Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
3 3433 00605394 0
'
,.
AND
'
TR.EATISES
ON MORAL, POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS. AND '
VARIOUS PHILOSOPHICAL SUBJECTS.
, .,. . ~
t'
I
i •
,
BY EMAKUEL liANT, M •.R. A. S.D •
.Al'iD PJ\8f£SSGJ\ 01' PHIL050!PHT IN THE. Ul!iiV£J\5l'l'r
01' JtO£l'oluSBEJ\G•
,
J"J\0!'1 THZ G:E.I\MAY BT 'I'BE T.I\ANSLATO.I\ or
Til£ l'JU~ClPL.ES OF CalTlCAL PHILOSOPHY,
VOL II.
Digitized by Coogle
'
'
Digitized by Coogle
I
p R.E .FA c ~
l$ T T H E T R A N S L A ,T 0 J\,
'
H UME's .scepticisi? seems .to be the f~vourit~
and 1nexhaust1ble top1c, on wh1ch our
modem · champions of orthodoxy still insist,
and the only fortress, against which they
\
point their ecclesiastical cannon; which fort.,. \
ress, however, has always · proved impregn~
able to th~m. No doubt ca.n be entertained
but they have in view to insinuate themselves
into the good graces and to obtain the patron.,. ,
age of potent bigots who have vacant bene.,.
fices in their disposd: they would, a.s sir
francis Seymour said, willingly exchange ~
good ~onscience for a bishopric. But ~hes~
modem inquisitors and ghostly practitioners,
more attentive to the cant of their profession,
than observant bf the spirit of Christianity,
and not seeming to posseSs niore abilities to
use fair reasoning, than their patrons capacity,
perhaps, to understand it, betake themselves
but to inv.ective, personal attacks, * foul
)o( 3 aspersions
• V\'ould a eertain author of A S•rmon on Suicid~, who
makea this uncharitable and unchriitianlike observation, -
• Of all men that ever lived Mr. Hume is the only one, of
whom I never heard a single good and benevolent action,'
- take the trouble to J:ead a letter, prcftxod "> Hu·m e's
His torr
Digitized by Coogle
·~ . =·.
~·
-~ ......
~
.JI..
.,
. -~
VI
\
PRE FA C:E.
1
aspersions and de"lamation , iostead of ar~t·
ment. Such conduct can admit of no· apology
or extenuation, and men of candour and dis.;
cemment look upon it as disgraceful, not
only to sacred offices , but to the rank in so-
ciety of men of ]etters. In order to contrast
this turpitude and to set it in a full light, I
shall avail myself of the opportunity which
the preface affords and quote a passage, not
from a tlteolor:.ical moralist, but from a moral
theologian, of a very diffe1 ent cast of thought
indt>ed, and the only person who has ever
yo:t_ been· able to subvert the reasoning of the
Bri ~ ish sceptic, ( fJppo~ita juxta se posita magis
tlucrsczwt). ·
' · Since the Essays of Lock and of Leibnitz
(says 1\ANT in his PJ\OLEGO:viEX A), Or rather
since the origin of metaph~· sic, so far as its
' history reaches, there has happened no event
more decisive of the fate of this science, than ·
the attack DAVID HuME made on it. ~
threw no light, it is true,_ on this species of
cogniti<m, but he strud;. a sparl{, by which,
had
History of Eilgland , new ed. vol. ·1 . p. xxnr, from docror
Adam Smith to V\'illiafl Strahan esquire, either his own
ignorance, or som ething worse, would stare him in the
face. Doctor Smith savs, 'Even i n thP. lowest state of bis
(I!u mc's) fortune, l1is p-rcat and nccessarv frngalitv never
llin derod him from excrctsing , ou 'proper occasions, . ac ts of
b oth cl1arity and (!;encrosity.' How different is this from
th e judgmen t of tl~at spiritual guide and orthodox preacher
of tl1e gospel! who will snrcfy 11 0t dare to doubt doctor
S1nirlt's veraci~y. - The translator, were it necdssary•.
w o1dd dwell, with ]Jlens nre, on the amiable and estimable
qu alit ie6, with whic)1 the great Ilnme was adorned, which
r ct~tl, red him 1\t once so ble so interesting and so
usl' lnliu society, m~ IUliv"aally beloved
111: l aJtuired.
• I
PREFACE. VII
. ·,
...
•
Digitized by Coogle
•
.vu,: PREFACE •
• Digitized by Coogle
I'REFA CE.
'.
IJf
indispen.sable, for of these Hnme never har-
boured a. doubt; but whether it be tho~ght
a priori . by reason , and in this manner have
an internal truth independent upon all expe-
rience, and therefore· a more extensive utility,
which is not limited merely to objects of ex- .
perience : on this head Hume expected informa-
tion and, as he himself says, still lu~pt his
mind. open to inst~uction, if any one would
vouchafe to bestow it on him.
The adversaries · of this celebrated philo-
sopher, however, must,. in order to do justice
to the problem, have penetrated very deep·
into the nature of reason , so far as 'it is occu-
pied in pure thinking;, which would have
been rather irksome .and incommodious to
them. · They therefore, without flying , in the
face of all insight, found ·a more convenient
mean, the appeal to common sense. It is indeed
a great gift of heaven to possess good (or, as
it has ~een lately denominated, common)
sense. But it must be evinced by fa-cts, by
what one thinks and speal'ls with retlection
and rationally' but not appealed to as an
oraGle, when one has nothing reasonable or
satisfactory to offer in his justification . .When
introspection, that is., cognition a priori' and
science are put to the last shift, to appeal
then and not sooner to common sense, is one
of ~he subtile discoveries of modern times,
whereby the most shallow prater may boldly
cope and stand the brunt with a man of the
most · profound under:;tanding. But while
there is yet a small remain of introspection,
one avoids having recourse to this last refuge
)o( 5 or
Digitized by Coogle
• f
X P 1\ E F .ACE.
Digitized by Coogle
XI
Digitized by Coogle
:XIV ..
PREFACE. I
tio:n with the
•
design of religion, and to vex
a '"·ell-meaning man, because he, the moment
he quits his o;-Q province, natural philosophy,
1 knows not,what to have recourse to. But this
grace must be alike granted to the no less
well'-minded and, as to his moral charact'er,
irl-eproachable Hume, who cannot quit his
abstract speculation, because he .holds, with
reasoh, that its obiect lies totallv without the
pale .of natural philosophy, in· the field of
pure ideas.
\Yhat is now to be done, .principaHy with
. regard to the danger, which thereby seems to
threaten the contmon weal'? Nothing is more
natural, nothing more just, than the resolu·
tion which ye have to tal~e on that account.
Only let these people alone; if they have
talents, if they show a spirit of profound and
new inquiry, in a' word, 'if they possess but
reason, reason always gains. If Je use other
means, than those of an unconstrained rea-
son, if ye call out high treason, call together,
as if by an alarmbelJ, the commonwealth,
which by no means understands such subtile
elaborations, ye render yourselves.ridiculous.
For it is not at .all the question, what is in
this advantageous or disad'\.·antageons to the
fOmmon weal, OUt only, how far reason can
carry its speculation abstracting from all jn-
·tecest, and whether 011e must redwn any thing
in general on it, or rather even give it up in
favour of the practical. Thereforf', insread of
attacking sword in hand, rather behold quiet-
ly from the secure seat of criticism this con-
flict, which must be painful to Lhe combatants,
diverting
J>REF A C·E. XV
XVI PREFAC~.
Digitized by Coogle
"
SVITI tt J\. E F A C E.
. .
"t>f pure .reaspn. · -. It is very foolish to ety
()Ut agamst certam hazarded assertions, or
tetherarious attacks on what has already on its ·~
side the approbation of the greater and better
part of the commonwealth, as dangerous; for
'that gives them an importance, which they
by no means ought to have. - ' The dogmatic ·
defender of the good cause against such ene-
mies I would not read at al1, as I know before
hand thAt he will attacl~ the seeming reasons
of the others, only with a view to procure
an inlet to his own , besides, an every day-
appearance does not afford so mu:ch matte!-" for
:new observations, as a surprising one inge·
niously excogitated. Whereas the opponent
of religion, likewise dogmatical in his way,
· affords my Critic the wished- for employment
·and occasion to more correctness and percision
· of its !lrinciples, without being under the
·smallest apprehension on hl.s account. ·
But the youth, who is devott>d "to acade-
n:licallearning, must at least be warned against
such writings, and withholden from the early
k:rowledge of so dangerous positions, till his
judgement is ripened, or rather the doctrine,
which . is intended to be instilled into his
'tender mind, firmly rooted, in order to resist
. all persuasion
.
to the contrary' whencesoever
(
1t 1nay come. -
·Again, the endless con tensions of a merely
dogmatical reason finally necessitate to seelt
quiet in some one critic or other of this reason
itself; the state of nature (as Hobbes main-
tains) is a state of injustice and violence, and
we must necessarily q,uit it, in order to sub-
, ject
,·
Digitized by Coogle
PREFACE. XIX
' I
I
/
Digitized by Coogle
-1
I
I
' ,
\
./
OBSERVATIONS'
O!f ~H&
FEELING
'fiT TRit
'
BEAUTIFUL AND SUBLIME.
Vol. II. A
Digitized by Coogle
0 B S E R V ,A -T I 0 N ~.
ON TEB
FEELING
Olr THB
SECTION I.
OF THE DIFFERE NT •OB1E CTS OF THE SENTI-
4, E ,SS.AYS .AND
' '
....
'·
Digitized by Coogle
,.
'TREATISES.
I
I
Digitized by Coogle
6 .ESSAYS .AND
,·
Digitized by Coogle
. ''
III
;
I , oigit"edbyGoogle
'.
' I .
ESSAYS AND
Digitized by Coogle
•
12 1:ESSAY'S 'AND
Digitized by Coogle
' ' .
T R. J: AT IS E S;
.'
Digitized by Coogle
ESSAYS AND
Digitized by Coogle-
T R E J. T I S E S. 15
-of honour, are impertinencies. Melancholy
withdrawing from ·the Doise and bustle of the
world from a rightfu~ ditgust is noble. The
solitary or recluse devotion of the aoncient
hermits was strange. Cloisters and such graves, .
for the purpose of burying living saints, -
are impertinencies. The subduing of one's
passions by principles is subl:ime. Abstinen-
c:ies, mortifications, penances or castigations,
vows and othet such monkisli virtues are im-
pertinencies. Sacred bones, sacred wood and
all...such trumpery, the holy stool of the Grand
Lam~ of Thibet not excepted, are impertinen-
cies. Of the works of genius and of fine feel-
ing, the epic poems of Virgil aJ:id of Klopstock
appertain to the noble, those of Homer and
of Milton, to the portentous. Ovid's meta-
morphoses are impertinencies, the fairy tales
of french levity are the most sorry imperti-
nencies that ever• were hatched. The ana-
c:reontic poems commonly approach very near
towards the trifling. . ·
The works of understanding and of subtil-
ty, sa far as their subjects contain something
for the feeling, take some-part likewise in the
aforementioned varieties. The .-mathematical
representation of the immense · size o~ · the
fabric of the world, the metaphysical con-
templations of eternity , of Proridence, of
the immortality of the soul, co:ntain a certain
dignity' and sublimity. Whereas philosophy
is defortne4 by many ·empty subtilties, and
the appearance of profundity does not hinder
the four syllogistic· figures from meriti~g to
be numbered to the school- impertinencies.
. . ln
Digitized by Coogle
i6 ESSAYS AN·D
~I
Digitized by Coogle
/
T J,\ E A T I S .E S.
•
Digitized by Coogle
ESSAYS AND
Digitized by Coogle
T Pr'S AT IS E S. .ll
o;g;t;zed by Coogle•
,
ESSAYS AN"b
'·
TREATlSE 3.
:ESSATS AND
. I
other hand, the benevolen,t and sedate Adrast,
whq says to· himself: I will treat this person
kindly and with reyerence, for she is my wife.
This sentiment is noble and magnanimous.
Let the casual charms alter, she is still his
wife. ~he ·noble ·ground remains and is not
so much subjected to the inconstancy; of ex-
ternal, things. Of such a quality are principles
in comparison of emotions, which boil up
by single occasions merely, and so is the man
of principles compared with him , who is oc-
casionally seized with a good-heatted and kind
movement. But how, when even the secret
language of his heart is: I must &s~ist that
man, for he suffers; not as if he were my
friend_ or coni pan ion, or that I hold him ca-
·pable, one day to acknowledge a benefaction
with gratitude. There is at present 110 time
for too nice reasoning_, and rio delay to be
made in starting questions. He is a man, and
what befalls men, concems me likewise. Then.
his procedure rests. ttpon the highest ground
of b,enevolence in human nature, and is ex-
. tremeJy sublime, -as well as to its immutabili-
ty' as on account of the universality of its
application. . ·
·To proceed 'with my obst>rvations. The
man • of a m~Jancholy temper of mind· gives
himself little trouble about what others judge
of, what they hold good 01; tr~te, he relies on
his own ins.ight merely. As the motives with
him .assume the nature of pri11ciples; it is
not easy to bring him to other thoughts; his
' steadfastness sometimes degenerates into stub-
bomncss. He beholds the change of modes
' with
Digitized by Coogle
Tl\EATISES
Digitized by Coogle
He, who i~ distinguished by the choleric
qmility of mind, has a ruling feeling for t~at
species of the sublime, which may be named
the magnificent. It is properly but the' glitter
of sublimity, and· a ~laring · colour which
·hides the intrinsic value of tHe thing or of
the person that is perhaps but common' and
deceives and touches 'by the appeatance. As
. a building with st~cco, which represents hewn
stone, makes just as noble an impression, as
if it really consisted of the latter, ~J,nd stucl~-on.
cornices and pilasters, which convey the idea
of firmness, though they have little stability
and support nothing: thus shine tombac-vir-
tues, tinsel wisqom and varnished merit.
The c.holeric considers his own value and
that o.f his 1hin~s ~nd actions, from. t~eir
becommgness or theu appearance. With 're-
gard to the intrinsic quality and the motive,
which the object itself coitrprises, he is cold
and indifferent, neither warmed by true be-
nevolence, nor moved · by reverence. * His
behaviour is artificial. He must know to take
all sorts of stations, in order to judge his
decorum from· the different postures ~f the
spectators; for he inquires little about what
he is, but only what he appears. For which
reason he must well lmow the effect on the
universal taste and the various ·impressions,
which his dem~anour :will have on others. As
he in this sly attention absolutely requires
cool
Digitized by Coogle
1' R E .A T I S K S.
I
-~ -
Digitized by Coogle
TRE A TI S E ~· · Sl
t,o excess.; togethe.r with an inhospita.ble and
surly landlord who inhabits them. A taste·
for all that is rare, how little intrinsic value
soever it may have. Epictetus' lamp, a glove
of .Charle~ XII; t.he rage for coins f'alls in with
this in a certain manner. Suth pet sons are liable
to great suspicion, to be in the s.ciences fan-
cymongers and humorists, but in morals
without feeling for all that is.in a fi:ee manner
either beautiful or noble.
Persons wrong one another, when the o~
dispatches the other, who does not perspect
the value, or the beauty of what moves, or
charms him, by saying, he do~s not und.er-
stand it. The question here is not so much.
what the understanding perspects, as what is
felt. Yet the capacities of the soul have so
great a connexion, that for the most part on:e
may infer from the phenomenon of fee~ing to
the talents of introspection. For these talents
would be in v<tin bestowed on hiu1 who has
many 'p references of intellect, if he had not
· at the same time a strong feeling for the true
'noble or the beautiful; which must be the
spring to apply well and regularly those gifts
~f the ~d.* .
It
" h is likewise obvious ,· that a certain fine&fta of feel-
iJig is accounted at a merit to a person. Thu one cau•
make a hearty meal on roaft beef and plumpudding, or
that he sleeps iucompa:rably weU; is considered as a sign
of a good stomach and digestion, but'aever consttued as a '
merit in him. Whereas, whoever sacrifices a ran of his
meal to a concert, ·or by a deac:riP!ion can be met;ged in an
agreeable abeence of mind • or .wii.J.ina:~y l'eWS wHty pro.
ductions, were th. ey but poetical tri.fl'e , h.as almost il;l the
eyes of every body che «:onsidenti()n f a maa of line feel-
ing•, of whom one has a ·more favo11Qb1e. aud {Qr h.Ua aoro.
honourable opinion. . ·
'
•
Digitized by Coogle
:ESStlYS AND
. .
It is customary to name useful that only,
wh1.ch ca~ satisfy our coarser sensation, by
supplying abundance of eating and drinMng,
the expence of clothing! and the luxury and
sumptuousness of entertai,nments and.feastings,.
though J do not see, why all that is wished
. for by our ·most exquisite feelings should not
a1ihe be numbered to the useful things. But,
every ~bing tah~ . on · this fc;>Oting, he whom
self-interest rules is a man, with whom one
never must reason on the finer and more ele-
gant taste. A dunghil- fowl i_s indeed better
'in such a consideration than a parrot, an
. earthen pot more useful than a chi"a basin,
all the wits in the universe are not _e qual to
a peasant, and the endeavour to discover the
distance of the fixed stars, m.ay be delayed:.
till it is agreed upon, how plowing may be
performed in the most advantageous manner.
But what madness is it, to engage in such a
contest, where it is. impossible ·to lead one
another to ·accordant feelings, because feeling
is by no means ffccordant. One of the coarsest
and most common feeling, however, may per-
ceive, that the charms and sweets of life,
which seem to be the least necessary, engross
our greatest care and 'that, should we exclude
dtose, we would have few springs left to so
' many· various endeavours. Yet nobody is ·so
1·ude as not to feel , that a moral action , at
' least in another, touches the _m ore, the farther
it is from self- interest~ and the more those
noble iinpuls~s are conspicuous in it.
Wilen I notice the noble and the weak side ,
- ~ reciprocally, I upbraid myself, that I
- am
\
Digitized by Coogle
TREATISES. · 33
am not able to· taJ;e that statio'Q, from wJHch
these contrasts represent in a touching form
the gi-f.at picture of the whole human nature. /
For I willing~y concede., that, so far as it
belongs to the great pJan of nature, these
grotesque positions can yield nothing but a
noble expressi«Jl ; though o~ is · far too.
shortsighted to overlook them.in this relation.
In ord~r however to cast a feeble look on this,
1 believe I may· make the following observa-
tions. Those among mankind, . who pl'()ceed
according to principles, are bnt very .few, which
is no' doubt good,- as it can so e;tsily happen
to err in t}lese principles, and then the,db&d-
-vantage which arises therefrom extends itself
·the farther, the· more ~eneral the · principle
and the more steadfast the person is, who has
laid them down for himself, Those, who act
from good hearted instincts' are far more
numerous; which, tl)ough it cannot be oon-
sidered singly as any great merit of the per-
son, is higply excellent; for these virtuous
instincts fail sometimes, but one with another
they answer the great design of nature as well
~ the others t.hat actuate the animal world
so reg·ularly. .Those who have in view their,
most dearly belov~d self, as the sole point of
reference of their exertions, and who endea-
vour ~o tum every thing round self- interest,
as the great axle, are the most numerous; than
which nothin~ can be more advantageou~, for
these are the most diligent: orderly, and cu-
cumspect; they give to the whole firmn,ess
and stability, by being of public use even
without their> intention , they furnish the
• ·voL: D.. C -necessariet
'.
Digitized by Coogle
. 34 ~ S SAT S.
•
•
SECTION
'
Digitized by Coogle
r.
I
'• •
.j
••
•
s :t: c T I 0 N· III. I
.
I •
:·
. '
OF THE DIFFERENCE OF THE SUBUM:l!: AND OP
'
He, w~o first comprehend~d the w~mert
under the name of the {tzzr sex·, w1shed
perhaps to say something flattering: but he
has hit it. better, than he himself may hav~
imagined. . For, without taking into conside-
tation, that their form is in general finer, theit'
features softer and more delicate, their mien
in the expression of friendliness, of joking;
of l~indness and humanity more significant .
and engaging, than that of the male sex, n ot
forgeLtivg, however, that which must be
deducted for the secret magic power, where-
by they render our passion favourable to the
most advantageous judgment of them' there
lie chiefly in the character of mind of·this
sex peculiar strohes, which clearly distinguish
it from ours, and which prinoipally tend to
make it ]mown by the criterion, fair. W e, ,
the other hand, lay claim to the denomina-
of the noble sex, were it not required of
dispositio~ of mind, to decline names
to bestow than to receive
is not to be understood, that
erties, or thav the
with the beau-
ties:
g6 ESSAYS AND
•
..·
1.
ties: tt IS rather 'expected, that each se~ shall
unite, both, yet so, that all other excelJencies
of a woman siJallt unite themselves · but in
order to elevil.le the charact,er of the beaut~ful,
which is the proper point of ref~rence; where·
as among the male properties the sublime, as
th~ criterion of his sex, must be the most'
eximious. To this must refer all judgments of
these two sexes, as well the commendable, as
the blameable. This must all education and
instn,H;.tion, and all endeavours to forward the
~1oral perfection of bpth, ha,·e in view; unless
the charming distinction, which nature intend·
ed to make between two human sexes, shall
he rendered indiscernibl6. For it is here not
~no ugh t~ r~present men to one's self, it must
at the same time be noticed that these men
are not of the same nature. • .
Women have an innate strong feeling for
all that is beautiful, ornamented and embel·
lished. Already in youth they are ~illingiy
dressed and take a pleasure in being set off.
They·are cleanly and very delicate with regard
to every thing that occasions disgust. They
love jesting, and can be entertained with
trifles, if they ,are but sprighdy and agreeable.
They acquire.very early a modest behaviour,
linow to asswne a polite can:iage or manner,
and possess themselves; and this at an age,
when our well brecf male youth is yet untoward,
awkward and embarrassed. They have many
sympathetic feelings, much goodheartedness
~nd compassion, prefer the beauti~ul to the
useful, and willingly turn' the superfluity of
maintenance into parsimony, in order \O
support
,
. oigitize9bYGoogle
T l\ E A T I S E S, 31
support the expence of glitter and dress. -They
ar~ very sensible of the smallest offence, and
in general acute in observing the smallest wan!!
of attention and reverence for thertr. '· In fine,
they contain the ·chief grounrl of the con rrast
of the beautiful properties with the noble in
human nature, and even refine the male sex;
I hope I may he excused from' the enu-
meration of the male properties; ~0 far as they
run parallel with those, as it may suffice to.
contemplate both in . the comparison. The
female sex have understanding, as well as the
male, yet is it but a fine -,mderstanding; our
understanding must be a profound one, which
is an expression of the same signification witli
a sublime, •
To the beauty of all actions it belongs;
chiefty, that they ~how an easiness in them·
selves and seem to he accomplished withottt
a painful exertion; whereas efforts and sur-
• mounted difficulties excite adminttion and
b~long to the sublime. · Deep reflection ancl
I! lo.n g continued contemplation are noble, but
diffi~ult, and are not suitable to a person, in
whom ought to appear charms wi.thout con-
straint and a beautiful na~ure. Laborious
-lltudy, or painful . investigation , though a
woman should succeed in it, destroys the
excellencies peculiar to h.er sex, and may
because of the singularity render. her an object
...of cold admiration; but it at the same timt
weakens the charms, by which she exercises
her great power over the other sex. -~~oman,
who have their heads stuffed with Greek, like
Mrs. Dacier, or carry on profound disputes
C 3 about
38 t .s 5 A Y 5 A N D
T REA. T I S E S.l
Digitized by Coogle
potency and mlers.. In like manner it will
not be useful for them to know more of the
fabrk of the world, than. is necessary to render
mo' i_ng to Lh~m the aspect of thefieavens in
a beautiful evening, if they · have in SQme
measme compreJ1ended, that there are to be
m et with stiil more worlds and in them other
bt'autiful creatures.. Feeling for expre,sive
d~ ~.CJ ipions, and for music, not so far as it
sl~t:ws art, ltu.t sentiment, all this forms and
:rd!nes .th~ taste of this sex, and has always
some counexion with moral emotions. Never
a wld and specu1ative instruction, always
.sentiments or feelings, _which remain as near
as possible to their relatiqn of sex. This
instruction is so rare, because it requires tal-
ent s, .experience and a feeling heart, an11
women may do without every o!her, as evep
without these they commonly cultivate or
improve themselves very well. ·
The virtue of the female sex is a beautiful
virtue. * . That , of the male inust be a ' noble
oue. Those avoid the bad, hot because it is
wrong, but because it is ugly, and virtuous
actions si~nify, with th~m, such as aTe moral-
ly beautiful. Nothing of ought, nothing of
must, nothing of due. ,All orders artd all surly
compulsion are to women insupportable. They
do something . b.nt because they ne _pleased so
to do, and the a:rt consists 'but in maJ,ing that
· ' · . whi~h
Digitized by C oogle
TRE.A.Tl SE S.
