N05663:142
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.
Indeed, I will not affirm, that there is in the Nature of Things no Foundation for the Knowledge of the Being of God without any Evidence of it from his Works. I do suppose there is a great Absurdity, in the Nature of Things simply considered, in supposing that there should be no God, or in denying Being in general, and supposing an eternal, absolute, universal Nothing: And therefore that here would be Foundation of intuitive Evidence that it cannot be, and that eternal infinite most perfect Being must be; if we had Strength and Comprehension of Mind sufficient, to have a clear Idea of general and universal Being, or, which is the same Thing, of the infinite, eternal, most perfect divine Nature and Essence. But then we should not properly come to the Knowledge of the Being of God by arguing; but our Evidence would be intuitive: We should see it, as we see other Things that are necessary in themselves, the Contraries of which are in their own Nature absurd and contradictory; as we see that twice two is four; and as we see that a Circle has no Angles. If we had as clear an Idea of universal infinite Entity, as we have of these other Things, I suppose we should most intuitively see the Absurdity of supposing such Being not to be; should immediately see there is no Room for the Question, whether it is possible that Being, in the most general abstracted Notion of it, should not be. But we have not that Strength and Extent of Mind, to know this certainly in this intuitive independent Manner: But the Way that Mankind come to the Knowledge o• the Being of God, is that which the Apostle speaks of, Rom. i.20. The invisible Things of Him, from the Creation of the Wor•d, are clearly seen; being understood by the Things that are made; even his eternal Power and Godhead. We first ascend, and prove à ⟨p. 44⟩Posteriori, or from Effects, that there must be an eternal Cause; and then secondly, prove by Argumentation, not Intuition, that this Being must be necessarily existent; and then thirdly, from the proved Necessity of his Existence, we may descend, and prove many of his Perfections à Priori.