulls of Bedlam to sound under- standing as to inculcate reason into that of an Atha- nasian."^ His experience of the New England clergy is expressed in allusions to Connecticut as having been " the last retreat of monkish darkness, bigotry, and abhorrence of those advances of the mind which had ' John Wesley in his Journal, datingf May, 1737, speaks of having everywhere met many more " converts to infidelity " than " converts to Popery," with apparent reference to Carolina. - Such is the wording- of the passage in the Attfobiogtaphy in the Edinburgh edition of 1803, p. 25, which follows the French translation of the original MS. In the edition of the Autobiography and Letters in the Minerva Library, edited by Mr. Bettany (1891, p. 11), which follows Mr. Bigelow's edition of 1879, it runs : " Being then, from reading Shaftesbury and Collins, become a real doubter in many points of our religious doctrine " 3 Only in 1784, however, appeared the first anti-Christian work pub- lished in America, Ethan Allen's Reason the only Oracle of Man. As to its positions, see Conway, Life of Paine, ii, 192-3. * Autobiography, Bettany 's ed. pp. 56, 65, 74, 77, etc. 5 Letter of March gth, 1790. Id. p. 636. ^ Cp. J. T. Morse's Thomas Jefferson, pp. 339-340. ' MS. cited by Dr. Conway, Life of Paine, ii, 310-31 1. EARLY FREETHOUGHT IX THE UNITED STATES 319 carried the other States a century ahead of them "; and in congratulations with John Adams (who had written that " this would be the best of all possible worlds if there were no religion in it "), when " this den of the priesthood is at last broken up."' John Adams, whose letters with their '* crowd of scepticisms " kept even Jefferson from sleep, ^ seems to have figured as a member of a Congregationalist church, while in reality a Uni- tarian. ^ Still more prudent was Washington, who seems to have ranked habitually as a member of the episcopal church ; but concerning whom Jefferson relates that, when the clergy, having noted his constant abstention from any public mention of the Christian religion, so penned an address to him on his with- drawal from the Presidency as almost to force him to some declaration, he answered every part of the address but that, which he entirely ignored. It is further noted that only in his valedictory letter to the governors of the States, on resigning his commission, did he speak of the " benign influence of the Christian religion "^ — the common tone of the American deists of that day. It is further established that Washington avoided the Communion in church. ^ For the rest, the broad fact that all mention of deity was excluded from the Consti- tution of the United States must be historically taken to signify a profound change in the convictions of the leading minds among the people as compared with the beliefs of their ancestors. At the same time, the fact ' Memoirs of Jefferson, 1829, iv, 300-1. The date is 1817. These and other passages exhibiting: Jefferson's deism are cited in Rayner's Sketches of the Life, etc., of Jefferson, 1832, pp. 513-517. - Memoirs of Jefferson, iv, 331. 3 Dr. Conway, Life of Paine, ii, 310. •* Extract from Jefferson's Journal under date February ist, 1800, in the Memoirs, iv, 512. Gouverneur Morris, whom Jefferson furtiier cites as to Washing-ton's unbelief, is not a ver}' good witness ; but the main fact cited is significant. 5 Compare the testimony given by the Rev. Dr. Wilson, of Albany, in 1 83 1, as cited by R. D. Owen in his Discussion on the Authenticity of the Bible with O. Bacheler (London, ed. 1840, p. 231), with the replies on the other side (pp. 233-4). Washington's death-bed attitude was that of a deist. See all the available data for his supposed orthodoxy in Sparks' Life of Washington, 1852, app. iv. 320 EARLY FREETHOUGHT IN THE UNITED STATES that they as a rule dissembled their unbelief is a proof that, even where legal penalties do not attach to an avowal of serious heresy, there inheres in the menace of mere social ostracism a power sufficient to coerce the outward life of public and professional men of all grades, in a democratic community where faith maintains and is maintained by a competitive multitude of priests. With this force the freethought of our own age has to reckon, after Inquisitions and blasphemy laws have become obsolete. 4. Nothing in American culture-history more clearly proves the last proposition than the case of Thomas Paine, the virtual founder of modern democratic free- thought in Great Britain and the States.' It does not appear that Paine openly professed any heresy while he lived in England, or in America before the French Revo- lution. Yet the first sentence of his Age of Reason, of which the first part was written shortly before his im- prisonment, under sentence of death from the Robes- pierre Government, in Paris (1793), shows that he had long held pronounced deistic opinions.' They were probably matured in the States, where, as we have seen, such views were often privately held, though there, as Franklin is said to have jesuitically declared in his old age, by way of encouraging immigration : " Atheism is unknown ; infidelity rare and secret, so that persons may live to a great age in this country without having their piety shocked by meeting with either an atheist or an infidel." Paine did an unequalled service to the American Revolution by his Common Sense and his series of pamphlets headed The Crisis : there is, in fact, little question that but for the intense stimulus thus given by him at critical moments the movement might have collapsed at an early stage. Yet he seems to have had no thought there and then of avowing his deism. ' So far as is known, Paine was the first writer to use the expression, "the religion of Humanity." See Conway's Life of Poine, 1892, ii, 206. To Paine's influence, too, appears to be due the founding oi' the first American Anti-Slavery Society. Id. i, 51-2, 60, 80, etc. ^ Cp. Dr. Conway's Life of Paine, 'n, 20^-"]. EARLY FREETHOUGHT IN THE UNITED STATES 321 It was in part for the express purpose of resisting the ever-strengtheninsf attack of atheism in France on deism itself that he undertook to save it by repudiating the Jud^eo-Christian revelation ; and it is not even certain that he would have issued the Age of Reason when it did appear, had he not supposed he was going" to his death when put under arrest, on which score he left the manu- script for publication/ 5. Its immediate effect was much greater in Britain, where his Rights of Alan had already won him a vast popularity in the teeth of the most furious reaction, than in America, There, to his profound chagrin, he found that his honest utterance of his heresy brought on him hatred, calumny, ostracism, and even personal and political molestation. In 1797 he had founded in Paris the little '' Church of Theo-philanthropy," beginning his inaugural discourse with the words : " Religion has two principal enemies. Fanaticism and Infidelity, or that which is called atheism. The first requires to be com- bated by reason and morality ; the other by natural philosophy."^ These were his settled convictions ; and he lived to find himself shunned and vilified, in the name of religion, in the country whose freedom he had so puissantly wrought to win.^ The Quakers, his father's ' A letter of Franklin to someone who had shown him a freethinking manuscript, advising; against its publication (Bettany's ed. p. 620), has been conjecturally connected with Paine, but was clearly not addressed to him. Franklin died in 179a, and Paine was out of America from 1787 onwards. But the letter is in every way inapplicable to the Age of Reason. The remark : " If men are so wicked ".inth religion, what would they be ivitliout it ? " could not be made to a devout deist like Paine. ^ Conway, Life of Paine, 1892, ii, 254-5. 3 See Dr. Conway's chapter, " The American Inquisition," vol. ii, ch. 16 ; also pp. 361-2, 374, 379. The falsity of the ordinary charges against Paine's character is finally made clear by Dr. Conway, ch. xix, and pp. 371, 383, 419, 423. Cp. the author's pamphlet, Thomas Paine : An Investigation (Bonner). The chronically revived story of his death- bed remorse for his writings — long ago exposed (Conwa}-, ii, 420) — is definitively discredited in the latest reiteration. That occurs in the Life and Letters of Dr. R. H. Thomas (1905), the mother of whose stepmother was the Mrs. Mary Hinsdale, n^e Roscoe, on whose testi- mony the legend rests. Dr. Thomas, a Quaker of the highest character, accepted the story without question, but incidentally tells of the old lad}' (p. 13) that '^ her ii'anderi>ig fancies had all the charm of a present fairy- tale to us." No further proof is needed, after the previous exposure, of the worthlessness of the testimony in question. VOL. II Y 322 EARLY FREETHOUGHT IN THE UNITED STATES sect, refused him a burial-place. He has had sympathy and fair play, as a rule, only from the atheists whom he distrusted and opposed, or from thinkers who no longer hold by deism. There is reason to think that in his last years the deistic optimism which survived the deep disappointments of the French Revolution began to give way before deeper reflection on the cosmic problem,' if not before the treatment he had undergone at the hands of Unitarians and Trinitarians alike. The Butleriain argument, that Nature is as unsatisfactory as revelation, had been pressed upon him by Bishop Watson in a reply to the Age of Reason; and though, like most deists of his age, he regarded it as a vain defence of orthodoxy, he was not the man to remain long blind to its force against deistic assumptions. Like Franklin, he had energetically absorbed and given out the new ideals of physical science ; his originality in the invention of a tubular iron bridge, and in the application of steam to navigation, "" being nearly as notable as that of Franklin's great discovery concerning electricity. Had the two men drawn their philosophy from the France of the latter part of the century instead of the England of the first, they had doubtless gone deeper. As it was, tem- peramental optimism had kept both satisfied with the transitional formula ; and in the France of before and after the Revolution they lived pre-occupied with politics. 6. The habit of reticence or dissimulation among American public men was only too surely confirmed by the treatment meted out to Paine. Few stood by him ; and the vigorous deistic movement set up in his latter years by Elihu Palmer soon succumbed to the condi- tions, ^ though Palmer's book. The Principles of Nature (1802, rep. by Richard Carlile, 1819), is a powerful attack on the Judaic and Christian systems all along the ' Conway, ii, 371. ^ See the details in Conway's Life, ii, 280-1, and note. He had also a scheme for a g-unpowder motor {Id. and i, 240), and various other remarkable plans. 3 Conway, ii, 362-371. EARLY FREETHOUGHT IN THE UNITED STATES 323 line. George Houston, leaving England after two years' imprisonment for his translation of d'Holbach's Ecce Homo, went to New York, where he edited the Minerva (1822), reprinted his book, and started a freethought journal, The Correspondence. That, however, lasted only eighteen months. All the while, such statesmen as Madison and Monroe, the latter Paine's personal friend, seem to have been of his way of thinking,' though the evidence is scanty. The essential evil is that the baseness of partisan politics is at all times ready to turn a man's heresy to his political ruin ; such being in part the explanation of the gross ingratitude shown to Paine. Thus it came about that, save for the liberal movement of the Hicksite Quakers,- the secret American deism of Paine's day was decorously trans- formed into the later Unitarianism, the extremely rapid advance of which in the next generation is the best proof of the commonness of private unbelief. The influence of Priestley, who, persecuted at hom.e, went to end his days in the States, had doubtless much to do with the Unitarian development there, as in England ; but it seems certain that the whole deistic movement, including the work of Paine and Palmer, had tended to move out of orthodoxy many of those who now, recoiling from the fierce hostility directed against the outspoken free- thinkers, sought a more rational form of creed than that of the orthodox churches. The deistic tradition in a manner centred in the name of Jefferson, and the known deism of so popular a leader would do much to make fashionable a heresy which combined his philosophy with a decorous attitude to the Sacred Books. ' Testimonies quoted by R. D. Owen, as cited, pp. 231-2. - Conway, ii, 422. Chapter XVIII. FREETHOUGHT IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY As with the cause of democracy, so with the cause of rationaUsm, the forward movement which was checked for a generation by the reaction against the French Revolution grew only the deeper and more powerful through the check; and the nineteenth century closed on a record of freethinking progress which may be said to outbulk that of all the previous centuries of the modern era together. So great has been the activity of the century in point of mere quantity that it is im- possible, within the scheme of a " Short History," to treat it on even such a reduced scale of narrative as has been applied to the past, A detailed history from the French Revolution onwards probably requires a separate book as large as the present. It must here suffice, therefore, to take a series of broad and general views of the century's work, leaving adequate critical and narra- tive treatment for a separate undertaking. The most helpful method seems to be that of a conspectus (i) of the main movements and forces that have affected in varying degrees the thought of the civilised world, and (2) of the advance made and the point reached in the culture of the nations, separately considered. At the same time, the forces of rationalism may be discriminated into Particular and General. We may then roughly represent the lines of movement, in non-chronological order, as follows : — ■ I. — Forces of criticism and corrective thought bearing expressly on religious beliefs. I. In Great Britain and America, the new movements of popular freethought deriving immediately from Paine, and last- ing continuously to the present day. 324 FREETHOUGHT IN THE igih CENTURY 325 2. In France and elsewhere, the reverberation of the attack of Voltaire, d'Holbach, Dupuis, and Volney, carried on most persistently in Catholic countries by the Freemasons, as against official orthodoxy after 181 5. 3. German " rationalism," proceeding from English deism, moving towards naturalist as against supernaturalist concep- tions, dissolving the notion of the miraculous in both Old and New Testament history, and all along affecting studious thought in other countries. 4. The compromise of Lessing, claiming for all religions a place in a scheme of "divine education." 5. In England, the neo-Christianity of the school of Coleridge, a disintegrating force, promoting the " Broad Church " tendency, which in Dean Milman is so pronounced as to bring on him charges of rationalism. 6. The utilitarianism of the school of Bentham, carried into moral and social science. 7. Comtism, making little direct impression on the "con- structive " lines laid by the founder, but affecting critical thought in all directions. 8. German philosophy, Kantian and post-Kantian, in parti- cular the Hegelian, turned to anti-Christian and anti-super- naturalist account by Strauss, Vatke, Bruno Bauer, Feuerbach, and -Marx. 9. German atheism and scientific "materialism" — repre- sented by Feuerbach and Biichner (who, however, rejected the term " materialism " as inappropriate). 10. Revived English deism, involving destructive criticism of Christianity, as in Hennell, F. VV. Newman, R. W. Mackay, W. R. Greg, Theodore Parker, and Thomas Scott, partly in co-operation with Unitarianism. 11. American transcendentalism or pantheism — the school of Emerson. 12. Colenso's preliminary attack on the Pentateuch, a systematised return to Voltairean common-sense, rectifying the unscientific course of the "higher criticism " on the historical issue. 13. The later or scientific "higher criticism" of the Old Testament — represented by Kuenen, Wellhausen, and their successors. 14. New historical criticism of Christian origins, in particular the work of Strauss and Baur in Germany, Renan and Havet in France, and their successors. 15. Exhibition of rationalism within the churches, as in Germany, Holland, and Switzerland generally ; in England in the Essays and Reviews ; later in multitudes of essays and 326 FREETHOUGHT IN THE igth CENTURY books, and in the documentary criticism of the Old Testament ; in America in popular theology. 16. Association of rationalistic doctrine with the Socialist movements, new and old, from Owen to Marx. 17. Communication of doubt and questioning" through poetry and belles-lettres — as in Shelley, Byron, Coleridge, Clough, Tennyson, Carlyle, Arnold, Browning", Swinburne, Heine, Victor Hugo, Leconte de Lisle, Leopardi, and some recent French and English novelists. n. — Modern Science, physical, mental, atid moral, sapping the bases of all supernaturalist systems. 1. Astronomy, newly directed by Laplace. 2. Geology, gradually'connected (as in Britain by Chambers) with 3. Biology, made definitely non-deistic by Darwin. 4. The comprehension of all science in the Evolution Theory, as b}' Spencer, advancing on Comte. 5. Psychology, as regards localisation oi brain functions. 6. Comparative mythology, as yet imperfectly applied to Christism. 7. Sociology, as outlined by Comte, Buckle, Spencer, Winwood Reade, Lester Ward, Giddings, Tarde, Durkheim, and others, on strictly naturalistic lines. 8. Comparative Hierology ; the methodical application of principles insisted on by all the deists, and formulated in the interests of deism by Lessing, but latterly freed of his impli- cations. On the other hand, we may group somewhat as follows the general forces of retardation of freethought operating throughout the century : — 1. Penal laws, still operative in Germany against popular freethought propaganda, and till recently in Britain against any endowment of freethought. 2. Class interests, involving in the first half of the century a social conspiracy against rationalism in England. 3. Commercial pressure thus set up, and always involved in the influence of churches. 4. In England, identification of orthodox Dissent with political Liberalism — a sedative. 5. Concessions by the clergy, especially in England and the United States — to many, another sedative. 6. Above all, the production of new masses of popular ignorance in the Industrial nations, and continued lack of education In the others. POPULAR PROPAGANDA 327 7. Ow this basis, business-like and in large part secular- minded organisation of the endowed churches, as against a freethought propaganda hampered by the previously named causes, and in England by laws which veto all direct endow- ment of anti-Christian heresy. It remains to make, with forced brevity, the surveys thus outlined. § I . Popular Propaganda. I. If any one circumstance more than another differen- tiates the Hfe of to-day from that of older civilisations, or from that of previous centuries of the modern era, it is the diffusion of rationalistic views among the " common people." In no other age is to be found the phenomenon of widespread critical skepticism among the labouring masses ; in all previous ages, though chronic complaint is made of some unbelief among the uneducated, the constant and abject ignorance of the mass of the people has been the sure foothold of superstitious systems. And this vital change in the distribution of know- ledge is largely to be attributed to the written and spoken teaching of a line of men who made popular enlightenment their great aim. Their leading type among the English-speaking races is Thomas Paine, whom we have seen combining a gospel of democracy with a gospel of critical reason in the midst of the French Revolution. Never before had rationalism been made popular. The English and French deists had written for the middle and upper classes. Peter Annet was practically the first who sought to reach the multitude ; and his punishment expressed the special resentment aroused in the governing classes by such a policy. Of all the English freethinkers of the earlier deistical period he alone was selected for reprinting by the propagandists of the Paine period. Paine was to Annet, however, as a cannon to a musket, and through the democratic ferment of his day he won an audience a hundredfold wider than Annet could dream of reaching. The anger of the governing classes, 328 FREETHOUGHT IN THE icjih CENTURY in a time of anti-democratic panic, was proportional. Paine would have been at least imprisoned iorh\s Rights of Man had he not fled from England in time ; and the sale of all his books was furiously prohibited and ferociously punished. Yet they circulated everywhere, even in Protestant Ireland,' hitherto affected only under the surface of upper-class life by deism. The circulation of Bishop Watson's Apology in reply only served to spread the contagion, as it brought the issues before multitudes who would notrotherwise have heard of them.^ All the while, direct propaganda was carried on by trans- lations and reprints as well as by fresh English tractates. Diderot's Thoughts on Religion, and Freret's Letter from ThrasybuliLs to Lencippus, seem to have been great favourites among the Painites, as was Elihu Palmer's Principles of Nature ; and Volney's Ruins of Empires had a large vogue. Condorcet's Esquisse had been promptly translated in 1795 ; the translation of d'Holbach's System of Nature reached a third edition in 1817 ;3 that of Raynal's History had been reprinted in 1804; and that of Helvetius On the Mind in 1810; while an English abridgment of Bayle in four volumes, on freethinking lines, appeared in 1826. Meantime, new writers arose to carry into fuller detail the attacks of Paine, sharpening their weapons on those of the more scholarly French deists. A Life of Jesus Christ, including his Apocryphal LListory,'' was published in 1818, with such astute avoidance of all comment that it escaped prosecution. Others, taking a more daring course, fared accordingly. George Houston translated the Ecce LLomo of d'Holbach, first ' Lecky, Hist, of Ireland in the Eighteenth Ce)itury, ed. 1892, iii, 382. = Cp. Conway's life of Paine, ii, 252-3. 3 This translation, issued by " Sherwood, Xeely, and Jones, Pater- noster Row, and all booksellers, " purports to be " with additions." The translation, however, has altered d'Holbach's atheism to deism. •* By W. Huttman. The book is "embellished with a head of Jesus" — a conventional relig-ious picture. Huttman's opinions may be divined from the last sentence of his preface, alluding- to " the hig-h pretentions and inflated stile of the lives of Christ which issue periodically from the Eng;lish press." POPULAR PROPAGANDA 329 publishing it at Edinburgh in 1799, and reprinting it in London in 1813. For the second issue he was prose- cuted, fined ^200, and imprisoned for two years in Newgate. Robert Wedderburn, a mulatto calling him- self " the Rev.," in reality a superannuated journeyman tailor who officiated in Hopkins Street Unitarian Chapel, London, was in 1820 sentenced to two years' imprison- ment in Dorchester Jail for a " blasphemous libel " contained in one of his pulpit discourses. His Letters to the Rev. Solomon Herschell (the Jewish Chief Rabbi) and to the Archbishop of Canterbury show a happy vein of orderly irony and not a little learning, despite his profession of apostolic ignorance ; and at the trial the judge admitted his defence to be " exceedingly well drawn up." His publications naturally received a new impetus, and passed to a more drastic order of mockery. As the years went on, the persecution in England grew still fiercer; but it was met with a stubborn hardihood which wore out even the malice of piety. One of the worst features of the religious crusade was that it affected to attack not unbelief but "vice," such being the plea on which Wilberforce and others prose- cuted, during a period of more than twenty years, the publishers and booksellers who issued the works of Paine.' But even that dissembling device did not ultimately avail. A name not to be forgotten by those who value obscure service to human freedom is that of Richard Carlile, who between 1819 and 1835 underwent nine years' imprisonment in his unyielding struggle for the freedom of the Press, of thought, and of speech.^ John Clarke, an ex-Methodist, became one of Carlile's shopmen, was tried in 1824 for selling one of his publications, and " after a spirited ' Cp. Dynamics of Religion, pp. 208-9. - See Harriet Martineau's History of the Peace, ed. 1877, ii, 87, and Mrs. Carlile Campbell's Tlie Battle of the Press (Bonner, 1899) passim, as to the treatment of those who acted as Carlile's shopmen. \\'omcn were imprisoned as well as men — e.g.. Sl'sanna Wright, as to whom see Wheeler's Dictionary, and last ref. Carlile's wife and sister were like- wise imprisoned with him ; and over twenty volunteer shopmen in all went to jail. 330 FREETHOUGHT IN THE iqth CENTURY defence, in which he read many of the worst passages of the Bible," was sentenced to three years' imprison- ment, and to find securities for good behaviour during life. The latter disability he effectively anticipated by writing, while in prison, A Critical Review of the Life^ Character, and Miracles of Jesus, wherein Christian feelings were treated as Christians had treated the feelings of freethinkers, with a much more destructive result. Published first, strangely enough, in the New- gate Magazine, it was republished in 1825 and 1839, with impunity. Thus did a brutal bigotry bring upon itself ever a deadlier retaliation, till it sickened of the contest. Those who threw up the struggle on the orthodox side declaimed as before about the tone of the unbeliever's attack, failing to read the plain lesson that, while noisy bigotry deterred from utterance all the gentler and more sympathetic spirits on the side of reason, the work of reason could be done onlv bv the harder natures, which gave back blow for blow and insult for insult, rejoicing in the encounter. Thus championed, freethought could not be crushed. The propagandist and publishing work done by Carlile was carried on diversely by such free lances as Robert Taylor (ex -clergyman, author of the Diegesis, 1829, and The DeviTs Pulpit, 1830), Charles Southwell (1814-1860), and William Hone,' who ultimately became an independent preacher. Southwell, a disciple of Robert Owen, who edited Tlie Oracle of Reason, was imprisoned for a year in 1840 for publishing in that journal an article entitled " The Jew Book "; and was succeeded in the editorship by George Jacob HoLYOAKE (181 7-1906), another Owenite missionary, who met a similar sentence ; whereafter George Adams and his wife, who continued to publish the journal, were ' Hone's most important service to popular culture was his issue of the Apocryphal Neiv Tcstiu/ic/if, which, by coordinatint^ work of the same kind, g'ave a fresh scientific basis to the popular criticism of the Gospel history. As to his famous trial for blasphemy on the score of his having- published certain parodies, political in intention, see B. I, ch. x (by Knig-ht) of Harriet Martineau's History of the Peace. POPULAR PROPAGANDA 331 imprisoned in turn. Matilda Roalfe and Mrs. Emma Martin about the same period underwent imprisonment for like causes.' In this fashion, by the steady courajre of a much-enduring band of men and women, was set on foot a systematic Secularist propaganda — the name having relation to the term "Secularism," coined by Mr. Holyoake. In this evolution political activities played an im- portant part. Henry Hetherington (i 792-1849), the strenuous democrat who in 1830 began the trade union movement, and so became the founder of Chartism, fought for the right of publication in matters of free- thought as in politics. After undergoing two imprison- ments of six months each (1832), and carrying on for three and a half years the struggle for an untaxed press, which ended in his victory (1834), he was in 1840 indicted for publishing Haslam's Letters to the Clergy of all Denominations^ a freethinking criticism of Old Testament morality. He defended himself so ably that Lord Denman, the judge, confessed to have " listened with feelings of great interest and sentiments of respect too," and Justice Talfourd later spoke of it as marked by " great propriety and talent." Nevertheless, he was punished by four months' imprisonment.