loss of Heaven is irrecoverable and you must for ever be shut out of the Habitation of the Blessed And especially when you find that your temporal felicity is your eternal bane and for your short enjoyment of these fading comforts you must be miserable and roar under God's insupportable wrath for ever more The Rich man in the Gospel that here enjoyed his good things to full content when he had lost Heaven and his Soul and was tormented in these flames that were unquenchable could not chuse but dolefully repent of his madness in taking up with and doting upon such vanities as his portion Yea doubtless this doth fill Hell with roaring to think for what trifles they lost Eternal Life and purchased to themselves eternal death Take heed therefore of this desperate madness Prefer not in your practical judgments or estimation temporal concerns before eternal and suffer not the things of time to cause you to neglect or be cold or indifferent in your pursuit after Everlasting Mercies rather live like strangers here and trample under your feet all earthly enjoyments that you may be heirs of God's eternal Kingdom and not be punished everlastingly from his presence and the glory of his power 3. You that are Godly take heed of being discontented or discouraged with the portion of evill things here attending you considering that your reward is eternal Be not offended with the sorrows or miseseries way-laying you in your passage to Glory considering the weightiness of the Prize before you that will make amends for all This was the great encouragement the Apostles had to bear all afflictions and sufferings patiently even because their light afflictions which were but for a moment did work for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory Oh! think it not much to groan a few daies or years that you may eternally rejoyce be content to weep for a season that you may triumph for ever Yea think it no marvel if a Prize so glorious and weighty as Everlasting Life be attended with difficulties and cost you some sharp though very short afflictions Alas what is worth your toil and utmost suffering here if Heaven and its never fading consolations are not and what will uphold support and keep you from sinking under the pressures and afflicting sorrows of this life if the eternal weight of Glory which you have or should have in your eye will not Nay will you not judge your selves unworthy of this Glorious Prize whilst you cannot patiently bear small affliction in pursuance of it The Mariner and worlding will resolutely pass through many a dismal and perillous storme for the poor prize of temporal riches which they may lose as soon as they enjoy and they will suffer much contentedly in order to the obtainment of them And should not Christians much more willingly cheerfully and patiently endure all conâ—…cts in order to the enjoyment of a Prize â—…itely more weighty What should not 〈◊〉 hope of Everlasting Life be encourageâ—…â—…ough to undergo and adventure on 〈…〉 you find in all Ages could 〈…〉 rejoyce under utmost sufferâ—… 〈…〉 of Eternal Life and why 〈…〉 Oh! you that are Christians learn of the Apostles learn of the Martyrâ— and Saints in all Ages patiently to bear thâ— crosses of this life which are but temporal and to glory and triumph in sufferingâ— for CHRIST considering the end oâ— them which is Eternal Life 4. We come to speak something by way of Exhortation And is it so thaâ— Unseen things are eternal Then 1. Be exhorted to get sound convictions and believing apprehensions of the truth and weightiness of these Unseen things See that your judgment be fully satisfied about the verity and that you are to purpose sensible of the Unspeakable ponderousness of these great concerns Alas there are but very few that do really believe that an eternity of sorrow or joy will be their portion in the other world And there are but few that in any tolerable measure are sensible of the importance or consequence of eternity These things would otherwise influence their hearts and lives and be more visible in all their carriage and deportment How could they carelesly pursue these great concerns if they had sound and convincing apprehensions of their truth and weightiâ—ess how could they choose but live like â—trangers here and in the contempt of all â—errene enjoments in comparison of these â—hings if they did indeed look for the reâ—elation of them Could Men endure to â—pend their time for trifles or vanishing â—nd fading contents that knew that everâ—asting life or death would be their portion ere long according to their deportment â—ere surely no. Oh! time would be more precious and the word and ordinances of the Gospel would be more precious and better husbanded if these things were soundly believed and to purpose considered Be careful therefore to get your Faith in these affairs strengthned labour to be soundly convinced that you shall be in Heaven or Hell for ever and be sure to understand and be sensible of the weightiness of these things This is the foundation of all Religion and practical Godliness You 'l never to purpose work out your salvation or lay hold on Eternal Life without this therefore see to it 2. Be exhorted to lament your hitherto slight care doleful lukewarmness in these weighty affairs Lament your heartless pursuit after Eternal Life and your lifeless endeavours to escape eternal death Lament your mispent time which might have been improved for your everlasting comfort Mourn over especially your misimproved Sabboths and golden opportunities and advantages for never ending felicity which you have been fruitless or unprofitable under Oh! let your sad neglects of the things of your eternal peace be your shame penitent confusion and heart-afflicting grief Alas what have you more reason to lament than your regardlesness of eternity wherein did you ever shew greater folly or madness than in your slighting this weighty concern Oh! what a mercy is it that you are not forced to lament with desperation by the convincing light of eternity what now you are called upon to lament in a day of Grace before hope is gone You do not know how soon you may be compelled to mourn over your folly in this affair in Hell if you mourn not over it now in order to your future advantage and comfort And alas who is there that hath not cause enough to be covered with confusion for their mindlesness of eternity in the daies of their present vanity the inconsiderable preparation they have made for their comfort in that Ocean We have too much reason to be ashamed for our dull prosecution of these weighty concerns 3. Be exhorted to make sure work for Eternal Life and to give diligence to lay hold on the everlasting Blessings of the Unseen world Oh! build firmly for your peace and triumph in that Kingdom which will last for ever spare no expense of time strength or cost in this
That the weighty concerns of the unseen world are eternal And that 1. By Scripture plainly 2. By induction from Scripture and Nature 1. We shall prove the Doctrine by plain Scripture Mat. 25. ult These shall go away into everlasting punishment but the Righteous into life eternal Here you see the rewards of the other world that all shall reap are styled everlasting and eternal Dan. 12.2 Many of them that sleep in the dust of the Earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt Both the reward of the Godly and the impious is here called Everlasting in the unseen world So you have the Scripture speaking of the Righteous and the wicked particularly and proclaiming their reward to be eternal and everlasting Thus 't is said the Godly seek for Eternal life in the other world Rom. 2.7 and that They are heirs of Eternal life Titus 3.7 and that They have an House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens 2 Cor. 5.1 And the Apostle tells us that he therefore endured all things for the Elects sake that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Jesus Christ with eternal Glory 2 Tim. 2.10 so Heaven is called their Everlasting Habitation Luke 16.9 And as the enjoyments of the Saints are eternal so likewise are the miseries of the wicked They are to be punished with Everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the Glory of his power 2 Thes 1.9 they are to be cast into Everlasting fire Mat. 18.8 or into fire that shall never be quenched and where the worm dieth not Mark 9.44 So also 't is said that they shall be tormented day and night for ever and for ever Rev. 20.10.15 2. We shall prove the Doctrine by induction from Scripture and Nature 1. The Soul is eternal and dies not and therefore must be happy or miserable for ever This cannot be killed Mat. 10.28 when it leaveth the Body it doth not sleep or die as the Body doth Eccles 12.7 and when 't is again re-united to the Body at the Resurrection 't will never be separated from it but Body and Soul are joyned together at the Resurrection for Everlasting life or Everlasting shame and contempt Dan. 12.2 and therefore they will have an Eternal Existence At the Resurrection the very Body it self will be raised incorruptible Our corruption must put on incorruption 1 Cor. 15.53 Though at present our Bodies die and moulder to dust yet at the Resurrection they will not be capable of corruption We shall then die no more a Natural death Luke 20.36 And if Body and Soul will live eternally after the Resurrection-day they must needs be either happy or miserable to eternity if they have for ever an Existence they must needs have a felicitous or infelicitous Existence If they do not vanish into nothing or are not corrupted killed or separated then they will certainly for ever groan or triumph rejoyce or mourn 2. Eternal rewards are promised or threatned God doth not promise to magnify mercy and loving kindness to the Saints for a small season only but to Eternity nor doth he threaten momentany losses or sufferings only to the wicked and impious but everlasting