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{The Application
Application for the Ungodly
Principles to Be Deep in Your Hearts
Eternal Things More Worthy of Consideration than Temporal}
The things that are eternal are unspeakably more worthy of consideration than things that are only temporal. What people may enjoy or may suffer in this world are only small things compared to what they will enjoy or may suffer in the world to come. There are good temporal things and good eternal things. There are evil temporal things and evil eternal things. Good temporal things include food, drink, money, clothes, ease, pleasures, reputation, and so on. Good eternal things include glory, joy, rest, and everlasting blessedness. Evil temporal things include sufferings, losses, privations, sorrow, shame, scorn, and torments that people fall under or lie under in this life. Evil things in the world to come are, in one phrase, the vengeance of eternal fire.
The good things and evil things of this life are more perceptible and have the advantage of their presence and obviousness to our senses. The good things and evil things to come are less understood and have the disadvantage of their apparent distance and of the clouds that presently keep them out of sight. Therefore they are slighted and despised. It is not until people are set right in their perception and understanding of eternal things that eternal things are looked upon as the only significant things. Until people are set right in their perception and understanding of eternal things, it will be a vain and fruitless attempt to persuade them to embrace Christ; mistakes and misunderstandings here are the reasons for people’s failure to do so.
The difficulty of persuading sinners to Christ is mainly as follows: there is so much to be lost and left for Christ. There is so much to be suffered and undergone, so much labor, and so much hardship and trouble, that they cannot see how Christianity and godliness can ever make amends for what they are likely to suffer. They will not be made aware that eternal things will balance the earthly things that are in front of them. They will not be easily persuaded that they will not be great losers by listening to Christ. Now what causes people to be so foolish? If they only clearly understood and were deeply moved by the vast difference that is between the vain glory of the world and the weight of that glory that is to come, and between the light afflictions of this life and the astonishing torments of the other world, they would surely change their mind. The greatest objections against godliness would then be all answered and removed.
You say, sinner, it is hard to give up your ease, pleasure, liberty to sin, and carnal contentment and delights—things that you know you will have to give up to follow Christ. But how will you bear it to be shut out of the everlasting kingdom and shut out from the presence of God? Are you indeed of that same mind as that atheist, about whom it was said, “He would not leave his part in Paris for his part in Paradise”? You cannot endure the trouble and persecution of this world, but how will you endure the torments and plagues of the other world [Hell]? Oh, if you were only aware of what that eternal exceeding weight of glory is and what you will find everlasting death and darkness to be like. Then how insignificant would the things now [visible in this world] in front of you appear to be! If matters of eternity were clearly understood and duly regarded, Satan would then lack arguments to dissuade sinners from Christ; his tempting trade would quickly grow to be a poor trade.
Consider the wonderful things of eternity, the true riches, enduring substance, lasting joys, and God’s rivers of pleasures, against the worm that never dies and the fire that will never be quenched. Consider what a Heaven God has prepared for the saints and what an oven He has prepared for sinners. Once the Lord has shown you these things, then neglect Christ if you can and neglect holiness if you dare. Then look down and see what poor contemptible things the pleasures and sufferings here below are seen to be. Oh, study eternal things more, launch forth into these deeps, and dwell on meditating on them until your heart and all that is within you acknowledge and confess that things present are nothing compared to things to come.
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