to the chargeableness or perpetuity of the World But Ancient Learning is like Ancient Medals more esteemed for their rarity than their real use unless the Authority of a Prince make them currant So neither will these Testimonies be of any great effect unless they be made good and valuable by the Authority of Scripture We must therefore add the Testimonies of the Prophets and Apostles to these of the Greeks and Barbarians that the evidence may be full and undeniable That the Heavens and the Earth will perish or be chang'd into another form is sometimes plainly exprest sometimes suppos'd and alluded to in Scripture The Prophet David's testimony is express both for the beginning and ending of the World in the 102. Psalm Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the Earth and the heavens are the work of thy hands They shall perish but thou shalt endure yea all of them shall wax old like a garment as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed But thou art the same and thy Years shall have no end The Prophet Esay's testimony is no less express to the same purpose Lift up your Eyes to the heavens and look upon the Earth beneath for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke and the Earth shall was old like a garment and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner These Texts are plain and explicite and in allusion to this day of the Lord and this destruction of the World the same Prophet often useth phrases that relate to it As the Concussion of the Heavens and the Earth The shaking of the foundations of the World The dissolution of the Host of Heaven And our Sacred Writers have expressions of the like force and relating to the same effect As the Hills melting like wax at the presence of the Lord Psal. 97. 5. Shattering once more all the parts of the Creation Hagg. 2. 6. Overturning the mountains and making the pillars of the Earth to tremble Job 9. 5 6. If you reflect upon the explication given of the Deluge in the first part of this Theory and attend to the manner of the Conflagration as it will be explain'd in the sequel of this Discourse you will see the justness and fitness of these expressions That they are not Poetical Hyperboles or random expressions of great and terrible things in general but a true account of what hath been or will be at that great day of the Lord. 'T is true the Prophets sometimes use such-like expressions figuratively for commotions in States and Kingdoms but that is only by way of Metaphor and accommodation the true basis they stand upon is that ruine overthrow and dissolution of the Natural World which was once at the Deluge and will be again after another manner at the general Conflagration As to the New Testament our Saviour says Heaven and Earth shall pass away but his words shall not pass away Matth. 24. 35. S. Paul says the Scheme of this World the fashion form and composition of it passeth away 1 Cor. 7. 31. And when mention is made of New Heavens and a New Earth which both the Prophet Isaiah and the Apostles S. Peter and S. Iohn mention 't is plainly imply'd that the old ones will be dissolv'd The same thing is also imply'd when our Saviour speaks of a Renascency or Regeneration Matt. 19. 28. and S. Peter of a Restitution of all things Act. 3. 21. For what is now must be abolish'd before any former order of things can be restor'd or reduc'd In a word If there was nothing in Scripture concerning this subject but that discourse of S. Peter's in his 2d Epistle and 3d. Chapter concerning the triple order and succession of the Heavens and the Earth past present and to come that alone wou'd be a conviction and demonstration to me that this present World will be dissolv'd You will say it may be in the last place we want still the testimony of Natural Reason and Philosophy to make the evidence compleat I answer 't is enough if They be silent and have nothing to say to the contrary Here are witnesses Humane and Divine and if none appear against them we have no reason to refuse their testimony or to distrust it Philosophy will very readily yield to this Doctrine that All material compositions are dissolvable and she will not wonder to see that die which she had seen born I mean this Terrestrial World She stood upon the Chaos and see it rowâ— it self with difficulty and after many struglings into the form of an habitable Earth And that form she see broken down again at the Deluge and can as little hope or expect now as then that it should be everlasting and immutable There would be nothing great or considerable in this Inferiour World if there were not such revolutions of Nature The Seasons of the Year and the fresh Productions of the Spring are pretty in their way But when the Great Year comes about with a new order of all things in the Heavens and on the Earth and a new dress of Nature throughout all her Regions far more goodly and beautiful than the fairest Spring This gives a new Life to the Creation and shows the greatness of its Author Besides These Fatal Catastrophes are always a punishment to degenerate Mankind that are overwhelm'd in the ruines of these perishing Worlds And to make Nature her self execute the Divine Vengeance against Rebellious Creatures argues both the Power and Wisdom of that Providence that governs all things here below These things Reason and Philosophy approve of but if you further require that they should shew a Necessity of this future destruction of the World from Natural Causes with the time and all other circumstances of this effect your demands are unreasonable seeing these things do not depend solely upon Nature But if you will content your self to know what dispositions there are in Nature towards such a change how it may begin proceed and be consummate under the conduct of Providence be pleased to read the following Discourse for your further satisfaction CHAP. III. That the World will be destroy'd by Fire is the doctrine of the Ancients especially of the Stoicks That the same doctrine is more ancient than the Greeks and deriv'd from the Barbarick Philosophy and That probably from Noah the Father of all Traditionary Learning The same doctrine expresly authoriz'd by Revelation and inroll'd into the Sacred Canon THAT the present World or the present frame of Nature will be destroy'd we have already shewn In what manner this destruction will be by what force or what kind of fate must be our next enquiry The Philosophers have always spoken of Fire and Water those two unruly Elements as the only Causes that can destroy the World and work our ruine and accordingly they say all the great and fatal Revolutions of Nature either past or to come depend upon the violence of these Two when
Perfection but seeing they have not determin'd in any definite numbers what the length of every Age will be nor given us the summ of all we cannot draw any conclusion from this account as to the point in question before us But must proceed to the Jewish and Christian Oracles The Iews have a remarkable Prophecy which expresseth both the whole and the parts of the World's duration The World they say will stand Six Thousand Years Two Thousand before the Law Two Thousand under the Law and Two Thousand under the Messiah This Prophecy they derive from Elias but there were two of the Name Elias the Thesbite and Elias the Rabbin or Cabbalist and 't is suppos'd to belong immediately to the latter of these Yet this does not hinder in my opinion but that it might come originally from the former Elias and was preserv'd in the School of this Elias the Rabbin and first made publick by him Or he added it may be that division of the time into three parts and so got a Title to the whole I cannot easily imagine that a Doctor that liv'd two hundred years or thereabouts before Christ when Prophecy had ceas'd for some Ages amongst the Iews should take upon him to dictate a Prophecy about the duration of the World unless he had been supported by some antecedent Cabbalistical Tradition which being kept more secret before he took the liberty to make publick and so was reputed the Author of the Prophecy As many Philosophers amongst the Greeks were the reputed Authors of such doctrines as were much more ancient than themselves But they were the publishers of them in their Country or the revivers of them after a long silence and so by forgetful posterity got the honour of the first invention You will think it may be the time is too long and the distance too great betwixt Elias the Thesbite and this Elias the Rabbin for a Tradition to subsist all the while or be preserv'd with any competent integrity But it appears from S. Iude's Epistle that the Prophecies of Enoch who liv'd before the Floud relating to the day of judgment and the end of the World were extant in his time either in Writing or by Tradition And the distance betwixt Enoch and S. Iude was vastly greater than betwixt the two Elias's Nor was any fitter to be inspir'd with that knowledge or to tell the first news of that fatal period than the old Prophet Elias who is to come again and bring the alarum of the approaching Conflagration But however this conjecture may prove as to the original Author of this Prophecy the Prophecy it self concerning the Sexmillennial duration of the World is very much insisted upon by the Christian Fathers Which yet I believe is not so much for the bare Authority of the Tradition as because they thought it was founded in the History of the Six days Creation and the Sabbath succeeding as also in some other Typical precepts and usages in the Law of Moses But before we speak of that give me leave to name some of those Fathers to you that were of this judgment and supposed the great Sabbatism would succeed after the World had stood Six Thousand Years Of this opinion was S. Barnabas in his Catholick Epistle ch 15. Where he argues that the Creation will be ended in Six Thousand Years as it was finish'd in Six Days Every day according to the Sacred and mystical account being a Thousand Years Of the same judgment is S. Irenaeus both as to the conclusion and the reason of it He saith the History of the Creation in six days is a narration as to what is past and a Prophecy of what is to come As the Work was said to be consummated in six days and the Sabbath to be the seventh So the consummation of all things will be in Six Thousand Years and then the great Sabbatism to come on in the blessed reign of Christ. Hippolitus Martyr disciple of Irenaeus is of the same judgment as you may see in Photius ch 202. Lactantius in his Divine Institutions l. 7. c. 14. gives the very same account of the state and continuance of the World and the same proofs for it And so does S. Cyprian in his Exhortation to Martyrdom ch 11. S Ierome more than once declares himself of the same opinion and S. Austin tho' he wavers and was doubtful as to the Millennium or Reign of Christ upon Earth yet he receives this computation without hesitancy and upon the foremention'd grounds So Iohannes Damascenus de fide Orthodoxâ takes seven Millennaries for the entire space of the World from the Creation to the general Resurrection the Sabbatism being included And that this was a received and approv'd opinion in early times we may collect from the Author of the Questions and answers ad Orthodoxos in Iustin Martyr Who giving an answer to that enquiry about the six thousand-years term of the World says We may conjecture from many places of Scripture that those are in the right that say six thousand years is the time prefixt for the duration of this present frame of the World These Authors I have examin'd my self but there are many others brought in confirmation of this opinion as S. Hilary Anastasius Sinaita Sanctus Gaudentius Q. Iulius Hilarion Iunilius Africanus Isidorus Hispalensis Cassiodorus Gregorius Magnus and others which I leave to be examin'd by those that have curiosity and leisure to do it In the mean time it must be confest that many of these Fathers were under a mistake in one respect in that they generally thought the World was near an end in their time An errour which we need not take pains to confute now seeing we who live twelve hundred or fourteen hundred years after them find the World still in being and likely to continue so for some considerable time But it is easie to discern whence their mistake proceeded not from this Prophecy alone but because they reckon'd this Prophecy according to the Chronology of the Septuagint which setting back the beginning of the World many Ages beyond the Hebrew these six thousand years were very near expir'd in the time of those Fathers and that made them conclude that the World was very near an end We will make no reflections in this place upon that Chronology of the Septuagint lest it should too much interrupt the thred of our discourse But it is necessary to shew how the Fathers grounded this computation of Six Thousand Years upon Scripture 'T was chiefly as we suggested before upon the Hexameron or the Creation finish'd in Six Days and the Sabbath ensuing The Sabbath they said was a type of the Sabbatism that was to follow at the end of the World according to S. Paul to the Hebrews and then by analogy and consequence the six days preceding the Sabbath must note the space and duration of the World If therefore 〈◊〉 could discover how much a Day is reckon'd for in this mystical
The Chanel of the Sea fill'd with a mass of fluid fire and the same fire overflowing all the Globe and covering the whole Earth as the Deluge or the first Abyss Then will the Triumphal Songs and Hallelujah's be sung for the Victories of the Lamb over all his Enemies and over Nature it self Great and marvellous are thy works Lord God Almighty Iust and true are thy ways thou King of Saints Who shall not fear thee O Lord and glorisie thy name for thou only art holy for all nations shall come and worship before thee for thy judgments are made manifest CHAP. XI An account of those extraordinary Phaenomena and Wonders in Nature that according to Scripture will precede the coming of Christ and the Conflagration of the World IF we reflect upon the History of Burning Mountains we cannot but observe that before their Eruptions there are usually some changes in the Earth or in the Air in the Sea or in the Sun it self as signs and forerunners of the ensuing storm We may then easily conclude that when the last great Storm is a coming and all the Volcano's of the Earth ready to burst and the frame of the World to be dissolv'd there will be prevlous signs in the Heavens and on the Earth to introduce this Tragical fate Nature cannot come to that extremity without some symptomes of her illness nor die silently without pangs or complaint But we are naturally heavy of belief as to Futurities and can scarce fancy any other Scenes or other state of Nature than what is present and continually before our eyes we will therefore to cure our unbelief take Scripture for our guide and keep within the limits of its Predictions The Scripture plainly tells us of Signs or Prodigies that will precede the coming of our Saviour and the end of the World both in the Heavens and on the Earth The Sun Moon and Stars will be disturb'd in their motion or aspect The Earth and the Sea will roar and tremble and the Mountains fall at his Presence These things both the Prophets and Evangelists have told us But what we do not understand we are flow to believe and therefore those that cannot apprehend how such Changes should come to pass in the Natural World chuse rather to allegorize all these expressions of Scripture and to make them signifie no more than political changes of Governments and Empires and the great confusions that will be amongst the People and Princes of the Earth towards the end of the World So that darkning of the Sun shaking of the Earth and such like phrases of Scripture according to these Interpreters are to be understood only in a moral sence And they think they have a warrant for this interpretation from the Prophetick style of the Old Testament where the destruction of Cities and Empires and great Princes is often describ'd by such Figures taken from the Natural World So much is true indeed as to the phrase of the old Prophets in some places but I take the true reason and design of that to be a typical adumbration of what was intended should literally come to pass in the great and universal destruction of the World whereof these partial destructions were only shadows and prefigurations But to determine this case Let us take the known and approved rule for interpreting Scripture Not to recede from the literal sence without necessity or where the nature of the subject will admit of a literal interpretation Now as to those cases in the Old Testament History and matter of fact do show that they did not come to pass literally therefore must not be so understood But as for those that concern the end of the World as they cannot be determin'd in that way seeing they are yet future So neither is there any Natural repugnancy or improbability that they should come literally to pass On the contrary from the intuition of that state of Nature one would rather conclude the probability or necessity of them That there may and must be such disorders in the external World before the general dissolution Besides If we admit Prodigies in any case or Providential indications of God's judgments to come there can be no case suppos'd wherein it will be more reasonable or proper to admit them than when they are to be the Messengers of an universal Vengeance and Destruction Let us therefore consider what signs Scripture hath taken notice of as destin'd to appear at that time to publish as it were and proclaim the approaching end of the World and how far they will admit of a natural explication according to those grounds we have already given in explaining the causes and manner of the Conflagration These Signs are chiefly Earth-quakes and extraordinary commotions of the Seas Then the darkness or bloudy colour of the Sun and Moon The shaking of the Powers of Heaven the fulgurations of the Air and the falling of Stars As to Earth-quakes we have upon several occasions shown that these will necessarily be multiplied towards the end of the World when by an excess of drought and heat exhalations will more abound within the Earth and from the same causes their inflammation also will be more frequent than in the ordinary state of Nature And as all Bodies when dry'd become more porous and full of Vacuities so the Body of the Earth will be at that time And the Mines or Cavities wherein the fumes and exhalations lodge will accordingly be of greater extent open into one another and continued through long tracts and regions By which means when an Earth-quake comes as the shock will be more strong and violent so it may reach to a vast compass of ground and whole Islands or Continents be shaken at once when these trains have taken fire The effects also of such concussions will not only affect Mankind but all the Elements and the Inhabitants of them I do not wonder therefore that frequent and great Earth-quakes should be made a sign of an approaching Conflagration and the highest expressions of the Prophets concerning the Day of the Lord may be understood in a literal sence if they be finally referr'd to the general destruction of the World and not terminated solely upon those particular Countries or People to whom they are at first directed Hear what Ezekiel says upon this subject For in my Iealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken surely in that Day there shall be a great shaking in the Land of Israel So that the Fishes of the Sea and the Fowls of the Heaven and the Beasts of the Field and all creeping things that creep upon the Earth and all the Men that are upon the face of the Earth shall shake at my presence and the Mountains shall be thrown down and the sâ—eep places shall fall and every wall shaâ—l fall to the ground And I will rain an over-flowing rain and great hail-stones fire and brimstone The Prophet Isaias describes these judgments in terms
worthy our study and meditation nor any thing that would conduce more to discover the ways of Divine Providence and to shew us the grounds of all true knowledge concerning Nature And therefore to clear up the several parts of this Theory I was wiling to lay aside a great many other Speculations and all those dry subtleties with which the Schools and the Books of Philosophers are usually fill'd But when we speak of a Rising World and the Contemplation of it we do not mean this of the Great Universe for who can describe the Original of that vast Frame But we speak of the Sublundry World This Earth and its dependencies which rose out of a Chaos about six thousand years ago And seeing it hath faln to our lot to act upon this Stage to have our present home and residence here its seems most reasonable and the place design'd by Providence where we should first imploy our thoughts to understand the works of God and Nature We have accordingly therefore design'd in this Work to give an account of the Original of the Earth and of all the great and General Changes that it hath already undergone or is hence forwards to undergo till the Consummation of all Things For if from those Principles we have here taken and that Theory we have begun in these Two First Books we can deduce with success and clearness the Origin of the Earth and those States of it that are already past Following the same Thred and by the conduct of the same Theory we will pursue its Fate and History through future Ages and mark all the great Changes and Conversions that attend it while Day and Night shall last that is so long as it continues an Earth By the States of the Earth that are already past we understand chiefly Paradise and the Deluge Names well known and as little known in their Nature By the Future States we undâ—rstand the Conslagration and what new Order of Nature may follow upon that till the whole Circle of Time and Providence be compleated As to the first and past States of the Earth we shall have little help from the Ancients or from any of the Philosophers for the discovery or description of them We must often tread unbeaten paths and make a way where we do not find one but it shall be always with a Light in our hand that we may see our steps and that those that follow us may not follow us blindly There is no Sect of Philosophers that I know of that ever gave an account of the Universal Deluge or discover'd from the Contemplation of the Earth that there had been such a thing already in Nature 'T is true they often talk of an alternation of Deluges and Conflagrations in this Earth but they speak of them as things to come at least they give no proof or argument of day that hath already destroyed the World As to Paradise it seems to be represented to us by the Golden Age whereof the Ancients tell many stories sometimes very luxuriant and sometimes very defective For they did not so well understand the difference betwixt the New-made Earth and the Present as to see what were the just grounds of the Golden Age or of Paradise Tho' they had many broken Notions concerning those things As to the Conslagration in particular This hath always been reckon'd One amongst the Opinions or Dogmata of the Stoicks That the World was to be destroy'd by Fire and their Books are full of this Notion but yet they do not tell us the Causes of the Conflagration nor what preparations there are in Nature or will be towards that great Change And we may generally observe this of the Ancients that their Learning or Philosophy consisted more in Conclusions than in Demonstrations They had many Truths among them whereof they did not know themselves the Premisses or the Proofs Which is an argument to me that the knowledge they had was not a thing of their own invention or which they came to by fair Reasoning and observations upon Nature but was delivered to them from others by Tradition and Ancient Fame sometimes more publick sometimes more secret These Conclusions they kept in Mind and communicated to those of their School or Sect or Posterity without knowing for the most part the just grounds and reasons of them 'T is the Sacred Writings of Scripture that are the best Monuments of Antiquity and to those we are chiefly beholden for the History of the First Ages whether Natural History or Civil 'T is true the Poets who were the most Ancient Writers amongst the Greeks and serv'd them both for Historians Divines and Philosophers have deliver'd some things concerning the first Ages of the World that have a fair resemblance of Truth and some affinity with those accounts that are given of the same things by Sacred Authors and these may be of use in due time and place but yet lest any thing fabulous should be mixt with them as commonly there is we will never depend wholly upon their credit nor assert any thing upon the authority of the Ancients which is not first prov'd by Natural Reason or warranted by Scripture It seems to me very reasonable to believe that besides the Precepts of Religion which are the principal subject and design of the Books of Holy Scripture there may be providentially conserv'd in them the memory of things and times so remote as could not be retriev'd either by History or by the light of Nature and yet were of great importance to be known both for their own excellency and also to rectifie the knowledge of men in other things consequential to them Such points may be Our great Epocha or the Age of the Earth The Origination of Mankind The First and Paradisiacal State The destruction of the Old World by an Universal Deluge The Longevity of its Inhabitants The manner of their preservation and of their Peopling the Second Earth and lastly The Fate and Changes it is to undergo These I always lookt upon as the Seeds of great knowledge or heads of Theories fixt on purpose to give us aim and direction how to pursue the rest that depend upon them But these heads you see are of a mixt order and we propose to our selves in this Work only such as belong to the Natural World upon which I believe the trains of Providence are generally laid And we must first consider how God hath order'd Nature and then how the Oeconomy of the Intellectual World is adapted to it for of these two parts consist the full System of Providence In the mean time what subject can be more worthy the thoughts of any serious person than to view and consider the Rise and Fall and all the Revolutions not of a Monarchy or an Empire of the Grecian or Roman State but of an intire World The obscurity of these things and their remoteness from common knowledge will be made an argument by some why we should not undertake
