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Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing 866
Pandian Vasant
Ivan Zelinka
Gerhard-Wilhelm Weber Editors
Intelligent
Computing &
Optimization
Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing
Volume 866
Series editor
Janusz Kacprzyk, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
e-mail: [email protected]
The series “Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing” contains publications on theory,
applications, and design methods of Intelligent Systems and Intelligent Computing. Virtually all
disciplines such as engineering, natural sciences, computer and information science, ICT, economics,
business, e-commerce, environment, healthcare, life science are covered. The list of topics spans all the
areas of modern intelligent systems and computing such as: computational intelligence, soft computing
including neural networks, fuzzy systems, evolutionary computing and the fusion of these paradigms,
social intelligence, ambient intelligence, computational neuroscience, artificial life, virtual worlds and
society, cognitive science and systems, Perception and Vision, DNA and immune based systems,
self-organizing and adaptive systems, e-Learning and teaching, human-centered and human-centric
computing, recommender systems, intelligent control, robotics and mechatronics including
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Chairman
Nikhil R. Pal, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, India
e-mail: [email protected]
Members
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e-mail: [email protected]
Emilio S. Corchado, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
e-mail: [email protected]
Hani Hagras, University of Essex, Colchester, UK
e-mail: [email protected]
László T. Kóczy, Széchenyi István University, Győr, Hungary
e-mail: [email protected]
Vladik Kreinovich, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, USA
e-mail: [email protected]
Chin-Teng Lin, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
e-mail: [email protected]
Jie Lu, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
e-mail: [email protected]
Patricia Melin, Tijuana Institute of Technology, Tijuana, Mexico
e-mail: [email protected]
Nadia Nedjah, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
e-mail: [email protected]
Ngoc Thanh Nguyen, Wroclaw University of Technology, Wroclaw, Poland
e-mail: [email protected]
Jun Wang, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
e-mail: [email protected]
Gerhard-Wilhelm Weber
Editors
123
Editors
Pandian Vasant Gerhard-Wilhelm Weber
Department of Fundamental and Applied Institute of Applied Mathematics
Sciences METU
Universiti Teknologi Petronas Ankara, Ankara, Turkey
Tronoh, Perak, Malaysia
Ivan Zelinka
Faculty of Electrical Engineering
and Computer Science
VŠB TU Ostrava
Ostrava, Czech Republic
This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Preface
v
vi Preface
We also appreciate the fruitful guidance and support from Prof. Gerhard
Wilhelm Weber (Poznan University of Technology, Poland; Middle East Technical
University, Turkey), Prof. Rustem Popa (“Dunarea de Jos” University in Galati,
Romania), Prof. Valeriy Kharchenko (Federal Scientific Agroengineering
Center VIM, Russia), Dr. Wonsiri Punurai (Mahidol University), Prof. Milun Babic
(University of Kragujevac, Serbia), Prof. Ivan Zelinka (VSB-TU Ostrava, Czech
Republic), Dr. Jose Antonio Marmolejo (Universidad Anahuac Mexico Norte,
Mexico), Prof. Gilberto Perez Lechuga (University of Autonomous of Hidalgo
State, Mexico), Prof. Ugo Fiore (Federico II University, Italy), Prof. Weerakorn
Ongsakul (Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand), Prof. Rui Miguel Silva
(Portugal), Mr. Sattawat Yamcharoew (Sparrow Energy Corporation, Thailand),
Mr. K. C. Choo (CO2 Networks, Malaysia), and Dr. Vinh T. Le (Ton Duc Thang
University, Vietnam).
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support in publishing ICO 2018 conference proceedings in Advances in Intelligent
Systems and Computing.
vii
viii Contents
Abstract. The proposed system for monitoring number and duration of power
outages and power quality in 0.38 kV power networks makes it possible to
shorten the power supply restoration time by approximately one hour by
reducing the time for obtaining information about the damage and by approx-
imately one hour by the reduction of the time for determining the location and
type of damage. Besides, the effect can also be obtained by minimizing power
quality inconsistency time with the standardized values. The sensors of the
monitoring system are proposed to be located at customer inputs or at several
network points, for example, at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of the
power network as well as at the transformer substation bus bars.
1 Introduction
The power supply system efficiency can be assessed by the indices of power supply
reliability and power quality. The methods and means for improving power supply
reliability and power quality (PQ) [1, 2] are considered in publications of different
authors. As such measures the use of the technical condition monitoring of transmis-
sion lines and network equipment operating modes are considered, which makes it
possible to identify and prevent the causes of failures in the networks [3–5]. Much
attention is paid to the development of technical and economic mechanisms to stim-
ulate consumers and electric grid companies to increase power quality parameters [6].
The works of both Russian and foreign researchers are devoted to this subject [7–16].
Structure analysis of power supply restoration time after network failures made it
possible [17, 18] to determine it by the formula:
where tinf :obt: is the time of infornation obtaining, h.; tinf :rec: is the time for information
recognizing, h.; trep: is the time for repairing damage, h.; tharmonize is the time to
harmonize connection and disconnection, h.
The power supply restoration time can be reduced significantly by the implemen-
tation of a monitoring systems that controls the power outages and the voltage devi-
ation and automatically informs the dispatcher about the outages on specific network
sections.
The damage from power supply outages of consumers depends on the duration of
power outage in a network supplying consumers and the type of disconnected con-
sumers [19, 20]. The causes of outages may be wire breaks in any part of the power
lines, short circuits in the line, a power failure on the 10 kV side etc. Depending on the
cause, outages can occur either for all consumers connected to the network under
consideration, or for a part of consumers, for example, when a wire breaks. The more
sensors of outages and voltage deviations the monitoring system has, the more infor-
mative it is, the more situations in the monitored network can be recognized. The most
rational option is the installation of the sensors at the input of each consumer. But this
variant of sensor placement can lead to a rise in the cost of a system, therefore, in case
of insufficient budget the sensors can be installed in several points of the network, for
example at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the transmission line as well
as on the buses of the transformer substation. This will allow having the information
about the status of the whole network and monitoring the main network parameters on
its different section.
