N05663:136
A careful and strict enquiry into the modern prevailing notions of that freedom of…
A careful and strict enquiry into the modern prevailing notions of that freedom of will, which is supposed to be essential to moral agency, virtue and vice, reward and punishment, praise and blame. By Jonathan Edwards, A.M. Pastor of the church in Stockbridge. ; [One line from Romans]A careful and strict enquiry into the modern prevailing notions of that freedom of will, which is supposed to be essential to moral agency, vertue and vice, reward and punishment, praise and blame. By Jonathan Edwards, A.M. Pastor of the church in Stockbridge. ; [One line from Romans]
printed by S. Kneeland, 1754
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
It may be further observed, that when I speak of Connection of Causes and Effects, I have Respect to moral Causes, as well as those that are called natural in Distinction from 'em. Moral Causes may be Causes in as proper a Sense, as any Causes whatsoever; may have as real an Influence, and may as truly be the Ground and Reason of an Event's coming to pass.
Therefore I sometimes use the Word Cause, in this Enquiry, to signify any Antecedent, either natural or moral, positive or ⟨p. 42⟩negative, on which an Event, either a Thing, or the Manner and Circumstance of a Thing, so depends, that it is the Ground and Reason, either in Whole, or in Part, why it is, rather than not; or why it is as it is, rather than otherwise; Or, in other Words, any Antecedent with which a consequent Event is so connected, that it truly belongs to the Reason why the Proposition which affirms that Event, is true; whether it has any positive Influence, or not. And in an Agreeableness to this, I sometimes use the Word Effect, for the Consequence of another Thing, which is perhaps rather an Occasion than a Cause, most properly speaking.
Therefore I sometimes use the Word Cause, in this Enquiry, to signify any Antecedent, either natural or moral, positive or ⟨p. 42⟩negative, on which an Event, either a Thing, or the Manner and Circumstance of a Thing, so depends, that it is the Ground and Reason, either in Whole, or in Part, why it is, rather than not; or why it is as it is, rather than otherwise; Or, in other Words, any Antecedent with which a consequent Event is so connected, that it truly belongs to the Reason why the Proposition which affirms that Event, is true; whether it has any positive Influence, or not. And in an Agreableness to this, I sometimes use the Word Effect, for the Consequence of another Thing, which is perhaps rather an Occasion than a Cause, most properly speaking.