immediate height of the Mountain So for instance the Mountains of the Moon in Africa whence the Nile flows and after a long course falls into the Mediterranean Sea by Egypt are so much higher than the surface of that Sea first as the Ascent of the Land is from the Sea to the foot of the Mountains and then as the height of the Mountains is from the bottom to the top For both these are to be computed when you measure the height of a Mountain or of a mountainous Land in respect of the Sea And the height of Mountains to the Sea being thus computed there would be need of six or eight Oceans to raise the Sea alone as high as the highest In-land Mountains And this is more than enough to compensate the less quantity of Water that would be requisite upon the Land Besides we must consider the Regions of the Air upwards to be more capacious than a Region of the same thickness in or near the Earth so as if an Ocean pour'd upon the surface of the dry Land supposing it were all smooth would rise to the height of half a quarter of a mile every where the like quantity of Water pour'd again at the height of the Mountains would not have altogether the same effect or would not there raise the mass half a quarter of a mile higher for the surfaces of a Globe the farther they are from their Center are the greater and so accordingly the Regions that belong to them And lastly we must consider that there are some Countries or Valleys very low and also many Caverns or Cavities within the Earth all which in this case were to be first fill'd with Water These things being compar'd and estimated we shall find that notwithstanding the room that Hills and Mountains take up on the dry Land there would be at least eight Oceans requir'd or a quantity of Water eight times as great as the Ocean to bring an Universal Deluge upon the Earth as that Deluge is ordinarily understood and explained The proportion of Water for the Deluge being thus stated the next thing to be done is to enquire where this Water is to be found if any part of the Sublunary World will afford us so much Eight Oceans floating in the Air make a great bulk of Water I do not know what possible Sources to draw it from There are the Clouds above and the Deeps below and in the bowels of the Earth and these are all the stores we have for Water and Moses directs us to no other for the Causes of the Deluge The Fountains he saith of the great Abysse were broken up or burst asunder and the Rain descended for forty days the Cataracts or Floodgates of Heaven being open'd And in these two no doubt are contain'd the causes of the great Deluge as according to Moses so also according to reason and necessity for our World affords no other treasures of Water Let us therefore consider how much this Rain of Forty Days might amount to and how much might flow out of the Abysse that so we may judge whether these two in conjunction would make up the Eight Oceans which we want As for the Rains they would not afford us one Ocean nor half an Ocean nor the tenth part of an Ocean if we may trust to the Observations made by others concerning the quantity of Water that falls in Rain Mersennus gives us this account of it It appears by our Observations that a Cubical Vessel of Brass whereof we made use is fill'd an inch and an half in half an hours time but because that sucks up noâ—hing of the moisture as the Earth doth let us take an inch for half an hours Rain whence it follows that in the space of 40 days and nights Rain the Waters in the Deluge would rise 160 feet if the Rains were constant and equal to ours and that it rain'd at once throughout the face of the whole Earth But the Rain of the Deluge saith he should have been 90 times greater than this to cover for instance the Mountains of Armenia or to reach 15 Cubits above them So that according to his computation the 40 days Rain would supply little more than the hundredth part of the Water requisite to make the Deluge 'T is true he makes the heighth of the Mountains higher than we do but however if you temper the Calculation on all sides as much as you please the water that came by this Rain would be a very inconsiderable part of what was necessary for a Deluge If it rain'd 40 days and 40 nights throughout the face of the whole Earth in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere all at once it might be sufficient to lay all the lower grounds under water but it would signifie very little as to the over-flowing of the Mountains Whence another Author upon the same occasion hath this passage If the Deluge had been made by Rains only there would not have needed 40 days but 40 years Rain to have brought it to pass And if we should suppose the whole middle Region condens'd into water it would not at all have been sufficient for this effect according to that proportion some make betwixt Air and Water for they say Air turn'd into Water takes up a hundred times less room than it did before The truth is we may reasonably suppose that all the vapours of the middle Region were turn'd into water in this 40 days and 40 nights Rain if we admit that this Rain was throughout the whole Earth at once in either Hemisphere in every Zone in every Climate in every Country in every Province in every Field and yet we see what a small proportion all this would amount to Having done then with these Superiour Regions we are next to examine the Inferiour and the treasures of water that may be had there Moses tells us that the Fountains of the great Abysse were broke open or clove asunder as the word there us'd doth imply and no doubt in this lay the great mystery of the Deluge as will appear when it comes to be rightly understood and explain'd but we are here to consider what is generally understood by the great Abysse in the common explication of the Deluge and 't is commonly interpreted either to be the Sea or Subterraneous waters hid in the bowels of the Earth These they say broke forth and rais'd the waters caus'd by the Rain to such an height that together they overflowed the highest Mountains But whether or how this could be deserves to be a little examin'd And in the first place the Sea is not higher than the Land as some have formerly imagin'd fansying the Sea stood as it were upon a heap higher than the shore and at the Deluge a relaxation being made it overflow'd the Land But this conceit is so gross and so much against reason and experience that none I think of late have ventur'd to make use of it And yet on the
length come to an equality and the Waters that lie in the lower parts and in the Chanels those Chanels and Valleys being fill'd up with Earth would be thrust out and rise every where upon the surface of the Earth Which new post when they had once seiz'd on they would never quit it nor would any thing be able to dispossess them for 't is their natural place and situation which they always tend to and from which there is no progress nor regress in a course of Nature So that the Earth would have been both now and from innumerable Generations before this all under water and uninhabitable if it had stood from everlasting and this form of it had been its first original form Nor can he doubt of this argumentation that considers the coherence of it and will allow time enough for the effect I do not say the Earth would be reduc'd to this uninhabitable form in ten thousand years time though I believe it would but take twenty if you please take an hundred thousand take a million 't is all one for you may take the one as easily as the other out of Eternity and they make both equally against their supposition Nor is it any matter how little you suppose the Mountains to decrease 't is but taking more time and the same effect still follows Let them but waste as much as a grain of Mustardseed every day or a foot in an Age this would be more than enough in ten thousand Ages to consume the tallest Mountain upon Earth The Air alone and the little drops of Rain have defac'd the strongest and the proudest monuments of the Greeks and Romans and allow them but time enough and they will of themselves beat down the Rocks into the Sea and the Hills into the Valleys But if we add to these all those other foremention'd causes that work with more violence and the weight of the Mountains themselves which upon any occasion offer'd is ready to sink them lower we shall shorten the time and make the effect more sure We need add no more here in particular Against this Aristotelian Doctrine that makes the present form of the Earth to have been from Eternity for the truth is this whole Book is one continued argument against that Opinion shewing that it hath de facto chang'd its form both in that we have prov'd that it was not capable of an universal Deluge in this form and consequently was once under another and also in that we shall prove at large hereafter throughout the Third and Fourth Sections that it hath been broken and dissolv'd We might also add one consideration more that if it had stood always under this form it would have been under Fire if it had not been under Water and the Conflagration which it is to undergo would have overtaken it long ere this For S. Peter saith the Heavens and the Earth that are now as oppos'd to the Ante-diluvian and considered in their present form and constitution are fitted to be consum'd by Fire And whosoever understands the progress and revolutions of Nature will see that neither the present form of the Earth nor its first form were permanent and immutable forms but transient and temporary by their own frame and constitution which the Author of Nature after certain periods of time had design'd for change and for destruction Thus much for the body of the Earth that it could not have been from Eternity as Aristotle pretended in the form it hath Now let 's consider the Origination of Mankind and that we shall find could much less be Eternal than the other for whatsoever destroy'd the form of the Earth would also destroy Mankind and besidâ—s there are many particular marks and arguments that the Generations of Men have not been from Everlasting All History and all monuments of Antiquity of what kind soever are but of a few thousand of years date we have still the memory of the golden Age of the first state of Nature and how mortals liv'd then in innocency and simplicity The invention of Arts even those that are necessary or useful to humane life hath been within the knowledge of Men How imperfect was the Geography of the Ancients how imperfect their knowledge of the Earth how imperfect their Navigation Can we imagine if there had been Men from Everlasting a Sea as now and all materials for Shipping as much as we have that men could have been so ignorant both of the Land and of the Sea as 't is manifest they have been till of late Ages They had very different fancies concerning the figure of the Earth They knew no Land beyond our Continent and that very imperfectly too and the Torrid Zone they thought utterly uninhabitable We think it strange taking that short date of the World which we give it that Men should not have made more progress in the knowledge of these things But how impossible is it then if you suppose them to have been from Everlasting They had the same wit and passions that we have the same motives that we have can we then imagine that neither the ambition of Princes nor interest or gain in private Persons nor curiosity and the desire of Knowledge nor the glory of discoveries nor any other passion or consideration could ever move them in that endless time to try their fortunes upon the Sea and know something more of the World they inhabited Though you should suppose them generally stupid which there is no reason to do yet in a course of infinite Generations there would be some great Genio's some extraordinary persons that would attempt things above the rest We have done more within the compass of our little World which we can but count as to this from the general Deluge than those Eternal Men had done in their innumerable Ages foregoing You will say it may be they had not the advantages and opportunities for Navigation as we have and for discoveries because the use of the Loadstone and the Mariners Needle was not then known But that 's the wonder that either that invention or any other should not be brought to light till t'other day if the World had stood from Eternity I say this or any other practical invention for such things when they are once found out and known are not easily lost again because they are of daily use And 't is in most other practical Arts as in Navigation we generally know their Original and History who the Inventors and by what degrees improv'd and how few of them brought to any perfection till of late Ages All the Artificial and Mechanical World is in a manner new and what you may call the Civil World too is in a great measure so What relates to Government and Laws to Wars and Discipline we can trace these things to their Origin or very near it The use of Money and of Coins nay the use of the very Elements for they tell us of the first invention of Fire
description of a Chaos And so it is understood by the general consent of Interpreters both Hebrew and Christian. We need not therefore spend any time here to prove that the Origin of the Earth was from a Chaos seeing that is agreed on by all that give it any Origin But we will proceed immediately to examine into what form it first rise when it came out of that Chaos or what was the primaeval form of the Earth that continued till the Deluge and how the Deluge depended upon it and upon its dissolution And that we may proceed in this enquiry by such easie steps as any one may readily follow we will divide it into Three Propositions whereof the first is this in general That the Form of the Antediluvian Earth or of the Earth that rise first from the Chaos was different from the Form of the present Earth I say different in general without specifying yet what its particular form was which shall be exprest in the following Proposition This First Proposition we have in effect prov'd in the Second Chapter where we have shewn that if the Earth had been always in this form it would not have been capable of a Deluge seeing that could not have been effected without such an infinite mass of water as could neither be brought upon the Earth nor afterwards any way removed from it But we will not content our selves with that proof only but will prove it also from the nature of the Chaos and the manifest consequences of it And because this is a leading Proposition we think it not improper to prove it also from Divine Authority there being a pregnant passage to this purpose in the writings of S. Peter Where treating of this very subject the Deluge He manifestly puts a difference between the Ante-diluvian Earth and the present Earth as to their form and constitution The Discourse is in the Second Epistle of S. Peter the Third Chapter where certain Deists as they seem to have been laught at the Prophecy of the day of Judgment and of the Conflagration of the World using this argument against it That since the Fathers fell asleep all things have continued as they were from the beginning All external Nature hath continued the same without any remarkable change or alteration and why should we believe say they there will be any What appearance or what foundation is there of such a revolution that all Nature will be dissolv'd and the Heavens and the Earth consum'd with Fire as your Prophecies pretend So from the permanency and immutability of Nature hitherto they argu'd its permanency and immutability for the future To this the Apostle answers that they are willing to forget that the Heavens and the Earth of old had a particular form and constitution as to Water by reason whereof the World that then was perisht by a Deluge And the Heavens and the Earth that are now or since the Deluge have a particular constitution in reference to Fire by reason whereof they are expos'd to another sort of destruction or dissolution namely by Fire or by an universal Conflagration The words of the Apostle are these For this they are willingly ignorant of that by the Word of God the Heavens were of old and the Earth consisting of Water and by Water or as we render it standing out of the Water and in the Water whereby the World that then was being overslow'd with Water perisht But the Heavens and the Earth that are now by the same Word are kept in store reseru'd unto Fire against the day of Iudgment We shall have occasion it may be hereafter to give a full illustration of these words but at present we shall only take notice of this in general that the Apostle here doth plainly intimate some difference that was between the old World and the present World in their form and constitution or betwixt the Ante-diluvian and the present Earth by reason of which difference that was subject to perish by a Deluge as this is subject to perish by Conflagration And as this is the general Air and Importance of this discourse of he Apostle's which every one at first sight would discover so we may in several particular ways prove from it our first Proposition which now we must return to viz. That the form and constitution of the Ante-diluvian Earth was different from that of the present Earth This may be infer'd from the Apostle's discourse first because he makes an opposition betwixt these two Earths or these two natural Worlds and that not only in respect of their fate the one perishing by Water as the other will perish by Fire but also in respect of their different disposition and constitution leading to this different fate for otherwise his fifth verse is superfluous and his Inference in the sixth ungrounded you see he premiseth in the fifth verse as the ground of his discourse what the constitution of the Ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth was and then infers from it in the sixth verse that they therefore perisht in a Deluge of Water Now if they had been the same with ours there had neither been any ground for making an opposition betwixt them nor any ground of making a contrary inference as to their fate Besides in that he implies that the constitution of the Ante-diluvian Earth was such as made it subject to a Deluge he shews that it was different from the constitution of the present Earth for the form of that is such as makes it rather incapable of a Deluge as we have shewn in the second Chapter Then we are to observe further that when he saith verse 6. that the first World perish'd in a Deluge or was destroy'd by it this is not to be understood of the Animate World only Men and living Creatures but of the Natural World and the frame of it for he had describ'd it before by the Heavens and the Earth which make the Natural World And the objection of the Atheists or Deists rather which he was to answer proceeded upon the Natural World And lastly this perishing of the World in a Deluge is set against or compar'd with the perishing of the World in the Conflagration when the frame of Nature will be dissolv'd We must therefore according to the tenor of the Apostle's arguing suppose that the Natural World was destroy'd or perish'd in the Deluge and seeing it did not perish as to matter and substance it must be as to the form frame and composition of it that it perish'd and consequently the present Earth is of another form and frame from what it had before the Deluge which was the thing to be proved Lastly Let us consider what it is the Apostle tells these Scoffers that they were ignorant of Not that there was a Deluge they could not be ignorant of that nor doth he tell them that they were But he tells them that they were ignorant that the Heavens and the Earth of old were so and so
that Earth being even and smooth without Hills and eminencies and might lay it all under water to some depth so as the Ark if it could not float upon those Rain-waters at least taking the advantage of a River or a Dock or Cistern made to receive them it might be a float before the Abysse was broken open For I do not suppose the Abysse broken open before any Rain fell And when the opening of the Abysse and of the Flood-gates of Heaven are mention'd together I am apt to think those Flood-gates were distinct from the common Rain and were something more violent and impetuous So that there might be preparatory Rains before the disruption of the Abysse and I do not know but those Rains so covering up and enclosing the Earth on every side might providentially contribute to the disruption of it not only by softning and weakning the Arch of the Earth in the bottom of those cracks and Chasms which were made by the Sun and which the Rain would first run into but especially by stopping on a sudden all the pores of the Earth and all evaporation which would make the vapors within struggle more violently as we get a Fever by a Cold and it may be in that struggle the Doors and the Bars were broke and the great Abysse gusht out as out of a womb However when the Rains were faln we may suppose the face of the Earth cover'd over with water and whether it was these waters that S. Peter refers to or that of the Abysse afterwards I cannot tell when he saith in his first Epistle Chap. 3. 20. Noah and his Family were sav'd by water so as the water which destroy'd the rest of the World was an instrument of their conservation in as much as it bore up the Ark and kept it from that impetuous shock which it would have had if either it had stood upon dry land when the Earth fell or if the Earth had been dissolv'd without any water on it or under it However things being thus prepar'd let us suppose the great frame of the exteriour Earth to have broke at this time or the Fountains of the great Abyss as Moses saith to have been then open'd from thence would issue upon the fall of the Earth with an unspeakable violence such a Flood of waters as would over-run and overwhelm for a time all those fragments which the Earth broke into and bury in one common Grave all Mankind and all the Inhabitants of the Earth Besides if the Flood-gates of Heaven were any thing distinct from the Forty days Rain their effusion 't is likely was at this same time when the Abyss was broken open for the sinking of the Earth would make an extraordinary convulsion of the Regions of the Air and that crack and noise that must be in the falling World and in the collision of the Earth and the Abyss would make a great and universal Concussion above which things together must needs so shake or so squeeze the Atmosphere as to bring down all the remaining Vapours But the force of these motions not being equal throughout the whole Air but drawing or pressing more in some places than in other where the Center of the Convulsion was there would be the chiefest collection and there would fall not showers of Rain or single drops but great spouts or caskades of water and this is that which Moses seems to call not improperly the Gataracts of Heaven or the Windows of Heaven being set open Thus the Flood came to its height and 't is not easie to represent to our selves this strange Scene of things when the Deluge was in its fury and extremity when the Earth was broken and swallow'd up in the Abyss whose raging waters rise higher than the Mountains and fill'd the Air with broken waves with an universal mist and with thick darkness so as Nature seem'd to be in a second Chaos and upon this Chaos rid the distrest Ark that bore the small remains of Mankind No Sea was ever so tumultuous as this nor is there any thing in present Nature to be compar'd with the disorder of these waters All the Poetry and all the Hyperboles that are us'd in the description of Storms and raging Seas were literally true in this if not beneath it The Ark was really carry'd to the tops of the highest Mountains and into the places of the Clouds and thrown down again into the deepest Gulfs and to this very state of the Deluge and of the Ark which was a Type of the Church in this World David seems to have alluded in the name of the Church Psal. 42. 7. Abysse calls upon Abysse at the noise of thy Cataracts or water-spouts all thy waves and billows have gone over me It was no doubt an extraordinary and miraculous Providence that could make a Vessel so ill man'd live upon such a Sea that kept it from being dasht against the Hills or overwhelm'd in the Deeps That Abyss which had devour'd and swallow'd up whole Forests of Woods Cities and Provinces nay the whole Earth when it had conquer'd all and triumph'd over all could not destroy this single Ship I remember in the story of the Argonauticks when Iason set out to fetch the Golden Fleece the Poet saith all the Gods that day look'd down from Heaven to view the Ship and the Nymphs stood upon the Mountain-tops to see the noble Youth of Thessaly pulling at the Oars We may with more reason suppose the good Angels to have look'd down upon this Ship of Noah's and that not out of couriosity as idle spectators but with a passionate concern for its safety and deliverance A Ship whose Cargo was no less than a whole World that carry'd the fortune and hopes of all posterity and if this had perish'd the Earth for any thing we know had been nothing but a Desart a great ruine a dead heap of Rubbish from the Deluge to the Conflagration But Death and Hell the Grave and Destruction have their bounds We may entertain our selves with the consideration of the face of the Deluge and of the broken and drown'd Earth in this Scheme with the floating Ark and the guardian Angels pag. 68. Thus much for the beginning and progress of the Deluge It now remains only that we consider it in its decrease and the state of the Earth after the waters were retir'd into their Chanels which makes the present state of it Moses saith God brought a wind upon the waters and the tops of the Hills became bare and then the lower grounds and Plains by degrees the waters being sunk into the Chanels of the Sea and the hollowness of the Earth and the whole Globe appearing in the form it is now under There needs nothing be added for explication of this 't is the genuine consequence of the Theory we have given of the Deluge and whether this wind was a descending wind to depress and keep down the swellings and inequalities of the Abyss or