In works [6, 21] it was justified that the sensors for monitoring power quality
indices were worth to install at customer inputs as well as the sensors of power supply
reliability. It is proposed to control the parameters of power quality using information
obtained from these sensors. The combination of monitoring of power supply outages
and power quality indices along with the automated measuring and the electric power
fiscal (or technical) accounting is promising. Theoretically, such an opportunity exists.
At present, a rather wide range of metering devices equipped with means to monitor
power outages and power quality is produced. This is a series of MAYAK meters,
meters of signal frequency receivers equipped with the corresponding functions. But
practically these possibilities are not used. Firstly, this is due to the impossibility to
read and send the specified information remotely via AMISEPFA channels because
they are used only for power consumption data transmission. The information about
power outages in these meters are only stored in the meter archive. Secondly, the use of
meters equipped with all the necessary capabilities is quite expensive. They are several
times more expensive than meters transmitting data only about power consumption. In
addition, consumer energy meters send information about power outages occurring in
the internal consumer network without getting information about their reasons.
А System for Monitoring the Number and Duration 3
Although power outages might be caused by switching off in the external network,
tripouting a switching device at the customer input or even the disconnection by the
customer for servicing the wiring.
3 Results
A variant of the sensor location scheme that allows taking into account number and
duration of power outages as well as the voltage deviation is shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. Scheme of the device for monitoring number and duration of power outages and voltage
deviation level at the consumer inputs.
The sensor circuit (Fig. 1) contains the switching device SD 1, the voltage sensor
VS 2, the overvoltage sensor OVS 13, the undervoltage sensor UVS 14, the short-
circuit sensor SCS 4, the overload sensor OLS 5, the information processing unit IPU
10, the NOT 3 element, the NOT 7 element, the OR 6 element, the AND 8 element, the
element Memory 9, Data Acquisition and Transmission Device DATD 11, the data
from which are transferred to the the electric grid company dispatcher EGCD 12.
In the normal operation mode there is voltage in the power transmission line
supplying a consumer and there is no overload or short circuit in the internal network of
the consumer. Thus the signal is present at the output of the voltage sensor VS 2 and
there is no signal at the outputs of the elements SCS 4 and OLS 5. There is also no
signal from the outputs of the sensors OVS 13 and UVS 14. In this case, the output of
NOT7 is signaled to one of the inputs of the AND 8 element, and there is no signal at
the outputs of the elements NOT 3, OR 6, AND 8, Memory 8, Memory 11. In this case,
the signal from the output of the voltage sensor VS 2 is sent to reset the element
Memory 9. The circuit does not start.
At the moment of failure in the transmission line, the voltage at the consumer input
disappears, that is, the signal from the output of the element VS 2 disappears.
Accordingly the signal appears at the output of NOT 3, which is fed to the input of the
AND 8 element. If there are no signals at the sensor outputs the short-circuit current of
the SCS 4 and the overload sensor OLS 5, the signal at the output of the NOT 7
element is present and fed to the second input of the AND 8 element. At both inputs
AND 8 there are signals, hence a signal will appear at its output, which will be
4 A. Vinogradov et al.
the consumer input will be fixed by this unit. Also, in this operation mode the block
IPU 10 will detect a short circuit in the customer network. The information about these
facts will be stored in the IPU and will be transmitted through the DATD and the
corresponding data transmitting channel to the dispatcher.
If there is an overload in the internal network of the consumer and after its dis-
appearance the voltage in the transmission line does not disappear, the circuit will work
as follows. At the moment of the overload current appearance a signal will appear at the
output of the element OLS 5 which will be fed to the input of the element OR 6. From
the output of the element OR 6 the signal will come to the input of the element NOT 7
as well as to the information processing unit IPU 10, which fixes the facts of the short
circuit and overloads in the consumer internal network. During the presence of the
overload current the signal at the output of the element NOT 7 will be absent. At the
output of the sensor VS 2 the signal will not disappear, so a signal at the output of the
element NOT 3 will not appear. Because there is no signal on one of the inputs, the
element AND 8 will not work and there will be no the signal at its output. After a
consumer switching device get be disconnected the overload current will disappear and
the signal from the output of OLS 5 disappears as well. Thus, in this operation mode
the IPU 10 unit will record the fact of an overload in the consumer’s network without
switching off the input voltage.
The situation where there is the non-selective disconnection of a power line
switching device during an overload in the consumer network is generally analogous to
the situation of non-selective triggering of the switching device during a short circuit in
the consumer network The difference is that the input signal of the element OR 6 will
be fed from the sensor OLS 5 instead of the element SCS 4. In this case the block IPU
10 will fix a disconnection in the line as well as an overload in the consumer network.
Both the history of accounting number and duration of power outages and the facts
of short circuits and overloads in the consumer network are stored in the memory of
IPU 10 in the form of protocols; all these data can be transferred to the dispatching
office of the electric grid company.
In case of exceeding the voltage deviation level in one or another side of the
normalized value, a signal will appear at the output of the high-voltage sensors OVS 13
or the low-voltage sensors UVS 14, which will be transmitted to the IPU 10 and further
to the dispatching office of the electric grid company.
Thus, the supposed device supports automatic calculation of the amount of the
consumed power, accounting of the number and duration of power outages, monitoring
and recording of emergency situations in the consumer network along with and voltage
drops in the consumer electrical network. The information on the discrepancy of the
voltage deviation is sent to the block IPU 10 and transmitted by means of the data
transfer device via one of the channels (PLC, JPS, JPRS, Glonass, radio…) to the
electric grid company dispatcher (EGCD 12).
