LIFE, Future, Eternal Life, or Life Simply, signifies the State of Happiness, whereunto the Righteous and Prædestinated are admitted after Death in Heaven.
Matth. vii. 14. Matth. xix. 17. Matth. xix. 16.Narrow is the Way which leadeth unto Life, says our Saviour: If thou wilt enter into Life, keep the Commandments: Master, what good Thing shall I do that I may have eternal Life.
Jesus Christ is sometimes called the Life: John xiv. 16. John xi. 25. John i. 4.I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. And again: I am the Resurrection and the Life. And elsewhere: In him was Life, and the Life was the Light of Men: And, He that hath the Son hath Life, and he that hath not the Son, hath not Life. Jesus Christ is 1 John 5. 12.the Life of the Soul, he enlightens, comforts it, and fills it with Graces; he leads it to eternal Life: He is himself the Life of it, the Sustenance, Light, and Happiness of it.
The Book of Life, is the Book of Predestination, wherein are written all the Elect, whose Names are in the Book of Life. Philip. iv. 3. And I will blot out his Name out of the Book of Life, Rev. iii. 5. See likewise Rev. xiii. 8. xxi. 27. xxii. 19. And Moses: If not, blot me, I pray thee out of the Book that thou hast written. See above BOOK.
The Tree of Life planted in Paradise to preserve the Life of Adam, if he had continued faithful to God. See TREE.
In the Old Testament God often promises those who observe his Laws, long Life, and temporal Prosperities, which were the Figure and Shadow of eternal Life, and those future Blessings whereof God assures us in a clearer Manner in the New Testament. The carnal Jews confined their Hopes to these transitory Goods; but the holy Patriarchs and Prophets, and the more enlightened Part of the Hebrews, carried their Views and Expectations farther. Moses says Deut. xxx. 15, 19, 20.to the Israelites; See I have set before thee this Day Life and Good, and Death and Evil; and a little lower: I have set before you Life and Death, Blessing and Cursing: Therefore choose Life that thou and thy Seed may live; That thou mayest love the Lord thy God; for he is thy Life, and the Length of thy Days. Hence it is that Baruch calls the Law of God, the Commandments of Life: Hear, O Israel, the Commandments of Ps. xvi. 11.Life. And the Psalmist, The Path of Life.
Wisdom, and Knowledge of the Truths relating to Salvation, a wise and regular Conduct, are called likewise, the Way of Life, the Truth of Life, the Fountain of Life; Life simply. As Life is the first of all Advantages belonging to the Body, so Wisdom is the supreme Happiness of the Soul; it procures a happy Life for us in this World; it is the Source of Felicity to all Eternity. The principal Wisdom, the most serious Study of the Hebrews consisted in the Knowledge of their Law: Wherefore the holy Spirit terms the Law as well as Wisdom, Life, and the Source of Life, because both the one and the other produce the same Effects for Time, and for Eternity.
Life is sometimes used for Subsistence; Initium vitæ hominis aqua & Panis. And again, Panis egentium pauperum est Vita: In these Passages Vita is synonymous to Victus; it is said in Mark that a poor Widow who put two very small Pieces of Silver, duo minuta, into the Treasury of the Temple, gave more than any of the rest, because it was all she had, omnem victum suum, that which was even necessary to her Support.
In a figurative and hyperbolical Sense, it is said sometimes, that God restores Life, revives those from the dead whom he delivers out of some great Danger. This Expression is frequent in the Psalms; posuit animam meam ad Vitam; and elsewhere, Tu conversus vivificasti me, & vivifica me, & custodiam sermones tuos. And vivificabis nos & nomen tuum invocabimus. He represents Captivity to be as it were Death, and Liberty as Life.
Life is also taken for Conduct. We Fools accountid his Life Madness. His Life is different from that of others. Your Life is Coloss. iii. 3.hid in God. We find an Expression in Moses and in Job, which requires some Explanation. Thy Life shall hang in Doubt before thee, and thou shalt fear Day and Night, and shalt have none Assurance of thy Life. Some of the Fathers 9 understood this of Jesus Christ, crucified in the Sight of the incredulous Jews, who rejected the Belief of that Saviour who was their Life and Salvation. Ye shall be under perpetual Fear and Uneasiness, and shall have no Assurance of your own Lives. The following Words of Job must be interpreted in the same Sense. Cum sterit non credet vitæ suæ. When the wicked Man appears most resolute, he shall not be assured of his Life; or according to the Hebrew, when he riseth in the midst of his Guards, he shall not be sure of his Life.