N05663:90
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 4: Of the Distinction of natural and moral Necessity, and Inability.
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.
By natural Necessity, as applied to Men, I mean such Necessity as Men are under through the Force of natural Causes; as distinguished from what are called moral Causes, such as Habits and Dispositions of the Heart, and moral Motives and Inducements. Thus Men placed in certain Circumstances, are the Subjects of particular Sensations by Necessity: They feel Pain when their Bodies are wounded; they see the Objects presented before them in a clear Light, when their Eyes are opened: so they assent to the Truth of certain Propositions, as soon as the Terms are understood; as that two and two make four, that black is not white, that two parallel Lines can never cross one another: so by a natural Necessity Men's Bodies move downwards, when there is nothing to support them.
By natural Necessity, as applied to Men, I mean such Necessity as Men are under through the Force of natural Causes; as distinguish'd from what are called moral Causes, such as Habits and Dispositions of the Heart, and moral Motives and Inducements. Thus Men placed in certain Circumstances, are the Subjects of particular Sensations by Necessity: They feel Pain when their Bodies are wounded; they see the Objects presented before them in a clear Light, when their Eyes are open'd: so they assent to the Truth of certain Propositions, as soon as the Terms are understood; as that two and two make four, that black is not white, that two parallel Lines can never cross one another: so by a natural Necessity Men's Bodies move downwards, when there is nothing to support them.
But here several Things may be noted concerning these two Kinds of Necessity.
1. Moral Necessity may be as absolute, as natural Necessity. That is, the Effect may be as perfectly connected with its moral Cause, as a naturally necessary Effect is with it's natural Cause. Whether the Will in every Case is necessarily determined by the strongest Motive, or whether the Will ever makes any Resistance to such a Motive, or can ever oppose the strongest present Inclination, or not; if that Matter should be controverted, yet I suppose none will deny, but that, in