secret or decretive will at all. They have no respect to the taking place of things, whether good or evil; but only to what is morally right and morally wrong, or what is, in itself considered, agreeable and disagreeable to him. We come now,

III. To show that God's revealed will, and not his secret will, is the rule of duty. And this will appear, if we consider,

1. That God has revealed his will in his word for the very purpose of giving us a rule of duty. So Moses expressly declares in the text. "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us, and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law." The law of God reveals to us what is pleasing and what is displeasing to him, and at the same time, requires us to do what is pleasing, and to avoid what is displeasing to him, which lays us under the strongest obligation to obedience. The law of God is a perfect rule of duty, and enforced by eternal rewards and punishments. This rule of duty is binding at all times and under all circumstances. No secret purpose, intention, or design of the Deity, can disannul or diminish our obligation to obey this his revealed will.

2. The will of God revealed in his word is a complete rule of duty. The apostle asserts, that "all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." After God has revealed his will to us in his word, we have no occasion for any further information from him, in respect to duty. So Moses told the people of God, "Secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong unto us, and unto our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law." God's secret purposes concern his own conduct, not ours. It concerns him to do all that he determined to do from eternity, or to carry into effect all his wise and holy purposes: and it concerns

us to do all that his holy word or revealed will requires us to do. We have no occasion of knowing his secret will, in order to know his revealed will; for his revealed will does not depend upon his secret will, nor does our obligation to obey his revealed will depend upon our knowing his secret will. The obligation of a child to do what his parent requires, does not depend upon his knowing the secret will of his parent, or the reason why he commands him to do this, or that lawful thing. The obligation of a subject to do what a civil ruler requires him to do, does not depend upon his knowing the reasons of state, or why the civil ruler requires certain acts of obedience. So the obligation of creatures to obey the revealed will of their creator, does not depend upon their knowing his secret will, or the reasons of his commands. It is the revealed will of God, therefore, and not his secret will, which is our infallible rule of duty.

3. God's secret or decretal will cannot be known, and for that reason, cannot be a rule of duty to any of his creatures. It is essential to a law or rule of duty, that it should be published or made known to those, who are to be bound by it. So long as God conceals his own purposes in his own breast, they cannot bind his creatures to regard them any more than if they did not exist in his mind. No human law can bind any human being before it is published or made known, any more than it can bind before it is enacted. God has told us, that he has reserved the times and seasons in his own power; which means that he has concealed most of his purposes respecting future events, from the knowledge of his intelligent creatures. The angels in heaven know no more than we do, with respect to the future conversion and salvation of sinners in this world. The decree of election and reprobation, respecting sinners in time to come, is a profound secret in the divine mind, and so is his secret will, respecting thousands and millions of other future events. And whatever secret purposes God may have in his own mind, concerning future events in this, or any other

world, can be no rule of duty to us, or to any other of his intelligent creation. It is sufficient for us to know and to do his revealed will. His revealed will constantly and infinitely binds us, let his secret will be what it may respecting us, or any other created beings. 4. Supposing God should reveal to us all his purposes, respecting all his intelligent creatures in every part of the universe; this knowledge of his decretal will would be no rule of duty to us. His decretal will is only a rule of conduct to himself. It becomes him to do all that he has seen fit to determine to do; but our knowing what it becomes him to do, cannot inform us what it is becoming us to do. Supposing God had revealed to Lucifer the day before he rebelled, that he had determined or decreed, that he should rebel the next day, would that knowledge of the decretal will of God have laid him under moral obligation to rebel, or destroyed his moral obligation to love and obey God for ever? Did Christ's telling Judas that he was the son of perdition, and that it was his decretal will, that he should betray him, lay him under moral obligation to betray him, or lessen his guilt in betraying him? Or did Christ's telling Peter that he would deny him, and that it was his decretal will that he should deny him, lay him under moral obligation to deny him, or diminish his indispensable obligation to confess and own him before a frowning and opposing world? In these instances it is plain to the lowest capacity, that the decretal will of God was no rule of duty to Lucifer, Judas, or Peter. And it is equally plain, that the decretal will of God, can never be a rule of duty to any of his creatures. The decretal will of God cannot alter the nature of things, or make that right, which in the nature of things is wrong, nor that wrong, which in the nature of things is right. Though all the impenitent at the day of judgment will know, that it is the decretal will of God, that they shall be his enemies for ever; yet this knowledge of his decree cannot make it their duty to remain his enemies for ever. If all the decrees of God were univer

sally known, they would be no rule of duty to angels or men, because his decrees have no respect to what is wrong, or right, but only to what it is wisest and best should take place. But his revealed will is a proper and infallible rule of duty, because it makes known what is right and wrong, and what is pleasing and displeasing to him; and what will promote, and destroy eternal happiness. I may add,

5. That the secret will of God cannot, if it were known, be a rule of duty, because it is entirely destitute of both precept and penalty, and consequently of all divine authority. The decretal will of God does not require any thing, nor forbid any thing, nor promise any thing, nor threaten any thing. It has no legal properties, nor legal authority, force, or obligation. It does not manifest God's approbation, or disapprobation of any person, action, or event. This is certainly the case, when it is not known; and it is equally the case, when it is known. God has, in some instances, revealed his secret purposes, and made known his eternal determination to bring about some events long before they took place. He revealed his secret or decretal will, that the posterity of Ham, Noah's youngest son, should be servants of servants unto the posterities of Shem and Japheth; but this was no rule of duty to the children of Shem and Japheth, to tyrannise over the posterity of Ham, and make them servants of servants. It is as criminal for the posterity of Japheth now to enslave the Africans, as if God had never revealed his will, his purpose, or design, to sub ject them to bondage and slavery from generation to generation. God's revealing his decree, that Issachar should crouch down between two burdens, was no rule of duty to him, or to his oppressors. God's revealing his will, that Ishmael should be a wild man, and his hand should be against every man, and every man's hand against him, and that he should dwell in the presence of his brethren, to be a perpetual scourge to them; was no rule of duty to the Ishmaelites, and gave them no right to oppose, plunder, and harass

mankind from age to age. God's revealing his eternal purpose respecting the sufferings and death of Christ, by Jews and Gentiles, was no rule of duty to the chief priests, to Herod, to Pilate, to Judas, or to the soldiers, to do what they did to the Lord of glory. God's revealing his will concerning the rise of the man of sin, and the subversion of his temporal and spiritual tyranny, is no rule of duty for France, or Britain, or Russia, or any other European nations, to wage war with Italy, ransack the city of Rome, and spread destruction and misery through the Pope's dominions, without any national provocation. All these instances, and numerous others that might be mentioned, clearly show, that God's secret or decretal will is no rule of duty, even after it is known, any more than before it is revealed. It is only a rule of the divine conduct, but no rule of human conduct. It has no precept, nor penalty, and is clothed with no divine authority. The conclusion is plain and irresistible, that the law of God, or his revealed will is the only rule of duty to mankind.

IMPROVEMENT.

1. If God's secret will respects one object, and his revealed will respects another object; then there is no inconsistency between his secret and revealed will. It is one of the most plausible objections, which has ever been made against the doctrine of divine decrees, that it is totally inconsistent with the preceptive, or revealed will of God. It is said, that to suppose God has fore-ordained whatsoever comes to pass, necessarily implies, that he requires one thing, but decrees another; or that he forbids one thing, but decrees another. He required Pharaoh to let his people go, but decreed that he should not let them go. He has required all good men to be perfectly holy in this life, but has decreed that no man shall be perfectly holy in this life. He has required all men every where to repent, but has decreed that multitudes shall never