[BookX. 



CHAP. XX. 



OF THE FREE AGENCY OF MAN. 



tion, or fatal Necejjitv, not cvnne fled with tb Do firing of the 

 Ajjociaticn of Ideas. Inccnfifiency of the Fatalifts. Motive and 

 Afiian in Morals totally different from Caufe and Effect in Phyfas.- 

 7 he Onus Probandi rti this S^ucjlion lies on the Fatalifts. Quejlion 

 concerning tie Influence of Motives. Argument of the Fatalijls 

 from the Divine Prefcience. "Aywrd and horrible Ccnfequences re- 

 . full ing from i^s Dn&rine of Fatality .Modejly and Humility re- 

 commended in philofophical Studies. Tbofe Sciences to be preferred 

 which are moft tonneded with practical Utility. 



THAT the doftrine of. the afibciation of ideas 

 fliould, in the mind of any vifionary writer, have 

 ever been connected with the fatal neceffity of human 

 actions, is, I confefs, to me a matter of furprife. 

 Mifera-ble, indeed, muft be the (late of man, if he was 

 endued with no power of regulating or directing the 

 train of his ideas j if they nmft flow for ever in one 

 neceffary, unbroken channel, or if external objefts alone 

 were to didate to us what to think. It is obvious, 

 that if this was the cafe, there could be no variety, and 

 fcarcely any change in the purfuits. of men : the 

 thoughts muft flow from each other in one uninter- 

 rupted feries, and man could not be an accountable, 

 and fcarcely a rational creature. 



It is, however, plain, that we have a power of 

 interrupting the train of thought, of dwelling more 

 intenfely upon particular ideas, and even of occa- 

 fionally diverting our reflections and contemplations 



into 



