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' On every scheme vice is reprobated , and adequate punishment follows unrepented guilt ; on the necessarian hypothesis justly ,-and in a way perfectly consistent with \ visdom and benevolence ; on the libertarian scheme , in away that ts . in my judgment , inconsistent with both . Upon this subject my sentiments are stated in my treatise of the Elements of the
Philosophy of the Mind , and it is set in the clearest light in Dr . Priestley ' s Illustrations of Philosophical Necessity . The arguments there adduced are not invalidated by any thing which rny friend has alleged . Those erroneous and popular feelings , upon which he lays so much stress as divine suggestions , are of no more value as objections to the doctrine . of
necessity , than the obvious phaenomena of nature are to the true theory of the universe . It is the province of philosophy to correct the errors arising from superficial appearances . Upon one topic my friend assumes a character of uncommon diffidence . The necessarians strongly contend for the
absolute inconsistency of the foreknowledge of God with the philosophical liberty of man . But " I argue " says my friend , p . <> 6 , " that both the premises and conclusion of this proposition lie beyond the reach of our faculties / ' What the premises and the conclusion of a proposition are , it is difficult
to say ; but I believe my friend means to affirm , that it is beyond the reach . of human faculties to ascertain whether foreknowledge is reconcileable to philosophical liberty ; and I must admit , that it would be much in favour of his cause if
he could prevail upon his readers to take his word for it . For the truth is , that no question admits of greater precision , or of a clearer determination . The Supreme Being , though infinite in knowledge , cannot know a thing to be what it is not ; for that would involve a contradiction . But a contingent action is necessarily uncertain , for it may or may not be ; and all the actions of agents , philosophically free , arc contingent ; for , by the definition of liberty , the volition is uncertain till it actually takes place ; therefore it cannot be foreknown as certain , for
it would then be . known to be what it is not . It is therefore a contradiction , that contingent * actions should be foreknown . But God foreknows all actions , and all events depending upon them ; therefore no events are contingent ; therefore men are not philosophically free . The conclusion is as clear as light . No proposition in Euclid admits of a more satisfactory demonstration . To an inquisitive and intelligent person there is , and can be no other alternative . Either God does not foresee future events ., or
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Mr . Behham ' s Strictures on Carpenters Lectures . , 239
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1807, page 259, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2380/page/35/
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