the way to Blessed Eternity 2 Cor. 5. 1. Mat. 7. 14 A Treatise Concerning Mans Future ETERNITY By Iohn Iackson Mr of Arts of St. Iohns Colledge in Cambridge and Minister of Gods word at Leaden-Roding in Essex the way to miserable Eternity Mat. 7. 13 Mat. 25. 41 Mark 9. 44 W Faithorne fec A TREATISE Concerning Mans future Eternity WHEREIN The great Doctrine of the Eternity of all Mankind in the world to come either in happiness or misery is Proved Explained and Applyed By John Jackson M. A. of St. Johns Colledge in Cambridge and Minister of Gods word at Leaden-Roding in Essex And these shall go away into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternal Matth 25. 46. London Printed by M. Inman and are to be sold by Nath. Ranew at the Angel in S. Pauls Church-yard and by Tho. Forde at his shop in Chelmesford in Essex and by Iohn Greenwood at his shop in Lancaster 1661. To the onely HONOVR AND GLORY of GOD AND To the Use and Benefit of the People of England AND Especially of his Beloved Parishoners and Worthy Friends in Essex And of his Dear Kindred and respected Countrey-men in Lancashire JOHN JACKSON humbly dedicates this Treatise concerning Mans future Eternity THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. COntains six received principles about the Estate of all Mankind untill the end of this world by way of Preface to the proof of the Doctrine concerning Mans Eternity in the world to come Page 1. CHAP. II. Shews by manifold infallible proofs that all mankind in the end of this world shall go in their bodies and souls into an everlasting condition either of happiness or misery p. 17. CHAP. III. Describes the misery of that everlasting condition of woe and punishment that the wicked shall go into at the end of the world p. 30. CHAP. IV. Explains the happiness of that eternal state of Glory and Rest that the Righteous shall go into at the last day p. 52. CHAP. V. Renders the principal reasons why all mankind after the day of Judgment shall go in their bodies and souls into an everlasting condition either of felicity or misery p 83. 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 p. 92. ERRATA Page 23. line 15. read 2 Thes. 1. 8 9. p. 56. in marg ult r. Eph. 5. 27. p. 10â— in marg l. â— r. principle p. 124. l. 24. r. sincerely A TREATISE concerning Mans future Eternity CHAP. I. Contains six received Principles about the estate of all mankind until the end of this world by way of Preface to the proof of the Doctrine concerning Mans Eternity in the world to come THe most of us are so exceeding slow of heart to believe The great Doctrine of the Eternity of all mankind in the world to come either in happiness or misery and so extream backward to provide for our own eternal condition as that thereby it doth abundantly appear how necessary it is that this Fundamental Point of Divinity should be plainly proved clearly explained and powerfully applied unto us But before I handle the particulars of it I shall make an entrance to it by laying down six received Principles concerning the estate of all mankind until the end of the world for this purpose that we may all know our selves and that we may clearly see how this infallible Truth shall be fulfilled wherein we are all so nearly concerned First That every one of mankind doth consist of a body and a soul joyned together The Exhortation of Jesus Christ Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul doth plainly prove that every one of us have both a body and a soul. Mat. 10. 28. And these words of the Apostle Paul We have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of Spirits do clearly imply that we had our bodies originally from our parents the fruit of whose bodies our bodies are and that we had our souls originally from our God who is said in Holy Scripture to be the giver of them and the God of the Spirits of all flesh Numb 16. 22. Eccles. 12. 7. It is probable that the Lord doth create every particular soul and that he infuseth it into the body of an Infant when in all essential parts it is a perfect body as Adams was when God gave him his Soul This is the Common opinion of Modern Writers about the Original of the soul and it is grounded upon those Scriptures where God is said to be the Creator of the soul and where the Lord is stiled the God which formeth the Spirit of man within him Isai. 57. 16 Zach. 12. 1. 1 Pet. 4. 19. Secondly That the body of every one of Mankind is mortal subject to die dayly and that many waies some are no sooner born but they die and they who have lived the longest lives have died as sure as we live in the body so sure we must die in the body and God knows how soon and how suddenly What man is he that liveth saith the Prophet David and shall not see death For what is our life It is even a vapour saith the Apostle James that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away Jam. 4. 14. As the finer the meâ—tal of any Glass or earthen Vessel is the more subject it is to breaking so the daintiest bodies are soonest gone and first or last we must all die because the Lord of life and death hath appointed it Hebrews 9. 27. Thirdly That the soul of every one of mankinde is immortal and no way lyable to be killed it neither dieth with the bodle nor sleepeth in it but immediately after the death of the body the soul goeth to God that gave it to give its particular account and to be adjudged either to go to heaven to be comforted or else to go to hell to be tormented so as that presently after death and particular judgement the soul doth enter into its endless Eternity either of comfort or torment Solomon saith when the body dies Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit unto God who gave it Eccles. 12. 7. Our Saviour saith Fear not them that kill the body but are not able to kill the soul. Matt. 10. 28. And Saint Paul saith It is appointed unto men once to die and after this the judgement after death judgement presenly follows as the Greek words do signifie and therefore by judgement here is meant at lest inclusively that particular judgement which the Lord doth pass upon every soul immediately after death for at that instant God pronounceth and the Conscience apprehendeth a sentence of blessing or cursing and accordingly the soul is estated in its Eternal
23. Mat. 23. 14. Luke 13. 47 48. If the worm in hell that dyeth not and the fire that is not quenched be material as some learned Writers do suppose they are then the damned in Hell will be grievously and everlastingly tormented with them and if they be Metaphorical as it is most likely they are according to the judgement of several modern Divines then the Conscience of damned sinners will be like a worm that dieth not and the â—rath of God abiding on them will be like the fire that is not quenched tormenting them universally extreamly continually eternally But what need is there curiously to enquire or boldly to determin about such niceties as these It is enough to know that the pains and torments of Hell to the wicked will be both eternal and incomprehensible Deuteron 29. 29. O Reader if we who know but in part The Doctrine of the everlasting punishment of such as shall be damned do apprehend their misery to be so exceedingly grievous How extreamly miserable wil they find their punishment to be when they shal fully know it by woful experience As that youth who was chosen by a certain King who had no issue to be heir to the Crown in case he proved fit for Government otherwise to be a Gally-slave came to know by sad experience how great his punishment was for his negligence and misdemeanor when being found upon tryal unfit for a Kingly Throne instead of being Crowned King he was made a Gally-slave even so the wicked will come to know by woful experience how great their punishment shal be for their wilful ignorance and final disobedience when instead of being preferred to heaven to be ever with the Lord and with his holy Angels and Saints they shal be condemned to go into Hell fire prepared for the divel and his angels their infernal tormenting and tormented companions Matthew 25. 