298 THE RIDDLE OF THE UNIVERSE. 



bases which have been obtained in the second half of 

 the nineteenth century. We have already spoken, 

 in the first chapter, of Spinoza's relation to the 

 materialism of the eighteenth and the monism of the 

 nineteenth century. The propagation of his views, 

 especially in Germany, is due, above all, to the 

 immortal works of our greatest poet and thinker, 

 Wolfgang Goethe. His splendid God and the World, 

 Prometheus, Faust, etc., embody the great thoughts of 

 pantheism in the most perfect poetic creations. 



Atheism affirms that there are no gods or goddesses, 

 assuming that god means a personal, extramundane 

 entity. This " godless world-system " substantially 

 agrees with the monism or pantheism of the modern 

 scientist ; it is only another expression for it, empha- 

 sizing its negative aspect, the non-existence of any 

 supernatural deity. In this sense Schopenhauer 

 justly remarks : " Pantheism is only a polite form 

 of atheism. The truth of pantheism lies in its 

 destruction of the dualist antithesis of God and the 

 world, in its recognition that the world exists in 

 virtue of its own inherent forces. The maxim of the 

 pantheist, ' God and the world are one,' is merely a 

 polite way of giving the Lord God his conge " 



During the whole of the Middle Ages, under the 

 bloody despotism of the popes, atheism was perse- 

 cuted with fire and sword as a most pernicious 

 system. As the " godless" man is plainly identified 

 with the " wicked " in the Gospel, and is threatened 

 — simply on account of his "want of faith" — with 

 the eternal fires of hell, it was very natural that 

 every good Christian should be anxious to avoid the 

 suspicion of atheism. Unfortunately, the idea still 

 prevails very widely. The atheistic scientist, who 



