The Divine Life, Treatise 1 · Chapter 5
CHAP. V.
4. THe Eternity of God is the next Attribute to be Known▪ which also must have its work upon the soul. And 1. This also sheweth us that God is Incomprehensible; For man cannot comprehend Eternity. When we go about to think of that which hath no Beginning nor End, it is to our mind, as a place a thousand miles off is to our eye; even beyond our reach; we cannot say there is no such place, yea we know there is; but we cannot see it: so we know there is an Eternal Being; but our Knowledge of his Eternity is not intuitive, or comprehensive▪ Eternity therefore is the object of our faith, and reverence, and admiration, but forbids our busie bold enquiries, O the arrogancy of those ignorantly▪ learned, and foolishly-wise disputing men, that have so long perplexed, if not torn in pieces the Church, about the priority and posteriority of▪ the knowledge and decrees of God, when they confess them all to be Eternal! As if they knew not that terms of priority, presentiality, and posteriority, have not that significancy in or about Eternity as they have with us!
2. The Eternity of God must draw the soul from Transitory, to Eternal things. It is an Everlasting blessedness, even the Eternal God, that our souls are made for▪ the Bruits are made for a mortal happiness; The Immortal soul cannot be fully content with any thing that will have an end. As a capacity of this endless blessedness doth difference man from the beasts that perish; so the Disposition to it doth difference Saints from the ungodly; and the Fruition of it doth difference the Glorified from the damned. Alas what a silly thing were man if he were capable of nothing but these transitory things! What were our Lives worth, and what were our time worth, and what were all our mercies worth, or what were all the world worth to us, or what were we worth, our selves? I would not undervalue the works of God; but truly if man had no other life to live but this, I should esteem him a very contemptible creature. If you say that there's some excellency in the Bruits, I answer, True; but their usefulness is their chiefest excellency; And what is their use but to be a glass in which we may see the Lord, and to be serviceable to man in his passage to Eternity? They are not capable of Knowing, or Loving, or enjoying God themselves: but they are useful to man that is capable of this; and so they have an everlasting end, and this is their Excellency. And therefore the Atheist that denyeth an everlasting life to man, doth bring himself into a far baser state then the bruits are in. For the bruits have an everlasting end, in promoting the happiness of man: But if man have no everlasting end himself, there is no other whose everlasting happiness he can promote. The unbeliever therefore doth debase his own soul and the whole creation: And faith and holiness advance the soul and all things with it, that are useful to our advancement. The true Believer honoureth his horse, his dog, his food and rayment, and the earth he treadeth on, and every creature, incomparably more than the Infidel doth honour his own or any others soul, or then he honoureth the greatest prince on earth. For the Believer useth all things, even the vilest in reference to Eternity; but the Infidel useth his life and soul but to a transitory end; and takes the greatest Prince on earth to be but for a transitory use. And as Eternity is unvalualbe in comparison of time, so the use and excellency that a Believer doth ascribe to a bit of bread or the basest creature in the sanctified improvement of it, is ten thousand times, even unspeakably above the use and excellency that an Unbeliever ascribeth to his soul or to his Prince. He that stampeth the Image of a Dog or a Toad upon gold instead of the Image of the Prince, and would have ten thousand pounds-worth goe but for a farthing, doth not by a thousand degrees so much debase the gold as the Infidel doth debase his soul and all things. Infidelity is guilty of the destruction of all souls, and the destruction of all mercies, and the destruction of all Divine Revelations, of all graces, of all ordinances, and means, and of the destruction of the whole creation that was made for man: For he that destroyeth the End, destroyeth all the means: But the Infidel destroyeth and denyeth the end of every one of these, and Holiness only doth give them up and use them to their ends.
1. He is guilty of the destruction of all souls: For as much as in him lies they are destroyed, while they are all made useless to the End for which they were created. If there be no other life and happiness Everlasting, what are souls good for? what is the Reasonable creature good for? Is it to be Happy here? In what? Here is no happiness. Is it in eating and drinking and sleeping? why these are to strengthen us for our service which tendeth to our end▪ and therefore cannot be themselves our end. Is it not better be without either meat or drink or sleep in point of Happiness, so be it we also were without the need of them, then to need them and have them for our need, especially with the care and trouble which they cost us? I had an hundred times rather for my part, if it were lawful to desire it, never have meat, or drink, or sleep, and be without the need of them, as I had rather be without a sore, then to have a plaister that will ease it, and be every day at the pains to dress it. Brutes have some advantage in these above men, in that they have not the care, and fear, and sorrow of mind as we have, in the getting or keeping what they have or need. If you go downward, and say that men are made to govern brutes, then what are brutes made for, unless to dung the earth? and so the basest shall be the end of the noblest, and God may be as wisely said to be for man, because he is to govern him. Truely if there were no Everlasting life, but man were a meer terrestrial animal, I had rather never have been born, or should wish I had never been a man: I knew not what to do with my self, nor how to imploy the faculties of my soul or body, but they would all seem to me as useless things. What should I do with my Reason▪ if I had no higher an end then beasts? what should I do with a mind that knoweth that there is a God▪ and another world, and that is capable of desiring him, seeking and enjoying him, if it must be frustrated of all? what should I do with a heart thats capable of the Love of God and delighting in his Love, if I have no God to Love and delight in when this life is ended? why have I a heart that so desireth him, in fuller vision and fruition, if I be capable of no such thing? what then should I do with my time and life? verily I know not, if I were fully of this sad opinion, whether I should turn brute in my life agreeably to my judgement, or whether I should make an end of my life to be eased of a useless burden; but confident I am I should not know what to do with my self; I should be like a poor cashiered Souldier, or like one turned out of his Service, that knew not where to have work and wages: And if you found me standing all day idle, I must give you the reason, because no man hath hired me. What do those wretches do with their lives, that think they have no God to serve and seek, or future happiness to attain? As men use to say of naughty Ministers, so may I say of all mankind according to the Doctrine of the Infidels: A sorry Taylor may make a Botcher, or a bad Shoomaker may make a Cobler, and a broken Mercer may be a Pedler; but a naughty Priest is good for nothing (And its true of him as such) and as Christ himself saith, Matth. 5. 13, 14. Yee are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men: yee are the light of the world: men do not light a candle to put it under a bushel. So I say of the Reasonable Creature: The grass is useful for the beasts: The beasts are serviceable unto man: A swine that cannot serve you living, is useful being dead. But if there were no God to seek and serve, and no life but this for us to hope for, for ought I know man were good for nothing: What were Light good for if there were no eyes? or eyes if there were no light to see by? what is a Watch good for but to tell the hour of the day? All the curious parts and workmanship of it, is worth no more then the mettal is worth, if it be not useful to its proper end. And what Reason, and will, and affections in man are good for, I know not, if not to seek, to please and to enjoy the Lord! Take off this poise, and all the wheels of my soul must stand still, or else do worse.
2. The Infidel and ungodly man that looks not after an Etern lend, destroyeth all the mercies of God, and makes them as no mercies at all: Creation and our Being is a mercy: but it is in order to our Eternal end. Redemption by Christ is an unspeakable mercy▪ but its denyed by the Infidel, and rejected by the Ungodly: what is Christ worth, and all his mediation, if there be no life for man but this? Peace and Liberty, health and life, friends and neighbours, food and rayment, are all mercyes to us, as a ship and sails are to the Mariner, or a fair way, or Horse, or Inn to a Traveller: But if by denying our Eternal end, you make our voyage or our journey vain, these mercies then are little worth: no more then a ship on the land, or a plow in the sea, or a horse to him that hath no use for him. And O what an ungrateful wretch is that who will deny all the mercies of God to himself, and to all others! For once deny the use and the Eternal end, and you deny the mercy.
3. He that believeth not, or seeks not after an Eternal end, destroyeth all the Doctrine, Law and Government of God: For all is but to lead us to this end. All the holy Scriptures, the precepts of Christ and his holy example, the Covenant of Grace, the gifts and miracles of the Holy Ghost, the light and law of Nature it self, are all to bring us to our Eternal end: And therefore he that denyeth that end, doth cancel them all, and cast them by as useless things.
4. And he denyeth all the Graces of the Spirit: For what use is there for Faith, if the object of it be a falshood? what use for Hope, if there be no life to be Hoped for? what use for holy desires and love, if God be not to be enjoyed? Grace is but the delusion and deformity of the soul, if the Infidel and ungodly be in the right.
5. They destroy also All the means of our Salvation, if they deny Salvation which is the End. To what purpose should men study, or read, or hear, or pray, or use either Sacraments or any other means, for an End that is not to be had? To what end should men obey or suffer, for any such end thats not attainable?
