A70554:224
Early piety, exemplified in the life and death of Mr. Nathanael Mather, who ...…
Early piety, exemplified in the life and death of Mr. Nathanael Mather, who ... changed earth for heaven, Oct. 17. 1688 whereto are added some discourses on the true nature, the great reward, and the best season of such a walk with God as he left a pattern of.
London: printed by J. Astwood for John Dunton, 1689
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
The Lords taking of Men is, in general by his changing of them, it is by making that they shall not be: Not an Annihilation, but a vast Alteration happens to Believers; when it shall be said of them, They are not! And then they are taken by the Lord: And in particular it is managed three such ways as these.
First, It is by Dying; when we Dye, then we are not. The Dying Man may say, as in Psal. 39. 13. I go hence, I am no more. The Dead Man is not a Man in such a place, he is not a Man of such a Thought, he is not acting upon such Objects as he was before. When a Man is ready to Dye, we perceive it by Changing, as we call it, of the Man; much more, when a Man is dead he is a changed Man. Then it is that we are taken by the Lord: Thus it is said, in Isa. 57. 1. The Righteous is taken away. The Spirit is then taken to all the Delights and Pleasures that a separate Soul can feed upon.
Secondly, It is by Rising. When we Rise at the last day, then we are not; we are not such feeble wretched things as we are this day. The Resurrection will bring a marvellous Change on the Subjects of it: It is the Speech of Job, in Ch. 14. 14. If a man dye, shall he live again? He seems to refute what he did recite just before as the Opinion of too many Men, and say now, Yes, that he shall find. And hence it is added, I will wait all the Days of my appointed time until my Change come. What Change is that? I will not exclude or oppose the common sense of it; yet I would humbly suggest, why may it not be the Change which the next Words refer unto? Thou shalt call and I will answer thee; thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine Hands. At the Resurrection it will be so; God will then have a Desire to see our once Curious, but now Rotten Body, set in order again, he shall then call, Arise, ye Dead, where are you? Arise! And we shall start out of the Dust, as it were, answering, Lord! I come! This the Departed Soul is to keep waiting for. It seems more than a Moment, it may seem a long while to the Soul 'till this be accomplished: Then it is also that we are