to preserve each other in the Way And they who would wear the same Crown of rejoycing in the Presence of Christ will assist each other here that they perish not in the agony and conflict The Egyptians Embalmed the Carcasses of the Dead to preserve them if it were possible through all the parts of Time being guided by an opinion that so long as the Body continued undissolved the Soul would not forsake the Earth but continue hovering about the place where the Bodies lay In like manner the Souls of men which by many kinds of Association may be united into one mass and heap and as it were become parts of one another will continue the more vigilant and active for each others everlasting Welfare so long as they are perswaded against an eternal divorce and dissolution and do contrarily believe they shall be rewarded by a sense of each others happiness and that that union which is among themselves as of one member to another shall not be dissolved but perfected by that Union which shall unite them to Christ as to their Head and through him unto God Ignotus I might stop here for I hope by this time I have made it plain that the Saints know one another in Heaven But this being a Curious Point I shall yet bring more Authoritys to prove it and the next I shall Name is the Pious * See His four last things Bolton Who positively asserts The knowing of our Friends in Heaven his Words are these All comfortable knowledge shall be so far from being abolished in Heaven that it will be inlarged increased and perfected But to know one another is a comfortaâ—lâ— knowledge Yherefore we shall know one another in Heaven Our knowledge shall be perfected For We shall know as we are known 1. Cor. 13.12 Which is set out by Comparison of the less That our knowledge then shall differ from that now as the knowledge of a Child from that of a Perfect Man In Heaven all the mists of Ignorance and Blindness being perfectly cleared up and taken away we shall see one another together with all the Saints though we did not know them before For if Adam by vertue of the Divine Image stampt upon him knew Eve though taken out of his Body while he was asleep Why should not we being Transformed according to the same Image from Glory to Glory by the Father Son and Holy Ghost know the Members of the same Body Those full of the Spirit and Wisdom of God may as easily be suppos'd to know one another as Adam before the Fall while he retained the Image of God knew Eve who and whence she came And as Samuel knew Saul by the Inspiration of God though he had not seen him before Sam. 9.17 And John knew our Lord Christ in the Womb of the Blessed Virgin So their Minds were Enlightened by the Rayes of the Holy Spirit Then Conceive if thou canst Ignotus how grateful that knowledg will be by which we shall know all others as all others shall know us The Knowledge which all men in this Life unprofitably desire shall be such to the Good that they shall be ignorant of nothing they are willing to know For the Good shall be filled with the perfect Wisdom of God and shall see Him Face to Face and in seeing of this shall behold the Nature of all Creatures which they shall see in God better then themselves For then the Just shall know all things which God hath made knowable as well those which are past as those which are to come When the Elect shall see the antient Fathers in their Eternal Inheritance they shall know them by Sight whom they knew in their Work for they shall see them all by a common Illumination What is it they can there be ignorant of when they know him who knows all things The Vision of God is not only promised to the Saints in Heaven but also of all things that God has made as the Sun Moon Stars Earth Seas Rivers Living Creatures Trees and Mettals But our Minds know nothing i. e. No perfect Substance nor Essential Differences nor Properties nor Virtues Nor did ever any Man see his own Soul but we grope like the Blind and acquire the Knowledge we have by Discourse VVhat shall the Joy then be when we shall see by the Light bestowed upon us the nature of all things barefaced And how wonderfully shall we be transported when we shall see innumerable Armies of Angels in the Differences of their Degrees and Order And in Heaven as we shall know the Saints not in Outward Worldly Respects but as we know them in Christ by the Illumination of the Spirit so also we shall know the Spiritual Substances Offices Orders Excellencies of the Angels and the Nature Immutability Operations and Original of our own Souls c. and in a Word all things knowable Here 't is the happy Residentiaries Understandings are wide open'd to all the amazing Lights and Discoveries of Truth to the Mysteries of Creation and Providence of Redemption and Sanctification to the now puzzling Difficulties of Nature and of Grace of God's Prescience and Man's Free Will Here 't is the Wills also of the Glorified are render'd