some modern Poets have the notion of the Elysian fields which Homer and the Ancients plac'd remote on the extremities of the Earth and these would make a little green Meadow in Campania Felix to be the fam'd Elysium Thus much concerning the Fathers negatively but to discover as far as we can what their positive Assertions were in this Argument we may observe that though their opinions be differently exprest they generally concenter in this that the Southern Hemisphere was the Seat of Paradise This I say seems manifestly to be the sence of Christian Antiquity and Tradition so far as there is any thing definitive in the remains we have upon that subject Some of the Fathers did not believe Paradise to be Corporeal and Local and those are to be laid aside in the first place as to this point Others that thought it Local did not determine any thing as most of them indeed did not concerning the particular place of it But the rest that did though they have exprest themselves in various ways and under various forms yet upon a due interpretation they all meet in one common and general conclusion That Paradise was seated beyond the Aequinoctial or in the other Hemisphere And to understand this aright we must reflect in the first place upon the form of the Primaeval Earth and of the two Hemispheres of which it consisted altogether incommunicable one with another by reason of the Torrid Zone betwixt them so as those two Hemispheres were then as two distinct Worlds or distinct Earths that had no commerce with one another And this Notion or Tradition we find among Heathen Authors as well as Christian this Opposite Earth being call'd by them Antichthon and its Inhabitants Antichthones For those words comprehend both the Antipodes and Antoeci or all beyond the Line as is manifest from their best Authors as Achilles Tatius and Caesar Germanicus upon Aratus Probus Grammaticus Censorinus Pomponius Mela and Pliny And these were call'd another World and lookt upon as another stock and race of Mankind as appears from Cicero and Macrobius But as the latter part was their mistake so the former is acknowledg'd by Christian Authors as well as others and particularly S. Clement in his Epistle to the Corinthians mentions a World or Worlds beyond the Ocean subject to Divine Providence and the great Lord of Nature as well as ours This passage of S. Clement is also cited by S. Ierom in his Commentary upon Ephes. 2. 2. and by Origen Periarchon where the Inhabitants of that other World are call'd Antichthones I make this remark in the first place that we may understand the true sence and importance of those phrases and expressions amongst the Ancients when they say Paradise was in another World Which are not to be so understood as if they thought Paradise was in the Moon or in Iupiter or hung above like a Cloud or a Meteor they were not so extravagant but that Paradise was in another Hemisphere which was call'd Antichthon another Earth or another World from Ours and justly reputed so because of an impossibility of commerce or intercourse betwixt their respective Inhabitants And this remark being premis'd we will now distribute the Christian Authors and Fathers that have deliver'd their opinion concerning the place of Paradise into three or four ranks or orders and though they express themselves differently you will see when duly examin'd and expounded they all conspire and concur in the forementioned conclusion That the Seat of Paradise was in the other Hemisphere In the first rank then we will place and reckon those that have set Paradise in another World or in another Earth seeing according to the foregoing Explication that is the same thing as to affirm it seated beyond the Torrid Zone in the other Hemisphere In this number are Ephrem Syrus Moses Bar Cepha Tatianus and of later date Iacobus de Valentia To these are to be added again such Authors as say that Adam when he was turn'd out of Paradise was brought into our Earth or into our Region of the Earth for this is tantamount with the former And this seems to be the sence of S. Ierom in several places against Iovinian as also of Constantine in his Oration in Eusebius and is positively asserted by Sulpitius Severus And lastly Those Authors that represent Paradise as remote from our World and inaccessible so S. Austin Procopius Gazeus Beda Strabus Fuldensis Historia Scholiastica and others these I say pursue the same notion of Antiquity for what is remote from our World that is from our Continent as we before explain'd it is to be understood to be that Antichthon or Anti-hemisphere which the Ancients oppos'd to ours Another sett of Authors that interpret the Flaming Sword that guarded Paradise to be the Torrid Zone do plainly intimate that Paradise in their opinion lay beyond the Torrid