XXXIX. That the liberty of our will is self-evident.
Finally, it is so manifest that we possess a free will, capable of
giving or withholding its assent, that this truth must be reckoned
among the first and most common notions which are born with us.
This, indeed, has already very clearly appeared, for when essaying
to doubt of all things, we went so far as to suppose even that he
who created us employed his limitless power in deceiving us in every
way, we were conscious nevertheless of being free to abstain from
believing what was not in every respect certain and undoubted. Bat
that of which we are unable to doubt at such a time is as self-
evident and clear as any thing we can ever know.
XL. That it is likewise certain that God has fore-ordained all
things.
But because what we have already discovered of God, gives us the
assurance that his power is so immense that we would sin in thinking
ourselves capable of ever doing anything which he had not ordained
beforehand, we should soon be embarrassed in great difficulties if
we undertook to harmonise the pre-ordination of God with the freedom
of our will, and endeavoured to comprehend both truths at once.
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