else only of the sublunary lower World we may here resolve that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heaven and Host or Elements thereof are litterally the sublunary Aereal Heavens and all that is therein Clouds and Meteors c. Fowls and flying Creatures and so fit to joyn with the Earth and Works that are therein In prosecution of this Proposition and in order to the Proof and Confirmation and likewise the clearing and illustration of it shall 1. Give you what I find concerning the dissolution of the World 1. In the Holy Scripture 2. In Ancient Christian Writers 3. In the Heathen Philosophers and Sages 2. I shall endeavour to give some answer to these seven Questions which are obvious and usually made concerning it 1. Whether there be any thing in Nature which might prove and demonstrate or argue and infer a future Dissolution of the World 2. Whether shall this Dissolution be brought about and effected by Natural or by Extraordinary Means and Instruments and what those Means and Instruments shall be 3. Whether shall the Dissolution be gradual or sudden 4. Whether shall there be any Signs and Fore-runners of it 5. At what Period of Time shall the World be dissolved 6. How far shall this Conflagration extend Whether to the Ethereal Heavens and all the Host of them Sun Moon and Stars or to the Aereal only 7. Whether shall the Heavens and Earth be wholly dissipated and destroyed or only refined and purified CHAP. II. The Testimonies of Scripture concerning the Dissolution of the World 1. THen Let us consider what we find delivered in the Holy Scriptures concerning the Dissolution of the World And first of all This place which I have made choice of for my Text is in my opinion the most clear and full as to this particular in the whole Scripture and will give light for the Solution of most of the proposed Questions Vers. 10. The day of the Lord shall come as a thief c. This answers the third Question Whether the Dissolution shall be gradual or sudden Wherein the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and all the works that are therein shall be burnt up And again Vers. 12. Wherein the Heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat This answers the second Question What the Means and Instruments of this Dissolution shall be Vers. 13. Nevertheless we according to his promise look for a new Heaven and a new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness This gives some light towards the anwering of the last Question Whether shall the Heavens and the Earth be wholly burnt up and destroyed or only renewed and purified These Words as clearly as they seem to refer to the Dissolution of the World yet Dr. Hammond doubts not to be understood of the remarkable destruction of Ierusalem and the Iewish State he thus paraphrasing them Verse 10. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat and the Earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up But this Judgment of Christ so remarkable on the Iews shall now shortly come and that very discernably and the Temple shall suddenly be destroyed the greater part of it burnt and the City and People utterly consumed Verse 11. Seeing then all these things shall be dissolved what manner of Persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness Seeing then this destruction shall thus involve all and now approacheth so near what an engagement doth this lay upon us to live the most pure strict lives that ever Men lived Verse 12. Looking for and hastning unto the coming of the day of God wherein the Heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat Looking for the coming of Christ for our deliverance and by our Christian lives quickning and hastning God to delay it no longer that Coming of his I say which as it signifies great mercy to us so it signifies very sharp destruction to the whole Iewish State Verse 13. Nevertheless we according to his promise look for new Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness Instead of which we look for a new Christian State wherein all provision is made by Christ for Righteousness to inhabit according to the Promise of Christ concerning the Purity that he should plant in the Evangelical State How he makes out and confirms this Paraphrase see in his Annotations upon this place So confident is he of the Truth of this his Interpretation that he censures the usual one as a great Mistake in his Annotation on verse 10. where he thus writes What is here thus expressed by S. Peter is ordinarily conceived to belong to the end of the World and by others applies to the end of this World and the beginning of the Millennium or thousand years And so as S. Peter here saith verse 16. many other places in S. Paul's Epistles and in the Gospel especially Matthew 24. are mistaken and wrested That it doth not belong to either of those but to this fatal day of the Iews sufficiently appears by the purport of this whole Epistle which is to arm them with Constancy and Perseverance till that day come and particularly in this Chapter to confute them who object against the Truth of Christ's Predictions and resolve it should not come at all Against whom he here opposes the Certainty the Speediness and the Terribleness of its coming That which hath given occasion to those other common Mistakes is especially the hideousness of those Judgments which fell upon the People of the Iews beyond all that ever before are related to have fallen upon them or indeed any other People which made it necessary for the Prophets which were to describe it and who use Tropes and Figures and not plain Expressions to set down their Predictions to express it by these high Phrases of the passing away and dissolving of Heaven and Earth and Elements c. which sounding very tragically are mistaken for the great and final Dissolution of the World So far the Doctor Two things there are in this Chapter which seem to contradict this Interpretation First That the Destruction here spoken of is compared with Noah's Flood and the Heaven and Earth to be dissolved by this made parallel and of equal extent to the World destroyed by that Of this the Doctor was well aware and therefore grants that the seventh Verse But the Heavens and the Earth which are now by the same word are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men is to be understood of the general and final destruction of the World by fire but the following Verses to be an Answer to the first part of the Atheists Objection viz.
useth the same Argument with Irenâ—cus Ergo quoniam sex diebus cuncta Dei opera perfecta sunt per secula sex id est sex annorum millia manere in hac statu mundum necesse est Dies enim magnus Dei mille annorum circulo terminatur sicut indicat Propheta qui dicit Ante oculos tuos Domine mille anni tanquam dies unus c. Therefore because all the works of God were perfected or 〈◊〉 in six days it is necessary or necessarily follows that the World shall continue in this state six Ages that is six thousand years For the great Day of God is terminated in a Circle of six thousand years as the Prophet intimates who saith A thousand years in thy sight O Lord are but as one day S. Augustine l. 20. de Civitate Dei S. Hieronymus Comment â—in Mich. cap. 4 Most clear and full to this purpose is Eustath in his Comment in Hexa meron 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. We reckon saith he that the Creation shall continue till the end of the sixth Chiliad because God also consummated the Vniverse in six days and I suppose that the Deity doth account days of a thousand years long for that it is said A thousand years are in the sight of the Lord as one day Hoâ—beit the most of them did not propose this Opinion as an undoubted Truth but only as a modest Conjâ—cture And S. Austine is very angry with them who would peremptordy conclude from so flight an Argumentation This Conceit is already confuted and the World hath long outlasted this 〈◊〉 according to their Computation who followed the Septuagint or Greek account and reckoned that Phaleg lived about the Three thousandth year of the World and had his Name from his living in the division of Time there being to come after him Three thousand years that is just so many as were past before him As concerning the future Condition of the World after the Conflagration I find it the general and received Opinion of the ancient Christians that this World shall not be annihilated or destroyed but only renewed and purified So Eusebius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The World shall not be wholly destroyed but renewed Divers other passages I 〈◊〉 produce out of him to the same purpose Cyril of Ierusalem Catech. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He folds up the 〈◊〉 not that he might destroy them but that he might rear them up again more beautiful Again Cyril upon this place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. He acutely or ingeniously calls 〈◊〉 death of the Elements their change into letter So that this Renovation in respect of the Creation shall be such a kind of thing as the Resurrection in reference to Man's Body Oecumenius upon this place He saith new Heavens and a new Earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet not different in matter And again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They shall not be destroyed or annihilated but only renewed and purified And upon Revel 21. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This he saith not denoting the Non-existence of the Creation but the Renewing In this manner he expounds Psalm 102. 5 6. and proceeding saith We may here take notice that the Apostle doth not use the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if the Heaven and Earth were annihilated and brought to nothing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they passed away or removed or changed state Saint Hierome upon the Psalms Psalm 102. saith Ex quo ostenditur perditionem coelorum non interitum sonare sed mutationem in melius From which words as a Vesture shalt thou change them may be shewn and made out that the Dissolution of the Heavens doth not signifie their utter destruction or annihilation but only their change into a better state I might add abundance more Testimonies but these I think may suffice CHAP. IV. The Opinions of the Ancient Heathen Philosophers and other Writers concerning the Dissolution 3. IT follows now that I give you an account what the ancient Philosophers and Sages among the Heathens thought and delivered concerning this Point Two of the four principal Sects of Philosophers held a future Dissolution of the World viz. The Epicureans and Stoicks As for the Epicureans They held that as the World was at first composed by the fortuitous concourse of Atomes so it should at last fall in pieces again by their fortuitous Separation as Lucretius hath it lib. 5. Principio maria ac terras coelúmque tuere Horum naturum triplicem tria corpora Memmi Tres species tam dissimiles tria talia texta Vna dies dabit exitio multósque per annos Sustentata ruet moles machina mundi But now to prove all this first cast an Eye And look on all below on all on high The solid Earth the Seas and arched Sky One fatal hour must ruine all This glorious Frame that stood so long must fall This Opinion of theirs is consonant enough to their wild Principles save only in that point of its suddenness Vna dies dabit exitio c. one day shall destroy or make an end of it The Stoicks were also of Opinion that the World must be dissolved as we may learn from the Seventh Book of Laertius in the Life of Zeno 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. They hold that the World is corruptible for these Reasons 1. Because it was generated and had a beginning 2. Because That is corruptible in the whole whose parts are corruptible But the parts of the World are corruptible being daily transmuted one into another 3. That which is capable of Mutation from better to worse is corruptible But such is the World sometimes being afflicted with long Heats and Droughts sometimes with continued Showers and Inundations To those we may add 4. according to some of their Opinions Because the Sun and Stars being fed with Vapours exhaled from the Earth all the moisture will at length be drawn out and the World fly on fire They were afraid Nè humore omni consumpto totus mundus ignesceret The Poet Lucan who seems to be of the Stoick Sect in the beginning of his first Book describing the Dissolution of the World makes it to be a falling in pieces of the whole Frame of Heaven and Earth and a jumbling and confounding of all their parts together Sic cùm compage soluta Secula tot mundi suprema coegerit hora Antiquum repetent iterum Chaos omnia mistis Sydera syderibus concurrent ignea Pontum Astra petent tellus extendere litora nolet Excutietque fretum fratri contraria Phoebâ— Ibit obliquum bigas agitare per orbem Indignata diem poscet sibi tot áque discors Machina divulsi turbabit foedera mundi So when the last hour shall So many Ages end and this disjointed All To Chaos back return then all the Stars shall be Blended together then those burning Lights on high In Sea shall drench Earth then her shores shall not extend
