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
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
Scripture speaks of an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Restitution Acts 3.21 Whom the Heavens must contain until the time of the restitution of all things Speaking of our Saviour and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Regeneration of the World the very Word the Stoicks and Pythagoreans use in this case Matth. 19.28 29. Verily I say unto you That ye which have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the Throne of his glory ye also shall sit upon twelve Thrones c. Psal 102.26 As a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed Which words are again taken up and repeated Heb. 1.12 Now it is one thing to be changed another to be annihilated and destroyed 1 Cor. 7.31 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The fashion of this World passeth away As if he had said It shall be transfigured or its outward form changed not its matter or substance destroyed Isa 65.17 Behold I create new Heavens and a new Earth and the former shall not be remembred nor come into mind Isa 66.22 As the new Heavens and new Earth which I shall make shall remain before me To which places the Apostle Peter seems to refer in those words 2 Pet. 3.13 Nevertheless we according to his promise look for new Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness This new Heaven and new Earth we have also mentioned Rev. 21.1 And I saw a new Heaven and a neâ— Earth for the first Heaven and the first Earth were passed away and there was no more Sea These places I confess may admit of an Answer or Solution by those who are of a contrary Opinion and are answered by Doctor Hakewil yet all together especially being back'd by ancient Tradition amount to a high degree of probability I omit that place Rom. 8.21 22. The creature it self also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God tho it be accounted the strongest proof of our Opinion because of the obscurity and ambiguity thereof 2. For Antiquity I have already given many Testimonies of the ancient Fathers and Doctors of the Church and could if need were produce many more the whole stream of them running this way And tho Dr. Hakewill saith that if we look back to higher times before S. Hierome we shall not easily find any one who maintained the World's Renovation yet hath he but two Testimonies to alledge for its Abolition the one out of Hilary upon the Psalms and the other out of Clemens his Recognitions To this Restitution of the World after the Conflagration many also of the Heathen Philosophers bear witness whose Testimonies Mr. Burnet hath exhibited in his Theory of the Earth lib. 4. cap. 5. Of the Stoicks Chrysippus de Providentia speaking of the Renovation of the World saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We after death certain Periods of time being come about shall be restored to the form we now have To Chrysippus Stobaeus adds Zeno and Cleanthes and comprehends together with Men all natural things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zeno and Cleanthes and Chrysippus were of opinion That the Nature or Substance of things changes into Fire as it were into a Seed and out of this again such a World or Frame of Things is effected as was before This Revolution of nature Antoninus in his Meditations often calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Periodical Regeneration of all things And Origen against Celsus saith of the Stoicks in general 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Stoicks say That at certain Periods of time there is a Conflagration of the Vniverse and after that a Restitution thereof having exactly the same Disposition and Furniture the former World had More to the like purpose concerning the Stoicks we have in Eusebius out of Numenius Nature saith he returns 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Resurrection which makes the Great Year wherein there is again a restitution made from it self alone to it self For returning according to the order wherein it began first to frame and dispose things as reason would it again observes the same Oeconomy or Administration the like Periods returning eternally without ceasing He that desires more Authorities of the Heathen Philosophers and Poets in confirmation of the World's Restitution after the Conflagration may consult the same Mr. Burnet in the place forequoted where he also shews that this Doctrine of the Mundane Periods was received by the Grecians from the Nations they call barbarous Pythagoras saith Porphyry brought it first into Grece and Origen witnesseth of the Egyptians Wise Men that it was delivered by them Laertius out of Theopompus relates That the Persian Magi had the same Tradition and Berosus saith that the Chaldeans also In fine among all the Barbarous Nations who had among them any Person or Sect and Order of Men noted for Wisdom or Philosophy this Tradition was current The Reader may consult the Book we refer to where is a notable Passage taken out of Plutarch's Tractate De Iside Osiride concerning a War between Oromazes and Arimanius somewhat parallel to that mentioned in the Revelation between Michael and the Dragâ—n 3. The Restitution of the World seems more consonant to Reason than its Abolition For if the World were to be annihilated what needed a Conflagration Fire doth not destroy or bring things to nothing but only separate their parts The World cannot be abolished by it and therefore had better been annihilated without it Wherefore the Scripture mentioning no other Dissolution than is to be effected by the Instrumentality of Fire its clear we are not to understand any utter Abolition or Annihilation of the World but only a Mutation and Renovation by those Phrases of perishing passing away dissolving being no more c. They are to be no more in that state and condition they are now in 2. There must be a material Heaven and a material Hell left A place for the glorified Bodies of the Blessed to inhabit and converse in and a place for the Bodies of the Damned a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Prison for them to be shut up in Now if the place of the Blessed be an Empyreal Heaven far above these visible Heavens as Divines generally hold and the place of the Damned be beneath about the middle of the Earth as is the Opinion of the Schoolmen and the Church of Rome and as the name Inferi imports and as the ancient Heathen described their Tartarus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then when all the intermediate Bodies shall be annihilated what a strange Universe shall we have Consisting of an immense Ring of Matter having in the middle a vast vacuity or space void of all Body save only one small point for an infernal Dungeon Those that are of this Opinion have too narrow and mean thoughts of the Greatness I had almost said Immensity of the Universe the glorious and magnifick Products of
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
years For in one place it saith in these lasâ— days and in another Upon whom the ends of the World are come and in a third Wheâ— the fulness of time was come Now it iâ— evident that these things were spoken in thâ— sixth Millenary Irenoeus adv haeres lib. 5. cap. ult Whâ— gathers so much from tâ—â— Similitude of thâ— six days Creation after which six days waâ— the Sabbath that is the day of Rest Hâ—autem saith he est praeteritorum narrâ—tio futurorum prophetia Dies enim â—nus mille annos significabat sicut Scriptura testantur Mille anni ante Dominum sicâ— Dies unus ergo sicut consummatus fuit mundus in sui creatione intra sex dierum spatium postea quies sic in sui fine consummabitur intra spatium sex millium annorum deinde vera perpetua quies subsequeturâ— 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 Creation was consummated in the space of six days and afterwards followed the Sabbath or Rest so in the end its duration shall be conâ—ummated within the space of six thousand â—ears and then shall follow the true and â—erpetual Rest To these I might add Lactantius in his Seâ—enth Book of Institut Cap. 14. who useth he same Argumentation with Irenoeus Ergo uoniam sex diebus cuncta Dei opera perfecta â—unt per secula sex id est sex annorum milâ—ia manere in hoc statu mundum necesse est Dies enim magnus Dei mille annorum circulo erminatur sicut indicat Propheta qui dicit Ante oculos tuos Domine