Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 9.djvu/165

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our feelings, but should exercise our faith and our love of God; where we can view God's works more imper- sonally, we should realize that evil and imperfection are always and everjis-here made to serve the purpose of hannony, symmetry, and beauty.

(c) Optunism. — Leibniz is, therefore, an optimist, both because he maintains as a general metaphysical principle that the world whi;;h cxii^tfi is the l>cst pos- sible world, and because in his discussion of the prob- lem of evil he tries to trace out principles that will "justify the ways of God to man in a manner com- patible with God's goodness. It had become the fash- ion among materialists and freethinkers 1^ draw an over-gloomy picture of the universe as a place of pain, BulTcrmg, and sin, and to ask triumphantly: " IIow can a good God, if He is omnipotent, permit such a state of things?" Leibniz's aaswer, though not entirely original, is correct. Evil should be considered in re- lation not to the parts of reality, but to reality as a whole. Many evils are "in Other respects" good. And, when, in the final resort, we cannot see a definite rational solution of a porplexin^ problem, we rfiould fall back on faith, which, especially in regard to the problem of enl, aids rca.'-on.

(7) Leibniz's Elliirs.—Wa have seen that, although the monad is by definition independent, and, there- fore, a monarch in its own realm, yet, by virtue of pre- established harmony, the multitude of monads which make up the universe are organized into a kingdom of spirits, of which God is the Supreme Ruler, a city of God, governed by Divine Providence, or, more cor- rectly still, a family, of which God is the Father. Now, there is "a hairoony between the physical realm of nature and the moral realm of grace" ("Monadol- ogie", thesis Ixxxviii); monads making progress along natural lines towards perfection are progressing at the same time aloi^ moral Ijnea towards happiness. The essential perfection of a monail is, of course, perfect distinctness of representation. The more the numan soul progresses in distinctness of ideas, the more in- sight it obtains into the the connexion of all things and the harmony of the whole universe. From this realization springs the impulse to love others, that is to seek the happiness of others aa well as one's own. The road to liappincss is, therefore, through an in- crease of theoretical insight into the univeme, and through an increase in love wiiich naturally follows an increase of knowledge. The moral man, while he thus promotes his own happiness by seeking the hap-

Slnessof others, fulfilsat the same time the Will of God, oodncss and piety are, therefore, identical. VII. Influence op Lt:iiiNiz. — Tlirough liis contro- versy with Clarke coiu'crning the nature of space and the existence of atoms, and also on account of the rivalry lictween himself and Ncnlon in respect to the discovery of the calcului, Leibniz came to be well- known to the leiimeil world in England at the end of the seventeenth i*nfiiryandthcljpginningoftheeigh- tei;nlh. His residence in Paris brought him into con- tact with the gri';it men of the court of I^uia XIV, as well as with iihiuist all the ivritcrs of that age who were distinguished either in the world of science or in that of theology. It was, however, in his own country thiit he Ijccamc best ktion-n as a philosopher. The multiplicity oE his interests and iha v.inetv nf thp tasks ne set himself to accomplisl


8 uipzia

tion, that of substance, is more worthy of a poet and ft

mystic than of a philosopher and a scientist; neverthe- less, like Plat^, he is to be Judged by the loftiness of his speculations, not by his Tack of scientific pre- cision. He did his share in stemming the tide of materialism, and helped to - . < .

{esthetic ideals until such timi constructively, as they were in the nineteenth century.

LrOmitii Optra omnia, ed. Dutens (6 vob., Geneva, 1768}: trilmu'* gaammtUe Wttke, eil. Kloi>p (11 voh,. Hiuiaver. lB64-d4t: li'uWMiifi,nJmii, sd. F(H'c:HEB1>bCakeii,C7 vols.. Pbju. 1SS9-77)^ <Eui>tcii ahila:, td. Rabpe (Amslenliun. I70fll; Oprra philotaphica. eH. Ehbbans (3 pla., Berlin, 1839-40): Dit piUomphiKkat SeAriJIen. ed. (iEKBAsr (7 vol*,. Berlin. IS75- W>). There an auamana ediiioi- -' '- -"--


vnlunblo fragmi lOttl). TrajiBlD Haven. ISUO). t


I, e. B. bis COfTB- <Ian<loa. I7IT]; and tbere sre miiny Opiinaitta tie., ed. Couterat (Parig, 'h<la»ophical Workt. tr. Dchcak (N™ liffeient noa. of tta Journal of Sptc re on JMe(np*„rtr„ tr. MaNmolfisT