Where is the promise of his coming To me it seems that all refer to the same matter The second thing which seems to contradict the Doctor 's Interpretation is the Apostles citing for the instruction and confirmation of the Believers and in Answer to the Atheists Objection Where is the promise of his coming that place of the Psalmist Psal. 90. 4. That one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day For the Apostle seems to suppose that the time of Christ's coming might possibly be a thousand years off and that they were not to think much or distruct the Promise if it were so for though it were predicted as a thing shortly to come yet they were to consider that a thousand years in God's sight is but a very short time so that it might be foretold as shortly to come though it were a thousand years off Whereas it might seem improper to mention a thousand years to support them in expectation of an Event that was not twenty years to come Another place where mention is made of Christ's coming to Judgment and the Dissolution of the World is Matth. 24. to which may be added as parallel Mark 13. and Luke 21. In which places you have considerable 1. The Suddenness of Christ's coming verse 27. As the lightning comes out of the East and shineth even unto the West so shall the coming of the Son of Man be 2. The Signs of his coming verse 29. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the Sun be darkned and the Moon shall not give her light and the Stars shall fall from Heaven and the powers of Heaven shall be shaken 3. The manner of his coming verse 30. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven and then shall all the Tribes of the Earth mourn when they shall see the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of Heaven with power and great glory And he shall send his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet and they shall gather together his Elect from the four Winds from one end of Heaven to the other 4. The uncertainty of the time of his coming and this dissolution as to us But of that day and hour knoweth no man no not the Angels in Heaven and Mark adds neither the Son but the Father only All this Prophecy Dr. Hammond understands of the destruction of the City and Temple of Ierusalem and whole Nation of the Iews as may be seen in his Paraphrase and Annotations upon this place And indeed our Saviour himself seems to limit it to this saying verse 24. Verily I say unto you this generation shall not pass away till all these things be fulfilled For if these Prophecies look further than the destruction of Ierusalem even to Christ's coming to Judgment how could it be true that that generation should not pass away till all those things were fulfilled Whereas we see that that generation is long since passed away and yet the end is not come And indeed Expositors that understand them of the end of the World and Christ's second coming to Judgment are hard put to it to answer this Objection S. Chrysostom will have this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be understood not of the Generation of Men then living but of the Generation of the Faithful which should not fail till the end of the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. He denominates a Generation not only from living together in the same time but from having the same form and manner of religious Worship and Polity as in that place This is the generation of them that seek thee that seek thy face O Jacob. Beza understands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the present Age and will have it to be of the same valor with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hebrew and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to refer not to all particulars mentioned in this Chapter but only to those which are spoken of the destruction of the City and Nation of the Iews But saith he if any one urgeth the universal Particle Vertere licebit Fiant omnia viz quae ultimam illam diem praâ—cessura dixit Nam ab illo tempore coeperunt fieri adhuc perseverant ill signa suo demum tempore Filio hominis venturo But on the other side 1. Some passages there are in this Chapter which are hardly applicable to the destruction of Ierusalem and the Dissolution of the Iewish Common-wealth as the appearing of the Sign of the Son of Man in Heaven and the Tribes seeing the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of Heaven with power and great glory And his sending his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet 2. The coming of Christ is in like manner described in places which undoubtedly speak of his coming to Judgment at the end of the World As in 1 Cor. 15. 52. mention is made of the Trumpets sounding at the time of the Christ's coming and 1 Thess. 4. 16. it is said The Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with the voice of the Archangel and with the trump of God and verse 17. We that are alive shall be caught up together with them that are risen in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air. All which places are perfectly parallel and seem manifestly to allude to the fore-mentioned words Matth. 24. 30 31. I am apt to think that these Prophecies may have a double respect one to the City Temple and Nation of the Iews another to the whole World at the great Day of Doom and that the former is indeed typical of the latter and so they have a double completion the first in the destruction of Ierusalem and the Iewish Polity In reference to which it is truly said This Generation shall not pass away till all these things be fulfilled The second in the final Dissolution of the World which is yet to come But to proceed Another place which is usually understood of the Dissolution of the World by fire is 2 Thess. 1. 7 8. When the Lord Iesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire c. Other parallel places may be seen Rev. 6. 12. 13 14. Rev. 10. 6. Rev. 21. 1. And I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth for the first Heaven and the first Earth were passed away and there was no more Sea Hebr. 12. 26 27. These places speak more directly of the Dissolution of the World and the coming of Christ to Judgment Others there are that speak only concerning the time of it 1 Pet. 4. 7. But the end of all things is at hand James 5. 9. Behold the Iudge standeth before the door 1 John 2. 18. Little Children it is the last time or as some translate it the last hour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebr. 10. 37. Yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
is at hand We see the Apostle labours to rectifie and for the future to prevent this Mistake so likewise the Apostle Peter in the 8th and 9th Verses of this Chapter And yet this Opinion had taken such deep root in them that it was not easie to be extirpated but continued for some Ages in the Church Indeed there are so many places in the New Testament which speak of the Coming of Christ as very near that if we should have lived in their time and understood them all as they did of his Coming to Judge the World we could hardly have avoided being of the same Opinion But if we apply them as Dr. Hammond doth to his Coming to take Vengeance on his Enemies then they do not hinder but that the Day of Judgment I mean the General Judgment may be far enough off So I leave this Question unresolved concluding that when that Day will come God only knows CHAP. X. How far this Conflagration shall extend 6. A Sixth Question is How far shall this Conflagration extend Whether to the Ethereal Heavens and all the Host of them Sun Moon and Stars or to the Aereal only I Answer If we follow Ancient Tradition not only the Earth but also the Heavens and heavenly Bodies will be involved in one common Fate as appears by those Verses quoted out of Lucretius Ovid Lucan c. Of Christians some exempt the Ethereal Region from this Destruction for the two following Reasons which I shall set down in Reuterus 's words 1. Because in this Chapter the Conflagration is compared to the Deluge in the time of Noah But the Deluge extended not to the upper Regions of the Air much less to the Heavens the Waters arising only fifteen Cubits above the tops of the Mountains if so much Therefore neither shall the Conflagration transcend that term So Beza upon 2 Pet. 3. 6. Tantum ascendet ille ignis quantum aqua altior supra omnes montes That fire shall ascend as high as the Waters stood above the Mountains This passage I do not find in the last Edition of his Notes The ordinary Gloss also upon these words 2 Thess. 1. 2. In flaming fire rendring vengeance saith Christum venturum praecedet ignis in mundo qui tantum ascendet quantum aqua in diluvio There shall a fire go before Christ when he comes which shall reach as high as did the Water in the Deluge And S. Augustine De Civit. Dei lib. 20. cap. 18. Petrus etiam commemorans factum ante diluvium videtur admonuisse quodammodo quatenus in fine hujus seculi istum mundum periturum esse credamus Peter also mentioning the Ancient Deluge seems in a manner to have advised us how far at the consummation of time we are to believe this World shall perish But this Argument is of no force because it is not the Apostle's design in that place to describe the limits of the Conflagration but only against Scoffers to shew that the World should one day perish by fire as it had of old been destroyed by Water 2. The second Reason is Because the Heavenly Bodies are not subject to Passion alteration or corruption They can contract no filth and so need no expurgation by fire To this we answer not in the words of Reuter but our own That it is an idle and ill grounded conceit of the Peripateticks That the Heavenly Bodies are of their own nature incorruptible and unalterable for on the contrary it is demonstrable that many of them are of the same nature with the Earth we live upon and the most pure as the Sun and probably too the fixt Stars suffer Alterations maculoe or opaque Concretions being commonly generated and dissolved in them And Comets frequently and sometimes New Stars appear in the Etherial Regions So that these Arguments are insufficient to exempt the Heavens from Dissolution and on the other side many places there are in Scripture which seem to subject them thereto As Psal. 102. 