The Righteous shall shine as the Stars for ever and ever Dan. 12.3 And the wicked have darkness for ever reserved for them 2 Peter 2.17 Believers shall never perish or die John 11.26 And the Impenitent are to be cast into fire that shall never be quenched Mark 9.43 This is the encouragement that God doth give his People they shall have everlasting joy upon their heads ere long and this is the discouragement he gives the wicked they shall be punished with eternal destruction or tormented day and night for ever and for ever Oh! Heaven will have Believers triumphing in it to the utmost limits and bounds of Eternity for God hath promised it to them And Hell will have ungodly Souls and the finally impenitent weeping and gnashing their teeth in it for ever more for God hath fore-told and threatned it and he is a true just and Righteous GOD. 3. GOD that is engaged to distribute these Rewards is eternal he liveth for ever to see the execution of what ever hath gone out of his mouth As he was from everlasting so he will continue to everlasting He inhabits eternity Isa 57.15 The Eternal God is the refuge comfort and salvation of the Saints Deut. 33.27 And the confusion discomfort and and terrour of the impious and wicked If Jehovah himself could die the Saints happiness would expire and have a period and the wickeds and damneds misery in Hell would be over but he living who hath promised and threatned and is engaged to accomplish the Saints hopes and wicked's fears we may be sure they will last for ever Oh! God hath no end of daies Jehovah's age will never expire He is Eternal that hath undertaken to priviledg the Pious with eternal Life and reward the Impious with eternal Death therefore unseen concerns will be eternal 4. As God is eternal so he will be eternally Alsufficient to make good his word As he was Almighty and Infinite and boundless in all perfections from eternity so he will remain unto eternity From everlasting to everlasting he is God Ps 90.2 He will never descend from the Throne or become frail or unable to execute his promises or threatnings He is the eternal and immortal King 1 Tim. 1.17 He is independent for ever and can perform his pleasure to all eternity And therefore his Decree and Law touching the endless condition of the Righteous and wicked will stand Alas God can as easily make the Righteous immortally happy and the impious immortally miserable as uphold the world and all things therein upon the borders of time He lives continually in the same Majesty Glory and Perfections that he is invested with to this day And he will never have his Omnipotency impaired diminished or weakned If God were capable to be dethroned or to become infirm or weak for the accomplishment of his projects or revealed Will the ungodly might hope for an expiration of their sorrows and the Righteous might fear a period of their Joy and Felicity but God being unchangeable and immutably the same to everlasting the hopes of the one and the fears of the other will be vain 5. God will eternally delight in the happiness of the Saints and miseries of the wicked and therefore both the one and the other will be eternal Touching the Pious 't is said that 't is the Father's good pleasure to give them a Kingdom Luke 12.32 They are the Persons that Jehovah delights to honour their Glory is God's Glory Ephes 1.12 JESUS CHRIST will come to be glorified in them at the Resurrection-day when he shall set the Crown of Heavenly Felicity and magnificency upon their heads 2 Thes 1.10 So that their happiness and exaltation will be God's Glory Delight and Rejoycing and therefore will be eternal
'T will continue as long as God shall delight in it and that will be for ever more So likewise the misery of the wicked in Hell will be to the glory of God's Justice and Righteousness and therefore will be eternal even as long as God doth continue just and righteous which will be for ever So also God doth rejoyce in their perdition and destruction he laughs at their calamity and mocks at their distress when they are remediless Prov. 1.26 And therefore though they call upon him he will not answer them though they seek him early they shall not find him that is not merciful or gracious to them He that made them saith the Prophet will not have mercy on them and he that formed them will shew them no savour Isa 27.11 So that you see that both the happiness of the Godly and misery of the wicked in the other world will be God's delight and his Glory and therefore they will be eternal 6. The Saints cannot forfeit their happiness and the wicked cannot purchase or make satisfaction for their Redemptio◠from their misery in the other world and therefore both will be eternal ' Ti◠apparent that in Heaven the Saints are as the confirmed Angels and so not capable to be tempted to evill or to fall from God Their separated Souls in Eternall Mansions are said to be made perfect Hebr. 12.23 And into God's Paradise which is their glorious