ABSTRACT
Choice is not an act of the will; and if so, the soul must be divided into the intellect, sensibilities, the power of choice, and the will, four departments instead of three. The formal freedom of the will does not consist in choice; still less does the material freedom. If liberty consists in the faculties of will and understanding, then perfect liberty consists in a perfect will and understanding. These are the attributes of God alone, from which it follows, as a necessary inference, that God alone is perfectly free. Again, if liberty consists in the faculties of understanding and will then man be free, because he is endowed with will and intelligence; but he is not perfectly free, as he is not endowed with an understanding and will infinite and perfect. The mind has but one real faculty or power to do anything, and this faculty is designated by the term will.