Zone or in the Antihemisphere And thus Tertullian interprets the Flaming Sword and in such words as fully confirm our sence Paradise He says by the Torrid Zone as by a wall of Fire was sever'd from the communication and knowledge of our World It lay then on the other side of this Zone And S. Cyprian or the ancient Author that passeth under his name in his Comment upon Genesis expresseth himself to the same effect so also S. Austin and Isidore Hispalensis are thought to interpret it And Aquinas who makes Paradise inaccessible gives this reason for it Propter vehementiam aestûs in locis intermediis ex propinquitate Solis hoc significatur per Flammeum Gladium Because of that vehement heat in the parts betwixt us and that arising from the nearness of the Sun and this is signified by the Flaming Sword And this interpretation of the Flaming Sword receives a remarkable force and Emphasis from our Theory and description of the Primaeval Earth for there the Torrid Zone was as a wall of Fire indeed or a Region of flame which none could pass or subsist in no more than in a Furnace There is another form of expression amongst the Ancients concerning Paradise which if decyphered is of the same force and signification with this we have already instanc'd in They say sometimes Paradise was beyond the Ocean or that the Rivers of Paradise came from beyond the Ocean This is of the same import with the former Head and points still at the other Hemisphere for as we noted before some of them fixt their Antichthon and Antichthâ—nes beyond the Ocean that is since there was an Ocean Since the form of the Earth was chang'd and the Torrid Zone become habitable and cosequently could not be a boundary or separation betwixt the two Worlds Wherefore as some run still upon the old division by the Torrid Zone others took the new division by the Ocean Which Ocean they suppos'd to lie from East to West betwixt the Tropicks as may be seen in Ancient Authors Geminus Herodotus Cicero de republicâ and Clemens
of it The method of the first Book CHAP. IV. That the Earth and Mankind had an Original and were not from Eternity Prov'd against Aristotle The first Proposition of our Theory laid down viz. That the Ante-diluvian Earth was of a different Form and Construction from the present This is prov'd from Divine Authority and from the Nature and Form of the Chaos out of which the Earth was made CHAP. V. The Second Proposition is laid down viz. That the face of the Earth before the Deluge was smooth regular and uniform without Mountains and without a Sea The Chaos out of which the World rise is fully examin'd and all its motions observ'd and by what steps it wrought it self into an habitable World Some things in Antiquity relating to the first state of the Earth are interpreted and some things in the Sacred Writings The Divine Art and Geometry in the construction of the first Earth is observ'd and celebrated CHAP. VI. The dissolution of the First Earth The Deluge ensuing thereupon And the form of the present Earth rising from the Ruines of the First CHAP. VII That the Explication we have given of an Universal Deluge is not an IDEA only but an account of what really came to pass in the Earth and the true explication of Noah's Flood An examination of Tehom-Rabba or the Great Abyss and that by it the Sea cannot be understood nor the Subterraneous Waters as they are at present What the true Notion and Form of it was collected from Moses and other Sacred Writers Observations on Deucalion's Deluge CHAP. VIII The particular History of Noah's Flood is explain'd in all the material parts and circumstances of it according to the preceding Theory Any seeming difficulties remov'd and the whole Section concluded with a Discourse how far the Deluge may be lookt upon as the effect of an Ordinary Providence and how far of an Extraordinary CHAP. IX The Second Part of this Discourse proving the same Theory from the Effects and the present Form of the Earth First by a general Scheme of what is most remarkable in this Globe and then by a more particular induction beginning with an account of Subterraneous Cavities and Subterraneous Waters CHAP. X. Concerning the Chanel of the Sea and the Original of it The causes of its irregular from and unequal depths As also of the Original of Islands their situation and other properties CHAP. XI Concerning the Mountains of the Earth their greatness and irregular Form their Situation Causes and Origin CHAP. XII A short review of what hath been already treated of and in what manner All methods whether Philosophical or Theological that have been offer'd by others for the explication of the Form of the Earth are examin'd and refuted A conjecture concerning the other Planets their Natural Form and State compar'd with ours Especially concerning