The Third Attribute of God

We come now to a third attribute, and that is the eternity of God; for God does not say, He that was, but He that is, has sent me to you. He that is without all cause, the efficient and final, he must needs be eternal; he that has no beginning nor end, must needs be eternal: and besides, in that he says, I am that I am, not, I am that I was, it must needs be that he is without succession.

Therefore from here we may gather, that

God is eternal.

In handling of this point, we will show you,

First, wherein this consists.

The reason, why it must be so.

The differences.

The consequences, that flow from these distinctions of eternity.

For the first, you must know, that to eternity these five things are required:

It must not only have a simple, but a living and most perfect being. For eternity is a transcendent property, and therefore can be in none, but in the most excellent and perfect being, and therefore it must be a living being. This we have expressed in (Isaiah 57:15): Thus says the high and lofty one, that inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place, etc. As if he should say; there is no house fit for him to dwell in, that is high and excellent, but only the house of eternity. Where eternity is compared to a house or habitation, to which none can enter, but God himself, because he only is high and excellent; all the creatures are excluded out of this habitation.

It is required to eternity, that there be no beginning; which description you shall see of it in (Psalm 90:2): LORD, you have been our dwelling place in all generations; before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth, or the world; even from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

And here also you have the third expression; and that is, to have no ending, he is not only from everlasting, but to everlasting.

There is no succession: as, suppose all the pleasures that are in a long banquet, were drawn together into one moment; suppose all the acts of man's understanding, and will, from the beginning of his life to the end, could be found in him in one instant; such is eternity. God possesses all things altogether, he has all at once (John 8:58): Verily, verily I say to you, before Abraham was, I am: As if he should say, there is no time past, present, or to come with me; he does not say, before Abraham was, I was, but I am, and therefore he is eternal.

He is the dispenser of all time to others; he is Lord of all time, all times do but issue out of him, as rivers from the sea; he dispenses them as it pleases him (Psalm 90:2-3): Before the mountains were brought forth, etc. even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. You turn man to destruction, and say: return, you children of men. He sets time to the sons of men; where we shall see that this is the property of him, that is eternal, to set times and seasons to men, etc.

The reason why God must be eternal, is this, because he is what he is of himself, he is without all cause, and therefore can have no beginning or ending; and therefore he must of necessity be without all motion, and without all succession, for all succession presupposes motion, and all motion presupposes a cause and effect; for whatever is moved, is either moved from no being to a being, or from an imperfect, to a more perfect being; that is, to be moved to a higher degree: now God that has nothing in him to be perfected, is not capable of a further and higher degree.

The third thing is the difference between the eternity of God, and the duration of all creatures, which consists in these particulars:

They, even the best of them, have but a half eternity, they are not from everlasting, though they are to everlasting.

That eternal duration that they have, is not intrinsic to them, it is dependent, they receive it from another.

They cannot communicate it to another, nor extend it beyond themselves; the angels, though they be eternal, yet they cannot make other things to be eternal; God only can do this.

All the acts of the creatures, all their pleasures and thoughts, and whatever is in them do admit a succession, a continual flux and motion; but in God it is not so; he is as a rock in the water that stands fast though the waves move about it; so is it with God: and though the creatures admit of a continual flux and succession about him, as the waves do; yet there is none in him. And these are the differences between the eternity of God, and the duration of all the creatures. Now follows the fourth thing.

The consequences that flow from here, they are these two:

If this be the eternity of God, then to him all time, that is to come, is, as it were, past (Psalm 90:4): A thousand years in his sight are but as yesterday, when it is past: that is, a thousand years that are to come, they are to him as past; they are nothing to him. And again, a thousand years that are past, are as it were, present to him, as we heard before: Before Abraham was, I am: For he possesses all things together; by reason of the vastness of his being, to him all things are present. As he that stands upon a high mountain, and looks down (it is a simile that the Schoolmen often use;) though to the passerby that goes by, some are before, some behind, yet to him they are all present. So though one generation passes, and another comes; yet to God, that inhabits and stands upon eternity, they are the same, they are all present, there is no difference. And then this follows from here, that to God no time is either long or short, but all times are alike to him; therefore he is not subject to any delays or expectations; he is not subject to any fears, for they are of things to come; nor to the passing of grief, or pleasure, or the loss of any excellence, that before he had not, as all creatures are; therefore we should consider of the excellence of God, to give him the praise of it: this use is made of it, in (1 Timothy 1:17): Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, and the only wise God, be honor, and glory for ever and ever, Amen: As if he should say; this very consideration, that God is eternal, should cause us to give him praise: and so is that in (Isaiah 57:15).

