An Address to Dr. Priestly, Upon His Doctrine of Philosophical Necessity Illustrated

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T. Cadell, 1780 - Free will and determinism - 136 pages

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Page 11 - ... according to the established laws of nature no event could have been otherwise than it has been, is, or is to be, and therefore all things past, present, and to come are precisely what the Author of nature really intended them to be, and has made provision for.
Page 109 - And I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God; for they shall return unto Me with their whole heart.
Page 116 - I thank thee, (») O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou haft hid thefe things from the wife and prudent, and haft revealed them unto babes : even fo, 32 Father, for fo it feemed good in thy fight.
Page 112 - That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and...
Page 10 - ... and, confequently, that it is never determined without fome real or apparent caufe, foreign to itfelf, ie without fome motive of choice, or that motives influence us in fome definite and invariable manner ; fo that every volition, or choice, is conftantly regulated, and determined, by what precedes it.
Page 111 - He who hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the Day of CHRIST JESUS.
Page 126 - ... that his own dispositions and actions are the necessary and sole means of his present and future happiness ; so that, in the most proper sense of the words, it depends entirely on himself, whether he be virtuous or vicious, happy or miserable. 3. The Calvinistic system entirely excludes the popular notion of free-will ; viz. the liberty or power of doing what we please, virtuous or -vicious, as belonging to every person, in every situation ; which is perfectly consistent -with the doctrine of...
Page 92 - Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil ; that put darknefs for light, and light for darknefs ; that put bitter for fweet, and fweet for bitter.
Page 27 - This theory may appear fpecious : but it feems to run counter to all experience : and the contrary, if I miftake not, is felf-evident. I fit at this inftant at my eafe, in a calm and difpaffionate ftate of mind ; as you are pleafed Sir, to recommend *. I perceive myfelf at full liberty : and know not of any external impulfe to determine me either in my thoughts or actions. I purpofe to move : but antecedently examine, whether I am under any bias, or neceffity : or directed by any foreign power.
Page 90 - But did not this writer know, what is known to all the world, that the motive, or intention, with which a thing is done, is the...

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