be just to the eternal praise and glory of the soveraign justice and wrath of God against final unconverted sinners Rom. 3. 8. Revelat. 6. 17. It is the opinion of sundry of our English Divines that God intends the glorifying of the 2 great attributes of his mercy and justice most eminently at the day of judgement and in the world to come And surely the vessels of mercy and the vessels of wrath will find it so at the last day and from thenceforth to all eternity Job 21. 29 30 31. 1 Pet. 1. 4. 2 Pet. 2. 9. 17. Ah Christians Christians I who write and ye who read and hear these things must not onely be spectators of the praise of Gods mercy and justice but parties also upon whom either the infinite mercy or the infinite justice of God shall be everlastingly glorified but whether of these I cannot tell God knoweth In the name of Christ Let us work out our salvation with fear and trembling for our God is a consuming fire presumptuous sinners who go on impenitently in their sins shall at length find to their costs that they have treasured up wrath to themselves against the day of wrath and that the justice of God as well as his mercy endures for ever none more terrible then God provoked wo and again wo to them all against whom mercy it self shall rise up in judgement Now consider this ye that forget God lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver Psal. 50. 22. CHAP. VI. Directs you how to apply the great doctrine of mans future eternity whereby you may escape everlasting punishment and obtain life eternal after this life is ended HAving done with the explication of the doctrine concerning the great state of mans future eternity I shall in this last Chapter apply it unto you and that by way of exhortation unto these two duties 1. Believe it in the generall That mans future condition shall be eternal either in happiness or misery 2. Provide in particular for your own future condition that it may not be miserable but happy to all eternity First believe it in the general that the condition of all mankind in the world to come shal be everlasting and endless either in felicity or misery Though you cannot see any thing beyond the Grave with the eyes of your body yet with the eyes of your understanding thorow the perspective glass of the Word by the grace of Faith you may see beyond this world the great prospect of Man's Eternity iâ— the world to come both that of glory and that other of torment and how blessed the one and how miserable the other Hence one faith that man is a future creature the eye of his soul looks beyond this life towards Eternity and hence it is that Faith is described to be the evidence of things not seen the nature and use of Faith is to be as it were in stead of sight or to make the unseen and eternal things of hell and heaven which God hath revealed to be in existence as if our bodily eyes beheld them therefore that you may believe this universal received Truth as verily as if you saw it fulfilled meditate pray and confer about it 1. Meditate of the certainty of this Doctrine That all mankind at the end of this world shall go in their bodies and souls into an everlasting condition either of happiness or misery and consider you have as plain places of Scripture and as strong Scripture Arguments to prove it as you have to prove any Doctrine contained in the Bible as appears by what hath been already said in our second Chapter Again consider how that this Doctrine hath been received for a Truth in all ages of the world not only by Jews Christians but also by Gentiles and Heathens and therefore if you do not believe it you are worse then Infidels and Pagans because they have onely the twilight of Nature and you have the clear light of the sacred Scriptures to convince you of the verity of it Mat 25. 46. Although none can have good hope to go to heaven to enjoy that happiness there which they would not believe here yet it is to be feared that many go to hell to feel that misery there which they would not believe here 2. Pray to God to give you grace to believe it and by faith to foresee what the Scripture hath so plainly foreshewnâ— who knows but that the Lord may perswade you of the truth of it whilest you are praying to him to incline your hearts to believe it Dan. 9. 21 22 Mat. 7. 7. 3. Confer about it if need be with some able Minister of the Gospel to the end that you may be strengthened and confirmed in your belief of it Mal. 2. 7. Acts 10. 5. 6. One told Bishop Hooper after he was in Queen Mary's days condemned to be burned That life was sweet and that death was bitter thinking thereby to have disswaded him from suffering for righteousness sake But the good Bâ—shop replyed The life to come is more sweet and death to come is more bitter Surely such as mens belief is of heaven and life eternal to come and of hell and everlasting punishment to come such will be their desires and endeavours to escape the one and to obtain the other And this let al men know for certain That the wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment and the righteous into life eternal at the last day whether the generality of the world do now believe it yea or no Mat. 25. 46. Secondly Provide in particular for your own condition in the world to come that it may not be miserable but happy to all eternity That you ought first and above all to provide for your own eternal salvation and that it is rare Christian Policy so to do these places of Scripture do fully prove it Seek yee first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you Mat. 6. 33. Strive to enter in at the strait gate for many I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able Luke 13 24. Give diligence to make your calling and election sure for so an entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 2 Pet. 1. 10 11. Daâ—nescene makes mention of a certain Countrey where they choose their King of the meanest of the people and such was their detestable disloyalty as that upon any dislike taken they would depose him and banish him into an Island where he should be starved to death one of their Kings more wise then the rest considering hereof sent money before hand into the Island into which he feared he should be banished which coming to pass the Islanders received him with joy and he lived in plenty amongst them till his dying day If men be so wise and careful