6. Yea they do let loose the soul to sin, and take off all essectual restraint. If there be no Eternal end, and no Reward or Punishment but here, what can effectually hinder the men of this opinion from stealing, whoredome, or any villany when it may be done with secrecy? what should hinder the revengeful man from poisoning or secret murdering his enemy, or setting his house on fire in the night? If I know a man or woman that believes no life to come, I take it for granted they are revengeful, thieves, deceivers, fornicators, or any thing that is bad, if they have but temptation and secret opportunity. For what hath he to seek but the pleasing of his flesh, that thinks he hath no God to seek or please, or no future reward or punishment to expect? He that confesseth himself an Infidel, to me, doth confess himself to be in all things else as bad as ever he can or dare. Honesty is renounced by that man or woman that profess themselves to be Atheists or Infidels: Methinks in congruency with their profession they should take it for a wrong to be called or reputed honest! If you tell me that Heathens had a kind of Honesty; I must tell you again that most Heathens believed the Immortality of the soul, and that kind of seeming Honesty which they had was only in those of them that thus expected a life to come. But those that believe not another life where man is to have his punishment and reward, have nothing like to Honesty in them, but live like greedy ravenous beasts, where they are from under the Laws and Government of them that look for another life. The Cannibals that eat mens flesh, and some such savages as they, are the Nations that expect no life but this. It is believed so commonly by all the civil Infidels and Turks, as shews it to be a principle that nature doth reveal.
7. Yea the whole Creation that is within the sight of man is destroyed opinionatively by the Infidels that look for no Immortal life: For all things were made to further our Salvation: the Heavens to declare the Glory of God, and the sirmament to shew his handy work, and all Creatures to be our Glass in which we must behold the Lord, and our Book in which we must read and learn his nature and his will. The sun duplicate page duplicate page is to light us, and maintain our Life, and the Life of other lower Creatures, while we prepare for Immortality: The earth is to bear us, and to bear fruit for us; and the Trees and Plants and every Creature to accommodate and serve us, while we serve the Lord and pass on to Eternity. And therefore the Atheist that denyeth us our Eternity, denyeth the usefulness of all the world; what were all the Creatures here good for, if there were no men? the earth would be a wilderness, and the beasts would for the most part perish, for want of sustenance, and all would be like a forsaken Cottage that no man dwelleth in, and doth no good; And if man be not the Heir of Immortality, they can do him no good. All Creatures are but our provision in the way to this Eternity: And therefore if there were no Eternity, what should we do with them? what should we do with wayes, and pavements, or with Inns for Travellers, or with horses or other provision for our journey, if there were no travelling that way? And who will travel to a place that is not, or a City that is nowhere but in his brains, besides a mad man? Its evident therefore that as all the tools in a workmans shop, are made useless to him if he be forbidden to use his trade, and all the books in my Library are useless, if I may not read them to get knowledge; so all Creatures under Heaven are made useless and destroyed doctrinally by the Atheist, that thinks there is no Eternal life for which they should be used. I must seriously profess if I believed this (being in other things of the mind I am) I knew not what to do with any thing. What should I do with my Books, but to learn the way to this Eternity? what should I do with my money, if there be no treasure to be laid up in Heaven, nor friends to be made with the Mammon abused commonly to unrighteousness? what should I do with my Tongue, my Hands, my Time, my Life, my Self, or any thing, if there were no Eternity? I think I should dig my grave, and lay me down in it and die and perish, to scape the sorrows of a longer life that must be my companions.
Remember then Christians, and still remember it, that Eternity is the matter of your Faeith and Hope! Eternity is your portion and felicity! Eternity is the End of all your desires, and labours, and distresses! Eternity is your Religion, and the Life of all your holy motions; and as without the Capacity of it, you would be but beasts, so without the Love and Desire of it, and title to it, you would be but wicked miserable men. Set not your hearts on transitory things, while you stand near unto Eternity. How can you have room for so many thoughts on fading things, when you have an Eternity to think on? what light can you see in the Candles or Glowworms of this world, in the Sunshine of Eternity? Oh remember when you are tempted to please your eyes, your tast, and sensual desires, that these are not Eternal pleasures! Remember when you are tempted for wealth or honour to wrong your souls, that these are not the Eternal riches! Houses and Lands are not Eternal! meats and drinks are not Eternal! sports and pastimes, and jocund sinful company are not Eternal! Alas, how short! how soon do they vanish into nothing! But it is God, and our dear Redeemer that are Eternal! The flower of beauty withereth with age, or by the nipping blast of a short disease; the honours of the world are but a dream; your graves will bury all its glory. Down comes the Prince, the Lord, the gallant, and suddenly takes his lodgings in the dust. The corps that was pampered and adorned yesterday, is a clod to day. The body that was bowed to, attended and applauded but the other day, is now interred in the vault of darkness, with worms and moles. To day it is corruption and a most loathsome thing, that lately was dreaming of an earthly happiness. One day he is striving for riches and preheminences, or glorying and rejoycing in them, that the next day may be snatcht away to hell. O fix not your minds on fading things, that perish in the using, and by their vanishing mock you that set your hearts upon them. You will not fix your eye and mind upon every bird that flyeth by you, as you will on the houses that you must dwell in: nor will you mind every passenger, as you will do your friends that still live with you. And shall transitory vanity be minded by you above Eternity?
