ordinary and insignificant Accidents Dormire in utramque aurem sleep securely till the last Trump awaken them Or it may be answered That these Prophecies do belong to the Destruction of Ierusalem only and so we are not concerned to answer that Objection CHAP. IX The Fifth Question answered At what Period of Time shall the World be dissolved 5. THE Fifth Question is At what Period of Time shall the World be dissolved I answer This is absolutely uncertain and indeterminable For since this Dissolution shall be effected by the extraordinary Interposition of Providence it cannot be to any Man known unless extraordinarily revealed And our Saviour tells us That of that Day and Hour knows no Man no not the Angels of Heaven c. Matth. 24. 36. And again Acts 1. 17. It is not for us to know the Times and the Seasons which the Father hath placed in his own power And this Dr. Hakewill brings as an Argument that the World decays not neither tends to Corruption because if it did the time of its actual Dissolution might be collected and foretold which saith he the Scripture denies We may invert this Argumentation and infer Because the World doth not decay therefore the time of its Dissolution cannot be known But yet notwithstanding this many have ventured to foretel the Time of the End of the World of whom some are already confuted the Term prefixt being past and the World still standing Lactantius in his time said Institut lib. 7. cap. 15. Omnis expectatio non amplius quà m ducentorum videtur annorum The longest expectation extends not further than two hundred years The continuance of the World more than a Thousand years since convinces him of a gross Mistake Paulus Grebnerus a high Pretender to a Spirit of Prophesie sets it in the Year 1613. induced thereto by a fond Conceit of the Numeral Letters in the Latin Word Iudicium Other Enthusiastical Persons of our own Countrey have placed it in the Years 1646. and 1656. The event shews how ungroundedly and erroneously Others there are whose Term is not yet expired and so they remain still to be confuted As those who conceit that the end of the World shall be when the Pole-Star shall come to touch the Pole of the Equator which say they ever since the time of Hipparchus hath approached nearer and nearer to it That it doth so I am not satisfied but if it doth it is meerly accidental and hath no Connexion with the End of the World But the most famous Opinion and which hath found most Patrons and Followers even amongst the Learned and Pious is that of the Worlds duration for Six thousand years For the strengthening of which Conceit they tell us That as the World was created in six days and then followed the Sabbath so shall it remain six thousand years and then shall succeed the Eternal Sabbath Hebr. 4. 9. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. There remains therefore a Rest or Sabbath to the People of God Here we see that the Apostle institutes a Comparison between the Heavenly Rest and the Sabbath Therefore as God rested upon the Seventh Day so shall all the World of the Godly rest after the Six Thousandth year For â—he that hath entred into his rest ceaseth from all his Works as God did from his Of this Opinion were many of the Ancient Faâ—â—ers as I shewed before grounding themselves upon this Analogy between the six days of the Creation and the Sabbath and the six thousand years of the Worlds duration and the Eternal Rest For saith Irenoeus in the place before quoted Hoc autem that is the History of the six days Creation and succeeding Sabbath est proeteritorum narratio futurorum prophetia Dies enim unus mille annos significat sicut Scriptura testatur 2 Pet. 3. 8. Psal. 90. 4. the Scriptures reckoning days of One thousand years long as in Verse 8. of this Chapter and in Psal. 90. 4. This is likewise a received Tradition of the Iewish Rabbins registred in the Talmud in the Treatise Sanhedrim delivered as they pretend by the Prophet Elias the Tishbite to the Son of the Woman of Sarepta whom he raised from the Dead and by him handed down to Posterity I rather think with Reuterus that the Author of it was some Rabbi of that Name The Tradition is Sex millia annorum erit mundus uno millenario vastatio i. e. Sabbathum Dei Duo millia inane Duo millia Lex Duo millia dies Messioe Two thousand years vacuity Two thousand years of the Law Two thousand years the days of the Messiah But they shoot far wide For according to the least account there passed a far greater number of years before the Law was given 2513. saith Reuterus and on the contrary less time from the Law to the Exhibition of the Messiah All these Proofs laid together do scarce suffice to make up a probability Neither do those Rabbinical Collections from the six Letters in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first word of Genesis or from the six Alephs in the first Verse of that Book each signifying a thousand years or from the six first Patriarchs in the order of the Genealogy to Enoch who was caught up to Heaven and found no more add much weight to this Opinion S. Austin very modestly concludes after a Discussion of this Point concerning the Worlds duration Ego tempora dinumerare non audeo nec aliquem Prophetam de hac re numerum annorum existimo praefinivisse Nos ergo quod scire nos Dominus noluit libentèr nesciamus I dare not calculate determine times neither do I think that concerning this matter any Prophet hath predicted and defined the number of years What therefore the Lord would not have us to know let us willingly be ignorant of But though none but presumptuous persons have undertaken peremptorily to determine that time yet was it the common and received Opinion and Perswasion of the Ancient Christians that that day was not far off and had they been to limit it they would hardly have been induced to set the term so forward and remote from their own Age as by experience we find it proves to be but in their own times or shortly after and many places of Scripture seem to favour that Opinion so that some have presumed to say that the Apostles themselves were at first mistaken in this particular till after further illumination they were better informed But though this be too bold a Conceit yet that the Churches at least some of them did at first mistake the Apostles meaning in their Sermons and Epistles concerning this Point and so understand them as to think that the End of the World and final Judgment was at hand appears from 2 Thess. 2. 2. I beseech you Brethren that ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by Spirit nor by Word nor by Letter as from us as that the day of Christ
in the Prophets which cannot be verified in a strict literal sense as in the place before quoted Isa. 34. 9. It is said of the streams of Idumaea that they should be turned into pitch and the dust thereof into brimstone and the Land thereof should become burning pitch and should not be quenched night nor day but the smoke thereof should go up for ever And of the City of Tyre it is said Ezek. 26. 14. It shall be built no more And verse 19. When I shall make thee a desolate City like the Cities that are not inhabited when I shall bring up the Deep upon thee and great waters shall cover thee And verse 21. which is thrice repeated I will make thee a terror and thou shalt be no more though thou be sought for thou shalt never be found again saith the Lord God And yet we see that the City of Tyre though it was indeed wholly dis-peopled at that time the Inhabitants transferring themselves into Africa when it was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar yet was it afterward peopled again and continues a City inhabited to this day And of Babylon it is said that there should none remain in it neither man nor beast but that it should be desolate for ever Jer. 51. 62. Isai. 13. 20. and of the Land of Babylon Vers. 29. that it should be a desolation without an Inhabitant And though indeed this Prophesy was I think as to the City at last verified in the Letter yet did Babylon long continue a great City after this Prophesy And the Land of Babylon is now inhabited there being at this day a great City not far from the place where Babylon stood So that these places import no more then that there should be a very great Destruction and Devastation of those Cities and Countries As for those places in the Old and New Testament wherein mention is made of the last Days and the last Times it is clear that they are to be understood of the Age of the Messiah all the time from the Exhibition of the Messiah to the end of the World Isaiah 2. 1. And it shall come to pass in the last days that the Mountain of the Lords House shall be established in the top of the Mountains and shall be exalted above the Hills and all Nations shall flow to it which very words we have repeated Michah 4. 1. So in that Prophesie of Ioel 2. 28. quoted Acts 2. 17. And it shall come to pass in the last days saith God I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh c. it is clear the last days are to be understood The Apostle Peter interpreting the Prophesie verse 16. of the gift of Tongues bestowed upon the Disciples at that time Hence the last Days have among the Iews proverbially signified the days of the Messiah as Doctor Hammond in his Annotations upon this place tells us who also notes that in that place of Ioel the last days do literally signifie the last days of the Iews immediately preceding their destruction called there the great and terrible day of the Lord. So Hebr. 1. 2. by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in these last days is meant the days of the Messias So 1 Pet. 1. 20. 2 Pet. 3. 3. 1 Tim. 4. 1. 2 Tim. 3. 1. mention is made of the last days in this sense In like manner the end of the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebr. â— 20. Buâ— now once in the end of the world â—â—th he appeared to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ends of the Woâ—â—d 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 1. 