only Eightscore or Eight can escape the saving of these few cannot be referred to the regular Operations of Nature but either to Chance or Miracle Miracle you will not chuse and if only by Chance they escape once in the Eternal Rollings and Revolutions of second Causes 't is more than probable that one time or other they may chance to be all destroyed Secondly And because the Predominancy of Fire and Water according to your way of reckoning seem to be successive and that another universal Deluge cannot naturally be expected till after a Conflagration that may come in for a share in our present Meditations If any such opake and heavy Bodies as the Earth is may be burnt up we will not consider the means of their Renovation but only the Possibility of such a Judgment 's Coming to our Turn And the Eternity of the Earth being supposed there may have been as many Conflagrations as Deluges and Fire being a much more Tyrannous Element than Water if ever the Earth was burnt up by the Prevalency of Fire which if we can believe it Eternal we may as well believe has happen'd Millions of Times we cannot imagine any possible Way or Means except miraculously for one living Creature to escape The short of what we may infer from these two Particulars is That either Mankind have had only one Beginning which we Christians do believe or that they had an undeterminable Number of Beginnings which you Heathens must believe And then the Question between us will be only this From whence by what Forming Power they had their Beginning And sure you will be ashamed to go back to Epicurus and to the old ridiculous Fables of Mankind's creeping out of the Mudd and Slime of the Earth enliven'd with the Suns Heat having nothing to form and organize them but blind Matter and Motion This is an Absurdity so great that the Opinion of Infinite Successions was invented on purpose to prevent it your Patrons wisely resolving that of two Evils or Absurdities the least was to be chosen Thus you are driven out of your Mudd and Matter to your Infinite Successions and from Infinite Successions into the Mudd again not knowing where to fix unless the next Consideration will relieve you Thirdly If there be such Mutations in the Heavenly Bodies as the appearof Comets the fresh appearing or disappearing of Fix'd Stars are astonishing Indications and Signs of why should not you think that the like Mutations have happen'd in our Sphere In an Eternal Course of Ages every thing that is possible may be expected Suppose according to your Laws of Nature the Dissolution of one Sphere having a fix'd Star for the Centre may happen in a Thousand Years which is a very moderate Supposal in the infinite Circle of Eternity the same Fate might have taken its Round innumerable Times All the Hosts of Heaven in their several Turns might be broken and disbanded and recall'd to their former Posts and Stations And not to say how often it might happen to our Vortex we will take only once for granted And the Sun the Moon and all the Stars about us having been in one confused Heap without Life or Order you may as well believe the Beginning which Moses speaks of as any other And tho' honest Maimonides was very zealous against the World's Eternity and thought he could never muster up too many Arguments against it as an Opinion which must inevitably over-turn the Religion of Moses and expose his Miracles as Impostures yet there seems not to be one Sentence or Word in the first Chapter of Genesis except the Critical Interpretation of the Word Bara for Production out of Nothing which a necessary Explication of this Hypothesis may not accord with And all those eminent Doctors in the Church who have interpreted the six Days of Moses not strictly according to the Letter or believed the Existence of Ages Persons or Places long before the precise Account of Time given us by Moses as they leave the absolute Beginning of Things precarious and uncertain so they render this Hypothesis how contrary to Reason soever it may be and is yet not so positively damnable from Scripture And now O vain Men What Refuge will you flee unto There are no other possible Conceits for justifying your Infidelity And since these will stand you in no stead at present think within your selves How much less serviceable they will be unto you at the Revelation of a more lightsome Day Even in this mortal and obscure State the Approaches of Death give the Irreligious other Eyes to see with Danger dispels their Prejudices and coming on the Brink of Eternity they begin to think of God of separate Spirits and other Regions when they cannot think of them with Comfort Now they are apt to say as the Cardinals to the Religious Hermit What if there be no God no Future State But Diseases giving them notice of their Dissolution the Answer of the good Father will be running in their Minds What if there be And is it not much the wisest and best Method to live by those sacred Perswasions which probably you will dye in especially when the great Patrons of Infidelity can say nothing