N01184:63
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.
Reas. 1. If after the Resurrection of the Saints, the wicked shall be destroyed by that Fire in which the Lord shall be revealed from Heaven, and after that restored to Life at the ultimate Judgment; It must needs be acknowledged that the Resurrection of the just will precede that of the unjust; but all this is true. The Living Saints at Christ's coming shall be caught up into the Air, that so they may escape that Deluge of Fire, which will be the Perdition of ungodly Men, Luk. 17.34. 1 Thess. 4.17. 2 Pet. 3.7. But before this Rapture of the living, the dead Saints shall be raised. Therefore the Apostle says, They that remain unto the Coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. i. e. •hey, as to their Bodies, shall not be with Christ before the Bodies of Saints asleep in the Grave shall be with him; but the dead in Christ shall rise first, and [Greek or Hebrew], after that the living Saints will be caught up to meet the Lord coming in the Air, • Thess. 4.15, 16. Chrysostom on that Place observes that the just shall be the first Risers, not only in Dignity, but in Time. As when the Flood came, there was a Difference made between Noah's Family and the rest of Mankind: Thus when the World shall perish by Fire, no Saint shall be hurt by that Fire, but Sinners shall. We must not be wise above what is written, and therefore we may not determine how long the Conflagration will last. Noah's Flood continued for many Days and Months, he was a whole Year in the Ark. The Weapons of Ezekiel's Gog are Seven Years in burning, Ezek. 39.9. No Doubt but that the Conflagration of the Great Day will last a long Time. Many will perish as soon as the Fire begins; but the wicked shall not be raised until the Conflagration be over: Nor (as we shall endeavour to prove) of a long Time after that. When as the Saints shall rise when the Heavens and the Earth, which now are, shall begin to be on Fire. This demonstrates that there will not be a Simultaneity in the Resurrection of the just and unjust.
Reas. 1. If after the Resurrection of the Saints, the wicked shall be destroyed by that Fire in which the Lord shall be revealed from Heaven, and after that restored to Life at the ultimate Iudgment; It must needs be acknowledged that the Resurrection of the just will precede that of the unjust; but all this is true. The Living Saints at Christ's coming shall be caught up into the Air, that so they may escape that Deluge of Fire, which will be the Perdition of ungodly Men,