I
which is good pleasing to them. I hardly
believe that the fair sex are capable of prin·.
'
ciples, and in this I ·hope I do not offend, for
these are very rare with men. Instead of which,
however, Providence hath implanted in their
breasts· humane and benevolt:nt sentiments, a
fine feeling for becomingness' and a complai-
sa~t soul. Let not sacrifices a_nd magnanimous
self-compulsion be· required. A man must
never tell his wife, when he' risks a part of
his fortune on account of a friend. Why
should he fetter her sprightly affability by
burdening her' mind with a weighty secret, the
keeping of which is incumbent on him only'?
Even many of their weaknesses are, so to
speak, beautiful faults. Injury or misfortune
moves their delicate souls to sorrow. · A man
must never shed but generous tears. · Those
which he sheds in pain .or for circumstances
of forttme. render him contemptible. The .
vanity, with which the fair sex is so often
~pbraided, if it be a fault in them'· it is but
a beautiful one.· For not to mention, that
men, 'who so willingly flatter the fair, would ,
be in a .sad case , were these not inclined to
take it .well; they really animate thereby their ' ·
charms. This inclination is an incitement,
to show agreeableness and good grace', to give
play to their sprightly wit, as ~lso to glitter
by the variable sensations occasioned by dress,
and to heighten their beauty. In this now .
there is nothing so offensive to others, but .
rather, when it is done with good taste, some-
thing so comely and elegant, that it is very
unmannerly to inveigh .severely against it. A
C 5 woman,
Digitized by Coogle
Jr.SSATS AND
Digitized by Coogle
,.
,
•43 I
. I
~igitized Coogle
by
.\
•
. Z. S SA :r .S · _..N 1)
'
Modesty is a secret of nature, to set hounds
to an inclinfition which is vert ungovernable,
and, as it has the call ~f nature for. it, alwavs
seems, though it rambles, tO agree with good
moral properti~s. It', thf!refore, as. a supple·
10ent to principles~ is highly necessary; for
there is no case where the inclination becomes
so easily a sophist, to invent agreeable prin·
' ciples, as here. But . inodesty serves at the
same time to throw a· mysterious veil . even
over the fittest and most necessary ends of na·
ture, in order that the too intimate acquain·
tance with them may not o~casion disgust, or
. at least indifference, with regard to the final
d,e sigus of an instinct, upon which are grafted
the finest ,and most lively inclinations of hu·
man nature, This property is chiefly .peculiar
to the fair sex, and very b~seeming to them.
It is coarse and contemptibl~ ill- breeding to
· occasion embarrassment or indignation to
this delicate pudicity by that sort of vulgar
jo1~ing named obsc~nity. As however, let
the mystery be ever so m\tCh preserved, the
inclination to sex ultimately forms the basis
of all other ~harms, and a woman , as a
:woman, is always· the agreeable suhje<..l of a
good- ma:qnered conve~sation; so. it may
perhaps. be thence explamed, why men, other-
wise pol.ite, sometime~ take the liberty of
insinuating through their wanton jokes a few
fine allusions , whi~h occasion them to he de-
nominated' loose or waggish, and who, as they
n~ither offend by prying looks, nor inte'iid to
violate the due reverence, believe to be entitled
to name the person, who takes ·it with a re-
. served
'/
Digitized by Coogle
T l\ E A T I S E S. 46 . ..
l
Digitized by Coogle
,
TREATISES. ~1 .
ot the f;ce, or to what is f!.Ot moral. A woman
with respect to. the graces of the latter sort is
named pretty. A weir-proportioned shape,
regular features, co] our of the eyes and com·
plexion, gracefu1ly contrasted, merely beauties
wh~ch plea~ in a nosegay and acquire a ~old
applause. The face· itself, though it is pretty,
says nothing, and speaks not to the .heart.
With regard to the expression of the linea-
ments, of the eyes and of the mien , that is .
moral; it tends to the feeling of either the
sublime, 'Or the beautiful. A. woman, in whom
the agremens, that grace her sex, render conspi-
c:~ous the moral expression of the · sublime
chiefiy, is denomin~ted beautiful in the proper
sense of the word: she, whose moral delinea- ·
.tion, so far· as it is conspicuous in the mieri
or the features, announces the properties of
the ·beautiful, is agreeable, and when she is
so in a: high degree, channing. The former
under an air of tranquillity and a noble de-
cency displays by modest looks the glitter of
a fine understanding, and, as a delicate feel·
ing and a benevolent heart are portrayed iu.
her face, she takes possession as well of the
inclination as of the esteem of a male heart.
The latter sh~ws sprightliness and wit in
laughing eyes, a somewhat ~ne petulance,
jocularity and waggish prudery. She channs,
when the other touches, and the s~ntiment of
love, of which she is susceptible and with 4
oigitizedbyGoogle .
ESSAYS ANJ)
of
nute dissections this nature; for: in-such
cases the auth.or always seems to paint his
own inclination. But I must ~till touch on
the following: that the taste which many
ladies have for a healthy but pale colour, may
,• be .bere understood. For this c&'mmonly ac-
companies a dtspositictn of mind of more
1inWard feeling and delicate sentiment, which
{ . Digitized by Coogle
so .ESSA..YS AND
•
T J\ EAT IS E S. , 51
•
Digitized by Coogle
£SSA·YS AND
•
Digitized by Coogle
TilE AT I SE S, 53
,. • .· I
Digitized by Coogle
54 ~SSATS A!lrD
Digitized by
T 1\ E .AT IS E s. 55
they were tllereby prepared to consider the trif. -
ling foJ!S with contempt, and to be attached
to no·other property than merit. It~s beyonda
doubt that .the power of their charms would
tba--eO.y gain in general; for it is obvious, that
~eir magic for the most part acts bttt 01\
noble souls, oth«s are not' fine .enough to
feel it. As the poet Simon ides , wlu!n he was
advised to let the Thes~aliens hear his fine
cantatas, said, These fellowvs are too stupid to
be deceived by such a man. as I ~· It has
.always been considered as an effect of the in-
tercourse with the fair sex, that the manners
of the men are grown softer, their behaviour
more agreeabl~ and more polite; and ~heir
address more elegant; however this is hut .a
secondary matter..* The greatest consequence-
is, that the man as a man grow more perfect ,
•
and the woman as a woman, tpat is, that the •
springs of the inclination to sex act conform-·
ably to ·the hint of nature, to ennoble the
one still more and to embellish the propertiea
of the other. When things come to the ex-
treme·, th~ man may boldly say of his merit,
Though you do not love .me, ·I will contpel
. you io esteem me, and the women, sure of
.the might of their charms, answer, Though
·· ·P 4 you
* ETen thia aanntage is •ery much .diminished by the
obeerv4tion, which one pretends to have made, that
those men, who have too early and too . often fre-
4Jilented 111ch aocietiel, in which women give the um,
commonly grow aoaaewhat nifling, and in the commerce
with men are either tireaome or contemptible, because
.daey have loat the talte for a conTeraation. whieh muet
be •pri&btly, it ia troo , but of' intri.Juic value, faceriout,
or Uefil bf torio111 dilcoune. . :·
.-
:ESSAYS AND
I
'I
Digitized by Coogle
'
D 5 SECTION
\ ...
Digitized by Coogle
SECT I 0 N IV.
Digitized by Coogle
; .
.. ' I
1'1lZ.&TI,IEI. 59
ing o£ the second species smiling and joyful.
To the Italians seems that, to the French 'this
sort of beautiful feeling ·to be chiefly suitable.
In the national character, which has the ex-
pression of the sublime in itself, , this is either
that of the terrific species , that leans a little
towards the port~n'tous, or, it is a feeling for
the noble, or for the magnificent. I believe
to have reason to attribute the feeling of the
first sort to the Spaniard, that of the second
to the Briton, and that of, the third to the
German. The feeling for the magpilicept is
according to its nature not original, like the
other species of taste; .and though a spirit of
imitation lllRY be combined ~ith every other
feeljng, it is more peculiar to that of the gJit..
tering: for this is, correctly speaking, a mixed
feeling of the beautiful and of the sublime,
where every on~ contemplated apart is colder,
and hence the uiind is free enough to atten~
to examples in its connexion and sta11ds in
need·of their impulse. The German has con-
sequently less feeling relative to the beautiful
than the Frenchman, and less of what refers
to the sublime than the Briton ; but in those ·'
cases, where .both are to appe1r combined, it
is more conformable to his feeling, as he then
happily avoids the faults, into which an ex-
travagant .force of every one of these sorts of
feeling only can fait . '
I shAll touch but slightly on the arts and
~ciences , ! whose choice can confirm the taste~
of the nations, which we have ascribed to
them. The Italian genius has rendered· itself
'onsp~cuous chiefly in "music, painting, sta-
tuary
', I
',1
6o :BSSAYS AND
'.
:r R E A T I s E s.
, ittle feelil)g for either the liberal arts or the
:,ciences.
. The ·characters of mind of nations are the
most lmowable in. that which is moral in
them ; for which reason we shall from this
point of vi~w take into consider.a tion their dif-
ferent sentiments relative to the sublime and
beautiful.*
't~e ~paniard is setious, reserved, · vera-
cious. There are few honester merchants in
the world thall the Spaniard. He has a prou(\
spirit and mor~feeling for great than fefr beau-
tiful actions. As in his comp~sition littl-e hind
and soft ben~voleiice is to be met with, he is
frequently hard and even cruel. The Auto dn
fe main\ains itself not so much by supersti-
tion, .as by ·the portentous inclination of the
nation, which . is moved by a snlemn horrible
procession, wherein they see SCfn Benito, paint-
ed like a devil, committed to the flames that
a mad devotion has kindled. It cannot, be said,
that .the Spaniard is more highminded or more.
amoroits, du~n one of anqther nation; but he
, is both in a portentous manner, which is
strange and uncommon. 'To leaye the plough
arid to walk in the field with a sword and a
cloak till the t~aveller is passed, or in a bull-
fight, where the belles and bea.nties of the ·
' 'ountty are but once seen unveiled, to an-
nounce
. .
• It will scucely be ne-ceuary tl> repeat my excuse.
The 6uer part of every nation contains commeud:tble cha-
r.~cters '>f eyery sort, and. if censure should affect the one
or the other, he, U he is fine ~:no ugh, will understand
hie owu interest , by letting every c.aher ~erson take hit
hte ud by excepting bi&nsilf. . , ·
Digitized by Coogle
nounce his ntistress 'by a pecoli
and then, to do her honour, to ..;;..,wftt-WII
~f his life in a dangerous combat
beast, are uncommon and strange
, which greatly deviate from the
The Italian seems to have a mixe4
that qf a Spaniard and of a
sentiment for the beautiful thane tlie
and more fQr the sublime than the ------....
this manner may be explained,-in my
e other strol~es of his moral
The Frenchman has a predon1inant
for the moral be1'\utiful. He is.'agreeable
lite and co_mplaisant. He grows very
familiar, is jocular and free in
and the expression he or she is du .Oon
'()an be urtder~tood but by those·, who
acquired the delicate ~entiments of a
man.* Ev~n ~s sublime feelings, of w:'Qq~lll
Digitized by Coogle
•
ESSAYS .AND
"' The wom9'1 in France give tlte ton to all societieJ and
to all intercourse. It' is. not to he denied, that socieriee
without the fair sex are rather imipid and tedious; bu,
if the lady gives tlle fine toiL, in tliem, , the man ou his
side ouglit to give the noble. Otherwise the commerce
is eqt1allv tiresome , hut from an opposite ground; at
110thing is so cloying as mere sweetness. According to
the french fashion, one does not ask, Is your Master at
lwme, .but, Is Madam at home? Madam is at her toilet;
Madam has the vapouts (a species of fine whims); in a
,vord, all conYersauons, and pleasures, · and amusement&,
are entirely taken up w ith madam. However, the womert
are thereby no longer honoured at all. A man who toys.
js always destitute of feeling or sentiment, as well of
trile reverence liS of delicate love. On no consideration
wonld I have said w hat Rousseau so audaciously main·
tained, That a woman never grows any thing hnt a big
t hi l.d. But the quicksighted Swiss wrote this in
a.ud, as a ·so great de{ender of the fair se~ pr41lOILDI!r~
felt with anger, that they are 110t neat<~.i
more real reverenc:e.
I '
Digitized by Coogle
66 :ESSAYS . AND
Digitized by Coogle
TRE.A.TI SE s.
much into the opinion of others; which , by
making the moral properties inconstant and
ltfected, deprives .them of all support.
The Dutchman is of an orderly and dili-
~ent disposition, and, as he attends merely
1 o the useful, has but little feeling for what
in the finer sense is beautiful or sublime. ·
With him a great man and a rich man are
synonymous, by a friend he .means a corres-
pondent, and a visit that is not producti\1e
is v~ry tiresome to him. He contrasts the
Frenchman as well as Lhe Briton, and is in
some measure a very phlegmatic German.
When we apply these •oughts to any
one case, for example, in order to weigh
the sense of honour , the following na-
tional varieties present themselves. The
!'ense of honour is in the Frenchman vani-
ty, in the Spaniard loftiness or highmind-
edness • in the llriton pride, in the German
fastuousness, and in the 'Dutchman haughtiness.
At first sight most of these words seem
to be of the same signification·' but from
the richness of our language they denote
a very obvious distinction. Vanity courts
applause, i~ fickle and changeable, but its
outward behaviour is courteous. The high-
minded is full of imaginary great merit . and
does not much court the approb-ation of others, ·
Lis demeanour is stiff and lofty. Pride in fact
is but a greater co11sciousness of one's own
Yalue, which may be frequentlyvery just,
:wherefore it is sometimes denominated a
noble pride; but) never cai1 attribute to any
Lody a noble highmindeduess, as this always
.E a .shews
Digitized by Coogle
ESSAYS AND
' '
Digitized by Coogle
5paniard phantastic, the Frenchman fas~..
~ious. .
. Religion in our quarter of the globe is not
an affair of arbitrable taste, but of a more ve...
nerable ·origin. Therefore nothing but the
extravagancies in it, and what. therein properly
belongs to men, can afford signs of the diffe..
rent national characters. I shall reduce these
extravagancies to the followinr; fliief concep.:
tions: Credulity, sup~rstition, fanaticism, and
indifferentism. · The ignorant part of every na ..
tion, though ·it has no Yperceptible fine feel.,
,ing, is for the most part credulous. Persua..
sion is easily induced by hearsay and a seem...
ing consideration, without any sort of fine
feeling containing the spri~gs thereof. Examp ..
les of whole nations of this nature must be
looked for in the north. The credulous, when
he has a portentous taste, grows superstitious.
This taste is even in ' itself a ground to believe
something more easily,* and of two men, of
whom the one is tainted with this feeling, but
the other of a colder and more moderate tern..
per of mind, the former, though qe has rea\ly
more understauding, is sooner misled by his
ruling inclination to believe something un ..
~atural , than ~he latter, who ~s not guarded
Jl, 3. ~ainst
Digitized by Coogle
'jO l!:SSAYS AND
••
•• Digitized by Coogle
. 72 ESSAYS AND
Digitized by Coogle
TREATISES. 73
>.
and no nation 'on the face of the earth has
more of them ~an the Chine~e.
The Negroes of Africa have by nature :r,to
feeling, which rjses above the trifling. Mr.
Hume challenges every body, to produce ·a
single example where a ,Negro· has shown
talents,* and maintains, That among a hundred
thousand Blacks, who are transported. fr_om
their native h'?me, though mal}y of them, are
.-.mancipat~d, not a single one of the:n;1 has
ever been found that has performed any thing
great, either in the arts or sciences, or shown any
other commendable proper\y, though among
the 'Vhites there are constantly some, who
raise i~emselves up from among the populace,
and acquire consideration in the world by dis-
tinguished talents. So essential is the diffe,.
renee between these two races, 9f men, and it
appears to be equalJy great with regard to the
mental capacities, as with regard to the colo_u r.
The Fetiche-religion so widdy diffused among
them is a species of. idolatry, which perhaps
sinks as deep into the trifling, as it seems 1
possible fur human nature to admit of. A feather,
a cow-hom, a muscle, or any other conunoq
thing, the moment it is consecrated by mutter:-
inga few words, is an object of adoration, and .1
E ~ ' Of
the clngon , who would de:vour ti1ese Cl!lesti,al bodies , 11nd
thus is preserved a pitiful custom of the most ancient times
~f ignorance • though mankind are at present b.ette,:
)attructed.
• During the American rebellion the tranalator knew in
South Carolina a Negro physician of seputation; and ~n
Antigua a heaven-born Negro preacher. without shoes an~
tfocklnga. ·
Digitized by Coogle
'
74 ESSAYS ANl)
oigitizedbyGoogle -
TR E A T :i s E s. 75
tiful, is as a virtue not only totally unknown
. a n1ong savages, but despised as pitiable coward-·, ·,
ice. Bravery is the greatest merit of savages,
and revenge their · sweetest voluptuousness.
The other ,natives orthis quarter of the globe
shew few traces of a character of tnind that is ·
disposed to fine feelings, and an ext~aqrdi- ·
nary insensibility constitutes the criterion · of
this race of men .
.When we contemplate the relation · of sex
in these parts of the world , we find, that the'
European only has discovered th~ sevet, to
deck with so many flowers the sens1ble sti-
mulus of a potent inclination and to interlace
it w1th so much of what is moral, that he has
not only greatly heightened its agrhnens, ·but
1·endered them very decent, The inhabitant
of the east has in this point a very false taste,
As he has no conception of· the mord beau-
tiful, that may be combined \vith this in-
stinct; he sustains the loss of even the1 value
of the sensible· pleasure , and his haram
is for him a constant source of trouble.
He falls into all sorts of iml?ertinencies, one
of•tbe principal of which lS the imaginary
jewel [mundus muliebris], of which he endeav-
ours above all things to a-ssure himself, whose
'whole value consists but in its bein.g broken,
and of which in our part of the world in ge- ..
neral much roguish doubt is entertained, and
for whose preservation he uses very unjust,
not unfrequently indelicate means. Henee.
the women there are always in prison, whether
they be unmarried, or have a barbarous, im-
potent, an.d always suspicious husband. In •
the
•
Digitized by Coogle
'":: ..
'ESSAYS AND
.~
.,
T J\ !' A T I S ,E- S. , 17
assuming various 'forins. The ancient times
of the Greeks and Romans showed distinct
marl~~ of a genuine feeling for the beautiful
as well as for the sublime, in the art of poet-
ry, ~tatuary , architecture; in legislation and
even m
morals. The government of the Roman
emperours changed as well the noble as the
beautiful simplicity into the magnificent, and
then into the false show, of which the re-"'
mainder o~ their eloquence, poetry, and even:
the history of their n1anners may inform ps~
This rest of fine taste was extinguished by
degt:,ees with the total fall of the .state; ·.. Tho
barbarians, after they had itl. their tum estah·
, lished .their power, introduced a ,certain ,
perverted taste 1 named . gothick, · which
turned entirely on impertinencies. lm•
. pertinencies. were to be ·seen not only in
architecture 1 but in the scienc~s and usag·
es.. The degenerate feeling, being once
conducted by false art, assumed every. other
unnatural form , than the old simplicity
of nature , and . was either exaggerated or trif-
ling. The highest flight that the human genius
tool~ to rise to the sublime con~isted in m~ms ...
. trosities. Both spiritual and mundane adven-
tures were seen, and frequently a contrary and ·
prodigious bastard sort of both. Monl~s, . with
the missal in the one hand and the banner in
the other, whom whole hosts of deceived
victims followed, in order to have their ·
hones interred in other climates and in a
...... .
~ ·~
....
'
...
·~
' holier land, consecrated warriours,, hallowed
by .s olemn promises to acts of violence a~d
to
crimes, afterwards an uncommon_ sort of
':'>. phantasts,
.
.
...
. ...... .- . .t
• ~.
~igitized by c;oog Ie
"
ESSAYS. ,
Digitized by Coogle
SOMETHING
'
OW
.
TB&
'
/ -,
INFLUENCE OF THE MOON
ON TJl&
,.o
TEMPERATURE OF THE AIR.
Digitized by Coogle
•,
•'
i . 0 M E T H I N G
O)f TH:S
INFLUENCE OJIITHEMOON
OJf TB:S
'Digitized by Goo_,g re
./" .
B• ESSAYS AND
.\
Digitized by Coogle
,t;S.SAYS ANP
Digitized by Coogle
T R !:'.A T I S E s.' 85
B. The arztithesis, 'The r moon has nev'er- .
thele!s an influence (partly observable by the
barometer, pardy otherwise visible) on. the
temperature of the air.' -. The temperature )
of the air (temperies aeris) contains two parts,
zvirrd, and weather. The latter is eith~r merely
'Visible, as a Clear, partly ·pure, partly clouded,
and partly over-cast heaven; or sensible, cold
·ar warm, damp or dry, in breathing refresh-·
ing or oppressive. The same temperature of
the air dpes not always, though it does_ fre-
F 3 quently
I
Digitized by Coogle
Z.SSAYS AND
Digitized by Coogle
68 . :ESSAYS 4:NJ)
Digitized by Coogle
•. ~ ~ ,S .A. 'J $ .. A.·N D
Digitized by Coogle
'
T REA. TIS E S.
' .
•
,.
•
' Digitized by'GoogJ(:-
' .
•
HISTORY
PHYSIOGRAPHY
I
01' TB&
01' THJI
EARTHQUAKE
WHICH TOW.ARDS THE END OF 1755 SHOOK
Digitized by Coogle
'•
..
•
HISTORY
.. , AND
PHYSIOGRAPHY.
O:F THE
EARTH Q.U A K E
WHICH TOWARDS THE "END OF 1755 SHOOK
Digitized by Coogle
\
E S S :.lit'S . .AND
'
Digitized by Coogle
T 1\ E A T J S .E· Sor 91
' .
are still found 'in the monnt~ins, a:nd even aU
terra firma is a mountain, in which, in order
to arrive but at an equal depth with the bot.. ·
tom of the, sea, we must go down at least·.
thrice as deep. · .
But what nature hide's from out eye and
from our immediate esiays, she herself dis..-
covers by her effects. . The earthquakes have
revealed to · us that the surface of the earth
is full of vaults and cavities, and that under
our feet hidden mines with various labyrinth,s
run ~very where. The progtess .o f the history
of earthquakes will put this beyond a doubt.
These cavities we have to ascribe to the
very same cause, ~hich prepared 'the beds'
for the seas. Fo'r it is certain , when
one is informed of the remain& of. the ocean's.
former stay over the whole earth, of the·
immense heaps of' muscles that are found
even in the bowels- of the mountains, of the
petrified seaanimals, .which are l;lroug.ht up
from the deepest shafts, I say, when one is·
in some measure informed of all these,. he
may easily perspect that formerly · th'e sea
covered all the laud, that its stay continued
long and is older than the deluge, and that
the water could not possibly retire otherwise;,.
than by its bottom here and there sinking intO'
deep· cavities, and preparing the sam~ deep·
bason, into which it hM .:run l and to whose·
•rims it is still confined,, while the elevat-
ed parts of this sunk -in crust are become·
ltrra firma ' which is every where undermin•
ed by cavities, and whose. tract is occupied'
~y the steep ridges, · which under tho name·.
