Doctrine of the Will — A Reader’s Guide

INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS.--Importance of the Subject--True and false Methods of Inquiry--Common Fault--Proper Method of Reasoning from Revelation to the System of Mental Philosophy therein pre-supposed--Errors of Method

CLASSIFICATION OF THE MENTAL FACULTIES.--Classification verified

LIBERTY AND NECESSITY.--Terms defined--Characteristics of the above Definitions--Motive defined--Liberty as opposed to Necessity, the Characteristic of the Will--Objections to Doctrine of Necessity--Doctrine of Liberty, direct Argument--Objection to an Appeal to Consciousness--Doctrine of Liberty argued from the existence of the idea of Liberty in all Minds--The Doctrine of Liberty, the Doctrine of the Bible--Necessity as held by Necessitarians--The term Certainty, as used by them--Doctrine of Ability, according to the Necessitarian Scheme--Sinful inclinations--Necessitarian Doctrine of Liberty--Ground which Necessitarians are bound to take in respect to the Doctrine of Ability--Doctrine of Necessity, as regarded by Necessitarians of different Schools

EXTENT AND LIMITS OF THE LIBERTY OF THE WILL.--Strongest Motive--Reasoning in a Circle

GREATEST APPARENT GOOD.--Phrase defined--Its meaning according to Edwards--The Will not always as the Dictates of the Intelligence--Not always as the strongest desire--Nor as the Intelligence and Sensibility combined--Necessitarian Argument--Motives cause acts of the Will, in what sense--Particular Volitions, how accounted for--Facts wrongly accounted for--Choosing between Objects known to be equal, how treated by Necessitarians--Palpable Mistake

DOCTRINE OF LIBERTY AND THE DIVINE PRESCIENCE.--Dangers to be avoided--Mistake respecting Divine Prescience--Inconsistency of Necessitarians--Necessitarian Objection

DOCTRINE OF LIBERTY AND THE DIVINE PURPOSES AND AGENCY.--God's Purposes consistent with the Liberty of Creatures--Senses in which God purposed moral Good and Evil--Death of the Incorrigible preordained, but not willed--God not responsible for their Death--Sin a Mystery--Conclusion from the above

OBLIGATION PREDICABLE ONLY OF THE WILL.--Men not responsible for the Sin of their progenitors--Constitutional Ill-desert--Present Impossibilities not required

STANDARD OF MORAL CHARACTER.--Sincerity, and not Intensity, the true Standard

MORAL ACTS NEVER OF A MIXED CHARACTER.--Acts of Will resulting from a variety of Motives--Loving with a greater Intensity at one time than another--Momentary Revolutions of Character

RELATIONS OF THE WILL TO THE INTELLIGENCE AND SENSIBILITY, IN STATES MORALLY RIGHT, OR WRONG.--Those who are and are not virtuous, how distinguished--Selfishness and Benevolence--Common Mistake--Defective forms of Virtue--Test of Conformity to Moral Principle--Common Mistake--Love as required by the Moral Law--Identity of Character among all Beings morally Virtuous

ELEMENT OF THE WILL IN COMPLEX PHENOMENA.--Natural Propensities--Sensation, Emotion, Desire, and Wish defined--Anger, Pride, Ambition, &c.--Religious Affections--Repentance--Love--Faith-- Convictions, Feelings and external Actions, why required or prohibited-- Our Responsibility in respect to such Phenomena--Feelings how controlled by the Will--Relation of Faith to other Exercises morally right

INFLUENCE OF THE WILL IN INTELLECTUAL JUDGMENTS.--Men often voluntary in their Opinions--Error not from the Intelligence, but Will--Primary Faculties cannot err--So of the secondary Faculties--Assumptions-- Pre-judgments--Intellect not deceived in Pre-judgments--Mind, how influenced by them--Influences which induce false Assumptions--Cases in which we are apparently, though not really, misled by the Intelligence

LIBERTY AND SERVITUDE.--Liberty as opposed to moral Servitude--Mistake of German Metaphysicians--Moral Servitude of the race

LIBERTY AND DEPENDENCE.--Common Impression--Spirit of Dependence--Doctrine of Necessity tends not to induce this Spirit--Doctrine of Liberty does--God controls all Influences under which Creatures act--Dependence on account of moral Servitude

FORMATION OF CHARACTER.--Commonly how accounted for--The voluntary element to be taken into the account--Example in Illustration-- Diversities of Character

CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS.--Objection, The Will has its Laws--Objection, God dethroned from his Supremacy if the Doctrine of Liberty is true--Great and good Men have held the doctrine of Necessity--Last Resort--Willing and aiming to perform impossibilities--Thought at Parting