N05663:35
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 1 › Section 2: Concerning the Determination of the Will.
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.
To talk of the Determination of the Will, supposes an Effect, which must have a Cause. If the Will be determined, there is a Determiner. This must be supposed to be intended even by them that say, the Will determines itself. If it be so, the Will is both Determiner & determined; it is a Cause that acts and produces Effects upon it self, and is the Object of its own Influence and Action.
To talk of the Determination of the Will, supposes an Effect, which must have a Cause. If the Will be det•rmined, there is a Determiner. This must be supposed to be intended even by them that say, the Will determines itself. If it be so, the Will is both Determin•r & determined; it is a Cause that acts and produces Effects upon it self, and is the Object of its own Influence and Action.
With respect to that grand Enquiry, What determines the Will, it would be very tedious and unnecessary at present to enumerate and examine all the various Opinions, which have been advanced concerning this Matter; nor is it needful that I should enter into a particular Disquisition of all Points debated in Disputes on that Question, Whether the Will always follows the last Dictate of the Understanding. It is sufficient to my present Purpose to say, — It is that Motive, which, as it stands in the View of the Mind, is the strongest, that determines the Will— But it may be necessary that I should a little explain my Meaning in this.
By Motive, I mean the whole of that which moves, excites or invites the Mind to Volition, whether that be one Thing singly, or many Things conjunctly. Many particular Things may concur and unite their Strength to induce the Mind; and when it is so, all together are as it were one complex Motive. And when I speak of the strongest Motive, I have Respect to the Strength of the whole that operates to induce to a particular Act of Volition, whether that be the Strength of one Thing alone, or of many together.