Chapter 4: Charnock on God's Attributes
Pages 66-71
The Omnipresence of God
God is not bound by space or time. Charnock fought the Socinians (basically Deists) at this point by asserting rightly that God is present providentially sustaining the existence of all things. He is as present in Hell as He is in Heaven.
The Omniscience of God
God knows Himself and all things such that He understands what to do.
God has practical knowledge of all that is, and speculative knowledge of all that could be.
God knows things factually, but He also knows His people with affection (Amos 3:2).
God's understanding is infinite (Psalm 147:5).
Charnock and most Reformed rejected Molina's idea of middle knowledge to account for human freedom. This asserted that God could know what totally free humans would do without decreeing or forcing them to do it. But Charnock affirmed human freedom nonetheless.
This is a bit beyond me, philosophically, but I see the seed of Arminian thought here. How can we be free in any meaningful way if God knows the whole future? Only if He knows it in a way that watches it, doesn't cause it. But then we have a helpless God. Many opt for that to preserve man's freedom!
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