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Source: Textes inédits tome 1 Gaston Grua (ed) pp 88-93 Date: 1695 Translated from the French View this translation in PDF format (22k) Back to home page Search texts by category: METAPHYSICS MIND, BODY AND SOUL FREE WILL AND NECESSITY SCIENCE POLITICS, LAW AND ETHICS THEOLOGY |
LEIBNIZ: NOTES ON WILLIAM PENN[Gr p88] Extract from a journal written in English during the journey that William Penn, author of the book, made in Germany and Holland in the company of Robert Barclay and some other Quakers, 1677. The story of the journey which William Penn made in Germany and Holland in 1677 appears to me to be written with much skill, in terms which are affected and mysterious and which have the feel of cliquishness. In order to make some reflections on this account in a few words, I find it very useful for understanding the different types of human nature, and I even approve of there being people who use extraordinary methods in order to draw others out of their lethargy, and it is for this reason that they should be forgiven for using certain affected practices which seem bizarre. The world is addicted to trifling matters. People do not think about what true happiness consists in. Reasons alone are not sufficient to make them go back into themselves; something is needed which affects their passions and which ravishes their souls, as does music and [Gr p89] poetry. And the kind of eloquence, accompanied by gestures, which is seen in an excellent theatrical actor, and generally in all those whose imagination is vivid, overpowering and contagious, seems to me to be found in these new preachers too. I by no means say this to criticize them, for I admit that these mannerisms are often necessary in order to make them have a strong emotional impact. It is true that I think I have noticed in William Penn a little too much artifice and affectation. There are many magnificent words which scarcely explain anything. I also do not know whether these people genuinely possess in their understanding this wisdom which they claim for themselves. Wisdom is nothing other than the knowledge of great truths, but it is not in evidence here. Nevertheless it is always something when one is led to the good, even if this is only by a kind of passion or by a fire of the imagination because one lacks the wisdom which ought to be in the understanding, provided that one strives to acquire this true wisdom, without which I do not believe that one can have a true love of God, since one could not love without understanding and without noticing the beauties of that which one loves. Thus to love God properly, we must understand his perfections which the eternal truths represent to us, as by entering into the fundamentals we see there the great order and utterly wonderful universal harmony, which is with regard to the divinity what a ray is with regard to the sun. This is why I hold that the stirring ways of these extraordinary preachers1 are good for giving first impressions and for detaching souls from the vanity of the world - but there must be something else to fill our soul to its capacity, and express in us the power of the divine perfections, which constitute our true happiness, and do so forever. B - The story of the journey that the famous Quakers Robert Barclay and William Penn made with their companions in Germany and in Holland in 1677, published in English with some related works, seems to me to be rather useful for several reasons, but especially for understanding the different types of human nature, and for seeing the power of religion on souls when it is put forward in an extraordinary way. It is even apparent that these people assume a shadow or imitation of the behaviour of the apostles at the beginning of the church. However I find there this [Gr p90] remarkable difference, among others, that these early Christians showed more simplicity in their behaviour, and more efficaciousness in the real improvement of their audience. A more natural, and yet very forceful way of speaking is to be found in the Gospels and in the epistles of the apostles and of apostolic men, such as St Clement and St Barnabas, whose letters have been recently rediscovered. But here, everything written by William Penn appears to me to be written with a great deal of artifice and reservation, in terms which are affected and mysterious and which smack a little too much of cliquishness and the intention to control others, without one finding in it enough of a useful doctrine by which to profit. The letters included here, written by the same author, are of the same character: full of magnificent words, but which do not explain anything. I do not know if he or his associates will have said something more real in their assemblies or Meetings, about which so much is said. But I am afraid that the whole thing is only an skilful way of attempting to arouse the passions through extraordinary ways of acting and speaking, and so to speak a game of an excited and contagious imagination, just as there are preachers who know how to make their audience weep, or as there are certain tunes of music which are moving. I would not disapprove of these ways, which are suitable for emphasising good things, if I found them accompanied by a clear and luminous doctrine, as was that of Jesus Christ and the Apostles, and by the practice of a true charity such as was seen in the early Christians. The ideas that Jesus Christ gave us of God are great, but they are clear at the same time. He teaches us that God has care of everything and that everything is accounted for by him, even down to our hairs; that those who love him will be eternally happy; that we should fear only him