Serm, LXXX. The Knowledge of_God, 6oÿ but God's alone ; and that neither Angel nor Devil hath any further Knowledge Of them, than may becollched and inferr'd in a way ofprobable Conjehture from the particular Knowledge of Mens Tempers and Habits and Deigns, and the Courte of their Ataions. I proceed to the III. Particular God's Knowledgeof future Events. This God propofes as the way to difcern the true God from Idols, Ifaiah qt. zr, &c. Produce your Caufe, faith the Lord, bring forthyour firong Reafòns, faith theKing of yaceb, that is, let them bring fome Argument that may convince us that they are Gods; and he in- ftanceth in foretelling future Events, ver. zz. Let them Phew the former things, what they be, that we may confider them, andknow the latter end of them ; or declare us things for to come. Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are Gods. God puts it upon this i1Tue, if they can foretel future things, then they are Gods ; if not, they are vanity, anda work of naught, andhe is as aborni- nation that chafeth them, ver. z¢. By things to come, I underftand fuels Efiehts as do not depend Upon any neceffary Caufe, but upon theWill of Free Agents, and fo may be, or may not be ; from whence it is plain, that it is the Prerogative of God, proper and peculiar to Him, to know.future Events. And here I (hall confider there two things. T. That God knows future Events. z. That he only knows them. r. God knows future Events ; which will appear from the diótatesof Natural Light, and from Scripture. (t.) From the dih ates of Natural Light, as it is a PerfeEtion, and that which among Men is accounted the belt part of Wifdom ; and unlefs this did belong to God, how could he govern the World t The Heathens, except only the Epicure- ans, generally granted this, as appears in thofewife Counfels, which we frequent- ly meet with in them to this purpofe, that we fhould not be anxious for the fu- ture, but having done our endeavour, leave the Events of things toGod, who only knows them and difpofeth them. ' Permittes ipfis expendere Numinibus, quid Conveniat nobis, rebufque fit utile noflris. Juv. And afterward faith he, Weare importunate with God for Wife andChildeen At illis notum, gui pueri, qualifque futura fit uxor ; and that this was their Opi- nion, appears yet more clearly from thofe apprehenfions which they had of Di- vination. Tully lays down this for a Principle, Deos pe/le nobisftgna futurarum re- am offendere ; de Legibus : and in his Book de Divin. he tells us, that there was fuch a thingas Divination, for it was an old Opinion, jam ufque ab Heroicis dalia tern- poribus, ` argue Pop. Rom.' omnium gentium ftrmata confenfu ; and afterward that this Divination was not, fine inflintlu afflatsíque divino. I know they did varioufly explain this, according to their feveral Opinions about Fate and Contingency, and their Apprehenfions about the Providence of God. One Seht of them, the Stoicks, held that there was a fatal Chain of Caufes from firft to Lail, and risings did neceifarily follow one another ; and by this Means they made Fore-knowledge eafie and explicable, and tho' in their Difputes they feem to grant no fach thing as Events and Contingencies, yet they are agreed in the thing, that thole things which we call Events, tho' they would not call them fo, were Fore-known to God. And for this I (hall only cite one Teftimony of Seneca, (peaking ofGod's Fore-knowledge of the molt con. tingent things, the Difpolitions of Men long beforethey are Born ; he adds, nota ell cairn illis operas fui feries, tonnitrmque illis rerurnper manes feasiturarum fcientia in aperto f,nper efi ; nobis ex abilito fubit ; psis repentina putamus, illis provifa veniunt c. familiaria ; and how peremptory foever this Seht is in their difputes about Fate,yet when they fpealr of the 7 /g' ii,uïc,and generally in their Moral Dif- courle.s, they teem plainly to me to exempt the will ofMan from this fatalneccnty. And thole other Seht óf the Philofophers thatdenyed Fate, did generally grant God's bore-kvosciedgeof contingent things. I grant indeed, that they did rather make God's
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