- In the following year, on the advice of Francis Place, he brought a test prosecution for blasphemy against Moxon, the poet-publisher, for issuing Shelley's com- plete works, including Queen Mah. Talfourd, then Serjeant, defended Moxon, and pleaded that there " must be some alteration of the law, or some restriction of the right to put it in action "; but the jury were impartial enough to find the publisher guilty, though he received no punishment. ^ Among other works pub- lished by Hetherington was one entitled A Hunt after ' Holyoake, >S/;v/>' Years of an Agitator's Life, i, 109-110. See p. iii as to other cases. ^ Art. by G. J. Holyoake in Diet, of Nat. Biog. Cp. Holyoake's Sixty Years of an Agitator's Life, per index. 3 Articles in Diet, of Nat. Biog. 332 FREETHOUGHT IN THE igth CENTURY the Devil, "by Dr. P. Y." (really by Lieutenant Lecount), in which the story of Noah's ark was subjected to a destructive criticism.' 2. Mr. Holyoake had been a missionary and martyr in the movement of Socialism set up by Robert Owex, whose teaching, essentially scientific on its psychological or philosophical side, was the first effort to give syste- matic effect to democratic ideals by organising industry. It was in the discussions of the "Association of all Classes of all Nations," formed by Owen in 1835, that the word "Socialism" first became current.^ Owen was a freethinker in all things y and his whole movement was so penetrated by an anti-theological spirit that the clergy as a rule became its bitter enemies, though such publicists as Macaulay and John Mill also com- bined with them in scouting it on political and economic grounds. None the less, " his secularistic teaching gained such influence among the working classes as to give occasion for the statement in the Westminster Review (1839) that his principles were the actual creed of a great portion of them."-^ To a considerable extent it was furthered by the popular deistic philosophy of George and Andrew Combe, which then had a great vogue ;5 and by the implications of phrenology, then also in its most scientific and progressive stage. When, for various reasons, Owen's movement dis- solved, the freethinking element seems to have been absorbed in the secular party, while the others appear to have gone in part to build up the movement of Co-operation. The imprisonment of Mr. Holyoake (1842) for six months, on a trifling charge of blasphemy, is an illustration of the brutal spirit of ' Holyoake, Sixty Years, i, 47. - Kirkup, History of Socialism, 1892, p. 64. 3 '* From an early ag-e he had lost all belief in the prevailing forms of religion " (Kirkup, p. 59). ■» Kirkup, as cited, p. 64. = Of George Combe's Constitution o/"yl/rt;/, a deistic work, over 50,000 copies were sold in Britain within twelve 3ears, and 10,000 in America. Advt. to 4th ed. 1839. POPULAR PROPAGANDA 333 public orthodoxy at the time/ Where bigotry could thus only injure and oppress without suppressing heresy, it stimulated resistance ; and the result of the stimulus was the founding of a Secular Society in 1852. Six years later there was elected to the presidency of the London Society of that name the young Charles Bradlaugh, one of the greatest orators of his age, and one of the most powerful personalities ever associated with a progressive movement. A personal admirer of Owen, he never accepted his social polity, but was at all times the most zealous of democratic reformers. Thenceforward the working masses in England were in large part kept in touch with a freethought which drew on the results of the scientific and scholarly research of the time, and wielded a dialectic of which trained opponents confessed the power. ^ The inspiration and the instruction of the popular movement thus maintained were at once literary, scientific, ethical, historical, scholarly, and philosophic. Shelley was its poet ; Voltaire its story-teller ; and Gibbon its favourite historian. In philosophy, Brad- laugh learned less from Hume than from Spinoza ; in Biblical criticism — himself possessing a working know- ledge of Hebrew — he collated all the work of English and French specialists, down to and including Colenso, applying all the while to the consecrated record the merciless tests of a consistent ethic. At the same time, the whole battery of argument from the natural sciences was turned against traditionalism and supernaturalism, alike in the lectures of Bradlaugh and the other speakers of his party, and in the pages of his journal, The National Reformer. The general outcome was an unprecedented diffusion of critical thought among the English masses, and a proportionate antagonism to those who had wrought such a result. When, therefore, Brad- laugh, as deeply concerned for political as for intellectual ' See the details in his Last Trial by Jury for Atheism in England. - See Professor Flint's tribute to the reasoning power of Bradlaugfh and Holyoake in his Anti-Theistic Theories, 4th ed. pp. 518-519. 334 FREETHOUGHT IN THE igfh CENTURY righteousness, set himself to the task of entering Parliament, he commenced a struggle which shortened his life, though it promoted his main objects. Not till after a series of electoral contests extending over twelve years was he elected for Northampton in 1880; and the House of Commons in a manner enacted afresh the long resistance made to him in that city. When, however, on his election in 1880, the Conservative Opposition began the historic proceedings over the Oath question, they probably did even -more to deepen and diffuse the popular freethought movement than Bradlaugh himself had done in the whole of his previous career. The process was furthered by the policy of prosecuting and imprisoning Mr. G. W. Foote, editor oi th.Q Freethinker^ under the Blasphemy Laws — a course not directly ventured on as against Bradlaugh, though it was sought to connect him with the publication of Mr. Foote's journal. To this day, it is common to give a false account of the origin of the episode, representing Bradlaugh as having "forced" his opinions on the attention of the House. Rather he strove unduly to avoid wounding religious feeling. Wont to make affirmation by law in the courts of justice, he felt that it would be unseemly on his part to take the oath of allegiance if he could legally affirm. On this point he expressly consulted the law officers of the Crown, and they gave the opinion that he had the legal right, which was his own belief. The faction called the "fourth party," however^ saw an opportunity to embarrass the Gladstone Government by challenging the act, and thus arose the protracted struggle. Only when a committee of the House decided that he could not affirm did Bradlaugh propose to take the oath, in order to take his seat. The pretence of zeal for religion, made by the politicians who had raised the issue, was known by all men to be the merest hypocrisy. Lord Randolph Churchill, who distinguished himself by insisting on the moral necessity for a belief in " some divinity or POPULAR PROPAGANDA 335 Other," is recorded to have professed a special esteem for Mr. John Morley, a Positivist.' The whole procedure, in Parliament and out, was so visibly that of the lowest political malice, exploiting the crudest religious intoler- ance, that it turned into active freethinkers many who had before been only passive doubters, and raised the secu- larist party to an intensity of zeal never before seen. At no period in modern British history had there been so constant and so keen a platform propaganda of unbelief; so unsparing an indictment of Christian doctrine, history, and practice ; such contemptuous rebuttal of every Christian pretension ; such asperity of spirit against the creed which was once more being cham- pioned by chicanery, calumny, and injustice. In^those five years of indignant warfare were sown the seeds of a more abundant growth of rationalism than had ever before been known in the British Islands. When Bradlaugh at length took the oath and his seat in 1886, under a ruling of the Speaker which stultified the whole action of the Speaker and majorities of the previous Parliament, and no less that of the Law Courts, straight- forward freethought stood three-fold stronger in England than in any previous generation. Apart from their educative work, the struggles and sufferings of the secularist leaders had now secured for Great Britain the abolition within one generation of the old burden of suretyship on newspapers, and of the disabilities of non- theistic witnesses;- the freedom of public meeting in the London parks ; the right of avowed atheists to sit in Parliament (Bradlaugh having secured in 1888 their title to make affirmation instead of oath) ; and the virtual discredit of the Blasphemy Laws as such. It is probable also that the treatment meted out to Mrs. Besant marked the end of another form of tyrannous outrage, already made historic in the case of Shelley. Secured the custody of her children under a marital deed of separation, ' After Bradlaugfh had secured his seat, the noble lord, when leader of the House, even soug-ht his society. ^ See ;\Irs. Bradlaug-h Bonner's Charles Bradlaugh, i, 149, 288-9. 336 FREETHOUGHT IN THE igih CENTURY she was deprived of it at law (1879) on her avowal of atheistic opinions, with the result that her influence as a propagandist was immensely increased. 3. Only in the United States has the public lecture platform been made a means of propaganda to anything like the extent seen in Britain ; and the greatest part of the work in the States has thus far been done by the late Colonel Ingersoll, the leading American orator of the last generation, and the most widely influential platform propagandist of the last century. No other single freethinker, it is believed, has reached such an audience by public speech. In other countries, popular freethought has been spread, as apart from books, mainly by pamphlets and journalism, and, in the Latin countries, by the organisation of freemasonry, which is there normally anti-clerical. In France, the movement of Fourier (i 772-1837) may have counted for something as organising the secular spirit among the workers in the period of the monarchic and Catholic reaction ; but at no time was the proletariat of Paris otherwise than largely Voltairean after the Revolution, of which one of the great services (carried on by Napoleon) was an improvement in popular education. The new non- Christian systems of Saint-Simon' (i 760-1 823) and AuGUSTE CoMTE (1798-1857) never took any practical hold among them ; but throughout the century they have been fully the most freethinking working-class population in the world. During the period of reaction after the restoration, numerous editions of Volney's Raines and of the Abrege^ of Dupuis's Origine de tons les Cidtes served to maintain among the more intelligent an almost scientific rationalism, which can hardly be said to be improved on by such historiography as that of Renan's Vie de Jesus. ■ Saint-Simon, who proposed a " new Christianity," expressly guarded against direct appeals to the people. See Weil, Sanif-Siiiioii ef son CEuvre, 1894, p. 19.3. As to the Saint-Simonian sect, see an interesting testimony b}' Renan, Les Apofrcs, p. 148. = Louis Philippe sought to suppress this book, of which many editions had appeared before 1830. See Blanco White's Life, 1845, •') '^S- POPULAR PROPAGANDA 337 In Other Catholic countries the course of popular culture in the first half of the century was not greatly dissimilar to that seen in France, though less rapid and expansive. Thus we find the Spanish Inquisitor- General in 1815 declaring that "all the world sees with horror the rapid progress of unbelief," and denouncing "the errors and the newand dangerous doctrines" which have passed from other countries to Spain.' This evolution was to some extent checked ; but in the latter half of the century, especially in the last twenty years, freethinking journalism has counted for much in the most Catholic parts of Southern Europe. The influence of such journals is to be measured not by their circula- tion, which is never great, but by their keeping up a habit of more or less instructed freethinking among readers, to many of whom the instruction is not other- wise easily accessible. Probably the least ambitious of them is an intellectual force of a higher order than the highest grade of popular religious journalism ; while some of the stronger, as De Dageraad of Amsterdam, have ranked as high-class serious reviews. In the more free and progressive countries, however, freethought affects all periodical literature ; and in France it partly permeates the ordinary newspapers. In England, where a series of monthly or weekly publications of an emphati- cally freethinking sort has been nearly continuous from about 1840,'' new ones rising in place of those which succumbed to the commercial difficulties, such periodicals suffer an economic pinch in that they cannot hope for much income from advertisements, which are the chief sustenance of popular journals and magazines. The same law holds elsewhere ; but in England and America the high-priced reviews have been gradually opened to rationalistic articles, the way being led by the ^ Llorente, Hist. crit. de I' Inquisition de V Espagne, ze ^dit. iv, 153. - Before 1840 the popular freethoug^ht propaganda had been partly carried on under cover of Radicalism, as in Carlile's Republican, and Lion, and in publications of William Hone. Cp. H. B. Wilson's article " The National Church," in Essays and Reviews, 9th ed. p. 152. VOL II Z 338 FREETHOUGHT IX THE Kjth CENTURY English Westminster Review"^ and Fortnightly Review, both founded with an eye to freer discussion. Among the earlier freethinking- periodicals may be noted The Republican, 1819-26 (edited by Carlile) ; The Deisfs Magazine, 1820; The Lion, 1828 (Carlile) ; 7'/z6' /^/'o/«/>^'r, 1830 (Carlile) ; The Grt?<«//^/, 1833 (Carlile); The Atheist and Reptiblican, 1841-2; The Blasphemer, 1842 ; The Oracle of Reason (founded by Southwell), 1842, etc. ; The Reasoner and Herald of Progress (largely con- ducted by Mr. Holyoake), 1846-1861 ; Cooper'' s Journal ; or, unfet- tered Thinker, etc., 1850, etc.; The Movement, 1843 ; The Free- thinker's Infortnation forthe People (undated : after 1840) ; Free- thinker's Magazine, 1850, etc. ; London Investigator, 1854, etc. Mr. "Brixdhiug^WsNational Reformer, begun in i860, lasted till 1893. Mr. Yoote's Freethinker, begun in 1881, still subsists. Various freethinking monthlies have risen and fallen since 1880 — e.g.. Our Corner, edited by Mrs. Besant, 1883-88 ; The Liberal and Progress, edited by Mr. Foote, 1879-87; the Free Review, transformed into the University Magazine, 1893- i8g8. The Reformer, a monthly, edited by Mrs. Bradlaugh Bonner, subsisted from 1897 to 1904. The Literary Guide, which began as a small sheet in 1885, flourishes. Recently, a popular Socialist journal, The Clarion, has declared for rationalism through the pen of its editor, Mr. R. Blatchford (" Nunquam"), whose polemic has caused much contro\ersy. For a generation back, further, rationalistic essays have appeared from time to time not onlv in the Fortnightly Review (founded by G. H. Lewes, and long edited by Mr. John Morley, much of whose writing on the French philosophes appeared in its pages), but in the Nineteenth Century, wherein was carried on, for instance, the famous controversy between Mr. Gladstone and Professor Huxley. Latterly, the Independent Review has given space to a number of outspoken criticisms of current religion ; and in the Hibbert Journal some opening is given to advanced views. 4. In Germany the relative selectness of culture, the comparative aloofness of the " enlightened " from the mass of the people, made possible after the War of Independence a certain pietistic reaction, in the absence of any popular propagandist machinery or purpose on the side of the rationalists. In the opinion of an evan- gelical authority, at the beginning of the nineteenth ' Described as " our chief atheistic org-an " by the late Professor F. W. Newman " because Dr. James Martineau declined to continue writing;; for it, because it interpolated atheistical articles between his theistic articles " ( Contributions to tJie early history of the late Cardinal Newman, 1891, p. 103). The review was for a time edited by J. S. Mill, POPULAR PROPAGANDA 339 century, " through modern Q,n\\g\\X.^nmQ.x\t {Aiifkldriing) the people had become indifferent to the church ; the Bible was regarded as a merely human book, the Saviour merely as a person who had lived and taught long ago, not as one whose almighty presence is with his people still."' According to the same authority, "before the war, the indifference to the word of God which prevailed among the upper classes had penetrated to the lower ; but after it, a desire for the Scriptures was everywhere felt."- A pietistic movement had, however, begun during the period of the French ascendancy y- and inasmuch as the freethinking of the previous generation had been in large part associated with French opinion, it was natural that on this side anti-French feeling should promote a reversion to older and more " national " forms of feeling. Thus after the fall of Napoleon the tone of the students who had fought in the war seems to have been more religious than that of previous years."^ Inasmuch, how- ever, as the " enlightenment" of the scholarly class was maintained, and applied anew to critical problems, the religious revival did not turn back the course of progress.^ Alongside of the pietistic reaction of the Liberation period there went on an open ecclesiastical strife, dating from an anti-rationalist declaration by the Court preacher Reinhard at Dresden in 181 1,^ between the rationalists or " Friends of Light " and the Scripturalists of the old school ; and the effect was a general disintegration of orthodoxy, despite, or it may be largely in virtue of, the governmental policy of rewarding the Pietists and discouraging their opponents in the way of official ' Pastor W. Baiir, Hamburg;, Religious Life in Germany during the Wars of Independence, Eng-. trans. 1872, p. 41. - Id. p. 481. 3 See the same m oXwvaQ, passim. "• Karl von Raumer, Contrib. to the Hist, of the German Universities, Eng. trans. 1859, p. 79. The intellectual tone of W. Baur and K. von Raumer certainly protects them from any charge of " enlightenment. " = " When the third centenary commemoration, in 1817, of the Reforma- tion approached, the Prussian people were in a state of stolid indifference, apparently, on religious matters " (Laing, Azotes of a Traveler, 1842, p. iSi). * C. H. Cotterill, Relig. Movements of Germany in the Nineteenth Century, 1849, pp. 39-40. 340 FREETHOUGHT IN THE igth CENTURY appointments.' The Prussian measure (i8i 7) of forcibly uniting the Lutheran and Calvinistic churches, with a neutral sacramental ritual in which the eucharist was treated as a historical commemoration, tended to the same consequences, though it also revived old Lutheran zeal ;- and when the new revolutionary movement broke out in 1848, popular feeling was substantially non- religious. " In the South of Germany especially, the conflict of political opinions and revolutionary tendencies produced, in the first instance, an entire prostration of religious sentiment." The bulk of society showed entire indifference to worship, the churches being everywhere deserted ; and " atheism was openly avowed, and Chris- tianity ridiculed as the invention of priestcraft. "^ One result was a desperate effort of the clergy to " effect a union among all who retained any measure of Christian belief, in order to raise up their national religion and faith from the lowest state into which it has ever fallen since the French Revolution." But the clerical effort evoked a counter effort. Already, in 1846, official interference with freedom of utterance led to the formation of a " free religious " society by Dr. Rupp, of Konigsberg, one of the "Friends of Light" in the State church ; and he was followed by Wislicenus, of Halle, a Hegelian, and by Uhlich, of Magdeburg."^ As a result of the determined pressure, social and official, which ensued on the collapse of the revolution of 1848, these societies failed to develop on the scale of their beginnings ; and that of Magdeburg, which at the outset had 7,000 members, has now only 500 ; though that of Berlin has nearly 4,000. ^ There is further a Freidenker Bund,, with branches in many towns ; and the two organisations, with their total membership of some fifty thousand, may be held to represent the militant side of popular freethought in Germany. This, however, constitutes only a fraction of the total amount ' Id. pp. 27-28, 41-42. ^ Cp. Laing-, as cited, pp. 206-7,211. 3 Cotterill, as cited. '• Cotterill, as cited, pp. 43-47. 5 Rapport de Ida Altmann, in Almanack de Libre Pens^e, 1906, p. 20. POPULAR PROPAGANDA 341 of passive rationalism. In no country, perhaps, is there a larger measure of enlightenment in the working class ; and the ostensible force of orthodoxy among the official and conformist middle class is illusory in the extreme. The German police laws put a rigid check on all manner of platform and press propaganda which could be indicted as hurting the feelings of religious people ; so that a jest at the Holy Coat of Treves can send a journalist to jail, and the platform work of the militant societies is closely trammelled. Yet there are over a dozen journals which so far as may be take the freethought side ;' and the whole stress of Bismarckian reaction and of official orthodoxy under the present Kaiser has never availed to make the tone of popular thought pietistic. Karl Marx, the prophet of the German Socialist movement (1818-1883), laid it down as part of its mission " to free consciousness from the religious spectre ;" and his two most influential followers in Germany, Bebel and Liebknecht, have been avowed atheists, the former even going so far as to avow officially in the Reichstag that "the aim of our party is on the political plane the republican form of State ; on the economic. Socialism ; and on the plane Avhich we term the religious, atheism ;"^ though the party attempts no propaganda of the latter order. "Christianity and Social-Democracy," says Bebel again, "are opposed as fire and water. "^ Some index to the amount of popular freethought that normally exists under the surface in Germany is furnished, further, by the strength of the German free- thought movement in the United States, where, despite ' The principal are : Das freie Wort and Frankfurter Zeitung, Frank- fort-on-Main ; Der Freidenker, Friedrichshag'en, near Berlin ; Derfrci- religiUscs Sonntagsblatt, Breslau ; Die freie Geineindc, Magdeburjaf ; Der Atheist, Nuremberg- ; Menscheiitum, Gotha ; Vossische Zeitung, Berlin ; Berliner Volksseitung, Berlin; For7C'rt>/5 (Socialist), Berlin; Weser Zeitung, Bremen ; Hartungsche Zeitung, Konigsberg- ; Kolnische Zeitung, Colog-ne. ^ Studemund, Der nioderne Unglaubc in den unteren Stiinden, 1901, p. 14. 3 Id. p. 22. 342 FREETHOUGHT IN THE igth CENTURY the tendency to the adoption of the common speech, there grew up in the last quarter of the nineteenth century many German freethinking societies, a German federation of atheists, and a vigorous popular organ, Der Freidenker. 5. " Free-religious "societies, such as have been noted in Germany, may be rated as forms of moderate free- thought propaganda, and are to be found in all Protestant countries, with all shades of development. A movement of the kind has existed for a number of years back in America, in the New England States and elsewhere, and may be held to represent a theistic or agnostic thought too advanced to adhere even to the Unitarianism which during the two middle quarters of the century was perhaps the predominant creed in New England. One of the best types of such a gradual and peaceful evolu- tion is the South Place Institute (formerly " Chapel ") of London, where, under the famous orator W. J. Fox, nominally a Unitarian, there was preached between 1824 and 1852 a theism tending to pantheism, perhaps traceable to elements in the doctrine of Priestley, and passed on by Mr. Fox to Robert Browning.' In 1864 the charge passed to Moncure D. Conway, under whom the congregation quietly advanced during twenty years from Unitarianism to a non-scriptural rationalism, embracing the shades of philosophic theism, agnos- ticism, and anti-theism. The Institute then became an open platform for rationalist and non-theological ethics, and social and historical teaching, and it now stands as an " Ethical Society " in touch with the numerous groups so named which have come into existence in England in the last dozen years, on lines originally laid down by Dr. Felix Adler in New York. At the time of the present writing the English societies of this kind number between twenty and thirty, the majority being in London and its environs. Their open adherents, who are some thousands ' Cp. Vr\e.'~X\&y, Essay on tlie First Principles of Government, 2nd ed. 1771, pp. 257-261, and Conway's Centenary History of South Place, pp. 63, 77. 80. POPULAR PROPAGANDA 343 stronor, are in most cases non-theistic rationalists, and include many former members of the Secularist move- ment, of which the organisation has somewhat dwindled. On partly similar lines have been developed in provincial towns a small number of " Labour Churches," in which the tendency is to substitute a rationalist humanitarian ethic for supernaturalism ; and the same lecturers frequently speak from their platforms and from those of Ethical and Secularist societies. 