The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-02-17
POPULAR APOLoGETIcS.
Adapted from the German by Rev.
Peter Mikes, S. j., by Rev. James
Watcher.
LXIV. Gods knowledge.

fallibly because He is eternal and in
finitely perfect. As by His omni-
presence He fills all real and possible
places, so as the Eternal He embraces
all time, the past, the present, and
the future. But what He embraces
lies clearly before His view.
The How, of course, is a mystery
TO us and must remain so, because our
human cognition and requirement of
knowledge is essentially different
from that of God.
But the fact is clear that God
knows all truth, the past, the present,
and the future ("That what is, is
true, says st. Augustine). For if He
did not know the future, but would
have to learn it first, the infinitely
perfect God would be at the same
time imperfect, the independent God
would become dependent, the I'M
changeable Being would be changed
by an increase of knowledge. But
all this is a contradiction. Hence it
is certain that God knows the future,
though we do not know how this is
possible.
We can understand the omni-
presence of God better, because our
soul has a kind of omnipresence in
the body, being in every part OF the
body whole and entire at the same
time. But the idea of the eternity OF
God, that is, the simultaneous, full
possession of a life unlimited back
ward and forward (interminabilis
vitae tota stimuli ct perfecta possessio)
is so incomprehensible to us, because
we possess only one time, the present,
and at best can recall the past with
our imperfect memory and can guess
ut the future and thus arrive at a
hypothetical certainty.
LXV, Divine Foreknowledge and
Human Liberty.
Objection: If God knows the future
infallibly, e. g., whether l VIII pc
saved or damned, then l am no more
free in my actions; l must go to
heaven or hell, just as God knows 1t,
because He can't err.
Answer: Not because God foresees
it, must | act just in such a way, but
because act freely just in such
way, therefore God foresees it. My
liberty is the reason for my action;
it depends on me whether God fore
sees my salvation or damnation, the
same way as God foresees whether L
arrive with the train in st. Paul or
Chicago.
The power of Gods knowledge is
infinite, mans is finite, limited. The
manner of Gods cognition is essen
TALLY different from that of man. We
can absolutely not understand the
cognition and knowledge of God,
hence also not His foreknowledge,
and hence it is inadmissible and I'M
reasonable to raise objections and
difficulties from our imperfect way OF
cognition and knowledge. 1t is a
greater foolishness than savage OF
Central Africa would commit who
would deny that we could talk within
an hour with two men living hundreds
of miles apart. The poor savage
knows nothing of our telephone. Do
not, therefore, act like a savage
towards God!
LxVI. Unchaneeahleness of God.
Obiecton: 1t is asserted that God
is Interchangeable; but by the creation
of the world He certainly was
changed; for now He is Creator,
which He was not before. In the
same way there is love and hatred
in Him according as man is good or
bad.
Answer: God is Interchangeable in
His essence, hence inwardly in Him.
self absolutely unchangeable; but
that does not exclude an outward
change of God, that is, if the creature
changes it's relationship to God, e. g.,
if the sinner converts himself, we say
that God now loves him, whereas
formerly He hated him.
That is only an outward change;
inwardly God remains always the
same, loving the good and hating the
wicked Man in way places him.
self by sin on the left side of God in
the darkness of wickedness, which
God hates, and then again on the
right side of God in the light of good
ness, which God loves. The real
change is in man not in God. The
sun does not change whether you
turn towards him or away from him.
1t is the same with creation; before
creation the creature was in the state
of possibility, in posse, now it is in
actuality, in esse. From this follows
the outward name of God, namely
Creator. When the first child is born
to married man he is called father,
which he was not before; but this
title does not effect any inward
change in him.
LxVlI. The UnchangeabIeness of the
Decisions of the Divine Will.
Objections: In any case God has
changed His will when He created
the world; before He did not want
the world, now He wants it.
Answer: From all eternity God al
ways wanted that the world should be
in time. His will was therefore I'M
changed. The change is only in the
creature, as explained in the previous