Numb. 29.
T. H. FIftly, I conceive liberty to be rightly defined in this manner. Liberty is the absence of all the impediments to action, that are not contained in the nature, and in the intrinsecall quality of the Agent. As for example, the water is said to descend freely, or to have liberty to descend by the Chanell of the River, because there is no im∣pediment that way, but not across, because the banks are impediments. And though water can∣not ascend, yet men never say it wants the liber∣ty to ascend, but the faculty or power, because the impediment is in the nature of the water and in∣trinsecall. So also we say, he that is tied wants the liberty to go, because the impediment is not in him, but in his hands, where as we say not so of him that is sick or lame, because the impediment is in himself.
J. D. HOw that should be a right definition of li∣berty which comprehends neither the Ge∣nus nor the difference, neither the matter nor the forme of liberty, which doth not so much as ac∣cidentally describe liberty by its marks and to∣kens; How a reall faculty or the Elective power should be defined by a negation, or by an ab∣absence, is past my understanding, and contrary