GOD Himself about which Schoolmen fall upon differing Conceits Some say God shall then be known by a Species representing the Divine Essence and by a Light of Glory elevating the Understanding by a super-natural Strength Others That the Divine Essence shall be represented to the glorified Understanding not by any Species but immediately by it self yet they also require Light of Glory to elevate and fortifie the Understanding by reason of its Weakness and Infinite Disproportion and Distance from the Incomprehensible Deity Others hold That to the clear Vision of God there is not required a Species representing the Divine Essence as the first sort suppose nor any Created Light elevating the Understanding as the second sort think but only a Change of the Natural Order of knowing It is sufficient say they that the Divine Essence be immediately represented to a Created Understanding Which tho it cannot be done according to the Order of Nature as Experience tells us For we so conceive things first having passed the Sense and Imagination Yet it may be done according to the Order of Divine Grace c. But it is sufficient for a sober Man to know that in Heaven we shall see Him Face to Face And if we shall do this and have our Understandings so enlarged as has been mention'd Why then should we doubt of Knowing one another especially since our Saviour Christ setteth forth the State of the Blessed by the knowledge one of another Matth. 17. In Heaven says Mr. Bolton †See his Four Last Things we shall enjoy every good thing and Comfortable Gift which may any way increase and inlarge our Joy and Felicity But meeting there knowing then and conversing for ever with our old dear Christian Friends and all the Glorious Inhabitants of those Sacred Palaces will mightily please and refresh us with sweetest Delight Therefore we shall know one another Society is not comfortable without familiar Acquaintance Be assured then it shall not be wanting in the Height and Perfection of all Glory Bliss and Joy Nay our Minds being abundantly and beatifically illuminated with all Wisdom and Knowledge we shall be enabled to know not only those of former Holy Acquaintance but also Strangers and such as we never knew before In the Elect saith a Learned Authour there is somthing admirable because they do not only acknowledge those whom they knew in this World but also as men seen and known they know the Good whom they never saw There saith Anselm All men shall be known of every several man and every several man shall be known of all Again Conceive if thou canst how comfortable that knowledg will be by which as thou of all others so all others shall be known of thee in that Life Yet let me tell you adds this Author That this for the most part is the Curious Quaerie of carnal people who feeding falsly their presumptious Conceipts with golden Dreams and vain hopes of many future imaginary felicities in the World to come whereas in the mean time they have no care at all use no means take no pains to enter into the Holy Path which leads unto that blessed Place It is even as if one should busie himself much and boast what he will do in New-England when he comes thither and yet poor man he hath neither Ship nor Money nor Means nor Knowledge of the â—ay nor Provision before hand for his comfortable Planting there Thus far Mr. Bolton I may further add If there be Joy in Heaven at the Conversion of a Sinner here it cannot be thought but they 'l know that Convert when he comes to Heaven And 't is worth observing that the Martyrs frequently Cited their Adversaries Witnesses c. to the Just Barr of Heaven which supposes knowing them there Besides there are several Texts as I shall afterwards prove very plain for it Not one of the Primitive Fathers ever doubted it and 't is impossible it should be otherwise seeing Heaven is to be a Place of Perfection but to be limited in our Knowledge wou'd argue imperfection Thus you see 't is not only mine but the concurrent Voice of my Reverend Father my pious Mother my dear Departed and several Learned men That we shall know one another in Heaven But lest some should say these Opinions have no Foundation but are the idle fancies of a Distemper'd Brain I 'le further prove the Point with Arguments drawn From Reason and the Authority of Divine Revelation And this task I shall undertake though with unequal Ability â— yet with equal Zeal to what you have shewn in the Progress of our Friend ship For there is nothing in the World I wou'd more willingly prove nor any Proposition can be advanc'd which I more desire should be true then this That the Saints in Heaven shall particularly know those again they have known on Earth and that Cloris Ignotus and Phil. c. Whose Love is a Kin to that pure Flame that burnt in the Breasts of the first Christians if they are so happy as to meet in