N05663:495

A careful and strict enquiry into the modern prevailing notions of that freedom of…

Name: A careful and strict enquiry into the modern prevailing notions of that freedom of…
Author: Jonathan Edwards

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]

Jonathan Edwards 1703–1758printed by S. Kneeland, 1754

[2], vi, [4], 294, [14] p. ; 20 cm. (8vo) · 127k words · Evans 7187

Title page: Princeton Theological Seminary Library copy, digitized by the Internet Archive (opens the Internet Archive in a new tab)

Part 3 › Section 7: Arminian Notions of moral Agency inconsistent with all Influence of Motive and Induceme…

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.

[ Earlier:492–507 of 753

:492p. 188

Now let it be considered, whether these Things are agreeable to common Sense. If it should be allowed, that there are some Instances wherein the Soul chooses without any Motive, what Virtue can there be in such a Choice? I am sure, there is no Prudence or Wisdom in it. Such a Choice is made for no good End; for it is for no End at all. If it were for any End, the View of the End would be the Motive exciting to the Act; and if the Act be for no good End, and so from no good Aim, then there is no good Intention in it: And therefore, according to all our natural Notions of Virtue, no more Virtue in it than in the Motion of the Smoke, which is driven to and fro by the Wind, without any Aim or End in the Thing moved, and which knows not whither, nor why and wherefore, it is moved.

Now let it be considered, whether these Things are agreable to common Sense. If it should be allowed, that there are some Instances wherein the Soul chuses without any Motive, what Vertue can there be in such a Choice? I am sure, there is no Prudence or Wisdom in it. Such a Choice is made for no good End; for it is for no End at all. If it were for any End, the View of the End would be the Motive exciting to the Act; and if the Act be for no good End, and so from no good Aim, then there is no good Intention in it: And therefore, according to all our natural Notions of Vertue, no more Vertue in it than in the Motion of the Smoke, which is driven to and fro by the Wind, without any Aim or End in the Thing moved, and which knows not whither, nor why and wherefore, it is moved.

:493p. 188–189

Corol. 1. By these Things it appears, that the Argument against the Calvinists, taken from the Use of Counsels, Exhortations, Invitations, Expostulations, &c. so much insisted on by Arminians, is truly against themselves. For these Things can operate no other Way to any good Effect, than as in them is exhibited Motive and Inducement, tending to excite and determine the Acts of the Will. But it follows on their Principles, that the Acts of Will excited by such Causes, can't be virtuous; because so far as they are from these, they are not from the Will's self-determining Power. Hence it will follow, that it is not worth the while to offer any Arguments to persuade Men to any virtuous Volition or voluntary

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The book

Title as printed

Author

Jonathan Edwards 1703–1758

Printer

S. Kneeland

Year

1754

Size

[2], vi, [4], 294, [14] p. ; 20 cm. (8vo)

Words

127,416

Catalogue

Evans 7187

Text

Evans-TCP N05663

Passages

753

Sections

Title page

A careful and strict enquiry into the modern prevailing notions of that freedom of…

PART IV. Wherein the chief Grounds of the Reasonings of Arminians, in Support and Defence of the forementioned Notions of Liberty, moral Agency, &c. and against the opposite Doctrine, are considered.

PART IV. Wherein the chief Grounds of the Reasonings of Arminians, in Support and Defence of the foremention'd Notions of Liberty, moral Agency, &c. and against the opposite Doctrine, are considered.

SECTION I. The Essence of the Virtue and Vice of Dispositions of the Heart, and Acts of the Will, lies not in their Cause, but their Nature.

SECTION I. The Essence of the Vertue and Vice of Dispositions of the Heart, and Acts of the Will, lies not in their Cause, but their Nature.

Transcription key

Reformers309

Puritans1,782

Westminster Assembly24

Evangelicals36

PART IV. Wherein the chief Grounds of the Reasonings of Arminians, in Support and Defence of the forementioned Notions of Liberty, moral Agency, &c. and against the opposite Doctrine, are considered.

PART IV. Wherein the chief Grounds of the Reasonings of Arminians, in Support and Defence of the foremention'd Notions of Liberty, moral Agency, &c. and against the opposite Doctrine, are considered.

SECTION I. The Essence of the Virtue and Vice of Dispositions of the Heart, and Acts of the Will, lies not in their Cause, but their Nature.

SECTION I. The Essence of the Vertue and Vice of Dispositions of the Heart, and Acts of the Will, lies not in their Cause, but their Nature.

Transcription key