some other Country of Asia the Earth being now as it was then This offends as much in the defect as the other in the excess For it is not any single Region of the Earth that can be Paradisiacal unless all Nature conspire and a certain Order of things proper and peculiar for that state Nor is it of less importance to find out this peculiar Order of things than to find out the particular seat of Paradise but rather pre-requisite to it We will endeavour therefore to discover and determine both so far as a Theory can go beginning with that which is more general 'T is certain there were some qualities and conditions of Paradise that were not meerly Topical but common to all the rest of the Earth at that time and these we must consider in the first place examine what they were and upon what they depended History both Sacred and Profane must tell us what they were and our Theory must shew us upon what causes they depended I had once I confess propos'd to my self another method independent upon History or Effects I thought to have continued the description of the Primitive or Ante-diluvian Earth from the contemplation of its causes only and then left it to the judgment of others to determine whether that was not the Earth where the Golden Age was past and where Paradise stood For I had observ'd three conditions or characters of it which I thought were sufficient to answer all that we knew concerning that first state of things viz. The regularity of its surface The situation or posture of its Body to the Sun and the Figure of it From these three general causes I thought might be deducâ—d all the chief differences of that Earth from the present and particularly those that made it more capable of being Paradisiacal But upon second thoughts I judg'd it more useful and expedient to lay aside the Causes at present and begin with the Effects that we might have some sensible matter to work upon Bare Idea's of things are lookt upon as Romantick till Effects be propos'd whereof they are to give an account 'T is that makes us value the Causes when necessity puts us upon enquiry after them and the reasons of things are very acceptable when they ease the mind anxious and at a loss how to understand Nature without their help We will therefore without more ado premise those things that have been taken notice of as extraordinary and peculiar to the first Ages of the World and to Paradise and which neither do nor can obtain in the present Earth whereof the first is a perpetual Spring or Equinox The second the Long aevity of Animals and the third Their production out of the Earth and the great fertility of the soil in all other things These difficulties guard the way to Paradise like the flaming Sword and must be remov'd before we can enter these are general Preliminaries which we must explain before we proceed to enquire after the particular place of this Garden of Pleasure The Ancients have taken notice of all these in the first Ages of the World or in their Golden Age as they call it and I do not doubt but what they ascrib'd to the Golden Age was more remarkably true of Paradise yet was not so peculiar to it but that it did in a good measure extend to other parts of the Earth at that time And 't is manifest that their Golden Age was contemporary with our Paradise for they make it begin immediately after the production and inhabitation of the Earth which They as well as Moses raise from the Chaos and to degenerate by degrees till the Deluge when the World ended and begun again That this parallel may the better appear we may observe that as we say that the whole Earth was in some sence Paradisiacal in the first Ages of the World and that there was besides one Region or Portion of it that was peculiarly so and bore the denomination of Paradise So the Ancients besides their Golden Age which was common to all the Earth noted some parts of it that were more Golden if I may so say than the rest and which did more particularly answer to Paradise as their Elysian Fields Fortunate Islands Gardens of Hesperides Alcinous c. these had a double portion of pleasantness and besides the advantages which they had common with the rest of the Earth at that time had something proper and singular which gave them a distinct consideration and character from the rest Having made this observation let us proceed and see what Antiquity saith concerning that first and Paradisiacal state of things upon those three Heads forementioned First That there was a perpetual Spring and constant serenity of the Air This is often repeated by the Ancient Poets in their description of the Golden Age Non alios primâ crescentis origine mundi Illuxisse dies aliumve habuisse tenorem Crediderim Ver illud erat Ver magnus agebat Orbis hybernis parcebant flatibus Euri. Such days the new-born Earth enjoy'd of old And the calm Heavens in this same tenour rowl'd All the great World had then one constant Spring No cold East-winds such as our Winters bring For I interpret this in the same sence with Ovid's Verses of the Golden Age Ver erat Aeternum placidÃque tepentibus auris Mulcebant Zephyri natos sine semine flores The Spring was constant and soft Winds that blew Rais'd without Seed Flow'rs always sweet and new And then upon the expiration of the Golden Age He says Iupiter antiqui contraxit tempora Veris c. When Jove begun to reign he chang'd the Year And for one Spring four Seasons made appear The Ancients suppos'd that in the reign of Saturn who was an Ante-diluvian God as I may so call him Time flow'd with a more even motion and there was no diversity of Seasons in the Year but Iupiter they say first introduc'd that when he came to manage affairs This is exprest after their way who seldom give any severe and Philosophical accounts of the changes of Nature And as they suppos'd this perpetual Spring in the Golden Age so they did also in their particular Elysiums as I could shew largely from their Authors if it would not multiply Citations too much 'T is true their Elysiums respected the New Heavens and New Earth to come rather than the past but they are both fram'd upon the same model and have common properties The Christian Authors have no less celebrated the perpetual Spring and Serenity of the Heavens in Paradise such expressions or descriptions you will find in Iustin Martyr S. Basil Damascen Isidore Hispalensis and others insomuch that Bellarmine I remember reflecting upon those Characters of Paradise which many of the Fathers have given in these respects saith Such things could not be unless the Sun had then another course from what he hath now or which is more easie the Earth another situation
to have got Children One hundred twenty seven years for Ten Generations is very strait and of these you must take off forty six years for one Generation only or for Noah for he liv'd six hundred years before the Flood and if they were Lunar they would come however to forty six of our years so that for the other Nine Generations you would have but eighty one years that is nine years a-piece at which Age they must all be suppos'd to have begun to get Children which you cannot but think a very absurd supposition Thus it would be if you divide the whole time equally amongst the Nine Generations but if you consider some single instances as they are set down by Moses 't is still worse for Mahaleel and his Grandchild Enoch are said to have got Children at sixty five years of Age which if you suppose months they were but five years old at that time now I appeal to any one Whether it is more incredible that men should live to the age of nine hundred years or that they should beget Children at the age of five years You will say it may be 't is true these inconveniences follow if our Hebrew Copies of the Old Testament be Authentick but if the Greek Translation by the Septuagint be of better Authority as some would have it to be that gives a little relief in this case for the Septuagint make the distance from the Creation to the Flood six hundred years more than the Hebrew Text does and so give us a little more room for our Ten Generations And not only so but they have so conveniently dispos'd those additional years as to salve the other inconvenience too of the Patriarchs having Children so young for what Patriarchs are found to have got Children sooner than the rest and so soon that upon a computation by Lunar years they would be but meer Children themselves at that time to these more years are added and plac'd opportunely before the time of their getting Children so as one can scarce forbear to think that it was done on purpose to cure that inconvenience and to favour and protect the computation by Lunar years The thing looks so like an artifice and as done to serve a turn that one cannot but have a less opinion of that Chronology for it But not to enter upon that dispute at present methinks they have not wrought the cure effectually enough for with these six hundred Lunar years added the summ will be only one hundred seventy three common years and odd months and from these deducting as we did before for Noah forty six years and for Adam or the first Generation about eighteen for he was two hundred and thirty years old according to the Septuagint when he begot Seth there will remain but one hundred and nine years for eight Generations which will be thirteen years a-piece and odd months a low age to get children in and to hold for eight Generations together Neither is the other inconvenience we mention'd well cur'd by the Septuagint account namely the small number of people that would be in the World at the Deluge for the Septuagint account if understood of Lunar years adds but forty six common years to the Hebrew account and to the age of the World at the Deluge in which time there could be but a very small accession to the number of Mankind So as both these incongruities continue though not in the same degree and stand good in either account if it be understood of Lunar years Thirdly 'T is manifest from other Texts of Scripture and from other considerations that our first Fathers liv'd very long and considerably longer than men have done since whereas if their years be interpreted Lunar there is not one of them that liv'd to the age that Men do now Methusalah himself did not reach threescore and fifteen years upon that interpretation Which doth depress them not only below those that liv'd next to the Flood but below all following Generations to this day and those first Ages of the World which were always celebrated for strength and vivacity are made as weak and feeble as the last dregs of Nature We may observe that after the Flood for some time till the pristine Crasis of the Body was broken by the new course of Nature they liv'd five four three two hundred years and the Life of Men shortn'd by degrees but before the Flood when they liv'd longer there was no such decrease or gradual declension in their lives For Noah who was the last liv'd longer than Adam and Methusalah who was last but two liv'd the longest of all So that it was not simply their distance from the beginning of the World that made them live a shorter time but some change which happen'd in Nature after such a period of time namely at the Deluge when the declension begun Let 's set down the Table of both states A Table of the Ages of the Ante-diluvian Fathers  Years Adam 930 Seth 912 Enos 905 Cainan 910 Mahaleel 895 Iared 962 Enoch 365 Methusalah 969 Lamech 777 Noah 950 A Table of the Ages of the Post-diluvian Fathers from Shem to Joseph  Years Shem 600 Arphaxad 438 Salah 433 Eber 464 Peleg 239 Reu 239 Serug 230 Nahor 148 Terah 205 Abraham 175 Isaac 180 Iacob 147 Ioseph 110 From these Tables we see that Mens Lives were much longer before the Flood and next after it than they are now which also is confirm'd undeniably by Iacob's complaint of the shortness of his life in comparison of his Fore-fathers when he had liv'd one hundred and thirty years Gen. 47. 9. The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years few and evil have the days of the years of my life been and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my Fathers There was then 't is certain long-liv'd men in the World before Iacob's time when were they before the Flood or after We say both according as the Tables shew it But if you count by Lunar years there never were any either before or after and Iacob's complaint was unjust and false for he was the oldest Man in the World himself or at least there was none of his Fore-fathers that liv'd so long as he The Patrons of this opinion must needs find themselves at a loss how or where to break off the account of Lunar years in Sacred History if they once admit it If they say that way of counting must only be extended to the Flood then they make the Post-diluvian Fathers longer liv'd than the Ante-diluvian did the Flood bring in Longaevity how could that be the cause of such an effect Besides if they allow the Post-diluvians to have liv'd six hundred common years that being clearly beyond the standard of our lives I should never stick at two or three hundred years more for the first Ages of the World If they extend their Lunar account to the
down to their own Philosophy and Notions As we have a great instance in that discourse of S. Peter's concerning the Deluge and the Ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth which for want of a Theory they have been scarce able to make sence of for they have forc'dly appli'd to the present Earth or the present form of the Earth what plainly respected another A like instance we have in the Mosaical Abyss or Tehom-Rabba by whose disruption the Deluge was made this they knew not well what to make of and so have generally interpreted it of the Sea or of our Subterraneous Waters without any propriety either as to the word or as to the sence A third instance is this of the Rainbow where their Philosophy hath misguided them again for to give them their due they do not alledge nor pretend to alledge any thing from the Text that should make them interpret thus or think the Rainbow was before the Flood but they pretend to go by certain reasons as that the Clouds were before the Flood therefore the Rainbow and if the Rainbow was not before the Flood then all things were not made within the six days Creation To whom these reasons are convictive they must be led into the same belief with them but not by any thing in the Text nor in the true Theory at least if ours be so for by that you see that the Vapours were never condens'd into drops nor into Rain in the temperate and inhabited Climates of that Earth and consequently there could never be the production or appearance of this Bow in the Clouds Thus much concerning the Rainbow To recollect our selves and conclude this Chapter and the whole disquisition concerning the Waters of the Primitive Earth we seem to have so well satisfied the difficulties propos'd in the beginning of the Chapter that they have rather given us an advantage a better discovery and such a new prospect of that Earth as makes it not only habitable but more fit to be Paradisical The pleasantness of the site of Paradise is made to consist chiefly in two things its Waters and its Trees Gen. 2. and Chap. 13. 10. Ezek. 31. 8. and considering the richness of that first soil in the Primitive Earth it could not but abound in Trees as it did in Rivers and Rivulets and be wooded like a Grove uss it was water'd like a Garden in the temperate Climates of it so as it would not be methinks so difficult to find one Paradise there as not to find more than one 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 WE have now in a good measure finish'd our description of the first and Ante-diluvian Earth And as Travellers when they see strange Countries make it part of their pleasure and improvement to compare them with their own to observe the differences and wherein they excel or come short of one another So it will not be unpleasant nor unuseful it may be having made a discovery not of a new Countrey but of a new World and travell'd it over in our thoughts and fancy now to sit down and compare it with our own and 't will be no hard task from the general differences which we have taken notice of already to observe what lesser would arise and what the whole face of Nature would be 'T is also one fruit of travelling that by seeing variety of places and people of humours fashions and forms of living it frees us by degrees from that pedantry and littleness of Spirit whereby we are apt to censure every thing for absurd and ridiculous that is not according to our own way and the mode of our own Country But if instead of crossing the Seas we could waft our selves over to our neighbouring Planets we should meet with such varieties there both in Nature and Mankind as would very much enlarge our thoughts and Souls and help to cure those diseases of little minds that make them troublesome to others as well as uneasie to themselves But seeing our heavy Bodies are not made for such Voyages the best and greatest thing we can do in this kind is to make a Survey and reflection upon the Ante-diluvian Earth which in some sence was another World from this and it may be as different as some two Planets are from one another We have declar'd already the general grounds upon which we must proceed and must now trace the consequences of them and drive them down into particulars which will shew us in most things wherein that Earth or that World differ'd from the present The form of that Earth and its situation to the Sun were two of its most fundamental differences from ours As to the form of it 't was all one smooth Continent one continued surface of Earth without any Sea any Mountains or Rocks any Holes Dens or Caverns And the situation of it to the Sun was such as made a perpetual Aequinox These two joyn'd together lay the foundation of a new Astronomy Meteorology Hydrography and Geography such as were proper and peculiar to that World The Earth by this means having its Axis parallel to the Axis of the Ecliptick the Heavens would appear in another posture and their diurnal motion which is imputed to the Primum Mobile and suppos'd to be upon the Poles of the Aequator would then be upon the same Poles with the second and Periodical motions of the Orbs and Planets namely upon the Poles of the Ecliptick by which means the Phaenomena of the Heavens would be more simple and regular and much of that intangledness and perplexity which we find now in Astronomy would be taken away Whether the Sun and Moon would suffer any Eclipses then cannot well be determin'd unless one knew what the course of the Moon was at that time or whether she was then come into our neighbourhood Her presence seems to have been less needful when there were no long Winter-nights nor the great Pool of the Sea to move or govern As for the Regions of the Air and the Meteors we have in the preceding Chapter set down what the state of them would be and in how much a better order and more peaceable that Kingdom was till the Earth was broken and displac'd and the course of Nature chang'd Nothing violent nothing frightful nothing troublesome or incommodious to Mankind came from above but the countenance of the Heavens was always smooth and serene I have often thought it a very desirable piece of power if a Man could but command a fair day when he had occasion for it for himself or for his friends 't is more than the greatest Prince or Potentate upon Earth can do yet they never wanted one in that World nor ever see a foul one Besides they had constant breezes from the motion of the Earth and the
share of it and were in their proportion longer-liv'd than they are now Nay not only Animals but also Vegetables and the forms of all living things were far more permanent The Trees of the Field and of the Forest in all probability out-lasted the lives of Men and I do not know but the first Groves of Pines and Cedars that grew out of the Earth or that were planted in the Garden of God might be standing when the Deluge came and see from first to last the entire course and period of a World We might add here with S. Austin another observation both concerning Men and other living Creatures in the first World that They were greater as well as longer-liv'd than they are at present This seems to be a very reasonable conjecture for the state of every thing that hath life is divided into the time of its growth its consistency and its decay and when the whole duration is longer every one of these parts though not always in like proportions will be longer We must suppose then that the growth both in Men and other Animals lasted longer in that World than it doth now and consequently carried their Bodies both to a greater height and bulk And in like manner their Trees would be both taller and every way bigger than ours neither were they in any danger there to be blown down by Winds and Storms or struck with Thunder though they had been as high as the Aeâ—yptian Pyramids and whatsoever their height was if they had Roots and Trunks proportionable and were streight and well pois'd they would stand firm and with a greater majesty The Fowls of Heaven making their Nests in their Boughs and under their shadow the Beasts of the Field bringing forth their Young When things are fairly possible in their causes and possible in several degrees higher or lower 't is weakness of Spirit in us to think there is nothing in Nature but in that one way or in that one degree that we are us'd to And whosoever believes those accounts given us both by the Ancients and Moderns of the Indian Trees will not think it strange that those of the first Earth should much exceed any that we now see in this World â—That Allegorical description of the glory of Assyria in Ezekiel Chap. 31. by allusion to Trees and particularly to the Trees of Paradise was chiefly for the greatness and stateliness of them and there is all fairness of reason to believe that in that first Earth both the Birds of the Air and the Beasts of the Field and the Trees and their Fruit were all in their several kinds more large and goodly than Nature produces any now So much in short concerning the Natural World Inanimate or Animate We should now take a prospect of the Moral World of that time or of the Civil and Artificial World what the Order and Oeconomy of these was what the manner of living and how the Scenes of humane life were different from ours at present The Ancients especially the Poets in their description of the Golden Age exhibit to us an Order of things and a Form of Life very remote from any thing we see in our days but they are not to be trusted in all particulars many times they exaggerate matters on purpose that they may seem more strange or more great and by that means move and please us more A Moral or Philosophick History of the World well writ would certainly be a very useful work to observe and relate how the Scenes of Humane Life have chang'd in several Ages the modes and Forms of living in what simplicity Men begun at first and by what degrees they came out of that way by luxury ambition improvement or changes in Nature then what new forms and modifications were superadded by the invention of Arts what by Religion what by Superstition This would be a view of things more instructive and more satisfactory factory than to know what Kings Reign'd in such an Age and what Battles were fought which common History teacheth and teacheth little more Such affairs are but the little under plots in the Tragi comedy of the World the main design is of another nature and of far greater extent and consequence But to return to the subject As the Animate World depends upon the Inanimate so the Civil World depends upon them both and takes its measures from them Nature is the foundation still and the affairs of Mankind are a superstructure that will be always proportion'd to it Therefore we must look back upon the model or picture of their Natural World which we have drawn before to make our conjectures or judgment of the Civil and Artificial that were to accompany it We observ'd from their perpetual Aequinox and the smoothness of the Earth that the Air would be always calm and the Heavens fair no cold or violent Winds Rains or Storms no extremity of weather in any kind and therefore they would need little protection from the iniuries of the Air in that state whereas now one great part of the affairs of life is to preserve our selves from those inconveniences by building and cloathing How many Hands and how many Trades are imploy'd about these two things which then were in a manner needless or at least in such plainness and simplicity that every man might be his own workman Tents and Bowers would keep them from all incommodities of the Air and weather better than Stone-walls and strong Roofs defend â—s now and Men are apt to take the easiest ways of living till necessity or vice put them upon others that are more laborious and more artificial We also observ'd and prov'd that they had no Sea in the Primitive and Ante-diluvian World which makes a vast difference 'twixt us and them This takes up half of our Globe and a good part of Mankind is busied with Sea-affairs and Navigation They had little need of Merchandizing then Nature suppli'd them at home with all necessaries which were few and they were not so greedy of superfluities as we are We may add to these what concern'd their Food and Diet Antiquity doth generally suppose that Men were not Carnivoâ—us in those Ages of the World or did not feed upon Flesh but only upon Fruit and Herbs And this seems to be plainly confirm'd by Scripture for after the Deluge God Almighty gives Noah and his Posterity a Licence to eat Flesh Gen. 9. 2 3. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you Whereas before in the new-made Earth God had prescrib'd them Herbs and Fruit for their Diet Gen. 1. 29. Behold I have given you every Herb bearing Seed which is upon the face of all the Earth and every Tree in the which is the Fruit of a Tree yielding Seed to you it shall be for meat and of this Natural Diet they would be provided to their hands without further preparation as the Birds and the Beasts are Upon these general grounds we may
