be had from Spinoza, in his Tractatus Theologico-politicus. This work was written, as will be recalled, to "set forth that freedom of thought can be granted without prejudice to public peace and piety, while such freedom cannot be withheld without peril to the same public peace and piety." Throughout it is a development of the thesis that reason should not and may not be a mere handmaid of theology. As a classic in the history of free thought and speech it is the more impelling because of the singular purity of intellectual passion which characterized its author. But, whatever else Spinoza may have been, he was undoubtedly "a good man of the Republic, with never an aim but the welfare and good of the State," as he himself says. And true to this basic trait he concludes his preface with a passage, emphasized by its repetition at the end of the work, which we use in illustration of our theme. After stating that his work is not for the multitude and that he would aid especially those "whose philosophy is hampered by the belief that reason is a mere handmaid of theology," he adds these significant words:
"Since many will have neither the time nor the inclination perhaps to read everything through, I feel bound,—here as well as at the end of the treatise—to disclaim writing anything which I do not submit most willingly to the examination and judgment of the supreme rulers of my country. For if they shall declare anything here written to be contrary to the laws of the country or prejudicial to the common welfare, I wish to retract it. I know that I am human and liable to error. But against error I have exercised scrupulous care, and above all that whatever I have written should be in entire accord with the laws of the country, with piety, and with morality."
Extraordinary words from the pen of one who would terminate the ancillary relation of philosophy to theology, and who would remove every vestige of the theocratic State in his jealous regard for the rights of unhampered reason! But if one substitute State for Church he will find that Spinoza has repeated literally the recurrent formula of the medieval inquirer, who though also devoted to free search for truth could not think of defending any truth counter to the interests of the Church,—whose cause was so intimately fused with society's as to make the two virtually inseparable. One might see in Spinoza a
