OF THE UNITY OF THOUGHT. 639 



Atheism and irreligion were indeed spoken of, and 

 this in connection both with Fichte's and Schelling's 

 deliverances, but this meant rather an opposition 

 to the narrow and dry formalism of the existing 

 orthodox section of the Protestant Church doctrine 

 than any approach to the scoffing spirit represented 

 in France by Voltaire, and in Germany, unfortunately, 

 by Voltaire's friend and disciple, Frederick the Great. 

 It was at a much later date that this spirit of in- 

 difference or of animosity entered into German thought 

 and literature. The greatest poet and the greatest 

 thinkers of the age were still bent upon seeking and 

 finding the Divine principle which permeated all nature 

 as well as all the spheres of human life. 



The unsettlement of philosophic thought just re- 

 ferred to found nowhere a larger expression than in 

 the many changing aspects under which new ideas 

 presented themselves to the mind and in the writings 

 of Schelling and in the general vagueness and incon- 

 clusiveness of his reasoning. Fruitful as he was in 

 finding ever new moulds wherein to cast and express 

 his deepest philosophic aspirations, his teaching was 

 apt to lead his disciples into seemingly promising but 

 actually barren by-paths. This brought upon him de- 

 served and undeserved attacks, provoking from him some- 

 times unedifying and undignified rejoinders. Obscured 

 by these the true merits of his thought were soon for- 

 gotten, and it is only within quite recent times that 

 attention has again been drawn to the historical 

 importance of his labours. His philosophy was essen- 

 tially prospective and suggestive. It contained the 



