[“Amandus Polanus vons Polansdorf studied at Tubingen, Basel, and Geneva. He was appointed professor of Old Testament at Basel in 1596 and served as dean of the theological faculty from 1598-1609. His dogmatic works are Partitiones theologicae, pars I (1590), pars II (1596); Syntagma theologiae christianae (1609).” Richard Muller, Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics, 1:44 (first edition).]

Polanus:

And this much touching the wisdom of God. Now follows concerning his will.

The will of God is an essential property of God, by which he wills all things that he wills, and that from all eternity, of himself also, and that by one constant act.

And this will is most free, so that God does not anything, or command or suffer it to be done, but freely willing it: whereupon also it is called God’s most free will.

And because it does not depend of any other former beginning out of itself, it alone properly deserves to be called free will.

And indeed and truth it is but one will, because it is the very essence of God. Howbeit in respect of us, it is sundry, ways distinguished.

1. The will of God is either his will of effecting, or of permitting only.

His will of effecting, is that according to which God effects all good things, whether it be by himself or by others.

The will of permitting is that, according to which God suffers sin to be committed: for God certainly does willingly permit sin, and not unwillingly, that is to say, against his will and enforced (for who can constrain God?). And this he does for a double end: first that he might manifest the infirmity and weakness of the creature, because it cannot stand, unless it it be every moment upheld in uprightness by God. Secondly, that by this occasion, God might declare, either his mercy and power, in delivering the elect from sin, or else his justice and power in punishing the reprobate for their sin.

2. Again the will of God is either absolute or conditional.

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Leigh:

God wills:¹

1. Most freely: for as liberty is essential to every will, so it is chiefly proper to the Divinity, because it is a will especially: yet God wills good necessarily with a necessity of Immutability, but not with a necessity of coaction: for he is necessarily and naturally Good, and that which he once willed, he always wills immutably, and yet freely.
2. God wills efficaciously: for no man resists, nor can resist his will. Dan. 4.32. Rom. 9:19. Voluntas Dei semper impletur aut de nobis aut a’ Deo in nobis. Augustine.

Will is taken:

First properly.

1. For a faculty or power of the soul whereby we will; so we say, there are these faculties in the soul, the understanding, and the will. So for that faculty of willing which is in God, so it is one with God’s Essence.
2. For the act of his willing, called Volitio: so it is one with his Essence. For as he is Eternal and Immutable, so is also his will.

Secondly, Metonymically.

For the Object or thing willed, so John 6. “This is the will of my Father,” that is, that which he wills and has decreed. “Thy will be done,” 1 Thess. 4.3. So we say, It is the Princes will, that is, that which the Prince wills; he wills his own glory chiefly.

God’s will is his Essence, whereby he freely wills good, and nills evil: or it is a faculty whereby God chooses all and only good, and refuses all and only evil. Voluntas in Deo nihil alind est, quam Deus volens. Zanchi. de natura Dei. L.3. c. 4. Quest. 1.

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The Apostle knowing that the mind of men be stark blind without the assured knowledge of God’s will, and that it is not possible as long as they be in a doubt thereof, to be in any certainty of salvation, and true godliness., does advise us to understand it. And it is not without cause that he does use this saying: That you may prove and try what is the will of God. To prove and try what is the will of God, is not to have a light opinion thereof: but to find it, and to know it without doubt, by certain experience and proof. For whereas Satan also transform into an Angel of light, as he began to do immediately a the first beginning of mankind, and his ministers transformed into Apostles of Christ, and our very flesh also do seem to godly and devout, does counterfeit many things thereof, serving unto our destruction. We had need specially to be ware, that we do not unadvisedly, believe every thing in color and presence thereof, but that we do surely try the spirits, whether that they be of God, or no. Wherefore we must search whereby it may be tried, what is the will of God towards us, that we give no place in us, to such opinions, as do reign in the Popery.

And indeed there be divers ways in this trial, if they were particularly viewed. But there may be noted three more general. For God does commonly declare his Will unto us, either by word, sign, or doing. Wherefore we may try it in his Word, Signs, and Doings.

In the Word, there be his precepts and prohibitions, his promises, and his threatenings, his comforts, and his judgements. When he does command what he will have us to do, & forbidding that which he would not have us to do, he does surely instruct us of his will. So that the Prophet sings aright: The Lord’s precepts is bright, giving light to the eyes. When he promises his grace, salvation, and everlasting life to the godly & faithful, which do fear him & depend upon him with an upright heart: and threatens wrath & condemnation to the ungodly, & unbelievers, does he not two ways declare his will? First in using us lovingly, & Secondly requiring us again to behave ourselves uprightly in all things. And this is the scope and prick of the whole Gospel, wherein the only begotten of God does certify & assure us of the will of God towards mankind. There be comforts in the world whereby he hearts of sinners, of the weak, of the afflicted, & wailing be plucked up. They do testify of the goodwill of God, when he offers his aid ready and at hand unto all the afflicted. There by in the word also set forth the judgements of God, where he does punish the wicked, the examples of which passed before in the flood, in the fire of Sodom, in the Red Sea, and the other like. By them a man perceive also, what the will of God is towards the wicked and reprobate.

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Dagg:

WILL OF GOD

THE term will, which always imports desire, is variously applied, according to the object of that desire.

1. It denotes intention or purpose to act. It is said of Apollos “His will was not at all to come at this time,”¹ i.e., he had not formed the intention or purpose to come. In this sense, the will of God is spoken of: “According to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.”² Purpose or intention may exist before the time of action arrives. When it has arrived, the mind puts forth an act termed volition, to produce the desired effect. In human beings, purposes may be fickle, and may undergo change before the time for action comes; but God’s purpose or intention is never changed; and when the time for producing the proposed effect arrives, we are not to conceive that a new volition arises in the mind of God; but the effect follows according to the will of God, without any new effort on his part.

2. It denotes a desire to act, restrained by stronger opposing desires, or other counteracting influences. Pilate was “willing” to release Jesus;³ but other considerations, present to his mind, overruled this desire, and determined his action. We are compelled to conceive of the divine mind, from the knowledge which we possess of our own; and the Scriptures adapt their language to our conceptions. In this way, a desire to act is sometimes attributed to God, when opposing considerations prevent his action. “I would scatter them, were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy.”⁴ “How often would I have gathered, &c., and ye would not.”⁵

3. It is used with reference to an external object that is desired, or an action which it is desired that another should perform. “Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not.”⁶ “Be it unto thee as thou wilt.”⁷ “Ask what ye mill.”⁸ What will ye, that I should do.”⁹ In this sense, as expressing simply what is in itself desirable to God, will is attributed to him. “Not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”¹⁰ “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, &c.¹¹ “This is the will of God, even your sanctification.”¹²

4. Closely allied to the last signification, and perhaps included in it, is that use of the term will, in which it denotes command, requirement. When the person, whose desire or pleasure it is that an action should be performed by another, has authority over that other, the desire expressed assumes the character of precept. The expressed will of a suppliant, is petition; the expressed will of a ruler, is command. What we know that it is the pleasure of God we should do, it is our duty to do, and his pleasure made known to us becomes a law.

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