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. I. 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 chuse 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 Jerusalem 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 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 is 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 superior Heavens whether Empyreal or Ethereal or for the sublunary Heavens the Air as the word World is either the whole Compages of the superior or inferior or else only of the sublunary lower World we may here resolve that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heaven and Host or Elements thereof are literally the sublunary aereal Heavens and all that is therein Clouds and Meteors c. Fowls and flying Creatures and so fit to join 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 I 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 V. 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 V. 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 V. 13. Nevertheless we according to his promise look for a new Heaven and a new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness This gives some light toward the answering 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 Jerusalem and the Jewish State he thus paraphrasing them V. 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 Jews 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 V. 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 V. 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 Jewish State V. 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
JOHN RAY F.R.S. Printed for J. Hinton at the King's Arms in Paternoster Row Miscellaneous Discourses Concerning the DISSOLUTION AND CHANGES OF THE WORLD WHEREIN The Primitive Chaos and Creation the General Deluge Fountains Formed Stones Sea-Shells found in the Earth Subterraneous Trees Mountains Earthquakes Vulcanoes the Universal Conflagration and Future State are largely Discussed and Examined By JOHN RAY Fellow of the ROYAL SOCIETY LONDON Printed for Samuel Smith at the Prince's Arms in St. Paul's Church Yard 1692. TO THE Most Reverend FATHER in GOD JOHN Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Primate of all England and Metropolitan My Lord IT was no Interest or Expectation of mine that induced me to dedicate this Discourse to your Grace I am not so well conceited of my own performances as to think it merits to be inscribed to so great a Name much less that I should oblige your Lordship or indeed a far meaner person by such inscription My principal motive was that it would give me opportunity of congratulating with the sober part of this Nation your advancement to the Archiepiscopal Dignity and of acknowledging His Majesty's Wisdom in making choice of so fit a Person to fill that Chair endued with all Qualifications requisite for so high a Calling so able and skilful a Pilot to govern the Church and so prudent and faithful a Counsellor to serve himself But I will not enlarge in your just praises lest I should incur the unjust Censure or Suspicion of Flattery Give me leave only to add what I may without injury of Truth and I think also without violation of Modesty that your Grace's Election hath the concurrent Approbation and Applause of all good men that know you or have had a true Character of you which may serve to strengthen your Hands in the Management and Administration of so difficult a Province though you need no such Support as being sufficiently involved and armed by your Vertues and protected by the Almighty Power and Providence Those that are Good and Wise are pleased and satisfied when great Men are preferred to great Places and think it pity that Persons of large and publick Spirits should be confined to narrow Spheres of Action and want field to exercise and employ those rich Talents and Abilities wherewith they are endowed in doing all the Good they are thereby qualified and inclined to do My Lord I am sensible that the Present I make you is neither for Bulk nor Worth suitable to your Person and Greatness yet I hope you will favourably accept it being the best I have to offer and my boldness may pretend some excuse from ancient acquaintance and from my forwardness to embrace this opportunity of professing my name among those that honour you and of publishing my self My Lord Your Graces most devoted Servant and humble Orator John Ray. THE PREFACE VVERE it not customary and expected by the Reader this Discourse would need no Preface All that I shall premise shall be something by way of Apology or Excuse First For the two long Digressions I have made the one concerning the general Deluge in the days of Noah the other concerning the Primitive Chaos and Creation of the World My first Plea is their Affinity and near Relation to my Subject The future Dissolution of the World by fire inviting me to say something of the former Destruction of it by Water And the destruction being opposite to the formation I had as good a Pretence to discourse likewise concerning that My second excuse is their agreement with my Subject in being alike matters of Ancient Tradition Five matters of Ancient Tradition I have taken notice of and four of them by reason of their now-mentioned Relation one to another I have had a fair and inviting occasion to treat of in this Work They are 1. That the World was formed out of a Chaos by the Divine Wisdom and Power 2. That there was once an universal Flood of Waters in which all Mankind perished excepting some few that were saved in an Ark or Ship 3. That the World shall one day be dissolved by Fire 4. That there is a Heaven and an Hell a Tartarus and an Elysium and both eternal the one to reward good men and the other to punish wicked 5. Of which I have no occasion to treat That Bloody Sacrifices are to be offered for the Expiation of Sin It may be doubted whether these Traditions among the Heathen had their Original from some passages in Scripture as that of the Chaos from the second Verse of the first Chapter of Genesis And the Earth was Tohu vabohu which we render without form and void and that of the Deluge from the History of it in the seventh Chapter of the same and the future conflagration from several passages in the Prophets c. or were antecedent to the Scripture I rather think the latter because we find them among some Nations which it's likely never had understanding of the Scriptures nor indeed ever heard of them Secondly For Writing so much for which perchance some may censure me I am not ignorant that men as they are mutable so they love change and affect variety of Authors as well as Books Satiety even of the best things is apt to creep upon us He that writes much let him write never so well shall experience that his last Books though nothing inferiour to his first will not find equal acceptance But for mine own part though in general I may be thought to have written too much yet is it but little that I have written relating to Divinity Thirdly For being too hasty in huddling up and tumbling out Books Herein I confess I cannot acquit my self wholly from blame I know well that the longer a Book lies by me the perfecter it becomes Something occurs every day in reading or thinking either to add or to correct and alter for the better but should I defer the Edition till the Work were absolutely perfect I might wait all my life-time and leave it to be published by my Executors But I see that Posthumous Pieces generally prove inferiour to those put out by the Authors in their lives And perchance did the Reader know my Reasons for this speed which I think it not fit now to lay open he would judge them sufficient to excuse me However hasty and precipitate I am in writing my Books are but small so that if they be worthless the Purchase is not great nor the Expence of Time wasted in the perusal of them very considerable Yet is not the worth of a Book always answerable to its Bulk But on the contrary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is usually esteemed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One â—hing still remains to advertise the Reader of that is that upon second thoughts I do revoke what I have delivered as my Opinion or Suspicion concerning the Continuance of the Rain at the Time of the Deluge for one hundred and fifty dayes because it is