6. Alongside of the lines of movement before sketched, there has subsisted in England during the greater part of the nineteenth century a considerable organisation of Unitarianism. The precise evolution of this body in its incipient stages is not easily to be traced. In England during the eighteenth century specific Anti-trinitarianism was not much in evidence. The most distinguished names associated with the position were those of Lardner and Priestley, of whom the former, trained as a simple "dissenter," avowedly reached his conclusions without much reference to Socinian literature ;' and the second, who was similarly educated, no less indepen- dently gave up the doctrines of the Atonement and the Trinity, passing later from the Arian to the Socinian position after reading Lardner's Letter on the Logos. '^ As Priestley derived his determinism from Collins, ^ it would appear that the deistical movement had set up a general habit of reasoning which thus wrought even on Christians who, like Lardner and Priestley, undertook to rebut the objections of unbelievers to their faith. It thus becomes intelligible how, after a period in which Dissent, contemned by the State church, learned to criticise that church's creed, there emerged in England early in the nineteenth century a movement of specific Unitarianism, manifested mainly among the remaining churches of the English Presbyterian body. Such a development is to be explained by the relative freedom ' Life of Lardner, by Dr. Kippis, prefixed to Worlts, ed. 1835, i, p. xxxii. ' Memoirs of Priestley, 1806, pp. 30-32, 35, 57. 3 Id. p. 19. 344 FREETHOUGHT IN THE igtii CENTURA from authority enjoyed by dissenting sects, in compen- sation for their social disabilities. In the State church, as we saw, there had been many traces of deism among the clergy in the deistic age. In the freer self-govern- ing churches, especially those which had a tradition of learning and clerical culture, the same tendencies could emerge as Unitarianism.' But inasmuch as the Presby- terian churches alone had non-dogmatic trust deeds, they alone made the transition in large numbers — a fact which tells the whole story of institutional causation. When the heretical preachers of the Presbyterian sect began openly to declare themselves as Unitarians, there naturally arose a protest from the orthodox, and an attempt was made to save from its new destination the property owned by the heretical congregations. This was frustrated by the Dissenters' Chapels Act of 1844, which gave to each group singly the power to interpret its trust in its own fashion. Thenceforward the sect, formally founded in 1825, prospered considerably, albeit not so greatly as in the United States. During the century, English Unitarianism has been associated with scholarship through such names as Samuel Sharpe, the historian of Egypt, and J. J. Tayler ; and, less directly, with philosophy in the person of Dr. James Martineau, who, however, was rather a coadjutor than a champion of the sect. In the United States the movement, greatly aided to popularity by the eloquent humanism of Channing, lost the prestige of the name of Emerson, who had been one of its ministers, by the inability of his congregation to go the whole way with him in his opinions. Latterly, Unitarians have been entitled to say that the Trinitarian churches are approximating to their position. Such an approach, however, involves rather a weakening than a strength- ening of the smaller body ; though a number of its teachers are to the full as bigoted and embittered in their propaganda as the bulk of the traditionally orthodox. Others adhere to their ritual practices in the ' The penal laws against anti-trinitarianism were repealed in 1813. POPULAR PROPAGANDA 345 spirit of use and wont, as Emerson found when he sought to rationalise in his own church the usage of the eucharist. ' On the other hand, numbers have passed from Unitarianism to thoroughgoing rationahsm ; and some whole congregations, following more or less the example of that of South Place Chapel, have latterly- reached a position scarcely distinguishable from that of the Ethical Societies. 7. A partly similar evolution has taken place among the Protestant churches of France, Switzerland, Hungary, and Holland. French Protestantism could not but be intellectually moved by the intense ferment of the Revolution; and, when finally secured against active oppression from the Catholic side, could not but develop an intellectual opposition to the Catholic Reaction after 1815. As early as 1828 we find the Protestant Coquerel avowing that in his day the Bourbonism of the Catholic clergy had revived the old anti-clericalism, and that it was common to find the most high-minded patriots unbelievers and materialists.' But still more remarkable was the persistence in the Catholic church itself of deep freethinking currents. About 1830 freethinking had become normal among the younger students at Paris ;3 and the revolution of that year elicited a charter putting all religions on an equality.^ Soon the throne and the chambers were on a footing of practical hostility to the church. ^ Under Louis Philippe men dared to teach in the College de France that " the Christian dispensation is but one link in the chain of divine revelations to man."*" Such ' Conway, Emerson at Home and Abroad, 1883, ch. vii. ^ Coquerel, Essai siir I'liistoire gdndrale die christianisme, 1828, pr«^f. 3 Dr. Christopher Wordsworth, Diary in France, 1845, pp. 75-77. ■* •• The miserable and deistical principle of the equality of «// religions" {Id. p. 188). Cp. pp. 151, 153. 5 Id. pp. 15, 37, 45, 181, 185, 190. * Id. pp. 1 57-161. Some such position was reached by Lamennais. Id. p. 196. As to the general vogue of rationalism in France at that period, see pp. 35, 204; and compare Saisset, Essais siir la philosophic et la religion, 1845 ; The Progress of Religious Thought as illustrated in the Protestant Church of France, by Dr. J. R. Beard, 1861 ; and Wilson's article in Essays and Revieivs. As to the other countries named, see Pearson, Infidelity, its Aspects, etc., 1853, pp. 560-4, 575-84. 346 FREETHOUGHT IN THE i?ioder>ie {Conferences), 1879, pp. 24-25. 3 Antiquities of thejeivs, by William Brown, D.D., Edinburgh, 1826, i, 121-2. Brown quotes "from a friend" a demonstration of the monstrous consequences of a stoppage of the earth's rotation. 362 FREETHOUGHT IN THE igtli CENTURY rotation of the earth. It is typical of the tenacity of religious delusion that a quarter of a century later this among other irrational credences was contended for the Swiss theologian Gaussen/ and by the orthodox majority elsewhere, when for all scientifically trained men they had become untenable. And that the general growth of scientific thought was disintegrating among scientific men the old belief in miracles, may be gathered from an article, remarkable in its day, which appeared in the Edinburgh Review of January, 1814 (No. 46), and was " universally attributed to Professor Leslie,"- the distinguished physicist. Reviewing the argument of Laplace's essay, Siw /es probabilites^ it substantially endorsed the thesis of Hume, that miracles cannot be proved by any testimony. 2. In the same period of reaction, some cultivators of the other sciences applied their results to the discredit of faith. Professor William Lawrence (1783- 1867), the physiologist, published in 1816 an Introduc- tion to Comparative Anatomy and Physiology^ containing some remarks on the nature of life, which elicited from the then famous Dr. Abernethy a violent attack in his Physiological Lectures delivered before the College of Surgeons. Lawrence was charged with belonging to the party of French physiological skeptics, whose aim was to "loosen those restraints on which the welfare of mankind depends."^ In the introductory lecture of his course of 181 7 before the College of Physicians, Lawrence severely retaliated, repudiating the general charge, but reasserting that the dependence of life on organisation is as clear as the derivation of daylight from ' Thcopnenstia : The Plenary Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, Engf. trans. Edinburg-h, 1850, pp. 246-9. Gaussen elaborately argues that if eighteen minutes were allowed for the stoppage of the earth's rotation, no shock would occur. Finally, however, he arg-ues that there may have been a mere refraction of the sun's rays — an old theory, already set forth by Brown. "^ Dr. C. R. Edmonds, Introd. to rep. of Leland's Vieiv of the Deistical Writers, Tegg-'s ed. 1837, P- xxiii. 3 Lawrence's Lectures on Physiology, Zoology, and the Natural History of Alan, 8th ed. 1840, pp. 1-3. THE NATURAL SCIENCES 363 the sun. The war was adroitly carried at once into the enemy's territory in the declaration that "The profound, the virtuous, and fervently pious Pascal acknowledged, what all sound theologians maintain, that the immor- tality of the soul, the great truths of religion, and the fundamental principles of morals, cannot be demon- strably proved by mere reason ; and that revelation alone is capable of dissipating the uncertainties which perplex those who inquire too curiously into the sources of these important principles. All will acknowledge that, as no other remedy can be so perfect and satis- factory as this, no other can be necessary, if we resort to this with firm faith."' The value of this pronouncement is indicated later in the same volume by subacid allusions to " those who regard the Hebrew Scriptures as writings composed with the assistance of divine inspiration," and who receive Genesis "as a narrative of actual events." Indicating various "grounds of doubt respecting inspiration," the lecturer adds that the stories of the naming of the animals and their collection in the ark, " if we are to understand them as applied to the living inhabitants of the whole world, are zoologi- cally impossible."- On the principle then governing such matters, Lawrence was in 1822, on the score of his heresies, refused copyright in his lectures, which were accordingly reprinted many times in a cheap stereotyped edition, and thus widely diffused. ^ 3. A more direct effect, however, was probably wrought by the science of geology, which in a stable and tested form belongs to the nineteenth century. Of its theoretic founders in the eighteenth century, Werner and Dr. James Hutton (1726-1797), the latter and more impor- tant'* is known from his Investigation of the Principles of Knoxvledge (1794) to have been consciously a freethinker on more grounds than that of his naturalistic science ; and his Theory of the World (1795) was duly denounced ' Lawrence's Lectures, p. 9, note. - Id. pp. 168-9. 3 Yet Lawrence was created a baronet two months before his death. '' Cp. Whewell, ^/^A of the Inductive Sciences, yd ed. iii, 505. 364 FE BETHOUGHT IN THE igth CENTURY as atheistic' Whereas the physical infinity of the universe almost forced the orthodox to concede a vast cosmic process of some kind as preceding the shaping of the earth and solar system, the formation of these within six days was one of the plainest assertions in the sacred books ; and every system of geology excluded such a conception. As the evidence accumulated, in the hands of men mostly content to deprecate religious opposition, - there was duly evolved the quaint compromise of the doctrine that the Biblical six "days " meant six ages — a fantasy still cherished in the pulpit. Even this thesis, and others of the same order, drew upon their supporters angry charges of "infidelity." Hugh Miller, whose natural gifts for geological research were chronically turned to confusion by his orthodox bias, was repeatedly so assailed, when in point of fact he was perpetually tampering with the facts to salve the Scriptures. ^ Of all the inductive sciences, geology had been most retarded by the Christian canonisation of error.* Even the plain fact that what is dry land had once been sea was obstinately distorted through centuries, though Ovid^ had put the observations of Pythagoras in the way of all scholars ; and though Leonardo da Vinci had insisted on the visible evidence ; nay, deistic habit could keep even Voltaire preposterously incredulous on the subject.'' When the scientific truth began to force its way in the ' White, as cited, i, 222-3, gives a selection of the language in general use among- theologians on the subject. ^ The early policy of the Geological Society of London (1807), which professed to seek for facts and to disclaim theories as premature (cp. Whewell, iii, 428 ; Buckle, iii, 392), was at least as much sociallj' as scientifically prudential. 3 See the excellent monograph of \V. M. 'Mdic\iem.\e, Hugh Miller ; A Critical Study, 1905, ch. vi ; and cp. Spencer's essay on Illogical Geology — Essays, vol. i. Miller's friend Dick, the Thurso naturalist, being a freethinker, escaped such error. (Mackenzie, pp. 161-4.) ■* Cp. the details given by Whewell, iii, 406-8, 41 1-13, 506-7, as to early theories of a sound order, all of which came to nothing. Steno, a Dane resident in Italy in the seventeenth century, had reached non-Scriptural and just views on several points. Cp. White, Hist, of the Warfare of Science with Theology, i, 215. 5 Metamorphoses, lib. xv. ' See his essay, Des Singularities de la Nature, ch. xii ; and his Disser- tation sur les changements arrivds dans not re globe. THE NATURAL SCIENCES 365 teeth of such authorities as Cuvier, who stood for tlie " Mosaic"doctrine, the effect was proportionately marked ; and whether or not the suicide of Miller (1856) was in any way due to despair on perception of the collapse of his reconciliation of geology with Genesis,' the scientific demonstration made an end of revelationism for many. 4. Still more rousing, finally, was the effect of the science of zoology, as placed upon a broad scientific foundation by Charles Darwin. Here again steps had been taken in previous generations on the right path, without any general movement on the part of scientific and educated men. Darwin's own grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, had in his Zoonomia (1794) anticipated many of the positions of the French La:\iarck, who in 1801 began developing the views he fully elaborated in 1815, as to the descendance of all existing species from earlier forms.- As early as 1795 Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire had begun to suspect that all species are variants on a primordial form of life ; and at the same time (1794-5) Goethe in Germany had reached similar convictions. ^ That views thus reached almost simultaneously in Germany, England, and France, at the time of the French Revolution, should have to wait for two genera- tions before even meeting the full stress of battle, must be put down as one of the results of the general reaction. Saint-Hilaire, publishing his views in 1828, was officially overborne by the Cuvier school in France. In England, indeed, so late as 1855, we find Sir David Brewster denouncing the Nebular Hypothesis: "that dull and dangerous heresy of the age An omnipotent arm was required to give the planets their position and motion in space, and a presiding intelligence to assign ' He had just completed a work on the subject at his death. Cp. Mackenzie, Hugh Miller, as cited, pp. 134-5, I4^~7' - See Charles Darwin's Historical Sketch prefixed to the Origin of Species. 3 Meding-, as cited by Darwin, 6th ed. i, p. xv. Goethe seems to have had his g-eneral impulse from Kielmeyer, who also taught Cuvier. Virchow, Gothe als Naturforscher, 1861, Beilage x. 366 FREETHOUGHT IN THE igth CENTURY to them the different functions they had to perform."' And Murchison the geologist was no less emphatic against Darwinism, which he rejected till his dying day (1871). 5. Other anticipations of Darwin's doctrine in England and elsewhere came practically to nothing,' as regarded the general opinion, until Robert Chambers in 1844 published anonymously his Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation^ a work which found a wide audience, incurring bitter hostility not only from the clergy but from some specialists who, like Huxley, were later to take the evolutionist view on Darwin's persua- sion. Chambers it was that brought the issue within general knowledge ; and he improved his position in successive editions. A hostile clerical reader, Whewell, admitted of him, in a letter to a less hostile member of his profession, that, "as to the degree of resemblance between the author and the French physiological atheists, he uses reverent phrases : theirs would not be tolerated in England"; adding: "You would be surprised to hear the contempt and abhorrence with which Owen and Sedgwick speak of the Vestiges. "'^^ Hugh Miller, himself accused of "infidelity" for his measure of inductive candour, held a similar tone towards men of greater intellectual rectitude, calling the liberalising religionists of his day " vermin " and "reptiles,"-* and classifying as "degraded and lost"^ all who should accept the new doctrine of evolution, which, as put by Chambers, was then coming forward to evict his own delusions from the field of science. 6. "Contempt and abhorrence" had in fact at all times constituted the common Christian temper towards every form of critical dissent from the body of received opinion ; and only since the contempt and abhorrence ' Memoirs of Newton, i, 131. - See Darwin's Sketch, as cited. 3 Letter of March i6th, 1845, in Life of WheweU, by Mrs. Stair Doug^las, 2nd ed. 1882, pp. 318-319. 4 Mackenzie, Hugh Miller, p. 185, = Foot-Prints of the Creator, end. THE NATURAL SCIENCES 36 have been in a large degree retorted on the bigots by instructed men has a better spirit prevailed. Such a reaction was greatly promoted by the establishment of the Darwinian theory. It was after the above-noted preparation, popular and academic, and after the theory of transmutation of species had been definitely pro- nounced erroneous by the omniscient Whewell/ that Darwin produced (1859) his irresistible arsenal of arguments and facts, the Origin of Species, expounding systematically the principle of Natural Selection, sug- gested to him by the economic philosophy of Malthus, and independently and contemporaneously arrived at by Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace. The outcry was enormous; and the church, as always, arrayed itself violently against the new truth. Bishop Wilberforce affirmed in the Quarterly Review that " the principle of natural selection is absolutely incompatible with the word of God, "^ which was perfectly true ; and at a famous meeting of the British Association in i860 he so travestied the doctrine as to goad Huxley into a fierce declaration that he would rather be a descendant of an ape than of a man who (like the Bishop) plunged into questions with which he had no real acquaintance, only to obscure them and distract his hearers by appeals to religious prejudice.^ The mass of the clergy kept up the warfare of ignorance ; but the battle was practically won within twenty years. In France, Germany, and the United States leading theolo- gians had made the same suicidal declarations, entitling all men to say that, if evolution proved to be true, Chris- tianity was false. Professor Luthardt, of Leipzig, took up the same position as Bishop Wilberforce, declaring that '^ the whole superstructure of personal religion is built upon the doctrine of creation ";•* leading American ' Hist, of the Indue ive Sciences, 3rd. ed. iii, 479-483 ; Life, as above cited. Whewell is said to have refused to allow a copy of the Origin of Species to be placed in the Trinity College Library. White, i, 84. ^ White, i, 70 sq. 3 Clodd's Thomas Henry Hitxlev, 1902, pp. 19-20. ■* Luthardt, Fundamental Truths of Christianity, Eng-. trans. 1865, p. 74. 368 FREETHOUGHT IN THE 19th CENTURY theologians pronounced the new doctrine atheistic ; and everywhere gross vituperation eked out the theological argument. See the many examples cited by White. As late as 1885 the Scottish clergyman Dr. Lee is quoted as calling the Darwinians " gospellers of the gutter," and charging on their doctrine "utter blasphemy against the divine and human character of our incarnate Lord " (White, i, 83). Carlyle is quoted as calling Darwin "an apostle of dirt-worship." His admirers appear to regard him as having made amends by admitting that Darwin was personallv charming. 7. Thus the idea of a specific creation of all forms of life by an originating Deity — the conception Avhich virtually united the deists and Christians of the eighteenth century against the atheists — was at length scientifically exploded. The principle of personal divine rule or providential intervention had now been philosophically excluded successively (i) from astronomy by the system of Newton ; (2) from the science of earth-formation by the system of Laplace and the new geology ; (3) from the science of living organisms by the new zoology. It only needed that the deistic conception should be further excluded from the human sciences — from anthropology, from the philosophy of history, and from ethics — to com- plete, at least in outline, the rationalisation of modern thought. Not that the process was complete in detail even as regarded zoology. Despite the plain implica- tions of the Origin of Species, the doctrine of the Descent of Man (1871) came on many as a shocking surprise, and evoked a new fury of protest. The lacuna in Darwin, further, had to be supplemented ; and much speculative power has been spent on the task by Haeckel, without thus far establishing complete agree- ment. But the desperate stand so long made on the score of the "missing link" was finally discredited in 1894 ; and the Judago-Christian doctrine of special creation and providential design appears, even in the imperfectly educated and largely ill-placed society of our day, to be already a lost cause. ABSTRACT PHILOSOPHY AND ETHICS 369 § IV. Abstract Philosophy and Ethics. I. The philosophy of Kant, while giving the theo- logical class a new apparatus of defence as against common-sense freethinking, forced none the less on theistic philosophy a great advance from the orthodox positions. Thus his immediate successors, Fichte and Schelling, produced systems of which one was loudly denounced as atheistic, and the other as pantheistic,' despite its dualism. Neither seems to have had much influence on concrete religious opinion outside the universities f and when Schelling in old age turned Catholic obscurantist, the gain to clericalism was not great. Hegel in turn loosely wrought out a system of which the great merit is to substitute the conception of existence as relation for the nihilistic idealism of Fichte and the unsolved dualism of Schelling. This system he latterly adapted to practical exigencies^ by formu- lating a philosophic Trinity and hardily defining Chris- tianity as *' Absolute Religion " in comparison with the various forms of" Natural Religion." Nevertheless, he counted in a great degree as a disintegrating influence, and was in a very practical way anti-Christian. Compare Hagenbach, German Rationalism (Eng-. trans, of Kirchengeschichte), pp. 364-9 ; Renan, Etudes d'histoii-e reli- g-ieiise, 5e t^dit. p. 406 ; J. D. Morell, Histor. and Crit. Vie^v of the Spec. Philos. of Europe in the A^incteenth Century, 2nd ed. 1847, ii, 189-191 ; Robins, A Defence of the Faith, 1862, Pt. i, pp. 1 35-1 41, 176; Eschenmenger, Die Hegel^sche Religions- philosophie, 1834 ; quoted in Beard's l^oices of the Church, p. 8 j Leo, Die Hegelingen, 1838 ; and Reinhard, Lehrbuch der Ge- schichte der Philosophic, 2nd ed. 1839, pp. 753-4 — also cited by Beard, pp. 9-12. Not only does his conception of the Absolute make deity simply the eternal process of the universe, and the ' Such is Saintes's view of Schellingf. Hist. crit. du rationalisme en Alleviagne, p. 323. ^ Id. pp. 322-4. 3 As to Heg-el's mental development, cp. J. R. Beard, D. D. , on "Strauss, Heg'el, and their Opinions," in Voices of tJie C/iurcIi in Reply to Strauss, 1845, pp. 3-4. VOL. II 2B 370 FREETIIOUGHT IN THE igth CENTURY divine consciousness indistinguishable from the total consciousness of mankind/ but his abstractions lend themselves equally to all creeds \' and some of the most revolutionary of the succeeding movements of German thought — as those of Strauss, ^ Feuerbach, and Marx — professedly founded on him. In 1854, Heine told his French readers that there were in Germany " fanatical monks of atheism " who would willingly burn \^oltaire as a besotted deist -^ and Heine himself, in his last years of suffering and of revived religiosity, could see in Hegel's system only atheism. Bruno Bauer at first opposed Strauss, and afterwards went even further than he, professing Hegelianism all the while. ^ Schopen- hauer and Hartmann in turn being even less sustain- ing to orthodoxy, and later orthodox systems failing to impress, there came in due course the cry of " Back to Kant," where at least orthodoxy had some formal semblance of sanction. Hegel himself was indeed, in his last days, avowedly bent on championing the Christian creed at all its main points ; but here his method, arbitrary even for him, appealed neither to the orthodox nor, with a few exceptions,^ to his own disciples, some of whom, as Ruge, at length definitely renounced Christianity.^ Hartmann's work on The Self- Reparation of Christianity^ is a stringent exposure of the unreality of what passed for "liberal Christianity" in Germany a generation ago, and an appeal for a " new concrete religion " of monism or pantheism as a bulwark against Ultramontanism. On this monism, however, ' Cp. Morell, as cited, and pp. 195-6 ; and Feuerbach, as summarised by Baur, Kirchengcs. des igten Jahrh.^ p. 390. - Cp. Michelet as cited by Morell, ii, 192-3. 3 As to Strauss, cp. Beard, as above cited, pp. 21-2, 30; and Zeller, David Friedrich Strauss, Kng. trans. 1899, pp. 35, 47-8, 71-2, etc. •' Gesfdndnisse. Werke, iv, 33. Cp. iii, no. 5 Cp. Hag-enbach, pp. 369-372 ; Farrar, Crit. Hist, of Freethought, pp. 387-8. On Bauer's critical development and academic career see Baur, Kirchengesch. des igfeii JahrJi., pp. 386-9. •^ E.g., Dr. Hutchison Stirling-. See his trans, of Schwegfler's Hand- book of the History of Philosophy, 6th ed. p. 438 sq. ^ Baur, last cit. p. 389. ^ Das Selbstersetzung des Christenthtivis, 2te Aufl. 1874.- ABSTRACT PHILOSOPHY AND ETHICS ^yi Hartmann insists on grounding his pessimism. On the whole, the effect of all German philosophy has probably been to make for the general discredit of theistic philo- sophy, the surviving forms of Hegelianism being little propitious to current religion. And though Schopen- hauer and Nietzsche can hardly be said to carry on the task of philosophy either in spirit or in effect, yet the rapid intensilication of hostility to current religion which their writings in particular manifest' must be admitted to stand for a deep revolt against the Kantian com- promise. 2. From the collisions of philosophic systems in Germany there emerged two great practical freethinking forces, the teachings of Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-76), who was deprived of his chair at Erlangen in 1830 for his Thoughts upon Death and Immortality^ and Ludwig BucHNER, who was deprived of his chair of clinic at Tubingen in 1855 for his Force and Matter. The former, originally a Hegelian, expressly broke away from his master, declaring that whereas Hegel belonged to the "Old Testament" of modern philosophy, he himself would set forth the New, wherein Hegel's funda- mentally incoherent treatment of deity (as the total process of things on the one hand, and an objective personality on the other) should be cured. ^ Feuerbach accordingly, in his Essence of Christianity (1841) and Essence of Religion (1851), supplied one of the first adequate modern statements of the positively rationalistic position as against Christianity and theism, in terms of philosophic as well as historical insight, a statement to which there is no characteristically modern answer save in terms of the refined sentimentalism of Renan,^ ' See Schopenhauer's dialogfues o\\ Religion and Immortality, and his essay on The Christian System (Eng-. trans, in Schopenhauer Series by T. B. Saunders), and Nietzsche's Antichrist. The latter work is dis- cussed by the writer in Essays in Sociolog-y, vol. ii. - Baur gives a good summar}', Kirchengeschiclttc, pp. 390-4. V^atke similarly g-rew out of his orig^inal Heg'elianism. Cheyne, Founders, pp. 135-140. . ^ , 3 See his paper, M. Feuerbach et la noiivelle t'cole hdgdhenne, in Etudes d'histoire religi^ise. Baur, who pronounced Feuerbach a nobler and 372 FREETHOUGHT IN THE igth CENTURY fundamentally averse alike to scientific precision and intellectual consistency. On Feuerbach's Essence of Religion followed the resounding explosion of Biichner's Force and Matter (1855), which in large measure, but with much greater mastery of scientific detail, does for the plain man of his century what d'Holbach in his chief work sought to do for his day. Constantly vilified, even in the name of philosophy, in the exact tone and spirit of animal irritation which marks the religious vituperation of all forms of rationalism in previous ages ; and constantly misrepresented as professing to explain an infinite universe when it does but show the hollowness of all supernaturalist explanations,' the book steadily holds its ground as a manual of anti-mysticism.- Between them, Feuerbach and Biichner may be said to have framed for their age an atheistic " System of Nature," concrete and abstract, without falling into the old error of substituting one apriorism for another. 3. In France, the course of thought had been hardly less revolutionary. Philosophy, like everything else, had been affected by the legitimist restoration ; and between Victor Cousin and the other "classic philosophers" of the first third of the century, orthodoxy was nomi- nally reinstated. Yet even among these there was no firm coherence. Maine de Biran, one of the shrinking spirits who passed gradually into an intolerant authori- tarianism from fear of the perpetual pressures of reason, latterly declared (182 1) that a philosophy which ascribed to deity only infinite thought or supreme intelligence, more important personality than Bruno Bauer, makes an oddly weak answer to his philosophy (fairly stated by Baur), saying' merely that it is extremely one-sided, that it favours the communistic and other extreme tendencies of the time, and that it brings everything" " under the rude rule of egfoism " (KircJicngeschichfe, p. 396). ' Biichner expressly rejected the term " materialism " because of its misleading" implications or connotations. Cp. , in Mrs. Bradlaug"h Bonner's Charles Bradlaugh, the discussion in Part II, ch. i, § 3 (by J. M. R.). = While the similar works of Carl Vogt and Moleschott have gone out of print, Biichner's, recast ag'ain and ag'ain, continues to be repub- lished. ABSTRACT PHILOSOPHY AND ETHICS 373 eliminating volition and love, was pure atheism ; and this pronouncement struck at the philosophy of Cousin. Nor was this species of orthodoxy any more successful than the furious irrationalism of Joseph De Maistre in setting up a philosophic form of faith, as distinct from the cult of rhetoric and sentiment founded by Chateau- briand. Cousin was deeply distrusted by those who knew him, and at the height of his popularity he was contemned by the more competent minds around him, such as Sainte-Beuve and Edgar Ouinet.' The latter thinker himself counted for a measure of rationalism, though he argued for theism, and undertook to make good the historicity of Jesus against those who challenged it. For the rest, even among the osten- sibly conservative and official philosophers, Theodore Jouffroy, an eclectic, who held the chair of moral philosophy in the Faculte des Lettres at Paris, was at heart an unbeliever from his youth up,- and even in his guarded writings was far from satisfying the orthodox. "God," he wrote, 3 " interposes as little in the regular development of humanity as in the course of the solar system." He added a fatalistic theorem of divine predetermination, which he verbally salved in the usual way by saying that predetermination presupposed individual liberty. Eclecticism thus fell, as usual, between two stools ; but it was not orthodoxy that would gain. On another line Jouffroy openly bantered the authoritarians on their appeal to a popular judgment which they declared to be incapable of pronouncing on religious questions.** On retrospect, the whole official French philosophy of the period, however conservative in profession, is found • Cp. Paul Deschanel, Figures LitL'ratres, 1889, pp. 130-2, 171-3 ; and Ch. Adam, La Philosophie en France, 1894, p. 228. = Adam, as cited, pp. 227-230. 3 In his Melanges Philosophiques (1833), Eng. trans, (incomplete) by Geor.e^e Riplev, Philos. Essays of Th. Jouffroy, Edinburgh, 1839, ii, 32. Ripley, who was one of the American transcendentalist group, and a member of the Brook Farm Colony, indicates his own semi-rationalism in his Introductory Note, p. xxv. ■• MtHanges philosophiques, trans, as cited, ii, 95. 374 FREETHOUGHT IN THE igth CENTURY to have been at bottom rationalistic, and only super- ficially friendly to faith. Lamennais declaimed warmly against r Indifference en matiere de religion (1818-24) ; and Damiron, writing his Essai siir I'histoire de la p/iilosophie en France au XIXe Siecle in 1834, replies in a fashion more amiable than reassuring, commenting on the "strange skepticism" of Lamennais as to the human reason.' For himself, he takes up the parable of Lessing, and declares that where Lessing spoke doubtfully, men had now reached conviction. It w^as no longer a question of whether, but of when, religion was to be recast in terms of fuller intelligence. "In this religious regeneration we shall be to the Christians what the Christians were to the Jews, and the Jews to the patriarchs : we shall be Christians and something more." The theologian of the future will be half- physicist, half-philosopher. " We shall study God through nature and through men ; and a new Messiah will not be necessary to teach us miraculously what we can learn of ourselves and by our natural lights." Christianity has been a useful discipline ; but "our education is so advanced that henceforth we can be our own teachers ; and, having no need of an extraneous inspiration, we draw faith from science."^ " Prayer is good, doubtless," but it "has only a mysterious, uncertain, remote action on our environment."^ All this under Louis Philippe, from a professor at the Ecole Normale. Not to this day has official academic philosophy in Britain ventured to go so far. In France the brains were never out, even under the Restoration. 4. But the one really energetic and characteristic philosophy produced in the new France w^as that of AuGUSTE CoMTE, which as set forth in the Coiirs de Pliilosophie Positive (1830-42) practically reaffirmed while it recast and supplemented the essentials of the anti-theological rationalism of the previous age, and in that sense rebuilt French positivism, giving that new ' Essai, cited, i, 232, 237. - Id. pp. 241-243. 3 Jd. p, 321. ABSTRACT PHILOSOPHY AND ETHICS 375 name to the naturalistic principle. Though Comte's direct following was never large, it is significant that soon after the completion of his Coiirs we find Saisset lamenting that the war between the clergy and the philosophers, " suspended by the great political commo- tion of 1830," had been "revived with a new energy."' The later effort of Comte to frame a politico-ecclesiastical system never succeeded beyond the formation of a politically powerless sect ; but both in France and England his philosophy tinged all the new thought of his time, his leading English adherents in particular being among the most esteemed publicists of the day. In France, the general effect of the rationalistic move- ment had been such that when Taine, under the Third Empire, assailed the whole "classic" school in his Philosophcs Classiques (1857), his success was at once generally recognised, and a non-Comtist positivism was thenceforth the ruling philosophy. The same thing has happened in Italy, where quite a number of university professors are explicitly positivist in their philosophic teaching.^ 5. In Britain, where abstract philosophy after Berkeley had been left to Hume and the Scotch thinkers who opposed him, metaphysics was for a generation practi- cally overridden by the moral and social sciences ; Hartley's Christian Materialism making small headway as formulated by him. The proof of the change wrought in the direction of native thought is seen in the personalities of the men who, in the teeth of the reaction, applied rationalistic method to ethics and psychology. Bentham and James Mill were in their kindred fields among the most convinced and active freethinkers of their day, the former attacking both clericalism and orthodoxy •? while the latter, no less ' Article in 1844, rep. in Essais de la philosophie et religion, 1845, p. i. - Cp. Professor Botta's chapter in Ueberweg's Hist, of Philos. ii, 513- 516. 3 In his Church of Englandism and its Catechism Examined {1818) and Not Paul but Jesus (1823), " by Gamaliel Smith." 376 FREETHOUGHT IN THE igth CENTURY pronounced in his private opinions, more cautiously built up a rigorously naturalistic psychology in his Analysis of the Human Mind (1829). Bentham's utilitarianism was so essentially anti-Christian that he could hardly have been more disliked by discerning theists if he had avowed his share in the authorship of the atheistic Analysis of the Influence of Natural Religion, which, elaborated from his manuscript by no less a thinker than George Grote, was published in 1822 ;' but his ostensible restriction of his logic to practical problems of law and morals secured him a wider influence than was wielded by any of the higher publicists of his day. The whole tendency of his school was intensely rationalistic ; and it indirectly affected all thought by its treatment of economics, which from Hume and Smith onwards had been practi- cally divorced from theology. Even clerical economists, such as Malthus and Chalmers, alike orthodox in religion, furthered naturalism in philosophy in spite of themselves. A not unnatural result was a religious fear of all reasoning whatever, and a disparagement of the very faculty of reason. This, however, was sharply resisted by the more cultured champions of orthodoxy,^ to the great advantage of critical discussion. 6. When English metaphysical philosophy revived with Sir William Hamilton and Dean Mansel, they gave the decisive proof that the orthodox cause had been philosophically lost while being socially won, since their theism emphasised in the strongest way the negative criticism of Kant, leaving Deity void of all cognisable qualities. Their metaphysic thus served as an open and avowed basis for the naturalistic i^/r^-^ Principles {1^60-62) ' Under the pseudonym of Philip Beauchamp. See The Minor Works of George Grote, edited by Professor Bain, 1873, p. 18 ; Athenceum, May 31, 1873; J. S. Mill's Autobiography, p. 69; and Three Essays on Religion, p. 76. This remarkable treatise, which g-reatly influenced Mill, is the most stringent attack made on theism between d'Holbach and Feuerbach. - Cp. Morell, Spec. Philos. of Europe in the Nineteenth Century, ii, 620 ; and Life and Corr. of Whately, by E. Jane Whately, abridged ed. P- 159- ABSTRACT PHILOSOPHY AND ETHICS 377 of Herbert Spencer, wherein, with an unfortunate laxity of metaphysic on the author's own part, and a no less unfortunate lack of consistency as regards the criticism of religious and anti-religious positions,' the new cosmic conceptions are unified in a masterly conception of evolu- tion as a universal law. Strictly, the book is a " System of Nature" rather than a philosophy in the sense of a study of the grounds and limitations of knowledge : that is to say, it is on the former ground alone that it is coherent and original. But its very imperfections on the other side have probably promoted its reception among minds already shaken in theology by the progress of concrete science ; while at the same time such imper- fections give a hostile foothold to the revived forms of theism. Even these, however, in particular the neo- Hegelian svstem associated with the name of the late Professor T. H. Green, fail to give any shelter to Chris- tian orthodoxy. In England, as on the Continent, the bulk of philosophical activity is now dissociated from the Christian creed. ^ 7. The effect of the ethical pressure of the deistic attack on the intelligence of educated Christians was fully seen even within the Anglican Church before the middle of the century. The unstable Coleridge, who had gone round the whole compass of opinion^ when he began to wield an influence over the more sensitive of the younger churchmen, was strenuous in a formal affirma- tion of the doctrine of the Trinity, but no less anxious to modify the doctrine of Atonement on which the concep- tion of the Trinity was historically founded. In the ^ Mr. Spencer has avowed in his Autobiography (ii, 75) what might be surmised by critical readers, that he wrote the First Part of First Prin- ciples in order to guard against the charge of "materialism." This motive led him to misrepresent " atheism," and there was a touch ot retribution in the general disregard of his disavowal of materialism, at which he expresses surprise. The broad fact remains that for prudential reasons he set forth at the ver}^ outset of his system a set of conclusions which could properly be reached only at the end, if at all. ^ For instance, the Appearance and Reality of Mr. F. Bradley. See pp. 448, 500, 509, 558, 3rd ed. _ 3 As to his fluctuations, which lasted till his death, cp. the author s Nc-w Essays towards a Critical Method, 1897, pp. 144-7, I49-I54' 168-9. 378 FREETHOUGHT IN THE icjtli CENTURY hands of Maurice, the doctrine of sacrifice became one of example to the end of subjective regeneration of the sinner. This view, which was developed by John the Scot — perhaps from hints in Origen' — and again by Ber- nardino Ochino,- is specially associated with the teach- ing of Coleridge ; but it was quite independently held in England before him by the Anglican Dr. Parr (1747- 1825), who appears to have been heterodox upon most points in the orthodox creed, ^ and who, like Servetus and Coleridge and Hegel, held by a modal as against a "personal" Trinity. Such Unitarian accommodations presumably reconciled to Christianity and the Church many who would otherwise have abandoned them ; and the only orthodox rebuttal seems to have been the old and dangerous resort to the Butlerian argument, to the effect that the God of Nature shows no such benign fatherli- ness as the anti-sacrificial school ascribe to him.-* 8. The same pressure of moral argument was doubt- less potent in the development of " Socinian " or other rationalistic views in the Protestant churches of Germany, Holland, Hungary, Switzerland, and France in the first half of the century. Such development had gone so far that by the middle of the century the churches in question were, to the eye of an English evangelical champion, predominantly rationalistic, and in that sense " infidel. "^ Reactions have been claimed before and since ; but in our own age there is little to show for them. In the United States, again, the ethical element probably pre- dominated in the recoil of Emerson from Christian orthodoxy even of the Unitarian stamp, as well as in the heresy of Theodore Parker, whose aversion to the ' Baur, Die christlichc Lehrc dcr Versuhnung, 1838, pp. 54-63, 1 24-131. 2 Benrath, Bernardino Ochino, Eng;. trans, pp. 284-7. 3 Field's Memoirs of Parr, 1828, ii, 363, 374-9. 4 See Pearson's Infidelity, its Aspects, Causes, and Agencies, 1853, p. 215 sq. The position of Maurice and Parr (associated with other and later names) is there treated as one of the prevailing forms of " infidelity," and called spiritualism. In Germany, the orthodox made the same dang-erous answer to the theistic criticism. See the Memoirs of F. Perthes, Eng. trans. 2nd ed. ii, 242-3. 5 Pearson, as cited, pp. 560-2, 568-579, 583-4. THE SOCIOLOGICAL SCIENCES 379 theistic ethic of Jonathan Edwards was so strong as to make him blind to the reasoning power of that stringent Calvinist. At the same time, all such moral accommo- dations in Protestant churches, while indirectly coun- tenancing freethought, have served to maintain Christian organisations, with their too common accompaniments of social intolerance, as against more open freethinking ; and in themselves they represent a partial perversion of the ethics of the intellectual life. § V. The Sociological Sciences. I. A rationalistic treatment of human history had been explicit or implicit in the whole literature of Deism ; and had been attempted with various degrees of success by Bodin, Vico, Montesquieu, Mandeville, Hume, Smith, Voltaire, and Condorcet, as well as by lesser men. So clear had been the lead to naturalistic views of social efrowth in the Politics of Aristotle, and so strong the influence of the new naturalistic spirit, that it is seen even in the work of Goguet (1769), who sets out as biblically as Bossuet ; while in Germany Herder and Kant framed really luminous generalisations; and a whole group of sociological writers rose up in the Scotland of the middle and latter parts of the century. Here again there was reaction ; but in France the ortho- dox Guizot did much to promote broader views than his own ; EusEBE Salverte in his essay De la Civilisation (1813) made a highly intelligent effort towards a general view ; and Charles Comte in his Traite de Legislation (1826) made a marked scientific advance on the sugges- tive work of Herder. As we have seen, the eclectic Jouffroy put human affairs in the sphere of natural law equally with cosmic phenomena. At length, in the great work of AuGUSTE Comte, scientific method was applied so effectively and concretely to the general problem that, despite his serious fallacies, social science again took rank as a solid study. In England and America, by the works of Draper and Buckle, in the sixth and later decades of the century, the conception of law in human 380 FREETHOUGHT IN THE igth CENTURY history was at length widely popularised, to the due indignation of the supernaturalists, who saw the last great field of natural phenomena passing like others into the realm of science. Draper's avowed theism partly protected him from attack ; but Buckle's straight- forward attacks on creeds and on churches brought upon him a peculiarly fierce hostility, which was unmollified by his incidental avowal of belief in a future life. For long this hostility told against his sociological teaching. Mr. Spencer's Principles of Sociology nevertheless clinched the scientific claim by taking sociological law for granted ; and the new science has continually pro- gressed in acceptance. In the hands of all its leading exponents in all countries — Lester Ward, Giddings, ,Guyau, Letourneau, Tarde, Ferri, Durkheim, De Greef, Gumplowicz, Lilienfeld, Schaffle — it is entirely natural- istic, though some Catholic professors continue to inject into it theological assumptions. It cannot be said, how- ever, that a general doctrine of social evolution is even yet fully established. The problem is complicated by the profoundly contentious issues of practical politics ; and in the resulting diffidence of official teachers there arises a notable opening for obscurantism, which has been duly forthcoming. In the first half of the century, such an eminent churchman as Dean Milman incurred at the hands of J. H. Newman and others the charge of writing the history of the Jews and of early Christianity in a rationalistic spirit, presenting religion as a "human" phenomenon.' Later churchmen, with all their prepara- tion, have rarely gone further. 2. Two lines of scientific study, it would appear, must be thoroughly followed up before the ground can be pronounced clear for authoritative conclusions — those of anthropological archeology (including comparative mythology and comparative hierology) and economic analysis. On both lines great progress has been made ; but on both occurs a resistance of vested interests. Such ' See The Dytiantics of Religion, pp. 227-233. THE SOCIOLOGICAL SCIENCES 381 Students as Tylor, Waitz, and Spencer have sifted and classified our knowledge as to primitive social life; and a whole line of comparative mythologists, from Dupuis and Volney to Mannhardt and Frazer, have enlarged and classified our knowledge of primitive reliorious norms and tendencies. As regards economics, less work has been done. Buckle applied the economic principle with force and accuracy to the case of the great primary civilisations, but only in a partial and biassed way to modern history ; and the school of Marx incurs reaction by applying it somewhat fanatically. Thus economic interests and clericalism join hands to repel an economic theory of history ; and clericalism itself represents a vast economic interest when it wards off the full application of the principle of comparative mytho- logy to Christian lore. The really great performance of Dupuis was not scientifically improved upon, Strauss failing to profit by it. In Strauss's hands the influence of Pagan myth counts almost for nothing ; and Renan practically waived the whole principle. The searching anthropology of Ghillany, again, as we have seen, made no general impression on the theological world, which had not in his day begun to realise that there is an anthro- pology. Thus the " higher criticism " of both the Old and New Testaments remains radically imperfect ; and specialists in mythology are found either working all round Gospel myth without once touching it, or unscien- tifically claiming to put it, as "religion," on a plane above science. All scientific thought, however, turns in the direction of a complete law of historical evolution ; and such a law must necessarily make an end of the supernaturalist conception as regards every aspect of human life, ethical, social, religious, and political. The struggle lies finally between the scientific or veridical instinct and the sinister interests founded on economic endowments, and buttressed by use and wont. 3. Psychology, considered as a department of anthro- pology, may perhaps as fitly be classed among the sociological sciences as under philosophy ; though it 382 FREETHOUGHT IN THE igfh CENTURY Strictly overlaps on that as well as on biology. How- ever defined, it has counted for much in the dissolution of supernaturalist beliefs, from the tentatives of Diderot to the latest refinements of physiological experiment. It was the perception of this tendency that, two generations ago, secured the abandonment of phrenology to the disastrous devotion of amateurs, after men like George and Andrew Combe, sincere theists, as were Gall and Spurzheim before them, had made it a basis of a great propaganda of social and educational reform. The development of the principle of brain localisation, how- ever, is only a question of time, there being between the procedure of the early scientific phrenologists and those of the later anatomists only a difference of method. All the ethical implications of phrenology belong to the science of brain in any of its developments, being indeed implicit in the most general principles of biological science ; and the abstention of later specialists from all direct application of their knowledge to religious and ethical issues is simply the condition of their economic existence as members of university staffs. But the old principle, ubi tres fuedici, duo athei, is more nearly true to-day than ever, being countervailed only by the fact signified just as truly in the other saw, itbi panis^ ibi Dens. While the priest's bread depends on his creed, the physician's must be similarly implicated. § VI. Poetry and Fine Letters. I. The whole imaginative literature of Europe, in the generation after the French Revolution, reveals directly or indirectly the transmutation that the eighteenth century had worked in religious thought. In France, the literary reaction is one of the first factors in the orthodox revival. Its leader and type was Chateau- briand, in whose typical work, the Genie da C/iris- tiauisme (1802), lies the proof that, whatever might be the " shallowness " of Voltairism, it was profundity beside the philosophy of the majority who repelled it. On one who now reads it with the slightest scientific POETRY AND FINE LETTERS 383 preparation the book makes an impression in parts of something like imbecility. The handling of the scien- tific question at the threshold of the inquiry is that of a man incapable of a scientific idea. All the accumulating evidence of geology and palaeontology is disposed of by the grotesque theorem that God made the world out of nothing with all the marks of antiquity upon it — the oaks at the start bearing " last year's nests " — on the ground that, " if the world were not at once young and old, the great, the serious, the moral would disappear from nature, for these sentiments by their essence attach to antique things."' In the same fashion the fable of the serpent is with perfect gravity homologated as a literal truth, on the strength of an anecdote about the charming of a rattlesnake with music.- It is humiliat- ing, but instructive, to realise that only a century ago a " Christian reaction," in a civilised country, was inspired by such an order of ideas ; and that in the nation of Laplace, with his theory in view, it was the fashion thus to prattle in the taste of the Dark Ages.^ The book is merely the eloquent expression of a nervous recoil from everything savouring of cool reason and clear thought, a recoil partly initiated by the sheer stress of excitement of the near past ; partly fostered by the vague belief that freethinking in religion had caused the Revolution ; partly enhanced by the tendency of every warlike period to develop emotional rather than reflective life. What was really masterly in Chateaubriand was the style ; and sentimental pietism had now the prestige of fine writing, so long the specialty of the other side. Yet a genera- tion of monarchism served to wear out the ill-based credit of the literary reaction ; and belles lettres began to be rationalistic as soon as politics began again to be radical. Thus the prestige of the neo-Christian school was ' Ptie. i, liv, i, ch. 5. = Id. i, liv. iii, ch. 2. 3 It is further to be remembered, however, that Mr. Matthew Arnold saw fit to defend Chateaubriand, calling- him "great," when his fame was being undone by common-sense. 