A Prospect of Eternity, Chapter 8
CHAP. VIII.
Concl. 8 Mans eternall condition admits of no ſervice or performance of duty.
ALL our working is here, there is no working in eternity; our taske is here; our tale of Joh. 9. 3.brickes here: no ſweating in our future condition. All our duties are either active or paſſive, acting or ſuffering for God: now both theſe ſhall ceaſe in eternity; Prayer ſhall ceaſe, and hearing have an end; and ſuffering reproach for Chriſt; the Saints quotidian Martyrdomes, ſhall be ſwallowed up in eternity. All the ſighs, and weeping duties of Gods people, which with ſo much fervency and ſecreſie have been acted, ſhall expire when the Saints ſhall be caſt upon the ſhoare of eternity. Their holy ejaculations, and ſweet contemplations, their ſummoning themſelves to the bar of conſcience; their communing with their own hearts; thoſe conflicts and rugged conteſts with their irregular corruptions, thoſe pious groanes, and bitter teares, thoſe pretious expreſſions of wrath againſt themſelves, ſhall all have an end in eternity; their cloſet moanes, and dovelike lamentations, for the loſſe of their mate, the Lord Jeſus Cant 3. 1, 2.Chriſt; their criticall obſervations of Gods outgoings in his providence, and their frugall improvements of time; their extractions of good from the bitterneſs of afflictions, that holy Chymiſtry which the Saints are artiſts in; thoſe pious artifices and rare ſtratagems which believers often uſe for the repelling and undermining of temptation; and thoſe criticall and curious obſervances of the ſeverall and myſterious workings, windings, and waverings of their own hearts; their agonies and trembling ſweats, leſt they ſhould fall into the ambuſcado of ſin: All theſe and more ſhall be as a cloud diſſolved into a ſhowre of glory. Eternity is incapable of theſe ſervices.
And on the contrary; all the diſſembled and hypocriticall duties of wicked men, their Ahabs faſting, and Herods hearing, and Phariſaicall praying; their formall approaches to ordinances; their fluent Rhetorick, and rich eloquence, with which their diſcourſes are oftentimes fill'd, and gloſſed, about the concernments of Chriſt, glorious times, and unwonted Goſpell-diſcoveries, and manifeſtations; their frothy duties ſo dexterouſly embroydered with elegancy and hypocriſie, to cover and cloud their ſecret and internall impieties; and which are only acted to be the Arras hangings before their curſed deſignes; All theſe ſhall evaporate and ceaſe in eternity. The formaliſts teares, and pretended heart-melting, commenced only to be the unhappy harbingers of ſome ſinfull policy, or to captivate the opinion of the vulgar, and uncircumſpect generation; their Jehues zeal, and Jerebels faſt; all their miſguided charity, and vainglorious almes; their extrinſecall duties, thoſe blazing Comets of their profeſſion, ſhall all fall, and be ſwallowed up in eternity; and the remembrance of them, but only as they are the reflexion of guilt, ſhall ceaſe for ever. Now to divide this particular according to the uſuall method.
1. There cannot be any performance of duty in the eternity of the bleſſed.
Becauſe, Duty is via ad regnum, the way to the Kingdome: It is ſweat in the vineyard. It is motus ad finem, a tendency to the end; and while we are in Bona opera ſunt via ad regnum, etſi non cauſa regnandi.ſervice, we are ſtill in motion, on this ſide reſt. All duty hath an eye to reward. Prayer and Meditation are but their rowing towards heaven; but heaven is the reward its ſelf: while we are upon the ſea of Ordinances and Rev. 3. 21.Duties, we are not come to the ſhoare: but heaven is a place of wages, not worke; the wearing of the crown, not the bearing of the croſſe. Here is 2 Tim. 4. 8.pugna, the fight; but above victoria, the conqueſt. Indeed the ſweeteſt duties, and the moſt intimate, even cloſe communion with God, is but the riſe to the crown, but heaven is the crown it ſelfe. Ordinances and Duties are but the ſoules flight to glory, but heaven is the habitation of happineſſe.
In all Duty there is imperfection, aliquid infectivum, & aliquid defectivum; ſomething polluted, and ſomething defective. Our moſt ſublime and ſpirituall Luk. 17. 10.duties are not wound up to command. They are all tainted with diſproportion to the rule. As the Moon it ſhines in a lower chamber inferiour to the Sun. And not only ſo, but our choyſeſt Iſa. 64. 6.ſervices are beleapered with many ſpots; like the Moon in this regard too. But in heaven there is all purity, all fulneſſe, all perfection. No inadequateneſſe or diſproportion; no taint or pollution inhabits glory; and therefore duties are obſolete in eternity. Heaven ſhuts out anomalies, and mutilated performances. It is true, here, the Saints double-refined duties are ſent up to heaven with a gale of complaning ſighs, but that ſuch winds ſhould blow in glory, is an abſolute inconſiſtency.
