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
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
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