they should exist. Although the theologians start with the wide definition of the word, yet in the prosecution of the subject they regard the will as simply the faculty of self-determination, and the determinations themselves. That is, the power to will, and voli- tions or purposes. It is altogether better to confine the word to this its proper meaning, and not make it include all the forms of feeling involving approbation or delight.
God then as a spirit is a voluntary agent. We are authorized to ascribe to Him the power of self-determination. This the Bible ever\'where does. From the beginning to the end, it speaks of the will of God, of his decrees, purposes, counsels, and commands. The will is not only an essential attribute of our spiritual being, but it io the necessary condition of our personality. Without the power of rational self-determination we should be as much a mere force as electricity, or magnetism, or the principle of vegetable life. It is, therefore, to degrade God below the sphere of being which we ourselves occupy, as rational creatures, to deny to Him the power of self-determination ; of acting or not acting, according to his own good pleasure.
B. The Freedom of the Divine Will.
The will of God is free in the highest sense of the woi'd. An agent is said to be free, (1.) When he is at liberty to act or not to act, according to his good pleasure. This is liberty in acting. (2.) He is free as to his volitions, when they are determined by his own sense of what is wise, right, or desirable.
Freedom is more than spontaneity. The affections are sponta- neous, but are not free. Loving and hating, delighting in and abhorring, do not depend upon the will.
God is free in acting, as in creating and preserving, because these acts do not arise from the necessity of his nature. He was free to create or not create ; to continue the universe in existence or to cause it to cease to be. He is free also in keeping his prom- ises, because his purpose so to do is determined by his own infinite goodness. It is indeed inconceivable that God should violate his woi-d. But this only proves that moral certainty may be as inex- orable as necessity.
C. The Decretive and Preceptive Will of Crod. The decretive will of God concerns his purposes, and relates to the futurition of events. The preceptive will relates to the rule of duty for his rational creatures. He decrees whatever he purposes to
404 PART I. — THEOLOGY. [Ch. V.— Divine Attributes.
effect or to permit. He prescribes, according to his own will, what his creatures should do, or abstain from doing. The decretive and preceptive will of God can never be in conflict. God never decrees to do, or to cause others to do, what He forbids. He may, as we see He does, decree to permit what He forbids. He permits men to sin, although sin is forbidden. This is more scholastically expressed by the theologians by saying, A positive decretive will cannot consist Avith a negative preceptive will ; /. e., God cannot decree to make men sin. But a negative decretive will may con- sist with an affirmative preceptive will ; e. g., God may command men to repent and believe, and yet, for wise reasons, abstain from giving them repentance.
The distinction between voluntas heneplaciti et signi, as those terms are commonly used, is the same as that between the decre- tive and preceptive will of God. The one referring to his decrees, founded on his good pleasure ; the other to his commands, founded on what He approves or disapproves.
By the secret will of God, is meant his purposes, as still hidden in his own mind ; by his revealed will, his precepts and his pur- poses, as far as they are made known to his creatures.
D. Antecedent and Consequent Will.
These terms, as used by Augustinians, have reference to the relation of the decrees to each other. In the order of nature the end precedes the means, and the purpose of the former is antece- dent to the purpose of the latter. Thus it is said, that God by an antecedent will, determined on the manifestation of his glory ; and by a consequent will, determined on the creation of the world as a means to that end.
By Lutherans and Remojistrants these terms are used in a very different sense. According to their views, God by an ante- cedent will determined to save all men ; but, foreseeing that all would not repent and believe, by a subsequent will He determined to save those whom he foresaw would believe. That is, He fii:st purposed one thing and then another.
E. Absolute and Conditional Will. These terms, when employed by Augustinians, have reference not so much to the purposes of God, as to the events which are decreed. The event, but not the purpose of God, is conditional. A man reaps, if he sows. He is saved, if he believes. His reaping and salvation are conditional events. But the purpose of God is abso-