Note 185 — Chapter XXXIV · A.D. 1600-1700. THE JEWS IN HOLLAND.—DA COSTA, SPINOZA.

All the great modern thinkers speak with reverence of Spinoza, with the single exception, perhaps, of Leibnitz. Lessing was one of the first to recognise his profound ability. S. T. Coleridge and Goethe express the greatest admiration for him, the latter affirming that he was one of his three great teachers. Later, Herder, Schleiermacher, Hegel, and others have spoken to the same effect. But though his opinions have exercised a wide and most important influence on the minds of others, he has established no school of adherents to his own peculiar philosophy. It may be doubted whether he ever made one genuine convert.