II. The Birth of the New Heavens and the New Earth from the second Chaos or the remains of the Old World The form order and qualities of the New Earth according to Reason and Scripture CHAP. III. Concerning the Inhabitants of the New Earth That natural reason cannot determine this point That according to Scripture The Sons of the first Resurrection or the heirs of the Millennium are to be the Inhabitants of the New Earth The Testimony of the Philosophers and of the Christian Fathers for the Renovation of the World The first Proposition laid down CHAP. IV. The Proof of a Millennium or of a blessed Age to come from Scripture A view of the Apocalypse and of the Prophecies of Daniel in reference to this Kingdom of Christ and of his Saints CHAP. V. A view of other places of Scripture concerning the Millennium or future Kingdom of Christ. In what sence all the Prophets have born Testimony concerning it CHAP. VI. The sence and testimony of the Primitive Church concerning the Millennium or future Kingdom of Christ from the times of the Apostles to the Nicene Council The second Proposition laid down When by what means and for what reasons that doctrine was afterwards neglected or discountenanc'd CHAP. VII The true state of the Millennium according to Characters taken from Scripture Some mistakes concerning it rectified CHAP. VIII The Third Proposition laid down concerning the Time and Place of the Millennium Several arguments us'd to prove that it cannot be till after the Conflagration and that the New Heavens and New Earth are the true Seat of the Blessed Millennium CHAP. IX The chief employment of the Millennium DEVOTION and CONTEMPLATION CHAP. X. Objections against the Millenniâ—m answer'd With some conjectures concerning the state of things after the Millennium and what will be the final Consummation of this World The Review of the whole Theory THE THEORY OF THE EARTH BOOK III. Concerning the Conflagration CHAP. I. The Introduction With the Contents and Order of this Work SEEING Providence hath planted in all Men a natural desire and curiosity of knowing things to come and such things especially as concern our particular Happiness or the general Fate of Mankind This Treatise may in both respects hope for a favourable reception amongst inquisitive persons seeing the design of it is to give an account of the greatest revolutions of Nature that are expected in future Ages and in the first place of the Conflagration of the World In which Universal Calamity when all Nature suffers every Man 's particular concern must needs be involv'd We see with what eagerness Men pry into the Stars to see if they can read there the Death of a King or the fall of an Empire 'T is not the fate of any single Prince or Potentate that we Calculate but of all Mankind Nor of this or that particular Kingdom or Empire but of the whole Earth Our enquiries must reach to that great period of Nature when all things are to be dissolv'd both humane affairs and the Stage whereon they are acted When the Heavens and the Earth will pass away and the Elements melt with fervent heat We desire if possible to know what will be the face of that Day that great and terrible Day when the Regions of the Air will be nothing but mingled Flame and Smoak and the habitable Earth turn'd into a Sea of molten Fire But we must not leave the World in this disorder and confusion without examining what will be the Issue and consequences of it Whether this will be the End of all Things and Nature by a sad fate lie eternally dissolv'd and desolate in this manner or whether we may hope for a Restauration New Heavens and a New Earth which the Holy Writings make mention of more pure and perfect than the former As if this was but as a Refiner's fire to purge out the dross and courser parts and then cast the Mass again into a new and better Mould These things with God's assistance shall be mattâ—r of our preâ—ent enquiry These make the genâ—ral â—â—bject of thiâ— Treatise and of the remaining parts of this Theory of â—he Earth Which now you see begins to be a kind of Prophecy or Prognostication of things to come as it hath been hitherto an History of things pass'd of such states and changes as Nature hath already undergone And if that account which we have given of the Origin of the Earth its first and Paradisiacal form and the dissolution of it at the Universal Deluge appear fair and reasonable The second dissolution by Fire and the renovation of it out of a Second Chaos I hope will be deduc'd from as clear grounds and suppositions And Scripture it self will be a more visible Guide to us in these following parts of the Theory than it was in the former In the mean time I take occasion to declare here again as I have done heretofore that neither this nor any other great revolutions of Nature are brought to pass by Causes purely Natural without the conduct of a particular Providence And 't is the Sacred Books of Scripture that are the records of this Providence both as to times past and times to come as to all the signal Changes either of the Natural World or of Mankind and the different Oeconomies of Religion In which respects these Books tho' they did not contain a Moral Law would notwithstanding be as the most mystical so also the most valuable Books in the World This Treatise you see will consist of Two Parts The former whereof is to give an account of the Conflagration and the latter of the New Heavens and New Earth following upon it together with the state of Mankind in those New Habitations As to the Conflagration we first enquire what the Antients thought concerning the present frame of this World whether it was to perish or no whether to be destroyed or to stand eternally in this posture Then in what manner they thought it would be destroy'd by what force or violence whether by Fire or other ways And with these opinions of the Antients we will compare the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles to discover and confirm the truth of them In the second place We will examine what Calculations or Conjectures have been made concerning the time of this great Catastrophe or of the end of this World Whether that period be defineable or no and whether by Natural Arguments or by Prophecies Thirdly We will consider the Signs of the approaching Conflagration Whether such as will be in Nature or in the state of Humane Affairs but especially such as are taken notice of and recorded in Scripture Fourthly Which is the principal point and yet that wherein the Ancients have been most silent What Causes there are in Nature what preparations for this Conflagration Where are the Seeds of this Universal Fire or fewel sufficient for the nourishing of it Lastly In what order and by what degrees the Conflagration will
nothing that I know of in Antiquity Sacred or prophane that gives a joynt testimony with it And those that set up these Pillars do not seem to me to have understood the Nature of the Deluge or Conflagration if they thought a Pillar either of Brick or Stone would be secure in those great dissolutions of the Earth But we have pursued this doctrine high enough without the help of these ante-diluvian Antiquities Namely to the earliest people and the first appearances of Wisdom after the Flood So that I think we may justly look upon it as the doctrine of Noah and of his immediate posterity And as that is the highest source of learning to the present World so we should endeavour to carry our Philosophical Traditions to that Original for I cannot perswade my self but that they had amongst them even in those early days the main strokes or conclusions of the best Philosophy or if I may so say a form of sound doctrine concerning Nature and Providence Of which matter if you will allow me a short digression I will speak my thoughts in a few words In those First Ages of the World after the Flood when Noah and his Children peopled the Earth again as he gave them Precepts of Morality and Piety for the conduct of their Manners which are usually call'd Praecepta Noachidarum the Precepts of Noah frequently mention'd both by the Jews and Christians So also he deliver'd to them at least if we judge aright certain Maxims or Conclusions about Providence the state of Nature and the fate of the World And these in proportion may be call'd Dogmata Noachidarum the Doctrines of Noah and his Children Which made a System of Philosophy or secret knowledge amongst them deliver'd by Tradition from Father to Son but especially preserv'd amongst their Priests and Sacred Persons or such others as were addicted to Contemplation This I take to be more ancient than Moses himself or the Iewish Nation But it would lead me too far out of my way to set down in this place the reasons of my judgment Let it be sufficient to have pointed only at this Fountain head of knowledge and so return to our Argument We have heard as it were a Cry of Fire throughout all Antiquity and throughout all the People of the Earth But those alarums are sometimes false or make a greater noise than the thing deserves For my part I never trust Antiquity barely upon its own account but always require a second witness either from Nature or from Scripture What the voice of Nature is we shall hear all along in the following Treatise Let us then examine at present what testimony the Prophets and Apostles give to this ancient doctrine of the Conflagration of the World The Prophets see the World a-fire at a distance and more imperfectly as a brightness in the Heavens rather than a burning flame but S. Peter describes it as if he had been standing by and seen the Heavens and Earth in a red fire heard the cracking flames and the tumbling Mountains 2 Pet. 3. 10. In the day of the Lord 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 Then after a pious Ejaculation he adds Ver. 12. Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God wherein the Heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat This is as lively as a Man could express it if he had the dreadful spectacle before his Eyes S. Peter had before taught the same doctrine ver 5 6 7. but in a more Philosophick way describing the double fate of the World by Water and Fire with relation to the Nature and Constitution of either World past or present The Heavens and the Earth were of old consisting of water and by water whereby the World that then was being overflow'd with water perish'd But the Heavens and the Earth which are now by the same Word are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of Iudgment and perdition of ungodly or Atheistical men This testimony of S. Peter being full direct and explicit will give light and strength to several other passages of Scripture where the same thing is exprest obscurely or by allusion As when S. Paul says The fire shall try every man's work in that day And our Saviour says The tares shall be burnt in the fire at the end of the World Accordingly it is said both by the Apostles and Prophets that God will come to judgment in Fire S. Paul to the Thessalonians promiseth the persecuted Righteous rest and ease When the Lord shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God c. And so to the Hebrews S. Paul says that for wilful Apostates there remaineth no more Sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries or enemies of God And in the 12th Chapter he alludes to the same thing when after he had spoken of shaking the Heavens and the Earth once more he exhorteth as S. Peter does upon the same occasion to reverence and godly fear For our God is a consuming Fire In like manner the Prophets when they speak of destroying the wicked and the Enemies of God and Christ at the end of the World represent it as a destruction by Fire Psalm the 11th 6. Upon the wicked the Lord shall rain coals fire and brimstone and a burning tempest This shall be the portion of their Cup. And Psal. 50. 3. Our God shall come and will not be slow A fire shall devour before him and it shall be very tempestuous round about him And in the beginning of those two triumphal Psalms the sixty-eighth and ninety-seventh we see plain allusions to this coming of the Lord in fire The other Prophets speak in the same style of a fiery indignation against the wicked in the day of the Lord As in Isaiah 66. 15. For behold the Lord will come with fire and with his Chariots like a whirl-wind to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire And in Daniel c. 7. 9 10. The Ancient of days is plac'd upon his Seat of Judgment cover'd in flames I beheld till the Thrones were set and the Ancient of days did sit whose garment was white as snow and the hair of his head like the pure wool His Throne was like the fiery flame his wheels as burning fire A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him Thousand thousands ministred unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him The judgment was set and the Books were opened The Prophet Malachy c. 4. 1. describes the Day of the Lord to the same effect and in like colours Behold the Day cometh that shall burn as an Oven and all
computation the sum of the six days would be easily found out And they think that according to the Psalmist Psal. 90. 4. and S. Peter 2 Epist. 3. 8. a Day may be estimated a thousand years and consequently six days must be counted six thousand years for the duration of the World This is their interpretation and their inference but it must be acknowledged that there is an essential weakness in all typical and allegorical argumentations in comparison of literal And thâ—s being allow'd in diminution of the proof we may be bold to say that nothing yet appears either in Nature or Scripture or Humane Affairs repugnant to this supposition of Six Thousand Years which hath Antiquity and the Authority of the Fathers on its side We proceed now to the Christian Prophecies concerning the end of the World I do not mention those in Daniel because I am not satisfied that any there excepting that of the Fifth Kingdom it self extend so far But in the Apocalypse of S. Iohn which is the last Revelation we are to expect there are several Prophecies that reach to the Consummation of this World and the First Resurrection The Seven Seals the Seven Trumpets the Seven Vials do all terminate upon that great Period But they are rather Historical Prophecies than Chronological they tell us in their Language the Events but do not measure or express the time wherein they come to pass Others there are that may be call'd Chronological as the treading under foot the holy City forty and two months Apoc. 11. 2. The Witnesses opposing Antichrist one thousand two hundred and sixty days Apoc. 11. 3. The flight of the Woman into the Wilderness for the same number of days or for a Time Times and half a Time Apoc. 12. 6. 14. And lastly The War of the Beast against the Saints forty two months Apoc. 13. 5. These all you see express a time for their completion and all the same time if I be not mistaken But they do not reach to the End of the World Or if some of them did reach so far yet because we do not certainly know where to fix their beginning we must still be at a loss when or in what year they will expire As for instance If the Reign of the Beast or the Preaching of the Witnesses be 1260 years as is reasonably suppos'd yet if we do not know certainly when this Reign or this Preaching begun neither can we tell when it will end And the Epocha's or beginnings of these Prophecies are so differently calculated and are things of so long debate as makes the discussion of them altogether improper for this place Yet it must be confest that the best conjectures that can be made concerning the approaching End of the World must be taken from a judicious examination of these points and according as we gather up the Prophecies of the Apocalypse in a successive completion we see how by degrees we draw nearer and nearer to the conclusion of all But till some of these enlightning Prophecies be accomplish'd we are as a Man that awakes in the Night all is dark about him and he knows not how far the Night is spent but if he watch till the light appears the first glimpses of that will resolve his doubts We must have a little patience and I think but a little still eyeing those Prophecies of the Resurrection of the Witnesses and the depression of Antichrist till by their accomplishment the day dawn and the Clouds begin to change their colour Then we shall be able to make a near guess when the Sun of righteousness will arise So much for Prophecies There are also Signs which are look'd upon us forerunners of the coming of our Saviour and therefore may give us some direction how to judge of the distance or approach of that great Day Thus many of the Fathers thought the coming of Antichrist would be a sign to give the World notice of its approaching end But we may easily see by what hath been noted before what it was that led the Fathers into that mistake They thought their six thousand years were near an end as they truly were according to that Chronology they followed and therefore they concluded the Reign of Antichrist must be very short whensoever he came and that he could not come long before the end of the World But we are very well assur'd from the Revelation of Saint Iohn that the reign of Antichrist is not to be so short and transient and from the prospect and history of Christendom that he hath been already upon his Throne many hundreds of Years Therefore this Sign wholly falls to the ground unless you will take it from the fall of Antichrist rather than from his first entrance Others expect the coming of Elias to give warning of that day and prepare the way of the Lord. I am very willing to admit that Elias will come according to the sence of the Prophet Malachi but he will not come with observation no more than he did in the Person of Iohn the Baptist He will not bear the name of Elias nor tell us he is the Man that went to Heaven in a fiery Chariot and is now come down again to give us warning of the last Fire But some divine person may appear before the second coming of our Saviour as there did before his first coming and by giving a new light and life to the Christian Doctrine may dissipate the mists of error and abolish all those little controversies amongst good men and the divisions and animosities that spring from them enlarging their Spirits by greater discoveries and uniting them all in the bonds of love and charity and in the common study of truth and perfection Such an Elias the Prophet seems to point at And may be come and be the great Peace-maker and preparer of the ways of the Lord. But at present we cannot from this Sign make any judgment when the World will end Another Sign preceeding the end of the World is The Conversion of the Iews and this is a wonderful sign indeed S. Paul seems expresly to affirm it Rom. 11. 25 26. But it is differently understood either of their Conversion only or of their Restoration to their own Countrey Liberties and Dominion The Prophets bear hard upon this sence sometimes as you may see in Isaiah Ezekiel Hosea Amos. And to the same purpose the ancient promise of Moses is interpreted Deut. 30. Yet this seems to be a thing very unconceivable unless we suppose the Ten Tribes to be still in some hidden corner of the World from whence they may be conducted again into their own Countrey as once out of Egypt by a miraculous Providence and establish'd there Which being known will give the alarum to all the other Iews in the World and make an universal confluence to their old home Then our Saviour by an extraordinary appearance to them as once to S. Paul and by Prophets
rais'd up amongst them for that purpose may convince them that he is the true Messiah and convert them to the Christian Faith which will be no more strange than was the first Conversion of the Gentile World But if we be content with a Conversion of the Iews without their restoration and of those Two Tribes only which are now disperst throughout the Christian World and other known parts of the Earth That these should be Converted to the Christian Faith and incorporated into the Christian Commonwealth losing their national character and distinction If this I say will satisfie the Prophecies it is not a thing very difficult to be conceived For when the World is reduc'd to a better and purer state of Christianity and that Idolatry in a great measure remov'd which gave the greatest scandal to the Iews they will begin to have better thoughts of our Religion and be dispos'd to a more ingenuous and unprejudic'd examination of their Prophecies concerning the Messiah God raising up men amongst them of divine and enlarged Spirits Lovers of Truth more than of any particular Sect or Opinion with light to discern it and courage to profess it Lastly it will be a cogent argument upon them to see the Age of the World so far spent and no appearance yet of their long expected Messiah So far spent I say that there is no room left upon any computation whatsoever for the Oeconomy of a Messiah yet to come This will make them reflect more carefully and impartially upon him whom the Christians propose Iesus of Nazareth whom their Fathers Crucified at Ierusalem Upon the Miracles he wrought in his life and after his death and upon the wonderful propagation of his Doctrine throughout the World after his Ascension And lastly upon the desolation of Ierusalem upon their own scatter'd and forlorn condition foretold by that Prophet as a judgment of God upon an ungrateful and wicked People This I have said to state the case of the Conversion of the Iews which will be a sign of the approaching reign of Christ. But alas what appearance is there of this Conversion in our days or what judgment can we make from a sign that is not yet come to pass 'T is ineffectual as to us but may be of use to posterity Yet even to them it will not determine at what distance they are from the end of the World but be a mark only that they are not far from it There will be Signs also in those last days in the Heavens and in the Earth and in the Sea forerunners of the Conflagration as the obscuration of the Sun and Moon Earth-quakes roarings of the troubled Sea and such like disorders in the natural World 'T is true but these are the very pangs of death and the strugglings of Nature just before her dissolution and it will be too late then to be aware of our ruine when it is at the door Yet these being Signs or Prodigies taken notice of by Scripture we intend God willing after we have explained the causes and manner of the Conflagration to give an account also whence these unnatural commotions will proceed that are the beginnings or immediate introductions to the last Fire Thus we have gone through the Prophecies and Signs that concern the last day and the last fate of the World And how little have we learned from them as to the time of that great revolution Prophecies rise sometimes with an even gradual light as the day riseth upon the Horizon and sometimes break out suddenly like a fire and we are not aware of their approach till we see them accomplish'd Those that concern the end of the World are of this latter sort to unobserving men but even to the most observing there will still be a latitude We must not expect to calculate the coming of our Saviour like an Eclipse to minutes and half-minutes There are Times and Seasons which the Father hath put in his own power If it was designed to keep these things secret we must not think to out-wit Providence and from the Prophecies that are given us pick out a discovery that was not intended we should ever make It is determin'd in the Councils of Heaven just how far we shall know these events before hand and with what degree of certainty and with this we must be content whatsoever it is The Apocalypse of S. Iohn is the last Prophetical declaration of the Will of God and contains the fate of the Christian Religion to the end of the World its purity degeneracy and reviviscency The head of this degeneracy is call'd The Beast the false Prophet the Whore of Babylon in Prophetical terms and in an Ecclesiastical term is commonly call'd Antichrist Those that bear Testimony against this degeneracy are call'd the Witnesses who after they have been a long time in a mean and persecuted condition are to have their Resurrection and Ascension that is be advanc'd to power and Authority And this Resurrection of the Witnesses and depression of Antichrist is that which will make the great turn of the World to righteousness and the great Crisis whereby we may judge of its drawing to an end 'T is true there are other marks as the passing away of the Second Woe which is commonly thought to be the Ottoman Empire and the Effusion of the Vials The first of these will be indeed a very conspicuous mark if it follow upon the Resurrection of the Witnesses as by the Prophecy it seems to do But as to the Vials tho' they do plainly reach in a Series to the end of the World I am not satisfied with any exposition I have yet met with concerning their precise time on contents In a word ' Tho the sum and general contents of a Prophecy be very intelligible yet the application of it to Time and Persons may be very lubricous There must be obscurity in a Prophecy as well as shadow in a Picture All its lines must not stand in a full light For if Prophecies were open and bare-fac'd as to all their parts and circumstances they would check and obstruct the course of humane affairs and hinder if it was possible their own accomplishment Modesty and Sobriety are in all things commendable but in nothing more than in the explication of these Sacred Mysteries and we have seen so many miscarry by a too close and particular application of them that we ought to dread the Rock about which we see so many shipwrecks He that does not err above a Century in calculation the last period of Time from what evidence we have at present hath in my opinion cast up his accounts very well But the Scenes will change fast towards the Evening of this long day and when the Sun is near setting they will more easily compute how far he hath to run CHAP. VI. Concerning the Causes of the Conflagration The difficulty of conceiving how this Earth can be set on fire With a general