Jupiter and Saturn THE SECOND BOOK CHAP. I. THE Introduction and Contents of the Second Book The general state of the Primaeval Earth and of Paradise CHAP. II. The great change of the World since the Flood from what it was in the first Ages The Earth under its present Form could not be Paradisiacal nor any part of it CHAP. III. The Original differences of the Primitive Earth from the present or Post-diluvian The three Characters of Paradise and the Golden Age found in the Primitive Earth A particular explication of each Character CHAP. IV. A Digression concerning the Natural Causes of Longaevity That the Machine of an Animal consists of Springs and which are the two principal The Age of the Ante-diluvians to be computed by Solar not Lunar Years CHAP. V. Concerning the Waters of the Primitive Earth What the state of the Regions of the Air was then and how all Waters proceeded from them How the Rivers arose what was their Course and how they ended Several things in Sacred Writ that confirm this Hydrography of the First Earth especially the Post-diluvian Origin of the Rain-bow CHAP. VI. A Recollection and review of what hath been said concerning the Primitive Earth with a more full Survey of the state of the First World Natural and Civil and the comparison of it with the present World CHAP. VII Concerning the place of Paradise It cannot be determin'd from the Theory only nor from Scripture only What the sence of Antiquity was concerning it as to the Iews and Heathens and especially as to the Christian Fathers That they generally plac'd it out of this Continent in the Southern Hemisphere CHAP. VIII The uses of this Theory for the illustration of Antiquity The Chaos of the Ancients explain'd The inhabitability of the Torrid Zone The change of the Poles of the World The Doctrine of the Mundane Egg How America was first peopled How Paradise within the Circle of the Moon CHAP. IX A general Objection against this Theory viz. That if there had been such a Primitive Earth as we pretend the fame of it would have sounded throughout all Antiquity The Eastern and Western Learning consider'd the most considerable Records of both are lost what footsteps remain relating to this subject The Iewish and Christian Learning consider'd how far lost as to this Argument and what Notes or Traditions remain Lastly How far the Sacred Writings bear witness to it The Prâ—vidential conduct of Knowledge in the World A Recapitulation and state of the Theory CHAP. X. Concerning the AUTHOR of NATURE CHAP. XI Concerning Natural Providence Several misrepresentations of it and false methods of Contemplation Preparatives to the true Method and a true representation of the Universe The Mundane Idea and the Universal System of Providence Several subordinate Systems That of our Earth and Sublunary World The Course and Periods of it How much of this is already treated of and what remains Conclusion THE THEORY OF THE EARTH BOOK I. Concerning the Deluge and the Dissolution of the Earth CHAP. I. THE INTRODVCTION An Account of the whole Work of the Extent and general Order of it SINCE I was first inclin'd to the Contemplation of Nature and took pleasure to trace out the Causes of Effects and the dependance of one thing upon another in the visible Creation I had always methought a particular curiosity to look back into the Sources and ORIGINAL of Things and to view in my Mind so far as I was able the Beginning and Progress of a RISING WORLD And after some Essays of this Nature and as I thought not unsuccessful I carried on my enquiries further to try whether this Rising World when form'd and finish'd would continue always the same in the same form structure and consistency or what changes it would successively undergo by the continued action of the same Causes that first produc'd it And lastly what would be its final Period and Consummation This whole Series and compass of things taken together I call'd a COURSE OF NATURE or a SYSTEM OF NATURAL PROVIDENCE and thought there was nothing belonging to the External World more fit or more
infer and conclude that the Civil World then as well as the Natural had a very different face and aspect from what it hath now for of these Heads Food and Cloathing Building and Traffick with that train of Arts Trades and Manufactures that attend them the Civil Order of things is in a great measure constituted and compounded These make the business of life the several occupations of Men the noise and hurry of the World These fill our Cities and our Fairs and our Havens and Ports yet all these fine things are but the effects of indigency and necessitousness and were for the most part needless and unknown in that first state of Nature The Ancients have told us the same things in effect but telling us them without their grounds