they were Not beings aftâ— a manner are caused to be While some understand it of tâ— first others of the Second I cannot â— see Reason why we may not undeâ—stand it of all And so they offer to oâ— Consideration 1. The Omnisciency of Christ Jesus our Mediatour 2. The Omnipotency of our God in whom we believe First The Omnisciency of Christ Jesus our Mediatour He calleth i. e. by his Knowledge foreseeing all things presented as if actually existing before him not as existing or being in the Divine Nature as Aquinas held their real existence in Eternity confuted by Scotus except by way of Eminency but as to exist in time according to the Will and Wisdom of the Creator Psal 139.2 Thou knowest my down-sitting and my up-rising thou understandest my Thoughts a far off and Verse 6. Such Knowledge is too wonderful for me it is high I cannot attain â—t i. e. his Omnisciency Unto which add lest any should conceive this to be verified of God the Father only John 21.17 Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I lovâ—â—hee Spoken of Christ Objected here may be that of the Evangâ—list Mâ—rk 13.32 Of that Day and Hour knoweth no man no not the Angels which are in Heaven neither the Son but the Father Answ To which I Answer This Text hath puzled many Ancient and Modern For resolution know 1. That Christ did not know that day as he was a Creature neither was it fit for a Creature to know Though to Christ is granted a Transcendent Knowledge He had a Created Knowledge answering his sinless Capacity in his Humane Nature Concreated by a Participation of the Divine Vision Infused necessarily following the Hypostatical Union Yea the Schoolman hath observed that Christ had an acquired and experimental Knowledge daily gotten by the operation of the active intellect making species actually intelligible abstracting them from the Phantasms Yet as man he knew not that day There are two things to be considered in Christ viz. His Person and so he is Omniscieâ—t his Humane Nature and so he was subject to a Negative ignorance of such things whereof the Humane Nature was not capable Totus Christus was Omniscient but not Totum Christi he knew as he was God he did not know as he was man Neither is it any dishonour to Christ to have such an ignorance imputed to him since it doth peculiarly belong to his Humane Nature But 2. We may resolve the Text thus that it did not appertain to his Office to teach them of that time So Nosce is put for Docere 1 Cor. 2.2 I Determined to know nothing among you but Christ Jesus and him Crucified i. e. to Preach any other thing but Christ his Name and Grace his Spirit and Love shall Triumph in my Discourses to you For without doubt then Christ knew that day Now to add more force to our Pen we will here propound some Enquiries the resolution of which will yeild great illustration to this Doctrine Q. How did Christ know Answ Not by discourse as men and Angels do We know one thing after another and one thing by another But the Infinite Understanding of Christ grasps all things Simel et Semel at an Instant without any Dilatory Vâ—iw or long Debate by seeing the Determination of his own Will all being present before him who is present every where And that for divers Reasons 1. Because he had the Idea of all and the Reason and Ground of all present before him Though the Knowledge here spoken of is not so much direct Intending on the things themselves as Reflex by an Act of Intuition on himself the most clear glass he seeth all things in 2. Because his Eye was carried from all Eternity upon and over all and that by Vertue of the Eternity and Immensity of his being God is in all things and therefore knows all things He is a Sphere of Infinite Greatness and Efficacy and whatever is besides this Sphere must necessarily be within it Encircled and Folded up in it And hence David proves Gods Omnisciency by his Omnipresence Psal 134.2 3. The Effect doth ever vertually pre-exist in the Efficient cause either Formally as in Univocal Causes or by way of Eminence as here All things known by God are God in a more Noble Manner than in themselves Q. 2. How can God know things that are not for non entis null est Scientia Answ Of no being simply neither in Act nor Power the Rule is true but those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not Beings were then in esse Cognito and should certainly be in esse Formali He first seeth them in his own Essence and then blows them into being by the Breath of his Mouth by his commanding word Quest 3. Whether this do not make something for Equivocation Answ Not at all For 1. To call things that are not as though they were is a Divine Priviledge men may not do so 2. It is an Essential Representation not a Mental Reservation One thing is not conceived and another called but things that are not are called as if they were which shall be in time as they were known and called before time Objected than it may be That the Lord foresaw Sin as if it had been in Act. Answ Undoubtedly he did purposing to produce and sustain the Act and permit the obliquity Which cannot reflect on God as if he were the Author of Sin in not preventing it For though Sin be the worst thing in the World yet the existence of Sin is not Evil for then God would not Permit it to be Prosper and Hilary both with Renowned Austin say The Cause hereof may be unknown to to us but unjust it cannot it be as God Which Doctrine offers to us 1. Matter of Information in the following particulars First of the Independency of the Creator in producing and disposing of the Creature Nothing out of God did move him to do any thing to them True it is that he knew them in himself in their Causes and in themselves not by Species resulting from them but by Reflection on his own Nature Extra se non quaerit Lumen ut videat ipse enim est qui videt unde videt He needs not Light from without himself to see by for he it is that seeth and from himself it is that he seeth as Bernard expresseth it Jer. 5. Before I Formed thee in the Womb I know thee 2 Tim. 2.19 The Lord knoweth who are his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 No Love no Election no foreseen Faith or Work for then they should have been foreseen in God and not in Man Secondly of the Necessity of the Creature both in respect of Existence and Operation He calleth those things which are not as though they were because of the Necessity and Certainty of their being Understand this with Reference to the first cause For if we look to second causes there are three sorts viz. Necessary which cannot but do this and that
