ought that I know And from this Diversity may proceed very great Difference in their Powers Capacities and Perfections the Knowledge whereof may Increase perhaps to all Durations 13. The Science of Theology will not only Continue but be very much Inlarged Much more of God will be Revealed in the Future State than ever was Revealed in This and our Faculties will be much more Capable of considering and understanding those Discoveries and Revelations I do not doubt but that Heaven will present to the Blessed far more Illustrious Demonstrations of the Divine Perfections than any that have been made here below The Creation Providence and Word of God I do acknowledge have unfolded much of God yet I do believe that Heaven will discover Much more For Here we See through a Glass darkly but there Face to Face Here we see Him very Obscurely and Imperfectly but There we shall see Him as He is And as the Revelations of Him will be more Clear and Full so will our Minds be More Capable of receiving and entertaining them 14. And who can guess what Abysses there may be in the Theology of the Blessed Who can imagine what may be the Treasures thereof And what Time may be spent to Exhaust them And whether after Millions of Ages there may not remain much Vnexhausted The Inquiries that Job makes Canst thou by searching find out God Canst thou find out the Almighty to Perfection It is as high as Heaven What canst thou do Deeper than Hell What canst thou know The Measure thereof is longer than the Earth and broader than the Sea may be as truly made in the Other World as in This And in my Apprehension the Perfections of God and the Knowledge and Theology of them are truly Inexhaustible in both 15. The Mysteries of the Sacred Trinity and Personal Vnion may afford Subject and Matter for Eternal Contemplations and it may be there may be those Depths in them which the Blessed may never be able to Fathome or Comprehend They are such things as in This World we cannot Vnderstand our Reason draws back at the Contemplation of them And had we not some Reverence for the Holy Scriptures that do Reveal and Propose them we should utterly refuse All Assent unto them They are Too Bigg for our Minds in the Present State and therefore we live under some Temptation to reject them and were we not awed by the Word of God we should certainly do it In the Other World these things will be more Clearly revealed and more fully Vnderstood But whether there be not something which after all Search and Inquiry will remain Vnknown even to the Blessed themselves I think very Probable if not absolutely Certain 16. The Perfections of the Person of our Saviour I mean of his Humane Nature are without all scruple exceeding Great and Large and there is not an Essence unless God himself Equal with it much less Superiour to it in the whole Vniverse of Beings The shining Lustre of his Body with the several Perfections of it will be exceeding Great but the Powers Excellencies and Capacities of his Soul will be much more Stupendious Admirable and Amazing And I see no reason why the Blessed may not obtain the Knowledge of them and other things before-mentioned by Ratiocination Why may not much of the Knowledge that they have there both of Bodies and Spirits be gotten by Inference and Deduction Why may they not argue from those things that are Plain to those that are Dark Why may they not argue from Causes to their Effects and from Effects to their Causes too 17. Here 't is the ordinary Method of proceeding Men argue from the Fabrick of Heaven and Earth and the several Creatures in it the Certainty of a First Cause of Infinâ—te Power Wisdom and Goodness and from the Immateriality of the Divine Essence its Incorruptibility and from its Spirituality its Simplicity with sundry other Inferences of like Nature And why the Blessed may not do the Same I cannot Vnderstand if their Reasonable Faculties Continue as Surely they do the Use of them may Continue If it be consistent with the Glory and Happiness of Heaven to Injoy them I see no Valid Reason why the Vse and Exercise of them may not consist with it 18. What hinders but that there may be such Effects and Images of a Trinity in Vnity and of an Hypostatical Vnion as may much Reveal the Nature of those Mysteries and make the Inference as Necessary and Easie as from an Effect to a Cause or from a Copy to an Original Some Images of them we do observe here In the Humane Mind there is a Trinity of Essential Principles and yet but One Soul In Man the Body and Soul do constitute but One Person But 't is not improbable but there may be more Perspicuous Images of them there and that those that here we do observe will be More fully understood And in consequence thereunto these Mysteries may be as Evident to the Blessed