Abode and Habitation there entreth nothing that defileth Rev. 21.27 Whilst they are in the Kingdom of their Father they are under the fullest communications of sanctifying and preventing and triumphing Grace Holiness is their element duty love and praise to God is their very food and recreation and sin is as lothsom as death and the most exquisite miseries and torments are to us There also they have no tempter and nothing to be a bait or allurement to draw them from God which with the consideration of their corrobating and confirming Grace doth proclaim that they cannot sin or forfeit the mercies wherewith they are priviledg'd And therefore they will not lose their happiness God will not deprive them of their mercies without cause he will not send them from his Triumphant Kingdom to which they are Heirs till they cut off the entail of eternal Blessings and that will be never So that their happiness must needs be eternal And then the wicked will never make satisfaction in order to their redemption from Hell and therefore their miseries must be also eternal They must stay there till they have pay'd the utmost mite they are endebted unto Divine Justice Matt. 5.26 and that will be for ever more And therefore that expression Till thou hast pay'd the last mite thou shalt not depart thence signifies as much as Thou shalt never depart thence Luke 12.59 Oh! all the sufferings of the damned even to an endless eternity will not satisfy for their sin and disobedience here And 't is apparent they have none else to satisfy for them CHRIST will die no more for them There remains no more Sacrifice for sin when the price of CHRIST's Blood is neglected Oh! the Godly will not lose their happiness and the wicked will never get redemption from Hell as 't is in the Parable There is an Unpassable Gulf between the Glorified and the damned so that they cannot pass the one to the other Luke 16.26 and therefore their condition in the other world will be eternal 7. If the Saints happiness were not eternal 't would much discomfort them in the other world and if the wicked's misery were not eternal 't would much comfort them and alleviate their miseries and extremities in the Unseen world and therefore both are eternal The Saints have fulness of joy in God's everlasting Kingdom and therefore have no expectation that 't will have an end And the damned have perfection of misery in the Infernal prison and therefore have no hope that their sorrows will ever have a period Reason will tell you that if Triumphant Souls had any apprehensions that their felicitous estate should at length expire it would much abate their glorious peace and tranquillity And Reason will also tell you that if the wicked had any hopes that their sorrows and exquisite torments should at length cease it would something at least mitigate their infelicity and grief but this word Eternal added to the enjoyments of the Glorified filleth them with perfect Triumph excluding all pensiveness fear and dolour And the same word Eternal or Everlasting added to the sorrows and miseries of the damned makes them most exquisite and sets Hell a roaring most dismally Oh! that the pleasures of the Saints are for ever more Psal 16.11 this makes them pleasures indeed And that the anguish perplexity and extremities of the damned are for ever more this makes them perfectly dolefull indeed 8. Nature doth seem to evidence this Truth that things unseen are eternal The very Heathens are taught to believe in general that the Good shall be everlastingly happy and the wicked everlastingly miserable in the other world Not only the Christians but the Mahometans yea and the Pagans that have not unman'd themselves do hold that after this life Men and Women shall live in a felicitous or dolefull condition for ever The Soul's immortality is commonly believed even where Christianity is not known Nature hath dictated this to those that never heard the Scripture-revelation and if the Soul dies not it must needs be happy or miserable for ever Now lay all these allegations together and how apparent and undoubted is this Doctrine that the weighty concerns of the unseen world are eternal 2. We come to shew you what is implyed in this word Eternal and so the weightiness of unseen concerns And there are three things implied in it 1. That the Unseen concerns of the other world have continuance or are lasting they are not of short or small duration Our lives here cannot be said to be eternal because they are but of short continuance yea they are said to flee away as a Weaver's shuttle Job 7.6 and are compar'd to a vapour that soon vanisheth but now the happiness of Heaven and the sufferings of Hell are more lasting They continue not a 100 or a 1000 Years only but many millions of millions of Years When many Ages and Generations of Years are past and gone yet still the Saints felicity and the wicked's misery and sorrow continueth When the Saints have been in the Kingdom of their Father triumphing in his love as long as this World shall last or endure yet they have thousands of Years of the same felicity still behind And when the wicked have been in Hell groaning and hideously roaring under the most doleful sufferings as long as this World doth endure yet they have millions of Years of the same misery sorrow and suffering still behind Oh! Eternity doth note not a short or transitory season but a space 〈◊〉 continuance beyond the limits of
