Selected quad for the lemma: fire_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
fire_n	great_a	heaven_n	lord_n	2,380	4	3.4763	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65672	A new theory of the earth, from its original to the consummation of all things wherein the creation of the world in six days, the universal deluge, and the general conflagration, as laid down in the Holy Scriptures, are shewn to be perfectly agreeable to reason and philosophy : with a large introductory discourse concerning the genuine nature, stile, and extent of the Mosaick history of the creation / by William Whiston ...	Whiston, William, 1667-1752.	1696 (1696)	Wing W1696; ESTC R20397	280,059	488

six Days work to be of the very same and no larger extent than those are and leave the whole to the Judgment of the Reader There shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying Where is the promise of his coming for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation For this they willingly are ignorant of that by the word of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished But the heavens and the earth which are now by the same word are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in the 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 In the day of God the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat Nevertheless we according to his promise look for a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the works of thine hands They shall perish but thou remainest and they all shall wax old as doth a garment and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up and they shall be changed I have now finish'd all those Arguments which to me are fully satisfactory and I think prove beyond rational contradiction That not the vast Universe but the Earth alone with its dependencies are the proper subject of the Six Days Creation And that the Mosaick History is not a Nice Exact and Philosophick account of the several steps and operations of the whole but such an Historical Relation of each Mutation of the Chaos each successive day as the Journal of a Person on the Face of the Earth all that while would naturally have contained The sum of all is this 1. The very Words and Coherence of Moses himself require such a Construction 2. The Words of Creating Making or Framing things here us'd are commonly of no larger importance than this Proposition allows 3. The World or Heaven and Earth the objects of this Creation are alike frequently restrain'd to the sublunary World the Air and Earth 4. The Chaos that known fund and seminary of the Six Days Creation extended no farther 5. On the contrary supposition the time of the Creation of each Body is extremely disproportionate to the work it self 6. On the same supposition there is an intolerable disorder disproportion and confusion in the works themselves 7. The sinal cause of the six days Creation is the advantage of Mankind the Inhabitant of the Earth 8. Neither the intention of the Author nor the capacity of the Readers require or could bear any other account of the origin of things 9. Lastly Neither the Deluge nor Conflagration whose extent appears commensurate to that of this Creation are of any larger compass than is here assign'd Upon this view of the whole matter give me leave to say That to make the Universal Frame of Nature concern'd in the particular Fates and Revolutions of our Earth is at this time of day to demonstrate either very mean thoughts of the Ends of the Divine Workmanship and of the Essects thereof in the World or else very proud and extravagant conceits of our own worth and dignity and at best argues a narrow ignoble and unphilosophical Soul 'T is much such another Wise and Rational Notion as it would be to suppose that the whole Terraqueous Globe with all its parts and dependencies all its furniture and productions was alike concern'd in the Fates and Revolutions pardon the expressions of one single Fly or Worm belonging to it And we may e'en as fairly allow the intire dependence of this sublunary World on the fortune of such a single animalculum That on its peeping into the World the whole Earth must arise out of nothing to afford it a resting place while it was growing and continued in its prime all things below must spring and flourish rejoyce and look gay on its decay all things must put on a mournful countenance and on its destruction Universal Nature here beneath must expire together and return to its primitive nothing This representation will I imagine seem bold and extravagant But 't will be hard to prove it so And I may appeal to Astronomy whether the Earth can be shewn to bear as considerable a proportion to the Universe as such a poor animalculum does certainly bear to it I would not by this or any thing else I have heretofore said in this Discourse be so far mistaken as to be believ'd prone to depretiate and and debase Mankind or to put a slight on all those Works of Nature and Providence which are subservient to it Neither do I deny that in some sense all the Visible World Heaven and Earth are ordain'd for our use and advantage I fully believe that we are the Creatures of God of whom he has a tender regard and over whom he exercises a constant a special Care and Providence As I look upon the Souls of Men in their proper and primitive perfection when they came out of their Maker's Hands to be Noble to be Glorious to be Exalted Beings and perhaps in capacities or faculties in dignity or happiness not inferior to some of the Angelick Orders so I also most undoubtedly believe what our Saviour affirms of good mens state hereafter that they shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equal to the Angels and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Children of God himself While I am perswaded that the Creation of Man was not effected without the concurrence and joint consultation of the Blessed Trinity Nor his Redemption without the Acceptance of the Father the Sacrifice and Death of the Son in his Humane Nature and the Sanctification and Operation of the Holy Spirit While I am perswaded that the Divine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 has ever since the Fall of Adam been sollicitous about our Reconciliation to God and made it his constant business even before as well as since his Incarnation to mediate for us and take care of our eternal happiness While I believe that by the new Covenant Good Men even in this Imperfect state are esteem'd Heirs of God joint-Heirs with Christ and denominated the Brethren and Friends of their Glorious Redeemer While I do not doubt but our Humane Nature is now in the Person of our Blessed Saviour in Heaven and there on account of the Hypostatical Union with the Eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and as a reward of that Obedience and Suffering it underwent for us on Earth advanc'd above the most exalted Intellectual Orders at the Right Hand of the Majesty on High