Using the devices mentioned above the system for monitoring number and duration
of power outages and the power quality in electrical networks of 0.38 kV can be
performed as follows. The sensors for monitoring power quality indices and sensors for
recording number and duration of power outages can be installed at the consumer
inputs (in the simplest case only the level of voltage deviation at the customer input can
be used as a monitored power quality index). Both types of sensors can be combined
6 A. Vinogradov et al.
into one device (for example, a device for monitoring number and duration of power
outages and voltage deviation - DMNDCandVD).
The information from the DMNDCandVD goes to the data processing unit and is
transmitted by means of the data transfer device via one of the channels to the electric
grid company dispatcher (EGCD) (Fig. 2).
Fig. 2. System for monitoring the quantuty and duration of power outages and the power quality
in 0.38 kV electrical networks
disappearance on the transformer substation buses shows the power supply interruption
for all consumers connected to the TS. But this method is not acceptable if transmission
lines are equipped with means of automatic transfer switch, partitioning means and if it
is also necessary to control voltage deviation level at consumer inputs. Therefore, the
system version where all consumers inputs are equipped with the DMNDCandVD are
more justified since it is more functional and allows identifying some network modes
other ways cannot detect. For example, if a wire (of a phase) breaks in the area between
consumers S2 and S3, the signal from the DMNDCandVD installed at the consumer S3
will show the voltage failure presence and the DMNDCandVD installed at the con-
sumer S2 will indicate that the voltage is present. Thus, the system for monitoring
number and duration of power outages will find the place of the break.
4 Discussions
The economic efficiency of the system application can vary depending on the tasks
assigned to it. The system application of monitoring the number and duration of power
outages allows obtaining an economic effect mainly by reducing the power supply
restoration time. In this case the recovery time based on the analysis of works [18, 22]
can be shorten by approximately one hour by reducing the time for obtaining infor-
mation about the damage and by approximately one hour by the reduction of the time
for determining the location and type of damage. In total, the recovery time can be
reduced by approximately 2 h. In determining the effect it is also necessary to take into
account the reliability indices of the network under discussion since they can be dif-
ferent depending on whether the cable or overhead lines which are used in either urban
or rural areas [2].
The effect of reducing the power supply restoration time can be determined as
follows. First, it is required to estimate the failure probability in the considered net-
works during a year. In papers [23, 24] there is literature data on the failure rate for
0.38 kV networks. According to them the failure intensity for 0.38 kV power networks
is 2.7 failures per 100 km during a year, for power transformers is 3.5 failures per
100 km during a year, for the 10 kV overhead lines is 35.9 failures per 100 km during
a year.
For 0.38 kV overhead lines with a length LOL and failure rate of 2.7 failures per
100 km during a year the probable number of failures per year is determined as follows:
2:7 LOL
NOL ¼ failures per year: ð2Þ
100
For power transformers with number ntr and failure rate 3,5 failures per 100 km
during a year the probable number of failures per year is determined as follows:
3:5 nTR
NTR ¼ failures per year: ð3Þ
100
8 A. Vinogradov et al.
The failures number per year for other network elements can be determined
similarly.
The next step is to determine the electricity shortage per year for a given number of
failures for power supply system elements.
The power undersupply is determined by the formula:
where Prat - rated power of the load connected to the faulty equipment; Tav - the
average power supply restoration time, which according to [13] is equal to 5.86 h.
The reduction of power undersupply is defined as follows:
5 Conclusions
1. It is possible to increase power supply system efficiency by monitoring number and
duration of power outages and power quality in 0.38 kV electrical networks. The
proposed system for monitoring number and duration of power outages and power
quality makes it possible to shorten the power supply restoration time and to obtain
the necessary data on network operating modes and network failures.
2. The sensors for monitoring power outages and power quality are proposed to be
located at the consumer inputs or at several network points, for example at the
beginning, in the middle and at the end of transmission lines as well as on trans-
former substation buses. It makes it possible to expand the system informativeness
and the possibilities of using it to diagnose failures in a controlled network.
3. Economic efficiency of the system is achieved mainly by reducing the power supply
restoration time. The power supply restoration time can be reduced by approxi-
mately 1 h by reducing the time for obtaining information about the damage and
approximately 1 h by reducing the time for determining the location and the type of
damage. Thus, the recovery time on average can be reduced by 2 h. Besides, the
effect can also be obtained by minimizing power quality inconsistency time with the
standardized values.
А System for Monitoring the Number and Duration 9
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A Novel Application of System Survival
Signature in Reliability Assessment
of Offshore Structures
1 Introduction
Offshore jacket platforms are generally used for oil and gas production in shal-
low and intermediate water depths. Adequate performance of the platforms is
ensured by designing for a service life. However, a large numbers of these steel
structures are operating exceeded their design life due to high cost of replace-
ment. Consequently, the safety of these offshore platforms creates strong reasons
to develop effective methods for the reliability assessment.
For large offshore structures, reliability measures usually concern the struc-
tural reliability under the impact of external influences such as fatigue, and cor-
rosion environment. As structural reliability concerns the behavior of an object
under physical conditions, a safety assessment should prove that the risk of
c Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019
P. Vasant et al. (Eds.): ICO 2018, AISC 866, pp. 11–20, 2019.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00979-3_2
12 T.-E. Regenhardt et al.
Equations (1) and (2) indicate show that - for exact computation - many
different states need to be evaluated and that the size of the survival signature
14 T.-E. Regenhardt et al.
The calculation of the Φ necessitate knowledge about the behaviour of the system
under failure of the components. Usually due to complexity, an explicit global
structure function is often not given. Instead, the states of the system can be
evaluated by various means, including reliability block diagrams and cut-sets,
binary decision diagrams, and failure tree analysis [17].
With reliability block diagrams, it is simple to visualize the behaviour of small
systems. However, the search of cut-sets in a block diagram is NP-hard and can
be very time consuming [18]. Binary decision diagrams can provide fast means
to calculate the survival signature once the decision diagram data structure is
available. However, the calculation of the decision diagram is also dependent on
finding the cut-sets of the system and can be, inherently, slow.
