eory,
"according to which spirit and matter, thought and extension, the
phenomena of the soul and of the body, are all equally related, either
as attributes or modes, to the same substance or being, at once _one_
and _many_, finite and infinite,--Humanity, Nature, God." Conceiving
that the older forms of error--Dualism and Materialism--have all but
disappeared; and that Atheism, in its gross mechanical form, cannot now,
as Broussais himself said, "find entrance into a well-made head which
has seriously meditated on nature," M. Franck concludes that Pantheism
alone, such as has been conceived and developed in Germany, is likely to
have the power of seducing serious minds, and that it may for a season
exert considerable influence as an antagonist to Christianity.[105] M.
Javari gives a similar testimony. He tells us that "that great lie,
which is called Pantheism (_ce grand mensonge qu'on appelle le
Pantheisme_), has dragged German philosophy into an abyss; that it is
fascinating a large number of minds among his own countrymen; and that
it is this doctrine, rather than any other, which will soon gather
around it all those who do not know or who reject the truth."[106] The
Biographer of Spinoza, referring to the recent progress and prospective
prevalence of these views, affirms that "the tendency of the age, in
matters of Philosophy, Morals, and Religion, seems to incline towards
Pantheism;" that "the time is come when every one who will not frankly
embrace the pure and simple Christianity of the Gospel will be obliged
to acknowledge Spinoza as his chief, unless he be willing to expose
himself to ridicule;" that "Germany is already saturated with his
principles;" that "his philosophy domineers over all the contemporary
systems, and will continue to govern them until men are brought to
believe that word, 'No man hath seen God at any time, but He who was in
the bosom of the Father hath revealed Him;'" that it is this
"Pantheistic philosophy, boldly avowed, towards which the majority of
those writers who have the talent of commanding public interest are
gravitating at the present day;" and that "the ultimate struggle will
be, not between Christianity and Philosophy, but between Christianity
and Spinozism, its strongest and most inveterate antagonist."[107] And
the critical reviewer of Pantheism, whose Essay is said to have been the
first effective check to its progress in the philosophical schools of
Paris, gives a similar te