



Produced by Keith G Richardson




EXAMINATION

OF

EDWARDS ON THE WILL.




AN EXAMINATION

OF

PRESIDENT EDWARDS' INQUIRY

INTO THE

FREEDOM OF THE WILL.


BY

ALBERT TAYLOR BLEDSOE.


"Man, as the minister and interpreter of nature, does and understands as
much as his observations on the order of nature, either with regard to
things or the mind, permit him, and neither knows more, nor is capable
of more."--_Novum Organum_.


PHILADELPHIA:

H. HOOKER, 16 SOUTH SEVENTH STREET.

1845.




ENTERED, according to act of Congress, in the year 1845, by H. HOOKER,
in the clerk's office of the District Court for the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania.


King & Baird, Printers, 9 George St.




TO

THE REV. WILLIAM SPARROW, D. D.

AS A TOKEN

OF ADMIRATION FOR HIS GENIUS,

AND

AFFECTIONATE REGARD FOR HIS VIRTUES,

This little Volume

IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED,

BY THE AUTHOR.




CONTENTS.

  INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

  SECTION I.
    OF THE POINT IN CONTROVERSY

  SECTION II.
    OF EDWARDS' USE OF THE TERM CAUSE

  SECTION III.
    THE INQUIRY INVOLVED IN A VICIOUS CIRCLE

  SECTION IV.
    VOLITION NOT AN EFFECT

  SECTION V.
    OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF REGARDING VOLITION AS AN EFFECT

  SECTION VI.
    OF THE MAXIM THAT EVERY EFFECT MUST HAVE A CAUSE

  SECTION VII.
    OF THE APPLICATION OF THE MAXIM THAT EVERY EFFECT MUST HAVE A CAUSE

  SECTION VIII.
    OF THE RELATION BETWEEN THE FEELINGS AND THE WILL

  SECTION IX.
    OF THE LIBERTY OF INDIFFERENCE

  SECTION X.
    OF ACTION AND PASSION

  SECTION XI.
    OF THE ARGUMENT FROM THE FOREKNOWLEDGE OF GOD

  SECTION XII.
    OF EDWARDS' USE OF THE TERM NECESSITY

  SECTION XIII.
    OF NATURAL AND MORAL NECESSITY

  SECTION XIV.
    OF EDWARDS' IDEA OF LIBERTY

  SECTION XV.
    OF EDWARDS' IDEA OF VIRTUE

  SECTION XVI.
    OF THE SELF-DETERMINING POWER

  SECTION XVII.
    OF THE DEFINITION OF A FREE-AGENT

  SECTION XVIII.
    OF THE TESTIMONY OF CONSCIOUSNESS




INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

I ENTERED upon an examination of the "Inquiry" of President Edwards, not
with a view to find any fallacy therein, but simply with a desire to
ascertain the truth for myself. If I have come to the conclusion, that
the whole scheme of moral necessity which Edwards has laboured to
establish, is founded in error and delusion; this has not been because I
came to the examination of his work with any preconceived opinion. In
coming to this conclusion I have disputed every inch of the ground with
myself, as firmly and as resolutely as I could have done with an
adversary. The result has been, that the views which I now entertain, in
regard to the philosophy of the will, are widely different from those
usually held by the opponents of moral necessity, as well as from those
which are maintained by its advocates.

The formation of these views, whether they be correct or not, has been
no light task. Long have I struggled under the stupendous difficulties
of the subject. Long has darkness, a deep and perplexing darkness,
seemed to rest upon it. Faint glimmerings of light have alternately
appeared and disappeared. Some of these have returned at intervals,
while others have vanished for ever. Some have returned, and become less
wavering, and led on the mind to other regions of mingled obscurity and
light. Gladly and joyfully have I followed. By patient thought, and
sustained attention, these faint glimmerings have, in more instances
than one, been made to open out into what has appeared to be the clear
and steady light of truth. If these are not mere fond illusions, the
true intellectual system of the world is far different from that which
has been constructed by the logic of President Edwards.

If his system be false, why, it may be asked, has the Inquiry so often
appeared to be unanswerable? Why has it been supposed, even by some of
the advocates of free agency, that logic is in favour of his system,
while consciousness only is in favour of ours? One reason of this
opinion is, that it has been taken for granted, that either the scheme
of President Edwards or that of his opponents must be true; and hence,
his system has appeared to stand upon immoveable ground,