78. I pretend not to have obviated or removed all objections to this
theory, with regard to necessity and liberty. I can foresee other
objections, derived from topics which have not here been treated of.
It may be said, for instance, that, if voluntary actions be
subjected to the same laws of necessity with the operations of matter,
there is a continued chain of necessary causes, preordained and
pre-determined, reaching from the original cause of all to every
single volition of every human creature. No contingency anywhere in
the universe; no indifference; no liberty. While we act, we are, at
the same time, acted upon. The ultimate Author of all our volitions is
the Creator of the world, who first bestowed motion on this immense
machine, and placed all beings in that particular position, whence
every subsequent event, by an inevitable necessity, must result. Human
actions, therefore, either can have no moral turpitude at all, as
proceeding from so good a cause; or if they have any turpitude, they
must involve our Creator in the same guilt, while he is acknowledged
to be their ultimate cause and author. For as a man, who fired a mine,
is answerable for all the consequences whether the train he employed
be long or short; so wherever a continued chain of necessary causes is
fixed, that Being, either finite or infinite, who produces the
first, is likewise the author of all the rest, and must both bear
the blame and acquire the praise which belong to them.
Pages:
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145