which they themselves did not know they lookt like Poetical stories and pleasant fictions and with most Men past for no better We have shewn them in another light with their Reasons and Causes deduc'd from the state of the Natural World which is the Basis upon which they stand and this doth not only give them a just and full credibility but also lays a foundation for after-thoughts and further deductions when they meet with minds dispos'd to pursue Speculations of this Nature As for Laws Government natural Religion Military and Judicial affaiâ—â— with all their Equipage which make an higher order of things in the Civil and Moral World to calculate these upon the grounds given would be more difficult and more uncertain neither do they at all belong to the present Theory But from what we have already observ'd we may be able to make a better judgment of those Traditional accounts which the Ancients have left us concerning these things in the early Ages of the World and the Primitive state of Nature No doubt in these as in all other particulars there was a great easiness and simplicity in comparison of what is now we are in a more pompous forc'd and artificial method which partly the change of Nature and partly the Vices and Vanities of Men have introduc'd and establisht But these things with many more ought to be the subject of a Philosophick History of the World which we mention'd before This is a short and general Scheme of the Primaeval World compar'd with the Modern yet these things did not equally run through all the parts and Ages of it there was a declension and degeneracy both Natural and Moral by degrees and especially towards the latter end but the principal form of Nature remaining till the Deluge and the dissolution of that Heavens and Earth till then also this Civil frame of things would stand in a great measure And though such a state of Nature and of Mankind when 't is propos'd crudely and without its grounds appear fabulous or imaginary yet 't is really in it self a state not only possible but more easie and natural than what the World is in at present And if one of the old Ante-diluvian Patriarchs should rise from the dead he would be more surpris'd to see our World in that posture it is than we can be by the story and description of his As an Indian hath more reason to wonder at the European modes than we have to wonder at their plain manner of living 'T is we that have left the tract of Nature that are wrought and screw'd up into artifices that have disguis'd our selves and 't is in our World that the Scenes are chang'd and become more strange and Fantastical I will conclude this Discourse with an easie remark and without any particular Application of it 'T is a strange power that custom hath upon weak and little Spirits whose thoughts reach no further than their Senses and what they have seen and been us'd to they make the Standard and Measure of Nature of Reason and of all Decorum Neither are there any sort of Men more positive and tenacicus of their petty opinions than they are nor more censorious even to bitterness and malice And 't is generally so that those that have the least evidence for the truth of their beloved opinions are most peevish and impatient in the defence of them This sort of Men are the last that will be made Wise Men if ever they be for they have the worst of diseases that accompany ignorance and do not so much as know themselves to be sick CHAP. VII The place of Paradise cannot be determin'd from the Theory only nor from Scripture only What the sence of Antiquity was concerning it both as to the Iews and Heathens and especially as to the Christian Fathers That they generally plac'd it out of this Continent in the Southern Hemisphere WE have now prepar'd our work for the last finishing stroaks describ'd the first Earth and compar'd it with the present and not only the two Earths but in a good measure the whole State and Oeconomy of those two Worlds It remains only to determine the place of Paradise in that Primaeval Earth I say in that Primaeval Earth for we have driven the point so far already that the seat of it could not be in the present Earth whose Form Site and Air are so dispos'd as could not consist with the first and most indispensable properties of Paradise And accordingly we see with what ill success our modern Authors have rang'd over the Earth to find a fit spot of ground to plant Paradise in some would set it on the top of an high Mountain that it might have good Air and fair weather as being above the Clouds and the middle Region but then they were at a loss for Water which made a great part of the pleasure and beauty of that place Others therefore would seat it in a Plain or in a River-Island that they might have Water enough but then it would be subject