Vol. II.. . <W o£
Digitized by Coogle
J:SSA.'YS AND
Digitized by Coogle
.· ,
v
TREATISES. 99
boina only t to the. dange( of being extirpated
from the earth , if a total destruction
by an earthquake should happen to these
islands, by always having a nursery of both
plants upon another. island at a great distance.
Peru and Chili~ that lie near the line, are
more tormented by this evil , than any other
country in the world. - In the former a day
· seldom passes without a few small shocl{s of
·an earthquake being felt. This must _not be
· considered as a consequence of the far greater
heat of the sun, which acts upon the earth of
these countries. In a cave, that is not quite
40 feet deep, there is hardly any difference
to be distinguished between summer and wi•-
ter. So little is the solar heat able to pene-
trate the earth to great depths, in order to
act upon the inflammable matter and to put·
it into commotion. The earthquakes rather
accommodate themselves to the nature of the
subterranean c.avems and these to those laws,
· according to which must have taken place at
the beginning the sin kings of the uppermost
crust of die earth, which'· the nearer to th~
line, have made the deeper and more various
bendings inwards, whereby these mines, that
conl:ain the tind er for the earthqua'kes, are
extensive and thereby fitter for
Digitized by Coogle
100 :E$8.AYS AND.
.
the most, and of those where the'y li~st ·tal.e-
their rise.
i sha~l now ~egin from t~ history of th~
earthquake of 55 itself. I understand by i~.
no history of the misfortunes, · which men
:Rave thereby suffered, no list,., of cities des-
troyed and · inhabitants· buried under their
ruins. Every thing horri:ble, which the ima..
gination can represent to i~self, must ·be col-
lected. in order in some measure to figure to
one's self the consternation, in which men
n1ust be, ·when the earth under· their feet .
· moves and is tom wi.th convulsion:i, when
every thing around them falls to the ground,.
';when the water put in violent motion com-
pletes the misfortune by overflowing'· when
the fear of death, the· despair on account of
the ~otal loss of all propert-y, and finally the
sight of others in misery discourage 'the most:
steadfast mind. Such a narrative would be
moving, it would, as it has' an effect on·
the heart, perhaps have one m~ewise on its
a~endment. But I leave this history to more
able hands, and shall here describe the work:
of nature only, the remarkable natural tir-·
. cumstances., which accompanied the dreadful
event , aud their causes•
.,
Digitized by Coogle
lO!t ESSAYS AND
. -
thereby occasion with those. flujdities, with
which they effervesce, an internal fermentation, ·
which may prepare the materials nourishing
· ·• ·the fire for that inflammation, that in a. few
days is to break out entirely ,; if, for instattce,
WC( represent to ourselv~ that acid, which is .
contained in the spirit of nitre, and' which
nature herself necessarily prepares, how. it•.
put in motion either by the afilux of water o't
by other <:auses, attacked the earth containing
.iron, upon which it fell; these substances must ·
have been , heated by · their being mixed, and
have ejected red warm vapours from the caverns
of the mountains, wherewith by the violence"Of
the ebullition the particles of the red earth
containing iron were m: the same tjme mingled
and. carried . away, which occasioned the gluy
.rain red as blood of which we have made tnen-
tion. The nature of such vapours tends to
diminish the expansive power of the air, and
thereby to make the·aqueous exhalations sus-
pended in it run together, as also by the ·at-
traction of all the humid clouds floating in
·.the ambient atmosphere, by means of the
natural declivity towards the region, where
the .height of the colJUll.nS of air is.lessened,
to occasion that violent and constant rain in
the countries aforementioned.
In this manner the subterranean fermenta-
tio\i previously announced by ejected vapours
the 'misfortune, which it prepared in secret.~
· · The·
103
creeped out of the earth. ·Only the adduced ca~se ~ro.;.e. th_em _
out . ., Of aever;1l other el\rth'iuakes viole11t lightning 1n the
·~ 1 and the feAl' duf &n1JDall fft0\'f I hav~ be~ ~~·
preCUl'IOI'I, . ' '
' t
Digitized by Coogle
~SS.A"IS .AND
Digitized by Goog le
,.
T l\ :!: A T I .S E S.
.
Contemplation of the Cause of this ASitation
of the 'fYater•
.
Digitize~ by Coogle
106 . E ~.S AYS AND
o;g;tizeo by Coogle
• 108 ESSAYS .AND
Digitized by Coogle
T-REATISE 5 • lil
•
St. James'; when it suddenly disappe!t!"s with
all the fishes and, after having left its bottqm
d.uring three mouths as dry as a good ~eadow
a
or field, towards november suddenly refurns.
This event of nature is very conceivably ex-
plained by the comparison with the diabetes·
of the hydraulics. But in the' cases before us·
it may be easily i~a~ined that, as m!lny
lakes receive an affilix fto1~1 the springs under
their bottom, those, which have their head in
the neighhouring hei'ghts, after the effect of '
the- subterraneous heat and evaporation has
consumed the air in the cavities , which are
their reservoi~s, must thereby have been drawn
into them, and even have furnished a power-.
ful suction to carry in. with them tl1e lal>e
which, after a re-established equilibrium of
the air ,.sought its natural issue again. For
that a lake, as was endeavoured to be explain~d
by the public accounts of that of Meinungen,
is maintained by the subterraneoU:s communi-
cation with the sea, because it .has no external
affiux. by brooks or streamlets:, is, as well on
account of the laws of _equilibrium. oppo5i.ltg
it, as on account of the saltness of the sea
water, exposed to ·a palpable absurdity.
. . The earthquakes have this, as something-
common to themselves, that tb.ey put t.he
sources of water into disorder. I could here '
p~duce, from the history of othe~ . earth-
quakes, a whole register of sources that stop-
ped at one place and bro~e out at ~other, of·
fountain-water gushing very high out of the
~rth and such like; but I will ' not depart
from my subject. We have intelligence that
lll
in several parts of France some sources have
stopped, and others discharged an i~mense
quantity of water. Th~ source of warm water
at Toeplitz disappeared, made the p~>Or inha-
l>itants uneasy, and returned first muddy, then
red as blood, and at last natural and stronger
than before. * The· o6loration of the water in
SO· many countrie~, even in the Kingdom o(
Fez and in france, is according to my con·
ception to be ascribed to the mixture of va•
pours fallen into fermentatiol) with sulphur
and particles of iron' pressed through the
layers or strata ot earth , where the source&
have ·their pFissage. . When these · vapours
penetrate into the interiour parts of the cis-
terns, which contain the sourcft .o f the mineral
waters , they either drive these out with· great
force, or, pressing the water into other pas-
sages, alter their- efflux..
These
• It is remarkable th:\t tllit e11nliqua1ie was not felt ar
Carlsbad, which is but thirteen german miles distant from
Toeplitz. The 'waters of Carlsbad (in Bohemia) are likewise
·warm, to 58· Reaumeur, and one of the best deobstruents
perhaps :in Europe. T!1ey contain mineral alkali, Glaubtf"
and cuhn_ary salt, wnh somewhat calcareous· earth, and
Jixed air; are v.ery efficacious in gouty cases, the stone and
gravel, a11d a sovereign remedy m complaints of the
ttomach and bowel£. During the space of six 'consecutive
years the translator drank upwardS of seven thousand
goblets of tim w~ter, and was radically cured of inveterate·
obstructions and haemorrhoids. This doctor Damm of
. Carlsbad, who is not 01ilv a skilful and learned, but a sve·
eesaful physician, can attest. The late doctor Declier wro~ a
treatise on these waters, which contains a valuable descrip-
. rion and practical treatment of the diseases of tlie _primu
t>ia.e and of the abdomen in general. .Anotlie:t happ\· cir-
eumstance is that· Eger (where there is a most excellent
steel wlter, which contains much more purgative salt thall
Pyrm011t -water, and which is A safe and power~l.cou~
·borant after the use of the. Culsbad wated,) 11 lD· the
-.icin~e,;
I
Digitized by Coogle
considerAble time after the earthquake~ and
after t.he .amazing pressure of the water, com-
pleted the destruction .of the city of Satuval,
by .rising above.its r~bbish, and totally ruined
what the concuss,ion had spared. When one
)\as previously formed a just c~nception of the· ,
violence of the se~water pushed forward by ·
· the moved bottom of the. sea , he may easily
represent to himself that it must, after its
pressure has extended itself through all the
immense regions around, return with violence.
The. time of its return depends on the great
compass, in which it acted around it, and its
ebullition, chiefly 'on the coasts, must accord·
ing to. that have been just as terrible.* .·
·. Digitized by Coogle
*
Jl E A T I S ES.
"The_ Earthquahe of the 9th. Deumber•.
.
. .According to the testimony ·of the public
. accounts, Lisbon suffered no such. violent
shocks since the 1st. november, as those of
·. the .9th. december. · This earthquake was felt
.o~ ·the southern coasts of Spain, on those of
France, thro,ugh the mountains of Swisser-
land, Suabia, and Tyrol as far as Bavi\ria. It
...
ranged from southwest to northeast, about
30~ german miles and, keeping in the direc-
.tion of that chain C1f mountains, which runs
alo:og the gre~test hei,ght of the terra firma of
Europe according to its length, did ~ot extend
itself much sidewards. · The . most careful
'geographer.s Varen, Buffon · & Lulof obs.erve,
that, i\S all land, which ext«Jnds more in
length than in breadth, is crossed in the di~
rection of its length by a princ~pal mguntain,
the chief tract of the mountains of ~urope
from a hea~ stock, the Alps, extends towards
t:he we$t through the southern provinces of
France, through the! niid~le of Spain to the
utmost shore . of Europe' towards the west,
though it •shoot:J out on the way ~onsiderable
. collateral bran~hes, and in like manner to the
. east, through the Tyrolese mountains and other .
less considerable ones, unites at last with the
Carpathian mountains.
.. The earthquake ran throu~h these"in this
·direction the same day. ·If th~ time of the
0
.,...... \JULi><l'LVUof every place were accurately
the velocity might in some measure
.,.L.u ..cated, and the situation of the· first
in · all probability determined;
H a but
Digitized oy E;;oog Ie
n6 . :S. S ~A Y S AN D
~igitized by Coogle
:ESSAYS Al,'ii'J)
Digitized by Coogle
. /
Tl\ltATJS~S.-
Digitized by Coogle
I
ESSA.YS AND I
Digitized by Coogle
I
. '
T J\ EAT IS E S. 121
.. Digitized by Coogle
'
T J\ E A T I S E S. -
Digitized by Coogle
·~
. '
' .
-- . E$SAY8 A,ND
. \
T J\ E AT I S ES.
Digitized by Coogle
'!.N =·~ it up in an oblique directioJJ
'"' ~ .u ~ r.D.1 h...nizon, and the direction , ac-
.:.:.... ...u>~ ::» .-hich the vascillation of the gwund
:&A~ ~dy take place, . m~ght be come at,
~ ~~ .t~din~ to which the stratum of the
-. Jl. $l.qpes, Wlder which is the. gulf of fire,
-.~ .1l:ways certain!)( known. The declivity
-li ::.il.r qpermost surface of the shak~ ground
~ !t.Y $W"e ~riterion of the oblique position,
... ~-~ the vau¥ has in its whole thickness. ·
}"'\lc tile layers of earth that lie above may
~various bending! and hillocks·, to which
* undermost foWldation by no means ac-
~.....,_modates itself. Buffon is bf opinion, that -
.U the different strata , which are folUld upon
~o earth. have for a basis an universal funda.-
aental rock, which covers all the close deep
~vities, and sdme parts of which upon the
$UD1Dl,i ts of high mountains are ·commpnly
bare, where rain and stomts have totally
washed away the loose substance. This opi-
nion acquires by what earthquakes give to
cognise great probability. For a power raging
in such a manner, as earthquakes do, would
by the frequently · renewed assaults have long
ago destroyed any other than a rocky vault.
The d.eclivity of this vault is on the coast
without doubt inclined towards the sea, and
therefore declivous in that direction, ac-oord- ·
~ to which · the sea lies to the place. On
the bank of a great river it must be declivous
e d· · e.. stream. For when the
:r'J\EATISE5-. U7
on th~ wwr gtanding pool!J or lakes •· Me eon-
t:emplat;ed, this uniform declivity cannot well
be explained by any thing, but that very firm
foundation which, as it uniformly in~lines to
the bottom of the sea without frequent bend• ·
ings inwa'fd, atfords the river· an oblique plain .
for running off. ~ence it is to be presumed .
that the vacillation of the groun«J, upon which
st~nds a shaken city that lies near a grea~
river, happens in the direction of this· river.
as in the Tagus from west and east.;* but of
that~ whfch lies upon · the coa~t, in the direc-
tiorr, according to which this inclines to the
sea. I have elsewhere mentioned what the
situation of the ~ound may contribute~ when .
an earthquake happens to destroy a city totally.
whose principal streets run in the same direc-
tion, as the ground is declivous. This is not
a sally of mere· conjecture; it is a matter of
experience. Gentil , who had occasion to
collect excellent know:ledge of a great many
earthquakes, gives not_ice of this- as an obser-
vation, which is confirmed by many examples,
. that when the direction; according to ~hich .
the ground is shaken, runs parallel with the
direction, according to which the city is built,
,it, is quite overthrown, whereas when that,
intersects this rectangularly, less damage
~appens.
The
• M a river hat a ~radual descent towuda the sea. 10 :
the countries on the sides a slope to its bed. II the
. il valid of the stratum of tlie whole .e arth , ancl .
the greatest depths has such a declivity , the di-
of the concwaioD of the earth .il 4owm.ined bJ
Digitized by Coogle
'
. ~SSAYS AND
"'
Digitized by Coogle
T R E A T I S It 8,
I
:& -s S A. Y S A.'N J)
TRE ~ TI SBS, ·
oigitizedb:Google . ·
i I•
I
:&SSAYS AND
Digitized by Coogle
~- - ·- ·
\
Tl\~,4. ~ISE S. 1 33
a&:er an el,lrthquake. w~ lm~w too little· Qf
the h.idde11. nature of the m~gnet· to as~.ign a
reason for this rhenomenon.
Digitized by Coogle
'\
'
TJ\EATI SE S.
Digitized by Coogle
ESSAYS AND
'l' l\ E A T I S E S. :J-37
which is able to forward the vegetatiqp ·of
plants and the ~~nomy of 'the kingdom of
nature. And with the 'appearance of so mq.cll
· usefulness can the disadvantage, which arises
to the human specif:~ from a few erujlions of
this fire , free us from the gratitude we owe
Frovid#nce for all his qispo.sitions.
The grounJis , l have adduced for e:qcou-
raging ~t, are indefUi not of the 'nature of
· those , w4ich affonl the greatest convictiol;\
and certainty. But eveJl conjectures, when
. the object is to move m~n to the Q.esire of
, being grateful to · the Supreme Being who,
even when he chastiseth, is worthy of adQr~~
· ~ion and love, deaerve to be assu~ed!
' ()bservationr
illflt..
~--·
i38 ESSAY$ A:'lD I '
Digitized by Coogle
T l\ l:. A T I S~ S.
Digitized by Coogle
•
ON THE
VOLCANO·S
I N T H E M O- 0 N.
oigitizedbyGoogle '
'I
14, Z S SATS.
the earth, whose value they never .can estimate
ac~ording to its greatness.
\
• •
Digitized by Coogle
.
ON THE
' .
VOLCANO -S
I N T H E M O- 0 N.
oig•tized by (;oogle
ON THE
V· O · L C A N ·0 S
I N M 0 0 N.
'
Digitized by Coogle
146 - .E S S A. Y S AND
Digitized by Coogle
1:'!\EATISES.
Digitized by Coogle
'
Z.SI.A'I"I •.AND
Digitized by Coogle
,
T J\ :E A T I S E S.
Digitized by Coogle
I l~Q ESSAYS )\ND
Digitized by Coogle
'
T l\ :£ A T I S E S, 151
Digitized by Coogle
. .
pnssages for th·e future rivers, that .one stiU ·
beholds with admiration pa_ss between -steep
walls of rocks, on which they qm ~t present
gain nothing, and seek th,e sea. Thi& was
therefore the figure of the sh~leton of the sur-
face of the· earLh, ~ so far as it consists of gran•
ite that: continues und'er all the horizontal
layers, which the subsequent ~lagian allu-
vioris placed upon that. But the figure of the
~ountries , even where the new strata quit~;t .
cove1·ed the old granite at the bottom, must
assn me the form of craters, because their bed
was so formed. Hence may be .drawn upo.ri a
Jnap (upnn -which no mountains are marked)
\ the ridges of hills, when through the sourc~
of the strea~s that fall into a great. river a con- -
tinual line, which always encloses a circle as
t.he basin of the river, is drawn. ,
As the bed of the sea perhaps constantly
deepened and drew to. itself all the water run;.
JJing ont of the above-mentioned basins; . so ,
the beds of the rivers .and the whole prese:Qt.
structure Of the Jand' which makes possible
the union ,of the waters from so n1any basins
in one channel, ·were produced. For there is
JlDthing tnore natural , than that the bed,
wherein at present a river carries off the water
from gre~t countries, was formed by the very
~Same water, to which it now leads, namely,
the sea and its very ancient alluvions. By an
un.iversal ocean, as Buffon would have it,
a washi~g-away according to such rule a
cannot ,.possibly be conceived; bt>cause un-
, der the ·water no flowing a·ccording to the
declivity of. the ground, which however
constitute~
. I
Digitized by Coogle
'I' Jt B A 'I' I 8 .& a. 151
c:onstittttes· here the. most ·essential patt, ia
poasible. *
The volc~nic eruptions appear to have been
•he latest , and not till the earth grew firm on
·its surface. They did not form the land, with
its hydraulic regular architectwe, for the.pur-
- pose of the flowing of rivers, but perhaps
. single mountains only which, in comparison
of the edifice of the whole-terra Jinna ami ,itt
mountains, are but a trifle. ' ·
rhe use then' which the thought of the ·.
aforenamed celebrated men may he of, and
which Herschel's discovery con~, though ·
but i:r\directly, is with regard to cosmogony
of -importance; to wit, that the mundane '
bodies have received their first formatiQn pret-'
ty much in a similar manner. Iri the beginning
they were all in a fluid state; this is proved
by their globosity and, where they be can
observed, · also, according to the ' rotatio'il ,
-upon the axis and the gravity on their surface,
flatted form: Without beat however there is
no fluidity. Whence came this ori5inal he~?
· To derive it with Dnffon from the heat of the
sun , of which all the planetary globes are
but broken- off pieces, is but. a shift for a
.short time; for whence came the heat of tile
J\ 5 SWl?
Digitize~ by Coogle
l54 BS$AYS AND
Digitized by Coogle
I \
Digitized by Coogle
ESSAYS AND
• receive
£ •
from the sun nearly but liuht
0
enouuh
.&Or seemg) seem to require. Also the moun-
tainous formation of the surfaces of the mun-
dane bodies, to which our observation reaches,
~
Digitized by,Google
T ll E A<!' I S E S. 157
is in question, inevitably close' our inquiry;
but, in every epoc,h of nature, .since 'none of
these epochs can be given as the absolutely
first in a sensible world, we are not freed from
the obligation to .search among the causes of
the world' as far as it is but possible for us,
and to fellow their chain according to laws
known to us, as long as its links are con~
nected.
I
' I
Digitized by Coogle
I ,
OF A
GENTLE TON
GENTLE TON
LATELY. ASSUMED IN PHILOSOPHY.
'
The name of philosophy, after it had qititted
its first signification, A scientific wisdom
of life, came very early into vogue as a title
of the ornament of the understanding of no
common thinkers, for whom it now repre-
sented a mode of unfolding a mystery. ,-
The Ascetics in the Macarian deserts termed
their uumkdom (if I may be allowed this word,)
philosophy. The Alchymist named himself
philosophus per iguem. The lodges "in ancient
and more modern times are adepts of a mys-
tery through tradition (philosophus pu iuitia-
·tionern), . of which out of ill-witl they will
'disclose nothing· to us. In fine, the latest
possessors of it are those who have it in them-
sel-z:es, but unfortunately cannot disclose and
communicate it universally by language (phi-
losophus per inspirationem). If there. were a
cognition of the supersensible (which only,
• a theoretical view, is a true mystery), to
which in a practical view is by all
possible for the human understanding;
L yet
. I
ESSAYS AND
, , ( :oogle
:ESSAYS AND ·'
Digitized by Coogle
I '
'l' 1\ ~ • T I S E S.·
•
~
Digitized by
..
Coogle
I
J66' ZSSAYS·AND
i11gitized.by Coogle
· 163 ·· · 1 E. S SAYS AND
' '
sees nothing; and directly places genuine phi.:. .
losophy (philosophia arcaui) in brooding ovel"
an idea in himself, which he can neither \
render inte1ligible fo himself, nor communi-
cate to others, where then the poetic talent
finds nourishment for itself to riot in feeling
and enjoyment: whkh indeed is far more in-
viting and glittering, than the law of reason, .·
to acquire a possession for one's self by labour;
- whereby however poverty and fastuous:-
ness yield th& ridiculous phenomenon, to hear
philosophy speal-. in a gmtle tone.
The philosophy ot ARISTOTLE, on the'
other hand, is labour. But 1 consider him
. here (like the two former) as a metaphysician
only. that is' a dissector of all cognitions a
priori into their elements, and as an artificer
of re(\son to compose them again from those
· elements (the categories); whose elaboration, so
fat· as it reaches, has preserved its usef~lness,
thoug~ indeed in advancing it did not succeed
in ·extending the same principles' that are valid
· in the sensible (without his observing the dan•
gerous leap which he had to take hete) to the
supersensible, whither his categories do not
reach: where it was necessary previously to
dh;ide and tQ measure. the organ of thinking
in himself 1reason] according to its two fields,
tl_1e theoretical, _and the practical, but which .
labour was reserved fo'f later times.* /
Howevs,
Digitized by Coogle
....
~SSAYS AND
Digitized by Coogle
T l\ EA. T I S E S. • 173
Th~ case of this pretended sensihleneS$ of
an object, which cannot be met with but Ill
pure reason, is as follows.- Hitherto, only
three steps of holding-true to its vanishing in .
total ignorance were heard of: imowing, be.:
lieving, and opining."'
At
lAtter, which ia a ~onuqulnU; the ca.uu .9£ that cours• ·
of life. . _ .
But as to tl1e sy~tcntimi of a few moralists : to make the
t~uda.emo,.y, though not •ufwlly,_ at least in part, the objectivo
rrinciple of morality (thohgh it, were granted, that that haa-
J.n an unobserved manhef inlh.tence &ubjectively on the detcP..
mination of the will of tjlen whic{l hantlonizes with duty);
is the &ttaight wav to be without aWprinciple. For tho
springs, borroweJ fron1 felicity, mingling thell'lselvea
therewith, though they indeed tertd to the very samo
octio•u as those which !low from pure moral principles.
contaminate and weaken at the same time the moral ,.;,.d.
edneu, whose val.ne and higl1 rank just consiat in being-
obedient to nothing but the law. ·
'
·., The middle woril is sometimes used in a theoretical
tense as synonymous with that to hold something_probable;
and 1t must be well noticed, that of what lies bey()ud all
P?ssible bounds of e;-perienCd, it caun,ot be said that it is
e1ther proba.ble, or ,,.probable, by COI~sequence the word
belief with regard to such 1111 object iu a llrlloretica. si,:pti·
/&cation finds by no means place. - By the expression,
thi~ or that is probable, ia 1mderstood a medium ( oflwle~ing
true) between op.i.nin~t and knowitlg; and it has the fate
C)f all mediums, that any thing u1ay be m11de- of it ono
rleases. - Rut, for. e~11mple, if any one should say, 'lt
11 at least 11robable that the soul lives after the body , be
knows not what ht~ means. For probable signifies that
which • held·trne, hits on its aide more than the baH of
the truth (of the sufficient reason). The grounds therefore
must altogether contain a partial knowing, a part of tho ·
co~ition of the object Ml which is judged. If now the
obJeCt is no objeet at all of a coguuion possible for us ·
(such u is the nature of the soul, as a livin~ substance
nen without the conjunction with a body, that is, a
spirit), on ita possibility neither probabiluy nor impro-
tiabilitv, but nothing wh11taoever can be judged. FOI' tho
pretended grounds of cognition are in 11 series, which by
aao moan• approachca tlie aalDci~ rOfltQD,. COIIs~M~Uentfy
d1e
Digitized by Coogle
•· I!SSA"fS AND'
Digitized by Coogle
T R E A T I S 1t S. ' 175
' '
no progression of the understanding, bu~ a
presension (praevisio sensitiva) of that which is
no object whate~·er•of the senses, id est., a
pres.)entiment of the supersensl.ble, is added. .