mille anni tanuam dies unus c. S. Augustine l. 20. De Civitate Dei S. Hieronymus Comment in Mich. cap. 4. Most clear and full to this purâ—ose is Eustath in his Comment in Hexaëâ—eron 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. We reckon saith he that the Creation shall â—ontinue till the end of the sixth Chiliad beâ—ause God also consummated the Vniverse in six days and I suppose that the Deity â—oth account days of a thousand years long For that it is said A thousand years are in â—he sight of the Lord as one day Howbeit â—he most of them did not propose this Opinion as an undoubted Truth but only as a Modest Conjecture And S. Austine is very angry with them who would peremptorily conclude from so slight an Argumentation This Conceit is already confuted anâ— the World hath long outlasted this terâ— according to their Computation who followed the Septuagint or Greek account and recâ—ned that Phaleg lived about the three thoâ—sandth year of the World and had his Naâ— from his living in the division of Time theâ— being to come after him three thousaâ—â— years that is just so many as were past bâ—fore him As concerning the future Condition of tâ— World after the Conflagration I find it tâ— general and received Opinion of the Ancieâ— Christians that this World shall not be aâ—nihilated or destroyed but only reneweâ— and purified So Eusebius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The World shall not be wholly â—stroyed but renewed Divers passages I migâ— produce out of him to the same purpose Cyril of Jerusalem Catech. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He folds up the Heaven not that he might destroy them but thâ— he might rear them up again more beautâ—ful Again Cyril upon this place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. So that this Renovation iâ— respect of the Creation shall be such a kinâ— of thing as the Resurrection in reference tâ— Mans 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 than I give you an account what the Ancient Philosopher and Sages among the Heathen thought anâ— delivered concerning this Point Two oâ— the four principal Sects of Philosophers helâ— a future Dissolution of the World viz. Thâ— Epicureans and Stoicks As for the Epicureans they held that aâ— the World was at first composed by thâ— fortuitous concourse of Atomes so it should at last fall in pieces again by their fortuitouâ— Separation as Lucretius hath it lib. 5. Principio maria ac terras coelúmque tuere Horum naturam 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 â—ometimes with continued Showers and Inâ—ndations 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 â—ly on fire They were afraid nè
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 ira Dei cap. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 caelo manabit ab alto Igneus atque locos consumet funditus omnes Terrámque Oceanúmque ingentem caerulâ— ponti Stagnáque tum fluvios fontes Ditémque severum Coelestémque polum coeli quoque lumina iâ— unum Fluxa ruent formâ deletâ prorsus eorum Astra cadent etenim de caelo cuncta revulsâ— From Heaven then shall flaming River flow And quite disorder all things here below The Whole shall melt into one single Mass All forms destroy'd into old Chaos pass Yet 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 Emperor 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 Josephus in his Antiquities runs it up as high as Adam from whom Seth his Son received it his Father saith he fore telling him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That 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 thence be collected that this was an Universal Opinion received by Tradition both among Jews 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 alâ— probability be derived down to both from the same Fountain and Original that is from the first Restorers of Mankind Noaâ— 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. â—he 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. â—he Waters again naturally overflowing and covering the Earth THE First Question is Whether there be any thing in Nature which may â—ove and demonstrate or probably argue â—nd infer a future Dissolution To which I â—swer That I think there is nothing in â—ature which doth necessarily demonstrate future Dissolution but that Position of the â—eripatetick Schools may for ought I know â—e true Philosophy Posito ordinario Dei conâ—rsu mundus posset durare in aeternum Supâ—sing the ordinary concourse of God with â—econd Causes the World might endure for â—ver But though a future Dissolution by Natural Causes be not demonstrable yâ— some possible if not probable Accidents theâ— are which if they should happen might iâ—fer such a Dissolution Those are Four Tâ— Possibility of 1. The Waters again overflowing and â—vering the Earth 2. The Extinction of the Sun 3. The Eruption of the Central Fire â— closed in the Earth 4. The Dryness and Inflammability of tâ— Earth under the Torrid Zone and the Erâ—tion of all the Vulcano's at once But before I treat of these it will not amiss a little to consider the old Argumâ— for the Worlds Dissolution and that is daily Consenescence and Decay which if can be proved will in process of time â—cessarily infer a Dissolution For as the â—postle saith in another case That which â—cayeth and waxeth old is ready to vaâ— away Heb. 8.13 That which continuaâ— wastes will at last be quite consumeâ— that which daily grows weaker and weakâ— will in time lose all its force So the Aâ— and Stature and Strength of Man and â— other Animals every Generation decreasiâ— they will in the end come to nothing Aâ— that all these and all other things do sâ—cessively diminish and decay in all Nature Perfections and Qualities as well as Moral â—th been the received Opinion not only of â—e Vulgar but even of Philosophers â—emselves from Antiquity down to our â—es Plin. Nat. Hist lib. 7. c. 16. In pleâ—m autem cuncto mortalium generi minorem â—dies mensuram staturae propemodum observaâ—r rarosque patribus proceriores consumente â—ertatem seminum exustione in cujus vices â—nc vergat aevum Terra malos homines nunc educat atque pu sillos Juvenal Sat. â—nd Gellius Noct. Att. lib. 3. c. 10. Et â—nc quasi jam mundo senescente rerum atque â—ominum decrementa sunt I might accumuâ—te places out of the Ancients and Moderns â— this purpose but that hath been already â—one by others But this Opinion how general soever it â—as formerly was inconsiderately and withâ—ut sufficient ground taken up at first and â—fterwards without due examination embraâ—ed and followed as appears by Dr. Hakeâ—il's Apology wherein it is so fundamenâ—ally confuted that it hath since been reâ—ected by all considerate Persons For that Author hath at large demonstrated that neiâ—her the pretended decay of the Heavenly Bodies in regard of Motion Light Heat â— Influence or of any of the Elements nâ—ther the pretended decay of Animals aâ— particularly and especially of Mankind iâ— regard of Age and Duration of Strengâ— and Stature of Arts and Wits of Manneâ— and Conversation do necessarily infer aâ— decay in the World or any tendency to Dissolution The only Objection agaiâ— this Opinion is the Longaevity of the Anâ—diluvian Patriarchs and of some also I meâ— the first of the Postdiluvian For immedâ—ately after the Flood the Age of Man dâ— gradually decrease every Generation in greâ— proportions so that had it continued so to â— at that rate the Life of Man had soon caâ— to nothing Why it should at last settle â— Threescore and Ten Years as a mean Terâ— and there continue so many Ages withoâ—â— any further Change and Diminution is confess a Mystery too hard for me to reveaâ— However there must be a great and extrâ—ordinary Change at the time of the Flooâ— either in the Temperature of the Air â— Quality of the Food or in the Temper anâ— Constitution of the Body of Man which iâ—duced this decrement of Age. That thâ— Temper and
thereto requested The mention of these Principles I say gives me an opportunity of making such a Digression because I take them to have been the Effects of the first Creation spoken of in the first and second Verses of Genesis In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth And the earth was without form and void and comprehended in the word Earth By the word Chaos the Ancients understood a huge Mass of Heterogeneous Bodies or the Principles and Seeds of natural Bodies confusedly and disorderly mingled together in one lump for so Ovid describes it in the beginning of the first of his Metamorphosis Quem dixere Chaos rudis indigestáque moles Nec quicquam nisi pondus inors congestáque côdem Non bene junctarum discordia semina rerum I suppose therefore that God Almighty did at first create this terrestrial Globe containing the Seeds and Principles of all natural visible sublunary Bodies variously and confusedly commixt together which the Ancients called by the name of Chaos partly of solid and more ponderous partly of fluid and lighter parts the solid and more ponderous naturally subsided the fluid and watry as being more light got above them That the Waters did at first cover the Earth seems to me clear from the testimony of the Scripture For in the History of the Creation in the first Chapter of Genesis Vers 2. It is said Darkness was upon the face of the deep and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters intimating that the Waters were uppermost And in Ver. 9. And God said Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together into one place and let the dry land appear Whence I think it is manifest that before that time the Land was covered with Water And that this gathering together of Waters was not into any subterraneous Abyss is likewise clear from the Text For it is said that God called this Collection of Waters Seas as if it had been on purpose to prevent such a Mistake So Psalm 104.6 It is said of the Earth at the Creation Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment the waters stood above the mountains And again Ver. 9. That they turn not again to cover the earth The more solid and ponderous parts tho they were of various Figures and perhaps Magnitudes were all called by the common name of Earth and the fluid by the name of Water This solid part of the Earth was made up of the Principles of many simple Bodies variously commix'd and irregularly disperst one among another yet tho they seem to be thus disorderly mingled as tho they had been carelesly shaken and shuffled together yet I do believe there was some Order observed by the most wise Creator in the Disposition of them The fluid part of this Globe as we said and as of its own nature it must needs do covered the solid till it pleased God to separate them and by providing great Receptacles for the Waters to gather them together into one place Whether this were done by the immediate Application and Agency of his Almighty Power or by the Intervention and Instrumentality of second Causes I cannot determine It might possibly be effected by the same Causes that Earthquakes are viz. Subterraneous Fires and Flatuses We â—e what incredible effects the Accension of Gunpowder hath It rends Rocks and blows up the most ponderous and solid Walls Towers and Edifices so that its force is almost irresistible Why then might not such a proportionable quantity of such Materials set on fire together raise up the Mountains themselves how great and ponderous soever they be yea the whole Superficies of the dry Land for it must all be elevated above the Waters And truly to me the Psalmist seems to intimate this Cause Psalm 104.7 For after he had said The waters stood above the mountains he adds At thy rebuke they fled at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away Now we know that an Earthquake is but a subterraneous Thunder and then immediately follows The mountains ascend the valleys descend c. If there might be a high Hill raised up near the City Troezen out of a plain Field by the force of a subterraneous Fire or Flatus as Ovid tells us Est prope Pitthaeam tumulus Troezena sine ullis Arduus arboribus quondam planissima campi Area nunc tumulus nam res horrenda relatu Vis fera ventorum coecis inclusa caverniâ— Expirare aliqua cupiens luctatáque frustra Liberiore frui coelo cum carcere rima Nulla fuit toto nec pervia flatibus esset Extentam tumescit humum ceu spiritus oris Tendere vesicam solet aut derepta bicorâ—â— Terga capri tumor ille loci permansit alti Collis habet speciem longóque induruit aâ—â— A Hill by Pitthaean Traezen mounts uncrown'd With Sylvan Shades which once was level ground For furious Winds a story to admire Pent in blind Caverns strugling to expire And vainly seeking to enjoy th' Extent Of freer Air the Prison wanting vent Puffs up the hollow Earth extended so As when with swelling Breath we Bladders blow The humour of the place remained still In time grown solid like a lofty Hill A parallel Instance hereto we have of later date of a Hill not far from Puzzuolo Puteoli beside the Gulph of Baiae which I my self have view'd and been upon It is by the Natives called Monte di cenere and was raised by an Earthquake Sept. 29. 1538. of about one hundred foot perpendicular altitude though some make it much higher according to Stephanus Pighius it is a Mile Ascent to the top and four Miles round at the foot We indeed judged it not near so great The People say it bears nothing nothing of any use or profit I suppose they mean else I am sure there grows Heath Myrtle Mastick tree and other Shrubs upon it It is a spungy kind of Earth and makes a great sound under a Mans feet that stamps upon it The same Earthquake threw up so much Earth Stones and Ashes as quite filled up the lacus Lucrinus so that there is nothing left of it now but a fenny Meadow If such Hills I say as these may be and have been elevated by subterraneous Wild-fire flatus or Earthquakes Si parvis liceat componere magna if we may compare great things with small why might not the greatest and highest Mountains in the World be raised up in like manner by a subterraneous Flatus or Wild-fire of quantity and force sufficient to work such an effect that is that bears as great a proportion to the superincumbent weight and bulk to be elevated as those under these smaller Hills did to theirs But we cannot doubt this mâ—y be done when we are well assured that the like hath been done For the greatest and highest Ridge of Mountains in the World the Andes of Peru have been for some hundreds of Leagues in length violently shaken and many alterations made therein
as the Ibex and Rupicapra or Chamois among Quadrupeds and Lagopus among Birds 3. The Mountains are most proper for the putting forth of Plants yielding the greatest variety and the most luxuriant sort of Vegetables for the maintenance of the Animals proper to those places and for Medicinal Uses partly also for the Exercise and delight of such ingenious persons as are addicted to search out and collect those Rarities to contemplate and consider their Forms and Natures and to admire and celebrate the Wisdom of their Creator 4. All manner of Metals Minerals and Fossils if they could be generated in a level Earth of which there is some question yet should they be dug or mined for the Delfs must necessarily be so flown with Water which to drive and rid away no Adits or Soughs could be made and I much doubt whether Gins would suffice that it would â—e extremely difficult and chargeable if posâ—ible to work them at all 5. Neither are the very tops of the highâ—st Mountains barren of Grass for the feedâ—ng and fattening of Beasts For on the â—idges of the high Mountains of Jura and â—aleve near Geneva and those of Rhoetia or â—he Grisons Countrey which are the highest â—f all the Alps excepting the Vallesian and â—baudian there are Multitudes of Kine fed 〈◊〉 Summer time as I my self can witness â—aving in my Simpling Voyages on those of â—ra and Saleve observed Herds of Cattel here and many Dairy Houses built where I have been more than once refreshed by their Milk and Milk-Meats Nay there are but very few and those of the highest Summits of the Alps that keep Snow all Summer and I was told by the Inhabitants that one time or other in seven or eight years space for the most part there came a Summer that melted all the Snow that lay on them too 6. Anorher great use and necessity of Mountains and Hills is for the Generation and Maintenance of Rivers and Fountains which in our Hypothesis that all proceed from Rain-Water could not be without them or but rarely So we should have only Torrents which would fail in Summer-time or any dry Season and nothing to trust to but stagnating Water reserved in Pools and Cisterns Which how great an Inconvenience it would be I need not take pains to shew I say that Fountains and Rivers would be but rare were there no Mountains For upon serious consideration I find that I was too hasty in concluding because I had observed no Fountains springing up in Plains therefore there were oâ— could be absolutely none and do now granâ— that there is reason to believe the Relations made of such For the whole dry Land being but one continued Mountain and ascending all along from the Sea to the Midland as is undeniably proved by the Descent of Rivers even in plain Countries the Water sinking into the Earth may run under ground and according as the Vein leads it break out in the side of this Mountain tho the place as to outward appearance be a Plain But some may say Granting there be some use and benefit of moderate Hills and Risings what necessity is there of such extended Ridges of vast and towring Mountains hiding their Heads among the Clouds and seeming for Altitude to contend with the Skies I answer there is very great use of them for repelling the Vapours exhaled by the Sun-beams in the hot Regions and hindring their Evagations Northward as we have already shewn and shall not repeat I might add hereto 7. Those long Series and Chains of Mountains are of great use for Boundaries and Limits to the Territories of Princes or Commonwealths to secure them on those parts from sudden Incursions of Enemies As for the rudeness and confusion of Mountains their cragged and broken Rocks and Cliffs and whatever other Disorder there may be among them it may be accounted for from the manner of their first Generation and those other mutations they have been since obnoxious to by Earth-quakes Eruptions of Vulcano's foundering and falling in of their Props and Foundations and by time and weather too by which not only the Earth is washed away or blown off from the Stones but the very Stones and Rocks themselves corroded and dissolved as might easily be proved by Instances could I spare time to do it I should proceed now to say something concerning the rest of the Works of the Creation but that would be too great a Task and swell this Digression into a Volume I shall only add that to me it seems That the Almighty Creator did not only at first make the various Principles of all simple inanimate Bodies and scattered them throughout the upper Region of the Earth but also the Seminal Principles of Animate Ones too and disperst them also all over the Earth and Water and of these were the first Plants and Animals created by the Virtue of his Omnipotent Word and after all these were spent there remained no more Ability in those Elements to produce any Individuals but all since them owe their their Original to Generation God having given each Species power to procreate their like CHAP. VI. Containing an Answer to the Second Question Whether shall this Dissolution be effected by natural or by extraordinary means and what they shall be 2. AS to the Second Question 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 I answer in brief that the Instrumental Efficient of this Dissolution shall be natural For it is clear both by Scripture and Tradiâ—ion and agreed on all Hands that it shall be that Catholick Dissolvent Fire Now to the being and maintenance of Fire there are four things requisite 1. The active Prinâ—iple or Aether 2. Air or a nitrous Paâ—ulum received from it These two being â—ommixt together are every where at hand â— Fewel which considering the abundance of combustible Materials which are to be â—ound in all places upon or under the Surface of the Earth can no where be wanting 4. The Accension and the sudden and equal Diffusion of this Fire all the World over And this must be the Work of God extraordinary and miraculous Such a Dissolution of the World might indeed be effected by that natural Accident mentioned in the Answer to the precedent Question viz. The Eruption of the Central Fire But because it is doubtful whether there be any such Fire in the middle of the Earth or no and if there ever were it is hard to give an account how it could be maintained in that infernal Dungeon for want of Air and Fewel And because if it should break forth in the Consistency of a thin Flame it would in all likelyhood speedily like Lightening mount up to Heaven and quite vanish away unless we could suppose Floods nay Seas of melted Materials or liquid Fire enough to overflow the whole Earth to be poured forth of those Caverns For these
Reasons I reject that Opinion and do rather think that the Conflagration shall be effected by a Superficial Fire Tho I must confess we read in Tacitus Annal. 13. at the end of a sort of Fire that was not so apt to disperse and vanish The City of the Inhonians in Germany saith he confederate with us was afflicted with a sudden Disaster for Fires issueing out of the Earth burned Towns Fields Villages every where and spread even to the Walls of a Colony newly built and could not be extinguished neither by Rain nor River-Water nor any other Liquor that could be employed until for want of Remedy or anger of such a Distraction certain Pesants cast Stones afar off into it then the Flame somewhat slacking drawing near they put it out with Blows of Clubs and other like as if it had been a wild Beast last of all they threw in Cloaths from their Backs which the more worn and fouler they were the better they quenched the Fire I use Dr. Hakewil's Translation CHAP. VII The Third Question Answered Whether shall this Dissolution be Gradual and Successive or Momentaneous and Sudden 3. THE Third Question is Whether shall this Dissolution be gradual and successive or momentaneous and sudden I answer The Scripture resolves for the latter The day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night a Similitude we have often repeated in Scripture as in the tenth Verse of this Chapter in 1 Thessal 15.2 Revel 3 3. and 16.15 And the Resurrection and Change of Things it is said shall be in a moment in the twinkling of aâ— eye 1 Cor. 15.52 Consonant whereto both the Epicureans and Stoicks held theiâ— Dissolutions of the World should be suddeâ— and brief as Lucretius and Seneca in thâ— places forementioned tell us And it iâ— suitable to the nature of Fire to make a quicâ— dispatch of things suddenly to consume anâ— destroy And as it shall be sudden so also shall it be unexpected being compared to the coming of the Flood in the days of Noah Matth. 24.37 38 39. But as the days of Noah were so shall also the coming of the Son of man be For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entred into the ark And knew not until the flood came and took them all away so shall also the coming of the Son of man be And the raining of Fire and Brimstone upon Sodom Luke 17. Thessal 5.3 For when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child Now if it shall be thus sudden and unexpected it is not likely there should be in nature any manifest Tendency to it or remarkable Signs and Forerunners of it for such must needs startle and awaken the World into an expectation and dread of it That there is at present no such Tendency to Corruption but that the World continues still in as good state and condition as it was two thousand years ago without the least impairment or decay hath been as we before noted without any possibility of contradiction clearly made out and demonstrated by Dr. Hakewill in his Apology and therefore arguing from the past to the future it will in all likelyhood so continue two thousand years more if it be so long to the Day of Doom and consequently that day as the Scripture predicts will suddenly and unexpectedly come upon the World But if all these Prophecies as Dr. Hammond affirms be to be restrained only to the Destruction of Jerusalem and Jewish Polity without any further respect to the end of the World then indeed from thence we can make no Inferences or Deductions in reference to that final Period CHAP. VIII The Fourth Question Resolved Whether shall there be any Signs or Forerunners of the Dissolution of the World 4. THE Fourth Question is Whether shall there be any Signs or Forerunners of the Dissolution of the World In order to the Answering of this Question we shall distinguish Signs into natural and arbitrarious 1. natural Signs so the Aurora or Dawning of the Day is a Sign of the Sun-rising Now if the Dissolution be effected in the course of Nature and by natural Means there will be some previous natural Signs of it An old House will threaten Ruin before it falls The natural Death of Men and all Animals hath its Harbingers and old Men before their Dissolution feel the Impression of Age and proclaim to the World their approaching Fate by Wrinkles Gray Hairs and Dimness of Sight But we have formerly shewn that there is no Consenescency or Declension in Nature but that the World continues still as firm and staunch as it was three thousand years ago and why hereafter it should founder and decay more than it hath done for so many Ages heretofore what reason can be given It is not therefore likely there should be any natural Signs of the Dissolution of the World and consequently that it shall be effected by natural Means 2. There are arbitrary Signs as a Garland hung out is a Sign of Wine to be sold Now if the Dissolution of the World be effected by supernatural and extraordinary means as is most likely the Signs of it must be arbitrarious For tho they may be natural Effects and Productions yet would they not signifie the Destruction of the World if they were not ordered by providence to happen at that time and predicted as Forerunners of it with which otherwise they have no natural Connexion Such Signs are Matth. 24. The Sun being darkened and the Moon not giving her Light and the Stars falling from Heaven and the Shaking of the Powers of Heaven These and many other Signs of his coming we find mentioned in Scripture but what the meaning of these Expressions may be is not so clear For tho some of them may be taken in a Literal Sense yet it is manifest that others cannot The Sun may indeed be so covered with a Macula as to be quite obscured and thereupon the Moon necessarily lose her Light which she borrows only from the Sun-beams But how the Stars should in a literal Sense fall down from Heaven is inconceivable it being almost demonstratively certain that most of them are bigger than the whole Earth We may therefore keeping as near as we can to the Letter thus interpret them There shall be great Signs in Heaven dismal Eclipses and Obscurations of the Sun and Moon new Stars and Comets shall appear and others disappear and many fiery Meteors be suspended in the Air. The very Foundations of the Earth shall be shaken and the Sea shall roar and make a noise But I must not here dissemble a great Difficulty How can such illustrious Signs and Forerunners be reconciled to the suddenness and unexpectedness of Christ's coming and the end of the World Luke 21.25 After the Evangelist had told us That there shall be signs
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
humore omni consumpto totus mundus ignesceret 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 lonâ— periods of time consumes and dissolves alâ— things into itself Euseb Praep. lib. 19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The moâ—â— ancient of that Sect held That at certain vâ—â— Periods of time all things were rarified intâ— Air being resolved into an Ethereal Fire This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Stoicks we find mentioned by many both Christian and Heâ—then Writers as besides the fore-quoted Mâ—nutius Felix Justine Martyr Clemens Alexandrinus in 5 Strom. Plutarch Seneca anâ— others The time of this Conflagration Seneca determins not but saith only it shalâ— be when God pleases 3 Quaest nat capâ— 20.8 Cùm Deo visum vetera finire ordiâ—meliora When it shall seem good to God 〈◊〉 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 be in the same degree again all that space of time 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 vain as to assign the time both of the Inundation and Conflagration Seneca 3. Quaest Nat. cap. 20. Berosus qui Belum interpretatus est dicit cursu ista syderum fieri adeò quidem affirmat ut conflagrationi atque diluvio tempus assignat Arsura enim 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 impetu ruit licet ad originem parcè utatur viribus dispensétque 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 revocaturus extinguat viribus ista se suis caedent sydera syderibus incurrent omni flagrante materia uno igne quicquid nunc ex disposito lucet ardebit Here by the way we may with Doctor 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 oâ— the Stars they making the two former Corporeal Substances and feeding the latter with the vapours of the Earth affirming that the Sun sups up 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 Asse drank up the Moon Such Conceits are more fit for Anacreon in a drunken Fit to stumble upon who to invite his Companions to Tiple composed that Catch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 consusis And again Atque omnes pariter Deos Perdet nox aliqua Chaos 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. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Heraclitus as the same Clemens shews at large out of him in the same place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amp 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 quoted by Justine Martyr and Clemens Alexandrinus Neither yet were these the first Inventers and Broachers of this Opinion but they recieved 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 fatis 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 through some are of an Opinion that by Fata here are
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
either above or under ground or both ways one Sea cannot be higher or lower than another but supposing any accident should elevate or depress any by reason of this confluence or communication it would soon be reduced to a level again as might demonstratively be proved But I return to tell the Reader what I think the most probable of all the Causes I have heard assigned of the Deluge which is the Center of the Earth being at that time changed and set nearer to the Centeâ— or middle of our Continent whereupon the Atlantick Pacifick Oceans must needs press upon the Subterraneous Abyss and so by mediation thereof force the Water upward and at last compell it to run out at those wide mouths and apertures made by the Divine Power breaking up the Fountains of the great Deep And we may suppose this to have been only a gentle and gradual Emotion no faster than that the Waters running out at the bottom of the Sea might accordingly lowre the Superficies thereof sufficiently so that none needed run over the Shores These Waters thus powred out from the Orifices of the Fountains upon the Earth the declivity being changed by the removal of the Center could not flow down to the Sea again but must needs stagnate upon the Earth and overflow it and afterwards the Earth returning to its old Center return also to their former Receptacles If any shall object against this Hypothesis because by it the Flood will be rendr'd Topical and restrained only to the Continent we live in though I might plead the Unnecessariness of drowning America it being in all probability unpeopled at that time yet because the Scripture useth general expressions concerning the extent of the Flood saying Gen. 1.19 And all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered and again Ver. 22. All in whose nostrils was the breath of life of all that was in the dry land dyed And because the Americans also are said to have some ancient Memorial Tradition of a Deluge and the Ingenious Author of the Theory of the Earth hath by a moderate Computation demonstrated thaâ— there must be then more people upon the Earth than now I will propose anotheâ— way of solving this Phaenomenon and that is by supposing that the Divine Power might at that time by the instrumentality of some natural Agent to us at present unknown so depress the Surface of the Ocean as to force the Waters of the Abyss through the forementioned Channels and Apertures and so make them a partial and concurrent Cause of the Deluge That there are at some times in the course of Nature extraordinary pressures upon the Surface of the Sea which force the Water outwards upon the Shores to a great height is evident We had upon our Coasts the last year an extraordinary Tide wherein the Water rose so high as to overflow all the Sea-banks drown multitudes of Cattel and fill the lower Rooms of the Houses of many Villages that stood near the Sea so that the Inhabitants to save themselves were forced to get up into the upper Rooms and Garrets of their Houses Now how this could be effected but by an unusual pressure upon the Superficies of the Ocean I cannot well conceive In like manner that the Divine Providence might at the time of the Deluge so order and dispose second Causes as to make so strong a pressure upon the face of the Waters as to force them up to a height sufficient to overflow the Earth is no way unreasonable to believe These Hypotheses I propose as seeming to me at present most facile and consonant to Scripture without any concern for either of them and therefore am not folicitous to gather together and heap up Arguments to confirm them or to answer Objections that may be made against them being as ready to relinquish them upon better information as I was to admit and entertain them Of the Effects of the Deluge I Come now to the Third Particular proposed that is To enquire concerning the Consequents of the Deluge What considerable effects it had upon the Earth and its Inhabitants It had doubtless very great in changing the Superficies of the dry Land In some places adding to the Sea in some taking from it making Islands of Peninsulae and joining others to the Continent altering the Beds of Rivers throwing up lesser Hills and washing away others c. The most remarkable effects it 's likely were in the skirts of the Continents because the Motion of the Water was there most violent Athanasius Kircher gives us a Map and Description of the World after the Flood shewing what Changes were made therein by it or upon occasion of it afterward as he fansies or conjectures But because I do not love to trouble the Reader with uncertain Conjectures I shall content my self to have said in general that it may rationally be suppoâ—ed there were then great Mutations and Alterations made in the superficial part of the Earth but what they were though we may guess yet can we have no certain knowledge of and for particulars refer the curious to him One malignant effect it had upon Mankind and probably upon other Animals too in shortning their Age or the duration of their lives which I have touched before and shewn that this diminution of Age is to be attributed either to the change of the Temperature of the Air as to Salubrity or Equality sudden and frequent changes of Weather having a very bad influence upon the Age of Man in abbreviating of it as I could easily prove or else to the deteriority of the Diet or to both these Causes But how the Flood should induce or occasion such a change in the Air and productions of the Earth I do not comprehend Of formed Stones Sea-shells and othâ— Marine-like Bodies found at great dâ—stances from the Shores ANother supposed Effect of the Flooâ— was a bringing up out of the Sea aâ—â— scattering all the Earth over an innumerablâ— multitude of Shells and Shell-fish there bâ—ing of these shell-like Bodies not only oâ— lower Grounds and Hillocks but upon tâ— highest Mountains the Appeunine and Alpâ— themselves A supposed Effect I say because it is not yet agreed among the Learned whâ—ther these Bodies formerly called petrifâ— Shells but now a-days passing by the namâ— of formed Stones be original Productions of Nature formed in imitation of the Shells of Fishes or the real Shells themselves either remaining still entire and uncorrupt or petrified and turned into Stone or at least Stones cast in some Animal Mold Both parts have strong Arguments and Patrons I shall not ballance Authorities but only consider and weigh Arguments Those for the latter Part wherewith I shall begin are First Because it seems contrary to that great Wisdom of Nature which is observable in all its Works and Productions to design every thing to a determinate end and for the attaining that end make use of such ways as are most agreeable to
that so many Liquors impregnated with all sorts of Salts and Mineral Juices in all proportions having been at one time or other industriously or accidentally exposed to crystallize and let stand long in Vessels there should never have been found in them any such Concretions For if any had happened we should doubtless have heard of them and the Observers would have improved such an Experiment to the Production of the like Bodies at their pleasure So I have finished what I have to alledge in defence of the latter part That these formed Stones were sometimes the real Shells or Bones of Fishes I mean the figured part of them I proceed now to set down what may be objected against this Opinion or offered in assertion of the contrary viz. That these Bodies are primitive Productions of Nature in imitation of the Shells and Bones of Fishes Against the former Opinion we have been pleading for it may be objected That there follow such strange and seemingly absurd Consequences from it as are hardly reconcileable to Scripture or indeed to sober Reason as First That the Waters must have covered the whole Earth even the highest Mountains and that for a long time there being found of these Shells not only in the most mountainous parts of our Countrey but in the highest Mountains in Europe the Appennine and Alps themselves and that not only scattered but amassed in great lumps and lying thick in Beds of Sand as we have before shewn Now this could hardly be the effect of a short Deluge which if it had carried any Shell fish so high would in all likelihood have scattered them very thin These Beds and Lumps of them necessarily inferring that they must have bred there which is a work of time Now the general Deluge lasted in the whole but ten Months and it 's not likely the Tops of the Mountains were covered half that time Neither is it less repugnant to Reason than Scripture for if the Waters stood so high above the Earth for so long a time they must by reason of their Confluence be raised as high above the Sea too But what is now become of this huge Mass of Waters equal to six or seven Oceans May not the Stoicks here set in and help us out at a dead lift The Sun and Moon say they might possibly sup it all up Yea but we cannot allow time enough for that for according to the moderate Draughts they take now a-days one Ocean would suffice to water them many Ages unless perchance when they were young and hot they might need more drink But to be serious I have no way to answer this Objection but by denying that there are any Beds or great Lumps and Masses of these formed Stones to be found near the Tops of the Alps or other high Mountains but yet there might be some particular Shells scattered there by the general Deluge Another thing there is as difficult to give an account off as of the Shells getting up to the Tops of Mountains that is of those several Beds or Floors of Earth and Sand c. one above another which are observed in broken Mountains For one cannot easily imagine whence these Floors oâ— Beds in the manner of Strata super strata as the Chymists speak should come but from the Sediments of great Floods which how or whence they could bring so great a quantity of Earth down when there was but little Land above the Sea I cannot see And one would likewise be apt to think that such a Bed of Sands with plenty of Cockle-shells intermixt as we mentioned before in the Mountain near Bononia in Italy must have been sometimes the Bottom of the Sea But before one can give a right judgment of these things one must view the Mountains where such Layers and Beds of Earth and Shells are found for perchance they may not be elevated so high above the present Surface of the Sea as one would judge by the descriptions of them Secondly It would hence follow that many Species of Shell-fish are lost out of the World which Philosophers hitherto have been unwilling to admit esteeming the destruction of any one Species a dismembring of the Universe and rendring it imperfect whereas they think the Divine Providence is especially concerned to secure and preserve the Works of the Creation and that it is so appears in that it was so careful to lodge all Land-Animals in the Ark at the time of the general Deluge The Consequence is proved in that Among these petrified Shells there are many sorts observed which are not at this day that we know of any where to be found Such are a whole genus of Cornua Ammonis which some have supposed to be Nautili though to me they do not seem so to be but a different Genus by themselves of which there have not any been seen either cast a shore or raked out of the Sea at any time that ever I heard of Nay my very Learned and Honoured Friend Dr. Lister proceeds further and saith That when he particularly examined some of our English Shores for Shells as also the Fresh Waters and the Fields that he did never meet with any one of those Species of Shells found at Adderton in Yorkshire Wansford bridge in Northamptonshire and about Gunthorp and Beauvoir-Castle c. any where else but in their respective Quarries What can we say to this Why it is possible that many sorts of Shell-Fish may be lodged so deep in the Seas or on Rocks so remote from the Shores that they may never come to our sight Thirdly It follows also that there have been Shell fish in these cold Northern Seas of greater bulk and dimensions than any now living I do not say in these but in the most Southernly and Indian viz. Cornua Ammonis of two foot diameter and of thickness answerable To this I answer That there are no petrified Shells that do in bigness much exceed those of the natural Shell fish found in our Seas save the Cornua Ammonis only which I suspect to have never been nor had any relation to any Shells of Fishes or to imitate or resemble them at least some of them As for the Nautili they are much different from them For the Nautili at least all the Species of them known to us are as Dr. Plot well observes extravagantly broad at the mouth and have not more than two other small turns at the most whereas the turns of the Ophiomorphites are proportionable one to another and in number many times four or five and sometimes six if we may believe Aldrovand And there are Nautili lapidei which do as nearly resemble the Nautilus Shells as any other Cochlites do their respective prototypes As Mr. Lloyd assures me he had observed many in Museums And the Learned and Ingenious Mr. Richard Waller then Secretary to the Royal Society in a Letter to me dated Feb. 4. 87. writes That he had been lately at Keinsham in Sommersetshire
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
the Creator's Almighty Power and are too partial to themselves to think the whole World was created for no other end but to be serviceable to Mankind but of this I have said somewhat in a former Discourse and therefore shall not at present enlarge upon it But let us hear what they have to say for the Abolition Their first and most weighty Argument is taken from the End of the World's Creation which was partly and chiefly the Glory of the Creator and partly the use of Man the Lord Deputy as it were or Viceroy thereof Now for the Glory of the Creator it being by the admirable Frame of the World manifested unto Man Man being removed out of the World and no Creature being capable of such a Manifestation besides him we cannot imagine to what purpose the Frame it self should be left and restored to a more perfect Estate The other End being for Man's Vse either to supply his Necessity in matter of Diet of Physick of Building of Apparrel 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 VVorld tho we are not able to find out or determine what VVe 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 â—nd visible rational Creature made to inhabit the Earth there are spiritual and intelâ—ectual Beings which may be as busie and â—s much delighted in searching out and conâ—emplating the VVorks of God in this new Earth and rendring him the Praise of his VVisdom and Power as Man could be These things we may conjecture but we must â—eave it to the only wise God to determine what use shall be made of it It seems to me â—o be too great presumption and over-valuing our selves to think that all this VVorld was â—o made for us as to have no other end of its Creation or that God could not be glorified â—ut 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 VVorld it self 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 Immortality 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 shall 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. XII The Apostles 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 John 3.3 Aâ— 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 iâ— 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
Now iâ— seems clear to me that the Rain-water making its way through the Veins and Chinkâ— of the Rocks above it and yet but slowly by reason of the thickness of the Mountain and straitness of the passages supplieâ— that dropping all the year round at least this is much more rational than any different Hypothesis If the Water distills down faster in Winter-time and wet Weather than it doth in Summer which I forgot to ask the experiment would infallibly prove our Assertion In confirmation of this Argument Albertus Magnus as I find him quoted in Dr. Wittie's Scarborough Spaw tells us That at the bottom of a solid Rock One Hundred and Thirty Fathoms deep he saw drops of Water distilling from it in a rainy season Secondly It is well known and attested to me by the people at Buxton when I was there that out of the Mouth of the same Poole-hole after great and long continuing Rains a great Stream of Water did usually issue forth And I am sure it must make its way through a good thickness of Earth or Rocks before it could come in there Thirdly What becomes of all the Water that falls on Newmarket Heath and Gogmagog Hills I presume also Salisbury-Plain and the like Spungy Grounds all Winter long where we see very little run off any way It must needs sink into the Ground more than Ten Foot deep Fourthly Many Wells whose Springs lye at least Twenty Foot deep we find by experience do often fail in great Droughts in Summer time Fifthly In Coal Delfs and other Mines in wet Weather the Miners are many times drown'd out as they phrase it though no Water runs down into the Mouths of their Pits or Shafts Nay Dr. Wittie tells us in his Description of the Vertues of the Scarborough Spaw pag. 105. That after great Inundations of Rain the Miners find the Water frequently distilling through the solid Earth upon their Heads whereas iâ— Summer or dry Seasons they find no interruption from thence at all Further to confirm this Particular wrote to my Honoured Friend Sr. Thomâ—â— Willughby Baronet desiring him to examinâ— his Colliers concerning it and send me woâ— what report they make and from him received this account If there be Springs lyâ— before you come at the Coal they carry the Water away but if there be none it falls into the Works in greater or less quantity according as the Rains fall Which answer is so much the more considerable in that it gives me a further clear proof that Springs are fed by Rain water and not by any communications from the Sea their original being above the Beds of Coal they receiving the Rain-water into their Veins and deriving it all along to their Fountains or Eruptions above the Coals I might add out of him Fifthly pag. 85. That the Scarborough Spaw notwithstanding it breaks out of Ground within Three or Four Yards off the Foot of the Cliff which is near Forty Yards high and within a quarter of a Mile there is another Hill that is more than as high again as the Cliff and a descent all the way to the Cliff so as the Rain-water cannot lye long upon the Ground yet it is observable that after a long Rain the Water of the Spaw is altered in its taste and lessened in its operation whereas a rainy day or two will not sensibly hurt it And now I am transcribing out of this Author give me leave to add an Observation or two in confirmation of Rains being the Original of Springs The first is pag. 97. this In England in the years 1654 55 and 56. when our Climate was dryer than ever it had been mentioned to be in any Stories so as we had very little Rain in Summer or Snow in Winter most of our Springs were dried up such as in the Memory of the eldest men living had never wanted Water but were of those Springs we call fontes perennes or at least were esteemed so He instances also out of a parallel Story out of Heylin's Geography in the Description of Cyprus where the Author relates That in the days of Constantine the Great there was an exceeding long drought there so as in Thirty Six Years they had no Rain in so much as all the Springs and Torrents or Rivers were dried up so that the Inhabitants were forced to forsake the Island and to seek for new Habitations for want of fresh Water The Second is pag. 84. That in the Wolds or Downs of Yorkshire they have many Springs break out after great Rains which they call Gypsies Neither is this Eruption of Springs after long Rains proper and peculiar only to the Wolds of Yorkshire but common to otheâ— Countreys also as Dr Childrey witnessetâ— in these words Sometimes there breaks out Water in the manner of a sudden Land-flood out of certain Stones that are like Rocks standing aloft in open Fields near the rising of the