For structural reliability, one is usually concerned with the behaviour of a
structure under load. Thus the interaction of the various components is not
modelled in any way described above - instead, the structure is modelled and
analysed in frameworks of mechanical simulation methods (commonly, finite ele-
ments methods) concerned with the actual physical behaviour.
In this work, a bridge over this gap is presented. A large structure consists
of several, possibly redundant, components. This means that the system might
still be operational after the failure of some of the components. Thus, structural
simulation can show various failure modes of the system under load. If a struc-
tural simulation of the structure results in a failing component, the structure is
updated and the simulation started again. This is repeated until the simulation
results show that the structure is failing in total. All failed components until
this point are saved in a failure mode. By variation of the load parameters, all
components prone to failure are identified and several failure modes are identi-
fied. These failure modes can be used as cut-sets in computation of the survival
signature. Equation (1) can be evaluated using these cut-sets to compute the
values of ϕ(x) for all x (exact computation) or a representative sample (Monte
Carlo Simulation). In this study, the Monte-Carlo approach was used as the
amount of combinations to be checked is of medium size. The largest amount of
combinations that is possible is for the entry placed directly in the middle of the
3
array ( 32 · 84 = 1890). Thus a sample size of 2000 samples was used.
A Novel Application of System Survival Signature 15
The jacket platform is taken from [16]. The Jacket is designed for shallow water
depth of approximately 65.31 m. It is a 4-legged jacket containing pile inside
the legs. The jacket is modeled as 2 × 2 square grid. The overall dimensions are
8 × 8 m at top elevation and 21.76 × 21.76 m at the mud line. The total height is
81 m. Two types of bracings are used named as horizontal bracings and vertical
bracings. The horizontal bracings are installed at five levels. The vertical bracings
are provided as single bracings till the bottom level. At the bottom level, it was
provided as K-bracings to impart more stiffness and reduce buckling. The jacket
support/foundation is modelled as fixed support system. The jacket is modelled
in SAP2000 as shown in Fig. 1. Member properties of the jacket are also taken
from [16]. The top mass of the oil and gas platform is simplified as a lumped
mass for the easiness finite element modelling. The total weight of the topside
is assumed as 1250 tons, which is equally applied over four legs where each leg,
is carrying 312.5 tons at the top nodes of the jacket structures platform.
Fig. 1. (a) Three-dimensional model of the jacket (b) Grouping of the components
recorded up to the ultimate load level. Here the damage level is not considered
because the aim is to grasp the failure behaviour of members up to ultimate
load level. Here the term failure behaviour is defined as how the member fails
chronologically and which member is followed by another member. Load has
been applied along three different directions comprising of 0◦ , 90◦ and 45◦ . The
typical pushover curve is shown in Fig. 2 which is adopted from FEMA356 [6]
and the ultimate load level is the point ‘C’. The failure tree can be observed in
Fig. 3.
The tree is generated for three different load directions. For zero degree of
direction, the first damage is observed in member 26. After that, this member
is followed by members 31, 41, 30, 27, 38, and 49. When the damage initiates
in member 49, the load level reached the ultimate level. For 90◦ direction, the
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
fruitless controversies, the consequence whereof are jealousies,
heart-burnings, exasperation of parties, the introduction of
factions and national quarrels into matters of religion, and
consequently all the calamities of war and devastation. Besides,
they are good lawful diversions for the duller sort of citizens,
who contract diseases for want of motion; they supply the
building of pyramids among the Egyptians, by diverting the
thoughts of the people from matters of state, and consequently
from rebellion.
They find work for printers, &c. if the parties interested are
troubled with the itch of popularity, and will suffer themselves to
be scratched out of somewhat by way of contribution to the
impression. Hence is the stationer’s shop furnished, and thence
the minister’s study in the country, who having found out the
humour of his auditory, consults with his stationer, on what
books his money is best bestowed; who very gravely, it may be,
will commend Cole upon the Philippians before the excellent, but
borrowed, Caryl upon Job. But as to any matter of conviction, we
see every one acquiesces in his own sentiments, every one hears
the teacher who is most to his humour; and when he hath been
at church, and pretends to have sat at his feet, comes home and
censures him as he pleases.
To be yet a little more particular, what shall we think of those
vast and involuble volumes concerning predestination, free-will,
free-grace, election, reprobation, &c., which fill not only our
libraries, but the world with their noise and disturbance, whereof
the least thing we are to expect is conviction; every side
endeavouring to make good their own grounds, and keep the
cudgels in their hands as long as they can? What stir is there
between the Molinists and Jansenists about grace and merits;
and yet both pretend St. Augustin!
Must we not expect, that the Jesuits will, were it for no other
end but to vindicate that reputation of learning they have
obtained in the world, endeavour to make good their tenets,
though the other were the truer opinion? Is truth then retired to
that inaccessible rock that admits no approaches? Or are we all
turned Ixions, and instead of enjoying that Juno, entertain
ourselves with the clouds of our own persuasions; of which
unnatural coition, what other issue can there be but Centaurs
and monstrous opinions? To these questions I shall not presume
to answer, but in the words of this great author, who answering
the charge of impiety laid upon the holding of necessity, says
thus; If we consider the greatest part of mankind, not as they
should be, but as they are, that is as men, whom either the
study of acquiring wealth and preferment, or whom the appetite
of sensual delights, or the impatience of meditating, or the rash
embracing of wrong principles, have made unapt to discuss the
truth of things, I must confess, &c.