as the Fire necessarily burneth and the Sun shineth Free to this or that Act as the reasonable Creature is Contingent beyond Expectation producing Effects accordingly but all known to the first Cause before they were as if they were So that there is no Room nor need for any Scientia Media Thirdly we are Informed how this Divine Omniscience is a ground of Faith viz. On a Three-fold account 1. As it is known to be infallible his Priviledge that cannot deceive nor be deceived 2. As it is known to be Immutable subject to no Alteration or Variation Jam. 1.17 he is described to be withâ—ut variableness or Shadow of Change As the Sun he Shines always with the same Rayes of Brightness Eclipses only excepted an Attribute that runs through all the rest his Mercy Council Love are all immutable his Heart is the same to day and for ever We may be Changed in our opinions and Estate but the Divine Nature never Changeth 3. As it is Incommunicable Every Creature is Finite and this is Infinite The Gods of the Gentiles were often herein challenged and found wanting The first Angels would have had it but sunk under the weight of that desire and Adams Candle aspiring to be a Sun hath burnt the dimmer ever since All these laid together will prove a strong Motive to believe In the Second Vse of this point is discovered the folly of men in two things viz. First In endeavouring to prevent Gods Omnisciency by sinning securely because secretly and digging deep to hide their Plots Hear the Language of the Prophet Isa 24.15,16 We to them that digg deep to hide their Counsels from the Lord. They think no eye seeth them not his who can do nothing but see How vain The Eyes of God are like two Flaming Torches more resplendent than the Sun it self none can steal from his Lightning Flashes Screetch-Owls may find Holes and Nights to keep them from the day which they cannot abide but he that flies from the Face of God where can he find darkness enough to hide himself O blind and insensible Fugative from the Sovereign Essence in the Region of Nothing whither wilt thou go not to find the reproaches of thy Crimes Be Confident he that can save from the deadliest extremities can also see in the darkest obscurities Secondly In endeavouring to usurp it and that 1. By manifest falshood not only of the Pope and his adherents defining and concluding things that are not as though they were but others also who daringly call their Sins Gods Temptations The Woman thou gavest me c. And many have laid the Bastards of Heresie to the door of the Sanctuary and called Diabolical Seductions Evangelical Revelations as if the Father of Lights could bring forth the Issues of Death This is to usurp the Royal Prerogative of Heaven and to invade the Lords Incommunicable Property 2. By Flattery and that either of our selves or others Of our selves calling Carnal Contents Pleasure Dissolute Passions true Mirth Covetousness Providence Vain-Glory Curiosity Presumption Hope Fading Creatures true Riches against our Knowledge Solomon calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things that are not in comparison of true Riches Contentment and Duration for they make to themselves Wings and flie away as the Eagle towards Heaven Of others especially the Great and the Rich for sooner will an hot May want flies than such want Flatterers calling them to be what they are not Such was that Parasite who endeavoured to puff up King Canutus by telling him that all his Dominions nay the Seas themselves were at his Command And Onuphirus the Popes Biographer praised Hildebrand or Gregory the Seventh for notable Acts and great Vertues whom Cardinal Pembo truely described to have been a Murtherer an Adulterer a Conjurer every way as bad as might be Mark Anthony was a Prince extreamly dissolute yet was by his Flatterers called God Bacchus and he soon came to that shameful impudence as to have that title engraved on his Statute Such servile Souls there are who bind themselves like Fishers Angling Lines seeing their advantages to depend on impertinent Discourse and that the false Altars of Worldly Greatness will be served with such Smoke spare it no more than a man would water in a River No Age but has been pestered with such Cattle Nero's Courtiers would sooth him up for his singing though it were exceeding ill with a Quam pulcher Caesar Apollo Augustus Like the Flatterer in the Fable who accomodating himself to the time gave the Ape many specious praises saying He was a Vermilian Rose and that those that environ'd him his Young Ones were the Leaves that he was the Sun and those about him were the Raies that he was as Valiant as a Lyon all his off-spring were a Race of Young Lyons With a multitude among our selves who call the niggard Bountiful the Voluptuous Chaste the Proud Humble the Civil Man Religious above their Knowledge they are not so we see it neither can we make them so and therefore should not call them so Vse 3. In the third place this Doctrine yeilds singular comfort to all the Faithful Your Saviour 1. Knows all your enemies to prevent them He that sits in Heaven Laughs them to scorn the Lord will have them in Derision be they never so cunning and politick the Divine Providence shut up in a Cloud Roareth over their heads and in a moment will overthrow the Mountains of Wind which the Tyrants of the World raise one upon the other and make their silly wisdom appear like an Owl unfeathered and asham'd at the Raies of Noon-day though their alâ—itudes may be so many Ravishments to dark the Earth As it was once said of Anthony concerning Augustus so it may be of Christ and the Enemies of his people His Geinus goes beyond theirs 2. He knows all our wants to supply them inward outward of Soul Body for Present for Future Cheer up your drooping Spirits in the Consideration of your Saviour In him dwelleth all fulness as he is Mediatour established and destinated for your Salvation so that all Perfection Riches Grace and Excellencies meet there together Divinity and Humanity fill'd with all the Qualities and Properties that pertain to them there concur which Christ hath not for himself but for his People as the Sea hath Water to Convey unto the Earth and the great Luminary hath Brightness to Enlighten the Heavens and the Earth that from it as from a Common source might Stream forth into all things all the Flame and Warmth they want 3. Christ knows all your Sins to Pardon and Subdue them He calleth you now what you are not Cant. 4.7 Thou art all fair my Love and there is no Spot in thee You shall be because he will make you so Your Light shall be without any Shadow your Beauty without the least Spot to disgrace it Those Roses that are now in their Blossom shall be fully blown and those Stars which are now