against them Nay we have not so much as a Maybe left on our side against the Verity of Religion For it cannot be that the World should either be Eternal or made by Chance Or if one of those May-be's be granted it cannot be that either Hypothesis should be exclusive of a Divine Nature or Providence And if you are by these Considerations rendred as you cannot but be uneasie in Irreligion and know not which way to turn read over the former Part again with a pious Care and Attention and it may prepare you for the following Advice which as the precedent Discourse is intended not for the reproaching but reforming of your Judgment not for the condemning of your Persons but the Safety of your Souls not to abridge you of any present Felicity but to excite you to the Attainment of that which is Eternal III. So excellent a Subject ought not to be closed without some suitable Advice And tho' the Knowledge of God as it is the Foundation of all Religion may have a general Reference to every Religious Duty yet it will be fit to chuse out such particular Instances of Address as the prevailing Vices and Inadvertency of this Age seem most in need of 1. The evident Connexion of Reason and Religion may direct us to a right Judgment of those Men who despise and undervalue Sacred Things for hereby it appears they despise and undervalue that which they do not understand The Psalmist hath given us an excellent Character of such Men The fool hath said in his heart there is no God They are corrupt and have done abominable works there is none that doeth good The Lord looked down from Heaven upon the children of Men to see if there were any that
bring the fix'd Stars in as Competitors in Splendour each as the Center of a particular Vortex and say any of them may put in for the Center of the Universe as well as the Sun they prove nothing for themselves for as of the Planetary so likewise of the Fix'd one Star may differ from another Star in Glory And if the Sun be not the most Glorious we only introduce some other in the room for there is no imaginable Reason to believe them exactly all alike Or if any shall think that tho' the Sun makes so fine a show the inward Glory thereof is not so considerable Which they would gather from the gross and fiery Eruptions from the Body of the Sun discover'd by our late famous Glasses that may arise from the Deceivableness of the Sight as the unsteadiness or halfshutting of the Eye or the interposing of any small Bodies makes us think we see Streams of Fire from a distant Light when there are none Or Secondly the Collection of such strong and powerful Rays as proceed from the Body of the Sun may so affect the Nerves with an extraordinary Vigour that we cannot rightly judge of it but think we see nothing but Fire Or a Refraction from the Atmosphere of the Sun replenished with vivid and peircing Rays may cause such a Confusion in our Judgment tho' within there may be a blessed Habitation of serene and pure Light 5. Let the Sun and Fix'd Stars be what their Cause hath made them 'T is more than sufficient for us That some Place in the Universe may be more eminently glorious than all the rest tho' we cannot point out what or where it is 'T is not probable that we can see the Thousandth part of the Stars which may be concealed from us not only by their Smallness but their Distance The Universe is another kind of a Thing than we are capable of conceiving and its invisible Glories may as far exceed every Thing visible as the Sun and Fix'd Stars do exceed the grosser Bodies which move about them And as every Sphere or Vortex retains its most lively and illuminating Particles at the Center while the more scummy feculent and heavy boil off to the Circumference so the whole Universe may be consider'd as one vast Vortex having in or near its Center a Coacervation of all blessed Ingredients for making a Light most pure a Hear most benign and a Life most happy In a careful Observation of the Heavens we may perceive the Glimmerings and Coruscation of an extraordinary Glory which hitherto none hath been able to give any tolerable Account of But what hath been said agrees with the Opinion of our Divines concerning the Coelum Empyraeum a Seat and Residence of Divine Glory the most refulgent And have not we now humour'd our Materialists in proving from their own Principles the Existence of a Superiour or Supream Intelligence V. We may advance now one Step farther and break the very Heart of the Epicurean Hypothesis Their last Refuge for Irreligion is to suppose that no Superiour Being meddles or concerns himself in Humane Affairs And if the Divine Beings think they do not concern themselves at all about us why should we concern our selves at all about them But before you make such an irregular Inference you can never be too careful to secure the Premises For if you propagate and entertain so mean an Opinion of God and prove mistaken you may forfeit his Love and find it too hard a task to oppose his Displeasure when too late to atone it In the Name of God then let