The spiritual life

Man's Quest forGod. 225

ableaudacity,Hingingoutintotheseemingvoid

its ineradicable belief in the Life whence it

sprang, to find the void a plenum, Deity

immanent throughout"empty"space.

Then Pantheism unveiled its all-alluring

beauties, andthe intercosmic God shone forth

dispellingalltheclouds of doubt and fear,and

turning into gardens of delight the erstwhile

desert sands. Had it come in itsnativegarb,

itwouldhavewonalltoitself,buttointellectual

Europethe most generallyrecognisedexponent

ofthistheorywasSpinoza,andwhilehisstrong

thought fascinated and compelled the intelli-

gence,presented-asitoftenwasbyopponents

• withouttheethic basedon it,itleftthespirit

starving and the heart a-cold. The idea got

abroadthat "Pantheism"wasachilland stern

philosophy,that itsGodwasunconscious,inac-

cessible-the"Father"haddisappeared. "God

isa beingabsolutelyinfinite; a substancecon-

sisting of infinite attributes, each of which

expresses His eternal and infinite essence."

(Ethics, Bk. I. Definition 6.) Of these

attributes man knows but two, extension and

mind or will. Mr. Froude in his Slwrt

Studies from which the quotation from

Spinoza is borrowed-says, summarising Spi-

noza's views, that God "is not a personal