Jesus and the resurrection justified by witnesses in heaven and in earth in two parts : the first shewing that Jesus is the Son of God, the second that in him we have eternall life / by Symon Patrick ...

CHAP. IV. Of the ETERNITY of this LIFE.

FRom this larger (then was at first designed) consideration of the na∣ture of this LIFE, pass we now to a short Meditation of the ETERNITY of it; which indeed is the Crown that God sets upon its head, the Circle, if I may so speak, which wreathing it self about this Happiness, makes it to be our sovereign Good. And it may not be un∣worthy our observation, that this Eter∣nity of Life is as far above the continu∣ance of all other blessings heretofore pro∣mised, as the Life it self is. LIFE a∣mong the Jews, according to the letter of their Law, signifying onely all earthly good things, there was onely a long life, not an eternall, in the land of Canaan, promised to them that kept that Law. But quite otherwise, the LIFE pro∣mised by Christ consisting onely in the enjoyment of spirituall and heavenly

blessings, it is not a long, but an eternall, never-ending life, in the possession of these good things, which he hath assured to us. It being but fit, that as the Life exceeds that which Moses promised; so the duration of it also should as much out-run his, as for ever extends it self be∣yond an Age.

Now the word ETERNALL may be conceived to comprehend in it these Three things.

I.

First, that there is nothing but LIFE in this state of Blessedness; which shall not be interrupted by any dolefull acci∣dent. Life and Death, I told you, in the holy language signifie the same with Blessedness and Misery: And therefore the Eternity of life must include in its notion a state of pure happiness, of mere and unmixed pleasure; without any thing that deserves the name of Death to give it the least annoyance. There we may hope to be so happy, as to know with∣out mistake, and to be wise without fol∣ly, and to increase in knowledge with∣out our present toil to acquire it. Love

is there without hatred, jealousy or envy, joy without any sighing or sorrow, prai∣ses without complaints, obedience with∣out reluctance, speed and alacrity with∣out dulness and heaviness; in one word, perfect purity and holiness, without spot or blemish to sully the glory of it. As this lower region of the air we see is the place of clouds and darkness, thunder and lightning, storm and tempest; but to the dwellings of the Sun and fixed Stars none of these pitchy vapours ascend, to ob∣scure their brightness, or trouble their peace: just so is this World the scene of misery and vexation, confusion and disor∣der, our bodies are tossed with severall storms, and our Souls many times hurried with more violent tempests, the fierce gusts of their own passions; but when we ascend to the region of Light, and are cloathed with the Sun, we shall be out of the reach of these troubles, and find our selves in a state of perfect rest and joy, without the least disgust to abate our contentment.

And what will make us despise this Valley of tears, if this blessed hope have not force enough to lift our hearts above it? Who would not desire to come to

the Mount of Vision and Transfigu∣ration, where we shall SEE THE LORD, and be so changed thereby, as to be made impassible as he is? Let the Readers pardon me, if I so far digress as to ask them, What is this Wilderness wherein you live, that you should love it better then that heavenly Canaan? What is forty years, or perhaps seventy, of toil and labour, to that Eternall Rest which Christ hath promised? Are not these husks contemptible in respect of the Man∣na, the Bread of life, of which if a man eat he shall live for ever? Is not our life here a dream, a shaddow of life, in compari∣son with this Life that is everlasting? Why then are you so hardly perswaded to take off your thoughts and affections from things beneath, and not so much to han∣dle the thorns and prickles that are in all mortall things? Why should we be at so much pains to draw you into this Paradise, where, as there is a perpetuall Spring, so, all joy flourishes without the least sense of grief to spoil its pleasures? If you would have us to account you men, we cannot but expect you should entertain this Happiness; unless you can either dis∣believe it, or prove it falls so short of this description, that it is not worth the

price you must give for it. But how un∣able you will be to doe the former, shall appear presently, when I have told you farther, how far short this description is of the incomparable excellency of this Life.

II.

For this word ETERNALL ad∣ded to it, may well denote the LIFE we speak of to be without any intermis∣sion, as well as without any intermixture. As there is no contrary sense of grief in that happy State, so there is no insensible∣ness of joy. The blessed Soul will never cease to feel its own pleasures, because, as there is no night in that heavenly coun∣try, so there is no sleep; in which we can scarce be said to live. The life we shall lead there will be one continued Act of knowing, loving, rejoycing, praising and obeying God; and there will be no void spaces wherein we shall doe nothing, or wherein we shall doe something else. We cannot conceive how any drowziness should creep upon us, or heaviness op∣press our spirits: and as for other actions besides those now named, what should there be, since all evill is banished, all sin shut out of that Paradise?

As for all Good works, there will be none of those, wherein we are now im∣ployed, to exercise our Obedience; as not befitting the Nobleness of that state, wherein neither we nor others shall be in any need of those things, which now call for our Charity to them, or Justice to our selves. What shall works of Mercy doe in that world, where there is no Misery? How shall we visit the sick, where immor∣tality and incorruption provides for a con∣tinuall health? What hospitality shall we use there, where no poor inhabit nor strangers come? How shall we cloath the naked, where they are invested with a robe of the purest and most unspotted light? What Enemies shall we study to reconcile, where universall Friendship reigns? What differences shall we compose, where all live in unity and harmonious love? And if these works of Mercy shall be useless, surely then all works of Neces∣sity, as they are termed, will be superflu∣ous. There will be no meat, no drink, no apparell or habitation to be cared for, where there is no hunger, thirst, and cold, or such like wants, which now continu∣ally pinch us. The onely work will be, to think of God, to love him whose love will appear so wonderfull, to rejoyce in

him, to reckon up his benefits, to thank him for them, to perform him such servi∣ces as are suitable to the dignity of that condition, to love all the blessed society, who will contribute all they can to each other's happiness. And how incompara∣bly great will that happiness be, when we shall have no other imployment but to be happy?

There are two great defects (as a fa∣mous Divine of our own hath observed) which spoil the intireness of all our de∣lights here; but will find no place in the enjoyments of that happy state. For (1.) all the Capacities we have now are so narrow and weak, that we cannot long bear any high pleasure: but we are soon satiated with it, and are fain, even for our own ease, to lay it aside, and seek some new delight. This makes our best contentments not to be pure and sincere, without the mixture of some dregs; for of other this fleshly state will not admit. And besides this, (2.) while we study the sa∣tisfaction of one Capacity, another must be content to go without the pleasure that it desires. They cannot all be gra∣tified together, but the rest must wait till one hath done. And, which is worse,

while we fulfill the desires of the lower Faculties, the nobler commonly are depri∣ved of their satisfaction. They that are given to their appetite, and are great pur∣veyors for the grosser senses of the body, not onely defraud the Mind, but even the purer senses, (the Eye and the Ear,) which are the great Gates of wisedome, of their most delightfull enjoyments. Nay, such is the imperfection of this state, that the Mind it self cannot eamestly fix in one sort of studies, but commonly it is render'd thereby very unapt to reap the delight that other parts of knowledge af∣ford. We have seen deep Contempla∣tours in severall Sciences, prove too un∣skilfull in matters of common prudence: and others strangely quick in worldly bu∣siness, to which they have bent their minds, who have been extreme inapprehensive of Divine Mysteries. But in the life to come it will be quite otherwise; for our Ca∣pacities, as I have discoursed in the fore∣going Chapters, will be there mightily improved; and so inlarged and widened, that we shall be in no danger to take a surfeit of the fullest enjoyments that can present themselves unto us. And such will be the friendly agreement and sweet har∣mony between the capacities and desires

of every faculty there, that the satisfacti∣on of one can no way turn to the preju∣dice of any other; but rather further and set forward its true delight and content∣ment. For then, the more we know, the more we shall love; and the more we love, the more we shall know how good God is. And this we shall doe without any weariness, which now forces us to break off our sweetest enjoyments; be∣cause then we shall not spend, but ra∣ther improve, ourselves by exercise and motion.

Which makes another considerable dif∣ference between this state and that which we expect. All our pleasures here, as you may clearly discern from what hath been said, consisting in a vehement mo∣tion, which is very transient, and quick∣ly slips away; we must rest a while be∣fore we can renew it, and begin the mo∣tion again. The duration of the present is short; but there are long pauses made before another succeeds. For no man can always eat and drink, or every mo∣ment enjoy any other delight: much less can he always attend to what he enjoys, though the attention is that which makes the delight. But now, quite contrary,

this pleasure that flows from the Vision of God is of such a nature, that it is always felt and injoy'd. For being firm and stea∣dy, fixt and unchangeable, like God himself, it is not received by piece-meal and at certain seasons, as our pleasures here are; but is full and all together, without any space between to disjoyn its parts. Which makes those happy souls live in one continued compleat hap∣piness and joy, which doth not pass a∣way, but still remains. They can always love him, always praise him, always feel a sense of his goodness trickling down their hearts, and filling them with in∣effable joys without any ceasing.

Who would not then by a short course of Piety here, which must be oft inter∣rupted by sleep and other necessary oc∣casions, (and it is well if not by many failings,) run towards this never-dis∣continued life of happiness in the other world? Who would not wish and strive to enjoy such a Good as will never suffer him to be out of enjoyment? None, sure, but they who, though they cannot al∣ways eat and drink and take their pleasure, yet have their hearts so sunk into such delights, that they cannot receive any

taste of these celestiall entertainments. Do but spend a serious and stedfast thought upon them, do but give your selves a true gust of them; and you will sooner cease to eat and drink, then to hunger and thirst after them.

III.

For this word ETERNALL, you will soon see, in the most obvious accep∣tion of it, denotes the perpetuity and e∣verlasting duration of this uninterrupted and unintermitted LIFE, or state of highest Happiness. If we should suppose it to be but of a short continuance, yet such is the pleasure of it, I have shewn you, so satisfying are its joys, that any man of sense would chuse rather to spend seventy or eighty years there, then to pass them in this miserable world. Nay, one day of that life is better then a thousand of ours: and much rather should we wish to have the meanest place in those celestiall man∣sions, then the greatest preferments on this Earth. But besides that it is so transcen∣dently sweet and delicious, you must now consider, that this LIFE knows no term nor period; but lasts as long as him that is the Authour of it. He never began

to be the Lord and to be Good, (as Cle∣mens Alex. concludes his V. Book,) be∣ing alway what he is: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, nor will he ever cease to doe good, though he bring all things to an end. Still holy Souls will enjoy the sweet fruits of his love, when all things here wither and perish. He is the Eternall, God blessed for ever, from everlasting to e∣verlasting, and changes not. And such will the state of happiness be to which our Lord will bring his servants: to a Crown of glory that fadeth not away; to a building of God not made with hands, eternall in the heavens; to a kingdom that cannot be shaken; to a light that is never sullied with any cloud, and can never be put out; to a splendour and glory that is neither eclipsed nor ever impaired; for it is the Glory of God, the enjoyment of his eternall brightness: which as it is not broken by sleep, nor interrupted for a time by any of our earthly employ∣ments; so much less shall it break off by death, and cease to be for ever.

This is the very Crown, as I said at the beginning, and the perfection of the Happiness we expect. This makes it to be absolute Bliss; because it wants not

that continuance which all our enjoy∣ments here desire, but still complain they cannot have. Which some anciently thought they saw most lively represen∣ted in the History of the Creation of the World: where there is a constant menti∣on, as the Hebrews observe, of the eve∣ning and the morning making one day, till the whole six days-work was ended. The evening and the morning were the first day, saith the Text, i. Gen. 5. And the evening and the morning were the second day, vers. 8. And so you reade of all the other six, till you come to the seventh: wherein God ended the work which he had made, and rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. ii. Ge∣nes. 2. But it is not said here, as it is in the conclusion of all the former days, that the evening and the morning were the se∣venth day. And therefore they lookt upon the Six days as a Calendar of the severall Ages of this World, in which there is a continuall vicissitude of day and night, of light and darkness, pleasure and grief, labour and rest, and one ge∣neration goes that another may come, till all have an end. But the Seventh day, in which they found no mention of eve∣ning and morning, they took to be an

emblem of that happy Sabbath and per∣fect repose we shall have in the other Life; when, as Origen speaks, we have done all our work faithfully, and left no∣thing undone. After this, says he, fol∣lows the day of God's Sabbath and Rest, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 &c. in which all pious Souls, that have finished their work, as God did his, ascending up to the Spectacle above, and the generall assembly of the just and blessed, shall feast together with God, and keep his everlasting Sab∣bath of joy and gladness and peace, with∣out any succeeding sadness and sorrow, or any conclusion of their happy enjoy∣ments.

Of which also the happy condition of the Hebrews, after they came out of their Egyptian bondage, was some kind of fi∣gure: for it is called by the name of a Sab∣bath or Rest which God gave them from their hard labours; and when they come thither, they are said to come to their rest. In like manner the Apostle, spea∣king of the Christian Happiness, calls it by the same name, and proves that there still remains another Rest for the people of God. iv. Heb. 9. And the Spirit it self saith, xiv. Rev. 13. Blessed are the dead

which die in the Lord, that they may rest from their labours.

There is nothing we can enjoy in this life, but, besides that it is short, we must attain that short enjoyment by much labour. We must not have it with per∣fect ease, but with toil and pains and the sweat of our brows. Or if it come at a cheaper rate, yet it will stand us in a great many thoughts, and be paid for with much care and solicitude afterward to preserve our contentments; which else will be in danger to be lost, and leave us the more miserable. There will be many also that envy to us our happi∣ness: and others perhaps that will endea∣vour to oppress us, and deprive us of it. And if we can escape all these troubles, yet we must have a sore conflict with our selves and our spirituall enemies: which will put us to great pains to keep our selves from being corrupted with the de∣lights of this world, or poisoned and in∣fected with the evill examples that are round about us. Therefore this present time may well be called the time of our labours: after all which there is nothing we have got but must also have an end

and we shall be forced quickly to take our leave of it.

But now, in that joyfull Sabbath that is to succeed, we shall rest from all these labours, and be at no more pains to at∣tain or keep our happiness. There will be no danger, as I have said, of our being despoiled of it. No Serpent can creep into that Paradise, to tempt and allure us from that great felicity: nor shall we be in any danger from our own Flesh; nor find our selves in a World where there will be any thing to excite our de∣sires, but what we may freely take the fullest satisfaction in. By which, and all the rest that hath been discoursed, you may clearly see, there can be nothing wanting to compleat the happiness of that state, but onely the never-ceasing dura∣tion or continuance of it. Now in this, as was said at first, the Rest we expect in the other world differs from that which God promised the Hebrews in the land of Canaan. For by virtue of Moses his Law they had a title onely to a long life in that fruitfull Country: in opposition to which, as well as to our short life here, the Christian Rest is called an ever∣lasting

Life, an inheritance immortall (be∣cause incorruptible) and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us. 1 Pet. i. 4. So our Lord himself calls it a great number of times in one dis∣course he had with the stupid Jews, Joh. vi. where he exhorts them to labour not so much for the meat that perisheth, as for the meat that endureth to everlasting life, which the Son of man came to give them, ver. 27. For this is the will, he tells them, of him that sent him, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life, ver. 40. And because they were still sottishly regardless of what he said, he affirms it again with the most vehement asseverations, ver. 47. Veri∣ly, verily I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. And 58. He that eateth of this Bread shall live for e∣ver: which is repeated again in sundry other places of the same Chapter.

And I must tell you, for your more ample satisfaction, that our Saviour hath taken care to deliver this Doctrine to us in such words as can have no other sense or meaning. The word for ever or ever∣lasting in the Old Law sometime signifies onely the duration of severall years, or a

long compass of time, which at last might have an end. As the Hebrew servant who had sold himself for six years, if when they were at an end he chose not to go free, he was to serve his master for ever: xxi. Exod. 6. that is, till the Jubi∣lee, if his master lived so long, and he were not redeemed nor released. And there are many Ordinances of Moses, not now to be enumerated, which are said to be everlasting, because they were to continue till the coming of Christ. Now lest any one should imagine, that the Life our Saviour speaks of shall be everlasting onely in the same sense, a very long con∣tinued happiness, (severall Ages sup∣pose,) which in conclusion might de∣termine and come to an end; he hath prevented such thoughts, by using other words besides this of everlasting life, that we may be assured it signifies more in the Gospel then it did under the Law, that is, an Endless Bliss. For (1.) he not onely tells the Jews in the forenamed Chapter, vi. Joh. 50. that he was the bread of which if a man did eat he should not die: but that whosoever liveth (that is, every living man) and believeth in him, shall never die; xi. Joh. 26. Which is as much as to say, He will give us a

Life without any death. And farther (2.) he says, that whosoever keeps his saying, shall never see death: viii. 51. Which, if it signifie any thing distinct from the former, must denote that he shall never be in any danger of death, or come near it: which, in the next words, vers. 52. is called tasting death. How can this be, say the Jews, since Abraham and the Prophets are dead; and thou sayest, if a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death? That's the phrase wherein our Saviour's Passion is expressed, who tasted death (i. e. lay in the grave a while) for every man, ii. Heb. 9. And therefore may signifie here, that our Saviour's faithfull Disciples, after he hath given them ever∣lasting life, shall not die at all; no, not for the space of three days, though after∣ward they might rise again. But I have taken notice of one expression fuller then this; for he doth not onely say that they shall not die nor taste of death, but (3.) that they cannot die any more. xx. Luk. 36. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. There is no possibility, after they have attained that life, that they should die again; for they are equall to the Angels, and are the children of God, being by the Resurrec∣tion begotten to an immortall life.

Hence it is that the Apostle calls this happy state by the name of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 im∣mortality, 2 Tim. i. 10. and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in∣corruption, ii. Rom. 7. and saith that our bodies shall be raised in incorruption, 1 Cor. xv. 42. and put on immortality, ver. 53. and bear the image of the heavenly Adam, i. e. of our Lord now he is in glory, who we know dies no more, ver. 49. Which all signifie the Body as well as the Soul shall enjoy such a solid state of hap∣piness as cannot moulder or be dissolved; but will remain firm and durable like the Authour of it, by whom death shall be swallowed up in victory, ver. 54. i. e. be so perfectly conquered, that it shall ne∣ver recover the least power any more.

Innumerable Ages shall never put a period to this ETERNALL LIFE; but after they are all past, the whole Man shall be as fresh and beautifull, without any declension or sign of decay, as if it were but newly risen, and had just then put on its purest robes of glorious Light. There will be as full a Good, I mean, and as great a strength to enjoy it, and as perfect a liking also of it, after millions of ages are spent in the heavenly mansi∣ons, as there was at the very first entrance

into them. Death being destroyed by him who is the Resurrection and the Life, and who dieth no more; an immor∣tall Soul shall inhabit an immortall Bo∣dy, and they shall be for ever with the Lord. Where they shall be for ever em∣ployed in those happy exercises before mentioned; which will for ever be to be done again. In the doing of them there will be infinite pleasure; and in the repetition of them there will be no disrelish, but an infinite increase of plea∣sure. As they always know, so they shall always be knowing more. For new beauties, we may well think, will disco∣ver themselves in an infinite object; and this will excite a fresh love, and that a more vigorous joy: And so for ever round again there will be knowing, lo∣ving and rejoycing more and more with∣out any end.

