volitions, destroy the blameworthiness and the praiseworthiness of the
volitions. We are blameworthy or praiseworthy according to the character
of the volitions in themselves, considered and judged according to the
rule of right, without considering how these volitions came to exist.
The last inquiry is altogether of a philosophical or metaphysical kind,
and not of a moral kind, or that kind which relates to moral agency,
responsibility, and duty.
And so also we are blameworthy or praiseworthy for doing or not doing
external actions, so far only as these actions are naturally connected
with volitions, as sequents with their stated antecedents. If the action
is one which ought to be done, we are responsible for the doing of it,
if we know that upon our willing it, it will be done; although at this
very moment there is no such correlation between the action and the
will, as to form the motive or cause upon which the existence of the act
of willing depends. If the action is one which ought not to be done, we
are guilty for doing it, when we know that if we were not to will it, it
would not be done; although at this very moment there is such a
correlation between the action, and the state of the will, as to form
the cause or motive by which the act of willing comes necessarily to
exist. The metaphysical or philosophical inquiry respecting the
correlation of the state of the will and any action, or respecting the
want of such a correlation, is foreign to the question of duty and
responsibility. This question relates only to the volition and its
connexion with its consequents.
This does not clash at all with the common sentiment that our actions
are to be judged of by our motives; for this sentiment does not respect
volitions in relation to their cause, but external actions in relation
to the volitions which produce them. These external actions may be in
themselves good, but they may not be what was willed; some other force
or power may have come in between the volition and its object, and
changed the circumstances of the object, so as to bring about an event
different from the will or intention; although being in connexion with
the agent, it may still be attributed to his will: or the immediate act
which appears good, may, in the mind of the agent be merely part of an
extended plan or chain of volitions, whose last action or result is
evil. It is common, therefore, to say of an external action, we must
know what the man intends, before we pronounce upon him; which is the
same thing as to say we must know what his volition really is, or what
his motive is--that is, not the cause which produces his volition, but
the volition which is aiming at effects, and is the motive and cause of
these effects;--which again, is the same thing as to say, that before we
can pronounce upon his conduct, we must know what effects he really
intends or wills, or desires, that is, what it is which is really
connected in his mind with the sense of the most agreeable.
_Edwards and Locke._
Their systems are one: there is no difference in the principle. Edwards
represents the will as necessarily determined so does Locke. Edwards
places liberty in the unimpeded connexion of volition with its stated
sequents--so does Locke.
They differ only in the mode of developing the necessary determination
of will. According to Locke, desire is in itself a necessary
modification of our being produced in its correlation with objects; and
volition is a necessary consequent of desire when excited at any given
moment to a degree which gives the most intense sense of uneasiness at
that moment. "The greatest present uneasiness is the spur of action that
is constantly felt, and for the most part, determines the will in its
choice of the next action." (book 2. ch. 21, Sec. 40.) According to
Edwards, desire is not distinguishable from will as a faculty, and the
strongest desire, at any moment, is the volition of that moment.
Edwards's analysis is more nice than Locke's, and his whole developement
more true to the great principle of the system--necessary determination.
Locke, in distinguishing the will from the desire, seems about to launch
into a different psychology, and one destructive of the principle.
II.
THE LEGITIMATE CONSEQUENCES OF EDWARDS'S SYSTEM.
These consequences must, I am aware, be deduced with the greatest care
and clearness. The deduction must be influenced by no passion or
prejudice. It must be purely and severely logical--and such I shall
endeavour to make it. I shall begin with a deduction which Edwards has
himself made.
I. There is no self-determining power of will, and of course no liberty
consisting in a self-determining power.
A self-determining power of will is a supposed power, which will has to
determine its own volitions.
Will is the faculty of choice, or the capacity of desire, emotion, or
passion.
Volition is the strongest desire, or the sense of the most agreeable at
any given moment.
Volition arises from the state of the mind, or of the will, or
sensitivity itself, in correlation with the nature and circumstances of
the object.
Now, if the will determined itself, it would determine its own state, in
relation to objects. But to determine is to act, and therefore, for the
will to determine is for the will to act; and for the will to determine
itself, is for the will to determine itself by an act. But an act of the
will is a volition; therefore for the will to determine itself is to
create a volition by a volition. But then we have to account for this
antecedent volition, and it can be accounted for only in the same way.
We shall then have an infinite, or more properly, an indefinite series
of volitions, without any first volition; consequently we shall have no
self-determiner after all, because we can arrive at no first determiner,
and thus the idea of self-determination becomes self-destructive. Again,
we shall have effects without a cause, for the series in the nature of
the case never ends in a first, which is a cause per se. Volitions are
thus contingent, using this word as a synonyme of chance, the negative
of cause.
