him, he is then in an embarrassment, which does not terminate, until his
will as decided by the greater advantage he believes be shall find in
the object he chooses, or the action he undertakes. From whence it may
he seen that choice is necessary, because he would not determine for an
object, or for an action, if he did not believe that he should find in
it some direct advantage. That man should have free-agency, it were
needful that he should he able to will or choose without motive; or,
that he could prevent motives coercing his will. Action always being the
effect of his will once determined, as his will cannot be determined but
by a motive, which is not in his own power, it follows that he is never
the master of the determination of his own peculiar will; that
consequently he never acts as a free agent. It has been believed that
man was a free agent, because he had a will with the power of choosing;
but attention has not been paid to the fact, that even his will is moved
by causes independent of himself, is owing to that which is inherent in
his own organization, or which belongs to the nature of the beings
acting on him. Indeed, man passes a great portion of his life without
even willing. His will attends the motive by which it is determined. If
he was to render an exact account of every thing he does in the course
of each day, from rising in the morning to lying down at night, he would
find, that not one of his actions have been in the least voluntary; that
they have been mechanical, habitual, determined by causes he was not
able to foresee, to which he was either obliged to, yield, or with which
he was allured to acquiesce; he would discover, that all the motives of
his labours, of his amusements, of his discourses, of his thoughts, have
been necessary; that they have evidently either seduced him or drawn him
along. Is he the master of willing, not to withdraw his hand from the
fire when he fears it will be burnt? Or has he the power to take away
from fire the property which makes him fear it? Is he the master of not
choosing a dish of meat which he knows to be agreeable, or analogous to