Whatever kind of tribulation presses upon us, we must ever look to this end: to accustom ourselves to contempt for the present life and to be aroused thereby to meditate upon the future life. For since God knows best how much we are inclined by nature to a brutish love of this world, He uses the fittest means to draw us back and to shake off our sluggishness, lest we cleave too tenaciously to that love
For this we must believe: that the mind is never seriously aroused to desire and ponder the life to come unless it be previously imbued with contempt for the present life. (Institutes 3:9:1)
2. OUR TENDENCY TO LEAVE UNNOTICED THE VANITY OF THIS LIFE
"Indeed, there is no middle ground between these two: either the world must become worthless to us or hold us bound by intemperate love of it(but) ... forgetful not only of death but also of mortality itself, as if no inkling of it had ever reached us, we return to our thoughtless assurance of earthly immortality. Who, then, can deny that it is very much worthwhile for all of us
to be convinced of the miserable condition of earthly life." (Institutes 3:9:2)
(A right estimate of the present life, which is transient and unsatisfying, leads us to meditate on the life to come)
3. GRATITUDE FOR EARTHLY LIFE!
"But let believers accustom themselves to a contempt of the present life that engenders no hatred of it or ingratitude against God. Indeed, this life, however crammed with infinite miseries it may be, is still rightly to be counted among those blessings of God which are not to be spurned
We must, then, become so disposed and minded that we count it among those gifts of divine generosity which are not at all to be rejected." (Institutes 3:9:3)
4. THE RIGHT LONGING FOR ETERNAL LIFE
"Now whatever is taken away from the perverse love of this life ought to be added to the desire for a better one. I confess that those showed a verysound judgment who thought it the best thing not to be born, and the nextbest thing to die as quickly as possible [cf. Ecclesiastes 4:2-3]. Since they were deprived of the light of God and true religion, what could they see in it that was not unhappy and repulsive? And they did not actwithout reason who celebrated the birthdays of their kindred with sorrow and tears, but their funeral rites with solemn joy. But they did this without profit because, bereft of the right teaching of faith, they did not see how something that is neither blessed nor desirable of itself can turn into something good for the devout.
Let the aim of believers in judging mortal life, then, be that while they understand it to be of itself nothing but misery, they may with greater eagerness and dispatch betake themselves wholly to meditate upon that eternal life to come. When it comes to a comparison with the life to come, the present life can not only be safely neglected but, compared to the former, must be utterly despised and loathed. For, if heaven is our homeland, what else is the earth but our place of exile? If departure from the world is entry into life, what else is the world but a sepulcher? And what else is it for us to remain in life but to be immersed in death? If to be freed from the body is to be released into perfect freedom, what else is the body but a prison? If to enjoy the presence of God is the summit of happiness, is not to be without this, misery? But until we leave the world we are away from the Lord [2 Corinthians 5:6]. Therefore, if the earthly life be compared with the heavenly, it is doubtless to be at once despised and trampled under foot. Of course it is never to be hated except in so far as it holds us subject to sin; although not even hatred of that condition may ever properly be turned against life itself." (Institutes 3:9:4)
