1863.] 231 [Carleton. 



LIBERTY AND NECESSITY. 



On both sides of this question authors agree that the Will is the 

 immediate antecedent to action. The Arminians say it is a free, 

 self-acting power ; the Necessarians, that it is actuated by the strong- 

 est motive or judgment of the mind. 



The controversy has been kept up for more than twenty centuries, 

 although it turns solely upon facts within every man's daily expe- 

 rience. 



LIBERTY. 



The most approved definition of a free, self-acting Will, is that 

 given by a Professor in an American University, as follows : " The 

 Will is a cause contingent and free, — is first cause itself. Acts of 

 the Will neither require nor admit of antecedent causes to explain 

 their action. What moves the Will to go in the direction of reason ? 

 Nothing moves it; it is cause per se. It goes in that direction be- 

 cause it has power to go in that direction. What moves the Will to 

 go in the direction of the sensitivity? Nothing moves it; it is cause 

 per se. It goes in that direction because it has power to go in that 

 direction. It is a power that is indifferent to the agreeableness or 

 disagreeableness of objects. Distinct from reason, it is not convic- 

 tion or belief." 



The Professor is an eminent divine, the author of an elaborate 

 work on the mind, in which we find the above definition of the Will. 



When asked what moves him to pi'ay and preach, he expUxins 

 himself, — Nothing moves him to pray and preach ; his Will moves 

 itself. He prays and preaches because he is able to pray and preach. 

 What moves him to eat and drink when hungry and thirsty ? No- 

 thing moves him ; his Will moves itself It neither requires nor 

 admits of antecedent causes to explain its actions, and if it moved 

 not of itself, the Profe.«sor might die of hunger or thirst. 



That motion can begin of itself is purely a fiction, contrived to 

 bolster up a senseless system of free agency, that sinks the mind 

 below the instinct of brutes. The understanding was given to man, 

 as his protection in the mixed state of good and evil in which he is 

 placed. Without its guidance, his lawless will, if there be such an 

 agent, would hurry him indiscriminately upon good or evil, without 

 the power of choice or resistance. 



Nevertheless, the late Sir William Hamilton is of opinion, that all 



