end. Day unto day and night unto night uttereth knowledge, in respect of us, and not of God.

man hath seen God at any time; the only be-
gotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father,
(he is well acquainted with the Father's designs,)
and having the spirit without measure, he searches
the depths of God, the profundity of his love,
the depths of his mercy, that secret deep that
coucheth beneath every dispensation. Is God a
God of love? Christ is the brightest evidence of
that love. God so loved the world, &c. John i.
18. Are we admitted into a state of peaceful
reconciliation with God? God was in Christ
reconciling the world unto himself, &c. 2 Cor.
v. 19.
What views of God we are blessed with
here; and whatever discoveries are reserved for
us hereafter, all will flow from this divine source.
And after all that can be known of God here
and hereafter he'll still remain perfectly incom-
prehensible; and may we not suppose, that a
part of the glory and happiness of the celestial
world, will arise from the perpetual approxima-
tion of the mind to the divine standard, and yet
as distant as ever from the great, original.

"His essence is a vast abyss,
"Which angels cannot sound;
"An ocean of infinities

"Where all our thoughts are drown'd.”

Known

Known unto God are all his works (and ways) from the beginning of the world. Acts xv. 18. Which is spoke in respect of his government, which is according to his will, settled before the world was, and not of the things that are made, for then he must know things by sight, as we do, and so consequently know no more than we do, which is no less than blasphemy; for if God must see all things done before he knows it, or if he must look out of himself to know any thing, then,

First, We make him like ourselves.

Secondly, We deny his fore-knowledge.

Thirdly, We deny him that which the Hea thens will not rob their gods of. To do this is worse than Heathenism, for they have their good and evil demons. But if it be demanded, whether God's Will is in every action, in respect of governing the world as in creating of it? I answer, yea. I argue thus:

First. If God knew his works from the beginning of the world, he must know it some way, he must know it either by looking in himself, or out of himself. We will sum up all with this: God saw Adam before he was made. How did God know that there would be an Adam? God knew that all the world should fall in him. How did God know that there would be a foederal covenant made with him?

Fœderal

1

Secondly.

Secondly. God knew that there would be no promise made to Adam to uphold him in that

covenant.

Thirdly. How did God know that there would be no promise given him to uphold him?

It must be answered, God knew his own Will. Eccl. iii. 14. Eph. i. 11. and so in respect of every thing. The Lord knew that Pharoah would not let the people go: but how knew he that? because he would harden his heart (b). Ex. iv, 2. The Lord knew that Cyrus would

let

(b) The Apostle says, Who may resist the "will of God? By the word will, Paul gives us "to understand, that God actually willeth those

very things, unto which men are hardened by him. When Paul adds, who may resist? he "in fact points out the necessity, which they "whom God hardens, are under of doing those "things. When God would harden Pharoah, "in order that he might not obey the command

ment; it was the actual will of God, that "Pharoah should not obey. Yea, God himself "wrought in Pharoah to oppose the command"ment sent him. Pharoah therefore did in re"ality, what God willed him to do; yea, he "did no more than what God himself had "wrought in him to do; nor was it in Pha"roah's power to act otherwise than he did.

You'll

let his people go out of their captivity; but how did God know that? He knew, because he knew he would give him power and will to do it. Is. xlv. 1, 2, 3, 4. Now in respect of the elect of God in particular; I know, saith God to Abraham, that he will command his children; signifying all his elect; Gal. iii. 7. that they shall keep the way of the Lord.

Queft. How did God know that? He knew it because he would write his law in their hearts.

"You'll conclude that these are hard sayings;

nay, but O man, who art thou that repliest "against God? St. Paul does not accommodate "nor soften down a single syllable, of what he "had just asserted. The sacred penman does "not deny, that they, who are hardened by God, "perish according to the will of God. The

Apostle does not admit it to be even possible, "that a person who is hardened from above, "can perform what is good. Paul (instead of "setting himself to answer our reasoning) con"tents himself with giving us a solemn caution, "not to sit in judgment on the decrees of God, "assuring us, that we cannot arraign the Deity 66 at our own bar, without being guilty of the

utmost boldness and impiety. Does God "turn the wicked into hell, with all the nations "that forget God? Is it a crime to say, he re"solved to do it before hand ?”

Jer.

Jer. xxxi. 33. Heb. viii. 10. Jer. xxix. 10, 11. So much for this knowledge of God. (c)

Obs. But it may be objected: God leaving Adam to his own will, did not that prove that God

(c) The knowledge of God. The Holy Ghost, in the 146 Psal. and the 5th ver. describes the nature of the divine intelligence: great is our Lord, and of great power; his understanding is infinite. The knowledge that God possesses is not the result of a succession of ideas, but an eternal expansion of mind, by which he comprehends every thing that would take place, did his power not prevent, of every thing that does exist, for it is the result of his appointment, of every thing that shall come to pass hereafter, relative to all, whether good or bad, for the former will enjoy his portion according to the provision of sovereign love; the latter will be rewarded according to the spirit of distributive justice; both which are applied and enforced by his divine power, and regulated by his understanding. The first branch of this description of the divine knowledge, by which God knows every thing that would exist, did not the interposition of his providence prevent, I recollect to have read somewhere, to have been called by the schoolmen, "Knowledge of simple Intelligence" of things that are not actually done. You'll see this explained, if you

refer