1. force predetermining events: the force or principle believed to predetermine events
little
knew what fate had in store for him Fate:
1. force predetermining
events: the force or principle believed to predetermine events little
knew what fate had in store for him
2. outcome: a
consequence or final result What
was the fate of the mission?
3. destiny:
something consequential that inevitably happens to somebody or something felt
it was her fate to marry him
4. unhappy consequence: a disastrous or ruinous outcome
transitive verb (past
fat·ed, past participle fat·ed, present participle
fat·ing, 3rd person present singular fates)
make something inevitable: to predetermine something, usually with
negative results (usually passive)
[14th century. From, ultimately, Latin fatum , literally "something
spoken (by the gods)," from the past participle of fari "to speak"
(source of English
fable and
fairy).]
tempt fate to do something risky that might end in misfortune or
disaster, and depend too much on luck
Fate in most cases is another word for predestination. Milton’s Book 1, Chapter IV of De Doctrina Christiana states his opinion on predestination:
The principal SPECIAL DECREE of God which concerns men is called PREDESTINATION: by which GOD, BEFORE THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE WORLD WERE LAID, HAD MERCY ON THE HUMAN RACE, ALTHOUGH IT WAS GOING TO FALL OF ITS OWN ACCORD, AND, TO SHOW THE GLORY OF HIS MERCY,GRACE AND WISDOM, PREDESTINED TO ETERNAL SALVATION, ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE or plan IN CHRIST, THOSE WHO WOULD IN THE FUTURE BELIEVE AND CONTINUE IN THE FAITH. (YP, VI, p. 168)
Later in book VI pp.171,173 Milton states “Predestination, then must always be taken to refer to election, and it seems often to be used instead of that term”; then he states that “Reprobation…is no part of divine predestination. John Spencer Hill who wrote John Milton: Poet, Priest and Prophet illustrates in the book that Milton “held that men are predestined on condition of belief (rather than being predestined to belief, as Calvinsts maintained) and that salvation is achieved by co-operation of restored free will with God’s offer of grace.” Hill makes a good point and it also goes along with the reason why he believed that their must be crossroads and good and evil to achieve truth because you have to chose to believe in God or it is not true belief. This also illustrates Milton’s reasoning for showing that Eve has the free will to chose to eat of the fruit and disobey God or to not eat of it and therefore obey God.
By: Sarah Bourgeois