Now that this is a legitimate deduction, no one can question. If
Edwards's psychology be right, and if self-determination implies a will
to will, or choosing a choice, then a self-determining power is the
greatest absurdity possible.
II. It is clearly deducible from this also, that God can exercise a
perfect control over his intelligent creatures, or administer perfectly
a moral government consisting in the influence of motives.
To any given state of mind, he can adapt motives in reference to
required determinations. And when an individual is removed from the
motives adapted to his state of mind, the Almighty Providence can so
order events as to bring him into contiguity with the motives.
If the state of mind should be such that no motives can be made
available in reference to a particular determination, it is dearly
supposable that he who made the soul of man, may exert a direct
influence over this state of mind, and cause it to answer to the motives
presented. Whether there are motives adapted to every state of mind, in
reference to every possible determination required by the Almighty
Lawgiver, so as to render it unnecessary to exert a direct influence
over the will, is a question which I am not called upon here to answer.
But in either case, the divine sovereignty, perfect and absolute,
fore-determining and bringing to pass every event in the moral as well
as the physical world; and the election of a certain number to eternal
life, and the making of this election sure, are necessary and plain
consequences of this system. And as God is a being all-wise and good, we
may feel assured in connexion with this system, that, in the working out
of his great plan, whatever evil may appear in the progress of its
developement, the grand consummation will show that all things have been
working together for good.
III. It is plainly deducible from this system that moral beings exert an
influence over each other by the presentation of motives. And thus
efforts may be made either to the injury or benefit of society.
IV. If, as Edwards contends, the sense of responsibility, the
consciousness of guilt or of rectitude, and consequently the expectation
of punishment or reward, connect themselves simply with the nature of
the mere fact of volition.--that is, if this is a true and complete
representation of consciousness in relation to this subject, then upon
the mere fact of volition considered only in its own nature, and wholly
independently of its causes, can the processes of justice go forth.
Thus we may view the system in relation both to God and to man.
In relation to God. It makes him supreme and absolute--foreseeing and
fore-determining, and bringing everything to pass according to infinite
wisdom, and by the energy of an infinite will.
In relation to man. It shuts him up to the consideration of the simple
fact of volition, and its connexion as a stated or established
antecedent with certain effects. He is free to accomplish these effects,
because he can accomplish them if he will. He is free to forbear,
because he can forbear if he will. It is affirmed to be the common
judgement of men, and of course universally a fact of consciousness,
that an individual is fully responsible for the doing of anything which
ought to be done, if nothing is wanting to the doing of it but a
volition: that he is guilty and punishable for doing anything wrong,
because it was done by his volition: that he is praiseworthy and to be
rewarded for doing anything right, because it was done by his volition.
In vain does he attempt to excuse himself from right-doing on the plea
of _moral inability;_ this is _metaphysical_ inability, and transcends
the sphere of volition. He can do it if he will--and therefore he has
all the ability required in the case. Nothing is immediately wanting but
a willingness, and all his responsibility relates to this; he can do
nothing, can influence nothing, except by will; and therefore that which
goes before will is foreign to his consideration, and impossible to his
effort.
In vain does he attempt to excuse himself for wrong-doing on the ground
of moral _necessity_. This _moral necessity_ is _metaphysical_
necessity, and transcends the sphere of volition. He could have forborne
to do wrong, if he had had the will. Whatever else may have been
wanting, there was not wanting to a successful resistance of evil,
anything with which the agent has any concern, and for which he is under
any responsibility, but the volition. By his volitions simply is he to
be tried. No court of justice, human or divine, that we can conceive of,
could admit the plea--"I did not the good because I had not the will to
do it," or "I did the evil because I had the will to do it." "This is
your guilt," would be the reply of the judge, "that you had no will to
do the good--that you had a will to do the evil."
We must now take up a different class of deductions. They are such as
those abettors of this system who wish to sustain the great interests of
morality and religion do not make, but strenuously contend against. If
however they are logical deductions, it is in vain to contend against
them. I am conscious of no wish to _force_ them upon the system, and do
most firmly believe that they are logical. Let the reader judge for
himself, but let him judge _thoughtfully_ and _candidly_.
I. The system of Edwards leads to an absolute and unconditional
necessity, particular and general.
1. A particular necessity--a necessity absolute in relation to the
individual.
