N01272:170
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.
In the Day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely Dye, Gen. 2. 17. We might rationally infer, that if he did continue in his Obedience, he should surely Live and not Die: Yet we cannot say, that he should have been Incorruptible. When tis said the Resurrection Body will be Incorruptible, that intends its not being subject to any Alteration. Adam's body before Sin entered into the world, was naturally subject to Alteration: It was naturally subject to an expense of Spirits, and might have been killed with Hunger, and would have been so, if Food had not been ministered to him. The Tree of Life was provided for him, which had (I doubt not) a Natural Virtue in it for the prolongation of Life. Therefore his Body was not made Incorruptible. It was subject to ⟨p. 139⟩Passion. A great blow would have hurt it. Fire would have consumed it. But the Resurrection Body will be Impossible: No Natural thing can hurt it. That which happened to the three Princes who were cast into Nebuchadnezzars burning fiery Furnace, upon whose Bodies the Fire had no Power, was a Miraculous Providence; but the Resurrection Bodies of the Children of God, will not be subject to sufferings by Fire any more than their Souls shall. In this the Raised Bodies of Saints and Sinners will differ. And Believers shall be far more happy than Adam was. It could not be said of Adam, he cannot Dye. He was sensible that he might possibly Dy. Nor did the Serpent say to our first Parent, that there was no Possibility; only that there was no Certainty of their Dying upon their Eating the forbidden Fruit. He said, Gen. 3. 4. You shall not surely Dy. But the Resurrection Body of the Believer, is so Immortalized as that there is not a Possibility of its Dying any more, which is meant by the Incorruptibility of it. Thus are the Children of ⟨p. 140⟩the Resurrection, Equal to the Angels.
In the Day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely Dye, Gen. 2. 17. We might rationally infer, that if he did continue in his Obedience, he should surely Live and not Dy: Yet we cannot say, that he should have been Incorruptible. When tis said the Resurrection Body will be Incorruptible, that intends its not being subject to any Alteration. Adam's body before Sin entred into the world, was naturally subject to Alteration: It was naturally subject to an expense of Spirits, and might have been killed with Hunger, and would have been so, if Food had not been ministred to him. The Tree of Life was provided for him, which had (I doubt not) a Natural Vertue in it for the prolongation of Life. Therefore his Body was not made Incorruptible. It was subject to