v. 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 applyed to the end of this World and the beginning of the Millennium or thousand years And so as S. Peter here saith v. 16. many other places in S. Paul's Epistles and in the Gospel especially Matth. 24. are mistaken and wrested That it doth not belong to either of those but to this fatal day of the Jews 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 that People of the Jews beyond all that ever before are reâ—ated to have fallen upon them or indeed any other people which made it necessary â—or the Prophets which were to describe it 〈◊〉 and who use Tropes and Figures and not â—lain Expressions to set down their Predictiâ—ns to express it by these high Phrases of â—he passing away and dissolving of Heaven and Earth and Elements c. which sounding very tragically are mistaken for the great â—nd final Dissolution of the World So far the Doctor Two things there are in this Chapter which seem to contradict this Inâ—erpretation First That the Destruction â—ere spoken of is compared with Noah's â—lood and the Heaven and Earth to be disâ—olved 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 7th Verse But the Heavens and the Earth which are now by the â—â—me word are kept in store reserved unto fire â—gainst 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. Where is the promise of his coming To me it seems that all refer to the same matter The second thing which seems to contradict the Doctor 's Interpretation is the Apostles citing for the instruction and confirmation of the Believers and in answer to the Atheists Objection Where is the promise of his coming â— that place of the Psalmist Psal 90.4 Thaâ— one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day For thâ— Apostle seems to suppose that the time oâ— Christ's coming might possibly be a thousand years off and that they were not to thinâ— much or distrust the promise if it were so for though it were predicted as thinâ— shortly to come yet they were to consideâ— that a thousand years in God's sight is but very short time so that it might be fore tolâ— as shortly to come though it were a thousand years off Whereas it might seem improper to mention a thousand years to support them in expectation of an Event thâ— was not twenty years to come Another place where mention is made â—â— Christ's coming to Judgment and the Dissâ—lution of the World is Matth. 24. to whicâ— may be added as parallel Mark 13. anâ— Luke 21. In which places you have conâ—â—derable 1. The Suddenness of Christ's coming v. 27. As the lightning comes out of tâ— East and shineth even unto the West so shâ— the coming of the Son of Man be 2. The Sigâ— of his coming v. 29. Immediately after tâ— tribulation of those days shall the Sun be darkned and the Moon shall not give her light and the Stars shall fall from Heaven and the powers of Heaven shall be shaken 3. The manner of his coming v. 30. And then shall appear the Sign of the Son of Man in Heaven and then shall all the Tribes of the Earth mourn when they shall see the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of Heaven with power and great glory And he shall send his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet and they shall gather together his Elect from the four Winds from one end of Heaven to the other 4. The Uncertainty of the time of his coming and this dissolution as to us But of that day and hour knoweth no man no not the Angels in Heaven and Mark adds neither the Son but the Father only All this Prophecy Dr. Hammond understands of the destruction of the City and Temple of Jerusalem and whole Nation of the Jews as may be seen in his Paraphrase and Annotations upon this place And indeed our Saviour himself seems to limit it to this saying v. 24. Verily I say unto you this generation shall not pass away till all these things be fulfilled For if these Prophecies look further than the destruction of Jerusalem even to Christ's coming to Judgment how could it be true that that generation should not pass away till all those things were fulfilled Whereas we see that that Generation is long since passed away and yet the end is not yet And indeed Expositors that understand them of the end of the World and Christ's second coming to Judgment are hard put to it to answer this Objection S. Chrysostom will have this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be understood not of the Generation of men then living but of the Generation of the faithful which should not fail till the end of the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. He denominates a Generation not only from living together in the same time but from having the same form and manner of religious Worship and Polity as in that place This is the generation of them that seek thee that seek thy face O Jacob. Beza understands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the present Age and will have it to be of the same valor with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hebrew and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to refer not to all particulars mentioned in this Chapter but only to those which are spoken of the destruction of the City and Nation of the Jews But saith he if any one urgeth the universal Particle Vertere licebit Fiant omnia viz. quae ultimam illam diem praecessura dixit Nam ab illo tempore coeperunt fieri adhuc perseverant illa signa suo demum tempore Filio hominis venturo But on the other side 1. Some passages there are in this Chapter which are hardly applicable to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Dissolution of the Jewish Common-wealth as the appearing of the Sign of the Son of man in heaven and the Tribes seeing the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory And his sending his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet 2. The coming of Christ is in like manner
The Sun shall be turned into darkness and the Moon into blood before that great and terrible day of the Lord comes Malachi 4.1 Behold the day cometh that shall burn like an Oven c. Deut 32 22. For a fire is kindled in my anger and shall burn to the lowest Hell and shall consume the Earth with her encrease and set on fire the foundations of the Mountains I must confess that the Prophetick Books are full of figurative Expressions being written in a Poetick Style and according to the strain of the Oriental Rhetorick which is much different from the Euporean affecting lofty and turned Metaphors and excessive Hyperbola's and Aggravations which would either sound harsh to our Ears or import a great deal more to us than they did to them This is obvious to any one that reads their Books and may clearly be demonstrated from the Titles that their Kings assumed to themselves as well Anciently as lately viz. Sons of the Sun Brethren of the Sun and Moon Partners of the Stars Lions Crowned in the Throne of the World Endued with the strength of the whole Heaven and Virtue of the Firmament Now we cannot possibly imagine them so vain as to think themselves literally to be such no sure all they meant by these Expressions was that they were great and honourable and powerful Now the Prophetick Books of the Old Testament being written in a Style somewhat conformable to the Oratory of those Countreys are not I humbly conceive in every tittle to be so exactly scanned and literally expounded but so to be interpreted as a Jew or an Asiatick would then have understood them And this I rather think because there be divers passages in the Prophets which cannot be verified in strict literal sense As in the place before quoted Esay 34.9 It is said of the streams of Idumaea that 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 dispeopled 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 Esay 13.20 and of the Land of Babylon Verse 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 Paraphrase 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 Exibition of the Messiah to the end of the World Esay 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 that Prophesie of Joel 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. is to be understood Hence the last Days have among the Jews proverbially signified the days of the Messiah as Doctor Hammon in his Annotations upon this place tells us who also Notes that in that place of Joel the last days do literally signifie the last days of the Jews immediately preceding their destruction called there the Great and terrible Day of the Lord. So Heb. 1.2 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in these last days is meant the days of the Messias So 1 Peâ— 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 9.26 But now oncâ— in the end of the World hath he appeared tâ— put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself An◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ends of the World iâ— 1 Cor. 10.11 Vpon whom the ends of thâ— World are come signifie the Age of the Messias though indeed the former seems morâ— peculiarly to denote the shutting up of thâ— 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 shall 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 â—t 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 Iâ—pugne or call in Question yet not any to be met with who questions 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 â—ands 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 Justin Martyr in Quoest 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 Expressions that they are in the right who say that the World will last six thousanâ—