25 26. recited Hebr. 1. 10. which hath already often been quoted The Heavens are the Works of thy Hands They shall perish Matth. 24. 35. Heaven and Earth shall pass away Isa. 65. 17. 51. 6. The Heavens shall vanish away like smoke Yet am I not of opinion that the last Fire shall reach the Heavens They are too far distant from us to suffer by it nor indeed doth the Scripture affirm it but where it mentions the Dissolution of the Heavens it expresseth it by such Phrases as seem rather to intimate that it shall come to pass by a consenescency and decay than be effected by any sudden and violent means Psal. 102. 25 26. They all shall wax old as doth a Garment c. Though I confess nothing of Certainty can be gathered from such Expressions for we find the same used concerning the Earth Isa. 51. 6. The Heavens shall vanish away like smoke and the Earth shall wax old as doth a garment The heavenly Bodies are none of them uncorruptible and eternal but may in like manner as the Earth be consumed and destroyed at what times and by what means whether Fire or some other Element the Almighty hath decreed and ordered CHAP. XI Whether shall the Whole World be consumed and annihilated or only refined and purified THere remains now only the Seventh Question to be resolved Whether shall the World be wholly consumed burnt up and destroyed or annihilated or only refined purified or renewed To this I answer That the latter part seems to me more probable viz. That it shall not be destroyed and annihilated but only refined and purified I know what potent Adversaries I have in this case I need name no more than Gerard in his Common Places and Dr. Hakewil â—n his Apology and the Defence of it who contend earnestly for the Abolition or Annihâ—lation But yet upon the whole matter the Renovation or Restitution seems to me most probable as being most consonant to Scripture Reason and Antiquity The Scripture speaks of an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Restitution Acts 3. 21. Whom the Heavens must contain until the time of the restitution of all things Speaking of our Saviour and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Regeneration of the World the very word the Stoicks and Pythagoreans use in this case Mat. 19. 28 29. Verily I say unto you That ye which have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the Throne of his glory ye also shall sit upon twelve Thrones c. Psal. 102. 26. As a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed Which words are again taken up and repeated Heb. 1. 12. Now it is one thing to be changed another to be annihilated and destroyed 1 Cor. 7. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The fashion of this world passeth away As if he had said It shall be transfigured or its outward form changed not its matter or substance destroyed Isa. 65. 17. Behold I create new Heavens and a new Earth and the former shall not be remembred nor come into mind Isa. 66. 22. As the new Heavens and
new Earth which I shall make shall remain before me To which places the Apostle Peter seems to refer in those words 2 Pet. 3. 13. Nevertheless we according to his promise look for new Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness This new Heaven and new Earth we have also mentioned Rev. 12. 1. And I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth for the first Heaven and the first Earth were passed away and there was no more Sea These places I confess may admit of an Answer or Solution by those who are of a contrary Opinion and are answered by Doctor Hakewil yet all together especially being back'd by ancient Tradition amount to a high degree of probability I omit that place Rom. 8. 21 22. The creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God tho' it be accounted the strongest proof of our Opinion because of the obscurity and ambiguity thereof 2. For Antiquity I have already given many Testimonies of the ancient Fathers and Doctors of the Church and could if need were produce many more the whole stream of them running this way And tho' Dr. Hakewill saith That if we look back to higher times before S. Hierome we shall not easily find any one who maintained the World's Renovation yet hath he but two Testimonies to alledge for its Abolition the one out of Hilary upon the Psalms and the other out of Clemens his Recognitions To this Restitution of the World after the Conflagration many also of the Heathen Philosophers bear witness whose Testimonies Mr. Burnet hath exhibited in his Theory of the Earth lib. 4. cap. 5. Of the Stoicks Chrysippus de Providentia speaking of the Renovation of the World saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We after death certain Periods of time being come about shall be restored to the form we now have To Chrysippus Stobaeus adds Zeno and Cleanthes and comprehends together with Men all natural things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zeno and Cleanthes and Chrysippus were of Opinion That the Nature or Substance of Things changes into Fire as it were into a Seed and out of this again such a World or Frame of Things is effected as was before This Revolution of Nature â—ntoninus in his Meditations often calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Periodical Regeneration of all things And Origen against Celsus â—aith of the Stoicks in general 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Stoicks say That at certain Periods of time there is a Conflagration of the Vniverse and after that a Restitution thereof having exactly the same Disposition and Furniture the former World had More to the like purpose concerning the Stoicks we have in Eusebius out of Numenius Nature faith he returns 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Resurrection which makes the Great Year wherein there is again a restitution made from it self alone to it self For returning according to the order wherein it began first to frame and dispose things as reason would it again observes the same Oeconomy or Administration the like Periods returning etâ—rnally without ceasing He that desires more Authorities of the Heathen Philosophers and Poets in consirmation of the World's Restitution after the Conflagration may consult the same Mr. Burnet in the place forequoted where he also shews that this Doctrine of the Mundane Periods was received by the Grecians from the Nations they call barbarous Pythagoras saith Porphyry brought it first into Greece and Origen witnesseth of the Egyptian Wise Men that it was delivered by them Laertius out of Theopompus relates That the Persian Magi had the same Tradition and Berosus saith that the Chaldeans also In fine among all the barbarous Nations who had among them any Person or Sect and Order of Men noted for Wisdom or Philosophy this Tradition was current The Reader may consult the Book we refer to where is a notable passage taken out of Plutarch's Tractate Di Iside Osiride concerning a War between Oromazes and Arimanius somewhat parallel to that mentioned in the Revelation between Michael and the Dragon 3. The Restitution of the World seems more consonant to Reason than its Abolition For if the World were to be annihilated what needed a Conflagration Fire doth not destroy or bring things to nothing but only separate their parts The World cannot be abolished by it and therefore had better been annihilated without it Wherefore the Scripture mentioning no other Dissolution than is to be effected by the Instrumentality of Fire its clear we are not to understand any utter Abolition or Annihilation of the World but only a Mutation and Renovation by those phrases of perishing passing away dissolving â—eing no more c. They are to be no more in that state and condition they are now in 2. There must be a material Heaven and a material Hell left A place for the glorified Bodies of the Blessed to inhabit and converse in and a place for the Bodies of the Damned a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Prison for them to be shut up in Now if the place of the Blessed be an Empyreal Heaven far above these visible Heavens as Divines generally hold and the place of the Damned be beneath about the middle of the Earth as is the Opinion of the School-men and the Church of Rome and as the name Inferi imports and as the ancient Heathen described their Tartarus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then when all the intermediate Bodies shall be annihilated what a strange Universe shall we have Consisting of an immense Ring of Matter having in the middle a vast vacuity or space void of all Body save only one small point for an infernal Dungeon Those that are of this Opinion have too narrow and mean thoughts of the Greatness I had almost said Immensity of the Universe the glorious and magnisick Products of the Creator's Almighty Power and are too partial to themselves to think the whole World was created for no other end but to be serviceable to Mankind But of this I have said somewhat in a former Discourse and therefore shall not at present enlarge upon it But let us hear what they have to say for the Abolition Their first and most weighty Argument is taken from the End of the World's Creation which was partly and chieâ—ly the Glory of the Creater and partly the use of Man the Lord Depâ—ty as it were or Viceroy thereof Now for the Glory of the Creator it being by the admirable Frame of the World manifested unto Man Man being removed out of the World and no Creature being capable of such a Manifestation besides him we cannot imagine to what purpose the Frame itself should be left and restored to a more perfect Estate The other End being for Man's Vse either to supply his