to the injuries of the Air and foul weather at the seasons of the Year from which both Reason and all Authority have exempted Paradise 'T is like seeking a perfect beauty in a mortal Body there are so many things requir'd to it as to complexion Features Proportions and Air that they never meet all together in one person neither can all the properties of a Terrestrial Paradise ever meet together in one place though never so well chosen in this present Earth But in the Primaeval Earth which we have describ'd 't is easie to find a Seat that had all those beauties and conveniences We have every where through the temperate Climates a clear and constant Air a fruitful Soil pleasant Waters and all the general characters of Paradise so that the trouble will be rather in that competition what part of Region to pitch upon in particular But to come as near it as we can we must remember in the first place how that Earth was divided into two Hemispheres distant and separated from one another not by an imaginary line but by a real boundary that could not be past so as the first inquiry will
Romanus whom we cited before S. Austin also speaks upon the same supposition when he would confute the doctrine of the Antipodes or Antichthâ—nes and Macrobius I remember makes it an argument of Providence that the Sun and the Planets in what part of their course soever they are betwixt the two Tropicks have still the Ocean under them that they may be cool'd and nourisht by its moisture They thought the Sea like a Girdle went round the Earth and the temperate Zones on either side were the habitable Regions whereof this was call'd the Oicouméne and the other Antichthon This being observ'd 't is not material whether their Notion was true or false it shews us what their meaning was and what part of the Earth they design'd when they spoke of any thing beyond the Ocean namely that they meant beyond the Line in the other Hemisphere or in the Antichthon and accordingly when they say Paradise or the Fountains of its Rivers were beyond the Ocean they say the same thing in other terms with the rest of those Authors we have cited In Moses Bar Cepha above mention'd we find a Chapter upon this subject Qucmodo trajecerint Mortales inde ex Paradisi terrâ in hanc Terram How Mankind past out of that Earth or Coâ—tinent where Paradise was into that where we are Namely how they past the Ocean that lay betwixt them as the answer there given explains it And so Ephrem Syrus is cited often in that Treatise placing Paradise beyond the Ocean The Essenes also who were the most Philosophick Sect of the Iews plac'd Paradise according to Iosephus beyond the Ocean under a perfect temperature of Air. And that passage in Eusebius in the Oration of Constantine being corrected and restor'd to the true reading represents Paradise in like manner as in another Continent from whence Adam was brought after his transgression into this And lastly there are some Authors whose testimony and authority may deserve to be consider'd not for their own Antiquity but because they are profess'dly transcribers of Antiquity and Traditions such as Strabus Comestor and the like who are known to give this account or report of Paradise from the Ancients that it was interposito Oceano ab Orbe nostro vel à Zonâ nostrâ habitabili secretus Separated from our Orb or Hemisphere by the interposition of the Ocean It is also observable that many of the Ancients that took Tigris Euphrates Nile and Ganges for the Rivers of Paradise said that those Heads or Fountains of them which we have in our Continent are but their Capita secunda their second Sources and that their first Sources were in another Orb where Paradise was and thus Hugo de Sancto Victore says Sanctos communiter sensisse That the Holy Men of old were generally of that opinion To this sence also Moses Bar Cepha often expresseth himself as also Epiphanius Procopius Gazaeus and Severianus in Catenâ Which notion amongst the Ancients concerning the trajection or passage of the Paradisiacal Rivers under-ground or under-Sea from one Continent into another is to me I confess unintelligible either in the first or second Earth but however it discovers their sence and opinion of the Seat of Paradise that it was not to be sought for in Asia or in Africk where those Rivers rise to us but in some remoter parts of the World where they suppos'd their first Sources to be This is a short account of what the Christian Fathers have left us concerning the Seat of Paradise and the truth is 't is but a short and broken account yet 't is no wonder it should be so if we consider as we noted before that several of them did not believe Paradise to be Local and Corporeal Others that did believe it so yet did not offer to determine the place of it but left that matter