434 / 652
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
is
joy
among
the angels
in heaven
?"
Lu
/ce
xv.
7,10.