A Treatise on the Difference between Temporal and Eternal

by Juan Eusebio Nieremberg

Nieremberg is taking St Augustine to the extreme and saying that, rather than time being meaningful, it is non-existent compared to the eternal. This is a very Catholic, 17th-century point of view. For him it is all about preparing yourself for eternity and, in true Catholic style, how you fare in your eternal life depends on how you lived your time on earth.