THE TWO WILLS.

ST. LUKE, xxii. 41, 42.

"And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, saying, Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me: nevertheless, not My will, but Thine, be done."

GOD'S Will! Most wonderful that must be ! Yet we speak of it continually. Every day we talk of its being God's Will that certain events should happen. In every plan for the future we are--if we think rightly-accustomed either silently or openly to utter the reservation, "if it be God's Will." What do we mean by this? God's Will cannot be an arbitrary impulse; it must have an object, and even a law, though we do not always recognise such a necessity. Were we to do so it might make us more humble; less exacting-if the expression may be used in our prayers, and more simple and trustful in our faith. We know that God is Omnipotent, and that His Will can do all things; but we forget that He cannot will contrary to His Will; that He cannot will what would defeat His own purpose.

But that purpose we say is our salvation, and

know what is

Here again are God does will our

we believe, in many cases, that we likely to conduce to our salvation. we not blindly in fault? salvation-there can be no doubt of that fact-but may He not will many things besides? May not salvation be but a portion of that Eternal Will? The Will which embraces Eternity and Infinity, which is absolutely perfect, absolutely wise, cannot be limited to the events of time and space. Salvation, though it be the end of this present creation, will we know be only a beginning of that which is to follow; and what that second creation may be, what may be its object and its development, who can dare to say, or even to imagine?

The mystery of the Infinity of God's Will must be readily acknowledged by all thinking persons; but when it presents itself to the mind it is generally put aside as involving subjects too deep for the human intellect, and leading to dangerous speculations.

Yet if, as it would seem from our Blessed Redeemer's prayer of anguish, in it is to be found the root of all resignation, all humility and obedience, we may surely with prayer for the guidance of His Spirit - do well in some way to think upon

-

it.

The Will of God must once have been literally and perfectly our will, since it was the will of the human being who came pure from the Hands of his Creator, with the Image of that Creator stamped upon his heart; and although, fallen as we are, we can now but with difficulty trace it, yet there are

The very

indisputable proofs of its existence. desire, the perception, the comprehension of goodness, common both to the heathen and the Christian, the mere fact that Infinity and Eternity are needs of our being, show that the impress of Divinity which was once engraven on us is not yet effaced.

But there is also in us a lower will, consequent upon our inferior nature. It is not necessarily sinful, for it was shared by our sinless Redeemer ; but its inferiority is proved by the fact that if it could be satisfied to the utmost extent of which it is capable, it could never produce happiness. The higher will would still remain, which, formed for Heaven, cannot find rest on earth; and pining for Eternity cannot solace itself with Time. And here probably is to be found the cause of a fact which all persons who have thought about themselves must have observed; that we never really know our own will to its full extent. If we were asked at this moment to describe perfectly what we desire, what we will,-what we know would make us completely happy,-there exists not the human being on earth who could answer. Some things, indeed, we may know that we wish for, some blessings we may be certain would increase our happiness, and the words "union with Christ," would to the Christian express everything for which he would earnestly pray; but who can tell all that union with Christ implies? We will-but we know not what we will; and for those who have no such desire by which to shadow forth the longings of

their souls, there must ever exist a vague, unsatisfied yearning, a will which wanders forth into Infinity, and loses itself in the boundless sea of never-ending existence, and because it knows not what it seeks, sinks back, jaded, and disappointed, to forget itself, if possible, in the gratification of the lower will, the will which embraces earth, and which will then strive to become the lord of its being.

But the higher will, the deeper longing, cannot thus be crushed; for the events of time, and all that befalls us whether inwardly or outwardly-in the period of our probation, are really inseparably connected with Eternity, The Infinite Plans, the Everlasting Counsels of God are in the process of being carried out by those very circumstances which we refer to the province of the lower will. The objects for which too many of us so earnestly strive, looking upon them only as connected with earth, are tending to the attainment of some grand object, deep in the depths of God's Will, which shall have its fulfilment in a far-off Eternity. If we are disappointed in them, it is but because by that disappointment some mighty work, unknown to us, may be furthered- a work not, we may believe, involving exclusively our salvation, but some scheme of which our salvation forms a part. To obtain the satisfaction of our will, our lower will,-cannot, therefore, really be to have our will, for our real will is the higher will, the will which we derived from God, and

which, therefore, whilst on earth (and surely also when in Heaven), can only be satisfied by resignation and obedience. There is an illustration which may, perhaps, be used without irreverence, and which may help us to see this more clearly:— A child, unable properly to hold a pen, comes to us desiring to write a letter. It knows, in a certain way, what it wills, but the idea it has formed of its own will is imperfect, and it cannot understand how to attain it; therefore, it trusts itself to our will-it places its hand in ours, and consents to be guided. But the child has two wills: besides the desire to write, it desires also to form certain figures which suit its fancy ;—and thence results a struggle. If, subduing that lower will, it can trust simply to the person who guides it, its first wish I will be attained. It may not see or understand by what means, it may not even comprehend, when completed, the object for which it has been labouring, but it will not be the less successful. If, on the contrary, following its secondary will, it attempts to take the guidance of its own movements, it will so far attain its object, that it will form certain characters, but it will not, therefore, have satisfied itself. The first object—the higher will

-must still remain unfulfilled.

upon

to

Would to God that we could all feel that we are - what, indeed, we are children, called work for objects which we do not see, and which, if we did see, we could not understand, but in which are involved the power of Almighty Love, the