384 FREETHOUGHT IN THE igth CENTURY already spent before the revolution of 1848;' and the inordinate vanity of Chateaubriand, who died in that year, had undone his special influence still earlier. For the rest, the belief that he had brought back Christianity to a France denuded of worship by atheists is part of the mythology of the Revolution. Already in February, 1795, on the principle of a separation between church and State, public worship had been put on a perfectly free footing ; and in 1796 the 36,000 parishes were served by 25,000 cures.' Napoleon's arrangement with the Papacy had restored the old political connections ; and Chateaubriand had created merely a literary mode and sentiment. 2. The literary history of France since his death decides the question, so far as it can be thus decided. From 1848 till our own day it has been predominantly naturalistic and non-religious. After Guizot and the Thierrys, the nearest approach to Christianity in a French historian is perhaps in the case of Edgar Quinet. Michelet was a mere heretic in the eyes of the faithful, Saisset describing his book Du Pretre^ de la Femme, et de la Famille (1845), as a " renaissance of Voltaireanism."3 His whole brilliant History, indeed, is from beginning to end rationalistic, challenging as it does all the decorous traditions, exposing the failure of the faith to civilise, pronouncing that "the monastic Middle Age is an age of idiots " and the scholastic world which followed it an age of artificially formed fools,"* flouting dogma and discrediting creed over each of their miscarriages. And he was popular not only because of his vividness and unfailing freshness, but ' C. Wordsworth, Diary in France, 1845, PP- 55"^' '24, 204. ^ See the details in the Appendice to the Etudes of M. Gazier, before cited. That writer's account is the more decisive seeingf that his bias is clerical, and that, writing before M. Aulard, he had to a considerable extent retained the old illusion as to the " decreeing- of atheism " by the Convention (p. 313). See pp. 230-260 as to the readjustment effected by Gri^gfoire, while the conservative clergy were still striving to undo the Revolution. 3 Essais sur la philosophie et la religion, 1845, p. 193. •* Histoire, torn, vii, Renaissance, introd. § 6. POETRY AND FINE LETTERS 385 because his convictions were those of the best intel- ligence around him. In poetry and fiction the predomi- nance of one or other shade of freethinkine^ is siernal. Balzac, who grew up in the age of reaction, makes essentially for rationalism by his intense analysis ; and after him the difficulty is to find a great French novelist who is not frankly rationalistic. George Sand will probably not be claimed by orthodoxy ; and Beyle, Constant, Flaubert, Merimee, Zola, Daudet, Mau- passant, and the De Goncourts make a list against which can be set only the names of the distinguished decadent Huysmans, who has become a Trappist after a life marked by a philosophy of an extremely different complexion, and of M. Bourget, an artist of the second order. 3. In French poetry the case is hardly otherwise. Beranger, who passed for a Voltairean, did indeed claim to have " saved from the wreck an indestructible belief";' and Lamartine goes to the side of Christianity ; but De Musset, the most inspired of decadents^ was no more Christian than Heine, save for what a critic has called " la banale religiosite de V Espoir en Dieu'" ;^ and the pessimist Baudelaire had not even that to show. De Musset's absurd attack on Voltaire in his Byronic poem, Rolla, well deserves the same epithets. It is a mere product of hysteria, representing neither know- ledge nor reflection. The grandiose theism of Victor Hugo, again, is stamped only with his own image and superscription ; and in his great contemporary Leconte DE Lisle we have one of the most convinced and aggres- sive freethinkers of the century, a fine scholar and a self- controlled pessimist, who felt it well worth his while to write a little Popular History of Christianity (1871) which would have delighted d'Holbach. It is signifi- cant, on the other hand, that the exquisite religious verse of Verlaine was the product of an incurable neuropath, like the later work of Huysmans, and stands ' Letter to Sainte-Beuve, cited by Levallois, Sainte-Beuve, 1872. p. 14. - Lanson, Hist, de hi litt. fraii^aisCy p. 951. VOL. II 2C 386 FREETHOUGHT IN THE igth CENTURY for decadence pure and simple. While French belles lettres thus in general made for rationalism, criticism was naturally not behindhand. Sainte-Beuve, the most widely appreciative though not the most scientific or just of critics, had only a literary sympathy with the religious types over whom he spent so much effusive research ;' Edmond Scherer was an unbeliever almost against his will ; Taine, though reactionary on political grounds in his latter years, was the typical French rationalist of his time ; and though M. Brunetiere, whose preferences are all for Bossuet, makes " the bank- ruptcy of science " the text of his somewhat facile philosophy, the most scientific and philosophic head in the whole line of French critics, the late Emile Henne- QUIN, was wholly a rationalist ; and even the rather reactionary Jules Lemaitre has not maintained his early attitude of austerity towards Renan. 4. In England it was due above all to Shelley that the verv aere of reaction was confronted with unbelief in lyric form. His immature Queen Mab was vital enough with conviction to serve as an inspiration to a whole host of unlettered freethinkers not only in its own generation but in the next. Its notes preserved, and greatly expanded, the tract entitled The Necessity of Atheism^ for which he was expelled from Oxford ; and against his will it became a people's book, the law refusing him copyright in his own work, on the memorable principle that there could be no "protection" for a book setting forth pernicious opinions. Whether he would not in later life, had he survived, have passed to a species of mystic Christianity, reacting like Cole- ridge, but with a necessary difference, is a question raised by parts of the Hellas. But Shelley's work, as ' " L' incredulity de Sainte-Beuve t^tait sincere, radicale, et absolue. EUe a ett^ invariable et invincible pendant trente ans. V'oila la v^rit^ " (Jules Levallois, Saint-Bcuve, 1872, prt^f. p. xxxiii). M. Levallois, who writes as a Christian, was one of Sainte-Beuve's secretaries. M. Zola, who spoke of the famous critic's rationalism as '• une nt^gation n'osant conclure," admitted later that it was hardly possible for him to speak more boldly than be did {Documents Littiraires, 1881, pp. 314, 325-8). POETRY AND FINE LETTERS 387 done, sufficed to keep for radicalism and rationalism the crown of soni^ as against the Tory orthodoxy of the elderly Wordsworth and of Southey ; and Coleridge's zeal for (amended) dogma came upon him after his hour of poetic transfiguration was past. And even Coleridge, who held the heresies of a modal Trinity and the non-expiatory character of the death of Christ, was widely distrusted by the pious, and expressed himself privately in terms which would have outraged them. Miracles, he declared, "are supererogatory. The law of God and the great principles of the Christian religion would have been the same had Christ never assumed humanity. It is for these things, and for such as these, for telling unwelcome truths, that 1 have been termed an atheist. It is for these opinions that William Smith assured the Archbishop of Canterbury that I was (what half the clergy are in their lives) an atheist. Little do these men know what atheism is. Not one man in a thousand has either strength of mind or goodness of heart to be an atheist. I repeat it. Not one man in ten thousand has goodness of heart or strength of mind to be an atheist." Allsopp's Letters, Conversations, and Recollections of S. T. Coleridge, 3rd ed. 1864, p. 47. On the other side, Scott's honest but unintellectual romanticism, as we know from Newman, certainly favoured the Tractarian reaction, to which it was aesthe- tically though hardly emotionally akin ; but the far more potent influence of Byron, too wayward to hold a firm philosophy, but too intensely alive to realities to be capable of Scott's feudal orthodoxy, must have counted for heresy even in England, and was one of the literary forces of revolutionary revival for the whole of Europe. Though he never came to a clear atheistical decision as did Shelley,' and often in private gave himself out for a Calvinist, he so handled theological problems in his Cain that he, like Shelley, was refused copyright in his work ;- and it was widely appropriated for freethinkers' ' At the ag-e of twenty-five we find him writing- to Gifford : " I am no big-ot to infidelity, and did not expect that because I doubted the immor- tality of man I should be charged with denying the existence of God " (letter of June i8th, 1813). ^ By the Court of Chancery, in 1822, the year in which copyright was refused to the Lectures of Dr. Lawrence. Harriet Martineau, History of the Peace, ii, 87, 388 FREETHOUGHT IN THE igth CENTURY purposes. The orthodox Southey was on the same grounds denied the right to suppress his early revolu- tionary drama, Wat Tyler, which accordingly was made to do duty in Radical propaganda by freethinking publishers. Keats, again, though he melodiously declaimed, in a boyish mood, against the scientific analysis of the rainbow, and though he never assented to Shelley's impeachments of Christianity, was in no active sense a believer in it, and after his long sickness met death gladly without the "consolations" ascribed to creed.' 5. Nor has the balance of English poetry ever reverted to the side of faith. Even Tennyson, who more than once struck at rationalism below the belt, is in his own despite the poet of doubt as much as of credence, however he might wilfully attune himself to the key of faith ; and the unparalleled optimism of Browning evolved a form of Christianity sufficiently alien to the historic creed.- In Clough and Matthew Arnold, again, we have the positive record of surrendered faith. Alongside of Arnold, Mr. Swinburne put into his verse the freethinking temper that Leconte de Lisle reserved for prose ; and the ill-starred but finely gifted James ThOxMSON (" B.V.") was no less definitely though despairingly an unbeliever. Among our younger poets, finally, the balance is pretty much the same ; Mr. Watson declaring in worthily noble diction for a high agnosticism, and Mr. Davidson defying orthodox ethics in the name of his very antinomian theology Y' while on the side of the regulation religion — since Mr. Yeats is but a stray Druid — can be cited at best the regimental psalmody of Mr. Kipling, lyrist of trumpet and drum ; ' W. Sharp, Eife of Severn, 1892, pp. 86-7, 90, 1 17-1 18. ■^ Cp. Mrs. Sutherland Orr's article on The Religious Opitiions of Robert Broiiming in the Contemporary Revieiv^ December, 1891, p. 87S ; and the present writer's Tennyson and Broivning as Teachers^ '903- 3 Recently, apropos of his Theativcraf, which he pronounces " the most profound and original of English books," Mr. Davidson has in a newspaper article proclaimed himself on socio-political grounds an anti- Christian. "I take the first resolute step out of Christendom," is his c\a.\m{Daily Chronicle, December 20th, 1905). POETRY AND FINE LETTERS 389 the Stained-glass Mariolatries of Mr. Francis Thompson; and the Godism of Mr. Henley, whereat the prosaic godly look askance. 6. One of the best-beloved names in English literature, Charles Lamb, is on several counts to be numbered with those of the freethinkers of his day — who included Godwin and Hazlitt — though he had no part in any direct propaganda. Himself at most a Unitarian, but not at all given to argument on points of faith, he did his work for reason partly by way of the subtle and winning humanism of such an essay as iVe7y Year's Eve, which seems to have been what brought upon him the pedantically pious censure of Southey, apparently for its lack of allusion to a future state; partly by his delicately- entitled letter, The Tombs in the Abbey, in which he replied to Southey 's stricture. *' A book which wants only a sounder religious feeling to be as delightful as it is original " had been Southey's pompous criticism, in a paper on Infidelity. In his reply. Lamb commented on Southey's life-long habit of scoffing at the Church of Rome, and gravely repudiated the test of orthodoxy for human character. Lamb's words are not generally known, and are worth remembering-. " I own," he wrote, " I never could thuik so considerably of myself as to decline the society of an agreeable or worthy man upon difference of opinion only. The impedi- ments and the facilitations to a sound belief are various and inscrutable as the heart of man. Some believe upon weak principles ; others cannot feel the efficacy of the strongest. One of the most candid, most upright, and single-meaning men I ever knew was the late Thomas Holcroft. I believe he never said one thing and meant another in his life ; and, as near as I can guess, he never acted otherwise than with the most scrupulous attention to conscience. Ought we to wish the character false for the sake of a hollow compliment to Chris- tianity ? " Of the freethinking and unpopular Hazlitt, who had soured towards Lamb in his per\'erse way, the essayist spoke still more generously. Of Leigh Hunt he speaks more criti- cally, but with the same resolution to stand by a man known as a heretic. But the severest flout to Southey and his church is in the next paragraph, where, after the avowal that " the last sect with which vou can remember me to have made coniinon 390 FREETHOUGHT IN THE igth CENTURY profession were the Unitarians," he tells how, on the previous Easter Sunday, he had attended the service in Westminster Abbey, and, when he would have lingered afterwards among the tombs to meditate, was "turned, like a dog or some profane person, out into the common street, with feelings which I could not help, but not very congenial to tJie day or the discourse. I do not know," lie adds, " that I shall ever venture myself again into one of your churches." These words were published in the London Maga::inc in 1825 ; but in the posthumous collected edition of the Essays of Elia all the portions above cited were dropped, and the para- graph last quoted from was modified, leaving out the last words. The essay does not seem to ha\e been reprinted in full till It appeared in R. H. Shepherd's edition of 1878. But the original issue In the London Magasine created a tradition among the lovers of Lamb, and his name has alwavs been associated with some repute for freethlnking. There is further very important testimony as to Lamb's opinions In one of Allsopp's records of his conversations with Coleridge : — " No, no; Lamb's skepticism has not come lightly, nor is he a skeptic \sic ; Query, scoffer ?\ The harsh reproof to Godwin for his conteniptuous allusion to Christ before a well-trained child proves that he is not a skeptic [? scoffer]. His mind, never prone to analysis, seems to have been disgusted with the hollow pretences, the false reasonings and absurdities of the rogues and fools with whom all establishments, and all creeds seeking to become established, abound. I look upon Lamb as one hovering between earth and heaven ; neither hoping much nor fearing anything. It is curious that he should retain many usages which he learnt or adopted in the fervour of his early religious feelings, now that his faith Is In a state of suspended animation. Believe me, who know him well, that Lamb, say what he will, has more of the essentials oi Christianity than ninety-nine out of a Iiundred professing Christians. He has all that would still have been Christian had Christ never lived or been made manifest upon earth." (Allsopp's Letters, Conversa- tions, and Recollections of S. T. Coleridge, 3rd ed. 1864, p. 46.) In connection with the frequently cited but doubtful anecdote as to Lamb's religious feeling ghen in Leigh Hunt's Auto- biography (rep. p. 253), may be noted the following, given by Allsopp : " After a visit to Coleridge, during which the conver- sation had taken a religious turn, Leigh Hunt expressed his surprise that such a man as Coleridge should, when speaking of Christ, always call him Our Saviour. Lamb, who had been exhilarated by one glass of that gooseberry or raisin cordial which he has so often anathematised, stammered out, ' Ne-ne- never mind what Coleridge savs ; he is full of fun.' " POETR Y A ND FINE LETTERS 39 1 7. To belles lettres belongs, broadly speaking, that part of the work of Carlyle which, despite his anxious caution, conveyed to susceptible readers a non-Christian view of things. We know from a posthumous writing of Mr. Froude's that, when that writer had gone through the university and taken holy orders without ever having had a single doubt as to his creed, Carlyle's books "taught him that the religion in which he had been reared was but one of many dresses in which spiritual truth had arrayed itself, and that the creed was not literallv true so far as it was a narrative of facts."' It was presumably from the Sartor Rcsartiis and some of the Essays, such as that on Voltaire — perhaps, also, neofativelv from the g-eneral absence of Christian senti- ment in Carlyle's works — that such lessons were learned; and though it is certain that many non-zealous Chris- tians saw no harm in Carlyle, there is reason to believe that for multitudes of readers he had the same awaken- ing virtue. It need hardly be said that his friend Emerson exercised it in no less degree. Of Ruskin, again, the same may be asserted in respect of his many searching thrusts at clerical and lay practice, his defence of Colenso, and the obvious disappearance from his later books of the evangelical orthodoxy of the earlier. "^ Thus the three most celebrated writers of English prose in the latter half of the century were in a measure associated with the spirit of critical thought on matters religious. In a much stronger degree, the same thing may be predicated finally of the writer who in the field of English belles lettres, apart from fiction, came nearest them in fame and influence. Matthew Arnold, passing insensibly from the English attitude of academic ortho- doxy to that of the humanist for whom Christ is but an admirable teacher and God a "Something not ourselves which makes for righteousness," became for the England of his later years the favourite pilot across the bar between supernaturalism and naturalism. Only in England, ^ My Relations -with Carlyle y 1903, p. 2. ' Cp. the author's J/o«' Id. pp. 37-38. 7 Id. pp. 40-42. Cp. p. 43. I'astor Studemund cites other inquirers, notably Rade, Gebhardt, Lorenz, and Dietzgfen, all to the same effect. ^ E.g., Pastor A. Kiilthoff's Was -.vissen ivir von Jesus ? 1904. 420 THE STATE OF THOUGHT IN THE NATIONS seen the common tendency to a slackening in the free- thought attack now that the old orthodoxy is under- mined and shaken. There, as elsewhere, the stress of intellectual strife runs for the time rather to social than to religious problems ; and commercialism dulls the edge of educative zeal. But the transition from faith to reason cannot be undone. It would be well if the rationalist temper could so far assert itself as to check the unhappy racial jealousies of the three Scandinavian peoples, and discredit' their irrationalist belief in funda- mental differences of " national character" among them. But that problem, like those of industry and social structure, is still to solve, for them as for other races. In Russia, rationalism has before it the still harder task of transmuting a system of tyranny into one of self- government. In no European country, perhaps, is rationalism more general among the educated classes ; and in none is there a greater mass of popular igno- rance.' The popular icon-worship in Moscow can hardly be paralleled outside of Asia. On the other hand, the aristocracy became Voltairean in the eighteenth century, and has remained more or less incredulous since, though it now joins hands with the church ; while the democratic movement, in its various phases of socialism, constitu- tionalism, and Nihilism, has been markedly anti- religious since the second quarter of the century.^ Subsidiary revivals of mysticism, such as are chronicled in other countries, are of course to be seen in Russia ; but the instructed class, the intelliguentia^ is essentially naturalistic in its cast of thought. This state of things subsists despite the readiness of the government to suppress the slightest sign of official heterodoxy in the universities.3 The struggle is thus substantially between ' " The people in the country do not read ; in the towns they read little. The journals are little circulated. In Russia one never sees a cabman, an artisan, a labourer reading a newspaper" (Ivan Strannik, La pensee russe co?itej>ipo)-aine, 1903, p. 5). - Cp. E. Lavig-ne, Introduction a I'histoire du nihilisme russe, 1880, pp. 149, 161, 224 ; Arnaudo, Le Nihilisme, French trans, pp. 37, 58, 61, 63, 77, 86, etc. ; Tikhomirov, La Russie, p. 290. 3 Tikhomirov, La Russie, pp. 325-6, 338-9. MODERN JEWRY 421 the Spirit of freedom and that of despotism ; and the fortunes of freethought will go with the former. Were Russia an isolated community, both alike might be strangled by the superior brute force of the autocracy, resting on the loyalty of the ignorant mass ; but the unavoidable contact of surrounding civilisations seems to make such suppression impossible. Such was the critical forecast in the closing years of the nineteenth century. In 1906 the prediction can be made with a new confidence. § 5. Modern Jeivry. In the culture-life of the dispersed Jews, in the modern period, there is probably as much variety of credence in regard to religion as occurs in the life of Christendom so called. Such names as those of Spinoza, Jacobi, Moses Mendelssohn, Heine, and Karl Marx tell sufficiently of Jewish service to freethought ; and each one of these must have had many disciples of his own race. Deism among the educated Jews of Germany in the eighteenth century was probably common.' The famous Rabbi Elijah of Wilna (d. 1797), entitled the Gaon, "the great one," set up a miOvement of relatively rationalistic pietism which led to the establishment in 1803 of a Rabbinical college at Walosin, which has flourished ever since, and had in 1888 no fewer than 400 students, among whom goes on a certain amount of independent study.- In the freer world outside, critical thought has asserted itself within the pale of orthodox Judaism ; witness such a writer as Nachman Krochmal (i 785-1840), whose posthumous Guide to the Perplexed of the Time (1851), though not a scientific work, is ethically and philosophically in advance of the orthodox Judaism of its age. Of Krochmal it has been said that he " was inspired in his work by the study of Hegel, just as Maimonides ' Cp. Schechter, Studies in Judaism, 1896, pp. 59, 71. Schechter writes with a marked Judaic prejudice. - Id. pp. 1 17-1 18. 422 THE STATE OF THOUGHT IN THE NATIONS had been by the study of Aristotle."' The result is only a liberalising of Jewish orthodoxy in the light of historic study,- such as went on among Christians in the same period ; but it is thus a stepping-stone to further science. To-day, educated Jewry is divided in somewhat the same proportions as Christendom into absolute ration- alists and liberal and fanatical believers ; and represen- tatives of all three types, of different social grades, may be found among the Zionists, whose movement for the acquisition of a new racial home has attracted so much attention and sympathy in recent years. Whether or not that movement attains to any decisive political success, Judaism clearly cannot escape the solvent influences which affect all European opinion. As in the case of the Christian church, the synagogue in the centres of culture keeps the formal adherence of some who no longer think on its plane ; but while attempts are made from time to time to set up more rationalistic institutions for Jews with the modern bias, the general tendency is to a division between devotees of the old forms and those who have decided to live by reason. § 6. The Oriental Civilisations. We have already seen, in discussing the culture histories of India, China, and Moslem Persia, how ancient elements of rationalism continue to germinate more or less obscurely in the unpropitious soils of Asiatic life. Ignorance is in most oriental countries too immensely preponderant to permit of any other species of survival. But sociology, while recognising the vast obstacles to the higher life presented by condi- tions which with a fatal facility multiply the lower, can set no limit to the possibilities of upward evolution. The case of Japan is a sufficient rebuke to the thought- less iterators of the formula of the " unprogressiveness ' Zunz, cited by Schechter, p. 79. ^ Whence Krochmal is termed the Father of Jewish Science. Id. p. 81. THE ORIENTAL CIVILISATIOXS 423 of the East." While a cheerfully superstitious relii^ion is there still normal anion of the mass, the transformation of the political ideals and practice of the nation under the influence of European example is so g"reat as to be unparalleled in human history ; and it has inevitably involved the substitution of rationalism for super- naturalism among the great majority of the educated younger generation. The late Yukichi Fukuzawa, who did more than any other man to prepare the Japanese mind for the great transformation effected in his time, was spontaneously a freethinker from his childhood;' and through a long life of devoted teaching he trained thousands to a naturalist way of thought. That they should revert to Christian or native orthodoxy seems as impossible as such an evolution is seen to be in educated Hindostan, where the higher orders of intelligence are probably not relatively more common than among the Japanese. The final question, there as everywhere, is one of social reconstruction and organisation ; and in the enormous population of China the problem, though very different in degree of imminence, is the same in kind. Perhaps the most hopeful consideration of all is that of the ever-increasing inter-communication which makes European and American progress tend in every succeeding generation to tell more and more on Asiatic life. As to Japan, Professor B. H. Cliamberlain, a writer with irrationalist leanings, pronounces that the Japanese " now bow down before the shrine oi Herbert Spencer" {Things Japanese, 3rd ed. i8g8, p. 321. Cp. Religious Systems of the World, 3rd ed. p. 103), proceeding in another connection (p. 352) to describe them as esse^itiaUy an undevotional people. Such a judgment somewhat shakes trust. The Japanese people in the past have exhibited the amount of superstition normal in their culture stage (cp. the Voyages de C. P. Thunberg an Japan, P'rench trans. 1796, iii, 206); and in our own day they differ from Western peoples on this side merely in respect of their greater general serenity of temperament. There were in Japan in 1894 no fewer than 71,831 Buddhist ' A Life of Mr. Vukirlii Fu/^iiza'rva, hy Asa.ia.ru Mlyamori, revised by Professor E. H. Vickers, Tokyo, 1902, pp. 9-10. 