living as I have done While the Earth remaineth seed-time and harvest and cold and heat and Summer and winter and day and night shall not cease And this as to the time past is abundantly confirm'd by all the Ancient History and Geography compar'd with the Modern as is in several particulars well observ'd by Dr. Woodward against the groundless opinions of some others to the contrary CHAP. V. Phaenomena relating to the General Conflagration With Conjectures pertaining to the same and to the succeeding period till the Consummation of all things XC AS the World once perished by Water so it must by Fire at the Conclusion of its present State The heavens and the earth which are now by the word of God are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men 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 In the day of God the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat But this is so fully attested by the unanimous consent of Sacred and Prophane Authority that I shall omit other particular Quotations and only refer the Reader where he may have more ample satisfaction SCHOLIUM Having proceeded thus far upon more certain grounds and generally allow'd Testimonies as to the most of the foregoing Phaenomena I might here break off and leave the following Conjectures to the same state of Uncertainty they have hitherto been in But being willing to comply with the Title and take in all the great and general Changes from first to last from the primigenial Chaos to the Consummation of all things Being also loth to desert my Postulatum and omit the account of those things which were most exactly agreeable to the Obvious and Literal sense of Scripture and fully consonant to Reason and Philosophy Being lastly willing however to demonstrate that tho' these most remote and difficult Texts be taken according to the greatest strictness of the Letter yet do they contain nothing but what is possible credible and rationally accountable from the most undoubted Principles of Philosophy On all these accounts I shall venture to enumerate and afterward to account for the following Conjectures In which I do not pretend to be Dogmatical and Positive nay nor to declare any firm belief of the same but shall only propose them as Conjectures and leave them to the free and impartial consideration of the Reader XCI The same Causes which will set the World on Fire will also cause great and dreadful Tides in the Seas and in the Ocean with no less Agitations Concussions and Earthquakes in the Air and Earth The Powers of Heaven shall be shaken The Lord shall roar out of Sion and utter his voice from Jerusalem and the heavens and the earth shall shake The sea and the waves roaring Mens hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the Earth for the powers of heaven shall be shaken XCII The mtmosphere of the Earth before the Conflagration begin will be oppress'd with Meteors Exhalations and Steams and these in so dreadful a manner in such prodigious quantities and with such wild confused Motions and Agitations That the Sun and Moon will have the most frightful and hideous countenances and their antient splendour will be intirely obscur'd The Stars will seem to fall from Heaven and all manner of Horrid Representations will terrifie the Inhabitants of the Earth I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth blood and fire and pillars of smoke The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord come The sun shall be darkened and the Moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of heaven shall be shaken There shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars and upon the Earth distress of Nations with perplexity Mens hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth XCIII The Deluge and Constagration are referr'd by ancient Tradition to great Conjunctions of the Heavenly Bodies as both depending on and happening at the same Thus Seneca expresly Berosus says he who was an Expositor of Belus affirms That these Revolutions depend on the Course of the Stars insomuch that he doubts not to assign the very times of a Conflagration and a Deluge That first mention'd when all the Stars which have now so different Courses shall be in Conjunction in Cancer All of them being so directly situate with respect to one another that the same right line will pass through them all together That last mention'd when the same company of Stars shall be in conjunction in the opposite sign Capricorn XCIV The space between the Deluge and the Conflagration or between the ancient state of the Earth and its Purgation by Fire Renovation and Restitution again is from ancient Tradition defin'd and terminated by a certain great and remarkable year or Annual Revolution of some of the Heavenly Bodies And is in probability what the Ancients so often refer'd to pretended particularly to determine and stil'd The Great or Platonick Year This year is exceeding famous in old Authors and not unreasonably apply'd to this matter by the Theorist Which it will better suit in this than it did in that Hypothesis XCV This general Conflagration is not to extend to the intire dissolution or destruction of the Earth but only to the Alteration Melioration and peculiar disposition thereof into a new state proper to receive those Saints and Martyrs for its Inhabitants who are at the first Resurrection to enter and to live and reign a thousand years upon it till the second Resurrection the general Judgment and the final consummation of all things The Heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat Nevertheless we according to his promise look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness Behold I create new heavens and a new earth and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind Verily I say unto you That ye which followed me in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit upon the throne of his glory ye also shall sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel And every one that hath forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my names sake shall receive an hundred fold now in this time houses and brethren and sisters and mothers and children and lands with his present persecutions and in the world to come eternal life Of old thou hast laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens are the work of

