t was favored by Providence, may be seen from the Report
presented to King Frederick William I, shortly after Francke's
death:--1. The Normal School with 82 scholars and 70 teachers; 2. The
Latin School of the Orphan House, with 3 Inspectors, 32 teachers, 400
scholars, and 10 servants; 3. The German Citizens' school, with 4
Inspectors, 102 Teachers, 1725 Boys and Girls; 4. Orphan Children, 134,
and 10 overseers; 5. Number accommodated at the tables, 251 students,
3600 poor children; 6. Furniture, Apothecary, Bookstore, employing 53
persons; 7. Institution for women unable to work.
[27] Schmid, _Geschichte des Pietismus_, pp. 475-486.
CHAPTER IV.
THE POPULAR PHILOSOPHY OF WOLFF--SKEPTICAL TENDENCIES FROM ABROAD.
The struggle between the Pietists and the Orthodox subsided on the
appearance of Wolff's demonstrative philosophy. The church was glad
enough to offer the friendly hand to Pietism when she saw her faith
threatened by this ruthless foe; and if the followers of Spener had
refused to accept it, their success would have been far more probable.
Leibnitz was the father of Wolff's system. Descartes had protested
against any external authority for the first principles of belief.
Leibnitz and Spinoza followed him, though in different directions.[28]
Leibnitz had no system in reality, and it is only from certain
well-known views on particular points that we can infer his general
direction of opinion. He sought to prove the conformity of reason with a
belief in revelation on the principle that two truths cannot contradict
each other. His doctrine of monads and preestablished harmony was
opposed to the scriptural and ecclesiastical doctrine of creation,
inasmuch as by the assumption of the existence of atoms the Creator was
thrown too much in the shade.[29] He wrote his _Theodicee_ for the
benefit of learned and theological circles, and both as a statesman and
author he acquired great celebrity for his vast acquirements and
discriminating mind.
But the philosophy of Leibnitz was confined to the learned; and had it
been left solely to itself, it is probable that it would never have
attracted great attention or possessed much importance in the history of
thought. But Wolff, who studied all his works with the greatest care,
deduced from them certain summaries of argument, which, with such others
of his own as he felt disposed to incorporate with them, he published
and taught. Whatever censure we may cast upon
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