N00091:242
The mystery of Israel's salvation, explained and applied: or, A discourse concerning the general…The mystery of Israel's salvation, explained and applyed: or, A discourse concerning the general…
The mystery of Israel's salvation, explained and applied: or, A discourse concerning the general conversion of the Israelitish nation. Wherein is showed, 1. That the Twelve Tribes shall be saved. 2. When this is to be expected. 3. Why this must be. 4. What kind of salvation the Tribes of Israel shall partake of (viz.) a glorious, wonderful, spiritual, temporal salvation. : Being the substance of several sermons preached / by Increase Mather, M.A. teacher of a church in Boston in New England. ; [Ten lines of Scripture texts]The mystery of Israel's salvation, explained and applyed: or, A discourse concerning the general conversion of the Israelitish nation. Wherein is shewed, 1. That the Twelve Tribes shall be saved. 2. When this is to be expected. 3. Why this must be. 4. What kind of salvetion the Tribes of Israel shall partake of (viz.) a glorious, wonderful, spiritual, temporal salvation. : Being the substance of several sermons preached / by Increase Mather, M.A. teacher of a church in Boston in New England. ; [Ten lines of Scripture texts]
London: printed for John Allen, 1669
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.
Answ. 1. By way of concession, there is something of truth in that assertion, That often in the old Testament (k)spiritual and heavenly things are set forth by terrene and corporal Allegories; And this principle taketh place when we read of a glorious Temple, Altar, Priests, Sacrifices, Incense, &c. to be in the days of Messiah, these things are not then to be interpreted literally, but allegorically: These expressions are used ad capt•m auditorum & pro more saeculi, as being suitable and accommodated to that Age and state of the Church. The holy Prophets were wont to speak in the style and dialect of the Church and Age they lived in. Yet […] This principle must not be extended too far, partly because it is a wrong to the Scripture to make unnecessary allegories; As Augustin (l)long since well observed, a literal interpretation of Scripture is not to be refused when it will stand with the Analogy of faith. It is a diminishing of the word of God, causelessly to reject such an interpretation. Also because it giveth occasion of great offence to the Jews, when they perceive Christians deny that which their Prophets have so abundantly affirmed. It is not (as (m)some have thought) the best way to deal with the Jews, when they urge, that in the days of Messiah, they must have ⟨p. 128⟩such glory bestowed upon them, as the like never was in the world, to tell them that all those things must be understood spiritually, and not literally, which in the Prophets look that way; (n)but it were better yield to them, that they shall have such glory as the like never was, only that this must not be at Messiah first appearing. Besides, the Scripture is so abundant in terms which signify a corporal salvation as well as spiritual, that I cannot but think that the holy Ghost fore-seeing that men would be ready to make this objection, the more frequently useth these literal expressions, that so a mystical interpretation might not be looked upon as sufficient.