3. It is Eternity that must direct you in your estimate of all things. It is this that sheweth you the excellency of man above the beasts: It is this that tells you the worth of Grace, and the weight of sin, the preciousness of holy Ordinances and helps, and the evil of hinderances and temptations; the wisdome of the choice and diligence of the Saints, and the folly of the choice, and negligent, sinful lives of the ungodly; the worth of Gods favour, and the vanity of mans; and the difference between the godly and the unsanctified world, in point of Happiness.
Were no… Grace the egg, the seed, the earnest of an Eternal glory, it were not so glorious a thing. But O how precious are all those thoughts, desires, delights and breathings of the soul, that bring us on to sweet Eternity! Even those sorrows, and groans, and tears are precious that lead to an Eternal joy! Who would not willingly obey the holy motions of the holy Spirit, that is but hatching and preparing us for Eternity! This is it that makes a Bible, a Sermon, a holy Book, to be of greater value then Lands and Lordships. It is Eternity that makes the illuminated soul so fearful of sinning, so diligent in holy duties, so chearful and resolved in suffering, because he believeth it is all for an Eternity. A Christian in the holy Assemblies, and in his reading, learning, prayer, conference, is laying up for Everlasting, when the worldling in the Market, in the field or shop, is making provision for a few dayes or hours: Thou gloriest in thy Riches and preheminence now, but how long wilt thou do so? To day that house, that land is thine; but canst thou say, it shall be thine to morrow? Thou canst not: But the Believer can truly say, My God, my Christ, is mine to day, and will be mine to all Eternity! O Death! thou canst take my friends from me, and my worldly riches from me, and my time, and strength, and life from me! but take my God, my Christ, my Heaven, my Portion from me, if thou canst! My sin is all thy sting and strength! But where is thy sting when sin is gone? and where is thy strength when Christ hath conquered thee? Is it a great matter that thou deprivest me of my sinful weak and troublous friends, when against thy will thou bringest me to my perfect blessed friends with whom I must abide for ever! Thou dost indeed bereave me of these Riches; but it is that I may possess the unvaluable Eternal riches! Thou endest my Time, that I may have Eternity! Thou castest me down that I may be exalted! Thou takest away my strength of life, that I may enter into Life Eternal! And is this the worst that Death can do? And shall I be afraid of this? I willingly lay by my cloaths at night, that I may take my rest, and I am not loth to put off the old when I must put on new. The bird that is hatcht is not grieved because he must leave the broken shell. Nor is it the grief of man or beast that he hath left the womb! Death doth but open the womb of Time, and let us into Eternity, and is the second birth day of the soul. Regeneration brings us into the Kingdom of Grace; and Death into the Kingdom of Glory. Blessed are they that have their part in the New birth of Grace and the first Resurrection from the death of sin; for to such the Natural Death will be Gain; and they shall have their part in the second Resurrection, and on them the everlasting Death shall have no power. O sirs, it is Eternity that telleth you what you should mind, and be, and do! and that turneth the seales in all things where it is concerned. Can you sl…ep in sin so neer Eternity! Can you play and laugh before you are prepared for Eternity! Can you think him wise that selleth his eternal Joy for the ease, the mirth, the pleasure of a moment! and trifleth away the time in which he must win or lose Eternity! If these men be wise, there are n… fools! nor any but wise men in Bedlam! Dare thy tongue report, or thy heart imagine, that any holy work is needless, or a heavenly life too much adoe, or any suffering too dear, that is for an Eternity! O happy souls that win Eternity with the loss of all the world! O bless that Christ, that spirit, that light, that word, that messenger of God, that drew thy heart to choose Eternity before all transitory things! That was the day when thou beganst to be wise, and indeed to shew thy self a man! Thy wealth, thy honour, thy pleasure will be thine when the sensual world hath nothing to shew, but sin and Hell, of all they laboured for. Their pleasures, honours, and all die, when they die; But thine will then begin their perfection! The Hopes of the ungodly are like an addle egge that when it is broken sends forth nothing but an odious stink, when another sends forth the living bird; O all you worldlings, rich and poor, you dream, you play, you trif…le, because you labour not for Eternity! Even worldly Princes, and Nobles of the earth, your glory is but a squib, a flash, a nothing, in comparison of the Eternal glory which you lose; you are doing Nothing when you are …iving for the world, you are trifling and befooling your …mmortal souls while you are grasping a shaddow, the uncer…in Riches … is the Believer whom you despise, that seeks … something, th… loseth not his labour, that shews himself a …an of reason, who is caring, and studying, and labouring, and … watching, and suffering for Eternity; why is a … courts of God, so much better then a thousand in … o… palaces of wickedness, but because it is the Ex… where we have News of Heaven, and trade for an Eternity? And why is it better to be a door keeper in the … of God, then to floursh in the prosperity of sinners, but because Gods house is the porch or entrance of an Eternity … delights, and the lowest room among the saints affords us a better prospect into Heaven, then the Highest state of worldly …! The ungodly are neer to cutting down when they flourish in their greatest glory, Psal. 37. 