that this is no idle and unnecessary Discourse but very momentous and important and this Subject as mean as it seems worthy the most serious consideration of Christian Philosophers and Divines concerning which though I have spent many thoughts yet can I not fully satisfie my self much less then am I likely to satisfie others But I promise my self and them more full satisfaction shortly from the Labours of those who are more conversant and better acquainted with these Bodies than I who have been more industrious in searching them out and happy in discovering them who have been more curious and diligent in considering and comparing them more critical and exact in observing and noting their nature texture figure parts places differences and other accidents than my self and particularly that learned and ingenious Person before remembred The following Tables containing some Species of the most different Genera of these Bodies viz. Shark's Teeth Wolf-fish's Teeth Cockles or Concha Periwinkles or Turbens Cornua Ammonis or Serpent stones Sea-urchins and their Prickles Vertebres and other Bones of Fishes entire Fishes Petrifi'd and of those some singly some represented as they lye in Beds and Quarries under Ground for the information of those who are less acquainted with such Bodie were thought fit to be added to this Edition TAB II. Pag. 162. FIG 1 2. Several Fragments and Lumps of petrify'd Shells as they lie in Quarries and Beds under ground on many of these Petrifactions there still remain some Laminae or Plates of the Original Shells which prove them not to be Stones primarily so figur'd Fig 3. The Cornu Ammonis lying in Rocks with other petrify'd Bodies TAB III. Pag. 162. FIG 1 2. Two petrify'd Fishes lying in Stone with their Seales and Bones Fig. 3. A Sea-Urchin petrify'd with its prickles broken off which are a sort of Lapis Iudaicus or Iew-Stones their Insertions on the Studs or Protuberances of the Shell are here shewn See their History and Manner of Lying in Stone and Beds in Agostino Scilla 4. Napoli TAB IV. Pag. 162. FIG 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14. Several petrify'd Teeth of Dog-Fishes Sharks and other Fishes Fig. 15 16. The same lying in a Tophaceous Bed and also in a Jaw-Bone Fig. 17. The petrify'd Teeth of a Wolf-Fish in a piece of the Jaw the Round Ones or Grinders are sold in Maltha for petrify'd Eyes of Serpents and by our Jewellers and Goldsmiths for Toad-stones commonly put in Rings Fig. 18 19 20. Other petrify'd Bones of Fishes especially Joynts or Vertebra's of Back-bones one with two stony Spines issuing out f. 20. See them more at large in the Draughts of that curious Sicilian Painter Agostino Scilla Place this before Tab. II. p. 162. The CONTENTS DISCOURSE I. Of the Primitive CHAOS and Creation of the WORLD CHAP. I. Testimonies of the Ancient Heathen Writers Hesiod Ovid Aristophanes Lucan Euripides concerning the Chaos and what they meant by it Chap. II. That the Creation of the World out of a Chaos is not repugnant to the Holy Scripture if soberly understood p 5 6 7 8. Chap. III. Of the separating the Land and Water and raising up the Mountains p. 9 c. By what means the Waters were gathered together into one place and the dry Land made to appear p. 10. That subterraneous Fires and Flatus's might be of power sufficient to produce such an effect proved from the force and effects of Gunpowder and the raising up of new Mountains p. 11 12 13. The shaking of the whole known World by an Earthquake p. 13 14. That the Mountains Islands and whole Continents were probably at first raised up by subterraneous Fires proved by the Authority of Lydiate and Strabo p. 15 16 17. Of subterraneous Caverns passing under the bottom of the Sea p. 19 20 21 c. A Discourse concerning the Equality of the Sea and Land both as to the extent of each and the height of one to the depth of the other taken from the Shores p. 25 26 27 31 32 33. That the motion of the Water levels the bottom of the Sea p. 28 29 30. A Discourse concerning the Use of the Mountains 35 36 37 c. The Sum of what hath been said of the Division and Disposition of the Water and Earth p. 44. Chap. IV. Of the Creation of Animals some Questions concerning them resolved p. 46. That God Almighty did at first create either the Seeds of all Animate Bodies and dispersed them all the Earth over or else the first Sett of Animals themselves in their full state and perfection giving each Species a power by Generation to propagate their like p. 46 47. Whether God at first created a great number of each Species or only two a Male and a Female p. 47 48. Whether all individual Animals which already have been and hereafter shall be were at first actually created by God or only the first Sett of each Species the rest proceeding from them by way of Generation and being a new produced p. 49 50 51 c. Objections against the first part answered 1. That it seems impossible that the Ovaries of the first Animals should actually include the innumerable Myriads of those that may proceed from them in so many Generations as have been and shall be to the end of the World This shewn not to be so incredible from the multitude of parts into which Matter may be and is divided in many Experiments p. 51 52 53 54. c. 2. If all the Members of Animals already formed do pre exist in the Egg how can the Imagination of the Mother change the shape and that so notoriously sometimes as to produce a Calve's-head or Dog's-face or the like monstrous Members Several Answers to thus Objection offered p. 57 58 59 DISCOURSE II. Of the General DELUGE in the Days of Noah its Causes and Effects p. 62. CHAP. I. Testimonies of Ancient Heathen Writers and some Ancient Coyns or Medals verifying the Scripture-History of the Deluge p. 63 64 65 66. That the Ancient Poets and Mythologists by Deucalion understood Noah and by Deucalion's Flood the General Deluge proved 66 67 68 69. Chap. II. Of the Causes of the General Deluge 70 1. A miraculous transmutation of Air into Water rejected 70 71 72. That Noah's Flood was not Topical 73. 2 3. The emotion of the Center of the Earth or a violent depression of the Surface of the Ocean the most probable partial Causes of the Deluge but the immediate Causes assigned by the Scripture are the breaking up of the Fountains of the Great Deep and the opening of the Windows of Heaven 73. That those Causes are sufficient to produce a Deluge granting a change of the Centre of the Earth to prevent the Waters running off 73 74 75. That all the Vapours suspended in the Air might contribute much towards a Flood ibid. Concerning the Expence of the Sea by Vapour 76 77 78 c. Of the Waters keeping its Level An
Foundations and by time and weather too by which not only the Earth is washed away or blown off from the Stones but the very Stones and Rocks themselves corroded and dissolved as might easily be proved by Instances could I spare time to do it To sum up all relating to the Division and Disposition of the Water and Earth in brief 1. I say the Water being the lighter Element doth naturally occupy the upper place and stand above the Earth and so at first it did But now we see it doth not so the Earth being contrary to its nature forcibly elevated above it being as the Psalmist phraseth it founded above the Seas and established above the Floods and this because it was best it should be so as I shall clearly prove and deduce in particulars in another Discourse 2. The dry Land is not elevated only upon one side of the Globe for then had it had high Mountains in the middle of it with such vast empty Cavities within as must be equal to the whole Bulk raised up the Center of Magnitude must needs have been considerably distant from the Center of Gravity which would have caused a very great and inconvenient inequality in the Motion of the parts of the Earth but the Continents and Islands are so equally disperst all the Globe over as to counterballance one another so that the Centers of Magnitude and Gravity concur in one 3. The Continents are not of exactly equal and level Superficies or Convexity For then the Parts subject to the Course of the Sun called the Torrid Zone would have been as the Ancients fancied them unhabitable for Heat and Drought But there are huge Ridges and extended Chains of lofty Mountains directed for the most part to run East and West by which means they give free admittance and passage to the Vapours brought in by the Winds from the Atlantick and Pacifick Oceans but stop and inhibit their Excursions to the North and South either condensing them upon their sides into water by a kind of external Destillation or by streightening and constipating of them compelling them to gather into Drops and descend down in Rain These are great things and worthy the Care Direction and Disposal of the Great and Wise Creator and Governour of all things And we see they are accordingly excellently ordered and provided by him CHAP. IV. Of the Creation of Animals some Questions resolved AS to the first Creation of Animals I have already proposed two Opinions both consonant or reconcileable to the Scriptures 1. That God Almighty did at first create the Seeds of all Animals that is the Animals themselves in little and disperst them over the superficial part of the Land and water giving power to those Elements to hatch and bring them forth which when they had done and all the Animals of these created Seeds were produced and perfected there remained no more ability in them to bring forth any more but all the succeeding owe their Original to Generation 2. Because some will not admit that God at first created any thing imperfect we did propose that he might by his Almighty Power out of the Water and Earth make the first set of Animals in their full state and perfection as it is generally believed he did Adam and give to each Species a power by generation to propagate their like For his commanding the Waters and Earth to produce such and such living Creatures signifies that he did himself efficaciously form them out of the Earth and Water as when he saith Let there be light c. the meaning is not that he did permit or command something else besides himself to produce light but that he did by his own Almighty power effectually create it Indeed the Scripture doth in this manner interpret it self For whereas it is said verses 20. and 24. Let the waters bring forth c. and Let the earth bring forth the living creature c. in the next verses it follows And God created great whales and every living creature that moveth c. And God made the beast of teh earth c. But now there may a further Question or two be moved concerning the Creation of Animals 1. Whether God created at first a great number of every kind of Animal all the Earth over in their proper Places and Climates or only two of each Species a Male and a Female from which all the rest proceeded by generation This latter opinion I find embraced by some modern Philosophers and it may be made probable by several Arguments First from the Analogy to Mankind There being at first only one Man and one Woman created it is very likely there were no more of any other Creatures two being sufficient in a short time to stock the World Secondly Because at the time of the General Deluge there were only two of each kind of unclean Beasts preserved in the Ark and if two might then suffice why not as well at the first Creation And if there were no need of creating more what likelyhood that there were more created But the first Opinion That there were many at first created seems more consonant to Scripture which in the mention of the Creation of Aquatic Creatures useth the word Abundantly Gen. 1. 20. And God said Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven And in the next verse it is said That the waters did bring them forth abundantly So that at least of Birds and Fishes there were many individuals at first created As for Plants certain it is that they were created dispersedly all the world over they having no locomotive power but being fixt to a place and the Seeds of many of them being ponderous and not portable by winds or any other means and yet those of the same Species to be found in far distant places and on the tops of high Mountains as remote from each other as the Helvetick and Austrian Alps. 2. Concerning the Creation of Animals there may yet a further Question be moved viz. Whether all Animals that already have been or hereafter shall be were at first actually created by God or whether hath he given to each kind of Animal such a power of generation as to prepare matter and produce new individuals in their own bodies Some are of opinion that God did himself at first actually create all the individual Animals that ever were or ever shall be and that there is no such thing as any production of new ones For say they what were that but a creation of such individuals And what did God at the first Creation more then if this be true we see every day done that is produce a new Animal out of matter which it self prepares All the difference is the doing that in an instant which the Creature must take time to do For as for the preparation of matter that must be made fit be the
