Wesley Corpus

Such I created all the ethereal powers, - Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell. Not free, what proof could they have given sincere Of true allegiance, constant faith and love, Where only what they needs must do appear'd, Not what they would P What praise could they receive, What pleasure I, from such obedience paid, When will and reason, (reason also is choice.) Useless and vain, of freedom both despoil'd, Made passive both, had served necessity, Not me * They therefore, as to right belong’d, So were created So without least impulse or shadow of fate, Or aught by me immutably foreseen, They trespass, authors to themselves in all Both what they judge and what they choose: For so I form'd them free; and free they must remain, Till they enthral themselves. I else must change Their nature, and reverse the high decree, Unchangeable, eternal, which ordain'd Their freedom; they themselves ordain'd their fall.” Paradise Lost, Book III. 9. It seems, they who divide the faculties of the human soul into the understanding, will, and affections, unless they make the will and affections the same thing; (and then how inaccurate is the division 1) must mean by affections, the will, properly speaking, and by the term will, neither more nor less than liberty; the power of choosing either to do or not to do, (commonly called liberty of contradiction,) or to do this ThouGHTS UPON NECESSITY. 469 or the contrary, good or evil (commonly called liberty of con trariety). Without the former at least, there can be nothing good or evil, rewardable or punishable. But it is plain, the doctrine of necessity, as taught either by ancient Heathens, or by the moderns, (whether Deists or Christians,) destroys both, leaves not a shadow of either, in any soul of man: Consequently, it destroys all the morality of human actions, making man a mere machine; and leaves no room for any judgment to come, or for either rewards or punishments. IV. 1. But whatever be the consequences deducible from this, that all human actions are necessary, how will you answer the arguments which are brought in defence of this position? Let us try whether something of this kind may not be done in a few words.