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Article LEIBNIZ AND SPINOZA. ← Page 22 of 25 →
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Leibniz And Spinoza.
but no one Avho rationally believes in a God refuses to believe that these laws of nature may be suspended at the pleasure of nature ' s Ruler , or , to speak more philosophically , that God may act in some Avay or ways Avhich men are not accustomed to see , and this is all that is required for our purpose ; there is thus a moral answer to the doctrine of an immutable sequence of eA'ents .
Another element has to be taken into consideration , the AVILL of the Great Supreme , watching over his people , influencing their motives and the motives of others , making all things Avork together for their good , numbering the A'ery hairs of their heads , and declaring , in order that they may believe this , that the hearts of men are in His hand . That man is permitted to appeal
to his Maker , and that that Maker " heareth and answereth prayer , " is a verity acknowledged by Jew , Christian , and Mohamedan ; and if Ave remember that He has Himself declared man ' s free agency , and condescended to treat Avith him as a rational as Avell as a free creature , — " Come , now , and let us reason together" Ave shall at once see that the supposed
im-, mutable chain of events must be so interpreted as to allow of this freedom on the one part , and this interference on the other . The refutation of Spinoza commences with some remarks
about the Hebrew Cabala , and gives the folloAving tradition : "The sin of Adam was the cutting off of Malcuth from the other plants . Malcuth ( regnum ) , or the kingdom , the last of the Sephirse , signifies that God governs all things by His irresistible Avill , but gently and without violence , so that man considers that he is following his own will , Avhile , in fact , he is
following that of God . They say that Adam assumed to himself an independent liberty , but Avas taught by his fall that he could not subsist by' himself , but that he now required to be lifted up by the hand of God through the Messiah . Thus Adam cut off the top ofthe tree ofthe Sephira ? . " After this he cites Burnet—not Gilbertbut Thomas—AA'ho brings the doctrine of
, , the Cabalists to this , — that the First Cause includes in himself all beings , — -that there ever Avas in the universe the same quantity or amount of beings , —that the world is an emanation of God , —that things owe their separate existence to separate emanations from Him , — that AA'hen these emanations are Avithdrawnthe things Avhich owed their individuality to Him
, die , and that individuality is again merged in the Godhead . Not AA'idely dissimilar from this Avas the theory of Henry More ; taking up the old axiom , " e-v nihilo nihil fit , " he argues against the very existence of matter , maintaining that all is spirit , —a doctrine in Avhich , hoAvever , he agrees more in words
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Leibniz And Spinoza.
but no one Avho rationally believes in a God refuses to believe that these laws of nature may be suspended at the pleasure of nature ' s Ruler , or , to speak more philosophically , that God may act in some Avay or ways Avhich men are not accustomed to see , and this is all that is required for our purpose ; there is thus a moral answer to the doctrine of an immutable sequence of eA'ents .
Another element has to be taken into consideration , the AVILL of the Great Supreme , watching over his people , influencing their motives and the motives of others , making all things Avork together for their good , numbering the A'ery hairs of their heads , and declaring , in order that they may believe this , that the hearts of men are in His hand . That man is permitted to appeal
to his Maker , and that that Maker " heareth and answereth prayer , " is a verity acknowledged by Jew , Christian , and Mohamedan ; and if Ave remember that He has Himself declared man ' s free agency , and condescended to treat Avith him as a rational as Avell as a free creature , — " Come , now , and let us reason together" Ave shall at once see that the supposed
im-, mutable chain of events must be so interpreted as to allow of this freedom on the one part , and this interference on the other . The refutation of Spinoza commences with some remarks
about the Hebrew Cabala , and gives the folloAving tradition : "The sin of Adam was the cutting off of Malcuth from the other plants . Malcuth ( regnum ) , or the kingdom , the last of the Sephirse , signifies that God governs all things by His irresistible Avill , but gently and without violence , so that man considers that he is following his own will , Avhile , in fact , he is
following that of God . They say that Adam assumed to himself an independent liberty , but Avas taught by his fall that he could not subsist by' himself , but that he now required to be lifted up by the hand of God through the Messiah . Thus Adam cut off the top ofthe tree ofthe Sephira ? . " After this he cites Burnet—not Gilbertbut Thomas—AA'ho brings the doctrine of
, , the Cabalists to this , — that the First Cause includes in himself all beings , — -that there ever Avas in the universe the same quantity or amount of beings , —that the world is an emanation of God , —that things owe their separate existence to separate emanations from Him , — that AA'hen these emanations are Avithdrawnthe things Avhich owed their individuality to Him
, die , and that individuality is again merged in the Godhead . Not AA'idely dissimilar from this Avas the theory of Henry More ; taking up the old axiom , " e-v nihilo nihil fit , " he argues against the very existence of matter , maintaining that all is spirit , —a doctrine in Avhich , hoAvever , he agrees more in words