The divine will considered in its eternal decrees, and holy execution of them. By…

Having proved that God hath a Will, I proceed to the Acts thereof. The Divine Will (although one pure Act) is considerable under a double Notion; either as it is Voluntas Complacentiae, or else as it is Voluntas Decreti. Voluntas Complacentiae is that whereby God doth love himself and his own Image. Himself, for himself, as infinite Love doth by an Amatorious Reflection embrace himself as infinite Goodness: And his own Image; for where-ever that is found, whether shining out in holy Laws, or living in holy Creatures, there is his delight. Voluntas Decreti is that whereby God doth foreordain Events. Both these are Acts of his Will, and free Acts; because they spring out of his divine Knowledge. Even God himself, through the intuition of his own Beauty, loves himself, as well as he makes his Decrees out of the Treasury of his Wisdom: but herein they differ, that God's Act of loving himself is such as cannot be otherwise; but his Act of Decreeing ⟨p. 8⟩(if he had been so pleased) might have been otherwise framed than it is. Pretermitting his Complacential Will, I shall direct my Discourse to his Decretive.

HAving proved that God hath a Will, I proceed to the Acts thereof. The Divine Will (although one pure Act) is considerable under a double Notion; either as it is Voluntas Complacentiae, or else as it is Voluntas Decreti. Voluntas Complacentiae is that whereby God doth love himself and his own Image. Himself, for himself, as infinite Love doth by an Amatorious Reflexion embrace himself as infinite Goodness: And his own Image; for where-ever that is found, whether shining out in holy Laws, or living in holy Creatures, there is his delight. Voluntas Decreti is that whereby God doth foreordain Events. Both these are Acts of his Will, and free Acts; because they spring out of his divine Knowledge. Even God himself, through the intuition of his own Beauty, loves himself, as well as he makes his Decrees out of the Treasury of his Wisdom: but herein they differ, that God's Act of loving himself is such as cannot be otherwise; but his Act of Decreeing ⟨p. 8⟩(if he had been so pleased) might have been otherwise framed than it is. Pretermitting his Complacential Will, I shall direct my Discourse to his Decretive.