A Short History of Freethought Ancient and Modern, Volume 2 of 2 by J. M. Robertson

the surface, it could not prevent the spread of rationalism in all directions; and there was now germinating a philosophic unbelief [1218] under the influence of Spinoza. Nowhere were there more prompt and numerous answers to Spinoza than in Germany, [1219] whence it may be inferred that within the educated class he soon had a good many adherents. In point of fact the Elector Palatine offered him a professorship of philosophy at Heidelberg in 1673, promising him "the most ample freedom in philosophical teaching," and merely stipulating that he should not use it "to disturb the religion publicly established." [1220] On the other hand, Professor Rappolt, of Leipzig, attacked him as an atheist, in an Oratio contra naturalistas in 1670; Professor Musæus, of Jena, assailed him in 1674; [1221] and the Chancellor Kortholt, of Kiel, grouped him, Herbert, and Hobbes as The Three Great Impostors in 1680. [1222] After the appearance of the Ethica the replies multiplied. On the other hand, Cuffelaer vindicated Spinoza in 1684; and in 1691 F. W. Stosch, a court official, and son of the court preacher, published a stringent attack on revelationism, entitled Concordia rationis et fidei, partly on Spinozistic lines, which created much commotion, and was forcibly suppressed and condemned to be burnt by the hangman at Berlin, [1223] as it denied not only the immateriality but the immortality of the soul and the historical truth of the Scriptural narratives. This seems to have been the first work of modern freethought published by a German, [1224] apart from Knutzen's letter; but a partial list of the apologetic works of the period, from Gegenbauer onwards, may suffice to suggest the real vogue of heterodox opinions:--