34 41. O what cause have we who have deserved to be everlastingly damned to magn fiâ— the Lord who we hope hath delivered us from this wrath to come through Jesus Christ and to wish out of our zeal to his glory that all our thoughts words and works may either honour Christ or dishonour our selves CHAP. IV. Explains the happiness of that Eternal state of glory and rest that the righteous shall go into at the last day I Have already cast mine eyes downward towards the miserable Eternity of such as shall be damned and described the horrour thereof unto you therefore I shall next of all joyfully look upward towards the blessed Eternity of such as shall be saved and shew you so farre as I have attained to see it by Scripture-light wherein the happiness of their life Eternal which is the life of lives doth principally consist to wit in these three things 1. In their being like unto Christ. 2. In their enjoyment of God in Christ. 3. In the Eternity of both these heavenly priviledges First The happiness of that Eternal blessed and glorious state that the righteous shall go into at the last day doth consist in their being made like unto Christ for the Apostle John saith That when Christ shall appear we shall be like him as Christ is holy and glorious in soul and body so his people at his appearing shal be holy and glorious in their souls and bodies and so they shal be like their Saviour in holiness and glory yet not in equality but in resemblance and so with a difference of degrees betwixt Head and Members 1 John 3. 2. The souls of all those who dyed in Christ before his second coming were immediately after the death of their bodies and at particular judgement acquitted and made perfect in holiness and glory like to the glorified soul of their Saviour and when their bodies shal be raised again at the last day They shall be fashioned like to his glorious body and so they shall awake in his likenesse Psalm 17. 15. Philâ—p 3. 21. The people of Christ also who shall be found alive at his appearing They shall be like him Indeed all Gods Saints shall be conformable to their blessed Saviour in perfect purity and glory and so they shal be not onely fully freed in their whole man from all sin both Original and actual and from all sorts of sorrows miseries and sufferings external internal and eternal but also they shall be compleatly endowed in their bodies and souls with such like pure and heavenly qualities as the blessed Manhood of Christ is now glorified withall As in their bodies with immortallity Spirituallity power and glory and in their souls with perfect light of understanding whereby they shal know even as they are known and with perfect freedom of will whereby they shal be exactly conformable to the heavenly will of God and again with perfect order and elevation of affection whereby they shall perfectly love and laud the Lord their God and perpetually delight themselves in him and so being glorified in their bodies and souls they will be fitted for that state of glory and life eternal that they shal inherit from thenceforth and for ever Matthew 25. 46. 1 Pet. 5. 4. Thus When Christ who is their life shall appear then shall they also appear with him in glory cloathed with the white robes of his everlasting righteousness and splendour not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing and so Christ will present them holy and glorious in the kingdom of heaven where he will uphold them in perfect purity and glory world without end in so much as that he will be everlastingly Glorified and admired in them 2 Thes. 1. 10. Heb. 13. 8. Rev. 21. 23. Though we poor we know not as yet how glorious our Saviour now is in heaven noâ— consequently how glorious his people shall be when they shall be like him yet we may guess at the glory of Christ in heaven by the glory of his Transfiguration on earth and we may safely conclude that the Saints will be satisfied when they shal perfectly bear their Saviours celestial image in the kingdome of heaven and that then they will have cause to say as Peter did upon the Mountain It is good for us to be here Mat. 17 4. If the man who had been long sick joyed to think that in the grave he should be free from pain and sickness how may the children of God who have been long sick of sinning and subject to suffering all their life long rejoyce to think that in heaven when they shall be lâ—ke Christ they wil be beyond all possibility of sinning and suffering 1 Cor. 15. 54 55 56 57. Rev. 21 4. Secondly The felicity of that joyful and blessed life called everlasting life that the Saints shal inherit both in their bodies and souls after the day of judgement doth consist in their enjoyment of God in Christ in the everlasting habitations of heaven which is the principal part of
to inherit life eternal and so all the world shall go into one of these two places or states of Eternity after that time shall be no more The truth of this weighty point of Divinity may appear these two waies 1. By Divine Testimonie 2. By Humane Testimonie First This appeares to be so by the Divine Testimonie of the Spirit of God in the holy Scriptures who saith concerning the wicked that they shall go into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternal Mat. 25. 46. When Jesus Christ shall sit upon the Throne of his glory the people of all nations shall be gathered before him and he will distinguish them into two sorts namely into sheep and goates Mat. 25. 31. 32. By Goats are meant the Reprobate of all mankind who dyed in their sins and out of Christ though many of them did profess saith yet none of them had that Faith unfained which worketh by Love for when Christ in his poor Members was an hungred they gave him no meat and when he was naked they clothed him not and these are the unbelieving and the ungodly of the world who shal go away into everlasting punishment that is they shall go into hell to suffer everlasting punishment By Sheep are to be understood the Elect of God taken out of all sorts of mankind who were redeemed justified and sanctified by Jesus Christ many whereof had opportunity to shew forth their faith in Christ and their love unto Christ by their Charity to the poor people of Christ for when Christ in his poor Members was sick and in prison they visited him and when he was hungry and naked they fed him and clothed him And these are the righteous in Christ Jesus who shall go into Life Eternal that is they shall go into heaven to enjoy life eternal Mat. 25. 35 36 37 46. Again This is proved by the Parable of the tares of the field in the thirteenth chapter of Saint Matthews Gospel If you well observe our Saviours Exposition of this â—arable you will find that all people in the world are compared unto good Seed and Tares By Tares are meant the children of the wicked one who were of their Father the Divel for his lusts they would do though many of them were Christians by name and Believers by profession yet they were but formal Christians and feigned Believers being such as did offend and such as were workers of iniquity And these in the end of this world shall be cast into a Furnace of fire that is into Hell-fiâ—e where there is for ever wailing and gnashing of teeth Mat. 13 40 41 42. Rev. 16. 10 11. By good Seed is to be understood the children of the Kingdom who were joint-heirs with Christ of the Kingdome of Glory and these at the last day shall be received up into the third Heaven and shall shine forth as the Sun in the kingdom of their Father and that for evermore for of his Kingdom there shall be no end Mat. 13. 38 43. This Divine Doctrine may be further illustrated and yet more strongly confirmed by these two Scripture-Arguments First at the great Assizes of the whole world when all mankind shall so appear before the tribunal of Christ as that the secrets of their hearts shall be laid open they will be found either such as were ignorant and disobedient and out of Christ or such as were knowing obedient and interessed in Christ. They who shal be found at that notable day of discovery such as had no part in Christ such as knew not God and as obeyed not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ shal be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power 2 Thes. 1. 