First, By his word ; as where God afl&rmeth that the dead shall rise. We doubt not but that they shall rise, and that it is the abso- lute will of God that they shall do so. Secondly, By the effects ; for when any thing cometh to pass, we may cast the event on the will of God as its cause, and look upon it as a revelation of his purpose. Jacob's sons little imagined that it was the will of God by them to send their brother into Egypt; yet afterward Joseph tells them plainly it was not they, but God that sent him thither. Gen. xlv. 5. But it is said to be secret for two causes : — First, Because for the most part it is so. There is nothing in divers issues declarative of God's determination but only the event, which, while it is future, is hidden to them who have faculties to judge of things past and present, but not to discern things for to come. Hence St James bids us not be too peremptory in our determinations that we will do this or that, not knowing how God will close with us for its performance. Se- condly, It is said to be secret in reference to its cause, which for the most part is past our finding out : " His path is in the great waters, and his footsteps are not known."
It appeareth, then, that the secret and revealed will of God are diverse in sundry respects, but chiefly in regard of their acts and their objects. First, In regard of their acts, the secret will of God is his eternal decree and determination concerning any thing to be done in its appointed time ; his revealed will is an act whereby he declareth himself to love or approve any thing, whether ever it be done or no. Secondly, They are diverse in regard of their objects. The object of God's purpose and decree is that which is good in any kind, with reference to its actual existence, for it must infallibly be performed; but the object of his revealed will is that only which is morally good (I
' Durand, Dlst. c. 48, q. 3.
WHETHER THE WILL OF GOD MAY BE RESISTED. 47
speak of it inasmuch as it approveth or commandeth), agreeing to tlie law and the gospel, and that considered only inasmuch as it is good ; for whether it be ever actually performed or no is accidental to the object of God's revealed will.
Now, of these two differences the first is perpetual, in regard of their several acts; but not so the latter. They are sometimes coinci- dent in regard of their objects. For instance, God commandeth us to believe ; here his revealed will is that we should so do : withal, he intendeth we shall do so; and therefore ingenerateth faith in our hearts that we may believe. Here his secret and revealed will are coincident; the former^ being his precept that we should believe, the latter his purpose that we shall believe. In this case, I say, the object of the "one and the other is the same, — even what we ought to do, and what he will do. And this inasmuch as he hath " wrought all our works in us,'* Isa. xxvi. 12. They are our own works which he works in us; his act in us and by us is oft- times our duty towards him. He commands us by his revealed will to walk in his statutes, and keep his laws; upon this he also i:»romiseth that he will so effect all things, that of some this shall be performed: Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27, ''A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you : and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them," So that the self-same obedience of the people of God is here the object of his will, taken in either acceptation. And yet the precept of God is not here, as some learned men suppose, declarative of God's inten- tion, for then it must be so to all to whom it is given ; which evidently it is not, for many are commanded to believe on whom God never bestoweth faith. It is still to be looked upon as a mere declaration of our duty, its closing with God's intention being accidental unto it. There is a wide difference betwixt "Do such a thing," and, "You shall do it." If God's command to Judas to believe imported as much as, "It is my piu'pose and intention that Judas shall believe," it must needs contradict that will of God whereby he determined that Judas, for his infidelity, should go to his "own place." His precepts are in all obedience of us to be performed, but do not signify his will that we shall actually fulfil his commands. Abraham was not bound to be- lieve that it was God's intention that Isaac should be sacrificed, but that it was his duty. There was no obligation on Pharaoh to think it was God's purpose the people should depart at the first summons; he