Freedom of the will - Edwards - II - Part II commenced

Required reading
Freedom of the Will by Jonathan Edwards (available from Amazon or free here) - Commence Part II by reading Sections I to VI.

My summary
Now that Edwards has defined his terms, he proceeds to argue that the Will is not free.

In Section I we see that if the Will is to be free then the first action of the Will must be free because subsequent actions of the Will are not free due to their dependence upon the first action.

In Section II it is then shown that if there is a cause before the Will, then the Will is not free.

In Section III Edwards explains that nothing that begins is without an initial cause.

In Section IV Edwards disproves the Arminian theory that the Will can be free without a Cause because of the activity of the nature of the soul.

In Section V Edwards draws the conclusion that Arminians are obliged to talk illogically.

In Section VI Edwards demonstrates that it is false to claim that 'experience' demonstrates a free Will.  In fact, experience suggests the opposite.

What grabbed me
Things really heat up today. 

Loved these lines: 'But if once this grand principle of common sense be given up, that what is not necessary in itself, must have a Cause; and we begin to maintain, that things which heretofore have not been, may come into existence, and begin to be of themselves, without any cause; all our means of ascending in our arguing from the creature to the Creator, and all our evidence of the Being of God, is cut off at one blow. In this case, we cannot prove that there is a God, either from the Being of the world, and the creatures in it, or from the manner of their Being, their order, beauty, and use. For if things may come into existence without any Cause at all, then they doubtless may without any Cause answerable to the effect. Our minds do alike naturally suppose and determine both these things; namely, that what begins to be has a Cause, and also that it has a Cause proportionable to the effect. The same principle which leads us to determine, that there cannot be any thing coming to pass without a Cause, leads us to determine that there cannot be more in the effect than in the Cause.'

Proposing that man has free Will logically denies the existence of God, the unmoved mover.  In fact it places man in the position of God as the unmoved mover.

Thus, Arminian theology treads on dangerous ground, exalting man to the position of God.

Next week's reading
Continue Part II by reading Sections VII to X.

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.