power of the Omnipotent God and instrumentality of an inexplicable multitude of Clouds amassed together wherewith it was filled changed into Water so that the upper and lower Air might seem to be transmuted into an Ocean not by the strength of Nature but of him to whose Will and Power all things are subject And he is so confident that this Deluge in which the Water was raised fifteen Cubits above the highest Mountains was not nor could be effected by natural Causes but by the right hand of the Most High God only that he saith No man can deny it but he who doth not penetrate how far the power of Nature can extend and where it is limited To conclude this Hypothesis hath the Suffrages of most Learned Men. But because the Scripture assigning the Causes or Means of the Inundation makes no mention of any conversion of Air into Water but only of the breaking up the Fountains of the Great Deep and the opening of the Windows of Heaven I suppose those Causes may be sufficient to work the Effect and that we need not have recourse to such an Assistance As for those that make the Deluge Topical and restrain it to a narrow compass of Land their Opinion is I think sufficiently confuted by the fore-mentioned ingenious Author to whom therefore I refer the Reader I shall not undertake the Defence or Confutation of any other Hypothesis only tell you which at present seems to me most probable and that is theirs who for a partial cause of the Deluge assign either a change of the Center of the Earth or a violent depression of the Surface of the Ocean and a forcing the Waters up from the subterraneous Abysse through the Channels of the Fountains that were then broken up and opened First then let us consider what Causes the Scripture assigns of the Flood and they are two 1. The breaking up the Fountains of the great Deep 2. The opening of the Windows of Heaven I shall first treat of this last By the opening of the Windows of Heaven is I suppose to be understood the causing of all the Water that was suspended in the Air to descend down in Rain upon the Earth the effect hereof here mentioned being a long continuing Rain of Forty nay perchance One Hundred and Fifty Days And that these Treasuries of the Air will afford no small quantity of Water may be made appear both by Scripture and Reason 1. By Scripture which opposes the Waters that are above the Heavens or Firmament to those that are under them which if they were not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in some measure equal it would never do Gen. 1.6 God is said to make a Firmament in the midst of the Waters and to divide the Waters which were under the Firmament from the Waters which were above the Firmament And this was the work of a whole day and consequently no inconsiderable thing By the Heavens or Firmament in this place is to be understood the inferiour Region of the Air wherein the Fowls fly who Gen. 1.20 are said to fly above the Earth in the open Firmament of Heaven though elsewhere it be taken for the Celestial Regions wherein the Sun and Moon and Stars are placed 2. The same may be made appear by Reason grounded upon Experience I my self have observed a Thunder-Cloud in passage to have in less than two hours space powred down so much Water upon the Earth as besides what sunk into the parched and thirsty ground and filled all Ditches and Ponds caused a considerable Flood in the Rivers setting all the Meadows on flote And Dr. Wittie in his Scarborough Spaâ— tells us of great Spouts of Rain that ordinarily fall every year some time or other in Summer that set the whole Countrey in a Flood Now had this Cloud which might for ought I know have moved Forty Miles forward stood still and emptied all its Water upon the same spot of ground it first hung over what a sudden and incredible Deluge would it have made there and yet what depth or thickness of Vapours might remain uncondensed in the Air above this Cloud who knows Now it is to be considered that not only the Air above the Dry Land but also all that covers the whole Ocean is charged with Vapours which are nothing else but diffused Water all which was brought together by Winds or what other Means seem'd good to God and caused to distil down in Rain upon the Earth And you may easily guess that it was no small quantity of Water that was supplyed this way in that it sufficed for a Rain that lasted more than Forty Days as I shall afterwards shew if I understand the Text a right And that no ordinary Rain neither but Catarracts or Spouts of Water for so the Septuagint interprets the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Catarracts or Spouts of Heaven were opened I return now to the first Cause or Means of the Deluge assigned by the Scripture and that is the breaking up of all the fountains of the great Deep By the great Deep in this place I suppose is to be understood the Subterraneous Waters which do and must necessarily communicate with the Sea For we see that the Caspian and Mediterranean Seas to mention no others receive into themselves many and great Rivers and yet have no visible Out-lets nay this latter receives also abundance of Waters from the great Ocean running in at the Streights of Gibraltar and therefore by Subterraneous Passages must needs discharge their Waters into the Abyss of Waters under the Earth and by its intervention into the Ocean again By the breaking up of the Fountains of the Great Deep is I conceive meant the making great Issues and Apertures for these Subterraneous Waters to rush out You will say how could that be sith the Water keeps its level and cannot ascend to a greater height above the common Center than the Superficies of the Sea is much less force its way remove Obstacles and break open Passages I answer According to them that hold that all Rivers come from the Sea by Subterraneous Passages it is no more than daily happens For they must needs grant thaâ— the Water in the Subterraneous Channels is raised as far above the level of the Ocean as are the Heads and Fountains of great Rivers Which considering the height of their first Springs up the Mountains the length of their Courses and swiftness of their Streams for a great part of the way is very considerable a constant declivity being necessary to their descent And therefore 〈◊〉 can by no means assent to the Learned Doctor Plot if I understand him alright That the Valleys are as much below the Surface of the Sea as Mountains are above it For how then could Rivers descend down to the Sea through those Valleys the Sea would rather run into them and make Siâ—uses or else if they were enclosed the Water would stagnate there and make Pools
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 to be 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 sooâ— shaken in mind or be troubled neither by Spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us as that the day of Christ is at hand Wee see the Apostle labours to rectifie and for the future to prevent this Mistake so likewise the Apostle Peter in the 8th and 9th Verses of this Chapter And yet this Opinion had taken such deep root in them that it waâ— not easie to be extirpated but continued for some Ages in the Church Indeed there are so many places in the New Testament which speak of the coming of Christ as very near that if we should have lived in their time and understood them all as they did of hiâ— coming to judge the World we could hardly have avoided being of the same Opinion But if we apply them as Dr. Hammoâ— doth to his coming to take vengeance on hiâ— enemies then they do not hinder but thaâ— the Day of Judgment I mean the generaâ— Judgment may be far enough off So â— leave this Question unresolved concluding that when that day will come God only knows CHAP. X. How far this Conflagration shâ—ll extend 6. A Sixth Question is How far shall this Conflagration extend Whether to the Ethereal Heavens and all the Host of them Sun Moon and Stars or to the Aereal only I answer If we follow Ancient Tradition not only the Earth but also the Heavens and heavenly Bodies will be involved in one common fate as appears by those Verses quoted out of Lucretius Ovid Lucan c. Of Christians some exempt the Ethereal Region from this Destruction for the two following Reasons which I shall set down in Reuterus's words 1. Because in this Chapter the Conflagration is compared to the Deluge in the time of Noah But the Deluge extended not to the upper Regions of the Air much less to the Heavens the Waters arising only fifteen Cubits above the tops of the Mountains if so much Therefore neither shall the Conflagration transcend that term So Beza upon 2 Pet. 3.6 Tantum ascendet ille ignis quantum aqua altior supra omnes montes That fire shall ascend as high as the Waters stood above the Mountains This passage I do not find in the last