Certainly we have some reason to expect an effectual cure
from this man, since he hath so fortunately found out the
disease. Now if he in so few sheets hath performed more than
all the voluminous works of the priests and ministers, and that in
points of soul-concernment and Christian interest, as
predestination, free-will, grace, merits, election, reprobation,
necessity, and liberty of actions, and others, the main hinges of
human salvation; and to do this, being a person, whom not only
the averseness of his nature to engage himself in matters of
controversy of this kind, but his severer study of the
mathematics, might justly exempt from any such skirmishes; we
may not stick to infer, that the black-coats, generally taken, are a
sort of ignorant tinkers, who in matters of their own profession,
such as is the mending and soldering of men’s consciences, have
made more holes than they found; nay, what makes them more
impardonable, they have neither the gratitude nor ingenuity to
acknowledge this repairer of their breaches, and assertor of their
reputation, who hath now effected what they all this while have
been tampering about. I know this author is little beholden to
the ministers, and they make a great part of the nation; and
besides them, I know there are many illiterate, obstinate, and
inconvincible spirits: yet I dare advance this proposition, how
bold soever it may seem to some; that this book, how little and
contemptible soever it may seem, contains more evidence and
conviction in the matters it treats of, than all the volumes, nay
libraries, which the priests, jesuits, and ministers have, to our
great charge, distraction, and loss of precious time, furnished us
with. Which if so, I shall undertake for any rational man, that all
the controversial labours concerning religion in the world, all the
polemical treatises of the most ancient or modern, shall never
breed any maggots of scruples, or dissatisfactions in his brains,
nor shall his eyes or head ever ache with turning them over; but
he shall be so resolved in mind, as never to importune God
Almighty with impertinent addresses, nor ever become any of
those enthusiastical spiritati, who, as the most learned Mr. White
says, expound Scripture without sense or reason, and are not to
be disputed with but with the same success as men write on
sand, and trouble their neighbours with their dreams,
revelations, and spiritual whimsies. No! here is solid conviction,
at least so far as the metaphysical mysteries of our religion will
admit. If God be omnipotent, he is irresistible; if so, just in all his
actions, though we, who have as much capacity to measure the
justice of God’s actions as a man born blind to judge of colours,
haply may not discern it. What then need any man trouble his
head, whether he be predestinated or no? Let him live justly and
honestly according to the religion of his country, and refer
himself to God for the rest, since he is the potter, and may do
what he please with the vessel. But I leave the reader to find his
satisfaction in the treatise itself, since it may be I derogate from
it by saying so much before it. This book, I doubt not, will find
no worse entertainment than the Leviathan, both in regard of its
bulk, and that it doth not strike so home at the ministers and
Catholic party as that did. And yet here we must complain of
want of sufficiency or ingenuity to acknowledge the truths or
confute the errors of that book; which till it is done, we shall not
count the author an heretic. On this side the sea, besides the
dirt and slander cast on him in sermons and private meetings,
none hath put anything in print against him, but Mr. Rosse; one
who may be said to have had so much learning, as to have been
perpetually barking at the works of the most learned. How he
hath been received beyond seas I know not, but certainly, not
without the regret of the Catholics; who building their church on
other foundations than those of the Scriptures, and pretending
infallibility, certitude, and unity in religion, cannot but be
discontented that these prerogatives of religion are taken away,
not only from tradition, that is to say, from the church, but also
from the Scriptures, and are invested in the supreme power of
the nation, be it of what persuasion it will.
Thus much, Reader, I have thought fit to acquaint thee with,
that thou mightest know what a jewel thou hast in thy hands,
which thou must accordingly value, not by the bulk, but the
preciousness. Thou hast here in a few sheets what might prove
work enough for many thousand sermons and exercises; and
more than the catechisms and confessions of a thousand
assemblies could furnish thee with: thou hast what will cast an
eternal blemish on all the cornered caps of priests and jesuits,
and all the black and white caps of the canting tribe; to be short,
thou art now acquainted with that man, who, in matters of so
great importance as those of thy salvation, furnishes thee with
better instructions, than any thou hast ever yet been acquainted
with, what profession, persuasion, opinion, or church soever
thou art of; of whom and his works make the best use thou
canst. Farewell.
pm hrdbl
TO THE
LORD MARQUIS OF NEWCASTLE.
Right Honourable,
I had once resolved to answer my Lord Bishop’s objections to my
book De Cive in the first place, as that which concerns me most;
and afterwards to examine his Discourse of Liberty and Necessity,
which, because I had never uttered my opinion of it, concerned
me the less. But seeing it was your Lordship’s and my Lord
Bishop’s desire that I should begin with the latter, I was
contented so to do, and here I present and submit it to your
Lordship’s judgment.
And first I assure your Lordship I find in it no new argument
neither from Scripture nor from reason, that I have not often
heard before, which is as much as to say, I am not surprised.
The preface is a handsome one, but it appeareth even in that,
that he hath mistaken the question. For whereas he says thus, If
I be free to write this Discourse, I have obtained the cause: I
deny that to be true, for it is enough to his freedom of writing,
that he had not written it, unless he would himself. If he will
obtain the cause, he must prove that before he writ it, it was not
necessary he should prove it afterward. It may be his Lordship
thinks it all one to say, I was free to write it, and, It was not
necessary I should write it. But I think otherwise. For he is free
to do a thing, that may do it if he have the will to do it, and may
forbear, if he have the will to forbear. And yet if there be a
necessity that he shall have the will to do it, the action is
necessarily to follow: and if there be a necessity that he shall
have the will to forbear, the forbearing also will be necessary.
The question therefore is not, whether a man be a free agent,
that is to say, whether he can write or forbear, speak or be
silent, according to his will; but, whether the will to write, and
the will to forbear, come upon him according to his will, or
according to anything else in his own power. I acknowledge this
liberty, that I can do if I will; but to say, I can will if I will, I take
to be an absurd speech. Wherefore I cannot grant my Lord the
cause upon his preface.
In the next place, he maketh certain distinctions of liberty, and
says he meaneth not liberty from sin, nor from servitude, nor
from violence; but, from necessity, necessitation, inevitability,
and determination to one.
It had been better to define liberty, than thus to distinguish.
For I understand never the more what he means by liberty; and
though he say he means liberty from necessitation, yet I
understand not how such a liberty can be, and it is a taking of
the question without proof. For what is else the question
between us, but whether such a liberty be possible or not?