J
It is evident now, . that in this there is a
certain mystical tact, an overleap '(salto mor...
tale) from conceptions to the incogitable, a
faculty to seize · that which no conception
reaches, an expectation of mysteries, or rather
an atimsing with fair hopes of such , but cor-
rectly speal>~ng a bent towards fanaticism.
For presension is dark expectancy, and con-
tains the hope of an unfolding, but which in
problems of reason is possible by conceptions
only, therefore as it is transcendent and can
lead to· no proper cognition of the · object, a
surrogate of .it, supernatural .communication
(mystical illumination) , must be promised;
which is then the death of all philosophy.
Plato the academist was then, though with-
out his fault (for he used his intellectual in~
tuitions but regressively, for the explaining
of the ...possibility of a synthetical cognition
a priori' not progressively' in order to extend
it by those ideas legible in the divine under-
standing), the father of all the fanaticism with ·
philosophy. - . But I would not willingly con·
found Plato the letter-writer (lately translated·
intoGem1an) with him. He, besides 'the four
thiugs belonging to cognition , the name of .
the object, the des,riptiou, the exhibition, and .
the
will that eomprlsea aU power (the Divine ;will) is at the
••me time tliought. and doea not re41uiro to be parti-
cularly obtraded.
Digitized by Coogle
'
,
•
JtSSAYS A~D
• ~igitized by Coogle
T J\ E A .j. I S E S. 177
vicissitude (of day and night atnd of the seas:.
-ons). In such a state of things however ,a.
true philosopher would not have a prese11simz
of a s.ID (for that is not his business), but. he
might perhaps guess at it, in order, by adopt-
ing an hypothesis of such a heavenly body,
to explain that phenomenon , and even hit' it
as happily. - Indeed to look into the r,:
[the supersensible], without growing blind,
is impossible ; but to see it in the reflex (of
reason morally illumining t~e soul), and even
sufficient in a practical view, as the elder
Plato· did, is very feaaible: whereas the new
Platonists 'certainly give us nothing but a·
playhouse sun,' as they wish to deceive us by
feelings (pressmtiments), that is, merely what
ia subjective, which gives no conception at all
of the object, in order to ainuse us ,with the
fancy of a knowledge of the objective, which
ls found~d !!POD the transcendent: - In such
typical expressions, whi(fh are to render that
presension intelligible,, the platonising phi-
losopher by feeling is ~nexhaustible, for ins-
tance, • to approach so near to the goddess
Wisdom, as to l1ear the rustling of her gar-
rttent; • but in praise of the false Plato, • as
he cannot lift up Isis' veil, to mal>e it so thin,
that one may have a presse1ltimeut Of the god-
dess under it.' How thin, is not mentioned /
ltere; probably so thick, however; that any
thi~ may be made of the phantom one pleas-
es; for else it would be a seeing, which
&Ught by all means to be avoided. .
For the same behoof·, 'analogies, probabi-
lities , (which have been already spoken or
· Vol. n. M above),
Digitized by Coogle
,
:ESSA.l'S :AND
'
'.
above), and 'danget of emasculation 'of reason,
,w has~ nerves are grown so delicate by meta--
physical* subliniation, that it would ~ardly
· . . hold -
Digiti; ed by~~;:&~~ J ·1 ~·
T 1\ E A T I S .E S. ~79
I '
Digitized by Coogle
ESSAYS AND
Digitized by Coogle
T 1\ BAT I S E S •
Digitized by Coogle
I ,ESSAY~ AND
gitized by Gpogle
'i87
~ pTO<'
·felt. - \t \s llll: ~ :.:d-::- :~·
'to rea~on fur S1lll:l!D.. . :_.:_ • :'".,:·· : ~: _ id on "
1
up. R _1 aitic oi
tah\.
tmo!lllJP.'i
•
Digitized by
Gooole
0
,· 184 ESSAY$ ... ND
.
vanquisher to assume a gentle ton (pedibus .sub·
je_cta ;vicissim Obteritur, nos exaequat victoria
co~lo .. Lucret.). - Butj how little this attempt
can succeed, in oppositi9n to a critic, always
vigila!lt, m,ay be. gathered from the following
exap1ple: . ·
' In the form consi~ts the essen~e of the
·thing (forma dat esse rei, say the Scholastics),
so far as it shall be cogriised by reason. · If
this thing is an object of sense, it is the form
Qf things in the intuit~on (as pheno~ena), and •
the pure mathematics themselves are 110thtng
but a doctrine of forms of pure intuitio11; in
!ike manner as ·metaphysic, as pure philoso-
phy, first grovnds its cognition upon form.s
of thinking, under which every object (the
matter of cognition) may afterwards be sub-
sumpted. Upon these forms rests the possi- .
a
bility .of all ~ynthetical cognition priori, the
having of which we pannot disown. - Bu.t ·
the transition to . the supersensible, to which
reason frresistibly urges us on' and which it
can . do but with a morally practical view, it
effectu'ates by such (practical) laws only, whiph
constitute the· principle, not the lJlatter of
ft:ee actiops (their end) but only ·their form,
the fitness of their maxims for' the univers~.
a
llty of legislation in general. In neither of
·the fields (the theoretical and the practical) is
it a Jormgiving arbitrably arranged• (for the
behoof of the state) in the ,marpur of a plan or
even of a fabric. but a sedulous and solicitous
labour of the subject's preceding all manufac-
ture handling the given object, nay, without
thinking of it, to adopt and •to estimate his
•,
185
own fa-culty (of reason) ; whereas the n{an of
honour, who discovers an oracle for the vi-
sion of the supersensible, cannot exculpate
himself Q-om having laid the foundation of it
in: a mechanical treatment of the understand-
ings, . and. given . it the name of philosophy
· but for the sake of dignifying.
- But' to what purpose all this dispute •
between two parties , who have at bottom the .
.very same design, To ,mal>.e men wise and
virtuous'? - It is a noise about nothing, a
disagreement and misunderstanding, with re-
gard to which no reconciliation , but only a
reciprocal explanat~911 is requisite, in order
to ente:r into h contract, which for the fut4re
renders .unanimitv more cordial.
The ~eiled goddess, to whom we both bend
.the knee, is the moral law in us, in its invio-
lable majesty. We hear her voice, and per-
fectly und~rstand her commandment also;
but in hearing are in duubt whether it proceeds
from man' out of the perfection of the po-
tency of his own reason itself, or from another,
whose essence is unknown to him, and who
speaks to Irian by this his own reason. At
the bottom we would perhaps do better to·
save· ourselves the trouble of this investio-a-
tion; as it is merely specl.tlative and, whate~er
principle be laid, as a foundation , what is in-
f;umbent on us to do remiins_ always the
same (objectively): only that the dialectic
procedure to reduce .according to th_e logical
method the morallaw in us to distinct con-
ceptions, ' is solely philosophical, but that,
to personify that law and to tnake out of the
. M 5 mo~ally
Digitized by Gpog J
J:SSAYS .A:NI)
- Digitized by Goog Ie
I
TREATISES. • 187
which is exposed , to . a.ll sorts ot interpre..
tations. ,
But 'if,' instead. of accepting this pro..
posal for an agreement, as Fontenelle said on ...
another occa)lion, -'Mr. N. will absolutely
believe in the oracle still; nobody can prevenl;
him.' · •
Digitized by Goog e
•
o;~itized by Coogle
..
' '
ON THE
FAILURE
OF ALL
'
THE , PHILOSOPHICAL ~SSAYS .
,
IN THE THEODICEE.
Digitized by Coogle
. '
••
oigiti;ed by Googie
·ON· THB
•. - FAILURE
· oF' ALL
'
·.IN .TilE T:liEODICEE,
Digitized by Coogle
J
ESSA1S AND
Digitized by Coogle
I
ES .SAYS AND
Digitized by Coogle
TP.:&ATlSES.
be altered (a& for example to make the goodness tl1e chief '
~ondition of the creation of the worla, to which tho
J10liness of legislation is snbordiuatcd), without derogating
from religion, which bottoms upon this very moral coa-
ceP.tion, Onr own pure (practical) r~ason determines tl.tia
oraer of rank, as , when the legislation confonus itseii
ttl the goodness, there. is no more digRity of it 1\nd no
firm concet>tion of duties. Man wishes first of all, it ia
·true, to be happy·; bttt perspects, and grants (thou~h
unwillingly) that the wortliiuess of being happy, that u.
the conslm&ion of the use of his liberty with the holy
law, mllSt in the decree of the .Anthor be the condition
of its validity and therefore necessarily precede. .For tho
wish, which the subjective end (of self -love) has at
bottom, cannot dett"rmine the objective end (of wisdom),
wlitch .the law, th:\t gives tlur will unconditionally tho
rnle, prescribes. - Punishment in the exercise of justice
is l:fy no means gronncle<l as a mean , bnt 111 an end in the
legislative wisdom: the transgression is combined with
evils, not in orJer ·that another . !;ood may arise, but .
because this combination is in itsclt, id est; morally aiid
)leeessaril~·, good. Justice, 't is true , presupposes·
g_oodness of the legislator (for if his will did not tend to
tile ,.veal of his suhjecn, it could not oblige t1Jem to
obey him); it i~ not however goodness, b14t as justice
e~sentially different from it, though comprehended in the
nni,·ersal conception of whJm\t. Hence the complaint of
the wan,t of JHStiee , which shows · its\Jlf in the · lot
that falls to m~u here in the world, is not that the
good dn not fare '"ell here , but that the bad do not
fare ill (though, when the former is superadded to the
latter, the contrast still aug1111euts this difficulty). For in
/ a divine gove,Tnment even the best man ca1inot ground
his wish for wellbeing upon the Divine justice, but
must always upon His goodness: became he, who does
L.is dnty JUerely, can lay no claim to the bvour of God.
Digitized b; Goog Ie
1.90 SSS&TS AND
.
· T l\ E A TIS E s •.
\
1 99
other·may be. enjoyed by us, and that it was
not feasib~· to Jet the creature become con- /
tented with ev~ry epoch of his life, ~ay in-
deed be pretended, but absolutely cannot be
perspectcd, and by an appeal to the Supreme·
Wisdom, who hath so willed it, the knot may.
be cut, to be sure, but not untied: to r.esolve
which, ·however, the theodicee engages. .
III. ·To the last: charge preferred against
the justice· of the Goven1o.ur of the- wo,rld,"'
· is answered : '· .
a. That the pretext of the· impunity of
the vicious in the world has no ground ; be-
cause every crime, acco~ding to, its nature,
carries with itself here the punishment suit-
Able to it, as the i.ntemal reproaches of coil.
science torment the vicious more than furies
would. - But in this judgmen't there is
evidently a. misunderstan.d ing, For the vir-
tuous man herein lends his character of •nd
to the vitious, namely, cons~ient.iousnesS:in
its whole strictness which, the more vir.
a.uous the man is, punishes the more rigorous- ·
ly on account of the smallest transgression,
\
N 4 . tJlat
." It is remu'kahle tl1at Among all the difficulties of
unitiug .the course_ of the events of the wotld wi~h tho
divinity of its Author, none forces itself eo strongly
on the mind, , as that of the ap}>Carance of jrutice therein
wanting. If it happens (though it ia but •eldom,) that
an unjust 'l'illain, especially one posseuing power, does
uot escape out of the world unpunished ; the impartial
~pectator. , in a manner ftconeiled to heliYen, rejoices.
:No other conformity- to- end in nature E;Xcites his aff<Jct ·
to such a deuree liv the admiration of it. and so to
apeak leu the tand of God be 10 easily discerned. ,,.hy?
lt (the couformity-to-eud) is here moral, and the only
one of tho sort , which one may hope to perceive in
tome meuure i.n · ~o wod4L
.
~i~ itized by Coogle
JlOO ZSSAYS ANI)
•
'. ·. ' ... ~
Digitiz~o""
'
•
Digitized by Coogle
' ' - ··-
.<·:-..;:a·---
--~
,,;,,· ' .,., .., : P.' ~ ,,,., ..~ ; : :, ~ .....
:.,,.-, ~\~d)(\ · ! ,, : : " { C{:), ' , - ~ Hlll
...
1 I '•'
,,
'
,. .( ' ~ I ' I ... ' .
· · ~
:--~c- ;_·
i..f 11l11B!!.
:~. lftiii•.:
lf>S;.::: E,-
1'1 '
~ !. • ii· C L"t~!::.
{\ ,.,'), ,. (
t
ll
g.
l'll .• :~ :;;_-.. , vi'OJlr'l· ~
eo :.. .:: : llm:t. " ...,
alJ ... l:f!i(~~ t
$:MJCID \ ' 1:! .:;
.lllltr! ....... lo.
·..;IUStr.'•:: ~
~ • '!!!f5)W '1f!l.C.
---- f'-~~- ~
.- - oer.:a~
.. ..
; _,;, ...... IIi'
. _, . , . -:11: J
~-,:m: ,.,.
.mr.·
• !'-II· ' . ;~, .,.
.- IIDtiDI'
.~ . a .
Digitized by GoogIe
J<
t
.:: • oigitizedbyGoogle
··,
•'/ . ~-~
. ·.; -'._:
...~
'4.<!~.;..
!:SSATS AND
'
does not as a morally legislati've faculty give
an authoritative dQcision.; conformable to its
interest, must ·rather .find it probable according
to mere rules of theoreti~al cognition, Thatthe
course of the world according to the order of na-
ture, as here, so for the future, will determine
our fate. For what otherdew has reason for its
theoretical presumption-, than the law of nature?
and, though it allowed itself, as was required of
it (no. b.), to be referred to, patience and ~he
hope of a better future world; how can it ex-
pect that, as the course of things here ac-
cording to the order of nature is of itself wise,
it would · according to the same laws in a fu-
ture . world be unwise? As, according to
. ' them, there is no comprehensible relation at
all between the inter.n al determining grounds
of the will (namely, the moral cast of mind)
according to laws of liberty, and bellween the
(for the most part external) causes of our well-
being indepe~dent of our will accqrding to
laws of ·nature; so the presumpho~ remains,
that the ·agreement of the fate of m~n with a
Divine justice, according to the conceptions
we form ofit, is as little to be expected there
as here. · ·
The issue- of this process before. th.e .forw,n ·_
of philosophy is, that all theodicee. has hither-
tQ not performed what it promises, namely,
. to justify the moral wisdom in the govern- .
· merit of the world against the doubts , which
are entertained of it from what experience
~ives to cognise in this world; though indeed
these doubts as objections, as far as our in-
sight into the nature of our reason reaches
with
.
Digitized by Coogle
·r!\EATISES..
Digitized by Coogle
may be very contrary ~0 the fo,rriler), to be
. capable .o f imputation; and nevertheless to
1
consider his own fact at the same tinte as the
effect of a Supreme Being; are an association ·
of conceptions, which we must conceive, it
is true, in the idf;la of a world, as the chief
.good; but which he only, who penetrates to
the knowledge of the supersensible (intelli-
gible) world, and perspects the manner, in
which it forn1s the basis of the sensible one,
can introspect: upon whic4 insight only the
proof of the moral wisdom of the Author of
the world can be grounded in the iatter, as
this presents but the phenomenon of t;he for- '
mer world' - an insight which no
mortal
c'a n attain. ·
All theodicee ought, properly speaking, to
be an explication of nature, so ·far as ~od
makes known by it the design of ·his will.
Now every explication of the declared will
of; a legislatQr is either doctrinal or authentic,
The fotmer is what discovers by reasoning that
will from the expressions , w-hich ·it has used, .
in conjunction with the designs ot the law-
giver ·otherwise known; the latter the legis-
later himself gives.
The world, ·as a work of God, ' may b~
contemplated by us as a divine publication of
the designs of his will. In this however it is
.frequently for us a shut book; but it is always
this, when, to conclude from it, though a.n ~
object of experience, even the final end of God
. .(which is always moral), is aimed at. The·
]>hilosophical essays of this sort of explana-
tion are doctrinal, and constitute the · proper
theodicee,
oigiti;ed by Coogle
TREATISES.
Digitized by Coogle
~o6 l!.SSAYS .AND
Digitized by Coogle
. \
Digitized by Coogle
. ESSAYS AND
. T J\ ~ .&: T 1 SB s.
;.: /
/
j
o;9;uzed by Coogle
·suo
~; 9 ;tized b~Google
ESS~YS AND
,.
I .
· I T Jl.E AT I 8 .E S.
o;~itized by Coogle
!:SSAYS '
AND
'
04
..
Digitized by Coogle
I
'•
• I
. THE
QNLY POSSIBLE
A. R G U M-E N T
FOR 1'llE DEMO· NSTJilATION
. Q.F THE
EXISTENCE OF ·GOD
0 5
Digitized by Coogle·
•
Digitized by Coogle
•
T :R :E A T I S E S.
..
Digitized by Coogle
ESSAYS .AND
Digitized by Coogle
T l\ .BAT IS :E s, ~~5
0 I
Digitized by Coogle
I
Jl!24 ESSAYS AND
Digitized by Coogle
..
"f J\ ~A 'I' I S E S,
I
at lar~e, thou·g h in connexion with various
· some'w hat hazarded hypotheses. The affinity,
which at least the per!llitted liheJty to venture
on such explications has with my chief de-
sign, as also · the wish to see judges pronoun..
ce' on a few of these hypotheses, has given . /
..
r
I .
Coogle
• Digitized ·; Y
,
t_:'
I ,
•
.
I '
.T HE
ONLY POSSIBLE
A R G u M E-N T
FOR THE DEMONSTRATION
01!' THE
SEC T I 0 N I.
Of Existence in gener.al.
I .
Digitized by Coogle
'
ESSAYS AND
'1'.1\.EATISES.
{ .
1. Exis-
Digitized by Coogle
~SS.ATS AND
1.
Digitized by Coogle
'• ..
T l\ E .A. T I 8 Z S,
''
.
predicate
.
and it may be done .secur~Ir ·and
without dread of errours , so long as it is_not
attempted t~ be derived from merely possible
conceptio~s, · as is · usually · done, when the
absolutely necessary existence :is to be evinced.
For then one seeks in vain among the predi-
cates of such a possible Being, existence is
certainly ·not to be found among them. But
existence iri the cases whete it occurs in com-
mon discourse as a predicate Is. not so much a
predicate of th& thing itself, as rather ~f the
thought that one has of it. For instance, ex-
istence is suitable to the narwhale or sea-uni-
corn~ but pot to the land. unicorn. This
111eails nothing; hut that t~ representation of
the seaunicorn is a conception of experience,
that is, the representation of an existing thing.
Hence in C?rder to prove the rightness of this
position of the .existence of such a thing one
does not search ·in the conception of the sub-
ject, for there · are to be found predicates of
· possibility only·, but in the origin of the cog-
nition which we have of it. It is conunonly
said , I have seen it, or heard it froin those,
· who saw it. It is therefore not a perfectly
correct expression ~o say, A sea-unicorn is an
existing 'animal, ·but conversely, the predi-
<eates, which I think together with an unicorn,
are suitable to a certain existing seaanimal.
Not, regular hexagons exist in nature, but
the predicates which are tho'Qght together with
a hexagon are suitable to certain things in na-
ture , like the cells in honey-combs, or rock-
. crystal. Eveay human language from the
- ·c~ting~ncies of its origin has many fault~
P 4 not
Digitized by Coogle
~SS.AYS AND
'·
not~ to!.b~ ·.alte,red, ~d it would be hyperc~i
. ti~al ~nd ..useless, where in the common use
no misirterp.retatio~s at all can ,aris.e, to refin.e
artd .tO limit it, enough that in , the; Ull<:Om-
' mon cases· of a more elevated contemplation,
when~ it is ·n.ecessary, these distinctions are
superadded. It . will be but first possible to
judge suffi~iendy of what ha.s been handled in.
this . number t . when the reader shall ~ave
attended to what follows.
: .
Digitized 6y Coogle
T l'\ EAT I S E.~. !233
\ I ' '
.observe tJte: precaution that it. he not permuted
· with the relations, which. the things have for
their. :marks.
When· it is ·perspeeted. that our. whole·,
cognitiQn ulti.oately terminates in unriesolv-
able .oon<;eptions, it is· also comprehensible
that tbA!re are some, which are almost insolv-
able, 'that -is, where 'the .marks are but very
little. clearer and simpler,· than the thing it-
-self. This is the cnse: with our exposi'tion of
existence. I willingly acknowledge that by
-it the con.ceptio~ of the expounded becomes
.in. a very small degree only distinct. But:the
-nature of the object-with ~eference to the fa-
culty of our understanding allows no higher
degree.,·
When I say God is omnipotent, this lo-
gical reference only is thought between God
I and Pmnipotence' as the latter is a ltlark of
the former.. Nothing farther is posited here.
Whether .God be; · that is, be absolutely po-
sited o~ ·exist, is by no means thet:ein con-
tained. Hence this -entity is used quite right
even in those '·refertmces·t which have nonen-
tities against one another. Exempli· gratia,
Spino~'s god is subjected to inlessant altera-
tions.
When I represent to myself: .God pronoun-
ceth 'with regard to a possible world his al-
mighty FIAT, he communicateth to the whole
represented in his intellect no new designa-
tions, he addeth not a new' predicate, but he
po,siteth absolutely with all predicates .this
series of things, in. which every thing was
formerly posited but relatively to. this. wlrole.
I 'P 5 . Th~
•
ESSAYS .AND
'
The references of all pr~dicates to th-eir subjects
never denote any thing existing, for in that·
' case the subject must be presupposed as exist-
ing. · God is onmipot~nt, must remain a true
position even in' the judgment of him, who
does not aclmowledge his existence ' when he
but understands me well , how I ·.t-ake the
conception of God. B,ut his existence must
immediately pertain to the mode, in which
· · his conception is posited, for in the predi-
cates themselves it is not to be :found. And '
if the subject is not presupposed as existing,'
· eve1·y predicate rmnains undetermined, whe-
ther it belongs to ·an existing or merely pos-
sible ~~bject. The. existence itself can. there-
fore be no predicate. If I say, God ·is an ·ex-
is ling thin~, it· seems as if I expressed the
reference of a· predicate to the subject. There
is however a fault in this expression. Accft·
rately spea'king, it · ought to · be: Something
existing is God, that is, to an existing thing
are suitable those predicates, whi<W- collec-
tively taken we denote by the word, God.
These predicates aTe posited relati:Vely to this
subject, but the thing itself togetheF with all
the predicates is absolutely posited.
By to,o prolix an exposition of an idea so
simple I am apprehensive of becoming·obscure.
·I might also be afraid of offending the tendtr-
ness of those, who chiefly complain of dry-
· ness. But without holding this censure of no
moment, I must fot· this once entreat perD)ii-
sion to this point. For I have as little tljste
as any. b'ody for the s1:1perfi~e wisdom of those,
who. fuse 1 and sublimate ~ecUl'e- · and useful
1 concep-
•
·r .1\ ~A TIS~ S.
'
conceptions in their logical_crucibles, till they ,
evaporate in smoke and volatile salts; yet the .
object of contemplation befo:•e me is of such
a nattire, that one must either totally give
. up ,every hope to attain a demonstrative cer-
tainty of it', or condescend to. resolve his COD•
c:e,ptions into the~e atoms.
