certainty implied in the divine foreknowledge, and the necessity implied
in the divine predetermination or decree, is the great source of
fallacious reasonings and conclusions respecting the divine prescience.
When God pre-determines or decrees, he fixes the event by a necessity
relative to himself as an infinite and irresistible cause. It cannot be
otherwise than it is decreed, while his decree remains. But when he
foreknows an event, he presents us merely a form of his infinite
intelligence, exerting no causative, and consequently no necessitating
influence whatever. The volitions which I am now conscious of
exercising, are just what they are, whether they have been foreseen or
not--and as they now do actually exist, they have certainty; and yet
they are contingent, because I am conscious that I have power not to
exercise them. They are, but they might not have been. Now let the
intelligence of God be so perfect, as five thousand years ago, to have
foreseen the volitions which I am now exercising; it is plain that this
foresight does not destroy the contingency of the volitions, nor does
the contingency render the foresight absurd. The supposition is both
rational and possible.
It is not necessary for us to consider the remaining corollaries of
Edwards, as the application of the above reasoning to them will be
obvious.
Before closing this part of the treatise in hand, I deem it expedient to
lay down something like a scale of certainty. In doing this, I shall
have to repeat some things. But it is by repetition, and by placing the
same things in new positions, that we often best attain perspicuity, and
succeed in rendering philosophical ideas familiar.
First: Let us consider minutely the distinction between certainty and
necessity. Necessity relates to truths and events considered in
themselves. Certainty relates to our apprehension or conviction of them.
Hence necessity is not certainty itself, but a ground of certainty.
_Absolute certainty_ relates only to truths or to being.
First or intuitive truths, and logical conclusions drawn from them, are
necessary with an absolute necessity. They do not admit of negative
suppositions, and are irrespective of will. The being of God, and time,
and space, are necessary with an absolute necessity.
_Relative necessity_ relates to logical conclusions and events or
phenomena. Logical conclusions are always necessary relatively to the
premises, but cannot be absolutely necessary unless the premises from
which they are derived, are absolutely necessary.
All phenomena and events are necessary with only a relative necessity;
for in depending upon causes, they all ultimately depend upon will.
Considered therefore in themselves, they are contingent; for the will
which produced them, either immediately or by second or dependent
causes, is not necessitated, but free and contingent--and therefore
their non-existence is supposable. But they are necessary relatively to
will. The divine will, which gave birth to creation, is infinite; when
therefore the _nibus_ of this will was made, creation was the necessary
result. The Deity is under no necessity of willing; but when he does
will, the effect is said necessarily to follow--meaning by this, that
the _nibus_ of the divine will is essential power, and that there is no
other power that can prevent its taking effect.
Created will is under no necessity of willing; but when it does will or
make its _nibus_, effects necessarily follow, according to the connexion
established by the will of Deity, between the _nibus_ of created will
and surrounding objects. Where a _nibus_ of created will is made, and
effects do not follow, it arises from the necessarily greater force of a
resisting power, established by Deity likewise; so that whatever follows
the _nibus_ of created will, whether it be a phenomenon without, or the
mere experience of a greater resisting force, it follows by a necessity
relative to the divine will.
When we come to consider will in relation to its own volitions, we have
no more necessity, either absolute er relative; we have contingency and
absolute freedom.
Now certainty we have affirmed to relate to our knowledge or conviction
of truths and events.
Necessity is one ground of certainty, both absolute and relative. We
have a certain knowledge or conviction of that which we perceive to be
necessary in its own nature, or of which a negative is not supposable;
and this, as based upon an _absolute necessity_, may be called an
absolute certainty.
The established connexion between causes and effects, is another ground
of certainty. Causes are of two kinds; first causes, or causes _per se_,
or contingent and free causes, or will; and second or physical causes,
which are necessary with a relative necessity.
First causes are of two degrees, the infinite and the finite.
