On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
pressam et virtutum prindpta menti insita , admittantur . ' * The controversies respiting conversion and justification , and the merit of good works , are thus prtfnotfnced upon : i ( Quamvis a Deo sit excitatio et auxilium tamen in horaine semper est alfqua eooperatio , alioqui dici non posset , ' eum egisse . Utrum autem ipsae vires bonos motus efficiendi in irregenitis sint fractee an tantummodo impeditao , valde inutiliter et frigide disputatur—omnibus
hominibus gratiam dat Deus sufficientem hactenus , ut posita modo ipsorum voluntate seria nihil amplius ad salutem eorum desideratur , quod non sit in potestate . " The Calvinistic doctrine on this subject is controverted , and the dispute whether justification consists in imputatione meriti satisfactionisque Christi , or in justitid habituali infusd ; he pronounces useless , as both are equally necessary . A similar decision is passed on the controversy respecting the relative value of faith and charity— " fides est caritatis requtsitum , caritas fidei complementum * " Good works are essential to salvation ; " quatenus in seria
voluntate consisJunU" Of ascetic practices and monastic orders it is observed , that the world might derive great benefit from the existence of an order of men devoted to contemplation and works of mercy or public instruction , provided abuses were restrained and the controul of the Supreme Pontiff exerted to make them subservient to the design of their founders and the benefit of the
universal church . The charge of idolatry is repelled from those who use images only in the way which the author allows , referring every thing to God ; and reasons of prudence are ur ; ged why the attempt to put them away from the churches would be unatfvisable . On the same ground , and with the same explanations ^ the reverence of saints , and reliques may be allowed , and the use of the prayers of the former in aid of our own .
Upon the whole , it will be evident , we think , that this work is rather curious as connected with the personal history and character of Leibnitz , than valuable as throwing any new light upon the important subjects of which it treats . It proves that Mr . Butler was right in attributing to Leibnitz a sincere desire to promote the reconciliation of the Romish and Lutheran Churches ; and , indeed , it is hard to see what should have prevented such a reconciliation , supposing Leibnitz fairly to represent the feelings of the Lutherans , but the unwillingness of the Romanists themselves to accept that rational interpretation of their own doctrines , which Leibnitz labours to devise for them . There have
always been enlightened ijnen among them , who have held the doctrines of the . Church in that moderate and comparatively unobjectionable form in which they qxe h # re exhibited ; but they are widely different in the minds of the generality , ai ^ d ] even Bossuet must have found them fall short of his own standard of Ortsho ^ xy ^ as the projeq * of a re-union failed when carried on between , Leibnitz ancj irimself . We must doubt , however , if the great body of the Lutherans even in that age could have been brought to sanction the concessions which the courtly philosopher was willing to make on their behalf . Reconciliation appears to have been both in theology and philosoph y a favourite scheme of Leibnitz , and he had before endeavoured to make peace between Plato and Aristotle , as now between Liathei and the Pope . In
the pursuit o £ this tatter object , he labours to diminish as much as possible the existing ^^ fferences ajid represent them as being in themselves what , in ajl probability , they were to him , unimportant differences in words ; but though some Lutheran princes might from motives of policy wish to see the schism closed which weakened the forcfc of Germany , and some Protestants , ignorant of # * $ true principle of their own secession , might wish ; to find themselves again in ommuoion With the ancient Church , we cannot believe tjnat a general r ^ -wioj * could ev # ft then have been accomplished . Every
Untitled Article
On a recently-discovered fFork of Leibnitz . 235
Untitled Article
R 2
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1827, page 235, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1795/page/3/
-