7. But they who shall be found at that great day of Trial such as were in Christ such as did know the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent and such as did truly believe in Christ and sincerely obey him shall be saved with eternal salvation Heb. 5. 9. Therefore all mankind at the end of the world shal go into an everlasting condition either of wo or weal. Secondly either all mankind after the day of Judgment shall go into an everlasting condition either of happiness or misery or else some of mankind shall be turned into nothing or else some of mankind shall go into some third place or state But not any of mankind shall be turned into nothing for the wicked of all mankind shall go into everlasting punishment therefore they shall have an everlasting being otherwise there would be a punishment inflicted none indured which is a contradiction and the righteous among mankind shall go into life eternal and therefore they shal subsist live for ever and so none of mankind shall be annihilated or consumed and turned into nothing Nor shall any of mankind go into any third place or state because there is no place nor state to be found in the Word of God for any of mankind to go into after this world is ended besides hell and heaven besides the cursed condition of everlasting punishment and the blessed state of life eternal and how can any of mankind go into that which is not Therefore we may certainly conclude That all mankind at the end of this world shall go in their bodies and souls into an everlasting condition either of glory or misery The wicked shall go into an everlasting condition of pain and calamity and the righteous shal go into an everlasting condition of rest and glory and so all shall go into an eternal state either of felicity or misery after that time shall be no longer Here it might be shewed that the Doctrine Of Mans everlasting condition in the world to come hath been received for a Truth ever since this world began The holy Partriarchs Prophets and Apostles and the Old and New Testament Saints believed it and acknowledged it so did the ancient Fathers after them the greatest part of Christians in all ages and parts of the world And all the Reformed Churches now in Christendom do confess it and do earnestly contend for this Fundamental Article of the Catholick faith But I labour to be brief and therefore instead of insisting upon the Antiquity of this point I shall refer you to the Scriptures and Authors in the Margin and to the last Article of Athanasius's Creed of the Nicene Creed and of that ancient Creed commonly called The Apostles Creed whereby you may see with your own eyes that this is no new but an ancient Truth which hath been received in the Church of God in all ages of the world Secondly This infallible Doctrine may be proved if further proof be needful by humane testimony and as I may say with the Apostle Acts 17. 28. by certain of our own Poets for the wiser sort both of Poets and
the happiness of their life eternal and as it were the highest pitch of their heavenly felicity All the Elect people of God by whatsoever names and Religions they were called and distinguished here on earth they shal all have in heaven Communion one with another fellowship with the holy angels and a full fruition of the ever-blessed Godhead in Trinity of Persons and that in these three respects which I shal the rather express in Scripture-Language for the help of our weak understanding herein 1. They shall enjoy God in Christ in being present with him in the same Empyrean heaven and ever-blessed Eternity where he enjoys himself and where his glorious angels and the blessed souls of his people enjoy him Christ hath promised his people that he will receive them to himself that where he is there they may be also and therefore there they shall be in his appointed time Again the Apostle Paul plainly tells us that we shall be ever with the Lord so we shall partake of that fulness of joy that is in his presence and of those pleasures which are at his right hand for evermore Psal. 16. 11. This this is that which the Saints here on earth do so earnestly and ardently desire as that their souls are restless and unsatisfied until they come to the full fruition of God in the highest heaven which he hath prepared for their everlasting home and entertainment in the world to come 2. They shall enjoy God in seeing of him as he is For then saith Saint Paul we shall see face to face and know even as we are known 1 Cor. 13. 12. Again the Apostle John saith that then we shall see the Lord as he is and so we shal enjoy him by our immediate and blessed Vision of him 1 Joh. 3. 2. All the Saints shall behold the glory of their blessed Saviour in his heavenly kingdom with the eies of their glorified bodies and they shall see the blessed Deâ—ty in three glorious Persons with the eies of their understanding fully enlightened with the light of glory They shal all know the Lord apprehensively in all his admirable excellencies and perfections and they shall see him whom their soul loveth as it were face to face clearly and perfectly and so they shal have a full satisfactory knowledge of God who is the first Truth and of all Truths else which may conduce to their complete happiness Zuingerus was so fully perswaded of this as that he said at the point of death I am glad that the time is now come when the Lord will shew himself unto me face to face 3. They shall enjoy God in Christ in being perfectly one with the Father and Him as they are one after such a real manner as that they shal never be parted from him but shal be indissolubly joined unto him to their unspeakable comfort and happiness Jesus Christ who cannot but be heard hath prayed both for the beginning and the accomplishment of this blessed union His prayer is That all his people may be one with the Father and him as they are one They cannot therefore but be partakers of this blisful one-ness with the blessed Trinity and being partakers of it they will enjoy God by their happy conjunction and immediate communion with him All believers through the Holy Ghost are now inseperably united to the glorious Person of the Son of God as members to their Head and by Christ they are united to God the Father the Fountain of Grace and Glory whereby they are now made partakers of the Divine Light and Life of Grace 2 Pet. 1. 4. And this spiritual and mystical union begun here shall be perfected for ever hereafter whereby they shall partake of the everlasting Light and Life of glory immediately from the Lord of Glory in such a heavenly all-satisfying sort as that they shall be as fully happy as possibly they can wish or desire to be As all the Elect shall be beatifically united to God in Christ so they shall be perfectly united one to another in judgement wil and affection how much soever they differed on earth they shall all accord in Heaven in one scope and act of giving glory and praise to God and in one perpetual adoration and fruition of one infinite Deity in Trinity of Persons and so they wil be mutually happy in God in themselves and in each other Although it is the Soul which doth enjoy God or that doth partake of the good which is in God yet the body also shall have a share in the happiness of the souls enjoyment of God in the Kingdom of glory 1 Thes. 4. 16 17. Sith God is an infinite self-existing Spirit from Eternity in Eternity to Eternity and is his own happiness and the author and object of All happiness therefore the full enjoyment of God blessed for ever who is self-sufficient in his Being and all-sufficient in his Communications will be a satisfying felicity and as high an happiness as either Saints or Angels can desire to enjoy Ps. 73. 