as that the Whole is bigger than any Part and that all the Parts taken together are equal to the Whole I do not mean they shall Fully understand them but they shall Clearly understand them and to the Satisfaction and Quiet of their Souls 19. The Reconcileableness of the Infallibility of God's Will with the Liberty of Man's is an Insuperable Difficulty Now but perchance it may be none Then The Blessed may possibly see and understand those Principles Premises and Suppositions from whence they may be easily deduced without any Inconsistency or Opposition The Difficulty of reconciling these things proceeds from our Ignorance of the Nature of God and Man and the Influence that the One and the Other hath upon Humane Actions Did we know what God and what Man is and what are the Operations Peculiar to One and the Other in the producing those Effects that are ascribed to Men probably much or all of this Difficulty would Disappear Now 't is not questioned but that the Blessed will very much Vnderstand all these and from them will argue and infer an easie and obvious Agreement between them 20. The Power Wisdom and Goodness of God are Infinite they are Oceans without either Bank or Bottom if I may so express it His Power is Omnipotent God can accomplish whatsoever he pleases No Opposition can be made to his Mighty Arm. If he will work none can hinder it His Wisdom is unsearchable the Depths thereof are unfathomable no Created Being can find them out unto Perfection His Goodness is of very vast Extension Who can take the just Measures of it 'T is wider than the Earth larger than the great Abyss yea more extensive than the Poles of Heaven And what vast Numbers of Inferences and Conclusions may be made from the Consideration of them How far may they be Propagated and where will they determine 21. From the Knowledg of the Divine Nature and Attributes the Blessed may 't is like infer and deduce the
Administrators of it in those Other Worlds as well as in This of which there is no doubt or the least scruple or peradventure among those that bear the Name of Christians 6. By this means the Blessed may be informed of the Nature of the several Beings Existent there and what was the Vse the Virtue and Perfections of them and especially what Reasonable Creatures did inhabit There as also what was the Government and Laws that God prescribed unto and imposed upon them and what the Obedience they gave unto them To which I might add many other things as what was the Period of their Existence and by what Subordinat Means and Causes their Beings were preserved and continued what and where they do receive Rewards and Punishments 7. Thus also they may be informed of all the great Emergencies that happened to them and what were the Causes and Occasions of them as also what Laws what Order and Government was observed among them and into what Various and Different sorts these Reasonable Beings were distinguished and how they employed and spent their Time For Reasonable Souls must have something upon which they may Exercise their Powers either by Action Contemplation or both else their Powers are of No Vse but are made in Vain which cannot be imagined it being beneath the Wisdom of a Prudent Man and much beneath that of the All-Wise God to give Being to Rational Creatures to no End or Purpose 8. How many and numerous the Notices may be that the Blessed may receive after this manner is neither safe nor possible to determine for should they descend to things minute and particular and who knows how low they may descend how almost Infinite and beyond all Computation would they be Should there have been many Worlds Pre-existent to This or Co-existent with it what Infinite Matter of Communication and Discourse would their Affairs afford to the Holy Angels or other Intellectual Agents that had Knowledge and Cognizance of them And how much of Eternity would be Employed in these kind of Histories and Narrations And if we may judge any thing of the Agreeableness of things Then to the Temper of our Minds by what we may find Here below and observe concerning them we must say That such things will be very Pleasant and Delightful not barely as Histories but as Reports and Evidences of the Infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness of God not as bare Narrations of such and such Events but as Effects of the Infinite Power Admirable and Vnsearchable Wisdom and Immense Goodness of the Creator of all things 9. After the Same Manner the Blessed will obtain the Knowledge of the Affairs of This World since the Creation of it The Holy Angels will certainly give them a large Account of the World before the Flood how and by what Gradations they corrupted themselves departed from God and abandoned themselves to Sensuality and