e tern i ~y , which are infi nitel y more than the c r ops of the o cet~n? N one can comp rehend eternit y, cu:t the ttn r.~'1 God. Ete rnity is en ocean , wh ereof we wii l ne~ er fe.c ti' e (no re ; - it is ~ d e e p, wher e we can n;Jd no bot-fnm; a h h.ya . rinth , from when ce we ta nnc t ex triccne ourfei ve s, and wher:e we fbdl ever lofe the door. There are two th ings one rn<~y fayof it , ( 1.) It l·a1 a beginnin.tt· God's eterr.i ty ha s O$ b egi t~n ing, bit t he crea ture's. cterni ty bs. Someti n: e ther e w<~s no h. ke of fi re; and thof~ who have beeB th ere, fer fome thoufa nds of ye:ns were once in tiil,le, as we now are. Buf ( 2. ) It Jlya/1 never hafie an end. The firG: who enter– er] in to the eternity of wo, is as far from the end of it, as · t he lall:, who have gone thither, will be a:t his ~ntry . Tl:ey who have launched out furtheH into that ocean, atre as fa r from la nd, a~ t h ey were the firft moment they weot int o i ~ : ar.d thoufands of ages after this, they· will be as far from it as ever. \Vher efore, eternity, which is before us, is a du ration that bath a beginning, but no end. tr is a be.Ain– f! ing withom a middle. a beginning without an eod . <l, [t. a mill ions of ye :us paH: in it, Hill it is a beginnir:g. . God's wrath in hell , wiH ever be the wrath to come. But there is no midd le in eternity. \~T hen millions of ages are p£H illl– eternity, what is pall: bears no propor_tion to what 1s to come; no not fo much as one d rop of water, falling from the tip of one 's fiDger, bears to all the waten of the ocean. There is no end of it : while God is; it fhall be. It is an entry ·_ wit hout an out -ga,te, a continual fucceffion of ages, a glafs· always running, which fhall never run out. · Obferve th-e continual fucceffion of hours, days, mo~ths, and years, how one {till fol_lows upon another; and think (;f eternity, wherein there is a continual. fuccdli on without end. When you go out in the pight, and behold the !tan of heaven, how they cannot be numl>red for multit ude, think of the ages of eternity; confiderlng .withal, there is ::t . certain definite number of the A:ars, b.ut no number of the ages of eternity. When you fee a/ water running, think how vain a thing it would be, to .fit do.wn by it, and wait till it ihould run out, . that you may paf.~ over: look how new water frill fu~eeds to that .which pdfeth by you: and therein you will have an image of-eternity, .which is a riv er that never aries up. They who wear rings, have ~ n image Mn ·S · - of
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