A09977:409
Life eternalLife eternall
Life eternal or, A treatise of the knowledge of the divine essence and attributes Delivered in XVIII. sermons. By the late faithful and worthy minister of Jesus Christ, John Preston, D. in Divinity, chaplain in ordinary to his Majesty, master of Emmanuel College in Cambridge, and sometimes preacher of Lincolns Inn.Life eternall or, A treatise of the knowledge of the divine essence and attributes Delivered in XVIII. sermons. By the late faithfull and worthy minister of Iesus Christ, Iohn Preston, D. in Divinity, chaplaine in ordinary to his Majestie, master of Emmanuel Colledge in Cambridge, and sometimes preacher of Lincolns Inne.
London: printed by Richard, 1631
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
as thou spendest this hour, so thou shalt live all thy days; what would not a man do, or what would he not suffer? how careful would he be to spend this hour well? Now this life is not so much as an hour to eternity; and therefore why should we not be careful how we spend this hour, seeing it shall be with us for ever according as we ⟨p. 163⟩spend it? 1 Cor. 9.25.1 Every one that striveth for the mastery is temperate; now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. Thus he reasoneth, If men that use these Olympian gains, if they will endure so much hardship and abstinence, accustom their bodies to heat and cold for the race before-hand, and do all but for a crown, that will last but this life at the most; and shall not we (saith he) for an incorruptible crown? Beloved; If we would sit down but one half hour, and consider seriously what eternity is, it would make us to neglect all temporary things, which now we are so affected with. It is eternity, my brethren, and the consideration of it, that doth set an high price upon grace, and gives the just weight to sin, but it makes all other things exceeding light; for this is a true rule; that until we come to apprehend sin, as the greatest evil in the world, we are not truly humbled, and it is eternity that makes it to be so; for (as was said before) eternity makes an evil infinitely the greater. Now if you look upon all other things, as honour, and disgrace, and the favour of men, they reach but a little way, but to the end of this life, at the utmost; but if you look to the reach of grace and sin, they reach (as it were) a thousand thousand miles beyond it. Grace reacheth to eternity, and sin reaches to eternity, and therefore these are the things that a man should be busied about. What a shame is it for a man to grieve for some outward crosses, and to rejoice much ⟨p. 164⟩for some preferment here; and not to regard or be affected with eternity: It is the phrase that the Apostle Paul useth, he calls it mans day; I care not to be judged by mans day; and indeed it is but a short day; and what is it to that eternity I look for? What is it to that God, with whom I must live for ever? therefore I care not what men say of me, but I rather think what the eternal God thinks of me, and what will be thought of me in that Kingdom where I must live for ever.