remov'd at the Conflagration For we suppose the Earth will then return to its primitive situation which we have explain'd in the 2d Book of this Theory and will have the Sun always in its Aequator whereby the several Climates of the Earth will have a perpetual Equinox and those under the Poles a perpetual day And therefore all the excess of cold and all the consequences of it will soon be abated However the Earth will not be burnt in one day and those parts of the Earth being uninhabited there is no inconvenience that they should be more slowly consum'd than the rest This is a general answer to the difficulty propos'd about the possibility of the Conflagration and being general only the parts of it must be more fully explain'd and confirm'd in the sequel of this discourse We should now proceed directly to the causes of the Conflagration and show in what manner they do this great execution upon Nature But to be just and impartial in this enquiry we ought first to separate the spurious and pretended Causes from those that are real and genuine to make no false musters nor any show of being stronger than we are and if we can do our work with less force it will be more to our credit as a Victory is more honourable that is gain'd with fewer Men. There are two grand capital Causes which some Authors make use of as the chief Agents in this work the Sun and the Central Fire These two great Incendiaries they say will be let loose upon us at the Conflagration The one drawing nearer to the Earth and the other breaking out of its bowels into these upper regions These are potent Causes indeed more than enough to destroy this Earth if it was a thousand times bigger than it is But for that very reason I suspect they are not the true Causes for God and Nature do not use to employ unnecessary means to bring about their designs Disproportion and over-sufficiency is one sort of false measures and 't is a sign we do not thoroughly understand our work when we put more strength to it than the thing requires Men are forward to call in extraordinary powers to rid their hands of a troublesome argument and so make a short dispatch to save themselves the pains of further enquiries but such methods as they commonly have no proof so they give little satisfaction to an inquisitive mind This supposition of burning the Earth by the Sun drawing nearer and nearer to it seems to be made in imitation of the story of Phaeton who driving the Chariot of the Sun with an unsteddy hand came so near the Earth that he set it on fire But however we will not reject any pretensions without a fair trial Let us examine therefore what grounds they can have for either of these suppositions of the Approximation of the Sun to the Earth or the Eruption of the Central Fire As to the Sun I desire first to be satisfied in present matter of Fact whether by any instrument or observation it hath or can be discover'd that the Sun is nearer to the Earth now than he was in former ages or if by any reasoning or comparing calculations such a conclusion can be made If not this is but an imaginary cause and as easily deny'd as propos'd Astronomers do very little agree in their opinions about the distance of the Sun Ptolomy Albategnius Copernious Ticho Kepler and others more modern differ all in their calculations but not in such a manner or proportion as should make us believe that the Sun comes nearer to the Earth but rather goes further from it For the more modern of them make the distance greater than the more ancient do Kepler says the distance of the Sun from the Earth lies betwixt 700 and 2000 semidiameters of the Earth but Ricciolus makes it betwixt 700 and 7000. And Gottefrid Wendeline hath taken 14656. semidiameters for a middle proportion of the Sun's distance to which Kepler himself came very near in his later years So that you see how groundless our fears are from the approaches of an enemy that rather flies from us if he change posture at all And we have more reason to believe the report of the modern Astronomers than of the ancient in this matter both because the nature of the Heavens and of the celestial Bodies is now better known and also because they have found out better instruments and better methods to make their observations If the Sun and Earth were come nearer to one another either the circle of the Suns diurnal arch would be less and so the day shorter or the Orbit of the Earths annual course would be less and so the Year shorâ—er Neither of which we have any experience of And those that suppose us in the centre of the World need not be afraid till they see Mercury and Venus in a combustion for they lie betwixt us and danger and the Sun cannot come so readily at us with his fiery darts as at them who stand in his way Lastly this languishing death by the gradual approaches of the Sun and that irreparable ruine of the Earth which at last must follow from it do neither of them agree with that Idea of the Conflagration which the Scripture hath given us for it is to come suddenly and unexpectedly and take us off like a violent Feaver not as a lingring Consumption And the Earth is also so to be destroyed by Fire as not to take away all hopes of a Resurrection or Renovation For we are assur'd by Scripture that there will be new Heavens and a new Earth after these are burnt up But if the Sun should come so near us as to make the heavens pass away with a noise and melt the Elements with fervent heat and destroy the form and all the works of the Earth what hopes or possibility would there be of a Renovation while the Sun continued in this posture He would more and more consume and prey upon the Carcass of the Earth and convert it at length either into an heap of Ashes or a lump of vitrified metal So much for the Sun As to the Central Fire I am very well satisfied it is no imaginary thing All Antiquity hath preserv'd some sacred Monument of it The Vestal fire of the Romans which was so religiously attended The Prytoneia of the Greeks were to the same purpose and dedicated to Vesta and the Pyretheia of the Persians where fire was kept continually by the Magi. These all in my opinion had the same origine and the same signification And tho' I do not know any particular observation that does directly prove or demonstrate that there is such a mass of fire in the middle of the Earth yet the best accounts we have of the generation of a Planet do suppose it and 't is agreeable to the whole Oeconomy of Nature as a fire in the heart which gives life to her motions and productions But however the
Water had formerly This is according to St. Peter's doctrine for he makes the same parts of the Universe to be the subject of both namely the inferiour Heavens and the Earth The Heavens and the Earth which were then perish'd in a Deluge of Water But the Heavens and the Earth that are now are reserv'd to fire The present Heavens and Earth are substituted in the place of those that perish'd at the Deluge and these are to be over-run and destroy'd by fire as those were by water So that the Apostle takes the same Regions and the same space and compass for the one as for the other and makes their fate different according to their different constitution and the different order of Providence This is the sence St. Austin gives us of the Apostle's words and these are the bounds he sets to the last Fire whereof a modern Commentator is so well assur'd that he says They neither understand Divinity nor Philosophy that would make the Conflagration reach above the Elementary Heavens Let these be then its limits upwards the Clouds Air and Atmosphere of the Earth But the question seems more doubtful How far it will extend downwards into the bowels of the Earth I answer still to the same depth that the Waters of the Deluge reach'd To the lowest Abysses and the deepest Caverns within the ground And seeing no Caverns are deeper or lower at least according to our Theory than the bottom of the great Ocean to that depth I suppose the rage of this fire will peneâ—rate and devour all before it And therefore we must not imagine that only the outward turf and habitable surface of the Earth will be put into a flame and laid wast the whole exteriour region of the Earth to the depth of the deepest part of the Sea will suffer in this Fire and suffer to that degree as to be melted down and the frame of it dissolv'd For we are not to conceive that the Earth will be only scorcht or charkt in the last Fire there will be a sort of liquefaction and dissolution it will become a molten Sea mingled with fire according to the expression of Scripture And this dissolution may reasonably be suppos'd to reach as low as the Earth hath any hollownesses or can give 〈◊〉 to smoke and flame Wherefore taking these for the bounds and limits of the last great Fire the next thing to be enquir'd into are the Natural Causes of it How this strange fate will seize upon the Sublunary World and with an irresistible fury subdue all things to it self But when I say Natural Causes I would not be so understood as if I thought the Conflagration was a pure Natural Fatality as the Stoicks seem to do No 't is a mixt Fatality The Causes indeed are Natural but the administration of them is from an higher hand Fire is the Instrument or the executive power and hath no more force given it than what it hath naturally but the concurrence of these Causes or of these fiery powers at such a time and in such a manner and the conduct of them to carry on and compleat the whole work without cessation or interruption that I look upon as more than what material Nature could effect of it self or than could be brought to pass by such a government of matter as is the bare result of its own laws and determinations When a Ship fails gently before the Wind the Mariners may stand idle but to guide her in a storm all hands must be at work There are rules and measures to be observ'd even in these tumults and desolations of Nature in destroying a World as well as in making one and therefore in both it is reasonable to suppose a more than ordinary Providence to superintend the work Let us not therefore be too positive or presumptuous in our conjectures about these things for if there be an invisible hand Divine or Angelical that touches the Springs and Wheels it will not be easie for us to determine with certainty the order of their motions However 't is our duty to search into the ways and works of God as far as we can And we may without offence look into the Magazines of Nature see what provisions are made and what preparations for this great Day and in what method 't is most likely the design will be executed But before we proceed to mark out Materials for this Fire give me leave to observe one condition or property in the Form of this present Earth that makes it capable of Inflammation 'T is the manner of its construction in an hollow eavernous form By reason whereof containing much Air in its cavities and having many inlets and outlets 't is in most places capable of ventilation pervious and passable to the Winds and consequently to the Fire Those that have read the former part of this Theory know how the Earth came into this hollow and broken form from what causes and at what time namely at the Universal Deluge when there was a disruption of the exteriour Earth that fell into the Abyss and so for a time was overflow'd with Water These Ruines recover'd from the Water we inhabit and these Ruines only will be burnt up For being not only unequal in their Surface but also hollow loose and incompact within as ruines use to be they are made thereâ— by capable of a second fate by inflammation Thereby I say they are made combustible for if the exteriour Regions of this Earth were as close and compact in all their parts as we have reason to believe the interiour Regions of it to be the Fire could have little power over it nor ever reduce it to such a state as is requir'd in a compleat Conflagration such as ours is to be This being admitted that the Exteriour Region of the Earth stands hollow as a well set Fire to receive Air freely into its parts and hath issues for smoke and flame It remains to enquire what fewel or Materials Nature hath fitted to kindle this Pile and to continue it on Fire till it be consum'd or in plain words What are the Natural Causes and preparatives for a Conflagration The first and most obvious preparations that we see in Nature for this effect are the Burning Mountains or Volcano's of the Earth These are lesser Essays or preludes to the general Fire set on purpose by Providence to keep us awake and to mind us continually and forewarn us of what we are to expect at last The Earth you see is already kindled blow but the Coal and propagate the Fire and the work will go on Tophet is prepar'd of old and when the Day of Doom is come and the Date of the World expir'd the breath of the Lord shall make it burn But besides these Burning Mountains there are Lakes of pitch and brimstone and oily Liquors disperst in several parts of the Earth These are in enrage the Fire as it goes and to fortifie
should throw out so much fiery matter besides all the ashes that were disperst through the Air far and near and could be brought to no account 'T is true all this matter was not actually inflam'd or liquid fire But the rest that was sand stone and gravel might have run into glass or some melted liquor like to it is it had not been thrown out before the heat fully reacht it However sixty million paces of this matter as the same Author computes were liquid fire or came out of the mouth of the pit in that form This made a River of fire sometimes two miles broad according to his computation but according to the observation of others who also viewed it the Torrent of fire was six or seven miles broad and sometimes ten or fifteen fathoms deep and forc'd its way into the Sea near a mile preserving it self alive in the midst of the waters This is beyond all the infernal Lakes and Rivers Acheron Phlegeton Cocytus all that the Poets have talkt of Their greatest fictions about He I have not come up to the reality of one of our burning Mountains upon Earth Imagin then all our Volcano's raging at once in this manner But I will not pursue that supposition yet Give me leave only to add here what I mentioned in the second place The vast Burning Stones which this Mountain in the time of its rage and estuation threw inâ—o the Air with an incredible force This same Author tells us of a stone fifteen foot long that was slung out of the mouth of the pit to a miles distance And when it fell it came from such an height and with such a violence that it buried it self in the ground eight foot deep What trifles are our Mortar-pieces and Bombes when compar'd with these Engines of Nature When she flings out of the wide throat of a Volcano a broken Rock and twirles it in the air like a little bullet then lets it fall to do execution here below as Providence shall point and direct it It would be hard to give an account how so great an impulse can be given to a Body so ponderous But there 's no disputing against matter of fact and as the thoughts of God are not like our thoughts so neither are his works like our works Thus much for Aetna Let us now give an instance in Vesuvius another Burning Mountain upon the coast of the Mediterranean which hath as frequent Eruptions and some as terrible as those of Aetna Dion Cassius one of the best writers of the Roman History hath given us an account of one that happened in the time of Titus Vespatian and tho' he hath not set down particulars as the former Author did of the quantity of fiery matter thrown out at that time yet supposing that proportionable to its fierceness in other respects this seems to me as dreadful an Eruption as any we read of and was accompanied with such Prodigies and commotions in the Heavens and the Earth as made it look like the beginning of the last Conflagration As a prelude to this Tragedy He says there were strange sights in the air and after that followed an extraordinary drought Then the Earth begun to tremble and quake and the Concussions were so great that the ground seem'd to rise and boyl up in some places and in others the tops of the mountains sunk in or tumbled down At the same time were great noises and sounds heard some were subterraneous like thunder within the Earth others above ground like groans or bellowings The Sea roar'd The heavens ratled with a fearful noise and then came a sudden and mighty crack as if the frame of Nature had broke or all the mountains of the Earth had faln down at once At length Vesuvius burst and threw out of its womb first huge stones then a vast quantity of fire and smoke so as the air was â—all darkned and the Sun was hid as if he had been under a great Eclipse The day was turn'd into night and light into darkness and the frighted people thought the Gyants were making war against heaven and fansied they see the shapes and images of Gyants in the smoak and heard the sound of their trumpets Others thought the World was returning to its first Chaos or going to be all consum'd with fire In this general confusion and consternation they knew not where to be safe some run out of the fields into the houses others out of the house into the fields Those that were at Sea hasten'd to Land and those that were at Land endeavour'd to get to Sea still thinking every place safer than that where they were Besides grosser lumps of matter there was thrown out of the Mountain such a prodigious quantity of ashes as cover'd the Land and Sea and fill'd the Air so as besides other damages the Birds Beasts and Fishes with Men Women and Children were destroy'd within such a compass and two entire Cities Herculanium and Pompeios were overwhelm'd with a showre of ashes as the People were sitting in the Theater Nay these ashes were carried by the winds over the Mediterranean into Africk and into Aegypt and Syria And at Rome they choak'd the Air on a sudden so as to hid the face of the Sun Whereupon the People not knowing the cause as not having yet got the News from Campania of the Eruption of Vesuius could not imagine what the reason should be but thought the Heavens and the Earth were coming together The Sun coming down and the Earth going to take its place above Thus far the Historian You see what disorders in Nature and what an alarum the Eruption of one fiery Mountain is capable to make These things no doubt would have made strong impressions upon us if we had been eye-witnesses of them But I know representations made from dead history and at a distance though the testimony be never so credible have a much less effect upon us than what we see our selves and what our senses immediately inform us of I have only given you an account of two Volcano's and of a single Eruption in either of them These Mountains are not very far distant from one another Let us suppose two such Eruptions as I have mention'd to happen at the same time and both these Moutains to be raging at once in this manner By that violence you have seen in each of them singly you will easily imagine what a terrour and desolation they would carry round about by a conjunction of their fury and all their effects in the Air and on the Earth Then if to these two you should joyn two more the Sphere of their activity would still be enlarg'd and the Scenes become more dreadful But to compleat the supposition Let us imagine all the Volcano's of the whole Earth to be prepar'd and set to a certain time which time being come and a signal given by Providence all these Mines begin to play at once I mean All these
Fiery Mountains burst out and discharge themselves in flames of fire tear up the roots of the Earth throw hot burning stones send out streams of flowing Metals and Minerals and all other sorts of ardent matter which Nature hath lodg'd in those Treasuries If all these Engines I say were to play at once the Heavens and the Earth would seem to be in a flame and the World in an universal combustion But we may reasonably presume that against that great Day of vengeance and execution not only all these will be employ'd but also new Volcano's will be open'd and new Mountains in every Region will break out into smoke and flame just as at the Deluge the Abyss broke out from the Womb of the Earth and from those hidden stores sent an immense quantity of water which it may be the Inhabitants of that World never thought of before So we must expect new Eruptions and also new sulphureous Lakes and Fountains of Oyl to boyl out of the ground And these all united with that Fewel that naturally grows upon the Surface of the Earth will be sufficient to give the first onset and to lay wast all the habitable World and the Furniture of it But we suppose the Conflagration will go lower pierce under-ground and dissolve the substance of the Earth to some considerable depth therefore besides these outward and visible preparations we must consider all the hidden invisible Materials within the Veins of the Earth Such are all Minerals or Mineral juices and concretions that are igniferous or capable of inflammation And these cannot easily be reckon'd up or estimated Some of the most common are Sulphur and all sulphureous bodies and Earths impregnated with Sulphur Bitumen and bituminous concretions inflammable Salts Coal and other fossiles that are ardent with innumerable mixtures and compositions of these kinds which being open'd by heat are unctuous and inflammable or by attrition discover the latent seeds of fire But besides consistent Bodies there is also much volatile fire within the Earth in fumes steams and exudations which will all contribute to this effect From these stores under-ground all Plants and Vegetables are fed and supply'd as to their oily and sulphureous parts And all hot Waters in Baths or Fountains must have their original from some of these some mixture or participation of them And as to the British Soyl there is so much Coal incorporated with it that when the Earth shall burn we have reason to apprehend no small danger from that subterraneous Enemy These dispositions and this Fewel we find in and upon the Earth towards the last Fire The third sort of Provision is in the Air All fiery Meteors and Exhalations engender'd and form'd in those Regions above and discharg'd upon the Earth in several ways I believe there were no fiery Meteors in the ante-diluvian Heavens which therefore St. Peter says were constituted of water had nothing in them but what was watery But he says the Heavens that are now have treasures of fire or are reserv'd for fire as things laid up in a store house for that purpose We have thunder and lightning and fiery tempests and there is nothing more vehement impetuous and irresistible where their force is directed It seems to me very remarkable that the Holy Writers describe the coming of the Lord and the destruction of the wicked in the nature of a tempest or a storm of fire Upon the wicked the Lord shall rain coals fire and brimstone and a burning tempest this shall be the portion of their cup. And in the lofty Song of David Psal. 18. which in my judgment respects both the past Deluge and the future Conflagration 't is said The Lord also thundred in the heavens and the Highest gave his voice hailstones and coals of fire Yea he sent forth his arrows and scattered them and he shot out lightnings and discomfited them Then the Chanels of waters were seen and the foundations of the World were discover'd at thy rebuke O Lord at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils And a like fiery coming is describ'd in the ninety seventh Psalm as also by Isaiah Daniel and S. Paul And lastly in the Apocalypse when the World draws to a conclusion as in the seventh Trumpet ch 11. 19. and the seventh Vial ch 16. 18. we have still mention made of this Fiery Tempest of Lightnings and Thunderings We may therefore reasonably suppose that before the Conflagration the Air will be surcharg'd every where by a precedent drought with hot and fiery exhalations And as against the Deluge those regions were burthened with water and moist vapours which were pour'd upon the Earth not in gentle showres but like rivers and cataracts from Heaven so they will now be fill'd with hot fumes and sulphureous clouds which will sometimes flow in streams and fiery impressions throgh the Air sometimes make Thunder and Lightnings and sometimes fall down upon the Earth in flouds of Fire In general there is a great analogy to be observed betwixt the two Deluges of Water and of Fire not only as to the bounds of them which were noted before but as to the general causes and sources upon which they depend from above and from below At the Floud the Windows of Heaven were opened above and the Abyss was opened below and the Waters of these two joyn'd together to overflow the World In like manner at the Conflagration God will rain down Fire from Heaven as he did once upon Sodom and at the same time the subterraneous store-houses of Fire will be broken open which answers to the disruption of the Abyss And these two meeting and mingling together will involve all the Heaven and Earth in flames This is a short account of the ordinary stores of Nature and the ordinary preparations for a general Fire And in contemplation of these Pliny the Naturalist said boldly It was one of the greatest wonders of the World that the World was not every day set on fire We will conclude this Chapter with his words in the second Book of his Natural History having given an account of some fiery Mountains and other parts of the Earth that are the seats and sources of Fire He makes this reflection Seeing this Element is so fruitful that it brings forth it self and multiplies and encreases from the least sparks what are we to expect from so many fires already kindled on the Earth How does nature feed and satisfie so devouring an Element and such a great voracity throughout all the World without loss or diminution of her self Add to these fires we have mentioned the Stars and the Great Sun then all the fires made for humane uses fire in stones in wood in the clouds and in thunder IT EXCEEDS ALL MIRACLES IN MY OPINION THAT ONE DAY SHOULD PASS WITHOUT SETTING THE WORLD ALL ON FIRE CHAP. VIII Some new dispositions towards the Conflagration as to the matter form and situation of the Earth