424 THE STATE OF THOUGHT HV THE NATIONS temples, and 190,803 Shinto temples and shrines ; and the larg-est temple of all, costing- "several million dollars," was built in the last dozen years of the nineteenth century. To the larger shrines there are habitual pilgrimag-es, the numbers annually visiting one leading Buddhist shrine reaching from 200,000 to 250,000, while at the Shinto shrine of Kompira the pilgfrims are said to number about qoo,ooo each year. (See The Evolution of the Japanese, 1903, by L. Gulick, an American missionary org-anlser.) Professor Chamberlain appears to construe "devotional" in the light of his personal conception of true devotion. Yet a Christian observer testifies, of tlie revi\alist sect of Nichirenites, "the Ranters of Buddhism," that "the wildest excesses that seek the mantle of religion in other lands are by them equalled if not excelled " (Grifhs, The Mikado's Empire, 1S76, p. 163) ; and Professor Chamberlain admits that "the religion of the family binds them [the Japanese in general, including the 'most materialistic'] down in truly sacred bonds"; while another writer, who thinks Christianity desirable for Japan, though he apparently ranks Japanese morals above Christian, declares that in his travels he was much reassured by the superstition of the innkeepers, feeling- thankful that his hosts were "not Agnostics or Secularists," but devout believers in future punishments (Tracy, Rambles through Japan without a Guide, 1892, pp. 131, 276, etc.). A third authority with Japanese experience. Professor W. G. Dixon, while noting- that " aniong certain classes in Japan not only religious earnestness but fanaticism and superstition still prevail," decides that "at the same time it remains true that the Japanese are not in the main a very religious people, and that at the present da}' religion is in lower repute than probably it has ever been in the country's history. Religious indifference is one of the prominent features of new Japan " {The Land of the Morning-, 1882, p. 517). The reconciliation of these estimates lies in the recognition of the fact that the Japanese populace is religious in very much the same way as those of Italy and England, while the more educated classes are rationalistic, not because of any "essential" incapacity for " devotion," but because of enlightenment, and lack of counter- vailing social pressure. To the eye of the devotional Protestant, the Catholics of Italy, with their regard to externals, seem "essentially" irreligious ; and vice versa. Buddhism triumphed over Shintoism in Japan both in ancient and modern times precisely because its lore and ritual make so much niore appeal to the devotional sense. (Cp. Chamberlain, pp. 358-362 ; Dixon, ch. x; Relii^ious Systems of the World, pp. 103, 11 1 ; THE ORIENTAL CIVILISATIONS 425 Griffis, p. 166.) But the aesthetically charming cult of the family, with its poetic recognition of ancestral spirits (as to which see Lafcadio Wq-avw, Japan : An Attempt at Interpreta- tion, 1904), seems to hold its ground as well as any. So unixersal is sociological like other law, that we find in Japan, among some freethinkers, the same disposition as among some in Europe to decide that religion is necessary for the people. Professor Chamberlain (p. 352) cites Mr. Fukuzawa, "Japan's most representative thinker and educationist," as openly declaring that " It goes without saving that the main- tenance oi peace and security in society requires a religion. For this purpose any religion will do. I lack a religious nature, and have never believed in any religion. I am thus open to the charge that I am advising others to be religious while I am not so. Yet my conscience does not permit me to clothe myself with religion when I have it not at heart Of religions there are several kinds — Buddhism, Christianity, and what not. From my standpoint there is no more difference between those than between green tea and black See that the stock is well selected and the prices cheap " {Japaii Herald, September 9th, 1897). Further reflection, marked by equal candour, may lead the pupils of Mr. Fukuzawa to see that nations cannot be led to adore any form of " tea" by the mere assurance of its indispensableness from leaders who confess they never take any. His view is doubtless shared by those priests concerning whom " it may be questioned whether in their fundamental beliefs the more scholarly of the Shinshiu priests differ very widely from the materialistic agnostics of Europe" (Dixon, p. 516). In this state of things the Christian thinks he sees his special opportunity. Professor Dixon writes (p. 518), in the manner of the missionary, that "decaying shrines and broken gods are to be seen everywhere. Not only IS there indifference, but there is a rapidh^-growing skepticism. The masses too are becoming affected by it Shintoism and Buddhism are doomed. What is to take their place ? It must be either Christianity or Atheism. We have the brightest hopes that the former will triumph in the near future " The American missionary before cited, Mr. Gulick, argues alternately that the educated Japanese are religious and that they are not, meaning that they have "religious instincts," while rejecting current creeds. The so-called religious instinct is in fact simply the spirit of moral and intellectual seriousness. Mr. Gulick's summing-up, as distinct from his theory and forecast, is as follows : " For about three hundred years the intelligence of the nation has been dominated by Confucian 426 THE STATE OF THOUGHT IN THE NATIONS thought, which rejects active belief in supra-human beings. The tendency of all persons trained in Confucian classics was towards thoroughgoing skepticism as to divine beings and their relation to this world. For this reason, beyond doubt, has Western agnosticism found so easy an entrance into Japan. Complete indifference to religion is characteristic of the educated classes of to-day . Japanese and foreigners. Christians and non-Christians alike, unite in this opinion. The impression usually conveyed by this statement, however, is that agnos- ticism is a new thing in Japan. In point of fact, the old agnosticism is merely reinforced by the agnosticism of the West"(77zt' Evolution of the Japanese, pp. 286-7). This may be taken as broadly accurate. Cp. the author's paper on " Freethought in Japan" in the Agnostic Annua/ {or 1906. Professor E. H. Parker notes {China and Religion, 1905, p. 263) that " the Japanese in translating Western books are beginning, to the dismay of our missionaries, to leave out all the Christianity that is in them." The intellectual evolution, however, must depend on the economic and social. Rationalism on any large scale is always a product of culture ; and culture for the mass of the people of Japan has only recently begun. Down till the middle of the nineteenth century nothing more than sporadic freethought existed. Some famous captains were irreverent as to omens,' and the great founder of modern feudalism, lyeyasu, in the seventeenth century, denounced the sacrifices of vassals at graves, and even cited Confucius as ridiculing the burial of effigies in substitution.^ But, as elsewhere under similar conditions, such displays of originality were confined to the ruling caste. ^ I have seen, indeed, a delightful popular satire, apparently a product of mother- wit, on the methods of popular Buddhist shrine-making; but, supposing it to be genuine and vernacular, it can stand only for that m.easure of freethought which is never absent from any society not pithed by a long ' Lafcadio Hearn, Japan: An Atfonpf at Iiitcrprefafion, 1904, p. 168. > Id. p. 313 ; cp. p. 46. 3 Thus the third emperor of the Min^■ dynasty in China (1425-1435), referring- to the beHef in a future life, makes the avowal : " I am fain to sigh with despair wlien I see that in our own day men are just as superstitious as ever" (Professor E. H. Parker, China and Religion, 1905. P- 99)- THE ORIENTAL CIVILISATIONS 427 process of religious tyranny. Old Japan, with its intense feudal discipline and its indurated etiquette, exhibited the social order, the grace, the moral charm, and the intellectual vacuity of a hive of bees. The higher mental life was hardly in evidence ; and the ethical literature of native inspiration is of no impor- tance.' To this day the educated Chinese, though lacking in Japanese " efficiency " and devotion to drill of all kinds, are the more freely intellectual in their habits of mind. The Japanese feudal system, indeed, was so immitigably ironbound, so incomparably destruc- tive of individuality in word, thought, and deed, that only in the uncodified life of art and handicraft was any free play of faculty possible. What has happened of late is the rapid and docile assimilation of western science. Another and a necessarily longer step is the independent development of the speculative and critical intelligence ; and in the East, as in the West, this is subject to economic conditions. A similar generalisation holds good as to the other Oriental civilisations. Analogous developments to those seen in the latter-day Mohammedan world, and equally marked by fluctuation, have been noted in the mental life alike of the non-Mohammedan and the Mohammedan peoples of India ; and at the present day the thought of the relatively small educated class is undoubtedly much aft'ected by the changes going on in that of Europe, and especially of England. The vast Indian masses, however, are far from anything in the nature of critical culture ; and though some system of education for them is probably on the way to establish- ment,- their life must long remain quasi-primitive, mentally as well as physically. Buddhism is theoreti- cally more capable of adaptation to a rationalist view of life than is Christianity ; but its intellectual activities at present seem to tend more towards an "esoteric" ' See Hearn, as cited, passim. - Cp. Sir F. S. P. Lely, Suggestlotis for the Better Governing of India, 1906, p. 59. 428 THE STATE OF THOUGHT IN THE NATIONS credulity than towards a rational or scientific adjustment to life. Of the nature of the influence of Buddhism in Burmah, where it has prospered, a vivid and thoughtful account is given in the recent work of H. Fielding-, The Soul of a People, 1898. x\t its best, the cult there deifies the Buddha ; elsewhere, it is interwoven with aboriginal polytheism and superstition (Davids, Buddhism, pp. 207-211 ; Max Miiller, Anthropological Religion, p. 132). Within Brahmanism, again, there have been at different times attempts to set up partly naturalistic reforms in religious thought — e.g., that of Chaitanya in the sixteenth century ; but these have never been pronouncedly free th hi king, and Chaitanya preached a " surrender of all to Krishna," very much in the manner of evangelical Christianity. Finally he has been deified by his followers. (Miiller, Nat. Rel. p. 100 ; Phvs. Rel. P- 356.) More definitely freethinking was the monotheistic cult set up among the Sikhs in the fifteenth centur}-, as the history runs, by Nanak, who had been influenced both bv Parsees and by Mohammedans, and whose ethical system repudiated caste. But though Nanak objected to any adoration of himself, he and all his descendants have been virtually deified by his devotees, despite their profession of a theoretically pantheistic creed. (Cp. De la Saussaye, Manual of the Science of Religion, Eng. trans, pp. 659-662 ; M tiller, Phvs. Rel. p. 355.) Trumpp {Die Religion der Sikhs, 1881, p. 123) tells of other Sikh sects, including one of a markedly atheistic character belonging to the nineteenth century ; but all alike seem to sink towards Hinduism. Similarly among the Jainas, who compare with the Buddhists in their nominal atheism as in their tenderness to animals and in some other respects, there has been decline and compromise ; and their numbers appear steadily to dwindle, though in India they survived while Buddhism disappeared. Cp. De la S-Aussa-ye, Manual, pp. 557-563; Rev. J. Robson, Hinduism, 1874, pp. 80-86; Tiele, Outlines, p. 141. Finally, the Brahmo-Somaj movement of the present century appears to have come to little in the way of rationalism (Mitchell, Hinduism, pp. 224-246 ; De la Saussaye, pp. 669-671 ; TIele, p. 160). The principle of the interdependence of the external and the internal life, finally, applies even in the case of Turkey. The notion that Turkish civilisation in Europe is unimprovable, though partly countenanced THE ORIENTAL CIVILISATIONS 429 by despondent thinkers even among the enhghtened Turks/ has no justification in social science ; and though Turkish freethinking has not in general passed the theistic stage,- and its spread is grievously hindered by the national religiosity,^ which the age-long hostility of the Christian States so much tends to intensify, a gradual improvement in the educational and political conditions would suffice to evolve it, according to the observed laws of all civilisation. It maybe that a result of the rationalistic evolution in the other European States will be to make them intelligently friendly to such a process, where at present they are either piously malevolent towards the rival creed or merely self-seeking as against each other's influence on Turkish destinies. In any case, it cannot seriously be pretended that the mental life of Christian Greece in modern times has yielded, apart from services to simple scholarship, any better result to the world at large than has that of Turkey. Despite the political freedom of the Christian State, there has thus far occurred there no such general fertilisation by the culture of the rest of Europe as is needed to produce a new intellectual evolution of any importance. The mere geographical isolation of modern Greece from the main currents of European thought and commerce is probably the most retardative of her condi- tions ; and it is hard to see how it can be countervailed. Italy, in comparison, is pulsating with original life, industrial and intellectual. But, given a renascence of Mohammedan civilisation, the whole life of the nearer East may take a new departure ; and in such an evolution Greece would be likely to share. ' See article on " The Future of Turkey " in the Contemporary Revieiv, April, 1899, by "A Turkish Official." ^ Yet, as early as the date of the Crimean War, it was noted by an observer that ''young- Turkey makes profession of atheism." Ubicini, La Turquie acfue/tc,iSss, P-'36i. Cp. Sir G. Campbell, A Very Recent Vie~M of Turkey, 2nd ed. 1878, p. 65. Vambt^ry makes somewhat lig-ht of such tendencies (Z)i. ^nesidemus, i, 177 «., 186 Aerius, i, 244 ^schj-lus, i, 131-5, 145 n. African tribes, religion of, i, 24 sq., 29 unbelief m, 1, 32, 34, 35 Ag-athon, i, 163 n. Agni, cult of, i, 46 "Agnostic," use of word, ii, 407 Agnosticism, Chines^ i, 82, 83 Greek, i, 145, 146, i6i, 162 Agobard, i, 292-3 Agur, i, 117 Ahriman (Angra Main}u), i, 67, 69, 1 12 Ahura Mazda, i, 65 sq. Aikenhead, ii, 158 Akbar, i, 283 Akerberg, ii, 350 Akkadian religion, i, 60 sq. Alberti, cited, ii, i36«. , 166, 206, 312 Albertus Magnus, i, 339, 349 n., 368 ;/., 406 of Saxony, i, 404 Albigenses, i, 317 sq. Alciati, i, 469 Alexander VI, i, 362 of Aphrodisias, i, 367 Alexandria, religion at, i, 185 culture at, i, 184 Alfarabi, i, 274 Alfieri, ii, 313 Algazel, i, 267, 272, 273, 274 Algarotli, ii, 313 Algeria, freethought in, i, 284 Ali Syed, i, 280 w. Alison, cited, ii, 229 Alkaios, i, 197 Alkibiades, i, 159 Al Kindi, i, 274 Al Kindy, i, 266 Allbutt," Professor T. C, cited, i, 38, 411 n. ; ii, 113 n. Allegory, freethinking, i, 143 Allen, Ethan, ii, 318 ;;. Allix, ii, 107, 230 AUsopp, cited, ii, 390 Almoravides and Almohades, i, 276 Alphabetic writing, age ot\ i, 192 Alphonso X (the Wise), i, 341, 346-7, 382 II, i. 381 of Naples, i, 356 Alsted, ii, 254 sq. Amadeo de' Landi, i, 359 Amalrich (Amaury) of Bena, i, 336, 374 Ambrose, i, 236 Ames, ii, 90 Ammianus Marcellinus, i, 237-8 Ammonios Saccas, i, 227 Amos, i, 104 sq. Amsterdam i, 4 )i.; ii, 197-8 Amun, i, 70 Anabaptists, the, i, 431,453, 470 Anaita, i, 68 Anatomy, ii, 7 A 11 ax, i, 126 Anaxagoras, i, 139, 152 sq., 157, 161, 168 Anaximandros, i, 139, 141 Anaximenes, i, 139, 141-2, 152 431 432 INDEX Ancestor-worship, i, 82 I Andamanese, religion and ethics oi, i, 94 Ang-els, belief in, i, 112 ; ii, 353 Anglo-Saxons, i, 115 Annet, ii, 146-7, 174, 327 Anomeans, the, i, 247 Anselm, St., i, 302, 326 sq. • of Laon, i, t^t,^, ?i. Anstruther, ii, 115, 125 Anthropomorphism, i, 178 Anti-clericalism, i, 53, 289, 309, 312, 350. 357' 358-9- 371 sq. Antisthenes, i, 179 Antonines, the, i, 208, 216 Aphrodite, i, 126 Apthorp, ii, 176 Apistos, early use of word, i, i , 1 29 ;/. Apocalypse, i, 225 n. Apollo, i, 126, 129 Apologetics, Christian, i, 240, 360 sq., 392, 417; ii, 95-7, 100, 102 sq., 14c, 179, 180, 230 sq., 414 Apostolici, i, 379-80 Apotheosis, imperial, i, 181-2 Apuleius, i, 210 ; cited, i, 75 Aquinas, Thomas, i, 337 sq., 339, 366, 378, 403 Arabs, influence of, on Europe, i, 275' 293, 319 sq., 334, 336,345 on negro life, i, 284 civilisation of, i, 255, 257, 259, 274 sq. science of, i, 265, 267, 275, 319 sq. decadence ot, i, 267 sq., 269 sq., 275 sq. ■ persecution of, ii, 56 Himyarite, i, 113, 117 Aranda, Count, ii, 314 Arcadia, religion in, i, 43 Archelaos, i, 139, 161 Archilochos, i, 125 «., 143 Aristarchos, i, 184 Aristippos, i, 179 Aristo, i, 181 Aristophanes, i, 152, 167 Aristotle, i, 165, i6g n., 172 sq.; ii, 81-2, 379 Aristotelianism, i, 333, 334, 336, 2,3^ sq., 344; ii_, 81 Arius and Arianism, i, 74, 231 sq. , 235 Ark, the Hebrew, i, 100 Arkesilaos, i, 183 Arminianism, i, 477 ; ii, 201 Arnauld, ii, 186 Arnold of Brescia, i, 313, 329 n. the legate, i, 322 Arnold, Godfrey, ii, 267 Matthew, ii, 326, 388, 391, 404 Arnoldo of Villanueva, i, 383 Arnoldson, K. P., ii, 351 Artemis, i, 125 Arts, effect of, on religion, i, 95 affected by religion, i, 343 Aryabhata, i, 55 Aryans, i, 46 sq. Asceticism, i, 248-251, 308 Ascham, ii, 3, 24 Asgill, ii, 133 Ashari, Al, i, 267 Ashtoreths, i, 80 Asmodeus, i, 112 i Asoka, i, 58 Aspasia, i, 155-6 Assassins, the, i, 272 Assyria, religion of, i, 60 sq. , J27 Assyriology, ii, 360 Astrology, i, 410 assailed by Gassendi, ii, 192 Astronomy, Arab, i, 270, 275 Hindu, i, 55 ■ Greek, i, 140, 148 sq., 184 Babylonian, i, 61, 62, 95, 140, '75 Modern, ii, 326 Astruc, ii, 358 Asvamedha, rite of, i, 51, 94 Aszo y del Rio, ii, 314 Athanasius, i, 74 Athanasianism, i, 235 Atheism, and atheist, use of words, i, I, 4, 225 Arab, i, 255, 258, 263, 264 «., 279 Brahmanic, i, 49 sq. Buddhistic, i, 55, 57 among Sikhs, ii, 428 in Phoenicia, i, 78, 79 in Greece, i, 18. 141, 146, 159, 161, 179, 180, 188 at Rome, i, 209 under Islam, i, 259 sq., 269; ii, 429 n. in modern Germany, i, 455 in Poland, ii, 308 in England, ii, 24, 25, 88, 130, 142, 157 in Scotland, ii, 159 in the French Revolution, ii, 244 sq. rise ot modern, ii, 1 in Turkey, ii, 429 n. in Japan, ii, 426 Athenagoras, i, 225, 232 Athene, i, 126 INDEX 433 Athens, culture o'i, i, 135-6, 154-7, 164-5, I '^6, 245 Afheos, early use of word, i, 129 Atomic theory, i, 157 Audra, ii, 212 Auerbach, ii, 397 Aitfkldruitg, ii. 274, 290, 292 Auj^sburtj, Peace of, ii, 49 Auyustine, St., i, 214, 233 sq., 239 Auyuslus, i, 204 sq., 210 Aulus Gellius, cited, i, 197 n. Auspices, Roman, i, 195 Austore d'Orlac, i, 344 n. Australian aborig-ines, ethics and relig-ion of, i, 94, 98 freethoui^ht, ii, 412 Austria, freethoug-ht in, ii, 305 sq. Avempace, i, 277, 335 Avenar, ii, 27 Averroes and Averroism, i, 277 sq., 320, 334, 336 sq., 338 sq., 348, 352, 353-4, 359' 367, 370, 381 sq., 383 sq., 388-9, 409, 414 Avicebron, i, 335 Avicenna, i, 274 Avigfnon, the papacy at, i, 354 sq. , 398, 443 Aztec religion, i, 87 sq. Baals, i, 76-77 Bab sect, i, 281 sq. Babylon, religion of, i, 44, 66 sq., iio-i 12 freethought in, i, 61-4 science in, i, 62-3, 95, 138, 140, 148, 157 Bacchic mysteries, i, 196, 208 Bacon, Francis, i, 5, 6, 158, 172 «., 369; ii, 40, 41 sq., 60 ■ — - Roger, i, 338, 387 sq. Baden Powell, Rev., cited, ii, 33 Bagehot, W. , criticised, ii, 171 Bahrdt, ii, 278 sq. Bain, Professor, ii, 404 ; quoted, i, 169 «., 173 ; ii, 118, 403 Bainham, i, 473 Baker, Sir S., i, 35 Balfour, A. J., ii, 413 Balguy, ii, 150 Ball, John, i, 392 Ballance, ii, 412 Balzac, ii, 385 Bantu, the, i, 24 Ban van, i, 445 Baptism, i, 289 Barmekides, the, i, 265 Barrington, ii, 149 Barthez, ii, 226 Barthogge, ii, 103 VOL. II Bartoli, cited, i, 372 Basedow, ii, 275 sq. Basileus, i, 126 Basilides, i, 230 Bathenians, the, i, 264 Baudelaire, ii, 385 Bauer, A., quoted, i, 156 u. Bruno, ii, 325, 354, 370 Edgar, ii, 353 G. L., ii, 352 Baume-Desdossat, ii, 224 Baur, F. C, ii, 325, 354; cited, i, 454 Rev. W., cited, 11, 293 n., 339 Baxter, ii, 98-9, 103 Bayle, ii, 129, 203 sq., 328 ; cited, ii, '9 ^ . Beard, C. , cited, i, 478 Beausobre, ii, 225, 303 Bebel, August, ii, 341, 419 • Heinrich, i, 452 BecCfiria, ii, 220, 239, 312 Beethoven, ii, 306 Beghards and Beguins, i, 375, 377, 390, 39S B(iha, i, 282 Bekkar, ii, 202 Belgium, freethought in, ii, 34S "Believers in Reason," ii, 350 Bellay, Jean du, ii, 8 Joachim du, ii, 12 Bellman, ii, 349 Bel Merodach, i, 45, 62, 64 Benn, A., cited, i, 140 n., 141 11., 173. 174-5, 183 «. Bentham, ii, 325, 375 Bentley, ii, 108, 135, 149, 150 cited, i, 7 n. B^ranger, ii, 385 Berault, ii, 108 Berengar, i, 300 sq., 459 Bergier, ii, 230, 231, it,^ Berkeley, i, 7 «.; ii, 129, 132, 138 sq., 145, 168, 231 Bernard, St., i, 312, 329, 331, 378 Berquin, i, 445-6 Berthelot, ii, 183 Berti, quoted, ii, 77, 80 Besant, Mrs., ii, 335-6, 338, 414 Bettinelli, ii, 313 Bevan, E. R. , cited, i, 182 n. Beverland, ii, 54 Beyle, ii, 385 Beza, i, 463 ; ii, 82 Bezold, i, 414, 452, 460 Biandrata, i, 435, 441, 469 ; ii, 4 Bibliolatry, i, 457, 469 Bickell, i, 1 13 Biddle, ii, 94, 1 16 2F 434 INDEX Bi^linsky, ii, 389 Biology, ii, 3^6, 365 sq. Bion, i, 180 Biran, ii, 372 Bjornson, ii, 399 Black, A. S., ii, 360 Black Death, i, 32, 351 Blackmore, ii, 149 Blasphem\-, i, 164, 166, 195; ii, 92, 109, 1 26 Blatchford, ii, 338 Bleckly, H., i, 167 ;;. Bletterie, ii, 210 Blind, ideas of the, i, 39 Blount, ii, 106-7, I09' '^9, 150 Boas, Professor, cited, ii, 32 Boccaccio, i, 349 sq. Bodin, i, i ; ii, 12, 379 Boeheim, i, 416 n. Boethius, i, 252-3 Bogfomilians, the, i, 291 Bohemia, Reformation in, i, 427 sq. Boileau, ii, 183 Boissier, cited, i, 193 Boleslav, i, 437 Boling-broke, ii, 141, 155, 170 sq., 231 Bolsec, i, 461, 467 Bonaventure Desperiers, ii, 5 sq. Boncerf, ii, 211 Boniface, St. i, 291-2 Bonner, Mrs., ii, 338 Booms, ii, 203 Borowski, cited, ii, 296, 301 Bossuet, ii, 187, 196 cited, ii, 185 Bouchier, Jean, i, 474 Boiigre, orig;in of word, i, 291 Bouillier, cited, i, 368 n. Boulainvilliers, ii, 208, 222,-, 225 Boulant^er, ii, 225 Boiirdelot, ii, 307 Bourget, ii, 385 Bourg'eville, ii, 15 Bourne, cited, ii, 118 n. Bouterwek, cited, ii, 59 Boyle, i, 4 ; ii, 103, 143 Boyle lectures, ii, 107 Bradke, Von, cited, i, 48 Bradford, Bishop, ii, 108 Bradlaugh, ii, 2,^2, sq., 405 Bradle}-, J., ii, 108 Brahmanism, i, 48 sq. Dravidian influence on, i, 54 n. Brahmo-Somaj movement, ii, 428 Brandes, G. , ii, 399 E., ii, 399 Braun, ii, 350 Breitburgf, ii, 201 )i. Brethren of the Free Spirit, i, 2, 374. 377. 380, 406, 466 ■ Sincere (of Purity), i, 263 Bohemian, i, 430 of the Common Lot, i, 456 Bretschneider, ii, 352 Brewster, cited, ii, 123, 154, 365 Briconnet, i, 444 Brihaspati, i, 52 " Broad Church," ii, 375 Brougham, ii, 401 n., 402 ;/. Brown, ii, 168 W., ii, 361 Browne, Sir T., i, 11 ; ii, iii Bishop, ii, 129 Browning, ii, 326, 388 quoted, ii, 222 Bruneti^re, ii, 386 Brunetto Latini, i, 348, 398 )i. Bnmo, Giordano, i, 22, 422 ;;., 471 ; ii, 5, 60, 62 sq., 361 Bruy^re, ii, 193 Bryce, cited, i, 18-19, 311 Bucer, i, 468 Biichner, ii, 325, 350, 371, 372, 417 n. Buckingham, ii, 107 Buckle, i, 14; ii, 19; cited, i, 325; ii, 115, 149, 210-2, 217, 234, 241, 242, 326, 379, 381, 407 Buddeus, i, 11 Buddha, traditions of, i, 54 sq. , 57 Buddhism, i, 54 sq. , 148 Budny, ii, 55 Buffon. ii, 211, 232, 236 sq. Bulgarians, i, 290 Bullen, cited, ii, iii n. Burckhardt, cited, i, 133, 351 «., 357 «•' 420 Burgers, ii, 347 Burghley, cited, ii, 3 Buridan, i, 404 Burigny, ii, 224, 227 Burke, ii, 176 Burnet, Bishop, cited, i, 6, 475 ; ii, 94, 310 Dr. J., cited, i, 150, 156 «., I 89- I go Dr.T., ii, 119, 124, 153, 15S Burns, ii, 178 Bury, A., ii, 120 Busone da Gubbio, i, 350 n. Butler, ii, 145, 155, sq., 231 Byron, ii, 326, 387 Byzantium, civilisation of, i, 250 sq. freethought in, i, 287 sq. Cabanis, ii, 232 Cselestius, i, 232 Caesar, i, 202 sq. , 210 INDEX 435 Caird, E., i, 460 Cairns, ii, 238, 245 11. Calas, ii, 220 Calderon, ii, 58 Calendar, reform of, i, 472-3 Callidius, ii, 51 Calliniachus, i, 137 ;;. Calovius, i, 472 Calvin, i, 2,448, 457 sq., 461 ; ii, 8, 11 Calvinism, i, 461 sq., 477 Cambyses, i, 74 Campanella, ii, 309 Campanus, i, 453 Cannibalism, i, 41 Canti'i, i, 13 ; cited, 349 Cardan, i, xv, 349 n. Carlile, ii, 329, 338 Carlyle, ii, 326, 368, 391, 401 Carneades, i, 183, 187 ii. Carnesecchi, i, 423 Carpenter, J. E. , ii, 360 Carranza, ii, 63 Carra, ii, 226 Carrol, ii, 119 Cartaud, ii, 212 Cartesianism, ii, 113 sq., 182, 194 Casaubon, Isaac, i, 477 Meric, ii, 102 Casimir the Great, i, 438 Cassels, W. R., ii, 357 Castalio, i, 461, 467 ; ii, 14, 15 Castelnau, ii, 64 Castillon, ii, 225, 226 Casuistry, ii, 90 Caffiari, i, 308 sq., 314 Catherine the Great, ii, 309 Cavalcanti, the two, i, 347 Cecco d'Ascoli, i, 349 Celsus, i, 240 sq. Celso, ii, 15 Censorship, Roman, i, 210 Cerinthus, i, 226 n. Cerutti, ii, 226 Cervantes, ii, 58 Cesalpini, ii, 81 n. Chaeremon, i, 208 Chaitanya, ii, 428 Chalmers, ii, 376 ; cited, i, 84 Chaloner, ii, 94 Chamberlain, B. H., cited, ii, 423-4 Chambers, R., ii, 326, 366 Chamfort, ii, 232 Chandrag'upta, i, 58 Channing-, ii, 344 Charlemag'ne, i, 309 Charles II, ii, 89, 99 )i. Ill of Spain, ii, 314 IV of Spain, ii, 314 V, i, 410 ; ii, 49 Charleton, W., ii, 97 Charron, ii, 19 sq. Chastellain, i, 445 Chateaubriand, ii, 373, 382 sq. Chatelet, Marquise du, ii, 221 Chatham. (See Pitt.) Chaucer, i, 389 Chaumette, ii, 249 Chazars, the, i, 308 n. ChefFontaines, ii, 16 Chelsum, ii, 176 Chenier, A., ii, 232 Cheyne, Dr., ii, 358 «., 360, 409 cited, i, 105 «., 107, 113, 117; ii, 144 «., 151, 359 }i. Chilling-worth, ii, 115-6 China, thought in, i, 80 sq. evolution of, i, 136 Chivalry and religion, i, 399 sq. Cholmeley, ii, 1^2 Christian II of Denmark, ii, 203, 306 Christianit}', theory of, i, 19 sq. rise of, i, 215, 217 sq. hostility of to freethought, i, 224 strifes of, i, 214 and conduct, i, 19, 20 Christina, Queen, ii, 307 Chrysostom, i, 246-7, 250 Chubb, ii, 146, 150 Chuen-Aten, i, 72 sq. Church, popular hostility to, ii, 91 Church, Dean, cited, ii, 18 n., 45 «. Churchill, Lord Randolph, ii, 334-5 Cicero, i, 199 sq. Clarke, ii, 109, 143, 150 John, ii, 329 Clarkson, ii, 93 Claudius of Turin, i, 292-3, 316 n. of Savoy, ii, 3 Clayton, Bishop, ii, 165 Cleanthes, i, 181 Clemens Alexandrinus, i, 226, 228 Romanus, i, 228 Clement IV, i, 387 \'II, i, 418; ii, 8 XIV, ii, 313 Clergy, extortion by, i, 309, 328 vice among, i, 309, 350, 355 hostility to, i, 289, 309, 312, 350, 357-9. 371 sq. Clifford, M., ii, 105 Professor, i, 448 «.; ii, 404, 406 Clitomachos, i, 183 Clootz, ii, 226, 249 Clough, ii, 326, 388 Coifi, i, 36 Coimbra, Bishop of, ii, 315 436 INDEX Colbert, ii, 192 Cole, P., ii, 26 Colenso, i, 35 ; ii, 325, 350, 359 Coleridge, ii, 31, 325-6, 377-8, 387 Colet, i, 413 n. Colletet, ii, 183 Collins, Anthony, i, 7, 22 ; ii, 121, 123, 134 sq., 142, 150-1, 168, 202, 224 Collis, cited, ii, 173 n. Columbus, i, 388 Combe, G. and A., ii, 332, 382 Comenius, i, 5 Comines, i, 399 Comparison of creeds, effect of, i, 42, 194 Comte, Auguste, n, 326, 336, 374, 379. 