"Let us first of all consider that eternity which is past, reserving that which is to come for the subject of another paper. The nature of this eternity is utterly inconceivable by the mind of man; our reason demonstrates to us that it has been, but at the same time can frame no idea of it, but what is big with absurdity and contradiction. We can have no other conception of any duration, which is past, than that all of it was once present, and whatever was once present is at some certain distance from us; and whatever is at any certain distance from us, be the distance never so remote, cannot be eternity. The very notion of any duration's being past, implies that it was once present; for the idea of being once present, is actually included in the idea of its being past. This therefore is a depth not to be sounded by human understanding. We are sure that there has been an eternity, and yet contradict ourselves when we measure this eternity by any notion which we can frame of it. "If we go to the bottom of this matter, we shall find, that the difficulties we meet with in our conceptions of eternity proceed from this single reason, that we can have no other idea of any kind of duration, than that by which we ourselves, and all other created beings, do exist; which is, a successive duration made up of past, present, and to come. There is nothing which exists after this manner, all the parts of whose existence were not once actually present, and consequently may be reached by a certain number of years applied to it. We may ascend as high as we please, and employ our being to that eternity which is to come, in adding millions of years to millions of years, and we can never come up to any fountain-head of duration, to any beginning in eternity: but at the same time we are sure, that whatever was once present does lie within the reach of numbers, though perhaps we can never be able to put enough of them together for that purpose. We may as well say, that anything may be actually present in any part of infinite space, which does not lie at a certain distance from us, as that any part of infinite duration was once actually present, and does not also lie at some determined distance from us. The dis tance in both cases may be immeasurable and indefinite as to our faculties, but our reason tells us that it cannot be so in itself. Here therefore is that difficulty which human understanding is not capable of surmounting We are sure that something must have existed from eternity, and are at the same time unable to conceive, that anything which exists, according to our notions of existence, can have existed from eternity. "It is hard for a reader. who has not rolled this thought in his own mind, to follow in such an abstracted speculation; but I have been the longer on it, because I think it is a demonstrative argument of the being and eternity of a God: and, though there are many other demonstrations which lead us to this great truth, I do not think we ought to lay aside any proofs in this matter, which the light of reason has suggested to us, especially when it is such a one as has been urged by men famous for their penetration and force of understanding, and which appears altogether conclusive to those who will be at the pains to examine it. 66 'Having thus considered that eternity which is past, according to the best idea we can frame of it, I shall now draw up those several articles on this subject, which are dictated to us by the light of reason, and which may be looked upon as the creed of a philosopher in this great point. "First, It is certain that no being could have made itself; for, if so, it must have acted before it was, which is a contradiction. Secondly, That therefore some being must have existed from all eternity. 66 Thirdly, That whatever exists after the manner of created beings, or according to any notions which we have of existence, could not have existed from eternity. 'Fourthly, That this Eternal Being must therefore be the great Author of nature, the Ancient of Days,' who, being at infinite distance in his perfections from all finite and created beings, exists in a quite different manner from them, and in a manner of which they can have no idea. "I know that several of the schoolmen, who would not be thought ignorant of anything, have pretended to explain the manner of God's existence, by telling us that he comprehends infinite duration in every moment; that eternity is with him a punctum stans, a fixed point; or, which is as good sense, an infinite instant; that nothing, with reference to his existence, is either past or to come; to which the ingenious Mr. Cowley alludes in his description of heaven. "Nothing is there to come, and nothing past, But an eternal now does always last." "For my own part, I look upon these propositions as words that have no ideas annexed to them; and think men had better own their ignorance, than advance doctrines by which they mean nothing, and which, indeed, are self-contradictory. We cannot be too modest in our disquisitions, when we meditate on him, who is environed with so much glory and perfection, who is the source of being, the fountain of all that existence which we and his whole creation derive from him. Let us therefore with the utmost humility acknowledge, that, as some being must necessarily have existed from eternity, so this being does exist after an incomprehensible manner, since it is impossible for a being to have existed from eternity after our manner or notions of existence. Revelation confirms these natural dictates of reason in the accounts which it gives us of the divine existence, where it tell us, that he is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; that he is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending; that a thousand years are with him as one day, and one day as a thousand years; by which, and the like expressions, we are taught, that his