AN ESSAY. On the Freedom of Will in God and in Creatures. SECT. I.-Of Liberty and Necessity, and how far they are consistent. LIBERTY is aword which has been attributed to ideas very distinct and different ; and necessity has also its various signifi- cations _ hence proceeds that confusion and seeming inconsistency which sometimes appears among our thoughts, and may have been found perhaps in some writings on this subject ; nor is it easy to avoid it in argument of so much difficulty : And there- fore I bespeak the candour of the reader while I am attempting to strike a little light into a theme, which has been surrounded with much darkness and perplexity, I shall not run into awild chace of all the distinctionsof necessity which the schools have taught us : but it seems to be needful for us to take notice in general, that a thing is callednecessity, " when it must be so, and cannot be otherwise,, whatsoever be the.reason and-causeof thisnecessity." If the cause or reason of this necessity arise from the very nature of the thing, it is called an internal or natural necessity; so a bowl may be said necessarily to roll down a hill: and a beast necessarily to avoid the fire, or to quench its thirst when a fountain is near. But if this neces- sity arise from some apparent- outward constraint or restraint, then it is called an external or foresble- necessity: Thus -a bowl is driven up a hill by the force ofa stroke impelling it; or a beast necessarily goes through the fire when he is con- strained or dragged into it by outward force ; or an ox ne- cessarily abstains from drink when he is -withheld by bars or fet- ters from a neighbouring fountain. What other distinctions of necessity are needful, will afterwards appear, Liberty stands generally in opposition- to necessity of each kind, both inward and outward; both a necessityof nature, and a necessityof force : and that is certainly the best and most pro- per sense of it ; yet there seem to be some cases wherein those actions which are necessary, have also been called free : and if we would make a more careful enquiry in this matter, wd most take a briefsurvey of the diffèrent sorts or kinds of liberty, that is, the different cases to which this word is applied, and then we may better judge how far necessity is consistent or incon- sistent with it.
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