A Glimpse of Eternity, Chapter 4
(t)Luk. 16.23, 24.CHAP. IV. Of the Sublimeneſs of Eternity, as Tranſcending all Expreſſion, Knowledge (of it ſelf, or meaſure) and all Imagination.
HAving diſpatched the firſt Doctrine, That things wich are not ſeen, are eternal: I proceed to the ſecond.
Doct. 2. That which puts the greateſt weight upon things not ſeen, and makes them the proper objects of a Chriſtians aim, and choice, is, becauſe they are eternal: Though if theſe, and things ſeen were weighed together, there were many other conſiderables, that would give the precedence to things not ſeen: yet that which Chiefly caſts the ſcale, and maketh things not Seen to preponderate, is, becauſe they are Eternal. This the Apoſtle layes down as the Reaſon why they …ooked at theſe, not at the other, becauſe the other are temporal, but theſe eternal; it is Eternity that main…y makes the difference, and puts an infinite weight upon the unſeen things of another life: ſo that I am here to ſpeak of the grand importance and concernment of Eternity. But I ſhall ſay of this, as Bonaventure did upon another ſubject, I am not worthy, not able ſo much as to unty the ſhooe-latchet of ſo great a Myſtery. It …s a myſtery of a ſublime and tranſcendent nature, as I ſhall ſhew in Three particulars.
1 It tranſcendeth all expreſſion; all that is, or can be ſpoken of it, falls ſhort of what it is in its ſelf; what Auguſtine ſaith of God, that St. John himſelf doth not ſpeak of God, as God is, may not improperly be ſpoken of Eternity: could I ſpeak with the tongue of men and Angels, I were not able rightly to expreſs it: when we ſpeak of it, we ſpeak as we can, not as it is: as children when they begin to ſpeak, liſpe and ſtammer, ſpeak half words, and broken ſentences, ſo it is with us; when I was a Child I ſpake as a Child, ſaith the Apoſtle[x]1 Cor. 13.11., It is ſpoken of that imperfect knowledge we here attain unto, which as it holdeth good in other things, much more in this of Eternity; ſaith Drexellius, whatſoever is ſpoken of Eternity, is fa… leſſe than it is; we are hardly able to ſay what time is▪ the Philoſopher defines it to be the meaſure of motion, o… motion according to the former and latter parts of it but others find fault with this, affirming, that time i… the meaſure of Reſt as well as Motion; the Platoniſt… ſay, that Time is Eternity limited: but this is to ſet out that which is obſcure by a greater obſcurity, for we have a more clear notion of Time, than of Eternity; they ſpeak more properly, that ſay, it is a continued flux o… minutes, hours, days, months and years, from the beginning of the world to the end of it; yet ſome think this doth not fully expreſs it. Euſebieus ſaith[z]Oratio in laudem Conſtantini., that part of time which is called foreign, or the preſent time, cannot be comprehended, much leſs time future, or time paſt, for that is not, and this is paſt; then adds, the preſent time paſſeth away more ſwiftly than either word or thought: neither can it be taken for an inſtant, for either we muſt neceſſarily expect things to come, or conſider things paſt, and an inſtant flyeth away as ſwift as thought: Auguſtine ſtrugleth about it as a Bird in a ſtring, he ſaith he knoweth it, yet confeſſeth he knows it not, he knoweth enough to hold his peace, but knoweth not enough to ſpeak; and if it be ſo hard to ſay what time is, much more to deſcribe Eternity: and ſo Euſebius infers from what he had ſaid of Time; therefore man cannot comprehend Eternity and Everlaſtingneſs: the higheſt Oratory, the loftieſt ſtrains of Rhetorick are not able to reach it; they ſay, a fair face is ſeldome drawn but with diſadvantage: the Painter going about to draw the Picture of Helena, as not being able to expreſs her beauty to the life, drew her face covered with a Vail, leaving the beholder to …onceive what he was not able to expreſs, the like are …e forced to do, when we ſpeak of Eternity. The …ruth is, when we would ſpeak of it, we can do it no …ther way but by improper locutions: when the Sun …iſeth red, and ſoon after looketh black, or pale, or …ollow, we uſe to ſay it is a ſign of rain; whereas pro…erly the Sun is neither red, nor p…le, nor black, nor …ubject to any viciſſitude, or change of colours, having …o other colour than its own perpetual brightneſs; yet …hus we uſe to ſpeak, becauſe it ſeems ſo to us by rea…on of the vapours interpoſed between that and our …ight, which make it to appear to us of thoſe colours. …n like manner when we ſpeak of Eternity, we often …all it the times and ages of Eternity, whereas properly …here is no ſuch thing in it: we ſay when thouſands …f years and ages are paſt, Eternity is the ſame it was …efore, whereas properly nothing can be ſaid to be …aſt in Eternity, as ſhall be ſhewed after, but thus we …ſpe and ſtammer when we ſpeak of it: thus by a …ndeſcention (c)foreign.to things that fall under our concep…ion, we would relieve our ſelves in ſpeaking of it.
2. It tranſcends all our knowledge and underſtanding; here is a Two-fold knowledge we have of things, a …nowledge of the thing it ſelf, and of the meaſure of …: Neither of theſe wayes are we able to come to diſtinct knowledge of Eternity.
[1.] Not of the thing it ſelf; what the Ancients ſaid …f the fountains of Nilus, that Nature made them ra…her to be ſought after, than to be found; may be more …ruly ſaid of Eternity, it is a path which no Fowl know…th, which the Vultures eye hath not ſeen, the Li…ns whelp hath not trodden, the moſt piercing eye is …ot able to dive into it, the knowledge of it is too wonderful for us, we cannot attain unto it: a mans eye is …ble to look upon twenty Candles lighted up together in a Room, but looking a while upon the Sun will dazzle the ſight; if a man falleth into a River, though it be deep and broad, he may make ſhift to ſwim out, but if he be caſt away in the midſt of the Sea, after he hath a while ſtruggled for life, and wreſtled with thoſe impetuous waves, he muſt unavoidably ſink, and yield to the fury of the mercileſs waves: in like manner, the Underſtanding may keep footing while it wades in the ſhallows of time, though extended to an… hundred thouſand years, but ſoon will be ſwallowed up in ſtupor and amazement, when it cometh to lanch forth into that deep ſea of Eternity; as when we caſt a ſtone into the water, one circle begets another, and the latter is ſtill bigger than the former: ſo in Eternity, one deep calleth upon another; it is a wheel within a wheel, there is difficulty after difficulty, one myſtery folded up in another; it is a great Maze or Labyrinth full of infinite windings and turnings: after al… our ſearchings and indagations, we may well loſe ou… ſelves, but can never retreat when our thoughts are ſeriouſly engaged in it, much leſs find any bound that may ſet limits to our meditations▪ it is a Well which being both deep and dark, there is no ſeeing to the bottom of it; we may ſay of that, as the woman did of Jacobs well, the well is deep, and we hav… nothing to draw with: it is an overflowing, and ever flowing Fountain, which is neither ſpent nor draw dry, but bubleth forth into a continued ſtream, which is alwaies running, and will be running throughout all ages and generations: it is …boundleſs Sea, the further we enter into it, the deeper we find it: the eternal happineſs in Heaven is a deep Sea, where the ſtreams of life are ever flowing, and re-flowing, by a continued ſucceſſion. Hell is a deep ſea of wrath and vengeance▪ having neither bottom nor bank; no bottom for any anchor of hope to fix on: no bank that might ſet any limits to the inundations of Gods diſpleaſure; it is a Sun that never ſets, a Day that never ends, a Taper that never burns out, an End that hath no end, an infinite unlimited duration, where millions of years are but ſo many Cyphers, ſignifying nothing; it is a thing of the moſt amazing conſideration, able to ſwallow up our thoughts in ſtupor and aſtoniſhment.
[2.] There is a knowledge of the meaſure of them; and that is done, either by Numeration, by which we count how many things are; or by ponderation, by which we try how weighty things are; or by menſuration, by which we find out the dimenſions of things: but by none of theſe are we able to come to a clear knowledge of eternity.
The firſt way of knowing is by numbering: thus we count how many years have been ſince the birth of Chriſt, the Flood, the Creation of the world; Some undertake to tell how many Barly-corns would reach from Earth to Heaven: but who is able to reckon the years and ages of Eternity. Suppoſe, ſaith à Lapide, ten hundred thouſand millions of millions of millions of years; add to theſe, all the thoughts of Angels, and men, from the firſt moment of their Being to eternity; all the motions, mutations, changes, of the ſeveral Creatures, and things in the World; and add to them, all the numbers of Arithmetick, and fill with them, ſo many numberleſs volumes of Paper, as would reach from Earth to Heaven, you are not yet come to the end, not to the middle, ſcarce to the beginning of Eternity: and then adds, how long ſhall eternity endure? For ever; when ſhall it end? never; So long as Heaven is Heaven, ſo long as Hell is Hell; ſo long as God is God; ſo long ſhall be eternity: So long ſhall Heaven contain the Saints, and Hell torment the wicked; there is no number, either numbring or numbred, which is able to ſet it forth: no number numbring, as when we ſay, hundreds, or thouſands, or millions. Boëtius ſaith well, a minute and a thouſand years, hold better proportion than a thouſand years and Eternity; an eaſie Arithmetician will tell you how many minutes there are in a thouſand years, but none can tell how many thouſands or millions there are in Eternity; the vaſteſt numbers that can be reckoned, are but ſo many cyphers, ſignifying nothing; and as no number numbring can reach it, ſo no number numbred: as when we ſay, ſo many as there are ſtars in Heaven, or piles of graſs upon the earth, or drops of water in the Sea, any one of theſe would amount to a vaſt unconceivable number, but none of theſe will hold parallel with eternity; nay put all theſe together, and a thouſand times more, you are not able to meaſure the duration of Eternity.
[2] By Ponderation; and that is done either by the help of artificial weights, when we put the thing we weigh into one ballance, and the weight by which we weigh it in the other: or elſe it is done without the help of ſuch artificial weights: when we poyſe things in our hands, or lift them up at the Arms end, as Porters do their burdens, to know their weight, but there is no way by which we can find out the weight of eternity; God is ſaid to weigh the mountains in ſcales, and the bills in ballances (e)Iſa. 40.12., but there are no ſcales or ballances by which we can find out the weight of an everlaſting condition. When we would know the weight of things, we uſually put ſomething as heavy in the other end of the ballance, but what may be laid in the ballance to preponderate Eternity? The weightieſt things that can be brought, are to it but as the drop of a bucket, or the ſmall duſt of the ballance.
[3] By Menſuration, by which we find out the height, length, breadth and depth of things; but neither thus can we find out the dimenſions of Eternity. God is ſaid to meaſure the waters in the hollow of his fiſt, to mete out the Heavens like a Span, to comprehend the duſt of the earth in a meaſure, but who beſide God himſelf who inhabiteth Eternity, is able to meaſure the height, or ſpan the breadth, or fathom the depth of an infinite eternity? there is neither meaſure that can reach it, nor any thing to be meaſured that is commenſurate to it. Aſtronomers find out imaginary lines, by which they meaſure the Heavens, and the Earth. Mathematicians have their Jacobs ſtaff, whereby they take the height of the ſun and ſtars. Mariners have their Plummet, by which they ſound the depth of the Sea, but there are no Engines or Inventions by which we may reach the height, or ſound the depth, or meaſure the length of an infinite unlimited Eternity; I may ſay of it as Zophar doth of God,*Job. 11.8, 9. It is as high as heaven, what canſt thou do? deeper than Hell, what canſt thou know? the meaſure thereof is longer than the earth, or broader than the ſea. By all this it appeareth that Eternity tranſcends all our knowledge and Underſtanding; the knowledge of it is too wonderfull for us.
3. Yet further, Eternity tranſcends our conception and imagination: we are not able to think or imagine what eternity is, whether the eternity of happineſs in Heaven, or miſery in Hell. [Firſt,] we are not able to conceive what are thoſe unſeen eternal things in Heaven: the temporal things in this life are more in imagination than in reality, they come abundantly ſhort of what we imagine to be in them; men at a diſtance think there is a great deal of happineſs and content in theſe things, that they ſhould live moſt contentedly if they had ſo much of Revenues coming in yearly, or ſuch and ſuch places of preferment, but if at any time ſuch men do attain to what they ſo ambitiouſly deſire, they find in the iſſue, that there is not that happineſs in theſe things that they fancied; that all theſe are but like the fruit of Sodom, that ſeem to the eye to be beautifull apples, but being touched turn to aſhes; like Oramazes his egg, in which, the Enchanter boaſted, was included all the happineſs in the world, but being broken, there was nothing in it but wind and emptineſs; or like that feaſt which Corn. à Lapide, reports*on Iſa. 55.2. was made by a Magician in Germany, to which he invited many Noble Perſons, who while they ſate at Table, received good content, and fared deliciouſly to their thinking, but when they were departed, found themſelves as hungry as if they had eaten nothing at all. Suppoſe there were ſomewhere about the Country an exceeding high Mountain, and that there went a common report as once about Olympus, that it were the goodlieſt place that ever eye beheld; and that all the Country being poſſeſt with ſuch an opinion, ſhould flock thither in great multitudes, every one contending who ſhould get up ſooneſt; one man being more ſtrong and nimble, gets up before the reſt, and finding nothing there anſwerable to the common report and his own expectation, looking down, and …eeing the reſt ſcrambling to get up, tells them, Sirs, you are all miſerably deceived, here is nothing of what …ou expect; there is nothing here but aſhes, and ſmoak, …nd ſtench. Moſt men are ſtrongly perſwaded that …here is a great deal of ſatisfaction to be had in the …iches and preferment of the world, elſe they would …ot hew their way to them through ſo many rocks of …ifficulties, and ſwim to them through ſo many ſeas …f blood, as if they would climb up to them upon the heaps … dead bodies; whereas Solomon, who ſtood up…n a higher Riſe of ground, and ſaw further than a…y one of the ſons of men, as having a larger con…uence of all earthly enjoyments, and the largeſt …eart to find out that good that was in them, and …ade this his great buſineſs; uſing theſe things not … a ſenſual, but a critical way, that he might find …t what good thing there was under the Sun; yet af…r all his experience finds himſelf, and accordingly …oclaimeth to all the world that all is vanity, and …nity of vanities; the good that is in theſe tempo…l things is more infancy than in reality, they come far ſhort of what we imagine to be in them, whereas the not ſeen eternal things laid up in Heaven, are beyond what we can imagine or conceive of them, Eye hath not ſeen, nor ear heard, neither have entred into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him (i)1 Cor. 2.9.; God ſaith, As far as Heaven is above the Earth, ſo far are my thoughts above your thoughts (k)Iſa. 55.9.. There is ſca…ce any thing, as one(l)Preſton. obſerveth, more vaſt than the thoughts of man: though the world be a vaſt thing, yet thoughts are beyond it; we may imagine a thouſand worlds, yet God is there ſaid to be as far above our thoughts, above that model we can draw of him in our thoughts, as heaven is above the earth. When we have thought what we can think of the goodneſs and mercy of God [for that is the thing there more properly ſpoken to] God is as much more merciful above what we can think, as heaven is above earth; and as this will hold in other reſpects, ſo more eſpecially in regard of that eternal happineſs which God hath in Heaven provided for his people; when we have thought what we can of it, it is as much above our thoughts as heaven is above earth, Now are we the Sons of God, but it doth not appear what we ſhall be (m)1 John 3.2., ſaith the Syriack Verſion, it is not hitherto revealed: therefore it is ſaid to be a Life hid with Chriſt in God. It is ſaid(o)Col. 3.3. That Chriſt ſhall come to be glorified in his Saints, and to be admired in all them that believe; the glory then beſtowed on them will be ſo far ſurpaſſing their former apprehenſions, that it will be a matter of admiration to the Saints themſelves. On the other ſide, the eternal puniſhments in Hell are beyond all we can imagine or conceive; here many times the fear we have of temporal ſufferings is worſe than the ſufferings themſelves: many in this reſpect deal with themſelves, as Parrhaſius the Painter dealt with his ſlaves, who pu… them to real exquiſite tortures that he might bette… expreſs but the feigned tortures of Prometheus; ſ… many, out of a fear and fore-ſight of ſome ſuppoſe… evils, which poſſibly never may befall them, tormen… themſelves with needleſs fears, and caſt upon themſelves the gall and bitterneſs of a thouſand real vexations: or if theſe evils do befall them, they do no… prove ſo great as they fancied; the fear of a Priſon or other ſufferings, is many times worſe than th… thing it ſelf. Saunders, and ſome other Martyr thought beforehand they could not burn, they could never endure the fire; yet when it came, endured it wit… much courage and conſtancy: whereas the eterna… puniſhment in Hell, and the wrath of God there inflicted upon the Children of diſobedience, is commenſurate to our greateſt fears, Even according to thy fea… ſo is thy wrath (p)Pſal 90.11., the wrath of God is every wa… proportionable to the fear men have of it, and not only ſo, but is beyond what we either fear, or ca… know. In the beginning of that verſe, who knowet… the power of thine anger, who is able to conceive wha… Gods wrath will be when it is poured out to the utmoſt; when he ſhall cloath himſelf with vengeance when he ſhall ſtir up all his wrath, and revenge himſelf for all the wrongs offered him by daring ſinners God asketh,(q)Job 38.22. Haſt thou entred into the treaſures … ſnow, or haſt thou ſeen the treaſures of hail, which I h…v… reſerved againſt the time of trouble, againſt the day o… battel and war? but who hath entred into thoſe treaſures of wrath, or ſeen thoſe treaſures of fire, which God hath reſerved againſt the day of wrath, and perdition of ungodly men.