It is but a little that can be said of ETERNITY, though we should speak of it to the end of Time. Nay, in Eterni∣ty it self we shall not be able to come to the End of it in our thoughts, no more then in our being; because it hath none. We can never know it all, because it is still to come. And therefore how little

of it will this leaf of paper contain? or, should we write never so much, how shall we be able now to reach the de∣scription of a thing so sublime? Thank∣full acclamations to the goodness of our Saviour for bringing life and immortality to light, and serious admirations at the amazing greatness of what we know of it, will be far more acceptable, as well as more easie, then a long discourse about it. And therefore I shall end this Chap∣ter with my wishes, that this Blessedness I am speaking of may not seem small in our eyes, because we can relate so little of it; but rather appear the greater and the more desirable, because we see it is beyond our present understanding. Though this vast Circle of Eternity can∣not be measured by our thoughs; that makes it but so much the more excellent then our Span of time. And though this LIFE comprehend such pleasures as we cannot now enjoy; that doth but exalt it above the poor pleasures of this pre∣sent life, which we can first enjoy, and then contemn. We are not able, it is true, to conceive, nor can it enter into our hearts, what God hath in store for those that love him: but this should onely excite our longings to conceive it;

and make us sigh and say, when we think of enjoying God himself, and of an eter∣nall enjoyment of him,

O the fulness of God! O the infinite∣ness of him that is the Life of this LIFE! Who can tell what thou art, O most Blessed for ever; by whom all things were made, and who art All that can possibly be? What comforts shine from the brightness of thy face? How joyfull wilt thou make us with the light of thy countenance, when we shall see thee as thou art? It will put greater gladness into our hearts, then if all the glo∣ry of the world should smile upon us.

But what eye can be strong enough to be∣hold so great a Splendour? what excellent creatures must they be made, who shall be capable to SEE GOD? It casts us in∣to a trance, when we do but think of being eternally beloved of thee. O what will it doe to feel our selves ever, ever, the objects of thy infinite love? The beauteous frame of the Heavens is exceeding admirable in our eyes. O what a goodly World is this, in which thou sufferest thine Enemies to live! What a glorious torch is the Sun, which thou hast lighted to shine on the unjust as well as on the just! Who then can hope to

know, till he sees, what the pleasures are which thou hast prepared for thy Friends? what a glorious Light shall shine from thy presence, upon the face of those that love thee? Their hearts now cannot hold the smallest glimpse of that which shall for ever bless and ravish them with its joys. But how can we hope to see it, unless thou wilt raise us above our selves; and make us no longer men of this world, but children of the Resurrection, and equall to the holy An∣gels? We believe, and rejoyce to think, that thou wilt account us worthy to obtain that World, and the resurrection of the dead. It is the greatest pleasure we have here, to hope we shall enjoy all the happiness of which we now discourse: nay, far more, infinitely more then can be conceived.

For how great will that happiness be, where we shall neither feel any evill, nor want any good? where all our work will be the prai∣ses of God, who shall be all in all? where no sloth shall make us cease to praise him, nor any necessity call us to other employ∣ment? There will be true glory indeed, where no man shall be praised, either by the errour or the flattery of him that praiseth. True honour that will be, which shall be de∣nied to no worthy person, nor given to any

unworthy. Nay, the unworthy shall not so much as seek it there, where none are per∣mitted to come but such as are worthy. True peace is there, where nothing shall fall cross to our desires, either from our selves or any other. There He who gave Vertue, will be its Reward; having promised that he him∣self, then which nothing can be greater, no∣thing better, will be the portion of it. What else shall we understand by those words, I will be their God, and they my people; but that I will be their Satisfaction, I will be all that every one can honestly desire, both life, and health, and sustenance, and riches, and glory, and honour, and all good? For so we reade, that God will be all in all. He will be the End of our desires, who will be seen with∣out end, and loved without lothing, and praised without weariness. This will be the office, this will be the inclination, this will be the work of all in that Eternall Life, which is common to all. There we shall sing the mercies of the Lord for ever. There we shall keep that truly greatest Sabbath, which hath no Evening. There we shall rest from labour and see, we shall see and love, we shall love and praise. Behold what will be in the End without end. For what else is our End, but to come to the Kingdom which hath no End? Amen.

Notes

• 1 Pet. v. 4.
• 2 Cor. v. 1.
• xii. Heb. 28.
• Pirke R. Eliezer c. 18.
• L. vi. con∣tra Cels. p. 317.
• August. de Civ. Dei cap. ult.