5 - Leibniz on eternal punishment (1773)

Summary

I see that the controversy on the eternal punishments of hell is about to flare up again among our theologians. Let us hope that it can finally be settled and put aside! For the most depressing thing about such disputes is without doubt the fact that they generally achieve nothing, so that twenty or fifty years later, the first zealot or quibbler who comes along thinks he is entitled to reopen the whole issue.

To avoid becoming like one of those scribblers, it is essential first of all to study the history of the disputed doctrine in all its ramifications. Only when we know exactly where each of our predecessors dropped his thread can we hope to pick them all up again and, by comparing their different directions, set off on that path to truth which has been lost or never discovered in the first place. And if these predecessors include men like Leibniz, what can possibly be more instructive than to follow every trace of their footsteps and take our bearings from there?

Nothing more is necessary, I think, to introduce the following few lines, hitherto unpublished, of that great man who, if I had my way, would not have written a single line in vain. The facts of the matter can perhaps best be described in the words of Mosheim – especially since this affords an opportunity to confirm the accuracy of these words and to furnish them with a literary commentary.