St. Paul daily globe., 1889-01-07
WHAT is ETERNITY?
No One Has Yet Been Able to Give
Definition.

At Westminster church yesterday
evening Rev. d. J. Burrill preached an
interesting sermon from Isaiah, W., II.
Said he: ga traveller on long journey
pauses at the milestone to note what
progress he has made and how much of
his pilgrimage is yet before him, ex-
amines his wallet of provisions and
casts a glance at the descending sun.
In like manner on this first Sabbath of
the year we may profitably mediate on
things pertaining to our spiritual pro-
gresS and destiny.
First-We cannot define eternity. A
deaf mute in one of the asylums of Paris
approached as near as possible to a
definition when he wrote: Eternity is
the lifetime of God" Webster defines
it as continuance without beginning or
end," or as duration without success
iOn;" profound statement, doubtless
but quite beyond the grasp of mortal
ken. The schOOlmen said: ETERNITY
is punctum stans," or IAN ever-present
now" The declaration of our text is as
satisfactory as any, namely. Eternity
is Gods pavilion. the far-reaching tent in
which the Infinite dwells. This cOncenS
us personally for we are Gods sons and
daughters, and His home will presently
be ours. We are immortal by reason of
our fitial relation with Him,an because
He has breathed into our nOstrlls the
breath of an endless life. He is eternal
i'm sense impossible to us, inaSmuch as
He exists ''frOm everlasting to everlaSt-
ing," while we are of yesterday. The
schoolmen said, .'He is sempiternal;" :"
that is, eternal both ways. We join our
Father part way on the Journey and go
on with Him forever. We, unlike God.
were born; but we, like God. can never
cease to be.
Second-We can not analogue It..
There is no basis for an analogy, mas
much as there is nothing like it. An
astronomer has instruments by which
he can measure the distance of the
stars, but we have no rule nor quadrant,
nor measure of any sort by which we
can form conception of eternity. We
can say the words forever and ever
a child can say them-but what philos-
opher has ever grasped their meaning.
How shall we calculate? BY hea; t
beats? Multiply all the vital pull
sations of all hearts that ever
throbbed by all the atoms OF dust
i'll all the multudinOuS Orbs of heaven
and multiply that by the drops of ocean
anu InaJ ny the 1edVeS Ol Tue lOIeSl.
and if every unit in your product were
a millennium it would not represent the
most infnitesimal fraction of eternity.
The sacred books of the Hindoos speak
of ''great ages'' A great age is 432, 600
years, and 1000 great ages are equal to
one day of Brahma. But to say that
one of Brahma's days might stand for
the billionth part of second in the
lifetime of Jehovah would be stupend-
GUS hyperbole. Eternity, eternity,
how long art thOui"
Over against that vain endeavor to
form conception of eternity put the
earthly life of man; hand-breadth, a
passing cloud, a dream, a swift ship, an
eagle Fastening to its prey! Yet this
brief lifetime is our one season of prep
aration for endless life.
Finally. though we cannot form a
definition, or even conception. of eter-
nifty, we can prepare for it by adjusting
our lives to it. There are two things
that will endure When the earth
crumbles and the heavens are rolled
together like scroll, namely, character
aud work. The obvious duty of life,
therefore, is to be building character
and doing something for the betterment
of the world and the glory of God.