the conception of a mystical union with God, which gives its peculiar tinge to Spinoza's whole thought. From the falsity of ordinary opinion, or imagination, we have passed by the power of discursive reason to adequate ideas; but there is a higher kind of knowledge still. Reason is not merely our individual reason working under conditions of time; it is also eternal, freed from all restrictions, a part of the infinite intellect of God. And the same truths which we have gained laboriously by processes of reasoning may also take on another form, the form of an immediate flash of intuition, in which they are seen to flow directly from the one Truth - God. From this third kind of knowledge springs the highest possible satisfaction of the mind. "The more of this kind of knowledge any one possesses, the clearer is his consciousness of himself and of God, that is, the more perfect and blessed is he." "From this third kind of knowledge necessarily springs the intellectual love of God. For from this kind of knowledge springs pleasure, accompanied by the idea of God as cause, that is, a love of God, not in so far as we imagine him as present, but in so far as we comprehend God to be eternal." "And this intellectual love of the mind toward God is the very love of God with which God loves himself, not in so far as he is infinite, but in so far as he can be expressed by the essence of the human mind, considered under the form of eternity; that is, the intellectual love of the mind toward God is a part of the infinite love with which God loves himself. From this we clearly comprehend in what our salvation, or blessedness, or freedom, consists; to wit, in an unchangeable and eternal love toward God, that is, in the love of God toward men. This love or blessedness is in the sacred Scriptures called glory."

To sum up, then, how does this doctrine of freedom contribute to the service of life? "First, it is of value in that it teaches us that we act according to God's decree, and are participants in the divine nature; and this the

1 Pt. V, 31, Schol.; 32, Cor.; 36, and Schol.

more, the more perfect the actions we perform, and the better we comprehend God. Hence this doctrine not only sets the soul completely at rest, but also teaches us in what our highest felicity or blessedness consists, to wit, only in the knowledge of God, which leads us to do only those things that love and piety recommend. Thus we see clearly how far from a true estimate of virtue are those who expect God to honor them with the highest rewards for their virtue and good actions, as though for the extremest slavery — as if virtue and the service of God were not felicity itself, and the completest freedom. Second, it is of value in that it teaches us how to behave with regard to those things which depend upon fortune, and which are not within our power, that is, with regard to those things that do not follow from our nature. It teaches us, namely, to look forward to and endure either aspect of fortune with equanimity, just because all things follow from the eternal decree of God, by the same necessity with which it follows from the essence of a triangle that its three angles are equal to two right angles. Third, this doctrine is of service to social life in that it teaches to hate no one, to despise, to ridicule, to be angry at no one, to envy no one. It is of service, further, in that it teaches each one to be content with what he has, and to aid his neighbor, not from womanish pity, partiality, or superstition, but solely under the guidance of reason, according to the demands of the time and the case. Fourth, this doctrine is of no little advantage to the state in that it shows how citizens ought to be governed and led; namely, not so as to act like slaves, but so as to do freely what is best."1

"And even if we did not know our mind to be eternal, we should nevertheless regard as of the highest importance piety and religion. The belief of the multitude appears to be otherwise. Most men seem to think that they are free just in so far as they are permitted to gratify desire, and that they give up their independence just in so far as they are 1 Pt. II, 49, Schol.

obliged to live according to the precept of the divine law. Piety, then, and religion, and all things, without restriction, that are referred to greatness of soul, they regard as burdens; and they hope after death to lay these down, and to receive the reward of their bondage, that is, of piety and religion. And not only by this hope alone, but also and chiefly by fear-the fear of being punished after Ideath with dire torments are they induced to live according to the precept of the divine law, so far as their poverty and feebleness of soul permit. If men had not this hope and fear, but if, on the contrary, they thought that minds perished with the body, and that for the wretched, worn out with the burden of piety, there was no continuance of existence, they would return to their inclination, and decide to regulate everything according to their lusts, and to be governed by chance rather than by themselves. This seems to me no less absurd than it would seem if some one, because he does not believe he can nourish his body with good food to eternity, should choose to stuff himself with what is poisonous and deadly; or, because he sees that his mind is not eternal or immortal, should choose on that account to be mad, and to live without reason. Blessedness is not the reward of virtue, but virtue itself; nor do we rejoice in it because we restrain the desires, but, on the contrary, because we rejoice in it we are able to restrain the desires." 1

"With this I have completed all that I intended to show regarding the power of the mind over the emotions, and the freedom of the mind. From what I have said it is evident how much stronger and better the wise man is than the ignorant man, who is led by mere desire. For the ignorant man, besides being agitated in many ways by external causes, and never attaining true satisfaction of soul, lives as it were without consciousness of himself, of God, and of things, and just as soon as he ceases to be acted upon, ceases to be. While, on the contrary, the 1 Pt. V, 41 and Schol.; 42.

wise man, in so far as he is considered as such, is little disturbed in mind, but, conscious by a certain eternal necessity of himself, of God, and of things, he never ceases to be, but is always possessed of true satisfaction of soul. If, indeed, the path that I have shown to lead to this appears very difficult, still it may be found. And surely it must be difficult, since it is so rarely found. For if salvation were easily attained, and could be found without great labor, how could it be neglected by nearly every one? But all excellent things are as difficult as they are rare." 1

LITERATURE

Spinoza, Chief Works: Improvement of the Intellect, Ethics, Theologico-Political Treatise, Political Treatise. Translations: Elwes (Works, 2 vols.); White (Ethics); Fullerton (Selections from Ethics). Pollock, Spinoza.

Caird, Essays on Literature and Philosophy.

Iverach, Descartes, Spinoza, and the New Philosophy.

Joachim, Study of the Ethics of Spinoza.

Duff, Spinoza's Political and Ethical Philosophy.

§ 30. Leibniz

The temperament and life history of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz are as far as possible removed from those of his great predecessor. Born in Leipsic in 1646, he early showed a remarkable genius which took the whole world as its field. In mathematics, where he is celebrated as being one of the discoverers of the differential calculus ; in law, civil and international; in history (he was employed to write the memoirs of the family of his patron, the Duke of Hanover); in religious controversy, and in philosophy proper — in all these different directions he stood among the leading men of his time. This universality of mind 1 Pt. V, 42, Schol.

enabled him to do justice to the varied interests which philosophy has to serve, and made his system a gathering. point of the various threads which had entered into the entire past development. Almost alone of the men of his time the time of the Enlightenment - he had some just appreciation of the past and of history; and he was able to enter sympathetically into the thought alike of Plato and Descartes, of the Schoolmen and the scientists of his own day.

The practical side of Leibniz' nature was another factor which influenced his theoretical views. He was no mere thinker, like Spinoza, but a man of the world, in the midst of, and taking a large part in, the political life of his time. His legal training early gave him an entrance into politics, and, either as writer or diplomatic agent, he was connected with most of the important events of the period. This practical training perhaps emphasized his tendency to mediate between opposing views. The same spirit which led him to attempt to get at the truth in all philosophies, reveals itself in his political aims; for example, in his endeavor to heal the differences between Protestants and Catholics, by drawing up a compromise on which both could unite. In addition to all the labor which these political offices involved, we should mention also the effort, occupying a considerable part of Leibniz' life, to secure the establishment in Germany of learned societies, or Academies, by which the results of the new scientific spirit should be conserved and applied to human ends. This bore fruit during Leibniz' own lifetime in the Berlin Academy.

1. The Nature of Substance. The more general aspects of Leibniz' philosophy can perhaps be brought out by comparing them with the solution which Spinoza had offered. The main emphasis in Spinoza had been upon the unity of the world, a unity which brings together the factors which Descartes had left separatemind, matter, and God. To Leibniz, also, this was the