N05663:236
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.
SECTION X. Volition necessarily connected with the Influence of Motives; with particular Observations on the great Inconsistence of Mr. Chubb's Assertions and Reasonings, about the Freedom of the Will.
THAT every Act of the Will has some Cause, and consequently (by what has been already proved) has a necessary Connection with it's Cause, and so is necessary by a Necessity of Connection and Consequence, is evident by th•s, That every Act of the Will whatsoever, is ex••ted by some Motive: Which is manifest, because, if the Will or Mind, in willing and choosing after the Manner that it does, is excited so to do by no […] or Inducement, th•n it has no End which it proposes […] it self, or pursues in so doing; it aims at Nothing, and […] Nothing. And if it seeks Nothing, then it don't go after any Thing, or exert any Inclination or Preference towards any Thing. Which brings the Matter to a Contradiction; Because for the Mind to will something, and for it to go after something by an Act of Preference and Inclination, are the same Thing.
THAT every Act of the Will has some Cause, and consequently (by what has been already proved) has a necessary Connection with it's Cause, and so is necessary by a Nec•ssity of Connection and Consequence, is evident by th•s, That every Act of the Will whatsoever, is ex••ted by some Motive: Which is •anifest, because, if the Will or Mind, in willing and chusing after the Manner that it does, is excited so to do by no 〈…〉 or Inducement, th•n it has no End which it proposes 〈…〉 it self, or pursues in so doing; it aims at Nothing, and 〈…〉 Nothing. And if it seks Nothing, then it don't go after any Thing, or exert any Inclination or Preference towards any Thing. Which brings the Matter to a Contradiction; Because for the Mind to will something, and for it to go after something by an Act of Preference and Inclination, are the same Thing.