404 THE HAPPINESS OF SEPARATE SPIRITS. 1DISC. IT. Father, and his Son Jesus. There are new songs ad: dressed to them at these surprising revolutions on earth, these wondrous turns of judgment on the world, and mercy to the church ; all which supposes that the hea- venly inhabitants are acquainted with them, and thus their knowledge and their joys increase. Objection. But does not the prophet Isaiah say in the name of the church of Israel, " Abraham is igno- rant of us, and Israel acknowledges us not ?" Is. lxiii.l6, Answer 1. The words knowledge and acknowledg- ment often signify a friendly and beneficial care man', fested in special -acts of kindness and benefits conferred, Therefore the tribe of Levi is said neither to have seen his father or his mother, nor to acknowledge his bre- thren, nor to know his own children ; Deut. xxxiii. g, because the sons of Levi, slew every man his brother,. and every man his neighbour, to execute the vengeance of the Lord upon them ; Er. xxxii. 26-29. So Abra- ham and Israel . in heaven, in the same sense knew not their posterity on earth; when they approve of the anger of God let out upon them, and afford them no defence, This interpretation perfectly agrees with the context. But it does not follow that Abraham and 'Israel were utterly unacquainted with all the greater events of providence towards the Jewish nation, though perhaps they might not know the lesser and more minute circumstances or their afflictions or their deliverances. Answer 2. If we could suppose that the souls of the ancient patriarchs were ignorant of the affairs of their posterity before the coming of the Messiah, yet since Christ in our nature now dwells in the midst of them, and has taken the book of divine counsels into his own hands, since the great God -man rules all things in the upper and the lower worlds, it is not probable that Abram ham and Israel are so ignorant of the affairs of the church, as they were in the days of Isaiah. And not only the greater and more extensive dispen sations that attend the church on earth, are made known to the spirits of the just made perfect ; but even some lesser and particular concerns are very probably revealed to them also. Is it not said, that when " one sinner on earth repents, there isjoy among the angels in heaven?" Lu /ce xv. 7,10.
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