N05663:477
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.
And if self-determining Power in the Will be necessary to moral Agency, Praise, Blame, &c. then nothing done by the Will can be any further Praise or Blame-worthy, than so far as the Will is moved, swayed and determined by it self, and the Scales turned by the sovereign Power the Will has over it self. And therefore the Will must not be put out of it's Balance already▪ the Preponderation must not be determined and effected before-hand; and so the self-determining Act anticipated. Thus it appears another Way, that habitual Bias is inconsistent with that Liberty which Arminians suppose to be necessary to Virtue or Vice; and so it follows, that habitual Bias it self cannot be either virtuous or vicious.
And if self-determining Power in the Will be necessary to moral Agency, Praise, Blame, &c. then nothing done by the Will can be any further Praise or Blame-worthy, than so far as the Will is moved, swayed and determined by it self, and the Scales turned by the sovereign Power the Will has over it self. And therefore the Will must not be put out of it's Balance already▪ the Preponderation must not be determined and effected before-hand; and so the self-determining Act anticipated. Thus it appears another Way, that habitual Bias is inconsistent with that Liberty which Arminians suppose to be necessary to Vertue or Vice; and so it follows, that habitual Bias it self cannot be either vertuous or vicious.
The same Thing follows from their Doctrine concerning the Inconsistence of Necessity with Liberty, Praise, Dispraise, &c. None will deny, that Bias and Inclination may be so strong as to be invincible, and leave no Possibility of the Will's determining contrary to it; and so be attended with Necessity. This Dr. Whitby allows concerning the Will of God, Angels and glorified Saints, with Respect to Good; and the Will of Devils with Respect to Evil. Therefore if Necessity be inconsistent with Liberty; then when fixed Inclination is to such a Degree of Strength, it utterly excludes all Virtue, Vice, Praise ⟨p. 182⟩