Now we are certain, that whatever God wills, will take place. This may
likewise be called an absolute certainty, because the connexion between
divine volitions and effects is absolutely necessary. It is not
supposable that God should will in vain, for that would contradict his
admitted infinity.
The connexion between the volitions of created will and effects, and the
connexion between physical causes and effects, supposing each of course
to be in its proper relations and circumstances, is a connexion of
relative necessity; that is, relative to the divine will. Now the
certainty of our knowledge or conviction that an event will take place,
depending upon volition or upon a physical cause, is plainly different
from the certain knowledge of a necessary truth, or the certain
conviction that an event which infinite power wills, will take place.
The will which established the connexion, may at any moment suspend or
change the connexion. I believe that when I will to move my hand over
this paper, it will move, supposing of course the continued healthiness
of the limb; but it is possible for God so to alter the constitution of
my being, that my will shall have no more connexion with my hands than
it now has with the circulation of the blood. I believe also that if I
throw this paper into the fire, it will burn; but it is possible for God
so to alter the constitution of this paper or of fire, that the paper
will not burn; and yet I have a certain belief that my hand will
continue to obey volition, and that paper will burn in the fire. This
certainly is not an _absolute certainty_, but a _conditional_ certainty:
events will thus continue to take place on condition the divine will
does not change the condition of things. This conditional certainty is
likewise called a _physical_ certainty, because the events contemplated
include besides the phenomena of consciousness, which are not so
commonly noticed, the events or phenomena of the physical world, or
nature.
But we must next look at will itself in relation to its volitions: Here
all is contingency and freedom,--here is no necessity. Is there any
ground of certain knowledge respecting future volitions?
If will as a cause _per se_, were isolated and in no relation whatever,
there could not be any ground of any knowledge whatever, respecting
future volitions. But will is not thus isolated. On the contrary, it
forms a unity with the sensitivity and the reason. Reason reveals _what
ought to be done_, on the basis of necessary and unchangeable truth. The
sensitivity reveals what is most desirable or pleasurable, on the ground
of personal experience. Now although it is granted that will can act
without deriving a reason or inducement of action from the reason and
the sensitivity, still the instances in which it does so act, are so
rare and trifling, that they may be thrown out of the account. We may
therefore safely assume as a general law, that the will determines
according to reasons and inducements drawn from the reason and the
sensitivity. This law is not by its very definition, and by the very
nature of the subject to which it relates, a necessary law--but a law
revealed in our consciousness as one to which the will, in the exercise
of its freedom, does submit itself. In the harmony and perfection of our
being, the reason and the sensitivity perfectly accord. In obeying the
one or the other, the will obeys both. With regard to perfect beings,
therefore, we can calculate with certainty as to their volitions under
any given circumstances. Whatever is commanded by reason, whatever
appears attractive to the pure sensitivity, will be obeyed and followed.
But what kind of certainty is this? It is not absolute certainty,
because it is supposable that the will which obeys may not obey, for it
has power not to obey. Nor is it _physical_ certainty, for it does not
relate to a physical cause, nor to the connexion between volition and
its effects, but to the connexion between will and its volitions. Nor
again can we, strictly speaking, call it a _conditional_ certainty;
because the will, as a power _per se_, is under no conditions as to the
production of its volitions. To say that the volitions will be in
accordance with the reason and pure sensitivity, if the will continue to
obey the reason and pure sensitivity, is merely saying that the
volitions will be right if the willing power put forth right volitions.