and forerunners of the last day as they usually are of all great changes and calamities The destruction of Ierusalem was a type of the destruction of the World and the Evangelists always mention Earth-quakes amongst the ominous Prodigies that were to attend it But these Earth-quakes we are speaking of at present are but the beginnings of sorrow and not to be compar'd with those that will follow afterwards when Nature is convulst in her last agony just as the flames are seizing on her Of which we shall have occasion to speak hereafter These changes will happen as to the matter and form of the Earth before it is attack'd by the last fire There will be also another change as to the situation of it for that will be rectified and the Earth restor'd to the posture it had at first namely of a right aspect and conversion to the Sun But because I cannot determine at what time this restitution will be whether at the beginning middle or end of the Conflagration I will not presume to lay any stress upon it Plato seems to have imputed the Conflagration to this only which is so far true that the Revolution call'd The Great Year is this very Revolution or the return of the Earth and the Heavens to their first posture But tho' this may be contemporary with the last fire or some way concomitant yet it does not follow that it is the cause of it much less the only cause It may be an occasion of making the fire reach more easily towards the Poles when by this change of situation their long Nights and long Winters shall be taken away These new dispositions in our Earth which we expect before that great day may be look'd upon as extraordinary but not as Miraculous because they may proceed from Natural Causes But now in the last place we are to consider miraculous causes What influence they may have or what part they may bear in this great revolution of Nature By miraculous causes we understand either God's immediate Omnipotency or the Ministry of Angels and what may be perform'd by the latter is very improperly and undecently thrown upon the former 'T is a great step to Omnipotency and 't is hard to define what Miracles on this side Creation require an infinite power We are sure that the Angels are Ministring Spirits and ten thousand times ten thousand stand about the Throne of the Almighty to receive his commands and execute his judgments That perfect knowledge they have of the powers of nature and of conducting those powers to the best advantage by adjusting causes in a fit subordination one to another makes them capable of performing not only things far above our force but even above our imagination Besides they have a radical inherent power belonging to the excellency of their nature of determining the motions of matter within a far greater sphere than humane Souls can pretend to We can only command our spirits and determine their motions within the compass of our own Bodies but their activity and empire is of far greater extent and the outward World is much more subject to their dominion than to ours From these considerations it is reasonable to conclude that the generality of miracles may be and are perform'd by Angels It being less decorous to employ a Sovereign power where a subaltern is sufficient and when we hastily cast things upon God for quick dispatch we consult our own ease more than the honouor of our Maker I take it for granted here that what is done by an Angelical hand is truly providential and of divine administration and also justly bears the character of a miracle Whatsoever may be done by pure material causes or humane strength we account Natural and whatsoever is above these we call supernatural and miraculous Now what is supernatural and miraculous is either the effect of an Angelical power or of a Sovereign and Infinite power And we ought not to confound these two no more than Natural and Supernatural for there is a greater difference betwixt the highest Angelical power and Omnipotency than betwixt an Humane power and Angelical Therefore as the first Rule concerning miracles is this That we must not flie to miracles where Man and Nature are sufficient so the second Rule is this that we must not flie to a sovereign infinite power where an Angelical is sufficient And the reason in both Rules is the same namely because it argues a defect of Wisdom in all Oeconomiles to employ more and greater means than are sufficient Now to make application of this to our present purpose I think it reasonable and also sufficient to admit the ministery of Angels in the future Conflagration of the World If Nature will not lay violent hands upon her self or is not sufficient to work her own destruction Let us allow Destroying Angels to interest themselves in the work as the Executioners of the Divine Justice and Vengeance upon a degenerate World We have examples of this so frequently in Sacred History how the Angels have executed God's Judgments upon a Nation or a People that it cannot seem new or strange that in this last judgment which by all the Prophets is represented as the Great Day of the Lord the day of his Wrath and of his Fury the same Angels should bear their parts and conclude the last scene of that Tragedy which they had acted in all along We read of the Destroying Angel in Aegypt of Angels that presided at the destruction of Sodom which was a Type of the future destrution of the World Iude 7. and of Angels that will accompany our Saviour when he comes in flames of Fire Not we suppose to be Spectators only but Actors and Superintendants in this great Catastrophe This ministery of Angels may be either in ordering and conducting such Natural Causes as we have already given an account of or in adding new ones if occasion be I mean encreasing the quantity of Fire or of fiery materials in and about the Earth So as that Element shall be more abundant and more predominant and overbear all opposition that either Water or any other Body can make against it It is not material whether of these two Suppositions we follow provided we allow that the Conflagration is a work of Providence and not a pure Natural Fatality If it be necessary that there should be an augmentation made of Fiery Matter 't is not hard to conceive how that may be done either from the Heavens or from the Earth The Prophets sometimes speak of multiplying or strengthning the Light of the Sun and it may as easily be conceiv'd of his heat as of his light as if the Vial that was to be pour'd upon it and gave it a power to scorch men with fire had something of a Natural sence as well as Moral But there is another stream of Ethereal matter that flows from the Heavens and recruits the Central Fire with continual supplies
Heaven with power and great glory and that will be to judge the World When the Son of Man shall come in his glory and all the holy Angels with him then shall he sit upon the Throne of his glory And before him shall be gather'd all Nations and he will separate the good from the bad and to the wicked and unbelievers he will say Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels This is the same Coming and the same Fire with that which we mention'd before out of S. Paul As you will plainly see if you compare S. Matthew's words with S. Paul's which are these When the Lord Iesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that hearken not to the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ. Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from or by the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power This me thinks should be an awakening thought that there is such a threatning upon record by one who never yet fail'd in his word against those that do not believe his Testimony Those that reject him now as a Dupe or an Impostor run a hazard of seeing him hereafter coming in the Clouds to be their Judge And it will be too late then to correct their errour when the bright Armies of Angels fill the Air and the Earth begins to melt at the Presence of the Lord. Thus much concerning those three ranks of Men whom the Apostle S. Paul seems to point at principally and condemn to the flames But as I said before the rest of sinners and vitious Persons amongst the Professors of Christianity tho' they are not so directly the Enemies of God as these are yet being transgressors of his Law they must expect to be brought to Justice In every well-govern'd State not only Traitors and Rebels that offend more immediately against the Person of the Prince but all others that notoriously violate the Laws are brought to condign punishment according to the nature and degree of their crime So in this case The fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is 'T is therefore the concern of every man to reflect often upon that Day and to consider what his fate and sentence is likely to be at that last Trial. The Iews have a Tradition that Elias sits in Heaven and keeps a Register of all Mens actions good or bad He hath his Under Secretaries for the several Nations of the World that take minutes of all that passes and so hath the History of every Man's life before him ready to be produc'd at the Day of Judgment I will not vouch for the literal truth of this but it is true in effect Every Man's fate shall be determin'd that Day according to the history of his Life according to the works done in the flesh whether good or bad And therefore it ought to have as much influence upon us as if every single action was formally register'd in Heaven If Men would learn to contemn this World it would cure a great many Vices at once And methinks S. Peter's argument from the approaching dissolution of all things should put us out of conceit with such perishing vanities Lust and Ambition are the two reigning Vices of great Men and those little fires might be soon extinguish'd if they would frequently and seriously meditate on this last and Universal Fire which will put an end to all Passions and all Contentions As to Ambition the Heathens themselves made use of this argument to abate and repress the vain affectation of glory and greatness in this World I told you before the lesson that was given to Scipio Africanus by his Uncle's Ghost upon this Subject And upon a like occasion and consideration Caesar hath a lesson given him by Lucan after the Battle of Pharsalia where Pompey lost the day and Rome its liberty The Poet says Caesar took pleasure in looking upon the dead Bodies and would not suffer them to be buried or which was their manner of burying to be burnt Whereupon he speaks to him in these words Hos Caesar populos si nunc non usserit Ignis Uret cum Terris uret cum gurgite Ponti Communis mundo superest Rogus Ossibus astra Misturus Quocunque Tuam Fortuna vocabit Hae quoque eunt Animae non altiùs ibis in auras Non meliore loco Stygiâ sub nocte jacebis Libera fortuna Mors est Capit omnia Tellus Quae genuit Coelo tegitur Qui non habet urnam Caesar If now these Bodies want their pile and urn At last with the whole Globe they 're sure to burn The World expects one general Fire and Thou Must go where these poor Sculs are wand'ring now Thou'l reach no higher in th' Ethereal Plain Nor 'mongst the Shades a better place obtain Death levels all And He that has not room To make a Grave Heaven's Vault shall be his Tomb. These are mortifying thoughts to ambitious Spirits And surely our own Mortality and the Mortality of the World it self may be enough to convince all considering Men That Vanity of Vanities all is vanity under the Sun any otherwise than as they relate to a better Life FINIS THE THEORY OF THE EARTH Containing an Account OF THE Original of the Earth AND OF ALL THE GENERAL CHANGES Which it hath already undergone OR IS TO UNDERGO Till the CONSUMMATION of all Things THE FOURTH BOOK Concerning the NEW HEAVENS and NEW EARTH AND Concerning the CONSUMMATION of all Things LONDON Printed by R. N. for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's-Head in S. Paul's Church-Yard 1697. PREFACE TO THE READER YOU see it is still my lot to travel into New Worlds having never found any great satisfaction in this As an active people leaves their habitations in a barren soil to try if they can make their fortune better elsewhere I first lookt backwards and waded through the Deluge into the Primaeval World to see how they liv'd there and how Nature stood in that original constitution Now I am going forwards to view the New Heavens and New Earth that will be after the Conflagration But Gentle Reader let me not take you any further if you be weary I do not love a querulous Companion Unless your Genius therefore press you forwards chuse rather to rest here and be content with that part of the Theory which you have seen already Is it not fair to have followed Nature so far as to have seen her twice in her ruins Why should we still pursue her even after death and dissolution into dark and remote Futurities To whom therefore such disquisitions seem needless or over-curious let them rest here and leave the remainder of this Work which is a kind of PROPHECY concerning the STATE of things after the Conflagration to those that are of a disposition suited to such studies and enquiries Not that any part of this Theory
and not to the Angels In the second chapter to the Hebrews ver 5. he says For unto the Angels hath he not put in subjection the WORLD TO COME So we read it but according to the strictest and plainest Translation it should be The habitable Earth to come Now what Earth is this where our Saviour is absolute Soveraign and where the Government is neither Humane nor Angelical but peculiarly Theocratical In the first place this cannot be the present World or the present Earth because the Apostle calls it Future or the Earth to come Nor can it be understood of the days of the Gospel seeing the Apostle acknowledges ver 8. That this subjection whereof he speaks is not yet made And seeing Antichrist will not finally be destroy'd till the appearance of our Saviour 2 Thess. 2. 8. nor Satan bound while Antichrist is in power during the reign of these two who are the Rulers of the darkness of the World our Saviour cannot properly be said to begin his reign here 'T is true He exercises his Providence over his Church and secures it from being destroy'd He can by a power paramount stop the rage either of Satan or Antichrist Hitherto shall you go and no further As sometimes when he was upon Earth he exerted a Divine Power which yet did not destroy his state of Humiliation so he interposes now when he thinks fit but he does not finally take the power out of the hands of his Enemies nor out of the hands of the Kings of the Earth The Kingdom is not deliver'd up to him and all dominion and power That all Tongues and Nations should serve him For S. Paul can mean no less in this place than that Kingdom in Daniel Seeing he calls it putting all things in subjection under his feet and says that it is not yet done Upon this account also as well as others our Saviour might truly say to Pilate Ioh. 18 36. my kingdom is not of this World And to his Disciples The Son of man came not to be ministred unto but to minister Matt. 20. 28. When he comes to receive his Kingdom he comes in the clouds of Heaven Dan. 7. 13 14. not in the womb of a Virgin He comes with the equipage of a King and Conquer or with thousands and ten thousands of Angels not in the form of a Servant or of a weak Infant as he did at his first coming I allow the phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The World to come is sometimes us'd in a large sence as comprehending all the days of the Messiah whether at his First or Second Coming for these two Comings are often undistinguish'd in Scripture and respect the Moral World as well as the Natural But the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orbis habitabilis which S. Paul here uses does primarily signifie the Natural World or the Habitable Earth in the proper use of the word amongst the Greeks and frequently in Scripture Luke 4. 5. and 21. 26. Rom. 10. 18. Heb. 1. 6. Apoc. 3. 10. Neither do we here exclude the Moral World or the Inhabitants of the Earth but rather necessarily include them Both the Natural and Moral World to come will be the seat and subject of our Saviour's Kingdom and Empire in a peculiar manner But when you understand nothing by this phrase but the present moral World it neither answers the proper signification of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the first or second part of the expression And tho such like phrases may be us'd for the Dispensation of the Messiah in opposition to that of the Law yet the height of that distinction or opposition and the fulfilling of the expression depends upon the second coming of our Saviour and upon the Future Earth or habitable World where he shall Reign and which does peculiarly belong to Him and His Saints Neither can this World to come or this Earth to come be understood of the Kingdom of Heaven For the Greek word will not bear that sence nor is it ever us'd in Scripture for Heaven Besides the Kingdom of Heaven when spoken of as future is not properly till the last resurrection and final judgment Whereas This World to come which our Saviour is to govern must be before that time and will then expire For all his Government as to this World expires at the day of Judgment and he will then deliver up the kingdom into the hands of his father that he may be all in all Having reigned first himselfe and put down all rule and all authority and power So that S. Paul in these two places of his Epistles refers plainly to the same time and the same reign of Christ which must be in a future World and before the last day of Iudgment and therefore according to our deductions in the New Heavens and the New Earth CHAP. III. Concerning the Inhabitants of the New Earth That Natural Reason cannot determine this point That according to Scripture The Sons of the first Resurrection or the Heirs of the Millennium are to be the Inhabitants of the New Earth The Testimony of the Philosophers and of the Christian Fathers for the Renovation of the World The first Proposition laid down THUS we have setled the True Notion according to Reason and Scripture of the New Heavens and New Earth But where are the Inhabitants you 'l say You have taken the pains to make us a New World and now that it is made it must stand empty When the first World was destroyed there were Eight Persons preserv'd with a Set of Living Creatures of every Kind as a Seminary or foundation of another World But the Fire it seems is more merciless than the Water for in this destruction of the World it does not appear that there is one living Soul left of any sort upon the face of the Earth No hopes of posterity nor of any continuation of Mankind in the usual way of propagation And Fire is a barren Element that breeds no living Creatures in it nor hath any nourishment proper for their food or sustenance We are perfectly at a loss therefore so far as I see for a new race of Mankind or how to People this new-form'd World The Inhabitants if ever there be any must either come from Heaven or spring from the Earth There are but these two ways But Natural Reason can determine neither of these sees no tract to follow in these unbeaten paths nor can advance one step further Farewel then dear Friend I must take another Guide and leave you here as Moses upon Mount Pisgah only to look into that Land which you cannot enter I acknowledge the good service you have done and what a faithful Companion you have been in a long journey from the beginning of the World to this hour in a tract of time of six thousand years We have travel'd together through the dark
beloved City That Camp and that City therefore were upon the Earth And fire came down from Heaven and devoured them If it came down from Heaven it came upon the Earth Furthermore those Persons that are rais'd from the Dead are said to be Priests of God and of Christ and to reign with him a thousand years Now these must be the same Persons with the Priests and Kings mention'd in the Fifth Chapter which are there said expresly to reign upon Earth or that they should reign upon Earth It remains therefore only to determine What Earth this is where the Sons of the first Resurrection will live and reign It cannot be the present Earth in the same state and under the same circumstances it is now For what happiness or priviledge would that be to be call'd back into a mortal life under the necessities and inconveniences of sickly Bodies and an incommodious World such as the present state of mortality is and must continue to be till some change be made in Nature We may be sure therefore that a change will be made in Nature before that time and that the state they are rais'd into and the Earth they are to inhabit will be at least Paradisiacal And consequently can be no other than the New Heavens and New Earth which we are to expect after the Conflagration From these Considerations there is a great fairness to conclude both as to the Characters of the Perons and of the place or state that the Sons of the first Resurrection will be Inhabitants of the New Earth and reign there with Christ a thousand years But seeing this is one of the principal and peculiar Conclusions of this Discourse and bears a great part in this last Book of the Theory of the Earth it will deserve a more full explication and a more ample proof to make it out We must therefore take a greater compass in our discourse and give a full account of that State which is usually call'd the Millennium The Reign of the Saints a thousand years or the Kingdom of Christ upon Earth But before we enter upon this new Subject give me leave to close our present Argument about the Renovation of the World with some Testimonies of the Ancient Philosophers to that purpose 'T is plain to me that there were amongst the Ancients several Traditions or traditionary conclusions which they did not raise themselves by reason and observation but receiv'd them from an unknown Antiquity An instance of this is the Conflagration of the World A Doctrine as ancient for any thing I know as the World it self At least as ancient as we have any Records And yet none of those Ancients that tell us of it give any argument to prove it Neither is it any wonder for they did not invent it themselves but receiv'd it from others without proof by the sole authority of Tradition In like manner the Renovation of the World which we are now speaking of is an ancient Doctrine both amongst the Greeks and Eastern Philosophers But they shew us no method how the World may be renew'd nor make any proof of its future Renovation For it was not a discovery which they first made but receiv'd it with an implicite faith from their Masters and Ancestors And these Traditionary Doctrines were all fore-runners of that Light that was to shine more clearly at the opening of the Christian dispensation to give a more full account of the fate and revolutions of the Natural World as well as of the Moral The Iews 't is well known held the Renovation of the World and a Sabbath after six thousand years according to the Prophecy that was currant amongst them whereof we have given a larger account in the precedent Book ch 5. And that future state they call'd Olam Hava or the World to come which is the very same with St. Paul's Habitable Earth to come Heb. 2. 6. Neither can I easily believe that those constitutions of Moses that proceed so much upon a Septenary or the number Seven and have no ground or reason in the nature of the thing for that particular number I cannot easily believe I say that they are either accidental or humoursome without design or signification But that they are typical or representative of some Septenary state that does eminently deserve and bear that Character Moses in the History of the Creation makes six days work and then a Sabbath Then after six years he makes a Sabbath-year and after a Sabbath of years a year of Jubilee Levit. 25. All these lesser revolutions seem to me to point at the grand Revolution the great Sabbath or Iubilee after six Millenaries which as it answers the type in point of time so likewise in the nature and contents of it Being a state of Rest from all labour and trouble and servitude a state of joy and triumph and a state of Renovation when things are to return to their first condition and pristine order So much for the Iews The Heathen Philosophers both Greeks and Barbarians had the same doctrine of the Renovation of the World currant amongst them And that under several names and phrases as of the Great Year the Restauration the Mundane periods and such like They suppos'd stated and fix'd periods of time upon expiration whereof there would always follow some great revolution of the World and the face of Nature would be renew'd Particularly after the Conflagration the Stoicks always suppos'd a new World to succeed or another frame of Nature to be erected in the room of that which was destroy'd And they use the same words and phrases upon this occasion that Scripture useth Chrysippus calls it Apocatastalis as St. Peter does Act. 3. 21. Marcus Antoninus in his Meditations several times calls it Palingenesia as our Saviour does Mat. 19. 28. And Numenius hath two Scripture-words Resurrection and Restitution to express this renovation of the World Then as to the Platonicks that Revolution of all things hath commonly been call'd the Platonick year as if Plato had been the first author of that opinion But that 's a great mistake he receiv'd it from the Barbarick Philosophers and particularly from the Aegyptian Priests amongst whom he liv'd several years to be instructed in their learning But I do not take Plato neither to be the first that brought this doctrine into Greece for besides that the Sibylls whose antiquity we do not well know sung this Song of oâ—d as we see it copyed from them by Virgil in his fourth Eclogue Pythagoras taught it before Plato and Orpheus before them both And that 's as high as the Greek Philosophy reaches The Barbarick Philosophers were more ancient namely the Aegyptians Persians Chaldeans Indian Brackmans and other Eastern Nations Their Monuments indeed are in a great measure lost yet from the remains of them which the Greeks have transcrib'd and so preserv'd in their writings we see plainly they all had this doctrine of the
