[Necessity is] the sum of all things, which being now existent, conduce and concur to the production of that action hereafter, whereof if any one thing now were wanting, the effect could not be produced. This concourse of causes, whereof every one is determined to be such as it is by a like concourse of former causes, may well be called (in respect they were all set and ordered by the eternal causes of all things, God Almighty) the decree of God.
ATTRIBUTION:
Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688), British philosopher. English Works, “An Answer to Dr. Bramhall,” vol. 4, p. 246, ed. Molesworth (1839-1845).