Edition of his Notes The ordinary Gloss also upon these words 2 Thess 1.2 In flaming fire rendring vengeance saith Christum venturum praecedet ignis in mundo qui tantum ascendet quantum aqua in diluvio There shall a fire go before Christ when he comes which shall reach as high as did the Water in the Deluge And S. Augustine De Civit. Dei lib. 20. cap. 18. Petrus etiam commemorans factum ante diluvium videtur admonuisse quodammodo quatenus in fine hujus seculi istum mundum periturum esse credamus Peter also mentioning the Ancient Deluge seems in a manner to have advised us how far at the consummation of time we are to believe this World shall perish But this Argument is of no force because it is not the Apostles design in that place to describe the limits of the Conflagration but only against Scoffers to shew that the World should one day perish by Fire as it had of old been destroyed by Water 2. The second reason is because the Heavenly Bodies are not subject to passion alteration or corruption They can contract no filth and so need no expurgation by Fire To this we answer not in the words of Reuter but our own That it is an idle and ill grounded conceit of the Peripateticks That the Heavens are of their own nature incorruptible and unalterable for on the contrary it is demonstrable that many of them are of the same nature with the Earth we live upon and the most pure as the Sun and probably too the Fixt Stars suffer Alterations maculae or opaque Concretions being commonly generated and dissolved in them And Comets frequently and sometimes New Stars appear in the Etherial Regions So that these Arguments are insufficient to exempt the Heavens from Dissolution and on the other side many places there are in Scripture which seem to subject them thereto As Psal 102.25 26. recited Heb. 1.10 which hath already often been quoted The heavens are the works of thy hands They shall perish Mat. 24.35 Heaven and Earth shall pass away Isa 65.17 51.6 The Heavens shall vanish away like smoke Yet am I not of opinion that the last Fire shall reach the Heavens They are too far distant from us to suffer by it nor indeed doth the Scripture affirm it but where it mentions the Dissolution of the Heavens it expresses it by such Phrases as seem rather to intimate that it shall come to pass by a consenescency and decay than be effected by any sudden and violent means Psal 102.25 26. They all shall wax old as doth a garment c. Though I confess nothing of Certainty can be gathered from such expressions for we find the same used concerning the Earth Isa 51.6 The Heavens shall vanish away like smoke and the Earth shall wax old as doth a garment The heavenly Bodies are none of them uncorruptible and eternal but may in like manner as the Earth be consumed and destroyed at what times and by what means whether Fire or some other Element the Amighty hath decreed and ordered CHAP. XI Whether shall the Whole World be consumed and annihilated or only refined and purified THere remains now only the Seventh Question to be resolved Whether shall the World be wholly consumed burnt up and destroyed or annihilated or only refined purified or renewed To this I answer That the latter part seems to me more probable viz. That it shall not be destroyed and annihilated but only refined and purified I know what potent Adversaries I have in this case I need name no more than Gerard in his Common Places and Dr. Hakewil in his Apology and the Defence of it who contend earnestly for the Abolition or Annihilation But yet upon the whole matter the Renovation or Restitution seems to me most probable as being most consonant to Scripture Reason and Antiquity The
said the Waters prevailed so long upon the Earth that is as I understand it increased I now grant that it lasted but forty natural days because those words of God to Noah predicting the Continuance of the Rain Gen. 7.4 For yet seven days and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights c. seem to limit it to that term So that we must seek some other reason for the prevailing of the Water for one hundred and fifty days which probably might be the Continuance of the Emotion of the Center of the Earth for so long time THE CONTENTS THE Introduction concerning Prophecy Chap. 1. The Division of the Words 2 Peter 3.11 and Doctrine contained in them viz. I. Testimonies concerning the future Dissolution of the World 1. Of the Holy Scriptures 2. Of ancient Christian Writers 3. Of Heathen Philosophers and Sages II. Seven Quotations concerning the Dissolution proposed pag. 1.2 3 Chap. 2. The Testimonies of Scripture concerning the Dissolution Dr. Hammond's Expositions referring the most of them to the Destruction of the City and Temple of Jerusalem and the Period of the Jewish State and Polity considered and pleaded for p. 5 6 c. to 22 Chap. 3. Some Testimonies of the Ancient Fathers and Doctors of the Church concerning the Dissolution of the World p. 22 23 c. to 28. Chap. 4. The Testimonies of some Heathen Philosophers and other Writers concerning the Dissolution the Epicureans p. 28. The Stoicks who held certain Periods of Deluges and Conflagrations p. 29 to 34. That this Opinion of a future Conflagration was of far greater Antiquity than that Sect proved p. 34 35.36 The Antiquity and Vniversality of it argue it to have been derived from Noah and his Sons p. 37 38 Chap. 5. 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 possible means propounded and discussed p. 39 Sect. 1. The first is the possibility of the Waters again naturally overflowing and covering the Earth p. 39.44 45 c. to 51 The old Argument for the World's Dissolution viz. it s daily Consenescency and Decay rejected p. 40 41 From the continual straitening of the Sea and lowring the Mountains and high Grounds by Floods washing away and carrying down Earth and from the Seas encroaching upon the Shores such an Overflowing shewn to be possible p. 44 45 c. to p. 50. An Objection against the Diminution and Depression of the Land answered p. 51 52 c. A Digression concerning the general Deluge in the Days of Noah p. 56 57 c. Testimonies of Heathen Writers and ancient Coins verifying the Scripture-History of the Deluge p. 56 57 c. to 63. That the Ancient Poets and Mythologists by Deucalion understood Noah and by Deucalion's Flood the general Deluge p. 60 61. That there have been other particular Deluges p. 63 The Opinion of those who held that the Deluge was caused by a miraculous Transmutation of the Element of Air into Water p. 64 65. That the Means assigned by the Scripture viz. A continual Rain of forty natural Days and the emptying the Subterraneous Abyss may suffice so that we need not have recourse to such an assistance p. 66. That all the Vapours suspended in the Air might contribute much towards the Flood proved p 67 68. Concerning the raising up the Waters out of the great Deep p. 69 70. An Occasional Discourse concerning the Original of Fountains p. 70 71 c. The Subterraneous Circulation and perpetual motion of the Water to the Author improbable p. 71. That the Preponderancy of the Earth and the Water lying upon an heap in the opposite Hemisphere cannot be the Cause of the Waters Ascent in Springs proved p 72 73. That Rains may suffice to feed the Springs and do feed the ordinary ones proved p. 74 75. That the Rain-Water sinks down and makes its way into the Earth more than ten or twenty or forty or an hundred foot proved by many Arguments and Experiments p. 76 77 c. to p. 82. Mr. Halley's Opinion that Springs and Rivers owe their Original to Vapours condensed on the sides of the Mountains propounded and approved as to hot and fervid Regions but disallowed as to the more temperate and cold ones yet the Vapours there not wholly excluded p. 82 83 c. to 91. Observations communicated by Dr. Robinson concerning the Original of Fountains dropping Trees c. p. 92 93. The Question further discussed and proved that Vapours are a partial Cause of Springs even in temperate and cold Regions Addit 251 252 Inferences upon the Supposition of the Rivers pouring into the Sea half an Ocean of Waters daily p. 95 96. The most probable Causes of the Deluge viz. The Emotion of the Center of the Earth or an extraordinary Depression of the Superficies of the Sea p. 99 100. The Effects of the Deluge 1. As. to the Superficial Parts of the Earth p. 102 103. 2. Particularly as to the bringing in of formed Stones or the Shells and Bones of some Sea-fishes dispersed all over the face of the Earth p. 104 c. A Discourse concerning the Nature and Original of those Bodies whether they were originally the real Shells and Bones of Fishes or Stones cast in such Molds or whether they be primitive Productions of Nature in imitation only of such Shells and Bones not owing their Figure to them The Arguments on both sides proposed and weighed p. 106 107 c. to 132 Sect. 2. The second possible Cause of the World's Destruction in a natural way the Extinction of the Sun p 133 Sect. 3. The third possible Cause of the World's Destruction the Eruption of the Central Fire p. 135. That the being of such a Fire is no way oppugnant either to Scripture or Reason p. 137 138 c. Sect. 4. The fourth possible Cause of the World's Destruction the Earths Dryness and Inflammability in the Torrid Zone and the Eruption of the Vulcano's p. 141. That the Inclination of the Ecliptick to the Equator doth not diminish p. 142. That tho there were such a drying and parching of the Earth in the Torrid Zone it would not probably infer a Conflagration p. 142 143 144. That there hath not yet been nor in the ordinary Course of Nature can be any such drying or parching of the Earth under the Torrid Zone p. 44 45 46. The possibility of the Desiccation of the Sea by natural Means denied p. 146 147. The Fixedness and Intransmutability of Principles secures the Vniverse from Dissolution Destruction of any present Species and Production of any new p. 148 149 A Second Digression concerning the Primitive Chaos and Creation of the World p. 150 What the Ancients understood by it ibid. 151. That probably God did at first create a certain number of Principles or simple Bodies naturally intransmutable and mingle them variously in the Earth and