11. Vpon whom the Ends of the World are come signifie the Age of the Messias though indeed the former seems more peculiarly to denote the shutting up of the Jewish Age or Oeconomy CHAP. III. The Testimonies of the Ancient Fathers and Doctors of the Church concerning the Dissolution of the World 2. I Proceed now to what the Ancient Fathers of the Church and Christian Writers have delivered concerning the Dissolution of the World That there should be a Dissolution of this World and that it shall be by Fire is so certain and clear among them that it would be superfluous to cite Particulars to prove it nay so general and unanimous is the consent of all Christians in this Point that as Origen observes in his third 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Learned Doctor Hakewill after him whereas there can hardly be named any Article of our Faith which some Hereticks have not presumed to Impugne or call in Question yet not any to be met with who question this but herein all agree being compelled saith Origen by the Authority of the Scriptures As for the time of this Dissolution the ancient Christians held it to be at hand as might easily be proved by many Testimonies were it not granted on all hands And here it may be worth the observing that the longer the World stood the further off generally have Christians set the Day of Judgment and end of it Many of the Ancients did conceive that the Dissolution should be at the end of six thousand years As for Example Iustin Martyr in Quaest. Resp. ad Orthodoxos if he be the Author of that Piece where this Question When the end of the World should be being put the Answer is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. We may rationally conjecture and conclude from many Scripture Expression that they are in the right who say that the World will last six thousand years For in one place it saith In these last days and in another Upon whom the Ends of the World are come and in a third When the fulness of time was come Now it is evident that these things were spoken in the sixth Millenary Irenaeus adv haeres lib. 5. cap. ult Who gathers so much from the Similitude of the six days Creation after which six days was the Sabbath that is the day of Rest Hoc autem saith he est praeteritorum narratio futurcrum prophetia Dies enim unus mille annos signiâ—icabat sicut Scriptura testatur Mille anni ante Dominum sicut Dies unus ergo sicut consummatus fuit mundus in sui creatione intra sex dierum spatium poslea quies sic in sui fiue consummabitur intra spatium sex milliâ—m annorum deinde vera perpetua quies subsequetur This is both a Narration or History of what is past and a Prophesie of things to come For one day signified a thousand years as the Scriptures testifie A thousand years in the sight of God are but as one day Therefore as the World at the first Câ—eation was consummated in the space of six days and afterwards followed the Sabbath or Rest so in the end its duration shall be consummated within the space of six thousand years and then shall follow the true and perpetual Rest. To these I might add Lactantius in his â—eventh Book of Institur cap. 14. who
delight him But 2ly we find in the Earth not only Stones formed in imitation of Shells but real Shells Teeth and Bones of Fishes or Bodies so like them that they are not to be distinguished by Figure Texture Colour Weight or any other Accident Now what greater Argument can the Atheist desire to prove that the Shells of Fishes were never designed by any provident Efficient for their Defence or their Bones for the sustaining of their Bodies but that the Fish and Shell containing it and the Bones sustaining it did casually concur than that there should be real Shells produced without any Fish in them and that in dry places where no Fish ever did or could breed or indeed live and real Fish-bones where there never was nor could be any Fish Doth it not than concern a Divine to be acquainted with this Objection against the Bodies of Animals being the effects of Counsel and Design and provided with an answer to it For my part I must needs confess that this Argument weighs so with me whether from that innate Prolepsis my self and I think most other Men have of the Prudence of Nature in all its Operations or from mine own observing that in all other things it acts for ends that it is alone sufficient to preponderate all the Arguments against the contrary Opinions though I acknowledge them to be of great force and hard to be answered and to incline or rather constrain me to allow that these Bodies were either real Bones and Shells of Fishes or owe their Figure to them I cannot to use the Words of F. Columna prevail with my self to believe that Nature ever made Teeth without a Iaw or Shells without an Animal Inhabitant or single Bones no not in their own proper Element much less in a strange one Who even of the Vulgar beholding any considerable part of an Animal which he sees not the use of is not apt presently to ask what it serves for as by that innate Prolepsis I mentioned before presuming it was â—ot made in vain but for some end and use Suppose any of us should find in the Earth the compleat Skeleton of a Man he must be as credulous as the Atheist if he could believe that it grew there of it self and never had relation to any Man's Body Why then should we tbink that the entire Skeletons of Fishes found sometimes in the Earth had no other Original nor ever were any part of living Fishes 2ly If we chuse and embrace the contrary Opinion viz. That these Bodies were the real Shells and Bones of Fishes or owe their Figures to them we shall find that this also is urged with many and almost unsuperable Difficulties the principal of which I have already produced and shall here omit repeating only two that refer to Divinity 1. These Bodies being found dispersed all over the Earth they of the contrary Opinion demand how they come there If it be answered That they were brought in by the general Deluge in contradiction thereto they argue thus If these Stones were found scattered singly and indifferently all the Earth over there might be indeed some reason to imagine that they were brought in by the Floud but being found in some particular places only either lying thick in great Beds of Sand and Gravel or amassed together in huge Lumps by a stony Cement such Beds must in all likelihood have been the effect of those Animals breeding there for a considerable time whereas the Floud continued upon the Earth but ten Months during half which time it 's not likely that the Mountains were covered and yet there are found of these Bodies upon very high Mountains not excepting the Appenine and Alps themselves Whence they conclude that they were neither brought in by the Floud nor bred during the Floud bâ—t some other way produced For if they were the Shells of Fishes or their Bones the Water must needs have covered the whole Earth even the Mountains themselves for a â—uch longer time than is consistent with the Scripture-History of the Floud and therefore we must seek some other original of these Bodies If we stick to the Letter of the Scripture-History of the Creation that the Creation of Fishes succeeded the Separation of Land and Sea and that the six days wherein the World was created were six natural Days and no more it is very difficult to return a satisfactory Answer to this Objection I shall therefore only add a conjecture of my own and that is That possibly at the first Creation the whole Earth was not all at once uncovered but only those parts whereabout Adam and the other Animals were created and the rest gradually afterwards perchance not in many Years during which time these Shell-fish might breed abundantly all the Sea over the bottom whereof being elevated and made dry Land the Beds of Shell-fish must necessarily be raised together with it 2. It will hence follow that many Species of Animals have been lost out of the World which Philosophers and Divines are unwilling to admit esteeming the Destruction of any one Species a dismembring of the Vniverse and rendring the World imperfect Whereas they think the Divine Providence is especially concerned and solicitous to secure and preserve the Works of the Creation And truly so it is as appears in that it was so careful to lodge all Land-Animals in the Ark at the time of the general Deluge and in that of all Animals recorded in Natural Histories we cannot say that there hath been any one Species lost no not of the most infirm and most exposed to injury and ravine Moreover it is likely that as there neither is nor can be any new Species of Animal produced all proceeding from Seeds at first created so Providence without which one individual Sparrow falls not to the Ground doth in that manner watch over all that are created that an entire Species shall not be lost or destroyed by any Accident Now I say if these Bodies were sometimes the Shells and Bones of Fish it will thence follow that many Species have been lost out of the World as for example those Ophiomorphous ones whose Shells are now called Cornua Ammonis of which there are many Species none whereof at this day appear in our or other Seas so far as I have hitherto seen heard or read To which I have nothing to reply but that there may be some of them remaining some where or other in the Seas though as yet they have not come to my Knowledge For though they may have perished or by some Accident been destroyed out of our Seas yet the Race of them may be preserved and continued still in others So though Wolves and Bevers which we are well assured were sometimes native of England have been here utterly destroyed and extirpated out of this Island yet there remain plenty of them still in other Countrys By what hath been said concerning the nature and original of Stones I hope it may appear