It is granted in the system, that the connexion of motive and volition
is necessary with an absolute necessity, because this precedes and
therefore is not within the reach of the volition. So also, the state of
mind, and the nature and circumstances of the object in relation to this
state, forming a correlation, in which lies the motive, is dependent
upon a cause, beyond the reach of volition. As the volition cannot make
its motive, so neither can the volition make the cause of its motive,
and so on in the retrogression of causes, back to the first cause.
Hence, all the train of causes preceding the volition are related by an
absolute necessity; and the volition itself, as the effect of motive,
being necessary also with an absolute necessity, the only place for
freedom that remains, if freedom be possible, is the connexion of
volition and effects, internal and external. And this is the only place
of freedom which this system claims. But what new characteristic appears
in this relation? Have we here anything beyond stated antecedents and
sequents? I will to walk, and I walk; I will to talk, and I talk; I will
to sit down, and I sit down. The volition is an established antecedent
to these muscular movements. So also, when I will to think on a certain
subject, I think on that subject. The volition of selecting a subject,
and the volition of attending to it, are stated antecedents to that
mental operation which we call thought. We have here only another
instance of cause and effect; the relation being one as absolute and
necessary as any other relation of cause and effect. The curious
organism by which a choice or a sense of the most agreeable produces
muscular movement, has not been arranged by any choice of the individual
man. The connexion is pre-established for him, and has its cause beyond
the sphere of volition. The constitution of mind which connects volition
with thinking is also pre-established, and beyond the sphere of
volition. As the volition itself appears by an absolute necessity in
relation to the individual man, so also do the stated sequents or
effects of volition appear by an absolute necessity in relation to him.
It is true, indeed, that the connexion between volition and its objects
may be interrupted by forces coming between, or overcome by superior
forces, but this is common to cause and effect, and forms no peculiar
characteristic; it is a lesser force necessarily interrupted or overcome
by a greater. Besides, the interruption or the overcoming of a force
does not prove its freedom when it is unimpeded; its movement may still
be necessitated by an antecedent force. And this is precisely the truth
in respect of volition, according to this system. The volition could
have no being without a motive, and when the motive is present it must
have a being, and no sooner does it appear than its effects follow,
unless impeded. If impeded, then we have two trains of causes coming
into collision, and the same necessity which brought them together,
gives the ascendency to the one or the other.
It seems to me impossible to resist the conclusion, that necessity,
absolute and unconditional, as far at least as the man himself is
concerned, reigns in the relation of volition and its effect, if the
volition itself be a necessary existence. All that precedes volition is
necessary; volition itself is necessary. All that follows volition is
necessary: Humanity is but a link of the inevitable chain.
2. General necessity--a necessity absolute, in relation to all being and
causality, and applicable to all events.
An event proved to be necessary in relation to an individual--is this
event likewise necessary in the whole train of its relations? Let this
event be a volition of a given individual; it is necessary in relation
to that individual. Now it must be supposed to have a connexion by a
chain of sequents and antecedents with a first cause. Let us now take
any particular antecedent and sequent in the chain, and that antecedent
and sequent, in its particular place and relations, can be proved
necessary in the same way that the volition is proved necessary in its
particular place and relations; that is, the antecedent being given
under the particular circumstances, the sequent must follow. But the
antecedent is linked by like necessity to another antecedent, of which
it is the sequent; and the sequent is linked by like necessity to
another sequent, of which it is the antecedent; and thus the whole
chain, from the given necessary volition up to the first cause, is
necessary. We come therefore at last to consider the connexion between
the first sequent and the first antecedent, or the first cause. Is this
a necessary connexion? If that first antecedent be regarded as a
volition, then the connexion must be necessary. If God will the first
sequent, then it was absolutely necessary that that sequent should
appear. But the volition itself cannot really be the first antecedent or
cause, because volition or choice, from its very nature, must itself
have a determiner or antecedent. What is this antecedent? The
motive:--for self-determination, in the sense of the will determining
itself, would involve the same absurdities on this system in relation to
God as in relation to man; since it is represented as an absurdity in
its own nature--it is determining a volition by a volition, in endless
retrogression. As the motive therefore determines the divine volition,
what is the nature of the connexion between the motive and the volition?