Heaven shall not only know and Lovingly greet one another there as was said before but Remember likwise and sweetly reflect on all those Innocent and enâ—â—ring Words and Actions human Frailties only abated that past between 'em in their Earthly State Indeed as Flavel says We shall not know our Friends in any Carnal Relation Death Dissolv'd that Bond But we shall know 'em to be such as once were our Dear Relations and Acquaintance in this World and be able to single them out from among that great Multitude and say This was my Father Mother Husband Wife or Child This Eliza Cloris J son C t H n This was the Person for whom I wept and made supplication who was an Instrument of good to me or to whose Salvation God then made me instrumental It 's a great Relief says a late * See Mr. Showers Ser. Preacht soon after his Wifes Funeral Writer to a Christian Mourner to consider that his deceased Friends are not lost but Live I know continues this Author That I shall shortly follow the desire of mine Fyes I hope I shall be silent and adore and not charge God foolishly But methinks I know with sensible supporting Influence from such a thought that she is not dead but sleepeth she is not lost but lives And if I get to Heaven shall meet her there in the Presence of the Lord our Redeemer and then the Company of our Holy Relatives will be more sweet than ever it was on Earth For tho the Blessed Vision †This Eliza also mentions in her Funeral Letter of God be our chiefest Hope and Joy yet the Presence of all the Blessed Spirits wilâ— make a Real tho Subordinate Part of our Happiness and Delight I am so far from * Mr. Baxter of the Knowledge of God Part 3. Page 331. doubting whether we shall Know and Love one another in the Heavenly State that the Belief
should know him in the second Life For the first he hits upon the sweetest and most soveraign Comfort which could possibly be imagined You can by no means saith he think your self desolate who enjoy the Presence and Possession of Jesus Christ in the inmost Closet of your Heart by Faith About the other he answers Pâ—â—emptorily This thy Husband by whose decease thou art called a Widow shall be most known unto thee And tells her further that there shall be no stranger in Heaven c. And Bullinger on his Death-bed said to his Friends and Relations then standing by him I exceedingly rejoyce that I am leaving this miserable and corrupt Age to go to my Saviour Christ Socrates said he was glad when his Death approached because he thought he should go to Hesiod Homer and other Learned Men deceased and whom he expected to meet in the other World then how much more do I joy who am sure that I shall see my Saviour Christ the Saints Patriarchs Prophets Apostles and all Holy Men which have lived from the beginning of the World These I say I am sure to see and to partake with them in Joys why then should I not be willing to dye to enjoy their perpetual Society in Glory and having said thus he patiently resigned up his Spirit into the hands of his Redeemer The knowing our Friends in Heaven has also been the support of the Christians of this Age. * See the Account of her Life Published by her Husband Mrs. Lucy Perrot on her Death-bed said thus to her Husband God hath been a long while weaning thee from me we must part but we shall after a while meet again She farther adds I am going home to my Fathers House where are my dear Children will they not follow after me to Heaven Being asked again whether she was not afraid to dye she replied I am not I do not look upon Death singly but at it brings me to Rest I must go through the dark Entry before I can get to my first Husband Bishop Atherton died saying to his Friends I dread not Death God send us an happy meeting in Heaven I am but going before you And in his Letter to his Wife he has these words My dear Wife tho we part in this World yet I hope we shall enjoy a more happy meeting in Heaven Mr. William Hewling said to his Sister before his Death When I went to Holland you knew not what snares sins and miserys I might fall into or whether ever we should meet again But now 't was spoke just before his Execution you know whither I am going and that we shall certainly have a most Joyful meeting And one taking leave of him he said Farewell till we meet in Heaven To another that was by him to the last he said Pray Remember my Dear Love to my Brother and Sister and tell them I desire they would comfort themselves that I am gone to Christ and we shall quickly meet in the Glorious Mount Sion above And Mr. Benjamin Hewling in his last Letter to his Mother has this Expression The Lord carry you through this vale of Tears with a resigning submissive Spirit and at last bring you to Himself in Glory where I question not but you will meet your dying Son Ben. Hewling Mr. William Jenkins in his Letter to his