Baxter - Houston-Packer Collection BT70 .B397 1675

I Of tlre_(atïire; Knoulédge; Will fenfe he can make of it is, that this propofition [Dens eft, & eft cfEter- nuns, &c.] if it had had an eternalbeing, would in order of nature have been conceivable to us before this [Dens fcitfe, offe3 or .before his know- ledge it fell: orthat if man had been the Knower, it hadbeen firs} a true propofition that He is, before he knroweth that he is. But God knowerb not himfelf by propofitions. Words. ( in mente vel ore) are butartificial or gam for blind creatures to know by. And doth God need fuch to know . himfelf? Doth he know by Thinking and by .Artificial means, as wedo Hath heEntia rätiante in his Intelledt, as mane (as Propofitions are). And had he an Intelleft and thefe Entià rations or propofitions in his IntelleEt (Deus' eft, &c. ) before he knew them ? . yea, and his fe knawledge ( which inAd is his pure, eternal, neceffary Effençe ) cáufed by theft e All thatyou can fay is,that poorcreatures know byPropofitions, and phantafms, and diverfe thoughts; and that God knoweth man, and therefore knoweth all our props/itians and thoughts asours: but not that he had thelike eter- nally in himfelf, andknoweth them in himfelf; and thatHimfelf as apro- pofstion, is the Caufe of himfelf (or felf-intelledtion) as in Adt. He can know that you fee by Spedtacles, andyet not eternally ufeSpediacles him- felt as the Caufe:of his fight. But Bradwardine faith , that God knoweth ills verà complexa qua va- luntatem divinampracedrsnt, per folam foam effentiam, . (coat alta vera incomplexa ; Ills vero qua voluntatem ejus fequuntur, non feit Deus' per illy complexa neque per aliquid aliúd á voluntate ejus femota,; fedper fuam voluntátern , vel per fuam fubflantiam tuna voluntate , &c. More` prefumption Rill ! He faith-' God knoweth complexa fed non complexe ; Andwho knoweth what fence thofe words have What meaneth he by complexa but Notions, that is, names andpropofitions, as diftindt from the Things? And what is it to know propofition complexe, but to knowthem as they are ? And what is it to know them incomplexe, unlefs it ,be to know quidphyfacum apropofition is, or to know that it is nopropofition, that is, to err? If God know a Complexion or a propofition, that Propop-. tion is in being o- And wherewas it in being before God knew its Ìf ira God (or nowhere) r. God then is a propofition; a. AndGod is befor,j,. he knoweth himfelf; 3. And a propofition. being in intellecáu an ad óf knowledge, it is to fay, that [God knoweth that he is, before he knoweth thathe is : and his knowing that he is, caufeth him to know that he is ]. If it be laid, that by complexa he meaneth not organical notions, wards nor propofations,.but theverity of Gc;ds Being, Eternity, bc. I anfwer ; T® know things, is Paid to be [ to know fame Truth] becaufe by knowing the thing, we can make this propofition [This is] or [This truly is.) But Godsknowledge of Thingsis not as ours, but bypureperfect intuition,` and fo maketh not propofitions in himfelf by knowing things : But if it be the ,Truth- of this propofition [Dens eft] that you mean, it fuppofeth that propofition to exift (for,`quadnon ell, non verumeft) ; and Jo to exift in God ; which is denyed : And it is that propofition that Bradwardine fpeaketh of. But if by Truth, you mean nothing but Gods Effence ; that is not a complex objept, which he fpeaketh of: And hefaithnot, that God know- tth fsaam effenttam, creatavel futura, but that he knoweth per pain effentiam quad Deus eft, ¿. eft Omnipotens, e/Eternus, &c. eflperfuam ef- (entiam earn voluntate quad mundusfuturus eft. Sothat its a .propofition that he callcth complexum incomplexe cognitionby contradidtion; when he cannot prove that Gods Intelledt made propofitions in It Pelf, and that ante- cedently to themfelves, and the carafes of thetnfelves.

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