407 Charles, ii, 379 ; cited, ii, 251 11. Comtism, ii, 325, 407 Conches. (See William.) Condillac, ii, 232, 236 Condorcet, ii, 218, 232, 244 sq., 328, 379 Confucius, i, 80 sq. Connor, ii, 124 Conrad, Joseph, ii, 392 Conrad the Inquisitor, i, 324 n. of Waldhausen, i, 428 Constance, Council of, i, 355, 429 Constans, i, 245 ;/ Constant, i, 31 ; ii, 385 Constantine, i, 236 Constantine Copronymus, i, 290 Constantius, i, 237, 245 n. Conway, M. D., ii, 342, 394 «., 395 cited, i, 220 ;/. Conybeare, ii, 149, 150 F. C. , quoted, i, 289 Cooper, J. G., ii, 174 Coornhert, ii, 51 sq. Copernicus, i, 460 ; ii, 13, 17 «., 49, 60 sq. Coquereau, ii, 212 Coquerel, ii, 345 Corelli, Miss, ii, 393 Corneille, ii, 183 Cornutus, i, 188 Corodi, ii, 353 Cosimo dei Medici, i, 361 Cosmas Indicopleustes, i, 246 Cosmology, ancient, i, 61, 77-9, 139 sq. Cotta, i, 190 sq. Cousin, ii, 372 Coward, ii, 133, 143 Cowell, Professor, cited, i, 270 Cowper, ii, 178 Crai 124 Craik, cited, ii, 128 n. Cramer, ii, 350 Cranmer, i, 474 Creation, doctrine of, i, 121, 178; ii, Z^2,-> 368 Creator-Gods, i, 61, 89, 178 Credulity, evolution of, i, 90 Creighton, Bishop, ii, 414 Cremonini, ii, 75 Cr(^qui, Madame de, ii, 215 n, Cromwell, i, 203 «.; ii, 89, 94 Crotus, i, 452 Cruelty, Christian and pagan, i, 251, 315 Moslem, i, 264 Crusades, effects of, i, 45 n., 319 Crusius, ii, 302 Cudworth, 4; ii, 104, 129 Cuffelaer, ii, 258 Culverwel, ii, 96-7 Cumberland, i, 30 ; ii, 114, 307 Cuper, Franz, ii, 201 Curtius, E., cited, i, 125;?., 126 «., 129 Cuvier, ii, 365 Cybele, cult of, i, 63 Cynics, the, i, 179 Cyrano de Bergerac, ii, 184, 185 Cyrenaics, the, i, 179 Cyril, i, 238, 243 Cyrus, i, 64, 66 Czechowicz, ii, 55 Daille, i, 479 Daillon, ii, 203 D'Alembert, ii, 232, 243, 244, 272 Damilaville, ii, 225 Damiron, ii, 374 Damon, i, 154 Dandolo, ii, 313 Dante, i, 347' 34^ sq., 353 n. Danton, ii, 232 Daoud, i, 101 D'Argens, ii, 224, 225, 272 D'Argenson, ii, 216 Darigrand, ii, 213 Darius, i, 65, 66 Darmesteter, cited, i, 68 Darwin, C, ii, 326, 365 sq., 404, 406 E., ii, 178, 365 Darwinism, early, ii, 365, 366 Daudet, ii, 385 Daumer, ii, 354 D.avid, King, i, loi David of Dinant, i, 336, 374 Davides, i, 435 ; ii, 55 Davids, Rhys, cited, i, 53 «., 57 Davidson, J., ii, 388 Davies, J. C, ii, 175 INDEX 437 Davies, Archbishop, ii, io8 Sir John, ii, ^)i Davis, ii, 176 Deaf-mutes, beliefs of, i, 39 Decameron, The, i, 350 sq. Decharme, i, 13 Deffand, Madame du, ii, 215 n. Deg'eneration in relij^ion, i, 91 sq. Deification, i, 205, 207 "Deism" and "deist, "use of words, i, 4; ii, I, 105 early Italian and French, i, 350 Eng-lish, ii, 41, 85 sq., 325, 2,T>^ sq. French, ii, 215 sq. German, ii, 281 sq. American, ii, 317 sq. ^"■Ddiste," introduction of word, i, i Delamare, cited, ii, 205 Delambre, ii, 232 Delmedig-o, E. and J. S., i, 371 De Lolme, ii, 21 1 Delphi, oracle of, i, 128, 137, 183 Demetrius Phalereus, i, 179 Poliorketes, i, 182 Democracy and freethoug-ht, i, 155, 160, [75, 191 ; II, 327 sq. Demokritos, i, 139, 157 sq., 169 Demonax, i, 187 Denk, i, 453 Denman, Lord, ii, 331 Dersdon, ii, 104 Descartes, i, 337 n.\ ii, 54, 60, 83 sq., 88, 129, 182, 197, 198 Desdouits, Professor, ii, 69 sq. Desforges, ii, 212 Desgabets, ii, 195 Deslandes, i, 7 ; ii, 223, 224 ; cited, ii, igo II. Desmoulins, ii, 232 Destutt de Tracy, ii, 232 Deurhoff, ii, 202 Diasforas, i, 159-160 Dick, ii, 364 «. Dickens, ii, 392 Dickinson, T. L. , cited, i, 99 Diderot, ii, 2t,2, 235, 239 sq., 249, 328 ; cited, ii, 172 Dikaiarchos, i, 181 Dillon, Dr., cited, i, 113, 117 Diodoros, cited, i, 71 Diog-enes of Apollonia, i. 141 11., 154 Laertius, i, 142 ■ the Babylonian, i, 181 ;/. Dionysios, the younger, i, 170 n. the Areopagite, i, 231 >t. Dionysos, i, 126, 128, 136, 143 Diopeithes, i, 154 Dippel, J. Conrad, ii, 265 sq. Dissent, English, and Liberalism, ii, 326 Dissenters' Chapels Act, ii, 334 Divination, i, 247 Dixon, Professor, cited, ii, 424-5 Doddridge, ii, 149 Dodwell, senr. , ii, 133, 143 ^ junr., ii, 147 Dolcino, i, 379 Dolet, i, 22; ii, 5, 8, 9 Dominic, St., i, 375, 383 Dominicans, i, 375-6, 384, 385 ; ii, 62 Domitian, i, 21 t Domitius, i, 202 w. Dostoyevsky, ii, 398 Douglas, S. A., ii, 408 Douglass, Frederick, ii, 408 Dove, Dr. John, ii, 39 J-, ii. 174 Drama, freethought in, i, 135 Draper, i, 13 ; ii, 379,407 Driver, Canon, ii, 359 ; cited, i, 106, "3 .. Droz, ii, 246 Drummond, H., ii, 406, 413 Dryden, ii, 174 Dualism, i, 67, 114, 149, 169, 289 Ducket, ii, 144 Duclos, ii, 212 Dudgeon, ii, 160 sq. , 174 Duels, veto on, i, 293 n. Diilaurens, ii, 225 Dumarsais, ii, 225, 227 Dunbar, W. , quoted, ii, 159, 160 Duni, ii, 31 1 Duns Scotus, i, 337-8, 378, 402, 403 Dupuis, ii, 232, 244, 336, 381 Durand, i, 403 Durkheim, ii, 326, 380 Duvernet, ii, 211, 226 Earthquakes, i, 288 Eberhard, ii, 274, 276 Ebionites, i, 226 Eccles tastes, i, i 12 sq., 1 16-7 Eckhart, i, 406 Economic causation, i, t,;^, 37, 38, 59. 72, 85, 205, 236 sq., 297 sq., 308 sq., 354, 356, 369, 372, 375 sq., 382 sq., 384,413 sq.,430 sq.,434; ii, 34, 50. 13'. 209, 306, 327, 347, 406, 409 sq. Ecphantos, i, 149 Edelmann, ii, 266 sq. Edersheim, cited, i, 121 Edgeworth, Miss, ii, 392 Education and Protestantism, i, 456 in England in eighteenth cen- tury, n, 173 438 INDEX Edwards, T. , cited, ii, 94 Jonathan, ii, 356, 379 John, ii, 108, 119 Egypt, ancient, rehg^ion of, i, 69 sq. freethought in, i, 1 10 influence of on Greece, i, 123, 131-2 modern, i, 25, 282-3 Eichhorn, ii, 352, 358 d'Eichthal, ii, 358 Eleatic School, i, 139, 144-6 Eleusinian mysteries, i, 179??. Elias, i, 376 Eliezer, Rabbi, i, 334 Elijah and Elisha, i, loi ■ Rabbi, ii, 421 Eliot, George, ii, 357, 392, 414 Elizabeth, Queen, ii, 25 St., i, 324 n. Elohini, i, 97, 104 Ellis, C, ii, 108 Ehvall, ii, 138, 207 Emerson, ii, 325, 344, 378, 391, 394 Emes, ii, 108 Emin, Khalif, i, 265 Empedokles, i, 158-9 Encyclopedic, ii, 220, 241 England, medieval, freethought in, i. 297, 315-316, 387 sq. Tudor,freethought in,i, 473 sq. Reformation in, i, 449, 473 sq. ; Erdmann, cited, i, 332, 387-8 Erhard, ii, 301 Erigena. (See John Scotus. ) Esoteric religion, i, 71 Esprit fort, use of term, ii, 171 Essays and Revieivs, ii, 325 Essenes, i, 148 Essex, Earl of, ii, 23 Est^ve, P., ii, 224 Estienne, ii, 14 "Ethical Culture" movement, ii, 347 Ethical Societies, ii, 342, 410 Ethics, progress in, i, 135, 180 of Chinese, i, 82 sq. ■ of Greeks, i, 129, 135 of Hebrews, i, 97 sq. , no sq., 121, 122 of primitive peoples, i, 28, 87, II, 23 sq. seventeenth century. thought in, ii, 85 sq. eighteenth century, thought in, ii, 126 sq. nineteenth century, thought in, 327 sq., 342, 356 sq., 375 sq., 386 sq., 400 sq. free- free- free- arrest of culture in, ii, 173, 179 social conditions in, ii, 169, 173, 400 sq. English influence on France, ii, 210, 216 Germany, ii, 269 Ennius, i, 193, 194 sq. Enrique IV, i, 384 Ephesos, i, 125 Ephoros, i, 176 Epic, rise of, i, 128 Epicharmos, i, 152, 196 Epictetus, i, 185-6, 209-210, 214 Epicurus, i, 176 sq., 179, 182 Epicureanism, i, 118, I76sq., I79«. , 182, 185, 199 sq., 306, 346, 347, 356 Erasmus, 1, 413, 425, 446, 459, 463 Erastianism, ii, 87 n. Eratosthenes, i, 184 92-3 Etruscan religion, i, 195-6 Eucharist, doctrine of the, i, 296, 300 sq., 312, 419, 435 Euchite heresy, i, 289 «., 310 Euclides, i, 180, 294 Eudemus, i, 141 Eudo, i, 313 Eugenius IV, i, 357 Euler, ii, 270 Eunomians, i, 247 Euripides, i, 159, 161-4, 196 Evanson, ii, 174 Evelyn, cited, ii, 146 Evemeros, i, 78, 181, 195-6 Evemerism among Semites, i, 78 Christians, i, 225 sq. Romans, i, 195-6 Everlasting Gospel, the, i, 377 sq. , 398, 420 Evolution theory, ii, 326, 365, 377 Ewald, ii, 358 Ewerbeck, ii, 354 Exeter, ii, 3 Eye, S. , ii, 108 Fabricr's, i, I I Fairbanks, i, 139 n. Falkland, ii, 115 " Famih' of Love," ii, 25 Faraday, ii, 406 Farel, i; 444 Farinata degli Uberti, i, 347 Farrar, A. S., i, 14-15; cited, i, 341 «.; ii, 151 Fathers, the Christian, i, 226 Faye, La, ii, 64 Fear in religion, i, 207-8, 351 Feargal, i, 291, 358 Federation, i, 140 INDEX 439 F^nelon, i, 497 ; ii, 208 Ferdinand, King', i, 384 Ferg-uson, ii, 163 Ferini a.\\i\ Aiitifcrini, ii, 311 Ferri, ii, 380 Fetisliism, i, 34 Feuerbach, ii, 325, 354, 370, 371 Fichte, ii, 300, 303 sq., 369 Fiji, unbelief in, '\, 2)2, "•>4t -^ — reliofion in, i, 34-35, 41 Filang-ieri, ii, 313 Finetti, ii, 311 Finlay, quoted, i, 288 «. Finow, i, 36 Firdausi, i, 270 Firmin, ii, 123 Fisher, Dr. L. , quoted, i, 47 Kuno, quoted, ii, 84 Fitzg-erald, i, 270-1 Flade, ii, 51 Flagellants, i, 378 Flanders, civilisation of, i, 312-3 Flaubert, ii, 385 Fletcher, ii, 37 Flint, Professor, cited, ii, 53, 310 Florence, culture of, i, 306, 361 FoE^g's Weekly Journal, quoted, ii, 136 Fontane, cited, i, 48 Fontanier, ii, 183 Fontenelle, ii, 194, 212 Foote, G. W., ii, 334, 338, 405 Forbes, Lord President, ii, 114, 162 Forchhammer, i, 167 >i. Foster, ii, 149 Fotherby, Bishop, ii, 40-1 Founders, religfious, i, 68 Fourier, ii, 336 Prowler, Dr., cited, ii, 115, 121 n. Fox, W. J., ii, 342 France, early freethought in, i, 306 sq- 3I5- 326 sq., 396 sq. Reformation in, i, 442 sq. influence of, on Germany, ii, 269 Franklin, B. , ii, 317 sq. Fmticelli, the, i, 336, 376-80 Fraud in relig'ion, i, 27 sq., 109, 248 Frazer, J. G., ii, 381 I-'rederick II, Emperor, i, 336, 344 «., 384 of Aragon, i, 383 the Great, ii, 220, 252, 271 sq., influence of, on Italy, i, 396-7 «. ; ii, 312 freethoughl in, ii, 529, 181 sq., 336, 372 sq., 384 sq. culture-history of, i, 326 sq. , 396 sq., 443 sq.; ii, S sq.,210 sq., 237 sq- Francis, King-, i, 443, 447 Francis of Assisi, i, 375 Franciscans, i, 375 sq., 398 Franck, Sebastian, i, 461 Francois de Rues, i, 373 Francklin, T. , ii, 156 286. 325 \\ illiam, ii 287 Free Church of Scotland, ii, 410 sq. Freeke, ii, 123 n. Freeman, cited, i, 269 Freemasonry, i, 401-2 ; ii, 336 " Free religious" societies, ii, 340, 342-3 Freescekers, sect of, 6 Free Spirit. (See Brethren.) •' Freethinker," origin of word, i, i, 4, 6 sq. meaning of word, i, 4 sq. , 8 sq. Freethinker, early journal, i, 7 Freethought, meaning of, i, i sq. and conduct, i, 21 continuity of, i, 35 sq., 45 sq., 48 sq. , 410 sq. histories of, i, 10 sq. psychology of, i, 8 sq. , 16 sq. resistance to, i, 24 sq. in religion, i, j,^, n. — prnnitive, 1, 7,2,^ 115 — early Arab, i, 113, 117 — Babylonian, i, 61-64 — Chinese, i, 80 sq. — Christian, i, 217 sq. — Egyptian, i, 70 sq. — Greek, i, 129 sq., 138 sq. — Hebrew, i, 96, 115, 1 14-120 — Hindu, i, 47 sq. — in medieval schools, i, 293 sq. — in the Renaissance, i, 343 sq. — in Tudor England, i, 473 sq. ; ii, 23 sq. — in Austria, ii, 305 — in France in the i6th and 17th centuries ii, 5 sq. , 181 sq. — in France in the i8th century, 207 sq. in France in the 19th century, 336, 372 sq., 384 sq. in England in the 17th centurv, 85 sq. in England in the i8th century, 126 sq. in England in the 19th century, 327 sq- ' 356 sq. , 375 sq. , 386 sq. , 400 sq. — in Germany, ii, 51, 254 sq., 33S sq., 352 sq., 395 sq., 417 sq. 440 INDEX Freethought in Holland, i, 407 sq. ; ii, 51 sq., 197 sq., 347 in Italy, u, 309 sq., 395 in Spain, i, 381 sq. ; ii, 337, 348 in Switzerland, ii, 315, 346, 348 in Russia and Scandinavia, ii, 306, 349, 398, 419 sq. in South Africa, ii, 347 in the United States, ii,3i7sq. , 336, 407 in Catholic countries to-day, ''. 337' 345. 348-9^ 414 sq- in the Catholic Church, ii, 345 in Oriental countries to-day, ii, 422 sq. Phoenician, i, 73 sq. psycholog'y of, i, 8 sq., 16 sq. Roman, i, 192 sq., 207 under Islam, i, 254 sq. , 350 Free-will, doctrine of, i, 8 Frei-geisti use of word, ii, 263 Freret, ii, 210, 225, 227 P'resno}', L. du, ii, 211 " Friends of Light," ii, 339 Froissart, i, 399 Fromman, ii, 259 Fronto, i, 239 Froude, i, 3 ;;.; ii, 401 Fry, ii, 119 Fuegfians, i, 94 Fukuzawa, ii, 423, 425 Fuller, cited, ii, 180 Furnival, F. J., cited, ii, 36 Gabler, ii, 352 Gabriele de Salo, i, 359 Gaetano of Siena, i, 359 Galen, ii, 7 Galeotto Marcio, i, 359 Galiani, ii, 313 Galileo, i, 369, 411, 471 ; ii, 60, 74 sq-. 310 Gall and Spurzheim, ii, 382 Galvani, ii, 313 Garasse, ii, 19 n., 21 sq. Garcilasso, cited, i, 89 Gardiner, cited, i, 415 ; ii, 39, 40 Garibaldi, ii, 415 Garlon, ii, 212 Gassendi, ii, 60, 83, 1 14, 130, 190 sq. Gastrell, ii, 108 Gaul, Christian, freethought in, i, vice in, i, 250 Gaunilo, i, 327 Gaussen, ii, 362 Gautama. (See Buddha.) Gazier, ii, 384 n. Gazzali, i, 267, 272, 273, 274 Gebhardt, ii, 272 Gebhart, discussed, i, 420 Gebler, criticised, ii, 76-7 Geddes, Dr., ii, 359 Geg-enbauer, Theophilus, ii, 256 Geijer, ii, 349 ; cited, ii, 307 Gemistos Flethon, i, 361 Gi^nard, ii, 212, 224. Genesis, criticism of, i, 463 Geneva, thought in, i, 468 Gennadios, i, 361 Genovesi, ii, 313 Gentilis, V'alentinus, i, 469 Geoffrand, Madame, ii, 215 n. Geology, ii, 326, 363 sq. Georgios Trapezuntios, i, 361 Gerbert, i, 319 n. Gerhard, Bishop, i, 307 Germany, religion in, ii, 355 Reformation in, i, 413 sq., 452 sq- treethought in, i, 405; ii, 254sq. , 338 sq., 352 sq., 395 sq., 417 sq. Gerson, i, 407 Geulincx, ii, 203 GeTvissener, ii, 256 Ghailan of Damascus, i, 260 Ghibellines, i, 347 GhiUany, ii, 353, 381 Giannone, ii, 312, 313 Gibbon, i, 176 n.; ii, 150, 175 sq. Gibson, Bishop, ii, 137, 149, 150 Giddings, ii, 326, 380 Gilbert, i, 471 Claude, ii, 223 Gildon, ii, 109, 145-6 Giorgio di Xovara, i, 359 Girard, i, 133, 164 Gladiatorial games, i, 251 Gladstone, i, 1997/.; ii, 338 Glanvill, ii, 1 13, 203 Glisson, ii, 113 Gnosticism, i, 227 sq. Go, the chief, i, 36 Gobel, ii, 249 God-idea, evolution of, i, 194, 326 Godwin, ii, 389 Goethe, ii, 290 sq. , 365 cited, ii, 269, 270, 271, 282 Gogol, ii, 398 Goguet, ii, 379 Golden Rule, i, 83-4 Goldsmith, ii, 170 Goliards, i, 318, 348, 373 Gomates, i, 67 Goncourt, de, ii, 385 Goniondzki, i, 440-1 Good, Dr. T. , ii, 103 Goodman, ii, 108 INDEX 441 Gordon, T. , ii, 174 Gors^ias, i, 165 Gorky, ii, 399 Gorlceiis, ii, 53 Gospels, freethoiig'ht in, i, 217 sq. Gostvvick, cited, ii, 271 Gottsciialk, i, 294 sq. Gouvest, ii, 224 Granovsky, ii, 398 Grant, Sir A., i, 173 n. General, ii, 408 Grapius, ii, 259 Grassi, ii, 77 Gray, cited, ii, 169 Greef, de, ii, 380 Greek civilisation, i, relig-ion, i, 99, 1 155, 178, 185, 193 influence in India, i, 55 influence on Jews, i, 118 Rome, i, 192, 194 sq. Saracens, i, 262, 264 Green, J. R., cited, i, 413 «., 476; ii. 25 «., 35 122 sq., 136 sq. 24 sq., I37sq., criticised, ii, 61-2 T. H.,ii, 377 Greene, ii, 28 Greg", W. R., ii, 325, 357 Gr^g'oire, ii, 247 Gregorovius, cited, i, 364 n. Gregory V'll, i, 311 IX, i, 324, 344 sq., 354, 366 XIII, i, 472 Greissingf, ii, 259 Greville, ii, 38 Gribaldo, i, 469 Griffis, cited, ii, 424 Grimm, cited, i, 37 Gringoire, i, 443 ; ii, 6 Grosley, ii, 212 Grosstete, Robert, i, 340, 3S7, 391 Grote, ii, 376 ; quoted, i, 135, 143, 167 n. Grotius, i, 477 ; ii, 53, 311 Gruet, Jacques, i, 461, 465 sq. Gruppe, i, 39 Guardati, i, 357 Gubernatis, ii, 415 Gueudeville, ii, 223 Guibert, ii, 212 de Nog^ent, i, 306 Guicciardini, i, 366 Guirlando, ii, 4 Guizot, ii, 379, 384 ; cited, i, 448 Gulick, cited, ii, 425-6 Gumplowicz, ii, 380 Gustavus Vasa, ii, 306 Gutschmid, cited, i, 69 Guyau, ii, 380 Hadi, Khalif, i, 264 Haeckel, ii, 368 Hafiz, i, 272 Hagenbach, i, 13; ii, 271 «., 292 Hahn, i, 13 Haig-h, cited, i, 133, 162 «., 164 Hale, ii, 153 Hall, Robert, ii, 392 Hallam, cited, i, 356 «., 360 ; ii, 96 Halle, university of, ii, 262 Haller, Von, ii, 270 sq. Halley, ii, 130, 150 Halyburton, ii, 159; cited, ii, 142 n. Hamann, ii, 302 Hamilton, ii, 376 Hammurabi, i, 60 Hamond, ii, 26 Hampden, Dr., quoted, i, 230 «., 305. 3-29 «• Hancock, ii, 109 Hanyfisiii, i, 255 sq. Hanj^fites, the, i, 255 //. Hardy, ii, 392 Harnack, cited, i, 233 n. Haroun Alraschid, i, 264 Harrington, ii, 95 Harriott, i, 471 ; ii, 31-2 Harris, ii, 108 Harrison, F. , i, 331 >i. Hartley, ii, 375 Hartniann, ii, 370 Harvey, ii, 47 Gabriel, ii, 28 Haslam, ii, 331 Hassall, cited, ii, 171 Hassan, i, 272 Hatch, quoted, i, 169 «., 22S n. Hattem, P. van, ii, 202 Havet, i, 108-9 ; ii' o^S' 358 Hawaii, freethought in, i, 35 Hawkins, B. , quoted, ii, 402 Hawthorne, ii, 394 Haynes, E. S. P., i, 14, 299 Hazlitt, ii, 389 Ht^bert, ii, 249 Hebrews, religfion and ethics of, i, 96 sq. mythology of, i, loi sq. — —freethought among, i, ii2 sq. Hegel, i, 12 ; ii, 303, 305, 325, 369, 370. 378 Heine, ii, 326, 370,395 sq.; quoted, ii, 285 Heiric, i, 337 m. Hekataios, i, 142, 146-7 Helchitsky, i, 432 Helena, i, 130 Helvt^tius, ii, 232, 238 sq., 244, 328 ^ Hemming, ii, 27 442 INDEX Henley, ii, 389 Hennell, C. C. , ii, 325, 356 Hennequin, ii, 386 Henotheism, i, 48 Henry, the monk, i, 312 of Clairvaux, i, 313 IV, of France, ii, 20 Vni, of England, i, 449, 473 P. E., cited, i, 462 «., 466 n., 467 Hensel, i, 472 Herakleides, i, 143, 188 Herakleitos, i, 139, 142-4 Herbert of Cherbury, Lord, ii,4i, 85 sq., 109, 150 Herder, ii, 289, 379 Here, i, 126 Hermippos, i, 155 i, 154 n. Hermits, Hindu, i, 52 Hermog'enes, i, 211 Hermotimos, i, 139 Herodotos, i, 12^, 127 «., 1 '52, 147, 156 Hesiod, 1, 126-8, 130, 137, 144, 151 Hetherington, ii, 331 Hetzer, i, 453 Heyse, ii, 397 Hibbert, Julian, ii, 243 n. Hicksites, the, ii, 2>^t, Hiero, i, 152 Hierocles, i, 240 1 1. '57' 326, Hierologfv, ii, 8;, 380 Hieronymos, i, 154 ii. Hiy^s^inson, Colonel T. W. , ii, 395 Hig'h Priests, i, 112 Hiketas. (See Iketas. ) Hildebrand, i, 311 Hillel, i, 120, 217 Hilton, ii, 27 Hincmar, i, 294, 297 Hinduism, i, 64 sq. Hipparchia, i, 180 71. Hipparchos, i, 184, 208 Hippias, i, 165 Hippo, i, 141 Hippokrates, i, 166, 175 ; ii, 7 Hittites, i, 138 Hobbes, ii, 87 sq., 150 Hoffding-, Professor, criticised, ii, •.51 d'Holbach, ii, zi-^i, 225, 266, 232, 243 sq., 328 Holcroft, ii, 389 Holland. (See Netherlands.) G. J., ii, 231 Holm, cited, i, 156 n. Holmes, O. W. , ii, 395 ^2,^^ " Holy," early meaning; of, i, 103 Holyoake, G. J., ii, 330 332, 338 Home, H. (See Karnes.) John, ii, 164 Homer, i, 124-5, 128 sq., 137, 143, i5i> 193 Homeric poems, i, 128 sq., 144 Hone, ii, 330 Honorius of Autun, i, 330 Hooker, i, 394 ; ii, 33-4 cited, i, 3 Hooper, i, 474 Horace, i, 206, 213 Hosea, i, 104 sq. Hosius, i, 442 Houston, ii, 323, 328-9 Howe, ii, 98, 105 Howells, ii, 394 Huard, ii, 209, 224 Huber, Marie, ii, 210 Huet, ii, 188 sq. Hug-o, Victor, ii, 326, 385 Hull, John, ii, 38 Humanists, Italian, i, 355 sq. , 369 sq. Hume, i, 201 ; ii, 150, 155, 156 sq., 168, 170; cited, ii, 169, 376, 379 Hiiniiliati, i, 376 Hung-ary, thought in, i, 435 Reformation in, i, 433 sq. Hunt, Leigh, ii, 389, 390 Hurst, Bishop, i, 5, 14 cited, ii, 254, 280, 283, 289 n. Huss, i, 304, 355, 427 sq. Hutcheson, F., ii, 160 sq., 168 Hutchinson, Mrs., cited, ii, 92 J., ii, 130, 162 Roger, i, 473-4 Huttman, ii, 328 Hutton, ii, 178, 363 Huxley, ii, 338, 367, 404, 406 Huysmans, ii, 385 Hygiainon, i, 163 )i. Hyksos, the, i, 73 IBN Ezra, i, 335 Ibn Gebriol, i, 335 Ibn Khaldun, i, 279 Ibsen, ii, 399 Iconoclasm, i, 287 sq. Idolatry, i, 62 early opposition to, i, 62-3 Christian, i, 287 sq., 290 n. Ignell, ii, 350 Iketas, i, 149 Ilgen, ii, 358 Hive, J., ii, 174 Imitatio Christi, i, 407 Immortality, belief in, i, 98-9, 114, 119 INDEX 443 Immortality, denial of, i, 53, 117-8, 338-9. 347. 367. 404.440 rii.93. 214 ofiinimals, ii, 270, 275 Impostors, the Three, i, 26, 344 sq. Incas, nitionalislic, i, 90 Index Expurgatoriits, i, 424 ; ii, 18, 76, 191, 234, 313, 80 India, freethoug-ht in, ii, 427 sq. mag-ic in, i, 43 religious evolution in, i, 46 sq. ; ii, 427 sq. Indra, cult of, i, 47 Indulgences, i, 321, 355 Industrialism, ii, 169 Infanticide, Arab, i, 260 " Infidel," use of word, i, 3, 8, 259 " Infidelity," use of word, i, 3, 4, 8 ; ii, 126 Ing-elo, ii, 102-3 Ingersoll, ii, 336, 350, 405 Innocent III, i, 317-323 I\', i, 342 VIII, 1,362 Inquisition, the, i, 317, 321, 325, 340, 348, 356, 358 sq., 366, 381, 382 sq., 384, 398, 419, 438 ; ii, 4, 57; 59. 66, 68, 74, 314 Institutions, power of, in religion, •. ?<2>^ 38 lack of rationalist, i, 2,2>^ 38 Intolerance, Greek, i, 154, 156 sq., 171, 179, 182, 189-190 Christian, i, 226, 235, 237. (See Persecution.) Ionia, culture of, i, 122 sq. , 136 sq. , '75 Ireland, ancient, culture in, i, 293-4 Protestantism in, i, 450 freethought in, ii, 164 Irenaeus, i, 235 Isabella, i, 384 Isaiah, i, 105, 106, 108 Isenbiehl, ii, 286 Isis, cult of, i, 75 Islam, i, 254 sq., 350 Ismailites, the, i, 264, 272 Israel, relative freethought in, i, 96 sq. Itah', freethought in, i, 343 sq. , 419 n. ; 11,309 sq., 395 influence of, o\\ Europe, ii, i sq. Reformation in, i, 417 sq. ly^yasu, ii, 426 Jaafer, i, 265 Jabarites, the, i, 261 Jacob, i, loi Jacobeos, the, ii, 315 Jahedians, the, i, 273 ;/. Jahn, ii, 305 Jainism, i, 56 ; ii, 428 Jamblichos, i, 239 James, Professor W., i, 17 n. Henry, ii, 395 Jami, i, 272 Jannis, P. de la, ii, 212 Jansenists, ii, 182, 186, 187,208,235 Japan, freethought in, ii, 422 sq. reform in, i, 25 Jeanne d'Arc, i, 394 Jeannin, ii, 20 Jefferies, R., ii, 393 Jefferson, ii, 317 sq., 2<~2> Jehovah. (SeeYahweh.) Jenghiz Khan, i, 268 Jerome, St., i, 244 Jerome of Prague, i, 428, 430 Jerusalem, J. F. W., ii, 268 Jesuits, i, 436, 442 ; ii, 4, 50, 81, 186, 229 n., 235, 313 Jesus, i, 22 horoscope of, i, 349 n. Jevons, F. B., criticised, i, 43 Jews in Middle Agfes, i, 320, j^^t^^, 370-1 persecutions of, i, 381, 386; ». 57 modern, ii, 421-2 Joachim, Abbot, i, 377 Job, i, 112 sq., 116 Joel, i, 106 John the Scot, i, 293 sq., 304-5, 331, 336 ; ii. 378 of Gaunt, i, 391 of Jandun, i, 402 of Parma, i, 378 of Salisbury, i, 327, ZZ-^ 3^6 Pannonicus, i, 433 Pirnensis, i, 438 Zapoyla, i, 434 Zimisces, Emperor, i, 290 Pope, XXI, i, 339 n. Pope, XXIII, i, 429 Johnston, H. H., cited, i, 284-5 Johnstone, John, ii, 160 Joinville, i, 335, 399 Jolley, ii, 360 Jonas al Aswari, i, 260 Joseph, myth of, i, loi Joseph II, ii, 274 Joshua, i, loi Jouffroy, ii, 373 Journalism, freethinking, ii, 337 sq., 34'. 348. 413 Jousse, ii, 212 Jovinian, i, 244 Juan de Peratallada, i, 383 "Juan di Posos," ii, 203 444 INDEX Julian, i, 185, 242-3 Jui-ieu, ii, 205 Justin Martyr, i, 239 sq., 249 Juvenal, i, 120, 209, 223 Kadarites, i, 261 Kalant, the, i, 269 Kalisch, ii, 359 Karnes, Lord, ii, 163 Kant, ii, 289, 293 sq, 361, 369, 379 Kantsa, i, 50 Kapila, i, 50 Karaites, i, :i2,T„ 334 n. Karians, i, 122 sq. Karma, doctrine of, i, 56 Karmathians, the, i, 268 Karneades, i, 183, 187 ;/. Keats, ii, 388 Keener, Bishop, ii, 408 Kepler, i, 471 ; ii, 83 Kett, ii, 26, 31, 32 Ketzer, orig-in of word, i, 308 Kharejites, the, i, 261 Kharvakas, the, i, 51 Kidd, B., ii, 413 Kidder, ii, 108 Kiellgren, ii, 349 Kierkegaard, ii, 399 Kindi, Al, i, 274 Kindy, Al, i. 266 King-, Archbishop, ii, 129, 134 King's, deification of, i, 181-2 Kipling, ii, 388 Kirkup, cited, ii, 332 n. Kleist, ii, 395 Klitomachos, i, 183 Knaggs, ii, 108 Knight, ii, 162 Knutzen, ii, 256 sq. Koerbagh, ii, 54 Koheleth, i, 109, 116-7 Koran, the, i, 256 sq., 264, 266 Kortholt, ii, 258 Krake, Rolf, i, 37 Krishna mvth, i, 55 Kritias, i, 160 Krochmal, ii, 421 Kronos, i, 126 Kropf, cited, i, 36 n. Ktesilochos, i, 164 >i. Kuenen, ii, 325, 359 Kumarila, i, 51 Kuyper, ii. 201 Kyd, ii, 32 La Barre, ii, 220 Labitte, cited, ii, 22 Labour churches, ii, 343 La Bruy^re, ii, 193; cited, i, 45 )i. Lachares, i, 183 Lactantius, i, 213 «., 246 Lagrange, ii, 232 La Harpe, ii, 211, 227 Laing-, cited, ii, 339 n. Lalande, i, 1 1 ; ii, 232 Lamarck, ii, 365 Lamartine, ii, 385 Lamb, C, ii, 389 Lambert, Francois, i, 455 Lamennais, ii, 374 I La iMettrie, ii, 169, 224, 232, 236, 272 La iMothe le \"ayer, ii, 22, 181, 182 Lanjuinais, ii, 211 La Peyr^re, ii, 196 sq. La Placette, i, 479 Landau, cited, i, 350 n. Lane, cited, i, 25, 283 Lang, A., criticised, i, 42, 89, 93, 98-9 ; cited, i, 35 Lange, cited, i, 10, 137, 173, 175; ii, 240 Langland, i, 389 Languedoc, civilisation in, i, 317 sq. Lanson, cited, ii, 185, 194, 221, 234 Lao-Tsze, i, 80, 82 sq. Laplace, ii, 232, 326, 361 La Primaudaye, ii, 27 Lardner, ii, 149, 343 La Rochette, ii, 220 Larroque, ii, 358 Lassen, ii, 258 Lasson, Dr., cited, i, 407 Latini, Brunetto, i, 348, 398 n. Latitudinarians, ii, 124 Lau, ii, 265 sq. Lavater, ii, 276 Lavergne, cited, ii, 247 Law, William, ii, 119, 149, 168 Lawrence, Dr., ii, 362 sq. Lea, H. C, cited, i, 325 Lechler, cited, i, 13 Lecky, i, 14 ; quoted, i, 337 «. cited, ii, 36, 165 «., 179, 232 Le Clerc, i, 478 ; ii, 91, 107, 129, 201 Leconte de Lisle, ii, 326, 385 Lecount, ii, 332 Lee, Dr., ii, 368 Leechman, ii, 162 Leenhof, ii, 203 Lefivre, i, 444, 446 Legate, ii, 39, 40 Legge, Dr., cited, i, 81 Leibnitz, ii, 13 n., 46, 130, 259 sq. Leicester, Lollardry in, i, 390 Leland, ii, 146, 149 Lemaitre, ii, 386 Lennstrand, ii, 351 Lenormant, cited, i, 69 n. INDEX 445 Leo the Isaurian, i, 286-7 X, Pope, i, 368 Leopardi, ii, 326, 395 Leopold of Tuscany, ii, 313 Leslie, C, ii, 107, 134 //., 149 Professor, ii, 362 Lessing, i, 350; ii, 274, 282 sq., 325-6 Letourneau, ii, 380 Le Trosne, ii, 212 Leufstedt, ii, 350 Lcukippos, i, 139, 157 Leukothea, i, 145 Levallois, cited, ii, 386 «. Levellers, the, ii, 93 Levi ben Gershom, i, 334 Levites, orig"in of, i, 44, 112 Lewes, G. H , ii, 338, 404 Lewis, ii, 26 L'Hopital, ii, 13 Libanius, quoted, i, 237 Liberfin, use of word, i, 2 Libei-fini, or " libertines," use of word, i, 2, 379-80, 466, 473-4 ; ii, 1 1 tenets oi', i, 466 sq. Libraries, public, i, 205 71. Lidgould, ii, 108 Liebknecht, ii, 341 Ligfhtfoot, Bishop, cited, i, 148 Lilienfeld, ii, 380 Lilja, ii, 350 Lillie, cited, i, 53 n. Lincoln, President, ii, 408 Linofuet, ii, 211 Liszinski, ii, 308 Littre, cited, i, 398 death of, ii, 416 n. Livy, i, 206 Llorente, i, 386 n. Localisation of Gods, i, 43 sq. Locke, ii, 108, 116 sq., 126, 150 Loescher, ii, 259 Logos, the, i, 83, 169 Lokayata, i, 51, 52 Lollards, i, 390, 449 Long-, G. , cited, i, 202 ;;., 203 n. Loni^rais, ii, 226 Lope de Vega, ii, 58 Lord's Prayer, the, i, 212 sq. Lorenzo dei Medici, i, 362 Louis, Saint, i, 335 Philippe, ii, 336 n. Lowndes, Miss, cited ii, 16 Lubbock, cited, i, 30 Lucian, i, 179, 11 5-6, 208, 242 Lucilius, i, 199 n. Lucretius, i, 178, 198 sq. influence of, i, 306 Ludovicus Vives, ii, 82 Luthardt, Professor, ii, 367 Luther, i, 190, 415-417, 454, 457 sq., 460 sq., 463, 470; ii, 82 Liitzelbertfer, ii, 354 Lyall, Edna, ii, 393 Lydia, civilisation in, i, 138 Lyell, ii, 403 Lyly, cited, ii, 24, 31 n. Lyons, ii, 135 «. Lysimachos, i, 179 71. Lyttleton, ii, 149 Mabad al Jhoni, i, 260 Mably, ii, 211, 22,2, Macaulay, ii, 332, 402 ; cited, i, 45 71.; ii, 175 ; criticised, ii, 106 «. McCosh, cited, ii, 161 McCrie, i, 418 «., 419 «. , 425 //. Machiavelli, i, 363 sq., 373-4 ; ii, 28 Mackay, R. W., i, 12 ; ii, 325, 357 quoted, i, 146 «. , 228 11. Mackenzie, Georg-e, ii, loi, 158 Macrobius, i, 244 Madison, ii, 323 Mag-i, i, 66, 67 Mag-ian religion, i, 66 sq. Magic and religion, i, 43, 410 sq. in Middle Ages, i, 369 Magna Graecia, culture of, i, 144, 1 50- 1 Mahabharata, the, i, 58 Mahaffy, quoted, i, 127-8, 131, 134, 185 «. Mahdi, Khalif, i, 264 Mahmoud, Sultan, i, 269, 270 Maimonides, i, 320, 334 Maistre, J. de, ii, 373 Malebranche, ii, 195 Malesherbes, ii, 235 Malherbe, ii, 183 Malik, i, 270 Malthus, i, 174; ii, 367, 376 Mamoun, i, 265, 268 Mandard, ii, 7 Mandeville, ii, 136, 150, 168, 174, 379 Manfred, i, 346 Manichasism, i, 229, 231, 307, 310 Mannhardt, ii, 381 Mansel, ii, 376 Mansour, Khalif, i, 263 Marcion and Marcionites, i, 229 Marcus Aurelius, i, 214, 216 Mardouk-nadinakhe, i, 45 Mart^chal, Sylvain, i, 11; ii, 226, 245 n. Margat, ii, 213 Marguerite of Navarre, i, 2 ; ii, 5, II sq., 446 446 INDEX Maria Theresa, ii, 305 Mariner, cited, i, 36 Mariolatry, i, 378 Marius, i, 203 Marlowe, ii, 28 sq. Marot, ii, 5, 6 Marri, El, i, 269 Marriage, ancient, i, 249 Marsig-lio of Padua, i, 402 Marsiiio Ficino, i, 304, 361, 363 Marsy, ii, 211 Marten, ii, 94 Martin Marprelate, ii, 28 Martin, Mrs. Emma, ii, 331 Martineau, J., ii, 338 «., 344 cited, ii, 200 n. Harriet, ii, 414 Martyrs, i, 249 n. Mary of Hung-ary, i, 433 Marx, ii, 325, 341, 370, 381 Massey, cited, ii, 173 Mass, "the, i, 298 Masuccio, i, 298 «.,-357 Materialism, i, 70, 127, 146-9, 152-3, 156, 161, 334, 338; ii, 88, 127, 130, 143. 