be forborn, as serving nothing to the Discovery of Truth, but only to make the Person of an Antagonist odious. This I observe in general, without pretending to draw any Advantage from it. I submit frankly to an Examination of this Kind, and shall venture to affirm, that the Doctrines, both of Necessity and Liberty, as above explain'd, are not only consistent with Morality and Religion, but are absolutely essential to them. And first, of Necessity.
Necessity may be defin'd two Ways, conformable to the two Definitions of Cause, of which it makes an essential Part. It consists either in the constant Union and Conjunction of like Objects, or in the Inference of the Understanding from one Object to another. Now Necessity, in both these Senses, (which, indeed, are, at the Bottom, the same) has universally, tho' tacitly, in the Schools, in the Pulpit, and in common Life, been allow'd to belong to the Will of Man; and no one has ever pretended to deny, that we can draw Inferences concerning human Actions, and that those Inferences are founded on the experienc'd Union of like Actions, with like Motives, Inclinations, and Circumstances. The only Particular, in which any one can differ, is, that either, perhaps, he will refuse to give the Name of Necessity to this Property of human Actions: But as long as the Meaning is understood, I hope the Word can do noHarm:
