Father above Angels and Arch-Angels These great things are imperfectly reveal'd to us in this life which we are to believe so far as they are reveal'd In hopes these mysteries will be made more intelligible in that happy state to come where Prophets Apostles and Angels will meet in conversation together In like manner how little is it we understand concerning the Holy Ghost That he descended like a Dove upon our Saviour Like cloven Tongues of fire upon the Apostles The Place being fill'd with a rushing mighty Wind That he over-shadowed the Blessed Virgin and begot the Holy Infant That He made the Apostles speak all sort of Tongues and Languages ex tempore and pour'd out strange Vertues and Miraculous Gifts upon the Primitive Christians These things we know as bare matter of fact but the method of these operations we do not at all understand Who can tell us now what that is which we call INSPIRATION VVhat change is wrought in the Brain and what in the Soul and how the effect follows VVho will give us the just definition of a Miracle VVhat the proximate Agent is above Man and whether they are all from the same power How the manner and process of those miraculous changes in matter may be conceiv'd These things we see darkly and hope they will be set in a clearer light and the Doctrines of our Religion more fully expounded to us in that Future VVorld For as several things obscurely exprest in the Old Testament are more clearly reveal'd in the New So the same mysteries in a succeeding state may still receive a further explication The History of the Angels Good or bad makes another part of this Providential Systeme Christian Religion gives us some notices of both kinds but very imperfect VVhat interest the Good Angels have in the Government of the VVorld and in ordering the affairs of this Earth and Mankind What subjection they have to our Saviour and what part in his Ministry Whether they are Guardians to particular Persons to Kingdoms to Empires All that we know at present concerning these things is but conectural And as to the bad Angels who will give us an account of their Fall and of their former condition I had rather know the History of Lucifer than of all the Babylonian and Persian Kings Nay than of all the Kings of the Earth What the Birth-right was of that mighty Prince what his Dominions where his Imperial Court and Residence How he was depos'd for what Crime and by what Power How he still wages War against Heaven in his exile What Confederates he hath What is his Power over Mankind and how limited What change or damage he suffer'd by the coming of Christ and how it alter'd the posture of his affairs Where he will be imprison'd in the Millennium and what will be his last fate and final doom whether he may ever hope for a Revolution or Restauration These things lie hid in the secret Records of Providence which then I hope will be open'd to us With the Revolution of Worlds we mention'd before the Revolution of Souls which is another great Circle of Providence to be studied hereafter We know little here either of the pre-existence or post-existence of our Souls VVe know not what they will be till the loud Trump awakes us and calls us again into the Corporeal VVorld VVho knows how many turns he shall take upon this stage of the Earth and how many trials he shall have before his doom will be finally concluded Who knows where or what is the state of Hell where the Souls of the wicked are said to be for ever What is the true state of Heaven What our Celestial Bodies and What that Sovereign Happiness that is call'd the Beatifical Vision Our knowledge and conceptions of these things are at present very general and superficial but in the future Kingdom of Christ which is introductory to Heaven it self these imperfections in a great measure will be done away and such preparations wrought both in the Will and Understanding as may fit us for the Life of Angels and the enjoyment of God in Eternal Glory Thus you see in general what will be the employment of the Saints in the blessed Millennium And tho' they have few of the trifling businesses of this life they will not want the best and noblest of diversions 'T is an happy thing when a Man's pleasure is also his perfection for most Men's pleasures are such as debase their nature We commonly gratifie our lower faculties our Passions and our Appetites and these do not improve but depress the Mind And besides they are so gross that the finest tempers are surfeited in a little time There is no lasting pleasure but Contemplation All others grow flat and insipid upon frequent use and when a Man hath run thorow a Sett of Vanities in the declension of his Age he knows not what to do with himself if he cannot Think He saunters about from one dull business to another to wear out time And hath no reason to value Life but because he 's afraid of Death But Contemplation is a continual spring of fresh pleasures Truth is inexhausted and when you are once in the right way the further you go the greater discoveries you make and with the greater joy We are sometimes highly pleas'd and even transported with little inventions in Mathematicks or Mechanicks or Natural Philosophy All these things will make part of their diversion and entertainment in that state All the doctrine of Sounds and Harmony Of Light Colours and Perspective will be known in perfection But these I call Diversions in comparison of their higher and more serious Speculations which will be the business and happiness of that Life Do but imagine that they will have the Scheme of all humane affairs lying before them from the Chaos to the last period The universal history and order of Times The whole oeconomy of the Christian Religion and of all Religions in the World The Plan of the undertaking of the Messiah with all other parts and ingredients of the Providence of this Earth Do but imagine this I say and you will easily allow that when they contemplate the Beauty Wisdom and Goodness of the whole design it must needs raise great and noble Passions and a far richer joy than either the pleasures or speculations of this Life can excite in us And this being the last Act and close of all humane affairs it ought to be the more exquisite and elaborate that it may crown the work satisfie the Spectators and end in a general applause The whole Theatre resounding with the praises of the great Dramatist and the wonderful Art and Order of the composition CHAP. X. Objections against the Millennium answer'd With some Conjectures concerning the state of things after the Millennium and what will be the final Consummation of this World YOU see how Nature and Providence have conspir'd to make the Millennium as happy
is a dangerous thing to engage the authority of Scripture in disputes about the Natural World in opposition to Reason lest Time which brings all things to light should discover that to be evidently false which we had made Scripture to assert And I remember S. Austin in his Exposition upon Genesis hath laid down a rule to this very purpose though he had the unhappiness it seems not to follow it always himself The reason also which he gives there for his rule is very good and substantial For saith He if the Vnbelievers or Philosophers shall certainly know us to be mistaken and to err in those things that concern the Natural World and see that we alledge our Sacred Books for such vain opinions how shall they believe those same Books when they tell them of the RESVRRECTION of the Dead and the World to come if they find them to be fallaciously writ in such things as lie within their certain Knowledge We are not to suppose that any truth concerning the Natural World can be an Enemy to Religion for Truth cannot be an Enemy to Truth God is not divided against himself and therefore we ought not upon that account to condemn or censure what we have not examin'd or cannot disprove as those that are of this narrow Spirit we are speaking of are very apt to do Let every thing be try'd and examin'd in the first place whether it be True or False and if it be found false 't is then to be consider'd whether it be such a falsity as is prejudicial to Religion or no. But for every new Theory that is propos'd to be alarm'd as if all Religion was falling about our Ears is to make the World suspect that we are very ill assur'd of the foundation it stands upon Besides do not all Men complain even These as well as others of the great ignorance of Mankind how little we know and how much is still unknown and can we ever know more unless something new be Discover'd It cannot be old when it comes first to light when first invented and first propos'd If a Prince should complain of the poorness of his Exchequer and the scarcity of Money in his Kingdom would he be angry with his Merchants if they brought him home a Cargo of good Bullion or a Mass of Gold out of a foreign Countrey and give this reason only for it He would have no new Silver neither should any be Currant in his Dominions but what had his own Stamp and Image upon it How should this Prince or his People grow rich To complain of want and yet refuse all offers of a supply looks very sullen or very fantastical I might mention also upon this occasion another Genius and disposition in Men which often makes them improper for Philosophical Contemplations not so much it may be from the narrowness of their Spirit and Understanding as because they will not take time to extend them I mean Men of Wit and Parts but of short Thoughts and little Meditation and that are apt to distrust every thing for a Fancy or Fiction that is not the dictate of Sense or made out immediately to their Senses Men of this Humour and Character call such Theories as these Philosophick Romances and think themselves witty in the expression They allow them to be pretty amusements of the Mind but without Truth or Reality I am afraid if an Angel should write the Theory of the Earth they would pass the same judgment upon it Where there is variety of Parts in a due Contexture with something of surprizing aptness in the harmony and correspondency of them this they call a Romance but such Romances must all Theories of Nature and of Providence be and must have every part of that Character with advantage if they be well represented There is in them as I may so say a Plot or Mystery pursued through the whole Work and certain Grand Issues or Events upon which the rest depend or to which they are subordinate but these things we do not make or contrive our selves but find and discover them being made already by the Great Author and Governour of the Universe And when they are clearly discover'd well digested and well reason'd in every part there is methinks more of beauty in such a Theory at least a more masculine beauty than in any Poem or Romance And that solid truth that is at the bottom gives a satisfaction to the Mind that it can never have from any Fiction how artificial soever it be To enter no farther upon this matter 't is enough to observe that when we make Judgments and Censures upon general presumptions and prejudices they are made rather from the temper and model of our own Spirits than from Reason and therefore if we would neither impose upon our selves nor others we must lay aside that lazy and fallacious method of Censuring by the Lump and must bring things close to the test of True or False to explicit proof and evidence And whosoever makes such Objections against an Hypothesis hath a right to be heard let his Temper and Genius be what it will Neither do we intend that any thing we have said here should be understood in another sence To conclude This Theory being writ with a sincere intention to justifie the Doctrines of the Vniversal Deluge and of a Paradisiacal state and protect them from the Cavils of those that are no well-wishers to Sacred History upon that account it may reasonably expect fair usage and acceptance with all that are well-dispos'd And it will also be I think a great satisfaction to them to see those pieces of most ancient History which have been chiefly preserv'd in Scripture confirm'd a-new and by another Light that of Nature and Philosophy and also freed from those misconceptions or misrepresentations which made them sit uneasie upon the Spirits even of the best Men that took time to think Lastly In things purely Speculative as these are and no ingredients of our Faith it is free to differ from one another in our Opinions and Sentiments and so I remember S. Austin hath observ'd upon this very subject of Paradise Wherefore as we desire to give no offence our selves so neither shall we take any at the difference of Judgment in others provided this liberty be mutual and that we all agree to study Peace Truth and a good Life CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTERS THE FIRST BOOK CHAP. I. THE Introduction An account of the whole Work of the extent and general Order of it CHAP. II. A general account of Noah's Flood A computation what quantity of Water would be necessary for the making of it That the common Opinion and Explication of that Flood is not intelligible CHAP. III. All Evasions concerning the Flood answer'd That there was no Creation of Waters at the Deluge and that it was not particular or National but extended throughout the whole Earth A prelude and preparation to the true account and explication
share of it and were in their proportion longer-liv'd than they are now Nay not only Animals but also Vegetables and the forms of all living things were far more permanent The Trees of the Field and of the Forest in all probability out-lasted the lives of Men and I do not know but the first Groves of Pines and Cedars that grew out of the Earth or that were planted in the Garden of God might be standing when the Deluge came and see from first to last the entire course and period of a World We might add here with S. Austin another observation both concerning Men and other living Creatures in the first World that They were greater as well as longer-liv'd than they are at present This seems to be a very reasonable conjecture for the state of every thing that hath life is divided into the time of its growth its consistency and its decay and when the whole duration is longer every one of these parts though not always in like proportions will be longer We must suppose then that the growth both in Men and other Animals lasted longer in that World than it doth now and consequently carried their Bodies both to a greater height and bulk And in like manner their Trees would be both taller and every way bigger than ours neither were they in any danger there to be blown down by Winds and Storms or struck with Thunder though they had been as high as the Aeâ—yptian Pyramids and whatsoever their height was if they had Roots and Trunks proportionable and were streight and well pois'd they would stand firm and with a greater majesty The Fowls of Heaven making their Nests in their Boughs and under their shadow the Beasts of the Field bringing forth their Young When things are fairly possible in their causes and possible in several degrees higher or lower 't is weakness of Spirit in us to think there is nothing in Nature but in that one way or in that one degree that we are us'd to And whosoever believes those accounts given us both by the Ancients and Moderns of the Indian Trees will not think it strange that those of the first Earth should much exceed any that we now see in this World â—That Allegorical description of the glory of Assyria in Ezekiel Chap. 31. by allusion to Trees and particularly to the Trees of Paradise was chiefly for the greatness and stateliness of them and there is all fairness of reason to believe that in that first Earth both the Birds of the Air and the Beasts of the Field and the Trees and their Fruit were all in their several kinds more large and goodly than Nature produces any now So much in short concerning the Natural World Inanimate or Animate We should now take a prospect of the Moral World of that time or of the Civil and Artificial World what the Order and Oeconomy of these was what the manner of living and how the Scenes of humane life were different from ours at present The Ancients especially the Poets in their description of the Golden Age exhibit to us an Order of things and a Form of Life very remote from any thing we see in our days but they are not to be trusted in all particulars many times they exaggerate matters on purpose that they may seem more strange or more great and by that means move and please us more A Moral or Philosophick History of the World well writ would certainly be a very useful work to observe and relate how the Scenes of Humane Life have chang'd in several Ages the modes and Forms of living in what simplicity Men begun at first and by what degrees they came out of that way by luxury ambition improvement or changes in Nature then what new forms and modifications were superadded by the invention of Arts what by Religion what by Superstition This would be a view of things more instructive and more satisfactory factory than to know what Kings Reign'd in such an Age and what Battles were fought which common History teacheth and teacheth little more Such affairs are but the little under plots in the Tragi comedy of the World the main design is of another nature and of far greater extent and consequence But to return to the subject As the Animate World depends upon the Inanimate so the Civil World depends upon them both and takes its measures from them Nature is the foundation still and the affairs of Mankind are a superstructure that will be always proportion'd to it Therefore we must look back upon the model or picture of their Natural World which we have drawn before to make our conjectures or judgment of the Civil and Artificial that were to accompany it We observ'd from their perpetual Aequinox and the smoothness of the Earth that the Air would be always calm and the Heavens fair no cold or violent Winds Rains or Storms no extremity of weather in any kind and therefore they would need little protection from the iniuries of the Air in that state whereas now one great part of the affairs of life is to preserve our selves from those inconveniences by building and cloathing How many Hands and how many Trades are imploy'd about these two things which then were in a manner needless or at least in such plainness and simplicity that every man might be his own workman Tents and Bowers would keep them from all incommodities of the Air and weather better than Stone-walls and strong Roofs defend â—s now and Men are apt to take the easiest ways of living till necessity or vice put them upon others that are more laborious and more artificial We also observ'd and prov'd that they had no Sea in the Primitive and Ante-diluvian World which makes a vast difference 'twixt us and them This takes up half of our Globe and a good part of Mankind is busied with Sea-affairs and Navigation They had little need of Merchandizing then Nature suppli'd them at home with all necessaries which were few and they were not so greedy of superfluities as we are We may add to these what concern'd their Food and Diet Antiquity doth generally suppose that Men were not Carnivoâ—us in those Ages of the World or did not feed upon Flesh but only upon Fruit and Herbs And this seems to be plainly confirm'd by Scripture for after the Deluge God Almighty gives Noah and his Posterity a Licence to eat Flesh Gen. 9. 2 3. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you Whereas before in the new-made Earth God had prescrib'd them Herbs and Fruit for their Diet Gen. 1. 29. Behold I have given you every Herb bearing Seed which is upon the face of all the Earth and every Tree in the which is the Fruit of a Tree yielding Seed to you it shall be for meat and of this Natural Diet they would be provided to their hands without further preparation as the Birds and the Beasts are Upon these general grounds we may
He truly supposes the Celestial Bodies and the Inhabitants of them much more considerable than we are and reckons up only Terrestrial things as put in subjection to Man Can we then be so fond as to imagine all the Corporeal Universe made for our use 'T is not the Millioneth part of it that is known to us much less useful We can neither reach with our Eye nor our imagination those Armies of Stars that lie far and deep in the boundless Heavens If we take a good Glass we discover innumerably more Stars in the Firmament than we can with our single Eye and yet if you take a second Glass better than the first that carries the sight to a greater distance you see more still lying beyond the other and a third Glass that pierceth further still makes new discoveries of Stars and so forwards indefinitely and inexhaustedly for any thing we know according to the immensity of the Divine Nature and Power Who can reckon up the Stars of the Galaxy or direct us in the use of them And can we believe that those and all the rest were made for us Of those few Stars that we enjoy or that are visible to the Eye there is not a tenth part that is really useful to Man and no doubt if the principal end of them had been our pleasure or conveniency they would have been put in some better order in respect of the Earth They lie carelesly scatter'd as if they had been sown in the Heaven like Seed by handfuls and not by a skilful hand neither What a beautiful Hemisphere they would have made if they had been plac'd in rank and order if they had been all dispos'd into regular figures and the little ones set with due regard to the greater then all finisht and made up into one fair piece or great Composition according to the rules of Art and Symmetry What a surprizing beauty this would have been to the Inhabitants of the Earth What a lovely Roof to our little World This indeed might have given one some Temptation to have thought that they had been all made for us but lest any such vain imagination should now enter into our thoughts Providence besides more important Reasons seems on purpose to have left them under that negligence or disorder which they appear in to us The second part of this opinion supposeth this Planet where we live to be the only habitable part of the Universe and this is a natural consequence of the former If all things were made to serve us why should any more be made than what is useful to us But 't is only our ignorance of the System of the World and of the grandeur of the Works of God that betrays us to such narrow thoughts If we do but consider what this Earth is both for littleness and deformity and what its Inhabitants are we shall not be apt to think that this miserable Atome hath ingross'd and exhausted all the Divine Favours and all the riches of his goodness and of his Providence But we will not inlarge upon this part of the opinion lest it should carry us too far from the subject and it will fall of its own accord with the former Upon the whole we may conclude that it was only the Sublunary World that was made for the sake of Man and not the Great Creation either Material or Intellectual and we cannot admit or affirm any more without manifest injury depression and misrepresentation of Providence as we may be easily convinc'd from these four Heads The Meanness of Man and of this Earth The Excellency of other Beings The Immensity of the Universe and The infinite perfection of the first Cause Which I leave to your further Meditation and pass on to the second rule concerning Natural Providence In the second place then if we would have a fair view and right apprehensions of Natural Providence we must not cut the chains of it too short by having recourse without necessity either to the First Cause in explaining the Origins of things or to Miracles in explaining particular effects This I say breaks the chains of Natural Providence when it is done without necessity that is when things are otherwise ntelligible from Second Causes Neither is any thing gain'd by it to God Almighty for 't is but as the Proverb says to rob Peter to pay Paul to take so much from his ordinary Providence and place it to his extraordinary When a new Religion is brought into the World 't is very reasonable and decorous that it should be usher'd in with Miracles as both the Iewish and Christian were but afterwards things return into their Chanel and do not change or overflow again but upon extraordinary occasions or revolutions The power Extraordinary of God is to be accounted very Sacred not to be touch'd or expos'd for our pleasure or conveniency but I am afraid we often make use of it only to conceal our own ignorance or to save us the trouble of inquiring into Natural Causes Men are generally unwilling to appear ignorant especially those that make profession of knowledge and when they have not skill enough to explain some particular effect in a way of Reason they throw it upon the First Cause as able to bear all and so placing it to that account they excuse themselves and save their credit for all Men are equally wise if you take away Second Causes as we are all of the same colour if you take away the Light But to state this matter and see the ground of this rule more distinctly we must observe and consider that The Course of Nature is truly the Will of God and as I may so say his first Will from which we are not to recede but upon clear evidence and necessity And as in matter of Religion we are to follow the known reveal'd Will of God and not to trust to every impulse or motion of Enthusiasm as coming from the Divine Spirit unless there be evident marks that it is Supernatural and cannot come from our own So neither are we without necessity to quit the known and ordinary Will and Power of God establisht in the course of Nature and fly to Supernatural Causes or his extraordinary Will for this is a kind of Enthusiasm or Fanaticism as well as the other And no doubt that great prodigality and waste of Miracles which some make is no way to the honour of God or Religion 'T is true the other extream is worse than this for to deny all Miracles is in effect to deny all reveal'd Religion therefore due measures are to be taken betwixt these two so as neither to make the Divine Power too mean and cheap nor the Power of Nature illimited and all-sufficient In the Third place To make the Scenes of Natural Providence considerable and the knowledge of them satisfactory to the Mind we must take a true Philosophy or the true principles that govern Nature which are Geometrical and
shall be distinguish'd in Glory from the rest of Mankind We are sensible MADAM from Your Great Example that Piety and Vertue seated upon a Throne draw many to imitation whom ill Principles or the course of the World might have led another way These are the best as well as easiest Victories that are gain'd without Contest And as Princes are the Vicegerents of God upon Earth so when their Majesty is in Conjunction with Goodness it hath a double Character of Divinity upon it and we owe them a double Tribute of Fear and Love Which with constant Prayers for Your MAJESTIES present and future Happiness shall be always Dutifully paid by Your MAJESTY'S Most Humble and most Obedient Subject T. BVRNET PREFACE TO THE READER I HAVE not much to say to the Reader in this Preface to the Third Part of the Theory seeing it treats upon a Subject own'd by all and out of dispute The Conflagration of the World The question will be only about the bounds and limits of the Conflagration the Causes and the Manner of it These I have fix'd according to the truest measures I could take from Scripture and from Nature I differ I believe from the common Sentiment in this that in following S. Peter's Philosophy I suppose that the burning of the Earth will be a true Liquefaction or dissolution of it as to the exteriour Region And that this lays a foundation for New Heavens and a New Earth which seems to me as plain a doctrine in Christian Religion as the Conflagration it self I have endeavour'd to propose an intelligible way whereby the Earth may be consum'd by Fire But if any one can propose another more probable and more consistent I will be the First Man that shall give him thanks for his discovery He that loves Truth for its own sake is willing to receive it from any hand as he that truly loves his Country is glad of a Victory over the Enemy whether himself or any other has the glory of it I need not repeat here what I have already said upon several occasions That 't is the substance of this Theory whether in this part or in other parts that I mainly regard and depend upon Being willing to suppose that many single explications and particularities may be rectified upon further thoughts and clearer light I know our best writings in this life are but Essays which we leave to Posterity to review and correct As to the Style I always endeavour to express my self in a plain and perspicuous manner that the Reader may not lose time nor wait too long to know my meaning To give an Attendant quick dispatch is a civility whether you do his business or no. I would not willingly give any one the trouble of reading