The Near Approach of an Everlasting State
Xkfi the certain near approach of #11 everlasting stte amptified and pressed to a holy Ijfe
Ih thi9 world we begin a year and quickly comet« the epd of it; aiod ere the little number of our jewt. and days will be expired. But, when iiMh us into the world of spirits, the day of elenMty shall nev be closed with an evening. Of how fearfbl consequence is that death by which an elnuty mu9t be decided 1 What attention, what sOTPUVue what diligence, what care, does the decisis of important a matter call for 1 Eternal! Wh9 will be the next word» O my soul! How much aagi X concerned to know it I Will it be blessedness Of wsety? will it be life or death? This one word 1% th joy of angeU and the horror of devils; the luiipOiJMible delight of blessed saints, and the confbfiQil and despair of condemned sinners«
Ji% the. creatibh of the world, time got the start of 1M» and was five days older than we: but our immfllJ 90uls shall endure beyond the utmost limits qf ^oifi and last as long as the everlasting Father of spiiiita of whose duration ther is no end. Shall I thm ^xiat and live, though my body perish and see CQif iPtptipn? Shall y soul, myself, exist beyond the grave, in felicity or ipisery, and that for ever, and according to ipy present actions? Wha am 1 Umi most eaacerned to mni? What am .o choose? What am I moat to fear, to wish No Slo’^
What is a shadow of hoDour and reputation among dying men? What are a few drops of fleshly pleasure, for a moment, to eternal rivers of pleasure at God’s right hand? What are the sufferings of an hour or two to the pains and anguish of eternity? What can the world, flesh, or devil, give me comparable to eternal life? What can I suffer in the way of holiness, that may be set in the balance against an everlasting hell? And yet how often, O my soul! how boldly, how unconcernedly, how foolishly, do I hazard the one and forfeit the other for the sins and vanities of this world! whereas one prospect of eternity should make every thing that is temporal appear little in my eyes: the highest elevations of earthly greatness, abundance of riches, the great affairs, business, and employments of the world, pomp and splendour, reputation, and all that now flatter the senses and the vanity of mankind*
Oh! that I could but live, as believing and expecting an eternal state! As having it in my eye, managing all my affairs with a visible reference to it; discovering to all the world, by my behaviour and deportment, that I do in earnest believe it certain; for, be it ever so certain, if I do not apprehend and consider it as such, it will no more affect me than a fable. Neither is it enough to consider it as certain, but as near: for the most weighty, the most terrible things apprehended as at a great distance, will little move. Thinking of the long interval between the advantage of being exempted from such evils, for so long a time, will please me more than such distant calamities will affright.
Let me therefore endeavour to impress the consideration of eternity, at at hand, more deeply on my heart, that I may walk and live, discourse and pray, and demean myself in every thing, as near an unchangeable state. Am I not convinced that this is certain, from the nature and operations of my soul, from the reflections of conscience, from the righteousness of God in his government of the world, from the present unequal distributions of good and evil by his providence, and from the plain and equal assertions of his revealed will? I have nothing to object, nothing to reply; but I find a necessity of inculcating and urging the consideration of it in order to its influence. I find it needful to reflect often how near I am to such an endless state; that in one instant, by death, I enter upon it: and that this instant may be as near me as my next thought. That the Holy Scripture describes the two contrary conditions after death, (and every man and woman in the world shall share in one of them,) as both everlasting: the one, by eternal life, eternal glory, an incorruptible crown, that fadeth not away, an incorruptible inheritance, a house eternal in the heavens, &c. the other, by unquenchable fire, a prison where none escapes, eternal damnation, everlasting burning, everlasting punishment, everlasting destruction, a worm that never dies, wrath that is ever to come, blackness of darkness for ever and ever, &c.
Think, O my soul! that in one of these two contrary states I must abide for ever; in endless joy or sorrow: blessed in the presence of God, or for ever banished from it. And, whoever thou art that readest this, apply it seriously to thyself, it is thine own ease* Yea, I tell thee from God, that holiness of
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he«rt and life is absolutely necetsaiy t» the foroMr and that without it thou sfaalt never see fcis iue, hat be punished with everlasting deatiactxoB firom the pretence of his glory.
Is this an unquestionable truth? Oletme consiibr it till I feel the power and eflScacy of so impoitaitl principle! Let the impression be deep and lasting I Let it pierce and enter into my very soul I to cool the heats of lustt to quench sensual and earthly ib sires, and to mortify all inordinate affections to this world; and fix my resolutions to mind and seek eternal life with all my heart!
These are not difficult and perplexed iiicetie% which wise and holy men differ and disagree abontw They are not metaphysical subtilties, which few cao understand, but the express word of God, and the daily dictates of my own reason and conscience, which all Christians, and almost all men in their wits, (ex<* cept in an hour of great temptation,) confess and own; or, whether they will or not, are forced to ex* pect and fear, if they are not in a condition to consider them with a joyful hope.
Lord I cure the unbelieving doubts concerning these great things, which, notwithstanding the plainest evidence, the devil may, at any time, suggest! Let a confirmed faith be the reali of what is thus future; that my soul may he influenced by them, as it is wont to be by things present! Let it be the ^’ substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things unseen,” and as yet at a distance; as if the day of judgment were already come, and there were no intermediate time to pass between this and that.
O eternity! eternity! the more I consider it, the more onfiitbomaUe still I find it. Unchangeable Ufissednesa, or remedileas, endless torments! an eternal blissfbl day, or everlasting horror, darkness, and despair I life or death, glory or destruction, to last aa long as the immutable, living God! None of the patriareba, who lived longest, arrived to the period of a thousand years; which, in comparison of God’s everlastingness, is set forth but as one day. But, strictly considered, millions of years and ages have no proportion with it; because no multiplication of them will amount to eternity. Whereas, one hour hath some proportion to a hundred thousand years, because a certain number of hours will amount to so many years. But no number of years or ages, ever so often multiplied, will make up eternity: as no subtraction of millions of years will lessen it, an entire eternity will be still to come, and will ever be to come. When innumerable myriads of years are past, eternity shall then seem but to begin; because, when as many more are over, it shall be as far from an end.
Oh! that the thoughts of eternity may be powerful and prevailing above all others! that I may judge of every thing by its relation to it, by its influence upon it! .Choose now, O my soul I whether everlasting joys or miseries shall be thy portion: but consider well, that thine eternity is concerned in thy present choice; and that this choice must be pursued with steadfastness and constancy as long as I live: and what are a few years to prepare for an eternal state? Were we obliged to spend several hundred years in serious humble preparation for it, with the greatest strictDeas and severity o( WSe diwtvw
£ 3 all that time, it were infinitely less than to spend an hour or two in preparing for the greatest dignity and employ on earth, which can be enjoyed but for a few years at longest. For to these an hour hath some proportion; but a hundred or thousand years have none with an everlasting duration. Therefore, to consider how many years of toil, and pains, and diligence, many bestow on the probable prospect of some temporal good, should reprove and shame my negligence and remissness, in providing for eternity.