N01272:117
Meditations on the glory of the heavenly world. I. On the happiness of the…
Meditations on the glory of the heavenly world. I. On the happiness of the soul of believers, at the instant of their separation from their bodies. II. On the glory of the bodies of God's children, in the resurrection world, when they shall be as the angels of heaven. III. On the glory of both soul and body in the heaven of heavens, after the day of judgment, to all eternity. / By Increase Mather, D.D. ; [Six lines of quotations]
Boston in N.E. printed: : Sold by Benjamin Eliot, at his shop in King Street., 1711
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
(2.) There is a perfect blessed freedom from all Actual Sin. When once the Just mans Soul is in Heaven, he shall never sin more, in Word Thought or Deed; never have one Vain Thought in his mind, nor speak one Unprofitable Word throughout the Days of Eternity. The Just mans spirit when separated from his body, is in a place where there never was any Sin: For there never was any Sin in Heaven, which is therefore called an Inheritance Undefiled. If sin had been committed there, it would have defiled Heaven, as it did Paradise. And there never shall be sin there. There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that Defileth, Rev. 21. 27. On Earth there is not a man wholly free from sin: Eccl. 7. 20. There is not a just man on Earth, that doeth good, & sinneth not. But in Heaven there are Just men who never sin: and none ⟨p. 74⟩but such are there. In Heaven they are in the immediate presence of GOD, and are always sensible that they are so; and therefore they sin not. When their Souls are absent from the Body, they are present with the Lord, 2. Cor. 5. 8. The Lord Jesus Christ receives their Souls, and presents them to God. Wherefore Dying Stephen said. Lord Jesus receive my spirit, Act. 7. ••. Dr. Goodwin speaks of an holy man, who when Dying Expressed himself after this manner, Notwithstanding I am assured that God Loves me, and will receive my Soul: nevertheless, I should be afraid to appear before so Glorious a Presence did I not know that Christ is in Heaven to present me to Him. Therefore the Souls of […] men when Separated from their Bodies are sinless: For Christ will present them as without sin to his Father […] He is able to present you […] before the presence of his Glory. […] there is in the hearts of some […] ⟨p. 75⟩holy Spirit of GOD has wrought this desire in their hearts. He would not put such longings into their souls, if he did not intend to give them their desire. Some may be ready to say, But how is it possible that a Soul which has so much sin in it, should be made perfectly pure from sin in a moment of time? To this that answer may be given, which the Angel gave to the Virgin Mary; when she was astonished at the wonderful thing God would do for her, and said, How can this be? The Angel said, To God nothing is unpossible. GOD is able to cause such a wonderful Change in the Soul to be accomplished in One Day, in One Moment.