a period twice over to know the sence of it lest when he comes to know it he should not think it a recompence for his pains Whereas on the contrary if you are easie to your Reader he will certainly make you an allowance for it in his censure You must not think it strange however that the Author sometimes in meditating upon this subject is warm in his thoughts and expressions For to see a World perishing in Flames Rocks melting the Earth trembling and an Host of Angels in the clouds one must be very much a Stoick to be a cold and unconcerned Spectator of all this And when we are mov'd our selves our words will have a tincture of those passions which we feel Besides in moral reflections which are design'd for use there must be some heat as well as dry reason to inspire this cold clod of clay this dull body of Earth which we carry about with us and you must soften and pierce that crust before you can come at the Soul But especially when things future are to be represented you cannot use too strong Colours if you would give them life and make them appear present to the mind Farewel CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTERS THE THIRD BOOK CHAP. I. THE Introduction with the Contents and Order of this Treatise CHAP. II. The true state of the Question is propos'd 'T is the general doctrine of the Ancients That the present World or the present Frame of Nature is mutable and perishable To which the Sacred Books agree And natural Reason can alledge nothing against it CHAP. III. That the World will be destroy'd by Fire is the doctrine of the Ancients especially if the Stoicks That the same doctrine is more ancient than the Greeks and deriv'd from the Barbarick Philosophy and That probably from Noah the Father of all Traditionary Learning The same doctrine expresly authoriz'd by Revelation and inroll'd into the Sacred Canon CHAP. IV. Concerning the Time of the Conflagration and the End of the World What the Astronomers say upon this Subject and upon what they ground their Calculations The true notion of the Great Year or of the Platonick Year stated and explain'd CHAP. V. Concerning Prophecies that determine the End of the World Of what order soever Prophane or Sacred Iewish or Christian. That no certain judgment can be made from any of them at what distance we are from the Conflagration CHAP. VI. Concerning the Causes of the Conflagration The difficulty of conceiving how this Earth can be set on fire With a general answer to that difficulty Two suppos'd Causes of the Conflagration by the Sun 's drawing nearer to the Earth or the Earth's throwing out the Central Fire examin'd and rejected CHAP. VII The true bounds of the last Fire and how far it is Fatal The natural Causes and Materials of it cast into three ranks First such as are Exteriour and visible upon Earth Where the Volcano's of this Earth and their Effects are consider'd Secondly such Materials as are within the Earth Thirdly such as are in the Air. CHAP. VIII Some new dispositions towards the Conflagration as to the Matter Form and Situation of the Earth Concerning miraculous Causes and how far the ministry of Angels may be engag'd in this work CHAP. IX How the Sea will be diminish'd and consum'd How the Rocks and Mountains will be thrown down and melted and the whole exteriour Frame of the Earth dissolv'd into a Deluge of Fire CHAP. X. Concerning the beginning and progress of the Conflagration what part of the Earth will first be burnt The manner of the future destruction of Rome according to the Prophetical indications The last state and consummation of the general Fire CHAP. XI An Account of these Extraordinary Phaenomena and Wonders in Nature that according to Scripture will precede the coming of Christ and the Conflagration of the World CHAP. XII An imperfect description of the coming of our Saviâ—ur and of the World on fire The Conclusion THE FOURTH BOOK CHAP. I. THE Introduction That the World will not be annihilated in the last fire That we are to expect according to Scripture and the Christian Doctrine New Heavens and a New Earth when these are dissolv'd or burnt up CHAP.
Heaven and of Divine Authority They ought in the first place to examine matter of Fact and the History of our Saviour That there was such a Person in the Reigns of Augustus and Tiherius that wrought such and such Miracles in Iudaea taught such a Doctrine was Crucified at Ierusalem rise from the dead the Third Day and visibly ascended into Heaven If these matters of Fact be denied then the controversie turns only to an Historical question Whether the Evangelical History be a fabulous or true History which it would not be proper to examine in this place But if matter of Fact recorded there and in the Acts of the Apostles and the first Ages of Christianity be acknowledged as I suppose it is then the Question that remains is this Whether such matter of Fact does not sufficiently prove the divine authority of Jesus Christ and of his Doctrine We suppose it possible for a person to have such Testimonials of divine authority as may be sufficient to convince Mankind or the more reasonable part of Mankind And if that be possible what pray is a wanting in the Testimonies of Jesus Christ The Prophecies of the Old Testament bear witness to him His Birth was a miracle and his Life a train of Miracles not wrought out of levity and vain ostentation but for useful and charitable purposes His Doctrine and Morality not only blameless but Noble designed to remove out of the World the imperfect Religion of the Iews and the false Religion of the Gentiles All Idolatry and Superstition and thereby to improve Mankind under a better and more perfect dispensation He gave an example of a spotless innocency in all his Conversation free from Vice or any evil and liv'd in a neglect of all the Pomp or Pleasures of this Life referring his happiness wholly to another World He Prophesied concerning his own Death and his Resurrection and concerning the destruction of Ierusalem which all came to pass in a signal manner He also Prophesied of the Success of his Gospel which after his Death immediately took root and spread it self every way throughout the World maugre all opposition or persecution from Iews or Heathens It was not supported by any temporal power for above three hundred Years nor were any arts us'd or measures taken according to humane prudence for the conservation of it But to omit other things That grand article of his Rising from the Dead Ascending visibly into Heaven and pouring down the miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost according as he had promis'd upon his Apostles and their followers This alone is to me a Demonstration of his Divine Authority To conquer Death To mount like an Eagle into the Skies and to inspire his followers with inimitable gifts and faculties are things without controversie beyond all humane power and may and ought be esteemed sure Credentials of a person sent from Heaven From these matters of Fact we have all possible assurance that Jesus Christ was no Impostor or deluded person one of which two Characters all unbelievers must fix upon him but Commission'd by Heaven to introduce a New Religion to reform the World to remove Judaism and Idolatry The beloved Son of God the great Prophet of the later Ages the True Messiah that was to come It may be you will confess that these are great arguments that the Author of our Religion was a Divine Person and had supernatural powers but withal that there are so many difficulties in Christian Religion and so many things unintelligible that a rational man knows not how to believe it tho' he be inclin'd to admire the person of Jesus Christ. I answer If they be such difficulties as are made only by the Schools and disputacious Doctors you are not to trouble your self about them for they are of no Authority But if they be in the very words of Scripture then t is either in things practical or in things meerly speculative As to the Rules of Practice in Christian Religion I do not know any thing in Scripture obscure or unintelligible And as to Speculations great discretion and moderation is to be us'd in the conduct of them If these matters of Fact which we have alledg'd prove the Divinity of the Revelation keep close to the Words of that Revelation asserting no more than it asserts and you cannot err But if you will expatiate and determine modes and forms and consequences you may easily be puzled by your own forwardness For besides some things that are in their own nature Infinite and Incomprehensible there are many other things in Christian Religion that are incompleatly reveal'd the full knowledge whereof it has pleased God to reserve to another life and to give us only a summary account of them at present We have so much deference for any Government as not to expect that all their Councels and secrets should be made known to us nor to censure every action whose reasons we do not fully comprehend much more in the Providential administration of a World we must be content to know so much of the Councels of Heaven and of supernatural Truths as God has thought fit to reveal to us And if these Truths be no otherwise than in a general manner summarlly and incompleatly revealed in this life as commonly they are we must not therefore throw off the Government or reject the whole Dispensation of whose Divine Authority we have otherways full proof and satisfactory evidence For this would be To lose the Substance in catching at a Shadow But Men that live continually in the noise of the World amidst business and pleasures their time is commonly shar'd betwixt those two So that little or nothing is left for Meditation at least not enough for such Meditations as require length justness and order They should retire from the crowd for one Month or two to study the truth of Christian Religion if they have any doubt of it They retire sometimes to cure a Gout or other Diseases and diet themselves according to rule but they will not be at that pains to cure a disease of the Mind which is of far greater and more fatal consequence If they perish by their own negligence or obstinacy the Physician is not to blame Burning is the last remedy in some distempers and they would do well to remember that the World will flame about their heads one of these days and whether they be amongst the Living or amongst the Dead at that time the Apostle makes them a part of the Fewel which that fiery vengeance will prey upon Our Saviour hath been true to his Word hitherto whether in his Promises or in his Threatnings He promis'd the Apostles to send down the Holy Ghost upon them after his Ascension and that was fully accomplish'd He foretold and threaten'd the destruction of Ierusalem and that came to pass accordingly soon after he had left the World And he hath told us also that he will come again in the Clouds of
regions of a First and Second Chaos seen the World twice shipwrackt Neither Water nor Fire could separate us But now you must give place to other Guides Welcom Holy Scriptures The Oracles of God a Light shining in darkness a Treasury of hidden Knowledge and where humane faculties cannot reach a seasonable help and supply to their defects We are now come to the utmost bounds of their dominion They have made us a New World but how it shall be inhabited they cannot tell know nothing of the History or affairs of it This we must learn from other Masters inspir'd with the knowledge of things to come And such Masters we know none but the holy Prophets and Apostles We must therefore now put our selves wholly under their conduct and instruction and from them only receive our information concerning the moral state of the future habitable Earth In the first place therefore The Prophet Isaiah tells us as a preparation to our further enquiries The Lord God created the Heavens God himselfe that formed the Earth He created it not in vain he formed it to be inhabited This is true both of the present Earth and the Future and of every habitable World whatsoever For to what purpose is it made habitable if not to be inhabited That would be as if a man should manure and plough and every way prepare his ground for seed but never sow it We do not build houses that they should stand empty but look out for Tenants as fast as we can as soon as they are made ready and become Tenantable But if man could do things in vain and without use or design yet God and Nature never do any thing in vain much less so great a work as the making of a World Which if it were in vain would comprehend ten thousand vanities or useless preparations in it We may therefore in the first place safely conclude That the New Earth will be inhabited But by whom will it be inhabited This makes the second enquiry S. Peter answers this question for us and with a particular application to this very subject of the New Heavens and New Earth They shall be inhabited he says by the Iust or the Righteous His words which we cited before are these When he had describ'd the Conflagration of the World he adds But we expect New Heavens and a New Earth WHEREIN DWELLETH RIGHTEOUSNESS By Righteousness here it is generally agreed must be understood Righteous Persons For Righteousness cannot be without Righteous Persons It cannot hang upon Trees or grow out of the ground 'T is the endowment of reasonable Creatures And these Righteous Persons are eminently such and therefore call'd Righteousness in the abstract or purely Righteous without mixture of Vice So we have found Inhabitants for the New Earth Persons of an high and noble Character Like those describ'd by S. Peter 1 Ep. 2. 9. A chosen generation a Royal Priesthood an Holy Nation a peculiar People As if into that World as into S. Iohn's New Ierusalem nothing impure or unrighteous was to be admitted These being then the happy and holy Inhabitants The next enquiry is Whence do they come From what off-spring or from what Original We noted before that there was no remnant of Mankind left at the Conflgration as there was at the Deluge nor any hopes of a Restauration that way Shall we then imagine that these New Inhabitants are a Colony wafted over from some neighbouring World as from the Moon or Mercury or some of the higher Planets You may imagine what you please but that seems to me not imaginary only but impracticable And that the Inhabitants of those Planets are Persons of so great accomplishments is more than I know but I am sure they are not the Persons here understood For these must be such as inhabited this Earth before WE look for New Heavens and New Earth says the Apostle Surely to have some share and interest in them otherwise there would be no comfort in that expectation And the Prophet Isaiah said before I create New Heavens and a New Earth and the former shall come no more into remembrance But be YOU glad and rejoyce for ever in that which I create The truth is none can have so good pretensions to this spot of ground we call the Earth as the Sons of Men seeing they once possest it And if it be restor'd again 't is their propriety and inheritance But 't is not Mankind in general that must possess this New World but the Israel of God according to the Prophet Isaiah or the Iust according to S. Peter And especially those that have suffer'd for the sake of their Religion For this is that Palingenesia as we noted before that Renovation or Regeneration of all things where our Saviour says Those that suffer loss for his sake shall be recompenced Matt. 19. 28 29. But they must then be raised from the Dead For all Mankind was destroy'd at the Conflagration and there is no resource for them any other way than by a Resurrection 'T is true and S. Iohn gives us a fair occasion to make this supposition That there will be some raised from the Dead before the General Day of Judgment For he plainly distinguisheth of a First and Second Resurrection and makes the First to be a Thousand Years before the Second and before the general Day of Judgment Now If there be truly and really a two-fold Resurrection as St. Iohn tells us and at a thousand Years distance from one another It may be very rationally presum'd that Those that are raised in the first Resurrection are those Iust that will inhabit the New Heavens and new Earth Or whom our Saviour promis'd to reward in the Renovation of the World For otherwise who are those Iust that shall inhabit the New Earth and whence do they come Or when is that Restauration which our Saviour speaks of wherein those that suffer'd for the sake of the Gospel shall be rewarded St. Iohn says the Martyrs at this first Resurrection shall live again and reign with Christ. Which seems to be the reward promis'd by our Saviour to those that suffer'd for his sake and the same Persons in both places And I saw the Souls of them says St. Iohn that were beheaded for the witness of Iesus and for the Word of God and which had not worshipped the Beast c. and They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years These I say seem to be the same Persons to whom Christ had before promis'd and appropriated a particular reward And this rewaâ—d of theirs or this Reign of theirs is upon Earth upon some Earth new or old not in Heaven For besides that we read nothing of their Ascension into Heaven after their Resurrection There are several marks that shew it must necessarily be understood of a state upon Earth For Gog and Magog came from the four quarters of the Earth and besieged the Camp of the Saints and the