Mother has this Expression Honoured Mother I take leave of you also hoping that I shall again meet with you in that place of happiness where all Tears shall be wiped away from our Eyes and we shall Sorrow no more And in his Letter to his Sister Scot he says Farewell till we shall meet again in Glory and never be seperated more Mr. Eliot of New-England dyed asserting he should know his Friends in Heaven which made him often say that the old Saints of his Acquaintance especially those two dearest Neighbours of his Cotton of Boston and Mather of Dorchester who were got safe to Heaven before him would suspect him to be gone the wrong way because he staid to long behind them but they are now together adds the Author of his Life with the Blessed Jesus beholding of his Glory and Celebrating the High Praises of him that has called them into His marvellous Light whether Heaven was any more Heaven to him continues this Author because of his finding there so many Saints with whom he once had his Celestial Intimacies yea and so many Saints which had been the Seals of his own Ministry in this lower World I cannot say but in that Heaven I now leave him but not without Grynaeus Pathetical Exclamations Blessed will be the day oh Blessed the day of our arrival to the Glorious Assembly of Spirits which this great Saint is now rejoycing with Some months before Mr. Eliot died he would often tell us that he was shortly going to Heaven and that he would carry a deal of good news thither with him He said he would carry Tydings to the Old Founders of New-England which were now in Glory that Church-work was yet carried on among us that the number of our Churches were continually encreasing and that the Churches were still kept as big as they were by the daily Additions of those that shall be saved and thus dy'd The first Preacher of the Gospel to the Indians in America in a firm belief that he should meet and know his Friendâ— in Heaven I shall next add thâ— words of Bp. * See Ar. Bp. Tillotson's Ser. on Phil. 3. v. 20. Tillotson who tells us when we come to Heaven we shall enter into the Society of the Blessed Angels and of the Spirits of Just Men made Perfect we shall then meet with all those Excellent Persons those brave Minds those Innocent and Charitable Souls whom we have seen and heard and Read of in this World There we shall meet with many of our dear Relations and intimate Friends and perhaps with many of our Enemys to whom we shall then be perfectly reconciled for Heaven is a State of perfect Love and Friendship there will be nothing but kindness and good nature there and all the prudent Arts of Endearment and wise ways of rendring Conveâ—sation mutually pleasant to one another Mâ— dear Ignotus I need not add a greater Authority then the Assertion of this Great and Learned Prelate to prove we shall know one another in Heaven But to come yet nearer home I might have added to my one self For I instance in one that I Love as well 'T was the Opinion of this Friend I mean of my dear departed That she should know me again in Heaven the thoughts whereof gave her comfort on her Death-bed for when her approaching end gave me a deeper Sorrow than before she endeavour'd to solace me by saying 'T is true my dear Tho I desire to live for thy sake and nothing else tho I have all the World in having thee and had rather die than thou should'st be sick yet don't be so
the same Individual Body I now carry about me tho there may not then be one of the same Individual Atomes to make it up which are its present Ingredients For neither are they the same now as they were 20 Years ago Yet I may be properly said to have the same Individual Body at this Hour which my Mother brought forth into the World tho it is manifest that there is so vast an Accession of other Particles since that time as are enough to make ten such Bodies as I had then which implys such a perpetual Flux of the former as 't would be a Solaecism in Philosophy to think I have one of my Infant Atomes now left about me if after all this I may be still said to have the same Individual Body as I had then tho there be not one of the same Individual Atomes left in its Composition why may we not assert the same of the Bodies we shall have after the Resurrection Matter is one and the same in all Bodies the Individuation of it the Meum and Tuum proceeds only from the Infinitely different Forms which actuate it Thus when my Soul at the Resurrection by the Power of God and Assistance of Angels shall be Reinvested with a Body it is proper to say it will be the same Individual Body I have now tho made up of Atomes which never before were Ingredients of my Composition since not the Matter but the Form gives a Title to Individuation Moreover That the same Bodies shall rise that died Job plainly asserts Job 19.26 27. And tho after my Skin