N01488:116
Several sermons wherein is showed, I. That Jesus Christ is a mighty Saviour. II.…Several sermons wherein is shewed, I. That Jesus Christ is a mighty Saviour. II.…
Several sermons wherein is showed, I. That Jesus Christ is a mighty Saviour. II. That God converts his elect some at one age, and some at another, commonly before old age. III. That when godly men dye, angels carry their souls to another and a better world. : With a preface in which there is a brief and true character of the Reverend Mr. Thomas Bridge a lately deceased pastor in one of the churches in Boston. / By Increase Mather, D.D. ; [Four lines of quotations]Several sermons wherein is shewed, I. That Jesus Christ is a mighty Saviour. II. That God converts his elect some at one age, and some at another, commonly before old age. III. That when godly men dye, angels carry their souls to another and a better world. : With a preface in which there is a brief and true character of the Reverend Mr. Thomas Bridge a lately deceased pastor in one of the churches in Boston. / By Increase Mather, D.D. ; [Four lines of quotations]
Boston: printed by B. Green for Benjamin Eliot, 1715
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.
PROP. III. When Godly Men dye, holy Angels carry their Souls to Heaven. They go to Abraham's Bosom, but who does Conduct them thither: Angels do it. Lazarus died, and Angels carried him to be with Abraham. As when Elijah was carried to Heaven Body and Soul, it was by the Ministry of Holy Angels. There was seen a Chariot of Fire, and Horses of Fire, Holy Angels appearing in that Form, and Elijah went up to Heaven, 2 King. 2.11. And they shall carry the raised Bodies of the Saints to be with Christ at the Last Day, Mat. 24.31. He shall send his Angels with the sound of a Trumpet, and they shall gather together his Elect from the four Winds, from one end of Heaven to the other. So do they do with the Souls of the Elect when their Bodies die. It was an Ancient Saying among the Jewish Writers, That none have right to Paradise, but the Just, whose Souls are carried thither by Angels. The Platonic Philosophers did not only believe, that the Souls of Men ⟨p. 107⟩were Immortal, but that the Souls of Wicked Men at the Hour of Death, were by Evil Angels carried to a worse World than this, and the Souls of Good Men by Good Angels, to a better World. We may suppose that they had this Knowledge from the Jews, and that the Jews derived it from the holy Patriarchs and Prophets. To intimate this Truth, is a special scope and design of the Parable concerning Dives and Lazarus. And this has been the Faith of dying Saints. It is reported concerning the Famous Morney, that when dying he expressed himself after this manner. I am taking my flight to Heaven: there are Angels standing, ready to carry my Soul into the Bosom of my Saviour. There was a Faithful Minister of Christ in New-England, (it was Mr. Newman, Pastor of the Church in Reho• he that wrote that excellent Concordance to the Bible, which commonly goes under the Name of the Cambridge Concordance) who perceiving the approaches of Death, he was not in the least ⟨p. 108⟩concerned or afraid, but after he had spoke a few solemn Words to them about him, made an Apostrophe to the Angels; And now (said he) Angels come and do your Office. Those Words were no sooner out of his Mouth but he dyed Angels were by, they heard what he said, and were ready to Conduct his Pious Soul to Heaven. Several Things may be mentioned which confirm the Doctrine before us