Prophaneness What Moses hath very briefly reported they will discourse more at large and give to the Blessed a Full Clear and Satisfactory Knowledge of them Many things that are Dark and Obscure to us will be set in Open Light by their more Large and Ample Discourses That which now ministers Matter for Many and almost Insuperable Objections will be totally freed from them by their Larger Commentaries and Explications concerning them 10. The Holy Men of that Age may also contribute something towards the Increase of the Knowledge of the Blessed Adam and Abel and Seth and Enoch and Noah knew very much of the Affairs of the World from the Creation to the Deluge and since their Removal to Heaven there is no question but that they have very much improved it And surely they will Communicate their Knowledge and entertain the New-Come Saints with the Reports and Narratives of it 11. The Holy Angels also will acquaint them with the History of the World after the Flood till the Days of Abraham they will give them Account of the Re-peopling of it by the Posterity of Noah of the Tower of Babel that they began to build of the Confusion of their Language and of their Dispersion into several Parts of the World thereupon Of these things I make no question they will give very large and particular Accounts Of those things of which we now know almost nothing then and there I mean in the Society of the Blessed we shall have a Clear Full and Perfect Knowledge 12. Noah himself lived four hundred and fifty Years after the Flood and there is no doubt Saw and Knew much of the Affairs of the World And there is as Little Doubt in my Opinion that he doth and will Communicate the Knowledge thereof among the Blessed And so will other of the Pious Patriarchs and Good Men of that Age. They will all contribute to the Increase of the Knowledge of those that in succession of Times are admitted into the Kingdom of Heaven 13. And surely the History of the Church of God in all Ages of the World by the Narrations of Saints and Angels will be most perfectly delivered to the Blessed They will acquaint them with the several Accidents that have happened to it how it hath suffered Many and Great Calamities from its Enemies and sometimes hath Almost perished from among Men and then how and by what Means it hath risen as from the Ashes and become Illustrious again in the World 14. They will declare and propose to their Knowledge and Consideration by what Improbable Means God hath raised and preserved it In the First Ages of Christianity God raised and increased His Church by the Preaching and Discourses of a few Poor Fisher-men in despight to all the Opposition that was made against it by all the Wisdom Learning Power and Policy of the World yea those very Means by which the Enemies of God's Church thought to destroy it were by the Wise and Over-ruling Providence of God made instrumental of advancing it They persecuted all that were called by the Christian Name they despoyled them of their Estates their Friends their Liberties and their Honours they treated them as the Vilest Miscreants they killed and murthered them by Thousands they invented the most Cruel Lingering and Painful Deaths that they could imagine And yet all this would not destroy the Church of God the Blood of the Martyrs was the Seed thereof and the More they mowed and cut them down the More they increased 15. As God raised his Church at first I mean the Christian Church by very Improbable Means so hath he recovered it from a Lapsed and Corrupted Estate by Means altogether as unlikely After it had lain divers Hundreds of Years under the Papal Yoke after it had long sat in Ignorance and Darkness and been accustomed to Superstition and Idolatry and all the Kings of the Earth were ingaged in the Defence thereof was it likely that Luther a poor mean Monk should so Leaven the World by his Doctrine as to cause a Separation from the Romish Falshoods and
manner of the Divine Agency upon the Minds of Men. That God doth move and act upon the Souls of Men Here is certain both in Scripture and in Experience and there is no doubt but he will do so Hereafter But how he doth it is an Insuperable Difficulty God is a Pure Act of Infinite and Immense Presence without any Accidents properly so called His Attributes being his Essence according to the general Opinion of Divines I say how God doth influence the Minds of Men and what that Influence is Ex parte Dei is past the reach of Mortals to determine 'T is commonly said That 't is nothing but God himself by God meaning his Act and thereby understanding his Essence as in Act But how an Essence Equally and Eternally Active can produce those Various Impressions upon Various Minds and on the Same Minds at Sundry times is past our present