"I know but one man, of more than miserable intellect, who in these modern times has dared defend eternal punishment on the score of justice, and that is Leibnitz; a man who, if I know him rightly, chose the subject from its difficulty as an opportunity for the display of his genius, and cared so little for the truth that his conclusions did not cost his heart a pang, or wring a single tear from him. And what does Leibnitz say? That sin, forsooth, though itself be only finite, yet, because it is against an Infinite Being, contracts a character of infinity, and so must be infinitely punished. It is odd that the clever Leibnitz should not have seen that a finite punishment, inflicted by the same Infinite Being, would itself of course contract the same character of infinity."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Historians from EnglandNovelists from EnglandExistentialistsUniversity of Oxford facultyEditors from England
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Letter II
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Anthony_Froude
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
James Anthony Froude
James Anthony Froude (April 23 1818 – October 20 1894) was a controversial English historian, novelist, biographer, and editor of Fraser's Magazine.
116 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by James Anthony Froude →
Related Quotes
"Instead of man to love, we have a man-god to worship. From being the example of devotion, he is its object; the relig…"
"I am convinced with Plato, with St. Paul, with St. Augustine, with Calvin, and with Leibnitz, that this universe, and…"
"I scarcely know a professional man I can like, and certainly not one who has been what the world calls successful, th…"
"I do not dishonour the Bible. I honour it above all books. The New Testament alone, since I have been able to read it…"
"I know that even in this faithless age there are many persons to whom the Bible is what it was to Calvin — its smalle…"
"I have nothing but myself to write about, no facts, no theories, no opinions, no adventures, no sentiments, nothing b…"
"Man is a real man, and can live and act manfully in this world, not in the strength of opinions, not according to wha…"
"You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one."
"I cannot think the disputes and jealousies of Heaven are tried and settled by the swords of earth."
"The moral of human life is never simple, and the moral of a story which aims only at being true to human life cannot …"