Mankind whose right the Kingdom was 6. The sending out of a Dove to try whether the Waters were abated and the Flood gone off is we have seen by Plutarch attributed to Deucalion 7. Lucian in his Timon and in his Book De Dea Syria sets forth the Particulars of Deucalion's after the Example of Noah's Flood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Deucalion was the only Man that was left for a second Generation for his Prudence and Piety sake And he was saved in this manner He made a great Ark and got aboard it with his Wife and Children And to him came Swine and Horses and Lions and Serpents and all other living Creatures which the Earth maintains according to their kinds by pairs and he received them all and they hurt him not for there was by Divine Instinct a great friendship among them and they sailed together in the Ark so long as the Waters prevailed And in his Timon he saith That Noah laid up in the Ark plenty of all Provisions for their sustenance TAB I. pag 69 The two ancient Apamian Coyns taken out of Octav. Falconieri de Nummo Apamensi Deucalionaei Diluvij typum exhibente 8 â—â— Romae By the Greek inscriptions they were stamp under Philippus Marcus Aurelius Alexander and Septimius Severus Howbeit I do not deny that there was such a particular Flood in Thessaly as they call Deucalion's which happened Seven Hundred and Seventy Years or thereabouts after the general Deluge I acknowiedge also a more ancient Flood in Attica in the time of Ogyges about Two hundred and thirty years before Deucalion's by which the Countrey was so marred that it lay waste and uncultivated without Inhabitants for almost Two hundred years CHAP. II. Of the Causes of the Deluge WHat were the instrumental Causes or Means of the Flood Whether was it effected by natural or supernatural Means only Whether was God no further concerned in it than in so ordering second Causes at first as of themselves necessarily to bring it in at such a time First Those that hold this Deluge was altogether miraculous and that God Almighty created Waters on purpose to serve this occasion and when they had done their work destroyed them again dispatcht the Business and loose or cut the Knot in a few words And yet this Hypothesis is not so absurd and precarious as at first sight it may seem to be For the World being already full there needed not nor indeed could be any Creation of Water out of nothing but only a Transmutation of some other Body into Water Now if we grant all Natural Bodies even the Elements themselves to be mutually transmutable as few Men doubt and some think they can demonstrate why might not the Divine Power and Providence bring together at that time such natural Agents as might change the Air or Aether or both together into Water and so supply what was wanting in Rains and extraordinary Eruptions of Springs To them that argue the Improbability of such a change from the great quantity of Air requisite to the making of a little Water it may be answered That if Air and all Bodies commixt with it were together changed into Water they must needs make a bulk of Water of equal quantity with themselves unless we will grant a Peripatetical Condensation and Rarefaction and hold that the same Matter may have sometimes a greater sometimes a lesser quantity or extension This Cause the conversion of Air into Water the Learned Jesuite Athanasius Kircher in his Book De Arca Noae alledges as the undoubted instrumental Cause or Means of the Deluge in these words Dico totum illud aereum spatium usque ad supremam regionem aeris praepotentis Dei virtute in aquas per inexplicabilem nubium coacervatarum multitudinem quâ replebatur conversam esse cujus ubertas tanta fuit ut Aer supremus cum inferiori in Oceanum commutatus videri potuerit non naturae viribus sed illius cujus voluntati imperio cuncta subsunt That is I affirm That all that Aereal space that reaches up to the supreme Region of the Air was by the power of the Omnipolent God and instrumentality of an inexplicable multitude of Clouds amassed together wherewith it was filled changed into Water so that the upper and lower Air might seem to be 〈◊〉 into an Ocean not by the strength of Naâ—â—â—e but of him to whose Will and 〈◊〉 all things are subject And he is so confident that this Deluge in which the 〈…〉 raised fifteen Cubits above the highest by Mountains was not nor could be effected by natural Causes but by the right hand of the most High God only that he saith No Man can deny it but he who doth not penetrate how far the power of Nature can extend and where it is limited To conclude this Hypothesis hath the Suffrages of most Learned Men. But because the Scripture assigning the Causes or Means of the Inundation makes no mention of any conversion of Air into Water but only of the breaking up the Fountains of the Great Deep and the opening of the Windows of Heaven I suppose those Causes may be sufficient to work the Effect and that we need not have recourse to such an Assistance As for those that make the Deluge Topical and restrain it to a narrow compass of Land their Opinion is I think sufficiently confuted by a late ingenious Author to whom therefore I refer the Reader I shall not undertake the Defence or Confutation of those or any other Hypothesis only tell you which at present seems to me most probable and that is theirs who for a partial cause of the Deluge assign either a change of the Center of the Earth or a violent depression of the Surface of the Ocean and a forcing the Waters up from the subterraneous Abyss through the Channels of the Fountains that were then broken up and opened First then let us consider what Causes the Scripture assigns of the Flood and they are two 1. The breaking up the Fountains of the great Deep 2. The opening of the Windows of Heaven I shall first treat of this last By the opening of the Windows of Heaven is I suppose to be understood the causing of all the Water that was suspended in the Air to descend down in Rain upon the Earth the effect hereof here mentioned being a long continuing Rain of Forty days And that these Treasuries of the Air will afford no small quantity of Water may be made appear both by Scripture and Reason 1. By Scripture which opposes the Waters that are above the Heavens or Firmament to those that are under them which if they were not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in some measure equal it would never do Gen. 1. 6. God is said to make a Firmament in the midst of the Waters and to divide the Waters which were under the Firmament from the Waters which were above the Firmament And this was the work of a whole
day and consequently no inconsiderable thing By the Heavens or Firmament in this place is to be understood the inferiour Region of the Air wherein the Fowls fly who Gen. 1. 20. are said to fly above the Earth in the open Firmament of Heaven though elsewhere it be taken for the Celestial Regions wherein the Sun and Moon and Stars are placed 2. The same may be made appear by Reason grounded upon Experience I my self have observed a Thunder-Cloud in passage to have in less than two hours space powred down so much Water upon the Earth as besides what sunk into the parched and thirsty ground and filled all Ditches and Ponds caused a considerable Flood in the Rivers setting all the Meadows on flote And Dr. Wittie in his Scarborough Spaw tells us of great Spouts of Rain that ordinarily fall every year some time or other in Summer that set the whole Countrey in a Flood Now had this Cloud which might for ought I know have moved Forty miles forward stood still and emptied all its Water upon the same spot of Ground it first hung over what a sudden and incredible Deluge would it have made there and yet what depth or thickness of Vapours might remain uncondensed in the Air above this Cloud who knows Now it is to be considered that not only the Air upon the dry Land but also all that covers the whole Ocean is charged with Vapours which are nothing else but diffused Water all which was brought together by Winds or what others Means seem'd good to God and caused to destil down in Rain upon the Earth And you may easily guess that it was no small quantity of Water that was supplyed this way in that it sufficed for a Rain that lasted Forty natural days And that no ordinary Rain neither but Catarracts or Spouts of Water for so the Septuagint interprets the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Catarracts or Spouts of Heaven were opened I return now to the first Cause or Means of the Deluge assigned by the Scripture and that is the breaking up of all the Fountains of the great Deep By the great Deep in this place I suppose is to be understood the Subterraneous Waters which do and must necessarily communicate with the Sea For we see that the Caspian and some other Seas receive into themselves many great Rivers and yet have no visible Outlets and therefore by Subterraneous Passages must needs discharge their Waters into the Abyss of Waters under the Earth and by its intervention into the Ocean again That the Mediterranean Sea doth not as I sometimes thought communicate with the Ocean by any subterraneous Passages nor thereby impart any Water to it or receive any from it may be demonstrated from that the Superficies of it is lower than the Superficies of the Ocean as appears from the Waters running in at the Streights of Gibraltar for if there were any such Communications the Water keeping its Level the Mediterranean being the lowest must by those Passages receive Waters from the Ocean and not the Ocean which is as we have proved the highest from the Mediterranean But that it doth not receive any by Subterraneous Passages is most likely because it receives so much above Ground Hence it necessarily follows that the Mediterranean spends more in Vapour than it receives from the Rivers which is Mr. Halley's Conclusion though in some of his Premises or Hypotheses he is I think mistaken as 1. In that he numbers the Tyber amongst his nine great Rivers each of which may yield ten times as much Water as the Thames whereas I question whether that yields once so much and whereas he passes by all the rest of the Rivers as smaller than it there are two that I have seen in Italy it self whereof the one viz. the Arnus on which Florence and Pisa stand seemed to me not inferiour in bigness to the Tiber and the other viz. the Athesis on which Verona stands I could not guess to be less than twice as big 2. In that he thinks himself too liberal in allowing these nine Rivers to carry down each of them ten times so much Water as the Thames doth Whereas one of those nine and that none of the biggest neither viz. the River Po if Ricciolus his Hypotheses and Calculations be good affords more Water in an hour than Mr. Halley supposes the Thames to do in a day the hourly Effusions of the Po being rated at eighteen millions of Cubical Paces by Ricciolus whereas the daily ones of the Thames are computed to be no more than twenty five millions three hundred forty four thousand Cubical yards of Water by Mr. Halley but a Geometrical Pace contains five Feet i. e. 1 â—â— of a Yard Now if the Po pours so much Water hourly into the Sea what then must the Danow and the Nile do each of which cannot I guess be less than troble of the Po. Tanais Borysthenes and Rhodanus may equal if not exceed it Howbeit I cannot approve Ricciolus his Hypotheses judging them to be too excessive but do believe that as to the whole Mr. Halley comes nearer the truth Sure enough it is that in the Mediterranean the Receipts from the Rivers fall short of the Expence in Vapour though in part of it that is the Euxine the Receipts exceed as appears from that there is a constant Current sets outward from thence through the Thracian Bosphorus and Hellespont But though the Mediterranean doth indeed evaporate more than it receives from the Rivers yet I believe the Case is not the same with the Caspian Sea the Superficies whereof seems to me not to bear any greater proportion to the Waters of the Rivers that run into it than that of the Euxine doth to its which we have observed not to spend the whole Receipt in Vapour You 'l say Why then do not great Floods raise the Seas I answer as to the Caspian if it communicates with the Ocean whether the Rivers bring down more or less it s all one if more then the Water keeping its Level the Caspian raiseth the Ocean if less then the Ocean communicates to the Caspian and raises that But as to the Mediterranean we may say that when it receives more on the one side it receives less on the other the Floods and Ebbs of the Nilus and the other Rivers counterbalancing one another Besides by reason of the Snows lying upon the Mountains all Winter the greatest Floods of those great Rivers in Europe do not happen when the Mediterranean evaporates leà st in the Winter time but in the Spring You 'l demand further if the Mediterranean evaporates so much what becomes of all this Vapour I answer It is cast off upon the Mountains and on their sides and tops is condensed into Water and so returned again by the Rivers unto the Sea If you proceed to ask what becomes of the Surplusage of the Water which the Mediterranean receives from the Ocean and spends in vapour