Imagination And so it is also how they can receive the Divine Influx if it be nothing but his Active Essence But it may be that the Blessed may have Knowledge of those Praecognita from whence the Knowledge of these things may be inferred by Plain and Easie Ratiocination 22. That there is a Creative Power in God is confessed by all Christians and some sober Philosophers have said some things in favour of it By Creative Power I mean a Power of giving Being to things without any Pre-existent Matter This is such a Perfection as we cannot Comprehend but the Other State may furnish us with such Knowledge of the Divine Omnipotence and Fecundity that the giving Being to Things by Creation will be an Easie and Obvious Effect of it And the Blessed will as easily infer it thence as we do infer the Growth and Fructification of Herbs and Trees and Fruits from a Fruitful Soyl the Warmth of the Sun and the Dew of Heaven 23. The Doctrine of the Resurrection is a thing that we believe out of Reverence to the Holy Scriptures and God who is the Author of them But how Dead Bones and Scattered Dust can live how those-Bodies that have been eaten by Wild Beasts and Fishes or burnt to Ashes and those Ashes cast into the Sea can be Recollected and become an Habitation for the Soul we are not able to understand But 't is not improbable but that the Blessed may from the Knowledge that they have of the Power of God and the several Subordinate Causes thereof infer and conclude it with no more Difficulty than we infer the Building of a City or House again after its ruined and laid in Rubbish from the Knowledge that we have of the Power and Skill of Men the Advantages of the Place where it was scituate and the Plenty of Materials for the Re-edification of it 24. The Nature of that Influence and Support by which we Live and Move and have our Being is a thing that we are Totally ignorant of That there is such a thing is generally confessed by all Considering Men for Creatures do not become Independent as soon as they do subsist They depend on God in Facto esse as well as in Fieri They need the Divine Causation as well when they are Made as when they are Making But what this Divine Influence and Causation is we do not Vnderstand but 't is not unlikely but that the Blessed may by searching Find it out They may have the Knowledge of those Premises from which the Nature of it may be easily deduced In those Sciences that we imploy Our selves in and exercise our Contemplations on here there are many Propositions that in themselves and Irrespectively considered are Vnintelligible and past our Comprehension which nevertheless are Plainly deducible from their Premises and Evident enough to him that is Prepared for the understanding of them by necessary Antecedent Knowledge Thus 't is in thousands of Mathematical Propositions That in all plain right-angled Triangles the Square of the Hypotenuse should be equal to the Squares of the other two Sides is a thing that no Man understands Absolutely and Irrespectively But if he understands the Necessary Premises and Principles 't is plain enough and the Deduction thereof is not Difficult And if things dark and obscure may be inferred from things more Plain and Obvious in this World I know not why it may not be so in the Other 25. I have argued a Possibility of Increasing Knowledge by Ratiocination in the Future State and I have mentioned several Instances in which an Increase thereof may be so Made But they are but a Few of those very Many that I might have Remembred And what Thousands of Instances the Other World may present unto the Blessed for the Augmentation of it in that manner who can assure us What Bodies of Science may be raised from them who can divine Perhaps each single Instance and Particular may minister Subject for a large and ample Science And where those Instances are innumerable who can fix Bounds to the Increase of Knowledge thereby or say Thus far may it proceed and no farther Or what Improbability is there in the Eternal Progress of it 26. 'T is certain the Mind of Man was made for the Knowledge of God and that God is known by his Works and 't is as certain that the several Virtues Excellencies and Perfections of those Works are not equally Obvious some are more Evident and Apparent others lie more in the Dark and are more secret from Observation Thus 't is in This State and thus it may be in That which is to Come Here we proceed and Argue the Nature of things Vnknown from those that are Known and so may the Blessed do Hereafter for ought that I do see to the contrary The Mind of Man takes a great deal of Pleasure in arguing One thing from Another whil'st Below and it may be that it may Continue so to do Above 27. The Other World will not Abate much less Abolish