What kind of certainty is it, then? I reply, it is a certainty
altogether peculiar,--a certainty based upon the relative state of the
reason and the sensitivity, and their unity with the will; and as the
commands of reason in relation to conduct have received the name of
_moral_[7] laws, simply because they have this relation,--and as the
sensitivity, when harmonizing with the reason, is thence called morally
pure, because attracting to the same conduct which the reason
commands,--this certainty may fitly be called _moral certainty_. The
name, however, does not mark _degree_. Does this certainty possess
degrees? It does. With respect to the volitions of God, we have the
highest degree of moral certainty,--an infinite moral certainty. He,
indeed, in his infinite will, has the power of producing any volitions
whatever; but from his infinite excellency, consisting in the harmony of
infinite reason with the divine affections of infinite benevolence,
truth, and justice, we are certain that his volitions will always be
right, good, and wise. Besides, he has assured us of his fixed
determination to maintain justice, truth, and love; and he has given us
this assurance as perfectly knowing himself in the whole eternity of his
being. Let no one attempt to confound this perfect moral certainty with
necessity, for the distinction is plain. If God's will were affirmed to
be necessarily determined in the direction of truth, righteousness, and
love, it would be an affirmation respecting the manner of the
determination of the divine will: viz.--that the divine determination
takes place, not in contingency and freedom, not with the power of
making an opposite determination, but in absolute necessity. But if it
be affirmed that God's will, will _certainly_ go in the direction of
truth, righteousness, and love, the affirmation respects our _knowledge_
and _conviction_ of the character of the divine volitions in the whole
eternity of his being. We may indeed proceed to inquire after the
grounds of this knowledge and conviction; and if the necessity of the
divine determinations be the ground of this knowledge and conviction, it
must be allowed that it is a sufficient ground. But will any man assume
that necessity is the _only_ ground of certain knowledge and conviction?
If necessity be universal, embracing all beings and events, then of
course there is no place for this question, inasmuch as any other ground
of knowledge than necessity is not supposable. But if, at least for the
sake of the argument, it be granted that there may be other grounds of
knowledge than necessity, then I would ask whether the infinite
excellence of the divine reason and sensitivity, in their perfect
harmony, does afford to us a ground for the most certain and
satisfactory belief that the divine will will create and mould all being
and order all events according to infinite wisdom and rectitude. In
order to have full confidence that God will forever do right, must we
know that his will is absolutely necessitated by his reason and his
affections? Can we not enjoy this confidence, while we allow him
absolute freedom of choice? Can we not believe that the Judge of all the
Earth will do right, although in his free and omnipotent will he have
the power to do wrong? And especially may we not believe this, when, in
his omniscience and his truth, he has declared that his purposes will
forever be righteous, benevolent, and wise? Does not the glory and
excellency of God appear in this,--that while he hath unlimited power,
he employs that power by his free choice, only to dispense justice,
mercy, and grace? And does not the excellency and meritoriousness of a
creature's faith appear in this,--that while God is known to be so
mighty and so absolute, he is confided in as a being who will never
violate any moral principle or affection? Suppose God's will to be
necessitated in its wise and good volitions,--the sun dispensing heat
and light, and by their agency unfolding and revealing the beauty of
creation, seems as truly excellent and worthy of gratitude,--and the
creature, exercising gratitude towards God and confiding in him, holds
no other relation to him than the sunflower to the sun--by a necessity
of its nature, ever turning its face upwards to receive the influences
which minister to its life and properties.
The moral certainty attending the volitions of created perfect beings is
the same in kind with that attending the volitions of the Deity. It is a
certainty based upon the relative state of the reason and the
sensitivity, and their unity with the will. Wherever the reason and the
sensitivity are in harmony, there is moral certainty. I mean by this,
that in calculating the character of future volitions in this case, we
have not to calculate the relative energy of opposing principles:--all
which is now existent is, in the constituted unity of the soul,
naturally connected only with good volitions. But the _degree_ of the
moral certainty in created beings, when compared with that attending the
volitions of Deity, is only in the proportion of the finite to the
infinite. The confidence which we repose in the integrity of a good
being, does not arise from the conviction that his volitions are
necessitated, but from his known habit of obeying truth and justice; and
our sense of his meritoriousness does not arise from the impossibility
of his doing wrong, but from his known determination and habit of doing
right while having the power of doing wrong, and while even under
temptations of doing wrong.
