A Glimpse of Eternity, Chapter 10
CHAP. X. … Exhortation to Reſtrain from Sin, and Redeem Time.
BUT that which I would chiefly inſiſt upon, is, a Uſe of Exhortation; and there are ſeve…l things to which we are to be exhorted from this …ruth. As,
[1.] This ſhould (and being ſeriouſly conſidered …ight) be a moſt powerful reſtraint from ſin; there is a …o-fold eternity, one of happineſs, the other of miſery: … regard of both theſe, the malignant, deſtructive …ture of ſin appeareth.
Firſt, It depriveth of eternal happineſs; there is ne…r a ſin thou committeſt, never an oath thou ſwear…, never a lye thou telleſt, but thou runneſt a deſpe…te hazard of loſing God, thy ſoul, everlaſting happi…ſs, and whatſoever may be dear, and precious; and …ot only a deſperate Hazard, but without repentance … unavoidable Neceſſity; ſo as thou canſt have no hope of ever ſeeing the Lord in the Land of the living: ever taſting how good the Lord is, or having any p… tion in thoſe good things, which God hath provid… for his people; and is it not a prodigious madneſs loſe all this, for a baſe luſt? As the Drunkard doth … a pot of drink, the Covetous man, for a little thick clo… the Swearer, for juſt nothing: for a ſin, in whi… there is neither profit, pleaſure, eaſe, nor any thi… that might give any Satisfaction to the mind; Perh… ſome may think, If this be all, they may do well … nough:*Regnare nolo, ſufficit mihi ſalvum eſſe. As ſome St. Auſtin bringeth in ſpeakin… though I miſs of Heaven, I may do well enough in a lo… condition: wicked men now live without God … Chriſt in the world, and think themſelves well enou… without them: and therefore may think it no gr… miſery, not to be admitted into their preſence: th… care not now for the company of Godly men, but void it all they can, and ſo will think it no great mat… to be hereafter excluded their ſociety.
But ſuch ſhould do well to conſider, that the ti… is coming, when Heaven and Hell ſhall divide … world: as there are but two ſorts of men in the wor… Goats and Sheep, Chaff and Wheat, Righteous and Wi… ed; ſo there are but two places remaining for the… the Wheat to be gathered into Gods Garner, and … Chaff to be burnt with unquenchable fire; the S… to ſtand at Chriſts right hand, with a come ye bleſ… &c. the Goats at his left hand, with a go ye curſed, … Beſides theſe, there is no other place, no other con… tion remaining for men after this life; if thou lo… Heaven, Hell muſt be thy portion: And this ſhe… further, the deviliſh nature of ſin; it doth not o… deprive of Heaven, but without repentance, unavoi… ably throws the Soul into the jaws of Eternal Conde… nation: Some ſay, a Man and a Crocodile ſeldome, … never meet, but it is the death of one; It is certa… …n and the ſoul never meet, but one dyeth; either ſin …uſt dye now, or the ſoul dye eternally: if repentance …hat Spirit of burning, doth not burn our ſins, Hell …re will burn our Souls. If then thou makeſt no …reat matter of loſing Heaven, and being excluded the …reſence of God; think with thy ſelf, whether thou …eeſt able to lye for ever under the Arreſts of Gods Wrath; and to dwell with everlaſting burnings; Per…aps, thou art hardly able to bear thoſe temporal af…lictions now lying upon thee, and if thou haſt run with the foot-men, and they have wearied thee, how wilt thou be able to contend with Horſes? If thou …eeſt wearied out in this Land of peace, how wilt …hou do in the ſwellings of Jordan, where all the waves of God ſhall paſs over thee; where thou ſhalt …e like a Beacon on a hill, or an Enſign upon the moun…ain, expoſed to all the Storms, and Tempeſts of Gods Wrath? When therefore, thou findeſt thy ſelf …empted to any ſin, and thy heart ready to cloſe with …he temptation, pauſe a while, and propound to thy …elf, this unanſwerable Dilemma: If I yield to this …emptation, and commit this ſin, either I ſhall repent, …r not repent of it: If I do repent, and the beſt be …ade of it, may not the ſhort pleaſure of this one ſin …oſt me many dayes and weeks ſorrow: nay, perhaps …ake me go all my life, in the bitterneſs of my ſoul? …f I do not repent, wo to me that ever I committed it! will not this one ſin encreaſe the flames of my juſtly …eſerved torments? and add to thoſe treaſures of wrath … have been ſo long heaping up? Pachomius hath …his excellent ſaying, Above all things, let us every …ay think of our laſt day; Let us in time think of E…ernity, and what he preſſed upon others, he practiſed himſelf, and amongſt others found this advan…age by it; when any ſinful thought, or motion a…oſe in his heart, he ſuppreſſed it with the thoughts of Eternity; if it roſe and rebelled again, he knocked …t down with the thoughts of Eternal torments. The fool maketh a mock of ſin, (ſaith Salomon,) but wou… the fool conſider what ſin will coſt; would he th… kick againſt the pricks? would he be ſo fool-hard as to play with flames? and make a ſport of everlaſ… ing burnings? if that Saying ſo well known, were … well conſidered, that is acted in a moment, which mu… be mourned for to Eternity: and that other of Gregory, the ſin that pleaſeth is momentary, but the puniſhment it bringeth, is Eternal; we would rather chu… to leap into a Cauldron of ſcalding Lead, than wilingly commit any one ſin. Let this then be one Ʋſe w… make of this point, ſo to ſet the thoughts of Eterni… before us, that we might not ſin againſt God.
