The fourth antecedent and highest step to the saints' advancement is
their solemn coronation, enthronising and receiving into the kingdom.
They that have been faithful unto death shall receive the crown of life,
and according to the improvement of their talents here so shall their
rule and dignity be enlarged.


_IV.--EXCELLENCES OF THE ETERNAL REST_


A comfortable adjunct of this rest is the fellowship of the blessed
saints and angels of God. Oh, when I look in the faces of the precious
people of God, and believing, think of this day, what a refreshing
thought is it! Shall we not there remember, think you, the pikes which
we passed through here; our fellowship in duty and in sufferings; how
oft our groans made as it were one sound, our conjunct tears but one
stream, and our conjunct desires but one prayer. And now all our praises
shall make up one melody, and all our churches one church; and all
ourselves but one body; for we shall be one in Christ, even as He and
the Father are one.

It is a question with some whether we shall know each other in heaven or
no. Surely there shall no knowledge cease which we now have, but only
that which implieth imperfection! And what imperfection can this imply?
Nay, our present knowledge shall be increased beyond belief. It shall be
done away, but as the light of candles and stars is done away by the
rising of the sun, which is more properly a doing away of our ignorance
than of our knowledge. Indeed, we shall not know each other after the
flesh; nor by stature, voice, colour, complexion, visage, or outward
shape, but by the image of Christ and spiritual relation, and former