25 26. I could not but be affectionately taken with the judgement of a pious writer about this particular Enquire saith he of such as are yet militant upon earth wherein their happiness consists the answer will be In their having fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ Let those who are triumphant be asked What it is that renders their heaven so glorious their glory so incomprehensible ye shal have no other account but this it is because they have now attained a compleat fruition of that all-sufficient all-satissying ever-blessed and ever-blessing Object God in Christ. It is the Doctrinal Observation of a worthy Preacher That God alone is more desirable then any thing then all things in heaven and earth and no wonder if we consider That the Lord is such a depth of Divine perfections as that he possesseth in one onely perfection the excellencie of all perfections in so excellent sort as that none is able to comprehend it but himself Therefore the everlasting enjoyment of him can be no other then perfect blessedness We may piously think according to the Scriptures that when the Saints shal partake of this heavenly fruition of God in Christ they wil have such a full sence and real experience of the everlasting love of God unto them as that they will be for ever affected with it and constrained by it perfectly to love the Lord their God perpetually to rejoyce in him and everlastingly to land him and praise him for their blessed enjoyment of him and so their Love to God joy in him thankfulness to him shal never cease because it is a part of that heavenly happiness which wil redound from their beatifical fruition of God in Christ. A day in thy Courts saith Sacred King David unto God is better then a thousand I had rather be a door-keeper in
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
condition either of felicity or misery The souls of all those who die in the Lord in a believing and regenerate estate are by the mercy of God absolved and made perfect in holiness and are carried by good Angels into heaven there to live in a happy estate of joy and rest with their ever blessed God and Saviour and with all the holy Angels and with all those perfect and blessed souls who went to heaven before them waiting for the full redemption of their bodies which even in death and after they are returned to dust continue still united to Christ and rest in their graves as in their beds till at the last day they be again united to their souls Rom. 8. 23. Ps. 16. 9. Isai 57. 2. Job 19. 25 26. But the souls of all People who die out of Christ in an unbelieving and unregenerate condition are by the justice of God condemned to infernal misery and are haled away by evil Angels into hell there to remain in torments and utter darkness with the devil and his angels and with all those sad and miserabie souls who were before doomed to that place of torment and their bodies which return to dust and see corruption are kept in their graves as in their prisons till the resurrection and judgement of the great day Gen. 3. 19. 2 Pet. 2. 9. A Philosopher being asked by Alexander the great Whether there were more men alive then dead Answered That there were more alive because said he there are none dead in respect of their souls We are taught more plainly by Divinity then ever any where by Philosophy That the souls of all people are immortal and consequently that they who are dead in their bodies are alive in their souls either in heaven or hell besides these two places for souls separated from their bodies the Scripture acknowledgeth none Fourthly That the bodies of all mankind who have dyed from the beginning to the end of the world shall all be raised again at the last day and reunited to their ownsouls all the dead shall be raised again with the self-same bodies and none other yet so altered in quality as that then they shall be able to abide for ever The words of our Saviour are express and full The hour is comming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the Resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation And the words of the Apostle are clear and plain There shall be a Resurrection of the dead both of the just and unjust Acts 24. 15. And again The dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed for this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality 1 Cor. 15 52 53. Let not incredulous nature shrink at the possibility of Resurrection when the God of nature undertakes it 〈◊〉 Why should it be thought a thing incredible that God should raise the dead Is it not as possible for God Almighty with whom nothing is impossible to raise the dead out of their dust which is something as to make the world of nothing is it not as easie with the Lord for whom nothing is too hard to raise man out of his dust in the earth as to form man of the dust of the ground It is sufficient to me that the Lord Jesus Christ hath promised me that if I believe in him he will raise me up at the last day John 6. 40. Fifthly That all those of mankind who shall be raised from the dead together with the rest of mankind who shall be found alive at the second coming of Christ being changed in a moment they shall all personally appear before the judgement seat of Christ to give a publick account of their thoughts words and deeds whether they were good or evil and they shall all be judged by Jesus Christ to go in their bodies and souls into an everlasting condition either of happiness or misery Enoch the seventh from Adam Prophesied of the day of judgement Our Saviour in his Sermons often made mention of it and the Apostle Paul solemnly warnes us of it for saith he We must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad so then every one shall give an account of himself to God who will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to the Gospel and will reward them according to their works as their works or deeds were fruits and effects either of their faith or of their unbeliefe Mat. 16. 27. Rom. 2. 6 16. Again Saint Matthew tells us That Jesus Christ the Judge of quick and dead shall give this comfortable sentence of everlasting life and salvation to all the elect among Mankind who were righteous and such as had a part in him Come ye blessed of my father inherit the kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the world Math. 25. 34. And again that Christ himself shall give this dreadfull sentence of eternall death and damnation to all the Reprobate of mankind who were wicked and such as had no interest in him Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels Mat. 25. 41. It seems that the proceedings of the general and last judgement shall be so ordered by the peculiar favour of God as that the Saints who were in Christ shall first be judged and acquitted and then with Christ they shall judge Reprobate men and angels not in an equal authority with Christ but as approvers of his righteous judgement Sixtly That all mankind shall certainly go into that everlasting condition that the Lord Jesus Christ shall doom them unto those whom Christ shall absolve and sentence to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven shall assuredly go into it to live eternally happy in it and those whom Christ shall condemn to go into everlasting fire shall certainly go into it to be everlastingly punished in it after the act of eternal judgement is past the execution of it will immediately follow this is proved and insisted upon in the next Chapter CHAP. II. Shews by many infallible proofs That all mankind in the end of this world shall go in their bodies and souls into an everlasting condition either of happiness or misery I Have now brought you within the sight of mans future Eternity unto that great Doctrine of Eternity chiefly aimed at which is this 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 The wicked of all mankind who had no part in Christ shall go into hell to endure everlasting punishment and the righteous among all mankind who were interessed in Christ shall go into heaven