us seriously debate this Point and enquire into the Reasons either of Denying or Asserting a Divine Providence which will terminate in these three Considerations of the Power of the Authority of the Will of God If there be no Heavenly Being which both may can and will intrest himself in Earthly Matters then our Discourses of Providence are vain and superstitious But if something Divine hath a Power Right and Mind to Oversee and Govern us our Obligations unto Providence are in Force still 1. And what imaginable Reasons can we have to suppose that the Divine Power and Cognizance extend not to us Can the wing'd Inhabitants of this lower Orb mount out of our Sight and approach the very Confines of invisible Regions and not exalt our Faith to the Acknowledgment of an Entercourse between Earth and Heaven Can short-sighted Mortals with some small Assistance unto their Visive Faculty perceive the Inequalities of Hills and Valleys Earth and Water in the Body of the Moon the Spots in the Sun and in the Body of Iupiter the different Phases of Mercury and Venus and even of Saturn so distant from us with the small Satellities unto the greater Planets and shall not an Heavenly Eye with transcending Clearness and Accuracy penetrate into the Phoenomena of our Imperfect State Can the Skill of a Physiognomist give notable Conjectures of the inward Temper by the outward Lineaments and Features Can the Astronomer tell you the Conjunctions and Oppositions the Motions Magnitude and Distance of the Heavenly Bodies Can an Experienc'd Physician see through the Colour Qualities and Agitations of the Body into its latent Distempers and the Sagacity of a Chinoese measure out the Life of Man by the Beating of his Pulse And shall we not allow the Divine Wisdom a more profound and perfect Intuition into the secret Windings and Intricacies the various Combination Tendency Influence and Events of Sublunary Transactions We cannot prescribe the Bounds even of Earthly Improvements Every Age crowns the Diligence and Meditations of Men with new Encreases of Knowledge And since we cannot determine the utmost Exaltation of Humane Nature or what Sacred Commerce with the Spiritual World we may attain unto Why should we rashly limit the Faculties of better Things or fancy that any Darkness or Distance which are but relative and comparative should cover us from the View of a Superintending Deity We may positively assure ourselves that the lowest in the Angelical Rank is furnish'd with Abilities to pry into our Affairs and to govern and manage as he himself pleases the Persons of all Mankind 2. Our next Enquiry is concerning the Authority and Rightful Foundation of Divine Government The Holy and Blessed Beings above will not meddle with that which they have nothing to do with But if we will take Mr. Hobbes for our Spiritual Guide we shall soon remove all Scrupulosity in this Case Power confers Right and he justly possesses a Domination over others who is most strong 'T is true if a Power be irresistible we have no Reason to quarrel with it whether we have a Right or no And the Accumulation of Abilities necessary to command seems an Indication in Nature where Obedience should be paid This Mr. Hobbes makes the Ground even of Divine Government and the Followers of Mr. Calvin speak conformably to it But because it may look something
Particles will consume every thing within the compass of it and fulfil the Prediction of the Day of the Lord when the Heavens bring on fire shall be dissolved and the Elements shall melt with fervent Heat The Tradition of this World 's perishing by an Universal Conslagration hath Testimonies to confirm it on all sides S. Paul may be supposed to have had some Skill in the Wisdom of the Heathens but that S. Iude S. Iohn S. Peter or our Saviour Christ Iesus had the Perusal of Plato Cicero Ovid Berosus Hermes Trismegistus Democritus Heraclitus either of their Works Fragments or Quotations from them we have no Reason to perswade us And yet they all agree in this Point as if they spake by one common Inspiration To sum up Evidences will be doing what hath been sufficiently done already but for the more compendious finding them consult the Commentators on 2 Pet. 3.7 and particularly Grâ—tius and on 2 Thes. 2.3 and particularly Zanchy Or if you are prejudiced against any Thing that may come near the Sacred Oracles you may have Recourse to Lipsius You shall only have one Passage of Seneca whereby to guess at the rest Fate with prodigious Fires shall burn and consume all mortal Things and when the time shall come wherein the World drawing near to its Renovation shall expire its several Parts shall dash one against another Stars shall rush upon Stars and whatsoever now gives its Light with Order and Beauty shall with one general Conflagration be set on fire II. There may be some particular Predominancy of Fire or Water destructive to all Animals upon the Earth tho' the rest of our Vortex receive no Damage And in reporting the general Tradition of the Worlds perishing you may observe