some stop be put proved From the continual streightning of the Sea and lâ—wering the Mountains and high Grounds by Rains Floods and Rivers washing away and carrying down the Earth and from the Seas encroaching upon the Shares 283 to 296. A large Quâ—tation out of Josephus Blancanus demonstâ—ating the same thing by many Arguments 296. Sect. 2. The second probable Means or Cause of the World's Destruction in a Natural way viz. the extinction of the Sun 314. Sect. 3. The third possible Cause of the World's Destruction The eruption of the Central Fire 316. That the being of such a Fire is no way repugnant either to Scripture or Reason 318 320. Sect. 4. The fourth possible Cause of the World's Dissolution The Earth's Dryness and Inflammability in the Torrid Zâ—ne and the concurrent eruptions of Vâ—lâ—aneâ—â— 323. That the inclination of the Ecliptick to the Aequator doth not diminish 323. That tho' there were such a drying and parching of the Earth in the Torrid Zone it would not probably infer a Conflagration 324 325. That there hath not yet been nor in the ordinary Course of Nature can be any such drying or parching of the Earth in the Torrid Zone 326. The possibility of the desicâ—ation of the Sea by natural means denied 328 329. The fixedness and intransmutability of Principles secures the Universe from Dissolution Destruction of any present Species or by Production of any new 330. Chap. VI. Containing an Answer to the second Question Whether shall this Dissolution be effected by natural or extraordinary means and what they shall be 331. Chap. VII The third Question answered Whether shall the Dissolution be gradual and successive or momentanouns and sudden 334. Chap. VIII The fourth Question resolved Whether shall there be any Signs or Fore-runners of the Dissolution of the World 337. Chap. IX The fifth Question debated At what Period of time shall the World be dissolved and particularly Whether at the end of Six thousand Years 342. Chap. X. How far shall this Dissolution or Conflagration extend Whether to the Aetherial Heavens and all the Host of them Sun Moon and Stars or to the Aerial only 349. Chap. XI The seventh and last Question Whether shall the whole World be consumed and destroyed or annihilated or only refined and purified 353. The Restitution and Continuance of the World proved by the Testimonies of Scripture and Antiquity and also by Reason 358. The Arguments for the Abolition and Annihilation answer'd 360 362. Chap. XII The Inference the Apostle makes from the precedent Doctrine Of future Rewards and Punishments The Eternity of future Punishments proved from the Authority of Scripture and Antiquity How the Eternity of Punishments can consist with the Iustice and Goodness of God from p. 364. to the end of the Book DISCOURSE I. Of the Primitive CHAOS and Creation of the World IN the former Edition of this Treatise this Discourse concerning the Primitive Chaos and Creation of the World and that other concerning the Destruction thereof by the Waters of the General Deluge in the days of Noah were brought in by way of Digression because I designed not at first to treat of them but only of the Conflagration or Dissolution of the World by Fire but was afterwards when I had made a considerable progress in the Dissolution at the instance of some Friends because of their Relation to my Subject prevailed upon to say something of them But now that I am at liberty so to do I shall not handle them any more by the by but make them substantial Parts of my Book and dispose them as is most natural accordding to their priority and posteriority in order of time beginning with the Chaos and Creation CHAP. I. Testimonies of the Ancient Heathen Writers concerning the Chaos and what they meant by it IT was an ancient Tradition among the Heathen that the World was created out of a Chaos First of all the ancient Greek Poet Hesiod who may contend for Antiquity with Homer himself makes mention of it in his Theogonia not far from the beginning in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 First of all there was a Chaos And a few Verses after speaking of the immediate Production or Off-spring of the Chaos he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From Chaos proceeded Hell and Night or Darkness which seems to have its foundation or occasion from the second Verse of the first Chapter of Genesis And the Earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep Of this testimony of Hesiod Lactantius takes notice and censures it in the first Book of his Institutions 〈…〉 Hesiodus non à Deo conditore sumens exordium sed à Chao quod est rudis inordinat á que materiae confusae congeries Hesiod not taking his beginning from God the Creator of all things but from the Chaos which is a rude and inordinate heap of confused matter And so Ovid describes it in the beginning of his Metamorphosis Quem dixere Chaos rudis indigestáque moles Nec quicquam nisi pondus iners congestáque eôdem Non bene junctarum discordia semina rerum That is One face had Nature which they Chaos nam'd An undigested lump a barren load Where jarring Seeds of things ill joyn'd aboad Others of the Ancients have also made mention of the Chaos as Aristophanes in Avibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And Lucan in the beginning of his first Book Antiquum repetent iterum Chaos omnia c. Of the formation of all the Parts of the World out of this Chaos Ovid in the place fore-quoted gives us a full and particular description and Euripides before him a brief one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Heaven and Earth were at first of one form but after they were separated the Earth brought forth Trees Birds Beasts Fishes and Mankind The like account also the ancient Philosopher Anaxagoras gives of the Creation of the World beginning his Philosophy thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is All things at first were together or mingled and confused then Mind supervening disposed them in a beautiful order That which I chiefly dislike in this Opinion of theirs is that they make no mention of the Creation of this Chaos but seem to look upon it as self-existent and improduced CHAP. II. That the Creation of the World out of a Chaos is not repugnant to the Holy Scripture THis Opinion of a Chaos if soberly understood not as self-existent and improduced but in the first place created by God and preceding other Beings which were made out of it is not so far as I can discern any way repugnant to the Holy Scripture but on the contrary rather consonant and agreeable thereto For Moses in the History and Description of the Creation in the first Chapter of Genesis saith not that God created all things in an instant in their full state and perfection but that he proceeded gradually and in order
Curious by publishing a general Catalogue of all the formed Stones found in England and his Remarks upon them And I have likewise proved by good Authority that beyond the Seas in high Mountains and many Leagues distant from the Sea too there have been Beds of real shells I might have added Sharks-teeth or Glossopetrae as both Goropius Becanus and Georgius Agricola testifie if not in Beds yet plentifully disperst in the Earth There are several Medical Histories extant as Dr. Tancred Robinson informs me of perfect shells found in Animal Bodies in whose Glands they were originally formed which is a considerable Objection not easily to be removed TAB II. pag 162 TAB III pag. 162 TAB IV Pag 162 CHAP. V. That there have been great Charges made in the Superficial Part of the Earth since the General Deluge and by what Means I Shall now Discourse a little concerning such Changes as have been made in the Superficial part of the Earth since the Universal Deluge and of their Causes That there have been such I think no sober and intelligent Person can deny there being so good Authority and Reason to prove it Plato in his Timaeus tells us That the Egyptian Priests related to Solon the Athenian Law-giver who lived about 600 years before our Saviour that there was of old time without the Straits of Gibraltar a vast Island bigger then Africa and Asia together called Atlantis which was afterward by a violent Earthquake and mighty Flood and Inundation of Water in one day and night wholly overwhelmed and drown'd in the Sea Whence it may be conjectured that the Old and New World were at first continuous or by the Intervention of that Island not very far remote from each other That the Island of Sicily was of old broken off from Italy by the irruption or insinuation of the Sea is generally believed and there is some memorial thereof retained in the very name of the City Rhegium standing upon the Fretum that separates Italy and Sicily which signifies breaking off Zancle quoque juncta fuisse Dicitur Italiae donec confinia pontus Abstulit mediâ tellurem reppulit undâ In like manner the Island called Euboea now Negroponte was of old joyned to Greece and broken off by the working of the Sea Moreover the Inhabitants of Ceylon report that their Island was anciently joyned to the Main-land of India and separated from it by the force of the Sea It is also thought and there is good ground for it that the Island of Sumatra was anciently continuous with Malacca and called the Golden Chersonese for being beheld from afar it seems to be united to Malacca And to come nearer home Verstegan affirms and not without good reason that our Island of Great Britain was anciently Continent to Gaule and so no Island but a Peninsula and to have been broken off from the Continent but by what means it is in his judgment altogether uncertain whether by some great Earthquake whereby the Sea first breaking through might afterward by little and little enlarge her passage or whether it were cut by the labour of Man in regard of commodity by that passage or whether the Inhabitants of one side or the other by occasion of War did cut it thereby to be sequestred and freed from their Enemies His Arguments to prove that it was formerly united to France are 1. The Cliffs on either side the Sea lying just opposite the one to the other that is those of Dover to those lying between Callice and Bouloin for from Dover to Callice is not the nearest Land being both of one Substance that is of Chalk and Flint 2. The sides of both towards the Sea plainly appearing to have been broken off from some more of the same stuff or matter that it hath sometime by Nature been fastned to 3. The length of the said Cliffs along the Sea-shore being on one side answerable in effect to the length of the very like on the other side that is about six Miles And 4. the nearness of Land between England and France in that place the distance between both as some skilful Sailers report not exceeding 24. English Miles Some of the Ancients as Strato quoted by Strabo in the first Book of his Geography say That the Fretum Gaditanum or Strait of Gibraltar was forcibly broken open by the Sea The same they affirm of the Thracian Bosphorus and Hellespont that the Rivers filling up the Euxine Sea forced a passage that way where there was none before And in confirmation hereof Diodorus Siculus in his Fifth Book gives us an Ancient Story current among the Samothracians viz. That before any other Floods recorded in Histories there was a very great Deluge that overflowed a good part of the Coast of Asia and the lower Grounds of their Island when the Euxine Sea first brake open the Thracian Bosphorus and Hellespont and drowned all the adjacent Countries This Traditional Story I look upon as very considerable for its Antiquity and Probability it seeming to contain something of truth For it 's not unlikely that the Euxine Sea being over-charged with Waters by extraordinary Floods or driven with violent storms of Wind might make its way through the Bosphorus and Hellespent But it will be objected That the Euxine Sea doth empty it self continually by the Bosphorus and Hellespont into the Mediterranean and that if it had not this way of discharge the Rivers bringing in more than is spent by vapour it would soon overflow all its shores and drown the circumjacent Countreys and so it must have done soon after the Flood and therefore it is not probable that Samothrace should have been inhabited before that irruption if any such there were To which I answer 1. That Monsieur Marsilly thinks he hath demonstrated an under-current in the Thracian Bosphorus by means of which the Euxine may receive as much Water from the Mediterranean as it pours forth into it But because I have already declared my self not to be satisfied of the being and possibility of these undercurrents I answer 2. The Annual receipts from the Rivers running into the Euxine not very much exceeding what is spent in vapour who knows but that from the time of the General Deluge till the Irruption whereof we are discoursing the Euxine might yearly enlarge its Bason and encroach upon the Neighbouring Countreys Natural Historians give us an account of new Islands raised up in the Sea Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. 2. cap. 87. enumerates Delos and Rhodes Islands of note and of less account and later emersion Anaphe beyond Melos and Nea between Lemnos and the Hellespont Alone between Lebedos and Teos and among the Cyclades Thera and Therasia Olymp. 135. An. 4. which last or one of the same name Seneca saith was raised himself beholding it nobis spectantibus enata Among the same after 130 years Hiera and two Furlongs distant in his own time when Iunius Syllanus and L. Balbus were Consuls Thia. But the most
