And, therefore, in the explication of it I shall shew you, (1) What this will of God is.

(2) How his will may be said to be done.

(3) What force this particle thy, thy will, carries in it, and what it denotes.

(4) What is meant by God's will being done in earth. And all these with all perspicuity and brevity.

(1) What this will of God is.

Now the will of God is commonly and very well distinguished, into the will of his purpose, and into the will of his precept; his decrees, or his commands: the former respect what shall be done by him; the latter, what ought to be done by us. Both these, in Scripture, are frequently called the will of God. [1] God's Purpose is his will.

Yea, it is more properly his will than his precepts are: for by this God doth absolutely determine, what shall be, and what shall not be; and all things in the world take their place and are ranged in their several stations, and the whole series of causes and effects are governed, by the ordination and appointment of this his Sovereign Will. And, therefore, it is said, Eph. i. 11. that God worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will. And, Ps. cxxxv. 6. whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, in earth, in the sea, and in all deep places. This is God's will of purpose, whereby he guides and governs all events whatsoever; so that there is not the most inconsiderable occurrence that happens, not the least flight of a sparrow, nor the falling off of a hair, nor the motion of an atom in the air, or a dust or a sand on the earth, but, as it is effected by his power and providence, so it was determined by his will and counsel.

[2] The Precepts and Commands are likewise the will of God.

But they are improperly so called; because these concern not, neither do they determine, the event of things, but only our duty; not what shall be, but what ought to be: and it is called, Rom. xii. 2. the good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God. This is all contained in the Holy Scriptures, which are a perfect system of precepts given us for the government of our lives here, and for the attaining of eternal life hereafter: and, therefore, it is likewise called his Revealed Will; whereas, the other, namely, the will of purpose, is God's Secret

Will, until it be manifested unto us by the events and effects of it.

[3] Now concerning this distinction of God's will of purpose and precept, we may note,

1st. That though there be a great deal of difference, yet there is no contrariety or opposition between them.

(1st.) They differ the one from the other, not in respect of God; for his will is one infinitely pure and uncompounded act : but only in respect of the Object.

For there are many things, which God wills by his Will of Purpose, which he has not willed by his Will of Precept. His Precepts are all holy, and command nothing but what is holy and acceptable: This is the will of God, saith the apostle, even your sanctification; 1 Thess. iv. 3: it is the highest degree of blasphemy, to impute unto God, that he hath commanded us any thing but what is holy, just, and good: this were to make him the author of sin, who hath declared himself the punisher of it. But his Will of Purpose is not restrained within bounds and limits; but extendeth itself to all events whatsoever, whether good or evil.

And, as evils are of two sorts, either the evil of punishment or the evil of sin; so is God's Will of Purpose twofold: effec tive of the one, and permissive of the other but in both most certain and infallible.

[1st.] God's Will of Purpose doth effect and bring to pass the evil of punishment: Amos iii. 6. Shall there be any evil in the city, and the Lord hath not done it? For he doth, both in heaven and in earth, whatsoever pleaseth him. Were it not the will of God, the world had never groaned under so many miseries and calamities, as have in all ages befallen it. Now God never enjoins us this as our duty, although he lays them upon us as our burden.

[2dly.] God's Will of Purpose permits the evil of sin, for wise and gracious ends; that he may bring good out of evil. Even those very sins and wickedness, which his Will of Precept forbids, his Will of Purpose permits: for, if God did not will to permit them, there would be no such thing as sin in the world. (2dly.) Hence ariseth another very remarkable difference: That we may effectually resist God's Will of Precept, so as to hinder the accomplishment of it: but whatsoever we do so it

is our sin; and will, without repentance, be our condemnation. So Stephen accuseth the Jews: Acts vii. 51. you do always resist the Holy Ghost; that is, by your practices you do always go contrary to the commands of God, revealed by his Spirit in his word. And, were it not for this resisting of the will of God, we should be perfectly holy and blameless.

But we cannot resist the Will of God's Purpose, so as to hinder the execution of it; although sometimes to endeavour it, may be so far from sin, as to be our necessary and indispensable duty. For, though it may be the will of God to bring us into poverty or into prison, or to lay sore diseases upon us: yet, it is not only lawful for us, but we are obliged as far as lies in us, to hinder these evils of punishment from befalling us; and to preserve our estates, our liberty, our health, and all our outward comforts, by all lawful and allowed ways and means. Much more, if God should will to permit a sin in others or in ourselves, are we bound to hinder the commission of it: for, for us to be willing to permit, because God is, though it be a conformity of our wills to God's Will of Purpose, yet this is not our rule to walk by; and it is a wretched rebellion against his Will of Precept, which alone we are to respect in all our actions, and endeavour to conform ourselves unto. Doubtless, it was God's Will of Purpose, that Christ, the Lord of Life and Glory, should be crucified; but yet the Jews, conforming themselves according to this will, were guilty of the most horrid wickedness that ever was committed in the world: for both these we have confirmed to us, Acts ii. 23. Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain... Although it was by the determinate counsel and will of God, that Christ should be taken and slain; yet, nevertheless, they were wicked hands that were imbrued in that precious and inestimable blood. And thus I have shewn how the Will of God's Purpose and Precept do differ.