2, 20. Stay but a little, and h… that flourisheth will be withered and cast into the fire, and the Righteous shall see it when he is out off, and shall seek him, but he is not to be found, vers. 34, 35, 36, 38. For the enemies of God, and all that are far from him shall perish, Psal. 92. 9. & 13. 27. their desire shall perish, Psal. 112. 10. their hope shall perish, Prov. 11. 7. Job 8. 13. their way shall perish, Psal. 1. 6. and himself and all that they sought, and loved, and delighted in, shall perish, Job 20. 7. 2 Pet. 2. 12. Rom. 2. 12. Heb. 1. 11. Even the visible Heavens and Earth, which they abused, shall be consumed with fire. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking towards and waiting for the coming and appearance of our Lord! 2 Pet. 3. 11. Shall any man be accounted w…le, that is not wise for Eternal happiness? shall any man be counted Happy that must be most miserable to Eternity? In the name of God, Christian, I charge thee to hold on, and look to thy soul, thy words, thy wayes, for it is for Eternity. O play not, loyter not, do nothing by the halves in the way to Eternity! Let the careless world do what they will; they despise, and know not what they do despise; they neglect, and know not what they do neglect; but thou that seekest, and labourest, and waitest, knowest what thou seekest, and labourest and waitest for. They sin and and know not what they do. They know not what they are treasuring up for an Eternity. But t…n knowest why thou …test, and avoidest sin.
Sinners, be awakened by the Call of God; Do you know where you are, and what you do? You are every man of you stepping into Eternity? Will you sin away, will you loyter away, will you sell-for nothing, an Eternal Glory? Is thy sinful lust, and gain, and mirth, and gluttony and excess of drink, a price to set upon Eternity? If Heaven be no more worth to thee, art thou not as bad as Judas, that for thirty pieces of silver would sell his Lord? O Eternity, Eternity, what hearts have they that can so forget thee, neglect thee, and disesteem thee, when they stand so neer thee! O sleepy souls! do you never use to rub your eyes, and look before you towards Eternity? And doth it not amaze you to see whither it is that you are going? Merrily you run down the Hill; but where's the bottom! If you look but down from the top of a steeple, it may occasion an amazing fear; what then should it cause in you to look down into Hill, which is your Eternity? No good can possibly be small that is Eternal; And no hurt or pain can be called little that is Eternal: An Eternal tooth-ake, or an Eternal gowt, or stone, or feaver, were a misery unspeakable; But O what are these to an Eternal loss of Heaven, and to an Eternal sense of the burning wrath of God Almighty! To be out of Heaven a day, and in Hell that day, is a misery now unknown to sinners; But if it were as many thousand years as the earth hath sands, it were a greater Misery; But to be there for Ever, doth make the Misery past all Hope, and all conceiving. O me thinks the very name of Eternity, should frighten the drunkard out of the Alehouse, and the sleepy sinner out of his security, and the lustful, sportful, voluptuous sinner out of his sensual delights! Methinks the very name of Eternity, should call off the worldling to seek betime a more enduring treasure, and should take down the gallants pride, and bring men to look after other matters then the most do look after. Me thinks to hear the name of Eternity should with men of any faith and reason, even blast all the beauty, and blurre the glory, and sadden the delights, and weaken the temptations of the world, and make all its pleasure, pomp and splendour, to be to our apprehensions as a smoak, a shaddow, as the dirt that we tread upon. Methinks to hear the name of Eternity, should lay so odious a reproach on sin, and so nakedly open the folly, and shame and misery of the ungodly, and so lively shew the need, and worth of faith and Holiness, that men should be soon resolved in their choice, and soon be at the end of an ungodly course, and need no more words to make them the resolved servants of the Lord, before to morrow. O me thinks, that a thought of Eternity, should with a Believer, answer all temptations, and put life into all his prayers and endeavours! If we were never so cold, or dull, or sleepy, one would think a serious thought of Eternity should warm us, quicken us, and awake us! ▪O Christians, shall we hear carelesly or speak carelesly