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
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 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