it together beares in comparison to them but such proportion according to the Astronomers computation as a point in midle of a circle to the circumference doth with its unmeasurable greatnesse out vie the force of humane understanding to conceave any idea of its dimensions and yet when wee consider but with the least attention these great workemanships of God and search into the nature of them wee must needs be satisfied they are not infinite for that consisting as our senses can informe us of finite parts themselves must likewise bee of the same nature with the parts whereof they are composed who is it that perceives not when hee takes up a shovell full of earth from the ground or but a dish of water out of the Sea that those portions of the two Elements are finite and that our not being able to find out their certaine quantity proceeds not from any contradiction in their natures to bee surveyd or measured but onely from the weaknesse of our forces who is it that can doubt when hee perceives the Sunne draw neerer to us but that the distance betweene us and him is finite since were it otherwise it were not capable of increase or diminution And who in fine can make a question but that the Heavens are circumscribed by certaine bounds and limits when hee beholds them to bee perpetually measured by the Sunn Moone and the other Planets in their severall motions according to whose different races wee give beginning and ending unto our houres dayes months years and to our ages Archimedes was of opinion hee could have mooved the world had there been any other place out of it upon which he might have fixed his instrument and I am certainly perswaded that when wee shall bee freed out of this cage of earth wherein our soules are inclosed during this life wee shall with ease bee able to surveigh and comprehend the Heavens the Earth and all the other workmanships of nature that now appeare to bee so far beyond the reach of humane understanding And yet when our inlarged soules shall have the power to circle earth sound hell and measure all the vast extent of Heaven how little or rather nothing at all will that appeare being compared unto infinity if wee were able to number all the droppes of water in the Sea and count the sands upon the shore and if for every one of them wee were to live an age before wee died yet were this terme as nothing being compared unto Eternity since time would at last consume all that large stocke of our subsistance and Eternity when that were past would still continue constant in the full possession of all its being Aristotle was of opinion the world wherein wee live had no beginning and should never have an ending perswaded thereunto by the incessant vicissitude of generation and corruption and the setled course of Nature which perpetuates all the severall species or kinds of things notwithstanding the continuall decay of the individualls whereof they are composed if this imagination of his were true it would then follow that the duration of the world should bee indeed perpetuall but not infinite and that it would have nothing in it approaching to the pure simplicity of an Eternall being For if time be divided as reason experience and the opinion of all Philosophers assure us t is into past present and to come how can that though nere so farr extended bee without end whose very being consists in a perpetuall fluxe of ending and beginning or how can that bee without bounds whose two parts that is the first and last are not at all and whose third part wherein onely it subsists is circumscribed within such narrow limits that we can hardly think a thought during the terme of its duration and what resemblance can there bee in it of Eternity the one being in a continuall motion and the other in a constant quiet the one perpetually changing and the other never subject to alteration and the one in fine subsisting onely in the short instants of the present time whereas the other comprehends all times past present and to come in the pure simplicity of a present being From this ground there ariseth another consideration of the Nature of Eternity that is of the indivisibility thereof which I make the subject of my next reflection Indivisibility is a terme also negative which represents unto us onely something that cannot bee parcelled out by portions as the things of this inferiour world way bee Divide et impera that is divide and governe is a maxime succesfully practised by the Politicians when making use of the private dissentions either of a City or Common-wealth they obtaine and preserve thereby their Dominion over all the differing parties and we may also with the same truth affirme this other Divide destruâ— divide and destroy God who is Creator of whatsoever hath an existence being himselfe one by the simplicity of his Nature hath placed the subsistence of all things in unity and hath therefore by a working peculiar onely to himselfe united the contraries of heat and cold of draught and moisture unto the making up of all the severall bodies either sensible or insensible which are contained in the rich treasury of nature whilest they continue