the Regular Inclinations of the Humane Mind but Perfect and Inlarge them The Inclination to Know yea and to know by Ratiocination seems to me Natural and Essential to the Soul and if so it can no more put it off than it can put off its Being The Kingdom of Heaven I humbly suppose will very much Inlarge and Perfect its Discursive Power and Inclinations it will make the Use and Exercise of it more Facile Pleasant and Successful but will not Abolish or Destroy it An Intellectual Finite Being without the Power and Use of Ratiocination seems to me a Paradox or rather a Contradiction That a Limited Understanding should be able to know any thing unless the First Principles of things and some Objects of Sense yea or do any thing worthy of God or it self without Ratiocination seems altogether Improbable if not Impossible But of This I have spoken already as I remember 28. A Limited Understanding cannot Know all things at Once it must receive the Knowledge of them Successively And forasmuch as there is a Dependance and
perfectly Free from all Sin both of Inclination Habit and Act the Plague of the Heart is perfectly cured there remains not any thing of the Old Nature upon their Souls yea they are freed of all Sinful Ignorance they know all that is Their Duty to know and all that is Necessary for the Performance of it But whether they Know all that ever they shall Know or are Capable of Knowing is Another Question God made Man upright Eccles 7. ult That is He made him without Sinful Imperfection But that they knew as much the first Day of their Creation as they would have Known had they lived a Thousand Years in their Innocent State I do not believe Our Lord Jesus was Perfect with respect to Sin at his Birth yet He had not then Attained all attainable Excellencies for He increased in Wisdom and Stature and in Favour with God and Men Luk 2.52 And if our Blessed Saviour and our First Parents were Perfect before they had attained all the Wisdom and Knowledge they were capable of so may the Blessed in the Future State 6. 4. Those very Persons that do assert the Perfection of the Blessed immediately upon their Departure hence and Admission into the Kingdom of Glory do yet acknowledge that the Resurrection will add something to the Increase of their Knowledge yea and of their Happiness also And 't is a thing so plain that it cannot be denyed Will the Saints in Heaven know no more after the Resurrection than they did before Will those Works of Wonder add nothing to the Enlargement of their Vnderstandings Will their Knowledge receive no Advange thereby This were a manifest Contradiction in any Man that should affirm it So then I hope I may conclude That if Perfection be reconcileable with an Increase of Knowledge before the Resurrection it may be reconcileable with it afterwards 7. 5. To what hath been said I may add That the Angels of Heaven without doubt were made Perfect Yet surely the Creation Government and Affairs ot This World hath Added much to their Knowledge That they have been Imployed in them and consequently have had Knowledge of them the Scriptures do assure us and I am past all Scruple concerning it Yea I am inclin'd to think that this Inferior World was made for the Use of Angels as well as Men and in it they behold the Glory of God and the most Illustrious Perfections of their Maker an have Learned very many Things from the Contemplation of it Yea 't is my Opinion that they have ascribed much more of the Praise thereof to God than ever was done by Mortals The Creation and Providence of God are a very Clear Glass in which are discovered the Attributes and Perfections of God But since the Fall Man's Eyes have been so Impaired that they could not discern them nor give him the Praise of them But that which I would infer from this Paragraph is this If an Increase of Knowledge be consistent with Perfection in Angels it may be consistent with it in the Blessed Saints If the one were Perfect before they had obtained much of that Knowledge that now they are possessed with the other may be Perfect in the same Sense though they want much of that Knowledge that they may and certainly will obtain 8. 2. Object The Future State is a State of Rest and Fruition The Blessed are there said to rest from their Labours and their Works to follow them Rev. 14.13 which seems inconsistent with an Increase of Knowledge forasmuch as Knowledge is not obtained without Labour especially that which comes by Ratiocination and the Exercise of our Reason on such Beings as are presented to us To this Objection I reply as followeth 9. 