wholly untoucht and undecided and the rest that did speak to that point did it commonly both in general terms and in expressions that were disguis'd and needed interpretation but all these differences and obscurities of expression you see when duly stated and expounded may signifie one and the same thing and terminate all in this common Conclusion That Paradise was without our Continent accordâ—ng to the general opinion and Tradition of Antiquity And I do not doubt but the Tradition would have been both more express and more universal if the Ancients had understood Geography better for those of the Ancients that did not admit or believe that there were Antipodes or Antichthones as Lactantius S. Austin and some others these could not joyn in the common opinion about the place of Paradise because they thought there was no Land nor any thing habitable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or besides this Continent And yet S. Austin was so cautious that as he was bounded on the one hand by his false Idea of the Earth that he could not joyn with Antiquity as to the place of Paradise so on the other hand he had that respect for it that he would not say any thing to the contrary therefore being to give his opinion he says only Terrestrem esse Paradisum locum ejus ab hominum cognitione esse remotissimum That it is somewhere upon the Earth but the place of it very remote from the knowledge of Men. And as their ignorance of the Globe of the Earth was one reason why the doctrine of Paradise was so broken and obscure so another reason why it is much more so at present is because the chief ancient Books writ upon that subiect are lost Ephrem Syrus who liv'd in the Fourth Century writ a Commentary in Genesin five de Ortu rerum concerning the Origin of the Earth and by those remains that are cited from it we have reason to believe that it contain'd many things remarkable concerning the first Earth and concerning Paradise Tertullian also writ a Book de Paradiso which is wholly lost and we see to what effect it would have been by his making the Torrid Zone to be the Flaming Sword and the partition betwixt this Earth and Paradise which two Earths he more than once distinguisheth as very different from one another The most ancient Author that I know upon this subject at least of those that writ of it literally is Moses Bar Cepha a Syrian Bishop who liv'd about seven hundred years since and his Book is translated into Latin by that Learned and Judicious Man Andreas Masius Bar Cepha writes upon the same Views of Paradise that we have here presented that it was beyond the Ocean in another tract of Land or another Continent from that which we inhabit As appears from the very Titles of his Eighth Tenth and Fourteenth Chapters But we must allow him for his mistaken Notions about the form of the Earth for he seems to have sansied the Earth plain not only as oppos'd to rough and Mountainous for so it was plain but as oppos'd to Spherical and the Ocean to
a state as any Terrestrial state can be For besides Health and Plenty Peace Truth and Righteousness will flourish there and all the evils of this Life stand excluded There will be no Ambitious Princes studying mischief one against another or contriving methods to bring their own Subjects into slavery No mercenary Statesmen to assist and intrigue with them No oppression from the Powerful no snares or traps laid for the Innocent No treacherous Friends no malicious Enemies No Knaves Cheats Hypocrites the Vermin of this Earth that swarm every where There will be nothing but Truth Candor Sincerity and Ingenuity as in a Society or Commonwealth of Saints and Philosophers In a word 't will be Paradise restor'd both as to Innocency of Temper and the Beauties of Nature I believe you will be apt to say If this be not True 't is pity but that it should be True For 't is a very desirable state where all good People would find themselves mightily at ease What is it that hinders it then It must be some ill Genius For Nature tends to such a Renovation as we suppose and Scripture speaks loudly of an happy state to be some time or other on this side Heaven And what is there pray in this present World Natural or Moral if I may ask with reverence that could make it worth the while for God to create it if it never was better nor ever will be better Is there not more Misery than Happiness Is there not more Vice than Virtue in this World as if it had been made by a Manichean God The Earth barren the Heavens inconstant Men wicked and God offended This is the posture of our Affairs such hath our World been hitherto with Wâ—rs and Bloudshed Sickness and Diseases Poverty servitude and perpetual Drudgery for the necessaries of a Mortal Life We may therefore reasonably hope from a God infinitely good and powerful for better Times and a better State before the last period and consummation of all things But it will be objected it may be that according to Scripture the vices and wickedness of Men will continue to the end of the World and so there will be no room for such an happy state as we hope for Our Saviour says When the son of man cometh shall he find faith upon the Earth They shall eat and drink and play as before the destruction of the old World or of Sodom Luk. 17. 