A Prospect of Eternity, To the reader
The EPISTLE TO THE READER.
Courteous Reader,
IT was the curſed and Atheiſticall ſpeech of Paul the third, who ſat in the Pontificall chair, when lying on his death-bed he ſaid, He ſhould now make tryall of three things whereof he had doubted all his life;
1. Whether the ſoul was immortall.Dignum patella operculum. Eraſ. Pudet fari Catoniana, Chreſte, quod facis, lingua. Mar.
2. Whether there was a God. And
3. Whether there was an Hell.
But however though moſt men will not ſo far play the Atheiſts, as to be Sceptickes in theſe things in their diſcourſe and language, yet in their lives and deportments, they act the verification of all theſe enquiries.
I have here (candid Reader) preſented thee with a Subject of latitude enough to take up all thy thoughts with the Sea of Eternity, which may drown all that heat which boyles over in ſinfull, and ſenſuall objects. Our age is the womb of multiplyed confuſions, and every one is ready to barre up their own Cabbins, and lock up their earthly enjoyments in ſecurity; but who is it that makes it his enquiry how to enſure Eternity, and when death ſhall throw him overboard, that he may be ſwallowed up in the Ocean of a glorious Eternity?
In the following Treatiſe (kind Reader) you have the nature of our eternall eſtate unravelled; and ſo on neceſſity the joyes of the bleſſed, and the woes of the damned unbowelled; and if either the one ſhall affright thee from thy ſin, and why not, thy ſin will ingulfe thee in eternall miſery; or the other allure thee to God, methinkes it ſhould, when God is the very life of eternall life: I ſay, if either phyſick work, it will abundantly compenſate the poor and unworthy Author in what he hath contributed; nor will it be any loſſe to thee, on whom the Treatiſe hath tryed its experiment. It is ſtrange to obſerve with what vain Speculations men miſguide their zeal, and tire their own fervour and vivacity; with what overboyling ambition do the Abſaloms of the world raiſe unnaturall rebellions to ſeat themſelves in the throne: and others turn Curtizans to their voluptuous appetites, and ſpea… Epicurus himſelf to be illiterate in the ſenſuall trade: And a third ſort dig the golden mine by indefatigable induſtry, and then bury themſelves alive in it, by delight and complacency: Nor are there wanting a fourth generation, who drown themſelves in the curious ſubtilties, trifling queſtions, and vain ſtrifes and diſputes of ſecular learning, (not that I diſallow, but honour Learning beſpangled with grace) and with eagerneſſe purſue the vaniſhing delicacies of a better tempered profaneneſſe. When in the mean time, the great and main prey of mans purſuits ſhould be, how to lay claime to a rich eternity. How would the Saints triumphant who now bathe themſelves in rivers of eternall pleaſure, if ſuch a paſſion could enter heaven, deride the folly and madneſſe of moſt in the world? It is thy ſoul, thy God, thy life, thy eternity cals for thy moſt ſerious thoughts, pretious time, active graces, fervent prayers, and diligent inquiſitions.
And let it not ſeem unto thee a tedious and troubleſome impertinency to glance thy eye on theſe ſhort Meditations: I may ſay concerning this Manuall, what Lot ſaid concerning Gen. 19. 20.Zoar, Is it not a little oned? Thou knoweſt not what thy reading this ſhort Treatiſe, if the Spirit of the Lord give thee a meeting, may ingender; what heartmelting, ſin-killing, grace-multiplying? Deſpiſe not Zech. 4. 10.the day of ſmall things. But I commend It and Thee to the grace of the Lord, and reſt
Thine in the Goſpell of the Lord Jeſus John Wells. From my Study in the Old Jewry, Sept. 7. 1654.
A PROSPECT OF ETERNITY: The Introduction.
2 COR. 4. 18.
The things which are not ſeen, are Eternal.