1. The Soul of Man is a very Active Being Action is of the very Essence of it and can no more in my Apprehension be Separated from it than Heat from Fire or Extension from Natural Bodies If you separate Action from Humane Minds you Destroy them If they do Nothing they are Nothing Not to Act and not to Be are the same thing with them The Cessation of their Being is equipollent to the Cessation of their Action and Operation God is a Pure Act Souls are his Image and in the Activity of their Nature they are a Representation of Him 10. 2. The Rest of the Humane Soul therefore as I do humbly conceive consists very much in the Performance of such Actions and the Use of such Imployments as are congruous and suitable to its Nature and to the End and Intent for which it was made Man's Inferior Faculties and Senses have their proper Ends Actions and Operations and in the Exercise and Use of them on their own peculiar Objects they find and experience all the Content and Satisfaction that they are capable of And surely the Rest and Happiness of the Rational Soul must likewise Consist in the Exercise of its Active Powers upon Congruous and Suitable Objects And the Philosopher some where places Humane Felicity in Action and not in a Dull Inactive Stupor 11. 3. There is nothing more Suitable and Agreeable to the Humane Soul than the Exercise of its Intellectual Faculty on the Being Nature and Properties of things This is Wonderfully Congruous and therefore Pleasant to it It delights to consider the Nature of things and from those things that are more evident to Infer those that are less and also from the Effect to Infer the Cause and from the Intermediate Causes to Ascend by several Steps and Progressions to the First Primitive and Original Cause of all things This Labour is its Rest this Work is its Reward this Vse of its Powers is their Felicity and their Glory This is the Imployment which they do desire in which they are pleased and in which they will find Repose yea Ravishment and Extasies for ever 12. 4. Though the Mind of Man finds some Difficulty in the obtaining of Knowledge here Below and though it costs It much Painful Study to attain any considerable Degree or Measure of it yet I see no Reason to conclude or suspect any such thing in the Kingdom of Heaven It will receive so much Inlargement Perfection and Advantage by its Ascent thither that 't will be no more Trouble to advance in Knowledge than 't is for us to turn Our Eyes from one Object to another and to observe the Beauty and Proportions of them 13. 5. A Diseased Eye cannot behold the Light without some Trouble and Offence though it be the Proper Object thereof and the Medium by which all other things become Visible yet if it be Sore it becomes very Offensive unto it and if you can but cure or remove that Distemper Light becomes Pleasant unto it again Since Man became Sinful his Understanding Faculty hath suffered great Diminution 't is Indisposed and Vncapable in great degree of obtaining Knowledge though that were the End for which it was created and what it doth obtain is not without
that All do so I cannot believe That there is no Difference between the Soul of the greatest Divine Philosopher or Statesman and that of the veriest Dolt or Ideot is to me an Improbable Paradox and I cannot but think that there is a Gradual Difference at least among Souls themselves 10. This Diversity I humbly conceive is found in all the Faculties and Powers of the Soul I mean in the Vnderstanding Will and Active or Executive Power In all these the Difference is Various according as Men's Love Service and Good Works may have been Various Here below Those that have been most Pious Holy and Abundant in the Works of Righteousness will have the Largest Understandings the most Vigorous Affections of Love Delight and Joy and the most Prompt and Ready Power and Method of Expressing them in Such Ways and by Such Means as are fit and congruous thereunto They will know most and love and rejoyce most and express this Love and Joy most readily in the Other World that served the Honour of God and the Good of Men most Industriously in This. They that have been Most Holy and lived Most to the Acceptation of God in Time will know Him Most fully and love Him Most passionately in Eternity And yet their Knowledge and Love as well as that of others may be capable of Increase and Augmentation as I have discoursed before 11. And there may be as great Diversity in the Bodies and Bodily Organs and Senses of the Blessed as there is in their Minds Some may be more Pure and Spiritual than others and consequently more Agile and Fit for Motion Some may have their Senses and the several Organs and Instruments thereof More Perfect and Compleat than Others and consequently more Capable of apprehending their Objects and Perceiving all the Perfections and Curiosities in them Some may have a More Large and Extensive Presence than others and therefore be capable of inspecting