It was not, however, in direct rationalistic propaganda, but in literature and philosophy, that the German enlightenment of this century expressed itself.  The most illustrious men of letters, Goethe (who was profoundly influenced by Spinoza) and Schiller, stood outside the Churches, and the effect of their writings and of the whole literary movement of the time made for the freest treatment of human experience.

One German thinker shook the world—­the philosopher Kant.  His Critic of Pure Reason demonstrated that when we attempt to prove by the fight of the intellect the existence of

[176] God and the immortality of the Soul, we fall helplessly into contradictions.  His destructive criticism of the argument from design and all natural theology was more complete than that of Hume; and his philosophy, different though his system was, issued in the same practical result as that of Locke, to confine knowledge to experience.  It is true that afterwards, in the interest of ethics, he tried to smuggle in by a back-door the Deity whom he had turned out by the front gate, but the attempt was not a success.  His philosophy—­while it led to new speculative systems in which the name of God was used to mean something very different from the Deistic conception—­was a significant step further in the deliverance of reason from the yoke of authority.

[1] For the sake of simplicity I use “deist” in this sense throughout, though “theist” is now the usual term.

[2] Spinoza’s Theological Political Treatise, which deals with the interpretation of Scripture, was translated into English in 1689.

[3] See Benn, Rationalism in the Nineteenth Century, vol. i, p. 138 seq., for a good exposure of the fallacies and sophistries of Butler.

CHAPTER VII

THE PROGRESS OF RATIONALISM

(Nineteenth century)

Modern science, heralded by the researches of Copernicus, was founded in the seventeenth century, which saw the demonstration of the Copernican theory, the discovery of gravitation, the discovery of the circulation of the blood, and the foundation

[177] of modern chemistry and physics.  The true nature of comets was ascertained, and they ceased to be regarded as signs of heavenly wrath.  But several generations were to pass before science became, in Protestant countries, an involuntary arch-enemy of theology.  Till the nineteenth century, it was only in minor points, such as the movement of the earth, that proved scientific facts seemed to conflict with Scripture, and it was easy enough to explain away these inconsistencies by a new interpretation of the sacred texts.  Yet remarkable facts were accumulating which, though not explained by science, seemed to menace the credibility of Biblical history.  If the story of Noah’s Ark and the Flood is true, how was it that beasts unable to swim or fly