Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/d_000.lzh/D_043.TXT

Text File | 1994-07-14 | 7KB | 131 lines

CnAe. IX.                                OF THE OMNISCIENCE OF GOD.                                                                 43

(2.) God knows all his creatures, there is not any
creature, not one excepted, that is not manliest in his
sight, Heb. iv. 13. Known unto him are all his works;
all that his hand has wrought, Acts xv. 18. when he had
finished his works of creation, he saw every thing that
he had made, looked over it and considered it, and pro-
nounced it good, Gen. i. 31. and his eye sees all things in
their present state and condition; he knows all things
inanimate, all that is upon the earth, herbs, grass, trees,
&c. and all in the bowels of it, metals and minerals; all
that are in the heavens, not only the two great lumi-
naries, the sun and moon, their nature, motion, rising,
and setting, with every thing belonging to them, but the
stars innumerable; he bringeth out their host by number,
or them as a mighty army, and numerouS; and yet, as
numerous as they are, he calleth them all by names; such
a distinct and particular knowledge has he of them, and
that because he hath created them; and he upholds them
in being, by the greatness of his might, so that nbt one
faileth, Isa. xl. o,6. he knows all the irrational creatures,
the beasts of the field, "the cattle on a thousand hills;"
I know, says he, all thefowls of the mountains, Psalm 1.
10, 11. as worthless a bird as the sparrow is, not one of
them falls on the ground without the knowledge and will
of God, Matt. x. 30. he knows all the fishes of the sea,
and provided one to swallow Jonah, when thrown into
it; and which, at his order, cast him on dry land again,
Jonah i. 17. and ii. 10. And if Adam had such know-
ledge of all creatures, as to give them proper and suit-
able names, Gen. ii. 19, 20. and Solomon, a fallen son
of his, could speak of trees, from the cedar in Lebanon
to the h!/ssop that springs out of the wall; and of beasts,
fowl, creeping things, and fishes, 1 Kings iv. 33. even of
their nature, properties, use, and end; can it be thought
incredible that God, the Creator of them, should have a
distinct and perfect knowledge of all these ? he knows
all rational beings, as angels and men; the angels, though
innumerable, being his creatures, standing before him,
beholding his face, and sent forth by him as minis'tring
spirits: the elect angels, whom he must know, since he
has chosen them and put them under Christ, the head of
all principality and power; and confirmed them, by his
grace, in their happy state; and who stand on his right-
hand and left, hearkening to his voice, and ready to obey
his will; and are employed by him in providential af-
fairs, and in things respecting the heirs of salvation.
Yea, the apostate angels, devils, are known by him, and
are laid up in chains of darkness, reserved to the judg-
ment of the great day, and are under the continual 'eye
of God, and the restraints of his providence: the ques-
tions put to these by God, Job i. 7. and by Christ, Mark
v. 9. do not itnply any kind of ignorance of them; the
one is put to lead on to a discourse concerning Job, and
the other to shew the greatness of the miracle wrought
in casting them out. God knows all men, good and bad,
all the sons of men, the inhabitants of the earth, wherever
they are, in all places and in all ages, Psalm xxxiii.
14. Prov. xv. 2. he knows their hearts, for he has fa-
shioned them alike, and is often said to be the searcher
of them; he knows the thoughts of the heart; as his
word, so is he a discerner of them, Heb. iv. 12. see Psalm
cxxxix. 2. which is peculiar to God, and a strong proof

of the Deity of Christ, the essential Word' Matt. ix. 4.
John ii. 24, o,5. Heb. iv. lo,, 13. the evil thoughts of men,
which are many and vain, Psalm xciv. 11. and the good
thoughts of men, as he must, since they are of him, and
not of themselves; and he takes such notice of them, as
to write a book of remembrance of them, 2 Cor. iii. 5.
Mal. iii. 16. he knows the imaginations of the thoughts
of the heart, the first motions to thought, whether good
or bad, Gen. vi. 5. 1 Chron. xxviii. 9. he knows all the
words of men, there is not one upon their tongues, or
uttered by them, but he knows it altogether, Psalm cxxxix.
4. the words of wicked men, even every idle word, which
must be accounted for in the day of judgment; and much
more their blasphemies, oaths, and curses; and all their
hard s/peeches spoken against Christ and his people,
Matt. xii. 36. Jude v 15. And the words of good men,
expressed in prayer and thanksgiving, and in spiritual.
conversation with one another, Mal. iii. 16. And all the
works and ways of men, Job xxxiv. 21. their civil ones,
their down-sitting and uprising, going forth and coming
in, Psalm cxxxix. 2, 3. and cxxi. 3, 8. and all their sinful
ways and works, which will all be brought into judgment,
and for which an account n/ust be given at the bar of
God, Eccles. xii. 14. o, Cor. v. 10. as well as all the good
works of God's people, who knows from what principles
they spring, in what manner they are done, and with what
views, and for what ends, Rev. ii. 2, 19.
(3.) God knows all things whatever, as well as himself
and the creatures: he knows all things possible to be
done, though they are not, nor never will be done; such
as have beeu observed under the preceding attribute;
and this knowledge is what is called by the schoolmen,
"Knowledge of simple intelligence" of things that are
not actually done. He knows what might be, and in
course, would be, should he not prevent them by the in-
terposition of his power and providence, and which he
determines to do: so he knew the wickedness and trea-
chery of the men of Keilah to David, and that if he stayed
there, they would deliver him up into the hands of Saul,
and therefore gave him notice of it, that he might make
his escape from them, and so prevent their giving him
up, acccording to his determinate will, I Sam. xxiii. 11,
12. God knows the wickedness of some mens' hearts,
that they would be guilty of the most shocking crimes,
and that without number, if suffered to live, and there-
fore he takes them away by death; and that such is the
temper of some, that if they had a large share of riches,
they would be so haughty and overbearing, there would
be no living by them; and that even some good men, if
they had them, would be tempted to abuse them, to their
own hurt, and therefore he gives them poverty. More-
over, God knows all things that have been, are, or shall
be; and which the schools call, "knowledge of vision;"
an intuitive view of all actual things; things past, present,
and to come; so called, not with respect to God, with
whom nothing is past nor future, bttt all present; but
with respect to us, and our measures of time. He knows
all former things, from the beginning of the world; and
which is a proof of Deity, and such a proof that the idols
of the Gentiles cannot give, nor any for them, lsa. xli.
22. and xliii. 9. all past transactions at the creation, the
fall of Adam, and what followed on that; the original of
F 2