There are in the same place other distinctions: as a liberty of
exercise only, which he calls a liberty of contradiction, namely of
doing not good, or evil simply, but of doing this or that good, or
this or that evil respectively, and a liberty of specification and
exercise also, which he calls a liberty of contrariety, namely a
liberty not only to do good or evil, but also to do or not do this
or that good or evil.
And with these distinctions his Lordship says he clears the
coast, whereas in truth, he darkeneth his own meaning and the
question, not only with the jargon of exercise only, specification
also, contradiction, contrariety, but also with pretending
distinction where none is: for how is it possible that the liberty of
doing or not doing this or that good or evil, can consist, as he
says it does in God and good angels, without a liberty of doing
or not doing good or evil?
The next thing his Lordship does, after clearing of the coast, is
the dividing of his forces, as he calls them, into two squadrons,
one of places of Scriptures, the other of reasons, which allegory
he useth, I suppose, because he addresseth the discourse to
your Lordship, who is a military man. All that I have to say
touching this, is, that I observe a great part of those his forces
do look and march another way, and some of them fight
amongst themselves.
And the first place of Scripture, taken from Numb. xxx. 13, is
one of those that look another way; the words are, If a wife
make a vow, it is left to her husband’s choice either to establish
it or make it void. For it proves no more but that the husband is
a free and voluntary agent, but not that his choice therein is not
necessitated or not determined to what he shall choose, by
precedent necessary causes.
For if there come into the husband’s mind greater good by
establishing than abrogating such a vow, the establishing will
follow necessarily; and if the evil that will follow in the husband’s
opinion outweigh the good, the contrary must needs follow: and
yet in this following of one’s hopes and fears, consisteth the
nature of election. So that a man may both choose this, and
cannot but choose this, and consequently choosing and
necessity are joined together.
The second place of Scripture is Joshua, xxiv. 15. The third is
2 Sam. xxiv. 12, whereby it is clearly proved, that there is
election in man, but not proved that such election was not
necessitated by the hopes, and fears, and considerations of good
and bad to follow, which depend not on the will, nor are subject
to election. And therefore one answer serves all such places, if
there were a thousand.
But his Lordship supposing, it seems, I might answer, as I
have done, that necessity and election might stand together, and
instance in the actions of children, fools, or brute beasts, whose
fancies, I might say, are necessitated and determined to one;
before these his proofs out of Scripture, desires to prevent that
instance, and therefore says that the actions of children, fools,
madmen, and beasts, are indeed determined, but that they
proceed not from election, nor from free, but from spontaneous
agents. As for example, that the bee, when it maketh honey,
does it spontaneously; and when the spider makes his web, he
does it spontaneously, but not by election.
Though I never meant to ground my answer upon the
experience of what children, fools, madmen, and beasts do; yet
that your Lordship may understand what can be meant by
spontaneous, and how it differeth from voluntary, I will answer
that distinction, and show that it fighteth against its fellow
arguments.
Your Lordship therefore is to consider, that all voluntary
actions, where the thing that induceth the will is not fear, are
called also spontaneous, and said to be done by a man’s own
accord. As when a man giveth money voluntarily to another for
merchandise, or out of affection, he is said to do it of his own
accord, which in Latin is sponte, and therefore the action is
spontaneous; though to give one’s money willingly to a thief to
avoid killing, or throw it into the sea to avoid drowning, where
the motive is fear, be not called spontaneous. But every
spontaneous action is not therefore voluntary, for voluntary
presupposes some precedent deliberation, that is to say, some
consideration, and meditation, of what is likely to follow, both
upon the doing, and abstaining from the action deliberated of;
whereas many actions are done of our own accord, and are
therefore spontaneous, for which nevertheless, as my Lord
thinks, we never consulted nor deliberated in ourselves. As when
making no question nor any the least doubt in the world, but the
thing we are about is good, we eat and walk, or in anger strike
or revile, which my Lord thinks spontaneous, but not voluntary
nor elective actions, and with such kind of actions, he says
necessitation may stand, but not with such as are voluntary, and
proceed upon election and deliberation. Now if I make it appear
to your Lordship, that those actions, which, he says, proceed
from spontaneity, and which he ascribes to children, fools,
madmen, and beasts, proceed from election and deliberation,
and that actions inconsiderate, rash, and spontaneous, are
ordinarily found in those, that are by themselves and many more
thought as wise, or wiser than ordinarily men are, then my Lord
Bishop’s argument concludeth, that necessity and election may
stand together, which is contrary to that which he intendeth by
all the rest of his arguments to prove.
And first your Lordship’s own experience furnishes you with
proof enough, that horses, dogs, and other brute beasts, do
demur oftentimes upon the way they are to take, the horse
retiring from some strange figure that he sees, and coming on
again to avoid the spur. And what else doth a man that
deliberateth, but one while proceed toward action, another while
retire from it, as the hope of greater good draws him, or the fear
of greater evil drives him away.
A child may be so young as to do what it does without all
deliberation, but that is but till it have the chance to be hurt by
doing of somewhat, or till it be of age to understand the rod: for
the actions, wherein he hath once had a check, shall be
deliberated on the second time.
Fools and madmen manifestly deliberate no less than the
wisest men, though they make not so good a choice, the images
of things being by disease altered.
For bees and spiders, if my Lord Bishop had had so little to do
as to be a spectator of their actions, he would have confessed
not only election, but art, prudence, and policy, in them, very
near equal to that of mankind. Of bees, Aristotle says, their life is
civil.
Again, his Lordship is deceived, if he think any spontaneous
action, after once being checked in it, differs from an action
voluntary and elective: for even the setting of a man’s foot, in
the posture for walking, and the action of ordinary eating, was
once deliberated of how and when it should be done, and
though afterward it became easy and habitual, so as to be done
without forethought; yet that does not hinder but that the act is
voluntary, and proceedeth from election. So also are the rashest
actions of choleric persons voluntary and upon deliberation: for
who is there but very young children, that hath not considered
when and how far he ought, or safely may strike or revile?