help afterward for after death conâ—es judgement and after judgement Eternity either of comfort or torment Eccles. 11. 3. Heb. 9. 27. Aquinas was wont to say Make much of time in the matter of salvation and truly you had need to do so for the work of salvation is great and the time of your life is short and uncertain and yet your life-time such as it is is your Faire or market-day for heaven and your Seed-time for your harvest in the other world yea and the onely time that God hath lent you to provide for a blessed eternity if you do not make sure of heaven while you live it will be out of your reach when you are dead and then you cannot possibly avoid hell everlasting misery Luke 16. 26. Say not it will be time enough hereafter because you are not sure of that sudden deaths are common and for ought you know you may dye as sudden a death as ever any did and it may be to day before to morrow But suppose you should be delivered from sudden death yet remember that you are going a pace toward the Common death of all men and consequently towards Eternity either of comfort or torment therefore what you have to do about your eternal salvation do it speedily and with all your might least death come before you are ready for it Ecclesiastes 9. 10. John 9. 4. Sad is the story of Caesar Borgias who said on his sick bed While I was in health I provided for every thing but death and now death is come and I am not provided for it You may justly fear that this will be one day your complaint if you presume to put off the great concernments of your everlasting salvation till sickness or death Often consider of your latter end and how you must hereafter live for ever either in hell or heaven and seriously think with your self if you were to dye this day into whether of these two places of Eternity your soul would go into hell eternal or into heaven eternal and sith you know not the day of your death therefore dayly pray Lord Jesus if I should die this day then grant that this day my soul may be with thee in Paradise and that my body may be raised at the last day fashioned like to thy glorious body and reunited to my soul and that then I may be ever with thee both in body and soul. Luke 23. 42 43. Phil. 3. 21. 1 Thessal 4. 17. One of the Germane Princes took for his devise A Candle burning in a candlestick with this Motto A. S. M. C. Hoc est Aâ—â—is servio meipsum consumo I serve others and spend my self In this undertaking I have spent my self like a burning candle to give you light and to do you the best service I can for my life for the furthering of your eternal salvation hoping that the Lord will cause this Small Treatise to preach effectually when I cannot and which is more after I am dead and entered in my soul into my endless Eternity And now for a conclusion I shall be bold to tell you whoever you be that read and hear the things contained in this Book that though you know the Infallible doctrine of Mans future Eternity yet if you do not live answerable to it you may be for all that damned to all Eternity with a Lord have mercy upon us in your mouth for our blessed Saviour hath said Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven but he that doth the will of my father which is in heaven Mat. 7. 21. The Italian form of begging is as my Author tells me do good to your selves As I have been on my knees to beg Gods blessing upon my poor labours for you so I could be content to come on my knees from God unto you to beseech you To do good unto your selves For if you hear and learn and repent and believe and walk uprightly and so be eternally saved who will have the best of it but your selves And if you live and dye in ignorance disobedience so be everlastingly damned who is like to have the worst of it but your selves O that every Reader of this Book would think on these things O that my beloved parishoners and worthy friends in Essex would think on these things O that my ever dear Kindred and respected Countrey men in Lancashire would think on these things O that all England would think on these things O that all the world would think of these things O that all of you both small and great would remember these things That you must all dye and go into one of these two Eternities either into everlasting punishment or into life eternal in your souls after death and in your bodies also after the general Resurrection the day of judgement And that the great business you came into this world for is to provide for a blessed Eternity in the world to come O that these words were written upon some place in your closets or houses where you might daily see them or rather that they were written upon your hearts that having them in your minds you might be moved to prepare for your future Eternity by your frequent remembrance of it I say once more O that all of you would seriously think on these things and of the infinite importance of them not so as to trouble your heads or hearts with them but so as to be moved thereby in time and in this your day to prepare for your eternal salvation that as many of you as it is possible may be kept from perishing everlastingly Beloved my last words unto you are to tell you that I can call God and man to record that I have set before you the eternall recompences of hell and heaven â—f everlasting punishment and life eternall and have shewn you the condition of both states Behold I have told you before what is like to become of you for ever hereafter And now in the â—lose of all let me be importunate with you to make sure work about your everlasting salvation get it â—leared up unto you that Christ is your Lord and Saviour and you are made for ever Jo. 20. ver 28 29. Phil. 1. 21. What shall I say more â—horowly learn the necessary princilpes sincerely practise the necessary â—luties and diligently use the necessary meanes that I have exhorted you unto and rather suffers then refuse to do what the Lord hath commanded and further others in your calling and place to do likewise and then my soul for yours by the grace of God in Christ that you shall not perish but shall have everlasting life after this life is ended Now the most infinitel mercifull God for the infinite merits of Christ give 〈◊〉 grace to do whatsoever he hath commanded whereby we may be delivered from the infinite misery of Hell