Eternity makes that which is good, to be infinitely more good than it is, and that which is evil, to be much more evil; and that not only in respect of duration (that which is good for a week, is better for a year; and an evil, when it continues an infinite time, it is infinitely more evil,) but also in regard of that collection into one, which is found in those things that continue to eternity: as when all joys are collected into one heap, and all grief into one center; so that you shall joy as much in one instant, as ever hereafter; so that though the thing be still but the same, yet the continuance makes it infinitely more good.

Use 1. Seeing eternity is a property of God, we should learn hence to mind most the things that are eternal, for they are, of all other things, of the greatest moment, because they do most participate of this transcendent property of the Almighty. God is eternal, the soul is eternal, heaven and hell are eternal; therefore they are more to be regarded by us. You shall see this in (1 John 2:17), as a reason why we should not mind the things of the world; because the world vanishes, it passes away, and the lusts thereof (says the Apostle); that is, look upon all the things below, and both the things pass, and your affections and desires pass — that which you love today, tomorrow you will not love; therefore love them not, regard them not, for they are of a flitting and passing nature, but he that does the will of the LORD abides forever; and therefore we are to mind such things most. Such as the King is, such are his subjects, and such are the rewards and punishments that he gives. Now God, he is eternal (1 Timothy 1:17): To the King eternal, immortal, invisible, and only wise God, be honor and glory forever. And as he is an eternal King, so he has given to us, his subjects, to be eternal, as the soul is; and he has given punishments and rewards eternal; hell is an everlasting prison, and heaven is an eternal palace; therefore these are the things most to be regarded by us. And if we would but thoroughly consider that these things are eternal, it would effectually draw our minds to the things that are above. A man that comes to an inn, if he can get a better room, he will; if not, he can be content with it, for he says, it is but for a night; so your habitation here is but for a night: if you can have a better condition, use it rather, but if not, be not much moved, for it is but for a night. In worldly things the shortness of them makes us to undergo them cheerfully. An apprenticeship that is hard, a man will endure it, for he says it is but for a time; so things that are pleasant, if they be but of short continuance, we regard them the less. Now our time that we have here, in respect of eternity, is shorter than an apprenticeship, nay, than a night, nay, shorter than an hour. Now put the case, that a man should have an hour given him; and it should be said to him: as you spend this hour, so you shall live all your 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 forever according as we spend it? (1 Corinthians 9:25) Every one that strives for the mastery is temperate; now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. Thus he reasons: if men that use these Olympian games, if they will endure so much hardship and abstinence, accustom their bodies to heat and cold for the race beforehand, and do all but for a crown that will last but this life at the most; shall not we (says he) strive 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 does set a 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 honor and disgrace and the favor 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 reaches 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 for some preferment here; and not to regard or be affected with eternity. It is the phrase that the Apostle Paul uses, he calls it man's day: I care not to be judged by man's 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 forever? 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 forever. If a man were in Turkey, or in some other remote place, to traffic there a while, he would not care what the men of that place thought of him, for he says, this is not the place where I must live: so do you but consider, that this is not the place where you must live, and then of what moment will it appear to you, what men say of you? Beloved, if the soul were mortal, there were some reason that you should make provision for it here; but seeing it is immortal, you ought to make a proportionate provision for it, even forever: for the body you are apt to make provision, a viaticum beyond the journey; but consider, that you have an immortal soul, which must live forever, and you must make some provision for it, to carry it so long a journey. It is our Savior's exhortation (John 6:27): Labor not for the meat that perishes, but for the meat that endures to everlasting life, etc. As if he should say: if you had no other life to live but this, then you might seek the things of this life, as glory, honor, pleasure, etc., but these things perish, and the taste of them perishes, as the sweetness of meat in the eating; but (says our Savior) seek those things that will abide forever. You have an everlasting life to live, therefore you must make some provision answerable to it. As for the body, the soul wears it but as a garment, and when it is worn out, the soul must have a new suit of apparel one day.