conformable unto are swallowed up in and made one with God's Holy Will and Pleasure ' There says the ingenious Boyle we shall have clearly expounded to us those Riddles of Providence which have but too often tempted even good Men to question God's Conduct in the Government of the World whilst the Calamities and Persecutions of Virtue and Innocence seem approved by him who accumulates Prosperities on their Criminal Opposers And I must profess adds he as Vnfashionable as such a Profession maâ— seem in a Gentleman not yet Two and Twenty that I find the Study of those excellent Themes Gods Word and his Providence so Di ficult and yet so Pleasing and Inviting that could Heaven afford me no greater Blessing than a clear Accompt of the Abstruse Mysteries of Divinity and Providence I should value the having my Vnderstanding Gratified and Enriched with Truths of so Noble and Precious a Nature enough to court Heaven at the rate of renouncing for it all those unmanly Sensualities and trifling Vanities for which Inconsiderate Mortals are wont to forfeit the Interest their Saviour so dearly bought them in it But this is not all for here we shall with wonderful Ravishment of Spirit and Spiritual Joy be admitted to the sight of those Sacred Secrets and Glorious Mysteries 1. Of the Holy Trinity into which some Divines may audaciously dive but shall never be able to explicate 2. Of the Union of Christ's Humanity to the Divine Nature and of the Faithful to Christ 3. Of the causes of God's Eternal Counsel in Election and Reprobation 4. Of the Angels Fall 5. Of the manner of the Creation of the World c. Neither is this all for we shall also be beatifically enlightned with a clear and glorious Sight of
so of the other Senses the Reason of this is plain and convincing for if both I mean the Bodies of the Just and Unjust were not thus qualified they could not be proper Subjects for the Exercise of an Eternity but would consume and be liable to Dissolution or new changes Hence I assert as formerly that every Individual Person in Heaven and Hell shall hear and see all that passes in either * As Was mentioned in P. 8. State these to a more exquisite aggravation of their Tortures by the loss of what the other enjoy and those to a greater increase of their Bliss in escaping what the other suffer For a further proof of this See the Parable of Dives and Lazarus for you there find That as The Saints know oâ—e another in the Kingdom of Heaven so the wicked in Hell know those and their vile Companions they left on Earth For if Abraham knew Dives in Torments saying that he had received good things in this Life 'T is as certain that the Wicked knâ—w one another as is plain by the Rich Man knowing his Brethren tho absent why therefore shou'd not those which are present know one other as those which are absent pray one for another for this is plainly shown in that the Good know the Bad and on the contrary the Bad the Good for Dives is known by Abraham and Abraham also known to him seeing he prays to him saying Send Lazarus that he may touch and refresh my Tongue with cold Water In which the Returns of Gratitude are not only seen but the Good have this further to rejoyce in that they shall see whom they love but the Wicked shall be tormented not only in their own but in the Punishment of those they love As to that part of the Question Whether the Damned particularly know those in Heaven who in this Life they Scorned and Abused and perhaps Murder'd To this I answer That in the Day of Judgment when every Man's Actions shall be disclos'd the Damned shall particularly See and Know those whom they Oppressed or Revil'd or Murder'd and the Saints shall be Witnesses against them Our-Saviour speaks in allusion to this Mat. 12.41 42. The Men of Nineveh shall rise up in Judgment with this Generation and condemn it they shall appear as so many Witnesses against the Scribes and Pharisees and the other Unbelieving Jews of this Age and shall be Instruments as to that Condemnation which God shall at that day pronounce against them because they repented not at the Preaching of Jonah but these wou'd not at the Preaching of Christ Then shall appear Shadrach Meshach and Abednego against a wicked Nebuchadnezzar who caused them to be bound Hand and Foot and cast into a Fiery Furnace for their Love and Loyalty to their God the Martyrs against their Executioners shall be visibly Condemned Haled into their Residences of Misery in the Presence of the Saints But cou'd the Rays of Bliss †See Mr. Steven's Sermons on Dives and Lazarus glance thro some Cranny into that Dungeon of Darkness this wou'd administer some Comfort but this must ne're be expected But further Shall the Saints know one another in Heaven as also those Friends they left on Earth And do they likewise see and know the Damned in Hell and on the other Hand shall the Damned see and know those Saints in Heaven they