united by this bond so long they are said to bee but if the union bee once broken either by externall violence or the inward working of the different qualities whereof the body is composed then doth it forthwith lose the former being and becomes some other thing according to the nature of the new form which it acquires As long as our bodies remaine fit to entertaine our soules by the due temperature of the humors and disposition of the Organs to receive her operations wee continue to bee men but when that ceaseth either by inward distemper or outward force wee then leave to be so our soules becomming seperated formes and our bodies returning to the common masse of matter from whence they are extracted the same wee see happens in beasts plants and in all other inanimate bodies of what Nature or quality soever so as there can bee no conclusion truer then this that whatsoever is allready divided hath left to bee what it was formerly whatsoever may bee divided is subject to decay and ruine and whatsoever is indivisible must also of necessity by reason of the simplicity of its Nature bee Eternall Eternity is therefore indivisible and all those happy persons who have gained that blessed part are allwaies in possession of their whole being they lose nothing of what is past they want nothing of what is future but the present in that Celestiall Countrey doth comprehend after an unexpressible manner all those three different and incompatible parts into which time is divided And hence it is that all the happinesse found there is true and solid because those different goods are united in that fixed Mansion which being heere divided mislead the greatest part of humane
himselfe as some doe probably conjecture of the Eternall ioyes of heaven Why should I farther instance the single punishments of particular voluptuous persons t is so prodigious a madnesse for man to place his chiefest good in sensuall lust that it hath drawn down fire from heaven for the consuming of whole Cities and water from the earth and firmaments which was upon the point to have extirpated mankind all the different Elements conspiring to revenge that insufferable wrong is done to their Creator when wee neglect his image ingraven in our soules to satisfie the fleshly part of us which is nothing else but dust and ashes And to conclude even Epicurus the Philosopher who placed the chiefest good of man in pleasure did notwithstanding if we believe Seneca rather then some others who have slandered him esteeme that pleasure to consist i' th golden meane of temperance and not in the exorbitant use of wine of play of gluttony and women I have exceeded in handling this perticular the brevity I had proposed unto my selfe because these are the Meteors which by the glittering brightnesse of their deceitfull light dazle the eyes of our unweary youth and like so many wandring fires mislead us in our search for happinesse through the blind paths of ignorance and folly untill at last they traine us into the dangerous precipies of wickednesse and infamy from whence wee are not able without particular assistance of the Divine grace to free our selves for all Eternity All other things so greedily grasped at by worldly men may be reduced unto the before mentioned heads of power of riches and of pleasure nobility fame and respect are the attendants upon power sufficiency and plenty waite upon riches health strength and beauty are necessarily required to the compleating of our pleasures and therefore what false appearance soever of happinesse they may hold forth to our deluded mindes they cannot possibly give us that true content which is not to be found in these principall things whereunto they are but accessories Power riches pleasure and the rest have indeed some resemblance of good but are not that which they resemble for good or happinesse being the same consists not in possessing many different things but in the union of all together whereas they are so farr from being one that they are inconsistent with each other The waight of businesse and distance kept by Soveraigne Princes for maintaining the reverence due to their calling permits them not the sweet delights of pleasure to which the freedome of equality is requisite and the vastnesse of their expence in warrs in treaties for intelligence and other things incident to their Authority makes them the neediest almost of all other men The wary closenesse of the rich miser inconsistent with popularity hinders him from being powerfull and his daily imployment about the encreasing of his store debarrs him from the use of pleasure which cannot be had without the expence of time and money The seriousnesse of great affaires disturbes the quietnesse of pleasures and the prodigality of luxury wasts the estates of those that are addicted to it In fine which way soever wee turne our selves to seeke contentment in satisfaction of our lustfull appetites these divided goods which cannot dwell together in one subject frustrate our expectations and enforce us to confesse with the wiseman that whatsoever hath a subsistence during the continuance of time is vanity of vanities and naught but vanity For if by a particular indulgence of God and Nature these divided and as I have already shewed incompatible blessings of power riches pleasure respect nobility fame plenty beauty health and strength should fall to bee the portion of one man what were all these advantages without security in the injoyment of them but vanity and meere vexation of our spirits and what security can this life possibly afford amid the dayly apprehensions of being deprived of them before wee die and certainty to lose them when wee descend into the grave Our blessed Saviour therefore adviseth Martha not to divide her thoughts in the sollicitous quest of many things since what was necessary was onely one And that we might not be to seeke what that one single necessary thing should bee himselfe informes us in another place what t' is when he commands us to seek first the Kingdome of Heaven by just and righteous actions which being once obtained we shall enjoy all other blessings as coessentiall with it Is power the object of thy wishes thou shalt bee there as the Apostle assures coheire with him to whom all power in Heaven and Earth is given Is honour or command thy chiefest good it is so liberally dispensed to all the inhabitants of Eternity that the Prophet David seemes to charge God with prodigallity in that perticular when he cries out Nimis honorati sunt amici tui Deus nimis confortatus est principatus eorum my God! thy friends are too much honoured their principallity is too much strengthened or established Doest thou desire fame or riches behold the same Prophet telleth thee Gloria et divitiae in domo Domini glory and riches are in the house of the Lord Art thou delighted with the magnificence of royall feasts the King of Kings hath by his onely Sonne sent downe from Heaven invited all mankind to a delicious banquet in his eternall pallace where having seated all the guests that come upon his invitation according to their severall degrees himselfe will minister unto them Is thy heart ravished at the sight of some accomplished beauty those who reside in that Eternall mansion out shine the Sunn in greatest height of all his glory In fine whatever else it is that doth delight thee shall there bee present because all thy soules faculties which can find nothing in this inferiour world but is too meane narrow for them shal there bee fully satisfied according to the large extent of all their powers being absorpt in contemplation of the first truth and the injoyment of the chiefest good and yet all this shall bee not by the various diversity of severall objects but by their blessed admission to the presence of God himselfe who being the first cause containes emminently the perfection of all other beings in the simplicity of his owne nature communicating freely all his excellencies to those happy persons who are made pertakers with him in the infinite and indivisible Eternity Having cōsidered the vast diversity there is between Eternity time by reason of the infinity of the one the strait limits wherein the other is shut up and circumscribed the entire firmnesse of the one and the minute parts whereinto the other is divided it followes that wee should raise our thoughts unto the contemplation of those excellencies which an Eternall being hath by the comparing of it unto that which wee enjoy during the succession of time Those who imploy themselves in quest of that which wee vulgarly call the Philosophers Stone have not as
Eternally concealed from all man-kinde had not the invention of Galileus perspectives by aiding the weaknesse of our sight discovered them unto our eyes and I am verily perswaded that all those rare effects of nature which wee now attribute to simpathy to antipathy or other occult causes are indeed onely materiall quallities but too subtile to bee perceived by our senses which is the cause that all our rarest wits are at a fault in quest of them and pay us onely with obscure termes instead of truth Eternity alone is that can never fall to bee the object of our senses the infinity of it's duration cannot be comprehended by their finite powers and time doth hurrie us away so fast over the race of our mortallity that we have not the leasure to contemplate its stable firmnesse not subject to those lawes of ruine by which Heaven and earth shall one day perish This truth is excellently confirmed unto us by the Apostle when hee saith that neither eye hath seene eare heard nor hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive the excellencies of what God hath prepared in store for those that feare him Eternity is surely one of the most precious of all those blessings and the Trisagion or thrice holy so much renowned in the Greeke Church as a Hymne delivered to them by the mouthes of Angells Sanctus Deus sanctus fortis Sanctis immortalis puts immortallity in the last place as complement of the Divine perfections When Moses mooved with a holy curiosity desired hee might behold the face of God he was answered it was impossible to see that and live all this beloved Patriarch could obtaine was licence to view the glory of his hinder parts in passing by and what is thereby meant save onely this that wee may be permitted here on Earth to contemplate the Divine perfections in the Creatures which are the least and meanest effects of his power being produced during the continuance of fleeting time but that all sollid joyes together with his beatificall vision are reserved onely for such as fix their habitations in the blest dwelling of Eternity Saint Paul being through speciall favour wrapt into the third Heaven that hee might take a tast of those Celestiall pleasures thinkes it not lawfull to utter the Arcana that is the sublime and hidden things which hee learned there the greatest height we can attaine unto whilest wee are heere is to contemplate the mysteries which shall be there revealed per speculum in aenigmate through a glass in a darke riddle what is this glasse but faith by whose assistance our faint eyes are able without dazeling to looke upon the Sunn of truth even God himselfe and expound those riddles that passe the reach of humane understanding Relying therefore upon this guide I shall begin to search into the Nature of Eternity because her Maxims are like a clew of thread let downe from Heaven to lead us with security and humblenesse into the understanding of Divine mysteries that so wee may not stray in the wild maze of selfe opinion wherein the greatest part of humane kinde do wander endlesly and lose themselves at last being intrapped in the pernicious snares of overweaning pride or stupid ignorance When the Divines endeavour to describe the Deity unto us they make us of three sorts of Attributes the first as they call them negative the second relative and the third positive the first shew what hee is not and the second what hee is in relation to us or to some other being but the third which should declare unto us what hee is in himselfe faile to performe it because all tearmes Explicate onely our conceptions and wee can conceive nothing but what is infinitely short of his perfections they call him increated and immortall that wee may know his essence is incompatible with whatsoever hath either ending or beginning they terme him Creator and Redeemer thereby informing us that all the blessings we enjoy here or expect heereafter are but dependancies upon his power But when they tell us of his vertues and of his wisdome they intend not that we should thereby understand such vertues or such wisdome as are in us not an affection or habit of his will inclining him to pursue alwayes the dictates of a right reason nor a perspicacity of judgement enabling him to distinguish upon all occasions the reall truths from those that seeme so which notwithstanding is the proper meaning of those tearmes whereas the Divine vertues and wisdome are neither qualities nor habits but the very essence and being of God himselfe which cannot bee knowne or comprehended by any other nature inferiour to him It being therefore admitted that wee can never write or conceive any thing worthily of the Divine Nature how is it possible I should bee able to explicate the Nature of Eternity which is the measure of his duration and one of the most excellent of all his attributes God himselfe seemes to glory in it when being asked his name by the great Patriarch Moses he gives him only this description of himselfe Ego sum qui sum I am he that am without mentioning either his power his justice or any of his other attributes giving us thereby to understand that all his other attributes depend upon his being according to the order of our conceptions as their foundation that other things have an existēce whose beginning flowes from his power and whose continuance is an effect only of his wil that nothing hath a stable independant being save onely he and that in fine no happinesse or perfection is to bee prised if the enjoyment of it be not secured unto us by Eternity This measure of Gods being cannot by any positive terms which wee can use bee comprehended or defined nor can it bee illustrated to humane understandings by other meanes then by considering the nature of it negatively and comparatively unto those things which have a being during the continuance of time the first of which considerations shall be of the infinity thereof which as I said before is a terme purely negative and represents nothing at all unto our imaginations the only conception we can frame upon it being of something not circumscribed by ends or bounds as are all the objects which present themselves unto our senses We are astonished when we consider the vast extent of this habitable earth which hath sufficed to the production and nourishment of the innumerable number of men now living or that have had a being since the Creation of the World and we are notwithstanding satisfied both by the demonstrations of Cosmographers and relations of Navitors that a ful third part of it is yet undiscovered The immence quantity of waters in the Ocean seemes to pose Arithmeticke to number all the severall drops of water contained in it but above all the Heavens incircling round this ball made up of Earth Water and the other Elements and exceeding it so far in bignesse that all of