Wesley Corpus

Again: If all the actions, and passions, and tempers of men are quite independent on their own choice, are governed by a principle exterior to themselves; then none of them is either rewardable or punishable, is either praise or blame worthy. The consequence is undeniable: I cannot praise the sun forwarming, nor blame the stone for wounding me; because neither the sun nor the stone acts from choice, but from neces sity. Therefore, neither does the latter deserve blame, nor the former deserve praise. Neither is the one capable of reward, nor the other of punishment. And if a man does good as necessarily as the sun, he is no more praiseworthy than that; if he does evil as necessarily as the stone, he is no more blame worthy. The dying to save your country is noway rewardable, if you are compelled thereto; and the betraying your country is noway punishable, if you are necessitated to do it. 3. It follows, if there be no such thing as virtue or vice, as moral good or evil, if there be nothing rewardable or punish able in the actions or passions of men, then there can be no judgment to come, and no future rewards and punishments. For might not God as well judge the trees of the wood, or the stones of the field, as man, if man was as totally passive as they? as irresistibly determined to act thus or thus? What should he be commended or rewarded for, who never did any good but when he could not help it, being impelled thereto by a force which he could not withstand? What should he be blamed or punished for, who never did any evil, to which he was not determined by a power he could no more resist, than he could shake the pillars of heaven? This objection the author of the Essay gives in its full strength: “The advocates for liberty reason thus: If actions be necessary, and not in our own power, what ground is there for blame, self-condemnation, or remorse? If a clock were sensible of its own motions, and knew that they proceeded according to necessary laws, could it find fault with itself for striking wrong? Would it not blame the artist, who had so ill adjusted the wheels?