e providence? If
he did the latter he would also make himself God; if he did the former he
would free himself from constraint and deny God. Manifestly two forces
would constantly be acting then against each other, the force of evil
from man and the force of good from the Lord. When two opposites act
against each other, one of them conquers or they both perish. In this
instance if one conquers they both perish. For the evil, which is man's,
does not let in good from the Lord in a moment, nor does good from the
Lord cast out evil from man in a moment; if either was done in a moment
no life would be left to man. These and many other harmful results would
follow if man manifestly perceived or felt the operation of divine
providence. This will be demonstrated clearly by examples in what
follows.

178. Man is not given a foreknowledge of events for the same reason,
namely, that he may be able to act in freedom according to reason. It is
well known that man wants what he loves effected, and he guides himself
to this end by reasoning. It is also known that what a man meditates in
his reason comes from his love of giving it effect through thought. If,
then, he knew the effect or the eventuality by divine prediction, his
reason would become inactive and with it his love; for love along with
reasoning ends with the effect, to begin anew. It is reason's very
enjoyment to envision with love the effect in thought, not after it is
attained but before it is, not in the present but as future. So man has
what is called hope, which rises and declines in the reason as he beholds
or awaits the event. The enjoyment is fulfilled in the event and then is
forgotten along with thought about the event. The same thing would occur
with an event that was foreknown.

[2] The human mind dwells always in the trine called end, cause and
effect. If one of these is lacking, the mind is not possessed of its
life. An affection of the will is the initiating end; the thought of the
understanding is the efficient cause; and bodily action, utterance or
external sensation is the effect from the end by means of the thought.
Anyone sees that the human mind is not possessed of its life when it is
only in an affection of the will and in naught besides, or when it is
only in an effect. The mind has no life from one of these separately,
therefore, but from the three together. The life of the mind would
diminish and depart if an event were foretold.

179. As a forek