Seeing then his Lordship agrees with me, that such actions are
necessitated, and the fancy of those that do them determined to
the action they do, it follows out of his Lordship’s own doctrine,
that the liberty of election does not take away the necessity of
electing this or that individual thing. And thus one of his
arguments fights against another.
The second argument from Scripture, consisteth in histories of
men that did one thing, when if they would, they might have
done another; the places are two: one is 1 Kings iii. 10, where
the history says, God was pleased that Solomon, who might, if
he would, have asked riches, or revenge, did nevertheless ask
wisdom at God’s hands: the other is the words of St. Peter to
Ananias, Acts v. 4: After it was sold, was it not in thine own
power?
To which the answer is the same with that I answered to the
former places, that they prove there is election, but do not
disprove the necessity, which I maintain, of what they so elect.
The fourth argument (for to the third and fifth I shall make but
one answer) is to this effect; If the decrees of God, or his
foreknowledge, or the influence of the stars, or the
concatenation of causes, or the physical or moral efficacy of
causes, or the last dictate of the understanding, or whatsoever it
be, do take away true liberty, then Adam before his fall had no
true liberty. Quicquid ostendes mihi sic incredulus odi.
That which I say necessitateth and determinateth every
action, that his Lordship may no longer doubt of my meaning, is
the sum of all things, which being now existent, conduce and
concur to the production of that action hereafter, whereof if any
one thing now were wanting, the effect could not be produced.
This concourse of causes, whereof every one is determined to be
such as it is by a like concourse of former causes, may well be
called (in respect they were all set and ordered by the eternal
cause of all things, God Almighty) the decree of God.
But that the foreknowledge of God should be a cause of any
thing, cannot be truly said, seeing foreknowledge is knowledge,
and knowledge depends on the existence of the things known,
and not they on it.
The influence of the stars is but a small part of the whole
cause, consisting of the concourse of all agents.
Nor does the concourse of all causes make one simple chain or
concatenation, but an innumerable number of chains, joined
together, not in all parts, but in the first link God Almighty; and
consequently the whole cause of an event, doth not always
depend on one single chain, but on many together.
Natural efficacy of objects does determine voluntary agents,
and necessitates the will, and consequently the action; but for
moral efficacy, I understand not what he means.
The last dictate of the judgment, concerning the good or bad,
that may follow on any action, is not properly the whole cause,
but the last part of it, and yet may be said to produce the effect
necessarily, in such manner as the last feather may be said to
break a horse’s back, when there were so many laid on before as
there wanted but that one to do it.
Now for his argument, that if the concourse of all the causes
necessitate the effect, that then it follows, Adam had no true
liberty: I deny the consequence; for I make not only the effect,
but also the election, of that particular effect necessary,
inasmuch as the will itself, and each propension of a man during
his deliberation, is as much necessitated, and depends on a
sufficient cause, as any thing else whatsoever. As for example, it
is no more necessary that fire should burn, than that a man or
other creature, whose limbs be moved by fancy, should have
election, that is liberty, to do what he hath a fancy to do, though
it be not in his will or power to choose his fancy, or choose his
election and will.
This doctrine, because my Lord Bishop says he hates, I doubt
had better been suppressed, as it should have been, if both your
Lordship and he had not pressed me to an answer.
The arguments of greatest consequence, are the third and the
fifth, and they fall both into one, namely: If there be a necessity
of all events, that it will follow, that praise and reprehension, and
reward and punishment, are all vain and unjust; and that if God
should openly forbid, and secretly necessitate the same action,
punishing men for what they could not avoid, there would be no
belief among them of heaven and hell.
To oppose hereunto I must borrow an answer from St. Paul,
Rom. ix. 20, 21. From the eleventh verse of the chapter to the
eighteenth, is laid down the very same objection in these words:
When they, meaning Esau and Jacob, were yet unborn, and had
done neither good nor evil, that the purpose of God according to
election, not by works, but by him that calleth, might remain
firm, it was said unto her (viz. Rebecca) that the elder should
serve the younger, &c. What then shall we say? Is there injustice
with God? God forbid. It is not therefore in him that willeth, nor
in him that runneth, but in God that showeth mercy. For the
Scripture saith to Pharaoh, I have stirred thee up that I might
show my power in thee, and that my name might be set forth in
all the earth. Therefore whom God willeth, he hath mercy on,
and whom he willeth he hardeneth. Thus you see the case put
by St. Paul, is the same with that of my Lord Bishop, and the
same objection in these words following:
Thou wilt ask me then, why does God yet complain, for who
hath resisted his will?
To this therefore the Apostle answers, not by denying it was
God’s will, or that the decree of God concerning Esau was not
before he had sinned, or that Esau was not necessitated to do
what he did; but thus: Who art thou, O man, that interrogatest
God? Shall the work say to the workman, why hast thou made
me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same
stuff to make one vessel to honour, another to dishonour?
According therefore to this answer of St. Paul, I answer my
Lord’s objection, and say, the power of God alone without other
helps is sufficient justification of any action he doth. That which
men make amongst themselves here by pacts and covenants,
and call by the name of justice, and according whereunto men
are accounted and termed rightly just or unjust, is not that by
which God Almighty’s actions are to be measured or called just,
no more than his counsels are to be measured by human
wisdom. That which he does, is made just by his doing it; just, I
say, in him, though not always just in us.
For a man that shall command a thing openly, and plot
secretly the hindrance of the same, if he punish him that he so
commandeth, for not doing it, it is unjust. So also, his counsels
are therefore not in vain, because they be his, whether we see
the use of them or not. When God afflicted Job, he did object no
sin unto him, but justified his afflicting of him, by telling him of
his power: (Job xl. 9:) Hast thou, saith God, an arm like mine?