at One View more of the Works of God which renders them More affecting and More amazing He that stands upon a High Hill or Turret beholds More things than he that stands in a Valley and is much More pleased and delighted therein yea is much more ravished with Admiration of them 12. How great may be the Variety and Gradual Difference among the Blessed in these things cannot be determined Great have been the Numbers of Men that since the Creation have dwelt on the Face of this Earth and yet perhaps there were never Two among them in All things and Totally alike Some Difference in the Mixture of the Elements of which they were Compounded in the Shape Figure and Proportion of their Bodies in the Features of their Faces and Beauty of their Countenances might be seen and observed upon them And as Various may be the Difference of the Glorious Bodies of the Blessed The Starrs are Vastly numerous and yet perchance the Difference of their Glory may be as Great as their Number and that None of them are in all things Alike and Equal And such may be the Inequalities among the Inhabitants of the Celestial Kingdom 13. And it may be Modestly supposed that the Love of God to the Blessed may be as Various as their Glory and Perfections are The more Glorious and Perfect any Creature is the more Like he is to God and certainly the More Like any Creature is to God the More it is Beloved of Him Why else doth God despise the Heaven and the Earth in comparison of an Humble and Contrite Spirit and one that trembleth at his Word Isa 66.1 2. Is it not because there is More of his Image on such a Person than on the Frame and Fabrick of the Material Earth and Heavens Why doth God love and take more delight in the Man Christ Jesus than in Men and Angels and all the Holy Myriads that are About his Throne of which I think there is no doubt Is it not for this Reason that He is a far more Illustrious Image of his Attributes and Perfections than Any or All of them 14. How God will manifest a Various and Different Affection to the Blessed according to the Difference of their Perfections I cannot affirm Whether he will do it by Internal Effusions of Joy and Consolation or by External Effects and Demonstrations or by both which seems most probable I know not that 's a Question that I will leave for the Determination of the Other World But that God can and doth do it is past doubt with me He manifests a Peculiar Love to his Only Beloved Son and can do so to All the Members of his Body in Several Measures and Proportions 15. This great Variety of Love and Affection will Cause no Envy or Emulation Among the Blessed for they are free of all Sinful Passions Affections and Inclinations and do rejoyce in the Effusions and Manifestations of the Love of God to Others as well as to Themselves Particular Advantages are Matter of Common Joy As All the Heavenly Quires do Rejoyce in the Preheminence of Christ Jesus so do they in the Advantages of Each other 16. But tho this Variety causes no Envy or Emulation in Heaven yet methinks the Meditation of it should be a great Spur and Incentive to Piety Virtue and Good Works here on Earth Certainly it ought to make us abound in all the Fruits of Righteousness that so we may be capable of the Greatest Manifestations of the Love of God since those that are most Diligent in his Service since those that are the most Pious and Virtuous in This World will be the most Glorious and Excellent in the Other and those that are most Worthy will be most Beloved of God and receive the Greatest Evidences and Demonstrations of his Affection The Consideration of it should put us upon vigorous Endeavours after a mighty Holiness and Virtue that we may be the Objects of God's Choice and Peculiar Love in Heaven 17. 'T is a Question controverted among Divines whether the Blessed have any Knowledge of each other in the Kingdom of Heaven And I humbly conceive that from what I have said in the Fore-going Pages 't will not be Difficult to resolve it So Long a Tract of Time as Eternity may minister sundry Occasions and Opportunities to Friends and Relations for the Knowing of Each other And since 't is not spent in Solitude and Retirements but in Mutual Presence Society and Conversation 't is not possible Almost that they should escape the Knowledge of one Another 18. The Memory and Narration of the Mighty Works and Providences of God of which they had Knowledge in This World will bring Men to the Cognizance of each other There There is a Twofold Memory in Man there is a Sensitive and an Intellectual Memory The First of these depends upon those Ideas and Similitudes of things that by the Mediation of our Senses have been Impressed upon our Minds The Other depends of Such things as by Reason and Discourse are fixed