Borracio's This may be the cause that the vast Ridge and Chain of Mountains in Peru are continually water'd when the great Plains in that Countrey are all dry'd up and parch't This Hypothesis concerning the Original of Springs from Vapours may hold better in those hot Regions within and near the Tropicks where the Exhalations from the Sea are most plentiful most rarify'd and Rain scarce than in the Temperate and Frigid ones where it rains and snows generally on the Vertices of the Mountains yet even in our European Climates I have often observ'd the Firs Pines and other Vegetables near the Summits of the Alps and Appennines to drop and run with Water when it did not rain above some Trees more than others according to the density and smoothness of their Leaves and Superficies whereby they stop and condense the Vapours more or less The Beams of the Sun having little force on the high parts of Mountains the interrupted Vapours must continually moisten them and as in the head of an Alembick condense and trickle down so that we owe part of our Rain Springs Rivers and conveniencies of Life to the operation of distillation and Circulation by the Sun the Sea and the Hills without even the last of which the Earth would scarce be habitable This present year in Kent they have had no Rain since March last therefore most of their Springs are dry at this very day aâ— I am assur'd from good hands The high spouting of Water even to three Fathoms perpendiculâ— out of innumerable holes on the Lake Zirkniâ— in Carniola after Rains on the adjacent Hills exceeds the spirting Gips or natural Jet d'eaâ— we have in England Novemb. 12. 1691. Tancred Robinson I have read of some Philosophers whâ— imagined the Earth to be a great Animal anâ— that the ebbing and flowing of the Sea wâ— the respiration of it and now methinks iâ— this Doctrine be true we have found onâ— the Circulation of its Blood or somethinâ— like it For the Water must upon this supposition move in proportion to its bulâ— faster through the Veins of this round Anâ—mal than the blood doth through those â— other living Creatures But let us suppose that the Rivers â— daily carry down to the Sea half an Oceaâ— of Water and that the Rain supplies all thaâ— as our Opinion is and see what we can iâ—fer from thence I think it will be granted that ordinarily communibus annis the Rain that falls in a whole year amounts not to above one quarters continual Rain Now if this suffices for a daily effusion of half an Ocean it is clear that if it should rain without any intermission all the year round the Rivers would pour out two Oceans into the Sea daily And so in forty days continual Rain there would distil down upon the Earth eighty Oceans of Water A prodigious quantity indeed and scarce credible which if the Water be carried off as fast as it comes on infers a Circulation of a quantity of Water equal to the whole Ocean twice in twenty four hours Supposing then thar so much Water daily descends upon the Earth I argue thus The Water falling upon the Earth must have some time to run down to the Sea and according to the small declivity of the Continent suppose the Mountains pared off and the Land levelled a considerable one too and we see it actually hath so that the Floods in great Rivers follow some days after the falls of Rain upon the higher grounds And so tho at the time of the general Deluge the Waters hastned down to the Sea as fast as the declivity of the Earth would permit yet they breaking out of the Fountains of the Abyss and falling down from the Clouds abundantly faster than they could run down the gentle declivity of the Earth it deserves to be considered whether by the end of forty days there might not have been water enough amassed to cover the Mountains fifteen Cubits high And yet rhe Scripture doth not in plain terms say that ever the waters of the Flood arose fifteen Câ—bits above the tops of the highest Mountains as Mr. Warren well observes Moreover to me it doth not seem clearly to limit the time of the Rains descent to forty days but it may import that the Rain had continued so long before the Ark was lifted up above the Earth and that it ceased not till one hundred and fifty days were over for so long the Waters are said to have prevailed upon the Earth Gen. 7.24 that is continued and increased whereas had the Rain ceased and the Fountains been stopped at forty dayâ— end the declivity of the Land would in aâ— likelihood have sunk the Waters much by the end of one hundred and fifty days which it was so far from doing that notwithstanding the help of the Wind the topâ— of the Mountains were not seen till the beginning of the tenth Month that is till twâ— hundred and seventy days were past Neither yet did the Mountains help but ratheâ— hinder the descent of the Waters down to the Sea straitning it into Channels obstructing its passage and forcing it to take Circuits till it got above the Ridges and tops of them As to this Argumentation and Inference the case is the same if we hold that the Water circulates through the Veins of the Earth For supposing the Rivers pour forth half an Ocean daily and granting that in times of Floods their Streams are but double of their usual Currents though I verily believe they are more than quadruple and that the effusions of the Fountains be in like measure augmented it will follow that the daily discharge of the Rivers will amount to two Oceans Now at the time of the general Deluge both these Causes concurred For there being a constant Rain of forty eight days there must on that account be a continual Flood and the Fountains of the great Deep being broken up they must in all likelihood afford as much Water as the Rain which whither it would not suffice in forty natural days to produce a Flood as big as that of Noah notwithstanding the continual descent and going off of the Waters I propose to the consideration of the Ingenious Especially if we allow as is not unreasonable to suppose that the Divine Providence might not first cause a contrary Wind to stop and inhibit the descent of the Waters as afterwards he raised an assisting one to carry them off I have but one thing more to add upon this Subject that is that I do not see how their Opinion can be true who hold that some Seas are lower than others as for Example the Red Sea than the Mediterranean For it being true that the Water keeps its level that is holds its superfices every where equidistant from the Center of Gravity or if by accident one part be lower the rest by reason of their fluidity will speedily reduce the superficies again to an equality The waters of all Seas communicating