(Job xxviii. 4): Where wert thou when I laid the foundations of
the earth? and the like. So our Saviour, (John ix. 3) concerning
the man that was born blind, said, it was not for his sin, or for
his parents' sin, but that the power of God might be shown in
him. Beasts are subject to death and torments, yet they cannot
sin: it was God’s will they should be so. Power irresistible justifies
all actions, really and properly, in whomsoever it be found; less
power does not, and because such power is in God only, he must
needs be just in all actions, and we, that not comprehending his
counsels, call him to the bar, commit injustice in it.
I am not ignorant of the usual reply to his answer, by
distinguishing between will and permission, as that God Almighty
does indeed sometimes permit sins, and that he also
foreknoweth that the sin he permitteth, shall be committed, but
does not will it, nor necessitate it.
I know also they distinguish the action from the sin of the
action, saying, that God Almighty does indeed cause the action,
whatsoever action it be, but not the sinfulness or irregularity of
it, that is, the discordance between the action and the law. Such
distinctions as these dazzle my understanding; I find no
difference between the will to have a thing done, and the
permission to do it, when he that permitteth can hinder it, and
knows that it will be done unless he hinder it. Nor find I any
difference between an action and the sin of that action; as for
example, between the killing of Uriah, and the sin of David in
killing Uriah, nor when one is cause both of the action and of the
law, how another can be cause of the disagreement between
them, no more than how one man making a longer and a shorter
garment, another can make the inequality that is between them.
This I know; God cannot sin, because his doing a thing makes it
just, and consequently, no sin; as also because whatsoever can
sin, is subject to another’s law, which God is not. And therefore it
is blasphemy to say, God can sin; but to say, that God can so
order the world, as a sin may be necessarily caused thereby in a
man, I do not see how it is any dishonour to him. Howsoever, if
such or other distinctions can make it clear, that St. Paul did not
think Esau’s or Pharaoh’s actions proceeded from the will and
purpose of God, or that proceeding from his will, could not
therefore without injustice be blamed or punished, I will, as soon
as I understand them, turn unto my Lord’s opinion: for I now
hold nothing in all this question betwixt us, but what seemeth to
me, not obscurely, but most expressly said in this place by St.
Paul. And thus much in answer to his places of Scripture.
But that saying, as pretty as it is, is not true; for though Medea
saw many reasons to forbear killing her children, yet the last
dictate of her judgment was, that the present revenge on her
husband outweighed them all, and thereupon the wicked action
necessarily followed. Then the story of the Roman, who of two
competitors, said, one had the better reason, but the other must
have the office. This also maketh against his Lordship, for the
last dictate of his judgment that had the bestowing of the office,
was this, that it was better to take a great bribe, than reward a
great merit.
Thirdly, he objects that things nearer the sense, move more
powerfully than reason; what followeth thence but this, the
sense of the present good is commonly more immediate to the
action, than the foresight of the evil consequence to come?
Fourthly, whereas his Lordship says, that do what a man can, he
shall sorrow more for the death of his son than for the sin of his
soul, makes nothing to the last dictate of the understanding; but
it argues plainly, that sorrow for sin is not voluntary, and by
consequence, that repentance proceedeth from causes.
The last part of this discourse containeth his Lordship’s
opinions about reconciling liberty with the prescience and
decrees of God, otherwise than some divines have done, against
whom, he says, he had formerly written a treatise, out of which
he repeateth only two things: one is, That we ought not to
desert a certain truth, for not being able to comprehend the
certain manner of it. And I say the same, as for example, that
his Lordship ought not to desert this certain truth, that there are
certain and necessary causes which make every man to will what
he willeth, though he do not yet conceive in what manner the
will of man is caused. And yet I think the manner of it is not very
hard to conceive, seeing we see daily, that praise, dispraise,
reward, and punishment, good and evil, sequels of men’s actions
retained in memory, do frame and make us to the election of
whatsoever it be that we elect, and that the memory of such
things proceeds from the senses, and sense from the operation
of the objects of sense, which are external to us, and governed
only by God Almighty; and by consequence all actions, even of
free and voluntary agents, are necessary.
The other thing that he repeateth, is, that the best way to
reconcile contingence and liberty with prescience and the
decrees of God, is to subject future contingencies to the aspect
of God. The same is also my opinion, but contrary to what his
Lordship all this while laboured to prove. For hitherto he held
liberty and necessity, that is to say, liberty and the decrees of
God, irreconcileable, unless the aspect of God, which word
appeareth now the first time in this discourse, signify somewhat
else besides God’s will and decree, which I cannot understand.
But he adds that we must subject them, according to that
presentiality which they have in eternity, which he says cannot
be done by them that conceive eternity to be an everlasting
succession, but only by them that conceive it as an indivisible
point. To which I answer, that as soon as I can conceive eternity
to be an indivisible point, or anything but an everlasting
succession, I will renounce all that I have written on this subject.
I know St. Thomas Aquinas calls eternity, nunc stans, an ever-
abiding now; which is easy enough to say, but though I fain
would, yet I could never conceive it: they that can, are more
happy than I. But in the mean time his Lordship alloweth all men
to be of my opinion, save only those that can conceive in their
minds a nunc stans, which I think are none. I understand as little
how it can be true his Lordship says, that God is not just, but
justice itself; not wise, but wisdom itself; not eternal, but
eternity itself; nor how he concludes thence, that eternity is a
point indivisible, and not a succession, nor in what sense it can
be said, that an infinite point, and wherein is no succession, can
comprehend all time, though time be successive. These phrases
I find not in the Scripture; I wonder therefore what was the
design of the Schoolmen to bring them up, unless they thought a
man could not be a true Christian unless his understanding be
first strangled with such hard sayings. And thus much for answer
to his Lordship’s discourse, wherein I think not only his
squadrons of arguments, but also his reserve of distinctions, are
defeated. And now your Lordship shall have my doctrine
concerning the same question, with my reasons for it, positively,
and as briefly as I can, without any terms of art, in plain English.
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