if not about the Center yet certainly in profound Caverns and even under the very bottoms of the Seas to which some and no mean Philosophers have attributed the Ebbing and flowing of its waters Let us then suppose that the Rivers do daily carry down to the Sea half an Ocean of water and that the Rain supplies all that as our Opinion is and see what we can infer from thence I think it will be granted that ordinarily communibus annis the Rain that falls in a whole year amounts not to above one quarters continual Rain Now if this suffices for a daily eâ—â—usion of half an Ocean 〈…〉 that if it should rain without any 〈◊〉 all the year round the Rivers would 〈◊〉 out two Oceans into the Sea 〈◊〉 And so in forty days continual Rain 〈◊〉 would distil down upon the Earth 〈…〉 of Water A prodigious quantity 〈◊〉 and â—â—arce credible which if the 〈…〉 as fast as it comes on 〈…〉 a quantity of water 〈…〉 twice in twenty four 〈…〉 then that so much water 〈…〉 upon the â—arth I argue thus 〈…〉 upon the Earth must have 〈…〉 down to the Sea and according â—o the small declivity of the 〈…〉 the Mountains pared off and 〈…〉 a considerable one too 〈…〉 it actually hath so that the Floods 〈…〉 some days after the 〈…〉 upon the higher grounds And 〈…〉 the general Deluge 〈…〉 down to the Sea as fast 〈…〉 the Earth would permit 〈…〉 the Fountains of the 〈…〉 Clouds 〈…〉 could than they run down 〈…〉 the Earth it deserves 〈…〉 whether by the end of 〈…〉 Mountains fifteen Cubits high And yet the Scripture doth not in plain terms say that ever the waters of the Flood arose fifteen Cubits above the tops of the highest Mountains as Mr. Warren well observes Besides we are further to consider that this forty days Rain at the time of the Deluge was no ordinary one such as those that usually distil down leisurely and gently in Winter time but like our Thunder-storms and violent Showers Catarracts and Spouts which pour forth more water in an hour then they do in four and twenty So that in forty natural days the Clouds would empty out upon the Earth not eighty Oceans of water but above twenty times that quantity If by the Windows of Heaven are meant Catarracts as the Septuagint interpret the word And so we need not be to seek for water for a Floud for the Rain alone falling at that rate we have mentioned would if the Opinion of those men who hold that the Rivers discharge into the Sea half an Ocean daily were true in the space of forty natural days afford water enough supposing it run off no faster than usually it doth to cover the Earth Mountains and all Neither yet did the Mountains help but rather hinder the descent of the waters down to the Sea straitning it into Channels obstructing its passage and forcing it to take Circuits till it got above the Ridges and Tops of them As to this Argumentation and Inference the case is the same if we hold that the Water circulates through the 〈◊〉 of the Earth For supposing the Rivers pour 〈◊〉 half an Ocean daily and granting that in times of Floods their streams are but double of their usual Currents though I verily believe they are more than quadruple and that the eâ—fusions of the Fountains be in like measure augmented it will follow that the daily discharge of the Rivers will amount to two Oceans Now at the time of the general Deluge both these Causes concurred For there being a constant Rain of forty days there must on that account be a continual Flood and the Fountains of the great Deep â—eing broken up they must in all likelyhood afford as much Water as the Rain which whether it would not suffice in forty natural days to produce a Flood as big as that of Noah notwitâ—standing the continual descent and going off of the Waters I propose to the consideration of the Ingenious Especially if we allow as is not unreasonable 〈◊〉 suppose that the Divine Providence 〈◊〉 at first cause a contrary Wind to stop 〈◊〉 â—nhibit the descent of the Waters as afterwards he raised an assisting one to carry them off I have but one thing more to add upon this Subject that is that I do not see how their Opinion can be true who hold that some Seas are lower than others as for Example the Red Sea than the Mediterranean For it being true that the Water keeps its level that is holds its Superficies every where equidistant from the Center of Gravity or if by accident one part be lower the rest by reason of their fluidity will speedily reduce the Superficies again to an equality The Waters of all Seas communicating either above or under ground or both ways one Sea cannot be higher or lower than another but supposing any accident should elevate or depress any by reason of this confluence or communication it would soon be reduced to a level again as might demonstratively be proved But I return to tell the Reader what I think the most probable of all the Causes I have heard assigned of the Deluge which is the Center of the Earth being at that time changed and set nearer to the Center or middle of our Continent whereupon the Atlantick and Pacifick Oceans must needs press upon the Subterraneous Abyss and so by mediation thereof force the Water upward and at last compel it to run out at those wide Mouths and Apertures made by the Divine Power breaking up the Fountains of the great Deep And we may suppose this to have been only a gentle and gradual Emotion no faster than that the Waters running out at the bottom of the Sea might accordingly lowre the Superficies thereof sufficiently so that none needed run over the Shores These Waters thus poured out from the Orifices of the Fountains upon the Earth the declivity being changed by the removal of the Center could not flow down to the Sea again but must needs stagnate upon the Earth and overflow it and afterwards the Earth returning to its old Center return also to their former Receptacles If any shall object against this Hypothesis because by it the Flood will be render'd Topical and restrained only to the Continent we live in though I might plead the Unnecessariness of drowning America it being in all probability unpeopled at that time yet because the Scripture useth general expressions concerning the extent of the Flood saying Gen. 1. 19. And all the high hills that were under the whole Heaven were covered and again verse 22. All in whose nostrils was the breath of lìfe of all that was in the dry land died And because the Americans also are said to have some ancient Memorial Tradition of a Deluge and the Ingenious Author of the Theory of the Earth hath by a moderate Computation demonstrated that there must be then more People upon the Earth than now I will propose another way of
Mutations are made in the upper or superficial Region of the Earth the parts thereof seeming to tend to a greater quiet and settlement Besides the Superficies of the Sea notwithstanding the overwhelming and submersion of Islands and the straitning of it about the Outlets of Rivers and the Earth it washes from the shores subsiding and elevating the bottom seems not to be raised higher nor spread further or bear any greater proportion to that of the Land then it did a thousand years ago So have I finished my second Discourse concerning the Deluge and its Effects and the Mutations that have been since made in the Earth and their Causes DISCOURSE III. OF THE DISSOLUTION OF THE WORLD THE INTRODUCTION TO THE Third Discourse THERE is implanted in the Nature of Man a great desire and curiosity of fore-knowing future Events and what shall befal themselves their Relations and Dependents in time to come the Fates of Kingdoms and Commonwealths especially the Periodical Mutations and final Catastrophe of the World Hence in ancient times Divination was made a Science or Mystery and many Nations had their Colledges or Societies of Wise-men Magicians Astrologers and Sooth-sayers as for example the Egyptians Babylonians and Romans Hence the Vulgar are very prone to consult Diviners and Fortune-tellers To gratifie in some measure this Curiosity and that his People might not in any Priviledge be inferiour to the Nations about them it pleased God besides the standing Oracle of Vrim not only upon special occasions to raise up among the Iews extraordinary Prophets by immediate Mission but also to settle a constant Order and Succession of them for the maintenance and upholding whereof there were Colledges and Seminaries instituted for the educating and fitting young Men for the Prophetick Function These were the Sons of the Prophets of whom we find so frequent mention in Scripture Moreover it pleased God so far to condescend to the weakness of the Iews that in the Infancy of their State he permitted them to consult his Prophets concerning ordinary accidents of life and affairs of small moment As we see Saul did Samuel about the loss of his Fathers Asses which it 's not likely he would have done had it not been usual and customary so to do In the latter times of that State we read of no consulting of Prophets upon such occasions At last also by their own confession the Spirit of Prophecy was quite taken away and nothing left them but a Vocal Oracle which they called Bath col i. e. the Daughter of a Voice or the Daughter of Thunder a Voice out of a Voice This Dr. Light foot thinks to have been a meer Fancy or Imposture Quae de Bath Kol referunt Iudaei ignoscant illi mihi si ego partim pro fabulis habeam Iuduicis partim pro praestigis Diabolicis What the Iews report concerning Bath Kol I beg their pardon if I esteem them no other then either Jewish Fables or Diabolical Illusions It is a Tradition among them that after the death of the last Prophets Haggai Zachary and Malachy the Holy Spirit departed from Israel But why I beseech you was Prophecy withdrawn if Coelestial Oracles were to be continued Why was Vrim and Thummim taken away or rather not restored by their own confession after the Babylonish Captivity It were strange indeed that God taking away his ordinary Oracles from a People should bestow upon them one more or equally noble and that after they were extremely degenerated and fallen into all manner of Impiety Superstition and Heresy c. And a little after if I may freely speak what I think those innumerable Stories which every where occur in the Jewish Writings concerning Bath Kol are to be reduced to two Heads viz. 1. The most of them are meer Fables invented in honour of this or that Rabbin or to gain credit to some History 2. The rest meer Magical and Diabolical Illusions c. In the Primitive Churches of Christians planted by the Apostles there was also an Order of Prophets 1 Cor. 12. 