26 c. and the wickedness of those Men you know continued to the last This objection may pinch those that suppose the Millennium to be in the present Earth and a thousand years before the coming of our Saviour for his words seem to imply that the World will be in a state of wickedness even till his coming Accordingty Antichrist or the Man of Sin is not said to be destroy'd till the coming of our Saviour 2 Thess. 2. 8. and till he be destroy'd we cannot hope for a Millennium Lastly The coming of our Saviour is always represented in Scripture as sudden surprising and unexpected As Lightning breaking suddenly out of the clouds Luk. 17. 24. and ch 21. 34 35 or as a thief in the night 1 Thess. 5. 2 3 4. 2 Pet. 3. 10. Apoc. 16. 15. But if there be such a forerunner of it as the Millennial state whose bounds we know according as that expires and draws to an end Men will be certainly advertis'd of the approaching of our Saviour But this objection as I told you does not affect our Hypothesis for we suppose the Millennium will not be till after the coming of our Saviour and the Conflagration And also that his coming will be sudden and surprising and that Antichrist will continue in being tho' not in the same degree of power till that time So that they that place the Millennium in the present Earth are chiefly concern'd to answer this first objection But you will object it may be in the second place That this Millennium wheresoever it is would degenerate at length into sensuality and a Mahometan Paradise For where there are earthly pleasures and earthly appetites they will not be kept always in order without any excess or luxuriancy especially as to the senses of Touch and Taste I am apt to think this is true if the Soul have no more power over the Body than she hath at present and our Senses Passions and Appetites be as strong as they are now But according to our explication of the Millennium we have great reason to hope that the Soul will have a greater dominion over the Resurrection-body than she hath over this And you know we suppose that none will truly inherit the Millennium but those that rise from the Dead Nor do we admit any propagation there nor the trouble or weakness of Infants But that all rise in a perfect age and never die being translated at the final judgment to meet our Saviour in the clouds and to be with him for ever Thus we easily avoid the force of this objection But those that place the Millennium in this Life and to be enjoy'd in these Bodies must find out some new preservatives against vice otherwise they will be continually subject to degeneracy Another objection may be taken from the personal Reign of Christ upon Earth which is a thing incongruous and yet asserted by many modern Millenaries That Christ should leave that right hand of his Father to come and pass a thousand years here below living upon Earth in an heavenly Body This I confess is a thing I never could digest and therefore I am not concern'd in this objection not thinking it necessary that Christ should be personally present and resident upon Earth in the Millennium I am apt to believe that there will be then a Celestial Presence or Christ or a Shekinah as we noted before As the Sun is present to the Earth yet never leaves its place in the Firmament so Christ may be visibly conspicuous in his Heavenly Throne as he was to S. Stephen and yet never leave the right hand of his Father And this would be a more glorious and illustrious presence than if he should descend and converse amongst Men in a personal shape But these things not being distinctly reveal'd to us we ought not to determine any thing concerning them but with modesty and submission We have thus far pretty well escap'd and kept our selves out of the reach of the ordinary objections against the Millennium But there remains one concerning a double Resurrection which must fall upon every Hypothesis and 't is this The Scripture they say speaks but of one Resurrection whereas the doctrine of the Millennium supposes two one at the beginning of the Millennium for the Martyrs and those that enjoy that happy state and the other at the end of it which is universal and final in the last day of judgment 'T is true Scripture generally speaks of the Resurrection in gross without distinguishing first and second