A certainty respecting volitions, if based upon the necessity of the
volitions, would not differ from a physical certainty. But a moral
certainty has this plain distinction,--that it is based upon the
evidently pure dispositions and habits of the individual, without
implying, however, any necessity of volitions.
Moral certainty, then, is predicable only of moral perfection, and
predicable in degrees according to the dignity and excellency of the
being.
But now let us suppose any disorder to take place in the sensitivity;
that is, let us suppose the sensitivity, to any degree, to grow into
opposition to the reason, so that while the reason commands in one
direction, the sensitivity gives the sense of the most agreeable in the
opposite direction,--and then our calculations respecting future
volitions must vary accordingly. Here moral certainty exists no longer,
because volitions are now to be calculated in connexion with opposing
principles: calculations now attain only to the probable, and in
different degrees.
By _the probable_, we mean that which has not attained to certainty, but
which nevertheless has grounds on which it claims to be believed. We
call it _probable_ or _proveable_, because it both has proof and is
still under conditions of proof, that is, admits of still farther proof.
That which is certain, has all the proof of which the case admits. A
mathematical proposition is certain on the ground of necessity, and
admits of no higher proof than that which really demonstrates its truth.
The divine volitions are certain on the ground of the divine
perfections, and admit of no higher proof than what is found in the
divine perfections.
The volitions of a good created being are certain on the ground of the
purity of such a being, and admit of no higher proof than what is found
in this purity.
But when we come to a mixed being, that is, a being of reason, and of a
sensitivity corrupted totally or in different degrees, then we have
place not for certainty, but for probability. As our knowledge of the
future volitions of such a being can only be gathered from something now
existent, this knowledge will depend upon our knowledge of the present
relative state of his reason and sensitivity; but a perfect knowledge of
this is in no case supposable,--so that, although our actual knowledge
of this being may be such as to afford us proof of what his volitions
may be, yet, inasmuch as our knowledge of him may be increased
indefinitely by close observation and study, so likewise will the proof
be increased. According to the definition of probability above given,
therefore, our knowledge of the future volitions of an imperfect being
can only amount to probable knowledge.
The direction of the probabilities will be determined by the
preponderance of the good or the bad in the mixed being supposed. If the
sensitivity be totally corrupted, the probabilities will generally go in
the direction of the corrupted sensitivity, because it is one observed
general fact in relation to a state of corruption, that the enjoyments
of passion are preferred to the duties enjoined by the conscience. But
the state of the reason itself must be considered. If the reason be in a
highly developed state, and the convictions of the right consequently
clear and strong, there may be probabilities of volitions in opposition
to passion which cannot exist where the reason is undeveloped and
subject to the errors and prejudices of custom and superstition. The
difference is that which is commonly known under the terms "enlightened
and unenlightened conscience."
Where the sensitivity is not totally corrupted, the direction of the
probabilities must depend upon the degree of corruption and the degree
to which the reason is developed or undeveloped.
With a given state of the sensitivity and the reason, the direction of
the probabilities will depend also very much upon the correlated, or
upon the opposing objects and circumstances:--where the objects and
circumstances agree with the state of the sensitivity and the reason, or
to speak generally and collectively, with "the state of the mind," the
probabilities will clearly be more easily determined than where they are
opposed to "the state of the mind."
The law which Edwards lays down as the law of volition universally, viz:
that "the volition is as the greatest apparent good:" understanding by
the term "good," as he does, simply, that which strikes us "agreeably,"
is indeed a general rule, according to which the volitions of characters
deeply depraved may be calculated. This law represents the individual as
governed wholly by his passions, and this marks the worst form of
character. It is a law which cannot extend to him who is struggling
under the light of his reason against passion, and consequently the
probabilities in this last case must be calculated in a different way.
But in relation to the former it is a sufficient rule.
Probability, as well as certainty, respects only the kind and degree of
our knowledge of any events, and not the causes by which those events
are produced: whether these causes be necessary or contingent is another
question.