high Mountains and many Leagues distant from the Sea too there have been Beds of real Shells I might have added Sharks-teeth or Glossepetrae 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 SECT 2. The Second possible Cause of the Worlds Destruction in a Natural Way the Extinction of the Sun 2. The possibility of the Suns extinction Of which Accident I shall give an Account in Dr. More 's words in the last Chapter of his Treatise of the Immortality of the Soul This saith he though it may seem a Panick fear at first sight yet if the matter be throughly examined there will appear no contemptible Reasons that may induce men to suspect that it may at last fall out there having been at certain times such near offers in Nature towards this sad Accident already Pliny speaks of it as a thing not unfrequent that there should be Prodigiosi longiores Solis defectus qualis occiso Dictatore Caesare Antoniano bello totius anni pallore continuo Hist Nat. lib. 2. cap. 30. The like happened in Justinian's time as Cedrenus writes when for a whole year together the the Sun was of a very dim and duskish Hue as if he had been in a perpetual Eclipse And in the time of Irene the Empress it was so dark for seventeen days together that the Ships lost their way in the Sea and were ready to run one against another as Theophanes reports But the late accurate Discovery of the Spots of the Sun by Scheiner and the appearing and disappearing of Fixt Stars and Comets and the excursions of these last do argue it more than possible that after some vast Periods of Time the Sun may be so inextricably inveloped by the macule that he may quite lose his light and then you may easily guess what would become of the Inhabitants of the Earth For without his vivifick heat neither could the Earth put forth any Vegetables for their sustenance neither if it could would they be able to bear the extremity of the Cold which must needs be more rigorous and that perpetually than it is now under the Poles in Winter time But this Accident though it would indeed extinguish all life yet being quite contrary to a Dissolution by Fire of which the Apostle speaks I shall pass it over without further consideration and proceed to a Third SECT 3. The Third possible Cause of the Worlds Destruction The Eruption of the Central Fire 3. The Possibility of the Eruption of the Central Fire if any such there be inclosed in the Earth It is the Hypothesis of Monsieur des Cartes that the Earth was originally a Star or great Globe of Fire like the Sun or one of the fixt Stars situate in the Center of a Vortex continually whirling round with it That by degrees it was covered over or incrustated with maculae arising on its Surface like the scumm on a boiling Pot which still increasing and growing thicker and thicker the Star losing its light and activity and consequently the motion of the Celestial Vortex about it growing more weak languid and unable to resist the vigorous incroachments of the neighbouring Vortex of the Sun it was at last drawn in and wholly absorpt by it and forced to comply with its motion and make one in the Quire of the Suns Satellites This whole Hypothesis I do utterly disallow and reject Neither did the Author himself if we may believe him think it true that the Earth was thus generated For he saith Quinimo ad res natural es meliùs explicandas earum causas altiùs hic repetam quà m ipsas unquam extitisse existimem Non enim dubium est quin mundus ab initio fuerit creatus cuâ— omni sua perfectione ità ut in eo Sol Terra Luna Stellae extiterint ...... Hoc fides Christiana nos docet hócque etiam ratio naturalis planè persuadet Attendendâ— enim ad immensam Dei potentiam non possâ—mus existimare illum unquam quidquam fecisse quod non omnibus suis numeris fuerit absolutum That is Moreover for the better explicating of Natural Things I shall bring them from higher or more remote Causes than I think they ever had For there is no doubt but the World was originally created in its full perfection so that in it were conteined both Sun and Moon and Earth and Stars c. For this the Christian Faith teacheth us and this also Natural Reason doth plainly persuade for attending to the immense power of God we cannot think that he ever made any thing that was not complete in all points But tho he did not believe that the Earth was generated or formed according to his Hypothesis yet surely he was of opinion that it is at present such a Body as he represented it after its perfect Formation viz. with a Fire in the middle and so many several Crusts or Coats inclosing it else would he have given us a mere Figment or Romance instead of a Body of Philosophy But tho I do reject the Hypothesis yet the being of a Central Fire in the Earth is not so far as I understand any way repugnant to Reason or Scripture For first of all the Scripture represents Hell as a Lake of Fire Mark 9.43 44 c. Revel 20.10 14 15. and likewise as a low place beneath the Earth So Psalm 86.13 and Deut. 32.22 it is called the nethermost hell Prov. 15.24 The way of life is above to the wise that he may depart from hell beneath 2. Many of the Ancients understand that Article of the Creed He descended into Hell of our Saviours Descent into that local Hell beneath the Earth where he triumphed over the Devil and all the Powers of Darkness And particularly Irenaeus interprets that Saying of our Saviour that the son of man should be three days in the heart of the earth of his being three days in the middle of the Earth which could not be meant saith he of the Sepulchre because that was hewen out of a Rock in its Superficies 3. It is a received Opinion among the Divines of the Church of Rome that Hell is about the Center of the Earth insomuch as some of them have been solicitous to demonstrate that there is room enough to receive all the Damned by giving us the Dimensions thereof Neither is it repugnant to the History â— the Creation in Genesis For tho indeed Moses doth mention only Water and Earth aâ— the component parts of this Body yet doth he not assert that the Earth is a simple uniform homogeneous Body as neither do we when we say upon the face of the earth or the like For the Earth we see is a Mass made up
of a multitude of different Species of Bodies Mettals Minerals Stones and other Fossils Sand Clay Marle Chalk c. which do all agree in that they are consistent and solid more or less and are in that respect contradistinguished to Water and together compound one Mass which we call Earth Whether the interior parts of the Earth be made up of so great a variety of differenâ— Bodies is to us altogether unknown For tho it be observed by Colliers that the Beds of Coals lie one way and do always dip towards the East let them go never so deep so that would it quit cost and were it noâ— for the Water they say they might pursue the Bed of Coals to the very Center of the Earth the Coals never failing or coming to an end that way yet that is but a rash and ungrounded Conjecture For what is the depth of the profoundest Mines were they a Mile deep to the Semidiameter of the Earth not as one to four thousand Comparing this Observation of Dipping with my Notes about other Mines I find that the Veins or Beds of all generally run East and West and dip towards the East Of which what Account or Reason can we give but the motion of the Earth from West to East I know some say that the Veins for Example of Tin and Silver dip to the North tho they confess they run East and West which is I confess a thing I cannot understand the Veins of those Metals being narrow things Sr Tho. Willoughby in his forementioned Letter writes thus I have talked with some of my Colliers about the lying of the Coal and find that generally the Basset end as they call it lyes West and runs deeper toward the East allowing about twenty yards in length to gain one in depth but sometimes they decline a little from this Posture for mine lie almost South-West and North-East They always sink to the East more or less There may therefore for for ought we know be Fire about the Center of the Earth as well as any other Body if it can find a Pabulum or Fewel there to maintain it And why may it not since the Fires in those subterraneous Caverns of Aetna Vesuvius Stromboli Hecla and other burning Mountains or Vulcano's have found wherewith to feed them for thousands of years And as there are at some tho uncertain periods of time violent Eruptions of Fire from the Craters of those Mountains and mighty Streams of melted Materials poured forth from thence so why may not this Central Fire in the Earth if any such there be receiving accidentally extraordinary Supplies of convenient Fewel either from some inflammable Matter within or from without rend the thick exterior Cortex which imprisons it or finding some Vents and Issues break forth and overflow the whole Superficies of the Earth and burn up all things This is not impossible and we have seen some Phaenomena in nature which bid fair towards a Probability of it For what should be the reason of new Stars appearing and disappearing again as that noted one in Cassiopeia which at first shone with as great a lustre as Venus and then by degrees diminishing after some two years vanish'd quite away but that by great Supplies of combustible matter the internal Fire suddenly increasing in quantity and force either found or made its way through the Cracks or Vents of the maculae which inclosed it and in an instant as it were overflowed the whole Surface of the Star whence proceeded that illustrious Light which afterwards again gradually decayed its Supply failing Whereas other newly appearing Stars which either have a constant Supply of Matter or where the Fire hath quite dissolved the Maculae and made them comply with its motion have endured for a long time as that which now shines in the Neck of Cygnus which appears and disappears at certain Intervals But