:;. .
Digitized by Coogle
ESS 'Al'S :AND
Digitized by Coogle
T R E.A. 'I' IS E 1S. \ .137
'
o;g'ltized by Coogle
ZSSAYS AND
/ -
then , ·f or it would in that case be required
that tha.t, which one engages. to make knoWn
of itself 9y an apposite mark, shall 'be granted.
I
1.
•
T REA T I S.E S.
•· Is
T l\ E A. T I S E S. •
4·
'.An PQssibility is given in S~mething actual.
either in it as a Desigr.ation; or by it as
a·. Consequence.
It is to be shown of all possibility in ie-
neral and of every one in particular that it
presupposes something actual, whether it be
one or more things. This reference of all
possibility to any one existence may be two- •
Vol. ll. Q fold.
•
E S SA Y.S A lf D
' -'
...
T J\ :£AT Is:£ s.
oigitizedbyGoogle .
ES~AYS .A.ND
i.
. _one e pti on oJ ·the absolutely JZecessary Exis-
tence in tscneral.
Absolutely necessary is that whose contrary
is in itself itnpossible. This is an undoubted-
ly/
o;g;i;zedbyGoo le
TREATISES.
I o
I
s . .An
Digitized by Coogle
'. •
.r
.
l\ .E A T I S E S. ,.
...
• An absolutely necessary Being existeth•
• . All po$sibility presupposes ~omething ac-
_!:ual, wherein and w~reby all that is cogit-
rtlble ·is given. There is therefore a certain
· actuality, whose annulling would annul even
all internal possibility in general. But that,
whose annulling or negation destroys all pos-
sibility, is absolutely necessary. Coris~queQ.tly
there exists of necessity something absolute. ~
So far it is clear that an existence of one or
more things forms the basis of even all po~
sibility, and that this existence is in itself .
necessary. Hence may b.e ea~ily tal>en the
conception of contingency.. -According to the
~ominal exposition contingent is that whose
contrary is possible. But in order: to .find itS
r~al' exposition, the following inode of dis-
• tinction ~ must be attended to. In the logical
s~nse that' as a predicate' is contingent in a
subject, whose contrary does ·n ot contradict
it. Exempli gratia, it is contigent to a triangle
in•general that it _is rectangular. This con-
tingency has place in the reference of the pre·
. dicates to their subjects only, and sufft..'TS, ' •
because existence is no pred:i~ate, no ap~lica•
tion at all to existence. In the real sense, on ' ·
the other hand, that, whose nonexistence cnn
be thought, id _est, whose ann~illing do'eS not
• annul all that is cogitable ,, is contingent. ·If
therefore the internal possibility of things
does not pre&uppose a certain exrstence, this
is Cflntingent, as its contrary annuls not the
possibility. Or, That existence, wheie'by
Q 4· the
Digitized by Coogle
•
:E$SAYS .AND
4· The
Digitized by Google
..
T l\ E A T I S E S.
. 4·
The necessary peing is si1nple.
That nothing composed of many substanc-
es can be an absolutely necessary being it
dfident from· what follows ... Let' us suppo,se
that there is but one of his parts absolutely
necessary, the others collectively a:re possible
by. it but as consequences, and belong not t_o
it as collateral parts. Imagine to yourself
that several or all of them are necessary , this
·contradicts the foregoing· number. Conse-
quently there remains· nothing else than _that
tliey· must exist every one apart contingently,
but all together absolutely necessarily. Now
t~is is ihipossible, because an aggregate of
substances oan have no more ~ecessity in the
existence, than belongs . to the parts, and as
none at all belongs to these, but theil existen-
. ce is contingent, that of the whole must like-
wise be contingent Should one imagine to
be able to rely upon· the exJ>Osition of the ne-·
cessary Being, by sayino- that in every one of.
his parts are the last daTa of an intem'al pos-
sibility, in all collectively of all that 's pos-· •
sible, something totally absurd, only in a
concealed manner, would be represented. For
. if the internal possibility is s~ imagined, that
some parts may be annulled , yet so , that .
what is given cogitable by the other parts'
- may remain, thus it would need to be repre-
sented that it is in itself possible, that the
internal possibility may be negated or annul-
led. · But i"t is totally incogitable and contra-
dictory that something is .nothing, and this
.Q 5 signif1es
'
• :&1' 1.& YS .N D
5·.
The 7lecessary Being zs immutable and
et~rnal.
I ,6. The
Digitized by Coogle
•
T J\ B A: T HU: S.
•. 6. . .
The rz.ecessary Being comprehendeth the J~i&hese . '
Reality. •
As the data to all possibility must be to ·
be m't with jn him, either as his designations;
. or ·as consequences, which are given by him
as the fir;St real ground·, it is obvious that all
reality is in one way cr another comprehended
by · him. But these very designations, by
which this Being is the chief ground of all
possible reality, place in him the highest de-
gree of real propertie~ that can ever belong to
a thing. As such a Being the~ is the most
real of all possible. beings , all others being
possible but by him, so this is not· to be un- · -
iderstood, as if all possible reality belonged to
_ ·his designations. This is a confoundin_g of
conceptions, which has hitherto exceedingly
prevailed. . All realities are bestowed upon .
God or the ·necessary Being without distinc-
tion aa pre~ic~tes, without perceiving that
they never can~ ·p9ssibly have place in o~e
single subject as designations beside one an-
other. The impenetrability of bodies, exten-
sion &c., cannot be properties of him, who
' is possessed of an intellect and of a will. It
' is but afl evasion to endeavour not to hold
the ·above- m~tioned qualities true reality.
The percussion of a, body, or the power of
cohesion, is · beyond ~11 doubt something
really positive. And the pain ·in the sen-
. sations of an animated being is by no means
a mere privation. 4n erroneous though~
justified
•
Digitized by Coogle
• KS'I.A YS AND . t' t
·:~~~_7-
' ll.ers. • All . that ~xists is
inined, as this Being no\!
.cause lie exists, so no p o
• place, excep..t: so far as he
therefore possible in no o
is actual. He consequent
determined or altered in 'a
no.n'e xistence is absolut
course his Qrigin and dis
wise, therefore is he
I
T l\.lt A T I S E S. .!&53
'
c ~ecessary Be111g 'c ompriseth the
oWld of all other possibility, the
ants and negations of the essence ..
also lie in h,iri1; whi~h, were
migh t occasion the conclusion, ·
elf must have negations among
....._.Iii•••···""' and by;1 no 'means nothing but
let his es tab] ishe'l conception be
In his existence is orig~nally
p ossibility: As there are other
, of which he compriseth the real
follows • accoraing to the principle-
tion that it is no.t the possibility
real .Being himself, and hence
needs be such possibilities as c'o n-
ons and wants. .
ently the possibility of ,all· other
h regard to · what is real in them, .
t he necessary Being , as a teal
t the wants, thereupon, because they~
hings and no~ the first Being him-
logical ground. The possibility o£
·ar as it has extension , powers &c.,
d iiJ. the Chief of all being A; so far
wer of thinl{ing is wanting to , it
· · lies in itself, according · '
'J
t
ESSAYS AND
Digitized by Coogle
&SS.A.Y$ AND
'
si.ble. And _herein lie according to the pro- •
position of identity the negations themsel~
It is evident that all ne~ations inherent· in '
the possibilities of other things presuppos~·no'
real ground (as they are nothing positive)
therefore,- owy a logical one. .•
•
CONTEMPLATION THE FOU:R-TH.
.AaGUMKNT FOJ\ A DEMON-STJ\A TION OF THE
:EXISTENCE OF GOD •
.
I 1. •
The nectssary Being 4 a Spirit.
. It was ;proved above · that the neoessary
Being is a simple substance_, as also that not
only all other reality is given by h~m as a
ground, hut that the greatest possible reality,
which can he comprised in · a -being as a de-
signation, is inherent in him. Now diff~rent
proofs ()an he' given that to him appertain the
properties of understanding and of will. For
in the first place, both are true. realities and
both _may consist with the greatest possible
reality in one thing; which latter, thodgh it
cannot properly ~eaking he pronght to that ·
distinctness, which logically perfect proofs
require, one is compelled to grant by an im.
mediate judgment of understanding.
Seeondly, the properties of a spirit , in-
teUect and will, are. oi that nature, that we
' can
TJ\£A. 'I' I ,_K S. •55
. can conceive no reality, which could suffi-..
c:iently mabe amends for the want of them.
And ·as ·these properties are those which are
capable of the highes~ degree of reality, and
also belon~ to the possible ones, so must be
possil;>le in oth~rs by the necessary Being, ·as
a ground, understanding and will, and all
reality of 'the spiritual nature, which would
not howeve:.; be 'met with as a designation in
him. Therefore the <;onsequence would be
greater than even the ground. For it is cer-
~in tAaat, if the Supreme Being hath not in-
t~ect. and a .will, every other, who is posited,
through .him, with these properties, though
he is dependent, and has many other' wants,
,of power &c., must relatively to these proper-
ties outdo him in the highest degrt>e in rea-
lity. But, as the consequence cannot surpass ·
the ground, the necessary simple Substance
must be endowed with intellect and a w~l as
properties, that · is, he is a Spirit.
Thirdly; order, beauty, perfection in all
that is possible, presupposes a Being in whose
properties these references are either ~unded,_
or__ at least by whose essence the things are
possible confor-mably to these refetence~ as
from ·a chief ground. Now the necessary Being
is the sufficient real ground of every thing else
that is possible without him , consequently
that property, by which conformably to these
·references all without him can become actual,
is 'to be met with. But it seems that the
ground of the extemal possibility, unless a
;will rpnformable to the understanding be pre-
supposed, is not sufficient to order, beauty
. ~d
· oigitizedbyGoogle
I
ESSAYS AND
- ~.
. The~e is a God. ·
. I
T l\. EA. TIS E S.
'.
trine. Meanwhile let . the exposition oW-he
conception of God be ordered as one thinks fit,
1 aiu certain ~that that ~eing 1 whose ·exist·
ehce we have .but just no~ evinced, is that
Divine Beh:ag 1 whose distinctive sign will in,
one way or ano.ther be ceduced to the shortest
denomination.
3·
Observation.
As nothing more appears from ihe third
, contemplation, than that all reality must be
given, either in the necessary Being 'as a de·
signation, or ,by him a:s a grotmd, till then it
· must remain unde~ermip,ed, whether the pro-
perties of understanding and of the will are
to be met -with in the Supreme Being as his
d'ignations, or if they are to be considered
as merely consequences of other things through
him .. Were the latter, his nature would, not-
withstandirlg all the excellencies of this first
:Being, which are evident from the sufficiency,
unity and independence of his existence as a.
great ground, be far inferiour to that whi~h
one must co~ceive, when he thinks of a. God.
For without cognition and resolution he would ·
be a blind necessary ground of other things,:
and even of other spirits, and be distinguished
in nothing from the eternal fate of a few an-
cients 1 but in being more comprehensibly
described. This is the reason why in every
system particular attention must be 'paid to
this circumstance, and why we could not
omit it.
V~l. :a. R In
Digitized by Coogle
.Q58 . ' .E S SA. y ·s AND
4·
Contlusion.
After the proofs already given every one
ntay very easily add so obvious consequences,·
as are the following: I, who conceive I, am not
so absolutely necessary a being, for I am not
the ground of all reality, I am variable: No
bther being, whose nonexistence is possible,
that is, whose annulling does not at the sante
time annul all possibility, no varfthle thing,
or in which there Are limits, consequently .
the world is not of such a nature: The world
is not an accident of the Deity, because in it
are met with collision, want, mutability, all
contraries to the designations of a Divinity.:
God is not the ~ole substanc.e that exists there,
and all other substances there are but dependent
upon him &c.
- I. shall add but a few words. The .argu-
_men_t for the existence of God, which w·e ad- ·
duce, is built upon something's being possible
only. Consequ,ndy it .is a' proof that can be
given perfectly a priori. · Neither my existen.
ce, nor that of other spirits, not that of the··
corporeal world is presupposed. ·It is · i'n fact
taken from the intemlfl criterion of absolute
, necessity. The existence of this Being is
cognised in this manner from what actually
con~titutes his absolute necessity, therefore
quite genetically. 1
of this. necessity
- ''
comprehf;!nsible. Merely
because something exists of absolute necessi-
ty, r is it possible that' something is a first
~a use of other things, hut of something's bemg
a. first , 'w e~t, inilependent' cause , is a con..
. sequence but that when the' effects exist, it
must likewise exist' but not that it exists in
an ~bsolutely necessary manner. I
Digitized by Coogle
T J\ E A T I S E S. s6t
. .
Bnt if we percteive by a mature judgment
of the essential ·properties of things , which
are known to us by experience , even in the
nQCessary designations of their internal pos-
sibility a unity in the mrtltifarious, and con·
sonance in the separated, we 'may conclude
back on one single principle of all possibility
by the way of cognition a.posteriori, and find'
ourselves at last-.at the fundamental concep·
tion of. the absolutely necessary existence,
from which we first set out by tae way of ·
cognition a priori. Our design shall nqw be
directed to see, whether in even the internal
possibility ·of things there· are to be met With
a necessary reference to order and harmony.
and unity in this immens~ :multifarious, in
order that we may be able to judge, whether
the e~sences of things themselves agnize a
chief I common ground.
SECTION
D~gitized by Goog Ie
- • .
SECTION II.
OF THE GREAT •
~DVANTAGE PECULIAR TO
: THIS MODE OF Pl\OOB :JN PARTICULAR •
••
<;ONTEMPLATION THE FIRST.
WHEREIN FJ\OM THE PERCEIVED UNITY IN
THE ESSENCES OF THINGS THE EXIS'rEN.&
1.
• /
•
Digitized by Coogle
' ' & S S.A. Y S ·.AN D
.
the mechanical laws per!tpect$ thet to thii
belong various preparations. But these arrange-
ments are to he found in the circle of itself
.- • with great variation of the situau6ns, and.
yet in every case with the. greatest justness.
For the chords that touch the verticd dia-
meter, whether they procee~ from -its upper-
most or undermost point, accO£_ciing to any
.inclinations one pl~s, have collectively
this in common, that the free fall through
them happens in equal times. I remember.
that an intelligent youth, to whom I demons-
trated this proposition; when he understood
every thing well, was thereby no less struck,
than if it had been a. .. miracle. And in · fact.
tme is surprised by so strange a union.Ar:he
multifarious according to such fertile r - in
a thing appearing so common and simple as ·
is a: circle, and justly .filled with admiration.
There is no wonder of nature which , by the
beauty or the order that prevails therein, ,gives
' • more cause for astonishment, it must then
have happened because the reason of it is not
to be per;spected so distinctly, and admiration
a
is daughter of ignorance. '
The field upon which l collect memorable.
things is so full df them, that, without going
a step farther, innumerable bea~tties present
themselves• on the very spot where we are.
,There are soluti.o ns of geometry, where that,
which seems to be possible but by extensive
preparations, exhibits itself as it were with-
out •any art in ·the thing itself. These' are
found curious by every bo~y, and this -the
more , the less one has to do with them , and .
the
i .
•
•
Digitized by Coogle
"f! .ft .E A '!' I s·.E S.
•
Digitized by Goog e '
vth.; !Je less so- in percehing the symmetry and
tlw ml.iLy in the infinitely manifold designa-
tJ.I.>US ur space. h this ham10ny less s':ll"prising
bt;t,;ause it is necessary? I hold it on that ac-
c.:vunt but th~ more SO, And as that many, of
which every one has its particular and inde-·
pt:mdent necessity, never could have order,
consistence and unity in the reciprocal refe-
rences, is not one thereby led just as well, as
by the harmony in the ca~ual preparations of·
nature , to the presumption .of a Chief Gr{)und
even of the essences of things, as the unity'
of the ground occasion~ unity likewise in the
ciccui\ of all the consequences'?
Digitized by Coogle
T..J\KA.TI SJr.l,
Digitized by Coogle
ESSATS AND . \
Digitized by Coogle
%SSAYS AND
T J\:!; .6.'T IS lt S.
..
:ESSAYS .AND
. That dependence of a
is a groWld of it by
. \
T J\ EAT I 5!: S.
Digitized by Coogle
'l
J!: S S A 'T S .A. N D
Digitized by Coogle
I T J\ 'Z A. T I S E S. !1.75
other necessary consequences of the nature of
·the air is to be numbered that, by which ·resist-
ance is made to the sub&tances therein moved.
The drops. of rain, when they fall from a
great height, are stopped by it,. ·and descend
with a moderate velocity, as without this
retardation they would acquire a very destruc-
tive power in falling· from such a height.
This is an advantage which, .as without
it the air is not possible, is not conioined
with its other pr<:)perties by a particular decree.
The · cohesion · of the parts of matter may, for
instance, in water, be a necessary consequence
of the possibility of matter in general, or a
particularly arranged .order, the immediate
· consequence thereof is the circular .figure of
small parts of it, as drops of rain. .Thereby
however is possible accordin~ to very general.
laws of motion the beautifully variegated
- ·rainbow, which, when the sun beams through '
the falling drops of rain' stands above the
horizon with a moving magnificence and regu-
larity. That fluid matter and heavy bodies
exist, can be atn·ibuted but to the desire of
this mighty Author, but that a cosmical body
in its fluid state endeavours to assume in a
quite necessary m:mner in consequence of so
universal laws a globular form, which after-
wards harmonizes better with the other ends
J of the universe than any other possible form, ·.
as such a surface is susceptible of the most
uniform dh•ision of light,. lit>s in the essence·
of the thing itself.
The cohesion of matter, and the resistance,
which. the parts conjoin with their separabi-
S .• Jity
• oigitizedbyGoogle
:ESSAYS AND
•.
Digitized by Coogle
T J\ J!: A T I S J!: S.
OR WlT~OUT IT •.
Goog Ie•
• Digitized by
\ .
events of
.
the world m-;rely.
'
'Yhereas where
this is not, the case that does not rank tmder
such fl ground is something supernatural, and
this finds place, either so f&T as the nearest
ellicient cause is \vithout nattJre, that is,
provid_ecl the divine power,rochtce it imme-
diately, or secondly, if tl mode, in which ·
the powers of nature are directed to this case,
is but not containe~mder a rule of nature.·
In the first case I term the eyent materialiter,
in the second Jonnaliter, supernatural. As
only tile latter case, the former being dear
of itself, seems to reqttire some illustration.
I shall adduce examples of it. There are
many powers in n~ture which have the facul-
ty to destroy singl6 men, states , or even the
whole human race. Earthqual~es, storms or
tempests, comets &c. It is sufficiently found- ·
ed in the cons~tution of nature according to
an universal law that one of these shall now
and then happen. But the vices and the
moral corruption of the human species are no
natural grounds at all that are in conjunction
with the laws according to which it tal~es
place. The crimes of a city have no influence
on the hidden fire of the earth, and the luxu-
ries of the first ages belonged not to the effi-
cient causes , which could draw down upon
them the planets from their orbits. And w.Ren
such a ca·se happens, it is attributed to a na-
tural law, which signifies that it is a misfor-
·• tnne, but not a punishment, the moral con-
duct of men can be no ground of an earth-
qual>e according to .a natural law, because no
connexiftn of causes and effects has here
place
•
• Digitized by Coogle
\ .'
'I' R .E A T I S .E S.
• Digitized by Coogle
:ESSAYS AND
,·
TREAT IS i. S.
Digitized by Coogle
'ESSATs ·· AND
.I
Digitized by Coogle
T R 1t A T I S 1t S.
CON-
Digitized by Coogle
' -
ESSAYS Al'fD
1•
DigitizedbyG ogle
ESSAYS AKD
Digitized by Coogle
T J\ E A T I S E S. A87
even according to the most general laws. For
how should the' consequences of things., whose
casual connexion depends on the will of God,
but their essential. references as th~ .grounds -
of the necessary in the order of nat.u re proceed
from that in Go<l, which is in the greatest
harmony with his attri'butes in general, how
can these, I say, be contrary to his wi1l '?
And thus muSt all the alterations of. the world,
weich are mechanical' consequently frum the
_ laws of motion necessary, always be good,
because they are naturally necessary, and it
is to be expected that the consequence is·
unirnprovab]e , as soon as it is infallible ac.
cording to the order of nature.* But in order
to obviate all misun~erstariding, I observe
that the alterations in the world are eiLher ne~
cessary from the first order of the universe
· and the universal and particular laws of na~
ture, such as is all that, which happens me~
chanically in the corporeal world, or ·that
they have in all this a contingency not suffi-
ciently comprehended, Jilte the actions from
liberty, whose nature is not sufliciently per- .\
spected. The latter species of the alterations
of the world, as far as it appears to have
ln.
• If it is a necessuy end of nature, as Newton il'l!a·
&ines, that it cosmical system, like that of our sun,
shall fit1ally attain a full StoJ;> and universal rest, I would
not add '\Vith him That it 1s necessary that God shall re-
estnblish it by a miracle. For, aa 'it is :\ consequence,
to which nature according to its essential laws is of ne-
cessity dctcrmiuccl, I pre~ume that it is also good; Thil
ought not to !eem to us a grievous loss, for we kno\v
not wh11t immensitr plastic nature continn .. llv has in other
celesti~l rep ions, . 111 orJer by gr~at fruitfulness to repair
fully elaew11ere tW. docay o£ tho ~nivetbe.
Digitized by Coogle
..
·s~ :ESSAYS AND
' . I
• JZ •
' '
'11'hat can be concluded from our. Argument
to the Preference of either the one or the
- other Order .of Nature ..'
In the procedure of the purified philosophy
there prevails a rule which; though it is not
formally expressed, is always observed in the
.exercise: That in all investigations of causes
to certain effects great attention must be bes·
towed to maintain. as much as 'possible the
unity of Dl\ture, that is, to derive many effects
_ from a single ground already know;n , and on
account of some seeming greater dissimilarity
not directly to assume n~w and different effi-
cient causes for different eA'ects. It is conse-
quently presumed that in natl.tre tl;lere is great
.unity with regard to the sufficiency of a single
',ground to various species of consequents, ami
one believes to have reason to consider the
union of one species of phenomena with those
· of another species for the mos,t part as some-
thing necessary and not as an effect of im •
artificial and fortuitous. ordet'. How , many
e~ects are derived from the sole power df
gravity, to which different causes were form- .
erly believed to be necessary: the rising of
some bodies and the falling of others. . The
vortices, in order to maintain the celestial
bodies in orbs, were aholi,shed, as soon' as
the cause of them was found in that simple
power of nature. ·It is presumed with great
T 11 ~eason
.BSSATSAND
Digitized by Coogle
T R ·~ A 'l' I s E s.
Nature however is r-ich in another species
of productions, and all philosophy, · that
reflects on its 'mqde of origin~ finds itself
obliged to quit this way. Great art and a
casual union by free. choice conformable to
certain designs, are evident in. it, and are •
at the same time the ground of a particular
law of n-ature, which belongs to the artifit,ial
order of nature. The structure of animals apd
plants show such a d-isposition~ to ~hich the
universal and necessary laws ·of nature are -
' insufficient. As it would ~ow be absu~·d to '
consider the .fi~st generation of an anim'al or
. of a plant as a mechanical collateral conse~
q•.1ence·of uni:v~rsal Jaws ·of nature, there still
remains a twofold ql.1estion, which is Jin~
cided by 'the adduced ~round, namely, whe- .
ther every 'individual o~f those be immediately ·
made by God, and consequently of a· super~- .
. natural origin, and only the propagation,
'that is, the transition from time to time to
deve_lopep1ent committed to a natural law; or "
whether some individuals of the ani1pal and
vegetable kingdoms be of immediate Divine
origin, yet with a faculty, not comprehensible
to us, to engendeP and not merely to deve-
lope their like according to a 1·egular law of
nature. . On both sides occur dilficulties·. ·It
is perhaps impossible to
niake out which is
the greatest difficulty; but what concerns us
T 3 here
Digitized by Coogle
ESSYAS .AND . -.......