And before this Earthquake also flames appeared for 4 days upon a Mountain near Geneva It is very strange and remarkable that the flames that issued out were of the nature of an Ignis fatuus and burnt nothing and that as Monsieur Colbert writes the Earthquake raged every Night and never in the Day-time Concerning Earthquakes I shall only add two Observations 1. That it is not likely that they spend all their strength upon Cities but do indifferently shake break in sunder and throw down Mountains and Rocks and seeing few Cities there are but have been shaken and many ruined and subverted by them and levelled with the Ground there is good reason to think that few Rocks or Mountains have escaped their Fury but have suffered the like Concussions and Alterations 2. That the Changes that have hitherto happened in the Earth by Earthquakes have not been so considerable as to threaten a dissolution of the present System of the Terraqueous Globe should there be a like succession of them to Eternity Unless we will except that unparall'd universal one which happened in the days of Valentinian the first which we have already mention'd by which the whole known World both Land and Sea and it s like the then unknown too were violently shaken which might seem to be a Prelude to the future Conslagration or Destruction of the whole by such a confusion and dashing in pieces of all the parts of it one against another as the Stoicks speak of Of the Effects of burning Mountains or Vulcanos I have already said something and shall afterwards have occasion to say more In brief 1. They cast forth out of their Mouths and scatter all over the Country sometimes to a very great distance abundance of Sand and Ashes Dion Cassius reports that in that noted deflagration of Vesuvius in the time of Titus the Emperour there was so much Cinders and Ashes vomited out of its flaming Tunnel and with that Fury and Violence that they were transported over Sea into Africa Syria and Egypt and on the other side were carried as far as Rome where they darkned the very Air and intercepted the Sun-beams At which time by the fury of this burning and tempest the whole Mountain and Earth thereabouts was so shaken that two adjoyning Cities Herculanium and Pompeii were destroyed with the People sitting in the Theater And the famous Natural Historian Pliny the Elder then Admiral of the Roman Navy out of a curiosity of searching out the Causes and Nature of the Deflagration approaching too near the Mountain and staying too long there was suffocated with the sulphureous smoke and stench thereof Of another eruption of the same Vesuvius we read in the time of Leo the Emperour wherein the Ashes thereof transported in the Air obscured all Europe being carried as far as Constantinople and that the Constant inopolitans being wonderfully affrighted therewith insomuch as the Emperour forsook the City in memory of the same did yearly celebrate the Twelfth of November 2. They also pour out huge Floods of melted Minerals Stones and other Materials running down like Rivers for many Miles together as did the Mountain Aetna in that last and most famous Eructation disgorging such mighty streams of fiery running matter as flowed down to Catana above twenty Miles distant and advanced a considerable way into the very Sea it self Secondly The next thing I shall mention is the extraordinary Floods caused by long continuing showers or violent and tempestuous storms and shots of rain The most ancient and memorable of this kind is that of Deucalion of which we have already discoursed sufficiently S. Hierome in the Life of Hilarion as I find him quoted by Dr. Hakewill speaks of a Flood and Inundation after the Death of Iulian in which Naves ad praerupta montium delatae pependerunt the Ships being landed upon the tops of the Mountains there stuck Which whether it proceeded from Rain or from an Irruption of the Sea or from both Causes together he doth not say but if it were literally true and not hyperbolically exaggerated then may some credit be given to what Sabin in his Commentaries upon Ovid's Metamorphosis reports Ex Annalium monumentis constat Anno 1460. in Alpibus inventam esse Navim cum anchoris in cuâ—iculo per quem metalla effodiuntur It appears by the Monuments of History that in the Year 1460. in a Mine of the Alps was found a Ship with its Anchors in confirmation of what that Poet writes Et vetus inventa est in montibus anchora summis In the Year of our Redemption 590. in the Month of October Gregory being then Bishop of Rome there happened a marvellous overflowing in Italy and especially in the Venetian Territory and in Liguria accompanied with a most fearful storm of Thunder and Lightning after which followed the great Plague at Rome by reason of the many dead Serpents cast up and left upon the Land after the Waters decreased and returned Strozius Sigog in his Magia omnifaria telleth of an Inundation in Italy in the time of Pope Damasus in which also many Cities of Sicily were swallowed another in the time of Alexander the Sixth also in the Year 1515. Maximilian being Emperour He also remembers a perillous overflowing in Polonia about Cracovia by which many People perished Likewise Vignier a French Historian speaketh of a great Flood in the South part of Languedoc which fell in the Year of our Lord 1557. with so dreadful a Tempest that all the People attended therein the very end of the World and Judgment-day saying that by the violent descent of the Waters about Nismes there were removed divers old heaps and mountures of Ground and many other Places torn up and rent by which accident there was found both Coin of Silver and Gold and divers pieces of Plate and Vessels of other Metal supposed to be hidden at such time as the Goths invaded that Province These stories related in the three last Paragraphs I have borrowed of Sir Walter Ralegh his History of the World To which I shall add one of late date happening in Sicily a Narrative whereof communicated in a Letter from Palermo dated Iune the 25th 1682. I met with in the London Gazette Numb 1742. in the following words We have an Account from the Town of Tortorica That on the sixth Instant about seven a Clock in the Evening after so great a darkness that no object could be distinguished at the distance of four paces there arose such a great storm of Rain Lightning and Thunder which lasted six and thirty hours that about One a Clock the next morning great Torrents of Water caused by these Rains fell down from the neighbouring Mountains with so great rapidity that they carried with them Trees of an extraordinary bigness which threw down the Walls and Houses of the Town they happened to beat against The Waters were so violent that they overthrew the Church of St. Nicholas and the Arch-Deacon of the
Mutations are made in the upper or superficial Region of the Earth the parts thereof seeming to tend to a greater quiet and settlement Besides the Superficies of the Sea notwithstanding the overwhelming and submersion of Islands and the straitning of it about the Outlets of Rivers and the Earth it washes from the shores subsiding and elevating the bottom seems not to be raised higher nor spread further or bear any greater proportion to that of the Land then it did a thousand years ago So have I finished my second Discourse concerning the Deluge and its Effects and the Mutations that have been since made in the Earth and their Causes DISCOURSE III. OF THE DISSOLUTION OF THE WORLD THE INTRODUCTION TO THE Third Discourse THERE is implanted in the Nature of Man a great desire and curiosity of fore-knowing future Events and what shall befal themselves their Relations and Dependents in time to come the Fates of Kingdoms and Commonwealths especially the Periodical Mutations and final Catastrophe of the World Hence in ancient times Divination was made a Science or Mystery and many Nations had their Colledges or Societies of Wise-men Magicians Astrologers and Sooth-sayers as for example the Egyptians Babylonians and Romans Hence the Vulgar are very prone to consult Diviners and Fortune-tellers To gratifie in some measure this Curiosity and that his People might not in any Priviledge be inferiour to the Nations about them it pleased God besides the standing Oracle of Vrim not only upon special occasions to raise up among the Iews extraordinary Prophets by immediate Mission but also to settle a constant Order and Succession of them for the maintenance and upholding whereof there were Colledges and Seminaries instituted for the educating and fitting young Men for the Prophetick Function These were the Sons of the Prophets of whom we find so frequent mention in Scripture Moreover it pleased God so far to condescend to the weakness of the Iews that in the Infancy of their State he permitted them to consult his Prophets concerning ordinary accidents of life and affairs of small moment As we see Saul did Samuel about the loss of his Fathers Asses which it 's not likely he would have done had it not been usual and customary so to do In the latter times of that State we read of no consulting of Prophets upon such occasions At last also by their own confession the Spirit of Prophecy was quite taken away and nothing left them but a Vocal Oracle which they called Bath col i. e. the Daughter of a Voice or the Daughter of Thunder a Voice out of a Voice This Dr. Light foot thinks to have been a meer Fancy or Imposture Quae de Bath Kol referunt Iudaei ignoscant illi mihi si ego partim pro fabulis habeam Iuduicis partim pro praestigis Diabolicis What the Iews report concerning Bath Kol I beg their pardon if I esteem them no other then either Jewish Fables or Diabolical Illusions It is a Tradition among them that after the death of the last Prophets Haggai Zachary and Malachy the Holy Spirit departed from Israel But why I beseech you was Prophecy withdrawn if Coelestial Oracles were to be continued Why was Vrim and Thummim taken away or rather not restored by their own confession after the Babylonish Captivity It were strange indeed that God taking away his ordinary Oracles from a People should bestow upon them one more or equally noble and that after they were extremely degenerated and fallen into all manner of Impiety Superstition and Heresy c. And a little after if I may freely speak what I think those innumerable Stories which every where occur in the Jewish Writings concerning Bath Kol are to be reduced to two Heads viz. 1. The most of them are meer Fables invented in honour of this or that Rabbin or to gain credit to some History 2. The rest meer Magical and Diabolical Illusions c. In the Primitive Churches of Christians planted by the Apostles there was also an Order of Prophets 1 Cor. 12. 