(2.) We ſhould be exhorted hence to ſpend our time wel… of all thoſe talents with which God hath entruſted u… there is none more precious, than that of Time. Go ordereth, That if two men ſtrive together, and one woun… the other, that he keepeth his Bed, he that wounded him m… as well pay for the loſs of his time, as for the cure of … wound (d)Exod. 21.19.; How little ſoever we make of the loſs of tim… God eſteemeth it among the greateſt loſſes.
We read of an admirable Viſion revealed to S… John (e)Rev. 10.1, 2, 3, 5, 6., He ſaw a mighty Angel, by which interpreters generally underſtand Chriſt the Angel of the Cov… nant; this Angel is ſaid to come down from Heaven, cloat… ed with a Cloud, and a Rainbow upon his head, havin… his Face as if it were the Sun, and his Feet as Pillars … Fire. All which ſheweth the tranſcendent Glory of his appearing; Who is ſaid to ſet his right Foot up… the Sea, and his left Foot upon the Earth: which notes his Univerſal Soveraignty over Sea and Land; He is ſaid to cry with a loud voice, as when a Lyon roareth; and to lift up his Hand to Heaven, and ſwear by him that liveth for ever and ever; and certainly i… muſt be a matter of ſome great concernment, that is uſhered in by ſo many remarkable circumſtances: men indeed ſometimes raiſe the expectations of people, when after a noiſe of the mountains bringing forth, a ridiculous mouſe creepeth out: but God doth not thus uſe to deceive the expectations of his people: ſuch great preparations as are here deſcribed, are always attended with ſome remarkable thing ſuitable to ſuch preparations; now what this great thing was, follows: He ſware by him that liveth for ever; that time ſhall be no longer; whether it be meant of time in general, as ſome contend, or of the time of Antichriſts rage, and the Churches ſuffering, as others think more probable, either ſerves to inform us of what great worth time is, and what a great puniſhment it is to be deprived of it.
Much more might be ſpoken of the preciouſneſs of time, as that it is the fruit of Chriſts purchaſe; that doom paſſed upon Adam, in the day thou eateſt thereof, thou ſhalt dye the death, had been immediately upon his ſin put in execution, had not God given Chriſt to interpoſe between his wrath and mans ſin: that there was any time given him; it was not only through Gods indulgence, but through the purchaſe of Chriſts blood.
But to come more near the buſineſs in hand; the preciouſneſs of time chiefly appeareth, in regard of what dependeth upon it; all things receive their worth and value, from what dependeth on them, and the Uſe they may be put to: A Bond, or a mans Will, as it is a piece of written Parchment, is ſcarce worth one ſhilling, yet an Eſtate of many thouſands may depend upon them: therefore men are as careful of them, as of their choiceſt Jewels. In like manner, time, though, as ſimply conſidered in its ſelf, it be not ſo precious, yet is it infinitely precious in regard of what depends upon it; what more neceſſary than repentance? yet that depends upon time, I gave her ſpace to repent of her Fornications (ſ)Rev. 2.21.; what more deſireable than the favour of God? This depend upon time, and is therefore called the acceptable time (g)Iſa. 49.8.What more excellent than ſalvation? this likewiſe depends upon time, Now is the accepted time, now is the day of ſalvation (h)2 Cor. 6.4., Pythagoras ſaith, that Time is the ſoul of Heaven; we may rather ſay that it is the way to Heaven, the Pledge and earneſt of Salvation (i)Pignus & arrha coeli.: But to come more near, what can there be of more weight and moment than eternity? it is (as was before aſſerted) the Heaven of Heaven, and the very Hell of Hell; without which, neither would Heaven he ſo deſirable, nor Hell ſo formidable; Now this depends upon Time. Time is the Prologue to Eternity; the great weight of Eternity hangs upon the ſmall wire of Time; whether ou… time here be longer, or ſhorter; upon the ſpending of this, dependeth either the bliſſe or the bane of body and ſoul to eternity: This is our ſeed-time, eternity is the harveſt; whatſoever ſeed we ſow, whether of ſin, or grace, it cometh up in eternity; whatſeever a man ſoweth, the ſame ſhall he reap, this is our market time, in which, if we be wiſe Merchants we may make a happy exchange of Earth for Heaven of a Valley of tears, for a Paradiſe of delights: I… is our working time; I muſt work the work of him that ſent me, whilſt