Wesley Corpus

Afterwards indeed, he, and his followers, commonly called Manichees, formed it into a regular system. They not only maintained, that all the actions of man were necessarily determined by a power exterior to himself, but likewise accounted for it, by ascribing the good to Oromasdes, the parent of all good; the evil to the other independent being, Arimanius, the parent of all evil. 3. From the eastern world, “when arts and empire learned to travel west,” this opinion travelled with them into Europe, and soon found its way into Greece. Here it was earnestly espoused and vehemently maintained by the Stoic philoso phers; men of great renown among persons of literature, and some of the ablest disputants in the world. These affirmed with one mouth, that from the beginning of the world, if not rather from all eternity, there was an indissoluble chain of causes and effects, which included all human actions; and that these were by fate so connected together, that not one link of the chain could be broken. 4. A fine writer of our own country, who was a few years since gathered to his fathers, has with admirable skill drawn the same conclusion from different premises. He lays it down as a principle, (and a principle it is, which cannot reasonably be denied,) that as long as the soul is vitally united to the body, all its operations depend on the body; that in particular all our thoughts depend upon the vibrations of the fibres of the brain; and of consequence vary, more or less, as those vibrations vary. In that expression, “our thoughts,” he comprises all our sensations, all our reflections and passions; yea, and all our volitions, and consequently our actions, which, he supposes, unavoidably follow those vibrations. He premises, “But you will say, This scheme infers the universal necessity of human actions;” and frankly adds, “Certainly it does. I am sorry for it; but I cannot help it.” 5. And this is the scheme which is now adopted by not a few of the most sensible men in our nation. One of these fairly confessing, that “he did not think himself a sinner,” was asked, “Do you never feel any wrong tempers? And do you never speak or act in such a manner as your own reason condemns?” He candidly answered, “Indeed I do.