N01184:118
A dissertation concerning the future conversion of the Jewish Nation. Answering the objections of…
A dissertation concerning the future conversion of the Jewish Nation. Answering the objections of the Reverend and learned Mr. Baxter, Dr. Lightfoot, and others. : With an enquiry into the first resurrection. / By Increase Mather, president of Harvard-College, at Cambridge, in New-England. ; [Three lines from Jeremiah]A dissertation concerning the future conversion of the Jewish Nation. Answering the objections of the Reverend and learned Mr. Baxter, Dr. Lightfoot, and others. : With an enquiry into the first resurrection. / By Increase Mather, president of Harvard-Colledge, at Cambridge, in New-England. ; [Three lines from Jeremiah]
London: printed by R. Tookey for Nath. Hillier, 1709
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.
4. It is objected, If New-Jerusalem do consist of raised Immortal Saints, How shall they that are in a State of Mortality be able without Fear to converse with such Glorious Persons, and how shall Gog and Magog adventure to besiege them? The Devil and his Angels might as well adventure to Besiege Heaven. Is it credible that during the Time of Judgment, there can be Heart in any Creature to attempt such an Undertaking against Christ and his Saints, as this of Magog is? As for the first part of the Objection, it is answered without any difficulty. How was Abraham and Lot able to converse with the Angels who came to instruct them? How were three of the Disciples able to converse with Moses and Elijah when Christ was transfigured in the Holy Mount, in which there was a Glimpse and Representation of this Glorious Kingdom, and of the Communion which shall then be between Saints Mortal and Immortal: As for the latter Part of the Objection, the Answer which Dr. Twiss gives is this, True, if Gog and Magog knew the Condition of New-Jerusalem so well as the Devil and his Angels know the Condition of Heaven. The Devil will deceive them, as he did our first Parents, and make them believe that they may without Danger follow his Suggestions. But if we suppose them to be acquainted with the Glory of the New-Jerusalem, which is only the Metropolis of the New World, the Camp of the Saints, upon whom the Attach does immediately fall, are in a less Glorious Estate. It will doubtless be a great Hardiness in Gog and Magog to engage in so desperate an Attempt: But how often have Sinners, when left to themselves, not acted like rational Creatures? Some have thought that the Apostate Angels did first Sin in Heaven; I am not of that Opinion, for Heaven is a Place that was never defiled, 1 Pet. 1.4. But for certain those Angels were once in Heaven, that was their first and proper Habitation. They saw the Infinite Power of God; they were ⟨p. 34⟩by, and looked on when He made this Earth, and shouted for Joy, Job 38.7. And after that, they saw him Create the Sun and Moon, and all the Stars in Heaven. They could not but know that the Eternal Power was able to destroy them in a Moment; yet these mutable Beings left to themselves, begin a War against Heaven. Is it then impossible that Gog and Magog should do the like, when the Devil is in them?