weighty affair Wherever you are slothful unfaithful or careless see that utmost unwearied diligence and faithfulness be used here Make this the buisiness of your daies to sow for Everlasting joy comfort when time is gone Yea see that you have no Imployment or affair but what is undertaken and managed in a due subserviency to this weighty affair Alas Sirs what greater buisiness have you to mind what an infinitely glorious prize doth the Unseen world set before you and how poor and inconsiderable are all concerns of time to it You spend your time and strength for trifles whatever you pursue if you neglect Heaven Eternal Life Earthly Kingdoms and Crowns are but shadows and vanity to the everlasting substantial enjoyments of the Paradise of GOD which you are invited to secure for your Souls 'T is a wonder that the World should have in it a rational creature that can find himself employment without reference to his comfort in the Eternal Ocean the concerns thereof are so infinitely weighty above all the things of time Oh be not you so unreasonable do not you thus neglect your own greatest most necessary and most glorious mercies For perishing fading contents let not never ending and everlasting triumphing Blessings be lost and jeoparded Seriously consider the weightiness of these concerns and surely they will influence you to utmost faithfulness for the assuring of them Everlasting joy or sorrow what is there here that is any thing like it Triumphs or howlings for evermore what on Earth bears any comparison to them If any thing here be worth your care or minding surely eternity and its concerns are infinitely more considerable and should be infinitely more influencing The Joyes of Heaven are Mercies indeed they are the most inconceivable glorious Blessings There 's happiness in perfection fulness of joy peace content and comfort without a dram of sorrow in glory There God is to be enjoy'd who is All in all There are Rivers of pleasure and an Ocean of the most Soul-satisfying goodness So glorious are the Blessings of eternity that eye never saw ear never heard and it never entred into the heart of Man to conceive their glory 1 Cor. 2. 9. These are mercies that quite surpass and exceed the very thoughts and imaginations of finite Men so unspeakably do they excel all contents here and infinitely more if you were capable to set your ear at Heaven's door and could hear the Souls ravishing Songs of the glorified quire in God's Paradise If there were but a hole or a little chink through which you might view their triumphant Robes or if by any means you could get a glimpse of that overflowing consolation wherewith they do abound unto eternity no temptation will ever be strong enough to make you neglect or slight the pursuit of their enjoyments yea you would certainly reach after an interest in them whatever they cost you and would not endure a diversion from a faithful prosecution of them Add to this that Eternal Life contains in it an eternal salvation from Hellish misery if you make sure of Heaven you shall not sip of the Lake of fire and brim-stone wherein the wicked will be tormented for ever This you are at present in danger of and this you will escape if you become the Heirs of eternal Blessings And what a rich Price is this which yet Infinite Mercy entrusteth you with How would the damned in Hell prize and improve it now they have tasted hellish sorrows if the priviledg of hope of deliverance were yet before them what would they not do or give for their redemption from those miseries 'T is not unlike but you have or may have all of you some troubles afflictions crosses pains or miseries to groan under here redemption from which you would be willing to purchase at the dearest rate And is not redemption and deliverance from Hell much more desirable and necessary Oh! how will you value this mercy when the Eternal Ocean hath effectually acquainted you with the worth of it to be saved from these sorrows that are unspeakable and never ending is a prize inestimable therefore spare no diligence or endeavour in pursuit of it Moreover remember you must and will be housed in Heaven or Hell for ever you will unquestionably have your portion in everlasting joy or sorrow there is no avoiding it but you will be the vessels of amazing mercy in God's triumphant Kingdom or the vessels of amazing wrath and indignation in unquenchable flames And which of you can think of dwelling with devouring fire or of being the fuell of everlasting burnings