Jonathan Edwards On Freedom Of The ...

Jonathan Edwards on Freedom of the Will

“If any think it is a more perfect definition of the Will to say that it is that by which the soul either chooses or refuses, I am content with it; though I think it enough to say, it is that by which the soul chooses: for in every act of will whatsoever, the mind chooses one thing rather than another; it chooses something rather than the contrary or rather than the want or non-existence of that thing. So in every act of refusal, the mind chooses the absence of the thing refused; the positive and the negative are set before the mind for its choice, and it chooses the negative; and the mind’s making its choice in that case is properly the act of the Will: the Will’s determining between the two is voluntary determination; but that is the same thing as making a choice. So that by whatever names we call the act of the Will-choosing, refusing, approving, disapproving, liking, disliking, embracing, rejecting, determining, directing, commanding, forbidding, inclining, or being averse, being pleased or displeased with-all may be reduced to this of choosing…Mr. Locke says, “The Will signifies nothing but a power or ability to prefer or choose” (page 10, Freedom of the Will).

From a sermon by Michael McCartney, Preach This: Philippians 4:4-9, 11/30/2009