236, 240, 325, 372 Mathematics, rise of, i, 148 English in i8th century, ii, 154 Matter, doctrines concerning, i, 146 ;;., 149, 169, 334 Matthias of Janow, i, 428 Corvinus, i, 433 Maupassant, ii, 385 Maupertuis, ii, 238, 272 Maurice, ii, 378; cited, i, z-^t, «., 331 Mauvillon, ii, 288 Maximillian II, ii, 49 Maximus Tyrius, i, 214 Mazarin, ii, 183, 185 Mazdeism, i, 65 sq. Mazzini, ii, 415 Medicine, Renaissance, i, 369 Meister, ii, 225, 226 Melanchthon, i, 410, 454, 459, 460, 463, 468, 470, 471 ; ii, 3 Melissos, i, 145 Menander, i, 183 Mencius, i, 85 Mendelssohn, Moses, ii, 274, 281 Mendicant Friars, i, 375, 377 Menippus, i, 185 Menzel, cited, i, 471 Menzies, Dr., cited, i, 68, 81, 82,97 Meredith, ii, 392 Merivale, criticised, i, 203-4 Merodach, i, 45, 62, 64 Mersenne, i, 4 ; ii, 22-3, 89 n. Meslier, ii, 212 sq. Mesopotamia, cults of, i, 44 religious evolution in, i, 60 sq. Metempsychosis, ii, 66, 268 Metrodoros, i, 161 (the second), i, 177 Meung, Jean de, i, 373 Mexico, religions of, i, 87 sq. Me}', ii, 211 Mej'er, E. , quoted, i, 68, 77, 80, 126 n., 128, 130, 155 71. Louis, ii, 197 sq. Mezentius, i, 37 Mezi^res, i, 353 Mezzanotte, i, 360 11. Michael, Emperor, i, 288 Scotus, i, 345-6 Michelet, ii, 384 ; cited, i, 380, 414, 463 «.,464 sq. Middleton, i, 299; ii, 136, 150, 166, 170 Miletos, i, 125, 139, 146 Militarism, ii, 208, 347-S Militz, i, 427 Mill, James, ii, 375, 404 J.S.,ii, 239,332, 338;/., 401, 404 Millar, J., ii, 163 Miller, Hugh, ii, 364, 366 Millot, ii, 22,2, Milman, ii, 325, 380 ; cited, i, 318 n. Milner, Rev. J., ii, 1 19 Milton, ii, 47 «., 116 Minnesingers, i, 405 Mirabaud, ii, 224 Mirabeau, ii, 232 Miracles, i, 246 ii. Miriam, i, loi Mirza Ali, i, 281 Mithra, i, 67 Mithraism, i, 67, 69, 230, 231, 245 Mitra, cult of, i, 47 Moabite Stone, i, 105 «. Mocenigo, ii, 65 Moffat, cited, i, 27 «., 32 Mohammed, i, 27, 254 sq. Mohl, ii, 403 Moktader, i, 268, 272 Molech, i, 102 Moleschott, ii, 372 n. Molesworth, ii, 164 Moli^re, ii, 184 Molinists, ii, 208 Mollio, i, 422 Molyneux, i, 6 ; ii, 164 Mommsen, i, 192 w., 193, 195 Monarchism and religion, i, 45 Monk, ii, 144 Monolatry, i, 56, 81, 97 Monotheism, i, 60 sq., 67, 77, 81, 97, iQO, 121, 173 INDEX 447 Monroe, ii, 2\~Zi Montag'u, Ladv Mary \\"ortle\", ii, Montaigne, i, 479 ; ii, 16 sq., 181, 204 «., 240 ; cited, i, 2 Montalembert, cited, i, 322 ;/., 324 «. Montesquieu, ii, 2t,2, 234 sq., 379 Moore, G., ii, 393 Moors. (See Arabs.) More, Sir T., i, 172, 475 sq. ; ii, 1 Henry, ii, 97-8, 1 14 Hannah, ii, 392 Morehead, ii, 403 n. Morellet, ii, it^^, Morgan, Professor de, cited, ii, 32 Morgan, T., ii, 146, 150, 168 Morison, J. Cotter, i, 331 ;/. Morley, J., i, 464 ; ii, 338, 404 cited, ii, 219, 221, 234, 243, 271 Mornay, de, ii, 15, 36 Moroccan Letters, ii, 287 Morris, Rev. J., ii, 119 Morton, Bishop, ii, 27 Moschus, i, 79 Moses, i, loi Mosheim, cited, i, 209, 231, 464; ii, 90, 264 Motadhed, i, 267 Motaniid, i, 267 Motasim, i, 266, 268 Motawakkel, i, 266, 268 Motazilites, the, i, 260 sq. , 280, 350 n. Motecallemin, the, i, 274, 278, 350 w. Moxon, ii, 331 Mozdar, i, 264 Miiller, J., ii, 258 K. O., 124, 133, 163 yi.\ cited, Max, cited, i, 57 ; criticised, i, 46 n. , 94 n. Munter, ii, 308 Muratori, ii, 312 Murchison, ii, 366 Murray, Professor G., cited, i, 137 «., 167 n. Musaeus, ii, 258 Musset, ii, 385 Mutianus, i, 452 Mylius, ii, 283 Mysteries, Eleiisinian, i, 179 n. Pythagorean, i, 131 Bacchic, i, 208 Mystery-plays, Christian, i, 320 Mysticism, i, 230 «. Arab, i, 266, 271 sq. Mythology, ii, 326, 380 sq. Nabonidos, i, 44, 64 Naigeon, ii, 226, 243 Nanak, ii, 428 Nantes, revocation of Edict of, ii, 208 Napier, ii, 158 Naples, froethought in, i, 356-7,419, 426 Napoleon, i, 203 ; ii, 384 Nash, ii, 28, 37 Naturn naturans, i, 337 " Naturalist," use of word, i, 2 Naude, Gabriel, ii, 13 «., 181 Neander, cited, i, 467-8 Nebo, i, 45 Necker, ii, 246 " Negative criticism," i, 17; ii, 197 Neo-Platonism, i, 75, 185 Nero, i, 21 1 Nestorians, the, i, 246, 262 Netherlands, i, 407 sq., 414, 426, 476 sq.,; ii, 51 sq., 197 sq., 347 Netzahuatlco}otl, i, 39, 88 «. Nevill, ii, 95 Newman, J. H., ii, 189 «., 356, 380 F. W., ii, 325, 338 «., 356, 404 — — C. R., ii, 356 n. New Testament, criticism of, ii, 124, 146, 214, 220, 285, 325, 352 sq. Newton, ii, 81, 116, 120 sq. , 150, 361 New Zealand, freethought in, ii, 412 superstition in, i, 44 n. Nichirenites, ii, 424 Nicholas, the painter, i, 315 n. of Amiens, i, 328 Nichols, ii, 108 Nicholson, ii, 174 Nicolai, ii, 274 Nicolaus of Autricuria, i, 358, 405 of Cusa, i, 356, 358, 407 ; ii, 61 Nicholas HI, Pope, i, 387 V, Pope, i, 357 Nicoletto, Vernias. i, 359 Nicon, ii, 309 Nietzsche, ii, 371 Nifo, i, 359-360 Niketas. (Seelketas.) Ninon de TEnclos, ii, 215 Niphus. (See Nifo.) Nirvana, doctrine of, i, 55 Nodier, cited, ii, it n. Nominalism, i, 293, 302 sq., 329, 341, 402, 430 Nans, doctrine of, i, 153 Numa, i, 364 Numbers, doctrine of, i, 148-9 Nystrom, ii, 351 Occ.\M. (See William.) 448 INDEX Ochino, i, 419, 468 ; ii, 2, 378 Og-ilvie, cited, ii, 178 Oglethorpe, ii, 239 n. Okeanos, i, 127 O'Keefe, ii, 175 Oldcastle, i, 390 Oldfield, ii, 109 Old Testament, criticism of, ii, 105, 107, 124,144, 153, 196, 199, 277 sq., 325; 331-2, 352 sq. Omar, the Khalif, i, 257, 259 n. Omar Khayyam, i, 269 sq. Omens, belief in, i, 195 Orig-en, i, 228, 240 sq.; ii, 378 . Orleans, Duchesse d', cited, ii, 190 Ormazd. (See Ahura Mazda.) Orpheus, i, 127 n. Orphicism, i, 147 «. , 148 Ortlieb, i, 374 Orzechowski, i, 440 Osborn, Major, cited, i, 262 n. Francis, cited, ii, 31 n. Ostrorog, i, 438 Overton, ii, 95 Ovid, i, 206, 213; ii, 364 Owen, Rev. John, i,ii ; cited, i, 318 71., 319 «., 364 «., 368 «.; ii, 18, 19, 22 Robert, ii, 326, 332 Robert Dale, ii, 319 «. Oxford in i6th century, ii, 24, 64 in i8th centurj-, ii, 136 Ozanam, cited, i, 232 «. Pachacamac, i, 89 Padua, school of, i, 354, 370, 438 Paganism, suppression of, i, 237 Pagitt, ii, 96 Paine, ii, 179, 317, 320 sq., 324,327, 35O' 361 Paleario, i, 423 Palestrina, ii, 4 Paley, ii, 231 ; cited, ii, 178 Palmaer, ii, 350 Palmer, Professor, i, 255 «., 256 n. Eliliu, ii, 322, 328 Pannonicus, i, 433 Pantheism, i, 2, 48, 74, 83, 132, 280, 361, Z^2>^ 374' 466 ; ii, 69, 195, 200, 221, 325 Paolo Giovio, i, 364 n. Papacy, growth of, i, 310 sq. , 354 sq. power of, 1, 317 sq., 355 hostility to, i, 311, 357, 366, 371, 391, 442 sq. Paris, university of, i, 336, 338-9, 3.S2, 397, 398,'404-5 Parker, Archdeacon, ii, 106 Parker, Theodore, ii, 325, 356 Thomas, ii, 350 Parkes, Professor, cited, ii, 426 Parmenides, i, 139, 145 Parr, ii, 378 Parsees, the, i, 112, 280 Parsons, ii, 30 Parvish, ii, 144 Pascal, ii, 185, 186, 188 Paschasius Radbert, i, 296 Passerano, ii, 206 Pastoret, ii, 226 Pastoris, i, 439 Paterini, i, 313, 315, 398 Patin, Gui, ii, 181 Professor, i, 133 Patot, Tissot de, ii, 222^ Pattison, Mark, i, 461, 464-5; ii, 156, 189 Paul, i, 224, 249 of Samosata, i, 233 II, Pope, i, 360 Ill, Pope, i, 421 IV, Pope, i, 423 Paul, Herbert, ii, 143 n. Pauli, Gregorius, i, 441 Paulicians, the, i, 288 sq., 304 sq., 306 sq. Paulus, ii, 352 Pavlovsky, cited, ii, 398 n. Pazmany, i, 436 Pearson, Bishop, ii, 31 Peasant wars, i, 430, 433, 454 Pecock, i, 393 sq.; ii, 34 Pedro II, i, 381 Pedro de Osma, i, 384 Peele, ii, 37 Felagianism, i, 233 sq. , 286 Pelagius, i, 232 Pelham, Professor, i, 197 n. Pellicier, ii, 1 1 Pelling, E., ii, 108 Penn, ii, 123 Pentateuch, criticism of, i, 463 ; ii, 124, 144, 146, 195 sq., 267 Pericles, i, 153-6 Perrault, cited, ii, 182 Perrens, cited, i, 2 «., 13, 358 Persecution, primitive, i, t,2) ^^' Christian, i, 226, 235, 237, 299, 317 sq., 325, 445 sq.; ii, 4, 5, 26, 39. 40, 54, 73, 123, 127, 147, 158, 161 sq., 183, 210 sq., 257, 328 sq., 350-1, 353. (See Inquisition.) Greek, i, 154, 156 sq., 171,179, 182, 1 89- 1 90 Roman, i, 196-7, 214 Persia, religions of, i, 64 sq. freethought in, i, 64, 271 INDEX 449 Persia, ciilUiix--liistory of, i, 148, 271, 280 sq. Peru, ancient fVi'i-tluniylU in, i, 2!^, 89-90 relig'ion ol", i, 88 modern tVeellunii;lU in, ii, 349 Perug'ino, i, 360 Pessimism, i, 132 Pestalozzi, ii, 301 ». Peter the Hermit, i, 31J tlie Great, ii, ,^09 of AUiaco, i, 388 de Briieys, i, 312 Martyr, i, 419 of St. Cloud, i, 372 of Vaux, i, 316 Petit, Claude, ii, 183 Petrarch, i, 351 «., 352 sq., 368 Petrie, W. M. F., cited, i, 73 notes Petrobrussians, the, i, 312 Petronius, i, 208 P eucer, 1, 472 Peyrat, ii, 35S Pevr^re, ii, 196 sq. Pfaff, ii, 258 Pfeiff, ii, 350 Pfeiffer, i, 472 Pheidias, i, 156 Pherekydes, i, 147 Philanthropic Institute, ii, 275 Philips, A., i, 7 Philiskos, i, 197 Phillips, Stephen, quoted, ii, 74 Philo, i, 119, 333 ; cited, i, iSo n. Philolaos, i, 149 Phoenicia, religfious evolution in, i, 75 sq., 99 freethought in, i, 78-9 Photinus, i, 247 Photius, i, 288 Phrenology, ii, t,t,2, 382 Pico della JMirandola, i, 361. 362 sq. Pierre Aureol, i, 402 Pierre d'Aill)', i, 349 «., 404 Piers Ploughman, vision oJ\ i, 389 Piefisni, ii, 262 Pietro of Abano, i, 348, 366 Pilking-ton, Bishop, cited, ii, 33 Pindar, i, 130-1 Pinkerton, cited, i, 294 Pirnensis, i, 438 Pitt, the elder, ii, 146, 169 the yoimger, ii, 177 Pius II, i, 356 IV, 1, 423 V, i, 423 ; ii, 4 Plainer, ii, 302 Plato, i, 146, 165, 166, 168 sq. Platonism, i, 227 sq., 361 VOL. II Playfair, ii, 154 Pliny, i, 184, 207-S, 2og Plotinus, i, 74 Plutarch, i, 140, 153, 155 ?/., 156, 180 >/., 188-9 Poe, ii, 394 Poetr^', Greek, i, 12S Poland, culture-history of, i, 437 ; ii' 55; 308 Pole, Cardinal, i, 364 n. Polybius, i, 187, 365 ;/ Polytheism, i, 42 sq., 59, 71, 22b Pomare, i, 35 Pombal, ii, 315 Pompeius, i, 203 n. Pomponazzi, i, 367 sq.,369 Pomponius Lsetus, i, 370 Poole, R. L., cited, i, 304 Pope, ii, 141-2, 150 Porphyry, i, 242-3 Porteous, Bishop, cited, ii, iSo Portugal, inquisition in, i, 316 freethought in, ii, 315 Posidonius, i, 245 Postell, ii, 1 1 Potapenko, ii, 398 Pougens, ii, 226 Poushkine, ii, 398 Prades, Abbe de, ii, 222, 224, 225, 241 Praxeas, i, 2t,t, Praj'er, popular view oi, i, t,t, Preaching, early, i, 215 n. Premontval, ii, 224, 225, 227 Press Licensing .A.ct, ii, 99, 109, 1 10 Prideaux, ii, 108 Priestcraft, i, 26, 33 n. Priesthoods, evolution of, i, 59, 61, 69, 91, 136-7 Priestley, ii, 156, 343 Printing, rise of, i, 456, 457 n. Proclus, i, 246 Prodikos, i, 165 Progress, i, 143 Prophecy, i, 107, 108, 110 Prophets, Hebrew, i, i04sq. , 1 losq. Protagoras, i, 139, 157 Protestantism in Italy, i, 417 sq. fortunes of, i, 425, 436, 455, 459, 469, 471. (See Reformation.) Provence, civilisation of, i, 315, 317 Providence, popular view of, 1, 2>2> Psammetichus, i, 132 Psychology, ii, 326, 381 sq. Ptolemy, i, 1S4 ;/., 225 n. Puffendorf, ii, 307 Pulci, i, 358 Punjaub, tmcient, freethought in, i, 53. 56 2G 45° INDEX Piinjer, cited, ii, 280, 281 Puritanism, ii, 89, 99, 317-8 Pusey, cited, ii, 262, 280 Pyrrho, i, 176-7, 187 Pyrrhonism, i, 186-7 Pythagoras, i, 139, 147 sq.; ii, 364 Pythagforeanism, i, 148 sq. Quakers, ii, 222, 321 Quetzalcoatl, i, 88 Quinet, ii, 373, 384 Rabanus, i, 293, 298-9 Rabelais, i, 471 ; ii, 6 sq. Rabia, i, 271 Race-character, theories of, i, 64, 101-2, 123 sq., 174-5, 193, 417 sq., 448, 449 Raleigh, ii, 28 sq. Ramsay, Chevalier de, ii, 209 W. M., cited, i, 126 n. Ramus, ii, 60, 82-3 Ranke, cited, i, 415, 457 n. Raoul de Houdan, i, 319 Rappolt, ii, 258 Rashdall, Dr., cited, i,33i, 370 Rastus, i, 25 n. Rationalism and Rationalist, use of terms, i, 5, 8 ; ii, 95, 125, 285, 286 Rationalist Press Association, ii, 405 n. Ratramnus, i, 296-7 Rawley, ii, 32 Rawlinson, Canon, cited, i, 69 Ray, John, ii, 108 Raymond Berenger, i, 319 sq. of Sebonde, i, 408 ; ii, 16 Archbishop, of Toledo, i, 381 Raynal, ii, 211, z^i, 253, 328 Reade, Winwood, ii, 326 Realism, philosophic, i, 146, 302 sq., 402, 430 Reason, deification of, i, 213; ii, 248 sq. religious defence of, i, 293 Reboult, ii, 212 Recared, i, 381 Rechenberg, ii, 259 Reformation, the, politically con- sidered, i, 413 sq. in Britain, i, 449 sq., 473 sq. — — in France, i, 443 sq. in Germany, i, 413 sq. in Hungary, i, 433 sq. in Italy, i, 417 sq. in the Netherlands, i, 476 sq. in Poland, i, 439 sq. in Spain, i, 425 Reformers, anti-pagan, i, 237 Regis, ii, 194 Regnard, ii, 193 Reimarus, ii, 278, 284 Reimmann, i, 1 1 Reinach, i, 122 )i. Reinhard, ii, 339 Reinhold, i, 472 Religion and conquest, i, 43-5, 47 psychology of, i, 26 of lower races, influenceof, i,43 Remigius, i, 297 Renaissance in Italy, freethought ill. .i- 343 sq- in France, i, 371, 396 in England, i, 371, 387 sq. Renan, ii, 325, 350, 358, 381 cited, i, loi, 102, 209, 274 «., -'79''-. 335.348,353' 378 Renee, Princess, i, 421 Reuchlin, i, 413 Reuter, H., cited, i, 13, 293 n. Reville, Dr. A., i, 88 ;/., 97 Revolution, French, ii, 179, 245 sq. American, ii, 317 Rewandites, the, i, 264 Reynard the Fox, i, 372-3, 405 Rheticus, i, 472 Richardson, cited, ii, 166 Richelieu, ii, 181 Richter, ii, 353 Riddle, i, 14, 15 Riem, ii, 274 Rihoriho, i, 35 Rings, the Three, i, 350 Ripley, G., ii, 373 n. Ritchie, cited, ii, 164 Ritual and ritualism, i, 29 Rivarol, ii, 232, 250 sq. ; cited, ii, 209 n. Roalfe, Matilda, ii, 331 Robertson, W. , ii, 164 ProfessorCroom, cited, 11,83 '*• Robespierre, ii, z^t^z, 250 Robinet, ii, 226, 238 Rolf Krakc, i, 37 Roman religion, i, 193, 204 sq., 209, 212 law, i, 214 Romano, ii, 31 1, Rome, papal, i, 311,354 Romilly, ii, 401 Ronsard, ii, 12 Roos, ii, 3 Roscelin, i, 302 sq. , 328 Rose, ronian de la, i, 373 Rossi, INI. A. de, i, 370 Rousseau, J. B., ii, 215 J. J., ii, 211 sq.,2i8, 233, 244, 253 INDEX 451 Royal Soi'iel)-, ii, 95 Riidiger, ii, 272 Riidrauf, ii, 259 Riig-e, ii, 370 Rum Bahadur, i, 25 ii. Rupp, ii, 340 Ruskin, ii, 391 Russia, ii, 306, 398, 419 si]. Rust, ii, 107 Ruteboeuf, i, 319 Rutherford, ii, 158 Rydbergf, ii, 350 Rvswyck, i, 408 Sabbath, origin oi, i, 1 1 1 Sabellius, i, 233 Sack, ii, 268 ;;. Sacraments, Mexican, i, 87, 89 Sacred Books, i, 40-41, 137, 191,215 Sacrifices, causation of, i, 49, 93 sq. — — early disbelief in, i. 41, 49, 62, 85.89. 213 human, i, 03, 85, 87, 89 Sadducees, i, 120 Sadi, i, 272 Saga, ii, 4 Sahagun, i, 90 Sainte-Beuve, ii, 373, 3S6 cited, ii, 184 n. St. Bartholomew, massacre of, ii, 13 St. Evremond, ii, 193 St. Glain, ii, 207 n. St. Hilaire, B., cited, i, 57 Geoffroy, ii, 365 St. Simon, ii, 336 Saintsbury, cited, i, 373 Saisset, cited, ii, 375 Saladin, i, 350 Salaville, ii, 250 Sales, Deslisle de, ii, 211, 226 Salverte, ii, 379 Salvian, i, 239, 250 Samaritans, i, 1 1 1 ;/. Samoans, religion ^:)U ', 34-35 Samson, ii, 278 Sanchez, ii, 60, 74 Sanchoniathon, i, 77 Sand, George, ii, 385 Sankara, i, 51 Saracen culture, i, 1 iQ, 274 sq., 319, 350. (See Arabs.) Satan, i, 112, 114 Saturninvis, i, 229 Satyre jSIcnippde, ii, 20 Saul, i, 101 .Saunderson, ii, 131 Savages, freethought among, i, 32, 33sq.,38sq.,42 religion ot, 1, i-,, 30 sq. Savages, ethics of, i, 28 mental life of, i, 24 sq. Savile, ii, 121 Saviour-Gods, i, 87 Savonarola, i, 351, 360, 363, 417 si]. Sayce, cited, i, 62 Sayous, i, 13 Sbinko, i, 429 Scsevola, i, 200 n. Scaliger, cited, ii, 5 Scandinavia, freethought in ancient, in modern, ii, 399 Scaurus, i, 202 Sceptic. (See Skeptic.) Schade, ii, 275 Schaffle, ii, 380 Schelling, ii, 303, 305, 369 Scherer, E., ii, 232, 386 Schiller, ii, 292 Schism, the Great Papal, i, 354 sq. Schlegel, A., quoted, i, 163 Schleiermacher, ii, 305, 351 Schmidt, W. A., cited, i, 12, 189, 204 »., 210 71. Schmidt, J. L. , ii, 266 Schmiedel, ii, 360 Scholastics, the, i, 302 sq., 2,2>2^ sq- Schoner, ii, 56 Schopenhauer, ii, 370 Schopp, ii, 70-1 Schrader, i, 126 Schulz, ii, 287 Schiirer, i, 14S Schwartz, ii, 259 Schwegler, i, 192 n. Schweizer, cited, i, 37 )i. Science, ancient, i, 61-3, 95, 138, 140, 141, 149, 15^. 157' 166, 175, .84 Scot, Reginald, 1,3; u, 25, 203 VV., ii, 108 Scotland, Reformation in, i, 415, 450 freethought in, ii, 101, 15S sq., 410 sq. Scott, Thomas, ii, :^2^, 357 Walter, ii, 387 Secularism, ii, 331 Sedillot, cited, i, 257 ;/. Segarelli, i, 378 sq. Selden, ii, 91 Sembat, i, 2S9 n. Semele, i, 126 Semites, religions of, i, 44, 97 ^l-' 123 sq., 139 . ^ o theories concerning, 1, 04, 00, 101-2 Semitic intluence on Greeks, i, 122 sq., 138 45- INDEX Semler, ii, 277 sq. Seneca, i, 207, 214 Serre, De la, ii, 224 Serra, ii, 312 n. Seivetus, i, 461 sq. ; ii, 3, 378 Seton-Merriman, ii, 393 Sevignt^, Madame de, i, 2 n. ; ii, Sextus Empiricus, i, 186-7 '■> '■' '4' 17,30, 224 Shaftesbury, i, 6; ii, 109, 120, 132, 143). H9i 150, 168, 240 cited, i, 7 71. Shakespeare, ii, 34 sq. Sharpe, i, 113 ; ii, 344 Shelley, ii, 326, 386 Sherlock, W. , i, 4 ; ii, 123, 149, 150 Shiites, the, i, 261 sq., 281 ;;. Sib3'lline books, i, 202 ;/. Sichel, W. , criticised, ii, 171, 172 Sicily, culture of, 1,319, 337, 344 Sidg-wick, H., cited, ii, 91 u. Sidney, A., ii, 95 Sidney, Sir P., ii, 64-5 Sifatites, the, i, 261 Sikhs, ii, 428 Silvanus, i, 289 Simeon Duran, Rabbi, i, 350 Simon de Montfort, i, 321, t^zTii 324 Simon of Tournay, i, 326-7, ^.^i^y Simon, Richard, ii, 195 sq. Simonides, i, 152 Simpson, cited, ii, 180 Simson, ii, 131 Sismondi, quoted, i, 329 «. ; ii, 5S ;/. Sixtus IV, i, 359, 367 Skelton, cited, ii, 166 Skeptic, meaning- of word, i, 12 Skepticism, academic, i, 183 sq. Pyrrhonic, i, 12, 176-7 dialectic, among- Christians, i, 479; ii, 139, 140, 188 popular, among- Christians, i. ZZ^ 479 Skytte, ii, 257 Slavery, Christianity and, i, 225 Paine and, ii, 320 ti. Smalbroke, ii, 149 Smith, .\dam, ii, 162, 170, 376, 379 Jolin, ii, 97 W. Robertson, i, 49, 359 S., i, 6 SmN'rna, ancient, i, 124-5 Social causation, ii, 148, 153, 172, 173. J 79. 253, 320, 326-7', 340-1, 450-1 Socialism, ii, 326, 341, 418 sq. Socinianism, ii, 2, 54, 56, 115 sq., '3', 378 Sociology, i, 365 sq., 410; ii, 326, 379 ^q- Sokrates, i, 160, 165 sq., 172, 173 Solomon, i, 101 ben Gebirol, i, 335 Sorbonne, the, i, 447 ; ii, S Sorcery, belief in, 24 Sorel, cited, ii, 305 Soury, cited, ii, 240 South, Dean, ii, 124 vSouthey, ii, 387-8, 389 South Place Institute, ii, 342 Southwell, ii, 330 Sozzini, the, i, 435, 441 ; ii, 2, 15, ^ 55 sq- Spain, culture history of, i, 380 sq. ; ii. 57' 314 freethoug-ht in, i, 381 sq. ; ii. 337 Reformation in, i, 425 Spalding, ii, 277 Spencer, J., ii, 112 H., ii, 326, 377, 380- 1 , 404, 407 cited, i, 34 Speusippos, i, 180 Spiegel, cited, i, 69 n. Spina, Alfonso, i, 366 Spinoza, i, 4, 17, 335, 340, 47S ; ii, 46, 107, 145, 19 -i sq., 257 sq., 260 Spinozism, ii, 204, 268 Spiritiialcs^ the sect, i, 2 Sprat, i, 3 . Sprenger, cited, i, 255 «., 256 n. Stafford, Sir W., ii, 312 v. Stancari, i, 440 Stanhope, ii, loS Stationers' Company, ii, no Statins, i, 208 Staudlin, i, 12 ; ii, 300 Stebbing-, ii, 149 Steele, ii, 132 Steinbart, ii, 276 Steinbuhler, ii, 286 Steno, ii, 364 n. Stephen, Sir J., cited, i, 399 ;/. Sir Leslie, i, 13 ; ii, 404 ; cited, ii, 114, 129 ;/., 130 )i.; criticised, ii, 130 ;/., 149 sq. Stesichoros, i, 130 Stewart, H. F., cited, i, 252-3 Stillingfleet, i,4; ii, q8-9, 104, 105, 119 Stilpo, i, 180 Stoicism, i, 176, 199, 207 Stosch, ii, 258 Stout, Sir R. , ii, 412 Strabo, i, 168 «., 187-8 Strannik, cited, ii, 420 n. Strasburg- Cathedral, i, 405 n. INDEX 453 Strato, i, iSo Strauss, ii, 325, 346, 350, 352 sq., 37O' 3^1 Strij^olniks, the, ii, 309 Strindbergf, ii, 351 Stromer, ii, 350 Siruensee, ii, 308 Strutt, ii, 143, 169 Stuart, Dean, ii, 97 Stiibbs, Bishop, ii, 414 Stuckenbergf, cited, ii, 296, 29S, 301 Stiidemund, cited, i, 418 Suaroz, i, 407 Slid on ins, i, 209 Suf iism, i, 271, 280 Sulla, i, 203 Sully, Professor, cited, i, 39 Sun-Gods, worship of, i, 70, 76, 87, 88, loi, 125 Sunnites, the, i, 261 Svodberg-, ii, 349 Swift, ii, 132-3, 149, 150 ; cited, i, 6 Swinburne, ii, 326, 388 Switzerland, reformation in, i, 414, 421,456,45984. freethou^ht in, ii, 315, 346 Sykes, A. A.,ii, 149 ; quoted, ii, 167 Sylvester II, i, 319 n. — — Bernard, i, 329 Symonds, J. A., cited, i, 343 ;/., 421 Syng-e, ii, 134 «•> 164 Tabari, cited, i, 264 n. Taborites, the, i, 431 Tacitus, i, 209 Taillandier, cited, i, 294 Taine, ii, 375, 386 Talfourd, ii, 331 Talmud, thought in, i, 120-1 Tamerlane, i, 268 Tammuz, i, loi Tanquelin, i, 313 Tarde, ii, 326, 380 Taouism, i, 82 sq. Tasmanians, religion of, i, 99 Tail, i, 83 Tauler, i, 406 Tayler, ii, 344 Taylor, Jeremy, ii, 1 12 '— Robert, ii, 330 Tegner, ii, 349 Telesio, ii, 82 Teller, ii, 277 Templars, the Knights, i, 383, 400-2 Temple, SirW., ii, 103 Ten, theories oU i, 150 Tenison, ii, 107 Tenneman, cited, ii, 117 Tennyson, ii, 326 Teodori, 1, 422 Tertullian, i, 235, 239, 249 ; ii, i 1 1 Tel ens, li, 302 Telzel, i, 416 Teuftel, i, 193-4 Texte, cited, ii, 141-2 Thackeray, ii, 392 Thales, i, 138 sq. Thallos, i, 78 Thamamians, the, i, 273 n. Thea.genes, i, 151, 153 Theodora, i, 250 Theodore of Mopsuestia, i, 247 Theodoric, i, 252 Theodoros, i, 179-180 Theodosius II, i, 245 ;/. Theodotos, i, 232 Thcopli ila nth ropy, ii, 321 Theophrastos, i, 182 Thierrys, the two, ii, 384 ThirUvall, i, 124 >i. Thirty-nine Articles, tlie, i, 475 Thirty Years' War, ii, 255 Tholuck, i, 12-13 ; cited, ii, 257, 262 Thomas Aquinas, i, 337, 339, 340, 366, 378, 403 Thomas h. Kempis, i, 407 Thomas, Dr. R. H., ii, 321 >i. Thomasius, Jenkin, i, 1 1 ; ii, 259; cited, ii, 256 Christian, ii, 263 Thompson, F., 11,389 Thomson, J., ii, 38S Thonrakians, i, 289 71. Thoreau, ii, 394 Thrakians, the, i, 124 n. Thukydides, i, 156 w., 168 Thunder-Gods, i, 97 Tiberius, i, 210-212 Ticknor, cited, i, 385 Tiele, cited, i, 68 ; criticised, i, 44 Tillotson, ii, 104, 123 Tindal, ii, 133, 137- '45> '49i '68 Tocco, i, 13 Tocqueville, cited, ii, 233 Toland, i, 6; ii, 109, 126 sq., 149, 150-1, 168, 197 Tolstov, ii, 398 Toltecs, the, i, 88 Tonga Islands, freethoughl in, i, 36 Torild, ii, 349 Torquemada, i, 386 Torricelli, ii, 310 Torture, ecclesiastical, i, 342 Toulmin, ii, 174, 175 Tourguenief, ii 39S Tourneur, ii, 37-8 Towers, ii, gS Toy, ii, 408 454 INDEX Tractarianism, ii, 387 Transubstantiation, i, 296 sq. Transvaal, tVeethougfht in, ii, 347 Trebonian, i, 250 Trenchard, ii, 132 Triads, i, 70 Tribbechov, i, 1 1 ; ii, 259 Trinity, dogma of, i, 74, 227, 232-3, -47' 296, 304, 328, 329, 2>:i?,, 339, 404, 419, 440, 461. (See Ihii- tarianism.) Trinius, i, 1 1 Trouv^res and Troubadours, i, 318 sq-, 373 Turgot, n, 232, 244 Turkey, civilisation of, ii, 428-9 freethought in, ii, 429 ;/. Turlupins, i, 375 Turner, ii, 174 Turpin, ii, 212 Turretin, i, 473 Twelve, sacred number, i, 96, 126 Twofold truth, doctrine of, i, 339, 368, 388, 404 ; ii, 1 17, 199, 299 Tylor, Dr., ii, 381 ; cited, i, 24, 31 Tyndall, ii, 404 Tymiinos, i, 126 Ubaldini, i, 347 ;;. Ueberweg, quoted, i, 171-2, 3°5 . ^ opinions of, ii, 417 11. 294, Uhlich, ii, 340 Uladislaus II, i, 433 Ulrich von Hutten, i, 413, 426 Undereyck, ii, 259 Unitarianism, early, i, 255, 335, 351, 414. 453' 474 in England, ii, 32,39, 94, 122-3, ^23^ J 39' -'00,343 sq. in Hungary, i, 435 in Poland, i, 439 sq. ; ii, 55 sq. in Italy, ii, 3 in Holland, ii, 54 in America, ii, 323, 412 I'nited States, freethought in, ii, 3'7 ■'^q-'394 sq-,407 sq- German freethinkers in, 341-2 Universalism, i, 63 Universities, low ebb of culture in, ii, 170 German, i, 413, 470; ii, 355, 417 sq. Swiss, ii, 346 Upanishads, philosophy of, i, 49S(.|. Urban \TII, ii, 77 Urstitius, ii, 60 Utilitarianism, 1,213; '■' "^^ "Utilitarian Associations," ii, 351 Valentinus, i, 230 Gentilis, i, 469 Valla, Lorenzo, i, 355-6, 368 Vallee, ii, 14 Vambery, cited, i, 28 1 Van der Ende, ii, 198 V^anini, i, 22 ; ii, 60, 71 sq. Van Mildert, i, 14, 15 V^arro, i, 200 >i. Varuna, i, 47 sq. Vasari, cited, i, 360 ?i. Vassor, ii, 190 Vatke, ii, 325, 358 Vaudois, the, i, 316 sq. Vaughan, cited, ii, 95 Vauvenargues, ii, 2t,2 Vedanta, i, 49 71. , 53 Vedas, i, 30, 46 translations of, i, 30 « skepticism in, i, 30, 47-8 attacks on, i, 50-1 X'ejento, i, 21 1 X'elasquez, ii, 59 Verlaine, ii, 385 Verrall, i, 163-4 Verus, S. G. , ii, 356 ;/. Viau, ii, 183 Vice, i, 26 H. ; 11,310,379 X'igilantius, i, 244, 316 ;/. Viilani, G.,i, 305 Villari, cited, i, 361, 362 n. Vinci, Leonardo da, ii, 364 Virchow, ii, 417 \'iret, ii, 1 Virgil, i, 206 Virgilius, St., i, 291, 35S Virgin-Mother-Goddess, i, 87 Voelkel, ii, 54 Vogt, ii, 372 n. Volney, ii, 232, 244, 328, 336, 381 \'olta, ii, 313 Voltaire, i, 22, 135, 352 ; ii, 172, 215 sq., 231, 239, 244, 272, 359, 364' 379 -cited, i, 2 ;/., 286; ii, 136 «., , 138' 171.. X'orstius, ii, 39 Wagner, Richard, ii, 39S Tobias, ii, 259 Wahabi sect, i, 284 Waitz, ii, 381 Waldenses, i, 2, 116 sq., 422, 427, 448 \\ aldus, i, 316 Walid, i, 263 Wallace, A. R., 11,367 Dr. Robert, ii, 162 Professor W., cited, 1, 177 n. INDEX 455 Walter Wm dcr Vo^afelvveide, i, 405 Walther, cilod, ii, 255-6 Walvvyn, ii, 95 War in South Africa, cftVct of, ii, 347-8 Warburton, ii, 136, 149, 150 Ward, Mrs. Humphi-y, ii, 393 Lester, ii, 326, 380 Warton, cited, ii, 142 Warville, ii, 226 Washing-ton, ii, 317, ^9 sq. Wasil Ibn Atta, i, 260 Waterland, ii, 149, 150 Wathek, Khalif, i, 267 Watson, Bishop, ii, 176 n.^ t^zz. 328 W.,ii, 388 Watts, C. , i, II, H. E. , cited, ii, 59 11 Wazon, Bishop, i, 310 Weber, A., cited, i, 43, 49 «., 54 Em., ii, 259 Wedderburn, ii, 329 Wegscheider, ii, 352, 353 Wellhausen, ii, 325, 359 quoted, i, 103, 139 Wen, Emperor, i, 85 Werner, ii, 363 Wesley, cited, ii, 318 //. Wesleyanism, ii, 170, 175 Westphalia, Peace of, ii, 255 Wette, de, ii, 144, 352, 358 Wheeler, J. M., i, 11 Whewell, ii, 366, 367 cited, ii, 90, 1 15 Whiston, ii, 131, 153 White, A. D., i, 14, 40 ; ii, 406, 407 Whitfield, ii, 170 Whitman, ii, 394 Wiclif, i, 376, 390, 391 sq., 42S Wieland, ii, 285-6 Wier, ii, 51, 203 Wight man, ii, 39, 40 Wilamowitz, i, 126 n. Wilberforce, ii, 329, 367, 392 cited, ii, 177 Wildman, ii, 95 Wilkes, ii, 173 Wilkins, Bishop, ii, 104 "Will to believe," i, 17 William of Auvergne, i, 338 11. of Conches, i, 330 of Occam, i, 397, 402 sq. of St. Amour, i, 376 Williams, Speaker, cited, ii, 2 Willich, cited, ii, 271 Winchell, ii, 408 Wiri'ker, i, 405 n. Wisdom of Solomon, i, i iS, 119 Wise, ii, 109, 142 ;/. Wislicenus, ii, 340 Witchcraft, belief in, i, 24, 366, 411; ii, 13,50, 112 — assailed, ii, 25, 51, 192, 203, 264 Wilt, John de, ii, 199 WollTand Wolffianisni, ii, 266 Wolhus, ii, 259 Wolseley, Sir C. , ii, 108 Women, freethoug^ht among, i, 364 )i. ; ii, 186 «., 414 ;/. ,"416 orthodoxy among, ii, 148, 416 position of earl}- Christian, i, 250 Wood, Anthony a, cited, ii, 2,3 Wood row, ii, 408 Woodward, ii, 153 Woolston, ii, 1-^6, 137-8, 149, 1150, 168 Wordsworth, ii, 387 Bishop, cited, ii, 345 Wright, Susanna, ii, 329 ;/. Frances, ii, 414 Writing, antiquity of. i, 105 /;., 192 n. Xenophanes, i, 142, 144-5 Xenophon, i, 195 Yahweh, 1,97, 100, 102, 104 Yaska, i, 50 Yeats, ii, 388 Young:, ii, 149 Zaid, i, 254-5 Zapoyla, i, 434 Zarathustra, i, 68 Zebrzydowski, i, 440 Zeller, ii, 346 cited, i, 148, 167 /;.; ii, 418 11. Zendavesta, Zendekisiii (Arab atheism), i, 255 sq., 258, 263, 264^., 279 Zeno (the elder), i, 139, 145 (the Stoic), i, 176 sq., 183, 2i3«. Zeus, i, 126, 132 sq. Ziska, i, 430 sq. Zola, ii, 385 Zollikofer, ii, 277 Zoroastrianism, i, 6g Zulus, freethoug-ht among-, i, 35 Z-wingli, i, 458 sq. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. Form L9-Series 444 PRINTED BY WATTS AM) CO.. 17. JOHNSONS COl'RT, FLEET STREET, XONI'ON, E.C.