Future Renovation And to this day the posterity of the Brackmans in the East Indies retain the same notion That the World will be renewed after the last Fire You may see the citations if you please for all these Nations in the Latin Treatise Ch. 5. Which I thought would be too dry and tedious to be render'd into English To these Testimonies of the Philosophers of all Ages for the Future Renovation of the World we might add the Testimonies of the Christian Fathers Greek and Latin ancient and modern I will only give you a bare List of them and refer you to the Latin Treatise for the words or the places Amongst the Greek Fathers Iustin Martyr Irenaeus Origen The Fathers of the Council of Nice Eusebius Basil The two Cyrils of Ierusalem and Alexandria The two Gregorys Nazianzen and Nyssen S. Chrysostom Zacharias Mitylenensis and of later date Damascen Oecumenius Euthymius and others These have all set their hands and Seals to this Doctrine Of the Latin Fathers Tertullian Lactantius S. Hilary S. Ambrose S. Austin S. Ierome and many later Ecclesiastical Authors These with the Philosophers before mentioned I count good authority Sacred and Prophane which I place here as an out-guard upon Scripture where our principal force lies And these three united and acting in conjunction will be sufficient to secure this first post and to prove our first Proposition which is this That after the Conflagration of this World there will be New Heavens and a New Earth and that Earth will be inhabited CHAP. IV. The proof of a Millennium or of a blessed Age to come from Scripture A view of the Apocalypse and of the Prophecies of Daniel in reference to this Kingdom of Christ and of his Saints WE have given fair presumptions if not proofs in the precedent Chapter That the Sons of the first Resurrection will be the persons that shall inhabit the New Earth or the World to come But to make that proof compleat and unexceptionable I told you it would be necessary to take a larger compass in our discourse and to examine what is meant by That Reign with Christ a thousand years which is promis'd to the Sons of the First Resurrection by St. Iohn in the Apocalypse and in other places of Scripture is usually call'd the Kingdom of Christ and the reign of the Saints And by Ecclesiastical Authors in imitation of S. Iohn it is commonly styled the Millennium We shall indifferently use any of these words or phrases and examine First the truth of the Notion and Opinion whether in Scripture there be such an happy state promised to the Saints under the conduct of Christ. And then we will proceed to examine the nature characters place and time of it And I am in hopes when these things are duly discuss'd and stated you will be satisfied that we have found out the true Inhabitants of the New Heavens and New Earth and the true mystery of that state which is call'd the Millennium or the Reign of Christ and of his Saints We begin with S. Iohn whose words in the twentieth Chapter of the Apocalypse are express both as to the first Resurrection and as to the reign of those Saints that rise with Christ for a thousand years Satan in the mean time being bound or disabled from doing mischief and seducing mankind The words of the Prophet are these And I saw an Angel come down from heaven having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand And he laid hold on the Dragon that old Serpent which is the Devil and Satan and bound him a thousand years And I saw Thrones and they sat upon them and judgment was given unto them and I saw the Souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Iesus and for the word of God and which had not worshipped the beast neither his image neither had received his mark upon their fore-heads or in their hands and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished This is the first Resurrection Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection on such the second death hath no power but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years These words do fully express a Resurrection and a reign with Christ a thousand years As for that particular space of time of a thousand years it is not much material to our present purpose but the Resurrection here spoken of and the reign with Christ make the substance of the controversie and in effect prove all that we enquire after at present This Resurrection you see is call'd the First Resurrection by way of distinction from the Second and general Resurrection which is to be plac'd a thousand years after the First And both this First Resurrection and the Reign of Christ seem to be appropriated to the Martyrs in this place For the Prophet says The Souls of those that were beheaded for the witness of Iesus c. They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years From which words if you please we will raise this Doctrine That Those that have suffered for the sake of Christ and a good Conscience shall be raised from the dead a thousand years before the general Resurrection and reign with Christ in an happy state This Proposition seems to be plainly included in the words of S. Iohn and to be the intended sence of this Vision but you must have patience a little as to your enquiry into particulars till in the progress of our discourse we have brought all the parts of this conclusion into a fuller light In the mean time there is but one way that I know of to evade the force of these words and of the conclusion drawn from them and that is by supposing that the First Resurrection here mentioned is not to be understood in a literal sense but is Allegorical and mystical signifying only a Resurrection from sin to a Spiritual Life As we are said to be dead in sin and to be risen with Christ by Faith and Regeneration This is a manner of Speech which S. Paul does sometimes use as Ephes. 2. 6. and 5. 14. and Col. 3. 1. But how can this be applyed to the present case Were the Martyrs dead in sin 'T is they that are here rais'd from the dead Or after they were beheaded for the witness of Jesus naturally dead and laid in their graves were they then regenerate by Faith There is no congruitiy in allegories so applyed Besides Why should they be said to be regenerate a thousand years before the day of Judgment Or to reign with Christ after this Spiritual Resurrection such a limited time a Thousand Years Why not to Eternity For in this allegorical sence of rising and reigning they will reign with him for everlasting Then after a Thousand Years must all the wicked be
21. 2. Lastly to the Church of Laodicea is said To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my Throne And that is the usual phrase to express the dignity of those that reign with Christ in his Millennial Kingdom as you may see Apoc. 20. 4. Mat. 19. 28. Dan. 7. 9 13 14. So all these promises to the Churches aim at one and the same thing and terminate upon the same point 'T is the same reward express'd in different ways and seeing 't is still fixt upon a victory and appropriated to those that overcome it does the more easily carry our thoughts to the Millennium which is the proper reward of Victors that is of Martyrs and Confessors Thus you see how this notion and mystery of the Millennial Kingdom of Christ does both begin and end the Apocalypse and run thorough all its parts As the Soul of that Body of Prophecies A Spirit or ferment that actuates the whole mass And if we could thoroughly understand that illustrious Scene at the opening of this Apocalyptical Theatre in the 4th and 5th Chap. I do not doubt but we should find it a Representation of the Majesty of our Saviour in the Glory of his future Kingdom But I dare not venture upon the explication of it there are so many things of difficult and dubious interpretation coucht under those Schemes Wherefore having made these observations upon the Prophecies of St. Iohn we will now add to them some reflections upon the Prophecies of Daniel That by the agreement and concurrence of these two great Witnesses the Conclusion we pretend to prove may be fully established In the Prophecies of Daniel there are two grand Visions that of the Statue or Image Chap. 2. and that of the four Beats Chap. 7. And both these Visions terminate upon the Millennium or the Kingdom of Christ. In the Vision of the Statue representing to us the four great Monarchies of the World successively whereof by the general consent of Interpreters The Roman is the fourth and last after the dissolution of the last of them a fifth Monarchy the Kingdom of Christ is openly introduc'd in these words And in the days of these kingdoms shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroy'd and the kingdom shall be left to other people but it shall break in pieces and consume all those kingdoms and it shall stand for ever This may be verified in some measure by the first coming of our Saviour in the days of the 4th Kingdom when his Religion from small beginnings in a short time overspread the greatest part of the known World As the stone cut out without hands became a great mountain and filled the whole Earth But the full and final accomplishment of this Prophecy cannot be till the second coming of our Saviour For not till then will he break in pieces and consume all those kingdoms and that in such a manner that they shall become like the chaff of the Summer threshing floor carried away by the wind so as no place shall be found for them This I say will not be done nor an everlasting Kingdom erected in their place over all the Nations of the Earth till his Second Coming and his Millennial Reign But this Reign is declared more expresly in the Vision of the four Beasts Chap. 7. For after the destruction of the fourth Beast the Prophet says I saw in the night Visions and behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the Ancient of days and they brought him near before him And there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people nations and languages should serve him His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom that which shall not be destroy'd Accordingly he says ver 21 22. The last Beast and the little Horn made war against the Saints until the Ancient of days came and judgment was given to the Saints of the most High and the time came that the Saints possessed the kingdom And lastly in pursuit still of the same argument he concludes to the same effect in fuller words ver 26 27. But the Iudgment shall sit and they shall take away his dominion to consume and to destroy it unto the end And the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the Saints of the most High whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and all dominions shall serve and obey him Here is the end of the matter says the Prophet Here is the upshot and result of all Here terminate both the Prophecies of Daniel and St. Iohn and all the affairs of the Terrestrial World Daniel brings in this kingdom of Christ in the conclusion of two or three Visions but St. Iohn hath interwoven it every where with his Prophecies from first to last And you may as well open a Lock without a Key as interpret the Apocalypse without the Millennium But after these two great Witnesses the one for the Old Testament the other for the New we must look into the rest of the Sacred Writers for tho' every single Author there is an Oracle yet the concurrence of Oracles is still a further demonstration and takes away all remains of doubt or incredulity CHAP. V. A View of other places of Scripture concerning the Millennium or future Kingdom of Christ. In what sence all the Prophets have born Testimony concerning it THE Wife of Zebedee came to our Saviour and begg'd of him like a fond Mother that her two Sons might sit one at his right hand th' other at his left when he came into his Kingdom Our Saviour does not deny the supposition or general ground of her request that he was to have a Kingdom but tells her The honours of that Kingdom were not then in his disposal He had not drunk his Cup nor been baptiz'd with his last Baptism which were conditions both to him and others of entring into that Kingdom Yet in another place our Saviour is so well assur'd of his interest and authority there by the good will of his Father that he promises to his Disciples and followers that for the losses they should sustain here upon his account and for the sake of his Gospel they should receive there an hundred fold and sit upon Thrones with him judging the Tribes of Israel The words are these And Iesus said unto them verily I say unto you that ye which have followed me in the Regeneration or Renovation when the Son of man shall sit in the Throne of his glory ye also shall sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel These Thrones in all reason must be understood to be the same with those which we mention'd in the foregoing Chapter out of Daniel and the Apocalypse and therefore mark the same time and the same
place forementioned seems to do And accordingly the Prophet having set down several natural characters of that State as indolency and joy longevity ease and plenty from ver 18. to the 24th He there begins the moral characters of divine favour and such a particular protection that they are heard and answer'd before they pray And lastly He represents it as a state of universal peace and innocency ver 23. The Wolf and the Lamb shall feed together c. This last character which comprehends Peace Iustice and Innocency is more fully display'd by the same Prophet in the 11th chap. where he treats also of the Kingdom of Christ. Give me leave to set down his words ver 4 5 6 7 8 9. But with Righteousness shall he judge the poor and reprove with equity for the meek of the Earth and he shall smite the Earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins and faithfulness the girdle of his reins The Wolf also shall dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard shall lye down with the Kid and the Calf and the young Lyon and the fatling together and a little child shall lead them And the Cow and the Bear shall feed their young ones shall lye down together and the Lyon shall eat straw like the Ox. And the suckling ohbild shall play on the hole of the Asp and the weaned child shall put his hand on the Cockatrice-den They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain for the Earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea Thus far the Prophet Now if we joyn this to what we noted before from his 65th chap. concerning the same state 't will be impossible to understand it of any order of things that is now or hath been hitherto in the World And consequently it must be the Idea of some state to come and particularly of that which we call the Future Kingdom of Christ. The same pacifick temper Innocency and Justice are celebrated by this Prophet when the Mountain of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains chap. 2. 2 4. And he shall judge amongst the nations and shall rebuke many people and they shall heat their swords into plow-shares and their spears into pruning-hooks Nation shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall they learn war any more And as to righteousness he says in the 23. chap. Behold a King shall reign in righteousness and Princes shall rule in judgment c. These places I know usually are applyed to the first coming of our Saviour the peaceableness of his doctrine and the propagation of it through all the World I willingly allow this to be a true sence so far as it will go But 't is one thing to be a true sence to such a degree and another thing to be the final sence and accomplishment of a Prophecy The affairs of the first and second coming of our Saviour are often mingled together in the Prophecies of the Old Testament but in that mixture there are some characters whereby you may distinguish what belongs to his first and what to his second coming what to the time when he came to suffer and what to the time when he shall come to reign For instance In these Prophecies recited though there are many things very applicable to his first coming yet that Regality which is often spoken of and that universal Peace and Innocency that will accompany it cannot be verified of his coming in the flesh Seeing it is plain that in his state of humiliation he did not come as a King to rule over the Nations of the Earth And he says himself expresly That his Kingdom is not of this World Iohn 18. 36. And the Prayer of Salome and of the good Thief upon the Cross suppose it not then present but to come Then as to the establishment of Peace in his Kingdom it does not at all appear to me that there is more Peace in the World now than there was before our Saviour came into it or that the Christian parts of the World are more peaceable than the unchristian Therefore these great promises of a Pacifick Kingdom which are exprest in terms as high and emphatical as can be imagin'd must belong to some other days and some other ages than what we have seen hitherto You 'l say it may be 't is not the fault of the Gospel that the World is not peaceable but of those that profess it and do not practise it This is true but it does not answer the Prophecy for that makes no such exception And by such a reserve as this you may elude any Prophecy So the Iews say Their Messiah defers his coming beyond the time appointed by Prophecy because of their sins but we do not allow this for a good reason The Israelites had their promised Canaan tho' they had render'd themselves unworthy of it and by this method of interpreting Prophecies all the happiness and glory promised in the Millennial Kingdom of Christ may come to nothing upon a pretended forfeiture Threatnings indeed may have a tacit condition God may be better than his word and upon repentance divert his judgments but he cannot be worse than his word or fail of performance when without any condition exprest he promises or prophesies good things to come This would destroy all assurance of Hope or Faith Lastly This Prophecy concerning Pacifick times or a Pacifick Kingdom is in the 65th chap. subjoyn'd to the Renovation of the Heavens and the Earth and several marks of a change in the Natural World which things we know did not come to pass at the first coming of our Saviour there was no change of Nature then nor has been ever since And therefore this happy change both in the Natural and Moral World is yet to come But as we said before we do not speak this exclusively of the first coming of our Saviour as to other parts of these Prophecies for no doubt that was one great design of them And in the Prophecies of the Old Testament there are often three gradations or gradual accomplishments The first in some King of Israel or some Person or affair relating to Israel as National only The second in the Messiah at his first coming And the last in the Messiah and his Kingdom at his second coming And that which we affirm and contend for is that the Prophecies foremention'd have not a final and total accomplishment either in the Nation of the Iews or at the first coming of our Saviour And this we bide by The next Prophet that we mention'd as a witness of the future Kingdom of Christ is David Who in his Psalms seems to be pleas'd with this subject above all others And when he is most exalted in his thoughts and Prophetical raptures the Spirit carries him into the Kingdom
least give plain marks of a Terrestrial state Wherefore the only question that remains is this Whether these happy Days are past already or to come Whether this blessed state of the Church is behind us or before us whether our Predecessors have enjoy'd it or our posterity is to expect it For we are very sure that it is not present The World is full of Wars and rumours of Wars of Vice and Knavery of Oppression and Persecution and these are things directly contrary to the genius and characters of the state which we look after And if we look for it in times past we can go no further back than the beginning of Christianity For S. Iohn the last of the Apostles Prophesied of these times as to come and plac'd them at the end of his systeme of Prophecies whereby one might conclude that they are not only within the compass of the Christian ages but far advanc'd into them But however not to insist upon that at present where will you find a thousand years from the birth of Christianity to this present age that deserves the name or answers to the characters of this Pure and Pacifick state of the Church The first ages of Christianity as they were the most pure so likewise were they the least peaceable Continually more or less under the Persecution of the Heathen Emperours and so far from being the Reign and Empire of Christ and his Saints over the Nations that Christians were then every where in subjection or slavery A poor feeble helpless people thrust into Prisons or thrown to the Lyons at the pleasure of their Princes or Rulers 'T is true when the Empire became Christian under Constantine in the fourth Century there was for a time peace and prosperity in the Church and a good degree of Purity and Piety But that peace was soon disturb'd and that piety soon corrupted The growing pride and ambition of the Ecclesiasticks and their easiness to admit or introduce Superstitious Practices destroy'd the purity of the Church And as to the peace of it Their contests about Opinions and Doctrines tore the Christians themselves into pieces and soon after an inundation of Barbarous People fell into Christendom and put it all into flames and confusion After this Eruption of the Northern Nations Mahometanism rose in the East and swarms of Saracens like armies of Locusts invaded conquer'd and planted their Religion in several parts of the Roman Empire and of the Christianiz'd World And can we call such times the Reign of Christ or the imprisonment of Satan In the following ages the Turks over-run the Eastern Empire and the Greek Church and still hold that miserable people in slavery Providence seems to have so order'd affairs that the Christian World should never be without a WOE upon it lest it should fansie it self already in those happy days of Peace and Prosperity which are reserv'd for future times Lastly whosoever is sensible of the corruptions and persecutions of the Church of Rome since she came to her greatness whosoever allows her to be mystical Babylon which must fall before the Kingdom of Christ comes on will think that Kingdom duly plac'd by S. Iohn at the end of his Prophecies concerning the Christian Church and that there still remains according to the words of St. Paul Hebr. 4. 9. a Sabbatism to the people of God CHAP. VI. The sence and testimony of the Primitive Church concerning the Millennium or future Kingdom of Christ from the times of the Apostles to the Nicene Council The second Proposition laid down When by what means and for what reasons that doctrine was afterwards neglected or discountenanc'd YOU have heard the voice of the Prophets and Apostles declaring the future Kingdom of Christ. Next to these the Primitive Fathers are accounted of good authority Let us therefore now enquire into their Sence concerning this Doctrine that we may give satisfaction to all parties And both those that are guided by Scripture alone and those that have a Veneration for Antiquity may find proofs suitable â—o their inclinations and judgment And to make few words of it we will lay down this Conclusion That the Millennial Kingdom of Christ was the general Doctrine of the Primitive Church from the times of the Apostles to the Nicene Council inclusively S. Iohn out-liv'd all the rest of the Apostles and towards the latter end of his life being banish'd into the Isle of Pathmos he writ his Apocalypse wherein he hath given us a more full and distinct account of the Millennial Kingdom of Christ than any of the Prophets or Apostles before him Papias Bishop of Hierapolis and Martyr one of S. Iâ—hn's Auditoâ—s as Irenaeus testifies taught the same Doctrine after S. Iohn He was the familiar friend of Polycarp another of S. Iohn's Disciples and either from him or immediately from S. Iohn's mouth he might receive this Doctrine That he taught it in the Church is agreed on by all hands both by those that are his followers as Irenaeus and those that are not well-wishers to this Doctrine as Eâ—sebius and Ierome There is also another chanel wherein this Doctrine is Traditionally deriv'd from S. Iohn namely by the Clergy of Asia as Irenaeus tells us in the same Chapter For arguing the point he shows that the Blessing promis'd to Iacob from his Father Isaac was not made good to him in this life and therefore he says without doubt those words had a further aim and prospect upon the times of the Kingdom so they us'd to call the Millennial state when the Iust rising from the dead shall reign and when Nature renew'd and set at liberty shall yield plenty and abundance of all things being blest with the dew of Heaven and a great fertility of the Earth According as has been related by those Ecclesiasticks or Clergy who sce. St. John the Disciple of Christ and heard of him WHAT OUR LORD HAD TAUGHT CONCERNING THOSE TIMES This you see goes to the Fountain-head The Christian Clergy receive it from St. Iohn and St. Iohn relates it from the mouth of our Saviour So much for the Original authority of this Doctrine as a Tradition that it was from St. Iohn and by him from Christ. And as to the propagation and prevailing of it in the Primitive Church we can bring a witness beyond all exception Iustin Martyr Contemporary with Irenaeus and his Senior He says that himself and all the Orthodox Christians of his time did acknowledge the Resurrection of the flesh suppose the first Resurrection and a thousand years reign in Ierusalem restor'd or in the New Jerusalem According as the Prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah and Others attest with common consent As St. Peter had said before Act. 3. 21. That all the Prophets had spoken of it Then he quotes the 65th Chapter of Isaiah which is a bulwark for this Doctrine that never can be broken And to shew the Iew with whom he had this discourse that it was the sence