to provide for this life which is but temporal how prudent and provident should they be for the life to come which is eternal If any say unto me What shall we do that we may escape everlasting punishment and inherit life eternal at the end of this life which is one of the best questions that ever was asked and my Answer unto it is this that you may be delivered from everlasting misery and that you may be provided for life eternal against the time your temporal life shall end and be no more take these three general directions 1. Learn necessary principles 2. Practise necessary duties 3. Use necessary means First if you would be saved from eternal damnation and with everlasting salvation after this life is ended then learn the fundamentall principles of the christian Religion that are most needfull to be known unto salvation as suppose those Articles of Faith contained in that famous Creed commonly called the Apostles Creed But more particularly labour rightly to understand these four principles which are the first things in the Christian Religion that every one ought to learn and believe First that there is one onely living and true God who is a spirit infinite in being and all perfection distinguished into three persons the Father the Son and the holy Ghost the Maker and Governour of all things who made man after his own Image in knowledge righteousnesse and holinesse and so in a happy condition Gen. 1. 27. with Col. 3. 10. and Eph. 4. 24. Secondly that our first parents Adam and Eve sinned in eating the forbidden fruit and thereby fell from their original righteousnesse and became dead in sin and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body and they being the root of all mankinde the guilt of their sin was imputed and the same death in sin and corrupted nature conveyed to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation so as that our first parents by their fall brought themselves and all mankind into a sinfull and damnable condition Rom. 5. 12. to 20. 1 Cor. 15. 21 22. Thirdly that Mankind thus fallen being unable to deliver themselves out of the estate of sin and misery God so loved the world that he sent forth his onely begotten son Jesus Christ who was conceived by the holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary of her substance and borne of her yet without sin and so became man and was and continueth to be God and man in two distinct natures and one person for ever who was made under the Law and was obedient to it and endured the misery which was due to man for breaking of it who died for our sins and suffered for our salvation and was buried and rose again the third day who ascended up into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God from whence he will come to judge both quick and dead Acts 10. 42. Fourthly that the Lord requires all people who would be saved through his mercy in Christ to repent of their sins to believe in his Sonne Jesus Christ to live a holy life and to wait upon him in his own Ordinances as the word prayer and Sacraments And they who by the grace of God sincerely obey these precepts shall be saved and they who wilfully and finally disobey them shall be damned in their souls after death and particular judgement and in their bodies also after their resurrection and at the general and last judgement Mark 16. 16. Rom. 8. 13. Matth. 25. 46. Though these are the main principles that are most needful to be known unto salvation yet I shall mind you not to rest here but to read and search the holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise unto salvation and perfect unto all good works Jo. 5. 39. 2 Tim. 3. 15 16 17. Secondly if you would escape everlasting punishment and inherit life eternal at the end of this life then practise the fundamental duties of the christian Religion that are most necessary to be done unto salvation which are chiefly these four in respect of the acts and exercise of saving grace 1. Repent of all your sins 2. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ with all your hearts 3. Live a holy life according to the rule of all Gods commandements 4. Renew your repentance and faith all the dayes of your life as your sins are renewed First repent of all your sins both original and actual Repent saith our Saviour for the kingdome of God is at hand and again I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance and except ye repent ye shall perish Matth. 4. 17. Matth. 9. 13. Luke 13. 3. Now then that you may truly repent of all your sins observe these three rules 1. Search and try your wayes whereby you may find out your sinnes of all all sorts be not too hasty in this duty but ransack every corner of your heart and think of your sinnes till you find them out so farre as that you can remember no more and consider how you have deserved the wrath of God and the damnation of hell for your sins that so you may be truly affected and humbled with the sense of your sinfull and miserable condition Acts 2. 37. 2. Having found out your sins and considered the wrath and curse of God due to you for them fall down upon your knees and humbly confesse your sinnes to the Lord and be sorry for them chiefly as they are contrary to the holy nature and the righteous law of God and the gracious Gospel of Jesus Christ judging your selves for them and praying to God in the name of Christ for pardon of them and power against them Luke 11. 4. 3. Forsake your wicked waies and turn from all your sins unto God purposing and endeavouring for time to come to walk with him in all the waies of his commandments Ezek. 18. 21 22 30 31. 1 Thess. 1. 9. Next to impenitency take heed of late repentance If I had ten thousand souls saith an able Divine I would not adventure one of them upon a death-bed-repentance therefore repent betimes and lest your repentance should be too late let this be the day of your sincere conversion Deut. 29. 18 19 20. Hebr. 3. 7 8. Secondly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart and you shall be saved For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Bucholcerus did so descant upon this Text in his last Sermon before his death that he ravished the hearts of his hearers with the greatness of Gods love to believers Surely it cannot but be a taking thing with all people that Christ ever was and ever will be the Common salvation of all Believers Jude v. 3. Therefore that you may believe to life