of Eternity? shall we pray coldly, or labour negligently for Eternity! O what an Ocean of Joy will Eternity be unto the sanctified! It hath neither banks nor bottom. O what a gulf of misery, and woe, will Eternity be to the ungodly! wonderful! that on their dying beds they quake not with the horrour, and that they cry not out with greatest lamentation, to think what a bottomless gulf of misery their departing souls must be cast into! To be for Ever, Ever, Ever, under the most heavy wrath of God! This is the appointed wages of ungodliness; This is the end of wicked wayes; This is it that sinners chose, because they would not live to God! This they preferred, or ventured on, before a holy heavenly life! And this is it that Believers are labouring to escape in all their holy care and diligence! It is an Infinite value that is put upon the blood of Christ, the promises of God, the ordinances and means of Grace, and grace it self, and the poorest duties of the poorest Saints, because they are for an Infinite, Eternal glory. No Mercy is small that tasts of Heaven (as all doth or should do to the Believer.) No action is low that aims at Heaven. And O how lively should the Resolutions and courage of those men be, that are travelling, sighting, and watching for Eternity! How full should be their Comforts, that are fetcht from the foresight of Infinite Eternal Comforts! As all things will presently be swallowed up in Eternity, so methinks the present apprehension of Eternity should now swallow up all things else in the soul.
Object. But (saith the Unbeliever) if God have made man for Eternity, it is a wonder that there are no more lively Impressions of so Infinite a thing upon the souls of all! Our sense of it is so small, that it makes me doubt whether we are made for it.
Answ. Consider, 1. That benummedness, and sleep and death, is the very state of an unholy soul! Hast thou cast thy self into a sleepy senseless disease, and wilt thou argue thence against Eternity? This is as if the blind should conclude that there is no Sun, or that the eye of man was not made to see it, because he hath no sight himself! Or as if you should think that man hath not any life or feeling, because your palsie limbs do not feel! Or that the stomack was not made for meat, because the stomacks of the sick abhor it!
2. And for believers, 1. You may see by their lives that they have some apprehensions of Eternity: why else do they differ from you, and deny themselves, and displease the world and the flesh it self? why do they set their hearts above, if they have not lively thoughts of an Eternity!
2. But if you aske me, Why their apprehensions are not a thousand times more lively about so Infinite a thing; I answer, 1. Their Apprehensions must be suitable to their State. Our state here is a state of Imperfection; and so will our apprehensions be; But a perfect state will have perfect apprehensions. It is no proof that the Infant in the womb is not made to come into this world, and see the Sun, and converse with men, because he hath no apprehensions of it. Our state here is a conjunction of the soul to a frail distempered body; and so neer a conjunction, that the actions of the soul must have great dependance on the Body; And therefore our Apprehensions are limited by its frailty; and the soul can go no higher then the capacity of the Body will allow; 2. And our Apprehensions now are fitted to our Use and benefit; We are now Believers, and must live by faith: And therefore must not be Beholders, and live by sense. If Eternity were open to mens Natural sight, or we had here as clear and lively apprehensions of it, as those have that are there, then it were not thanks, no praise to us to be believers, or to obey, and live as Saints! And then God should not Govern man as man here in the way by a Law, but as a beast by sense, or as the glorified that have possession. Where there are perfect Apprehensions of God and Glory, there will be also perfect Love, and Joy, and Praise, and consequently perfect Happiness; and this were to make Earth and Heaven, the way and the end to be all one. Perfect apprehensions are kept for a perfect state of Happiness. But here it is well if we have such Apprehensions as are fitted to the use of travellers and soldiers as will carry us on, and prevail against the difficulties of our course. If you had never been at London, you could not have any such clear Apprehensions of the place, as those that see it have; And yet your imperfect Apprehensions might be sufficient to make you take a journey thither, and you may come as safely and certainly to it, as if you had seen it. Moreover, the body, the brain, which the soul in Apprehending now makes use of, cannot bear such Apprehensions as are suitable to the thousandth part of the greatness of the object, without distraction. The smallest eye may see the sun, but the greatest cannot endure to gaze upon its Glory; much less if it were at the neerest approach. Its a mercy o… mercies to give us such Apprehensions of Eternity, as are meet for passengers to bring us thither; and it is part of our Mercy that those Apprehensions are not so great as to distract and over whelm us.
