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Source: Sämtliche schriften und briefe series VI volume 4 Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften (ed) pp 2202-2204 Date: October 1677 Translated from the Latin View this translation in PDF format (12k) Back to home page Search texts by category: METAPHYSICS MIND, BODY AND SOUL FREE WILL AND NECESSITY SCIENCE POLITICS, LAW AND ETHICS THEOLOGY |
LEIBNIZ: ON THE HOST[A VI 4, p2202] October 1677 The host of the Roman Church is either the creator or a created thing. If it is the creator then it follows that the creator, i.e. God, is a thing which is white and round, since it is undeniable that a host is a thing which is white, round etc., and indeed, theologians maintain that the whiteness we see is not apparent but real. Therefore if a host is God, God will be a thing of such kind too. Likewise, a host in Rome is not a host in Paris, i.e. there are many hosts, but because there are not many gods, God is therefore not a host, or, a host is not God. Now let us assume that a host is a created thing - it will either be a created thing assumed by God, for instance the body of Christ, or it will be a straightforward created thing. That it is not the body of Christ is proved by the same argument which proved that the host is not God. For the body of Christ is not round, yet a host is round, and the body of Christ is one, yet there are many hosts. [A VI 4, p2203] It is necessary, then, that a host be a straightforward created thing. From this, however, it plainly follows that a host cannot be adored, i.e. that, it is not an object of the worship due to God. 1) It is a widespread custom of the Roman mass that many thousands of consecrated hosts are used, not just in our Europe, but in other parts of the world too. 2) A straightforward created thing (that is, one not assumed by God), should not be adored in itself, and especially not with the worship due to God. There are many consecrated hosts, by supposition 1. God is unique. Therefore a host is not God. There are many consecrated hosts, by supposition 1. The body of Christ is unique. Therefore a host is not the body of Christ. A host is not God (by proposition 1). Therefore it is a created thing. If it is a created thing, it will either be a created thing assumed by God, or a straightforward created thing. It is not a created thing assumed by God, because it is not the body of Christ (by proposition 2), while it is conceded that it is not the soul of Christ. Therefore it is a straightforward created thing. But (by supposition 2), a straightforward created thing should not be adored with the worship due to God. Therefore nor should a host. Which was to be demonstrated. I suppose with the theologians that in the sacrament of the Eucharist there is no deception of the senses but that the whiteness, roundness and other accidents are no less real in a host than in other things. [A VI 4, p2204] There is genuine whiteness and roundness in this place. That which is white is also round. Therefore there is a subject of whiteness and roundness. Therefore it is demonstrated that a host is not adored, but that adoration is restricted to Christ. © Lloyd Strickland 2007 |