A55305:630
The divine will considered in its eternal decrees, and holy execution of them. By…
The divine will considered in its eternal decrees, and holy execution of them. By Edward Polhill of Burwash in Sussex Esquire
London : printed, and are to be sold by Thomas Shelmerdine, at the sign of the Rose-Tree in Little-Britain, 1695
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
3. If Liberty do essentially consist in such an indifferency, then how shall the divine Prescience be salved? God knoweth all the free Acts of men, even the Thoughts afar off, from the high Tower of his Eternity: But if the Will be in aequilibrio, its Acts (before they come into Being) must be mere Contingencies, and without any determinate Verity at all in them, and how then are they knowable as Certainties? to know Contingencies as Certainties, is to err and not to know.
3. If Liberty do essentially consist in such an indifferency, then how shall the divine Prescience be salved? God knoweth all the free Acts of men, even the Thoughts afar off, from the high Tower of his Eternity: But if the Will be in aequilibrio, its Acts (before they come into Being) must be mere Contingencies, and without any determinate Verity at all in them, and how then are they knowable as Certainties? to know Contingencies as Certainties, is to erre and not to know.
4. If Liberty do essentially consist in such an Indifferency, then what becomes of divine Providence? Providence hath a Kingdom over men's Hearts. We find in Scripture God touching the heart, 1 Sam. 10. 26. stirring up the heart, 2 Chron. 36. 22. opening the heart, Acts 16. 14. inclining the heart, 1 Kings 8. 58. and turning the heart whithersoever he will, Prov. 21. 1. And after all this, is the Will in aequilibrio? If not, where is the supposed Liberty? If so, ⟨p. 480⟩where is the divine Providence? All its touching, stirring, opening, inclining and turning the Heart signifies little or nothing. Infinite Wisdom and Power seem to have posed themselves in making such a Creature as they cannot govern, or at least not govern without destroying its faculties; the infinite Spirit hath then nothing to rule over but the brutal World, and the rational is lost out of his Dominions; Men must subsist like Creatures, and yet may act as Gods; their Being is within the Realm of Providence, and their Acting without it. In a word; when we read of God over all, we must ever except the rational Creature. Wherefore that is no true Notion of Liberty, which is so opposite to the Sceptre of divine Providence.