N05663:303
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
Part 2 › Section 11: The Evidence of GOD's certain Foreknowledge of the Volitions of moral Agents.
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.
But in Consequence of this Accident, Darius, the Son of His•aspes, was King. And if this had not been, probably his Successor would not have been the same, and all the Circumstances of the Persian Empire might have been far otherwise. And then perhaps Alexander might never have conquered that Empire. And then probably the Circumstances of the World in all succeeding Ages, might have been vastly otherwise. I might further instance in many other Occurrences; such as those on which depended Alexander's ⟨p. 110⟩Preservation, in the many critical Junctures of his Life, wherein a small Trifle would have turned the Scale against him; and the Preservation and Success of the Roman People, in the Infancy of their Kingdom and Common-Wealth, and afterwards; which all the succeeding Changes in their State, and the mighty Revolutions that afterwards came to pass in the habitable World, depended upon. But these Hints may be sufficient for every discerning considerate Person, to convince him, that the whole State of the World of Mankind, in all Ages, and the very Being of every Person who has ever lived in it, in every Age, since the Times of the ancient Prophets, has depended on more Volitions, or Acts of the Wills of Men, than there are Sands on the Sea-shore.
But in Consequence of this Accident, Darius, the Son of His•aspes, was King. And if this had not been, probably his Successor would not have been the same, and all the Circumstances of the Persian Empire might have been far otherwise. And then perhaps Alexander might never have conquered that Empire. And then probably the Circumstances of the World in all succeeding Ages, might have been vastly otherwise. I might further instance in many other Occurrences; such as those on which depended Alexander's ⟨p. 110⟩Preservation, in the many critical Junctures of his Life, wherein a small Trifle would have turned the Scale against him; and the Preservation and Success of the Roman People, in the Infancy of their Kingdom and Common-Wealth, and afterwards; which all the succeeding Changes in their State, and the mighty Revolutions that afterwards came to pass in the habitable World, depended upon. But these Hints may be sufficient for every discerning considerate Person, to convince him, that the whole State of the World of Mankind, in all Ages, and the very Being of every Person who has ever lived in it, in every Age, since the Times of the ancient Prophets, has depended on more Volitions, or Acts of the Wills of Men, than there are Sands on the Sea-shoar.