some Diversity among the Ancients And besides the more universal Dissolution which we learn from them and which you may interpret of all within the Compass of one or more Spheres a particular Destruction wherein only the Earth with its Parts and Appurtenances shall be concern'd may be judged credible Of this we may interpret that Passage of Plato in his Book De Regno When all Animals had fulfilled the Task and Generations appointed to them God withdraws his conserving Power and retires from the Helm of Government The Consequent of which for that Vicissitude is the Ruin of all Earthly Creatures And the particular Manner of it is explain'd by the successive Dominations of Fire and Water as in the celebrated Exprobration of the Egyptian to Solon O Solon Solon you Grecians are always Children nor have you Knowledge of any ancient Date among you Which happens by many and various Destructions of Men which have been and will be the greatest of which by the Force of Fire and Inundations of Water the lesser by several other Chances and Calamities As in the Circle of the Suns ordinary Course we have our Summer and Winter so in the great Circle of Time which they call the great Year an extraordinary Summer and Winter are supposed to take their Turn the one causing a general Conflagration and the other a Deluge 1. The Predominancy of Heat may proceed either from the altering of our Position with Respect to the Sun or some nearer Approximation to it as some suppose or by the Eruption of the Central Fire or by both together The first may prepare the way for the latter by drying the Superficies of the Earth making great Chinks and Chasms in it and opening a sufficient Passage for the subterraneous Fires to break out with all their Forces to the Calcination of the whole All Histories give us prodigious Examples of excessively hot Seasons wherein such a Judgment might even naturally have been feared We know what bituminous sulphureous and combustible Matter the Bowels of the Earth are replenish'd with and what dangerous Eruptions they have made from their several Magazines particularly in Italy and Sicily and lately to the Consumption of a Hundred Thousand Persons concerning which we may use the Words of Pliny That they threaten Desolation to the whole Earth which he had better have believ'd than have gone to see From which Eruptions of the Central Fire Cartes is not asham'd to solve the appearing of some Stars which never appear'd before And if we can believe any Reality in his Supposition by such a Conspiracy of external and internal Fires the Vicissitudes appointed by the eternal Decrees of Heaven may be compleated To this particular Exustion of the Earth and the Powers thereof many eminent Divines both Ancient and Modern think fit to restrain the general Expressions in Scripture concerning the Last Day Mr. Mâ—de seems zealous for it and in him you may find the best Collection of Authorities to clear him from the perillous Crime of Novelty But our Business at present is not to shew what may be expected from Revelation but Reason What is possible or probable being declared we must leave to the Choice of the Divine Wisdom what Methods are most expedient for Correcting the Vices of Mankind 2. The Predominancy of Water will require but a very brief Discussion both the Matter of Fact and Manner of an Universal Deluge have of late been so learnedly managed that you cannot need any References to Authority in this Case You shall only be reminded of your Master Aristotle who had not Assurance enough to confront Tradition in so plain a Matter but allowed That as we have our successive Winters according to their Seasons so in some fatal Times and Periods we might have a great Winter and such Excess of Showers as might cause the Inundations reported by Antiquity 'T is time now to shew unto what all this tends and to satisfie you That all this Pains is not taken without some Prospect of Advantage Which is no less than this That according to the Principles of these very Men who Eternize the World 't is highly probable that Mankind have had a Beginning and a first of their Race upon the Earth For First If in less than the Compass of Six Thousand Years we have had one two or three prodigious Deluges How many such Calamities must the Earth have groaned under if it have Existed from Eternity For referring former Deluges to any Thing but an Eternal Cause you suppose the Newness of the World as though it wanted some accidental Shakings to bring it unto a perfect Settlement And if in that great Deluge we have the most pregnant Proof of only Eight Persons were saved alive then in the innumerable Deluges which the Eternity of the Earth with its Inhabitants will suppose sometimes 800 might be saved sometimes 80 sometimes 8 and sometimes none at all For tho' the Eternal Causes may be regular in the general Production of a Deluge they may not in Reason be thought so regular and uniform in every small Circumstance And when the Condition of the Earth is brought to that deplorable State that