Well, seeing God has brought this point to our hands this day, let me but prevail with you so far, as to set some time apart the following week, where you may enter into a serious consideration of eternity, the very thinking of it, will be of great moment to you; for look what the object is, such is the soul, about which it is conversant; high objects lift up the soul to the Lord, and make the mind answerable to them, and low objects make the mind like to them. Now eternity is a high object, and it will work in men high minds; and hence it is, for the want of this consideration, that when a man comes to die, and sees eternity before him, how it does then so amaze the soul of man? I have seen it by experience: I knew one who said, If it were but for a thousand years, I could bear it, but seeing it is to eternity, this amazes me. Behold, if you would consider, that after many thousands of years are past, yet you are to begin as at the first; if men did consider this seriously, would they let their eternal estate depend so upon uncertainties. And let them consider this, that are yet strangers to the life of God, that if death should come, they should not escape eternal death: it is good to keep our thoughts upon this, and it would make us not to hasten after the things of the world, as we do; and for your sin you dote on so, there are three things to be considered in it: First, the pleasure of it; is as the speckled skin of the serpent: Secondly, the sting of sin: and thirdly, the eternity of that sting. Now look not upon the pleasure of sin, that endures but for a season, but consider the hurt that comes from sin, and then consider the eternity of it: a candle in a dark night makes a great show, but when the sun comes, it vanishes, and is nothing; so would all these things that we do so affect now, if they come before eternity in our thoughts: it is great wisdom in this kind to husband our thoughts well (1 Corinthians 7:29-31). Use this world, as not using it, for the fashion of this world passes away: that is, mind them not much, be not much affected with them, one way or other, either in joy or grief, let them be such as if they were not; for why? They are temporal things, passing things, things that continue not: for that is the thing I gather out of that place, that the Lord would not have our thoughts to be bestowed upon them, but so remissly, as if not at all, because there are eternal things, and set your mind upon them, for the time is short: As if he should say, you have not so much time to spare; the time is short, and you have business enough another way; there is water little enough to run in the right channel, therefore let none run beside; and the things that should take up your minds, are sin, and grace, things that are eternal. It is a pitiful thing that the noble intentions of eternal minds should be bestowed so ill upon these flitting things, which are nothing to eternity? A man that has not much money in his purse, but only to provide necessaries; when one comes and asks him to borrow any, he will say; I have no more than to buy me food and clothing, or if he has his rent to pay, and no more; if one should come to borrow any of him, he says, no, I have no more than to pay my rents. So says the apostle there; you have no such spare time, no such spare affections, that you can bestow them elsewhere, but bestow them upon things that endure to eternal life.

And further to move you to this, consider the shortness and vanity of this life, how all mankind are hurried and rapt with a sudden motion to the west of their days. Our fathers went before us, we follow them, and our children follow us at the heels, as one wave follows another, and at last we are all dashed on the shore of death: and withal, consider the vanity that all conditions are subject to; whether they be mountains or valleys; if mountains, they are subject to blasts, to be envied; or if valleys, to be over-drowned, oppressed, and condemned; indeed, the things that we prize most, honor and pleasure; what do they but weary us, and then whet our appetite to a new edge? Consider the men that have been before us; many men that have been like a green tree, but now the flood of their wealth is dried up, they and their goods have perished together.

Consider in the second place, what eternity is; here the body is corrupted with diseases, and the soul subject to vexation; but that life is sure, composed and constant, and there is no variableness in it; and if we desire life so much, why do we esteem this life that is but a span long, and neglect that which is so spacious.