But, yet,

2dly. Although there be this great difference, yet is there no contrariety or repugnance, but a perfect harmony and uniformity between them.

Some have thought, that if God wills such a thing should be done, as, for instance, the crucifying of our Lord and Saviour, by his Will of Purpose; and yet wills that it should not be done,

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by his Will of Precept; that these two wills must needs contradict one another: and this argument some do make no small use of, to explode the distinction of the will of God.

But the solution is most easy.

For when wills are contrary to each other, there must be a willing and a nilling of the same thing. But it is not so here: for the object of God's Will of Purpose is event; but of his Will of Precept, duty. Now it is far enough from having any shadow of a contradiction, for God to will or permit that to be, which he hath willed or commanded us not to do. Indeed, to will such an event to be and not to be, that such a thing shall be my duty and shall not be my duty, are contradictions, and not to be imputed unto God: but to will that such a thing shall eventually be, and yet to will that it shall be my duty to endeavour to hinder it, is so far from being a contradiction, that it is most apparent and evident, and falls out most frequently in our ordinary converse in the world. So, in the forementioned famous instance of the death of Christ: God willed, by his Will of Purpose, that it should so come to pass in all the circumstances of it as it was perpetrated; but then he willed, by his Will of Precept, that it should be their duty not to do it. Now, certainly, there is no contradiction or absurdity, that duty and event may be quite contrary one to the other: unless we could take away all sin, and authorize all the greatest villainies that ever were committed under the sun.

And thus much for the first head.

(2) And, having thus seen what the will of God is, the next general is to enquire, what will it is we pray may be done, when. we say, Thy will be done.

And, here,

[1] It is clear, that we especially and absolutely pray that the Will of God's Precept may be done, and that, not only by us, but by all men for this will of God is the rule of our obedience, and according to it we ought to conform all our actions.

And, because we are not sufficient of ourselves so much as to think any thing of ourselves, much less to perform all those various and weighty duties of holiness which God hath enjoined us in his word, therefore our Saviour hath taught us to beg of God grace and assistance to enable us to fulfil his will; giving us, not only commands of obedience, but promises for our relief

and encouragement; instructing us, in the word, to crave supplies of grace from him, who hath required duty from us.

And, indeed, there is a great deal of reason we should pray that his Will of Precept should be done on earth, if we consider, 1st. The great reluctancy and opposition of corrupt nature against it.

The Law is spiritual; but we are carnal, and sold under sin : Rom. vii. 14. and, in the best of men, there is a law in their members, warring against the law of their minds; that, when they would do good, evil is present with them: and therefore we have need to pray, that God would incline our hearts to his commandments, and then strengthen us to obey them; that, as our will to good is the effect of his grace, so the effect of our wills may be the performance of his will.

2dly. God's glory is deeply concerned in the doing of his will.

For it is the glory of a king to have his laws obeyed. And so is it God's. When we profess ourselves to be his subjects, and pray that his Kingdom may come, it is but fit and rational, that we should pray likewise, thy will be done, without which this his Kingdom of Grace would be but merely titular: for his word is the sceptre and law of his kingdom: and, if we yield not obedience to it, we do tacitly condemn it, and the law-maker also, of injustice; and thereby reflect a most intolerable disparagement upon God, preferring the will of Satan and of our own lusts, before his most holy and righteous will. But when we endeavour to yield obedience to his commands, and pray that we may be able to do it with more diligence and constancy, this, as it pleaseth, so it glorifieth God: for, by so doing, we acknowledge both his sovereignty and his equity; his sovereignty, in that he may require of us what he pleaseth; and his equity, in that he requireth of us nothing but what is most just and fit: and therefore our Saviour tells us, John xv. 8. Herein is my Father glorified, that you bring forth much fruit.

3dly. Our own interest is deeply concerned in it.

For, through obedience and doing the will of God, it is, that we come to inherit the promises: Rev. xxii. 14. Blessed are they, that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. And therefore to pray, that God's will may be done by us, is but to pray,