ception of his mind simultaneously; it is all taken in and contemplated at once in the necessary omnipresence of his thought. And hence, if we strike off from the great circle of his knowledge that part or section which we, in consequence of our limited views, denominate the future, his omniscience is at once shorn of the attribute of perfection, and is presented before us in a state of deformity and mutilation. And, accordingly, we assert that the omniscience of God, a truth taught by human reason, and more clearly and fully in the Scriptures, implies the doctrine of prescience (or, at least, what men, adapting their language to their own modes of perception, call PRESCIENCE), and that he has a clear knowledge of all future events.

§ 66. The prescience of God taught in the Scriptures. The divine prescience or foresight is not only implied in the omniscience of God, as that attribute is made known by reason and in the Scriptures, but is itself separately and distinctly made known in a multitude of passages. The Supreme Being himself, in the language ascribed to Him by the prophet Isaiah, asserts, "I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done." "Known unto God," says the Apostle James, "are all his works, from the beginning of the world.

Nor does the doctrine of God's foreknowledge rest upon general statements alone; but we have instances, again and again, of predictions, uttered long before the events came to pass, which were strictly fulfilled. The deluge was predicted one hundred and twenty years before it came on the face of the earth. It was foretold that the children of Israel should be in bondage four hundred years. The cruel conduct of the Syrian Hazael, and the deliverance wrought out by the hand of the Persian Cyrus, are matters of precise and specific prediction. The destruction of Babylon and of Nineveh, with many of the circumstances at* Isaiah xlvi., 9, 10. Acts xv., 18.

tending their overthrow, was predicted also. The coming and the preaching of Jesus Christ, and particularly his humiliation, trials, and death, were foretold by the mouths of holy men many years, and even ages, before the events themselves took place. The destruction of Jerusalem (not to mention other instances equally decisive in their bearing on this subject) was depicted long before it happened, and with a wonderful particularity and vividness.-In view of these facts, and others like them, we have only to make the remark, and with great confidence in its correctness, that predictions so numerous and specific, and so exactly fulfilled, could not have been uttered without the possession, on the part of their author, of that attribute of mind which men, speaking from the human stand-point, call foreknowledge or prescience.

§ 67. The foreknowledge of events implies foreknowledge of volitions. And it is further to be noticed, in regard to many, if not all, the events which have taken place in accordance with such predictions as those referred to in the last section, that they were dependent on the volitions of men. The voluntary actions of men necessarily imply the antecedent exercise of volitions; they are inseparably connected together in the relation of cause and effect; and such is the intimacy of this relation, that it is impossible that any being whatever should foresee the actions without a foresight, at the same time, of their volitions. As an illustration, it was foretold to Abraham that his descendants should go into Egypt, and should take up their residence there; but such a prediction evidently implies a knowledge of all the circumstances under which this event should take place, including, in particular, every motive and every volition connected with it. Such a prediction implies a knowledge, not only of the volitions and acts of the immediate agents in the events foretold, but of those persons also who were concerned. in them incidentally and collaterally. In the present case, it implies a knowledge of the jealousies of Jo

seph's brethren, and of their perverse and wicked conduct in selling him to the Ishmaelites; it implies a knowledge of the wants, interests, and motives of the Ishmaelites themselves, not to mention the situation and motives of other individuals and bodies of men, which were undoubtedly among the preparatory steps and means to the wonderful events which followed.

Every one knows that events of the greatest magnitude are dependent upon circumstances apparently the most trivial. It is a remark of Dr. Dwight, that the "motions of a fly are capable of terminating the most important human life, or of changing all the future designs of a man, and altering the character, circumstances, and destiny of his descendants throughout time and eternity."* Now, if these things are so, it cannot for a moment be conceded that God foreknows and predicts events without a knowledge of all those circumstances, even the most trivial, upon which those events may, by any possibility, be dependent. In particular, and above all, He must be minutely and fully acquainted with the volitional acts of the immediate agents in them. In foreseeing events in which men are concerned, He must, of course, foresee what men will do; but it is inconceivable that he should know this without knowing what volitions they will put forth.

§ 68. Application of these views to the will.

But if it thus appears that God, in the exercise of his great attributes, foreknows all things, particularly the volitions of men, then it seems clearly to follow that the volitional power or Will has its laws. The opposite of a subjection to law, as has already been remarked, is perfect contingency; and the very idea of contingency or of contingent action, which we understand to be the same with that of accidentalness, implies that it is something which cannot possibly be foreknown. Whatever is foreknown must be foreknown to exist at a particular time or place, or under * Dwight's Theology, Sermon vi.

some particular circumstances; but that action or event, which it is ascertained and certain will exist at a particular time or place, or under any particular and definite circumstances, cannot, with any propriety of language, be deemed a contingent one. Since, therefore, nothing which is foreknown is contingent, in the sense of being independent of law, and since the volitions of men are obviously the subjects of foreknowledge, it follows that there must be some definite laws or principles by which the action of the will is regulated.

§ 69. The views of this chapter in harmony with the great doctrine of divine spiritual influences.

وو

As in some respects closely connected with the views of this chapter, we may here, with propriety, refer to the doctrine, which is supported alike by the Scriptures and a sound philosophy, that the Supreme Being has the power, and, when in his providence he sees fit, exerts the power, of enlightening, purifying, and guiding the minds of men. The reader of the Bible will naturally be reminded here of the Saviour's interesting expressions on this subject, which are found in the concluding chapters of the Gospel of John: "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever. "And the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." John xiv., 16, 26. There are many other passages, which imply the fact of divine teaching and divine guidance: "So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia."" Then Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes upon him, and said, Oh full of all subtlety," &c.-"And were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia." Acts xiii., 4, 9; xvi., 6.-"Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth." 1 Cor. ii., 13.-"Holy

men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2 Pet. i., 21.

All these passages, and others like them, necessarily and clearly imply, although there is no doubt, as we shall see hereafter, of the fact of man's freedom and of the possibility of moral disobedience, that the human mind, nevertheless, is circumscribed and overruled in its operations to some extent; that it is susceptible of divine influences and guidance; and that it is held, by means of relational forces and adjustments consistent with freedom, in subordination to the all-pervading and transcendent control of the Supreme Intelligence.

CHAPTER IV.

LAWS OF THE WILL IMPLIED IN THE PRESCIENCE OR FORESIGHT OF MEN.

§ 70. Man as well as Deity susceptible of foresight.

Ir may, perhaps, be objected by some, that the argument drawn from the prescience of the Deity is less satisfactory than it would otherwise be, in consequence of the unspeakable elevation and incomprehensibleness of the Divine Mind. That the divine mind is, in some respects, incomprehensible by man, is true; but it does not follow that an argument, founded upon what we know and can understand of the divine nature, is therefore incomprehensible or even obscure. But whatever weight, whether more or less, may be conceded to this objection, we come to another view of the subject, analogous indeed to that of the last chapter, but drawn from a different source, and level to every one's comprehension. Man himself, restricted and dimmed as his conceptions undoubtedly are, has a prescience of the future, a foresight of what is to come to pass, as well as the adorable Being who made him. Not in an equal degree indeed, but still in some degree. And this fact also goes to confirm