DISCOURSE If. aj¢ book, and to open the seals thereof; and ten thousand times ten thousandangels echoed to the song with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb that was slain, 4c. Rev. v. 8, 9, 11. So when the servants of God were sealed in their foreheads, the innumerable multitude of saints shouted salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and to Me Lamb; Rev. vii. 3, 9, 10. So when the seventh angel sounded, there were great voices in heaven, saying, thekingdoms of this worldare become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reignfor ever and ever; and the four and twenty eldersfell upon their faces, and worshipped and gave thanks; Rev. xi. 15, 16. Again, when the old dragon and his angels were cast out of heaven, there was a loud voice, saying, now is comesalvation and strength, and the kingdomof our God, and the kingdom of his Christ : for the accuser ofour bre- thren is cast down : Rev. xii. 9, 10. So upon the fall ofBabylon, chap. xiv. andthe victoryofthe saints,chap. xv. and the final des- truction ofantichrist, chap. xix. there are new honours done by the saints to God theFather, andhis Son Jesus. There arenew songs addressed to themat these surpriziug revolutions on earth, these wondrous turns of judgment on the world, and mercy to the church ; all which . supposes that the heavenly 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 ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledges us not? Is. lxiii. 16. Answ. 1. The words know- ledge and acknowledgment often signify a friendly and beneficial care manifested in special acts ofkindness andbenefits conferred. Therefore thetribe of Levi is saidneither tohave seen his father, or his mother, nor toacknowledge his brethren, nor to know his own children ; Dent. xxxiii. 9. because the sons of Levi, slew every man his brother, and every man hisneighbour, toexecute the ven- geance of theLord upon them ; Ex. xxxii. 26-29. So Abra- ham and Israel, in heaven, in the same sense knownottheir pos- terity 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 circum- tances of their afflictions or their deliverances. Answer 2. If we could suppose that the souls of the an- cient patriarchs were ignorant of the affairs of their posterity before the comingof the Messiah, yet since Christ in our nature now dwells in the midst ofthem, 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
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