* Strigelius desired to die, to be freed from the implacable strife of divines. [Victo- rinus Strigelius, one of The Reformers. Died, 1569. His Ttv^v^ara, in omnes libros Nov. Text., 15G5, 2 vols., and other exegetical writings, were favourites with the Puritans. His ' Psalms' of Pavid were early translated by Rich. Robinson. 1582-96. — G.]
4 Grace in a cross unhewn nature is like a diamond set in iron.
1-28 A STRING OF PEARLS. [1 PETER I. 4.
position, which will exceedingly sweeten that royal communion. Here
grace in a man of an untoward crooked disposition is like a brass ring UpOD a leprous linger ; and grace in a man of a sweet disposition is like a gold ring upon an alabaster hand. Now in heaven all (he saints shall
be of a golden disposition, yea, of a God-bike disposition, which is the Sweetest, the noblest, the choicest. But,
| .'! | Thirdly, In heaven the saints shall have a constant enjoyment of one another. As they shall ever be with the Lord, so they shall ever he one with another. Here they meet and part, but in heaven they shall meet and never part. Now it is their life to meet and their death to pari ; now it is their heaven to meet, and their hell to part ; but in heaven they shall be always in one another's eye, in one another's arms. or upon one another's knees, 1 Thes. iv. 17, 18.
Themistocles,1 having a piece of ground to sell, appointed the crier to proclaim, that whosoever would buy it, should have a good neigh- bour ; the saints in heaven shall be always sure of good neighbourhood, they shall never want good company. In this world Abraham and Lot must live asunder, but there they shall always live together. The cynic (Diogenes] of old was fain to look for an honest man with a candle, because of the scarcity of them ; but heaven shall be always full of such saints, as shall shine as so many stars, yea, as so many suns in glory.
[4.] Fourthly and lastly, The saints shall have a real, a personal, a particular knowledge of one another in heaven. Here we know but a few saints, but in heaven we shall know all ; in ccelo nullus erit alienus, there shall be no stranger in heaven. Now this truth I shall make good by some arguments brought to hand, and by the addition of others. Take them thus : —
(1.) First, Adam, when he was in his innocency, knew Eve to be bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh, as soon as he saiv her, though fie had never seen her before, Gen. ii. 23. Now certainly our know- ledge in heaven shall be more ample, full, and perfect, than ever Adam's was in innocency. Therefore without all peradventure, the saints shall know one another in heaven. Luther, the night before he died, dis- coursing with his Christian friends, the question was put, Whether the saints should know one another in heaven ? Luther held the affirma- tive, and this was one of the reasons he gave to prove it, that Adam knew Eve as soon as ever he saw her, and that not by discourse, but by divine revelation, and so shall all the saints know one another in heaven.2 But,
(2.) Secondly, The disciples, Peter, James, and John, being in the mount at Christ's transfiguration, though they had but a taste, a glimpse of the glory of heaven, yet they knew Moses and Elias, though they were dead many hundred years before, Mat. xvii. 1-4. Now if the disciples,inan unglorified condition, knew Moses and Elias, then certainly when saints shall be in a full glorified condition, they shall know them and all the rest of that royal family. Here they knew Moses from Elias, and Elias from Moses, whom they never saw before, and both
1 Plutarch in vita Themistoclis.
* Melch. Adam. [The great authority on Reformation biography. His 'Lives' have paBsed through many editions. — G.j
1 Peter I. 4.] a string of pearls. 429
from Christ ; and therefore we need not doubt but in that state of blessedness, wherein God shall be all in all, and wherein we shall know as we are known, we shall have a particular and personal knowledge of one another. Chrysostom saith, that in heaven we shall point out the saints, and say, Lo, yonder is Peter, and that is Paul ; lo, yonder is Abraham, the great believer, and yonder is Jacob, who as a prince pre- vailed with God ; lo, yonder is Moses, who was the meekest man in all the world, and there is Job, that was the patientest man in all the world ; lo, there is Joshua and Caleb, that followed the Lord fully, and there is Jeremiah, that was once in the dungeon; lo, there is Jonah, that was once in the whale's belly, and there is Daniel, that was once in the lions' den ; lo, yonder is John the beloved disciple, that used to lie in the bosom of Christ ; and there is Mary that hath chosen the better part. But,