42b THE HAPPINESS OF SEPARATE SPIRITS. [DISC. It, But this thought leads me to the fourth argument for the increase of knowledge in heaven. 4. There have been, and there are many future pro vidences on earth, and transactions in heaven, in which the spirits of the just have a very great and dear con- cernment, and therefore they must know them when -they come to pass ; and yet it is by no means probable, that they are known in all their glorious circumstances beforehand by every spirit in heaven. Let us descend a little to some particular instances, and see whether we cannot make it appear from scrip- ture, with most convincing evidence, that the saints in heaven obtain some additions to their knowledge, by the various new transactions in heaven and in earth. When our blessed Lord had fulfilled his state of sor- rows and sufferings on earth, and ascended into heaven in his glorified human nature, with all the scars of ho- nour, and the ensigns of victory about him; when the Lamb appeared in the midst of the throne with the marks of slaughter and death upon him, and presented himself before God in the midst of angels and ancient patriarchs, with the accomplishment of all the types and promises about him written in letters of blood ; did not those blessed angels, did not the spirits of those pa- triarchs, learn something more of the mysteries of our redemption, and the wondrous glories of the Redeemer, than what they were acquainted with be- fore ? And did not this new glorious scene spread new ideas, new joys and wonders through all the heavenly world ? Can the principalities and powers in heavenly places gain by the church on earth any farther discoveries of " the manifold wisdom of God ?" Eph. iii. 10. And can we believe that when Christ, the head of the church, entered into heaven in so illustrious a manner, that these powers, principalities and blessed spirits, got no brighter discoveries of divine wisdom ? To what purpose do they look and pry into these things;." 1 Pet. i. 12. if after all their searches they make no advances in know- ledge ? And must angels be the only pro6cients in these sublime sciences, while human spirits make no improve- ment? Can it be supposed that those ancient fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to whom the promises were
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