N01272:228
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.) The Believers Hope is built on the Resurrection of Christ. The Scripture speaks of a Lively Hope, by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead, 1 Pet. 1. 3. For that makes it clear, that God has received full Satisfaction in the Death of ⟨p. 202⟩Christ. As our Surety he was put into the Prison of the Grave: God himself has Opened the Prison-door, and he is gone forth; we may therefore hope, yea, we may rest assured of it, that our Debt is fully Paid. Christ at his Resurrection was discharged from that imputed Guilt, which was the cause of his Sufferings and Death. Hence his Resurrection is called his Justification: Isa. 50. 8. He is near that Justifieth me: I must be put into the Grave (says Christ) but God will soon Raise me up from thence. And when Christ was thus Justified, by his being Raised from the Dead, all Believers were Virtually Justified. He was Delivered for our Offences, and Raised again for our Justification, Rom. 4. 25. When the Believer does by Faith look upon the Resurrection of Christ, he may say, I have a Good, i. e. a Guiltless Conscience: For all my Sins have been satisfied for, that Debt is wholly Paid. How does that appear? It is Evident from the Resurrection of Christ, 1 Pet. 3. 21. If Christ had not Risen from the Dead, we must for ever Despaired of Salvation. ⟨p. 203⟩But by that we know that his Death has been Meritorious & Satisfactory in our behalf. Who shall lay any thing to the Charge of God's Elect? It is God that Justifieth. Who is he that Condemneth? It is Christ that Dyed: Yea, rather that is Risen again, Rom. 8. 34. But there is something further to be added: For notwithstanding the Death of Christ and his Resurrection, there are many in the world without Hope, because they are without Christ, Eph. 2. 12. They have not a real Interest in him.