N01272:189
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.
Inf. II. There is a respect due to the Dead Bodies of Gods Children. Since they shall be Raised out of their Graves to such Glory as has been showed, there is certainly a respect due to them. Although' we may not worship their Relics as Idolatrous Papists do, Nevertheless, it is a great iniquity to cast contempt upon them Precious in the sight of the Lord is the ⟨p. 166⟩Death of his Saints. When their dead Bodies are turned to dust, it is Precious Dust. That Body which is United to Christ, and has been Redeemed by his Blood, Death does not separate from his Love. They then who manifest their contempt and hatred of such holy Bodies, have not the Love of Christ nor his Spirit in them. A decent Burial is a respect due to the Bodies of Dead Saints. To deny it to those who are the Children of God, is great Impiety; or not to suffer them to have that honourable Interment which is due to their Station. It is noted as a great Wickedness in […], that he would not permit the Prophet Uriah to be so honourably Buried as was proper and suitable for a Prophet of God, but he Cast his Dead Body into the Graves of the common People. And it is Observable, that the Providence of God met with him, and […] his impiety […]. For notwithstanding he was a King, and the Son of a King, there was no […] Solemnity or Lamentations for him, but he was […] the […] by an […], drawn and cast ⟨p. 167⟩forth beyond the Gates of Jerusalem, Jor. 22. 19. A just Punishment for his Barbarity towards a faithful Prophet. Such like Barbarity would the Heathen sometimes use towards the Servants of the Lord, of which the Psalmist complains, Psal. 79. 2, 3. The Dead Bodies of thy Servants have they given to be Meat unto the fowls of the Heaven, the flesh of thy Saints unto the beasts of the Earth. And there was none to bury them. And Papists have been as inhumane as ever were Pagans. It was prophesied concerning them, that they would kill the faithful Witnesses of Christ, and not suffer their Dead Bodies to be put in Graves, Rev. 11. 9. That Prophesy has been fulfilled as in other Places, so in England, when Popery reigned there. By the Popes decree, the bones of Wycliffe, (that famous Witness against the Idolatry of those times) Forty years after he was Dead and Buried, were dug out of his Grave and Burnt to ashes, and those ashes thrown into a River. The Emperor Charles V.