because it is not demonstrable that there is any such Central Fire in the Earth I propose the eruption thereof rather as a possible than probable means of a Conflagration and proceed to the last means whereby it may naturally be effected and that is SECT 4. The Fourth Natural Cause of the World's Dissolution the Earth's Dryness and Inflammability 4. The Dryness and Inflammability of the Earth under the Torrid Zone with the Eruption of the Vulcano's to set it on fire Those that hold the Inclination of the Equator to the Ecliptick daily to diminish so that after the Revolutions of some Ages they will â—ump and consent tell us that the Sun-beams lying perpendicularly and constantly on the parts under the Equator the Ground thereabout must needs be extremely parch'd and rendred apt for Inflammation But for my part I own no such Decrement of Inclination And the best Mathematicians of our Age deny that there hath been any since the eldest Observations that are come down to us For tho indeed Ptolomy and Hipparchus do make it more than we find it by above twenty minutes yet that Difference is not so considerable but that it may well be imputed to the Difference of Instruments or Observations in point of Exactness So that not having decreased for eighteen hundred years past there is not the least ground for Conjecture that it will alter in eighteen hundred years to come should the World last so long And yet if there were such a Diminution it would not conduce much so far as I can see to the bringing on of a Conflagration For tho the Earth would be extremely dried and perchance thereby rendred more inflammable yet the Air being by the same Heat as much rarified would contain but few nitrous Particles and so be inept to maintain the Fire which we see cannot live without them It being much deaded by the Sun shining upon it and burning very remisly in Summer time and hot Weather For thiâ—â—eason in Southern Countries in extraordinary hot Seasons the Air scarce sufficeth for Respiration To the clearing up of this let us a little consider what Fire is It seems to consist of three different sorts of parts 1. An extremely thin and subtil Body whose Particles are in a very vehement and rapid motion 2. A supposed nitrous Pabulum or Fewel which it receives from the Air. 3. A Sulphureous or unctuous Pabulum which it acts and preys upon passing generally by the Name of Fewel This forementioned subtil Body agitating the supposed nitrous Particles it receives from the Air doth by their help as by Wedges to use that rude similitude penetrate the unctuous Bodies upon which it acts and divide them into â—heir immediate component Particles and at length perchance into their first Principles which Operation is called the Chymical Anatomy of mix'd Bodies So we see Wood for Example divided by Fire into Spirit Oil Water Salt and Earth That Fire cannot live without those Particles it receives from the Air is manifest in that if you preclude the Access of all Air it is extinguished immediately
suppose the Reader sufficiently instructed in that My business shall be to shew the strength of the Apostles Inference It may be said How doth this Dissolution concern us who may perchance be dead and rotten a thousand years before iâ— comes What have we to do with it I answer It concerns us 1. Because it possible it may happen in our times it maâ— surprise us before we are aware The precise time thereof is uncertain And it shaâ— be sudden and unexpected coming as Thief in the night as we have befoâ—â— shewn therefore we ought always to 〈◊〉 upon our guard to have our loins girt abâ— and our lights burning This use the Scâ—pture in many places makes of the uncâ—â—tainty of the time of Christs 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 overcharged 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 is it 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 â—t 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 Gods appointment Heb. 12.14 Follow peace with all men and holiness with out 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 gifâ— of God He is not obliged to bestow iâ— upon any man He may make what conditions he pleases for the obtaining of it Nâ— 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 Gods 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 Gods 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 it self and consequently every thing that 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 fit 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 lies 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
answer That for the futurity of such an estate we have the best Authority in the World to wit the holy Scriptures and universal Tradition 1. The Holy Scriptures whose Authority to be more than humane hath been by many so clearly and convincingly demonstrated that I shall take it for granted and not waste time to prove it The Testimonies herein contained concerning eternal happiness and misery are so clear and full that it seems to me impossible without manifest distortion to elude or evade the force of them Some we have already recited and might produce many more Isa 33.14 Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings Dan. 12.2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt 2 Thess 1.9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord c. speaking of them who know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ Isa 66.24 For their worm shall not dye neither shall their fire be quenched What more common Notion among the Grecians and Romans than of Elisium and Tartarus the one to reward good men the other to punish wicked which as appears by what we have quoted out of Lucretius were esteemed to be eternal states The Origenists and others that cannot be reconciled to the Catholick Doctrine of the eternity of the punishments of the Damned make the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from which the Latin aevum is derived to signifie sometimes a determinate time as might easily be proved by many examples and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate for ever signifies when applied to this matter a long indeed but yet a finite time and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render for ever and ever may likewise signifie not an eternal duration but a time to which some term may be set by God though to us unknown In the same sense they accept the Adjective 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a long but finite time But I am of S. Augustine's opinion that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth in the New Testament signifie the same with aeternus in Latin and is appropriated to things that have no end and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for ever and ever doth in like manner always denote eternal or endless duration That the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when applied to the state of the Damned doth signifie eternal S. Augustine well demonstrates from the Antithesis in that place of Matth. 25.46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternal Where it is in the same sense attributed to that life which is the reward of the righteous and that fire which is the punishment of the Damned there being no reason to believe that the same word in the same Verse when applied to opposites should be taken in a different sense But by the consent of all Christians it is granted that the life of the blessed shall be eternal therefore so must the punishment of the Damned be too This acception of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for eternal or endless when it refers to the state of those miserable persons receives a further and strong confirmation from the Second Particular we proposed that is Vniversal Tradition It being a received Opinion among the Heathen which must needs descend down to them by Tradition from the Ancients that eternal punishments awaited the wicked after Death Of this the Epicurean Poet Lucretius is a sufficient and unexceptionable Witness for he living before our Saviours time could not derive it from any other source He makes the fear of these punishments to be the cause of all the miseries of humane life and the foundation of all Religion Aeternas quoniam poenas in morte timendum And because it may be objected that Aeternas may signifie only of long continuance to put the matter out of all doubt in another place he saith Nam si nullum finem esse putarent Aerumnarum homines nulla ratione valerent Relligionibus atque minis obsistere vatum But if it once appear That after Death there 's neither hope nor fear Then Men might freely triumph then disdain The Poet's Tales and scorn their fancy'd pain But now we must submit since pains we fear Eternal after Death we know not where And that this Opinion and Belief generally prevailed among the people before Epicurus his time the same Lucretius