the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
Click here to join the effort!
Bible Encyclopedias
Necessitarians
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or an appellation which may be given to all who maintain that moral agents act from necessity. (See NECESSITY). Some object not only to the name, but to the dispute on a subject so perplexing as the explanation of the most consistent mode of divine government, and insist that the theme should be left entirely to the future sphere, where even the truth, according to Milton, has never yet dawned. Says the poet:
"Others apart sat on a hill retired,
In thoughts more elevate, and reason'd high
Of providence, foreknowledge, will, and fite,
Fixed fate, free-will, foreknowledge absolute;
And found no end — in wandering mazes lost!"
Dr. Watts thinks it probable that the discussion of this subject will constitute one of the sublime employments of the blessed in the heavenly world.
These files are public domain.
McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Necessitarians'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/n/necessitarians.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
