THE MONADOLOGY 267 



85. Whence it is easy to conclude that the totality 

 [assemblage] of all spirits [esprits] must compose the City 

 of God 135 , that is to say, the most perfect State that is 

 possible, under the most perfect of Monarchs. (Theod. 

 146 ; Abrege, Object. 2.) 



86. This City of God, this truly universal monarchy, 

 is a moral world IrTTihe natural world, and is the most 

 exalted and most divine among the~works of God lse ; and 

 it is in it that the glory of God really consists, for He 

 Wouldjhave no glory were not His greatness and His 

 goodness known and admired by spirits \_esprits 7 ]. It is 



race or like children of the house, since they alone can serve Him 

 freely and act with knowledge, in imitation of the Divine nature : 

 one single spirit [esprit] is worth a whole world, since it not only 

 expresses the world but also knows it and governs itself in the 

 world [s'y gouverne] after the manner of God. ' Paper without title 

 (1686) (G. iv. 461). 



135 rphe re f erence j s to the civitas Dei of St. Augustine ; but the 

 difference of meaning is very great. St. Augustine's civitas Dei is 

 the Christian Church as opposed to the civitas terrena or earthly 

 state. Leibniz's City of God, on the other hand, is not set in 

 opposition to an earthly state, but is the moral order of the 

 universe, as distinct from its natural order. The City of God, 

 according to Leibniz, includes not Christians alone, but all men. 



136 Cf. Fichte, Darstellung der Wissenschaftslehre (Werke, ii. 35) : 

 ' The ground of the universe is ... spirit itself ... a kingdom of 

 spirits and absolutely nothing else.' Also Werke, v. 188 : ' It is 

 in no way doubtful, or rather it is the most certain of all things, 

 and indeed the foundation of all certitude, the sole absolutely 

 indisputable objective reality, that there is a moral order in the 

 universe ; that each rational individual has his definite place in 

 this universal order, a place indicated by his special work ; that 

 each of the accidents of his existence, in so far as it does not 

 result from his personal conduct, is a consequence of this general 

 plan ; that, except in conformity with this plan, not a hair can 

 fall from his head, any more than a sparrow from its roof ; that 

 every truly good action succeeds, every bad action fails ; and 

 that all things necessarily work for the greatest good of those who 

 only rightly love the good.' See Introduction, Part iv. p. 180 

 note. 



137 Cf. Nicholas of Cusa, Cribratio Alchoran, 16 : < God created 

 all things for the manifestation of His glory ; an unknown king is 

 wanting in honour and in beneficence.' Cf. also Excitationes ex 