testifies in the beginning of his first Book Humana ante oculos foedè cum vita jaceret In terris oppressa gravi sub Relligione c. Primùm Graius homo c. Long time men lay opprest with slavish fear Religion's Tyranny did domineer Which being plac'd in Heaven look'd proudly down And frighted abject Spirits at her frown At last a Mighty one of Greece began T'assert the Natural Liberty of Man By senseless terrors and vain fancy led To Slavery streight the conquer'd Fantoms fled for he makes as we saw before the fear of eternal pain and misery to be the foundation of all Religion 1. Now because these Objectors do represent Religion to themselves and others as a melancholick and disconsolate thing and think and say that those that enter into this state must bid adieu to all the pleasures of sence and taste no sweetness in any worldly object I shall endeavour to remove this prejudice I say therefore That our gracious God doth not envy us any real good that the Creatures can afford us and therefore hath not denied us a moderate use and fruition of any of them And seeing he hath annexed pleasure to those actions that are necessary for the support of life and continuation of kind as a bait to invite us to the performance of them it seems to me highly absurd and contradictious to affirm that he hath forbidden us to partake or taste those enjoyments which himself had appointed as effectual means for the security of those great ends and which are so necessary consequents of those actions that we cannot but partake them Where the Appetite is eager God hath indulged I might say commanded a moderate and regular satisfaction And we know nay the blindness of Atheism cannot deny that the greatest pleasure results from a moderate and well circumstantiated use of pleasures Voluptates commendat rarior usus Now a religious man enjoys all the pleasures of these worldly and sensible goods without any of the pain which is annexed to the excessive and irregular use or indeed abuse of them and besides his pleasure is enhansed in that he beholds and receives them as blessings of God and tokens of his favour and affection and is without all fear of a future sad reckoning for his participation of them Howbeit a denial of our selves for Gods sake and cause in any thing which we might otherwise lawfully enjoy
described in places which undoubtedly speak of his coming to Judgment at the end of the World As in 1 Cor. 15.52 mention is made of the Trumpets sounding at the time of Christ's coming and 1 Thess 4.16 it is said The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with the voice of the Archangel and with the trump of God and v. 17. We that are alive shall be caught up together with them that are risen in the clouds to meet the Lord in the Air. All which places are perfectly parallel and seem manifestly to allude to the fore-mentioned words Matth. 24.30 31. I am apt to think that these Prophecies may have a double respect one to the City Temple and Nation of the Jews another to the whole World at the great day of Doom and that the former is indeed Typical of the latter and so they have a double completion the first in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish Polity In reference to which it is truly said This generation shall not pass away till all these things be fulfilled The second in the final Dissolution of the World which is yet to come But to proceed Another place which is usually understood of the Dissolution of the World by fire is 2 Thess 1.7 8. When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heave◠with his mighty Angels in flaming fire c Other parallel places may be seen Rev. 6 12 13 14. Rev. 10.6 Rev. 21.1 And ◠saw a new Heaven and a new Earth for the first Heaven and the first Earth were passe◠away and there was no more Sea Heb. 12 26 27. These places speak more directly of the Dissolution of the World and th◠coming of Christ to Judgment Others ther◠are that speak only concerning the time o◠it 1 Pet. 4.7 But the end of all things is a◠hand James 5.9 Behold the Judge standet◠before the door 1 John 2.18 Little children it is the last time or as some translat◠it the last hour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 10.37 Yet a little while and he that shall come wil◠come and will not tarry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 18.17 I tell you he will avenge them speedily All these places the fore-mentioned Dr. Hammond still applies to that famous Period of the destruction of the City Temple and Polity of the Jews and in conclusion hath left us but one place in the New Testament to prove the general Conflagration of the World viz. 2 Pet. 7.7 Now because some have been offended at these Interpretations of his others have spoken very flightingly of them I shall briefly sum up what hath been alleged in defence of them by this great man 1. That the Prophets use to set down their Predictions in Tropes and Figures and not in plain expressions their Style being Poetical And therefore in describing those hideous Judgments which fell upon that people of the Jews beyond all that ever before fell upon them or indeed any other people they found it necessary to employ those High and Tragical Phrases of the passing away and dissolving Heaven and Earth and Elements And that this was the manner of the Prophets may be proved because we find the destruction of other places described in as High Strains as Lofty and Tragical Expressions as this of Jerusalem For example that of Idumaea Esay 34.9 The streams thereof shall be turned into pitch and the dust thereof into brimstone and the land thereof shall become burning pitch It shall not be quenched night nor day the smoke thereof shall go up for ever And in the 4th Verse he seems but to Preface to this Destruction in these words And all the host of Heaven shall be dissolved and the Heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll and all their hosts shall fall down as the leaf falleth off from the Vine and as a falling Fig from the Fig tree For my Sword shall be bathed in Heaven Behold it shall come down upon Idumaea And in the Burden of Babylon Chap. 13.8 9. we have these words Behold the day of the Lord Cometh cruel both with wrath and fierce anger to lay the Land desolate For the Stars of Heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light The Sun shall be darkened in his going forth and the Moon shall not cause her light to shine 2. All the Predictions in that famous place Matth. 24. to which all other places in the New Testament relating to this matter are parallel are by our Saviour himself restrained to the destruction of Jerusalem and the full completion of them limited to the duration of that Age Verse 34. Verily I say unto you This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled What reason then can we have to extend them further 3. In most of the places where this coming of Christ is mentioned it is spoken of as near and at hand as in the places last cited Now saith the Learned Doctor in his Note upon Luke 18.7 I tell you he will avenge them speedily All which if when it is said to approach and to be at the door it belonged to the Day of Judgment now after so many hundred years not yet come what a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were this what a delaying of his coming and consequently what an Objection against the truth of the Christian Religion As Mahomet having promised after his death he would presently return to life and having not performed his Promise in a thousand years is by us justly condemned as an Impostor 3. That this place of S. Peter out of which I have taken my Text doth not belong to the end of the World sufficiently appears saith he by the purport of this whole Epistle which is to arm them with constancy and perseverance till that Day come and particularly in this Chapter to confute them who object against the truth of Christs Predictions and resolve it should not come at all against whom he here opposes the certainty the speediness and the teribleness of its Coming And for that other famous Place 2 Thessal 1.8 9. that it belongs to the same Period see how he makes out in his Annotations I shall now superadd some places out of the Old Testament which seem to speak of the Dissolution of the World Job 14.12 Man lieth down and riseth not till the Heavens be no more Psalm 102.5 6. quoted Heb. 1.10 11. Of old hast thou laid the foundations of the Earth and the Heavens are the works of thy hands They shall perish but thou remainest and they all shall wax old as doth a garment and as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed Esay 34.4 And all the host of Heaven shall be dissolved and the Heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll and all their host shall fall down as a leaf falleth from the Vine c. Esay 51.6 The Heavens shall vanish away like smoke and the Earth shall wax old like a garment Joel 2.31