28. God hath set some in the Church first Apostles secondarily Prophets c. This Spirit of Prophecy was an extraordinary and temporary Gift as were the Gifts of Healing and Speaking with Tongues continuing not long after the Death of the Apostles and Consignation of the Canon of Scripture So that now we have no means left us of coming to the knowledge of future Events but the Prophecies contained in the Writings of the Holy Penmen of Scripture which we must search diligently consider attentively and compare together if we desire to understand any thing of what shall befal the Christian Church or State in time to come This Text which I have made choice of for my Subject is part of a Prophecy concerning the greatest of all Events the Dissolution of the World 2 PETER iii. 11. Seeing then all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness CHAP. 1. The Division of the Words and Doctrine contained in them with the Heads of the following Discourse THESE Words contain in them two Parts 1. An Antecedent or Doctrine All these things shall be dissolved 2. A Consequent or Inference thereupon What manner of persons ought we to be The Doctrine here only briefly hinted or summarily proposed is laid down more fully in the precedent Verse But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up These words are by the generality of Interpreters Ancient and Modern understood of the final destruction or dissolution of Heaven and Earth in which sense I shall choose rather to accept them at present than with the Reverend and Learned Dr. Hammond and some few others to stem the Tide of Expositors and apply them to the destruction of Ierusalem and the Jewish Polity I say then That this World and all things therein contained shall one day be dissolved and destroyed by Fire By World in this Proposition We and by Heaven and Earth in this place the most rational Interpreters of Scripture do understand only the whole Compages of this sublunary World and all the Creatures that are in it all that was destroyed by the Flood in the days of Noah and now secured from perishing so again that I may borrow Dr. Hammond's words in his Annotations on this place And again the word Heavens saith he being an Equivocal word is used either for the superiour Heavens whether Empyreal or Ethereal or for the sublunary Heavens the Air as the word World is either the whole Compages of the superiour and inferiour World as the Author of the Book De Mundo ascribed falsly to Aristotle defines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Systeme or Compages of Heaven and Earth and the Beings therein contained or
else only of the sublunary lower World we may here resolve that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heaven and Host or Elements thereof are litterally the sublunary Aereal Heavens and all that is therein Clouds and Meteors c. Fowls and flying Creatures and so fit to joyn with the Earth and Works that are therein In prosecution of this Proposition and in order to the Proof and Confirmation and likewise the clearing and illustration of it shall 1. Give you what I find concerning the dissolution of the World 1. In the Holy Scripture 2. In Ancient Christian Writers 3. In the Heathen Philosophers and Sages 2. I shall endeavour to give some answer to these seven Questions which are obvious and usually made concerning it 1. Whether there be any thing in Nature which might prove and demonstrate or argue and infer a future Dissolution of the World 2. Whether shall this Dissolution be brought about and effected by Natural or by Extraordinary Means and Instruments and what those Means and Instruments shall be 3. Whether shall the Dissolution be gradual or sudden 4. Whether shall there be any Signs and Fore-runners of it 5. At what Period of Time shall the World be dissolved 6. How far shall this Conflagration extend Whether to the Ethereal Heavens and all the Host of them Sun Moon and Stars or to the Aereal only 7. Whether shall the Heavens and Earth be wholly dissipated and destroyed or only refined and purified CHAP. II. The Testimonies of Scripture concerning the Dissolution of the World 1. THen Let us consider what we find delivered in the Holy Scriptures concerning the Dissolution of the World And first of all This place which I have made choice of for my Text is in my opinion the most clear and full as to this particular in the whole Scripture and will give light for the Solution of most of the proposed Questions Vers. 10. The day of the Lord shall come as a thief c. This answers the third Question Whether the Dissolution shall be gradual or sudden Wherein the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and all the works that are therein shall be burnt up And again Vers. 12. Wherein the Heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat This answers the second Question What the Means and Instruments of this Dissolution shall be Vers. 13. Nevertheless we according to his promise look for a new Heaven and a new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness This gives some light towards the anwering of the last Question Whether shall the Heavens and the Earth be wholly burnt up and destroyed or only renewed and purified These Words as clearly as they seem to refer to the Dissolution of the World yet Dr. Hammond doubts not to be understood of the remarkable destruction of Ierusalem and the Iewish State he thus paraphrasing them Verse 10. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat and the Earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up But this Judgment of Christ so remarkable on the Iews shall now shortly come and that very discernably and the Temple shall suddenly be destroyed the greater part of it burnt and the City and People utterly consumed Verse 11. Seeing then all these things shall be dissolved what manner of Persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness Seeing then this destruction shall thus involve all and now approacheth so near what an engagement doth this lay upon us to live the most pure strict lives that ever Men lived Verse 12. Looking for and hastning unto the coming of the day of God wherein the Heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat Looking for the coming of Christ for our deliverance and by our Christian lives quickning and hastning God to delay it no longer that Coming of his I say which as it signifies great mercy to us so it signifies very sharp destruction to the whole Iewish State Verse 13. Nevertheless we according to his promise look for new Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness Instead of which we look for a new Christian State wherein all provision is made by Christ for Righteousness to inhabit according to the Promise of Christ concerning the Purity that he should plant in the Evangelical State How he makes out and confirms this Paraphrase see in his Annotations upon this place So confident is he of the Truth of this his Interpretation that he censures the usual one as a great Mistake in his Annotation on verse 10. where he thus writes What is here thus expressed by S. Peter is ordinarily conceived to belong to the end of the World and by others applies to the end of this World and the beginning of the Millennium or thousand years And so as S. Peter here saith verse 16. many other places in S. Paul's Epistles and in the Gospel especially Matthew 24. are mistaken and wrested That it doth not belong to either of those but to this fatal day of the Iews sufficiently appears by the purport of this whole Epistle which is to arm them with Constancy and Perseverance till that day come and particularly in this Chapter to confute them who object against the Truth of Christ's Predictions and resolve it should not come at all Against whom he here opposes the Certainty the Speediness and the Terribleness of its coming That which hath given occasion to those other common Mistakes is especially the hideousness of those Judgments which fell upon the People of the Iews beyond all that ever before are related to have fallen upon them or indeed any other People which made it necessary for the Prophets which were to describe it and who use Tropes and Figures and not plain Expressions to set down their Predictions to express it by these high Phrases of the passing away and dissolving of Heaven and Earth and Elements c. which sounding very tragically are mistaken for the great and final Dissolution of the World So far the Doctor Two things there are in this Chapter which seem to contradict this Interpretation First That the Destruction here spoken of is compared with Noah's Flood and the Heaven and Earth to be dissolved by this made parallel and of equal extent to the World destroyed by that Of this the Doctor was well aware and therefore grants that the seventh Verse But the Heavens and the Earth which are now by the same word are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men is to be understood of the general and final destruction of the World by fire but the following Verses to be an Answer to the first part of the Atheists Objection viz.
