A Prospect of Eternity, Title page – Dedication
A Proſpect OF ETERNITY: OR Mans Everlaſting condition Opened and Applyed.
By JOHN WELLS Maſter of Arts, ſometimes Fellow of St. Johns Colledge in Oxford, and now Paſtour of Olaves Jewry LONDON.
foreign. Chryſ. ad Theod. lapſum. paraen. Cap. 5. Edit Par.
Amanda eſt illa vita, ubi nullus labor eſt, ubi ſumma ſemper ſecuritas, ſecura felicitas, felix libertas, libera beatitud…. Audoenus.
And theſe ſhall goe away into Everlaſting puniſhment, but the righteous into life Eternall. Mat. 25. 46.
London, Printed by E. C. for Joſeph Cranford at the Phoenix in St. Pauls-church-yard, 165….
Septemb. 8. 1654.
Imprimatur
EDM. CALAMY.
To the right Worſhipfull Alderman Foote, Alderman Fredericke, and the reſt of his much Honoured and, dearly beloved Friends, the Inhabitants of Olaves Jewry, LONDON; John Wells their unworthy Paſtor wiſheth all increaſe of happineſſe both here and to ETERNITY.
Dear and much Honoured Friends,
THis ſmall Manuall had neceſſitated me to an Apology, to excuſe my precipitance in adventuring in publick, eſpecially in this age, which ſo many Learned and Able Pens hath viſited; had not my paſſionate deſire to ſerve you, not only in the Pulpit, but in the Preſſe, not only by Supplications and Prayers, but by Meditations, enforced this preſumption. It hath been the tedious controverſie and long diſpute of my thoughts, what teſtimony of my Love and Thankfulneſſe to preſent you with, and at laſt the vote carried it, to preſent you with a Landskip of Eternity.
Indeed, I confeſſe, this ſmall Treatiſe cals for as many Apologies, as it hath lines in it ſelf, but the unuſualneſſe of the ſubject, and your wonted favour and goodneſſe, ſhall be my Apologeticall plea. And as the Painter who pictured Alexander with his finger on his defective eye, let your candidneſſe cloud, and conceale all the imperfections of it. What it is let me intreat you to entertaine and accept, and now it is come abroad into the world, let it not wander up and down and no man own it, but let it be ſheltred and received in the kind embraces of your patronage. This I muſt informe you, that my ambition to ſerve you was real and ſincere, though this ſhort Enchiridion be but a rude draught of that ambition. I ſhall not (my dear Friends and Flock) dilate, or digreſſe in the amplifying of the ſeriouſneſs, profoundneſs, neceſſity and ſutableneſs of the argument, the great ſtate of Eternity; leſt I ſhould anticipate and foreſtall my ſelf, and leave the Treatiſe to be only a rehearſall and repetition. Only let not this ſuggeſtion be troubleſome and unwelcome to you; if I mind you that Eternity is the end of all our hopes, the ſtage of all our duties, the ſhoar of all our labours, the reward of all our prayers, and the conſummation of all our happineſs. Man himſelfe was not created to live in a Cottage made up of lime and hair, of mud and dirt, to fix his thoughts or hopes upon fading and fainting enjoyments, but to be an inhabitant of and reſidentiary in heaven where Eternity keeps the doore. The great Creatour of Heaven and Earth, is Mans only fit companion, and Eternity is eſſentiall to him, he is Deus aeternus & immutabilis; the comforts of the Spirit are the ſouls onelyonly refreſhments, and everlaſtingneſs is entailed on them, Joh. 14. 16. Nay the ſoul it ſelf, which is mans nobler and better part, which is life incorporate, and activity wrapt in the windingſheet of fleſh, is immortall in its being, and onelyonly reſts ſatisfyed in the attainment Pſal. 17. 15.of a glorious Eternity.
Let it not therefore (my endeared and Honoured Friends, and as the Apoſtle ſpeaks, 1 Theſſ. 2. 20. My glory, my joy) ſeem a tedious impertinency, or long digreſſion, to faſten your thoughts on Eternity: It may be (through grace, and it ſhall be my importunate prayer for you) ſome of you may bleſſe God for theſe few hints to all Eternity; Who Eccleſ. 12. 11.knowes what a word in ſeaſon, if as a naile it be ſtruck down to the head, by the Maſter of the Aſſemblies, may produce in an ingenuous and ſerious Congregation? Only let Prayer uſher in, and accompany your Meditations on this Subject. I ſhall leave both the Treatiſe and You in the hands of the Lord, and intreat the God Pſal. 65. 2.that heareth Prayer, that every line in it may be written upon your ſoules in the bloud of Chriſt, and with the point of a diamond, the Spirit of the Lord, and ſhall reſt expecting the longed for fruits of theſe inconſiderable labours, and ſhall beg that the bleſſing of the Lord would enliven and enrich every truth in them contained; and that this poor Tract of Eternity may in ſome meaſure conduce to the landing of every one of your precious ſoules (whoſe welfare ſhall be the crown of my joy, both here and for ever) in a glorious, ſteddy, and joyous eternity.
But I will no longer detain you, onelyonly let me tell you, I have endevoured in this Treatiſe, not onelyonly to put my Sermons, but my Affections in Print. And if this weak birth (which only your diſreſpect, and miſinprovement can render abortive,) ſhall put you upon more frequent thoughts of, and ſerious preparations for Eternity, my deſigne is accompliſhſhed, and it will not only be an unſpeakable joy unto, but an incompenſable obligation upon
Yours in all ſoul-ſervice in Jeſus Chriſt, John Wells. From my Study in the Old Jewry, Sept. 7. 1654.