I will now select a case about which there can possibly be no mistake.
Space we know perfectly to be absolutely infinite. Space in itself is in
all parts alike. So must it appear to the mind of God. Now when God
determined to create the universe, he must have resolved to locate its
centre in some one point of space in distinction from all others. At
that moment, there was present to the Divine Intelligence an infinite
number of points, all and each absolutely equally eligible. Neither
point could have been selected, because it was better than any other:
for all were equal. So they must have appeared to God. Now if the "Will
is always as the greatest apparent good," in the sense under
consideration, God could not in this case make the selection, and
consequently could not create the universe. He did make the selection,
and did create. The Will, therefore, is not, in this sense, "always as
the greatest apparent good."
THE WILL NOT ALWAYS AS THE STRONGEST DESIRE.
II. Is the "Will always as the greatest apparent good" in this sense,
that it is always as the strongest desire, or as the strongest impulse
of the Sensibility? Does the Will never harmonize with the Intelligence,
in opposition to the Sensibility, as well as with the Sensibility in
opposition to the Intelligence? If this is not so, then--
1. It would be difficult to define self-denial according to the ordinary
acceptation of the term. What is self-denial but placing the Will with
the Intelligence, in opposition to the Sensibility? How often in moral
reformations do we find almost nothing else but this, an inflexible
purpose placed directly before an almost crushing and overwhelming tide
of feeling and desire?
2. When the Will is impelled in different directions, by conflicting
feelings, it could not for a moment be in a state of indecision, unless
we suppose these conflicting feelings to be absolutely equal in strength
up to the moment of decision. Who believes that? Who believes that his
feelings are in all instances in a state of perfect equilibrium up to
the moment of fixed determination between two distinct and opposite
courses? This _must_ be the case, if the action of the Will is always as
the strongest feeling, and in this sense as the "greatest apparent
good." How can Necessitarians meet this argument? Will they pretend
that, in all instances, up to the moment of decisive action, the
feelings impelling the Will in different directions are always
absolutely equal in strength? This must be, if the Will is always as the
strongest feeling.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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