it is day, the night cometh when no man can work (k)John 9.4., according as the work is we do now, ſuch will be our wages in Eternity: It is the time of our reprival, being all in a ſtate of condemnation, bor… heirs of Hell; God is pleaſed to give us this time to make us our peace, and ſue out our pardon; if we improve it to this end, we may not only flee from the wrath to come, but provide for our ſelves a wide and large entrance into Heaven; but if we miſ-ſpend this term, it is ſo a forbearing, that it is alſo an augmentation of our puniſhment; the longer we live, the more wrath do we treaſure up: Gods wrath is like a great bell, that is long in raiſing, but being up, it gives a dreadful ſound: The Heathen Poet could ſay, Gods Mill is not preſently going, but when it goeth, it grinds all to duſt and pouder (l)foreign.: if we ravel out this time in idleneſs and vanity, it would have been better for us we had never had it, better if we had been ſent to Hell as ſoon as ever we beheld the light of Heaven. Infinitely therefore doth it concern us to improve this time to the end it is given us, to agree with our adverſary quickly while we are in the way, leſt he deliver us to the judge, and we be caſt into Priſon, to lie there till we have paid the uttermoſt farthing; in the ordinary paſſages of our lives, we do more or leſs eſteem of time, as the buſineſs that depends upon it, is of more or leſs conſequence. When we are caſt into ſtraits of time, and have ſome buſineſs of great concernment, which muſt be done in that time, or not done at all; in this caſe we account every minut precious, and had rather loſe a whole day at another time, than an hour now; thus this preſent time being given us to make proviſion for Eternity; every parcel of time is as much worth, as Heaven is worth, and Eternity is worth; ſome one hour of time in regard of the concernment of it, may be as much, and much more than all that eternity of duration which we are to enter upon after this life; one hour rightly improved, may procure more favour from God, and more mercy to our ſouls, than we can ever hope to attain, during that infinite duration that doth await us; one ſigh flowing from a broken heart, one penitent tear falling from the eye, may through mercy prevail to diſcharge that great debt of ſin, which all the flames in Hell cannot expiate to all eternity. How ſtrongly then ſhould that foundation be laid, that hath ſuch a building as Eternity to be built upon it? How carefully ſhould that anchor be caſt, that is entruſted with a veſſel ſo richly laden, as our everlaſting condition?
Bellarmine telleth of an Ʋniverſity, where thoſe, who were to proceed Doctors, had certain hard queſtions given them to reſolve: and four and twenty hours allowed them to ſtudy for their anſwer, and according to the reſolution they gave, they were either to receive their degree with honour and applauſe, or to be ſent away with ſhame; and thoſe probationers, a… he obſerveth, would for that time ſequeſter themſelves from company, ſhut up themſelves in their ſtudy, ſcarce allowing themſelves time to eat, or ſleep ſpending the whole time in ſtudying to reſolve thoſ… queſtions: The time we here ſpend, whether longer or ſhorter, is given us by God to provide for our everlaſting condition; and ſeeing upon the improvemen… of this time dependeth an eternity, either of bliſs o… woe, what manner of perſons ought we to be? how careful to paſs the time of our ſojourning here? Suppoſe a man by ſome miſdemeanour had forfeited hi… eſtate and life, and that upon much interceſſion hi… Prince ſhould cauſe an hour-glaſs to be turned, an… ſet him ſome work to do, telling him, if he ſpent tha… hour well, he ſhould not only be freed from death but ſhould be advanced to ſome great preferment; … he loitered away that time, he ſhould be put to e… quiſite tortures; it is not to be doubted, but ſuch a… one would improve that hour to the uttermoſt of h… power, an hour is not ſo little to a mans whole life, a… this life is to eternity; yet upon the ſpending of this dependeth our everlaſting weal, or woe; eternal life is now either gotten or for ever loſt; and if this were ſeriouſly conſidered, it would be a forcible motive to make us walk circumſpectly, not as fools, but as wiſe, redeeming the time; though time it ſelf laſt not, yet whatſoeve… is everlaſting dependeth upon it, and therefore ſhoul… be carefully improved to the beſt advantage.