'-. Lanqley (LoodoD nud M«w

^., ix. KcwELL (London. 18G01,

Crilieal Exiaiilion oj An PhUotopti^ of i.mynit (\,unonaKfli 1000); Marte, LeibnU (Londwi ud

KdinburBh, I88«)! Diij.m»k- "--- " '-" ■*-

MenedtrtU-'-— " -'—' ' "' M (Leipi


Christian Wolff (1C79-1754), who reduced his teachings to more compact form, that he exerted the influence which he did on the movement known as the German lUuminalion, In point of fact, until Kunt (see Kant, PmiioeoFnY or) began the puUic exposition of his criticul philosophy, Leibniz was the dominant mind in the world of philosophy in Germany, And his in- fluence wiu", on the whole, salutary. It is true that his philosophy is unreal. His fundamental concep-


3lMig, 1800,,

. !(rflfliBO,lS7<}i PlAT, i«m. . ._. ___

(PiLiia, IQDO); Watwih, Ltibnilt and Pnleatant ThmtoaV Id Nap World. V(tS9a), pp. iaj-22): Lnhnu and lit CaAoUe Chanh in Dii)-lin Bfoicw, X (1S41). pp. 394-4^>y, Far cola- picte liat af Hrliclia etc., cf. Baijiwin, Dictionary of PMl., ID, pt. 1, 332 HIQ,

WlLUAM TUKNEH,

Laigh, RicHABD, Venerable, English martyr, b. in Cambridgeshire about 1561; d. at Tyburn, 30 August, 1588, Ordained priest at Rome in February, 1586-7, he came on the mission the same year, was arrested in London, and banished. Returning he was committed to the Towerin June, 1588, and was con- demned at the Old Bailey for being a priest. With him suffered four laymen and a lady, all of whom have been declared " Venerable". Edward Shelley. of Warminghurst, Susses, and East Sroitbheld, Lon- don (son of Edward Shelley, of Warminghurst, a Master of the Household of the sovereign, and the settlor in "Shelley's case"^ and Joan, daughter of Paul Eden, of Penshurst, Kent), aged 50 or 60, who wasalready in the Clink for his religion in April, 1584. was condemned for keeping a book culled " My Lord Leicester's Commonwealth and tor having assisted the Venerable William Dean (q. v.). He was appai^ ently uncle by marriage to Benjamin Norton, aftei^ wards one of the seven vicars of Dr. Richard Smith. Richard Martin, of Sliropshire, was condemned for being in the company of the Ven. Robert Morton, and


native of the Diocese of Bangor (Wales), aged about 21, younger brother of Father Owen Lloyd, was con- demned for entertaining a priis;t named William Horner, alias Forrest. John Itfielie (nfins Neele), an Irish serving-man, and Margaret Ward, gentlewoman of Cheshire, were condemned for having assisted a priest named William Watson (as to whom see Gillow, op. cit, inf., V, 575) to escape from Bridewell.

Put-LEN, Aril of the Enelitli Uartipi (Londoo, ISQl), 110, IIS, 286-7, 300-7, ail-12; CuUmlic Ktcord Sarirlv't PuUics- (i«n (London, privately printed, 1905, ett,). IL W5, 282, lU. MS. V. purim; CiLtow, Uibl. Did. cf iht Eng. Calh. (London and New York, !**,')- 1902), IV, 194, 493; L'HAi,LONEtt, Mit- lionaru Pricil; I (Lcominetoo and Lonjrm, 1. d.l, 231-8; liEBBi, SuierT Otntnlosiet (l-ondon, 1S30), «l. 80; Uallaway AMD Cabtwhiout. SuiKi, II IIaqJoq. 1819-30). ii, 257.

John B. Wainewhioht.

Leighlin. See Kildare and Leighlin, Diocbsb or.

Lelpiig, chief town in the Kingdom of Saxony, sit- uated at the junction of the Pleisse, Parthe, and Weisse Elster, In 1905 it contained 50:i,672 inhab- itantt, of whom 22,864 were Catholics; the population to-day numl>eTs about 545,000. The memting of Um