in the World can stand in Competition or so much as pretend to the same Character which it so agreeably corresponds to Which will be the design of and shall be compriz'd under the following Arguments 1. The Names of these two Bodies or Systems of Bodies are exactly the same and equally agreeable to the Nature of each of them The Original Chaos by the Ancient Tradition of the Phaenicians was stil'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in English A dark and stormy Atmosphere Which Appellation the constant Character of that Mass encompassing the Body of a Comet and at the same time of the old Chaos if we suppose it to have been as fitly by Antiquity appli'd to the latter as certainly Observation being judge it is to the former is as proper a one for our present purpose as could possibly be desir'd 2. The main bulk of the ancient Chaos and of the Atmosphere of a Comet is a Fluid or System of Fluids As to the former 't is both necessary to be presuppos'd in order to the succeeding Separation and regular Disposition of the Parts and is confirm'd by all the Accounts of it But Moses himself being express I shall content my self with his single Testimony who not only calls it an Abyss but gives it the stile of Waters Darkness was upon the face of the deep and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters Now that the main part of a Comet 's Atmosphere is also a Fluid appears both by its Pellucidness a thing unusual in Bodies but such as are or once were in a fluid Condition and by those perpetual Changes and Agitation of Parts within the Regions of it which in any other than a Fluid are plainly impossible and which indeed withal have hitherto seem'd so visible and remarkable that thence men were ready to imagine the whole Mass to be nothing else but a Congeries of Vapours or Clouds uncertainly jumbled together and as uncertainly dissipated again 3. The Chaos is describ'd to have been very stormy and tempestuous of which some of the Ancient Writers take particular notice To which those frequent and violent Agitations and Changes those strange uncertain Hurries of Opake Masses hither and thither which the Phaenomena of Comets Atmospheres present us with most exactly agree 4. The Chaos was a mixed Compound of all sorts of Corpuscles in a most uncertain confus'd and disorderly State heavy and light dense and rare fluid and solid Particles were in a great measure as it were at a venture mingled and jumbled together The Atoms or small constituent Parts of Air Water and Earth to which together with Fire the name of Element has been peculiarly appli'd every one were in every place and all in a wild and disturbed Confasion This is the very Essence and enters the Definition of a Chaos in which therefore all both do and must agree And if any one carefully consider the perpetually various Visage of a Comet 's Atmosphere its vast Extent the no manner of Order or Method of its several Appearances and remember that in some Comets it has in its near approach to the Sun been scorch'd and burn'd by a degree of heat many hundred times as Intense as the Sun 's is with us in the midst of Summer he will not wonder that I assert the Parts of this Atmosphere to be in a perfectly confus'd and Chaotick Condition One might indeed as well and as reasonably expect Order and Method in the ruinous Reliques of a City burnt to Ashes or in the Smoke proceeding from the same as in several at least of those Atmospheres we are speaking of 5. The ancient Chaos just before the beginning of the six days Creation was very dark and caliginous Darkness was upon the face of the deep says the Sacred and the very same say the prophane Writers Now when we every Year see how far that small Company of collected Vapours of which a Cloud consists can go towards causing darkness on the Face of the Earth we may easily guess how thick the Darkness of the Comet 's Atmosphere must needs be when all those earthy and watery Corpuscles which flying up and down in the vast Regions thereof do now so often and so much obscure the Comet 's central Body and are here so very sensible when all these I say shall rise up and make a confus'd cloudy Orb on the more confin'd Surface of the Atmosphere of some scores if not hundreds of Miles thick as must happen in the beginning of its Formation If this be not sufficient to account for this thick Darkness on the Face of the Abyss 't will I imagine be difficult to solve it better 6. Our upper Earth the Product of the ancient Chaos being in all probability founded on a dense Fluid or Abyss as will appear in the Sequel the main part of the Fluid of that ancient Chaos by consequence must have been such a dense and heavy one as is here mention'd And indeed 't is in it self but very reasonable if not necessary to allow the inferior Parts of a fluid Chaos to have been compos'd of much denser and heavier Masses than the superior or than Water the main visible Fluid of our Globe For if we consider the matter in any sort according to the Law of specifick Gravity all heavy Fluids must at least as certainly be near the Center as like heavy Solids and 't is but mechanical to allow that in a confused Fluid in some measure as well as exactly in a digested one the Fluids contain'd in the inner Regions must be much heavier than those at or near the outer Surface thereof But besides 't will be hard to account for the confus'd moving state of the earthy Parts or which is much the same the fluidity of the intire Chaos without allowing a much greater quantity of Fluids in it than what we now see with us the Waters of our present Earth and those of a Density and Gravity fit to retain their Posts as well nearer the Central as the superficiary Parts And that on this account of the Comet 's Atmosphere's fixed and dense Fluid 't is peculiarly adapted to the foresaid Description of the Chaos is evident by what has been already observ'd of the same to which I refer the Reader for satisfaction 7. Whereas very many and very considerable Phaenomena of Nature which Dr. Woodward has excellenty observ'd as well as ancient Tradition require and suppose a Central Fire or internal Heat diffusing warm and vigorous Steams every way from the Center to the Circumference of the Earth and whereas 't is very difficult on the common Hypotheses or indeed on any hitherto taken notice of to give a Mechanical and Philosophical Soultion of the same If we will but allow the Proposition we are now upon and that the Earth in its Chaotick State was a Comet a most easy and Mechanical Account thereof is hereby given and