existence with relation to time or duration, is infinitely different from the existence of any of his creatures, and consequently that it is impossible for us to frame any adequate conceptions of it. "In the first revelation which he makes of his own being, he entitles himself, I Am that I Am;' and when Moses desires to know what name he shall give him in his embassy to Pharaoh, he bids him say, that I Am hath sent you.' Our great Creator, by this revelation of himself, does in a manner exclude everything else from a real existence, and distinguishes himself from his creatures as the only being which truly and really exists. The ancient Platonic notion, which was drawn from speculations of eternity, wonderfully agrees with this revelation which God has made of himself. There is nothing, say they, which in reality exists, whose existence, as we call it, is pieced up of past, present, and to come. Such a flitting and successive existence is rather a shadow of existence, and something which is like it, than existence itself. He only properly exists whose existence is entirely present; that is, in other words, who exists in the most perfect manner, and in such a manner as we have no idea of. 66 'I shall conclude this speculation with one useful inference. How can we sufficiently prostrate ourselves, and fall down before our Maker, when we consider that ineffable goodness and wisdom which contrived this existence for finite natures? What must be the overflowings of that good will, which prompted our Creator to adapt existence to beings, in whom it is not necessary; especially when we consider that he himself was before in the complete possession of existence and of happiness, and in the full enjoyment of eternity? What man can think of himself as called out and separated from nothing, of his being made a conscious, a reasonable, and a happy creature, in short, of being taken in as a sharer of existence, and a kind of partner in eternity, without being swallowed up in wonder, in praise, and adoration! It is, indeed, a thought too big for the mind of man, and rather to be entertained in the secrecy of devotion, and in the silence of his soul, than to be expressed by words. The Supreme Being has not given us powers or faculties sufficient to extol and magnify such unutterable goodness. "It is however some comfort to us, that we shall be always doing what we shall be never able to do; and that a work which cannot be finished will however be the work of an eternity." ADDISON. No. 591. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1714. Tenerorum lusor amorum. OVID. TRIST. III. ELEG. 3, 73. Love the soft subject of his sportive muse. I HAVE just received a letter from a gentleman, who tells me he has observed with no small concern that my papers have of late been very barren in relation to love; a subject which, when agreeably handled, can scarce fail of being well received by both sexes. If my invention therefore should be almost exhausted on this head, he offers to serve under me in the quality of a love casuist; for which he conceives himself to be thoroughly qualified, having made this passion his principal study, and observed it in all its different shapes and appearances, from the fifteenth to the fortyfifth year of his age. He assures me with an air of confidence, which I hope proceeds from his real abilities, that he does not doubt of giving judgment to the satisfaction of the parties concerned, on the most nice and intricate cases which can happen in an amour; as, How great the contraction of the fingers must be before it amounts to a squeeze by the hand. What can be properly termed an absolute denial from a maid, and what from a widow. What advances a lover may presume to make, after having received a pat upon his shoulder from his mistress's fan. Whether a lady, at the first interview, may allow an humble servant to kiss her hand. How far it may be permitted to caress the maid in order to succeed with the mistress. What constructions a man may put upon a smile, and in what cases a frown goes for nothing. On what occasion a sheepish look may do service, &c. cases a farther proof of his skill, he has also sent me several maxims in love, which he assures me are the result of a long and profound reflection, some of which I think myself obliged to communicate to the public, not remembering to have seen them before in any author. "There are more calamities in the world arising from love than from hatred 66 Love is the daughter of idleness, but the mother of disquietude. "Men of grave nature,' says Sir Francis Bacon, ' are the most constant; for the same reason men should be more constant than women.' * See Nos. 402, 605, 614, 623, and 625. "The gay part of mankind is most amorous, the serious most loving. 1 "A coquette often loses her reputation while she preserves her virtue. "A prude often preserves her reputation when she has lost her virtue. "Love refines a man's behaviour, but makes a woman's ridi culous. 66 'Love is generally accompanied with good will in the young, interest in the middle aged, and a passion too gross to name in the old. "The endeavours to revive a decaying passion generally extinguish the remains of it "A woman who from being a slattern becomes over-neat, or from being over-neat becomes a slattern, is most certainly in love." I shall make use of this gentleman's skill as I see occasion; and since I am got upon the subject of love, shall conclude this paper with a copy of verses which were lately sent me by an unknown hand, as I look upon them to be above the ordinary run of son neteers. The author tells me they were written in one of his despairing fits; and, I find, entertains some hope that his mistress may pity such a passion as he has described, before she knows that she is herself Corinna. "Conceal. fond man, conceal the mighty smart, * These verses were written by Gilbert, second brother of Eustace Budgell. |