\ .
Digitized by Coogle
~md lltile in diff~rent terms of .tinie., in .d~t)
, latter case there .is nothing more supernatmal
than in the former, for tl1e whoJe distinction
c}oes not· consist in the degree of the imnte..
diate Divine action , but in.the quando, But
as to that nal~ral order of unfolding' it is not
a rule of the fertility of nature, ·but a useless.
roundabout n1ethod, -For not the smallest
degree <tf an immediate Divine action is there-
by. :put off. It th~efore seems inev.itablc,
either in every. coition to attribute imu1edin.te-
. ly to a Divine action. the formation, of the
fruit, or ·to allow tl¥ first Divine dispo:;i~
tion ~f anj.mals and plants a fitness' not only
to develope, but aotualty to beget their lihe
for· the futme according to a natural law. · ,
1\'ly sole intention· here is to 'shew that a.
gre~r possibility, than usual, nms~ be
· granted the things of nature to produce their
consequell(;es according to universal .laws.
CONTEMPLATION
. THE FIF'l'
. H.
THE INSUFFICIENCY OF THE USUAL l\lETliOD
OF l'llYSICOTHEOI..OGY EV lNCED,
. 1./
Of Physicotheology m general,
Ali the modes of cognisiog the existence
·of God from its effects may be recluced to the
three following. · Either this cogniti.on is
.. attained .by &.he pe£Cew.lon of what interrupts
T 4 tl1e
Digitized by Coogle
296 ES5A'JS AND
......
Digitized by Coogle
'J' .li i A 'D I s·.:E S,
.·.
The Ad1;antages. and also the Faults of the.
'
usual Physicotheology.
The chief criterion of th~ physicotheoJo .. .
gical method hitherto' in use consists in thi~, .,
That the perfection and regularity be ·snfli-
ciently comprehended first as to their contin ..
gency, and then the artificial order ~ccotding .
to all references therein conformable- to- end
evinced, and thence to infer and conclude a
wise and good will, but after·wards, by· the
superadded ·contemplation of the greatness of
the· work, the. conception of the iinmense .
potency of the Author is at the same time
therewith united.
T"his method is ex,c ellent , first, because
the conviction is extremely sensible, there:..
fore very striking and engaging, and yet easy
and conceivable to the most common i{ltel-
lect; secondly, because it is more natural
than any other , as every one beyond' a doubt
begins from it first; thirdly, because it fur~
nishes a very intuiting conception qf the su-
preme wisdom , care or even the potency of ·
the adorable :Being, which fills the soul, and
.has the grentest power to impress astonish-
ment, humility and awe. * This mode of
T 5 proof
WhiaDcol. reflect upon the microscopical observations of
and others, to be m et wlth in the Ha•nburgh.
Magaz.iue.
Digitized by Googl
'
,J
:ESSAYS .ANJ)
.. . ,.
Digitized by Coogle
T ..P.E•A T 1 S E s;
Digitized by Coogle
3.00 ~SSAYS A.N.D
Digitized by Coogle
/
.'
TREATISES. ~01
• oigitizedbyGOQ le
I
£SSA YS A·ND
• , oigitizedbyGoogle
\
TREATISES. 303 I
) .
globular form <?fa cosmical body and also the
highly necessary flatting in order to p~event
the disadvantageous consequences of the tum·
ing upoyW.he ~_txis: All these are arrangements
"flfot:thy of a wise Author. Yet Newton attri·
buted them, without hesitation , a~ an effect
to the most necessary mechanical l~ws, and \
was not apprehensive on that account _of losing_
sight of the Great Ruler of all .thin{!;S. ·_
It may certainly be pre.sumed that, rela-
tively to the fabric of the planets, their revo·
lutions and the position of their orbs~ Newton ·
never would have had · immediate recourse to
a Divine' direction, had he not judged that a
mechanical origin is he1·e impossi~le, not on
account of its insufficiency to regularity and
order in general, (for why did he not appre-
hend this unfitness in the aforementioned
case'?) but! because the celestial , spaces are
·void, imd no communion of the effects of the
planets on one another, to determin'e their
rolling in orbits, is in this state_possible. If
it had however occurred to him to ask ' whe·
ther these spaces were always void and whe·
. ther' in the very first state' at least' when
these spaces were perhaps filled in.COJlnexion,
that effect, whose consequences have since
maintained themselves, was not possible, if
·he had had a grounded presultlption of this
"ery oldest quality, one may be assured that
he would in a manner fit for philosophy have
sought in the ·universal laws the grounds of
the nature of tile ·Structure of the worJd, with-
out being afraid on that account . that this
expli,<.ation would deliver over the world from
the
•
Digitized by Coogle
ESSAYS AND -
Digitized by Coogle
' '
TREATISES.
Digitized by Coogle
:;oG .ESSAYS AND
l.
Digitized by Coogle
T .REA TIS E S.
. '
: igitized by Coogle
E~SAYS AND -
Digitized by Coogle
T R E A T I S E. S.
ESSATS AND
Digitized by Coogle
. '
TRE.ATISE.S. 311·
Digitized by Coogle
I '
:ESS.AYS AND
f
the {t~dament.al stuff · of all the things of
nature.
G•• Let this method be enlarged by univer-
sal rules, which can render intelligible· with
the good of the whole the grounds of the con-
sistenc.e of what is either mechanically or geo-
metrically necessary, and let it not be ne-
glected to perpend in this point of view the
properties .of space and from the unity in its
great multifarious to dilucidate the same chief
conception.
4·
Digitized by Coogle
I '
'C l\ EAT IS E S.
Digitized by Coogle
ESSAYS AND
Digitized by Coogle
ESSAYS AN]) t
- ---
~
'
oigitizedbyGoogle
ESSAYS' AND
. . .
their bed in some places and raise it in others,
till that_, which they sweep 'away, when they
are swollen, is tolerably equal to what they;
let sink to fhe bottom during the slower mo~
tion. The power acts here till it has brought
itself to a more moderate degree, and till th,e
reciprocal :action of the percussion and of the
resistance ends in equality.
' Nature gives innumerable examples of an
extensive and various usefulness of the very
same thing. It is very. perverted to consider
these advantages directly as ends, and as the
consequences , which contain the motives, '
why their causes are ordered by Divine ar,bi-
trement in this world. The moon among
other advantages provides for this likewise,.
that the flux and reflux of the tide contrary to
or even without win.d put ships in motion by
tneans of the current in the roads and near the
\ land. By means of its and of Jupiter's satellit-
es the longitude at S'ea is found. Every one
of the productions of the kingdoms of nature
is of great utility, some of which are used.
· It is a nonsensi~al way of judging, when, as
it commonly happens, one numbers all these
to the motives of the Dwine choice and refers
'on account of the advantage of Jupiter's ~oons -
to the wise direction of the Author, w.ho.
thereby intended to furnish men with a mean
to determine the longitude of places. Care
must pe taken not to incur the mocl.:ery of a
Voltaire w ho, in a similar tone, says, that
the reason why we have noses is, no doubt,
in order to put spectacles upon them. A suffi-
cient ground is not given by the Divine will,
why
_,
I
TREATISES.-
Digitized by Coogle
,
T J\ E A T I S E S.
Digitized by Coogle
' '
ESSAYS AND
Digitized by Coogle
TRi..ATISES.
' \
'
indeed:with ~ force wperewith the percu;sion ·
happened, that the centre_ of gravity of both
bodies is not altered -at all by the .percusston
in either its 1·est or its motion &c. &c. The '
relations of space are so . infinitely various,
and yet allow .so c'e rtain a cognition and clear
intuition, that, as they have often served
excellently for symbols ·of cognitions of quite
~mother species, (for examp.l.e, to express the
expectations in the cases of fortune,) they can
also furnish means te cognise'l. from the sim-
• plest and most general 'grounds the rules of
perfection in natural necessary Jaws of action.;
so far as they concern relations.
Ere I conclude this contemplation, I shall
adduce all the different degrees of the philo-
sophical mode of explaining the phenomena
of perfection occurring i~ the worM, so far ,
as they are ~!together considered under God, be-
ginning from that Il\t\nner of ju~ging, in which
philosophy still hid~s itself, and ending with ·
that, in which it shows its greatest effort. I am
tb speak of the order,_ beauty and fitness so
far as they are the ground of subordinating,
in a manner suitable to philosophy, the things
of the world to a Divine Aulhor. I
First, a single event in the course of na-
ture may be looked upon as something imme-
diat~ly drawing its origin from a Divine ac-
tion , philosophy here has no other business,
than to assign a- proof of this extraordinary
dependence.
Secondly, an event of the world is con-
sidered as one, to which as to a single case
the mechanism. of the world - was from the
X 2 creation,
.
Digitized by Coogle
I
ESSTAS ' AND
Digitized by Coogle
'I' J\ EAT IS .E.S,
Digitized by Coogle
~SSATS AND
Digitized by Coogle
/
~ S SAT S A ·~ D
Digitized by Coogle
,
/
:ESSAYS AND
Digitized by Goo~le
!T l\ lt A --T.I .S .E S.
I
and a mathematic~! mode of concluding, may
.p ass over th~ subsequent positions, :as' SODle-
thing that has but a r6Illote affinity with the
• chief design of this .wotk. .. '
1•
'
Digitized by Coogle
\
'
·which all thes·e are about the sun, ·the-re would
always be a few in··an parts of this zodiaq,
thm»gh others had altered their places." Where-
ItS the ,comets would cover the r.egions on ·-
both sides of this luminous zone in all pos~
sible dispersion . When we, prepared by this
fictiol), (in which -w e _h ave d~ne no~~ing ilut
augment in thought the I}mlLitude of bodies
of ()ur planetary world,) turn our eyes to t};le
more extensive compass of the l.miverse' we
nct:ually see a bright zone, in whioh stars,
though t:o aU appearance they have very un.,.
equal distances from . us, are heaped closer
than elsewhere on the very same · p]ane,.:where~
·as the celestial regioris are covered on both
sides with . stars in every mode of diffusion.
The milltyway, which I mean , has very ex-
actly the direction of one ofthe greatest -circles,
a determination worthy cof every : attention,
and whence may be understood : thJ¥t our sun
and . '\"fl with him .ar·a comprehended in the
same army of stars; 'which· throngs the . most
to a certain common plane ofrefererice; and
the analogy is here-- if'. very great . ground to
·pres\lme. · That these su,n s, to whose.Jlumber
our. sun belongs, compose a mundane system,
, which in the gross is or~~red according to1aws
.~imil•w to those of our planetary· world i:rllhe
small; that all these suns together with theit'
/ attendants ·may have ~ome one certtr~ o,f their
common circle' and that only....on account of
their inmierise distance a~d of the long dura·
t~on of their circulary course they appear nol:
p.t llli t~:> .1\lter their ,places, though indeed in
some a 'J1ttle . displacing is actually observed;
, 1 , 'that
~igitizedbyGoo le
T J\ X. .A. '1'·1 S E s. Z3l
' r
•
o;g;;;zedbyGoogle ·
334 .
tion of the fixt:d stars near us' or rather
slow ~andering suns, led by such a concep-
tion may perh~ps discover many things thflt
escape attention when there is not a certain
pJan of investigation •
...
z.
Growids. o/ a mechanical. Origin of our
planetary World in general.
All the planets revolve about our sun in
the same direction and with but a small decli-
nation from a common plane of reference, the
ecliptic, in the saine manner, as bodies carried
away by a matter which , whilst it fills the
whole space, performs it motion whirling
round an axis. All the ·planets gravitate
tOwards the sun, and the greatness of the
side· motion; if they shall thereby· be brought
to roll in circular orbs, would need to have an
exactly measured correctness, and as in such
a mechanical effect a geometrical exactness is
not to be expected, so all the orbs' deviate,
though indeed ;not much ' from the circulari·
ty. They :consist of. substances, which ac·
cording to Newton's calculation the farther
they are from the sun are of the smaller densi-
ty~ as every body, if they have formed then11-
selves in the space in which they float from
a mundane mat~ there diffused, will find
·n atural. For in the effort with which every
thing sinks towards the sun , the substances
. of a more dense nature must crowed more
towards the sun and cumulate themselves
ntore
\
I
'.C R .E A X 1 S E S. 335
ntore in his ptoxi.;mity; than those of'a lighter,
sort' whose fall is more 1·etarded on account
of their les~ density. · But the matter of t:he
sun is according to Buffon's obsenration pretty
equal in density to that which the computed
mass of· all the planets together would have,
~ hich agrees well with a mechanical fortna-
tion, according to which in different altitudes
the planets .may have formed themselves from
different specjes of elements , all the other
elements, however, which filled this space in
a mingled manner, may bave sunk to their
common centre the sun. ·
\Vho, notwithstanding this, will have this
structure immediately delivered into the hand
of God, without altrlbuting. any tliing to
mechanical laws, is obliged to assign a reason,
why be here finds necessary that which he
'does not easily grant in natural philosophy.
He cannot at all name .any ends why it were ,
better that the planets should move in orbits
t:11ther in one than in different directions• '
rather near one plane of reference, than
through all regions. The heavenly space is
at present void and notwithstanding all this
motion they ,(the planets) would not impede ' '
one another. I willinglyi grant that there may·
be hidden ends which, according to common
mechanics, would not be attained and which
no mortal perspects; but nobody is allowed
to presuppose them when he wishes to ground '
an «;>pinion thereupon without being able to
show them. · In fine, had God immediately .
distrilmt~d the projectile power and arranged
their orbits' it is to be presumed that they
wouJU.
Digitized by Coogle
ESSAYS .AND
•
would not bear -the mm-k of imperfection and
'Variation, which is to \be met with in every
production of nature~ If it . were good that
tqey should refer to a plane, it is to be pre-
sumed he would have arranged their orbits
to it, had a · circular motion been proper for
them, it may be believed that their orbs would
have been exactly circular ones, and it is not
to be conceived \1\!'hY there should remain ex-
emptions from the ,greatest accuracy even in
1 that :w'hich must be an immediate Divine per-
formance of art. ,
The members of the solar world from the
most distant regions, the comets; bend their
course . in a very eccentric manner. They
might, if i't depended upon an immediate Divine
action, just as well be moved in circula-r
orbs, though their orbs should deviate ever
so· much from the ecliptic. The use of an
eccentTicity so great is in this case excogitated
• with great boldness, for it is sooner com pre~
)lensible that a mundane body always mov~
at ,an equal distance, in whatever celestial
region it be that has the order conformable
to this distance, than . that it is equally
advantegeously ordered accprding to the great
difference of the distance; and as to the ad~
' vantages assigned by Newton _, it is evident
that they have not the smallest probability,
except · tha't in the presupposed immediate
Divine disposition they 'f1ay sen·e at least for
some pretence of an end. . . ·
Tlifs fault, immediately to subordinate
the struclure of ~he planetary world to Divine _
design~, is the m ost conspicuous, when one
IS
•
• "1'1\EATISES. 537
' It I I ' .
is disposed to feign m~tives of the density of. the
.planets that may be conv'ersely decreased with
the increase of the distances. The effect of the
sun, it is said, decreases in this ·ratio, a~d
it is fit that the density of tha. bodies th~t are
to be· warmed by him should be ordered· pro-
portionally to it. Now, it is known that the •
sun acts but at a small depth below the sur- .
face of a mundane body, and from his in~·
.fluence to warm it cannot be concluded the
density of the whole mass; here. the cdnclu- ·
sion from the end is far t6o great. Then1ean,
namely, the diminished density o£1 the whole
m~ss, comprises an ampliation of disposition, ·
which for the greatness of the end :h> super-
fluous and unnecessai-y.
In all natural productions, so far as they
tend to consistency, order and use, agree-
ment with Divine views is obvious, but also
criteria of the origin from universal laws, \....
whose consequences reach much farther than
to such single cases, nnd therefore in t;'.iery
single effect are to be seen traces of a mingling
' of such laws, which were not dii:ected to this
. single production only; For which reason
deviations from d1e greatest possible exactitude
with regard · to a particular end find place.
'IVhere:ts an immediate ·supernatural disposi-
tion, as its execution by 110 riH:ans presup-
poses the consequences of more general laws
of action of matter, is not deformed by parti-
cular collateral consequences of them inter-
mingling thcmS"elvcs, hut brings to pnss cxnct-
ly the plan of the greatest possible accm-\lcy.
In tile nearer parts of the planetary wodd to
Vol. II. Y tl:e
'
\ I
- /
:538
\ '
E" S SAYS
. .
AND .
I .,.,..
I
Digitized by Coogle
•• .- \
I
TREATISES.
.
' philosophy e~idel)tly ~how that such-things,
as the vort!ces mils~ be, whic;h c·arr.f. round
· tl)e planets, aie by no means to., be met. witQ..
in the heavens and that there is n'o current at
all of SuC(h Jluidity in th~se spaces, that even"' I •
, the tails of the comets· con:tin.ue their unmoved
~qtio~ obliquely through al~ th~s~ orbits. \It,
Digitized fy Coogle
.,
ESSAYS AND
/ / ... ·,.
...... •
' · I
I
•
' TREA'l'IS:&s-:' '.r·· alf-1
• . I '
• substances of a depser nature _in the deep r.e'-
gions, where• every thing ~rowded to tf1e ·
common centre, were accumulated in propor-
tion as they wer~ neax;er to the centre, thou_gh
in all the regions thei·e were substances tif
every degree of density. for only th~ p~r- \
tides of the heaviest sort could have the great
faculty in this chaos to press through ·the ·
:.nmltituCle of the lighter, in order to arrive at
a, greater proximity to- the point of grav-ita- .
tian. In the motions which sprang in the 1
~phere around from falls of a different height,
th~ r~istance of the particles impeding one "'
'another could never be so perfectly equal, that -~
the acquired velocities would not incline to
some one side or other. And in this circum ...
stance is manifested a v.e ry common rule of
the reaction of substances , that they drive or
bend and limite one another' till they:. at\l of ..
,the least impediment to· one ~nother ;· con-
·. formably to which the side motions were
finally obliged to unite themselves.'in a com-
mon revolving towards the same region.- By
· consequence the particles of which th'e : sun
is formed arrived at him with this side•.mo-
ti~n, and the sun, formed of this matter, must
needs revolve in the very same dir~ction.
From th.e laws of gravitation, however~
it is clear that in t.his mundane matter, thus
agitated' all the parts must have enqeavourcd
to intersect the plane , whi<:h in the direction
of their common revolution goes tl1rough the
centre of the sun, and which according to our
condusions coincides with the equatorial plane 1
of this e~lestial body, unless they-were ab-eady
Y 3 in I
.. \
Digitized by Coogle
/
.. -
Z.fl ESSAYS AND
Digitized. by Coogle
'
!
\
I \
\
•
TREATISES. , I I 143
and revolves every where according to the
'-central laws tb great distaaces round the sun
with' ~ motion sufficient at this di54:ance for
the free circular motion, if it is taken for
granted that out of these particles planets \
forrned themselv~, they could, not but have
motive powers, by whi<;h they must move in I
orbits that approach very nearly 'to ~ircles,
though they deviate somewhat therefrom, as
they foriued themselves of particles, from diff~
rent heights. It is likewise very natun~l that
those pl;mets, which form, them~elves at great
heights, (where the space around th~m is
much greater, 'which occ\lsions that the diffe-
rence of the velocity of the particles e~ceeds
the force with which they are qrawn to the cen-
tre of the planet,) there acquire grellte.r mast>es
' than near the sun. Tfi.e agr(!emerit with many
other curiosities of ttie planetary world I pass
over, because it natnrall y presents itself.* 'In •
' .t he remotest
' parts of the system and chie!ly
at-great distances from the plane of reference·
the bpdies 'forming them.selves, the comets,
cannot have this regularity. And thus, after
every thing has united itself in st!pai:ate mas-
ses, the space of the planetary world ":'ill. -be-
-come void. . Yet in later epochs from the
1.\tmost boundaries of the sphere ot attracti•.1n
may have sullll particles, which for the future '
• Y 4 may
•
Digitized by Coogle
,
•• I
'344- I ESSAYS
.I
AND
\ / 4· ,
S't>holiorz.
. I
The chief design of this contemplation is
to give an· .example of the procedure, to. which
o~tr antecedent proofs have author-ized us, by
remoYing the._ ungrounded apprehension, as if
eHry explanation of a great disposition of the
world'
from universal laws• of nature should •
make a breach in the fortifications of religion
.
for its wicked enemies to enter into. The
adduced hypothesis, in my opinion, ha~ at •
least ,!!ro'unds enow for itself to invite men of
. .
Digitized by Coogle
I
..l
' I \ •
•
' ;T nE A ·~ s ~ s, " 1 345
'
~ing:, which can, without feigning parti~ula;
.p<>wers, explain the centrifugal motion. of the
~ pl•nets directed entirely to~ne region, since1 ' .,
the oth.er motion of the central powers ·in
' gravitationisgivenasa durable band ofnature.
At least this pla11..1 sketched by us, does not
swerve from the rule of unity, for even this
centrifugal power is considered as q. conse-
quence of gravitation) as is suitable 1t0 ·con-
. tinge~ 'motions, f'9r these are consequences
'of the ppwers inh~rent in matter even at rest. '
I have besides to observe that the afomical
sys!em of Dem9critus and Epicurus, notwith-
standing the first appearance of similarity, .\las •
a quite different reference to concluding an
Author of the world, than t~e delineation of
our system. · lh 1hat the motion is ete1nal and
without an author and the conjunction, the
rich source of so much order, a 'Chance, of
which no ground is any where to b~ found.
In this a known and true law of nature con-
ducts, according to a very comprehensible ·
preslJpposition , of necessitl and with o~der;
and as a determining ground of a bias to ~e
gularity is here to be met with ,' IUld some.
thing that keeps nafure in the track of. con...
sistency and beauty, so one is led to th:e pre.
sumption of a ground, from which the ne-
tessity of the reference to . perfection may be
understood. c
In OJjder however by another example to
render comprehensible, How the effect of
gravitation in the conjunction of diffused ele-
ments is necessarily determined to produce re-
gularity and beauty, l shall add an exposition ,
• l 5 of
t
' '
'· '
• .
ESSA1S AND
\
'
/
Digi~ized by Goog Ie
~-
. ....
I
I T R E AT l 8 E 'S. 347
'
Now all these circular motions must neces..
sarily intersect the lengthened I plane of Sa-
turn·~ equati>r; which is known to every
body, wllo is acquainted with the central
_ · laws; thus the other particles · of his for.~ner ·
atmosphere finally press round Saturn to a
{;ircular plane, which occupies th~ lengthened
equator of this, planet, and whose outerh1ost
edge is cut off by the same cause, as in the '
'Comets dt!termines the bounda'ry of the atmo-·
'sphere. This limbus of freely moved mundane
matter must necessarily becoJlle a ring, or
rather the said motions cannot terminate· in ·f
any other figqre than that of a ring. For ns
they can all have their velocity for a t;ircular '
motioJl but froin the points of the surface of
Saturn, whence they arose, those which arose
_ from his equator possess the greatest velocity,
As now of all i:ht distances from h~ centre there
is but one, wher~ this velocit;y is exactly appo-
site to the circular motion, and at every smaller
, · distance is too weak, so 'a Hrcle may be de-_
scribed ·in this limbo fronl the centre of Sa-
turn, within which all the partic1es must
sink to the surface of this planet, but a\l the
" others between this circle and that of his
outermost edge ~onsequently those contained
~n a circular space,) henceforward remain in
inotion rottnd hhn freely floating in circulat 1
orbits. ,
After such a solution one arrives at conse-
. \. quences, by~hich the time tf Saturn's turn•
ing upon· his axis 1s given, and indeed with
so mncb probability, that these grounds, by
which it is.- 3f Lhe san1e ?me determined, are
1 gral).ted•
. /
I
.' . ';
'
CONio.
.
'
T .1\ B A. T 1.8 J: •• .
