THE MONADOLOGY 269 



88. A result of this harmony is that things lead to 

 grace by the very ways of nature, and that this globe, 

 for instance, must be destroyed and renewed by natural 

 means at the very time when the government of spirits 

 requires it, for the punishment of some and the reward of 

 others. (Theod. 18 sqq., no, 244, 245, 340.) 



89. It may also be said that God as Architect satisfies 

 in all respects God as Lawgiver 14 , and thus that sins 

 must bear their penalty with them, through the order of 

 nature, and even in virtue of the mechanical structure of 

 things ; and similarly that noble actions will attain their 

 rewards by ways which, on the bodily side, are mechanical, 

 although this cannot and ought not always to happen 

 immediately 141 . 



90. Finally, under this perfect government no good 

 action would be unrewarded and no bad one unpunished, 

 and all should issue in the well-being of the good, that is 

 to say, of those who are not malcontents in this great 

 state, but who trust in Providence, after having done 

 their duty, and who love and imitate, as is meet, the 

 Author of all good, finding pleasure in the contemplation 

 of His perfections, as is the way of genuine ' pure love 142 , ' 



140 That is to say, the world is built on a plan which perfectly 

 harmonizes with the moral government of its inhabitants. 



141 Leibniz regards sin as seeking one's own good in an imperfect, 

 unenlightened way, without regard to the moral law or order, 

 which is the only way of securing the highest possible good of all 

 and of each. Thus sin brings punishment as inevitably as neglect 

 or defiance of natural laws brings disease and pain. But owing to 

 the harmony (above explained) between spirit and body, the moral 

 and the natural worlds, the punishment of sin is not merely 

 spiritual : the bodily or natural has a share in it. Similarly 

 virtue has its reward, both spiritual and natural, because it is 

 enlightened action in accordance with the ultimate law of the 

 whole universe, the principle of the highest good. 



142 That is to say, disinterested love, as distinct from interested 

 or selfish love. One of the great subjects of theological discussion 

 in the seventeenth century was the question whether there is such 

 a thing as purely disinterested love. About this a long pamphlet 

 controversy (lasting from 1694 to 1699) took place between Bossuet 