All our duties and ſervices, they are ſtill looking upon God, e longinquo, a far off. They look on God at a diſſtance. Prayer looks up to a Majeſty above; and hearing receives a diſcovery from the Court above. All our duties are but traffique with heaven. But now in the eternity of the bleſſed, 1 Cor. 13. 12.the Saint lies in the embraces of God, hath him in his eye, in his full poſſeſſion: All our performances here, as emblems of ſubjection, look on God in a perſpective, they are proſtrations before a Majeſty above. There is the diſtance of heaven between the ſmiling God, and the praying Saint; and though he ſtand on tiptoe on the mountain of meditation, yet God is infinitely above him. Indead in duty the ſoul is Heb. 10. 22.ſaid to draw nigh to God, yet ſtill there is a curtain between God and it, which death can only draw, and a vail which only the diſſolution of the believer can take away. But in glory there ſhall be the cleareſt viſion, the higheſt, and entireſt fruition, without the interpoſure of darkneſſe or diſtance. And there all the applications of the Saints ſhall be inhanced into a beatificall viſion.
All our duties and ſervices imply a want and exigency. Prayer waites a return, and is the ſouls trade to heaven, for ſome commodity that is lockt up in Gods treaſury. Nay when returnes do come, then new wants are created. Our dayly bread cals for dayly prayers. Every day ſupplyeth prayer with new matter of petition. But in eternity all wants are ſwallowed up in tranſcendent abundance: there ſhall be torrents of delight, and ſatisfaction, as the Originall foreignhath it, Rivers of pleaſure, fulneſſe of joy, this is the language of Pſal. 36. 9.heaven. And ſo likewiſe Sermons, Hearing, Meditation, they all imply a duskiſhneſſe in the underſtanding; and that the ſcales of ignorance are not fallen from the eye of the mind. But there ſhall be in heaven a fulneſſe of knowledge, as well as of joy; and the minde ſhall be as full of light, as the heart of joy.
All duties and ſervices are to be regulated by precepts, and winged by promiſes; precepts muſt guide, and Iſa. 8. 20.promiſes bribe duty. All our ſervices are directed by the line of a Command, Jer. 4. 14.and incouraged by the love of a promiſe. But in the eternity of the Saints, both precepts and promiſes ceaſe; for in glory there can be no irregularity, and therefore no need of a precept; and all promiſes are turn'd into accompliſhment. Commands they are the rules of unbridled nature; but they are ſuperfluous to nature, perfected in glory: to turn to God, waſh our hearts, bath our ſelves in penitentiall tears; theſe are anomalies and abſurdities in eternity. Promiſes they are ſpurs to ſluggiſh nature: but to the Saint glorified, they are ſupervacaneous incentives. God in glory ſhall be in ſtead both of precept and promiſe; he ſhall then guide us by his eye, not his ſcepter; and ſhall give us himſelf, not his bond in a way of promiſe. All rudiments and diſcipline ſhall be outdated in heaven.
And ſo likewiſe there ſhall be no performance of ſervice or duty in the eternity of the damned. For▪
There is no reward for duty in hell, and therefore no duty; every duty eyes its compenſation, though not ratione meriti, by the claime of merit; yet ratione promiſſi, in reference to the Pſal. 50. 15.promiſe of God. And now if Eſau Heb. 12. 17.cannot get the bleſſing if he ſeek it with teares here, what ſhall he do when death hath let down the trap door of eternity upon him? Promiſes which make the believer heavens creditour, all ceaſe in the bottomleſſe pit. And the cries of the damned, ſhall neither procure eaſe, or liberty; and their bitter lamentations ſhall returne upon them unpitied, there ſhall be no reward for all their moans; God hath ſeal'd up the ſentence of death unto them, and it is irreverſible. Now as Philoſ. ſpeaks, Ʋbi ceſſat finis, ceſſant media, where the end ceaſeth, all means ceaſe; the reward of duty failing, there can be no ſervice; the ſmile and command of God, the ſupplies and happineſſe of the ſoul which are the great incentives to duty, are all obſolete and impoſſible in miſerable eternity. God ſhall not illuminate Pſal. 4. 6.hells darkneſſe with the light of his countenance. And therefore all adorations and ſervices ſhall be a dreame in endleſſe miſery. Doeſt thou think wretched ſinner, that when thou art ſwallowed up in eternall flames, thou ſhalt then repent, believe, wreſtle with God in prayer, open thy condition to the Lord? ſhalt thou then with an inundation of teares, and an heart covered with mourning and ſables flie to the armes of free grace, and as a priſoner by pleading guilty ſue out thy pardon? No ſurely, God will not hear, nor anſwer, nor pity the ſoul lodged in flames. And all ſuch ſervices Mat. 25. 41.ſhall in the eternity of the wicked be buried in ſilence.
There is no ſuch thing as duty in eternall calamity, in reference to the nature of it: for the cries, tears, complaints Joh. 9. 3.of the damned, deſerve not the name or title of repentance and prayer. There is nothing of duty in Dives his Luk. 16. 24.petition; the tears of the damned ſhall be only the exertions, and ebullitions of torment; the fruit of their miſery, not their love. It is their pain, not their pie…y; the horrour, not the dictate of their conſcience ſuggeſts theſe moans; the damned abhorre duty more in hell, then they did upon earth. There is no faith, no melting of ſoul, no fixed hope in all their lamentations: and their violent importunities ſhall evidence their calamity, but not their duty; their moſt fervent prayers are but fictitious ſervices; and the fires of hell, not the fire of zeal ſhall inflame their ſupplications; Nothing in the eternity of the wicked can be called duty.
Hell is no place for duty; Who can look for ſervices to God, among the cries, ſcritches and extremities of the damned? Can any ordinate ſervice, befitting the great God, be found there? the tortured frenzie of the reprobate how incapable of ſervice? what methodiz'd prayer can a wrackt miſcreant produce? Our diſeaſes, and bodily torments here in this life, how do they ſtifle and ſmoother the duties of the patient; and turn the Saint into a frantick diſtemper? and what ſhall the infernall fires do? the gout, ſtone, ſtrangury, how doe they inarticulate, and ſo ſhatter the ſervices of Gods people here, that they all ſeem to be a diſtemper'd paſſion, and paſſionate madneſſe? and therefore thinke not thou painted hypocrite thou ſhalt flow in thy uſuall elegancy, when thou lyeſt on the wrack of eternall calamity. No, all the complaints of the damned, ſhall be fury, not fealty.
In the eternity of the wicked, there is no object of duty; God is the judge, not the father of the damned. God as reconcileable, and in the notion of a compaſſionate father, is the object of all duty; but he ſhall not be found in that notion to the caitiffe reprobates, Contemplation it implies a ſweetneſſe. Pſal. 104. 34.Prayer begins with Our Father. Hearing ſuppoſes the diſcovery of our fathers will. And ſo all duties and performances wait on God in expectation of favour, anſwer, and indulgence; and ſo duty is cald communion with God: but after death God ſhall be to Pſal. 63 2.the wicked a ſevere, inexplorable and implacable judge. And all the cries which the damned make are to God as their tormentour, not their Soveraign. They would cry as much to Satan, would he burne with a cold iron. Here indeed God is eaſily to be intreated, but hereafter never to be entreated; ſo that there is no object of duty in the damneds eternity. God ſits, as to them, no more in the throne of grace, but in the judgement ſeat; he ſhall ſhine forth no more Pſal. 80. 1.between the Cherubims; but break out 2 Theſſ. 1. 8.in flaming fire, in perpetuall vengeance and executions.
But here it may be replied,
1. Object. 1 Are not the Hallelujahs of the Saints in glory Duty and Service?
Anſw. 1 It is anſwered, No.
They are the reſultancies of ſervice, not the performance; the reſt at night is ſweet becauſe of the labour. They are as the honey after the toyle of the working Bee. They are the rewards of ſervice. Thoſe holy rejoycings, they are but part of the glory, the Saints are crowned with. They are the pure vent, and ſweet overflowing of their love to God, that then they ſhall be fill'd with. Theſe Hallelujahs ſhall be the unlading of their affections.
They are triumph, not ſervice; the ….ſouls everlaſting ovation; there is nothing of toyle in thoſe holy gratulations. They are the triumphant Rev. 4. 11.ſong, the muſicke, the jubiles of the glorified ones. Cantus coronatus, crown'd harmony; theſe bleſſed praiſes are but the Saints wedding day.
Theſe Hallelujahs of the Church triumphant proceed not ſo much from an enforcement of duty, as that beatificall viſion. They are the raviſht acknowledgment of heavens Courtiers; the bleſſed ſight of God extracts theſe pretious collaudations. The Lord ſaith, Exod. 33. 20. No man ſhall ſee me, and live: by reaſon of mans weakneſſe, and ſinfulneſſe. But in heaven the ſight of God ſhall not only be the fountain of life; but ſhall ſpring a vein of eternall praiſes and hallelujahs.
Object. 2 But ſeeing the Majeſty and greatneſſe of God is the ſame in heaven to the Saints, as it was on earth, why are not the Saints as full of ſervice and humility?
Anſw. 1 Now Majeſty is ſweetned into familiarity, and the Saints are now truly Kings and Prieſts advanced into a glorious Rev. 1. 6.dignity; and now God appeares purely as a father. No longer as a God among his creatures which reſembles ſoveraignty and ſubjection; but as a father among his children. So that now duty is transformed into delight, and ſervice is changed into ſatisfaction. God in heaven fits in his throne, not in his tribunall to his Saints, and ſo there ſhall be an unclouded familiarity.1 Cor. 13. 12.
In glory the Lord ſhall not ſo much appear as a great God, as a great benefactour; great in his largeſſes, he ſhall be lovely in his bounty: all his attributes ſhall be remunerative. Obſerve that rare place, 2 Tim. 4. 8. which foreign, the righteous judge ſhall give. Even Gods juſtice ſhall be open handed, and overflow in donations. Indeed the Majeſty of God in heaven ſhall not be abated, but more communicated. Moſes was called Gods friend here: what ſhall Exod. 33. 11.he be in heaven, when his Majeſty ſhall be ſeen unveyled?