Worms destroy this Body yet in my Flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and mine Eyes shall behold and not another tho my Reins be consumed within me The same Body says a late Author which was so pleasant a Spectacle to thee shall be restor'd again Flavel yea the same Numerically as well as the same Specifically so that it shall not only be the what it was but the who he was These Eyes shall behold him and not another Job 19.27 c. So that if I get to Heaven I shall only want that poor Contemptible Clod of Earth that Body of Clay which altho now Corruptible Mouldring in its Bed of Dust yet I do believe it shall rise a Glorious Body And tho after my Skin Worms destroy this Body yet in my Flesh shall I see God in this hope of seeing God and meeting my Friends Ignotus Cloris and the scarce dearer Eliza I willingly commit my Body to the Dust It is a great Comfort * See Mr. Mead's Sermon preached upon the Death of Mr. Tim. Cruso under the loss of the Faithful Ministers of Christ and of Godly Relations and Friends for they are not lost for ever the Spirit of God hath the Care of them and he 'll quicken them again and therefore we may say with Martha when her Brother was dead I (a) Matth. 11.14 know that he shall rise again at the Resurrection you shall see them again and enjoy them again and that in a better manner than ever Now as this Author adds how wou'd the Belief of this Truth relieve and comfort against such Thoughts as these If I die (b) Rev. 14.13 1 Thes 4.14 I die in the Lord. Death is but a Sleep and I sleep in Jesus too when my Body is laid in the Grave it is laid into the Arms of the Spirit if it doth rot in the Dust it 's Vnion to the Spirit can't rot and therefore farewell my Flesh while I go into the immediate Blissful Presence of God go thou to Bed in the Dust I commit thee into the Arms of the Spirit and do willingly leave thee in that Union till he sees good to raise thee and bring us together again I beg of God therefore with this Author (c) P. 29. that whenever I die I may die in this Faith that my Soul shall immediately enter into the full Fruition of God And that my Body shall lie down in the Dust in an Everlasting Vnion to the Spirit of God who will at last quicken (d) 1 Thess 4.18 it because he dwells in it for if the Spirit of him that raised Jesus from the Dead dwell in us he that raised up Christ from the Dead shall also quicken our Mortal Bodies by his Spirits that dwelleth in us wherefore comfort ye one another with these Words Such Thoughts as these will give as this Author calls his Sermon Comfort in Death and render the Horrors of the Grave less Affrighting and Dreadful Then let us not look on our departed Friends as a lost Generation think not that Death hath annihilated and utterly destroy'd them Oh! no they are not dead but only asleep And if they sleep they shall awake again we don't use to lament for our Wives and Children when we find them asleep upon their Beds Why Death says a late Author is but a longer sleep Flavel out of which they shall as surely awake as ever they did in the Morning in this World 'T is a Saying of the witty Overbury No Man goes to Bed till he dies nor wakes till the Resurrection and therefore good Night to you here and good morrow hereafter The very same Body you laid or are now to lay in the Grave shall be restored again Thou shalt find thy own Husband Wife or Child c. again I say the self same and not another And as you shall see the same Person that was so dear to you so you shall know them to be the same that were once endeared to you on Earth in so near a Tye of Relation For that they shall rise with Features to be distinguish'd is evident as is mention'd elsewhere by the Appearance of Moses and Elias to the Apostles of Dives's knowing Lazarus and Abraham and they knowing him again By the Example of those Saints that arose after Christ's Resurrection and went into the Hoy City Matth. 27. and appear'd to many there who must needs know by their Shapes who they were else could not they have pronounced them to be Saints and such who were known to have slept and have been before Dead and Bury'd And lastly to leave no room for doubting in this matter 't is evident to all that believe the Gospel that our Saviour the first Fruits from the Dead and after the Image of whom all the Bodies of the deceased Saints will be raised was raised with the self-same Body and with the same Features he was crucified with And therefore to question that ours shall be so too is but a dangerous Scrupulosity since it deprives us of one of the Means by which we may know our Friends again which I esteem one of the greatest Comforts next to those immediately resulting from the Vision of God himself we can meet with in Heaven and which is mention'd by St. Paul as I hinted before as one of the best Remedies against