N01272:131
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.
The Glorified SOULS OF Just Men Have attained a Blessed Perfection. › Proposition 4: PROPOSITION IV.
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.
Therefore should Parents with a quiet spirit, submit unto such Dispensations of the Divine Providence.
Inf. II. The Joys of Heaven are Wonderful. As the Happiness of Souls there is Wonderfully Great, so their Joy must needs be so too. In One happy Day of their Death, they are Delivered from all Sorrows and from all Sin at Once; and this must needs cause an inexpressible Joy. What ⟨p. 96⟩Joy was there among the Children of Israel, when they saw themselves at Once for ever Saved from the Egyptians? They Sang for Joy. But what Songs of Joy do we think there are in Heaven, among the Spirits of Just men made Perfect? What Joyful Hallelujahs, when they know that they shall never Sorrow, nor Sin, nor be Tempted any more? In Heaven they have […] Assurance. In this World, there are many true Believers, who have not Assurance. Nay, it is possible, that they may go out of the World under Doubts & Fears: But as soon as they are among the Spirits of Just men made Perfect, they have Assurance for ever. This must needs cause Joy, & Exceeding Joy. Jude 24. Presented before the Presence of His Glory with Exceeding Joy. Some Believers in this Life, have had Prelibations of Heaven; some Blessed Foretasts of it. And then what Joys have their Souls been filled with? 1. Pet. 1. 8. Ye Rejoice with Joy unspeakable, & full of Glory. It was commonly thus with the Martyrs. As their Sufferings did abound, their Consolations did ⟨p. 97⟩abound; and their Joy could no man take from them. They would sometimes call a Prison, a Delectable Paradise. If the foretaste of Heaven has such Joy in it, what is Heaven it self? Some when they have been on the borders of Heaven just ready to take Possession, have had Soul […] Joys. There was in Lancashire, a very Religious Gentlewoman, Mrs. Catharine Brettergh, who excelled in Charity and other Graces, had great conflicts on her Death-bed, having been (as she expressed it) in a roaring Wilderness of We, but after that in unutterable Joys. She said, O the Joys! the Joys! the Joys! which I feel, they are Wonderful! they are Wonderful! they are Wonderful! And there was a singularly Pious Gentleman in Cheshire, Mr. John Bruen: