A Prospect of Eternity, Chapter 12
CHAP. XII.
Concl. 12 Mans eternall condition admits of no compariſon.
WEE may ſay of eternity, what our Saviour ſaith of the Kingdome of heaven, Luk. 13. 19. To what may we compare it, or whereunto ſhall we liken it? What ever nature or reaſon hath compared eternity to, fals ſhort of repreſenting that vaſt Ocean, that bottomleſſe depth, that endleſſe ſtate. Nature in all its wardrobe, and reaſon in all its capacities cannot emblematize eternity. What figure, globe, ſphear, or Mathematicall device can adequate, or meaſure out this endleſſe and boundleſſe ſtate? It is like the day of judgment, unknown. And we may cry out concerning eternity, what the Apoſtle doth concerning the wiſdome of God, foreign, O depth! Rom. 11. 33.All thoſe pictures which antiquity with ſo much care and induſtry have drawn of eternity, do not draw it to the life, nor fully paint out the thing pourtraid; and who ſhall look upon them ſhall hardly know eternities face. This endleſſe eſtate, eſt naturae myſterium, & rationis opprobrium; it is a riddle both to ſtudious nature, and reaſon in its greateſt intellectuall flowriſh. Ariſtotle the interpreter and ſecretary of nature, was ſo miſtaken in fadoming eternity, that he makes the world eternall, which is but a body of periſhing particulars. The Almighty asketh the queſtion, Who can ſpan the heavens, and tell the Iſa. 40. 12.full latitude and breadth of their curtaines? And this queſtion may be likewiſe propoſed, Who can give a pregnant and full Hieroglyphck of eternity? Who can illuſtrate and explicate what it is, by ſome lively and full embleme? But not to wrong our ſerious Predeceſſours of their induſtry this way; I ſhall only informe you, that there were many things, that they repreſented eternity by: the principall I ſhall onelyonly caſt my eye upon.
Sometimes they made a ring the embleme of eternity, that as the Ring hath neither beginning nor ending, ſo neither hath eternity.
Anſw. But to this it may be replyed,
1. That only the eternity of God is Aeternitas eſt duplex;repreſented by this embleme; for mans eternity hath its riſe, though not its 1. Perfecta, quae eſt a parte ante, & a parte poſt, ſic Deus eſt aeternus.fall. But God is eternall, as neither being capable of a beginning, nor of ending, and therefore the Aegyptians uſed to ſignifie God by a circle; and the 2. Imperfecta, quae initium habet, ſed non finem; ſic Anima, & Angeli ſunt aeterni. So our Divines.Perſians thought they honour'd God moſt, when going up to the top of the higheſt Tower, they called him the circle of heaven. And it was a cuſtome among the Turkes (as Pierius teacheth at large) to cry out every morning Mercurius Triſmegiſtus vocabat Deum ſphaeram intellectualem, cujus centrum eſt ubique, & circumferentia nullibi.from an high Tower, God alwayes was, and alwayes will be, and ſo ſalute their Mahomet. Now therefore this emblem teacheth not mans eternity. But
2. I anſwer, The Ring it ſelf which repreſents eternity, is mortall; the golden Ring will ſhortly be a ruſty ring; the ring is a fragill matter to repreſent eternity; that piece of duſt will moulder into duſt: the ring no more repreſents eternity, then the rude draught of a picture repreſents the vitality and beauty of vigorous man. We can no more by emblems paint out this bottomleſſe ſtate; then draw the effigies of a rationall ſoul.
3. The Ring though it is not broken of it ſelf, but is an entire circumference, yet it may be broken by a ſuperiour power: Man can break the circumference, and deface the very forme of it: But Gods promiſe, and his paſt word hath made eternity indiſſoluble. Eternity is a duration, which neither will of it ſelf crumble into pieces; nor falls it within the verge of any created power, to put a ſtop to it, or mel… it into a concluſion. And that there ſhall be no end Heb. 6. 18.or impairing of it, Gods word is irreverſible; the divine Majeſty hath determined eternity both to the Saint and the ſinner: and it is he alone that can bury and diſſolve eternity it ſelf. It is with the eternity of men, as with Angels; Chriſt is the Mediatour of their ſuſtentation; the ſhedding of his bloud hath purchas'd eternall joy for the Saints, and cries aloud for eternall miſery on the ſinner: God hath pawned his truſt to ſupport and ſupply eternity; Joh. 3. 16.and therefore the indiſſolubility of eternity renders the Ring to be an imperfect embleme of it.
Sometimes the Antients have compared eternity to a Phoenix; whoſe young one ariſeth from the aſhes of its fire, ſo that there ſeems to be a ſpecificall immortality; the urne of one Phoenix being the womb of another, and the aſhes proving ſeminall.
Anſw. But this emblem likewiſe fals ſhort of picturing out eternity, there are many deficiencies in this emblematicall adumbration. As
1. The Phoenix is immortalized by propagation, the aſhes of the damme is the originall of the young: Occaſus Nec mors in vita nec vita in morte aeterna.unius eſt ortus alterius, the ones ruine is the others riſe. But now eternity is a conſtant ſtate, not by propagation, not by accumulation, not by alteration, but by an eternized duration. New additions of times in eternity, Iſa. 60. 15.do not flow from the preteritions, and tranſiencies of former, as 1 Pet. 5 10.if one paſt age ſhould leave another its ſucceſſour, and eternity was nothing Omnium beatotorum felicitas erit continua, nunquam interrumpenda, & ſempitterna, nunquam finienda. Ger.but a family of ages in a lineall deſcent. No, but eternity is an uninterrupted perpetuity; everlaſtingneſſe without ſtop, comma, or intermiſſion. Eternity is not duration by multiplication, but continuation; the ſame perſon is everlaſtingly bleſſed, or damned: the ſame Saint in eternity becomes not a ſpecies by multiplication; but the ſame individuall believer ſhall be clothed with perſonall happineſſe for ever, and his glory ſhall be a Phoenix for its rarity, but not for its multiplication.
2. The Phoenix is renewed by a Chriſtus primitiae & reſurrectionis & interruptibilitatis & impaſſibilitatis nobis factus eſt. Damaſc.paſſive alteration; the living Phoenix is turned into aſhes, and the birth is produced from thoſe aſhes, ſo that the death of the one is the generation of the other, there is aſhes, and dying, and budding, all demonſtrations of change and ſuffering. But eternity is Corporibus ſanctorum non adaequabitur aurum, aut vitrum. Greg.incapable of change (as before). Heaven ſhall not be the Saints urne, nor the boſome of Chriſt their tomb; nor ſhall the glorious bodies of the Saints crumble into aſhes, there ſhall be no paſſiveneſſe ſeize on the perſons, or the bodies of the Saints, no decayes, or fading, deaths or damps; glory ſhall be a Phoenix which ſhall never turn into aſhes. Nor on the other ſide ſhall infernall fire become funeral: nor ſhall the ſcorcht bodies of the damned be incinerated or converted into aſhes. So that now the emblem of the Phoenix is too darke an hieroglyphicke of eternity.
Sometimes the Antients have compared eternity to the Sun, which keeps a conſtant courſe, and hath its uninterrupted revolutions; which courſes the world, and every day returnes to its due, and wonted ſtation: The Sun winds about, and fetches its large and vaſt circuits; and keeping an even, though ſwift pace, it returnes at ſuch a term of time unto the ſame ſtage from whence it took its riſe: and therefore our predeceſſours obſerving the ſtedineſſe and conſtancy of the Suns motion, have made it the bright emblem of eternity.
But the Sun doth not paint out eternity.
Anſw. 1. The Sun hath its eclipſes, its clouds, its various aſpects: So that I may ſay, Mutability is one beam of the Sun. The hiſtorian reports that Procopius, and from him Pedro Mexia about An. 540.the Sun gave not more light then the Moon, for almoſt one whole year in Italy, the skie in the mean time being clear and without clouds, or any thing to ſhadow the ſame. Thus the Sun is an alterable body. Nay in the very motion of it, which is chiefly the embleme of eternity, there hath been Joſh. 10. 13.ſtoppages and ſtayes, and retrogradations. And the Scripture hath pronounced Amos 8. 9.a doom upon its glorious Joel 2. 31.body, that it ſhall it be turned into darkneſſe, and be entombed in obſcurity. But now eternity, is an unmixt, invariable ſtate (as before): there ſhall be no eclipſe in glory, nor ſuſpenſion of happineſſe; joy in eternity ſhall never stand ſtill, or run retrograde. God himſelf who is the Saints Sun in heaven, is eſſentially immutable. No beames of light ſhall viſit hell: nor clouds or eclipſes darken heaven. There is too much variation in the Sun, ſo that it ſhould paint out eternity.
2. But further, there are many things conſiderable in eternity, beſides the duration which the Suns motion ſeems to be the emblem of. There is immutability, ſuperlativeneſs, voydneſs of ſucceſſion, joy, torment, the aggravation and varieties of both. Eternity compriſeth more in the womb of it, then duration let out for ever, eternity is but as the cipher added to the ſum of bleſſedneſſe or calamity, it is alwayes predicate of felicity or miſery. It is not a naked abſtractive duration; but is a concrete, in its ſignificancy; and there is a great difference between the ſtate and duration of eternity; What ſhall we be, and how long we ſhall endure, they are 2. Queſtions. And all theſe emblemes do but paint out the bare continuance of eternity. A line of ages that hath no end.
And this ſhall be a generall anſwer to all the emblemes conſidered complexively, and together: viz. That all theſe creature-repreſentations, they are at the great day diſſoluble; the heavens ſhall paſſe away, and the 2 Pet. 3. 10.element ſhall melt with fervent heat. The Phoenix aſhes ſhall be ſcattered, and the Ring ſhall be melted in the generall conflagration; but the great aſſizes ſhall but open the curtaines, and ſee the generall alarme of eternity: Men Heb. 9. 27.dying before are gone to their particular eternities: but after the grand and univerſall tryall, when every thought ſhall be anatomized, and chined up, then nothing ſhall appear but eternity: And all the rivers of times ſhall be ſwallowed and drowned in that Ocean. All perſons then ſhall ſail for ever upon the Sea of joyes, or calamitous eternity. After the day of judgement, all ages and centuries ſhall be fledged and leave the world, which ſhall be remaining; and the particular parcels of Time, ſhall be all ſummed up in the totall of Eternity. So that now theſe emblems which repreſent eternity, themſelves ſhall have an end; ſo that they are rather the ſhadowes, then repreſentations of eternity.