gn a
ground or reason of it, he would certainly be strangely inconsistent with
himself; but we should deem his last position, that there must be a ground
or reason of its existence, to be some evidence of _his coming to
himself_, rather than of his having forgotten himself. But to proceed with
the argument. "Therefore I would observe," says he, "that the particular
nature of existence, be it never so diverse from others, can lay no
foundation for that thing coming into existence without a cause; because,
to suppose this, would be to suppose the _particular nature_ of existence
to be a thing prior to existence, without a cause or reason of existence.
But that which in any respect makes way for a thing coming into being, or
for any manner or circumstance of its first existence, must be prior to
existence. The distinguished nature of the effect, which is something
belonging to the effect, cannot have influence backward to act before it
is. The peculiar nature of that thing called volition, can do nothing, can
have no influence, while it is not. And afterward it is too late for its
influence; for then the thing has made sure of its existence already
without its help."(112) After all this reasoning, and more to the same
effect, we are perfectly satisfied that volition, no matter what its
nature may be, cannot produce itself; and that it must have some ground or
reason of its existence, some antecedent without which it could not come
into being.

We shall not do justice to this branch of our subject, if we leave it
without laying before the reader one or two more specimens of logic from
the celebrated Inquiry of President Edwards. He is opposing "the
hypothesis," he tells us, "of acts of the will coming to pass without a
cause." Now, according to his definition of the term _cause_, as laid down
at the beginning of the section under consideration, it signifies any
antecedent on which a thing depends, in whole or in part, for its
existence, or which constitutes the reason why it is, rather than
not.(113) His doctrine is, then, that nothing ever comes to pass without
some "ground or reason of its existence," without some antecedent which is
necessary to account for its coming into being. And those who deny it are
bound to maintain the strange thesis, that something may come into
existence without any antecedent to account for it; that it may rise from
nothing and bring itself into existence. It is against this thesis that
his lo