Consider the errand, upon which you are sent into this world, and be not put aside from it, by any needless occasions (as they are all when they come into competition with this) which hinder our thoughts, and our actions, as far as they belong to eternity: and indeed all the world spend too much of their time upon by-businesses, and they are hampered with them before they are aware, still making ourselves new work; so that we make this life, which is short enough of itself, shorter than it is, wearying ourselves with anxious griefs, labor and care: thus men did before us, and thus we are ready to do, therefore we had the more need to take heed to it.

Use 2: If God be eternal, then be not you offended, because you see that he stays long, either in giving reward, or in executing judgment on men for their sins; for with him no time is long, there is no succession with him. Therefore say not, because you feel nothing for the present, there are great promises made, but you find no performance; and there are many judgments threatened, but none executed; do not you therefore say, that your rewards are neglected, or judgment passed over, and that God has forgotten. For here you see, that with God no time is long or short, there is no succession with him. You have the same use made of it, (Isaiah 40:27-28): Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, my way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God? There is the objection, that which is in the hearts of men. Now you shall see what answer is made to it in the following verse: Have you not known, have you not heard that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth faints not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. The meaning is this: to us indeed the time is long, either when reward is deferred, or when the punishment, or the execution of sentence against evil works is deferred; but with God it is not so. Now that which makes it seem long to us is this.

1. Partly the passions, and restlessness of the mind (for that is motion) but God, he is without all motion or passion, and therefore nothing is long.

2. Again, not only we are subject to motion, but the things that we have to do with, they are subject to motion, and pass away, and therefore they seem long to us: for time, you know, is nothing else but the measure of motion; and therefore where there is motion, there is time, and no while else. Now to us that are in motion, and to the things that we have to do with, a thousand years are a thousand years; but in God there is no motion, nor flux; and therefore a thousand years with him are but as one day. God is neither in motion himself, nor are other things as in motion to him; but we are moved, and the things we have to do with are moved; and if either, there must be motion — for if the ship moves, though the waters stand still, or if the waters move, though the ship stand still, there is motion; but God stands still, and all things stand still to him likewise. Do not wonder therefore that the churches lie so long in misery, that the injuries of the saints are so long unavenged; do not accuse God, do not mistake him, do not think amiss of him, do not think that he is forgetful and does not remember, that he is slack and does not regard, that he cannot or will not help. Beloved, it is not so. You shall see the very same use made of it, (2 Peter 3:4, 8-9) if you compare those verses together: In the latter days there shall come scoffers, saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the creation. But be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the LORD as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The LORD is not slack concerning his promise (as some men count slackness) but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. It is not slackness in God: for (says the Apostle) a thousand years with him are as one day. We think it a great matter, that the Church should lie so long and cry, How long, LORD, and yet no remedy; says the Apostle, think not much at it; for a thousand years with him are but as one day.

Use 3: If God be eternal, then consider with whom you have to do, even with him whose love and enmity are eternal; with him, whose sovereignty and power is eternal. If a man be angry, we regard it the less, if we know it is but for a fit; but consider what it is to have to do with him whose love and enmity are eternal. Therefore learn, not to regard men as we do, but to regard the Lord only, and that in these three respects.

1. Learn to trust the Lord, and not man, for God is an everlasting refuge (Psalm 146:3-4): Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help; that which they can do for you is but for this life at most. Trust in him that is able to defend you for all eternity; for he that made heaven and earth, he continues for ever. This use you have made of it in (Psalm 90:1): LORD, you have been our habitation for ever and ever — as if he should say, Lord, you were a habitation (that is, a refuge, as our house is) to the churches, you were so in Abraham's time, in Pharaoh's time. Consider, that God is not only a habitation to his Church from generation to generation, but also from everlasting to everlasting.

