Doctrine of the Will

WE come now to consider the great and fundamental characteristic of the Will, that by which it is, in a special sense, distinguished from each of the other mental faculties, to...

WE now come to a consideration of one of the great questions bearing upon our personal investigations--the proposition maintained by Necessitarians, as a chief pillar of their t...

THE Will, as I have already said, exists in a trinity with the Intelligence and Sensibility. In respect to the operations of the different departments of our mental being, I lay...

EVERY perception, every judgment, every thought, which appears within the entire sphere of the Intelligence; every sensation, every emotion, every desire, all the states of the...

THE doctrine of the Will is a cardinal doctrine of theology, as well as of mental philosophy. This doctrine, to say the least, is one of the great central points, from which the...

WE are now prepared to consider the question, whether each moral act, or exercise, is not always of a character purely unmixed? In other words, whether every such act, or intent...

THE Will, sustaining the relation it does to the Intelligence and Sensibility, must yield itself to the control of one or the other of these departments of our nature. In all ac...

IT is an old maxim, that the Will governs the understanding. It becomes a very important inquiry with us, To what extent, and in what sense, is this maxim true? It is undeniable...

1. An objection, often adduced, to the entire view of the subject presented in this Treatise, demands a passing notice here. All things in existence, it is said, and the Will am...

THE argument on which Necessitarians chiefly rely, against the doctrine of Liberty, and in support of that of Necessity, is based upon the Divine prescience of human conduct. Th...

In this last position, as I have already said, there is a universal agreement among moral philosophers. We may also safely assume the same as a first truth of the universal Inte...

A VERY common impression exists,--an impression universal among those who hold the doctrine of Necessity,--that the doctrine of Liberty, as maintained in this Treatise, renders...

EVERY individual who has reflected with any degree of interest upon the operations of his own mind, cannot have failed to notice three classes of mental phenomena, each of which...

WHILE it is maintained, that, in the sense defined in the preceding chapter, the Will is free, it is also affirmed that, in other respects, it is not free at all. It should be b...

ALL truth is in harmony with itself. Every particular truth is, and must be, in harmony with every other truth. If the doctrine of Necessity be assumed as true, we must take one...

THERE are, among others, two senses of the term Liberty, which ought to be carefully distinguished from each other. In the first sense, it stands opposed to Necessity; in the se...

IN accounting for the existence and formation of peculiarities of character, individual, social, and national, two elements only are commonly taken into consideration, the _natu...

CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS.--Objection, The Will has its Laws--Objection, God dethroned from his Supremacy if the Doctrine of Liberty is true--Great and good Men have held the doctr...

LIBERTY AND NECESSITY.--Terms defined--Characteristics of the above Definitions--Motive defined--Liberty as opposed to Necessity, the Characteristic of the Will--Objections to D...

GREATEST APPARENT GOOD.--Phrase defined--Its meaning according to Edwards--The Will not always as the Dictates of the Intelligence--Not always as the strongest desire--Nor as th...

INFLUENCE OF THE WILL IN INTELLECTUAL JUDGMENTS.--Men often voluntary in their Opinions--Error not from the Intelligence, but Will--Primary Faculties cannot err--So of the secon...

RELATIONS OF THE WILL TO THE INTELLIGENCE AND SENSIBILITY, IN STATES MORALLY RIGHT, OR WRONG.--Those who are and are not virtuous, how distinguished--Selfishness and Benevolence...

ELEMENT OF THE WILL IN COMPLEX PHENOMENA.--Natural Propensities--Sensation, Emotion, Desire, and Wish defined--Anger, Pride, Ambition, &c.--Religious Affections--Repentance--Lov...

DOCTRINE OF LIBERTY AND THE DIVINE PURPOSES AND AGENCY.--God's Purposes consistent with the Liberty of Creatures--Senses in which God purposed moral Good and Evil--Death of the...

LIBERTY AND DEPENDENCE.--Common Impression--Spirit of Dependence--Doctrine of Necessity tends not to induce this Spirit--Doctrine of Liberty does--God controls all Influences un...