Scorn'd Abused and Murder'd and also know their vile Companions they left behind ' em If all this be so as has been largely prov'd 't is then proper to ask in the next place Whether it be lawful for Friends solemnly to engage if one dies first to appear to the other and inform them of the Condition of the Soul in another World whether it be in Heaven or Hell To this I answer The Earl of Rochester did make this Contract with one of his Friends that he that died first shou'd come again to his Surviving Friend to tell him what he knew of the other World But my Lord Rochester's Friend dying first and never appearing to him afterwards he owns it hardned him in his Atheism and that he heartily repented of this foolish Contract so that the least that can be said of such a Contract is that 't would be 1. Fruitless since Truth it self tells us If they will not hear Moses and the Prophets neither will they believe tho one rose from the Dead For if the common Methods of God's Providence will not convince an Atheist neither is he to expect any new way of Satisfaction nor if he had his Desire would he be without some Evasion or other still to continue his Infidelity 2. 'T would be dangerous on more Accounts than one If no such Appearance which unless we were better acquainted with the Oeconomy of the World of Spirits we have little Reason to expect this might incline a weak Man to doubt yet more of the Truth of those things which we are clearly taught both by Natural and Revealed Religion If any Appearance how shou'd the Person to whom 't was made certainly know whether 't is really the Spirit of his departed Friend or some illusive Daemon which may either tell him a Falshood instead of a Truth or mingle Truth and Falshood together the more cunningly to deceive him But says a Learned * See Mr. Steven's Sermons on Dives and Lazarus Author suppose God should condescend to gratifie a Wicked Man's vain Curiosity by causing one to rise from the Dead and to testifie unto him that the Course he takes without speedy Amendment will be the Eternal Ruine of him and that the Preparations in Hell are very terrible and insupportable yet he will invent Arguments and propound Reasons to fortifie himself that he may not be affected with and influenced by such an Apparition and frightful Relation as heretofore he did to withstand the prevalent Motives of Religion It is not to be disputed but that if a Spectrum or Ghost should appear to a very wicked Man suppose it to be an Aerial Representation of his Companion who with a hollow Voice dreadful Visage and lamentable Utterance tells him That there is a God both just and powerful and that there is an eternally Happy and miserable State and that it is his Misfortune to be doom'd to the latter which in his Life-time he used all the Means he could to banish from his Thoughts and that if he does not speedily amend his Life and heartily repent of the many Wickednesses he has willfully and presumptuously committed as they were formerly Companions in Sin so they would be unhappy Fellow-sufferers in a lamentable Eternity I say I question not but if a Ghost should appear to any of us after this manner it would make some Impression upon us But then whether or no this Miracle wrought would so prevail with a Man who has habituated himself to Wickedness as to work a Reformation in him It is supposed No For after the Surprize
Immoderate Sorrow for the Death of Friends 1 Thess 4.13 14 18. I wou'd not have you says he to be ignorant Brethren concerning them which are asleep that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him wherefore comfort ye one another with these Words Now if our Friends were to rise in such a disguised manner as not to be known again by us this kind of Consolation wou'd be Impertinent and Vain Neither let the many Cavils my dear Ignotus which Atheistical Scoffers oppose against the Resurrection of the Dead with the same Bodies startle us since besides the Divine and Rational Proofs I have urged for it there are more Natural Arguments against than for these Opposers for to omit other Allegations it must needs be very Absurd in 'em to grant that God first took a Parsel of Matter and moulded it into the Body of such and such a particular Man fashioning it with such and such Features as might distinguish it from the Bodies of other Men and yet not be willing to own he can tell how to take up and collect together the same Individual Parts of Matter again and make them up again into the same Fabrick with the same Features since Nature it self assisted by a little Art is daily found to effect something very approaching that Divine Operation it being a very usual thing with expert Chymists by their Skill and Conduct to make the dispersed Particles of a calcin'd Flower or Plant to fly up and assemble together again in the perfect Shape and with the lively Colour of the Flower or Plant to which