2 24 THi: POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Divine law. The more aversion and estrangement from good he may- 

 have felt, the more he hopes to be recomjDensed, and imagines that 

 they who are not restrained by the same fear as himself do what he 

 would do in their case that is to say, live lawlessly." Spinoza held 

 with reason that this manner of seeking heaven was contrary to rea- 

 son, and that there is an absurdity in pretending to gain God's favor 

 by owning to him that, did one not dread him, one would not love. 



IV. 



He was, however, well aware of the danger of interfering with 

 beliefs in which few admit these subtile distinctions. Caute was his 

 motto, and, his friends having made him aware of the explosion that 

 the " Ethica " would infallibly produce, he kept it unpublished till 

 his death. He had no literary vanity, nor did he seek celebrity 

 possibly, indeed, because he was sure to obtain it without seeking. 

 He was perfectly happy he has told us so ; let us take him at his 

 word. He has done still better : he has bequeathed us his secret. 

 Let all men listen to the recipe of the " Prince of Atheists " for the 

 discovery of happiness : it is the love of God. To love God is to live 

 in God. Life in God is the best and most perfect because it is the 

 reasonablest, happiest, fullest in a word, because it gives us more 

 being than any other life, and satisfies most completely the funda- 

 mental desire that constitutes our essence. 



Spinoza's whole practical lii'e was regulated according to these 

 maxims. That life was a masterpiece of good sense and judgment. 

 It was led with the profound skill of the wise man who desires one 

 thing only, and invariably ends by obtaining it. Never did policy 

 so well combine means and end. Had he been less reticent, he would 

 perhaps have met the same fate as the unfortunate Acosta. Loving 

 truth for its own sake, he was indifferent to the abuse that his con- 

 stancy in speaking it entailed, and answered never a woi'd to the 

 attacks made on him. For his i^art, he attacked no one. " It is for- 

 eign to my habits," he said, " to look out for the errors into which 

 authors have fallen." Had he desired to be an official personage, his 

 life would no doubt have been traversed by persecution, or at least 

 by disgrace. He w\as nothing, and desired to be nothing. Ama 

 nesciri was his desire, as well as that of the author of the " De Imita- 

 tione." He sacrificed everything to peace of mind, and in so doing 

 there was no selfishness, for his mind was of importance to the world. 

 He frequently refused wealth on its way to him, and desired only 

 what was absolutely necessary. The King of France ofiered him a 

 pension ; he declined. The Elector Palatine offered him a chair at 

 Heidelberg. " Your freedom shall be complete," he was told, " for 

 the prince is convinced that you will not abuse it to disturb the estab- 

 lished religion." " I do not very well understand," he replied, " within 

 what limits it would be necessary to confine that philosophical free- 



