(5.) Fifthly, The saints, in the great day of account, shall know the persons of wicked men, who shall be indicted, arraigned, condemned, and judged by Jesus Christ, and all his saints about him.1 This great day will be a declaration of the just judgment of God. In this great day, every wicked work, and every wicked worker, shall be brought to light ; and indeed it would be but in vain to bring evil works to light, if the evil worker be not also brought to the light. In this great day the saints shall see and know Cain in his person, they shall be able to point at him, and say, Yonder stands that bloody Cain who slew his brother Abel, because he was more righteous than he. And there stands Pharaoh, the great oppressor of God's Israel, and he that stood it out against heaven itself; and look, there stands bloody Saul, who lost his crown, his kingdom, his soul, his all, by disobedience ; and there is Hainan, who was feasted with the king one day, and made a feast for crows the next ; lo, there stands Pilate, that condemned Christ, and there is Judas that betrayed Christ. In this great day that word shall be made good, every man shall appear to account for the works that he hath done in his body, 2 Cor. v. 10; so that both wicked works and wicked workers shall plainly appear before our Lord Jesus and all his saints, who with him shall judge the world. Now certainly, if the saints shall know the wicked in that great day, they shall then much more know one another ; when they shall all sit as fellow-justices round about Jesus Christ the righteous judge, to pass a righteous sentence upon all unrighteous souls. But,
(6.) Sixthly, Christ tells the Jews that they shall see Abraham., Isaac, ami Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of Cod.2 All the saints shall- have communion with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God ; they shall have communion with them, not only as godly men, but as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The phrase of seeing Abraham, Tsaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, doth doubtless import thus much, that they shall be known personally and distinctly from all other persons in the kingdom of heaven. Saints in heaven shall be able to point at Abraham, and say, There is Abraham, that was the great pattern for believing; and there is Isaac, that was a sweet pattern for meditating ; and there is Jacob, who had the honour and happiness of prevailing with God.3 The saints' happiness in heaven shall be greatly increased by mutual communion, and by their personal knowledge of one another in that blessed state. But,
(7.) Seventhly, and lastly, In heaven the saints shall know as they are known, 1 Cor. xiii. 12, Exod. xxxiii. 12. Now God knows all the saints, personally, particularly, corporally, yea, he knows them all by name ; and so doubtless all the saints in heaven shall know one another per- sonally, and by name, else how shall they know as they are known ? Here in this world we know one another many times only by report, or by writing, or by face, but in heaven we shall know one another by name. So God knows us now, and so we shall know one another in
1 1 Cor. vi. 1-4; Rom. ii. 5 ; Eccles. xii. 14 ; 1 John iii. 12.
2 Luke xiii. 28 ; Mat. viii. 11 See Beza arid Piscator. a Rom. iv. 16-23 ; Gen. xxiv. G3 ; xxxii. 22-30.
4o2 A STRING OF PEARLS. [1 PETER. I. 4.
heaven ; and this is none of the least parts of glory, that we shall know one another in glor}' ; yea, that we shall know one another personally, and li\ oame ; the serious consideration of which may much support us, and comfort us under the sad losses of our friends and relations in the Lord. But in the,
VII. Seventh and hist place, As the best society is reserved till last, so ////■ glorifying of our bodies is reserved I ill lost. I shall a little hint unto you the glory and blessedness of the bodies of the saints when they shall all meet in heaven. I shall not stand upon the privative blessedness of glorified bodies, which consists in their freedom from all defects, deformities, diseases, and distempers which here they are sub- ject to. Here our bodies stand in need of clothes to cover them, food to feed them, sleep to refresh them, physic to ease them, air to breath them, and houses to shelter them, from all which glorified bodies shall be free, Rev. vii. 1(5, 17. But I shall only speak of the positive prero- gatives and heavenly endowments that glorified bodies shall be invested with. As,
(1.) First, They shall be like the glorious body of Christ. Philip, iii. 21, ' Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according unto the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.' Our bodies shall be as lovely and comely, as bright and glorious, as the body of Christ is. Chryso- stom saith, that the bodies of the saints shall be septies clan ioria sole, seven times brighter than the sun. Certainly saints shall be as hand- some-bodied and as comely-featured as Christ is. Though their bodies be sown in dishonour, yet they shall be raised in glory, 1 Cor xv. 43. If Stephen's face did shine as if it had been the face of an angel, that is, bright and glorious, Acts vi. 15 ; and if there were such a lustre and glory upon Moses his face, that the children of Israel were afraid to come near him, and he forced to put a veil upon it till he had done speaking with them, Exod. xxxiv. 29-3G ; I say, if there were such a glory upon the face of these two mortals, Oh then ! how will the faces and bodies of the saints glitter and shine when their bodies shall be made conformable to the glorious body of Jesus Christ, Mat. xiii. 43.1 Certainly, as the light and glory of the sun doth far exceed the light of the least twinkling star, so much and more shall the glory of the saint's bodies excel that glory and splendour that was upon the faces of Moses and Stephen. The bodies of the saints in heaven shall be surpassingly comely, well-favoured, beautiful, and amiable. Plutarch, in the life of Demetrius, saith, That he was so passing fair of face and countenance, as no painter was able to draw him. 1 am sure I am no ways able to paint out the beauty and glory that shall be upon the bodies of the saints in that day of glory, wherein the saints shall shine as so many suns. But,
(2) Secondly, Tlteir bodies shall in a kind be spiritual .- 1 Cor. xv. 44, ' It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.' Their bodies shall be spiritual, non substantia?, sed qualitatum respectu, not in regard of
1 What is a spark in the chimney, to the sun in the firmament ?
1 Peter I. 4.] a string of pearls. 433