The divine life in three treatises

Methinks to hear the name of Eternity, should lay so odious a reproach on sin, and so nakedly open the folly, and shame and misery of the ungodly, and so lively show the need, and worth of faith and Holiness, that men should be soon resolved in their choice, and soon be at the end of an ungodly course, and need no more words to make them the resolved servants of the Lord, before to morrow. O me thinks, that a thought of Eternity, should with a Believer, answer all temptations, and put life into all his prayers and endeavours! If we were never so cold, or dull, or sleepy, one would think a serious thought of Eternity should warm us, quicken us, and awake us! ▪O Christians, shall we hear carelessly or speak carelessly of Eternity? shall we pray coldly, or labour negligently for Eternity! O what an Ocean of Joy will Eternity be unto the sanctified! It hath neither banks nor bottom. O what a gulf of misery, and woe, will Eternity be to the ungodly! wonderful! that on their dying beds they quake not with the horror, and that they cry not out with greatest lamentation, to think what a bottomless gulf of misery their departing souls must be cast into! To be for Ever, Ever, Ever, under the most heavy wrath of God! This is the appointed wages of ungodliness; This is the end of wicked ways; This is it that sinners chose, because they would not live to God! This they preferred, or ventured on, before a holy heavenly life! And this is it that Believers are labouring to escape in all their holy care and diligence! It is an Infinite value that is put upon the blood of Christ, the promises of God, the ordinances and means of Grace, and grace it self, and the poorest duties of the poorest Saints, because they are for an Infinite, Eternal glory. No Mercy is small that tastes of Heaven (as all doth or should do to the Believer.) No action is low that aims at Heaven. And O how lively should the Resolutions and courage of those men be, that are travelling, sighting, and watching for Eternity! How full should be their Comforts, that are fetched from the foresight of Infinite Eternal Comforts! As all things will presently be swallowed up in Eternity, so methinks the present apprehension ⟨p. 41⟩of Eternity should now swallow up all things else in the soul.

Methinks to hear the name of Eternity, should lay so odious a reproach on sin, and so nakedly open the folly, and shame and misery of the ungodly, and so lively shew the need, and worth of faith and Holiness, that men should be soon resolved in their choice, and soon be at the end of an ungodly course, and need no more words to make them the resolved servants of the Lord, before to morrow. O me thinks, that a thought of Eternity, should with a Believer, answer all temptations, and put life into all his prayers and endeavours! If we were never so cold, or dull, or sleepy, one would think a serious thought of Eternity should warm us, quicken us, and awake us! O Christians, shall we hear carelesly or speak carelesly of Eternity? shall we pray coldly, or labour negligently for Eternity! O what an Ocean of Joy will Eternity be unto the sanctified! It hath neither banks nor bottom. O what a gulf of misery, and woe, will Eternity be to the ungodly! wonderful! that on their dying beds they quake not with the horrour, and that they cry not out with greatest lamentation, to think what a bottomless gulf of misery their departing souls must be cast into! To be for Ever, Ever, Ever, under the most heavy wrath of God! This is the appointed wages of ungodliness; This is the end of wicked wayes; This is it that sinners chose, because they would not live to God! This they preferred, or ventured on, before a holy heavenly life! And this is it that Believers are labouring to escape in all their holy care and diligence! It is an Infinite value that is put upon the blood of Christ, the promises of God, the ordinances and means of Grace, and grace it self, and the poorest duties of the poorest Saints, because they are for an Infinite, Eternal glory. No Mercy is small that tasts of Heaven (as all doth or should do to the Believer.) No action is low that aims at Heaven. And O how lively should the Resolutions and courage of those men be, that are travelling, sighting, and watching for Eternity! How full should be their Comforts, that are fetcht from the foresight of Infinite Eternal Comforts! As all things will presently be swallowed up in Eternity, so methinks the present apprehension