It cannot but be a necessary connexion; for there is nothing to render
it otherwise, save the divine will. But the divine will cannot be
supposed to do this, for the motive is already taken to be the ground
and cause of the action of the divine will. The necessity which applies
to volition, in the nature of the case must therefore apply to the
divine volition. No motives, indeed, can be supposed to influence the
divine will, except those drawn from his infinite intelligence, wisdom,
and goodness; but then the connexion between these motives and the
divine volitions is a connexion of absolute necessity. This Edwards
expressly affirms--"If God's will is steadily and surely determined in
everything by _supreme_ wisdom, then it is in everything _necessarily
determined_ to that which is _most_ wise." (p. 230.) That the universe
is governed by infinite wisdom, is a glorious and satisfactory thought,
and is abundantly contended for by this system; but still it is a
government of necessity. This may be regarded as the most excellent
government, and if it be so regarded it may fairly be contended for. Let
us not, however, wander from the question, and in representing it as the
government of wisdom, forget that it is a government of necessity, and
that absolute. The volition, therefore, with which we started, is at
last traced up to a necessary and infinite wisdom as its first and final
cause; for here the efficient cause and the motive are indeed one.
What we have thus proved in relation to one volition, must be equally
true in reference to every other volition and every other event, for the
reasoning must apply to every possible case. Every volition, every
event, must be traced up to a first and final cause, and this must be
necessary and infinite wisdom.
II. It follows, therefore, from this system, that every volition or
event is both necessary, and necessarily the best possible in its place
and relations.
The whole system of things had its origin in infinite and necessary
wisdom. All volitions and events have their last and efficient cause in
infinite and necessary wisdom. All that has been, all that is, all that
can be, are connected by an absolute necessity with the same great
source. It would be the height of absurdity to suppose it possible for
any thing to be different from what it is, or to suppose that any change
could make any thing better than it is; for all that is, is by absolute
necessity,--and all that is, is just what and where infinite wisdom has
made it, and disposed of it.
III. If that which we call evil, in reality be evil, then it must be
both necessary evil and evil having its origin in infinite wisdom. It is
in vain to say that man is the agent, in the common acceptation of the
word; that he is the author, because the particular volitions are his.
These volitions are absolutely necessary, and are necessarily carried
back to the one great source of all being and events. Hence,
IV. The creature man cannot be blameable. Every volition which appears
in him, appears by an absolute necessity,--and it cannot be supposed to
be otherwise than it is. Now the ground of blameworthiness is not only
the perception of the difference between right and wrong, and the
conviction that the right ought to be done, but the possession of a
power to do the right and refrain from the wrong. But if every volition
is fixed by an absolute necessity, then neither can the individual be
supposed to have power to do otherwise than he actually does, nor, all
things considered, can it be supposed there could have been, at that
precise moment and in that precise relation, any other volition. The
volition is fixed, and fixed by an infinite and necessary wisdom. We
cannot escape from this difficulty by perpetually running the changes
of--"He can if he will,"--"He could if he would,"--"There is nothing
wanting but a will,"--"He has a natural ability," &c. &c. Let us not
deceive ourselves, and endeavour to stop thought and conclusions by
these words, "he can if he will"! but he cannot if he don't will. The
will is wanting,--and while it is wanting, the required effect cannot
appear. And how is that new volition or antecedent to be obtained? The
man cannot change one volition for another. By supposition, he has not
the moral or metaphysical ability,--and yet this is the only ability
that can produce the new volition. It is passing strange that the power
upon which volition is absolutely dependent, should be set aside by
calling it _metaphysical_,--and the man blamed for an act because the
consequent of his volition, when the volition itself is the necessary
consequent of this power! The man is only in his volition. The volition
is good or bad in itself. The cause of volition is none of his concern,
because it transcends volition. He can if he will. That is enough for
him! But it is not enough to make him blameable, when whether he will or
not depends not only upon an antecedent out of his reach, but the
antecedent itself is fixed by a necessity in the divine nature itself.
I am not now disputing the philosophy. The philosophy may be true; it
may be very good: but then we must take its consequences along with it;
and this is all that I now insist upon.
V. It is another consequence of this system, that there can be nothing
evil in itself. If infinite wisdom and goodness are the highest form of
moral perfection, as indeed their very names imply, then all the
necessary consequences of these must partake of their nature. Infinite
wisdom and goodness, as principles, can only envelope parts of
themselves. It would be the destruction of all logic to deny this. It
would annihilate every conclusion that has ever been drawn. If it be
said that infinite wisdom has promulged a law which defines clearly what
is essentially right, and that it is a fact that volitions do transgress
this law, still this cannot affect what is said above. The promulgation
of the law was a necessary developement of infinite wisdom; and the
volition which transgresses it is a developement of the same nature. If
this seems contradictory, I cannot help it. It is drawn from the system,
and the system alone is responsible for its conclusions.
If it should be replied here, that every system must be subject to the
same difficulty, because if evil had a beginning, it must have had a
holy cause, inasmuch as it could not exist before it began to exist,--I
answer, this would be true if evil is the _necessary_ developement of a
holy cause. But more of this hereafter.