useth the same Argument with Irenâ—cus Ergo quoniam sex diebus cuncta Dei opera perfecta sunt per secula sex id est sex annorum millia manere in hac statu mundum necesse est Dies enim magnus Dei mille annorum circulo terminatur sicut indicat Propheta qui dicit Ante oculos tuos Domine mille anni tanquam dies unus c. Therefore because all the works of God were perfected or 〈◊〉 in six days it is necessary or necessarily follows that the World shall continue in this state six Ages that is six thousand years For the great Day of God is terminated in a Circle of six thousand years as the Prophet intimates who saith A thousand years in thy sight O Lord are but as one day S. Augustine l. 20. de Civitate Dei S. Hieronymus Comment â—in Mich. cap. 4 Most clear and full to this purpose is Eustath in his Comment in Hexa meron 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. We reckon saith he that the Creation shall continue till the end of the sixth Chiliad because God also consummated the Vniverse in six days and I suppose that the Deity doth account days of a thousand years long for that it is said A thousand years are in the sight of the Lord as one day Hoâ—beit the most of them did not propose this Opinion as an undoubted Truth but only as a modest Conjâ—cture And S. Austine is very angry with them who would peremptordy conclude from so flight an Argumentation This Conceit is already confuted and the World hath long outlasted this 〈◊〉 according to their Computation who followed the Septuagint or Greek account and reckoned that Phaleg lived about the Three thousandth year of the World and had his Name from his living in the division of Time there being to come after him Three thousand years that is just so many as were past before him As concerning the future Condition of the World after the Conflagration I find it the general and received Opinion of the ancient Christians that this World shall not be annihilated or destroyed but only renewed and purified So Eusebius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The World shall not be wholly destroyed but renewed Divers other passages I 〈◊〉 produce out of him to the same purpose Cyril of Ierusalem Catech. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He folds up the 〈◊〉 not that he might destroy them but that he might rear them up again more beautiful Again Cyril upon this place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. He acutely or ingeniously calls 〈◊〉 death of the Elements their change into letter So that this Renovation in respect of the Creation shall be such a kind of thing as the Resurrection in reference to Man's Body Oecumenius upon this place He saith new Heavens and a new Earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet not different in matter And again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They shall not be destroyed or annihilated but only renewed and purified And upon Revel 21. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This he saith not denoting the Non-existence of the Creation but the Renewing In this manner he expounds Psalm 102. 5 6. and proceeding saith We may here take notice that the Apostle doth not use the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if the Heaven and Earth were annihilated and brought to nothing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they passed away or removed or changed state Saint Hierome upon the Psalms Psalm 102. saith Ex quo ostenditur perditionem coelorum non interitum sonare sed mutationem in melius From which words as a Vesture shalt thou change them may be shewn and made out that the Dissolution of the Heavens doth not signifie their utter destruction or annihilation but only their change into a better state I might add abundance more Testimonies but these I think may suffice CHAP. IV. The Opinions of the Ancient Heathen Philosophers and other Writers concerning the Dissolution 3. IT follows now that I give you an account what the ancient Philosophers and Sages among the Heathens thought and delivered concerning this Point Two of the four principal Sects of Philosophers held a future Dissolution of the World viz. The Epicureans and Stoicks As for the Epicureans They held that as the World was at first composed by the fortuitous concourse of Atomes so it should at last fall in pieces again by their fortuitous Separation as Lucretius hath it lib. 5. Principio maria ac terras coelúmque tuere Horum naturum triplicem tria corpora Memmi Tres species tam dissimiles tria talia texta Vna dies dabit exitio multósque per annos Sustentata ruet moles machina mundi But now to prove all this first cast an Eye And look on all below on all on high The solid Earth the Seas and arched Sky One fatal hour must ruine all This glorious Frame that stood so long must fall This Opinion of theirs is consonant enough to their wild Principles save only in that point of its suddenness Vna dies dabit exitio c. one day shall destroy or make an end of it The Stoicks were also of Opinion that the World must be dissolved as we may learn from the Seventh Book of Laertius in the Life of Zeno 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. They hold that the World is corruptible for these Reasons 1. Because it was generated and had a beginning 2. Because That is corruptible in the whole whose parts are corruptible But the parts of the World are corruptible being daily transmuted one into another 3. That which is capable of Mutation from better to worse is corruptible But such is the World sometimes being afflicted with long Heats and Droughts sometimes with continued Showers and Inundations To those we may add 4. according to some of their Opinions Because the Sun and Stars being fed with Vapours exhaled from the Earth all the moisture will at length be drawn out and the World fly on fire They were afraid Nè humore omni consumpto totus mundus ignesceret The Poet Lucan who seems to be of the Stoick Sect in the beginning of his first Book describing the Dissolution of the World makes it to be a falling in pieces of the whole Frame of Heaven and Earth and a jumbling and confounding of all their parts together Sic cùm compage soluta Secula tot mundi suprema coegerit hora Antiquum repetent iterum Chaos omnia mistis Sydera syderibus concurrent ignea Pontum Astra petent tellus extendere litora nolet Excutietque fretum fratri contraria Phoebâ— Ibit obliquum bigas agitare per orbem Indignata diem poscet sibi tot áque discors Machina divulsi turbabit foedera mundi So when the last hour shall So many Ages end and this disjointed All To Chaos back return then all the Stars shall be Blended together then those burning Lights on high In Sea shall drench Earth then her shores shall not extend
But to the Waves give way the Moon her Course shall bend Cross to her Brothers and disdaining still to drive Her Chariot wheel athwart the heavenly Oâ—b shall strive To rule the day this Frame to discord bent The Worlds Peace shall disturb and all in sunder rent This Dissolution of the World they held should be by Water and by Fire alternately at certain periods but especially by Fire which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Stoicks say that the cause of the destruction of the World is the irresistible force of Fire that is in things which in long periods of time consumes and dissolves all things into it self Euseb. Praep. l. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The most ancient of that Sect held That at certain vast Periods of time all things were rarified into Air being resolved into an Ethereal Fire This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Stoicks we find mentioned by many both Christian and Heathen Writers as besides the fore-quoted Minutius Felix Iustin Martyr Clemens Alexandrinus in 5. Strom. Plutarch Seneca and others The time of this Conflagration Seneca determines not but saith only it shall be when God pleases 3 Quaest. nat cap. 20. 8. Cùm Deo visum vetera finire ordiri meliora When it shall seem good to God to put an end to old things and to begin better Some there be who tell us of the Annus Platonicus or magnus by which they understand such a period of time as in which all the heavenly Bodies shall be restored to the same site and distance they were once in in respect of one another As supposing that all the Seven Planets were at the moment of Creation in the first degree of Aries till they come all to â—e in the same degree again all that space of 〈◊〉 is called the Great Year Annus magnus In this Year they tell us that the height of Summer is the Conflagration and the depth of Winter the Inundation and some Astrologers have been so 〈◊〉 as to assign the time both of the Inundation and Conflagration Seneca 3 Quest. Nat. cap. 20. Berosus qui Belum interpretaius est dicit cursu ista syderum fieri adeo quidem assirmat ut conflagrationi atque diluvio tempus asâ—ignet Arsura â—nim terrena contendit quando omnia sydera in Cancro convenerint inundationem futuram quando eadem syderum turba in Capricorno convenerit Berosus who interpreted Belus saith That those things come to pass according to the course of the Stars and he so confidently affirms it that he assigns the time both for the Conflagration and Inundation For that all earthly Bodies will be burnt up when all the Stars shall meet in Cancer and the Inundation will fall out when the same shall be in conjunction in Capricorn Concerning the manner of this Conflagration they held it should be sudden Senec. Natura subitò ad ruinam toto impeturuit licet ad originem parcè utatur viribus dispensetque se incrementis fallacibus Momento fit cinis diu sylva c. Nature doth suddenly and with all its force rush on to ruin though to the rise and formation of things it useth its strength sparingly dispensing its influence and causing them to grow by insensible degrees a Wood is long in growing up but reduced to Ashes almost in a moment And some of them were so absurd as to think that the Stars should justle and be dashed one against another Senec. lib. de consolatione ad Marciam Cùm tempus advenerit quo se mundus revoâ—aturus extinguat viribus ista se suis caedent sydeâ—â—â—yderilus incurrent omni flagrante materia uno igne quicquid nunc ex disposito lucet ardebit When the time shall come that the World again to restore and renew it self shall perish these things shall batter and mall themselves by their own strength the Stars shall run or fall foul upon one another and all the matter flaming whatsoever now according to its settled order and disposition shines shall then burn in one fire Here by the way we may with Dr. More Souls Immortality lib. 3. cap. 18. take notice how coursly not to say ridiculously the Stoicks Philosophize when they are turned out of their Road-way of Moral Sentences and pretend to give an account of the Nature of Things For what Errours can be more gross than they entertain of God of the Soul and of the Stars they making the two former Corporeal Substances and feeding the latter with the