One great error in reasoning respecting the character of causes, in
connexion with the calculation of probabilities, is the assumption that
uniformity is the characteristic of necessary causes only. The reasoning
may be stated in the following syllogism:
In order to calculate either with certainty or probability any events we
must suppose a uniform law of causation; but uniformity can exist only
where there is a necessity of causation; hence, our calculations suppose
a necessity of causation.
This is another instance of applying to the will principles which were
first obtained from the observation of physical causes, and which really
belong to physical causes only. With respect to physical causes, _it is
true_ that uniformity appears to be a characteristic of necessary
causes, simply because physical causes are relatively necessary
causes:--but with respect to the will, _it is not true_ that uniformity
appears to be a characteristic of necessary cause, because the will is
not a necessary cause. That uniformity therefore, as in the case of
physical causes, seems to become a characteristic of necessary cause,
does not arise from the nature of the idea of cause, but from the nature
of the particular subject, viz., _physical_ cause. Uniformity in logical
strictness, does not belong to cause at all, but to law or rule. Cause
is simply efficiency or power: law or rule defines the direction, aims,
and modes of power: cause explains the mere existence of phenomena: law
explains their relations and characteristics: law is the thought and
design of the reason. Now a cause may be so conditioned as to be
incapable of acting except in obedience to law, and this is the case of
all physical causes which act according to the law or design of infinite
wisdom, and thus the uniformity which we are accustomed to attribute to
these causes is not their own, but belongs to the law under which they
necessarily act. But will is a cause which is not so conditioned as to
be incapable of acting except in obedience to law; it can oppose itself
to, and violate law, but still it is a cause in connexion with law, the
law found in the reason and sensitivity, which law of course has the
characteristic of uniformity. The law of the reason and pure sensitivity
is uniform--it is the law of right. The law of a totally corrupted
sensitivity is likewise a uniform law; it is the law of passion; a law
to do whatever is most pleasing to the sensitivity; and every
individual, whatever may be the degree of his corruption, forms for
himself certain rules of conduct, and as the very idea of rule embraces
uniformity, we expect in every individual more or less uniformity of
conduct. Uniformity of physical causation, is nothing but the design of
the supreme reason developed in phenomena of nature. Uniformity of
volitions is nothing but the design of reason and pure sensitivity, or
of corrupted passion developed in human conduct. The uniformity thus not
being the characteristic of cause as such, cannot be the characteristic
of necessary cause. The uniformity of causation, therefore, argues
nothing respecting the nature of the cause; it may be a necessary cause
or it may not. There is no difficulty at all in conceiving of uniformity
in a free contingent will, because this will is related to uniform
rules, which in the unity of the being we expect to be obeyed but which
we also know do not necessitate obedience. In physical causes we have
the uniformity of necessitated causes. In will we have the uniformity of
a free intelligent cause. We can conceive of perfect freedom and yet of
perfect order, because the free will can submit itself to the light of
the reason. Indeed, all the order and harmony of creation, although
springing from the _idea_ of the reason, has been constituted by the
power of the infinite free will. It is an order and harmony not
necessitated but chosen by a power determining itself. It is altogether
an assumption incapable of being supported that freedom is identified
with disorder.
_Of the words, Foreknowledge and Prescience._
These words are metaphorical: _fore_ and _pre_ do not qualify
_knowledge_ and _science_ in relation to the mind which has the
knowledge or science; but the time in which the knowledge takes place in
relation to the time in which the object of knowledge is found. The
metaphor consists in giving the attribute of the time of knowledge,
considered relatively to the time of the object of knowledge, to the act
of knowledge itself. Banishing metaphor for the sake of attaining
greater perspicuity, let us say,
First: All acts of knowing are present acts of knowing,--there is no
_fore_ knowledge and no _after_ knowledge.
Secondly: The objects of knowledge may be in no relation to time and
space whatever, e. g. pure abstract and necessary truth, as 2 x 2 = 4;
and the being of God. Or the objects of knowledge may be in relations of
time and space, e. g. all physical phenomena.