eternt, eternet

t. [ O Idiot's shame, and Envy of the Learned! O Verse [Psalms of David) right-worthy to be ay eterned ! O richest Arras, artificiall wrought With liueliest Colours of Conceipt-full Thought! Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Trophies. eternal (ē-ter'nal), a. and n. [ To know whether there is any real being whose dura tion has been eternal. Locke. 2. Having a beginning but no end of existence or duration; everlasting; endle ; imperishable: as, eternal fame. He there does now enjoy eternall rest. Spenser, F. Q., I. ix. 40. Thus did this holy ordinance which God had instituted for the refreshing of their bodies, the instruction of their soules, and as a type of æternal happine , vanish into a smoky superstition amongst them. Purchas , Pilgrimage, p. 123. 3. In a special metaphysical use, existing out. side of all relations of time; independent of all time-conditions; not temporal. For there were no days and nights and months and years before the heaven was created, but when he created the heaven he created them also. All these are the parts of time, and the past and future are created species of time, which we unconsciously but wrongly transfer to the eter . nal e ence; for we say indeed that he was, he is, he will be, but the truth is that "he is" alone truly expre es him, and that "was" and "will be" are only to be spoken of generation in time. Plato , Timæus (trans. by Jowett), § 38. IMG:content-0750.png:[blocks in formation] they Lyly , Euphues, Anat. of Wit, p. 126. eternity (e-ter'ni-ti), n.; pl. eternities (-tiz). [ Bacon, Physical Fables, i., Expl. By being able to repeat the idea of any length of duration we have in our minds, with all the endle addition of number, we come by the idea of eternity. Locke , Human Understanding, II. xvii. 5. (b) The state of things in which the flow of time has ceased. There time, like fire, having destroyed whatever it could prey on, shall, at last, die itself, and shall go out into eter nity. Boyle, Seraphic Love. (c) Existence outside of the relations of time. Some years ago I ventured to make an apology for the popular conception of eternity , as being endle time, in opposition to the ordinary metaphysical doctrine that eter nity is timele ne . Bibliotheca Sacra , XLIII. 601. 2. The state or condition of existence preceding life, or subsequent to death. Sho myght be a umpt, I pray thyn excellence, Vnto thi troone, and so to be commende, In bod ye and saule euer withoutyn ende With the to reyne in thyne eternyte . IMG:content-0751.png:[blocks in formation] 3. Indefinite duration of time or vast extent of space; anything that seems endle ; endle round: as, an eternity of suspense; the great Young , Night Thoughts, viii. 34. desert with its eternity of sand. The law whereby the Eternal himself doth work. Hooker, Eccles. Polity. His trust was with the Eternal to be deem'd Equal in strength, and rather than be le Cared not to be at all. Milton , P. L., ii. 46.