I've been waiting for Scrawler's reply, and I assume he was commenting on your "Nature and nature's God" paragraph.
Spinoza was indeed an interesting fellow. A Sephardic Jew whose family moved (or fled) to The Netherlands, and was "excommunicated" from Judaism for his writings; he wrote largely on philosophy as distinguished from theology (advocating the former and criticizing the latter). Ethics is the relevant work (and one of his most important), and it's more painful to read than a Platonic dialogue. It is a series of logical propositions and the conclusions derived. Generally he was arguing that "God" isn't an independent entity who created everything, set it into motion, established rules and passes judgement on behavior. Instead, God is everything - hence "God or Nature".
Keeping Spinoza in mind while reading Emerson is particularly enlightening.
Stanford's online Philosophy Encyclopedia has a good summary HERE
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