vapours of the Earth affirming that the Sun sups the Water of the great Ocean to quench his Thirst but that the Moon drinks off the lesser Rivers and Brooks which is as true as that the Ass drank up the Moon Such conceits are more sit for Anacreon in a drunken Fit to stumble upon who to invite his Companions to Tiple composed that Catch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Sea drinks up the Vapours And the Sun the Sea then to be either found out or owned by a serious Philosopher And yet Seneca mightily triumphs in this Notion of foddering the Stars with the thick Fogs of the Earth and declares his Opinion with no mean Strains of Eloquence c. As for the extent of this Conflagration they held that not only the Heavens should be burnt but that the Gods themselves should not escape Scot-free So Seneca Resoluto mundo Diis in unum confusis When the World shall be dissolved and the Gods confounded and blended together into one And again Atque omnes pariter Deos Perdet nox aliqua Chaos And in like manner a certain Night and Chaos shall destroy all the Gods Is not this wise Philosophy If their Morality were no better than their Physicks their Wise man they boast of might be so denominated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they of Gotham But let us look a little further and we shall find that the Stoicks were not the first Authors of this Opinion of the Conflagration but that it was of far greater Antiquity than that Sect. Others of the more ancient Philosophers having entertained it viz. Empedocles as Clemens Alexandrinus testifies in his 5 Strom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That there shall sometime be a change of the World into the nature or substance of Fire 2. Heraclitus as the same Clemens shews at large out of him in the same place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And Laertius in the Life of Heraclitus He taught 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That there is but one World and that it was generated out of Fire and again burnt up or turned into Fire at certain periods alternately throughout all Ages I might add to these the Ancient Greek Poets Sophocles and Diphilus as we find them quoâ—ed by Iustin Martyr and Clemens Alexandrinus Neither yet were these the first Inventers and Broachers of this Opinion but they received it by Tradition from their Forefathers and look'd
upon it as an Oracle and Decree of Fate Ovid speaks of it as such in the first of his Metamorphosis Esse quoque in fati reminiscitur affore tempus Quo mare quo tellus correptáque regia coeli Ardeat mundi moles operosa laboret Besides by Doom Of certain Fate he knew the time should come When Sea Earth ravisht Heaven the curious Frame Of this Worlds Mass should shrink in purging Flame And Lucan Hos Caesar populos si nunc non usserit ignis Vret cum terris uret cum gurgite ponti Communis mundo superest rogus ossibus Astra Misturus If now these Bodies want their Fire and Urn At last with the whole Globe they 'll surely burn The World expects one general Fire and Thou Must go where these poor Souls are wandring now Now though some are of Opinion that by Fata here are to be understood the Sibylline Oracles and to that purpose do alledge some Verses out of those extant under that Title as Lactantius in his Book De ir a Dei cap. 2. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And it shall sometime be that God not any more mitigating his Anger but aggravating it shall destroy the whole Race of Mankind consuming it by a conflagration And in another place there is mention made of a River of Fire that shall descend from Heaven and burn up both Earth and Sea Tunc ardens fluvius coelo manabit ab alto Igneus at que locos consumet funditus omnes Terrámque Oceanúmque ingentem caerula ponti Stagnáque tum fluvios fontes Ditémque severum Coelestâ—mque polum coeli quoque lumina in unum Haxa ruent â—ormâ deletâ prorsus eorum Aâ—tra cadent etenim de coelo cunâ—a revulsa Then shall a burning Flood flow from the Heavens on high And with its fiery Streams all places utterly Destroy Earth Ocean Lakes Rivers Fountains Hell And heavenly Poles the Lights in Firmament that dwell Losing their beauteous Form shall be obscur'd and all Raught from their places down from Heaven to Earth shall fall Now because the Verses now extant under the Name of Sibylline Oracles are all suspected to be false and Pseudepigrapha and many of them may be demonstrated to be of no greater Antiquity than the Emperour Antoninus Pius his Reign and because it cannot be proved that there was any such thing in the Ancient genuine Sibylline Oracles I rather think as I said before that it was a Doctrine of ancient Tradition handed down from the first Fathers and Patriarchs of the World Iosephus in his Antiquities runs it up as high as Adam from whom Seth his Son received it his Father saith he soretelling him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there should be a destruction of the Universe once by the violence of Fire and again by the force and abundance of Water in consequence whereof he erected two Pillars one of Brick which might endure the Fire and another of Stone which would resist the Water and upon them engraved his Astronomical Observations that so they might remain to Posterity And one of these Pillars he saith continued in Syria until his days Whether this Relation be true or not it may be thence collected that this was an Universal Opinion received by Tradition both among Iews and Gentiles That the World should one day be consumed by Fire It may be proved by good Authority that the ancient Gaules Chaldaeans and Indians had this Tradition among them which they could not receive from the Greek Philosophers or Poets with whom they had no entercourse but it must in all probability be derived down to both from the same Fountain and Original that is from the first Restorers of Mankind Noah and his Sons I now proceed to the Third Particular proposed in the beginning that is to give answer to the several Questions concerning the Dissolution of the World CHAP. V. The first Question concerning the World's Dissolution Whether there be any thing in Nature that may probably cause or argue a future Dissolution Three probable Means propounded and discussed SECT I. The Waters again naturally overflowing and covering the Earth THE First Question is Whether there be any thing in Nature which may prove and demonstrate or probably argue and infer a future Dissolution To which I answer That I think there is nothing in Nature which doth necessarily demonstrate a future Dissolution but that Position of the Peripatetick Schools may for ought I know be true Philosophy Posito ordinario Dei concursu mundus posset durare in aeternum Supposing the ordinary concourse of God with second Causes the World might endure for ever But though a future Dissolution by Natural Causes be not demonstrable yet some possible if not probable Accidents there are which if they should happen might infer such a dissolution Those are Four The possibility of 1. The Waters again overflowing and covering the Earth 2. The Extinction of the Sun 3. The Eruption of the Central Fire enclosed in the Earth 4. The Driness and Inflammability of the Earth under the Torrid Zone and the Eruption of all the Vulcano's at once But before I treat of these it will not be amiss a little to consider the old Argument for the Worlds Dissolution and that is its daily Consenescence and Decay which if it can be proved will in process of time necessarily infer a Dissolution For as the Apostle saith in another case That which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away Hebr. 8. 13. That which continually wastes will at last be quite consumed that which daily grows weaker and weaker will in time lose all its force So the Age and Stature and Strength of Man and all other Animals every Generation decreasing they will in the end come to nothing And that all these and all other things do successively diminish and decay in all Natural Perfections and Qualities as well as Moral hath been the received Opinion not only of the Vulgar but even of Philosophers themselves from Antiquity down to our times Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 7. c. 16. In plenum autem cuncto mortalium generi minorem indies mensuram staturae propemodum observatur rarosque patribus proceriores consumente ubertatem seminum exustione in cujus vices nunc vergat aevum In sum It is observed that the measure of the stature of all Mankind decreases and grows less daily and that there are few taller then their Parents the burning to which the Age inclines consuming the Luxury of the Seeds Terra malos homines nunc educ aâ— que pusillos Juvenal Sat. The Earth now breeds Men bad and small And Gellius Noct. Att. lib. 3. c. 10. Et nunc quasi jam mundo senescente rerum atque hominum decrementa sunt And now as if the World waxed old there is a decrement or decay both of Things and Men I might accumulate places out of the Ancients and Moderns to this
Necessity in matter of Diet of Physick of Building of Apparel or for his Instruction Direction Recreation Comfort and Delight or lastly that therein as in a Looking-glass he might contemplate the Wisdom the Goodness and Power of God when he shall attain that blessed Estate as he shall have no further use of any of these enjoying perfect Happiness and seeing God as he is face to face the second or subordinate End of the World 's Being must needs be likewise frustrate And what other End can be given or conceived for the remaining or restoring thereof c. To this I answer there may be an end of the restoring of the World tho' we are not able to find out or determine what We are too short-sighted to penetrate the Ends of God There may be a new Race of rational Animals brought forth to act their parts upon this Stage which may give the Creator as much Glory as Man ever did or could And yet if there should be no material and visible rational Creature made to inhabit the Earth there are spiritual and intellectual Beings which may be as busie and as much delighted in searching out and contemplating the Works of God in this new Earth and rendring him the Praise of his Wisdom and Power as Man could be These things we may conjecture but we must leave it to the only wise God to determine what use shall be made of it It seems to me to be too great presumption and over-valuing our selves to think that all this World was so made for us as to have no other end of its Creation or that God could not be glorified but by us This first and principal Argument being answered the second admits of an easie Solution They enquire whether the Vegetables and Creatures endued with Sense shall all be restored or some only namely such as shall be found in being at the Day of Judgment If all where shall we find Stowage for them Surely we may in this case properly apply that which the Evangelist in another useth figuratively if they should all be restored even the World itself could