Philosophers were of this opinion That wicked people shal go after they depart hence into a horrible place called Tartarus where they shal be eternally tormented that good men shal go after their departure out of this life into a pleasant place called Elizium where they shal live happily for ever Which opinion of theirs clearly shews that they had some imperfect notions of Mans future Eternity either in torment or happiness Again they who write of the world tel us That the people of every Nation in the world are of some Religion and they who are of any Religion do hold That there is a life after this life where it shall go well with the good and ill with the bad of mankinde for ever Why else are they Religious Doubtless that must needs be a manifest Truth that appears to be so not onely by the light of the holy Scriptures but also by the Light of Nature and the common opinion almost of all people in the world Nay by the common practise of the Divel himself who as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour endeavouring by his temptations apparitions possessions and wiles with deâ—uded sinners to deprive as many of mankind of eternal salvation as possibly he can and to bring them at last unto everlasting damnation from which Good Lord deliver us CHAP. III. Describes the misery of that everlasting condition of woe and punishment that the wicked shall go into at the the end of the world HAving hitherto proved the Doctrine Of mans future Eternity I shall in the next place explain it and first of all I shall mournfully look downward towards the miserable Eternity of such as shall be damned and shew you so far as I know it by Scripture-Revelation wherein the misery of their everlasting punishment which is the punishment of punishments doth chiefly consist namely in these three particulars 1. In their punishment of loss 2. In their pain of sense 3 In the everlastingness of both these kinds of punishment First The misery of that everlasting cursed and damned condition that the wicked shal go into at the end of this world doth consist in their punishment of loss and that in these four respects 1. They shal be punished with the loss of the comfortable and beatisical presence of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost They shall depart and go away from the Lord in such a sort as that they shal never have any savour nor any refreshing from the presence of the ever-blessed and glorious Trinity God being the chief good and the greatest felicity and his loving kindness being better then life therefore to be punished with the loss of his favour will be as it were the everlasting death of the damned and their greatest loss and saddest misery 2. They shal be punished with the loss of heaven that place of celestial rest and blessedness where God is said to dwell whither Christ is ascended and where the Lord will manifest himself unto his people to their everlasting comfort and happinesse There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth saith our Saviour when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob all the Prophets in the kingdom of God and you your selves thrust out Luke 13. 28. 3. They shall be punished with the loss of the blessed Communion of all the holy Angels in heaven for seeing they shal be punished with the loss of the favourable presence of God with the loss of heaven it follows that they shal be punished with the loss of the joyful fellowship of all the holy angels who do alwaies behold the face of God in heaven Mat. 18. 10. 4. They shal be punished with the loss of the comfortable company of all the Saines in heaven and of all their glorious perfections heavenly priviledges for sith they shal depart from the Lord and shal be shut out of heaven and cast into hell where they shal for ever remain unpardoned and unsanctified retaining their vile hearts and sinful natures therefore it necessarily follows that they shal be deprived of the happy society of all the Saints and of all those celestial perfections and blessed priviledges that they shal enjoy when they shall be ever with the Lord in the kingdome of heaven Luko 16. 22 to 27. We think their loss to be very great who are punished with the loss of the temporal good things of this life but alas What is that to the loss of the eternal good things of the life to come A Godly Gentleman observing the gallant accommodations of a pious Noble man took occasion to speak to him after this Christian manner My Lord said he you had need make sure of heaven or else when you die you will be a great looser it infinitely concerns both great and small to make sure work about their Salvation otherwise when they die they will be great losers for they will lose not onely their comforts on earth but also the joyes of heaven and that without all hope of recovery Luke 16. 23 24. Secondly the misery of that wofull and cursed condition called The damnation of hell that the wicked shal go into after the day of Judgement doth consist in their pain of sense or in that sensible pain that they shall bee punished withall in hell that terrible place of torment and that in sundry particulars worthy of our most serious consideration 1. They shâ—l be punished universally with a sensible pain all over as in their bodies and in all the parts thereof and in their souls and in all the faculties thereof These shal go away into everlasting punishment it is spoken of the wicked after they were condemned to go in their bodies and souls into Everlasting fire prepared for the divel and his angels Mat. 25. 41 46. 2. They shall be punished extreamly with a grievous sensible torment in their whole man for They shall go into hell into the fire that never shall be quenched and into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone Mark 9. 46. Rev. 21. 8. Though fire and brimstone be terrible yet the thing thereby signified is more terrible indeed indeed the largest and most capacious heart alive cannot conceive how extream their pain and misery will be upon whom the total wrath of God shall abide for ever John 3. 36. Rev. 14 10. Iâ— â—aâ—n if Judas if Spira and others were so grievously tâ—rmented with despair and horrour of Conscience when the terrours of God were upon them and if the wrath of God upon Christ for a while caused his soul to be exceeding heavy and made his bodie sweat as it were great drops of blood how extreamly will the infinite fierce wrath of God torment the damned in hell when it shall abide on them for all Eternity 3. They shall be punished continually without having any ease intermission or freedom from pain throughout the infinite space of Eternity how can it be
the House of my God then to dwell in the Tents of wickedness If the enjoyment of God in his Ordinances be so unspeakably sweet and delightful how incomprehensibly comfortable and complacent wil the Saints perfect fruition of God in Heaven be I know not how to express it let your souls think of it but there is more yet For Thirdly The perfect blessedness of that happy condition of heavenly rest and glory called an eternal weight of glory that penâ—tent and pious believers shall go into at the last day consists in the Eternity of it their glorious conformity unto Christ and their blessed enjoyment of God in Christ will never end nor ever alter but will continue to be the same for ever ever Hear what sacred Writ saith concerning the Saints future Eternity They shall go into life eternal they shall have everlasting life they shall ever live and never dye they shall be ever with the Lord and shall reign with him for ever and ever in the Kingdom of Glory where they shall wear an incorruptible Crown of Life and Glory and where they shal possess an Eternal inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away 1 Pet. 1. 4. How clearly and fully do these words Eternal everlasting ever ever and ever prove that the blessed life or happy condition that the righteous shall go into at the last day will never end but ever continue ever ever and ever After the Saints in heaven have been happy in their glorious conformity unto Christ and in their blessed enjoyment of God in Christ as many years as there are stars in the heavens as there have been drops of water rained down from heaven since the begining of the world as there have been things thought upon words spoken and actions done by all mankind since the day that God created man and as there have been letters written and printed since letters writing and printing were found out in the world when they have lived with the Lord in heavenly glory and happiness so many years nay so many thousands of years their blessed life wil be no nearer an end for it will ever last and never end Because I live saith Christ to his disciples ye shall live also As Christ who is the head of his Church liveth for evermore so his people who are his members shal live for evermore and in this respect he wil satisfie them with long life even with everlasting Life which had indeed a beginning but shal never have an end Psalm 91. 16. John 10. 28. Their souls are immortal by creation and their bodies shall be immortal at their resurrection the heaven of heavens which they shall inhabit is eternal Their God whom they shal enjoy is everlasting their blessed Head and Saviour in whom they shall enjoy the Lord is ever-living Therefore their blessed life shall be everlasting everlasting What can I say more After the inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven have lived in Celestial Glory and Felicity as many millions of years as all mankind could ever number they will be as far off from the end of their everlasting blessedness as they were at the beginning of it for their blessed and eternal Eternity after they are once entred into it is like a Ring that hath no end at all and it shall be as an immortal Ring which they shall eternally wear in remembrance of the Lords everlasting Love unto them All our Earthly enjoyments are damped and made less comfortable to us because they are but temporal for a while we may leave them or they may leave us to day before tomorrow But the Heavenly enjoyments of the Saints in glory are heightned and made more happy and joyful because they are eternal and wil be altogether the same for ever and ever 1 Thes. 4. 17. Heb. 13. 8. If any now ask me what is the Saints Eternity in Heaven My answer is this It is the infinite length of their blessed life and heavenly happiness whereby it will never end but ever continue ever ever and ever O all ye blessed and thrice happy Saints see here in this blessed Eternity Eternity Eternity what the Lord hath prepared for them that wait upon him see Here where the narrow way of Humility Faith and Piety will end even within the strait gate of the great City of Heaven where are joyes unconceivable and pleasures for evermore Behold here how they that sow in tears shall reap in joy and how the Lord wil in mercy reward those with the enjoyment of himself who diligently seek him Heb. 11. 6. And rejoice ye hapyy heirs of Heaven rejoine in the hope and expectation of this Heavenly glory and happiness to â—ome and comfort one another with these things and let the joy and recompence of reward which hath been set before you move you to go on unweariedly in the wayes of God alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. 1 Cor. 15. 58. Heb. 12. 2. Though all the Saints shall be members and fellow-Citizens of the Heavenly â—â—rusalem and shall be fully and everlastingly happy in their holy and glorious conformity unto Christ and in their blessed enjoyment of God in Christ Yet it is probable by how much any of them through the Grace of Christ have glorified God on earth more then others of them by so much their degrees of glory in Heaven will be the greater according to the Judgement of most Divines upon these places of Scripture Dan. 12. â— Matth. 10. 41 42. Ch. 19. 28. 1 Cor. 3. 8. 2 Cor. 4. 17. 2 Cor. 9. 6. It is the general Opinion of godly learned men that the Saints in Heaven will perfectly and personally know one another to the mutual comfort one of another This is usually proved by arguments taken from these Texts of Scripture Matt. 17. 1 2 3 4. Matth. 8. 11. Luke 16. 23. 1 Cor. 13. 12. After the resurrection the Saints will neither marry nor be given in marriage but shall be as the Angels of God in Heaven And their bodies being spiritual in quality they shall be freed from the necessities and imperfections of the animal life and upheld immediately by the Almighty power of God without the use of food and raiment and all other means that are requisite to the preservation of the life that now is 1 Cor. 15. 28. When all the Saints shall be like Christ and shall be brought to the blisful fruition of God in Christ in those eternal Mansions of heaven assigned for them then prophesying hearing and praying and all duties graces and actions that were used as meanes to that blessed end shall cease and then they shall have that everlasting rest that now remaineth for them which is the endlesse rest of rests and so they shall keep that everlasting Sabbath which is the Sabbath of Sabbaths and the
eternal God himselfe who is goodnesse and perfection wholly incomprehensible shall be with them and will be their God their exceeding great reward their portion their heaven their life eternall their happinesse and their all in all with whom they will be fully satisfied and in whom they will comfortably acquiesce and contentedly rest to all eternity yea the Lord their God will rejoyce over them with joy and will rest in his love unto them Zeph 3. 17. O Sirs if the blessedness of the life to come be but revealed in part and if we who know but part of that part of it which is revealed and that thorow a glasse darkly do conceive the glory and bliss of it to be unspeakably great How unconceivably glorious and blessed will the Saints in heaven find it to be when they shall fully know it by comfortable experience In summe the happiness of heaven and of the blessed life to come called by Divines the state of glorification is such as that it will please and satisfy all who shall have a part in it it is infinitely greater and better then can be uttered or conceived therefore let us humbly leave the rest of the felicity of it to the future experience of such as shall enjoy it as we may hope we shall within a short time if our hearts be right in the sight of God It is reported of the Duke of Bovillon and his army that when they went to Jerusalem as soon as they saw the high Turrers they shouted for joy â—rying out Jerusalem Jerusalem what cause have we poor pilgrims strangers on the earth who are travelling towards the â—elestial Jerusalem our heavenly country to rejoyce with joy unspeakable as soon as we see by faith any glimpse of the exceeding glory and happinesse of it saying with a joyful noyse to God Hallelujah Hallelujah blessed and for ever blessed be the Lord that we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens An house yea a pallace of heavenly state and magnificence neither is it lesse then a kingdome that abides there for us a kingdome so much above these worldly Monarchies as heaven is above this â—lod of earth CHAP. V. Renders the principall Reasons why all mankinde after the day of judgement shall go in their bodies and soules into an everlasting condition either of felicity or misery THe great and important Truth of mans eternal state to come having been both proved and explained I shall now give you the Reasons of it which are principally these two First the Elect of God amongst all mankind who were interessed in Christ shall go in their bodies and soules after they have received their joyful sentence of absolution into an everlasting condition of happinesse for the everlasting glorifying of the mercy of God Rom. 9. 23. When Jesus Christ shall say to his Elect people in the sight and hearing of all the world Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world and when afterward he shall bring them triumphantly into the possession of the everlasting kingdome of glory Then and from thenceforth and for ever it will be fully knowne that God is essentially mercifull and that his mercy towards them whom he hath chosen in Christ to life eternal is infinite everlasting and immutable to the everlasting glory and honour of the mercy of the Lord and to the perpetuall praise of the glory of his grace Rom. 9. 