and blame, on examination it will appear insufficient to answer the end for which it is invented; or else it will be found not to differ in its nature from the faculty of taste, or the heart, as described in these essays.-We must then come to this conclusion, that wherever we behold a created being, who is endued with the faculties of the understanding, taste, and will, and also with liberty, he has all the powers necessary to render him a moral agent, or proper object of praise and blame, and future rewards. Then, to determine whether he is praise or blameworthy, we only have to ascertain his moral character, or the nature of his heart, whether it be holy or sinful. Here we must rest satisfied. For, by the most careful examination we shall find, there is no rational being in the universe, created or uncreated, who is possessed of any other powers, than the faculties which have been described. We know of no others. And we are not conscious of any more, than three distinct classes of operations; perceptions, affections. and volitions. And as the operations of these differ from each other, they necessarily imply three distinct faculties, to one of which they are to be referred. INDEX. INTRODUCTION; Containing preliminary observations, Page 3 ESSAY 1, On the faculties of the mind, ESSAY 2, Of the Understanding, ESSAY 3, Of the Objects of Perception, ESSAY 4, Of the Memory, ESSAY 5, Of Judgment and Reason, ESSAY 6, On Conscience, ESSAY 7, Recapitulation, ESSAY 8, Of Taste, ESSAY 9, Of Appetites, ESSAY 10, Of the Operations of Taste, ESSAY 11, (Omitted in numbering.) ESSAY 12, Of the Will, and its Operations, 94 ESSAY 13, General Observations on Moral Agency, ESSAY 14, Particular reasons given, why certain properties are necessary, to constitute a being a proper and complete moral agent, ESSAY 15, Of Liberty; and the reasons why it is necessa- and, if not, for what purposes is it requisite, in mor- 102 111 131 ESSAY 17, On Motives, with their influence in determin ing the will, 138 ESSAY 18, On the Nature of Good and Evil, 146 ESSAY 19, Of the Reasons, why good and evil are distin guished by the terms natural and moral, 155 ESSAY 20, On the nature of moral evil, or sin, 161 ESSAY 21, On the subject of praise and blameworthiness, 179 ESSAY 22, On the first principles, upon which the Armi nian and Calvinistic systems of divinity are founded; ESSAY 23, On the decrees and prescience of God, and true ESSAY 25, Objections against this system, stated, and an swered, ESSAY 26, An Examination of the ideas of Rhetoricians, concerning a Taste for beauty, novelty, and gran deur, ESSAY 27, On total Depravity, ESSAY 28, On benevolence or holiness, ESSAY 29, On Regeneration, 190 208 221 232 ESSAY 30, A summary View of the system, advanced and illustrated in these essays, 350 ESSAY 31, On the nature of the happiness of heaven, 371 399 ERRATA. Page 44, line 18 from top, insert and between subject and predicate. Page 127, line 11 from bottom, for it, read if. Page 168, line 6 from top, for take, read like. Page 190, title of the essay, for Arminians, read Arminian. Page 213, line 20 from top, for Josiah, read Isaiah. Page 224, line 13 from top, for different, read distinct. Page 225, line 13 from bottom, for in, read on. Page 232, line 6 from beginning of the essay, for they, read the. Page 287, line 2 from top, for every, read any. Page 288, bottom line, dele his. Page 316, line 5 from bottom, before for, add except. Page 321, top line, for others, read then; line 15 from top, for in, read into. Page 335, line 15 from top, for or, read as. Page 341, line 6 from bottom, for is, read was. Page 358, line 2 from bottom, dele the letter y. Page 366, line 11 from top, for scorn, read seem. Page 367, line 9 from top, after man, insert is, and dele the comma. Page 392, line 13 from bottom, for terms note, read terminate. |