The reason why the wicked so frequently succeed in their enterprizes is, because it is according to divine order, that every one should act from a principle of rationality, and also from liberty. Wherefore, unless man were left thus to act, and unless his endeavours were occasionally crowned with success, as if it were the mere effect of his own prudence, he could not be brought into a fit state for the reception of eternal life; for this can only be communicated to him, while he is in freedom as to the will, and at the same time in the exercise of his Understanding.
When man is left to his liberty to think, to will, and, so far as the laws do not restrain him, to do evil, this is called permission; and such permission is agreeable to the laws of divine order, because without it he could not be reformed, and consequently could not be saved; so essential is it to preserve man in a state of liberty. But it is well to be observed, that the permission of evil, on the part of the Lord, is not a permission as of one who wills the evil, but as of one who wills it not, but who yet cannot prevent it, by reason of the urgency of the end, which is the salvation of man. On this account also the divine providence acts invisibly, and as it were behind the curtain, both with respect to those events which seem to be brought about by human prudence, and with respect to those which assume the appearance of contingency, chance, fortune, or fatality; in each of which cases it is most intimately present, and operative according to the various states and circumstances of individuals, of societies, and of whole nations. Were it otherwise, a mere external faith, arising from sense and sight, would be forced upon the mind, freedom of will would be infringed, and thus the reformation and salvation of man would be placed out of the reach of possibility.