28. God hath set some in the Church first Apostles secondarily Prophets c. This Spirit of Prophecy was an extraordinary and temporary Gift as were the Gifts of Healing and Speaking with Tongues continuing not long after the Death of the Apostles and Consignation of the Canon of Scripture So that now we have no means left us of coming to the knowledge of future Events but the Prophecies contained in the Writings of the Holy Penmen of Scripture which we must search diligently consider attentively and compare together if we desire to understand any thing of what shall befal the Christian Church or State in time to come This Text which I have made choice of for my Subject is part of a Prophecy concerning the greatest of all Events the Dissolution of the World 2 PETER iii. 11. Seeing then all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness CHAP. 1. The Division of the Words and Doctrine contained in them with the Heads of the following Discourse THESE Words contain in them two Parts 1. An Antecedent or Doctrine All these things shall be dissolved 2. A Consequent or Inference thereupon What manner of persons ought we to be The Doctrine here only briefly hinted or summarily proposed is laid down more fully in the precedent Verse But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up These words are by the generality of Interpreters Ancient and Modern understood of the final destruction or dissolution of Heaven and Earth in which sense I shall choose rather to accept them at present than with the Reverend and Learned Dr. Hammond and some few others to stem the Tide of Expositors and apply them to the destruction of Ierusalem and the Jewish Polity I say then That this World and all things therein contained shall one day be dissolved and destroyed by Fire By World in this Proposition We and by Heaven and Earth in this place the most rational Interpreters of Scripture do understand only the whole Compages of this sublunary World and all the Creatures that are in it all that was destroyed by the Flood in the days of Noah and now secured from perishing so again that I may borrow Dr. Hammond's words in his Annotations on this place And again the word Heavens saith he being an Equivocal word is used either for the superiour Heavens whether Empyreal or Ethereal or for the sublunary Heavens the Air as the word World is either the whole Compages of the superiour and inferiour World as the Author of the Book De Mundo ascribed falsly to Aristotle defines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Systeme or Compages of Heaven and Earth and the Beings therein contained or
〈◊〉 Luke 18. 17. I tell you he will avenge them speedily All these places the forementioned Dr. Hammond still applies to that famous Period of the destruction of the City Temple and Polity of the Iews only in his Note upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that everlasting destruction mentioned 2 Thess. 1. 9. he hath some qualification saying thus Mean while not excluding the eternal torments of Hell-fire which expect all impenitent sinners that thus fall but looking particularly on the visible destruction and vengeance which seizeth on whole Nations or Multitudes at once in this life And in conclusion hath left us but one place in the N. Testament to prove the general Conâ—lagration of the World viz. 2 Pet. 7. 7. Now because some have been offended at these Interpretations of his others have spoken very slightingly of them I shall briefly sum up what hath been alledged in defence of them by this great Man 1. That the Prophets use to set down their Predictions in Tropes and Figures and not in plain Expressions their Style being Poetical And therefore in describing those hideous Judgments which fell upon that People of the Iews beyond all that ever before fell upon them or indeed any other People they â—ound it necessary to employ those High and Tragical Phrases of the passing away and dissolving Heaven and Earth and Elements And that this was the manner of the Prophets may be proved because we find the destruction of other places described in as high Strains as lofty and tragical Expressions as this of Ierusalem For example that of Idumaea Isai. 34. 9. The streams thereof shall be turned into pitch and the dust thereof into brimstone and the land thereof shall become burning pitch It shall not be quenched night nor day the smoke thereof shall go up for ever And in the fourth Verse he seems but to Preface to this Destruction in these words And all the host of Heaven shall be dissolved and the Heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll and all their hosts shall fall down as the leaf falleth off from the Vine and as a falling Fig from the Fig-tree for my Sword shall be bathed in Heaven Behold it shall come down upon Idumaea And in the Burden of Babylon Chap. 13. 8 9. we have these words Behold the day of the Lord cometh cruel both with wrath and fierce anger to lay the Land desolate For the Stars of Heaven and the Constellations thereof shall not give their light The Sun shall be darkened in his going forth and the Moon shall not cause her Light to shine 2. All the Predictions in that famous place Matth. 24. to which all other places in the New Testament relating to this matter are parallel are by our Saviour himself restrained to the destruction of Ierusalem and the full completion of them limited to the duration of that Age Verse 34. Verily I say unto you This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled What reason then can we have to extend them further 3. In most of the places where this coming of Christ is mentioned it is spoken of as near and at hand as in the places last cited Now saith the Learned Doctor in his Note upon Luke 18. 7. I tell you he will avenge them speedily All which if when it is said to approach and to be at the door it belonged to the Day of Judgment now after so many hundred years not yet come what a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were this what a delaying of his coming and consequently what an Objection against the truth of the Christian Religion As Mahomet having promised after his death he would presently return to life and having not performed his Promise in a thousand years is by us justly condemned as an Impostor 4. That this place of S. Peter out of which I have taken my Text doth not belong to the end of the World sufficiently appears saith he by the purport of this whole Epistle which is to arm them with constancy and perseverance till that Day come and particularly in this Chapter to confute them who object against the truth of Christ's Predictions and resolve it should not come at all against whom he here opposes the certainty the speediness and the terribleness of its coming And for that other famous place 2 Thess. 1. 8 9. that it belongs to the same Period see how he makes it out in his Annotations I shall now superadd some places out of the Old Testament which seem to speak of the Dissolution of the World Iob 14. 12. Man lieth down and riseth not till the Heavens be no more Psal. 102. 5 6. quoted Hebr. 1. 10 11. Of old hast thou laid the foundations of the Earth and the Heavens are the works of thy hands They shall perish but thou remainest and they all shall wax old as doth a garment and as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed Isai. 34. 4. And all the host of Heaven shall be dissolved and the Heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll and all their host shall fall down as a leaf falleth from the Vine c. Isai. 51. 6. The Heavens shall vanish away like smoke and the Earth shall wax old like a garment Joel 2. 31. The Sun shall be turned into darkness and the Moon into blood before that great and terrible day of the Lord comes Malachi 4. 1. Behold the day cometh that shall burn like an Oven c. Deut. 32. 22. For a fire is kindled in my anger and shall burn to the lowest Hell and shall consume the Earth with her encrease and set on fire the foundations of the Mountains I must confess that the Prophetick Books are full of figurative Expressions being written in a Poetick Style and according to the strain of the Oriental Rhetorick which is much different from the European aâ—â—ecting lofty and tumid Metaphors and excessive Hyperbola's and Aggravations which would either sound harsh to our Ears or import a great deal more to us than they did to them This is obvious to any one that reads their Books and may clearly be demonstrated from the Tiâ—lâ—â— that their Kings assumed to themselves as well anciently as lately viz. Sons of the Sun Brethren of the Sun and Moon Partners of the Stars Lions crowned in the Throne of the World Endued with the strength of the whole Heaven and Virtue of the Firmament Now we cannot possibly imagine them so vain as to think themselves litterally to be such no sure all they meant by these Expressions was that they were great and honourable and powerful Now the Prophetick Books of the Old Testament being written in a Style somewhat conformable to the Oratory of those Countreys are not I humbly conceive in every title to be so exactly scanned and litterally expounded but so to be interpreted as a Iew or an Asiatick would then have understood them And this I rather think because there be divers passages
