N05663:154
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.
3. An active Being can bring no Effects to pass by his Activity, but what are consequent upon his acting: He produces Nothing by his Activity, any other Way than by the Exercise of his Activity, and so Nothing but the Fruits of it's Exercise: He brings Nothing to pass by a dormant Activity. But the Exercise of his Activity is Action; and so his Action, or Exercise of his Activity, must be prior to the ⟨p. 49⟩Effects of his Activity. If an active Being produces an Effect in another Being, about which his Activity is conversant, the Effect being the Fruit of his Activity, his Activity must be first exercised or exerted, and the Effect of it must follow. So it must be, with equal Reason, if the active Being is his own Object, and his Activity is conversant about Himself, to produce and determine some Effect in hi•••lf; still the Exercise of his Activity must go before the Effect, which he brings to pass and determines by it. And therefore his Activity can't be the Cause of the Determination of the first Action, or Exercise of Activity it self, whence the Effects of Activity arise; for that would imply a Contradiction; It would be to say, the first Exercise of Activity is before the first Exercise of Activity, and is the Cause of it.
3. An active Be•ng can bring no Effects to pass by his Activity, but what are consequent upon his acting: He produces Nothing by his Activity, any other Way than by the Exercise of his Activity, and so Nothing but the Fruits of it's Exercise: He brings Nothing to pass by a dormant Activity. But the Exercise of his Activity is Action; and so his Action, or Exercise of his Activity, must be prior to the ⟨p. 49⟩Effects of his Activity. If an active Being produces an Effect in another Being, about which his Activity is conversant, the Effect being the Fruit of his Activity, his Activity must be first exercised or exerted, and the Effect of it must follow. So it must be, with equal Reason, if the active Being is his own Object, and his Activity is conversant about Himself, to produce and determine some Effect in hi•••lf; still the Exercise of his Activity must go before the Effect, which he brings to pass and determines by it. And therefore his Activity can't be the Cause of the Determination of the first Action, or Exercise of Activity it self, whence the Effects of Activity arise; for that would imply a Contradiction; It would be to say, the first Exercise of Activity is before the first Exercise of Activity, and is the Cause of it.