1 ' '
'.CONTEM~LATION ia.E EtGH~H. •.
r, :
_ \ \
I
OF THE DI;YINE ALSUFFICIENCY. ...
) 4 , I ,
The sutn: of all these contempl~ions lea.ds-
tls to a conception ·of the Supreme Being
which , whell,t men made of dust vent.ure t9
\look behind the curtain that co~ceals fro-r,n;
created eyes · the. mystt!ries of the .ln~ciu.table,i
'
comprehends in itself every thing po~sible. to.
be thought. God is all-sufficient. What ex-
ists, whether it .be possible or actual, is \mtl
$0mething, so far as. it is given by Him, .A
human language may let the Infinite speal\: to
himself thus , I am from eternity t.o eternity;
besides me there is nothing, something is but
so Jarr as it is throuf!:h me. This ,thought, the '
most sublime of any is yet much newected;
or for the most part not touched· on. That
which in the ·possibilities of things presents
itself for perfection ~nd beauty in excellent
I pl~ns, i~ to be considered as of itself I:J. neces-
sary :object of the Divine wisdom, hu,t not as
a consequence of this ~ncomprehensible Being.
The dependence of other things has peen
limited to their ex.tstence nun·ely, whereby a
great- share in the ground 9f so much perfec~
tion is taken away from that Supreme Nature
~nd attributed· t& I know not what eternal
nonentity, • ,
Fmitfulness of a· single gro\md in many
' cons~qttences, _1 harmony and aP,titude of na- ·
tures- to be congruent in a regular plan .. ac-
cording to universal · laws without frequent
collision 1 niust fitst b'e ·met with in the possi-
. bilities ·
I I •, ./
350 .E.SSAYS
·l
~AND
. ' I
' I, I
'
L. .
Digitized by Coogle
, .
' I
'
'
T l\ E A T ftS E S. 3 51
•
,
ESSAYS ' AND
o;git;zed by Coogle
354 E S S,.A. Y S AND
. . '
things reduces to a homogene,i ty which can-
not be well maintained, and besides does not
directly give to understand that which is
thereby meant, namely, the undiminished
posses3ion of all perfec;:tion; so, on the con-
trary, all that is possible to be. thought on
this is found united in the word, alsufficiency.
The appellation, infinity; however, is beau-
tiful and, correctly speaking, res.thetical. 'The
enlarging beyond all conceptions of number
~oves, and by a certain embarrassment fills
the soul with astonishment. ''Vhereas the
word we recommend is more suitable to the
logical accuracy.
SECTION
Digitized by Coogle
\ :
•
• ·,
S E C T 1 0 N Ill.
WHER1!.1N IS SHOWN THAT BESIDES THE
------
ADDUCED ARGU:VfENT :NO OTHER FOR A DE•
GoD IS POSSIBLE,
1.
~.
oigit~ed by Goog Ie
TR~.\TI SE S,
•
·,
Digitized ~Y Coogle
S58 E 55 A Y 5 A !J-D
3~
Proof of the Argumel}tS of the latter· Sort•.
The proof, by w,hich is inferred front the
conceptions of experience from what exists
to the existence of a first indepeudent Cause
according to the rule& of cau~l eomlusiona,
. bu,t
' ..
_
Digitized by Coogle
TREATISES, 359
hat from this by logical dissec~iqn of the con...
ception to the prpperties of that which denote~
a Deity, is celebrat~d and l>rought into high
·repute chiefly ~y the · school of Wa,lfian phi..
losophers, i,t is however totally impossible\
I grant that every thinu is reguhuly inferred.
as far as the ppsition, ff there .exists $Omttlti11g
tbere likewise exists same thing that depeuds no_t
upon any other tltinr;, I grant too that the ex-
istence of any one or more things, w};tich are
not effeGtS of another thing, is clearly ev\nced.
Now the second step to the position, That .
this independent thing is aqsolutely ne-
cessary; is much less certain, as it must
be coJ,lducted, l>y means of the position of
suflicient reason, that is ·still impugned; but
I make no hesitation to subscribe every
thing· as far ;-~s this. Consequently there exists
something of absolute necessity. From this,
conception of the absolutely necessary Being
must now be derived his attributes, of the·
highest perfection and unity, But the con-
eeption of absolute necessity, which here
forms the basis, ·may, as has· been shown in
the first· section , be taken in a twofold ma~
ner. In the one, as it is named by us the
logical necessity, must be. shown that the
contrary of that thing, in which is to be met ·
with all perfection or .reality , is inconsistent
with itself, and that that being only, whose
predicates are all trucly aflimlati ve' is absa-
lutely necessary in existence. And as from
the very same thorough union of all reality-in
one ~t>ing must be concluded that he is one,
it is clear that the anatomizing of the conc-ep-
Z 4 tions
•
Digitized by Coogle
0Co
tionsof the .necessary rests upon such grounds,
according to which I must be able conversely
to conclude,· that that, wherein alJ reality is, .
necessarily exists. ,Now this mode of conclu-
sion is not cmly impossible according to the
preceding number, but it is particularly ·re- -
marlutble that in this manner the proof is not
. at all built upon the cqnception of experienc'e,
which is pre~upposed without making the _
least use of it, but is lil~e the Cartesian from
conceptions only, in which the existence of a
being is; imagined to be found ~n either the
identity or the collision of the predicates.*
It is not my intention to dis$ect the proofs
themselves, which dissection may be seen in
several authors conformably to this method.
It is easy to detect 'their paralogisms, and this
itetection has already been made in_ part by
others. As it may still be hoped, however,
that their faults are to be corrected, it may bo
perceived from our contemplation that, what-
ever be done to them, they never can become
any thing else .than conclusions from concep-
tiors Qf possible things, but not from expe-
rience,and, whatever happens, are therefore to
be numbered with the proofs of the former sort.
As to the other proof of that so.rt, where ·
· · from·
• This is on what I chiefly J?roceed here. VVhen I place
the necessity of 11 conception _m the contrary's contrailict-
'1 ing itseli, 11nd then m11intain that the infinite i' of such.
a nature, it is quite unnecessary to presuppose the ex-
istence of the necessary Being. as it follows from the
CPnception of the infinite. Nay, that presupposed existence
is in .this _proof even totally idle. For liS in its progress
the concepuons of necessity and of infinity 11re considered
as alternate concef,tions. so from the existence of tbe
J\eccssary is actual r concluded infinity. becaiue the iu--
inite (and indeed 1t only) neolltsuily exists..
Digitized by Coogle
T Pd~ A. T I S ~ s;-
4·
In . general there are but two Proofs of tht
Existence of God possible.
From all these judgments is to be learned
that, if one would conclude from conceptions
of ·possible things, no other argument for tho
existence of God is possible, than that, in which
even the internal possibility of all things is
considered as something that presupposes some
one existence;; as was done in the first ;;ection
·Z 5 of ·
Digitized by Coogle
:ESSAYS AW~
Digitized by Coogle
•
• I '
Digitized by Coogle
••
•
iS'SATS A.ND
Digitized by Coogle
'J'l\E .A.TI SE ·S,
Digitized ~Y Goog.le
&SSAT5
Digitized by Coogle
. '
'.
·.
THE
B.:ELIGION
. I
N A KED REA S 0 N.
•
Let ut remove from devotion all those mistakes, U>
whic;h the corruptions of men, or their ignorance and
prejudices, have given ri~e. With us let it be the
worship of God, in spirit a,.d ,;,. truth; the elevation
of ·the soul towards him in simplicity and love. Let us
pursue it as the principle of virtuous conduct, and of
mward :peace • by frequent and serious meditation on the
~eat obJects of religion, l~t u~ lay ourselves open to its
1nfluence. By mea.ns of the msututlona. of the Gospel~ let
us cherish itt impressions.
Bura, On DHotio1l •
•
Digitized by Coogle
....
_.,,
_ ,.
.\
TilE
R E L. I G .I ·o N
N A Ii :E ·n .
REA S 0 N._ *
•
l\EPRESENTATION OF THE. CHRISTIAN. :RELI-
•
ESSAYS AND
Digitized by Coogle
ESSA.Y S AND
i.
Digitized by Coogle
·--
Digitized by Coogle
T R E. A. T I S E S, 375
determinatives, in rna~ in experience, neces-
sarily has a degree, and by . consequence he
. may grow morally better, than he is at every
instant. Bpth positions, man is by nature
bad and good at the same tim~ and, man is
by nature neither good nor bad, are valid with
men as objects of experience. The fpr~er
says that every one, from his earliest ybuth,
finds himself in a certain, somewhat greater,
so_mewhat small~r degree of receptibility of
a morally good way of thinking; hut the
latter, that the moral state and imputahleness
of man are something, which arose in him.
Man is., first, an animal, secondly, a
rational being, thirdly, capable of imputation,
id. est, a moral being. So far as he is ·the
' last (a person), does he possess the receptibi-
lity of reverence for the moral law, as of it-
self a sufficient spring of the arbitrement. Th.e
personality itse1f can be thought but as a pr&.
·disposition to p~per worth. It is the po~si-
bility to be either morally good, or morally
bad. Only of the two f1rst predispositions
.(animality and humanity) can it be said that
vice may be grafted upon them; not of th~
last, as this contains but the possibility <>f
being wicked. The predisposition to anima·
lity in man is threefold, first, to self- preserva-
·tion, secondly , to the propagation of the
.species, thir_dly, to intercourse with other
men, that is, the' instinct for society. These
predispositions are not bad in themselves, but
moral bad may be grafted upon them , to wit,
when man, by virtue of his personality,
mal'les these instincts the chief determinatives
Aa If. of
Digitized by Coogle
' ·
o,9,,"ed by Coogle
TREAT 1 S~S.
Digitized by Coogle
I ,
Digitized by Coogle
TREATISES.
Digitized by Coogle
580'
;maxim) is determined. by previous causes. But
the conception ·.o f niorality elevates the sub-
ject abote the sphere of natu~·e, and in this
elevation only is he thought .as a person and
as a b~ing capable of imptltation. Here now
consists the uri gin of reason of the bad, in a
causality \vhich, as an event, presuppo~es no
othei:, the original act, and .is independent:
upo_n every (.ause n;Hural. This origin of rea-
son of the moral bad is therefore totally in-
explicable, and· that-t because it lies not in
the sphere of- the explicable (nature]. The
origin of reason; of the bad , and how it came
into th.e world~ are then inexplicable, and
only so far as it is an object in the world (an
object of experience, a phenomenon,) does it
raul~ as an event under the law of causality.
The bible signifies that inexplicableness in an
allegorical narration ·of the fall of our first
parents, in maliing their seducer a spirit,
whose origin and the bad in him lie not in
nature. But with regard to the propagation
of the evil by inheritance, this notion, as in
it is directly annul1ed the concept~on of mo-
rality, which is the proper act of every per..;
. son, is absurd. - . .
That man, therefore, is by nature.bad and
that even in the best inen is to be found the
principle, the maxim, the occa_s!ona~ over-
tllrowing of all maxin_1 s, namely;· the subor-
dination of the _reverence for the mo:r:al law
to the springs of the -sensitive faculty, may
be considered as a position resting upon ex-
perience. But as the origin of reason of the
moral ba~, though it must of necessity be
thought,
'
T 1\ E A T I S E S. 381 I
.1.
o;g;u,ed byGoogle
. 3-8~ ESSAYS AND
Digitized by Coogle
T 1\ .EAT 1 S .E S. 383
I.
ciple [In oral libertyJ i~ mal).· Since we can-
not comprehend its origin (}Ve, in this con-
Feption, separate man from nature),- we ~y
say that this proto~ype is descended from
heaven, and sp ·far he, though holy and there-
fore obnoxious to no suJ_fering, takes it upon
himself in the fullest mc;lasure, in order to
forward the we?fare of mankind~ who , never
free ·from derverit, are tlnworthy of this union
. of the prototype with them, it is named a
Muniliation of the Son of God.
Only he, who is firm in the practical
beli~f in this Son of God, that is, who is
. ' conscious to ·himself that he would be able,
lihe . this prototype, to give a similar proof of
a morally good mind, to support the greatest
suffering, if the good of mankind required it,
and that he would steadfastly r.esist the greatest
, temptat~ons; only such a perS:on, I say, ~ares
hold himself an object not w1worthy .of the
Divine complacency.· . .
. With regard to the reality of this idea of ,
the son of God, it lies in the concep~ion .;of
the moral•nature of man, and every 'one, who,
by virtue of the moral liberty in hiiu , agnise1
himself as a moral b'eing, is. at the same time
con'scious to be able to produce in himself the .·
moral worth, which that idea requires of him.
But whoever exacts still more from an ex-
ample of this idea in experience, than he sees,
to whom the innocent and, so much as one I1 ·
1 can observe, meritorious conduct· of a person,
Digitized by Coogle
.
~SSYAS AND
Digitized by Coogle
, I
I
.\
'I' 1\ .&. A, T I S E S.
\
'
585
he pure in man , he ma}: expect, in whatever
instant his existence may be bro.ken off, to
·' be ~till, in general, acceptable to God. '\
A second difficulty presenting itself con.
, ceming the rejl1ity of ,the son of Goci is the
fol1owing. What is it that assures man of
the . permpnency of his good 1 mindedncss,
.which ,~,hold to be in him the principle of
the constant advancement to the good'? One I
might indeed address those apprehensive on
this head in this manner , The spirit beareth
witness with our spi_rit, that zt;e are the children
of . God, that is, whoever possesses su~h a I
pure mindedness as is required,' is certain
that he never can fall so low as- to be -once
more in love with the bad. But, as man
declives himself in nothing so willingly, as
in that which com:erns t}.le g~Jod ·o pinion <l£
hiiuseff J so it seems more advantageous to
wo!·/; out !tis sal v~tion with .f:ar and tremblin!f·
'
I
~ W1thout a trust m one's self, howeYer, and rt '
co!1'fidence in the constancy . of one's good \
~indedness, that permanence would scarcely
be possible. The solHtion of this difli<.;ulty.
can be no other than the follo·wing. Nothing ·
but the previous duration of the good prin· ~
cip1e that is received in the mind, can assure
mal\ of its permanency in the subsequent
time. He may accordingly hope that, as the
force of his mind increases in the progreS{), he
in all probability-will never fall hack endrely
into the bad. He, on the other hand, who
is c0nsdous to himself never to have been
thoroughly attached to the good, must be ap-
prehensive that the bad is always rooted in
Vol. n. Bib' hi~
\
Digitized by Coogle
' .,
ZS~ATS . .AND
Digitized by Coogle
, T :i\ E A T '!- s .E $ • .
'
charging ~f the debt an~ so the satisfaction
of 1the Divine justice be placed-. Though th.e
new man as an object of experience, i.i. the
very· same who'( formerly as the old man~. . ' I.
lived in the· bad sentiment, he is, in the eye
/ of the Dh~!le Judge, aftet: the alteration of
Jllind, a man agreeable to God and by con-
.seq uence another man. . As such, that is, -in
the mind of the son of God, or, when, .w'e
pers~ify this idea , this· person, as a ~ubsti
tute, _e ven bears for him (fo). another, the'old
man) th~ 'guilt of the sinner, through suffering
· a nil death gives. satisfaction, as a redeemer, to . f
the Supreme Justice and, ~s an advocate, oc..
casions that you may hope to appear b~for:e 1
your Judge as just~fied, ·only tpat tin this
mode of representation)- that ~ufferi_ ng, which
the new man, in quitting the old, must con.i
tinually undertake iP. life, is exhibited by the.
,repi'esentative of humanity . as a death once
for all suffered. The impitLation of this meri.t,
however, never happens but out of grace, ·
because• we have no title tha~ that, :which al-
ways consists with us but in merely becoming
(nan)ely, to be a man acceptable to' God,) ,
shall be so imputed to us, ~s if we already 1
were ih · the full possession of it. ·
~ · We have here exp<\sed the ,concept,ion of
j~1stification, and exhibited its practicaJ vali-
dity. BUt the question is, whether this ex.
position can have any pra.ctical use, and what
this can be'? As it falls out that he, who
wotild appropriate this_ imputation _to himself,
must already find l!imself in th~ state of tl
morally goq.d mindedness; no positive use·.
-' ;B b . ~ ·, can
Digitized by Coogle
: '
.
388
'
:l.ISS.ATS .AND
·-' '
/
·-,
can be mad~ of it for amendment. Moreove-r,
as the 'consciousness of a good mindedrress.,
so far as it h~s already proved itself tope ge ...
nuine and constant by a long cantinq,ance,
' brings about of itself the tranquillity of a man
a<;ceptable to God, so it ca'Qnot. ~e thought
as a mean too of producing this tranquillity..
A negative use of it, however, may he thought.
For . this insight into the conception of justifi-
catipn must convinc~ every bedy that nothing
m th~ world can supply the place of a good
mindedn'ess and the alteration of the n1anner
' '
of thinking, in order to mal<e him, in the eye ·
of God, a man agreeab\e to God.
,• Though the bad principle :Y, in the world•
care ha~ be~n talien that it never should com-
. pletely obtain 't,pe dominion over the human
' ·species. In order not entirely ·to lose the claim
which the good principle. has upon man, it'
was necessary there should be a nation, by
~om the good principle is honoured; and so,
·as it were, its reme'Q1brance preserved, Final-
.ly' ..there appeared a man of this nation' who
expounded, according to its internal contents,
that which hitherto had been but outwardly
kiown an'd · honoured. By h.i:s own li~fe he '
gave an example of the dpminion of the good
principle ' over men and of the inward reve-
rence for ·i t; which consists in it~ admission
into the mind. The dominion of t-he. bad
principle ·was hereby exposed to dan'g er; it
therefore exerted all Its energy to resist the
good princi ~·.!!lEII.U)
who h&d
• -.
' . f .
- ' suffering; which none. but die w-ell- minded .
tensihly feel ,.,calumniated the p~ity of his
.intentions and doctrines, and pursued him to
even th~· most ignominious dt;ath , without ·
..
· being able, by' means of th-ese assaults upon '
1 his steadfast.nes~ and openness of he~rt in doc-
trine an4 example for the welfare of the m&st
proflig~te and unworthy, in the smallest de-
gn~e to effectuate any thing ~glj.inst him. '
· The .dominion of the \>ad principle, ho\'fr ·
evet', is not therewith banished from the earth, ,·
but still continues. But the possibility of
quitting it is become evident h.y tbat example.
• I This consists in nothing b1,1t)n-. t6e prac~ical
belief ~n the s.on of God , that is to say,. i~
, the revolution of the maxims.. of the way o.f',
· thinking. 'Ve see tha t, if in this manner we
_ divest th e fnode of rep resentation in the bible
of the phenan~enon of the son of God upon
earth of its. mystical vail, i~s . sense remains
valid for the whole ·world' and at all times,
which s.e nse consists in there bei.ng absolutely
no sal'{ation fQr man, but in the most inti-
mate admission ;~1to his mind of g'~ine mo.-
- ral principles.
· 'Jib ·conclude; an endeavom, like the pre-·
a sent, to seek i:n the scriptures that _sense,
which harmonizes. with the most sacred~ wha.t
reason teaches, cannot be considered as only
'permitted, b1.1.t must be rather held duty, and
one has but to call to mind that which the
wis.e tea9her said to his disciples of somebody, .
I who went his own way • whel'eby he at last
must reach the very same aim, Forbid hi1t1.
., not: For he, that is not against us, is ou our p.nrt.
/ Bh 5 The
Digitiz~dbyGO Je
.- \
,.
ESSAYS AND
I
I .
The present exposition of the contents of
the Christia~ religion and its -exhibition as a
1 mor~l religion are very different indeed frotn
that, by which· it, its promulgation, and the
phenomenon and events of the hero of its
narrative, are pretended to Qe miracles; but
·w the latter exposition has the issue, that th~
moral aspect of this religjon is thereby lost~
which takes place, .when the precepts of the
-.oral law are not deduced from the principle
of moral libei:ty, but from the ·will of God,
thafis ~livered over to man Q1 the bible, and
hereby, nptwithstanding all ~oral exactitude
of actions , they are deprived of all morality;
if the so-q of God i~ hold4n ·to be him, who _
atoned for the transgressio.ns of mankind;
· and if it is opined that the tlteoreti~al belief in
him cant redeem men from guilt: Then is it
duty earnestly to oppose this exposition; that
-it in its~lf and the conception of a miracle in
general fall into . the uninte1ligib1e, is, after
the dissection or that which ~onstitutes all
inte11igibility, easily .perceived. The bnly
practically valid representation of a miracle
is the reference of the whole phenomenon of
· the moral religion of the gospel, sQ penehcent
to n1an, t«;> a substratum of nature. But this ,
phenomenon itself remains, notwithstan·ding
this refererice, an event natural, and rank&
\ under intelligible laws of nature~ 1·
\
\
z. The
Digitized b; Coogle
$~
oigilizedby Coogle
'
.• .
·y, S ,SA Y S AND
oi.gitized by Goog Ie
,
......
lief, . S()' long .is 'ite religion a Wt'Jrship, and
not a moral religion : That, though yery dis-
tinct from this, yet perhaps necessary in order
to found it and a tru~ church, coufd be obtain-
ed by nothing so well as by .!1 holy writ, which
compriseth those statu~es considered as Divine.
So much, now, as n10ral 'religion is pro-
•pagated among manl~ind' so much is the con..
· sideration of the churcl,I.- belief.,.sliminished;
when the ru1es of .the latter, w~ich,ar_e holden
to be the oracles of the Divine wilt, are of
such a nature, as not to be Jmrtful to moral
. r~ligion, nay, when these 'pretended Divine .
commandments lead precisely to monll reli-
gion, and th.e e11d .of a certain revelation is
evidently that, to make.all belief in it super-
_fluoua, 'then is this holy writ, w~h aims at
the . ¥tnihilation of the (theoretical) belief iti
its Divine nc:~ture, a certain criterion of its
divinity, namely, th«; possibility of~the r~e
re:ru;e of this holy wl'it, as a phenomenon,
to a moral Author of nature\ ·
In the proportion that moral religiqn is r
developed in the dass of men, who are united
with one another in a certain church-belief,
in the &arne proportion does this pure belief
of religion become the expounde~;' of the
church- belief and of the sacred wri:'t upon
which it ~ built. The historical faith is dead
bei1~g alone, · ~hat is to say, cons'i dered by
itself as a profession, it neither contains·, nor
leads to any thing, which has a moral value
for' us. The merit of the clergyman, who
Jaboms to find the sense of a p.assage of sc{ip-
ture and its author's· m-eaning., may thereby,
as
\
, ,
~ l\ E A. T I S E S.
o;~,.~ by Coogle
I
I
' I
Digitized by Coogle
., , I ,,
I TJ\JLATlS£,5• 599
be, he ·can appropiiate it to himself on oo
other condition, than so far as he has already
adopted good sentiments, consequentl~Y so far
only as he is a goodman. Here are not hvo prin-
' ciples distinct in ·themselyes, where opposite
"Yay.s are. tq be tak~n to b'egi~ 1 eithet the . one'•
or the· other, but only one practical idea, from
whicrr we set <>Ut; first, 1 so far as it represents \
the archetype as to be found in G~d, and pro-
ceeding from llim; secondly, so far -as it re-
presents it ·as to be found in us, and both; so \
Digitized by Go~gle
._ I
I
Jr.SSAYS AND
, I \ .
ments of his subjects. It is obvious, .first,
because .all the commands of judaism are of
. such a nature, that a political constitution
can consist of them and injoin them as coac-
tive laws, because they concern ontward
_ actions only; -seco11dly, that all ·consequences-
of the ke~ping and tran$gressing o£ these com-
mandntents, every reward and punisftment,
wete confined but to such', as could be dis-
trilmted to every body in this world,, and
even these not according to ethical concep-
tions, 'as both affected the desGendants, who ·
bore no practical part in eith~r those deeds or·
misdeeds; which, in a political con'!ltitution,
may, it is true, be a prudential mean te pro-
cure obedience, but, in an ethical, would be
repugnattt to all equity. Third'y, Judaism
· succeeded so ill in constituting an epoch 'per-·
taining to the state of the uni.1.:ersal clwrclt , or
_ even , in its' time, this universal church it-
' .self, that it rather excluded the whole hum11n
race from its community, .as a separate people,
chosen by God, and who bore en,mity to all
other nations, and therefore were holden. in
aversion by every body. It is not to be ov~r
rated that' this people adri1itted· but one God,
as the universal sovereign of the 'Xorld; not
to be represented· by any visible .Dr' graven
image: Fox: it is to be found amonp; most
other nations that their .doctrine of -belief had
that in view likewise, and became suspected
of polytheims but through the worshippi11g ·
· of certain inferiour deities subordinate to that
mighty One. For a god' who willeth the
I
Digitized by Coogle
ESSAYS AND
Digitized by Coogle_
·T l\ E AT I S l: s.
