Deuteronomy 30:19. I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life

Deuteronomy 30:19. I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing;
therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.

These words are frequently made use of by the patrons of free will, in favor of it, and its power, to do that which is spiritually good. I shall briefly consider this so-much-controverted subject, by considering the following things: I. What free-will is, or what is the nature of the liberty of the human will.

1. The will of man, though it is free, yet not independently and absolutely so; it is dependent on God, both in its being and acting; it is subject to his authority and command and controllable by his power.

The King’s heart (Prov. 21:1), and so every other man’s, is in the hand of the Lord: as the rivers of waters, he turneth it whithersoever he will.

The will of God is only free in this sense; he is not subject to a superior being, and therefore acts without control, according to his will, in the armies of the heavens, and among the inhabitants of the earth: hence those great swelling words of vanity, aujtexousion, liberum arbitrium, which carry in them the sense of self-sufficiency, despotic, arbitrary liberty, are improperly given to the human will, though agreeable enough to the language of some free-willers; such as Pharaoh, who said, Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice, to let Israel go?

I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go (Ex. 5:2). Others have said, Our lips are our own; who is Lord over us? (Ps.12:4). 2. The liberty of the will does not consist in indifference to good and evil, or in an indetermination to either; otherwise the will of no being would be free; for God, as he is essentially and naturally good, his will is determined only to that which is so; nor does he nor can he do anything evil; and yet in all he does, acts with the utmost freedom and liberty of his will. The will of the good angels, though in their state of probation, was left mutable and liable to change; yet in their confirmed state, is impeccable, wholly turned unto and bent upon that which is good, and yet all the services they perform to God and man, are done with the greatest readiness, cheerfulness, and willingness, without any force or compulsion.

The will of the devil is biased only to that which is evil, without the least inclination to that which is good; and yet moves freely in the highest acts of sin and malice. The will of man, considered in every state he has been, is, or shall be in, is determined to good or evil, and does not stand in equilibrio, in an indifference to either. The will of man, in a state of innocence, was indeed mutable, and capable of being wrought upon and inclined to evil, as the event shows; yet during that state, was entirely bent on that which is good, and acted freely, and without any co-action, in obedience to the commands of God. The will of man, in his fallen state, is wholly addicted to sinful lusts, and in the fulfilling of them takes the utmost delight and pleasure.

Man, in his regenerate state, though he is inclined both to good and evil which arises from the two different principles of corruption and grace in him; yet both move freely, though determined to their several objects.

The flesh, or corrupt part, is solely determined to that which is evil; grace, or the new creature, to that which is spiritually good; so that with the flesh, the regenerate man serves the law of sin, and with his mind the law of God. The will of the glorified saints in heaven is wholly given up to spiritual and divine things, nor can it be moved to that which is sinful; and yet as they serve the Lord constantly, so with all freedom and liberty. Consider, therefore, the will in the very rank of beings, its liberty does not consist in indifference or indetermination to good and evil.

con't:
https://www.grace-ebooks.com/library/John Gill/JG_Cause of God and Truth The.pdf