without horrour how should the thoughts of your dreadful peril cause you to mend you pace in your Christian course and double your diligence watchfulness and faithfulness that you may inherit eternal mercies especially if you consider the qualitie and nature of that misery that otherwise will certainly overwhelm you with the eternity of its duration Remember misery in perfection will be your inheritance for evermore if you lose Heaven's Mercies and Blessings extremity of sorrow you will endure world without end if you have no part nor lot in the triumphs of God's Paradise Once have the gate of Heaven shut against you and it will be shut against you for ever and once be plunged into the Infernal Lake where is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth without intermission and you will be hopeless of redemption from it forever Christ's love and blood will be insignificant to you and all the promises of the Gospel will be in vain to you and your day of Grace will be utterly unprofitable to you and have an everlasting period And oh Sirs soberly consider the weight of this adjunct eternal and everlasting and surely 't will effectually render unseen things most incomparable to you and make them chiefly influential in heart and life Upon serious consideration you will find eternity weighty beyond your conceptions Remember it notes not only lasting joyes and sorrows beyond the account of time inconceivably and not only a continuance of happiness and misery without any intermission but also an everlasting or never ceasing permanency of felicity and calamity without any period or ending When sinners have been groaning and roaring in Hell under unspeakable torments as many millions of millions of Years as there be drops of water in the Sea piles of grass in the field small dust in the Earth sand on the Sea shore hairs on Men and Women's heads in the world and Stars in the Firmament yet their miseries sorrows calamities are no nearer ending than at the beginning And when the Saints have been triumphing in the Paradise of God as many more millions of millions of Years yet still their joyes happiness and triumphs are no nearer expiring than at the first entrance into Glory As long as God is just holy and righteous that is as long as God is God the damned must howl and roar under inexpressible miseries and the Glorified Saints must be swimming and rejoycing in triumphant Blessings And how few to purpose consider the weightiness of these things If your danger were only to suffer God's hottest wrath and lose his special love for a million of years yea for a year or a month 't were yet so considerable as that you would forfeit your reason to slight this concern upon the account of any earthly happiness whatever and how much more unspeakably foolish will you be to make light of this concern which is eternal not only of inexpressible but inconceivable length of duration Oh Sirs pause more frequently on the meaning and weightiness of Eternity that the Gospel-promises and threatnings of the Word may more influence you and render temptations from worldly enjoyments and fleshly delights to byass you from holiness not only succesless but contemptible and whatever you do be careful to make sure of eternal Life and an escape from eternal misery 4. Be exhorted to perform every duty as for eternity Fast and pray and humble your Souls for sin as for eternal Life and an escape from eternal death Hear the Word labour to profit by it as persons that know eternity depends upon it love and serve God as for eternity As Solomon adviseth Whatsoever thy hand sâ—ndeth to do do it with thy might for there is no work nâ—r device nor knowledg nor wisedom in the grave whither thou goest Eccles 9.10 Set all the powers of your Souls on work in every duty for in Eternity you can't amend what is amiss you must then reap the cursed fruit of your negligence sloth and unfaithfulness in duty but you will not have opportunity or ability to reform your miscarriages in order to one dram of comfort or consolation for your Souls As Zeuxes therefore of old was used to draw his Pictures with singular exacteness because as he said he painted for eternity even so should we be industrious and exact in what we do because all is for eternity Oh! ask your Souls in all your undertakings and endeavours Is this to work for eternity do I now improve my self like a person sensible that an eternity of joy or sorrow happiness or misery depends upon my present carriage and deportment Shall I reflect back with heart-sinking remorse and regret or with heart-ravishing content and satisfaction upon my present work in the Ocean of eternity Say and think of every action what if this should be my last what if eternity should swallow me presently and bring me to God's impartial and eternal Judgment and accordingly with utmost vigour and faithfulness be found in your duty and the exercise of your integrity in pursuit of everlasting Blessings FINIS