Hostname: page-component-68945f75b7-qvshk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-06T00:46:04.159Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Edwards and the Arminians on the Freedom of the Will

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 August 2011

Conrad Wright
Affiliation:
Harvard University

Extract

Jonathan Edwards believed that the crucial point which divided Calvinists and Arminians was the freedom of the will; that by establishing the doctrine of moral necessity, the Calvinists would have a firm basis from which to confute Arminian objections to the doctrines of total depravity, efficacious grace, absolute, eternal, and particular election, and the perseverance of the saints. His treatise on the Freedom of the Will was intended to give a final and crushing reply to his opponents, and in preparation for it he read widely and thought deeply. He believed that he had answered all objections, stopped all crevices in the argument, and written an unanswerable work. It appeared in 1754.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1942

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Edwards, Jonathan, Works (New York, 1844), II, 176179Google Scholar.

2 Dana, James, The “Examination of the Late Revʼd President Edwards's Enquiry on Freedom of Will,” Continued (New Haven, 1773), 96Google Scholar.

3 Walker, Williston, The Creeds and Platforms of Congregationalism (New York, 1893), 377Google Scholar.

4 Experience Mayhew, , Grace Defended (Boston, 1744), 156Google Scholar.

5 Haroutunian, Joseph, Piety versus Moralism (New York, 1932), Chapter IXGoogle Scholar.

6 Dwight, Timothy, Theology (Middletown, Conn., 1818), I, 248Google Scholar, 249.

7 Dana, James, An Examination of the Late Reverend President Edwards's “Enquiry on Freedom of Will” (Boston, 1770), ixCrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8 Dana, Examination Continued, 37.

9 Edwards, Works, II, 140–142.

10 James Dana to Andrew Eliot, July 9, 1773. MS., Massachusetts Historical Society.

11 Chauncy, Charles, The Only Compulsion Proper to be Made Use of in the Affairs of Conscience and Religion (Boston, 1739), 10Google Scholar.

12 Osborn, Samuel, The Case and Complaint of Mr. Samuel Osborn (Boston, 1743), 10Google Scholar.

13 Chauncy, Charles, The Out-Pouring of the Holy Ghost (Boston, 1742), 19Google Scholar.

14 John Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Book II, Chapter 21, paragraph 25.

15 Locke, Essay, Book II, Chapter 21, paragraph 47.

16 Whitby, Daniel, A Discourse Concerning I. The True Import of the Words Election and Reprobation [etc.], Second edition (London, 1735), 212Google Scholar.

17 Whitby, Discourse, 344.

18 Whitby, Discourse, 299, 300.

19 Clarke, Samuel, A Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God, Fifth edition (London, 1719), 68Google Scholar, 70.

20 Clarke, Demonstration, 91.

21 Ibid., 105.

22 Ibid., 111.

23 Edwards, Works, II, 18, 19.

24 Ibid., 48–52.

25 Watts, Isaac, “An Essay on the Freedom of Will in God and in Creatures,” in Discourses, Essays, and Tracts, on Various Subjects (London, 1753), VI, 386Google Scholar.

26 Watts, Discourses, VI, 379.

27 Watts, Discourses. VI, 388.

28 Ibid., 393.

29 Sprague, William B., Annals of the American Unitarian Pulpit (New York, 1865), 60Google Scholar.

30 Mayhew, Jonathan, Sermons … On Hearing the Word [etc.] (Boston, 1755), 291Google Scholar.

31 Mayhew, Sermons On Hearing the Word, 302n.

32 King, William, An Essay on the Origin of Evil. Translated with notes by Law, Edmund. First English edition. (London, 1731)Google Scholar, Chap. V, Sec. 1, Subsec. 3, Par. VI.

33 Watts, Discourses, VI, 384.

34 Chauncy, Charles, The Benevolence of the Deity (Boston, 1784), 132Google Scholar. Although not published until 1784, this book was written prior to 1768.

35 Dana, Examination, 93n.

36 Dana, Examination Continued, 33.

37 Ibid., 31.

38 Ibid., 38, 39.

39 West, Samuel, Essays on Liberty and Necessity (New Bedford, 1795), Part I, 16Google Scholar.

40 Edwards, Works, II, 8.

41 Edwards, Works, II, 26.

42 West, Essays, Part I, 10.

43 Dana, Examination, 81, 82.

44 Ibid., 109.

45 Dana, Examination Continued, 36.

46 Dana, Examination, 11; Examination Continued, 36.

47 Dana, Examination Continued, 24.

48 Dana, Examination, 1.

49 Ibid., 3.

50 Ibid., 23.

51 Ibid., 44, 45.

52 Edwards, Works, II, 6–8.

53 Dana, Examination, 49.

54 Ibid., 53, 54.

55 Ibid., 81.

56 Dana, Examination Continued, vi.

57 Dana, Examination, 12.

58 Ibid., 75.

59 Dana, Examination Continued, 20, 21.

60 Dana, Examination, v.