4·
Of 1!Vorship and of spurious Worship under
the Dominion of the good Principle·, or of
Religion and Priestdom. *
e I
The union of men in the pure religion of
reason, without all statute -laws, is the invi-
Cc ~ sible
• Priettdom (l•ierotlulia)' (if the translator may be allowed
to .coila this , word.~ ., prie1Un4/1, whica comes th~
llearest
\
W. S S A. "! 5- A. N D
Digitized by Coogle
\.
T J\ l!: AT IS E S.
Digitized by Coogle
£ ~ S A .Y 5 A N :0
•
.- Digitized by ~?.?l§~~-~ _flj
T 1\ E A 'I' I S E S.
•
Digitized .by Coogle
:ESSAY& AND
Digitized by Coogle
T nE A 'I' I S E S.
•
Digitized by Coogle
J;S5.lT$ ANJ)
•
/
T 1\ 1!! A ·r I S :E S.
•
Digitized by Coogle
ES&AT.S AND
'
by degr.ees stripped the pure religion of re~son
of the dignity d.ue to it to be the chief inter-
preter of the holy writ, and have ordered
scripture -learning only to be used for the
behoof of ihe church- faith, .wish- to be held
the only persons, whose vocation it is to ex-
pound that writ.
V\·hen the statutes, which are ,to be ad ...
rnitted as Divine but for the behoof of . a
church , and which, according to their "n'ature,
are perhaps to· be confined to one nation only,
are ascribed to the essence of .religion, and
when the observance of these, relatively to
religion, quite casual Qrdinances are repre-
sented as necessary to obtain the favour of
tl1e Supreme Being; in these consists the fancy
of religio7l. ..
The fancy of religion, like every fancy,
consists in the permutation of what is but a ·
mean , • with its end, and alSo in our attri-
buting to that, which is but a mean, the :value
of the end. All fancy of religion rests upon
the following principle: by all that we do
but merely wiLh a view of pleasing the Deity
(when it is not just directly contrary to mora-
lity, though it contributes not the smallest
to it,) we prove our obsequiousness to God,
as obedient arid by consequence agreeable
subjects, and therefore serve God (in po~
teutia.)
•· The principle of moral religion, in contra-
distinction to the fancy of religion , is, That
~an can be agreeable to the Supreme Being
through nothing but a morally good minded- -
ness. No p,erson, is able to give proo-f of a
perfectly
Digitized by Coogle
(S
TREATISES.
Digitized by Coogle
. ' '
:KSSAYS AND
-
siastical institution, without lyin·g under the
necessity of either inwardly or outwardly
making profession of faith that one holds 1
them ordinances jou11ded by God. For by this
is the conscience grievously burdene'd. •
Priestdom consists in the constitution of a
church, wherein prevails a fetiche· worship,
which, is always to be met with, .when sta-
tute- commands, rules of faith , rites or ex-
ternal observances, but not principles of mo-
rality·, constitute its foundation and essence.
· Though the ordinances, to which obedient
submission is made a duty, be ever so few,
that belief, whereby the multitude are govern-
ed and robbed of their moral liberty , is a
fetiche - belief. ·
The fancy by religions· actions of worship
to effectuate something with regard to the ,
justification before God is the religious S!!-per-
stition; as the fancy to wish to effe.ctuale this
by an endeavour towards an opiniative inter-
course with God, is the relibrious far-uaicism.
Bigotrr (de1Jotio spuria) is the custom, instead
of actions agreeable to God (discharging all
the duties of men), to place the exercise of
piety in the immediate occupation about God
by . doing · homa_ge or by demonstrations of
awe; which exercise must then be considered
villanage (opus operatum), only that it adds
, to superstition the fanatical fancy of imagina-
ry supersehsible (celestial) feelings.
. '
Of
Digitized by Coogle
·T R E A T I S l: S.
Digitized by Googl~
!".SSAYS AND
' ~
\.i..- . o,g,t,zedbvGoogle
'1; n z A T I s E s.
to death'? that it is' wrong to ta1{e the life of a
man on account of his belief of religion, is
certain : unless (in order .-to grant the most,)
a Divine extraordinary wilJ, become known
to him , has otherwise directed it. , But that
God ever uttered this frightful will rests upon
h'istorical documents and is neyer apodictical-
ly certain. • The revelation reached him but
through men, was expounded by them, -anci .
seemed to him to come from God· himself,
(lil~e the order delivered to Abraham to butcher.
' J1is ,son lil~e a sheep,) yet it is at least possible
that an errour obtains here. But then he
would run the risk to do some thing tha't
were highly wrong, and just in this he acts
unconscientiously. - Al~ belief of history
• and phen.omenon are so circumstanced, that
the possibility always remains that an errour
, is· to be therein met with, consequently it is
. unconscientions to give way to it with tpe
possibility that that, which it either requires,
or. allows, is wrong, that is, at the risk of
the violatiop of a duty of man certain in itself.
Besides, let an action, which such a posi-
tive law (held) of revelation commands, be in
itself allowed, the question is, what clerical
chiefs or teachers would, according to their
opiniative conviction (and at the risl~ of losing.
their places), impose it to be professed by the
people as atz article of creed? As the convic-
tion has no other than historical arguments
for it, but in the judgment of this people (if
they try themselves ·but in .the least), the ab-
solute possibi1ity of an en·our happening per•
haps in them, or in their ~lassical interpr:eta-
Vol. n. Dq tion
Digitized by Coogle
liiSAYS AND
TREATISE 8.
o;9;uzed by Coogle
&SSAYS AND .
Digitized by Coogle
ESSAYS.
\
Paradiae Lost.
Digitized by Coogle
THE
. '
Dd ,4
Digitized by Coogle
' \
'
o; 9 ;tizedbyGoogle
~-=-----~ ----·J
END OF ALL THINGS ..
Digitized by Coogle
£55ATS .. ND
Digitized by Coogle
T J\ E . A. T I S It S,
'o
Digitized by Coogle
decree salvation to a few elect, but to all others
eternal damnation. For a system, according
to which all are destined to be dawned, cowd
not well find place, else there would be no
justifying ground, why they were in ~eneral
created,; but the tmuihilatint:,· of all would
denote a. balked wisdom which' dissatisfied
with its own work, knows no other to supply
its defects, than to destroy it. - The same
difficulty, however, which prevented the
eternal damnation of all from being thought
of, stands constantly in the way- of the dua..
list: fot to what end, might it be inquired,
wer~ the few created, why ·even but d single
person ' if he should exist but to be oast out
for ever'? which is worse than not to exist
at all. ' .
Indeed , so far as we perspect it , so far as
.we can penetrate into ourselves, the dual~stio
system has (but on~ under one supremely
good Being), with a Pf'actical view, for every
man as he has to judge himself (though not as
, he is entit1ed to judge others), a pr~pondera~~g
ground in1 itself; for, so far as he knows h1m•
self, J'eason leaves ·him no other p_rospect. in
' ""ern1ty,
hom one anot1u~r, bnt still fartller fro"' th.e p~esent seat o_,f
the Gcrm~n Jaugu~gc, is, in the <Jen')m!pauon of bo~n
dtese first bt:iq;s, German. r-.emeuber to have read 1n
.Sonnerat that in Ava (th e. rr·•l•tcy of tbe Burach,ma~s.} tho
goo~ principle is 1{atne<.i ..Jorlemnn (which word seems tO
lie ut the nil-me Dariu 1 &odorwumus t"''); and, as the. word
.1\rll~htan sounds V(·ry like th~ art;e J\la:m, and the present
!'entan ""'llains ~ . . .. mber 01 -,ivords urigil•?.lly German; SQ
lt ro11y be a_ J·-'•bl•m for the antiquaries to trace bv t1te
dew o~ tlte a.ff"·;t': of l-·u.(uage tlte oric;in of the present
t:o,.cept•onl nf re~r:;•o" of 1 "•''-'Y nations. (See SoJweJat't
Trayela • .B• .z. chap. t. B). . · _ .
. ... oigitizedbyGooole
iDS";-- 0
.•
'I'RBATISBS.
'
eternity~ than what his own co~stience opens
to him ~t the end' of life from his course of
life hitherto 1ed. But for a dogma t corise•
· quently in order to make of it- a theoretical
tenet valid in itself [objectively1, it, as a
mere judgment of reason • is by far not suffi-
cient. For who lmows- himself, who knows .
othersSo thn;mgh . and through, as to be able
to decide whether, if he separated from the
causes of his opiniatively well- spent life all
that is termed merit of fortune, as his inborn ·
temperament of a good q'uality, the natural
greater strength of hb higher powers ({)f un•
derstanding and of reason in order to tame his
instinct~, and besides the opportunity where
-chance ,ortunately saved him from many ·
temptat10ns, into which another fell; if he
separated all these from his real character (as,
in order. to estimate this suHiciently, be must
of necessity deduct them, because he cannot
' ascribe them, as gifts of fortune, to his own
merit); who will then decide, · I ·say, wh'ether
before the all- seeing eye of a Judge of the
world one man. as to his internal moral value,
has a~y preference whatever befQre another,
and whether it n1ay not perhaps be an absurd
self-conceit, with this superficial self-cogni-
tion, to pronounce to his own advantage any
one judgment on the moral value (and thQ
meriled ·fate) either of himself or of others. - -
The system of the Unitarians, therefore, as
well as of the Dualists, both contemplated as
dogmas, seems to lie totally heyond the grasp
of the speculative faculty of human reason,
and to lead. us to reduce every thing to the
absolute
Digitized by Coogle
I
Digitized by Coogle
.,.
433
I in comparison with all the fore?:oing ages',
may be · indulged the hope that the last day
will rather arrive with an ascension of Elias.,
than with a descent to hell l_iJ>e the gang. of
1\:orah, and bring about the end of all things
~pon earth. This heroical ~elief in ; virtue,
,however 1 . seems to have, subjectively, an
influence on the minds ,;~ot so universally
powerful for the purpose of conversion; · as
that in a scene, which is thought as pre-
ceding the last things, accompanied with
terrour. '
Observation. As we have here t_o do (or to .
play) merely with ideas that reason frames for
itself, the objects of which (if there are such)
lie quite beyond our horizon, which ideas,
though to the speculative cognition trans-
cendent, are not in every reference t~ be
holden void, but with a practical view are
_furnished us by legislaLive reason itself; not
in order to muse on their objects, what they
are in themselves and according to their na-
ture~ but as we have to think of them fur the
behoof of the moral principles, <lirected t~
the -scope of all things (by which they_, whicll
were otherwise void 1 acquire objective prac-
tical reality); - thus have we before us a free
Jield to divide this prodl!ction of our own
reason,- the universal conception of an end
,of all things, according to the relation
which it bears to our cognoscitive faculty,
and to classify the conceptions ranl,ing
under it. ·
Accordingly the whole is divided 1. into
Vol. n. Ee the
o .9 ,t,ed by Coogle
434 'ESSAYS AND
Digitized by Coogle
I
- THE~ . \
-C ONTENT-s
0 F T HE S E C 0 N D . V 0 L U ME.
Page
_OBSERVATIONS ON THE FEELlNG OF .
. 'l'Hli: BEAUT~FUL AND SU~LIME ... l
S. E C T I 0 . N 1 I. -. f- ·
OJ t11e different Objects of the Sent.imeJit of the
Sublime and Dea~tiful I
S E C T I 0 N l:f. ·
Of the Propqties of the Sublime awl Beautiful in
_Man in general 9
S E C T I 0 N I I I.
Of t11e Distinction of the Beautiful and of the
Sublime in the Counterrelatiou of both' Sexes 55
·s E C T I 0 N IV.
Of national Characters, so far as they rest upon
the distinct :Feeling of the .Beautiful and of the
Sublime 68
SOMETHING ON THE INFLUENCE OF
THE MOON ON THE TEMPER.ATUilE
OFTHEAlli ~
EARTHQUAKE OF 1775 93
ON THE VOLCANOS IN THE MOON 1'43
OF A GENTLE TON LATELY A~.:>UMl:D
IN PHILOSOPHY •59
ON THE FAILUnE OF ALL THE PHILO·
501)1-HCAL ESS4YS IN THE THEODI·
CEE . . 189
)o( THE
~- J·
Digitized by Coogle
CONTENTS.
SECTION i.
Argument for. the Dem,onstratiou of the. E~tencfl
of God sit
SECTION II•
Of the great Advantage peculiar to this Mode of
Proof ii1 parci~lar li1•.
s E c T I o N ni.
Wherein ie evinced that besides the adduced · At•
gument no 'other in .enpport· of a ~monstration
of the Existence of God is posaible 35,S
o,g,t,zed by Coogle
ES' SYAS AND
'I
' 0 ' 0 ' ' ,
Digitized by Coogle
T A _.E A T ~ 5 ~ s, .~ - 437
ment. and ~pprq~imation . to t:he . c~ief good
(set u,p as' :al\ ~im to him); yet he (even in the
consc10u~n~ss of th~ immt\tabiHty of . bis
~P;ldepn~~) cannot 0)mbine ~ont(niment with
the·, prpsp~ct oLav, ~v~rduring alteration of .Qis
~~a~e .(of the ~1oral ~swell ~s qf ~he physical),
'~r · the state, in which, ,he. i~ .~t presen~. ~ al-
ways rem!liliS ·._ t\n . evi1 , . .c(;m;~p~r;a~ively with
the . bet~ex j . into whi~h h.e is. ready tQ enter;
. §lnd th~ ~epres~ntation of an infinite adya,nc~.;. ·
ment ~0 the ~cope is at the s.ame time pros~ a
P~.ct ~n _al'\ in6.nite ~eries of evils which, though
they are outweighed by the greater good 1 do
n~t allow the · contentm.e~t:, . th{lt .h e cannot
con~eiv~ hut by the sc,ap.e's. being .finally reach..
~d • t«;> fi~d phtqe. . . . . . .. ,
·· The musing n1an, now, falls ii\tO 1nysti~
~is'n (fc;~r reason, a~ it is not easily satisfi~d
:with its. intmanent, id as~, practical, us~~ but
-:w\lli.ngly v~ntu:re,s so.m~thing in the trans-
e:e.ndent, has its mys.teries too}, when his
J'C3SOlt understands neither .hself, nor what it
.wills:, but, , ra,~her than confine itself, as be...
<!Pmes·the intellectual inhabitant of a sensible
.world 1 ~ithin is honn~~ries '·. extn-lvagates or·
faJls into reveries. Ht;:nce comes Laok~un's
·,JP.OD~trOUS system of the c/ticf f:!,'OOcl, which CPll:-
·.:li~tS. pf .no~hiug., that is , in the conscioq:;ness
,Qf feel~g o:pe's self swallowed.u,p i~ th~ gplph
:qf th~ G~~l1e11d, by the conilvt;~ce with ~t. ,a nd
.ther~fqr~ ~y t~ . annihilat~o!l .ufpJ?.e's pel,"~~!?~~
lity i in . pf~~r ~Q .have, th~ p.re~~nsion of vy~ich
.stat~, C4i~ese..phil\l:5op~er~, '. · ~n darI, .x:oou;ts,
with. shu.t ~yts, ·endeaVtOllf to cQnceive and to
· .; E e o.' · · · · · - feel
'
Digitized by Googie
438 :ESSAYS Al":'D
,
~·
.. .
I '
/
I T )\ E 4 T ' s E s. 439
Wfth you nothing is constant, but incons~
tancv!
When these essays, however, have at last
succeeded so far, that the commonwealth is
capable and inclined to hearken not only to ·
· th'! reooived pious doctrines, hut to practical
reason illustrated by them (as it is absolutely
necessary to a religion); when the (in a lvtm'an .·
manner) ·wise merl ·among the people make
objections, not by concerting together (as - .a
Clergy), but as fellow. citizens; and for the
most part agree tllercin , ·which prove·, in a
manner not liable to suspicion, that their only '
aim is truth; and the people on th·e :whole
(though not yet in the smallest detail)' by the
tmiversally felt 'want of the necessary cultiva-
tion of theit moral predisposition, not built
upon authority, take an interest therein: no-
thing .seems to be more advist:able, than to
let those pu~sue their course undisturbedly; as,
with regard to the idea which they tra~e, they ·
ate in the rigbt way: but as to the :.oonse.. -
quenc~ of the means chosen for the best scope,
since it always remains 11ncertain how. it may
fall out according to the cou~se of nature, to
-leave it to ·Providence. ·For, let oge he ever
so· hard of beli~f, he must, where it is abso-
lutely impossible to foresee with certainty the
cdnsequence of certain means . tal'ien at<:Ording
to all human .w isdom (which, if it shall merit
its name·, · must refer to the moral entirely), ·
-believe in a p..actical mannerin a concurrence
.~ Divine wisdom to the cottrse of nature,
-'1:1nless he wo.uld rather chnse to give up his
· Ee 4 scope.
Digitized by Coogle
scope. · .~ It h indeed pretended That it has
alrearly been. often said that the present plan
is the best; it must henceforwar<l he .always
adheJ·ed to: tha-t is at .present a state for etemi ..
t;y :· Jle. (according to this conceptiart) ~hat is. --
ti0 lueous, -let him be rigltteous stilt'; . rmd he
tltat i$ unjust/(contt1try to it), let ltim .be uujust
sti/.h 1_s · if .eternity , and toge~hm: cwith it the
end of all things,: could be already ~ arrived; -
and-yet ~lw;n:s new plans, the newest. 4)ne Q£ 1
which is oft~n but · the re- establish~ent of
lln· ;old. one, have been since projected, aud
~ JJU~re lo..st sche.m es ·wm not be· w.a.ntmg fot:
the fut!u:e, , .
I am so conscious of my inability · of
rnahing in this a new and happy .essay' that 1
. would (to which indeed belongs no . grea~
. po:wer of ipventioti) . rather advise tQ; leave
matters as. they 'are at last , and have :pro:ved
the,mselves almost during a man's age ·toleraby.
·good . in .their <-onsequences. But as that may
not . be the opinion of men of either a .great;:
or an enterprising ~pirit; allow me .humbly
to observe, not so much what they h:ave to
do, as sgainst what thtry nmst have a oare not
to offend. as they .would otherwise act con-
trary .to... their own design (were it the very
,hesl?; ,, : :
Christianity, besides the greatest revere11ce,
wh.ich.. .the hQl}ness of its Jaws irresistibly.
inspires, has in ,it · something· ·[r;)'f)ely. (I ·
do not mean .h ere ·the amiablenes~ of the per..
sou w.ho acquired it for us by great s.aorifice.",
. but of the Lhing itself, naUlcl.~}'. , : the n~oral
' consti-
Digitized by Coogle
T 1\. E A T I S E 8 0 ·
I
constitution . which he founded; for· that can ·
be inferred but from this). 'Rev~rence is. with· ·
' out dot.tbt the first, because:without at no true
love can· have ·place; though without love· one
n1ay hav.e·a great reverence for a person. But
when not; only the representation of dnty., but
its observance is concerned, when one inquires
after the subjective ground of the accicins,.from
which, if it may be presupposed;· may .first
be expected,. what man will do, not merely
after the ·objective one, ' what he ought .to do;
love, as a·free adoption of the will ofanother
among- ·one's maxims, ·is an indispensable
·comp}emenll of the impeifection. of human
nature (to · be. necessitated to that which reason
prescribe& by the Jaw) : for what on~ does not
willingly do, he does so sparingly, and even
with· sophistical evasions of the command~
,ment of duty,' that; wi-thout the accession o{
tevereme; no great stress is . to be laid upon
love, i as a·spring. .
Bnt·if, in order to ma'ke it -very good, 'any
one at1thority .. (,~ere it even the Divme)' is-
. superadded to · Christian ism, let the intention
he ever· ·so well.meant and the end aetua-lly
ey~ so good; its amability is gone; for it is
·a contradiction to command any body that
he shall : not only do • something, hut; that he
shall do it willingly. ..
The Christiau religion has in view 'To
forward love to Lhe business of the observanc-e
·of one's duty in general, · arid .produces this
Jove also; because its Founder speaks'not in the
quality- of a commander, who enforces his
· Ee 5 will
1; I
Digitized by Coogle
44~ .I:SSA'JS ._N:P
' \
Digitized by Coogle
I
VOLi . I,
P. L.
IX' 6 & 4 }or affection read affect.
xu 15 for affe,·tion read affect
141 124 for prejudices read prcmis!~S
-11113 Note 16 for rg read ro
14P • for immemurabU nad ind•monstrahlti
VOL, II.
:to ts reati oth~rs' weal. !14 read othn&' wanu,.
13 Note !I read of rornantic.
14 Note 6 for mose read more
16 t6 for compasrion read rympatlzj- of rorrow,
!15 8 read other~'
155 16 afur principle read is 17 dele is
40 :1 for In like manner read And ~ for for read tOJ
5 foi' fabric read structure
49 b, 10 for trade read commerce
- 8I NoW 11 for in read upon
ll1 10 r11ad tho<e ~pringo, 15 f. them r. thete c;-vitier,
.167 •6 for Qt<a11ritur read Q•u1.11rit
169 Note !& 10 read • collier's unbelief'
'176 b 5 a.Jur follow read night
191J Note 1 for among read of 3 for none P.11ad no diflic~lty
11111 Note 9 for in a manner r11a.d as it were
Uio 10 foi' it muH then be this rea.d'-but it may per•
haps surprbe us ,
ItS 8 eofti1r hundred r11ad Oriman
5118 3 for Clall\inuancc r•«d continuance
OBSERVATION$
f I
.I
'•
·• J
'J' R E ... T I S E S. 443
'\Vhen' ·th~ Christian relig.ion protnises re-
'wards (for insta,lce, Rejoice; and be
exceedill'g
.ghid;. for great. is yoar reward in heaven);
that must uot, according to the liberal way.
· of thinking, be so expounded·, as if it vy-ere
an offer, ·so to express m-yself, to bargain
with men to lead good lives: for h~re Chris..
tianity again were not ,-of it'self ,worthy ot .
love. Onl'y a demand of such actions, as arise
from · disinterested moth•es, can inspire iuan
with reverence for hini, who mal>es the de-
mand; but without reverente. there i'~ no true
•love. To that promise. then must not be
affixed the sense, as. if .the-1:ewards should .be
tal>en for the springs of : the actions. The
love, by which a liberal ~cast of niind is fetter-
ed to a benefactor, is not directed by the bepe-
faction, which the needy receives, but merely
by the goodness of the will of him 1 who is
· inclined to bestow it: even should he :pot be
possessed of the means ,lor be hindered in the
exer.ution by other- motives, which the con-
sidenition of the universal good of .the world
carries with it.
That is the moral amability, that Christia-
nis~ carries with it, which, by var~ous
coactions externally applied to it. has, not-
withstanding the frequent change of opinion~,
still made its way, and supported itself'
a~ainst the aversion it must otherwise have
met with; and (what is remarkable) which,
.during the time of the greatest enlightening
that eyer was among men, always shows
itst:lf in a clearer light. ·
Should
Digitized by Coogle
\
.-
'
444 ,. E S 5-A Y So. .
... I Jl I S.
'
Digitized by Coogle
o;gitizedbYGoogle
Digitized by Coogle
Digitized by Coogle
AUG 1 7 1965