Definition Defined.

I have said that when a man invents his own definitions his whole discussion becomes aerial. Professor Austin Phelps declares that,

The controversial fever often burns out of a man's style a healthy taste. Witness President Edwards's definition of 'necessity.' The Essay on the Will brings on a pure invention in the meaning attached to that word. Edwards's idea of necessity, as he defines it, is not the English idea, is not the popular idea; it never was. It was not his own idea outside of the Essay on the Will. No man can preach it without lapsing into fatalism. In his sermons Edwards falls back, as other men of sense do, upon the popular idea. Even in the Essay on the Will in some sections, he forgets his definition, and speaks of 'necessity' and 'freedom' as the common sense of men understand them.

The most conclusive answer to the weak points in Edwards's essay is the strong point in his sermons.

The common mind has never for a day in any language sanctioned Dr. Brown's idea of the meaning of these words.

In his preliminary chapter our new guide to perfection says of John Wesley and Matthew Simpson, in respect to their use of the terms holiness, sanctification, perfection, and perfect love: "Evidently to these men, and those for whom they speak, one word seems as good as another for all practical and theoretical purposes -- any attempt at nice discrimination or definition would be considered entirely out of piace." Since much credit is claimed by our brother, the author, for accurate definitions, it may be well to inquire what is an exact definition. Webster has it in a nutshell -- " A description of a thing by its properties." "It is designed to settle a thing in its compass and extent." According to Webster, no essentially new definition is called for or is possible unless some new property has been discovered. Hence new definitions in the natural sciences are constantly needed as the human mind advances in its scrutiny of nature. In philosophy and theology, in which the greatest minds have delved for thousands of years, new discoveries are rare, and essentially new definitions are rare also. In fact, we sympathize with R. Watson, who says that "anything essentially new in Christian theology is essentially false." It follows that theological definitions essentially new are essentially erroneous.