4. Lastly, The Eternity of God must teach the soul contentedness and patience under all labours, changes, sufferings and dangers that are here below. Believing Soul, draw neer; look seriously on Eternity, and try whether it will not make such Impressions as these upon thee. Art thou weary of Labours, either of the mind or body? Is not Eternity long enough for thy Rest? Canst thou not afford to work out the day light of this life, when thou must Rest with Christ to all Eternity? Canst thou not run with patience so short a race, when thou lookest to so long a Rest? Canst thou not watch one hour with Christ, that must Reign with him to all Eternity? Dost thou begin to shrinke at sufferings for Christ, when thou must be in Glory with him for ever? How short is the suffering? how long is the Reward? Dost thou begin to think hatdly of the dealing of the Lord, because his people are here afflicted, and made the scorn and by-word of the world? why is not Eternity long enough for God to shew his Love and bounty to his people in? Is not the day at hand, when Lazarus and the Rich worldling both must hear [But now he is comforted, and th…n art tormented] Luk. 16. 25. Did not that [Now] c…me …me enough which was the entrance of Eternity? Even Jesus the Author and perfecter of our saith, for the Joy that was …t before him, endured the Cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God! consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, l…st y… be w…ied and saint in your minds] Heb. 12. 2, 3. D…st … the prosperity of the wicked, and prevalency of the Churches Enemies! Look then unto Eternity, and …e whether that be not long enough, for the … a…d the wicked to be tormented. Wouldst … their time? Dost thou begin to … of Christ, o… the truth of his promises, because he doth …? O what is a thousand years to Eternity! is there not yet time enough before thee, for Christ to make good all his promises in! Were not those Disciples sharply but justly rebuked as [Fools and slow of heart to believe] that when their Lord had been but two dayes dead, were unbelievingly saying [We hoped this had been he that should have redeemed Israel?] O Remember, Christian, in all thy darkness and ignorance of the difficult passages of Scripture, or of Providence, that the things that are chained to Eternity, cannot be perfectly understood by him that standeth in an inch of time: but when Eternity comes, thou shalt understand them. Remember when things seems crooked in this world, and the best are lowest, and the worst are highest, that Eternity is long enough to set all straight. Remember when sinners crow and triumph, that Eternity is long enough for their complaints! In thy poverty, and pain, and longest afflictions, remember that Eternity is long enough for thy relief. If thy sorrow be long, and thy comforts short, remember that Eternity is long enough for thy Joyes. Cannot we be content to take up short in this life, when we believe Eternity? Dost thou stagger at the length or strength of thy temptations? and art thou ready duplicate page duplicate page duplicate page duplicate page to draw back and venture upon sin? why what Temptation can there be, that should not be lighter then a feather, if Eternity be put against it in the scales? In a Word, if there be any man that escapeth the foolish seductions of this world, and useth it as not abusing it, and hath all his worldly accommodations as if he had none, it is he that fixeth his eye upon Eternity, and seeth that the fashion of these lower things doth pass away, 1 Cor. 7. 29, 30, 31. No man can be ignorant of the Necessity and worth of a Holy life, that discerneth that the Eternal God is the End of it. The right Apprehensions of Gods Eternity, (supposing him our End, which is further to be manifested in its place) is a most powerful antidote against all sin, and a most powerful composer of a distempered mind, and a most powerful means to keep up all the powers of the soul in a resolute, vigorous, cheerful motion to the Eternal God for whom and by whom it was Created.