River Kynet in Kent which is reputed by the Common people a fore-runner of Dearth That the suddeâ— eruption of Springs in places where they use not always to run should be a sign oâ— Dearth is no wonder For these unusuaâ— Eruptions which in Kent we call Nailbourns are caused by extreme gluts oâ— Rain or lasting wet weather and never happen but in wet years witness the year 1648. when there were many of them and to our purpose very remarkable it was that in the 1654. several Springs and Rivulets were quite dryed up by reason of the precedent Drought which raged most in 1651 1652 and 1653. As the Head of the Stour that rises near Elham in Kent and runs through Canterbury was dry for some Miles space and the like happened to the Stream that crosseth the Road-way between Sittingburn and Canterbury at Ospring near Feversham which at other times ran with a plentiful current but then wholly failed So we see that it is not infrequent for new Springs to break out in wet years and for old ones to fail in great Droughts I cannot also here forbear to add the probable account he gives of the Supply of the Spring-well on the Castle-hill at Scarborough at which I confess I was somewhat puzzled This Well saith he though it be upon the top of the Rock not many Yards deep and also upon the edge of the Cliff is doubtless supplied by secret Channels within the ground that convey the Rain and Showers into it being placed on a dependent part of the Rock near unto which there are also Cellars under an old ruinated Chappel which after a great Rain are full of Water but are dryed up in a long Drought As for what is said concerning the River Volgas pouring out so much Water into the Caspian Sea as in a years time would make up a mass of Water equal to the Globe of the Earth and of the hourly effusions of the River Po in Italy which Ricciolus hath computed to amount to 18000000. Cubical Paces of Water Whence a late Learned
Writer hath probably inferred that all the Rivers in the World together do daily discharge half an Ocean of Waters into the Sea I must confess my self to be unsatisfied therewith I will not question their Calculations but I suspect they are out in their Hypotheses The Opinion of Mr. Edmund Halley that Springs and Rivers owe their Original to Vapours condensed on the sides of Mountains rather than unto Rains I acknowledge to be very ingenious grounded upon good Observations and worthy of its Author and I will not deny it to be in part true in those hot Countreys in the Torrid Zone and near it where by reason of the great heats the Vapours are more copiously exhaled out of the Earth and its likely carryed up high in the form of Vapours The inferiour Air at least is so charged with them and by that means so very moist that in some places their Knives rust even in their Pockets and in the Night so very fresh and cold partly also by reason of the length of the Nights that exposing the Body to it causes Colds and Catarrhs and is very dangerous Whence also their Dews are so great as in good measure to recompence the want of Rain and serve for the nourishment of Plants as they do even in Spain it self I shall first of all propose this Opinion in the Words of the Author and then discourse a little upon it After he had enumerated many of the high Ridges and Tracts of Mountains in the four Quarters of the World he thus proceeds Each of which far surpass the usual height to which the Aqueous Vapours of themselves ascend and on the tops of which the Air is so cold and rarified as to retain but a small part of those Vapours that shall be brought thither by the Winds Those Vapours therefore that are raised copiously in the Sea and by the Winds are carried over the Low Lands to those Ridges of Mountains are there compelled by the Stream of the Air to mount up with it to the tops of the Mountains where the Water presently precipitates gleeting down by the Crannies of the Stone and part of the Vapour entring into the Cavities of the Hills the Water thereof gathers as in an Alembick into the Basons of Stone it finds â— which being once filled all the overplus oâ— Water that comes thither runs over by the lowest place and breaking out by the sideâ— of the Hills forms single Springs Many oâ— these running down by the Valleys or Guts between the Ridges of the Hills and coming to unite form little Rivulets or Brooks Many of these again meeting in one commoâ— Valley and gaining the plain ground being grown less rapid become a River and many of these being united in one common Channel make such Streams as the Rhâ—e the Rhosne and the Danube which latter onâ— would hardly think the Collection of Wateâ— condensed out of Vapour unless we consideâ— how vast a Tract of ground that River drains and that it is the summ of all those Springs which break out on the South side of the Carpathian Mountains and on the North-side of the immense Ridge of the Alps which is one continued Chain of Mountains from Switzerland to the Black Sea And it may almost pass for a Rule that the magnitude oâ— a River or the quantity of Water it evacuates is proportionable to the length and height of the Ridges from whence its Fountains arise Now this Theory of Springs iâ— not a bare Hypothesis but founded on Experience which it was my luck to gain in my abode at St. Helena where in the night time on the tops of the Hills about Eight Hundred Yards above the Sea there was so strange a condensation or rather precipitation of the Vapours that it was a great impediment to my Celestial Observations for in the clear Sky the Dew would fall so fast as to cover each half quarter of an hour my Glasses with little drops so that I was necessitated to wipe them off of so often and my Paper on which I wrote my Observations would immediately be so wet with the Dew that it would not bear Ink by which it may be supposed how fast the Water gathers in those mighty high Ridges I but now named At last he concludes And I doubt not but this Hypothesis is more reasonable than that of those who derive all Springs from the Rain-waters which yet are perpetual and without diminution even when no Rain falls for a long space of time This may for ought I as yet see or know be a good account of the Original of Springs in those fervid Regions though even there I doubt but partial but in Europe and the more temperate Countries I believe the Vapours in this manner condensed have but little interest in the production of them though I will not wholly exclude them For First The Tops of the Alps above the Fountains of four of the greatest Rivers iâ— Europe the Rhine the Rhosne the Danoâ— and the Po are for about Six Months in the Year constantly covered with Snow to a great thickness so that there are no Vapours all that while that can touch thoâ—e Mountains and be by them condensed into Water there falls nothing there but Snow and that continuing all that while on the ground without Dissolution hinders all access of Vapours to the Earth if any rose oâ— were by Winds carried so high in that form as I am confident there are not And yet for all that do not those Springs fail but continue to run all Winter and it is likely too without diminution which is a longer time than Droughts usually last especially if we consider that this want of supply is constant and annual whereas Droughts are but rare and accidental So that we need not wonder any more that Springs should continue to run and without diminution too in times of Drought True it is that those Rivers run low all Winter so far as the Snow extends and to a good distance from their Heads but that is for want of their accidental Supplies from Showers Nay I believe that even in Summer the Vapours are but rarely raised so high in a liquid form in the free Air remote from the Mountains but â—e frozen into Snow before they arrive at â—at height For the Middle Region of the â—ir where the Walk of the Clouds is at â—ast the superior part of it is so cold as to â—eez the Vapours that ascend so high â—ven in Summer time For we see that in â—e height and heat of Summer in great â—hunder-Storms for the most part it hails â—ay in such Tempests I have seen mighty â—howers of great Hail-stones fall some as â—g as Nutmegs or Pigeons Egs and in some â—laces such heaps of them as would load Dung Carts and have not been dissolved in day or two At the same seasons I have â—bserved in some Showers Hail-stones fall â—f irregular Figures and throughout pelluâ—id like great pieces of