But to the Waves give way the Moon her Course shall bend Cross to her Brothers and disdaining still to drive Her Chariot wheel athwart the heavenly Oâ—b shall strive To rule the day this Frame to discord bent The Worlds Peace shall disturb and all in sunder rent This Dissolution of the World they held should be by Water and by Fire alternately at certain periods but especially by Fire which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Stoicks say that the cause of the destruction of the World is the irresistible force of Fire that is in things which in long periods of time consumes and dissolves all things into it self Euseb. Praep. l. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The most ancient of that Sect held That at certain vast Periods of time all things were rarified into Air being resolved into an Ethereal Fire This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Stoicks we find mentioned by many both Christian and Heathen Writers as besides the fore-quoted Minutius Felix Iustin Martyr Clemens Alexandrinus in 5. Strom. Plutarch Seneca and others The time of this Conflagration Seneca determines not but saith only it shall be when God pleases 3 Quaest. nat cap. 20. 8. Cùm Deo visum vetera finire ordiri meliora When it shall seem good to God to put an end to old things and to begin better Some there be who tell us of the Annus Platonicus or magnus by which they understand such a period of time as in which all the heavenly Bodies shall be restored to the same site and distance they were once in in respect of one another As supposing that all the Seven Planets were at the moment of Creation in the first degree of Aries till they come all to â—e in the same degree again all that space of 〈◊〉 is called the Great Year Annus magnus In this Year they tell us that the height of Summer is the Conflagration and the depth of Winter the Inundation and some Astrologers have been so 〈◊〉 as to assign the time both of the Inundation and Conflagration Seneca 3 Quest. Nat. cap. 20. Berosus qui Belum interpretaius est dicit cursu ista syderum fieri adeo quidem assirmat ut conflagrationi atque diluvio tempus asâ—ignet Arsura â—nim terrena contendit quando omnia sydera in Cancro convenerint inundationem futuram quando eadem syderum turba in Capricorno convenerit Berosus who interpreted Belus saith That those things come to pass according to the course of the Stars and he so confidently affirms it that he assigns the time both for the Conflagration and Inundation For that all earthly Bodies will be burnt up when all the Stars shall meet in Cancer and the Inundation will fall out when the same shall be in conjunction in Capricorn Concerning the manner of this Conflagration they held it should be sudden Senec. Natura subitò ad ruinam toto impeturuit licet ad originem parcè utatur viribus dispensetque se incrementis fallacibus Momento fit cinis diu sylva c. Nature doth suddenly and with all its force rush on to ruin though to the rise and formation of things it useth its strength sparingly dispensing its influence and causing them to grow by insensible degrees a Wood is long in growing up but reduced to Ashes almost in a moment And some of them were so absurd as to think that the Stars should justle and be dashed one against another Senec. lib. de consolatione ad Marciam Cùm tempus advenerit quo se mundus revoâ—aturus extinguat viribus ista se suis caedent sydeâ—â—â—yderilus incurrent omni flagrante materia uno igne quicquid nunc ex disposito lucet ardebit When the time shall come that the World again to restore and renew it self shall perish these things shall batter and mall themselves by their own strength the Stars shall run or fall foul upon one another and all the matter flaming whatsoever now according to its settled order and disposition shines shall then burn in one fire Here by the way we may with Dr. More Souls Immortality lib. 3. cap. 18. take notice how coursly not to say ridiculously the Stoicks Philosophize when they are turned out of their Road-way of Moral Sentences and pretend to give an account of the Nature of Things For what Errours can be more gross than they entertain of God of the Soul and of the Stars they making the two former Corporeal Substances and feeding the latter with the vapours of the Earth affirming that the Sun sups the Water of the great Ocean to quench his Thirst but that the Moon drinks off the lesser Rivers and Brooks which is as true as that the Ass drank up the Moon Such conceits are more sit for Anacreon in a drunken Fit to stumble upon who to invite his Companions to Tiple composed that Catch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Sea drinks up the Vapours And the Sun the Sea then to be either found out or owned by a serious Philosopher And yet Seneca mightily triumphs in this Notion of foddering the Stars with the thick Fogs of the Earth and declares his Opinion with no mean Strains of Eloquence c. As for the extent of this Conflagration they held that not only the Heavens should be burnt but that the Gods themselves should not escape Scot-free So Seneca Resoluto mundo Diis in unum confusis When the World shall be dissolved and the Gods confounded and blended together into one And again Atque omnes pariter Deos Perdet nox aliqua Chaos And in like manner a certain Night and Chaos shall destroy all the Gods Is not this wise Philosophy If their Morality were no better than their Physicks their Wise man they boast of might be so denominated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they of Gotham But let us look a little further and we shall find that the Stoicks were not the first Authors of this Opinion of the Conflagration but that it was of far greater Antiquity than that Sect. Others of the more ancient Philosophers having entertained it viz. Empedocles as Clemens Alexandrinus testifies in his 5 Strom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That there shall sometime be a change of the World into the nature or substance of Fire 2. Heraclitus as the same Clemens shews at large out of him in the same place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And Laertius in the Life of Heraclitus He taught 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That there is but one World and that it was generated out of Fire and again burnt up or turned into Fire at certain periods alternately throughout all Ages I might add to these the Ancient Greek Poets Sophocles and Diphilus as we find them quoâ—ed by Iustin Martyr and Clemens Alexandrinus Neither yet were these the first Inventers and Broachers of this Opinion but they received it by Tradition from their Forefathers and look'd
upon it as an Oracle and Decree of Fate Ovid speaks of it as such in the first of his Metamorphosis Esse quoque in fati reminiscitur affore tempus Quo mare quo tellus correptáque regia coeli Ardeat mundi moles operosa laboret Besides by Doom Of certain Fate he knew the time should come When Sea Earth ravisht Heaven the curious Frame Of this Worlds Mass should shrink in purging Flame And Lucan Hos Caesar populos si nunc non usserit ignis Vret cum terris uret cum gurgite ponti Communis mundo superest rogus ossibus Astra Misturus If now these Bodies want their Fire and Urn At last with the whole Globe they 'll surely burn The World expects one general Fire and Thou Must go where these poor Souls are wandring now Now though some are of Opinion that by Fata here are to be understood the Sibylline Oracles and to that purpose do alledge some Verses out of those extant under that Title as Lactantius in his Book De ir a Dei cap. 2. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And it shall sometime be that God not any more mitigating his Anger but aggravating it shall destroy the whole Race of Mankind consuming it by a conflagration And in another place there is mention made of a River of Fire that shall descend from Heaven and burn up both Earth and Sea Tunc ardens fluvius coelo manabit ab alto Igneus at que locos consumet funditus omnes Terrámque Oceanúmque ingentem caerula ponti Stagnáque tum fluvios fontes Ditémque severum Coelestâ—mque polum coeli quoque lumina in unum Haxa ruent â—ormâ deletâ prorsus eorum Aâ—tra cadent etenim de coelo cunâ—a revulsa Then shall a burning Flood flow from the Heavens on high And with its fiery Streams all places utterly Destroy Earth Ocean Lakes Rivers Fountains Hell And heavenly Poles the Lights in Firmament that dwell Losing their beauteous Form shall be obscur'd and all Raught from their places down from Heaven to Earth shall fall Now because the Verses now extant under the Name of Sibylline Oracles are all suspected to be false and Pseudepigrapha and many of them may be demonstrated to be of no greater Antiquity than the Emperour Antoninus Pius his Reign and because it cannot be proved that there was any such thing in the Ancient genuine Sibylline Oracles I rather think as I said before that it was a Doctrine of ancient Tradition handed down from the first Fathers and Patriarchs of the World Iosephus in his Antiquities runs it up as high as Adam from whom Seth his Son received it his Father saith he soretelling him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there should be a destruction of the Universe once by the violence of Fire and again by the force and abundance of Water in consequence whereof he erected two Pillars one of Brick which might endure the Fire and another of Stone which would resist the Water and upon them engraved his Astronomical Observations that so they might remain to Posterity And one of these Pillars he saith continued in Syria until his days Whether this Relation be true or not it may be thence collected that this was an Universal Opinion received by Tradition both among Iews and Gentiles That the World should one day be consumed by Fire It may be proved by good Authority that the ancient Gaules Chaldaeans and Indians had this Tradition among them which they could not receive from the Greek Philosophers or Poets with whom they had no entercourse but it must in all probability be derived down to both from the same Fountain and Original that is from the first Restorers of Mankind Noah and his Sons I now proceed to the Third Particular proposed in the beginning that is to give answer to the several Questions concerning the Dissolution of the World CHAP. V. The first Question concerning the World's Dissolution Whether there be any thing in Nature that may probably cause or argue a future Dissolution Three probable Means propounded and discussed SECT I. The Waters again naturally overflowing and covering the Earth THE First Question is Whether there be any thing in Nature which may prove and demonstrate or probably argue and infer a future Dissolution To which I answer That I think there is nothing in Nature which doth necessarily demonstrate a future Dissolution but that Position of the Peripatetick Schools may for ought I know be true Philosophy Posito ordinario Dei concursu mundus posset durare in aeternum Supposing the ordinary concourse of God with second Causes the World might endure for ever But though a future Dissolution by Natural Causes be not demonstrable yet some possible if not probable Accidents there are which if they should happen might infer such a dissolution Those are Four The possibility of 1. The Waters again overflowing and covering the Earth 2. The Extinction of the Sun 3. The Eruption of the Central Fire enclosed in the Earth 4. The Driness and Inflammability of the Earth under the Torrid Zone and the Eruption of all the Vulcano's at once But before I treat of these it will not be amiss a little to consider the old Argument for the Worlds Dissolution and that is its daily Consenescence and Decay which if it can be proved will in process of time necessarily infer a Dissolution For as the Apostle saith in another case That which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away Hebr. 8. 13. That which continually wastes will at last be quite consumed that which daily grows weaker and weaker will in time lose all its force So the Age and Stature and Strength of Man and all other Animals every Generation decreasing they will in the end come to nothing And that all these and all other things do successively diminish and decay in all Natural Perfections and Qualities as well as Moral hath been the received Opinion not only of the Vulgar but even of Philosophers themselves from Antiquity down to our times Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 7. c. 16. In plenum autem cuncto mortalium generi minorem indies mensuram staturae propemodum observatur rarosque patribus proceriores consumente ubertatem seminum exustione in cujus vices nunc vergat aevum In sum It is observed that the measure of the stature of all Mankind decreases and grows less daily and that there are few taller then their Parents the burning to which the Age inclines consuming the Luxury of the Seeds Terra malos homines nunc educ aâ— que pusillos Juvenal Sat. The Earth now breeds Men bad and small And Gellius Noct. Att. lib. 3. c. 10. Et nunc quasi jam mundo senescente rerum atque hominum decrementa sunt And now as if the World waxed old there is a decrement or decay both of Things and Men I might accumulate places out of the Ancients and Moderns to this