not contain the things which should be restored If some only then would I gladly know why those some should be vouchsafed this great Honour and not all or how those Creatures without a Miracle shall be restrain'd from propagating and multiplying and that infinitely in their kinds by a perpetual Generation Or lastly How the several Individuals of these kinds shall contrary to their primitive Natures live and dure immortally To all this I answer That not only all Animals but all Vegetables too yea and their Seeds also will doubtless be mortified and destroyed by the violence of the Conflagration but that the same should be restored and endued with eternal life I know no reason we have to believe but rather that there should be new ones produced either of the same with the former or of different kinds at the will and by the power of the Almighty Creator and for those Ends and Uses for which he shall design them This Question being answered in this manner all that follows concerning the Earth remaining without any Furniture or Inhabitants c. falls to the Ground So I have dispatch'd these Seven Questions concerning the Dissolution of the World there remains now only the Inference or Use of the precedent Doctrine CHAP. IX The Apostle's Inference from the precedent Doctrine I Come now to the Inference the Apostle makes from the precedent Doctrine What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness One word here needs a little explication and that is holy What is meant by a holy conversation Holiness is an Equivocal Term. It is attributed either to God or to the Creature When it is attributed to God it signifies either 1. The unspotted Purity of his Nature and the constant and immutable rectitude of his Will So it is taken 1 Iohn 3. 3. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself as he is pure and 1 Pet. 1. 15. As he which called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation Because it is written be ye holy for I am holy Psal. 145. 17. The Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works 2. His Sovereign Majesty and Greatness appearing in his transcendent Wisdom and Power in his Supreme and Absolute Dominion over all things in respect whereof he is called the Holy One of Israel and his Name is said to be Holy that is to be invoked with the greatest reverence Holy and reverend is his Name Because of this his Greatness and Excellency he is to be worshipped and adored with the most submissive humility and veneration with a transcendent and incommunicable Worship and Devotion When Holiness is attributed to Creatures it signifies either an Inherent and Inward or a Relative or Outward Holiness 1. Inherent or Inward Holiness is a Conformity of Heart and Life to the Will of God or as others define it An habitual Frame of Mind whereby we are fitted for Vertuous Actions but more especially for the Duties of Religion Indeed Holiness doth always include a reference to God 2. Relative or Outward Holiness results from a Separation and setting a-part any thing from a prophane and common and applying it to a Sacred or Religious Use. For the Majesty of God who at first created and continually sustains and governs all things being so great and inviolable all Persons Things and Times and Places and Ceremonies separated and appropriated to his Service and Worship are by all Nations esteemed Sacred and to have a Character of Holiness imprinted on them By Holiness in this place is to be understood an inherent Holiness which is well defined by Dr. Outram a Conformity of Heart and Life to the Will of God I shall not discourse at large concerning a holy Conversation nor instance particulars wherein it consists That would be to write a Body of Practical Divinity I shall therefore at present suppose the Reader sufficiently instructed in that My business shall be to shew the strength of the Apostle's Inference It may be said How doth this Dissolution concern us who may perchance be dead and rotten a thousand Years before it comes What have we to do with it I answer It concerns us 1. Because it 's possible it may happen in our times it may surprize us before we are aware The precise time thereof is uncertain And it shall be sudden and unexpected coming as a Thief in the Night as we have before shewn therefore we ought always to be upon our guard to have our loyns girt about and our lights burning This use the Scripture in many places makes of the uncertainty of the time of Christ's coming Luke 12. 40. Be ye therefore ready for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not Luke 21. 34 35. And take heed to your selves lest at any time your hearts
be over-charged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life and so that day come upon you unawares For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the whole earth Parallel whereto are Matth. 24. 42. and Mark 13. 33 35. That it shall come is certain when it shall come is uncertain and it every day draws nearer and nearer therefore it is not wisdom to remove the evil day far from us and as in reference to the day of Death it is an usual and prudent advice so to live every day as if it were our last day or at least as we would not be afraid to do should it be so because we are sure that one day will be our last and for ought we know the present may be it so likewise it is rational Counsel in respect of the End of the World so to prepare our selves for it by a holy Conversation that we may get above the terror and dread which will otherwise attend the apprehension of the approach of it and that we may be provided against the worst that may follow and be secure come what can come Secondly It concerns us should it be a thousand Years to come Because then is the general Resurrection both of the just and unjust Acts 24. 15. and the general Judgment When we must all appear before the dreadful tribunal of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 2. Cor. 5. 10. which Rom. 2. 5. is called the revelation of the righteous judgment of God Who will render to every man according to his deeds c. Upon this account I say it concerns us much how we have our Conversation here First As we hope to be acquitted at that day and to enter into those new Heavens in which dwells righteousness Holiness is a necessary condition and antecedent to happiness Necessary I say 1. By God's appointment Heb. 12. 14. Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Rom. 6. 22. Have your fruit unto holiness and the end eternal life Psal. 50. ult To him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God Eternal Life is the Gift of God He is not obliged to bestow it upon any Man He may make what Condition he pleases for the obtaining of it No Man hath any Right to it No Man can lay any claim to it but from this Donation and from the performance of these Conditions Rev. 22. 14. Blessed are they that do his commandments that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city For without are dogs and whoremongers and sorcerers c. All the Right they have depends upon God's Promise which is conditionate and accrues to them by the performance of the Condition which is the doing of his Commandments 2 Necessary not only by God's appointment but in the very nature of the thing Holiness is the very quality and complexion of Heaven No Man without it is qualified to be a subject of that Kingdom For thereinto nothing that is impure or unclean can enter Revel 21. 27. And there shall in no wise enter into it the New Jerusalem any thing that defileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination In this new Heaven dwelleth righteousness 2 Pet. 3. 15. Therefore 1 John 3. 3. Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself as he is pure Heaven would naturally spue out and eject a wicked Person as one heterogeneous to it Heaven and Hell are not more distant in Place than they are in Nature There is not more antipathy between fire and water between light and darkness between streight and crooked neither are they more incompatible or do more naturally resist and expel one another than holiness which is the quality of Heaven and wickedness which is the disposition and temper of Hell Some do think Heaven to be rather a state than a place and that he that is partaker of the Divine Nature hath Heaven within him This is true but this is not all The whole Notion of Heaven comprehends both a state and a place A Man must be in a heavenly state before the local Heaven can receive him or he brook it Heaven without him would be no Heaven to the Man who hath not Heaven within him A wicked Person could find no business or employment in Heaven nothing to satisfie his corrupt and depraved affections inclinations and appetites He would there meet with no suitable company no persons whose conversation he could take any delight and complacency in but rather hate and abhor For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness or what communion hath light with darkness 2 Cor. 6. 14. Like naturally loves like and unites with it and doth refuse resist and hate that which is unlike it For every thing is made to love itself and consequently whatsoever resembles and comes near it and is as it were a replication of it and to hate the contrary As therefore we would be glad to be Partakers of the blessedness of the local Heaven so let us endeavour to get into our Minds and Spirits the qualities and conditions of Heaven that so we may be fit Subjects for that Kingdom sit Companions for that Society This is the time allotted us to purifie our selves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit and to perfect holiness in the fear of God There is no invention in the Grave whither we are going Eccles. 9. 10. Vpon this moment depends eternity As the tree falls so it it lies Eccles. And as Death leaves so will Judgment find us Quando isthinc excessum fuerit nullus jam locus poenitentiae est Hîc vita aut amittitur aut tenetur Hîc saluti aeternae cultu Dei fructu fidei providetur Cyprian Serm. de Immortal After we shall depart hence there remains no more place for repentance Eternal life is here either lost or won Here provision is made for everlasting salvation by the worship of God and fruit of faith We must work while it is day the night of death cometh wherein no man can work John 9. 4. And therefore the time our Bodies shall rest in the Grave should it be a thousand Years will little avail us for if the Soul be mean while awake the certain and dreadful expectation of the Sentence of Condemnation to an eternal Hell at the Day of Judgment will be little less afflictive than the Torments thereof themselves I might add by way of Digression that Sin and Wickedness is naturally productive of Hell in the Soul A wicked Man carries Hell in his Breast Sin necessarily infers Misery It is contrary to the nature of the Soul and whatsoever is so must needs be grievous Diversion and Non-Attention to his Condition is the wicked Man's only Security I have heard it often from a great Divine in