since only he has power over souls; that the slightest good will be rewarded, down to a glass of water given through charity to a poor man who is thirsty; and that one must therefore rely on his providence after having satisfied one's duty. And when he commends us to love, above all things, this great God whom he [Gr p91] has depicted as so lovable and so good, and after him our neighbour as ourselves, he means both theory and practice at the same time. So now that providence has enriched our century by so many new insights which result from the marvellous discoveries which have been made in nature, and which show us its beauty more and more, we should profit from them by applying them to the ideas which Jesus Christ gives us of God. For nothing could better mark the divine perfections than the admirable beauties which are found in his works. I see that the majority of those who lay claim to a greater spirituality, and particularly the Quakers, try to show their distaste for the contemplation of natural truths. But in my opinion they should do just the opposite, if they do not want to encourage our own laziness or ignorance. It is on this point that I find Mr Helmont, Mr Knorr, Mr More and Mr Poiret more reasonable than most others, although I do not want to endorse a number of their views in which they distance themselves from the church. True love is based upon the knowledge of the beauty of the object loved. But the beauty of God is apparent in the wonders of the effects of this sovereign cause. Therefore the more one knows nature and the solid truths of the true sciences, which are so many rays of the divine perfection, the more one is capable of truly loving God. With Jesus Christ having laid the foundations of the love of God by means of the knowledge common to all men, it is for us to strengthen these great ideas from day to day through the new natural insights which God has given us expressly for this purpose, and whose grace works according to the disposition of each person. And we are ingrates if we do not profit from his generous acts. It is true that religion and piety do not depend on profound knowledge, for they must be within the grasp of the simplest people. But those to whom God has given the time and the means of understanding him better, and consequently of loving him with a more enlightened love, must not neglect the occasions for it [Gr p92] nor, consequently, the study of nature. And those who try to distance men from this on the pretext of certain insights which they boast of, and which consist only in the over-active imagination, make us abandon what is solid in favour of chimeras, and flatter our negligence. As knowledge of the greatness of God and the traces of his goodness and of his wisdom consist principally in the contemplation of the marvellous order which is revealed in all things to the extent that one penetrates to their foundation, it is obvious that the love of God and of the divine order which results from him will also make us strive to conform to this order, and to that which is the best. This means that the wise are not in any way dissatisfied with what has happened in the past, knowing well that it cannot fail to be the best; but they strive to make the future as good as possible, insofar as it depends on them; knowing that if we fail in this the general order or the harmony of things will lose nothing by it, but only ourselves, because we shall have less connection to it. That is why the more one loves God, the more one will strive in one's own particular way to share in the divine perfections which are widespread in the world, and especially in the happiness of souls, which are the best beings we know, by contributing to our own instruction and to that of others. For all true happiness consists only and exclusively in a perpetual progression of joys coming from celestial love, or from the contemplation of the true beauties of the divine nature. It is this internal taste and this inexpressible pleasure which arises from the knowledge of divine and eternal truth which makes one detach oneself easily from the vanities of the world and from all perishable things. A person penetrated by all of this will use all of his effort solely to spread this happiness to others as well, for it is thus that he himself best shares in the general good and in the harmony of the great order. It is true that the Weigalians, Boehmists, Quakers, Quietists, Labadists, and other similar persons, also appear to strive for these detachments from worldly vanities, but everything that they say about abnegation, self-annihilation and silence, while making use of a thousand fine terms, could only be solid insofar as it boils down to preferring the general good and the greatest expressions of the divine perfections to all the considerations of worldly things. If there is something else, it is caprice or an idle fancy. The true sign of the mind and of the grace of God is to enlighten and to make better. Several among them appear to have good views, but they lack true [Gr p93] wisdom, throwing themselves into extraordinary ways which affect people more than they enlighten them. It is a shame that their zeal is not accompanied by more knowledge, and perhaps also by more general charity, and that they do not then leave these useless and artificial affectations of refusing the honours and expressions received among honest people, affectations which they only seem to adopt in order to give themselves a singular character. Instead of that, charity has to move us away from everything which smacks of the sectarian, and which increases divisions. NOTE: 1. Reading predicateurs for predications. © Lloyd Strickland 2006 With thanks to Geert de Wilde |