Liberty

Ecclus. xv. 14, &c.LIBERTY, and Free-will, in Opposition to Constraint and Necessity: Man is at Liberty to do Good or Evil, God hath made Man from the beginning, and left him in the Hand of his Counsel. If thou wilt, to keep the Commandments, and to perform acceptable Faithfulness. He hath set Fire and Water before thee: Stretch forth thy Hand unto whether thou wilt. There is however a great Difference between the Liberty we have of doing Good and Evil. We have of our selves the unhappy Liberty of doing Evil, we are engaged to it by our Concupiscence, which indeed we are always able to resist, but shall not really and effectually without the Assistance of God’s Grace; whereas as to Good, though we always have the Liberty of doing or not doing it, we cannot however perform it as we might, and in a Manner useful to our eternal Salvation, without the Help of a particular Grace, which without hurting our Liberty, and laying any Necessity and Constraint upon us, incites us agreeably, gently, and nevertheless efficaciously, to prefer what is pleasing to God, to what our Self-love and Concupiscence desire.

The Rabbins have an Idea of Liberty and free Will, very different from that which Christian Authors give us of it. They acknowledge, that Man has Liberty, without out which he would not be Man: If he loved what is Good, and followed what is Evil, without Knowledge, or by Instinct, he would cease at the same Time to be reasonable. What would become of the Rewards and Punishments, the Threats and Promises, and all the Precepts of the Law, if it were not in the Power of Men to fulfill or violate them? They admit Liberty of Indifference in its full Extent; they are persuaded that People dissemble their Opinion as often as they take any Thing of its Liberty from free Will.

Maimonides confutes the Fatality of Astrologers, but he makes every Thing to depend on Constitution: As God, says he, has created Man upright in Stature, and with Hands and Feet, so hath he likewise given him a Will to move and act as he pleases; and it is the Goodness of his Constitution which makes Things easy or difficult to him. The Fear of God, he says, is not in the Hand of Heaven; that it is in the Power of Man to observe or not observe the Law, and Precepts. The Fear of God is of this Class; it depends not on God, but on the Will of Man.

Manasseh Ben Israel¹, another famous Rabbin, maintains, that the preventing Grace acknowledged by some Rabbins, is an Opinion that does not agree with Tradition. That if the Will were prevented by Grace, it would cease to be free. He allows but of two Sorts of Aids from God, one whereby he produces favourable Opportunities of executing the good Designs which any one has formed; the other consists in his assisting Man when he has begun to live well. He says farther, that we stand in Need of the Concurrence of Providence in all virtuous Actions; and as a Man, who is going to lay a heavy Burden on his Shoulders, calls somebody to help him up with it: So the just Man first endeavours to fulfill the Law, and God like the Arm of some strange Person, comes to his Assistance, that he may be able to execute his Resolution.

If Man were so wicked as not to be able to do well without Grace, God would be the Author of Sin and Corruption; and although this Corruption be not absolutely to be overcome without Assistance, yet we may begin the Conflict, and open a Way to Victory, notwithstanding that we cannot absolutely obtain it, unless God come to our Aid. Besides, if God vouchsafes to all Men common and efficacious Helps, how comes it that all are not saved? And if he gives particular Assistances to some only, how can it be said, that there is no Respect of Persons with him? How comes he to suffer some to perish, while he saves others? Is it not much more natural to believe, that God imitates Men, who lend their helping Hand to those who they see have formed good Resolutions, and use their best Endeavours to accomplish some laudable Undertaking? See hereafter the Article ORIGINAL SIN. By this System of Grace we see that the Jews either did not believe it, or were but very imperfectly acquainted with the Effects of it.

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