same way as that of India, is at once more varied and more ratiocinative in its method of exposition. The most decided and most spiritual representatives of this philosophy were the Eleatics, and the so-called Alexandrian' NeoPlatonists, in whom we see clearly for the first time the influence of the East upon Greek thought. The doctrines of Emanation, of Ecstasy, expounded by Plotinus and Proclus, no less than the fantastic Dæmonism of Iamblichus, point to Persia and India as their birthplace, and in fact differ from the mystic teaching of the Vedanta only by being divested of the peculiar mythological allusions in which the philosophy is sometimes dressed up.

During the middle ages speculation was for the most part held in with tight reins by the Church, and we consequently hear little or nothing of Pantheism. Almost the only philosopher who seems to have given any attention to the subject was John Scotus Erigena, who was probably led to it by his study of the Alexandrians; but his speculations do not seem to have been thought by him incompatible with the Christian faith. He is regarded as the link between ancient and modern Pantheism. And we find in him now a reflection of the East and of Greece, and now a foreshadowing of the doctrines of Schelling and Hegel.

The more modern Pantheism is chiefly represented by Giordano Bruno and Benedict or Baruch Spinoza. Yet Newton also deserves mention. He is so completely known by his marvellous scientific discoveries that we are apt to pass by him as a philosopher. Yet we must not finish this introductory chapter of Pantheistic history without quoting the following passage from the General Scholium at the end of the third book of his Principia: 'The Supreme God exists necessarily, and by the same necessity he exists always and everywhere. Whence also he is all-similar-all eye, all ear, all brain, all arm, all power to perceive, to understand, and to act, but in a manner not

at all human, not at all corporeal, in a manner utterly unknown to us. As a blind man has no idea of colours, so have we no idea of the manner by which the all-wise God perceives and understands all things. He is utterly void of all body and bodily figure, and can therefore neither be seen, nor touched, nor heard, nor ought to be worshipped under the representation of any corporeal thing. We have ideas of his attributes, but what the real substance of anything is we know not.'

Such a passage appearing in any work of an accredited believer in revelation, such as Newton, may perhaps create some slight surprise. Yet it must be remembered that many portions of the New Testament, as well as the majority of the more spiritual Psalms of David, are pervaded with Pantheistic ideas, and Pantheistic interpretations both of God and Nature.

Quoted by Draper in the 'Intellectual Development of Europe,' p. 121.

BOOK THE FIRST

ORIENTAL PANTHEISM

All-knowing!-all unknown!--and yet well-known!
Near though remote ! and, though unfathomed, felt
And, though invisible, for ever seen!

And seen in all the great and the minute:

Each globe above, with its gigantic race,

Each flower, each leaf, with its small people swarmed (Those puny vouchers of Omnipotence),

·

To the first thought that asks, From whence?' declare
Their common source. Thou fountain, running o'er

In rivers of communicated joy!

Who gav'st us speech for far, far humbler themes !

Say, by what name shall I presume to call

Him I see burning in these countless suns,
As Moses in the bush? Illustrious Mind !
The whole creation less, far less, to thee,

Than that to the creation's ample round,

How shall I name thee?-How my labouring soul

Heaves underneath the thought, too big for birth !-YOUNG.

CHAPTER I.

THE VEDAS.

IT is in the oldest known literature of the world that we first become acquainted with Pantheistic religion and Pantheistic philosophy. It is in the Vedas that we find for the first time not merely traces or indications of Pantheism, but Pantheism itself in its full growth and maturity.

The Vedas, or sacred books of the Brahmans, date so far back in the annals of antiquity that it is not easy for us to gain even a proximate knowledge of their real age. The best authorities, however, seem to agree in thinking the earliest Veda could not have been written much less than four thousand years ago. 'Veda' means originally knowing or knowledge, and this name is given by the Brahmans not alone to one work, but to the whole body of their most ancient sacred literature. The only real Veda, however, is the Rig-Veda, but in general the name is understood to comprise four collections of hymns which are respectively known by the names of Rig-Veda, YagurVeda, Sama-Veda, and Atharva-Veda. But according to M. Max Müller these three last Vedas are chiefly comprised of extracts taken from the Rig-Veda, together with charms, incantations, and sacrificial formulas; but in reality they deserve the name of Veda as little as the Talmud deserves the name of Bible. We shall, therefore, confine ourselves principally to the Rig-Veda.

This Rig-Veda is a collection of ten works, and contains