23. Ephes. 1. 5 6. As now the best of Saints do but see the saving mercy of God towards them thorow a glasse darkly and do but weakly believe it so they do very imperfectly praise him for it but when they shall perfectly know at the day of 〈◊〉 compleat Redemption that it was the mercy of God and nothing but his â—ender mercy and free grace in Christ towards them that elected them that created them that redeemed them that called them that justified them that sanctified them and that hath compleatly saved them and all for this great end that they might for ever magnify him for it Then they will perfecty praise the Lord and give him the glory due to his name for this gracious and golden chain of mercy that reacheth from their everlasting predestination to their everlasting glorification Ephes. 1. 3 4 5 6. Rev. 4. 8 9 10 11 12. As the saved in heaven will know by joyful experience the â—â—â—at things the Lord hath done for them and that it is eternal love unto them in Christ that hath delivered them from the nether-most hell and that hath brought them to the highest heaven so they will affectionately praise him for it and will delight to give glory to the Lord their God who hath brought them unto his incomprehensible bliss and glory through the communication of his grace and glory unto them And as they will perfectly apprehend that the favour that God beareth unto them in Christ shall endure for ever and ever so they will glorify him for it for ever and ever and will sing without ceasing the high praises of God not as the Acaemets at Constantinople who sung day and night divine praises to God onely one company after another But all the Elect angels and Saints in heaven will unanimously and perpetually praise the everliving God Father Son and holy Ghost for the infinite felicity they shall enjoy together in his beatifical presence Psal. 84. 4. Rev. 7. 10 11 12. Secondly all the Reprobate of Mankinde who had no part in Christ shall go in their bodies and souls immediately after the dolefull sentence of condemnation hath been pronounced against them into an everlasting condition of misery for the everlasting glorifying of the justice of God Rom. 9. 22. When Jesus Christ shall say to the Reprobate in the presence of his elect Angels and Saints Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devill and his Angels and when he shall at that instant cast them into hell to be everlastingly punished then and ever after it will be absolutely known that God is essentially just and that his justice is infinite eternal and unchangeable to the everlasting glory and honour of the justice of God and to the eternal praise of his unalterable purpose to punish final impâ—nitent and unbelieving sinners according to the desert of their sins Rom. 9. 22. 2 Thes. 1. 7 8 The wicked in the world will not now believe the justice anger and displeasure of God against sin and impenitent sinners nor will they glorify it when it is executed upon secure sinners either in temporal or spiritual judgements But when the great day of the Lords wrath is come then they shall feel it by woful experience and shall be forced to know and acknowledge the Lord to be just and their damnation to
everlasting endeavour these two things 1. Endeavour to understand how Christ is offered in the Gospel unto sinners namely to be Wisedom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption and all in all unto all sorts of sinners who see a need of him and who are willing to have him joyntly together for these holy and heavenly ends Mat. 11. 28. John 7. 37. 2. Endeavour to receive Christ and God in Christ and to rest upon him alone for salvation as he is offered unto you in the Gospel John 1. 12. Isai 26. 3 4. Chapter 50. 10. Say not I must not presume to accept of Christ because my sins are many and great and I am not humbled enough for them For verily verily Christ had not come into the world but to save sinners yea and the chief of sinners who come to him to be saved And Christ who is rich in grace exspects not to receive any thing from poor sinners but to be received by them Rev. 22. 17. Therefore defer not your believing or accepting of Christ but endeavour to come to him as God shall draw you and be willing to close with Christ and to believe on him as God shall make you willing and humbly put your selves upon Christ and wholly give up your selves unto Christ to be taught pardoned sanctified and saved by him in his own appointed time and way and then know for a certain that Christ will in no wise refuse you but will undertake to be the author of eternal salvation unto you and that God in Christ will be your God and portion for ever Psalm 73. 25 26. Thirdly Live a holy life according to the Rule of all Gods Commandments For the Scripture saith That without holiness none shall see the Lord and that godliness hath the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4. 8. And again That the grace of God which bringeth salvation doth teach us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Titus 2. 11 12. 2 Pet. 3. 11. 1 John 3. 3. For this end that you may live a holy life make use of these three helps 1. Apply by saith the death and resurrection of Christ and the particular Promises of Sanctification made to believers in Christ whereby you may be renewed in your whole man after the image of God and enabled more and more to dye to sin and to live to newness and holiness of life Rom. 6. 4 6 14. Galatians 5. 24. 2. Observe the summe of the ten Commandements which is To love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mindo and your neighbour as your selves Love thus exercised in sincerity of heart is the fulfilling of the Law and the Epitomy of a pious life 3. Get the ten Commandements by heart which are the Rule of a holy life that so your heart being the keeper of them you may ever remember to live according to them endeavouring by degrees in the use of reading hearing meditation and the like means to understand what sins are forbidden and what duties are required in every one of the the ten Commandements for that purpose that you may eschew the sins therein forbidden and perform the duties therein required having a special care to studie and to practise the duties of your relations and to strive most against your greatest sins and to watch over your thoughts words and wayes out of a holy fear of sinning the rather because your thoughts words and actions must be rewarded or punished for all eternity Rom. 2 6 7 8 9. 2 Cor. 5. 10. Whatsoever you do in the practise of godliness do all by the Rule of Gods Word in the strength of Christ through the help of his Spirit to the glory of God the adorning of the Gospel the strengthning of your own assurance and the good example of others and all this out of singular love and thankfulness to God for his unspeakable love unto you in Jesus Christ. Luke 1. 74 75. John 14. 15. 2. Cor. 5. 14. One Symelces Captain of the Guard to Emperour Adrian caused this inscription to be set over his Tomb Here lyeth Similis who saw many years and lived but seven Let all Christians take special notice of it that they live no longer then while they live so as becometh the Gospel of Christ. Philip. 1. 27. Ephes. 2. 1 2 5 1 Tim. 5. 6. In short let our Conversation be in heaven leâ— our discourse be on things above let our thoughts be on our future Eternity and so let us live to God on earth for Eternity as that we may live with God in heaven to Eternity 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. Phil. 3. 20. Coloss. 3. 2. Fourthly Renew your repentance and faith all the dayes of your life as your sins are renewed which that you may practise these three particulars 1. Commune with your own heart every morning and evening and consider how and in what respect you have sinned the day or night past either by Commission or Omission Psalm 4. 