If the problem be pushed further, and we are asked to affirm the relation which the previous states of the soul sustain to its volitions, most theologians believe that no satisfactorj' answer has ever been given. The answer of Edwards that the volitions are determined, through a rigid law of moral causation, by the preced- ing state of the soul, or by the strongest motive, appears to involve the reign within the will of the same law of cause and effect which prevails in the physical uni- verse; and this it is difficult to prevent from degener- ating into fatalism. The answer of Whedon that the will, independent of the reason, and the affections and the conscience can " project volitions" for the origin and direction of which no cause or reason whatever exists, except the bare power the man has to will any- thing, appears to us to involve ])ure chance (by exclud- ing conscience and reason and personal character and content from the will itself). And chance is only an- other name for fate. It is better to be satisfied with the statement of the points in which all agree — (o) the free self-determining power of the soul itself in every free choice, (b) that in the free acts for which we are moral- ly res])onsible we act for reasons, in view of moral con- siderations, and our personal character is revealed in the act — than to insist further upon a rational account of the genesis of each volition and its relation to the antecedent states of the soul. For hitherto no such account has been permanently regarded as satisfactory by either party.
VII. Literature. — Leibnitz, Essais de Theodicee, etc. ; Reid, Active Poivers, essay iv; Turretine, Institutio TheolngicB, locus decimus ; Hodge, Systematic Theol- oyy, pt. ii, ch. ix ; Edwards, Inquiry on the Fi-eedom of the Will ; Cunningham, Theology of the Reformeis, es- say ix; Hamilton, Notes on Stewart; id. Discussions ; Fisher, Discussions on Histoi-y and Theology, p. 227-252 ; Smith, Review of Whedon on the Will, in the Ameri- can Presbyterian and Theological Revieiv, Jan. 1865 ; Day, On the Will; Tappan, Review of Edwui-ds's In- quiry, and The Doctrine of the Will Apjilied to Mond Agency and Responsibility ; Taylor, JUoral Government of God; M'Cosh, Divine Govei-nment, bk. iii, ch, i. (A. A. H.)
Willard, Joseph, D.D., LL.D., a president of Har- vard College, brother of Rev. John Willard, D.D., of Strafford. Conn., was born in Biddeford, jMe., Dec. 29, 1738. He was the son of the Rev. Samuel Willard, minister of that town, and great-grandson of the Rev. Samuel Willard of the Old South Church, Boston, and vice-president of Harvard College. Joseph was born and reared in povert}', but by the aid of others and by his own energy he entered Harvard College, and grad-
WILLEHAD
995
WILLERAM
uated in 1765. He studied divinity 'after his gradua- tion, was tutor in Greek for six years, and was ordained colleague pastor (with Joseph Champney) of the First Congregational Church in Beverly, Mass., in 1772. Here he preached until 1781, when he was elected pres- ident of Harvard University. For more than sixteen years he performed his duties without interruption by sickness; but in 1798 he was prostrated by a severe ill- ness and could never afterwards attend to the work of the college with the same constancy. In August, 1804, he took a journey to the southern jiart of the state, and on his return from Nantucket to New Bedford he was seized at the latter placa with sudden illness, and died in live daj's, Sept. 25, 1804. " President Willard's whole life was modelled on the sound and impregnable princi- ples of religion, and presented an admirable specimen of the old Puritan character liberalized and improved. Generosity, disinterestedness, a lofty integrity, and hon- or were united with modesty, simplicit)', and singleness of heart." In the administration of the college he was eminently faithful, and his tirmness, dignit}^ aifability, and benignity secured the cordial respect, and often the affection, of both the students and the facultj'. As a preacher, he was plain, instructive, and solemn. Presi- dent Willard was a thorough and profound scholar; es- pecially in his knowledge of the Greek language and literature he had few superiors, if any. He wrote a Grammar of the Greek Languaf/e (the first, probabl}', that was written in English) which remains in manu- script in the library of the university. It shows great research. The publication of the Gloucester Greek Gram- mar when Dr. Willard's was nearly completed induced him to abandon the design of publication. A few oc- casional sermons were published. See Sprague, Annals of the A me?: Pulpit, ii, 23-30 ; Cong. Quarterly, 1859, p. 40 ; WillarcVs Memoirs. »
"WiHehad, St., apostle to the Frisians and Saxons, was born about A.D. 730 in the kingdom of Northum- berland, of an ancient family. His early training was largely conducted by Alcuin (q. v.) of York. He reach- ed Friesland in or about the year 770, and began his labors in the place (Dockum) where Boniface had been murdered, with successful results. His zeal drove him, however, to seek a region where Cliristianity had not been introduced, and he went, in consequence, to East- ern Frisia. Here the idolatrous people were extremely fanatical, and he escaped murder at their hands onlj' through the narrow chance of a favorable lot being thrown when the gods were invoked. At another place, Drenthe, he was more successful, until the fanatical zeal of his own companions excited the anger of the people and compelled his removal. In the meantime his labors had been mentioned to Charlemagne, and in 781 that monarch intrusted to him the work of con- verting the Saxons in the vale of Wigmodi, on the Low- er Weser, and also the neighboring Frisians. In this work he displayed great tact and zeal, and succeeded in a little while to a degree which had not been possible to Charlemagne with all his armies. Many families were converted and several churches founded during the two 3'ears which elapsed before the last rising of the Saxons under their duke, Widukind, against the new authorities. This rising occurred in 782, and was especially violent against the Christians who had been gathered by Willehad. The missionarv saved himself by flight to Frisia, but a number of his assistants and friends were killed. The interval until the reconquest of the country was employed by Willehad in a visit to the pope, where he met with a fellow-laborer and suf- ferer among the heathen named Liutger, and in a so- journ— employed with devotional and literary duties, especially the copying of Paul's epistles — in one of Wil- lebrord's convents at Echternach, near Treves. In 785 Widukind was baptized, and Willehad returned to his work in the region of the Lower Weser and resumed his labors. He established a central Church at Brem- en and a smaller Church at Blexen. In 787, July 13,