2. Learn from this likewise to fear him; fear him that can cast body and soul into hell for ever; his eternity should make us to fear him. Fear not man (Isaiah 5:13-14) — why? Because he is of short continuance: and if he can do you any hurt, it is but for a short time, for he shall be made as the grass; but fear the Almighty God, who laid the heavens, and stretched the foundations of the earth. Use the Lord's arguments, they are the arguments that can work on the soul; it is the Holy Spirit's argument why we should fear him, because he is eternal, as the opposition in that place shows.

3. Labor to serve him (1 John 2:17): The world passes away, and the lusts thereof, but he that does the will of the LORD abides for ever. That is, the world cannot make you to abide for ever, it passes away; if you fulfill the lusts thereof, if you fulfill your own will, you are not able to continue yourselves, but you will pass away. What should we do then? Fulfill the will of the Lord, consider what he would have you do, and so you shall abide for ever.

Use 4 If God be eternal, then we should learn from this to comfort ourselves, when we look upon the mutability that we and all creatures are subject to in this valley of misery, it is a thing that may comfort us exceedingly much. If we serve him who is constant, without change, who is eternal, that can make up the changes that we are subject to — it is the use that is made of it, in Psalm 102:11-12. "My days are like a shadow that declines, and I am withered like grass; but you, O LORD, shall endure forever, and your remembrance to all generations." Why does he put these two together thus? — my shadow, and God's enduring forever, etc. — as if he should say, this is my comfort, that though I am of short continuance, yet God with whom I shall live forever, he is eternal, and abides forever. It is as if the beam should reason thus: though I am brittle and fading, yet the Sun that maintains me, abides forever. Or, if the stream should reason thus: though I may be dried up in Summer, yet the fountain that maintains me continues forever. So, though men be subject to change, yet the Lord, that maintains them, is immutable, and abides forever. You that have the life of Christ in you, have the beginning of this eternity; and though the old building be pulled down, yet you have a building not made with hands, eternal in the heavens — even as when one skin falls off, another comes on. And what though the outward man perish? yet the inward man grows daily more and more, till it come to perfection. This is not only a comfort to us, but also it is a great motive, and we should use it as a great argument to God — that because we are subject to change, yet because he is immutable, therefore he should help us (Psalm 102:26-27). "The heavens shall grow old, as does a garment, but you endure forever and ever; therefore cast me not off in the midst of my days." As if he should say, Lord, you have time enough to bestow, you are full of eternity; the heavens that seem to be of long continuance, yet are nothing to you; therefore I pray you to fill up my wants, and make me eternal with you. So because you inhabit eternity, therefore comfort me (Isaiah 57:15). Since God is eternal, learn from this to know that he is the Lord of all time.

Use 5 Do not look upon time as belonging to you, but to him — he overflows all. It is the phrase used in Psalm 90:5: "You carry them away as with a flood, they are as sheep, etc." — that is, all times are subject to him, he overreaches them, and makes them long or short, as it pleases him. He is not only in himself eternal, but he is the lord of all, and he disposes all times, and appoints the seasons to every thing. If he be thus, then take heed of looking upon future times as your own; you break in now upon the Lord's prerogative, if you look upon future times as yours, and say with the rich man in the Gospel, "Now soul, take your rest." This is sacrilege against God. It is as if a man should say, I have three thousand acres of land, when he has not three feet, or if a man should say, I have three thousand pounds, and has not three pence. It is the use made of it in James 4:13-14: "Go to now you that say, today, or tomorrow, we will go into such a city, etc." "Whereas you ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that, if he will give us leave to come in upon his ground." This phrase is out of use with many men, as clothes that are out of use, we are unwilling to wear them; but Christians should bring them into use again, and say, if the Lord please. Let them labor to do this in fear and trembling. You should think of time this way: you should look upon it as a large field, given by God, and nothing of it belonging otherwise to you. And look at what ground the Lord God gives you — you are to sow seed in it, and apply it to seek him, that you may receive a harvest in future time. And let men not say, I will repent and turn to God hereafter; but do it presently in fear and trembling. Boast not of time; why do you defer the time? you break into the Lord's right, and oftentimes he cuts you off for it, because you break into that which does nothing belong to you.