4. Haggai 1. 5. 2. Having thought of your sins and manifold failings repent and abhor your selves for them beseech God for Christ's sake to forgive them and to cleanse you from them and withall Remember that you have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous who is the propitiation for our sins and be not faithless but believing 1 John 2. 1 2. 3. Resolve with full purpose of heart through the grace of Jesus Christ to sin no more lest a worse thing befall you Job 34. 31 3â— Jo. 5. 14. Justine Martyr would say it is best of all not to sin and next to that after sinning to repent and amend Thirdly if you would avoid everlasting misery enjoy eternal felicity after your temporal life is ended then make use of the outward means and ordinances of God that are necessary to be used unto salvation and especially of these four sorts following 1. Hear the word of God publickly preached 2. Pray daily to God everlastingly to save you 3. Make use of the two â—ew Testament Sacraments Baptisme and the Lords Supper 4. Obey the Ministers of Gods word who are set over you in the Lord. First hear the word of God publickly preached as generally at all times when you have opportunity for it so especially upon the Saâ—bath day Hear saith the Prophet Isaiah and your soul shall live who hath eares to hear saith our Saviour let him hear Isai 55. 3. Matth. 13. 9. Again Christ informes us that hearing is the one thing needfull because not onely faith but also every other grace usually cometh by hearing yea and is confirmed and increased by hearing Acts 14. 21 22. 1 Pet 2. 2 3. Secondly pray daily to God in the name of Christ to
deliver you from everlasting punishment and to bring you to life eternal after this life is ended Math. 6. 10. 13. Luke 21. 36. Pray in your hearts with ejaculations to God pray in secret pray in your families pray in publick pray without ceasing 1 Thes. 5. 17. Our Saviour saith ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you Mat. 7. 7. And Saint Paul tells us that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved Rom. 10 13. Thirdly make use of the two New Testament Sacraments Baptisme and the Lords Supper which are to continue to the end of the world Mat. 28. 19 20. 1 Cor. 11. 26. Make use of your Baptisme by way of meditation as sure as you were baptized so sure you shall be pardoned and saved if you truly believe in Christ for Baptisme is not only a Signe but also a Seal thereof to all true believers Markâ—6 â—6 16. Rom. 4. 11. Again make use of the Lords Supper by your receiving of it as often as you may be called to it and prepared for it and as often as you receive do it in remembrance of the Lords death and of the great ends of his death which was to deliver all those who rightly believe in him from wrath to come and to purchase an heavenly inheritance for them As sure as you shall receive Christ by faith in this Sacrament so sure the blessed benefits of his death and passion shall be confirmed unto you in it Matth. 26. 28. Rom. 4. 11. Fourthly obey the Ministers of Gods word who are set over you in the Lord and submit your selves unto them for they watch for your soules as they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief Hebr. 13. 17. Remember what Jesus Christ hath said in this case He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me Luke 10. 16. If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them and that you may be blessed in the practice of them consider these four motives First consider that if you think of these things so as to do thereafter then you may assuredly conclude that you shall escape everlasting punishment inherit life eternall at the end of this life and you may draw your conclusion of assurance into such a like Christian Syllogisme as this which may serve instead of an use of examination They who know those things that make them wise to salvation who repent of their sins and believe in Christ who sincerely live a holy life shall not perish but have everlasting life saith the Lord in his holy word But those who follow the afore mentioned directions may say we through grace have learned those things that make us wise to salvation we repent of our sinnes we believe in Christ and we sincerely desire and endeavour to live a holy life Therefore we shall escape everlasting punishment enjoy life eternal after our temporall life is ended And if so how happy will you be that ever you were borne consider of it as it is briefly expressed in these Scriptures when Christ shall appeare you shall be like him where he is there you shall be that you may behold his glory and see him as he is face to face you shall be ever with the Lord in whose presence is fulnesse of joy and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore and so as perfectly happy as possibly you can be Secondly consider that if through carelesnesse you forget the duties you have been exhorted unto so as finally to neglect them then you may sadly fear that when the Lord shall weigh you in his ballance that you wil befound wanting and in the number of those who shall bee doomed at the last day to go away into everlasting punishment and then wo wo to you it had been good for you if you had never been born In the fear of God consider the miseries that will come upon you at the last day if you dye without repentance toward God and without faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ and seriously think with your selves how sad your condition will be if you be condemned with the wicked of the world to depart from the Lord and from heaven his dwelling place and to go into hell into the fire that never shall be quenched and into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone And how can ye escape the damnation of hell if you walk in the broad way that leadeth to it and if you live and dye such ignorant and disobedient sinners as the Lord expresly threatens to punish with everlasting destruction from his presence and from the glory of his power 2 Thes. 1. 7 8 9. Hebr. 2. 3. Some have been moved with fear of hell fire to cause these words of the Prophet Isaiah Who amongst us shall dwel with everlasting burnings Isa. 33. 14. to be written in letters of gold over their Chimney-pieces O that you who read and hear these things would be so moved with fear of hell and fire eternal as to begin forthwith to prepare to escape it Thirdly consider What it is for which you neglect to provide for your own eternal well-fare Is it not either for sin it self which is altogether evil or else is it not for the love you bear to this present world either to the pleasures â—riches or honours of it all which are but casks of happiness and gilded emptiness yea they are not onely vain but vanity it self Vanity of vanities saith the Preacher vanity of vanities all is vanity and therefore they are no provisions for a blessed eternity And will you venture to neglect the great duties which concerns your eternal salvation either for so vile a thing as sin or for such vain things as cannot satisfie your immortal souls God forbid you should do so God forbid you should do so King Lysimachus being constrained through thirst to yield his Kingdom to the Scythians for a cup of cold water when he had drunk it said O for what a small pleasure have I parted with my great kingdom whosoever shall loose the eternal good things of the world to come to gain the temporal good things of this world will have cause to say when it is too late O for how small a matter have I lost the everlasting Kingdome of heaven For What is a man profited saith our Saviour if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul or what shal a man give in exchange for his soul Mans eternal salvation is more worth yea infinitely more worth then the whole world Fourthly Consider that the time of your life is the onely time that you have to provide for your eternal condition if it be not done here there is no