of our Prophets as well as of theirs He tells him that a certain Man amongst us Christians by name Iohn one of the Apostles of Christ in a Revelation made to him did prophesie that the faithful believers in Christ should live a thousand years in the New Ierusalem and after that should be the general Resurrection and day of Iudgment Thus you have the thoughts and sentiment of Iustin Martyr as to himself as to all the reputed Orthodox of his time As to the sence of the Prophets in the Old Testament and as to the sence of St. Iohn in the Apocalypse All conspiring in confirmation of the Millenary Doctrine To these three Witnesses Papias Irenaeus and Iustin Martyr we may add two more within the second Age of the Church Melito Bishop of Sardis and St. Barnabas or whosoever was the Author of the Epistle under his name This Melito by some is thought to be the Angel of the Church of Sardis to whom St. Iohn directs the Epistle to that Church Apoc. 3. 1. But I do not take him to be so ancient However he was Bishop of that place at least in the second Century and a Person of great Sanctity and Learning He writ many Books as you may see in St. Ierome and as He notes out of Tertullian was by Christians reputed a Prophet He was also a declar'd Millenary and is recorded as such both by Ierome and Gennadius As to the Epistle of Barnabas which we mention'd it must be very ancient whosoever is the Author of it and before the third Century seeing it is often cited by Clemens Alexandrinus who was himself within the second Century The genius of it is very much Millenarian in the interpretation of the Sabbath the promis'd Land a Day for a thousand years and concerning the Renovation of the World In all which He follows the foot-steps of the Orthodox of those times that is of the Millenarians So much for the first and second Centuries of the Church By which short account it appears that the Millenary Doctrine was Orthodox and Catholick in those early days For these Authors do not set it down as a private opinion of their own but as a Christian Doctrine or an Apostolical Tradition 'T is remarkable what Papias says of himself and his way of Learning in his Book call'd The Explanation of the Words of the Lord as St. Ierome gives us an account of it He says in his Preface He did not follow various opinions but had the Apostles for his Authors And that he consider'd what Andrew what Peter said what Philip what Thomas and other Disciples of the Lord. As also what Aristion and John the Senior Disciples of the Lord what they spoke And that he did not profit so much by reading Books as by the living voice of these persons which resounded from them to that day This hath very much the air of Truth and Sincerity and of a Man that in good earnest sought after the Christian Doctrine from those that were the most Authentick Teachers of it I know Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History gives a double Character of this Papias in one place he calls him A very eloquent Man in all things and skilful in Scripture and in another he makes him a Man of a small understanding But what reason there is to suspect Eusebius of partiality in this point of the Millennium we shall make appear hereafter However We do not depend upon the Learning of Papias or the depth of his understanding allow him but to be an honest Man and a fair Witness and 't is all we desire And we have little reason to question his testimony in this point seeing it is backt by others of good credit and also because there is no counter-evidence nor any witness that appears against him For there is not extant either the Writing Name or Memory of any Person that contested this doctrine in the first or second Century I say that call'd in question this Millenary Doctrine propos'd after a Christian manner unless such Hereticks as deny'd the Resurrection wholly or such Christians as deny'd the Divine Authority of the Apocalypse We proceed now to the Third Century Where you find Tertullian Origen Victorinus Bishop and Martyr Nepos Aegyptius Cyprian and at the end of it Lactantius All openly prosessing or implicitly favouring the Millenary Doctrine We do not mention Clemens Alexandrinus contemporary with Tertullian because he hath not any thing that I know of expresly either for or against the Millennium But he takes notice that the Seventh Day hath been accounted Sacred both by the Hebrews and Greeks because of the Revolution of the World and the Renovation of all things And giving this as a reason why they kept that day Holy seeing there is not a Revolution of the World every seven days it can be in no other sence than as the Seventh Day represents the seventh Millenary in which the Renovation of the World and the Kingdom of Christ is to be As to Tertullian S. Ierome reckons him in the first place amongst the Latin Millenaries And tho' his Book about the Hope of the Faithful as also that about Paradise which should have given us the greatest light in this affair be both lost or suppress'd yet there are sufficient indications of his Millenary opinion in his Tracts against Marcion and against Hermogenes S. Cyprian was Tertullian's admirer and inclines to the same opinion so far as one can judge in this particular for his period of Six Thousand Years and making the Seventh Millenary the Consummation of all is wholly according to the Analogy of the Millenary Doctrine As to the Two Bishops Victorinus and Nepos S. Ierome vouches for them The Writings of the one are lost and of the other so chang'd that the sence of the Author does not appear there now But Lactantius whom we nam'd in the last place does openly and profusely teach this doctrine in his Divine Institutions and with the same assurance that he does other parts of the Christian Doctrine For he concludes thus speaking of the Millennium This is the doctrine of the Holy Prophets which we Christians follow This is our wisdom c. Yet he acknowledges there that it was kept as a mystery or secret amongst the Christians lest the Heathens should make any perverse or odious interpretation of it And for the same or like reason I believe The Book of the Apocalypse was kept out of the hands of the Vulgar for some time and not read publickly lest it should be found to have spoken too openly of the fate of the Roman Empire or of this Millennial State So much for the First Second and Third Century of the Church But by our conclusion we engag'd to make out this proof as far as the Nicene Council inclusively The Nicene Council was about the year of Christ 325. and we may reasonably suppose Lactantius was then living at least he came within the
Old Testament As to the Apocalypse Babylon the seat of Antichrist is represented there as destroy'd by Fire Chap. 18. 8 18. Chap. 14. 11. Chap. 19. 3 20. And in Daniel when the Beast is destroy'd Chap. 7. 11. His body was given to the burning flame Then as to the other Prophets they do not you know speak of Antichrist or the Beast in terms but under the Types of Babylon Tyre and such like and these places or Princes are represented by them as to be destroy'd by fire Isa. 13. 19. Ier. 51. 25. Ezek. 28. 18. So much for this third Argument The fourth Argument is this The Future Kingdom of Christ will not be till the day of Judgment and the Resurrection But that will not be till the end of the World Therefore neither the Kingdom of Christ. By the day of Judgment here I do not mean the final and universal Judgment Nor by the Resurrection the final and universal Resurrection for these will not be till after the Millennium But we understand here the first day of Judgment and the first Resurrection which will be at the end of this present World according as S. Iohn does distinguish them in the 20th Chap. of the Apocalypse Now that the Millennium will not be till the day of Judgment in this sence we have both the Testimonies of Daniel and of S. Iohn Daniel in the 7th Chap. supposes the Beast to rule till judgment shall sit and then they shall take away his dominion and it shall be given to the people of the Saints of the most High S. Iohn makes an explicite declaration of both these in his 20th Chap. of the Apocalypse which is the great Directory in this point of the Millennium He says there were Thrones set as for a Judicature Then there was a Resurrection from the Dead and those that rise reigned with Christ a Thousand years Here 's a Judicial Session a Resurrection and the reign of Christ joyned together There is also another passage in S. Iohn that joyns the judgment of the Dead with the Kingdom of Christ. 'T is in the 11th Chap. under the seventh Trumpet The words are these ver 15. And the seventh Angel sounded and there were great voices in heaven saying the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign for ever and ever And the four and twenty Elders c. And the nations were angry and thy wrath is come and the time of the Dead that they should be judged and that thou shouldst give reward unto thy servants the Prophets and to the Saints and them that fear thy name Here are two things plainly express'd and link'd together The judging of the Dead and the Kingdom of Christ wherein the Prophets and Saints are rewarded Now as the judging of the Dead is not in this life so neither is the reward of the Prophets and Saints in this life as we are taught sufficiently in the Gospel and by the Apostles Mat. 19. 28. 1 Thess. 1. 7. 2 Tim. 4. 8. 1 Pet. 1. 7. and Ch. 5. 4. Therefore the Reign and Kingdom of Christ which is joyned with these two cannot be in this life or before the end of the world And as a further testimony and confirmation of this we may observe that S. Paul to Timothy hath joyn'd together these three things The appearance of Christ the Reign of Christ and the judging of the Dead I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Iesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom 2 Tim. 4. 1. This might also be prov'd from the order extent and progress of the Prophecies of the Apocalypse whereof some are such as reach to the end of the World and yet must be accomplish'd before the Millennium begin as the Vials Others are so far already advanc'd towards the end of the World as to leave no room for a thousand years reign as the Trumpets But because every one hath his own interpretation of these Prophecies and it would be tedious here to prove any single Hypothesis in contradistinction to all the rest we will therefore leave this remark to have more or less effect according to the minds it falls upon And proceed to our fifth Argument Fifthly The Ierusalem-state is the same with the Millennial state But the New Ierusalem state will not be till the end of the World or till after the Conflagration Therefore neither the Millennium That the Ierusalem-state is the same with the Millennium is agreed upon I think by all Millenaries Ancient and Modern Iustin Martyr Irenaeus and Tertullian speak of it in that sence and so do the later Authors so far as I have observ'd And St. Iohn seems to give them good authority for it In the 20th Chap. of the Apocalypse he says the Camp of the Saints and the Beloved City were besieg'd by Satan and his Gigantick crew at the end of the Millennium That Beloved City is the New Ierusalem and you see it is the same with the Camp of the Saints or at least contemporary with it Besides the Marriage of the Lamb was in or at the appearance of the New Jerusalem for that was the Spouse of the Lamb Apoc. 21. 2. Now this Spouse was ready and this Marriage was said to be come at the destruction of Babylon which was the beginning of the Millennium Chap. 18. 7. Therefore the New Jerusalem run all along with the Millennium and was indeed the same thing under another name Lastly What is this New Jerusalem if it be not the same with the Millennial state It is promis'd as a reward to the sufferers for Christ Apoc. 3. 12. and you see its wonderful priviledges Ch. 21. 3 4. and yet it is not Heaven and eternal Life for it is said to come down from God out of Heaven Ch. 21. 2. and Ch. 3. 12. It can therefore be nothing but the glorious Kingdom of Christ upon Earth where the Saints shall reign with him a Thousand Years Now as to the second part of our Argument that the New Jerusalem will not come down from Heaven till the end of the World of this S. Iohn seems to give us a plain proof or demonstration for he places the New Jerusalem in the New Heavens and New Earth which cannot be till after the Conflagration Let us hear his words Apoc. 21. 1 2. 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 And I Iohn saw the Holy City New Ierusalem coming down from God out of Heaven prepared as a Bride adorned for her husband When the New Earth was made he sees the New Jerusalem coming down upon it and this Renovation of the Earth not being till the Conflagration The New Jerusalem could not be till then neither The Prophet Isaiah had long before said the same thing though not in
and Power in the Created World This hath a vast extent and variety and would be sufficient to entertain their time in that happy state much longer than a thousand years As you will easily grant if you allow me but to point at the several heads of those Speculations The Contemplation of the Created World divides it self into three parts that of the Intellectual World that of the Corporal And the Government and Administration of both which is usually call'd Providence These three drawn into one thought with the reasons and proportions that result from them compose that GRAND IDEA which is the treasury and comprehension of all Knowledge Whereof we have spoken more largely in the last Chapter of the Second Book of this Theory under the name of the Mundane Idea But at present we shall only mention such particulars as may be thought proper subjects for the meditations and enquiries of those who shall enjoy that happy state which we now treat of As to the Intellectual World excepting our own Souls we know little in this region of darkness where we are at present more than bare names We hear of Angels and Archangels of Cherubins and Seraphins of Principalities and Powers and Thrones and Dominions We hear the sound of these words with admiration but we know little of their natures wherein their general notion and wherein their distinction consists what peculiar excellencies they have what offices and employments of all this we are ignorant Only in general we cannot but suppose that there are more orders and degrees of Intellectual Beings betwixt us and the Almighty than there are kinds or species of living Creatures upon the face of the Earth betwixt Man their Lord and Master and the least worm that creeps upon the ground Nay than there are Stars in Heaven or Sands upon the Sea-shore For there is an infinite distance and interval betwixt us and God Almighty and all that is fill'd with created Beings of different degrees of perfection still approaching nearer and nearer to their Maker And when this invisible World shall be open'd to us when the Curtain is drawn and the Celestial Hierarchy set in order before our eyes we shall despise our selves and all the petty glories of a mortal life as the dirt under our feet As to the Corporeal Universe we have some share already in the Contemplation and knowledge of that tho' little in comparison of what will be then discover'd The doctrine of the Heavens fix'd Stars Planets and Comets both as to their matter motion and form will be then clearly demonstrated and what are mysteries to us now will become matter of ordinary conversation We shall be better acquainted with our neighbouring Worlds and make new discoveries as to the state of their affairs The Sun especially the Great Monarch of the Planetary Worlds whose Dominion reaches from Pole to Pole and the greatness of his Kingdom is under the whole Heaven Who sends his bright Messengers every day through all the regions of his vast Empire throwing his beams of light round about him swifter and further than a thought can follow This noble Creature I say will make a good part of their study in the succeeding World Eudoxus the Philosopher wish'd he might die like Phaeton in approaching too near to the Sun provided he could fly so near it and endure it so long till he had discover'd its beauty and perfection VVho can blame his curiosity who would not venture far to see the Court of so great a Prince who hath more VVorlds under his command than the Emperors of the Earth have Provinces or Principalities Neither does he make his Subjects slaves to his pleasure or tributaries to serve and supply his wants on the contrary They live upon him he nourishes and preserves them gives them fruits every year corn and wine and all the comforts of life This glorious Body which now we can only gaze upon and admire will be then better understood A mass of Light and Flame and Ethereal matter ten thousand times bigger than this Earth Enlightning and enlivening an Orb that exceeds the bulk of our Globe as much as that does the least sand upon the Sea-shore may reasonably be presum'd to have some great Being at the Centre of it But what that is we must leave to the enquiries of another life The Theory of the Earth will be a common lession there carried through all its vicissitudes and periods from first to last till its entire revolution be accomplish'd I told you in the Preface The Revolution of World was one of the greatest Speculations that we are capable of in this life and this little World where we are will be the first and easiest instance of it seeing we have Records Historical or Prophetical that reach from the Chaos to the end of the new Heavens and new Earth which course of time makes up the greatest part of the Circle or Revolution And as what was before the Chaos was but in my opinion the first remove from a Fixt Star so what is after the thousand years Renovation is but the last step to it again The Theory of humane Nature is also an useful and necessary speculation and will be carried on to perfection in that state Having fixt the true distinction betwixt Matter and Spirit betwixt the Soul and the Body and the true nature and laws of their union The original contract and the terms ratified by Providence at their first conjunction It will not be hard to discover the springs of action and passion how the thoughts of our mind and the motions of our body act in dependance one upon another What are the primary differences of Genius's and complexions and how our Intellectuals or Morals depend upon them What is the Root of Fatality and how far it extends By these lights they will see into their own and every Man's breast and trace the foot-steps of the Divine wisdom in that strange composition of Soul and Body This indeed is a mixt speculation as most others are and takes in something of both Worlds Intellectual and Corporeal and may also belong in part to the Third Head we mention'd Providence But there is no need of distinguishing these Heads so nicely provided we take in under some or other of them what may be thought best to deserve our knowledge now or in another World As to Providence what we intend chiefly by it here is the general oeconomy of our Religion and what is reveal'd to us in Scripture concerning God Angels and Mankind These Revelations as most in Sacred Writ are short and incompleat as being design'd for practice more than for speculation or to awaken and excite our thoughts rather than to satisfie them Accordingly we read in Scripture of a Triune Deity of God made flesh in the Womb of a Virgin Barbarously crucified by the Iews Descending into Hell rising again from the Dead visibly ascending into Heaven And sitting at the right hand of God the
and so it speaks of the Coming of our Saviour without distinction of first or second yet it does not follow from that that there is but one Coming of our Saviour so neither that there is but one Resurrection And seeing there is one place of Scripture that speaks distinctly of two Resurrections namely the 20th chap. of the Apocalypse that is to us a sufficient warrant for asserting two As there are some things in one Evangelist that are not in another yet we think them Authentick if they be but in one There are also some things in Daniel concerning the Messiah and concerning the Resurrection that are not in the rest of the Prophets yet we look upon his single testimony as good authority S. Iohn writ the last of all the Apostles and as the whole series of his Prophecies is new reaching through the later times to the Consummation of all things so we cannot wonder if he had something more particular reveal'd to him concerning the Resurrection That which was spoken of before in general being distinguish'd now into First and Second or particular and universal in this last Prophet Some think S. Paul means no less when he makes an order in the Resurrection some rising sooner some later 1 Cor. 15. 23 24. 1 Thess. 4. 14 15 c. but whether that be so or no S. Iohn might have a more distinct revelation concerning it than S. Paul had or any one before him After these Objections a great many Queries and difficulties might be propos'd relating to the Millennium But that 's no more than what is found in all other matters remote from our knowledge Who can answer all the Queries that may be made concerning Heaven or Hell or Paradise When we know a thing as to the substance we are not to let go our hold tho' there remain some difficulties unresolv'd otherwise we should be eternally Sceptical in most matters of Knowledge Therefore tho' we cannot for example give a full account of the distinction of habitations and inhabitants in the Future Earth or of the order of the First Resurrection whether it be performed by degrees and successively or all the Inhabitants of the New Jerusalem rise at once and continue throughout the whole Millennium I say tho' we cannot give a distinct account of these or such like particulars we ought not therefore to deny or doubt whether there will be a New Earth or a First Resurrection For the Revelation goes clearly so far and the obscurity is only in the consequences and dependances of it Which Providence thought fit without further light to leave to our search and disquisition Scripture mentions one thing at the end of the Millennium which is a common difficulty to all and every one must contribute their best thoughts and conjectures towards the solution of it 'T is the strange doctrine of Gog and Magog which are to rise up in rebellion against the Saints and besiege the holy City and the holy Camp And this is to be upon the expiration of the thousand years when Satan is loosen'd For no sooner will his Chains be knock'd off but he will put himself in the head of this Army of Gyants or Sons of the Earth and attack Heaven and the Saints of the most High But with ill success for there will come down fire and lightning from Heaven and consume them This methinks hath a great affinity with the History of the Gyants rebelling and assaulting Heaven and struck down by thunder-bolts But that of setting mountains upon mountains or tossing them into the Skie that 's the Poetical part and we must not expect to find it in the Prophecy The Poets told their Fable as of a thing past and so it was a Fable But the Prophets speak of it as of a thing to come and so it will be a reality But how and in what sence it is to be understood and explain'd every one has the liberty to make the best judgment he can Ezekiel mentions Gog and Magog which I take to be only types and shadows of these which we are now speaking of and not yet exemplified no more than his Temple And seeing this People is to be at the end of the Millennium and in the same Earth with it We must according to our Hypothesis plant them in the Future Earth and therefore all former conjectures about the Turks or Scythians or other Barbarians are out of doors with us seeing the Scene of this action does not lie in the present Earth They are also represented by the Prophet as a People distinct and separate from the Saints not in their manners only but also in their seats and habitations For they are said to come up from the four corners of the Earth upon the breadth of the Earth and there to besiege the Camp of the Saints and the beloved City This makes it seem probable to me that there will be a double race of Mankind in that Future Earth very different one from another both as to their temper and disposition and as to their origine The one born from Heaven Sons of God and of the Resurrection who are the true Saints and heirs of the Millennium The others born of the Earth Sons of the Earth generated from the slime of the ground and the heat of the Sun as brute Creatures were at first This second Progeny or Generation of Men in the Future Earth I understand to be signified by the Prophet under these borrowed or feigned names of Gog and Magog And this Earth-born race encreasing and multiplying after the manner of Men by carnal propagation after a thousand years grew numerous as the Sand by the Sea and thereupon made an irruption or inundation upon the face of the Earth and upon the habitations of the Saints As the barbarous Nations did formerly upon Christendom Or as the Gyants are said to have made War against the Gods But they were soon confounded in their impious and sacrilegious design being struck and consum'd by fire from Heaven Some will think it may be that there was such a double race of Mankind in the first VVorld also The Sons of Adam and the Sons of God because it is said Gen. 6. When men began to multiply upon the face of the Earth that the SONS OF GOD SAW THE DAUGHTERS OF MEN that they were fair and they took them Wives of all that they lik'd And it is added presently ver 4. There were Gyants in the Earth in those days and also after that when the Sons of God came in unto the daughters of men and they bare children to them the same became mighty men which were of old men of renown Here seem to be two or three orders or races in this Ante-diluvian VVorld The Sons of God The Sons and Daughters of Adam and a third sort arising from the mixture and copulation of these which are call'd Mighty men of old or Hero's Besides here are Gyants mention'd and to which