they belong'd but slighting these Men's trifling Objections let us Ignotus keep fast to that Infalible Word that promises Eternity to our new Friendship and that all the Innocent Joys it gives us here shall be remembred and continued in Heaven Thus have I largely prov'd by Arguments drawn from Scripture Reason and the best Writers that if we get to Heaven we shall know one another there by Face Stature Voice and the Relation we had to each other on Earth And not only so but that we shall know the general Assembly and Church of the First Born whose Names are now written in Heaven the * Heb. 12.23 Patriarcks Prophets Apostles Martyrs and People of God that have lived in all Ages and Nations from the beginning of the World to the end of it Object But may some say if we shall know me another in Heaven I 'de be further inform'd what wi l be the subject Matter of our Discourse there And in what Language shall we then talk Nay good Sir excuse me here for who has ever mounted to the highest Scale of Heavenly Bliss Ler him come down and tell as what is the Pious Conference and Language in Heaven Let him come down and tell us the Mysteries wrapt up in Clouds the Secrets hid within the Veil of Inaccessible Light Let him describe the Wonders of the Beatifick Vision and say how deep the Rivers of Pleasure are which run by Gods Right-Hand for evermore for my part I must confess I 'm lost in that Abyss of Wonders and therefore shou'd modestly withdraw my Pen to Subjects within my Reach However something I 'le guess at tho that 's all to Answer these Curious Inquirers but hold says another before you go any further I wou'd also know strange How far will some mens Curiosity lead them That if we shall know one another in Heaven By Face Stature Voice c. Whether we shan't alse know one another By difference of Sex Answ Yes doubtless we shall and because this Question hath something of Novelty in 't for it opposes the general received Opinion particularly Mr. Baxters who says the Saints shall know one another in Heaven but adds he I think not by Sex I 'le prove this in the First Place And then tell you as far as I can what will be the Discourse and Language of that Blessed Acquaintance that get to Heaven and with that Conclude this tedious Letter And here seeing Novelties make an impression on the Mind before I Handle this Nice-Point I 'le First Premise that 't is charity to lend a Crutch to a lame Conceit However if I am askt for my Authorities I Answer what appears reasonable wants no other Recommendation than being so and as to what appears over strange let Ignotus consider that Philosophy had never been improved had it not been for New-Opinions which afterwards were rectified by abler Pens and so the First Notions were lost and nameless under new Superstructures but such a Fate to use the Words of a late Author is too Agreeable for my Judgement to repine at or my Vanity to hope for But that there 's a difference of Sex in Souls and will be Male and Female in Heaven tho the Notion's new yet I never doubted it and hope to make it plain before we part Object But you 'l say when the Holy Spirit speaks of separated Souls that are gathered up into Heaven he does not speak of Male or Female but only of Souls without distinguishing either kind or Sex And further that 't is said there is no Marrying in Heaven Mark 12.25 And that in Jesus Christ there is neither Male nor Female Gal. 3.28 VVhich it directly contrary to the distinction of Sex in Souls For if Sex be only for the sake of Marriage where there is no Marriage there is no need of Distinct-Sex Then why that in Heaven which there 's no need of All that 's of the Essence of a Man will undoubtedly he there and that 's a Rational Soul united to an Organiz'd Body but what Organs will be necessary then we can't tell however these cannot Besides this difference is only Accidental Man and Woman being in Essence the same But in a State of Bl ss and Perfection all that 's Imperfect or Accidental shall be removed and accordingly one wou'd think Sexes should I won't add for another Reason what as I remember one of the Fathers has said That were there any Woman in Heaven the Angels could not stand long but would certainly be seduced from their Innocency and fall as Adam did But one wou'd think that if Souls were to Marry it ought to be in Heaven which is the Element of Spirits after the Bodies had been united in Marriage upon Earth the Seat of material things Perhaps you 'l also Object the Words of St. Austin who says The Soul is not distinguished into Sexes And that of St. Cyril who liv'd before him who also says The Souls of Men and Women are absolutely alike nor is there any parts of their Bodies wherein there is any difference to be observed To this I Answer That Souls may be distinguish't into Male and Female notwithstanding these Objections since 't is a Common saying The Soul of a Man and the